Did an online mob-mentality unfairly rip apart the legacy of the Fabulous Moolah? There are a growing number of people in the industry who believe that is exactly what happened.
Earlier this year, WWE announced they were naming the women’s battle royal at WrestleMania after the Fabulous Moolah. This led to the resurfacing of allegations against Moolah for exploiting (both financially and sexually) her female students. In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer details the discussion had at the latest Cauliflower Alley Club reunion regarding Moolah and her legacy.
In Defense of the Fabulous Moolah
The most serious allegations against Moolah are the charges she “pimped out” her female wrestling students. Wrestlers Luna Vachon and Mad Maxine are the two wrestlers most associated with these allegations. Meltzer recounted a discussion he had with Vachon on the matter before her passing, however.
“Her (Luna Vachon) actual claim later was that she was sent to a guy who paid her for a photo shoot, and other women said the same thing, but they said there was so sex involved, just a photo shoot.”
There were also the claims by wrestler Sweet Georgia Brown. She claimed she was raped and drugged while training to be a wrestler with Moolah. Georgia Brown’s son, however, spoke out against these claims in a video intended to help repair Moolah’s legacy.
Other allegations involve Moolah taking a high-percentage of her wrestlers’ earnings. She is generally believed to have earned 25% of her wrestler’s booking fees. This was then compared favorably to other promoters, such as Lord Littlebrook. In general, it seems to be agreed Moolah took a high-percentage but all her students were aware of the deal before they agreed to it.
Meltzer’s report notes the following names were in attendance for the discussion: Despina Montaguas, Vicki Tosi (Princess Victoria), Beverly Shade, Joyce Grable, Judy Martin, Peggy Lee Leather, Malia Hosaka, Sandy Parker, Debbie Combs, and Ramona Isbell.
The general consensus in the room as reported in the Observer is that Moolah’s name should not have been removed from the Battle Royal. Furthermore, many felt that WWE should apologize for having done so.
Was the Fabulous Moolah’s Legacy Unfairly Convicted by Social Meda? Tell us what you think below!
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament kicks off tomorrow from Korakuen Hall. The tournament will run until June 4th, when the final night will once again be held in Korakuen Hall.
Tomorrow’s main event will feature the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Will Ospreay, take on Taiji Ishimori.
Best of the Super Juniors Night 1 Lineup
Shota Umino & Kushida vs Ren Narita & Chris Sabin
Tomoyuki Oka & Dragon Lee vs Yoshi-Hashi & Sho
Ryusuke Taguchi & Toa Henare vs El Desperado & Minoru Suzuki
Hiromu Takahashi & Evil vs Marty Scurll & Chase Owens
BOSJ 25 A Block
Tiger Mask vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
BOSJ 25 A Block
ACH vs Flip Gordon
BOSJ 25 A Block
Yoh vs Flip Gordon
BOSJ 25 A Block
Will Ospreay vs Taiji Ishimori
Night 2 of the tournament runs on Saturday and will feature wrestlers from the B Block.
Best of the Super Juniors 25 Night 2 Lineup
Night 2 of the tournament will see Marty Scurll and Hiromu Takahashi in the main event.
Shota Umino vs Ren Narita
Tomoyuki Oka, Tiger Mask, and ACH vs Yoshi-Hashi, Yoh, and Will Ospreay
Toa Henare & Flip Gordon vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki
Bushi & Sanada vs Taiji Ishimori & Chase Owens
BOSJ 25 B Block
Dragon Lee vs Sho
BOSJ 25 A Block
Ryusuke Taguchi vs El Desperado
BOSJ 25 A Block
Kushida vs Chris Sabin
BOSJ 25 A Block Hiromu Takahashi vs Marty Scurll
There are several possible stories to develop out of this year’s tournament. Kushida has won two of the last three tournaments with only two other wrestlers in history having won the tournament three times.
Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Will Ospreay, won the tournament in 2016. Kushida and Ospreay are set up in different blocks this year and could meet in the finals again this year as they did in 2017.
