Daniel Bryan has been an underdog in the eyes of the WWE fans for several years now.
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and SmackDown General Manager recently did an interview with Inside the Ropes. During this discussion, Bryan talked about how he warned WWE officials that being eliminated quickly in the 2015 Royal Rumble would be a mistake. Here is what he had to say (h/t to Wrestling Inc) “When they told me what was going to happen, I was like, ‘this isn’t gonna work out well for you guys. But, you can do what you want,'” said Bryan. “Like, I don’t run the company, right? If it’s bad — I feel bad for certain people who were negatively affected by that. The year before, 2014, Batista was negatively affected by it. “So like, I always try to say like, ‘hey, I think this is gonna happen,’ and sometimes I’m right, sometimes I’m wrong. But I think, like in that specific case, like I had said that, like I don’t think this is a good idea, and it doesn’t matter what I think, right? And so, I just go out there, and I do my job, and I play the hand that I’m dealt with.”
Also, Bryan stated that his time teaming with Kane as part of Team “Hell No” was the most important moment of his career. The fan favorite would go onto state that the reason he believes that is due to him being able to gravitate to the fans and allow the “Yes” Movement to grow in popularity.
“I think the vital part of my career, like maybe the most important part of my career, was [teaming with Kane],” said Bryan. “I mean, there are certain bullet points you can see like, okay, I needed this to happen. Like a certain chain of events for me, of all people, to main event WrestleMania 30. I needed a certain series of events to happen in this specific timeline for it to work. It was very, like, luck type thing. And one of the things was getting paired with Kane.”
Bryan is slated to take on Big Cass in a singles match at the upcoming WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena.
What are your thoughts on Bryan’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.
Sasha Banks was interviewed at the WWE For Your Consideration 2018 Emmy nomination campaign.
While at the event, the former WWE RAW Women’s Champion spoke about various topics including being part of so many first time things in the women’s division under the banner of the sports entertainment company. Here is what she had to say: (transcript courtesy of Wrestlinginc.com): “That’s such a hard answer, I only dreamed I’d be a part of all these firsts,” Sasha said. “First woman to main event a PPV, that could be up there. Being a part of WrestleMania 32, having my cousin Snoop Dogg walk me down the aisle, that’s pretty cool. … I can’t just pick one because they all helped me grow and helped me understand this dream can be so much bigger.”
Despite being in the WWE for a short period of time (2012), Banks has achieved many things and wrestled a lot of Superstars. However, there are still some talents she wants to work with to have a solid one-on-one match in WWE. “With NXT we have so many women all over the world that I haven’t got to be in the ring with yet,” Sasha responded. “On Raw and SmackDown, I’ve got to wrestle quite a few … I feel like I haven’t had that great singles match with Naomi yet, because she’s on SmackDown Live. Natalya, I don’t feel like I’ve had a good singles, one-on-one match with her.”
What are your thoughts on Banks’ comments? Sound off in the comment section below.
The daughter of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, Stephanie, is slated to appear on next Friday’s special edition of Undercover Boss, which is being titled Celebrity Boss, on CBS.
The sports entertainment company has released this preview clip of the episode that features McMahon disguising herself as a WWE photographer. You can check it out here:
The WWE Network will be airing a new episode of WWE 24 following the Money in the Bank pay-per-view post-show on the streaming service at 11 pm EST next Sunday night that features The Hardys, WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy and RAW Tag Team Champion Matt Hardy. Here is the synopsis for the episode:
“The Hardys were extreme in and outside the ring, and nearly lost it all. Witness The Hardys’ fall from grace, and their ultimate redemption!”
What are your thoughts on McMahon appearing on this show? Sound off in the comment section below.
WWE has announced a new match for this Monday’s WWE RAW.
On Saturday morning, after Jinder Mahal sent out a challenge to Roman Reigns for a match on this show, Reigns accepted it and thus, the sports entertainment company officially announced the contest.
This will be a preview for their singles match at the upcoming WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena.
WWE holds this week’s show in Little Rock, AR at the Verizon Arena. As noted, WWE has already announced that there will be a face to face segment in the ring between Ronda Rousey and WWE RAW Women’ Champion Nia Jax to promote their title match at MITB.
Also, Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya vs. Sasha Banks vs. Ember Moon, as well as Bobby Roode vs. Finn Balor vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens in Fatal 4-Way Matches, have been confirmed for the flagship show of the WWE.
What are your thoughts on these matches? Sound off in the comment section below.
For the first time in their careers, Matt and Nick Jackson have won heavyweight tag-team gold in New Japan Pro Wrestling. The brothers defeated Evil and Sanada at NJPW Dominion in Osaka this morning.
The Bucks, along with Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Michael Elgin, and Hiromu Takahashi all became new champions this morning.
Omega, the Bucks, and Kota Ibushi are now referring to themselves as “the Golden Elite”.
The new faction might not sit well with Cody. At Dominion last night, Cody teamed with Marty Scurll and Hangman Page to defeat Jushin Liger, Rey Mysterio Jr, and Hiroshi Tanahashi. So far, Cody has not commented on the Golden Elite.
