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Bobby Roode Discusses Leaving Impact Wrestling For WWE

Andrew Ravens
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Bobby Roode has reflected on his decision to depart from TNA and join WWE. The former WWE United States Champion recently made an appearance on Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia to talk about various topics including why he left TNA where he had made a name for himself.

TNA

He noted that he was reaching 40 years old and thought to himself, he doesn’t think he can go out there and wrestle then wait 6-8 weeks and then have him work 8 days in a row, twice a day in a studio of 200 people and really be able to give it his all.

“For me, just the passion was starting to go away and in my mind I was thinking like, ‘If I don’t want to leave my house and I don’t want to do what I’ve loved to do for the last 17 years, then I really have to rethink what I want to do here.’”

NXT

This is when he spoke with Triple H about potentially signing with the WWE and being a member of the NXT roster. He recalled having a conversation with “The Game” where he pitched him a coaching job at the WWE Performance Center.

This is when Roode told him that he didn’t want to be a coach at the stage of his career at the time. Instead, he felt like he had a lot left in the tank and would want a chance in NXT.

“‘Okay cool. We’ll give you an opportunity. We’ll give a shot and see where it goes.’ So they flew me down to WrestleMania 32, went down there, met Hunter face to face. Kind of met everybody, met the crew, and I just immediately felt at home. I know what I said, ‘I don’t like change.’ but I walked in there and everybody was really cool.”

Roode also talked about wrestling a match in WWE in 1998, having kids while being a WWE star and much more. You can listen to the full episode here:

Stu Bennett Wants Neville for WoS, Broadcast Time Changed by ITV

Jake Skudder
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0

WoS General Manager Stu Bennett recently called out a former WWE Superstar to appear on the show.

We reported over the weekend that Neville is no longer contracted to WWE. The former Cruiserweight Champion now appears to be a free agent and everyone wants the Geordie, including NJPW’s Will Ospreay.

You can now add Stu Bennett to that list. The WoS General Manager took to Twitter to state “Yo Neville. I’ve got a bunch of lads at who are asking to fight you.. Check it out on at 5pm today & you can pick your opponent.”

Whilst the likelihood of the former WWE showing up in a pre-taped show is very unlikely there’s certainly scope for him to join the ranks of WoS down the line. There has been no official word on whether the show will be renewed and the ratings are still up for interpretation success wise.

Change to 4:30pm

It has also been confirmed that WoS will now be airing at a new time-slot as of September 1st. The show has been moved to the 4:30-5:30pm block. Whilst the numbers haven’t been stellar at the 5pm block the show has been gaining over the last few weeks. Whether the change in time slot will affect ratings remains to be seen.

Report: WoS Ratings for Episode 5, Is The Show Still Gaining?

Jake Skudder
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1

WoS/World of Sport held their fifth episode this weekend on ITV. The ratings for the show appear to have now been released.

Here’s the reported number:

  • 700k (6.7% share) The show peaked at 0.9m

Compared to last week’s number:

  •  545k (5.3% Share)

Interestingly the number does appear to have not only held but been built upon. Considering that we’ve now had four weeks of around 500k-700k it’s fair to say that the show has found it’s audience. and is slowly growing.

Premier League Opposition

If you’ve been following our weekly report on the WoS Ratings (here’s week 4) you’ll know about the Premier League opposition. Football/Soccer in the United Kingdom is a massive draw. Whilst PL games don’t draw millions in actual TV ratings the eyeballs viewing the action across the UK in pubs, clubs and illegal streaming are huge.

This week’s game saw Liverpool take on Brighton. On paper this wasn’t a ‘big’ game however last week’s results for both teams including a shock win for Brighton gave this game far more precedence. The fact that this 5 o’clock kickoff game didn’t actually hurt the WoS rating is a big plus for the brand.

The Brand is the Draw

Last week saw the return of top international star Will Ospreay. The NJPW performer is easily considered one of the top stars on WoS and it was expected that his reappearance would help the number. It appears as though the brand itself may be the drawing card. With a strong Tag Team title tournament and Women’s Division the brand is slowly establishing itself to the mainstream UK audience.

