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Lucha Underground Filming Update, TV Deal, Losing Money And More

Martin Lamont
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Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports this week that talent under contract at Lucha Underground have been told that filming for a second season could begin in September.

This means talent can go ahead and book up for weekends in August but some have gone ahead and done this for September as well while telling promoters that they may have to pull out.

Meltzer notes his concerns that a TV deal in Mexico hasn’t came to fruition, nor has a potential deal that was mentioned with Univision in the U.S which he notes has gone quiet.

He explains that with just Unimas and the El Rey Network in the U.S for a second season, without a deal in Mexico, they stand to lose a lot of money with no real revenue coming in.

The lack of house shows is also a concern for Meltzer as he notes that this seems to indicate that they have no confidence in the product, nor do they have any international deals.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Lucha Underground Results – July 8, 2015

Martin Lamont
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Last night’s episode of Lucha Underground continued to build towards the Ultima Lucha show that will take place on August the 5th.

Matt Striker confirmed that Prince Puma and Mil Muertes will come face to face during next week’s show to build up the match.

An interview with Vampiro and Pentagon Jr was aired with things continuing to get out of control between the pair after Pentagon continued his quest to get Vampiro back in the ring.

At the end of the show, after the main event, Pentagon Jr attacked Vampiro, poured gasoline over him and threatened to set him on fire if he didn’t accept his challenge for a match at Ultima Lucha. He gave him one week to respond.

The following matches also took place during the show:

  • The Mack defeated Cage
  • Mil Muertes defeated Son of Havoc
  • Team Mundo defeated Team El Patron in the main event

New NXT Tag Team Debuts Next Week, New #1 Contenders

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– As seen on this week’s episode of NXT, Chad Gable revealed that Jason Jordan is finally taking him up on his offer to be a tag team. Next week, they’ll be in action against Elias Samson and Steve Cutler.

– WWE has released the following video of The Vaudevillians celebrating after becoming the #1 contenders to Blake and Murphy’s WWE NXT Tag Team Titles:

Backstage News On Who Booked Beast In The East, Future Network Specials

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John Laurinaitis served as the producer and head agent for WWE’s recent tour of Japan, including the critically acclaimed “Beast In The East” WWE Network special.

It was Laurinaitis who came up with the idea to use streamers before the NXT Championship match with Finn Balor and Kevin Owens, as well as the pre-match ceremony where the women in kimonos presented flowers to both Balor and Owens. Laurinaitis had the idea to cater to the local crowd and give the show a unique Japanese touch that was a stark contrast to what we regularly see on WWE television.

WWE did send a production crew to Tokyo to air the show, but they saved a lot of money by using a stripped down production setup.

The live WWE Network special was considered to be a major success and WWE officials are already looking at doing more Network-exclusive specials.

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsleter)

Vince Russo On Triple H Burying Talent, How To Fix TNA, Biggest Regrets

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Vince Russo recently spoke with Donald Wood and the rest of the Ring Rust Radio crew. Here are some highlights of what Russo said about:

If he still has something to offer the wrestling business:

“That’s a really good question and it’s really like a double edged sword. I am content doing my thing on the Relm network, there is no doubt about that. Vince Russo not having any chains, rules, and nobody telling me what to do is beyond a freeing experience, it’s incredible. However, what I do for a living at vincerussobrand.com depends on wrestling therefore, I make a living off of professional wrestling. When I watch WWE and TNA on a weekly basis, I see how subpar the television shows have become. I see the drastic decrease in ratings and that concerns me. Without wrestling, there may not be a Vince Russo. I would love to help those companies, I know I can help them, I know what they are doing wrong, but when you offer your services free of charge and they say thanks but no thanks, there isn’t too much you can do. The answer to that question is for my own longevity, the wrestling business needs to prosper, and I am willing to help it. If they aren’t interested that’s up to them, but I more concerned about my own future.”

The fundamental changes he’d make to TNA:

“In my opinion, I watch TNA, it’s just wrestling 101. They are in the wrestling bubble, week in and week out they are telling wrestling stories, and a perfect example of that is the feud of Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter. You have a thirteen year feud between Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter, an ongoing story, and they way they introduce that story back to TV is through a King of the Mountain wrestling match? You don’t have to be Vince Russo to see that that is ridiculous. That’s bad fake wrestling; they came up with no creative whatsoever. If that story presented in the correct fashion and the right way, almost as a shoot with the history and reality of it, trust me it would have been a lot more compelling than Jeff showing up on a show and saying I am going to be in a wrestling match.”