Tell us who you think will win the 25th edition of the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament:
This week’s episode of Raw saw Braun Strowman teaming up with Finn Balor to face the team of Dolph Ziggler and the former NXT Champion Drew McIntyre.
However while most of the match on the show played out as it was drafted, it appears that one of the spots during the bout did not go as planned.
According to PWinsider, the moment where the Greatest Royal Rumble trophy broke after Strowman accidentally slammed Drew through it, was not scripted.
No word yet on if there is any heat on any of these men for the incident but since it was just an accident, it’s possible that Officials have already forgotten it.
Austin Aries Congratulates Ex On SmackDown Debut
As seen on SmackDown Live this week, former NXT Champion Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas made his main roster debut along with her manager Zelina Vega.
Almas defeated a local talent upon his arrival on the Blue Branded Show and Zelina then went on to cut a promo, warning the SmackDown Locker room.
After the show, former WWE Star Austin Aries posted a tweet in which he congratulated Vega on her SmackDown debut.
In the tweet, as seen below A Double revealed that the two are no longer a couple but said that he knows the effort she has put into making this dream a reality:
Congrats to my ex-girlfriend @Zelina_VegaWWE on her #SmackDownLive debut. I know firsthand all the time, effort, and sacrifice that went into making this special dream a reality.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the signing of the company’s first ever non-Japanese President. Dutch businessperson, Harold Meij, is the former Vice President of Coca-Cola Japan. He was born in the Netherlands but spent his childhood in Japan and is fluent in the language.
Meij recently took part in an interview with Japanese language media outlet, Nikkei.com. Noted NJPW author, Chris Charlton, provided some translated quotes from the article.
Google translate offered more insight into Meij’s comments. While the overall essence of his comments is captured by Google Translate, the translation is not perfect:
“The quality of New Japan Wrestling exceeds the world’s largest professional wrestling organization” WWE “. It is high and has drama nature, the athletes are all handsome, they have many charms to stick to various sexes and age groups such as longing to strength and muscular fetish, etc. That is, there are goods, There is still insufficient publicity and accessibility to arouse. “
It should be noted that despite the above comments by Mr. Meij, Toru Yano is still not very handsome at all.
“We have already mobilized about 400,000 people a year at 150 times a year. Ticket income accounts for 50% of sales, but there are limits to the number of players and the convenience of the venue. Movie distribution, advertisement etc. Advertisement of monthly fee video distribution “New Japan Pro Wrestling World” has about 100,000 members, but WWE’s video distribution has 1.5 million members worldwide. “
New Japan World subscriber numbers have remained stagnant at approximately 100,000. Meij seems to be indicating the company is too reliant on ticket sales as a source of revenue and need to diversify how they monetize their product.
New Japan Pro Wrestling is just about to move into the 25th edition of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. The tournament gets underway tomorrow from Korakuen Hall.
Not many people can do what Chris Jericho does as the former World Champion not only balances between his Wrestling and Music career but he also finds time for his other projects such as his podcast.
Though it appears that juggling so many roles doesn’t bother the former World Champion much as he has added another regular gig to his work list.
Sirius XM recently sent out a press release, revealing that Chris will be hosting a new hard rock radio show on their Octane channel once every month. Below is an excerpt from the release which features details about the new show dubbed as ‘The Rock Of Jericho’:
“The Rock Of Jericho features a curated hour playlist of Jericho’s favorite hard rock and heavy metal songs. Each show, the iconic wrestler will have special guests, will introduce you to new hard rock and will expose some deep album cuts while also jammin’ the classics! You never know what he’s going to play next!”
“The show debuts 6 pm ET Friday, May 18 before becoming available On Demand!”
Handicap Match And More Announced For NXT Next Week
WWE has announced two matches for next week’s episode of NXT. The first match is between Heavy Machinery and TM61 and it was made official after Otis Dozovic issued a challenge during this week’s show.