For a Saturday night the number again is not stellar. Can the show now sustain and build on the number? It remains to be seen but this isn’t

Here are the full results from the Saturday August 25th show:

  • WOS Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final – Alpha Bad (Iestyn Rees & Kip Sabian) defeat Just Uz (BT Gunn & Stevie Boy)
  • Crater b. Gabriel Kidd and Liam Slater
  • WOS Tag Team Title Tournament Semi Final Match – Adam Maxted & Nathan Cruz defeat Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Grado
  • WOS Women’s Title Battle Royal – Kay Lee Ray (c) b. Ayesha Raymond and Bea Priestley and Kasey Owens and Viper

 

Tyler Bate Likes To Think He Is WWE’s Strongest Man

Jon Fuentes
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2

NXT’s Mustache Mountain, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven, recently spoke to The Mirror. Bate has shown amazing feats of strength inside the ring at times. He says he likes to think he is WWE’s strongest man:

“I like to think I’m the strongest man in WWE. It’s why I call myself the Big Strong Boi.”

Recently, WWE introduced an NXT UK Women’s Championship. Spoilers on that here. Bate said he thinks it’s a great opportunity for the women of NXT UK to show what they got:

“It’s a great opportunity for all of the women in the company to show the world what they’re made of and show everybody how good they are. I’m looking forward to everybody else getting to watch them perform and I’m sure they will do a great job.”

Quite The Comparison

At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 4 Mustache Mountain failed to capture the NXT Tag Team Titles. The Undisputed Era defeated them to retain their titles. On the TakeOver panel, Pat McAfee compared Mustache Mountain to the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid).

Trent Seven said it was very complimentary to receive such a comparison:

“Yeah, well he was very complimentary. It does make you think about just what kind of impact we can have as regards being UK and British wrestlers, having the chance to travel abroad and overseas, being able to wrestle on that stage, it’s a burden I’m more than happy to have.”

Bate sympathized with his partner’s sentiment, and believes they can live up to the pressure of such a comparison:

“Yeah it’s a lot of pressure to be compared to teams like the Bulldogs and I think Mustache Mountain can really live up to that pressure.”

Seven agreed, saying he believes it’s that kind of pressure that pushes talents to the next level:

“I agree, I think it’s that kind of pressure that really pushes people on to the next level. Our goal is to continue climbing the ladder of WWE and eventually get on the main roster but for now, let’s just keep building the brand of NXT UK.”

Backstage Details On Changes To AAA’s Writing Team

Staff
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1

Mexico’s Lucha Libre AAA promotion presented TripleMania XXVI over the weekend. According to sources within the promotion, there have been some significant changes behind the scenes in AAA over the past several months.

SEScoops has learned AAA quietly let Chris DeJoseph go as their head writer back in June. Prior to his release, DeJoseph had been working as a ‘ghost writer’ for former AAA booker Vampiro. When Dorian Roldan found out about DeJoseph helping Vampiro write their shows, he formally promoted DeJoseph to a writing position.

Shortly after DeJoseph was officially brought on board as part of AAA’s writing team, there was a sharp decline in ticket sales and television ratings. Dorian eventually gave control back to Konnan, who is the current head writer.

Vampiro is still loosely involved helping as a talent coordinator, but his role has been heavily scaled back.

Chris DeJoseph remains the head writer for Lucha Underground and does some acting work in the Los Angeles area.

Jim Ross Reveals The Unlikely Genesis Of His Friendship With Paul Heyman

Jon Fuentes
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1

WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross and Paul Heyman have been friends for decades. The duo worked together multiple times over the years, first in WCW and later in WWE. On the latest episode of the The Jim Ross Report podcast, JR revealed their friendship actually formed after Ross was arrested for DUI (driving under the influence).

“I’ve mentioned before that I’ve had a DUI.” Ross said. “I’m not proud of it. I lost my drivers license for, I think, three months or six months. I’m not sure, but I know my driver was Paul Heyman, which let me get to know Paul and we started working together.

“And you see how that has worked out over the years, very good. It’s funny how sometimes a calamity can bring people together. And the volatile ‘Happy’ Heyman and I became connected through my stupid DUI.”

Today, Ross is featured on WWE TV from time to time. Heyman has served as the Advocate for Brock Lesnar in recent years. Following Brock Lesnar’s loss to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam, it remains to be seen whether or not he will remain with the company.

