NXT Superstar Keith Lee has previously reflected on being rejected by WWE following unsuccessful tryouts. In a recent interview with Yahoo Sports before last night’s episode of NXT, Lee shared which WWE Legends helped inspire him after being told he wouldn’t be needed. He also addressed his recent feuds with Damien Priest and Dominik Dijakovic and the meaning of being “Limitless.”
After being rejected by WWE, Lee pointed to NXT General Manager William Regal and WWE Hall of Famers Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes in helping to keep him motivated with his dream of signing with WWE.
He utilized the time after his tryouts to continue to hone his craft on the independent circuit, making a name for himself in the process. During this time, NXT began to change into something that could make use of him. Lee noted how he’s always been a confident person and that all he’s “ever really required is an opportunity.”
Keith Lee Is Limitless
Keith Lee’s nickname “Limitless” ties into this concept. He explained how his character represents his life growing up, but also his experiences in entertainment as a whole.
“Being told no so many times, being denied, turned down, shut down, talked down and never giving up. That’s kind of the premise that ‘Limitless’ was.”
Lee explained how being “Limitless” is more than just his in-ring skills. It’s a lifestyle and mentality to help get through tough times.
Recent NXT Feuds
Turning his attention to his recent highlight feuds on NXT, Lee acknowledged how many people may not expect the athleticism NXT’s big men are capable of. “When you get gents like us in the ring, it’s oftentimes [jaw-dropping] but also mesmerizing for someone who is seeing it for the first time.
To them, it’s an unexpected surprise. For the Superstars, however, their performance is an “expression of who we are.”
Lee shared how their drive to be the greatest and experience the highest level of competition creates a magical experience.
Keith Lee successfully retained his NXT North American Championship against Damien Priest during last night’s episode of NXT.
Former WWE Superstar Aiden English recently joined Inside The Ropes for an interview. During the course of their conversation, English talked about his partnership with Rusev and how the two cultivated their connection with the WWE Universe.
Prior to Rusev Day, Aiden pointed out how Rusev had long been positioned as a dominant “big foreign bad guy.”
For the longest time, it worked as a character and clicked with the crowd. He then shared how, out of the ring, Rusev was “such a fun-loving, goofy, funny dude.” Aiden English explained how when he finally saw the chance to let him himself, he went for it.
According to English, the two of them would ignore pretty much everything that WWE Creative gave them. Instead, they both approached it as an opportunity to be more lighthearted and say “goofy stuff,” which English loved.
“Even though I’m still doing the singing entrances, with promos and backstages, I was being me as a performer,” English explained. People saw these two characters who for a long time were kinda in these boxes. All of a sudden, we get a chance to play and experiment and be themselves. People saw that and I think that’s what resonated.”
Aiden English and Rusev were both recently released by WWE alongside several other Superstars and backstage personnel. It was a decision made in response to the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on business.
WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry has shared what he believes RAW Superstar Apollo Crews needs to do to break through to the next level. Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Henry expressed his belief that, from a talent perspective, Crews is able to capitalize on an opportunity if presented with one. He noted this sheer talent is why he sought him out and brought him into WWE in the first place.
Henry added how he’d love to see Apollo Crews with more “bells and whistles.” He believes he could succeed with the help of a manager and a “dominant” storyline.
The Hall of Famer would love to see him involved in a narrative that sees Crews have “something over somebody’s head.”
Apollo Crews Is Not Yet A Jedi Knight
Mark Henry stressed he means no disrespect when discussing Crews or his position. He pointed out how he has a strong knowledge of the Force. According to him, Crews “is not yet at the level of a full-fledge Jedi knight.”
Henry added how Apollo Crews isn’t at a Padawan level either but still has plenty of room for improvement.
Apollo Crews suffered an unfortunate injury during this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW. It occurred during his matchup against WWE United States Champion Andrade. WWE has since pulled Crews from the Money in the Bank ladder match, stating he is not medically cleared to compete.
AEW Commentator and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently discussed the Backlash 2000 PPV on the Grilling JR podcast. This episode is available to listen to at AdFreeShows.com, you can find more information about the subscription service at the bottom of this article.
During the podcast, JR would allude to then WWF Superstar Triple H ‘killing’ the career of ECW performer Taz. The ‘Human Suplex Machine’ joined WWE/F in January of 2000, appearing at the Royal Rumble PPV as a surprise opponent for Kurt Angle. Following the event, Tazz would then be pushed down the card into the Hardcore division, soon diminishing into obscurity on the roster.
Tazz vs Triple H
One of the (seemingly) brighter moments for Tazz in his run in 2000 was when he faced then WWF Champion Triple H on SmackDown, just 10 days before ‘The Game’ was due to defend his title against The Rock at Backlash 2000.
This match pitted the reigning ECW Champion against the reigning WWF Champion for the very first time ever. Tazz had won the belt by defeating Mike Awesome, a WCW contracted wrestler, in a controversial match set up by Paul Heyman to get the title off of Awesome. Mike Awesome had signed for WCW whilst still ECW Champion, and this caused a major issue for the Extreme brand.
Unprecedented
With the unprecedented match between Tazz and Triple H taking place on SmackDown, it looked like the ECW Champion might be getting a bigger push in the company than the preceding month had indicated. However, as stated by Vince McMahon in the ‘Rise and Fall of ECW’ documentary, it was pretty poor form from WWE; who many believe ‘killed’ the ECW brand that night by having Triple H beat Tazz in the fashion he did.
Did It Kill ECW?
