One of the longest running and respected promotions in the United Kingdom have released a statement on their frustrations with the NXT UK talent policy.
Southside Wrestling were set to welcome back their Tag Team Champions Joseph Conners and El Ligero (The Joseph Conners Experience with Ligs) to face The Rascalz at their Retribution event on August 19th in St Neots.
Both Conners and Ligero are no longer scheduled to appear at the event due to their contractual obligations to NXT UK, according to Southside “WWEUK competitors are no longer allowed to work Indy shows one week prior to their own live events.” NXT UK are scheduled to appear as part of the Insomnia Gaming Festival on August 25th/26th. NXT UK contracted talent Dan Maloney will also no longer be able to participate in the Retribution event, however this is due to injury.
Conners and Ligero are mainstays in the Southside promotion and have held the Tag Team Championships for nearly an entire year. The team defeated GBH at Menace II Society VII in a Tables match on August 5th 2017 to claim the belts.
Southside has announced that there will be a Triple Threat tag team bout to determine Number 1 contenders to their Tag Team Championships with The Hooligans, The Rascalz and GBH competing.
You can check out the full statement from Southside Wrestling below:
Brian Christopher was buried yesterday in Memphis. His friends and family prepared a custom-made casket for him they say he would have loved. It was decked out in Pittsburgh Steelers colors and logos with “Grand Master Sexay” on the top.
Local 24 Memphis news was on-hand to cover the funeral. They spoke with many of Brian’s friends as well as with his father, Jerry Lawler.
Jerry Lawler Comments On Brian Christopher’s Funeral
“This is gotta be one of the toughest days of my life and if I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times,” Lawler said. “They say the toughest thing for anybody to do is have to bury a child and that’s what we’re going through today.”
“My fiance Lauren and I are standing next to the casket and I keep looking down almost expecting Brian to sit up and start laughing,” Lawler continued. “It’s just tough.”
Brian’s friends spoke of remembering their friend as funny, fun, and as having a big heart. They also remembered him as willing to go out of his way to make someone laugh. Other friends say he was always quick to help a friend in need.
Investigation Into Brian Christopher’s Death
There is currently an active investigation into the circumstances surrounding Brian Christopher’s death. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has asked family not to comment publicly on the ongoing case.
A lawyer for the family has made a public comment that they are hoping to receive camera footage from within the jail to gain a better understanding of how he was being housed.
The Sherrif’s department has stated Brian was being housed in a cell by himself but was not in solitary confinement.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual G1 Climax is widely regarded as the greatest tournament in pro wrestling today. Two blocks of competitors are competing in a round robin format to determine the number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament is nearing the later stages and here are the results from Night 14:
SANADA b. Toru Yano by – SANADA took the win via countout after taping Yano on the outside
Hirooki Goto b. Tama Tonga by – Goto took the win via disqualification as Bad Luck Fale interfered…again
Zack Sabre, Jr. b. Juice Robinson – ZSJ took the win via submission with a unique figure four/ode to Jim Breaks combo
Tomohiro Ishii b. Kenny Omega – Ishii took the shock pinfall win after hitting the Vertical Drop Brainbuster
Kota Ibushi b. Tetsuya Naito – Ibushi took the pinfall win after hitting the Kamigoye
WoS/World of Sport will be returning to ITV for their second episode tonight at 5pm UK time.
Arguably the biggest news emanating from last week’s (re)debut episode was the appearance of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Will Ospreay. The CHAOS stable member took part in a bout against Davey Boy Smith Jr which gained plaudits not just from the ‘hardcore’ fans of the UK scene but also from the more ‘causal’ viewers who voiced their opinions on social media. Ospreay’s aerial prowess has seemingly helped to change perceptions of professional wrestling amongst viewers in the UK.
Ospreay took to Twitter himself earlier today and hyped his role as part of the WoS roster, claiming that “With me on the show, ill happily put @WOSWrestling on my back and run with it. There is no one on that roster that is capable of doing the things I can do and every match I get better & better. Trust me, the team we have are gonna change the scene for the better.”
Also confirmed for tonight’s episode is one of the most well respected legends in British wrestling history: Doug Williams.
The former TNA X-Division Champion will be making his way to ITV having missed the original World of Sport way back in the 80’s. Williams took to Twitter to speak on the historical significance of this; “started training in 1993 which means I missed appearing on Wrestling on ITV by 4 years. However, tomorrow, after a 25 year career I finally make my debut on ITV 1 when Wrestling is back on on a Saturday afternoon!”