Last summer, Paul Heyman made a surprise appearance at the Ringside with Jim Ross show during SummerSlam weekend. Heyman gave an emotional speech about JR’s late wife Jan, who had been killed by a reckless driver just weeks earlier.

Matt Hardy Receives Emotional Send-Off At WWE Live Event

Staff
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Matt Hardy got an emotional send-off at Sunday night’s WWE Live Event from Rochester, New York. The Woken one will now take extended time off as he deals with various injuries and re-evaluates his in-ring future.

Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt teamed up on the show in what is likely their final match together. The B-Team retained the Raw Tag Team championships in a 3-team match that also included The Revival. After the final, Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt embraced in the ring and received a standing ovation from the live crowd. As they were on the ramp about to walk backstage, both Matt and Bray threw up the Hardy Boyz hand gesture.

Later in the evening, Matt thanked fans on Twitter for the “WONDERFUL” and heartwarming send-off he received in Rochester. “I appreciate you,” he said.

As we’ve been reporting, his future as an active wrestler are in question.  A long career of putting his body on the line may have finally caught up with the talented performer. In recent weeks, Matt Hardy has begun working behind the scenes as a producer/agent.

Matt will address his nagging injuries over the next several months. We do not know the full extent of his injuries at this time. There is no reason to believe he is officially retired, but he won’t be wrestling any time soon.

Longtime WWE Live Events Executive Ed Cohen Passes Away

Staff
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Longtime WWE Live Events Executive Ed Cohen passed away on Friday. In a statement released at WWE.com, the company said, “Cohen was instrumental in helping to transform WWE’s Live Event touring business into the global phenomenon it is today. ”

WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund provided some additional details regarding Cohen’s passing. Okerlund posted the following message on Facebook on Saturday:

“Sad to report that longtime WWE executive Ed Cohen diéd yesterday. Ed was basically in charge of securing venues for WWE house shows and later television tapings. In the early years Cohen was especially close in working with Vince and Linda McMahon because income from house shows was a main revenue stream for the then-young company. Ed remained with the company for many years but his failing health became an issue in later years and he was less involved. RIP Ed Cohen.”

SEScoops send our condolences to the family and friends of Ed Cohen.

Bella Twins Return To Action At WWE Live Event (Video)

Andrew Ravens
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13

The Bella Twins were back in action over the weekend as they worked a live event on Sunday night in Rochester, NY at the Blue Cross Arena.

Nikki and Brie and Ember Moon defeated the Riott Squad in a six-woman tag team match at the show. This was their first match since the Women’s Royal Rumble back in January. Following their return, the Bellas thanked their fans on Twitter:

“Bella Army we LOVE you beyond words!!!! Your support and love tonight was INCREDIBLE!!! Thank you!!! B&N #WWERochester #BellaArmyStrong.”

The Bella Twins each have several WWE matches scheduled for the coming months. Brie has her next match set as she will team up with her husband, Daniel Bryan, to take on The Miz and Maryse at the upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event on Sunday, September 16, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas at the AT&T Center.

Nikki, on the other hand, is slated to work the upcoming WWE Evolution pay-per-view event. You can find out who she is likely to wrestle at this show but keep in mind that it contains spoilers.

The Bella Twins Return

https://twitter.com/AnnetteReid24/status/1033905292294152192

#WWERochester Results

  • Sasha Banks & Bayley defeated Alexa Bliss & Alicia Fox.
  • The B-Team defeated The Deleters of Worlds & The Revival to retain the RAW Tag Team Championship.
  • Bobby Roode defeated Jinder Mahal.
  • No Way Jose, Rhyno, Heath Slater & Zack Ryder defeated The Ascension, Curt Hawkins & Mike Kanellis
  • Akam defeated Tyler Breeze.
  • The Bella Twins & Ember Moon defeated The Riott Squad.
  • Dean Ambrose & Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins defeated Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre.
  • Finn Balor defeated Baron Corbin.
  • Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman ends in no contest once Reigns speared Strowman through a table. Reigns retained Universal Championship.

Terry Funk Withdraws From Starccast For Health Reasons

Chris Stephens
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2

One of the most legendary wrestlers of all-time will not be at Starccast this weekend. Terry Funk has been forced to withdraw from his planned “Empty Arena Match Retrospective” along with Jerry Lawler.

