EVOLVE have announced that Chris Hero’s bout for the company will be at EVOLVE 77 which takes place January 28th in San Antonio, Texas. Hero’s opponent will be top UK performer Zack Sabre Jr.
To commemorate the fantastic run that Hero has had with the company EVOLVE have released his Mercury Rising 2016 bout with ZSJ on Youtube (check this out below).
What Culture Pro Wrestling will be presenting ‘True Destiny’ live on iPPV next month from Milton Keynes (UK). The show will be headlined by a huge international bout between Alberto El Patron and soon to-be-inducted WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle.
WCPW have now announced another bout for their third iPPV event and it will be a rematch from one of the most talked about bouts of 2016. Will Ospreay will once again be taking on Ricochet in what promises to be a high-flying affair.
Other names announced for the Milton Keynes event are:
Here are the results from Revolution Pro Wrestling’s first York Hall show of the year. The promotion has been growing rapidly in popularity over the past year and with this absolutely stacked card that trend looks set to continue:
RPW Interim British Cruiserweight Championship Match:Josh Bodom b. Ryan Smile – Bodom took the win via pinfall to become the Interim Crusierweight Champion. The Interim title has been introduced as current champion Will Ospreay is tied up with New Japan & Ring of Honor commitments
RPW Undisputed British Tag Team Championship Match: Joel Redman & Charlie Sterling b. War Machine – Redman and Sterling took the win to retain their titles after hitting a spinning tombstone on Rowe
YOSHI-HASHI b. Pete Dunne – YOSHI-HASHI took the win after hitting the Karma
Zack Sabre Jr. b. Marty Scurll – Sabre took the win after avoiding a Crossface Chickenwing attempt and rolling Scurll up for the three count
Trent Seven b. Trevor Lee – Seven took the win after hitting his second Snap Piledriver of the match to take the pinfall
Jay White b. Martin Stone – NJPW Young Lion Jay White took the upset win after making Stone tap with a Boston Crab
RPW Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship Match: Katsuyori Shibata b. Matt Riddle – In what was easily the MOTN Shibata retained his title using a rear naked choke. Shibata will now defend his belt against Will Ospreay at the NJPW New Beginning show in February
Here are the results from CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s co-branded Fantasticamania show that took place at the world famous Korakuen Hall (01/21- Day 2). If you are unfamiliar with Lucha style wrestling then this show (available on NJPW World) is certainly worth a watch.
Ephesto, Raziel, Jado & Gedo b. Blue Panther Jr., Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Henare – Ephesto pinned Blue Panther to take the win for his team
Stuka Jr. b. OKUMURA – Stuka took the win in just under 8 minutes with a Torpedo Splash
Barbaro Cavernario, Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay b. Soberano Jr., KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi – Cavernario took the win for his team after hitting a Cavernaria on Soberano
Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI b. Dragon Lee, Titan, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson & David Finlay – SANADA took the win for Los Ingobernables after hitting the Skull End on David Finlay
Ultimo Guerrero & Euforia b. Mistico & Volador Jr. – Ultimo took the win for his team with the Guerrero special on Volador Jr
Rush b. Atlantis – Rush hit the Rush Driver to secure the pinfall win in just under 11 minutes
CMLL World Heavyweight Championship Match: Maximo Sexy b. Hechicero – Maximo retained his CMLL World Heavyweight title after hitting an Avalanche style Frankensteiner on Hechicero
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin is in the unique position of being able to say he gave a Stone Cold Stunner to a United States President. Austin recently took part in an interview with Complex Magazine where he discussed working with Donald Trump at WrestleMania 23 in 2007, and revealed how Vince McMahon went about convincing Trump to agree to take the Stunner.
“Vince says to me, ‘Steve, I’m going to see if I can get Donald to take the Stunner. I said, ‘you think?’ He says, ‘Oh yeah, it’ll be great, it’ll be great,'” Austin recalled. “[Vince] goes up to Donald and says, ‘Hey Donald, this is Stone Cold Steve Austin.’ I shook Donald’s hand. He goes, ‘Listen, I want to know if after the match, when everything is done, if Steve could hit the Stone Cold Stunner on you.’ Donald says, ‘You think it’d be a good thing?’ and Vince goes, ‘Oh, of course it would be. It would just blow the roof off the place.’ And Donald’s right hand guy was saying, ‘No, no, no! You don’t need to do this, we got other things to do!’ He’s trying to talk him out of it. And Donald says to Vince, ‘You think it’ll help?’ and Vince goes, ‘I promise you it’ll help.’ And Donald says, ‘Okay, I’ll do it.'”
