Joey Janela was scheduled to work this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, but was pulled at the last minute.
About an hour before the show went live on TNT, All Elite Wrestling announced in a post on social media that Janela had been removed from his scheduled bout against Kenny Omega due to COVID-19 concerns.
“AEW and Joey Janela learned today that he had exposure to a known COVID-19 positive person at an independent show. For that reason we are pulling him until such time as he is cleared to return consistent with our protocols.”
This bout was part of several planned matches as part of the World Title Eliminator tournament. AEW later announced that Janela would be replaced by Sony Kiss in this contest.
Penta El Zero M vs. Rey Fenix, Colt Cabana vs. Hangman Page, and Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy were also part of the first round matches on this show.
The news comes after Janela faced AJ Gray at Game Changer Wrestling’s The Last Resort show in Silverado, California this past Saturday.
Also on Wednesday, Gray announced that he tested positive for COVID-19. Gray wrote that his positive COVID-19 test was taken on Monday.
Last year, there were some fans curious why WWE didn’t give Triple H and Stephanie McMahon the positions as Executive Directors of SmackDown and RAW.
Instead, Eric Bischoff took the role on SmackDown and Paul Heyman on RAW. Fightful Select reported today that the married couple wasn’t given the roles for different reasons.
It was stated that many people backstage were “shocked” that Paul Heyman was put into this role as he was under Vince McMahon. It was noted that Heyman had been “the loudest voice in the RAW writer’s room” before getting the Executive Director position.
It was said that Stephanie “didn’t want that spot” as she is happy with her current role in WWE. On the flip side, Triple H didn’t get the spot as most believed that “if Triple H wanted the role, he’d have it.” Thus, he wasn’t interested as he’s in charge of the NXT brand.
Of course, both Heyman and Bischoff are no longer in these roles. In both cases, Vince McMahon made the decision to remove them.
After a few months of Heyman being on the sidelines, he was paired with Roman Reigns while Bischoff hasn’t been in WWE or on television since his departure.
The early betting odds for all of the matches that will take place at the WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place this weekend (Sunday, October 25, 2020) from Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center has not been finalized as only four matches have been announced.
As of this writing, there is only one title change expected at this show. That would be Sasha Banks challenging WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley. According to oddsmakers, Banks will walk out with the strap.
Make sure to join us this Sunday for match recaps and our takeaways from this latest pay-per-view event held by WWE.
Hell In A Cell Betting Odds
The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Odds call for all three titles to change. Here are the final betting odds courtesy of BetOnline:
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns (-2500) vs. Jey Uso (+800) – Hell in a Cell I Quit Match
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre (-135) vs. Randy Orton (+100) – Hell in a Cell Match
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley (+150) vs. Sasha Banks (-200) – Hell in a Cell Match
Elias (-137) vs. Jeff Hardy (+100) – Singles Match
Bryan Alvarez talked during today’s Wrestling Observer Live about the statement issued by WWE about local officials looking to investigate venues in the Orlando area that could be COVID-19 hotspots.
As noted, the WWE Performance Center and the Amway Center aka the WWE ThunderDome were among the places listed as potential hotspots.
Alvarez read the statement, which noted “Aventus Labs have administered more than 10,000 PCR tests to WWE performers, employees, production staff and crew resulting in only 1.5 percent positive cases as compared to the current national average of more than 5%.”
Alvarez stated that while no official numbers are known due to WWE not releasing them, he had heard around 38 for the big outbreak and then additional people testing positive during another outbreak. The second outbreak was in the double digits.
He stated that after this outbreak, there were a lot of people who disappeared. He noted that some of those who did disappear were due to contract tracing disappearances. This means that they didn’t have the virus, but had been around people who did have it.
He pointed out how WWE’s own statement noted there were essentially 150 positive tests. He added that he knows for a fact that there have been people in WWE who tested positive and the people who lived with them that ended up getting COVID-19, but not counting in WWE tests.
Alvarez stated that there is a crazy number of people that have contracted coronavirus as a result of WWE TV tapings.
Paul Heyman continues to speak about his alliance with Roman Reigns on WWE television.
He did so yet again in an interview with Metro.UK. This is where Heyman noted that this partnership has been something in the works dating back to Reigns’ main roster debut in 2012 when he was a member of The Shield with Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.