The Young Bucks Championship Resume
The Young Bucks’ championship resume reads like no one else’s. The brothers first debuted for a major independent promotion in 2007 when they started with Pro Wrestling Guerilla. 6 years later the Bucks began wrestling with Bullet Club in NJPW and have been winning titles ever since.
Here is the Young Bucks’ championship history:
7X IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions (most all-time)
9 combined defenses of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships (3rd all-time)
706 combined days as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions (2nd all-time)
3x NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions (2x with Kenny Omega and once with Marty Scurll)
Super Junior Tag Team Tournament Winners (2013)
3x ROH World Tag Team Champions
1x ROH 6-Man Tag Team Champions (with Hangman Page)
4x PWG World Tag Team Champions
3x Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Championship Tournament Winners (PWG)
In addition to being a decorated team in storyline, the Young Bucks have received numerous accolades from the wrestling media. Matt and Nick Jackson were named the tag-team of the year in 2017 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has awarded them two 5* matches. The first was a 6-man tag from 2016 when they teamed with Adam Cole and faced Matt Sydal, Ricochet, and Will Ospreay. The 2nd 5* match in their history was against the Golden Lovers at Strong Style Evolved. They have also been awarded the tag-team of the year every year since 2014 by the newsletter.
Chris Jericho has won gold in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He defeated Tetsuya Naito in Osaka, Japan to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship early this morning. Jericho is just the 12th person to ever win the title and begins the 19th reign in the championship’s lineage.
The all-time record-holder with this title is Shinsuke Nakamura. He has held the title 5x and defended it 17x. Nakamura holds the record for the most combined days spent with the title as well with 901.
Naito’s reign finishes at just 41 days and 0 title defenses. He won the title from Minoru Suzuki at the New Beginning in Sapporo on April 29th, 2018. It was Naito’s 2nd reign with the title. He had previously held the belt for 259 days and defended it 4x from 2016 to 2017.
Kenny Omega is the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He defeated Kazuchika Okada 2-1 in a Best 2-of-3 Match in Osaka, Japan this morning.
Okada’s record-breaking reign ends at 720 days and 12 successful title defenses (both all-time records).
The first fall was won by Okada. He reversed a sunset flip attempt into a pinning combination and got the 3-count at the 28:47 mark. There was then a 2-minute break between rounds.
Omega won the 2nd fall at 47:47 (total elapsed time) with a 1-Winged Angel. He won the 3rd and deciding fall with another 1-Winged Angel at 64:50 total elapsed time.
Following the victory, Omega embraced the Young Bucks, appearing to bury the hatchet with the brothers for the first time since Strong Style Evolved. Cody appeared on the ramp as well but decided to turn back after Omega invited him into the ring.
Omega becomes the 28th person to win the title and begins the 66th all-time reign. He’s just the 2nd member of Bullet Club to win the title. AJ Styles won the title for the first time at Wrestling Dontaku 2014.
His post-match speech was brief but he said he can do anything with friends like the Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi. He referred to the 4 of them as “the Golden Elite.”
“Today, I defeated the greatest wrestler on planet Earth. This is a performance art. You can be a great wrestler but if the people don’t care, you aren’t worth a damn,” Omega explained. “I give you (Okada) all the credit in the world for what you’ve done, the problem is the buck stops here. You’ve taken this company as far as you can domestically and I see so much more for this company. When I look at this company, I see the evolution of pro-wrestling.”
Omega’s 1st defense of the title could come on July 7th, 2018 when NJPW presents the G1 Special in San Francisco.
The Octagon travels to Chicago, Illinois this weekend, as UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero II goes down live on Saturday night, June 9th, from the United Center, airing live on pay-per-view. As is always the case before a big MMA event, our MMA affiliate website, MMANews.com has you covered from multiple angles with pre-fight analysis and insight from multiple veteran MMA writers.
MMANews.com staff writers Matt Boone, Andrew Ravens and Ian Carey will break down the fights scheduled for the main pay-per-view card, which includes a star-studded lineup and two championship fights. In the main card opener, former WWE Superstar Phil “CM Punk” Brooks returns to the Octagon to fight fellow 0-1 rookie Mike “The Truth” Jackson.
With that said, let’s take a look at what Boone, Ravens and Carey think about tonight’s Punk vs. Jackson fight.
CM PUNK VS. MIKE JACKSON PREDICTIONS
Featured below is the pre-fight analysis and predictions for tonight’s CM Punk vs. Mike Jackson main card opening bout at the UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero II pay-per-view.