Can you defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship 13 straight times?
Wrestlers have their signature moves and Tetsuya Naito can even be Tranquilo:
NJPW King of Sport
A unique feature of the game is that players are awarded points for not just winning matches but also making them exciting. Players are awarded points for making comebacks, kicking out of near-falls, and other crowd-pleasing moves.
“Players can choose their favorite NJPW stars with their signature moves to compete for the championship!” A press release for the game reads. “Players can also create their own custom character, select special moves, and train them to become a champion. Online Battle mode allows you to play against others in real-time. Featuring both singles and tag team matches, King of Sports is full of excitement and real action that only New Japan Pro-Wrestling can deliver.”
Not only are all the top NJPW stars included in the game but there is an advanced character creator mode as well. As of this writing, I’ve currently created myself as a young lion in the junior heavyweight division and am learning new moves in the New Japan Dojo.
The loading screens also feature real pictures and descriptions of famous NJPW moments.
Drew McIntyre says he “lost his fire” when he was released from his WWE contract in 2014. The Scottish SuperStar had been with the company since 2011. He’d even been touted as a future World Champion by Vince McMahon himself.
Initially, McIntyre found success in WWE. He won the Intercontinental Championship in 2009 and later won the tag titles along with Cody Rhodes. By 2012, however, things had changed drastically for him. He would be placed in a trio along with Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal known as 3MB.
He recently spoke to Sky Sports about how he sees others on the WWE roster who have lost their fire in a similar way to how he did a few years back.
Drew McIntyre on Complacent WWE Superstars
“When I was there (before), I kind of lost my fire and forgot why I was there, I forgot why I was in WWE and it’s embarrassing to think about that,” McIntyre said. “It was only when I left I realized what an opportunity I’d let slip away and I knew I’d never do that again.”
He then spoke about seeing the same attitude in some members of the current roster.
“I see a lot of the same looks in people’s faces and quite frankly it annoys me,” he continued. “I’ve been around the world and there are independent stars and NXT stars waiting to take their slots.”
McIntyre is currently aligned with Dolph Ziggler on the Raw brand.
“I’m back as the wake-up call to everybody to tell them they have to take their opportunity because there are people ready to take their spot.”
The Second Annual Mae Young Classic is scheduled for tapings at Full Sail University on August 8th and 9th. These are all 32 Women who will be competing at this year classic in alphabetical order.
All 32 Competitors For The Mae Young Classic
Aerial Monroe
Allisin Kay
Ashley Rayne (Madison Rayne)
Deonna Purrazzo
Hiroyo Mastumoto
Io Shirai
Isla Dawn
Jessica Elaban
Jinny
Kacy Catanzaro
Kaitlyn
Karen Q
Kavita Devi
Killer Kelly
Lacey Lane
MJ Jenkins
Meiko Satomura
Mercedes Martinez
Mia Yim
Nicole Matthews
Priscilla Kelly
Rachel Evers
Reina Gonzalez
Rhea Ripley
Taynara Conti
Tegan Nox
Toni Storm
Vanessa Kraven
Xia Brookside
Xia Li
Zatara
Zeuxis
The Tale Of The Tape
This year the finals will take place at the all women’s PPV Evolution where the winner will get a guaranteed WWE contract.
Last year classic saw Shayna Baszler take on Kairi Sane in the finals where Sane went on to win the competition. Both Sane and Baszler got signed to the WWE (along with other promising superstars) and have become prominent members of the NXT brand, with Baszler becoming NXT Women’s Champion.
Who Are You Most Excited To See Compete In This Year’s Classic? Who Do You Think Will Win It All? Sound Off In The Comments Below!
Luke Harper was a guest recently on Edge and Christian’s podcast. Edge mentioned that Harper can play many different roles in WWE, including wrestling in main events. Harper mentioned he just tries to make whatever he is given the best it can be.
“I’ve tried to make it a thing where somebody in WWE wants me or needs me there,” Harper said. “If I do my job well then that becomes a thing and I just try to make it a reality, I guess. I’m just trying to not get released, you know?”
Luke Harper Compares Sanity to the Wyatt Family
Harper continued to talk about the Smackdown tag-team division. The Usos were mentioned specifically as a team who have tweaked their characters and taken their game to a new level.
Edge would later talk about how the Bludgeon Brothers are a tweaked version of the previous version of their team.
“Every team has its own thing going,” Harper said of the Smackdown tag division. “Nobody’s much alike at all… except Sanity is kind of like the Wyatt Family but we’ll just keep that to ourselves.”