“So this has been in the works ever since Roman Reigns debuted on the main roster and I would dare say this has been in the works since the day Roman Reigns was born.
So, what do I like about it? Every single solitary thing about it, I like. How long has it been in the works? Really since the beginning of time, as Roman Reigns knows it to be.”
WWE first started this pairing on the SmackDown episode following the SummerSlam pay-per-view event in August. Since that time, Reigns has become WWE Universal Champion.
Reigns will make his next title defense against his cousin, Jey Uso, this Sunday at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event in Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center. This will be a rematch from the Clash of Champions event.
Peyton Royce recently spoke to Kayla Braxton for her Braxton Beat online show. During the discussion, Royce spoke about WWE’s decision to break up the popular IIconics tag tam.
Royce admitted that she is still adjusting to the abrupt split. The two of them got called up to the main roster at the same time and this is the first time they’ve worked on different brands.
“It’s so strange,” she said. “I’ve never had to be at TVs without her. She keeps me sane. She’s just like my safety blanket and I’m not going to have that and I’m going to have to put on my panties and work it out for myself.”
“So we both have our phones ready to go on Mondays and Fridays if we need anything, just emotional support or anything. So we’re pretty much both working Mondays and Fridays.”
After years working as part of a tag team, Peyton Royce now finds herself as a singles competitor. She again said it’s a “strange” situation that she will have to get used to.
“The singles division is completely different to the women’s tag team division. I know it’s the same for the men, too, but there are so many people who, you know, I will hopefully have the opportunity to get in the ring with now that I’m in the singles division. But again, it’s going to take some getting used to even just doing my entrance without her. It’s just strange.”
You can watch Peyton Royce on Kayla Braxton’s show in the video player embedded below:
The following are previews for tonight’s AEW and NXT broadcasts:
AEW Dynamite
Chris Jericho and MJF will meet for a steak dinner in a segment dubbed, Le Dinner Debonair.
Fatal 4-Way Tag Title Match: The Young Bucks vs. Private Party vs. Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. The Butcher & The Blade. The winners face FTR for the AEW World Tag Titles at Full Gear.
AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament (1st Round):
Penta El Zero M vs. Rey Fenix
Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela
Hangman Page vs. Colt Cabana
Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy
NXT
AEW Tag Team Champions Breezango vs. Undisputed Era (Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish)
Triple Threat: Kushida vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream
Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza vs. Isaiah Scott, Jake Atlas, and Ashante Adonis.
Ken Shamrock won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on the 1st ever TNA Wrestling show back in 2002. The UFC Hall of Famer and MMA pioneer is set to be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame this weekend.
The promotion just announced that Shamrock’s induction will air live and for free on AXS TV and Impact’s digital channels. Impact took to Twitter to announce the news:
BREAKING: @ShamrockKen's Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place THIS SATURDAY during the LIVE Countdown to Glory pre-show at 7pm ET on @AXSTV and IMPACT's digital channels. #BFG2020pic.twitter.com/yg9gLul0e1
Last month, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said that he would film a video for Shamrock’s induction. The Rock and Shamrock were rivals during the Attitude Era in WWF.
Congrats, my brother. Awesome news. I will take care of this and get it to you by this weekend. ???
Ken Shamrock is set to become the 9th person inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame. Previous inductees are listed below:
2012: Sting
2013: Kurt Angle
2014: Bully Ray & Devon (Team 3D)
2015: Jeff Jarrett
2015: Earl Hebner
2016: Gail Kim
2018: Abyss
Shamrock commented on his pending induction recently during an interview with Yahoo Sports.
“It’s a moment you’re going to cherish for the rest of your life and beyond,” Shamrock said. “You have been recognized by your fans and your peers. Obviously life’s not over, but for a career that you’ve started and that you tried to achieve many goals in, this is a story that comes to a good ending. I’m honored. There’s not enough words to even say.”
Kris Statlander tore her ACL during a tag match on AEW Dynamite back in June. At the time, the alien from the Andromeda galaxy had become one of the top-ranked competitors in her division. She spoke to the Wrestling Inc Daily podcast recently and gave an update on her condition. Unfortunately, Statlander believes she’ll be out of action for another 8 months or so.