Stone Cold ended up delivering the move to fellow Trump, and while his fellow WWE Hall of Famer didn’t take the move as well as a trained wrestler would, Austin gives him credit for trying.
“It wasn’t a picture-perfect stunner, but I give Donald Trump a hell of a lot of credit for being a man,” Austin said. “He was a stand-up guy, he was there to do business and we did business, so I respect the man for that. If I see him giving a speech on the TV, I don’t think, ‘Hey, I gave this guy a stunner.’ We were doing business and we did business. The fact that he is going to be the next President of the United States, it’s a hell of a story.”
You can read Austin’s entire interview at Complex.com.
Longtime Impact Wrestling talent Abyss was recently interviewed on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, where he discussed the rise of the “Broken Hardys.” Abyss called the characters “incredible and awesome,” and credits the Hardy brothers with successfully reinventing themselves.
“I think it is groundbreaking in a lot of different ways,” Abyss said of the Broken Matt Hardy saga. “Matt and Jeff both have reinvented themselves and Matt really is the character and he is that. So it is such a great transition for them, so unique the whole angle with the Delete or Decay stuff, The Great War at Bound For Glory and everything that we have done with them has been incredible and I think it has been groundbreaking in a lot of ways and very different and very talked about. It has been fantastic and a great effort by a lot of different people.”
Abyss feels his Decay group has come a long way in the last year, and says he had almost-instant chemistry with the other members. Abyss changed his look for the group and says while his previous masked look was successful, he feels his new look with the face paint fits The Decay better.
“I do it with a blank slate each time and it is never the same which is kind of cool,” said of his face paint. “It’s something different and another layer to the character I’ve been able to add over the years.”
Abyss also touched base on working with Hulk Hogan, saying it was a highlight of his career and he had a great relationship with The Hulkster. You can listen to the full podcast with Abyss at podomatic.com.
– WWE is reportedly working on a DVD set about Seth Rollins titled Building The Architect. The set would feature both a documentary and some of his matches. Below is the synopsis for the DVD, courtesy of Wrestling DVD Network:
The Architect” has created the perfect blueprint for success in WWE with multiple championships, a massive fan base, and a plethora of incredible matches under his belt. Now for the first time ever, hear from Seth Rollins himself as he tells his story of how he became a sports-entertainment megastar.
– In a recent video on her YouTube page, WWE star Nikki Bella answered some questions from fans. During the Q&A, Nikki was asked about her relationship with John Cena, and what her answer would be in Cena were to propose to her. Bella answered that she would say yes to marrying Cena in a heartbeat. You can watch it below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBZS22L3Lvs
– In Cathy Kelley’s latest video on the WWE YouTube channel, she runs down some of the top reactions from WWE stars to the announcement of Kurt Angle’s Hall of Fame induction. Kelley shows Lana Rusev asking Rusev to “crush” Angle, and some classic footage from the Olympic gold medalist’s career.
Former WWE personality Jonathan Coachman was recently a guest on Eric Bischoff’s podcast, where he discussed his departure from WWE. On the latest edition of the Bischoff on Wrestling podcast, Coachman described leaving the McMahon empire for ESPN, where he still works as an anchor.
Coachman, who was with WWE from 1999 to 2008, said that ESPN brought him in for an interview while he was still working with WWE. While he was on the way home from the interview, ESPN called him to tell him he got the job. The next week, he says WWE executive Kevin Dunn met with him and they discussed his talks with ESPN.
The Coach says WWE wanted to sign him to a new deal, but he never knew if he would get another opportunity like the ESPN anchor position, so he had to take it. Dunn told Coachman they’d be immediately taking him off the air, but that they weren’t upset with him. WWE replaced Coachman with MIck Foley on SmackDown, and Coachman went home for the birth of his daughter.
Coachman shared a story about WWE calling him in to tape something in the studio after sending him home. When he arrived, there was a big tent set up in the parking lot and they threw him a going away party. Coachman feels that says volumes about the company and the respect they have for each other.
You can listen to the entire podcast with Jonathan Coachman and Eric Bischoff on iTunes.
– Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were in attendance at Friday’s U.S. Presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. Stephanie’s mother, former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, was chosen by President Donald Trump to serve as the head of the Small Business Administration. Stephanie wrote on Instagram, “Regardless your politics, it was an honor to witness the peaceful transition of power as our 45th President was inaugurated.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPfxFdvDIU9/
– Xavier Woods recently interviewed Seth Rollins before his Madden ’17 WWE Tournament semi-final game with Kofi Kingston on Sunday. The interview was for Woods’ UpUpDownDown channel on YouTube, and Rollins stated that he’ll “annihilate” Kofi in Madden. Rollins is currently the two-time Madden champion in WWE, but Kofi says he’s going to dethrone him. You can watch the videos of Rollins and Kingston below.