If WWE has too many writers and what the proper balance is:

“You are absolutely right. They have a week to write a television show. When there are twenty people involved in the writing of that show, you are going to spend a lot of time running into each other. While you are running into each other for a good majority of the week, you suddenly get to crunch time. All of a sudden its Saturday or Sunday and you don’t have a complete show yet, so we will just finish it when we get to TV and that is what you are seeing today. I’ll just go back to the old Russo and Ferrara way of two guys wrote the show, brought it and pitched it to Vince, and that’s it. It’s a proven ingredient and formula that worked. Now I’m not saying Russo and Ferrara should go back to WWE, what I am saying is replace Russo and Ferrara with two other guys, make it simple, same vision, and you will have a much better product. There is no way that could be a compelling and intriguing show with all those writers involved in it. ”

His biggest regrets booking WWE & WCW:

“I’ll say my regret is in the wrestling business because it doesn’t matter where I was; it falls under the umbrella of the wrestling business. My biggest regret as I stand here now, on the outside looking in, I’m 54 years old now, and my biggest regret is whatever company I worked for is I made them my number one priority. What that means is I put God behind it, my family behind it, my wife behind it, and my kids behind it. When I worked for those companies they were my number one priority. Now when I sit back and see how thankless those individuals are that I gave my life to and put before my family, I am absolutely ashamed of myself. Shame on me, I should have never of done that and I should have known better. It was never about the money, it was about my pride, and wanting to be the best that I could possibly be. I am a goal driven guy and I made that my priority. I made Vince McMahon my priority, I made Dixie Carter my priority, my time at WCW was my priority. Looking back now, that was a huge mistake that I can never take back.”

Has wrestling evolved enough over the past several years?

“I think as we speak, wrestling right now is a niche market. Look at your numbers. Less than five years ago, TNA was doing 5,000,000 people. Nowadays they are doing a quarter of that. Look at the fifteen-year decline of the WWE. The people watching wrestling in 2015 are wrestling fans that are always going to be watching wrestling. The problem is they have lost the casual TV viewers. Those were the 5,000,000 people that are now gone. Wrestling has already become a niche market. Anybody can study and look at the numbers, see where it once was, and see where it is today. I want to say this – I publically want to totally separate Lucha Underground from all of that. Lucha Underground is not a wrestling company, they are a TV show. They treat the product like a TV show, they produce it like a TV show, and they treat the wrestlers like TV stars. So in my opinion they are in a category all by itself because they are not a wrestling company, they are a TV company.”

His relationship with Hulk Hogan over the years:

“Number one, we didn’t really have a relationship in WCW. People seem to forget about that. They want to pin everything that happened at WCW on me. The reality of it is I worked there for nine months. I really didn’t generate that relationship with Hulk Hogan during my time there. I was really grateful that when he came to TNA, we were able to settle any differences that we may have had. I am very grateful and thankful for that. As his spot in WWE right now, I am thrilled for the guy. I don’t know where the wrestling business would be without Hulk Hogan. For him to be in the spot he is right now as an ambassador for WWE, he deserves that spot. I am absolutely thrilled for him.”

His relationship with Triple H & if he’s seen Triple H bury talent:

“No I never have, but I will say this: When Triple H was breaking into the WWE, and the Madison Square Garden incident happened, where he became the scapegoat, there was nobody in his corner more than me. When that character was first being developed, there was no one developing that character more than me. I used to write every single one of his promos. I only had one instance working with him that he really disappointed me. He straight out didn’t want to do a job to D’Lo Brown and I really had an issue with that. I never read or followed in any of that stuff about him, but I was very disappointed when I almost went back to WWE back in 2002 and found out more or less Triple H was not in my corner after all I did for him. Fast forward twelve years later and you see the position he is in and Stephanie is in and now it makes all the sense in the world. If you eventually want the power, then you want to keep a guy away like a Vince Russo away who from a creative stand point is going to produce better content and better TV than you can. A Vince Russo is a better writer and went to school for writing to be a writer and knows the art of writing. When that happened in 2002 and I learned he was working behind the scenes to keep me out of the WWE, I would be lying to you if I told you my opinion of him did not change.”