“I’m doing pretty good. I think from what I’ve heard overall is that I might be a little bit ahead of others where I’m at right now, but I still have a real long way to go before I can re-debut basically and get back in the ring before I’m debuting again obviously, and I’m going to want to be training a little bit before,” Statlander said. “So I’ll be able to get in the ring before you’ll see me back on TV. It could be another eight months or so.”
Statlander also spoke about her injury which occurred during a suicide dive attempt. She was teaming with Hikaru Shida and taking on Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford.
“I just did a suicide dive, and the way I landed, I guess, was not perfectly right. You can actually see the dive on TV when I heard it, but all you see is me quickly grab my leg when I go down, and then the camera’s off of me. But it doesn’t even look like I did anything super insane, or it doesn’t look very noticeable. ‘Oh, she messed up her leg there.’ You cannot tell at all. So I had no idea what happened. I just kind of felt a little ‘pfft’ in my leg. It didn’t even hurt that bad either. I was just like, ‘oh boy.'”
Statlander had just defeated Penelope Ford in singles competition at the Double or Nothing PPV the previous month before her injury. She unsuccessfully challenged Nyla Rose for the title at the Revolution PPV in February as well.
AEW has released new top-5 rankings ahead of tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
AEW Men’s Singles Division
AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley (20-0) TNT Champion: Cody (19-2-1)
Brian Cage (9-1) (+1)
MJF (9-1) (+1)
Lance Archer (13-2) (-2)
Brodie Lee (8-2)
Shawn Spears (14-2) (previously unranked)
After Jon Moxley successfully defended the AEW World Championship last week on Dynamite, his opponent dropped 2 spots in the rankings. Lance Archer had been ranked #1 before his title shot, but he drops to #3 with the loss.
Archer dropping in the rankings moves both MJF and Brian Cage up one spot. Cage now sits in the #1 spot in the division.
Several unranked wrestlers will compete in a tournament beginning tonight on Dynamite. Fenix, Pentagon, Colt Cabana, Jungle Boy, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, and Joey Janela are all unranked but with a chance to earn a shot if they can win the upcoming tournament.
TNT Champion Cody retained the title last week after going to a time limit draw with unranked Orange Cassidy. They will meet again on next week’s show.
#5 Shawn Spears has also replaced Scorpio Sky in the final ranked spot. Spears and Sky seem to have a bit of a rivalry going on Dark as well. Spears defeated Christopher Daniels on Dark last night but continued the attack after the match until Sky made the save. Spears would also come to the ring during Sky’s match on Dark last night as well.
AEW Women’s Division
AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida (18-1)
Nyla Rose (11-2)
Penelope Ford (9-5) (+1)
Abadon (5-1) (+1)
Big Swole (10-5) (-2)
Dr. Britt Baker (5-6)
After dropping a title match to Hikaru Shida last week, Big Swole drops from the #2 spot to the #4 spot. Her drop in the rankings moves Penelope Ford and Abadon up one spot each.
#5 Dr. Britt Baker DMD is in action tonight Dynamite. Her opponent has yet to be announced, however.
On Dark last week, #1 Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero let it be known that they want another crack at the title.
AEW Tag Team Division
AEW Tag Team Champions: FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (12-0)
Young Bucks (7-3) (+1)
Best Friends (17-7) (-1)
The Natural Nightmares (8-2)
Butcher and the Blade (10-5)
Santana & Ortiz (8-5)
After FTR successfully defended the tag belts against the Best Friends on Dynamite last week, Trent and Chuckie T drop one spot in the rankings to #2.
#1 The Young Bucks will have a chance to earn a tag title shot tonight on Dynamite. They take on Private Party, Silver & Reynolds, and #4 The Butcher and the Blade tonight with the winner facing FTR at Full Gear.
Impact Wrestling 10/21 was the go-home show for Saturday’s Bound For Glory PPV. The North faced The Good Brothers, a 5-way would determine who enters last in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet at BFG, and Havok took on Rosemary with James Mitchell’s possible reincarnation on the line.
Impact Results 10/20:
Winner Enters At #20 In Call Your Shot Gauntlet Hernandez defeated Rhino, Heath, Alisha & Cousin Jake
Rosemary defeated Havok
Sami Callihan defeated Eddie Edwards
Willie Mack, TJP & Trey Miguel defeated Chris Bey, Jordynne Grace & X-Division Champion Rohit Raju
The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) – No-Contest
The Good Brothers Stand Tall To End The Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRmCfwIF5WU
Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows appear to have all the momentum heading into Bound For Glory. They met Josh Alexander and Ethan Page, the North, in the night’s main event. The Good Brothers appeared to have the match won when they hit the Magic Killer on Page but Alexander was able to make the save. Shortly after this, all 4 men began brawling in the ring, causing the ref to call for the bell.