“It didn’t do ECW any favours, but ‘kill’ might be a strong word” Jim Ross refuted on Grilling Jr. “It didn’t help anybody in that regard, except Hunter got a nice win in Philadelphia.”
JR would elaborate further, saying “Tazz was so under-utilized when we hired him for WWE. For whatever reason, he was never in political favour. You know Hunter/Triple H may have had an issue. Hunter was 6’4, Tazz what? 5’8, 5’10 or 5’9? I don’t know, but he’s under six foot.” There have been reports in the past of Triple H allegedly destroying pushes for talent that he deemed where not ‘big enough,’ another example being the alleged attempt to hold down Kurt Angle in the same era.
Human Suplex Machine
Jim Ross would elaborate further, saying “the perception was, even though Tazz could snuff out 99% of the guys on the roster? That he’s not ‘convincing.’ Well if you watch any of the ECW stuff? Tazz got over. And people believed he WAS the ‘Human Suplex Machine.’ So that was a big get for me [as head of talent relations], I was a big mark for his work in ECW. [Paul] Heyman knew how to book him.”
Ross would finish by making some scathing remarks, again seemingly aimed towards ‘The Game’ Triple H. “So, there again you get these egos involved. ‘Okay, He’s too short’ says who? The f*ck are you now Lou Thesz!? And then the other thing is, guys that haven’t been in too many real fights? Have never had their ass beat by somebody shorter than them.”
Do you think that the match hurt Tazz’s WWE career back in 2000? Check it out below and let us know your thoughts in the comments
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The last few weeks of AEW Dynamite have received praise for its well-written script and latest reports reveal that the credit for it goes to the president of the company Tony Khan.
According to report from PWinsider, the word making round is that the AEW officials realized that they were going to have a very small crew to work with because of the restrictions that have been put in place around the country.
After understanding the situation, Khan sat down and wrote the script for the last 4 weeks of Dynamite himself and completed the work in a ‘matter of minutes’.
He built the shows around the TNT Championship tournament and the available local talents. The situation was described as a “trial by fire” moment for the boss and his crew.
Cody was instrumental in putting the things together as Tony’s right hand. He was very hands-on with his own program and he helped others with their programs as well.
Chris Jericho has gotten praise for his commentary work on the shows because the former World Champion was given less than 24 hours of notice to work the role while he also put together the inner circle vignettes.
Orange Cassidy and The Best Friends are some more names who were applauded internally in the promotion as they wrestled four times over the course of 24 hours of the tapings.
This hard work seems to have paid off for Tony Khan and the talents as the last few weeks of Dynamite programming has been liked by the fans.
The company will return to live programming next week with the return of many top names including the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley.
Dustin Rhodes was one of the first stars to leave WWE to join AEW and he paved the path for a number of stars to leave the company and reignite their passion for pro wrestling.
The former WWE star recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, where he talked about things like his responsibilities in AEW, training young stars and more.
Talking about his final days with WWE, Dustin said that
sitting at home and doing nothing made him lose his passion for wrestling for
the first time in 31 years:
“When you’re sitting at home for a couple of months with another company who doesn’t value you at all, and you’re sitting there knowing you have so much more to offer. You kind of lose your passion, and for the first time in my 31 years, I lost my passion for the wrestling business,”
Explaining his decision to quit the company, the former Goldust said that he had enough. So for the first time, he stood up for himself in a big way and asked for his release:
“They just will not give me the time of day, and I had enough.” said Rhodes,” I said enough was enough, and for the first time, I kind of stood up for myself in a big way and said, ‘I am quitting. I am asking you for my release. I am done. I’m not happy here anymore,'”
However, the company didn’t grant his request right away and they stalled the former Champion for a while before finally approving his release in March 2019.
A month later in April, it was announced that Dustin Rhodes will be facing his brother Cody Rhodes in a match at Double or Nothing. Since then he has signed a contract with the company to work with them as a performer as well as a coach.
There were rumors before WrestleMania 36 that WWE could be planning a mask vs. title match between Rey Mysterio and The US Champion Andrade for the show.
While this match obviously did not take place, it appears that the Master Of 619 is not shying away from the concept and he is open to putting his mask on the line in WWE.
The former World Champion recently appeared on The Bump and talking about the possibility of putting his mask on the line, Mysterio said he would jump to it in a heartbeat if the opportunity came about:
“If the opportunity came about, I would jump in a
heartbeat [on putting his mask on the line again], I think that’s what makes
Lucha Libre exciting and in this case to bring Lucha Libre to the WWE, and show
the WWE Universe the excitement behind the mask vs. hair match, or the mask vs.
title match.
You know you put your heart out there in those matches.” said Rey Mysterio. “I would actually love to jump in the ring one of these days before I retire and put my mask on the line against something that is well worth it.”
The former World Champion had previously put his mask on the
line when he teamed up with Konnan and lost to Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in a
hair vs. mask match at WCW SuperBrawl IX in 1999.
His unmasking caused quite the stir and Rey Mysterio had to
seek permission from the Lucha Libre Commission to wear his mask again because
of its significance in the lucha libre world.
It appears that the recently released WWE star Zack Ryder is looking to bring back an old idea he used to get himself over with the fans while he was in WWE.
It was recently revealed that the former IC Champion has filed an application to trademark the term Internet Champion for his own personal use.
After this, Ryder took on his Twitter and posted the following teaser of his title, while also tagging the popular pro wrestling belt maker Wildcat Belts:
Zack Ryder started a YouTube show called Z! True Long Island Story back in February 2011 and proclaimed himself as the Internet Champion of the company.
