WWE is said to be interested in both Pentagon Jr. and Fenix. Previously, it had thought to be the case that the two brothers were locked into Lucha Underground contracts which would prevent them from going to WWE anytime soon.
In an update to this story, however, it appears both brothers are preparing to test the free agent market. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, their contracts include an opt-out clause following the 4th season. This would make them free agents 6-months after the last episode of the 4th season airs.
“They have told promoters they are working for that the deal would end with this season, as there was an opt-out,” Meltzer wrote. “If that’s the case, they would be free agents roughly six months after the last episode of the current season ends.”
Pentagon and Fenix have also reportedly told bookers that dates they had agreed to in 2019 are now in question.
The brothers, who are MLW tag-team champions, were also pulled from an upcoming show with the promotion.
Both Pentagon and Fenix are key players in the new version of Impact Wrestling currently airing. Pentagon held the promotion’s World Championship earlier this year.
Impact Wrestling this week featured a main event Street Fight between the OGZ and LAX. Impact World Champion, Austin Aries, would also let the world know the nature of his allegiance with Killer Kross. In tonight’s opener, however, Sami Callihan and Fenix tore the house down.
Takeaways From Impact Wrestling 8/16
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gC86Lw-2yI
Fenix Will Face Brian Cage At Impact Redefined
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=271Q0zvU7kg
Fenix defeated Sami Callihan in a highlight-filled opener this week. Shortly after defeating Callihan, however, Fenix was then told the victory earned him a title shot against Brian Cage.
We would then find out that Cage vs Fenix will take place in 2 weeks on a special branded-episode of Impact, Impact ReDefined.
Johnny Impact Took Out Jimmy Jacobs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFVAdTwQWs0
When Johnny Impact returned to the promotion looking for Jimmy Jacobs’ monster, he didn’t realize that Jacobs’ himself was the monster. Regardless, Johnny got his revenge on both monster and Zombie Princess tonight.
He had Jacobs right where he wanted him when Kongo Kong interfered. Despite this, Johnny still came out the better of a 2-on-1 attack from Kongo and Jacobs.
Johnny rammed Jacobs in the head with steel stairs following his DQ victory over him. Jacobs could be out for quite a while.
The Smoke Show Gives Advice To KM & Fallah Bah
KM & Fallah Bah have not been seeing eye-to-eye as of late. Losses to the Desi Hit Squad further prove this point. Scarlett Bordeaux was able to give them some good advice this week, however.
Bordeaux stressed to KM that they had tried it his way and that maybe they should try things Fallah Bah’s way now. KM seemed enthused by the idea and stressed he would get matching tights so he and Bah looked more as a team.
Aries introduced his newest ally, Killer Kross. He reaffirmed that this was the “hurt business” and said the only one who truly understood this was Austin Aries. Kross said they were going to shove change down the throats of everyone.
Eddie Edwards came out. He took out Kross with a kendo stick and was just about to take out Aries as well when Kross grabbed his leg and Aries hit him with the title belt. Kross then choked Edwards unconcious.
Grado Cost Joe Hendry His Match Against Eli Drake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLxboF9ujSg
“the Prestigious” Joe Hendry debuted a new music video for Eli Drake this week. Despite Hendry’s musical tribute to his opponent, he lost the match all the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_1rwQopAWE
The Cult of Lee has been following Eli Drake around as of late. They would get involved in the match but Grado attempted to fend them off. In the end though, it was Grado’s distraction which allowed Drake to get the roll-up victory over Hendry.
Sami Callihan Challenges Pentagon To A Mexican Death Match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p_73F6etiA
Sami Callihan is sick of losing to the Lucha Bros. He lost his mind and hair to Pentagon at Slammiversary and lost the opener tonight against Fenix.
Callihan wants Pentagon in his own style of match next week: A Mexican Death Match.
Matt Sydal Questions Everything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGzp6buX6QA
Matt Sydal has said the X-Division Championship chose Brian Cage. That the title was once his destiny but now he must blaze a new path.
The above trippy video helps illustrate the inner workings of Matt Sydal’s consciousness.