Matt Boone: So, you want a tough assignment? Break down CM Punk vs. Mike Jackson from an “expert” standpoint. And … GO! Good luck! This is as big a question mark as any fight you’ll get, as it is essentially two guys that have fought once, against the same guy, and lost in one-sided fashion. We’ve seen neither man do anything inside the Octagon yet, other than take punishment and get finished in the first round. Having said that, “The Truth” is supposed to be some kind of standup artist and Punk likes jiu-jitsu a lot. Who knows. I’ll go with Jackson. (Prediction: Mike Jackson)
Andrew Ravens: There is not a ton of footage to go off of the previous fights that both fighters have had. It’s a real pick em here. It could go either way. Although you could make the argument that Jackson should win this fight, this is Punk’s best chance of winning a pro-MMA fight. I see Punk dominating with his jiu-jitsu because that is what he has been training for over the last several years now and ultimately getting a TKO win in the first round. (Prediction: CM Punk)
Ian Carey: With all do respect to CM Punk, he’s going to get embarrassed again. Is Mike Jackson a great MMA fighter? Absolutely not. Is he an actual MMA fighter tho? Yes, yes he is. CM Punk is not. Jackson had his first amateur fight over 9 years ago. Punk started training a few years ago. At some point in Jackson’s training coaches would have told him he’s skilled enough to compete. Punk signed a UFC contract before he started training. The UFC is supposed to be for the top fighters in the world, not just the ones who draw the most money. You could put a Kardashian in the octagon and it would draw money, it doesn’t mean you should do it. Let’s call it for what it is, Punk’s fame bought him a paid trip to MMA fantasy camp. The fantasy ends on Saturday. (Prediction: Mike Jackson)
CONSENSUS: Mike Jackson (2-1)
For analysis and predictions for all fights on tonight’s UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero II pay-per-view card, check out the full article at MMANews.com by clicking the appropriate link. The same can be said for live round-by-round results coverage of tonight’s show.
Former WWE Superstar Wade Barrett was recently a guest on Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho, to talk about several professional wrestling topics. As for why he left WWE; Barrett named numerous reasons including being burned out from the road, his frustration with creative, and issues with some in WWE management positions:
“I was kind of burnt out on the road as [Jericho] said. I mean, when you start on the road, everything’s new and everything’s fresh. You don’t care that you’re not home 275 nights a year, and you’re constantly exhausted, and beat up, and even if you’ve got bad booking or something like that, it’s all fine because you’re living this amazing experience.
“After I had been up there for several years, I kind of got to the point where even the little things were irritating me, and the travel was really killing me, and I’d get to the arena, and it seemed that every RAW and every SmackDown, every Monday and Tuesday, I’d get to the arena and be so disappointed when the script for the show came out. And every week, there would just be something where I’m like, ‘man, I don’t want to do this.’
“And I’d kind of plead my case with the people in the creative or in management about doing something different or tweaking it this way, ‘hey, how about moving the story this way?’ and just whatever I was doing, I was just banging my head against a brick wall. And it got to the point where it felt like Groundhog Day. And my contract was running up and I’d signed a pretty long contract after the Nexus deal and stuff like that.
“They got me on a pretty long contract and that was just coming to a head. So they had approached me a couple of times about re-signing, and extending, and coming up with a new deal, and stuff like that. And it hadn’t even got to the point of negotiating with them. I just explained to them, ‘look, I need to get out.
“This is just killing me and I need to go do something else for a while and get away from pro wrestling,’ which is essentially what I did.” Barrett added, “and there [were] other things. It wasn’t just in terms of the creative I wasn’t happy with. There was some stuff behind-the-scenes.
“I had fallen out with a couple of people kind of in the talent relations and management department. I’m not going to get into specifically what that was about, but it was, ‘okay, this is all coming together now to show that, with my contract coming up, I should just get away.’ And that’s really how it kind of all shook out.”
Barrett revealed that he knew his time with WWE needed to end when he couldn’t even phantom signing a new three-year deal with the company:
“I’d already got to the point where I knew I was moving on and the thought of signing the new three-year deal that they had for me at that point, when I felt that way, nothing good would come out of it.” Barrett professed, “A) I was miserable being around wrestling, and being on the road, and stuff like that.
“And B) for me to not even have the fight in me to not even try to make the improvements I could try to make or try to make suggestions, that told me look, ‘if I did re-sign here and take whatever money they’re offering me, financially, it might make sense, but in terms of what I’m going to be putting out of it, it’s going to be bad and things are not going to improve around there at all,’ so that for me was like, ‘yeah, whatever happens to me, I have to leave and reground. And we’ll see where the future takes me.”
He then revealed a heated argument he got into with talent relations on his last day with WWE:
“I went into the building that day and I knew I was kind of tying up loose ends at this point and there was this one big issue that I’d kind of been banging heads with talent relations about for a long time and it kind of came to a head there that day. So we get there at 2 o’clock or whatever it is, and around about three or four o’clock I’m having this big kind of blow up with talent relations there, which looking back it was all really silly, but we have this blow up, I get really angry, they get really angry.
“I’m not on the show anyway, so at that point, I’m like, ‘do you know what? I’m just going to grab my bags and go home. I’m done.’ So this is me basically leaving WWE, so it was obviously a really stressful moment. I was angry, I was mad, this, that, and the other. I grabbed my bags, I went straight to my car, slammed my bags in the car, started the engine up, and started driving up the ramp, and in my head, I’m still angry about the blowup we’d just had. All I’m thinking about is, ‘wow, that’s me done with WWE! I’m finished! That’s it! Here today.’