The fans liked the concept, and it became a hit. The former WWE star then had a custom belt made for his title and he even defended the championship in a few WWE shows before the idea died.
Now the latest tweet suggests that Zack Ryder is looking to
revive the old concept and bring back the Internet Championship and possibly a
variation of his Z! True Long Island Story YouTube show as well.
Ryder was one of the guys released by WWE as part of their budget cuts. There is no word yet on what he is planning for his future but we should get a better idea after July 15, when his non compete clause with the company expires.
The April 29, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from the Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University.
The show was headlined by NXT North American Champion Keith Lee defending the title against Damian Priest.
WWE NXT Results (4/29)
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott def. El Hijo del Fantasma – Interim NXT Cruiserweight Title Group B Match.
Candice LeRae def. Kacy Catanzaro.
Charlotte Flair def. Mia Yim
Dexter Lumis def. Shane Thorne
Drake Maverick def. Tony Nese – Interim NXT Cruiserweight Title Group A Match.
NXT North American Champion Keith Lee def. Damian Priest
Here are the 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. El Hijo del Fantasma
To open the show, WWE booked Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. El Hijo del Fantasma in an Interim NXT Cruiserweight Title Tournament Group B Match.
A solid match with both guys working hard. Fantasma appeared to work a more stiff style in this contest while Scott let his athleticism shine.
In the end, it was Scott winning, which marks his first win in the tournament, with a quick roll up. Post-match, he cut a promo about the challenges of facing Fantasma. He stated that he needed the win more and how he’s the guy when the game is on the line to make the winning shot.
This was an interesting match choice to open the show considering that both guys aren’t proven as big stars. In fact, Fantasma only made his debut recently.
That will be something interesting to see in regards to the ratings as NXT continues to slip in the ratings war with AEW despite having a two-win streak going on for this month.
Thankfully we made some popcorn before this match. ??#WWENXT
Candice LeRae had her first match as a heel on WWE NXT television by taking on Kacy Catanzaro in a singles match.
LeRae got a new entrance and was joined by her husband, Johnny Gargano, who was doing the ring introductions for her.
He praised her for all of her good qualities, how much she means to him, and her foot being a great birth control (this was a reference to her kicking Tommaso Ciampa in the groin during their match a few weeks ago).
The match did get some time but it was all LeRae for the most part. LeRae was the one to go over. It appears that with the married couple now being heels and quite entertaining, LeRae will be getting more of a push going forward.
Why does Cinderella always have all the fun? Well, tonight belongs to the WICKED STEPSISTER. @CandiceLeRae defeats @KacyCatanzaro in ??????? fashion! ?#WWENXTpic.twitter.com/vbkLmzSy3k
NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair faced Mia Yim in a non-title match on this show.
It was a fun back and forth affair. One of the best matches on the whole show. As expected, Flair went over in the contest with her finisher.
WWE set up this match last week after Yim picked up a win in a squash match. Following the contest, Flair came out and gave her a backhanded compliment.
The company is still holding off on Flair giving a rematch to former champion Rhea Ripley, which is still expected. However, there’s still no word yet on when the contest will take place.
After the match, Io Shirai came out and gave a heated promo where she stated that next week, Flair was hers. Mauro Ranallo confirmed on commentary that this title match would take place next week.
NXT North American Champion Keith Lee made his latest title defense against Damian Priest in the biggest match on the show.
WWE saved the match for last and rightfully so. WWE had been building up this contest for quite some time as they have previously wrestled each other.
With that said, it was a stiff match that saw Lee hit two back-to-back powerbombs to pick up the victory and successfully retain the title.
The latest angle done was last week when The Velveteen Dream & Dexter Lumis (replacing Lee) defeated Adam Cole & Roderick Strong in a tag team match. Lee was supposed to be the Dream’s partner but Lee was taken out when Priest hit him in the throat with a club.
It appears that WWE will be moving on from this feud.
WWE booked a wacky yet entertaining segment named “The Newly Bro Show” with Bryon Saxton serving as the host and Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher being the contestants.
It was like a dating or matchmaking show where Saxton would ask Thatcher a question and Riddle would write down what he thought Thatcher would say. It was all comedy and quite funny.
This led to Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner coming out that led to a brawl with the UK stars standing tall with the titles in hand. Thus, it appears this is the next feud for the NXT Tag Team Titles.
Of course, Thatcher is serving as the replacement for Riddle’s normal tag team partner, Pete Dunne, as Dunne is stuck over in the UK and can’t work NXT TV shows.
Fans now know who will be in the finals of the tournament that will determine the inaugural AEW TNT Champion as those competitors have been revealed.
The semi-finals of the tournament took place on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT at the Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. The pair of the matches saw Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin and Dustin Rhodes against Lance Archer.
As seen on the show, Cody went over Allin in the opening match while Archer beat Rhodes in the main event.
The finals between Cody and Archer will see to find out who will be the first-ever TNT Champion.
The finals of the tournament will take place at AEW’s next pay-per-view event, Double or Nothing.
All Elite Wrestling was planning to hold this show from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 23rd but plans changed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
It’s been reported by Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline.com that the current plans call for the show to take place from Jacksonville, Florida. The belief is that the show will air from Daily’s Place.
As of this writing, no other matches for the show have been announced thus far.
WWE is loading up the first episode of May on WWE NXT television.
Not only are there two titles on the line but there will also be two appearances on the show. First up is Finn Balor making his return after being attacked last week before he could wrestle The Velveteen Dream.