Tessa Blanchard Interrupted Allie vs Su Yung
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9JPMQXLKS4
Tessa Blanchard does not believe Allie when she says she’s not after Su Yung’s title. Allie promised she will stop Su Yung from locking anymore of the Knockouts in coffins and took on Yung in a non-title match tonight.
Just when it looked as though Allie had the match won, however, Blanchard interfered, causing the match to be thrown out.
What this means for the next Knockouts Championship match is currently not clear.
LAX Regain Their Tag Team Title Belts In A Street Fight Outside Of Rebel
In a match which involved knives and a mock-execution finish, LAX defeated the OGZ and took back their title belts. The match was filmed in the space between Rebel Nightclub and the parking lot.
The show closed with Konnan hitting King in the head with a slapjack mock-execution style.
It appears that WWE is finally ready to pull the trigger on a a 4-on-4 Horsewomen feud. As many fans are aware, Ronda Rousey, Shayna Bayzler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir dubbed themselves the Four Horsewomen of mixed martial arts. WWE has its own unofficial Horsewomen group, comprised of Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Bayley.
With all four MMA Horsewomen under contract with WWE, it was just a matter of time before these two factions crossed paths. According to Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is planning for Ronda Rousey’s Horsewomen to battle the WWE Horsewomen at Survivor Series in November.
The two groups had a confrontation summer at a TV taping for the inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament. This was long before Ronda Rousey joined WWE. At the time, WWE planting the seed for a 4-on-4 feud seemed like wishful thinking at best. Much as changed since then.
A month before Survivor Series, WWE presents Evolution, the company’s first all-women’s pay-per-view event. Wrestlers from Raw, SmackDown NXT will participate in the historic show. This seems like a natural setting to jumpstart the hype to Survivor Series, but we’ll have to wait and see about that.
WWE Survivor Series takes place on Sunday, November 18th from Los Angeles, California at the STAPLES Center.
What do you think about a Horsewomen showdown at Survivor Series?
Ever since Dean Ambrose made his surprise return to WWE Programming with his new look, people have been speculating that the company may be planning to turn him heel at the SummerSlam PPV.
However, a latest development in the situation makes it seem like the company can hold off this turn for a while and pull the trigger on it sometime later instead.
AT&T Center is now advertising a tag match between Ambrose and his tag team partner Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler and his tag team partner Drew McIntyre for the upcoming Hell In A Cell event.
If this advertisement is true then it will mean that Ambrose will stick by Rollins’ side until at least the PPV instead of turning on his Shield Brother in near future.
It’s worth mentioning here that the arena has previously also advertised matches such as Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns, Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton and Samoa Joe vs. WWE Champion AJ Styles for the upcoming show.
Now it’d be interesting to see which one of these advertised bouts actually take place and if any of them end up being contested inside the Hell In A Cell.
Hell In A Cell takes place on September 16 from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.
We noted before how Elias was scheduled to hold a concert at the Gramercy Theater in New York on August 18th, just a day before the SummerSlam PPV.
The Drifter, however, announced on Twitter today that his concert at the arena dubbed ‘Walk With Elias’ is being postponed based on the decision from WWE Management:
There is no word yet on the reason behind this move from WWE but as the tweet reveals, the former NXT Star’s performance at the SummerSlam PPV is still on.
Elias is not scheduled for any match at the upcoming event so far, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if Bobby Lashley ends up crashing his performance again and the two go on to have an impromptu match at the show.
New Surveillance Video Of Attack On Aleister Black
As we noted before, WWE decided to turn Aleister Black’s injury into a mystery attacker angle and they released a video which established multiple suspects for the same.
The company has now released a new footage from the security camera of the parking lot. The footage, however, doesn’t seem to add much to the storyline and at first glance doesn’t provide any new details:
No word yet on when Black will return from his injury or how this angle is expected to be concluded but we’ll keep you posted.
Daniel Bryan has been vocal about his frustration with the WWE creative team in recent interviews and there have been conflicting reports about his contractual status with the company. With Chris Jericho wrestling for various promotions around the world while remaining a WWE guy, many have wondered if Bryan could follow a similar path.