“And it was pretty crazy considering I spent the majority of my life thinking about working there, and how great it was, and stuff. So as I’m heading up the ramp, all I see is the top of the tunnel to the outside and I’m thinking, ‘as soon as I’m over there, that’s freedom!’ And there [are] a bunch of fans there and stuff. So I get to the top of the ramp and just as I’m about to burst out into freedom, and light, and this whole new world that might be ahead of me, a car pulls across in front of me and stops me in my tracks.
“I’m like, ‘who the f–k is this?’ I look up and it’s [Jericho] and [Jericho is] turning up at the building at four [o’clock]. And I’ve got a face like thunder and I look at [Jericho], we lock eyes [Jericho] flip[s] me the bird, and [Jericho] kept driving down the tunnel.” Barrett recalled, “that was my big goodbye to the WWE, getting flipped off by the guy who brought me in storyline-wise and sent me off into the sunset. Looking back that actually makes me laugh.”
You can listen to Barrett’s interview on Talk Is Jericho by clicking this link here.
Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio made his return to the company for a one-off appearance in the 2018 Men’s Royal Rumble match this past January. He later returned to work the 50-Man Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia this past April.
There have since been rumors that WWE is attempting to lock Mysterio down to a deal that will bring him back to the company. Dave Meltzer reports on Wrestling Observer Live that still no deal has been made as of last week. WWE and Mysterio continue to negotiate for a potential deal.
He did note that there’s a feeling Mysterio could return to WWE sometime around September, as he currently has commitments he would like to fulfill through this summer. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more…
Discussion: Would you like to see Mysterio return as a full-time WWE Superstar? Who would you like to see him work with?
Kenny Omega recently spoke with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) to promote his IWGP Heavyweight Championship match-up against Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion. The Cleaner first discussed how dominant of a champion Okada is, and how he is the one that has been calling the shots:
“As he made those defenses, one after another, after another, it came to a point where no one would just walk through the curtain and say, ‘I’m going to be the next challenger.’ He has done so much and beaten everyone so many times that he calls the shots! He makes the challenges, he makes the rules. That’s the situation we’re in right now.”
He then talked about taking the first fall in their Two-Out-Of-Three Falls match:
“I know the secret to this match, Okada, and the secret is that first fall. I won’t let you take it. So, if you’re thinking, ‘Hey, this is going to be a 15 minutes here, 10 minutes there, and a crazy stretch and we’re goin’ home!’ That’s not gonna happen. I am not going to give you any freebies. I’m not going to give you a first free fall, if I feel like I need a bit of a rest. You’re not getting the first fall. I’m going to take the first fall and control the pace.”
While Omega admits that Okada is probably the best professional wrestler in the world, he believes that he himself is still the best performer:
“You may be the best wrestler on the planet and I’ll admit it, you are. You’re the best and it’s not even an opinion thing anymore, this is something that you’ve proven. But you can’t say you’re the best performer. That goes to me. And if we’re going to move this thing forward, if we’re gonna cause this revolution of professional wrestling and make this something worldwide and something cool.
“We can’t just have the best natural pro wrestler steering the ship. We need someone who captures the imagination. Who captures the heart. We need a performer and a showman, which is why I’m doing everything I can in my power to overtake you’re natural wrestling ability.”
You can read Omega’s full interview with NJPW by clicking this link here.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins took to Twitter last night and noted that he hung out with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star Juice Robinson on Wednesday. Rollins said that Robinson is one of his favorite people, and put him over as the future of NJPW.
Unfortunately, The Architect said he and Robinson were having so much fun that they forgot to take a picture together:
Hung out with Juice Robinson yesterday. One of my favorite humans and the future of @njpw1972. I should’ve taken a pic, but we were too busy livin’. #budtweet
Former WWE Champion CM Punk is gearing up to make his second UFC appearance tomorrow night, when he takes on fellow 0-1 record holder Mike Jackson on the main card of the UFC 225 pay-per-view (PPV) in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
During a media scrum, Punk was asked about the current controversy surrounding Super Bowl winners The Philadelphia Eagles not visiting the White House this year, as per tradition.
When asked if he’d ever accept an invitation to the White House from United States President Donald Trump, Punk claimed he wouldn’t and called Trump a racist:
This comment received praise from former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Batista, who took to Twitter and said “just another reason to love this dude!!”:
WWE just made a very interesting move. SmackDown Live star Xavier Woods is scheduled to take on New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star Kenny Omega in the Street Fighter video game at the upcoming E3 conference.
In an article published Thursday, WWE hyped Woods and Omega’s upcoming clash, referring to Omega by name as a “independent wrestling star.” Here’s an excerpt:
“Xavier Woods and independent wrestling star Kenny Omega have been engaging in a heated war of words on social media over who’s better at Street Fighter. The two rivals will converge at the Capcom booth during the E3 video game conference next Thursday to settle the score in a battle for supremacy.