On his latest podcast, Jim Ross says he thinks bringing in Jeff Jarrett was a good move by Impact Wrestling’s new owners, Anthem Sports & Entertainment. On episode 152 of The Ross Report, the WWE Hall of Famer feels that having Jarrett as a consultant and Dutch Mantel helping out backstage is a step in the right direction for the company. Ross noted that he doesn’t expect to see Jarrett on TV again, but that his knowledge can be a huge asset.
“I’m glad to see Jeff Jarrett was retained by the new owners,” Ross said of Jarrett’s consulting position with Anthem. “I also thought it was very smart to bring back the very wise Dutch Mantel to help out with the creative and the booking and so forth, agent, whatever he’s doing. I’ll tell you this, I’d be more optimistic over the future of this brand if they were on a stronger domestic TV network than Pop TV, but it is the way it is.”
Ross watched a recent Impact Wrestling iPPV, and offered some constructive criticism to the company. J.R. says they had the talent talking too much, and feels the show should have more focus on the in-ring action.
“The show had a little too much talk for me and when talent start repeating their premise, and repeating their point, you’ve lost me,” Ross noted. “That means that the piece is too damn long, so I would say to err on the side of caution: have shorter promos. Put your faith in what your talent does best and that is wrestle. Some people on the roster can talk, no doubt, but not everybody, and it seemed like everybody got a shot at it.”
– Batista recently took to Twitter to respond to a fan who said his 2014 run with WWE was a “complete waste.” Batista previously voiced his displeasure with how WWE handled his 2014 comeback, but he stops short of calling it a “waste.” The former WWE Champion pointed out to the fan that he helped put over Daniel Bryan and The Shield before he left again. Here’s what he had to say:
Complete waste? I put your hero @WWEDanielBryan over at Mania and fought to keep Evokution together to put over The Shield. You're welcome! https://t.co/Urc2sEFgVf
– Triple H continued his in-character war of words with Seth Rollins on the most recent edition of FOX Sports’ Wrestling Compadres podcast. When asked about Rollins calling him out, he joked that Rollins must not know where WWE headquarters is located.
“Look, sometimes you just go to the obvious places, and you go out in front of the camera and you try to call a guy out and appeal to his manhood that he will come out and fight you like a man. None of that stuff bothers me,” Triple H said. “I’m okay with not getting my suit dirty and just sitting in the back a little bit. But at some point in time, be careful what you wish for.”
You can listen to the full interview with Triple H at podbay.fm.
As previously noted, Drew Galloway and the Hardy brothers’ Impact Wrestling contracts are expiring soon. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, none of them have signed new deals with Anthem Sports as of this week. WWE does have interest in Matt and Jeff Hardy, and with the company expanding in the UK they may have interest in Galloway again.
Dave Meltzer reports that The Hardys will likely stay with Impact Wrestling, where they can have a guaranteed contract that gives them creative control, and full control of their outside bookings. Matt Hardy’s outside bookings have increased substantially since his Broken character took off. The travel schedule is also much lesser with Impact Wrestling.
Galloway has reportedly gotten offers from outside of Impact Wrestling, but indicated on a recent edition of Jim Ross’ Ross Report podcast that he was planning to sign a new Impact deal soon.
Thursday night’s episode of Impact Wrestling averaged 310,000 viewers on Pop TV. This is up from last week’s 277,000 viewers, and the previous week’s 290,000 viewers.
This week’s Impact ranked #130 in the top 150 cable shows for the night, which is an improvement from last week’s #134 ranking.
– WWE.com is running a poll asking fans which Royal Rumble entrant they want to see eliminated first. The Miz has the most votes by far with 22%, followed by Braun Strowman (14%) and Brock Lesnar (13%).
– Earlier this week, WWE.com published a video featuring Superstars talking about what surprises they want to see in this year’s Royal Rumble match. Seth Rollins picked New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kenny Omega.
“There’s been a lot of buzz about him that his future’s up in the air with New Japan, so you never know,” Rollins said. “Could we see The Cleaner in the Rumble? I don’t know.”
The WWE.com article, titled, “Seth Rollins wants Kenny Omega In The Royal Rumble Match” was later deleted. WWE re-posted this video with Rollins’ comments about Kenny Omega edited out.
– WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus has announced the birth of her second child. Madison Patricia was born Saturday, January 14th and weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces. Congratulations to Trish and her husband Ron.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels spoke with ESPN this week to promote his new movie, The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. Topics discussed include whether or not WWE has approached him to get back in the ring, his dream opponent if he did ever wrestle another match, AJ Styles wanting to face him and more.
The Royal Rumble is fast approaching and it’s clear that HBK won’t be coming out of retirement to wrestle one more match in front of his hometown crowd at San Antonio’s Alamodome. Fans have wondered for years if we’ll ever get a chance to see Michaels wrestle again, but it turns out he’s never been approached about it.
“It’s funny because the two guys who really make the decisions, which is Vince [McMahon] and Hunter [Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque], in seven years have never even approached me. I guess I’m semi-amused that people think ‘Vince is saying this’ and whatnot because those are the two people that understand why and respect why I retired and understood it.”
Shawn Michaels will probably never wrestle again, but that hasn’t stopped him from thinking about which WWE Superstar he’d want to wrestle if he did stage a comeback.
“I look at Samoa Joe and I’ve told him a number of times that I see his stuff at NXT and think to myself, ‘Man, I could have a great deal of fun with you.’ He’s a guy I have sort of enjoyed, and one of those sleeper guys that no one talks about.
“We have contrasting styles. I get that everybody wants to see me and AJ or Seth or Dolph [Ziggler]. From my standpoint, I think really telling a great story out there [is most important]. I could do it with a guy like Samoa Joe. His stuff looks really good, and sometimes he just looks like he’s beating the tar out of somebody.”
As noted this week, Randy Orton was involved in an altercation with a fan named Anthony Martin at a gym in Arkansas. Martin spoke to the media after the incident, and former WWE star Sean “X-Pac” Waltman took issue with how Martin handled the situation.
Waltman discussed the story on the latest edition of his X-Pac 1-2-360 podcast, and addressed people who thinks the wrestlers “owe” them something because they’re fans. Waltman started off his rant with some colorful language directed towards Martin.
“Anthony Martin, go f–k yourself! You know, I mean people have headphones on when they’re in the gym and other places for a reason – because they don’t want to f–king talk to anyone,” Waltman said. “I’m not trying to sound like a dick, but I know it’s coming off that way. But you know there’s these things called boundaries. They’re like an imaginary line and you f–king crossed it. Sorry! I know some people are thinking I’m the dick right now for saying it like that.”
Waltman added that apparently Martin thinks “he pays Randy Orton’s bills directly.” The former WWE Light Heavyweight Champion said that he’s grateful for all of the fans’ support, and fans would be grateful for wrestlers destroying their own bodies for their entertainment.
“Nobody owes anyone s–t, OK,” he said. “It’s all about gratitude, and I’m so grateful. But if somebody puts that in my face and tells me they pay my bills, f–k you.”
You can listen to the full podcast on iTunes or watch it on YouTube.
Shazam!, the upcoming film from New Line and DC Comics, has now split into two separate films. Back in 2014 we reported that Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson would be playing Black Adam in the film, and now The Rock will also be starring in a film about his character, titled Black Adam. Shazam! is the story of a teenager who can transform himself into a superhero by saying “shazam.”
Black Adam is Shazam’s arch-nemesis, and during the pre-production phase of Shazam! the studio reportedly decided he should have his own film. Shazam! is scheduled to hit theaters in 2019, and there’s no word on a timetable, writer, or director for Black Adam yet.
The Rock wrote on Twitter this month that he’s going to help “usher in a new era” of DC Comics films.
DC fans will start to see this shift in tone in future movies. Exciting time and I'm fired up to help usher in a new DC era. #BlackAdam?? https://t.co/oUC3L0tY7H
– AJ Styles took to Twitter this week to congratulate Kurt Angle on the news of his WWE Hall of Fame induction. Styles and Angle had a series of main event matches during their time in TNA. Angle was the first inductee announced for the class of 2017, and he’ll be inducted on March 31st in Orlando, FL.
– Prior to the airing of his ESPN interview with Kurt Angle, Jonathan Coachman wrote on Twitter that he thinks the Olympic gold medalist is the best in-ring performer he’s ever seen.
I have said this many times. @RealKurtAngle is the most talented in ring performer I have ever seen. EVER and there have been great ones. https://t.co/u92Ym95uSQ
After a lot of back and forth trash talking in recent months, the match is finally been set. Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks will square off against “Broken” Matt and Jeff Hardy at ROH Supercard of Honor. The show takes place during WrestleMania weekend on Saturday, April 1st from the Lakeland Civic Center outside of Orlando, FL.