New TNA Authority Figure Next Week, Preview For Next Week’s Impact

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– TNA President Dixie Carter returned to this week’s Impact Wrestling and is now a babyface. Dixie tweeted the following to her nephew about big changes coming to TNA.

The official @ImpactWrestling account is teasing the new authority will be revealed next week:

– Next week’s Impact will also feature Tigre Uno defending the X Division Title against DJ Zema Ion and Grado, plus Brooke Tessmacher vs. Taryn Terrell for the Knockouts Title.

https://youtu.be/SeXQ4LY0Xtk

Global Force Invading TNA This Month, Toby Keith Financing GFW?

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Global Force Wrestling’s invasion of TNA is currently slated to kick off on the July 22nd edition of Impact Wrestling, which will air on a slight tape delay. The invasion will continue through the first Global Force TV tapings from Las Vegas on July 24th, which will see the crowning of GFW’s first World Champion and Women’s Champions.

Eric Young, Bobby Roode and several other TNA stars will be taking part in the first GFW TV tapings as part of the invasion angle. Young will be appearing at this weekend’s GFW live events to confront Jeff Jarrett.

GFW stars confirmed for the GFW tapings include Nick Aldis (Magnus), Chris Sabin, PJ Black (Justin Gabriel), Sonjay Dutt, IWGP Jr. Champion Kushida, Chris Mordetsky (Chris Masters), Sanada, Mickie James and Lei’D Tapa.

Country music star Toby Keith, who is a longtime friend of Jarrett’s and has had talks in recent years about buying into TNA, is said to be helping Jarrett finance Global Force Wrestling, but it’s not an open checkbook. There is apparently a specific benchmark Keith is pushing Jarrett to reach, which is likely a TV deal.

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Nikki Bella Separates Her Shoulder, Becky Lynch Out Of Action Due To Injury

Matt Boone
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– NXT Diva Becky Lynch is out of action for a few weeks due to a hip flexor injury that she suffered during her NXT Takeover match with Sasha Banks. Lynch had continued to work through the injury, however she is now taking some time off to recover.

– WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella is currently working with a partially separated shoulder. There is currently no word as to whether or not the injury is something that will eventually require her to take time off or not.

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Longtime WWE Head Writer Gives His Notice To The Company

Matt Boone
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Brian Gewirtz, who has been with WWE as one of the head writers for around 15 years, gave his notice to the company a few weeks ago.

Gewirtz was at the June 29th edition of RAW in Washington, D.C. saying his “goodbyes” to everyone in the company.

For years, Gewirtz was the head writer of RAW, and remained with the creative team until October of 2012, when Eric Pankowski, the head of WWE creative at the time, sent him home.

Gewirtz had remained under contract as a consultant working from home, and also did some work for the WWE Network.

When The Rock would come in from time-to-time, he would specifically ask for Gewirtz to be there to be his writer. Gewirtz was the main writer for The Rock during the last few years of Rock’s full-time career in WWE.

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Backstage News On WWE Tryout In Japan: Former TNA X-Division Champion Tries Out

Matt Boone
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The reason William Regal was in Japan last week and over the weekend was due to the WWE tryout session.

WWE reportedly had six men and two women at the tryout session, including Leona Fujinami, son of WWE Hall Of Famer Tatsumi Fujinami.

Also at the tryout was former TNA X-Division Champion Seiya Sanada, who still lives in the United States, but flew to Japan to take part in the tryout.

Other talents who took part in the tryout included Japanese talent Yohei, an independent wrestler from Osaka, Hikaru Shida, a popular women’s wrestler and the other names were people not as well known.

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Charlotte Originally Scheduled To Appear On RAW On Monday, Stardust Update

Matt Boone
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– While Stardust (Cody Rhodes) was back at television this week, WWE decided not to use him. The belief is that WWE isn’t ready to turn Stardust babyface, and due to the fact that he is Dusty Rhodes’ son and people probably won’t want to “boo” him, they are waiting to bring him back.