“The two have engaged in arcade fighting showdowns in the past, but the heat turned up once again on their rivalry when “The Cleaner” posted a video to Twitter, showing off his Street Fighter skills while calling out The New Day’s resident trombonist”
Make of it what you will, but it’s certainly interesting to see WWE mention Omega’s name in one of their articles.
WWE has officially announced the next title defense for Adam Cole.
However, in an interesting twist, it won’t be under the WWE banner. On Friday, the sports entertainment company officially announced that Cole would defend the WWE NXT North American Title at the upcoming EVOLVE 107 event on June 24, 2018 in Melrose, MA at the Melrose Memorial Hall.
As of this writing, his opponent at this event has yet to be officially announced but will be coming this Monday (June 11, 2018). WWE sent out this tweet:
“NXT #NorthAmericanChampion @AdamColePro will be coming to EVOLVE on June 24th in Melrose, MA for a title defense. Opponent will be announced this Monday.”
Cole beat EC3, Killian Dain, Ricochet, Lars Sullivan, and Velveteen Dream in a ladder match to become the inaugural champion in April at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans on the WWE Network.
EVOLVE 107 Card
WWN Championship Match Austin Theory with Priscilla Kelly vs. TBA First-Time-Ever Match – Non-Title EVOLVE Champion Matt Riddle vs. DJZ First-Time-Ever Special Attraction Match WALTER vs. AR Fox with Ayla & The Skulk Grudge Match #1 Tracy Williams vs. EVOLVE Tag Team Champion Chris Dickinson with Stokely Hathaway & Dom Garrini Grudge Match #2 Darby Allin vs. Jarek 1:20 with Candy Cartwright
What are your thoughts on Cole defending the title at this event? Sound off in the comment section below.
WWE is keeping former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey busy.
On Friday, June 8, 2018, the sports entertainment company officially announced that Rousey will be working live events in Italy and Spain.
Those events include Madrid at the WiZink Center on November 3, Barcelona at Palau Sant Jordi on November 4, Bologna at the Unipol Arena on November 9, and Rome at PalaLottomatica on November 10. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, and Nia Jax are all advertised for these events.
It’s been well established that the WWE has already announced that Rousey is slated to challenge Jax for the RAW Women’s Title at the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.
The sports entertainment company is advertising Rousey for the following dates including live events:
– Monday Night RAW TV Event: June 11th, in Little Rock, AR
– MITB Event: June 17th, in Chicago, Illinois
– Monday Night RAW TV Event: June 18th in Grand Rapids, MI
– WWE Live Event: June 24th in Anaheim, CA
– Monday Night RAW TV Event: June 25th in San Diego, CA
– WWE Live Event: July 7th in New York City
– WWE Live Event: July 8th in Bridgeport, CT
– Monday Night RAW TV Event: July 16th in Buffalo, NY
– Monday Night RAW TV Event: August 20th in Brooklyn NY
– Monday Night RAW TV Event: August 27th in Toronto, CA
– WWE Live Event: November 3rd in Madrid
– WWE Live Event: November 4th in Barcelona
– WWE Live Event: November 9th in Bologna
– WWE Live Event: November 10th in Rome
What are your thoughts on WWE using her as frequently as they are? Sound off in the comments section below.
Roman Reigns is not a big fan favorite, but that has not stopped WWE from pushing him as the top guy.
Earlier this week, the sports entertainment company held its “WWE For Your Consideration 2018 Emmy nomination campaign” that had various WWE Superstars as well as Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey making appearances as well as talking with the media.
At the event, Reigns was interviewed by Stephanie McMahon (H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcribed quotes).
In this discussion, the former WWE Champion spoke about creating memorable moments for the fans as well as the brutal schedule that Superstars have to do throughout the year.
“We don’t have an offseason. This is a weekly thing for us. 52 weeks a year,” said Reigns. “And it is grueling, and it is tough, and it’s not meant for everybody. But, when you achieve that goal, when you create those goosebumps… those are real, and regardless of what size crowd you’ve been in front of, or what was the best match, you still get them in the craziest moments, and those are the moments that make you feel truly alive. And when you see that effect that you have on that lady over there, or the man with his son, you know you’re creating those moments that you’re gonna be a part of for the rest of their life. And I think that’s why our fanbase is so strong, and that’s why it’s global because we’ve been able to share that connection with so many people.”
Reigns slated to take on Jinder Mahal in a singles match at the upcoming WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena.
What are your thoughts on Reigns’ comments? Sound off in the comments section below.
Daniel Bryan has responded to some of the criticism from fans about the current feud he has been booked in.
Bryan is slated to take on Big Cass in a singles match at the upcoming WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena. Once it was revealed in March that Bryan had been medically cleared to return to in-ring competition, fans started to talk about all of the dream matches that the sports entertainment company could book him in now that he’s back.
After WrestleMania, fans started speculating on what would be his first feud back. Unfortunately, the feud with Cass is not something that was not heavily called for and thus, some backlash from people has surfaced online.
During a recent interview with Inside the Ropes (h/t to Bill Pritchard for Wrestlezone.com), Bryan spoke about some fans not being thrilled that his first big feud since returning is with Big Cass.