The chaos brought out the other two teams in the tag title 4-way match on Saturday. The MCMG and the Good Brothers cleared the ring of Austin & Fulton and the North. The Good Brothers then delivered a Magic Killer on Sabin and stood tall to end the show.
Ken Shamrock Assaults Eddie Edwards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fslgptf80xE
At Bound For Glory, Ken Shamrock will face Eddie Edwards. In recent weeks, Shamrock has been under the control of Sami Callihan and seems more vicious than ever. This week it would be Edwards and Callihan rekindling their rivalry. Edwards appeared to have the upper hand but right when he went for the Boston Knee Party, Callihan pressed that button he has which turns the lights out in the building. When the lights came back on, Shamrock was at ringside. The distraction allowed Callihan to roll up Edwards for the pin. Shamrock then attacked his BFG opponent to soften him up before the PPV.
Eric Young and Rich Swann Brawl Days Before Bound For Glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6xOT51fUO4
Eric Young and Rich Swann will clash for the Impact World Championship on Saturday. Young has attacked Swann numerous times but the former X-Division Champion keeps training hard and getting cleared by Impact’s medical team. Young was cutting a promo stating that he’ll continue to attack people if they get in his way when Swann attacked him.
EC3 Says Moose Is Becoming Who He Is Supposed To Be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KysbLTEhv1Q
Jimmy Jacobs had the unfortunate task of interviewing both Moose and EC3 this week. Moose was his normal pleasant self, having recaptured the TNA title seemingly having done little to improve his mood. After Moose stormed off set during the interview, EC3’s minions put a hood over Jacobs and took him to an undisclosed location to meet with EC3.
EC3 said that when he was fighting Moose on the bridge last week (when Moose repossessed the title) he saw the kind of guy he wants to fight. He saw the version of Moose that he should always be. EC3 called Moose a false idol but has potential to be something more.
“Lessons not learned in blood are lessons you will forget,” EC3 said. “Moose needs to learn who he has to become but he also must learn at my hands.”
Rosemary Earns James Mitchell’s Reincarnation With Win Over Havok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaP7rbmndR4
This may take some explaining. Rosemary is getting married to John E Bravo on next week’s show. Since she is a demon, however, she needs someone like Father James Mitchell to officiate the wedding. That would be all fine and good but Mitchell was killed by Rosemary and Havok in the undead realm in a previous storyline. Rosemary needs Havok to agree to help bring back Mitchell to officiate the wedding. Havok agreed to this match with the stipulation that if Rosemary won, she’d help bring back the Sinister Minister. Rosemary picked up the victory with two spears, meaning Father James Mitchell may return to both Impact and the living realm next week for the wedding.
Hernandez To Enter Last In Call Your Shot Gauntlet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4njCE9cIDM
A 10-person tag last week was held with the winning team facing each other this week. The winner of this match would then be granted the #20 entry into the Call Your Shot Gauntlet at Bound For Glory. The winner of the Gauntlet match can challenge whichever champion in the promotion they want. Also, Scott D’Amore has said to Rhino and Heath that if one of them doesn’t win the match, they are both gone from Impact.
Hernandez would pick up the victory here and earn the final entry at BFG. The finish of the match came when Rhino attempted to gore Hernandez, missed, hit Alisha, and then Hernandez rolled him up for the pin.
Everyone’s Gunning For Rohit Raju’s X-Division Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69tKYo1GDP4
X-Division Champion Rohit Raju has done everything he can to avoid facing the top challengers for his title. He’s in tough at Bound For Glory, however, as he’ll have to defend his title in a 6-way match. All 6 competitors in the match were in this tag-team match but the champion’s team failed to get along.
Raju and Chris Bey began arguing over who should pin their opponents and it became clear they were not on the same page. The champion attempted to attack Bey but took a springboard cutter for his trouble. Trey Miguel then kicked Bey in the head and pinned Raju to win the match for his team.