Starrcast announced the change recently on Twitter:

The 74-year-old has been dealing with diverticulitis and an abdominal hernia this summer. It is not clear, however, if this is what has caused him to withdraw from Starrcast.

Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk Empty Arena Match

The famous empty arena match between Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk is now 37 years old. The match took place April 25th, 1981 as part of the long-standing rivalry between the two.

Leading up to the match, Funk expressed it was impossible for him to get a fair fight against Lawler in Memphis. Funk said the entire city of Memphis was biased in Lawler’s favor.

This included the referees, promotion management, fans and even the Memphis police according to Funk. The only way Funk felt he could get a fair fight against Lawler would be within an empty arena.

Starrcast Replacement

Starrcast announced that they have found a replacement session for the Empty Arena Retrospective. A “Total Non-Stop Jarrett” session will now replace the Empty Arena Retrospective.

Jerry Lawler will still be on-hand at Starrcast for photos and autographs despite the change in plans.

Eric Bischoff On Sting Thriving In WCW When Hogan, Hall & Nash Came In

Chris Stephens
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1

The latest episode of Eric Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast focuses on Sting’s 1996. A lot was changing for WCW that year. In addition to launching Monday Nitro in the fall 1995, WCW was acquiring WWF talent at a breakneck pace. After signing top names from the WWF like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, 1996 saw many more high-profile acquisitions ushc as Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

As the franchise player of WCW, there was no guarantee that Sting would react kindly to so many big stars coming in. While some people in Sting’s position would have reacted negatively to so many new challengers to his spot, Bischoff says Sting was the consummate professional and welcomed the new opportunities that awaited him.

“One of the things that stands out to me so much is that (Sting) was the ultimate team player.”  Bischoff said.  “He was one of the few guys that really was completely supportive. He wasn’t [just] supportive – he was excited that Hulk Hogan was coming to WCW, he was excited that Randy Savage was coming to WCW.”

When Bischoff took over WCW, Sting was the top babyface in the company. With political sharks like Hogan, Hall and Nash entering his waters, Sting took it all in stride.

Bischoff explained “[Sting] was so apolitical in that regard, in an era where everybody was worried about their spot or all of a sudden the spotlight going from them to someone else.”

Head over to 83Weeks.com for more on Eric Bischoff’s podcast.

Video Of Bloody Injury At Impact Wrestling Event

Chris Stephens
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15

On Saturday night, Impact Wrestling returned to Mississauga, ON for another One Night Only show. The show, “Bad Intentions, in conjunction with Destiny Wrestling featured a main event of Sami Callihan taking on Josh Alexander inside a steel cage.

Callihan hit Alexander with a trash can during the match, busting his opponent wide open the hard way.

https://twitter.com/Walking_Weapon/status/1033568220500971520

Destiny Wrestling sent out a Tweet just to let fans know that Alexander is OK.

Sami Callihan vs Josh Alexander

“The Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander is a 31-year-old Canadian independent wrestler. He’s well-regarded on the Canadian independent scene but unfortunately, you won’t find him performing anywhere else for a while. Visa problems are preventing him from traveling outside the country, limiting which promotions will book him.

Even after being sponsored by a promotion for a work Visa, Alexander was denied.

https://twitter.com/Walking_Weapon/status/1032058748125163520

Impact Wrestling’s Big September

Although Alexander has taken part in Impact tapings so far this year, he won’t be on either of the next two trips for the promotion.

First up for Impact in September is a trip to Manchester for the Wrestling MediaCon event. The promotion will air the event live on their Twitch channel.

Just 4 days after their show in Manchester, Impact is then off to Mexico. On September 13th and 14th, Impact will bring their TV tapings to Mexico City. Those tapings will be the final ones until Bound for Glory in October.

First NXT UK Women’s Champion Crowned (Spoiler)

Staff
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History was made on Sunday night when WWE crowned the first-ever NXT UK Women’s Champion. WWE just held two nights of tapings at the Insomnia gaming festival at NEC Birmingham. These matches will air on the WWE Network as part of the upcoming NXT UK series.

As part of the tapings, an 8-woman tournament was held to crown the first champion. The participants included Toni Storm, Rhea Ripley, Jinny, Isla Dawn, Millie McKenzie, Nina Samuels, Dakota Kai and Xia Brookside.