“I’m a big believer—I know that everybody wants to see the big matches—I would have loved to have come back and gotten right into the big matches. We did a match with me and AJ Styles on Smackdown, but especially now with the brand split—Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, all of these things. But I also think you need to build to those. I’m somebody that’s always been, whether it’s been here or Ring Of Honor or whatever, I’ve worked hard at helping to bring new guys up. The idea of the old-timer who is trying to ‘keep his position’ and hold everybody down… I don’t think that works. I don’t think that’s sustainable and I think we need to build everybody up, and if everybody seems like Superstars, then the whole company is more fun to watch. I’ve actually enjoyed—I don’t enjoy getting booted in the face—I enjoy the challenge of wrestling somebody who is that big and newer, that sort of thing. I think it’s a good opportunity to show everybody what he can do. It’s also fun for me to go ‘OK, what do we have here?”
Bryan continued by stating, “One of the things that I miss as an independent wrestler—is wrestling people that you don’t know very well. That’s a test to how skilled you are. Here’s this guy that you don’t know—first time I wrestled Dean Ambrose—it was on a Wednesday, and my flight was delayed. I’m getting dressed in the car on the way to the show. I have to go straight from the car, and it’s freezing cold, in my gear, so I’m changing with these guys that I never met before. I’m getting naked in the back of their car putting my stuff on, and I go straight from the car to the ring to wrestle Dean Ambrose, who I’ve never met before. That’s a real test of your skill. How good are you, how good is [the opponent]? When I wrestled Ambrose I didn’t know what I was going to get. I wrestled him and I was like ‘this guy is really good! Who is this guy? How have I not run into him before?’ So, I like that kind of stuff”
What are your thoughts on this feud? Sound off in the comment section below.
On Saturday night, “The Best in the World” returns as Phil “CM Punk” Brooks will make his second walk to the Octagon to the tune of “Cult of Personality” in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, when he fights Mike “The Truth” Jackson at the United Center, live on pay-per-view.
Punk vs. Jackson is scheduled as the opening bout on the pay-per-view card at UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero II on Saturday night, in a match pitting two fighters with 0-1 pro MMA records on a card that features multiple former UFC World Champions on the preliminary card leading up to the pay-per-view.
Okay, with that out-of-the-way, let’s take a closer look at the actual matchup between two fighters who we know very little about.
CM Punk and Mike Jackson have each fought one professional MMA fight, and it was against the same man — Mickey Gall. Gall defeated both via first-round stoppage, as he submitted Punk with a rear-naked choke at 2:14 of round one in their fight at UFC 203 in September of 2016, and Jackson via RNC in just 45 seconds in their fight at UFC Fight Night 82 in February of 2016.
Both Punk and Jackson have had two years since their only fights inside the Octagon to improve their skills, and on Saturday, we will see just how much they have improved.
In the case of Punk, leading up to his first fight against Gall, there was a lot of buzz from high-level fighters about his talents. Ben Askren, who helped Punk with his wrestling training, was careful not to hand out too many compliments, however others, such as former UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis and Roufusport head coach Duke Roufus, were quick to sing Punk’s praises any time a microphone or camera was in front of them. This time around, however, that is not the case. Roufus is still supporting his guy, claiming Punk has improved “incredibly” since UFC fans have last seen him in action nearly two years ago.
In the case of Jackson, again, we don’t know much. He claims to have a solid background in striking competition, touting an undefeated record in boxing and kickboxing with all of his victories coming by way of knockout. I have yet to see a lot of these bouts, but he insists that they are out there. Punk claims to be a big fan of jiu-jitsu, and touts some kind of karate background for his striking credentials.
If you look at the numbers, Punk is a 39-year-old longtime pro wrestler with a beat up body who has been terribly distracted by one of the most grueling issues he has faced in his life, a long, drawn-out lawsuit against WWE physician Chris Amann, which coincidentally wrapped up the same week he was finishing up his training for the biggest fight of his life. Meanwhile, Jackson is only 33, and appears to be a decent athlete, if nothing else. In terms of height and weight, they are the exact same, as they each weigh 170 pounds and they each stand 6 feet, 2-inches tall.
Once again, another dead end.
Last and certainly not least, we go the odds route. The betting odds, as of this writing, have Jackson at -210 and Punk at +180. What this means is that Jackson is slightly more than a two-to-one favorite to defeat Punk, while Punk sits at a nearly two-to-one underdog spot. A $100 bet on Punk, if he were to win, would profit you $180. On the flip-side of the coin, it would take a $210 bet on Jackson with the current odds, to profit $100 if he were to pull of the victory as expected.
Again, not a lot is learned.
When Bruce Buffer finishes his infamous pre-fight introductions and gets out of the way and the guy with the black shirt and latex gloves on tells these two to fight, your guess is as good as anybody’s in terms of how the fight will play out. Clearly Punk has a lot riding on this one, as does Jackson, as a loss will surely spell the end of either guys run in the UFC. Punk might have a slight chance of getting a third shot as an 0-2 fighter, although the public out-cry might force UFC President Dana White’s hand on that one. Certainly Punk won’t be on any pay-per-view cards as an 0-2 fighter making his third walk to the Octagon.