Bound For Glory Lineup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R2-IB099AM
Here is the lineup for Saturday’s Bound For Glory PPV:
Impact World Championship Eric Young (c) vs Rich Swann
Knockouts Championship Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs Kylie Rae
Impact Tag Team Championships The Motor City Machine Guns (c) vs the Good Brothers vs The North vs Ace Austin & Madman Fulton
X-Division Championship Rohit Raju (c) vs Jordynne Grace vs TJP vs Chris Bey vs Trey Miguel vs Willie Mack
Elias recently returned to WWE after being on the shelf for months with a torn pectoral muscle. He sat down with Sports Illustrated recently and spoke about his injury, recovery, and current storyline with Jeff Hardy on RAW.
“I don’t know if my chest will ever look the same that it was, but I feel strong,” Elias said of his pectoral muscle tear. “When this happened, it sounded like a piece of paper getting ripped in half. But my strength is back. I’ve been training in the ring; I feel good and I’m ready.”
Elias also spoke about his current storyline with Jeff Hardy. The angle originally played out on Smackdown but both Hardy and Elias were recently drafted to RAW.
“There is a lot to this story,” Elias said. “I know people love Jeff Hardy. I grew up loving him, too. His wrestling ability and longevity, it’s amazing. But if there are people out there that think Elias, who was the man hit by a car, doesn’t know who was driving it, you’re in the wrong.”
Elias has a new music album coming out on October 26th. During the interview, Elias also spoke about what went into this project.
“I searched my soul during my down time, seeking truth, and that’s why I entitled the album Universal Truth,” Elias says. “It is different from the album I put out in 2018. That was very character-driven, and I loved that album, but this is different. It’s spiritual, it’s energy, it’s rock and roll. The lyrics are deep and meaningful. You’re going to feel the energy when you listen.”
“He made some reference that we didn’t draw, which is always .. I don’t know if that’s a fair view,” Hart stated. “If you look at any of the WrestleManias, WrestleMania 12, you can’t tell me, if you look at the crowd, that I didn’t draw. I mean, it was huge buyrates and it was a packed. Even Wembley with Bulldog was over 80,000 fans there. And to try to throw out, ‘hey, you never drew?’ I wrestled in front of 100,000 people in India for [WWE] in 1994.”
A Great “Pretend Wrestler”
Bret Hart acknowledged that, although he feels he was an undeniable draw, an argument could be made that he didn’t draw in the same way Hulk Hogan did—though he isn’t sure any other Superstar did.
He argued how Roberts never went to the gym and was strictly a “promo” guy. Although he credited Roberts as a “great worker,” Hart quickly added how he was a “great pretend wrestler.”
“I think it bothers me that someone like Jake, who never went to the gym– if he did go to the gym, he might do a set and then go smoke a cigarette outside. He was not a tough guy, was not a legit athlete, he was strictly a promo, and he was a great worker; a great pretend wrestler.”
Hart continued, “But all I know is that when my time came and they picked me to be the champion, they chose me for whatever reasons. I’m very happy that they chose me. I think I was a good choice. I certainly worked hard enough to get that opportunity. But Jake Roberts said something like we were too small and we and we never drew big numbers or anything like that, but I say in response to that, where was Jake Roberts? […] like, why didn’t [Roberts] take the torch? Why wasn’t he there?”
Throwing Stones
Bret Hart then claimed that Roberts was the kind of wrestler who “never passed the torch to anybody.” According to him, Roberts was never interested in establishing anyone but himself.
Vehemently disagreeing with Roberts’ opinion, Hart stressed that he believes that people would be “hard pressed to find two better” than himself and Michaels to become champion. He added how they never had to take a backseat to Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, or those that Roberts considered to be “real iconic [pro] wrestling champions.”
As far as Bret Hart is concerned, Jake Roberts has “no business ever throwing stones at me and Shawn.”
Matt & Nick Jackson were reportedly offered contracts to be part of the Lucha Underground roster. Konnan talked about how much show runners for LU offered the Young Bucks recently on an episode of his “Keepin it 100” podcast.
Konnan commented on how the company’s lawyer was the one reaching out to the popular tag-team.
“Here’s why Lucha Underground was — this is the type of sh*t that only Lucha Underground would do,” Konnan said (transcriptions via POST Wrestling). “They had some jackoff, yes you are a jackoff, called Tony Jensen. He was the lawyer of the f*cking company. So they had this guy who doesn’t know sh*t about wrestling, doesn’t know how to talk to wrestlers, you know?”