After making the joke, Harper would continue to say he has nothing against the faction. He mentioned he worked with Eric Young on the indies.
“I worked with Eric on the indies a couple times and had some of my best matches,” he said. “For him to come back around now in 2018, it’s exciting for me to think about that too.”
Roman Reigns returned to his college football roots yesterday. The former Yellow Jacket made a surprise appearance as his former school unveiled their new team jerseys.
— WBB #17 From the Rumble Seat (@FTRSBlog) August 4, 2018
Reigns was a starter for 3 seasons in Georgia Tech and named a Team Captain as a senior. He went undrafted but was later signed to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The team released him after a month.
Reigns would later sign with the Minnesota Vikings as well but failed to crack the roster. He had a short stint in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos. He played in five games with Edmonton before being released and retiring from football.
Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar – SummerSlam
While his Georgia Tech alma mater prepares for a new season, Reigns prepares to yet again challenge Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. It will be the 6th the two have faced each other but only the 3rd time they have met in single’s action.
Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns Stats
WrestleMania 31 – Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar (triple threat)
Fastlane 2016 – Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose (triple threat)
SummerSlam 2017 – Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Samoa Joe
WrestleMania 34 – Brock Lesnar defeated Roman Reigns
The Greatest Royal Rumble – Brock Lesnar defeated Roman Reigns (steel cage)
The current Raw GM took to Facebook to answer a few questions from the WWE Universe.
What Consequences Will Brock Lesnar Face For Hitting The F5 On You?
I’m a forgiving man, but I also pick my spots when I retaliate. I will eventually get him back. Or, I could just suspend him after he loses the title at SS. We will see. And he WILL lose the title. My money is on Roman.
Which Current WWE Superstar Would You Like Face From Your TNA Tenure?
Joe, Roode, or AJ. I’ve always felt that those 3 were the best of the best. I hope I get another crack at all of them!
Is There Another Run As Champion For The Olympic Gold Medalist?
I hope so. That’s up to the powers that be. I’m healthy right now. Ready to go if I get called on.
When Will Finn Balor Finally Get Some Gold Around His Waist?
Soon. I think the company wanted to see how durable he was. He’s ready now.
Angle’s Current Role
Kurt Angle’s current role in the WWE is the Raw General Manager. While this role has Angle on television every week, he has shown a desired to return back to the ring. While a full-time schedule is out of the question for Angle, he is willing to do sporadic matches here and there, but like always it is up to the WWE if they want to use him in any wrestling matter.
The recent news of the all-women PPV Evolution has had fans clamoring on which former WWE women superstar will return to the event.
One former Women’s Champion, Gail Kim, has been the talk of a former star who should return but has no desire in making a comeback to the WWE.
Whoever you are, please don’t tell me what I should be feeling or thinking. Only I’ve lived my life and walked in my shoes. So please get lost. You don’t know jack. https://t.co/XkOlAXMWxy
Back in August 2011 Gail Kim deliberately eliminated herself from the women’s battle royal that was taking place around the Divas Division Era. During this era, the Divas had little to no time on television for their matches, which many fans referred to the matches as “piss breaks”. That elimination would be Kim’s last WWE appearance as she would request her release and join back with TNA.
Currently, Kim is a producer for TNA’s Knockout Division and has no desire to return back to the WWE.
– Amanpreet Singh, better known to fans as Mahabali Shera in Impact Wrestling, made headlines earlier this year when he joined the WWE Performance Center. Since making his in-ring debut in March, he’s been working NXT house shows in Florida on a semi-regular basis and at last night’s show in Lakeland, he debuted a “dark” persona.
The official Instagram account of NXT posted this photo of Singh before his match and added: “@mahabalishera rises from the darkness in #NXTLakeland to compete tonight!”
https://instagram.com/p/Bl_wTgEgzsi/
Singh only wore this garb to the ring as he wrestled in his usual black trunks and boots attire. He lost to Kassius Ohno.
– Thursday marked the 20-year anniversary of Sunday Night Heat, which served as a supplement program to Raw as well as a preview show on pay-per-view nights. Heat holds a special meaning to Trish Stratus as she made her WWE debut on the show (on the March 19, 2000 episode). In honor of its 20th anniversary, Trish has counted down her top 10 Heat moments.