When all was said and done, it was Rhea Ripley standing tall as the first-ever NXT UK Women’s Champion. Ripley defeated Toni Storm in the finals.

The 21 year old competitor from Adelaide, Australia signed with WWE last year. She competed in the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament and will be part of the event once again this year.

As WWE’s latest female champion, Rhea Ripley is expected to be part of the all-women’s WWE Evolution pay-per-view in October.

We have full spoiler results from both nights of NXT UK TV tapings:

On Monday afternoon, WWE released these photos of the new NXT UK Women’s Championship in all its glory:

Seth Rollins Reveals When He Found Out About His WrestleMania 31 Cash-In

Anutosh Bajpai
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2

Seth Rollins cashing in his Money In The Bank contract at WrestleMania 31 is one of the most iconic moments in the history of not only the Show of Shows but all of WWE as well.

However, during a recent interview with News.com.au, the current Intercontinental Champion revealed that his cash in was finalised in the last minute.

According to Rollins, he didn’t know for sure that he would be a part of the main event until the show had begun and he was told about it when we were already halfway through the event:

“I didn’t know for sure until the middle of the show (it was happening), I had a match with Randy Orton early in the day and then I was sequestered backstage and informed that would be the plan at the end of the night. It honestly was a very last-minute thing.”

Continuing on the topic, Seth Rollins revealed that the show had almost exceeded its runtime and moments before he came out, he had started thinking that the plans might change once again.

Roman Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble event and as a result, earned the right to challenge the then WWE Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31.

However, midway into their match, Seth cashed in his Money In The Bank contract and inserted himself into the bout. He went on to pin Reigns and win the World title.

Paige Announces Mini Tournament To Determine Challengers For The New Day

Anutosh Bajpai
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15

With Rowan being out of action for the foreseeable future, the Bludgeon Brothers are not very likely to cash in their rematch clause for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships against New Day anytime soon.

So General Manager Paige had to come up with an idea to determine the next challengers for the now 5 Times Tag Team Champions, and she decided to do another mini-tournament.

Paige announced in a video posted on her twitter account recently that they will be holding two triple threat tag team matches on the upcoming episodes of SmackDown Live.

The winner of these triple threats will go on to face each other in a regular tag match and whoever wins that, will earn the right to challenge the New Day for their title at the upcoming Hell In A Cell PPV:

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1033793943098482689

The first triple threat that is expected to take place on this week’s episode of the show will see The Bar Sheamus & Cesaro battling against The Colons, Primo & Epico, and The Club  Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson.

It’s worth mentioning here that this appears to be the Colons’ first on screen tag team match together since Primo suffered a knee injury and was put on the shelf back in June last year.

The participants for the second triple threat of this mini-tournament have not been revealed yet, but the company is most likely to announce it on the Blue Branded show this week.

Spoilers: WWE NXT UK TV Tapings Results (8/26)

Andrew Ravens
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2

The journey of bringing the WWE NXT UK brand to the WWE Network has continued as the company held TV tapings on Sunday in Birmingham, United Kingdom at the NEC Birmingham.

As of this writing, there’s no word yet on when these shows will air. WWE crowned the inaugural NXT UK Women’s Champion, which is Rhea Ripley, who defeated Toni Storm to win the title. Here are the spoilers:

August 26th Taping

  • (Women’s Championship Semifinals): Rhea Ripley defeated Dakota Kai
  • Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster defeated Joseph Conners and Saxon Huxley.
  • Dave Mastiff defeated T-Bone
  • (Women’s Championship Semifinals): Toni Storm defeated Jinny
  • Millie McKenzie and Xia Brookside defeated Killer Kelly and Charlie Morgan
  • Eddie Dennis defeated Aston Smith
  • Joseph Conners defeated Saxon Huxley
  • NXT UK Champion Pete Dunne defeated Jordan Devlin
  • Ligero defeated Dan Moloney
  • Tyler Bate defeated Joe Coffey
  • Zack Gibson and James Drake defeated Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan
  • (Women’s Championship Finals): Rhea Ripley defeated Toni Storm to become the first NXT UK Women’s Champion.

What are your thoughts on these results? Do you plan on watching the shows once available? Is Ripley the right person to be the first champion? 