During a recent interview with YouTube personality TonyPizzaGuy, Daniel was asked if we can see him following Jericho in future and wrestling in indie circuit time to time while he continues to work for WWE. The former World Champion said that the wrestling world currently is not “open” enough for this. The good news is that Bryan has many potential dream matches awaiting for him in WWE.
“Yeah, I would like to see the wrestling world be a little bit more open and I think Chris Jericho has kind of done that in a sense. He is still in good terms with WWE but he wants to go do these things that are creatively fulfilling to him because he loves wrestling. But the way wrestling world is right now you can’t do that and luckily I have a ton of dream matches I wanna do in WWE.”
Earlier this week, Daniel Bryan told Sam Roberts there is a 90-plus-percent chance that he will re-sign with WWE. However, we can still dream about the prospect of him working with guys like Kazuchika Okada and Zack Sabre Jr.
Check out Daniel Bryan’s interview with TonyPizzaGuy below:
Dean Ambrose returned to WWE Programming this past Monday Night and one of the most notable things about the Lunatic Fringe’s return was his new look.
A latest Instagram post from WWE, however, make it seem like his hair style is not the only change the company has decided to make and Ambrose will also be using a new ring gear for his matches.
In the post as seen below, the former WWE Champion is seen without a shirt. The caption reading ‘new look, same lunatic’ has fans buzzing about Ambrose possibly abandoning his old ring gear in favor of this one:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmjXSren3Og/
Will Dean Ambrose Turn Heel?
Dean Ambrose suffered a triceps injury back in December last year. After he underwent a surgery, it was reported that the former SmackDown Star will be out of action for 9 months.
Ambrose made his surprise return to WWE Programming on this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw. Seth Rollins called him out and then they both attacked the duo of Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre.
Dean’s new look has a lot of people speculating that the company might be planning to turn him heel and the most likely destination for it looks to be the SummerSlam PPV.
Though whether or not the former Shield Member actually turns into a villain will be revealed at the PPV this Sunday.
Matt Hardy will be taking time off to deal with various injuries, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Hardy is expected to be out for a while. The report states, “a decision will be made as far as whether he can return and in what type of a schedule or capacity.”
The triple threat match on Monday’s Raw with The B Team vs. Hardy & Wyatt vs. The Revival was the beginning of the end of the Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt tag team. Over the weekend, Matt Hardy tweeted farewell to Wyatt.
For the past several weeks, there have been reports that Matt Hardy is dealing with injuries. On Twitter, he has been posting retrospective photos from throughout his career. The general tone seems like Hardy is saying goodbye.
On August 1st, he wrote a message that had some fans wondering if he was retiring. “To all that supported me in the independents & OMEGA.. To the fans of Team Xtreme.. To the Mattitude Followers.. To the OUTSPOKEN fans who brought me back in 2005.. To the people who backed me when I was REINCARNATED in pro wrestling.. To the #WOKEN Warriors.. THANK YOU.”
The WrestlingObserver notes that Hardy has been “shadowing” producers backstage. This is being viewed as a possible role for Matt Hardy when his in-ring career winds down.
Visit f4wonline.com to subscribe to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Billy Gunn is All In. On September 1st, the Attitude Era legend will participate in the Over Budget Battle Royal. The match will take place on the 2-hour All In Zero Hour pre-show, airing on WGN America broadcast TV in the US.
The winner of the All In pre-show Battle Royal will earn a shot at the Ring of Honor World Championship. That match against Jay Lethal will occur on the main pay-per-view card of All In. There will be 15 competitors in the Battle Royal, with 7 now announced:
Brian Cage
Moose
Ethan Page
Colt Cabana
Billy Gunn
Rocky Romero
Jordynne Grace
All In airs live on traditional pay-per-view and is doing iPPV streaming with FITE.tv. Top matches for All In from the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL include:
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis vs. Cody Rhodes
Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon
Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll
Rey Mysterio, Fenix & Bandido vs. The Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi
SEScoops will be covering All In weekend (including Starrcast convention) starting Thursday, August 30th.
Check out our exclusive interview with Conrad Thompson, organizer of Starrcast and podcast co-host of Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard, What Happened When with Tony Schiavone and 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff.