Also, Karrion Kross, the former Killer Kross, is slated to appear on the show with his girlfriend, Scarlett Bordeaux. WWE didn’t clarify whether he’ll be wrestling on the show or doing another segment. This comes after he made his debut by attacking Tommaso Ciampa.
The first of two title matches will see Charlotte Flair put the NXT Women’s Title on the line when she defends it against the #1 contender in Io Shirai.
In the likely main event, The Velveteen Dream is set to challenge Adam Cole for the NXT Title. The match was ordered by NXT General Manager William Regal. This comes after the recent feud between the two competitors.
This comes at a time where there had been some speculation on WWE possibly taking Dream out of the main event scene due to recent accusations. He has stated on social media that he denies the allegations and he’s having a third party looking into the matter.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis continues to talk about the importance of the relationship between the state and WWE.
WWE managed to be deemed an essential business in the state of Florida because of DeSantis.News of this broke earlier this month.
Now, WWE is free and clear to hold TV events at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
DeSantis brought up WWE during a press conference on Wednesday where he talked about the importance of keeping a relationship with WWE.
“I helped recruit, I wanted the wrestling to be filmed in Orlando. I’d like them to do WrestleMania. They were going to do WrestleMania in April. That was hundreds of millions of dollars. I want to keep that good relationship. I want them to invest in Florida.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who classified #WWE, #AEW, #UFC and others among essential businesses, said he'd like to keep a good relationship with WWE and mentioned the $100 million+ that WrestleMania brings in. Also said they got UFC to come to Jacksonville. pic.twitter.com/xOlq4jjRqz
DeSantis also spoke about bringing UFC to Jacksonville with UFC 249 on May 9th and two fight night events on May 13th and May 16th in addition to a golf event that will be taking place in his state.
This is when he discussed fans eventually returning to live sporting events. While he doesn’t think they’re ready to have fans now, he believes that could change soon.
“I do think if the trends are good as you get into June-July. I think there is a window to have some fans. You’re not going to have everyone packed in.”
He continued by noting that in 90-degree weather in the state of Florida, people are going to want to go out and go watch a ballgame if other people are ten feet away from you. He thinks people may be able to do that.
The semifinals of the TNT Championship Tournament came to an end tonight as Cody faced Darby Allin and Lance Archer battled Dustin Rhodes. The final two wrestlers will compete to crown the first TNT Champion at Double or Nothing on May 23rd.
AEW Dynamite Results (4/29)
Cody def. Darby Allin to advance to the finals of the TNT Championship Tournament
Wardlow def. Musa
Best Friends def. Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc
Shawn Spears def. Baron Black
Brodie Lee def. Marko Stunt
Lance Archer def. Dustin Rhodes to advance to the finals of the TNT Championship Tournament
Here are 4 takeaways from this week’s Dynamite:
Cody Advanced To The Finals Of The TNT Championship Tournament
Darby Allin battled Cody in the semifinals of the TNT Championship Tournament in the first match of the evening.
Match Recap: Allin and Cody locked up in the middle of the ring to start the match off. Darby went after Cody’s knee but he battled back and sent Allin into the barricade. Darby charged at Cody but he got out of the way and Allin leveled Brandi Rhodes by accident as Dynamite went to a break.
When Dynamite returned, the action was back in the ring and Cody was in control. Cody locked in a Half Crab but Darby was able to reach the bottom rope to break the hold. Allin locked in a submission but Cody was able to get to the ropes to break it up.
Allin tied up Cody in the Tree of Woe and leaped onto his knee. Cody stumbled out of the ring and Britt Baker hit him with a shoe. Back in the ring, Allin hit Cody with a chop block and then started headbutting his knee.
Back from another break, both Cody and Allin hit a Clothesline that sent them to the canvas. Cody hit the Disaster Kick before taking off his belt. Cody handed the belt to Aubrey and rolled up Darby for a near fall. Darby planted Cody with the Cross Rhodes but Cody was able to kick out at two.
Darby applied the Figure Four in the middle of the ring. Brandi hobbled back to the ringside area with a bottle of water as Cody broke free. She handed Cody the water and he took a sip before leveled Allin with a Clothesline. Allin hit Cody with a Stunner and went for a Moonsault but Cody caught him.
Cody connected with the Cross Rhodes and went for the cover but Darby somehow was able to kick out. Cody then went for the Coffin Drop but Allin got his knees up. Darby hit the Coffin Drop but Cody rolled him up for the pinfall victory.
Opinion: I really enjoyed this match but I wasn’t a fan of the finish. Cody didn’t even use arms to roll up Allin, he simply slouched over and Darby essentially pinned himself. I just thought it looked cheap and could have been done better. The Coffin Drop should be an unstoppable move but I can’t view it that way if you can just roll on your side and defeat Darby after he hits it.
Cody absolutely stole one from Darby to advance to the finals of the TNT Championship Tournament. Congrats to @CodyRhodes, but something tells me @DarbyAllin won't take this one lying down.#AEWDynamite#AEWonTNT
MJF provided an update on his hangnail. MJF stated that his doctor claimed that he has never seen someone heal so fast and that he now has the strongest nail in the world.
He pretended to get choked up and said that he cut his neck while shaving. MJF revealed a gigantic neck brace and vowed to be back sometime in the future. He said he is the candle that is lit in a dark room and is the only hope AEW has left. Wardlow then faced Musa and absolutely dominated him.
Best Friends faced Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc in a No DQ match tonight. Penelope Ford and Orange Cassidy were ringside for the match.