You guys, remember Sunday Night Heat?? Can u believe it premiered 20 years ago? Here’s some of my Heat moments, including the kick off for my rivalry with @REALLiSAMARiE + number 1 is super special! https://t.co/tsBJyF86BI
– Ahead of SummerSlam on August 19, WWE posted this 60-second highlight video looking back at SummerSlam 2000.
https://instagram.com/p/Bl_OjDuHVZe/
SummerSlam 2000 marked the second straight year that a Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship headlined the pay-per-view event as The Rock successfully defended the title against Triple H and Kurt Angle.
Another featured match was the first-ever Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match for the WWF World Tag Team Championship involving champs Edge and Christian, The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy), and The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley). Edge and Christian won the match by retrieving the belts suspended above the ring.
A new title match has been announced for the upcoming at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event. WWE has announced that Shinsuke Nakamura will defend the United States Title against Jeff Hardy at this show.
If you recall, Nakamura beat Hardy to win the United States Title at the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the PPG Paints Arena on the WWE Network. Following the match, Randy Orton made his return after being on the sidelines due to a recent surgery to have an intense staredown with Nakamura and then laying out Hardy.
Moving along, on a recent episode of SmackDown Live on the USA Network, the company booked a rematch between Hardy and Nakamura that saw the finish once again have Orton cost Hardy the match. Then, Orton attacked Hardy once again in devastating fashion.
The SummerSlam pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, August 19, 2018 in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center and will air on the WWE Network and some traditional pay-per-view outlets. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
The Card
WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss vs. Ronda Rousey
WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins
WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella vs. Becky Lynch
Kevin Owens vs. Braun Strowman – if Owens wins then he gets the MITB contract
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
– Dasha Fuentes will likely be off SmackDown LIVE for a while after suffering an Achilles tendon injury. She posted a photo of herself in the hospital today after undergoing surgery to repair the issue.
https://instagram.com/p/BmBYxZTFmvT/
– Alexa Bliss is among the celebrity guests at ACE Comic Con Midwest on Friday, October 12 at Chicago’s Navy Pier and the Raw Women’s Champion will be signing autographs and doing photo-ops. Visit AceUniverse.com for more information.
Impact Wrestling and MLW’s Rich Swann began his pro-wrestling training at an early age. Swann was recently a guest on X-Pac’s 12360 podcast and talked about training to wrestle at an early age.
“I was going on 15 years old. Started training at 15 with Adam Flash and Darren Wyse,” Swann said. “They saved my life, they guided me in the right direction.”
Swann made his professional debut in 2008 at the age of 17.
Waltman said on the podcast that he feels wrestling saved his life too. Wrestling came into both Swann and Waltman’s lives at a time when they needed something to steer them away from trouble. Waltman was also only a teenager when he began his training as well.
When asked if there was anyone else his age on the scene when he began, Swann replied there wasn’t. “Just grown men, you know?” he said.
Swann debuted with Impact Wrestling this April and has become something of a crowd favorite. His match with Fenix from the tapings in Windsor was particularly well-received. He spoke to X-Pac about the time he’s had with Impact over the last 3-4 months.
“The roster is amazing,” Swann said of Impact Wrestling. “Wherever I land on IMPACT I am happy with because I’m just trying to have great matches and I am happy I am with IMPACT. The company is growing, it’s on national TV. The guys are wrestling everywhere it doesn’t matter if it’s Ring of Honor or New Japan… Slammiversary had a sprinkle of everything and it culminated and made it like ‘Boom this is IMPACT!’.”
Swann suffered a concussion during a preliminary match at the MLW Battle Riot tapings. The injury caused him to miss Slammiversary and the following two nights of tapings. He has since been cleared to compete once again and is scheduled to be at the August 12th and 13th tapings.
“The production value is amazing,” Swann continued to say regarding Impact. “How they present stuff; promos and packages are unique. I think that catches people eye. I think another thing that has IMPACT on an upward is just the wrestling. The wrestling right now is hotter than ever.”
The passing of former WWE Tag Team Champion Brian Christopher (Grandmaster Sexay) has saddened the professional wrestling world.
Christopher passed away at a Tennessee hospital after an apparent suicide attempt in prison. He attempted to hang himself and subsequently passed after his family got the opportunity to say their final goodbyes.
Earlier that week Christopher was arrested for a DUI and attempting to evade police. The Hardeman County Sheriff John Doolen revealed that, due to his notoriety, Christopher was placed in a cell by himself.
He also noted that Christopher wasn’t on suicide watch because the Sheriff’s Department “had no indication he was suicidal.” This has greatly upset former WWE star Sean “X-Pac” Waltman.