Daniel Bryan says he will almost certainly sign a new contract with WWE in the near future. The former WWE Champion appeared on the Sam Roberts Wrestling podcast this week to promote SummerSlam. It has been widely reported that his contract is expiring in September, which has fueled speculation about what would be next for him.
During their discussion, Sam Roberts addressed the topic of Bryan’s future with the company. The upcoming WWE 2K19 video game features a Daniel Bryan Showcase mode. Since the game is being released in October, Roberts sees this as a positive sign regarding his future.
Daniel Bryan was asked point blank what the chances are that he will re-sign with WWE. He gave an answer that will please WWE fans across the world. “I think at this point it would be 90-plus percent,” Bryan said. “It’s very likely I’ll re-sign with WWE.”
He continued, “The reality is that’s the probability. I have not re-signed yet but it could happen as soon as the end of this week or it could be a couple more weeks. It’s very likely.”
Bryan explained that a major factor of his negotiations with WWE is his schedule. At this stage of his career, he has “no interest” in working 200+ dates a year. Thankfully, WWE has been very understanding in that respect. Ideally, he would like to work 50-100 matches per year. He sounds confident they will come to terms.
Earlier this year, Daniel Bryan was medically cleared to return to action after several years on the sidelines. He stated in multiple interviews that he would wrestle elsewhere if WWE did not give him the green light to wrestle again. The prospect of Daniel Bryan joining another promotion such as New Japan Pro Wrestling was intriguing. For now, fans hoping to see a dream match like Daniel Bryan vs. Kenny Omega will have to settle for a simulated battle in WWE 2K19.
Daniel Bryan will face The Miz this Sunday at WWE SummerSlam.
The updated betting odds have been released for this weekend’s WWE SummerSlam PPV. Some of the more notable odds include AJ Styles now favored to retain his WWE Title at -200 over Samoa Joe, who is the underdog at +200, Seth Rollins favored to beat WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler for the strap at -220, and Ronda Rousey favored to beat WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss to win the belt. 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.
SummerSlam Betting Odds
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander -140 vs. Drew Gulak EVEN The Miz -160 vs. Daniel Bryan +120 Finn Balor -180 vs. Baron Corbin +140 WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura -375 vs. Jeff Hardy +240
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella +115 vs Becky Lynch +185 vs Charlotte Flair +235
Seth Rollins -220 vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler +155 Braun Strowman -350 vs. Kevin Owens +225 WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers -140 vs. The New Day EVEN WWE Champion AJ Styles -200 vs. Samoa Joe +150 Ronda Rousey -400 vs. WWE RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss +250 WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns -280 vs. Brock Lesnar +185
What are your thoughts on these betting odds? Sound off in the comment section.
Corgan sued IMPACT Wrestling for unpaid loans of up to $1.8 million. The company failed to repay Corgan in a timely manner. Corgan became president of IMPACT in August of 2016 after brining in some much-needed money to the company.
Borderline Criminal
Eventually, IMPACT decided to link up with Anthem Sports instead for their financial needs. Corgan tells Busted Open what happened to him was “borderline criminal”:
“The numbers are out there,” Corgan said. “I had put $1.8 million of my own cash into the company. There are literally where if I didn’t put the money in the company would have been shut down. There would be no Impact Wrestling today if I didn’t write a check on that particular day.
“What was weird to me was not only that I was being deceived in my estimation fraudulently, you know borderline criminal. In fact, I even talked to authorities whether there was criminality involved and there were differing opinions about actual criminality.
“Then once it went into more of a legal process because that was advised by attorneys the most likely way to recover my money which I ultimately did. What was even more shocking was watching people that you had considered only months before literally inventing stories out of whole cloth.
“I mean literally inventing situations and scenarios that didn’t happen. Then you start getting into like, ‘wow, I’m in a bad Vince Russo wrestling angle here, like, did Vince book this s–t?’ It was like ‘you’ve got to be kidding me,’ it was wacky world.”
Discussion: What do you think about Corgan’s comments regarding his issues with IMPACT? Sound off in the comments below!