Match Recap: Jimmy Havoc launched a chair at Orange Cassidy’s face to start things off. Chuck tried to Suplex Jimmy but Havoc countered and hit a Suplex of his own on top of several chairs.
Jimmy threw another chair into Chuck’s face as Kip launched Trent into the turnbuckle. Havoc and Sabian brought a ladder in the ring and sent Trent to the corner. Jimmy threw the ladder onto Trent and then catapulted him into it. Havoc went for the cover but Trent kicked out at two.
Kip set up Trent on a chair and went for a Splash but Trent got out of the way. Chuck got back in the ring and hit Jimmy with a Dropkick. Best Friends launched two chairs onto Jimmy before sharing a hug. Trent planted Kip with a Snap Suplex for a two count.
Sabian sent Chuck head-first into the chair and then turned around into a Tornado DDT from Trent. Trent hit Havoc with the chair and placed Kip on the ladder between the ropes in the corner of the ring. Trent climbed to the top rope but Jimmy broke it up. Havoc stood on top of the ladder and went for a Superplex but Trent blocked it.
Havoc tripped Trent up and sent him crashing on top of the ladder. Havoc set up some more chairs in the ring and slammed Trent on top of them. Sabian climbed up to the top rope and hit a Double Stomp but Chuck was able to break up the cover.
Chuck slammed Havoc onto the chair and delivered a Piledriver to Sabian on top of the chair. Chuck went for the cover but Penelope broke it up. Chuck Taylor bit Jimmy’s face and charged at him. Havoc countered into a Back Body Drop on top of the ladder. Orange Cassidy hit Havoc with a chair to the face and Penelope went for a kick but Orange ducked. Penelope accidentally booted Kip in the face as Cassidy made his way to the top rope.
Orange Cassidy then hit Penelope and Kip with a Splash off the top rope. Chuck planted Havoc with the Awful Waffle on top of the pile of chairs for the pinfall victory.
Opinion: This match was pure chaos and I loved every second of it. Jericho flipping out on commentary throughout the match was awesome.
Lance Archer Will Face Cody In The Finals Of The TNT Championship Tournament
Lance Archer (Photo: AEW)
Lance Archer battled Dustin Rhodes in the semifinals of the TNT Championship Tournament. It was this week’s main event.
Match Recap: Archer dominated early and booted a chair into Dustin’s face. Dustin was busted open and Lance beat him down in the corner of the ring as Dynamite went to a commercial break.
The action spilled out of the ring when Dynamite returned and Archer was still dominating. Dustin battled back with a couple chops but Archer knocked him to the floor with a forearm to the face. Back in the ring, Lance planted Rhodes with a massive Suplex as the blood continued to pour out of Dustin’s face.
Dustin set up Archer in the corner and hit with Shattered Dreams. Archer didn’t stay down for long and slammed Dustin to the canvas. Back from another break, Archer had Dustin in a Headlock in the middle of the ring.
Rhodes broke free and sent Archer to the corner. Dustin hit Code Red but couldn’t capitalize with a cover. Rhodes and Archer traded punches in the middle of the ring. Dustin connected with a Clothesline and followed it up with a Powerslam. Dustin hit Archer with a Cross Rhodes but Lance kicked out at one.
Dustin made his way to the top rope and leaped but Archer caught him. Lance planted Dustin with a Chokeslam but Dustin kicked out at the last moment. Archer walked across the top rope and hit an awesome Moonsault for a near fall. Archer hit Dustin with another Chokeslam and went for the cover. Rhodes countered into a roll-up but Archer kicked out at the last moment.
Lance hit a big boot and then took off the turnbuckle pad. Archer bounced Dustin’s face off the exposed turnbuckle three times and Rhodes fell to the canvas. QT Marshall came down to the ring with a towel and tried to throw it in but Cody stopped him. Archer dragged Dustin back into the ring and bounced his head off the mat several times for the victory. Lance Archer will battle Cody in the finals of the TNT Championship Tournament at Double or Nothing on May 23rd.
Opinion: Cody not allowing QT to throw in the towel, only for Archer to brutally bash Dustin’s head off the canvas was great. While it was pretty obvious that Archer and Cody would wind up being the final two, I’m still looking forward to the title match at Double or Nothing. I like that they have a few more weeks to build it up even more as well. Overall, I thought Dynamite was a good show this week. Jericho & Guevara versus Matt Hardy & Kenny Omega was announced for next week and that should be great.
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley recently did an interview with The New York Post where he spoke about a wide range of topics.
During the interview, he shared his reaction to WWE having Vince McMahon’s famous, “This is such good s–t, pal!” line be part of an interesting match at WrestleMania.
WWE surprised many people with various things in the FireFly Funhouse Match between John Cena and Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36 – Night 2 in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center on the WWE Network.
Wyatt went over in the contest but this line was one of the highlights of it. It turns out that Moxley even mentioned the fact that he brought up that line during an interview when he first left WWE. He did so by reflecting about how McMahon would pitch different creative ideas to him.
“I kind of popped for it, honestly. I thought it was pretty funny,” Moxley said. “But it’s like, I think I might have popularized that or made it into a pop culture thing, but everybody knows that’s what he says. He’s been saying that for decades. People who were probably doing Vince McMahon impressions have been saying ‘that’s good s–t’ before I even got into wrestling.”
Moxley departed from WWE last year and signed with its rival promotion, AEW (All Elite Wrestling) where he has become a top star for the company.