Konnan then revealed the Bucks were only offered $250 each. He then said that the Bucks countered by asking for 10x as much.
“You gotta be able to talk their language, alright and he calls The Young Bucks and he offers them $250 each. So they basically told me to go f*ck myself and that yeah, they’d sign if they got $2,500 each, and I was like, ‘Bro, Dorian [Roldan], why don’t you let me talk to the wrestlers? I already have a connection, a relationship with a lot of them and I know how to back and forth’ but no, they kept him there.”
Numerous wrestlers had to hire lawyers to get out of their deals with Lucha Underground.
Sasha Banks has reflected on experiencing racism as a child during an appearance on the New Day’s podcast, Feel the Power. She shared how she used her fears as motivation to chase her dreams of becoming a pro wrestler.
Opening up about her experiences, Banks confessed it was hard for her as a kid. She found it challenging as her family moved around a lot. Banks stressed how she was the “only black girl in the whole freaking county” when she lived in Iowa, leading to a heavy sense of isolation.
However, it wouldn’t be until she moved to California that Banks would encounter racism first hand. She added that she soon watched pro wrestling after this encounter. This introduction to wrestling, coupled with the desire to be “break this fear,” gave her new direction.
“I was walking home from softball practice and this guy on his porch was screaming at me, ‘Hey ‘N’ Word, get the f–k out of here!’ And instantly, I became so shy and so scared,” Banks recalled. “Next thing I know, I’m watching wrestling like, ‘Whoa! This is who I’m going to be; I’m going to be larger than life. I’m going to be something that I can’t be right now, and I have to do this because this is my dream and I have to break this fear.'”
Banks continued, “So ever since I laid my eyes on wrestling, it was just always my mindset, and this is what was going to save me. It was going to break me away from being a scared little child and being so fearful. But now, I’m here, breaking so many fears, and it’s crazy.”
Eddie Kingston has revealed that The Bunny is now a member of his “family” in All Elite Wrestling. Kingston made the announcement during this week’s episode of AEW Dark.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the family is back together,” said Kingston. “You’ve got my best friend Pentagon, you’ve got Fenix—the best tag team in the universe. […] You’ve got the big Butcher, you got the jacked-up Blade, and look at this beautiful specimen right here. Look who’s back? The Bunny. And now that we’re all together, everybody’s going to pay.”
By aligning herself with Eddie Kingston and his stable, The Bunny is once again with The Butcher and the Blade. She originally debuted as the team’s valet. Bunny would later become a part of the Nightmare Family, where she formed a tag team with Brandi Rhodes and accompanied QT Mashall ringside.
However, with this new defection, it appears as though The Bunny may no longer be a part of the Nightmare Family, subsequently breaking up her team with Brandi, the Nightmare Sisters. The pair took part in AEW’s recent Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament. They were almost victorious, making it all the way to the finals on the 8/22 episode of Dynamite. They ultimately lost to tournament winners Diamante and Ivelisse.
If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a H/T to SEScoops.
Sheamus has seemingly found some newfound respect for New Day member Big E following their recent SmackDown feud. As far as The Celtic Warrior is concerned, the new Big E “should be world champion.”
Speaking with Sports Illustrated, Sheamus reflected on their rivalry on WWE’s blue brand. He explained how the world “saw a different side of Big E” during their feud, claiming that this new Big E is deserving of a world championship run.
Sheamus shared how he “[…] hit him as hard as I could, and he hit me back even harder. That’s a credit to him. He brought it, and I still have the marks on my back to prove it.”
This hard-hitting affair was by design. Sheamus stressed it was always his intention to demonstrate how tough Big E is with their feud.
“My intention, as soon as I learned I was working with Big E, was to show he is a tough bastard. I wanted to show a side of him that no one had ever seen. We all know he can joke and crack people up, but when it comes to a fight, he can also hold his own against anybody.”
Following the recent WWE Draft, Sheamus is now a Raw Superstar. Big E, however, remained on SmackDown. His New Day teammates, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston, were also moved to Raw.
WCW Wrestler Johnny Meadows has passed away due to complications from COVID-19 according to posts on his official Facebook account.