John Hennigan, known in Impact Wrestling as Johnny Impact, will be taking part in Chris Jericho’s Rock N Rager at Sea. The Survivor contestant recently announced that not only will he be on the cruise, he’s calling out the entire Bullet Club.
Brian Cage has issued a similar challenge to the faction.
Johnny Impact on Chris Jericho’s Cruise
It’s been a big year for Johnny. He married Taya Valkyrie earlier this summer and filmed the upcoming season of Survivor. You can check out Johnny currently on Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground.
The upcoming season of Survivor will begin airing n September 26th, about a month before Chris Jericho’s cruise takes place. It’s possible that episodes featuring Johnny will still be airing by the time the cruise begins. Most contestants on such shows are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from saying what happened on the show, however.
In Impact Wrestling, Johnny is currently engaged in a feud with Jimmy Jacobs meanwhile in Lucha Underground, Johnny’s World Wide Underground is doing battle with the Reptile Tribe.
In addition to the Sea of Honor tournament, LAX will face the Young Bucks on the cruise. Also, Jericho and the Young Bucks will face Cody, Marty Scurll, and Hangman Page.
Triple H was recently a part of a media conference call to promote this weekend’s SummerSlam and NXT TakeOver events.
“The Game” answered several WWE-related questions. One being in regards to the reception of WWE’s current main roster compared to NXT. A caller pointed out to Triple H that he’s “burned out” by the main roster.
Everybody Has An Opinion
He then claimed he’s more excited for NXT TakeOver this weekend and isn’t really looking forward to SummerSlam. Triple H was then asked if he would like to run the main roster the same way he does NXT:
“I also wish I could fly and breath underwater. Dude, I wasn’t sure if you were going to ask me a question or you were making a statement about your displeasure. Everybody has opinions on things and positive/negative that’s the beauty in what we do and people are free to express those opinions.
“I’m happy that you like NXT and I’m happy you’re looking forward to that show. You know some people dislike some things, there are other people who dislike what we do in NXT and there are people that like what we do there.
“Everybody’s got an opinion and the great thing for us is no matter what it is, positive/negative, we don’t have a shy fan base that is afraid to let us know. They will let us know and whether we decide to take that message immediately or whether it takes us a little bit to hear it, eventually we hear you.
“So you know, it is what it is but if people dislike something or like something that’s what their voice is for and we encourage that for sure.”
Discussion: How do you feel about the fan’s comments and Triple H’s response to them? Sound off in the comments!
AJ Styles has broken a record during his current reign as WWE Champion.
Back on a November episode of SmackDown Live, “The Phenomenal One” defeated Jinder Mahal to capture the title. He has reigned as “The Champ That Runs The Camp” on Tuesday nights ever since.
Styles has successfully defended his title in various matches against the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev. He’s currently preparing for yet another title defense, this time against Samoa Joe at SummerSlam this weekend on pay-per-view (PPV).
It looks like he’ll head into “The Biggest Part Of The Summer” with a record under his belt. Styles has now reigned as WWE Champion for over 281 days. With that stat, he’s now the longest reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history.
He surpasses future WWE Hall Of Famer JBL in the record books. JBL took to Twitter to react to the news. He praised “The Phenomenal One” for breaking his record and called Styles a world class individual and athlete:
“My record has been broken and I Could not be more proud of ?@AJStylesOrg? -a world class individual and athlete, looking forward to watching this incredible performer Sunday at @WWE Summerslam.”
My record has been broken and I Could not be more proud of ?@AJStylesOrg? -a world class individual and athlete, looking forward to watching this incredible performer Sunday at @WWE Summerslam. pic.twitter.com/VjT33wKsVj
Alexa Bliss has reflected on when she believes was the turning point for her character as she prepares for the biggest match thus far in her career with the WWE.
The WWE RAW Women’s Champion recently spoke with Bleacher Report to promote the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view event. Bliss noted that she exactly knows when that moment was.
Turning Point
She joked that it was the segment with Bayley that was titled “This Is Your Life” and noted that she gets a lot of flak for that segment. Switching to serious gears, she pinpointed that it was when she had that feeling.