Spoiler: Two Matches Revealed For ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV

Andrew Ravens
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0

The card for the ROH Death Before Dishonor PPV is slowly but surely coming together. Two new matches for the show have been revealed following the promotion holding TV tapings on Saturday night in Philadelphia, PA at the 2300 Arena.

Those matches are Jay Lethal defending the ROH World Title against Will Ospreay as well as ROH Women of Honor World Champion Sumie Sakai defending the strap against Tenille Dashwood.

Lethal vs. Ospreay was set up after Ospreay issued a challenge, which Lethal later accepted. On the other match was set up once Sakai stated that she felt like she couldn’t truly call herself champion until she beat Dashwood one-on-one.

Bullet Club (Cody, Adam Page, The Young Bucks, and Marty Scurll) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Chuckie T, Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii, and Rocky Romero) in a 10-man tag team match has already been confirmed for this show.

Ring of Honor is slated to hold their Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view event at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, September 28, 2018. The event will air on traditional PPV outlets and the FITE TV app. The promotion will be announcing more matches in the coming weeks.

The Card

ROH World Champion Jay Lethal vs. Will Ospreay

ROH Women of Honor World Champion Sumie Sakai vs. Tenille Dashwood

Cody, Adam Page, The Young Bucks, and Marty Scurll vs. Kazuchika Okada, Chuckie T, Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii, and Rocky Romero

Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. TBA

What are your thoughts on this card thus far? Sound off in the comment section.

AAA TripleMania Results: El Hijo Del Fantasma Unmasked

Chris Stephens
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2

The biggest event of the year for AAA Lucha Libre took place last night. The promotion presented TripleMania XXVI from the Arena Ciudad in Mexico City, Mexico.

The main event featured a 4-way cage match which guaranteed one luchador would lose their mask. The rules were that 4 luchadors would start in the cage and once two had escaped, the remaining two would wrestle a single’s match. The loser of that match would be forced to unmask.

El Hijo Del Fantasma Unmasked

In a shocking turn of events, El Hijo Del Fantasma (aka King Cuerno in Lucha Underground) has been unmasked.

AAA TripleMania XXVI Results

  1. Astrolux, Dragon Bane, and Freelance defeated Aramis, Drastik Boy, and Latigo
  2. AAA World Cruiserweight Championship
    Sammy Guevara defeated Australian Suicide (c) vs Shane Strickland vs ACH
  3. AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championships
    Big Mami and Nino Hamburguesa (c) defeated Angelikal and La Hiedra vs Dinastia and Lady Maravilla vs El Hijo del Vikingo and Vanilla
  4. AAA World Tag Team Championships #1 Contender
    Bandido and Flamita defeated DJZ and Andrew Everett vs Golden Magic and Laredo Kid vs Aerostar and Drago
  5. Averno Chessman and SuperFly defeated Jack Evans, Juventud Guerrera and Teddy Hart
  6. El Texano, La Mascara and Rey Escorpion defeated Joe Lider, Murder Clown, and Pagano
  7. AAA World Heavyweight Championship
    Fenix defeated Jeff Jarrett (c) vs Rich Swann vs Brian Cage
  8. Mask Vs Hair
    Ladi Shani defeated Faby Apache
  9. Mask vs Mask 4-Way Cage Match
    LA Park, Pentagon Jr, and Pscyho Clown defeated El Hijo Del Fantasma

Bret Hart Honored By First Nations Community With Blackfoot Name (Video)

Chris Stephens
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4

Bret Hart was honored by the Siksika Nation on Thursday in a ceremony held at Mount Royal University. The same University also celebrated Bret back in May with an honorary degree.

Bret was given a “Blackfoot name” which is an honor bestowed by the Blackfoot Confederacy of First Nations. The Blackfoot or Blackfeet people are First Nations communities located mainly in BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Stampede Wrestling used to regularly run tours in these communities, even traveling there in treacherous conditions during the dead of winter.

Recently, a First Nation community decided to give back to the Hart Family. You can watch the ceremony in the player below:

Bret Hart Given Blackfoot Name “Iyiikitapinna” Meaning: “Courageous Chief”

During the ceremony, an Elder spoke of an ancient warrior named Iron Shield. Bret, the Elder said, exhibited similar courage as the ancient warrior.