– At one point, a few of the NXT Divas, Charlotte being one we can confirm specifically, were scheduled for this past Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. This wasn’t the first time NXT Divas were set to make their main roster debuts only for plans to be changed. As noted recently, Charlotte and Sasha Banks are expected to be brought up to the main roster in time for SummerSlam, and they are likely to be involved in the Paige vs. Team Bella angle, siding with Paige.

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Chris Jericho Suffers Neck Injury In Japan, Rumored WWE Battleground Matches

Matt Boone
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– Chris Jericho suffered a neck injury during his match in Japan with Neville this past weekend. The injury happened when Jericho caught Neville on a dive spot. Originally, the injury was believed to be a serious one, however he has reportedly recovered from it already and is under the belief that it will be completely gone in a few days.

– In addition to the announced matches for this month’s WWE Battleground pay-per-view, Randy Orton vs. Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev and Nikki Bella vs. Paige are expected. While Bella-Paige isn’t official yet, we can confirm that it was on the books for the event as recent as a week ago. In the case of Ziggler and Rusev, WWE is doing an angle where Ziggler is “out indefinitely,” so they might hold off on that match.

(Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

Tyson Kidd Nearly Died From Neck Injury?

Matt Boone
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As reported earlier this week, only about five percent of people survive the injury that Tyson Kidd suffered.

According to the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Kidd’s injury was far worse than originally believed. Kidd was apparently being legitimate in saying only five percent of people survive the injury he suffered, as that is what doctors told him.

Right after suffering the injury, while in the hospital in Texas, doctors told him he was lucky to be alive. After surgery, he was told by doctors that because the injury he suffered was so high in the neck, in most cases, such an injury would be fatal.

Apparently the only reason Kidd survived is because he is an athlete with a very muscular neck.

As reported, Kidd’s surgery resulted in him having 16 staples, four screws and a rod put into his neck.

Steve Austin, Roddy Piper Comment On Issues That Led To WWE Dropping Piper

Matt Boone
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As previously reported, WWE dropped Roddy Piper from his WWE Legends contract, according to Ric Flair, due to issues with Steve Austin over Podcast One.

The issues reportedly began when Piper claimed that Austin got Piper’s podcast booted off of Podcast One after satirical comments were made by comedian Will Sasso, who was impersonating Austin, on a Piper’s Pit podcast that took place earlier this year.

Austin noted earlier this week that at age 50, he has no time for “soap opera stuff.” Austin claimed he had nothing to do with Piper getting pulled from Podcast One. He said he contacted the President of Podcast One and was informed that Piper asked for a meeting with them to tell the company that he no longer wanted to do a podcast for them.

Austin said he is not to blame for Piper leaving and claimed Piper himself is the one who wanted to leave. Austin added that despite everything, he has no hard feelings towards Piper.

Piper plans to address the situation on his next podcast. “This will be cleared up and gone after my next Podcast,” said Piper. “I heard what Steve said! Respect! My Honor’s not for sale!”

Vince McMahon Talks About Turning 70, His Crazy Workout Regimen & More

Matt Boone
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The official Muscle & Fitness website has published the Q&A that they did with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon for the recent issue that featured him on the cover. While we previously reported some of the highlights from the Q&A, below are a few that weren’t part of the initial Q&A that was released.

On his advice for sticking it out in hard times: “I think you have to develop an attitude. From the severity that I experienced, taking numerous beatings and things of that nature, I developed a defensive philosophy that has served me very well through the years. That is: If I lived through whatever the adversarial position was, I won. No matter what happens, if I’m still breathing in and out, I won. So if you have that kind of philosophy, then failure is not a big thing.”

On what his fitness and nutrition regimen is like these days: “I’m still making gains. Very, very slow gains [laughs], but I am, and that’s something you can do for the rest of your life. If you train as a lifestyle, it helps you through everything. My training has evolved. When I worked out with [bodybuilder] Steve Stone, he had an old-school philosophy of just get the weight up. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just get it up. And with that philosophy I got a personal best of a 700-pound squat for three reps when I was 60-something, and that was after a double quad tear. That was an arena injury [not training related].