“When I had the Raw Women’s Championship, I made the crowd chant, “You deserve it!” I was told that was one of my better “interacting with the crowd” promos. And I was told that by Paul Heyman, who told me that I lured the [audience] in and took them on a ride.”
SummerSlam
Bliss is slated to defend her title against Ronda Rousey at this upcoming pay-per-view event and was asked how she thinks Rousey is making the transition from MMA to WWE. She stated that Rousey is coming to WWE at such a great time because they’re a big family here, and try to help everyone succeed.
“She has passion for it, which is awesome, and she respects the business, which is awesome. Everyone has been helping her and walking her through everything. Because it’s a very big challenge to come into this, go straight on the road and have your every move televised. I mean, her first match was at WrestleMania. Her second match was on Money in the Bank.”
She added that they’re all high-profile matches and that Rousey wants to learn. Thus, she thinks that at the end of the day, it takes two people to make a good match and that it will be great to see how Rousey is a year from now.
Check out the complete interview atBleacher Report.com Also, remember to join us here at SEScoops.com this Sunday evening for live results coverage of this year’s WWESummerSlam pay-per-view.
Becky Lynch plans to take full advantage of being in the title scene once again after looking from the outside in for two years.
The former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion spoke with The New York Post to promote the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view event where she will face SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmell and Charlotte in a triple threat match this Sunday.
Not Being In The Title Scene
Lynch admitted that not being in the title picture was incredibly frustrating as she felt that she was almost there but never really fully settling into it.
“Yeah, I’ve been the champion before, but it was a hiccup and then it’s been nearly two years getting back to it and not even having a title match in a year and a half. This is huge for me. It really has been my whole journey.”
Her Title Match At SummerSlam
Lynch stated that getting this chance at SummerSlam is a perfect example of you want to fight for what you want but sometimes you got to look over your shoulder because people are trying to take you down. She thinks that it’s perfect for everything that her character has gone through then you add in the fact that you have her best friend, Flair, wanting to be champion almost on the cusp of having everything that she ever wanted.
“But then knowing there could end up being bad blood with her best friend. And then [I’ll be] reigning with the title for another however many years until I retire,” Lynch said.
Check out the complete interview atNYPost.com. Also, remember to join us here at SEScoops.com this Sunday evening for live results coverage of this year’s WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Revolution Pro Wrestling (Rev Pro) will be presenting their ‘Summer Sizzler 2018’ event tomorrow night from the World Famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, London and it is one of the most anticipated cards in the UK this summer.
Several of the UK scene’s top independent stars will be making their way to London and challenging some of the top stars in New Japan Pro Wrestling including a main event between WALTER and Tomohiro Ishii. Here’s the full card for the event:
WALTER vs Tomohiro Ishii
Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship Match – “The Product” David Starr (c) vs El Phantasmo
Titan vs El Soberano
Dan Magee vs Josh Bodom
KUSHIDA vs Adam Brooks
Lance Archer vs Jurn Simmons
“The Dominator” Great O-Kharn vs Shane Strickland
CCK vs Aussie Open
The Rev Pro ‘Sizzler’ is one of the most anticipated in the UK wrestling calendar. The company produces top level shows and the underground stars such as El Phantasmo are likely to impress.
Davey Boy Smith Jr was originally scheduled to join his Killer Elite Squad tag team partner Lance Archer to face Aussie Open yet unfortunately Smith had to pull out of the event due to the passing of Jim Neidhart and our thoughts again go out to the entire Hart/Neidhart/Smith family.
The announcement came as a bit of a shock to some fans. Amell will go one-on-one with former Ring Of Honor (ROH) World Heavyweight Champion Christopher Daniels.