Waltman took to his podcast, X-Pac 12360, and expressed his frustration by the entire matter:
“I’m really pissed about this, really pissed,” Waltman said. “Because I’ve been in that situation in more than one way. And you don’t take someone that’s not done something violent or isn’t a danger to others.
“Even then, you don’t put somebody in solitary confinement. You don’t put people in solitary confinement for that long that didn’t do s–t and then go, ‘Oh, it wasn’t solitary confinement.’
“It’s f–king solitary confinement! I’ve been in it, if you’ve never actually been in it I don’t want to hear it from you at all. It’s torture.
“It drives you crazy, you don’t have to be suicidal, you become suicidal. You stay in there with no one to talk too staring at the walls for that long.”
Sharing Demons
He then dove into the similar issues he had to Christopher’s. Waltman revealed he once attempted to hang himself as well:
“I’ve been there and I’ve hung myself and so I know. I have a pretty good idea of where [Christopher] was and it’s just about the worst place you can ever imagine. Not only are you in the lowest possible place but you die that way.
“You never come up out of it… I love [Christopher], I was tight with Brian in WWE. He was crazy as f–k no doubt, but if you knew him like I did you would know he’s a real wonderful guy.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRTT1KvjVFQ]
Samoa Joe has found himself in the main event scene over on SmackDown Live.
The former NXT Champion will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam later this month. The event goes down on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on August 19, 2018.
“The Destroyer” spoke to Sportskeeda about his WWE Championship opportunity. During their conversation Joe also discussed having worked on both the RAW and SmackDown Live brands. Joe explained the differences in backstage environments between the two shows:
“Well, backstage, I do my own thing and have my own spots in the locker room so environmentally it’s not very different for me. But, the backstage environments are vastly different, but that is mainly because of the personalities.
“You’ve got some very unique individuals in the WWE and it’s a completely different nexus on SmackDown than it is on Raw.”
Joe also talked about possibly winning the WWE Title, who he’d like his first defense to be against and who has the best chance to shine on the main roster from NXT. You can read the full interview here.
The G1 Climax 28 has completed 13 shows so far. There are still another 6 to go. With the A-Block only having two matches left and the B-Block just 3, we can start to see who could realistically win this thing.
G1 Climax tie-breaker rules:
A tie between two wrestlers is broken based on the result in their 1-on-1 match.
If 2 or more wrestlers are tied at the end of round-robin the winner is determined based on which wrestler has the most points in only the matches against the other wrestlers they are tied with.
G1 Climax 28 A-Block (2 nights remaining)
The A-Block is likely coming down to the Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi match on the final night of the round-robin on August 10th.
Jay White holds the tie-breaker over both Okada and Tanahashi, however, so if he wins his remaining two matches and Okada beats Tanahashi on the final night, then he’d move on to the finals. White would move on to the finals with most multi-person tie situations as a result of his victories over both Okada and Tanahashi early in the tournament. Suzuki lost to both Okada and Tanahashi (although he did beat Evil and Jay White), so I believe he is mathematically eliminated at this point (there is a lot of math here and I’m no Scott Steiner)
If Evil wins his remaining two matches against Jay White and Okada and Okada beats Tanahashi on the final night, then he’d move on.
With a record of 5 wins and 0 losses, Kenny Omega is just 2 wins away from clinching the B-Block. He’s only got 3 matches left, however, meaning he could clinch the block before the final night of the round-robin.
If Omega defeats Tomohiro Ishii tomorrow, he’d only need to defeat Toru Yano on August 8th to win the group. Naito would need Omega to lose 2 of his final 3 matches due to Omega having the tie-breaker over him. Ibushi needs Omega to lose to either Ishii or Yano otherwise he would be mathematically eliminated by the time he faces Omega on the final night.
Kenny Omega (12pts)
Tetsuya Naito (10pts)
Kota Ibushi (8pts)
Sanada (6pts) – eliminated
Zack Sabre Jr (6pts) – eliminated
Hirooki Goto (4pts) – eliminated
Tomohiro Ishii (4pts) – eliminated
Juice Robinson (4pts) – eliminated
Tama Tonga (4pts) – elminated
Toru Yano (2pts) – eliminated
Night 14 (B Block)
August 4th, 2018
Juice Robinson vs Zack Sabre Jr
Hirooki Goto vs Tama Tonga
Tomohiro Ishii vs Kenny Omega **
Toru Yano vs SANADA
Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi ***
** If Omega wins he only needs to win his next match (against Yano) to clinch the block
*** If Naito loses and Omega beats Ishii, Naito is eliminated.
Night 16 (B Block)
August 8th, 2018
Juice Robinson vs Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto vs Zack Sabre Jr
Toru Yano vs Kenny Omega **
Kota Ibushi vs Tama Tonga ***
Tetsuya Naito vs SANADA
** If Omega beats Ishii on Night 14 and defeats Yano here, he clinches the block.
Taya Valkyrie has cleared up her status with IMPACT Wrestling.