The main event will see reigning ROH World Champion Adam Cole defend against Dalton Castle. Earlier this week, ROH also announced that Japanese legend Jushin Thunder Liger and CMLL standout Dragon Lee will be competing on the show. Their opponents have yet to be announced.
– We’ve noted in recent weeks that WWE is looking to bring independent wrestling to the WWE Network, likely a response to streaming service FloSlam signing companies left and right. A deal has already been agreed upon with UK promotion ICW and you probably noticed officials from Progress and Over The Top shown on camera during the UK Championship Tournament. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is in talks with both Progress and OTT about bringing them to the Network.
An official announcement of the ICW deal (and other companies, if the deals are made) could come as soon as this week.
– Over the past year, we’ve seen a major overhaul of WWE’s championship belts, with new belts created for the Universal Championship, RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships, RAW and SmackDown tag team championships, Cruiserweight and United Kingdom titles. According to belt maker @BeltFanDan, WWE has commissioned new Intercontinental and United States belts.
New WWE IC and US title designs coming from Overseas. Not getting my hopes up. Gotta sell them replicas!
– On the latest installment of the Talk is Jericho podcast, United States champion Chris Jericho revealed that he recently signed a new WWE contract.
“I’m very excited about the next few months,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of projects coming up, a lot of great WWE stuff. I’ll still be here doing as many shows as I can. I signed a new contract this week which is cool.”
Jericho has been working under short-term deals that have continuously ‘rolled over’ as he’s stuck around. This latest signing will keep Jericho through at least WrestleMania 33 in April. Drink it in, man.
– KAIT8.com reports that WWE Champion AJ Styles was robbed earlier this week in Jonesboro, Arkansas. While Styles was competing at Monday night’s SmackDown live event at Arkansas State University, a thief made off with:
A bag containing $1,000 US dollars and $7,000 in Japanese yen
His iPhone
A set of Beats headphones
A small television
An Xbox 360 and six Xbox games
Arkansas State University police are investigating the crime.
This week’s WWE SmackDown drew 2.652 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.533 million viewers.
The show featured Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss for the SmackDown Women’s Championship inside a steel cage, Jerry Lawler hosting King’s Court with Dolph Ziggler and more.
SmackDown was #10 in viewership and #1 in the 18-49 demographic for the night on cable.
By comparison, this week’s RAW drew 3.271 million viewers.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon underwent a second surgical procedure over the past several months, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Back in September, we covered the news of Vince McMahon undergoing surgery to repair a torn quad. He was injured while weight training.
At the recent WrestleMania 34 press conference from New Orleans, Vince was spotted on crutches. The Observer reports that Vince was using the crutches because he recently underwent hip surgery, similar to the operation The Undertaker had last year.
Kurt Angle spoke with SI.com’s “Extra Mustard” site today and revealed that he wants Steve Austin to be the one to induct him into the WWE Hall of Fame this year. Angle said Austin being at the top of his list is a no-brainer.
“That’s a no-brainer,” said Angle. “I had just started with WWE and had a program with Austin right after I beat Rock for the world title. I had a quick skit with Stephanie and Triple H, and then it was right on to Austin. We had some memorable feuds and some very funny segments, so he is at the top of my list.”
“Steve was one of the most giving individuals,” he continued. “He took me in and allowed me to shine even when it was still his time. I don’t ever compare myself to Stone Cold. He is the guy who elevated wrestling to a level that nobody ever went before, but he enabled me to show my talents when he very well could have said no. He was a very giving individual, and he is one of the guys who had the biggest impact on my career.”
Angle also revealed that he was with his family when he got the call from Triple H last week. “I was with my wife and my three little ones when I found out, and I had my other two kids on the phone with me, so we were all together watching in unison,” shared Angle. “It was a really cool moment with my family. My younger kids don’t know about my career, but they looked at the screen and said, ‘Daddy’s on television!’ And then my younger daughter started calling me ‘Kurt Angle,’ and I said, ‘No! I’m Dad, not Kurt Angle.’”
While there’s much speculation on Angle returning to the ring for WWE, he insists there have been no talks about a return. He also says he has had no talks about being featured as a WWE 2K18 bonus.
“I have yet to speak to Vince, but I did talk with Triple H,” said Angle. “It was a great conversation. This is all about the Hall of Fame, nothing else, and I’m OK with that. WWE wanted to show their appreciation for my career there. Even though I feel it was short-lived at six-and-a-half years, I made enough of an impact that they felt I was worthy of the Hall of Fame. They didn’t want to talk about anything about the Hall of Fame, and I understood. This is the priority, and I’m going to enjoy this and see where it goes from here.”