Amell recently took to Twitter to show off footage of his training for the bout. In his Tweet, he takes a jab at Daniels by calling him a “middle aged” man:
“All In” goes down live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Cody Rhodes and IWGP Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks are self-funding the ground-breaking professional wrestling event. See “All In’s” updated match card below:
NWA World Heavyweight Championship: (C) Nick Aldis vs. Cody Rhodes
ROH World Championship: (C) Jay Lethal vs. TBD (Winner of The Over Budget Battle Royale)
Kazuchika Okada vs. Marty Scurll
Adam Page vs. Joey Janela
Rey Mysterio, Bandido and Fenix vs. The Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi
Stephen Amell vs. Christopher Daniels
Madison Rayne vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Britt Baker vs. Chelsea Green
All In: Zero Hour Pre-Show
The Over Budget Battle Royale (Winner will face Jay Lethal for ROH Title): Jordynne Grace, Moose, Rocky Romero, Colt Cabana, Ethan Page, and TBA
Daniel Bryan is gearing up for his match against The Miz as they will finally do battle on a big stage for the first time in years.
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion spoke with GameSpot.com to promote the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view event. This interview was purely dedicated to his feud with The Miz.
Breaking Point
When asked when he thought was the breaking point between him and The Miz. Bryan noted that they’re polar opposites and do have a legitimate dislike of each other as some people backstage know that there’s always been that tension. He believes the breaking point where people actually care about is Talking Smack episode then it escalated from there.
“Miz starting to do my moves, really rubbing it in my face in a way that at the time nobody thought I was gonna get cleared again. So, there was no payoff to this. It’s just heat, for heat, for heat’s sake. So, I think that’s where everything–where the current incarnation, where people are really excited to see that–I think that’s where that comes from.”
Fan Reaction
Bryan touched upon when he felt the reaction from the fans of WWE to that Talking Smack segment. The former SmackDown Live GM noted that he was hoping that it would inspire WWE officials to look at his case to be cleared again more closely as he thought if they would clear him then maybe they could headline WrestleMania. However, that hope slowly faded.
“No. That’s what I was thinking. I was thinking in terms of like, “Wow, this could really benefit.” And [WWE creative] started using it a little bit on the show, and then what happened is people really wanted to see the match, and then they backed off of it because they had no plans of doing the match. So, that’s when I realized like, “Oh, man. They’re not gonna budge here.”
What are your thoughts on Bryan’s comments? Sound off in the comment section.
Seth Rollins has given his take on a potential match between Roman Reigns and The Rock, which has been rumored for WrestleMania 35 that takes place on Sunday, April 7, 2019 in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium.
The former WWE Champion recently spoke SI.com to promote the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view event where he is slated to challenge Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Title.
Rollins noted that he would rather it be Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins instead of The Rock wrestling at the show. He is also okay with potentially wrestling The Rock because he thinks he’s great and loves everything he’s done for this business.
“But my gut, my first instinct, says we don’t need him. We don’t need him. If we’re not the guys who can main event WrestleMania, then how are we ever gonna be The Rock? How are we gonna be Stone Cold Steve Austin? We can’t hold onto these guys forever. We just can’t. To me, let’s do Seth Rollins-Roman Reigns before we do Seth Rollins-The Rock. That’s me.”
Rollins also discussed if it’s good for business to bring in that Rock audience. This is when he stated that he understands why WWE brings The Rock back as there’s nothing wrong with growing, getting bigger and putting more eyes on your product. He added that at some point, WWE needs to move on from that.
What are your thoughts on Rollins’ comments? Sound off in the comment section.
New Japan Pro Wrestling will be bringing more English language content to NJPWWorld this September.
The full G1 Climax tournament was available in English for the first time ever this year and now New Japan’s Destruction shows in September will be getting the ‘Western’ treatment. Play by Play commentator Kevin Kelly confirmed which shows be would be commentating live via Twitter:
Post #G128 blues got you down? Get ready for a September filled with Destruction! Live English commentary for the three Destruction shows and I'm heading to #TheStudio to record commentary for the "Road To" events. @njpwworldpic.twitter.com/YK61WzgyBZ
The Road to Destruction shows on September 7th, 8th and 9th will only be available in Japanese live. The September 15th, 17th and 23rd events in Hiroshima, Beppu and Kobe will be available in English. Kelly will be recording commentary for the ‘Road To’ events in post production.
Last weekend saw Japanese wrestling legend Hiroshi Tanahashi defeat Kota Ibushi to win the G1 Climax tournament. This should cement his place in the main event of January 4th’s Wrestle Kingdom event in the Tokyo Dome.