The near-10 year veteran has worked for promotions such as WWE, AAA, Lucha Underground and IMPACT. The 36-year-old Canadian, and wife of former WWE Intercontinental Champion John Morrison, recently spoke to Interactive Wrestling Radio.
She discussed her current status with IMPACT Wrestling and revealed she’s still working with the promotion:
“I’m still working with Impact. There’s nothing wrong or whatever. It just is the way that it is right now. I look forward to getting back there very shortly and continuing to do some great work with them.”
Valkyrie also put over the IMPACT Knockouts division, saying the roster is made up of some of the best wrestlers she has ever worked with:
“The female locker room, the Knockouts division, are some of the best female wrestlers I’ve ever encountered. I’m just really honored to be working with them.
“I’m just doing what I’m doing right now which is promoting Lucha Underground and all the projects I’m involved in. So, don’t you worry! I will be back in the Impact Zone! (laughs)”
As we’ve reported, WWE Superstar Kane has won his mayoral campaign in Knox County. “The Big Red Machine” is now the mayor elect of Knox County in Knoxville, Tennessee. He defeated Democratic adversary Linda Haney.
This makes Kane the third person in WWE history to acquire a position in political office, behind Jessie Ventura and Linda McMahon. Kane’s former WWE Tag Team Championship partner, The Undertaker, took to Instagram and congratulated his WWE storyline brother:
Another NWO Member Visits The WWE Performance Center
Scott Hall visited the WWE Performance Center this past week to help train the talent. PWInsider reports that Hall wasn’t the only member of the NWO who stopped by the Performance Center. Kevin Nash was also in attendance to share a thing or two with the young talent of WWE.
It looks like the WWE could make it a habit to continue to nab UFC stars from the MMA world.
After acquiring Ronda Rousey, holding a special Performance Center workout with ex-UFC champ Cain Velasquez and rumors of inking Matt Riddle to a deal – this could become the norm for WWE. Now WWE could possibly get their hands on Paige VanZant.
VanZant, a UFC strawweight contender, is one of the more beautiful fighters on the promotion’s roster. The WWE has shown interest in working with her before. VanZant opened up on the possibility in a recent interview with Fightful.
The 24-year-old is currently nursing an injury but says she’d still love to make a WWE appearance in the future:
“Yeah, definitely. Even before my career’s over, I’d love to make an appearance in WWE. I love the organization and it’s such a different form of athleticism, I think I’d have a great crossover because of my Dancing With The Stars Experience, and MMA experience, and athletic background.
“I’m focused right now on just healing my arm, I can’t really do anything until that’s done. I wouldn’t say necessarily there’s a specific person I like watching. I’m really into the WWE Divas, whenever the women are on, I focus on them.
“I pay attention (to Ronda) as much as I can. I would love to go to the live show,” said VanZant. “I have a lot of things in the works, I’m still building up my career while I can.”
If you ever wanted to smell just like the members of Bullet Club, now is your chance. A special Bullet Club cologne will be released by New Japan Pro Wrestling tomorrow.
NJPW has previously released “King of King” and “Fighting Spirit” scents in the past as well.
Although we are currently unaware of what this cologne smells like, a few potential odors seem possible:
The Bullet Club Cologne might smell like:
ProWrestling Tees packaging.
Bad Luck Fale’s post-match scent.
It smells like nothing but 5 minutes after you put it on you are attacked by Tanga Loa and win your G1 match by disqualification.
Cody’s ego.
WCW Nitro Cologne
WCW released a cologne late in their existence. There are still Amazon listings for it online. WWE released both a cologne and a perfume during their Attitude Era. Currently, John Cena is the spokesperson for a line of Axe Body Sprays as well. So, there is a history of wrestling companies promoting similar products.
NJPW G1 Climax 28
The G1 Climax tournament has a day off today but they are back in Osaka tomorrow for B-Block action.
Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi
Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii
Juice Robinson vs Zack Sabre Jr
Hirooki Goto vs Tama Tonga
Toru Yano vs SANADA
As Omega is still undefeated he needs just two more wins to clinch the block. Meaning if he beats Ishii and then Yano, he’ll have already clinched the block when he faces Kota Ibushi. If he was to lose to Ibushi still, however, it would set up a future title match between the two.
Of note here is that if Omega defeats Ishii tomorrow it would mean his match against Toru Yano would be to clinch the block. Only one wrestler, Tetsuya Naito, trails Omega by only 2pts and Omega has the tie-breaker over him.
Impact Wrestling’s second episode since Slammiversary aired last night. It was the 2nd episode of the 12 which will air before Bound for Glory on October 14th, 2018.
Impact has two more shows from the recent Toronto tapings before they film 4 more episodes from Rebel Nightclub on August 12th and 13th.
Here are 9 Takeaways From Impact Wrestling 8/2
Allie Pinned the Knockouts Champion & Tessa Blanchard Was Not Happy About It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_PdL4gfT4
Last week on Impact Wrestling, Allie said she was going after Su Yung to make sure she never locked anyone in a coffin again. Kiera Hogan volunteered to help her in this task as well.
This week Allie and Hogan teamed up to take on Yung and an Undead Bridesmaid in tag action. Yung gave the Panic Switch to Hogan but the momentum knocked the Girl on Fire out of the ring. Allie then hit a codebreaker on Yung and pinned her for the win.
A win over the champion often puts the wrestler in a position to challenge for the title but Allie lost a match at Slammiversary to Tessa Blanchard. Perhaps this was what Blanchard was thinking about when she attacked Allie after the match.
Blanchard cut a backstage promo afterward stating that Allie was trying to weasel her way into a title shot by taking on Yung under the premise of wanting to protect others from the Undead Bride’s actions.
Ortiz Was Going To Hit Homicide With An Ax!
After King’s OGZ won a squash match against two local competitors, they cut a promo running down LAX, believing Konnan and company were still on the shelf. Santana, Ortiz, and Konnan rushed the ring, however, and took out the OGZ.
Things took a bit of a turn when Ortiz brought out an ax and looked to strike Homicide with it. This brought out additional security and Konnan separated his boys from the fight. Konnan told them in the back that timing is everything and when the timing is right the OGZ will “kiss the ring.”
Ortiz and Santana were this week’s guests on the Impact media call. We asked them what it’s like to go from watching LAX as teenagers 11 years ago to being LAX now in Impact.
“LAX has been something we’ve watched since when we were kids,” Santana said. “The fact that two Latinos out there not like playing a gimmick but being them and being proud of who they are and what they represent.”
KM & Fallah Ball Aren’t On The Same Page (The Desi Hit Squad Are)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ugd3NOGAtE
Impact was telling two stories this week when the Desi Hit Squad defeated the team of KM and Fallah Bah.
The first story was how the Great Gama Singh is guiding Rohit Raju and Gursinder Singh to being an old-school heel-style tag-team. They win their matches either through clever tag-team work or dirty under-handed tactics.
The second story is the team of KM and Fallah Bah not being on the same page. KM had been trying to teach Fallah when to distract the referee but evidently, Bah’s not the greatest student. Fallah tried to enter the ring when KM was in control of the match. KM tried to tell him “this isn’t when you distract the ref!” but the distraction allowed the Desi Hit Squad to hit a combination knee to the face and a flatliner for the win.
Johnny Impact Is Looking For Kongo Kong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDF6oXqJDN8
“You know, for a big guy, Kongo Kong is a pretty hard guy to find these days,” Impact said to Alicia Atout.
Jimmy Jacobs interrupted his interview and looked to begin a promo when Johnny just wound up and punched him in the mouth. He let Jacobs know he wants Kongo Kong and he doesn’t appear to be playing around on this one.
Eddie Edwards Will Challenge Austin Aries For the Impact World Championship Next Week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQW6q6vYgbE
Austin Aries defeated Dustin Cameron this week via corner stoppage. The champion had the challenger beaten but opted not to pin him in favor of giving him another brainbuster. That’s when Anthony Carelli threw in the towel to prevent his Battle Arts Academy student from taking any more punishment.
After the match Carelli kicked Aries in the groin, causing the champion to stumble back on the entrance ramp. That’s where he was greeted by Eddie Edwards and a Singapore cane. Edwards hit him with the cane but Aries was able to escape before receiving more punishment.
Josh Matthews then announced Edwards will face Aries next week for the Impact World Championship.