The chief gave Bret the name, “Iyiikitapinna”, which translates to “Courageous Chief”.

“It might be too bold a name for me. It’s a huge honour for me,” Bret said. “Growing up here all my life, being from Calgary, there’s a strong sensitivity to the struggles” of Indigenous people.”

Bret would continue to say he felt he was representing his whole family at the ceremony.

“I feel like I’m here representing the whole family, and I know my father always had a really strong relationship with the First Nations community,” Hart said. “This day would have been special to him. There’s always been a warmth, friendship and kind of respect there.”

Bret would continue to say Iyiikitapinna was a more important nickname to him than “Hitman”.

Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate Confirmed For WWE 2K19 (Entrances & Screenshots)

Chris Stephens
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10

There’s only ever been two WWE United Kingdom Champions in history and both have just been confirmed for WWE 2K19.

“As WWE expands globally, we want the WWE 2K roster to reflect those changes as much as possible,“ said Sean Conway from Visual Concepts. 

The standard game releases on October 9th. Pre-Orders will be available on October 5th, however. AJ Styles is this year’s cover athlete.

WWE 2K19 Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate

2K has confirmed several other features of the game as well. Most notably, Showcase mode will return to WWE 2K19 this year. 2K is promoting Daniel Bryan’s showcase as the mode returns after a one-year absence.

Pre-Order bonuses also include access to the game 4 days early and Ronda Rousey and Rey Mysterio as bonus characters.

A commemorative Ric Flair version of the game has also been announced as well. This version of the game includes a plaque with a real piece of one of Flair’s iconic robes incased and a replica of a WWE Hall of Fame ring. The Flair version of the game also involves the following characters as bonus content:

  • “Rowdy” Roddy Piper character (1980s)
  • Dusty Rhodes (1980s)
  • Rick “the Dragon” Steamboat (1980s)
  • “Macho Man” Randy Savage (WM8)
  • The Undertaker (2002)
  • Ric Flair (WM24 attire)
  • Charlotte Flair (WM32 attire)
  • NWA Starrcade 1983 Arena

Jessamyn Duke Makes In-Ring Debut At WWE NXT House Show

Andrew Ravens
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1

Jessamyn Duke is now the final member of the Four Horsewomen of MMA to make their pro wrestling debuts. At a live event presented by WWE NXT on Saturday night in Largo, FL at the Minnreg Hall, Duke made her in-ring debut for the company by teaming up with Four Horsewomen members Shayna Baszler & Marina Shafir to defeat Kairi Sane, Io Shirai & Deonna Purrazzo in the main event.

The finish of the match saw Baszler tap out Purrazzo while Duke and Shafir prevented the submission from being broken up. This past May, the company announced that they had signed Duke and Shafir where they would later start training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Moving along to last month, Shafir had her first match at an NXT house show. Duke was supposed to wrestle last month as well but plans changed.

With all four of MMA’s Four Horsewomen now active on the WWE and NXT rosters, the prospect of a showdown with WWE’s Four Horsewomen (Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley) is realer than ever.

The Results

Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) defeat Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi

Brennan Williams defeats Tian Bing (w/Rocky)

Kacy Catanzaro & Lacey Lane defeat Reina Gonzalez & Taynara Conti

Dan Matha defeats Luke Menzies

The Velveteen Dream defeats Babatunde Aiyegbusi

Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) defeat Jaxson Ryker & Wesley Blake

Raul Mendoza defeats Humberto Carrillo

Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir & Shayna Baszler defeat Deonna Purrazzo, Io Shirai & Kairi Sane

Spoilers: ROH TV Tapings In Philadelphia (8/25/18)

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ROH held TV tapings on Saturday night (August 25th) in Philadelphia, PA at the 2300 Arena. This was an important taping as it’s the final one before their next big event.

Ring of Honor is slated to hold their Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view event at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, September 28, 2018. The event will air on traditional PPV outlets and the FITE TV app.

The promotion will be announcing more matches in the coming weeks. Here are the spoilers from the tapings, courtesy of PWPonderings:

Spoilers

– A video package was shown of Will Ospreay challenging Jay Lethal to an ROH World Title match at Death Before Dishonor, which the champion accepted

– WOH Champion Sumie Sakai defeated Tasha Steelz. Post-match, it was announced that Sakai will defend against Tenille Dashwood at Death Before Dishonor.