Tanahashi spoke to Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso following his incredible bout against the ‘Golden Star.’ He discussed a variety of topics including the longevity of his career, his love of Shawn Michaels and the difference in ideologies between himself and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega.
The ‘Ace’ of New Japan began by stating “Many times I have heard that phrase about my age, but what can I say?” My future is my future. I don’t want to let anyone close the door on my future. I survived the G1. This means I am the best in New Japan.”
Tanahashi is also reportedly a huge fan of the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels, he spoke about ‘picturing’ the WWE Hall of Famer before his G1 final match: “Before I walked to the ring tonight, I was very, very nervous, So I pictured Shawn Michaels. I love, love Shawn Michaels. He was my inspiration, and always seemed to be having fun all the time in the ring. There is pressure and injury in the ring, but I needed to remember there is joy, too. So that’s what I did.”
Tanahashi also commented on the difference of ideologies between himself and Bullet Club’s Kenny Omega: “Kenny made a new movement, created a new trend in New Japan Pro Wrestling,” said Tanahashi, alternating between English and Japanese. “He does extreme moves and people love him, but New Japan Pro Wrestling has a different ideology of pro wrestling. Kenny’s ideology is different than my ideology, and that is the biggest difference between us.”
Luke Harper, one-half of the current SmackDown Live tag team champions, was a recent guest on the popular podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness.
Hosted by WWE legends, Edge and Christian, the podcast covered a range of topics, including how Harper assumed WWE wouldn’t sign him, his run with the Wyatt family, as well as building chemistry with his partner Rowan.
The conversation turned to how Harper and Rowan were going to be split up, as well as his initial reservations over the mallet gimmick.
“Years ago, me and Rowan were told we’re done. We’re done being a team, we’ve done everything we can, and we’re here for five years later in a whole new thing and we’re tag team champions, so I can’t complain.”
Forgotten Push
It was only last year that it looked like Harper was being prepared for a major single run. Matches against the likes of AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and even his old leader, Bray Wyatt, pointed towards a renewed belief in his singles ability.
All that was put to the back burner, however, after WWE repackaged the former Wyatt members as the Bludgeon Brothers.
Harper said during the podcast, “[…] what WWE wants right now, they want me in a team, so here we go. Let’s make it the best we can. And maybe there’ll be a time when I’m not in a team and then I’ll worry about that.”
When first approached by WWE Chairman, Vince McMahon, about the team carrying hefty mallets around with them, Harper recollected, “[…] instantly, in my head, I go, ‘man, it’s 2018. What are we doing?’ And that lasted about a fleeting second. And then I said, ‘oh, this is f*****g awesome!”
The Bludgeon Brothers defend their SmackDown Live tag team championships against The New Day this Sunday at SummerSlam, in Brooklyn, New York.
It’s been reported that former ECW and WWE wrestler Justin Credible, real name Peter Joseph (PJ) Polaco, is currently behind bars after violating a protective order.
According to ProWrestlingSheet.com, who broke the news, Connecticut authorities state that Credible was taken into custody on Tuesday, August 14th. He is currently being held on a $7,500 bond.
With information still scarce, it is unclear as to what the 44-year-old former superstar did in order to violate the protective order. It’s worth noting there was a prior incident involving his wife last year in June following a domestic dispute.
In his last Tweet before his arrest on Monday, Credible posted a lengthy, confusing diatribe that ends with “welcome to the blood lost faith in dreams.”
Welcomening. The beginning of blood lost sacrifice dreams and hatred. This is become the new show I love lust Hatred and the dreams. There is a new leg and nothing in between where clowns we are just yours we are killers among men welcome to the blood lost faith in dreams
Justin Credible had only recently returned to the independent scene after announcing his retirement in 2015. He has been unassociated with the WWE since 2003, with his last stint seeing him involved in minor angles on shows like Sunday Night Heat.
Though he enjoyed success in ECW, Justin Credible was never fully utilised during his time with the WWE, even after breaking from the X-Factor stable in order to join Paul Heyman and his old cohorts in the ECW faction during the infamous Invasion angle.
SEScoops will be sure to keep you updated as further news breaks.