“What I do now with Mike Monteforte, my trainer…I don’t really have a trainer. We train together. He is my trainer, but we train together. I don’t like people saying, “Come on! You can do it.” It makes me want to rack the weight and say shut up. Mike’s training and technique are totally different from Steve Stone’s. Mike’s technique is one of safety, which?is so important. His philosophy is, don’t do anything where you can get hurt. You can do a max, but you really have to work into it. I recently had a resurfacing of my left hip, so I’m at a 560 squat now, and our goal is to get back up to 600.”

On that regimen being incredible for someone his age: “Age really doesn’t have anything?to do with it. I’ll be 70 in August. I had a personal best a few weeks ago on the incline Hammer Strength machine. I did five reps with 450. It’s important to make gains, but it’s important to be safe. If you have an injury in the gym, it sets you back so much it’s not worth whatever gain you were going to make. That’s why strict form is so important. It’s about form, not the weight.”

On what he eats: “I look at eating as fuel. I’m not that conscious of the protein I eat, but I know it’s a lot. I think cheat meals are very important, so I do it about once a week. When you cheat, go for it. It’s important from a psychological standpoint. Oreos are my favorite cookie. I’ll eat an entire box. And my philosophy is that the body can assimilate only so much in a given time. If you have two or three Oreos every day, not good. But if you eat an entire package of Oreos at one time, it’s OK. It just passes through. I’ll eat pasta loaded up with meat sauce. Pizza. All the carbs you stay away from normally, load ’em up. I will gorge. It’s almost like I will force-feed myself on a cheat meal. And afterward I think, “Oh, my God, I don’t want to feel like this.” So it gets me back in the frame of mind immediately after the digestive process to do the right thing.”

NXT TV Results – July 8, 2015

Matt Boone
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WWE NXT
Aired July 8, 2015
Taped June 18 at Full Sail University

– NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and Charlotte beat Dana Brooke and Emma

– Solomon Crowe defeated Marcus Louis via submission

– The Vaudevillains defeated Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady to become No. 1 Contenders to the NXT Tag Team Titles

– Jason Jordan and Chad Gable over Elias Sampson and Steve Cutler

– Samoa Joe squashed Axel Tischer

Ring Of Honor TV Results – July 8, 2015

Matt Boone
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Ring of Honor TV
Taped June 20 in New York, New York at Terminal 5
Aired July 8 on Destination America and previously in ROH syndication
Report by Jason Powell & ProWrestling.net

The show opened with clips of Samoa Joe, Adam Cole, C.M. Punk, Bryan Danielson, The Briscoes, Kevin Steen, and then Jay Lethal. A graphic read “Creating Excellence”… A video package featured still shots of Jay Lethal defeating Jay Briscoe to win the ROH Title at the Best in the World pay-per-view… The opening montage aired…

Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino welcomed viewers to the show from ringside and wished viewers a happy 4th of July in the United States. They hyped the six-man tag main event…

1. Dalton Castle (w/The Boys) vs. Watanabe. Castle did his flamboyant handshake prior to the match. The wrestlers traded offense heading into the break a couple minutes into the match. [C] A commercial aired for the NJPW talent coming to Brooklyn and Philadelphia in August.

Coming out of the break, the wrestlers jockeyed for position in a rolling small package. They both stood up and acted dizzy from all the rolling around they did. They followed with a double clothesline. Watanabe grabbed control and targeted the back of Castle. However, Castle came back with a spinning facebuster type of move and got the win.

Dalton Castle defeated Watanabe.

Watanabe left the ring after a handshake. Castle took the mic and noted that there were “a lot of boys out there tonight.” His boys positioned themselves on the mat to make a two-man chair, and he laid down on them. Castle said he’s the only real man in ROH, which led to Silas Young walking onto the stage and barking at him about being the real man…

[Q2] [C] Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness stood in the ring and introduced Jay Lethal as the ROH TV Champion and new ROH Champion. Lethal headed to the ring carrying both title belts and was accompanied by Truth Martini, Donovan Dijak, and J Diesel. Nigel shook Lethal’s hand and congratulated him on backing up his claim that he would become the ROH Champion.

The fans chanted “you deserve it.” Truth stepped forward and said while the fans were right that Lethal deserves it, they are not his people. Truth said “we” (the wrestlers in the ring) are Lethal’s people. Lethal said he is the best in the world, just as he has said from the beginning.