Things will be very interesting when the bell rings to kick off round one of the opening fight on the pay-per-view card when UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero II touches down at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday evening. If you’re not ordering the PPV, make sure to join us at our MMA affiliate website, MMANews.com, for the best round-by-round live results coverage of UFC 225.
What are your thoughts on the CM Punk vs. Mike Jackson fight? How do you think the fight will play out? Sound off in the Comments section below.
Bruce Prichard and co-host Conrad Thompson will be covering AJ Styles’ time in TNA on an upcoming episode of their podcast on the WWE Network.
Thompson recently did an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated. During the conversation, he revealed that next week’s episode of Something Else to Wrestle With will look at the final run of Styles’ career in TNA before he went to New Japan Pro Wrestling and later joined the WWE.
Thompson mentioned the timeline of Styles’ career in the promotion that they will be talking about as well as being hopeful to use footage of Styles in TNA on WWE’s streaming service, WWE Network.
“We’re going to cover from October 2010, which is right when Bruce came into the company, and we’ll carry it right to July of 2013,” said Thompson. “AJ was a TNA original, so when he parted ways with TNA in 2013, history changed forever. That exodus, with AJ leaving, started an immediate sharp decline in TNA.”
“That’s the plan,” said Thompson. “I know that WWE is trying to make a deal to license some of that footage, so we’ve got our fingers crossed. I think that deal would be good for everyone if such a deal were put together, but we’ll see.”
What are your thoughts on this topic being covered? Sound off in the comment section below.
The Background
Styles made his name known while in TNA Wrestling, now known as Impact Wrestling, from 2002–2013 well before he signed with the sports entertainment company. While in the promotion, Styles held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice. Also, he was the first holder of the X Division Championship, a title he held six times. Styles was the first professional wrestler ever to complete the TNA Triple Crown (five times) and the TNA Grand Slam (two times).
Former WWE Superstar Shane Helms (better known as The Hurricane) has his first match set with ROH.
Earlier this week, Helms teased that he would be making his debut with Ring of Honor. The Baltimore-based promotion later confirmed that he would be appearing at three upcoming events.
Those events include the State of the Art events on 6/15 in San Antonio, Texas at the Aztec Theater and on 6/16 in Dallas, TX at the Gilley’s Dallas as well as the upcoming TV taping on 6/30 in Fairfax, Virginia at the EagleBank Arena.
The promotion has announced that Helms would be teaming up with Delirious & Cheeseburger to take on Bully Ray & Shane Taylor & Punishment Martinez in a Six-Man Tag Team Match.
As of this writing, ROH has yet to announce his opponents for the other two events.
6/15 Card
Young Bucks & Hangman Page & Marty Scurll vs. ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes & The Killer Elite Squad vs. SoCal Uncensored vs. Atlantis & Stuka Jr. & Guerrero Maya.
WOH Champion Sumie Sakai & Tenille Dashwood vs. Thunder Rosa & Kelly Klein.
Cody vs. Jonathan Gresham.
Shane Helms & Delirious & Cheeseburger versus Bully Ray & Shane Taylor & Punishment Martinez
Jay Lethal vs. TK O’Ryan
The Boys vs. Matt Taven & Vinnie Marseglia. What are your thoughts on Helms working for ROH? Sound off in the comment section below.
Mick Foley has given his take on former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan being medically cleared.
The WWE Hall of Famer recently spoke with TV Insider about various topics. In this interview, he was asked about Bryan getting cleared by WWE and working safer these days.
“WWE is very safe as far as letting go of one of the biggest acts in the company for the sake of his own safety. They have people looking out for his best interest. I’d been on the road and been so busy, I haven’t seen Daniel since he returned with the exception of the WrestleMania match. There are certain things he can do on house shows to make life easier on himself and nobody would think less of him if he worked a slightly less physical style. That’s something that I did toward the end of my career, and a lot of guys have done.”
Bryan is slated to take on Big Cass in a singles match at the upcoming WWE Money in the Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, June 17, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena.
What are your thoughts on Bryan’s run in WWE thus far? Sound off in the comment section below.
The Background
Bryan was forced to retire two years again due to his history with concussions. Despite that his run on top in WWE was short-lived, he no doubt made a mark on the history of the sports entertainment company. Then it was revealed in March that Bryan had been medically cleared to return to in-ring competition and worked his first match back by teaming up with Shane McMahon to take on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Tag Team match at WrestleMania 34.
Major League Wrestling held another round of MLW Fusion television tapings on Friday night from Orlando, Florida at Gilt Nightclub. These matches will run through July.
If you haven’t been following MLW yet, we strongly encourage you do so. Since it’s relaunch last October, MLW has quickly emerged as one of the fastest growing promotions in the world. The weekly national television series, MLW Fusion, has been stellar in its first 7 weeks. The show airs Friday nights 8pm ET on beIN SPORTS, with each episode being uploaded to MLW’s official Youtube channel.