– Jonathan Gresham defeated Bully Ray by DQ

– So Cal Uncensored defeated ROH World Television Champion Punishment Martinez & ROH World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes

– Cody and NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis did an in-ring promo to hype their match at All In

– Best Friends defeated The Boys

– Kenny King defeated Hangman Page

– Donte Calbero vs. Brian Johnson never happened as Jeff Cobb hits the ring and attacked them.

– Bully Ray & Silas Young defeated ROH World Champion Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham

– Jenny Rose, Stella Gray & Tenille Dashwood defeated Ashley Vox, Kris Stadtlander & Riley Shepard

– Shaheem Ali defeated Chris Sabin, Flip Gordon & Shane Taylor

– Punishment Martinez ROH World Television Champion retained over Aaron Solow

– Coast 2 Coast defeated The Kingdom (TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia)

– Hurricane Helms defeated Marty Scurll

– Cheeseburger defeated Will Ferrara

– Cody & The Young Bucks ROH World 6-Man Champions retained over Beer City Bruiser, Brian Milonas & Silas Young

New Day Member Wins Guinness World Record

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With more than 1.6 million subscribers worldwide, Xavier Woods (real name: Austin Watson) has been presented with a certificate recognising his popular YouTube channel, UpUpDownDown, as the most subscribed to celebrity video games channel on YouTube by Guinness World Records.

He received the honour at the Insomnia Gaming Festival in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Woods started his YouTube endeavour in 2015, attempting to use the platform as a way to cross boundaries and connect with his fanbase.

Originally showcasing himself playing video games with different superstars, it allowed fans to see superstars out of character, and enjoy a peek behind the curtain of their lives.

UpUpDownDown has since expanded, allowing other superstars an opportunity to engage with their love of video games, providing a now established platform to share their passion, such as AJ Styles’ new series, Retro Styles.

Trent Seven Discusses Goal Of WWE NXT UK Brand

Andrew Ravens
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Trent Seven discussed the current goal of the WWE NXT UK brand. The star of the brand spoke about the topic in a recent interview with The Sun in the United Kingdom.

He started out by talking about the NXT Tag Titles are still firmly in his and Tyler Bate’s sights after holding them and winning the titles at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year from The Undisputed Era. He added that’s it’s a moment that they’ll never forget and that they will continue to try and chase it.

“We’ve got a taste for the gold now and we’ll definitely continue to try and chase it. We’re big strong boys and we’ll come back. Performing in Brooklyn has only ignited the fire.”

Seven continued by stating that they have a lot on their plates with building the NXT UK brand but the goal is to make this as big as they can.

“At the moment we have a real intimate relationship with the product as far as the size of the crowds goes, but as that builds hopefully one day we can look to do stadiums and much bigger venues.”

Seven continued by stating that he can definitely foresee a major WWE event coming to the British Isles in the very near future and believes that as long as they continue to keep working hard and impressing, they can play a part in that as it would be incredible.

What are your thoughts on Seven’s comments? Sound off in the comment section.

Mark Henry Explains Why WWE Should Create Women’s Tag Team Division

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WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry is a strong believer that WWE needs to introduce a women’s tag team division. During a recent edition of Busted Open Radio on Sirius XM, he talked about this idea as well as the upcoming all-women’s Evolution pay-per-view event.

The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion stated that he thinks this division is needed and that with this event coming up, WWE is going to need more programming, which could be the next step. He noted that the Mae Young Classic is another one where there’s no tag teams but rather single matches.

“I think that the tag titles could carry, and go between both shows.” He would continue by stating that fans will get to see the women from the other shows on RAW and SmackDown and it’ll be a win for the fan.

The Evolution pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, October 28, 2018 in Long Island, New York at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and will air on the WWE Network.

WWE officially announced the first match for WWE Evolution. WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus is coming out of retirement once again to face Alexa Bliss.

WWE Hall of Famer Lita, WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, Asuka, Nia Jax, Ember Moon, Natalya, Shayna Baszler, Bayley, Sasha Banks and NXT Women’s Champion Kairi Sane are all advertised for this show.

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