Lethal said he is the undisputed champion of the greatest wrestling company in the world. Lethal added that ROH is the greatest wrestling company of the world because he’s the undisputed champion. Corino said Lethal made a good point. Lethal said that’s all he had to say because he doesn’t need to prove anything.

Nigel stopped him and asked which of the two belts Lethal plans to vacate. Lethal said he’s not giving up a damn thing. “I earned both of these,” Lethal said. He said Nigel knew that one man would come out of Best in the World with both title belts.

Nigel said he has two separate belts, meaning Lethal may have to defend both belts in two different matches. Nigel said Lethal would defend the ROH Title against Roderick Strong at the Death Before Dishonor iPPV, and he will defend his ROH TV Title next week against Mark Briscoe. Lethal said he will defend both titles in one night if he needs to. Lethal said he’s going to destroy Briscoe next week.

Roderick Strong’s entrance music interrupted Lethal’s rant. Strong made his entrance and entered the ring. Kelly said Strong didn’t care that he was entering the ring “in enemy territory.” Strong told Lethal to face him and asked, “you’re a man, right?” Strong said Lethal will walk into the iPPV as the champion, and then Strong will walk out as the new ROH Champion… Kelly hyped the six-man tag main event… [C]

[Q3] Mandy Leon hosted the Inside ROH segment and focussed on Jay Lethal’s win at Best in the World. Highlights of his match with Jay Briscoe were shown. Leon set up a Roderick Strong promo. He spoke about getting the title shot he earned. Leon said next week’s Inside ROH will focus on Cedric Alexander…

Adam Page cut a studio in front of the ROH banner hyping his match against Matt Sydal for next week’s television show… [C]

Adam Cole, Matt Taven, Michael Bennett, and Maria made their entrance. Maria took the mic and said Cole is upset about losing at Best in the World, but it’s not his fault. She pointed out that Taven and Bennett won tag gold in Japan. She said she is the leader of The Kingdom and takes full responsibility. She said they would prove that this kingdom will never fall. They had a group hug. The babyface trio made their entrances for the main event… [C]

2. Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole, Matt Taven, and Michael Bennett (w/Maria). Elgin performed an early suplex on Bennett after holding him up for an extended period of time. Corino said it looked like Elgin was having fun in the ring again after losing his smile.

[Q4] The heel trio isolated Elgin, who was fighting them off with elbows heading into the break. [C] Fish and O’Reilly worked over Taven, then targeted Cole with double team moves. Fish and O’Reilly did some gyrating, then went back to work on Taven and got a near fall.

Later, Elgin fought off Taven and Bennett and hoisted them both up on his shoulders. Cole tried to stop him, but he flung the legs of his opponents at Cole and then performed a double Samoan drop. The fans chanted “this is awesome” only because “this is pretty good” doesn’t have the same zest to it.

The heel trio got a near fall on Elgin after a nice series of rapid fire offense. Fish and O’Reilly dumped Cole and Bennett to the floor and then dove on them. In the ring, Elgin picked up Taven in powerbomb position and dumped him onto his opponents on the floor. The babyface trio performed a powerbomb off the middle rope for a two count.

Cole performed the Canadian Destroyer on Elgin, then Taven and Bennett performed a double team move for another two count. Elgin made a hot tag to O’Reilly, who squared off with Cole. They traded offense and then O’Reilly turned him inside out with a clothesline. O’Reilly and Fish performed Chasing The Dragon on Cole, which led to O’Reilly pinning Cole. After the match, Cole shook O’Reilly’s hand and then raised his arm before leaving the ring without his teammates…

Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Michael Elgin defeated Adam Cole, Matt Taven, and Michael Bennett.

WWE Tough Enough Draws Best Rating Of Season, Total Divas Viewership

Matt Boone
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The Tuesday, July 7th edition of WWE Tough Enough on the USA Network drew 1.22 million viewers. By comparison, last week’s show drew 1.05 million viewers. This week’s Tough Enough show was the highest rated episode of the season thus far.

The Tuesday, July 7th season premiere of WWE Total Divas on E! drew 975,000 viewers.

WWE Issues Statement Regarding Fan Getting Hit By Car Door On RAW

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The story about the fan getting hit with a car door by Brock Lesnar on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW is starting to gain some mainstream media attention.