The former WCW star who was close to 60 years old had tested positive for the virus in late September and according to reports, he had been on ventilator support since 28 September.
Meadows, whose real name was John Condrone, apparently passed away due to complications with his health sometime on Tuesday.
The veteran wrestler began his career in Southeastern Championship Wrestling where he competed against performers such as Kevin Sullivan, Hector Guerrero, and Dick Murdoch.
He held victories over notable names like Abdullah the Butcher and Stomper and he also competed in title matches against World Champions like Ric Flair and “Crazy” Luke Graham
During his career, Johnny Meadows had stints with many top promotions of his time including short runs in companies such as WCW, ECW, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and others.
Apart from the Meadows character, he was known for several other wrestling characters such as The Paradise City Rockers (with Joey Cazana), The Dream Team (with Don Lucas), The Playboys, The Crusiers (with Terry Bronson) and more.
We at SEScoops send our condolences to the family and friends of Johnny Meadows.
The company has announced that a special edition of the studio show will air this Friday night live from the WWE ThunderDome at the Amway Center in Orlando.
The special one night only episode of the show will air at 10pm ET, right after the episode of SmackDown goes off air and the replay of the blue branded show will then air at 11pm ET.
For those who don’t know, this Friday’s episode of SmackDown will be airing on FS1 because of Game 3 of the MLB World Series airing on FOX on the same night.
WWE Backstage premiered in November 2019 after SmackDown moved to Fox network and it continued airing until mid-March before the production of the show was halted due to COVID-19.
It was then cancelled in June and it’s believed to be one of the reasons why former WWE broadcast personality Renee Young who was one of the hosts of the show left WWE.
The show was hosted by Booker T alongside Young and it featured regular appearances from former wrestling stars such as CM Punk, Paige and Christian.
WWE has not confirmed the personalities for this special edition of WWE Backstage so far and it would be interesting to see who they bring in to host the show this Friday night.
There has been talk of Daniel Cormier possibly joining WWE in coming times and during a recent interview, the Miz revealed his thoughts on the possibility. TMZ Sports recently caught up with the A Lister and they asked him about the speculations of the former MMA star joining the pro wrestling world.
Replying to it, The Miz suggested that the transition from MMA to wrestling is very difficult and claimed that not many people can be as successful as the former Raw women’s champion Ronda Rousey was:
“It’s very difficult, not many people are able to do it, not many people can be as successful as Ronda Rousey was. She came in and really did a tremendous job in just acclimating to our style of professional wrestling. She did a great job and if he can do that, that’s fantastic, but some people just can’t get it.”
The reporter pointed out how Cormier has the charisma needed for becoming a WWE superstar and The Miz interestingly responded by saying “It takes a little more than charisma to be a successful Superstar.”
Advice For Daniel Cormier
The former Intercontinental Champion then went on to explain that there is no trick to make it into the world of wrestling. When asked what advice he would give Daniel if he does pursue a career in professional wrestling, The Miz said that the best advice he got was to stick with it:
“Stick with it, because there’s a lot of reasons that will tear you apart from it. That’s the best advice I’d ever gotten when I was first starting in WWE, not even in WWE, before WWE when I was in independent wrestling. I asked some Superstars what would be the best advice, the best advice I got was stick with it.
Because I watched so many people quit, I watched so many people look at it and go, ‘This is too hard on my body, too hard on everything, I don’t like traveling.’ There’s always an excuse, you know? Screw the excuse.”
Later in the interview, The Miz acknowledged how he made the jump from reality TV to WWE and claimed that he still loves his job. You can check out his full interview in the video below:
The ending of this week’s episode of Raw confused a lot of people with many wondering if the company ran out of time during the broadcast but latest reports suggest that this wasn’t the case.
The Hell In A Cell go home edition of the show saw Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton continue the build for their upcoming championship match in the final segment of the show.
Orton had locked himself inside the Hell In A Cell structure and he was cutting a promo on McIntyre when the WWE champion came out and tried to gain access to the cell.
Drew finally got inside the cage after using a pair of bolt cutters to cut the lock of the cage door and the show ended just before the former NXT champion could attack the Viper.
A lot of people wondered if this ending was a case of WWE running out of time for their broadcast and if they had planned a brawl between the two to hype their upcoming bout but it wasn’t the case.