MLW Results: June 7, 2018 (Orlando, FL)
– Kotto Brazil defeats Vandal Ortagun
– ACH defeats Rich Swann
– Teddy Hart defeats Trey Miguel
– Low Ki defeats Ricky Martinez
– Simon Gotch (w/Tom Lawlor) defeats Parrow
– Barrington Hughes defeated a local competitor.
– Tom Lawlor (w/Simon Gotch) defeats Jake Hager (w/Col. Robert Parker)
– Joey Janela (w/Aria Blake) defeats Maxwell Jacob Friedman
– Fred Yehi defeats Sammy Guevara (w/Salina de la Renta)
– Ariel Rodriguez defeats Jaye Skye
– ACH & Rich Swann defeat Team Filthy (Simon Gotch & Tom Lawlor)
– Boiler Room Brawl: Sami Callihan defeats MVP
The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix) w/Salina de la Renta are the new MLW Tag Team Champions after defeating Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta and The Dirty Blondes w/Col. Robert Parker.
– $20,000 Bounty Match: Shane Strickland defeats Brody King
Here is an exclusive post-match interview with MLW’s New Tag Team Champions:
Seth Rollins recently let his Twitter followers know he spent some time with a former WWE prospect. Rollins met up with former NXT Superstar and current NJPW wrestler, Juice Robinson.
Hung out with Juice Robinson yesterday. One of my favorite humans and the future of @njpw1972. I should’ve taken a pic, but we were too busy livin’. #budtweet
Robinson competed under the name CJ Parker in WWE. He worked an overly aggressive hippie gimmick. In an interview he gave to Chris Jericho earlier this year, Robinson said he was given the gimmick after putting his hair into dreadlocks. The 2-dimensional gimmick didn’t seem to have a long shelf life, however, so he made arrangements to leave the company.
Head NXT trainer, Matt Bloom, made arrangements for him to transfer to the New Japan dojo. Bloom, as Giant Bernard, is a former NJPW star himself and knew who to contact. Since arriving in NJPW in 2015, Robinson has slowly been moving up the ranks. In fact, Robinson made it all the way to the semi-finals of the New Japan Cup this year before losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi. The eventual tournament winner was Zack Sabre Jr.
What’s Next For Seth Rollins?
It has been 2 months since Seth Rollins won the Intercontinental Championship. He won the title in a triple threat match against the Miz and Finn Balor at WrestleMania 34. Since that time, Rollins has played the role of the fighting champion who defends his title often.
So far, Rollins has defended the title successfully 6x on WWE programming. He defended the title in a ladder match against Balor, Samoa Joe, and Miz at the Greatest Royal Rumble. Meanwhile, on Raw, he has defended the title another 5x. He’s defeated Finn Balor, the Miz, Mojo Rawley, and Kevin Owens. He lost a match to Jinder Mahal via DQ on May 28th, 2018 edition of Raw as well.
At the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view in Chicago, Rollins will defend the IC title against Elias.
While it wasn’t a critical success, Braun Strowman teaming up with Nicholas and winning the Raw Tag Team Championship was still a surprising WrestleMania moment.
However, their reign didn’t last for very long and the duo had to relinquish the tag titles due to the scheduling conflicts between Nicholas’ WWE and school commitments.
During a recent interview with Denise Salcedo for Red Carpet Report, Braun talked about many things and also had a discussion about his former Tag Team partner.
When asked if the youngest Champion in WWE history will return to wrestling, the Monster Among Men revealed that he has told him to complete his school first:
“You never know. I told him that he has to do school first and foremost. I preach that to every youngster out there. Do your school work, because you only get one chance at life, so do it while you’re young and it’s easy. If he does good with his grades and I’m feeling froggy, I might just give him a phone call and take those titles back.”
Continuing on the topic, the former Wyatt Family Member claimed that it was a really special moment for him when he won the titles with Nicholas during WrestleMania 34. You can check out his full interview in the video below:
Former Cruiserweight Champion and former WWE Star Enzo Amore started his music career last month when he released his first rap song titled Phoenix on May 28th.
Now despite the fact that his first single was not a critical success, the former Cruiserweight Star has launched his second music video. The song titled “Bury Me A G” can be seen below:
Enzo Amore was fired from WWE following Raw 25 when a story about him being investigated for rape allegations became viral. Though it was revealed last month that authorities won’t be filing any charges against Amore and the investigation of the case has been closed.
WWE Fans On Who Is Their Current Favorite Champion
WWE.com has a new poll asking fans who is their favorite champion from the current roster and the options include all the Champions from NXT as well.
As of this writing, the Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins is leading the poll with 29% votes. He is closely followed by the WWE Champion AJ Styles who has 27% vote share.
Surprisingly, the Universal Champion Brock Lesnar sits at the 6th position with only 5% votes and the United States Champion Jeff Hardy (8%) North American Champion Adam Cole (7%) and NXT Champion Aleister Black (6%) are favored by the fans over the Beast.