Chris Jericho recently did an interview with Newsweek where he discussed AEW going back to holding shows again.
This comes after AEW held a string of TV tapings that lasted them for the majority of April. Now, the promotion plans to resume live TV events and also hold TV tapings for future episodes.
The plan right now is for AEW to go back starting on May 6th by holding the shows from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. These episodes will build to AEW’s next pay-per-view event, Double or Nothing, on May 23
According to Jericho, he thinks it’s time to get back to holding shows again despite the coronavirus outbreak all over the world.
“We’re trying to start slowly and integrate back into life and I think it’s perfect. Obviously, we’ll take precautions and all that sort of stuff but it’s time to get back on track and I’m looking forward to it.”
Jericho also talked about the passion of the AEW roster despite having no fans in attendance.
According to the former AEW World Heavyweight Champion, he thinks the most important thing is to put on an entertaining show.
He also thinks that the wrestlers having great matches in front of nobody just shows the amount of dedication they have.
Pete Dunne knows better than most people how the travel restrictions due to the coronavirus have impacted WWE being able to use stars.
The WWE NXT Tag Team Champion spoke with Alex McCarthy of TalkSport.com about his hiatus from WWE television. This is due to the outbreak of the coronavirus as most countries in the world have locked down their borders.
This means it’s difficult if not impossible for wrestlers traveling internationally for work. In the case of Dunne, he’s in the UK and not able to make it to the United States to work weekly NXT TV shows.
According to Dunne, he sees this as a much-needed break in some type of way.
“I think for years and years we talked about maybe, is there a way that wrestling could have a kind-of off-season. I think this is a good trial for that for some of us.”
Dunne continued by noting that being home with his family and able to train is different from how he would if he was on the road and wrestling all the time. He added that he’s just trying to put a positive spin on something that’s hugely negative.
“But if I was going to [have an off-season], then spending time with the family, training hard, recouping and then coming back better.”
The topic of an off-season in WWE has been a topic among fans and wrestlers alike for years due to WWE’s tough touring schedule. However, the case of having it has been dismissed.
Whether that’s due to revenue that WWE would lose from not holding shows or impacting their large TV deals. With this virus, it has proven the point that WWE can survive without holding events in front of fans.
AEW has released its weekly rankings for April 29th, 2020.
AEW Men’s Single’s Rankings
Champion: Jon Moxley (9-0)
Cody (7-1)
Kenny Omega (4-0)
Darby Allin (5-2)
Lance Archer (3-0)
Jake Hager (4-1) (-1)
3 of the top-5 ranked contenders in this division will wrestle tonight in the TNT title tournament semi-finals.
There was no change in the rankings this week from those released on April 24th, 2020. Chris Jericho was dropped from the rankings on the 24th, most likely due to inactivity. Also from the rankings released on the 24th, Darby Allin moved all the way up to the #3 spot after being unranked. Allin defeated Sammy Guevara in the 1st round of the TNT title tournament last week. He’ll face Cody tonight on Dynamite in the semi-finals.
Kenny Omega defeated Alan Angels in single’s competition on Dynamite last week to improve his record to 4-0 in single’s matches this year.
Wardlow, Brody Lee, Orange Cassidy, and Dustin Rhodes all picked up wins on Dynamite last week. Jimmy Havoc went 1-1 this week, losing to Cassidy on Dynamite but picking up a win over Shawn Dean on Dark.
AEW Women’s Division
Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1)
Hikaru Shida (7-1)
Kris Statlander (2-3)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1)
Britt Baker (3-3)
Riho (3-3) (+1)
There was no movement in the women’s division this week. There were no women’s matches on either Dynamite or Dark this week.
AEW Tag Team Division
Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0)
The Dark Order (5-0)
Best Friends (5-3) (+1)
The Young Bucks (2-2) (-1)
SCU (2-3)
Lucha Bros (1-2)
The Best Friends move up to the #2 spot this week in the rankings. They were victorious over Lee Johnson and Musa this week on Dark. They will be in tough tonight on Dynamite, however. Jimmy Havoc and Kip Sabian seem to have formed an alliance in recent weeks in a rivalry against the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy. Tonight, It will be the Best Friends vs Havoc and Sabian in a no-disqualification no-count-out match.
In the build-up to WrestleMania, Otis, Mandy Rose, Dolph Ziggler, and Sonya Deville were involved in a tangled romantic storyline. Otis and Mandy Rose were the couple everyone wanted to get together but Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville conspired to keep them apart. Then on the second night of WrestleMania 36, Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler and then he and Mandy Rose embraced.
Rose was recently interviewed by SI.com. During the interview, she detailed pitching the storyline to Vince McMahon and his reaction.
“It’s hard to get in Vince’s office, but I finally got in and I pitched this story,” Rose said. “He loved it, he had some ideas, and then Sonya and I had a lot of say in the creative, which was really cool. We were able to write a lot of it. We all worked together, and that’s one of the reasons it’s worked so well. Everyone’s been really passionate about it.”
Rose would continue to talk about what Otis is like in real-life when he’s off-camera.
“Ever since we met in NXT, we’d always joke around together,” she continued. “He’d call me ‘Mandy Candy’ and cut different promos, and it was really cute. He’s just so charismatic, even when he’s not on camera. He makes us laugh the same amount when he’s off-camera. He’s funny and super sweet, and he’s so kind, which is one of the best qualities.”
In many ways, the angle has helped propel Rose, Deville, and Otis further up the card in WWE. Deville’s emotional promo on the Smackdown following WrestleMania has also been heavily-praised by many. As for Ziggler, the match against Otis was his first single’s match at WrestleMania.