According to reports from PWInsider, the segment went as planned. It wasn’t a case of the company running out of time and the ending took place exactly as approved by Vince McMahon.
The two stars will now face each other in a Hell In A Cell match at the PPV this Sunday and it would be interesting to see who comes out victorious in this bout.
2020 has been a year of releases with many big names becoming free agents and jumping ships and now another name seems to have joined the list in Impact Wrestling star Daga.
According to reports from WrestlingInc, the high flying star had asked for his release from the company a while back and the officials have now granted his request.
Daga made his Impact debut in February last year and the company had held off his release request while trying to re-sign him but the management did not succeed in their efforts.
The now-former Impact star is probably best known for his time with AAA in Mexico where he spent six years of his career from 2011 to 2017 and won multiple titles, including the AAA cruiserweight championship once.
He was asked about a potential AEW signing last year but Daga had confirmed that he hasn’t talked to the promotion, though he had shown interest in growing his name in the American market.
Now it would be interesting to see where the former Impact star goes next after his release and if WWE or AEW officials show any interest in signing the Mexican wrestler to their promotion in the coming times.
WWE has been criticized by many for gathering people and running shows during the coronavirus pandemic but it appears that their troubles might just be getting started. Latest reports have confirmed that The Orange County, Florida Department of Health is investigating several of the WWE arenas as potential locations where the coronavirus might be spreading.
The health department has asked their Strike Team to look into a total of 17 business locations as potential coronavirus hotspots including a number of bars and fitness centers. The list of places also includes several sites associated with WWE and the locations include the NXT arena at Full Sail University campus, WWE Performance Center, and the WWE ThunderDome at the Amway Arena.
A WWE spokesperson issued the following response to the story explaining that their arenas are not open to the public and they are producing shows with only the essential personnel in attendance:
“WWE is not open to the public, but rather operating on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance. As part of on-going weekly testing protocols, Aventus Labs have administered more than 10,000 PCR tests to WWE performers, employees, production staff and crew resulting in only 1.5 percent positive cases as compared to the current national average of more than 5%. Additionally, extensive contact tracing takes place and impacted individuals are placed in 14-day quarantine and then only cleared after they test negative.”
There is no word yet on what kind of action the health department could take against the company. We will keep you updated on any development in the story.
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW averaged 1.777 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This was down from last week, which did 1.855 million viewers and 0.57 demo rating.
To compare, just one year ago, RAW averaged 2.341 million viewers. This marked the first episode of RAW with its new roster after last week’s Draft and the go-home show for Sunday’s Hell in a Cell event.
WWE went up against an NFL game that aired on ESPN, which was between the Cardinals and Cowboys that had 11.317 million viewers.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.806 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.835 million, 0.56 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.689 million, 0.49 in the 18-49 Demo
SmackDown Viewership
Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.124 million viewers on FOX. This is down from the 2.178 million viewers that the show did for the previous week.
SmackDown averaged 1.987 million viewers in the fast nationals, which was up from the 2.087 million viewers a week ago. This number measured the top metered markets.
The first hour drew 1.978 million viewers while the second hour did 1.995 million viewers. For comparison, the first show of last week’s show did 2.156 million viewers while the second hour did 2.017 million viewers.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 demos, the same from 0.50 rating as last week’s show.
Sami Callihan will go one-on-one with his longtime rival Eddie Edwards tonight on AXS TV and Twitch. At Bound For Glory, Callihan will be in Ken Shamrock’s corner as he takes on Edwards. Shamrock and Callihan have formed an alliance in the promotion. They previously feuded and then formed a tag-team.
“If you told a 14-year-old Sami Callihan that he’d be tag-teaming with Ken Shamrock, he’d freak out,” Callihan said in an interview with Slam Wrestling. “But, now, as a grown man, I don’t just look at him like a legend – I look at him as an equal, a co-worker. I look at it as a big feather in my cap that I’m the person they put with him after he came back to wrestling after being gone for so many years. Because they knew we could really do good business.”
Callihan also spoke about the last couple of years he has spent in Impact Wrestling. He won the company’s world title and has had high-profile feuds with Rich Swann, Tessa Blanchard and others.
“To go from someone like Pentagon Jr. then to Brian Cage, to Rich Swann, to Tessa Blanchard, then to Ken Shamrock. Anyone you put me in the ring with, I’m going to bring out the best in them.”