Scarlett Bordeaux Really Had An Impact on Bobo
Alicia Atout was not assigned to interview Scarlett Bordeaux this week. Atout was likely not impressed at how she was treated by Bordeaux last week.
Instead of Atout, a guy named Bob was given the task of interviewing Bordeaux. He was left a little tongue-tied by Bordeaux’s antics. After dismissing who Josh Matthews thought was a horribly aged Jeremy Borash, Bordeaux reminded us she plans to bring sexy back to wrestling.
“I think that people will be pleasantly surprised as we move forward,” Callis said. “She’s actually a very good wrestler and I think it got people talking in a good way.”
Eli Drake and Trevor Lee defeated Grado and Joe Hendry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39dkwMbFQ60
Drake pinned Grado after giving him the Gravy Train this week. Grado was distracted by the actions of Joe Hendry and Katarina on the outside. Katarina was getting into an argument with Caleb Konley and Hendry was restraining her.
There was more speculation from Callis and Matthews at commentary that Hendry and Katarina have something going on behind Grado’s back.
Matt Sydal Accepts Losing the X-Division Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JflTo5tli0I
“The X-Division championship chose him,” Sydal said. “Who am I to question what that belt has done with itself? Because its history speaks for itself. I’m really proud of all the time I put in as X-Division Champion.”
He would continue to say his loss to Brian Cage taught him something. He said he still has much to learn and still needs to go deeper into his consciousness and “question everything”. The X-Division title was once his destiny but not anymore.
The Lucha Bros Took Out oVe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d50dB48baXw
In an exciting main event, Pentagon Jr and Fenix fended off outside interference from Sami Callihan and repeated unmasking attempts in order to get the victory over oVe this week.
Sami Callihan has responded to having his head shaved by descending further into madness. His minions from Ohio losing to Pentagon and Fenix isn’t going to help that situation at all.
Callihan’s attempt at revenge was thwarted this week but he likely isn’t finished with Pentagon or Fenix.
Impact 8/2 Quick Results:
Allie & Kiera Hogan defeated Su Yung & An Undead Bridesmaid
The OGZ (Homicide & Hernandez) defeated 2 Local Competitors
The Desi Hit Squad defeated KM & Fallah Bah
Impact World Championship
Austin Aries (c) defeated Dustin Cameron via corner stoppage
Eli Drake & Trevor Lee defeated Grado & Joe Hendry
The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr & Fenix) defeated oVe (Jake & Dave Crist)
Matches scheduled for next week:
Impact World Championship
Austin Aries (c) vs Eddie Edwards
Darren Young never won a singles title in WWE but it turns out there was a time when he had the opportunity to do so and his opponent was ready to drop the title as well, only for things to fall apart.
Young was recently a guest on Two Man Powertrip of Wrestling Podcast, where he talked about his post-WWE life, being paired with Bob Backlund and more.
While talking about his 2016 feud with the Miz, he revealed that the Miz who was the Intercontinental Champion at the time was ready to drop the title to him but the creatives decided against it:
“He was actually for me beating him for the Intercontinental title at Battleground. Miz was all about saying to give the title to Darren and then I’ll take it back from him. I guess I wasn’t a favorite to someone under Vince and eventually it got kiboshed.”
Darren Young was paired with Bob Backlund back in May 2016 and not too long after this, he won an 18 man Battle Royal to become the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship.
However, he failed to capture the title at Battleground and after this; he started a rivalry with his former partner Titus O’Neil. This feud didn’t go anywhere and Young was released by the company in January the next year.
While almost everybody expects Daniel Bryan to resign with WWE, the fact that he hasn’t done it yet is surprising to many and is slowly becoming a topic of discussion.
Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Bryan has not re-signed with the company as of this week and his current contract expires on September 1st.
He has also been removed from some Live Events in near future to lighten his schedule which Bryan had asked for and the officials are working with him to make him happy.
However what’s interesting to note here is that according to Meltzer, the promo Miz cut on him during this week’s episode of SmackDown is proof that the Officials are not happy with Daniel for not resigning yet.
Not only that but while the Wrestling Journalist himself expects the former World Champion to resign, he says that “there’s a lot of weird stuff going on”. Though he didn’t explain this comment further.
Daniel Bryan is currently involved in a rivalry with the Miz and while it hasn’t been announced officially yet, it’s very likely that these two will meet each other in a match at SummerSlam.
It’s believed that the outcome of this bout will be heavily dependent on Bryan’s contractual status and so we should get an idea about his future with the company from how they handle this bout at the PPV.