Becky Lynch will appear on the season premiere of the Showtime series “Billions.” Season 5 of the hit show will debut at 9 PM est on Sunday, May 3rd, 2020. The news was announced today on the latest episode of WWE’s the Bump.
Lynch and series co-creator Brian Koppelman were interviewed on the Bump today. While Lynch’s appearance on the show was praised by Koppelman, there is still no word on what type of role she will be in on the show.
Last year, Koppelman was spotted wearing a Becky Lynch shirt at a watch party. He went on to say that “the Man” had a standing invitation to appear on an episode of the show.
In addition to Koppelman, Billions was created by David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin. It stars Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, Maggie Siff, and more. The show is loosely based on the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara. The character of Charles “Chuck” Rhoades Jr. is said to be inspired by Bharara.
Former Knockouts and Reina de Reinas Champion, Taya Valkyrie, was recently a guest on Konnan’s “Keepin it 100” podcast. During the conversation, Taya talked about what she has been enjoying about empty arena wrestling as of late.
“I watch everything, I try to, at least. So, we’re watching WWE, we’re watching AEW, AAA stuff I watch stuff on YouTube when we can,” Taya said about which promotions she follows. She also noted that empty arena wrestling was hard for her to watch at first.
“I thought it was weird at first,” Taya responded when Konnan asked her about empty arena matches. “I think it’s fine, I actually enjoy a lot of promo segments more without fans because you can really understand what everybody’s saying.”
She continued to use the example of the Miz and Morrison’s segments on Smackdown lately.
“I’m going to put over Mike (the Miz) and John’s (Morrison) segment from this past Friday and they did a really cool in-ring thing and then they sang their rap live. It was cool because you can hear them, you’re paying attention to them and not the reaction of the fans.”
Disco Inferno then chimed in that fans are unable to hijack any segments.
“It reminded me more of a television segment like on Saturday Night Live,” Taya continued.
In addition to wrestling for Impact Wrestling as of late, Taya has been seen in the last couple of Being the Elite episodes. She has been a character in Luchasaurus’ ongoing search for his tail. In Lucha Underground, Taya’s character chopped the head off Luchasaurus’ character.
Bronson Rechsteiner signed with Baltimore Ravens recently. He is the son of Rick Steiner and nephew of “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner. The Steiner Brothers and the newly signed Raven spoke with SI.com recently about Bronson’s football career and the possibility he might become a wrestler someday as well.
“I’m open to it,” said Rechsteiner about a career in pro-wrestling. “But I know wrestling will always be there for me. It’s always been my dream to carry the family’s legacy in professional sports, and I’m staying focused on taking football as far as I can.”
Rechsteiner will be the second son of a tag-team wrestling legend to enter the NFL in recent years. Road Warrior Animal’s son, James Laurinaitis, played in the league from 2009-2016. The Steiners talked about how Laurinaitis has spoken to Bronson and given him advice.
“Bronson called Animal’s son James to talk to him a little bit. He gave Bronson some pointers and helped him out a lot. I stay in touch with some of those guys—Animal, Goldberg, Sting—and Animal called me on Saturday over the weekend to see if I’d heard anything.”
Big Poppa Pump is currently recovering from a health-scare. Steiner collapsed backstage at an Impact Wrestling taping but has since made a remarkable recovery. He also spoke about Bronson’s signing with the Ravens during the interview.
“Animal’s son had a great career, and Bronson’s hopefully on his way, too,” added Scott Steiner. “He’s always intense, and you can always count on him giving 100 percent.”
WCW Legend Rick Steiner 'Super Proud' After Son Signs with Baltimore Ravens https://t.co/sGNEkyhKFY
Impact Wrestling presented night 2 of its 2-part Rebellion event this week. The show advertised an update to the Impact world title situation with Tessa Blanchard unable to attend the tapings and top-challenger Eddie Edwards absent as well.
Impact Wrestling 4/28/20 Quick Results:
Chris Bey defeated Rohit Raju vs Suicide vs Trey
Joey Ryan defeated Cousin Jake
Full Metal Mayhem Rosemary defeated Havok
Unofficial TNA World Heavyweight Championship Moose defeated Michael Elgin vs Hernandez
Here are 6 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 4/28/20:
Moose Declares Himself TNA World Champion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHZLT0ibRVA&t=7s
Michael Elgin came out to cut a promo on Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards. He noted that Blanchard is stuck in Mexico and therefore the only fitting thing to do would be for him to be declared the new Impact World Champion. As David Penzer was introducing him as the new champion, however, the lights went out and Moose’s music hit.
Moose came to the ring with the old TNA World Championship belt wrapped around his waist. He then said he ran off everyone from the old TNA so he’s the rightful TNA champ. This brought out Hernandez who said if you want to be a real world champion, you have to beat someone. A 3-way between Hernadez vs Moose vs Michael Elgin then began.
Moose Wins “TNA World Title”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMgzPu7whI&t=92s
During the 3-way match, Elgin hit a Buckle Bomb on Hernandez and looked to have the match won. Moose pulled the referee out of the ring, however, breaking up the pin. Elgin was then distracted on the outside with the official as Hernadez dove on top of him, taking Elgin out of the match. As the action went back inside the ring, Moose hit a “No Jackhammer Needed” spear on Hernandez and got the win.
Moose, who was wearing some Ultimate Warrior inspired gear for the match, insisted that David Penzer announce him as the winner and new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
Impact World Champion, Tessa Blanchard, has already reacted to Moose’s claim to the title.