As noted, a fan was injured by a piece of the Cadillac car door that was thrown by Lesnar on Monday in Chicago. The fan was then tended to by WWE trainers and EMTs before being brought backstage and later returning to his seat to watch the rest of the show. WWE also loaded him up with tons of free merchandise.

The New York Daily News has picked up on the story, which has prompted WWE to release an official statement. The statement reads as follows:

“WWE immediately responded to the incident during last night’s show. The fan was unharmed and declined any medical attention.”

Lucha Underground Preview For Tonight (Episode 136)

Matt Boone
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The following matches were taped for tonight’s edition of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network.

– The Mack vs. Cage

– Vampiro Interviews Pentagon Jr.

– Son of Havoc (w/Ivelisse, Angelico) vs. Mil Muertes (with Catrina)

– Texano promo

– Alberto El Patron, AeroStar, Sexy Star and Drago vs. Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, Super Fly and Hernandez in an Atomicos tag team match

You can watch a video preview for tonight’s show at the top of the page.

EC3 Talks Winning TNA Title, Being In NXT, His Infamous Promo & More

Matt Boone
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TNA World Heavyweight Champion Ethan Carter III recently appeared as a guest on Busted Open Radio to talk about a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On being the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion: “Well I do have a heart but it’s pumped black full of panda-energy oil. I can take you on a trip down memory lane … First off, I know that this was built as a Slammiversary match but unfortunately circumstances negated that and we were kinda in a lose-lose situation because if we did it at Slammiversary but filmed TV prior … you know, it weird, but it did work out. It worked out great, I think Bell-to-Bell was our best show that we’ve had in a very long time. Everyone killed it on that show, it was great… great matches. The match with Kurt was perfect for what we were doing. It told the perfect story. It was my dream match as a kid to have and to have it for a World Championship was out of control and surreal. I mean, there was some definite knocks on the way, it’s been a long journey to get any sort of vindication for success, there’s been personal and professional ales that I’ve had to but I’m here and it’s AWESOME.”

On what kept EC3 motivated after all of the things he’s gone through throughout his career: “I kind of live my life by a motto, and whether it’s in wrestling or it’s in relationships with crazy ex-girlfriends or it’s any sort of, you know, people who spite me along the way … “It’s not over, until I win”. It is not over until I win and I will do everything in my being to prove people wrong. So, it wasn’t over until I won. I won. But now it’s just getting started. People think it’s like a death sentence to be released from WWE, when in fact there are plenty of places around the world to prove yourself… around the world to work and hopefully around the world to build up to be something special and build something great. TNA has afforded me that opportunity to just take the ball and kind of run with it and let me develop as a character, be myself and show who I truly am and I’ve hopefully repaid them by doing good work.”

On his infamous post-match promo: “It was immediately after [the match]. After a brain-rattling 15 German Suplexes and a lot of emotions unfolded. Before that promo took place, you know, cameras go off and my mom and dad were there… I brought them down to watch it. You’re getting all misty-eyed with my black heart but you know, we had a nice moment there. Miss Natalie, my girlfriend, was there. She’s seen me go through some shit in the day and you walk back to a round of applause from the guys on the roster… the girls… everyone that works there. And I was like “Wow. Get back to work, guys”. This is literally what I said and I completely regret it because it was such an emotional moment for me and I can’t help but be an idiot when I speak out loud sometimes but that meant the world to me. If they endorse me, the people in the back, the majority of them, that’s the justification I need. So, I am walking back because we’re actually filming more TV that day and I still had a whole gamut of activities to do but I took a seat down and this camera showed up in my face. They asked me how it felt to be the new TNA World Champion. It was raw and emotional and I look back on it… I forgot that I did it probably immediately after but … I look back on it and if it was a “wrestling promo” it may not have worked as much as, like, that was just me. And then it was like, “EC3 cuts expletive- ridden promo taking shots” and before I take any shots, WWE was really good to me for a long while and took care of me and taught me everything that I know and there is a lot of people that still to this day that I keep in touch with and good friends with and a lot of people are happy for me for succeeding elsewhere. There may be one or two guys that ended up being my death sentence there… one might not be there anymore … but do I need the motivation? No. I’ve always had the motivation. But if you could add fire to a fire to make it a bigger fire that is what happened and like I said, it’s not over until I win.”