With Taya Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace unavailable, the scheduled Full Metal Mayhem match at Rebellion was changed to feature Havok taking on Rosemary. These two have fought together and apart in the undead realm but this week they would be within the confines of a wrestling ring.
Midway through this match, Nevaeh appeared in the live crowd and was watching the action. In RISE, Navaeh and Havok are the current tag-team champions, though this wasn’t brought up on commentary.
This match would involve chains, chairs, and any other weapons these two could find. Ultimately, Rosemary would hit Havok twice with a very large lead pipe to score the victory.
Joseph P. Ryan Attempts To Cancel Cousin Jake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMcn0t1HRo
Joseph P. Ryan of #CancelCulture took on Cousin Jake of the Deaners this week. We’ve seen Cancel Culture members Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes complain about the Deaners’ “toxic masculinity” and this week Ryan attempted to score the victory and cancel the popular tag-team.
Ryan would pick up the win but he needed to use underhanded tactics to do so. After Cousin Jake kicked out of a superkick, Ryan opted to roll his opponent up and grab the ropes for leverage to score the 3-count. A rematch between these two has already been announced for next week.
Chris Bey Scores Big Win In X-Division Fatal 4-Way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kkh1S3SBE
Chris Bey picked up a big victory in an X-Division fatal 4-way match to kick things off this week. It looked as though Trey put away Suicide with a Meteora but Rohit Raju tossed him out of the ring and attempted to steal the pin. Bey then kicked Raju in the spine and covered him to get the 3-count.
X-Division Champion Willie Mack was likely watching this match closely. Bey likely has moved closer to a shot at Mack’s title.
Next week on Impact Wrestling, we’ll hear from Sami Callihan for the first time since he lost to Ken Shamrock at Rebellion last week. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander will somehow defend the tag titles as well. The North have said they will face some of Canada’s top tag-teams while the border is closed. We will also get a rematch from this week as Cousin Jake gets another shot at Cancel Culture’s Joey Ryan. Madison Rayne will also host another edition of Locker Room talk and welcome Havok as her guest.
Impact Tag Team Championships The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs TBD
Shawn Michaels has taken a coaching position in NXT in recent times and the WWE Hall Of Famer has helped mentor many of the current generation NXT stars such as Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream.
The former World Champion recently appeared on WWE Backstage where he talked about things like working with Drew McIntyre, his work in the development territory and more.
When asked who he thinks is going to be the next big star in
the Black and Yellow brand, Shawn said that it’s a changing group of people
before naming stars such as Killer Kross and Dexter Lumis:
“As you know it’s sort of an always changing group, so
to speak, over the years, I started with Drew McIntyre, Aleister Black,
Ricochet, and The Revival. On to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, and of
course, Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream.
“Killer Kross — or Karrion Kross — I should probably be better about saying that.” said Shawn Michaels. “Dexter Lumis, [Timothy] Thatcher, I think there’s a number of guys coming up that are going to be very interesting, and again, take NXT to that next level.”
The former DX member also talked about his friendship with Diesel and said that the current NXT stars Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez have the same kind of bonding.
Apart from this, Shawn Michaels talked about putting together the Triple H tribute segment from last Friday’s SmackDown and more. You can check out his full interview below:
Things took a very interesting turn during the night two of Impact’s Rebellion PPV and the event saw the crowning of a new Impact World Champion in Moose that was not originally on the card for the show.
Tessa Blanchard was set to defend her World title in a
triple threat match against Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards at the event.
However, both Blanchard and Edwards failed to make it to the show due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
Michael Elgin was the only one to show up and he started demanding to be declared the new World Champion because the other contestants failed to appear.
However, as the referee was going to make the announcement, Moose, who has been feuding with many TNA originals in recent times, showed up with the old TNA World Title.
Hernandez was the next to join the party and the three then
started fighting, officially starting a triple threat match for the Impact
World Heavyweight Championship.
Moose won the match after hitting a No Jackhammer Needed on
Hernandez and the former Football player left the show as new World Champion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMgzPu7whI
There is no word yet on what the company is planning for Moose after this victory but the re-introduction of the old belt could likely mean that we will see a feud between him and Tessa Blanchard to determine the undisputed champion in the coming time.
Jon Moxley made a surprise cameo at WWE Backstage a few weeks ago but it seems his appearance didn’t sit well with the WWE officials and his wife and WWE Backstage host Renee Young got heat for the incident.
The AEW World Champion recently spoke to PWInsider to promote his upcoming Cagefighter movie where he talked about things like his life in lockdown and more.
Talking about his health, Mox described some of his injuries
and explained that the biggest contributor to his condition was the constant
travel that came with the WWE schedule:
“What ran my body down in the grounds over time was the
travel, because it’s that and getting put there two tables on house shows five
nights a week for years straight. But it’s like, I go through the table, but
then you got to jump in a car and drive 300 miles,
Even when I started getting rundown, I should have taken some time off” said Moxley. “or I should have been like, I’m injured, I shouldn’t do this, or whatever, I just kept pushing through. Foolishly, I might add because there was no gold star for that.”
When asked about his cameo at WWE Backstage and if Renee Young got heat for his appearance, he replied with “Short answer is yes.”
Though Jon Moxley refused to go into any detail so it’s hard to say how the WWE officials reacted to his appearance or what they told Young about it.
Apart from this, Mox also talked about the difference between Tony Khan and Vince McMahon and more. You can check out his full interview at this link