On who from TNA gave EC3 his chance: “Coming over, I was on NXT before NXT was cool and awesome, you know, it was a chop-shop game show, I was on the internet, it was throwaway. We did the redemption thing and nobody cared. It was whatever. Probably people, major players in the office never even watched it or barely looked at it. That’s fine because they have better things to worry about. So I was at NXT then and John Gaburick was over in WWE and he’s in the truck all the time and he’s watching everything. When he came over to TNA, I was free and he immediately brought me in for a try out and next thing you know, I’m dropping Norv Fernum on his head and we’re off to the races. He saw something … a couple of other people vouched for me from over there to him and he brought me in and I was sort of his first “guy” to bring in and you know, regardless if I shit the bed or didn’t, he was going to be behind me because that’s wrestling and you get behind “your guys” and give them every chance to succeed even if they fail. Fortunately, it was pretty good and successful thus far.”

On people from across pro-wrestling who have reached out since winning the title: “You mentioned all those great people (Mick Foley, Seth Rollins) saying nice things and that meant the world to me. I’m a villain and I’m evil, but a lot of people kind of resonated with me personally and the journey I guess and especially with that promo. Foley? Wow. Jim Ross? Wow. And then Seth … Seth’s awesome. We came up similarly … he was more of a “Super-Indy” while I was more of a guy trying to get signed because that’s what I thought I’d be best at. We spent a lot of time at developmental together and we drove a little bit and we’re pals but we’re not the best of friends … we’re busy with our respective things but for him to be champion, and to say that, that meant a lot, I thought that took balls … not really because he’s the champ and he can do whatever he wants, as he should. It was very, very cool of him and I was just like, “Yeah, that’s awesome, Seth. I hate the fact that I’m a year older than you though. Damnit!” No… he’s great. He’s doing a great job and he deserves every bit of success he’s getting too.”

Check out the complete interview at BustedOpenNation.com.

9-Page WWE RAW Announcer Script Leaks Online

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On Wednesday, a full, nine-page WWE RAW announcer script leaked online.

Below and across the next several pages are each page of a very detailed script that was given to WWE announcers prior to a live RAW broadcast.

Click below to advance to the next page to view the next page of the script …

WWE RAW Viewership Increases This Week

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The Monday, July 6th edition of WWE RAW averaged 3.647 million viewers, which was up from the previous week’s show, which drew 3.462 million viewers.

The hourly viewership breakdown for this week’s RAW is as follows:

Hour One: 3.637 million viewers
Hour Two: 3.689 million viewers
Hour Three: 3.615 million viewers

Photos: Kurt Angle Undergoes Successful Surgery To Remove Tumor

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Kurt Angle underwent successful surgery to remove a benign tumor from his neck earlier this week. By all accounts, the former Olympic gold medalist seems to be in good spirits.

Angle posted the following updates from the hospital after undergoing surgery.

https://instagram.com/p/415EmUiYON/

https://instagram.com/p/42TOOmiYNk/

https://instagram.com/p/42O69giYE1/

Video: John Cena Talks In-Depth About His Sex Scene In New Judd Apatow Movie

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WWE Superstar John Cena recently spoke with Access Hollywood about his sex scene in the Judd Apatow film “Trainwreck,” starring Amy Schumer.

Above is a video of Cena talking about the scene and below are some quotes.

“Trainwreck” drops in theaters on July 17th.

“There was talk about it being a closed set, but within 20 minutes there’s two camera ops, two focus-pullers, three lighting guys, two sounds guys, props. Catering was in there at one point. It became the most un-intimate environment possible – and that helped! There’s nothing intimate or sexy about it – it’s true comedy.”

“It was all day. My mom is probably so proud – I wore a sock to work all day! Special.”

“I have a lot to learn in this game and Amy and Judd are both very funny people with unbelievable track records. They created an environment where I didn’t feel threatened, I didn’t feel out of place, I didn’t feel uncool. That reinforcement and that environment led to some crazy awkward moments that you see onscreen.”

“A lot of the stuff that was [improvised] ended up in the movie. And that was only because, like I said, [Amy and Judd] didn’t make me feel for one second as if I was inferior. They treated me as a peer and I’m so, so thankful for that because I’m out of my element.”

VIDEO: UFC Releases Footage Of CM Punk Training For Octagon Debut!

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