Also after Lars Sullivan attacked both The Velveteen Dream and Ricochet during their singles match, it was revealed that Lars will face both these stars in a handicap match next week:
It’s no secret that WWE received a large sum for hosting the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia and according to reports the company paid a good bonus to everybody involved in the show.
And from the sound of it, it appears that the former World Champion Chris Jericho also made a good amount of money for his short appearance during the event.
Jericho was recently interviewed by Mirror.co.uk, where he talked about his highly praised match with Kenny Omega, juggling between his wrestling and music gigs and more.
While talking about the Greatest Royal Rumble, the former Champion hinted that he was paid a good amount for his appearance during the 50-Men Battle Royal:
“It was a long trip for a short period of time – I think I was in the Rumble match for four minutes or something like that. I know they must have been paid a whole lot of money, just by proxy of what I was paid ha ha. I was like ‘oh my gosh, really, you’re going to pay me that to do this? How much are you guys making? “
Chris Jericho entered the Greatest Royal Rumble as the 50th entrance of the bout and he eliminated Shelton Benjamin before being eliminated by the eventual winner Braun Strowman.
Though his appearance on the event was not free from controversy as he was first added in the Casket Match against the Undertaker on the show but was later removed from the bout.
The reason for his removal given to Jericho was that a Saudi Prince had asked for Rusev to be added back into the bout but these reports are not very believable.
While Ronda Rousey made her WWE debut on the biggest stage possible at WrestleMania 34 last month, it appears that the former UFC Star is still getting used to the WWE customs.
Standing on the turnbuckle and waving at the crowd or posing for the photos is a regular move for any WWE Star and it usually comes after they have won a match.
However, reacting to her first house show match in WWE as seen in the video below, Ronda revealed that she didn’t know how to do this and the house show in Geneva was the first time she stood up on the turnbuckle for a pose:
For those who don’t know Ronda Rousey made her WWE House Show debut last night while wrestling in a Raw Brand Live Event from Geneva.
Though while she was originally announced to face Mickie James in a one on one match, the former UFC Star ended up competing in a 6 Women Tag match instead.
She teamed up with Natalya and Ember Moon to face the trio of Mickie James, Liv Morgan, and Ruby Riott. The match was won by Rousey and her team when she made James tap out to an arm bar.
As noted before, Ronda Rousey is scheduled to work a number of more Live events in near future and she is also expected to wrestle at an upcoming Raw episode.
After this and the announcement that she will be challenging for the Raw Women’s Championship, many believe that Ronda will be wrestling more frequently in upcoming times and she may start competing regularly on Television soon.
Ronda Rousey is currently set to challenge Nia Jax for the Raw Women’s Championship at Money In The Bank on June 17th.
Tommaso Ciampa came out to Johnny Gargano’s music to start off this week’s episode of NXT. The crowd booed in anger as Ciampa waved on the entrance ramp. Ciampa said that everyone keeps saying that Gargano won and he beat me. Ciampa claimed that Gargano may have won the battle, but he will always win the war. He added that is why he is here and Gargano is at home in a neck brace that he put him in.
The crowd chanted “you suck!” as Ciampa entered the ring. He stated that he has broken Gargano’s heart, mind, spirit and his body. Ciampa stated that Gargano is gone and that he wins. The crowd chanted “you tapped out!” and then Candice LeRae came down to the ring as the crowd chanted “Candice Wrestling!”.
LeRae said that just used to think she knew Tommaso, but doesn’t recognize what he has become. Candice stated that she couldn’t understand why Ciampa was so obsessed with ruining their lives and said that the only thing that was broken here was Ciampa. Candice added that she is done shedding tears for Ciampa and that he is a monster that she will never forgive.
Candice said that her husband’s future is uncertain, Ciampa will know that Johnny Gargano was better than him. The crowd then chanted “Johnny’s better!” as Ciampa shook his head out of anger in the ring. Ciampa said maybe that he was better than, but Candice knows that the boy she calls a husband isn’t half the man that he is. That is why he sent his cute blonde wife out here, instead of coming down to the ring himself and confronting him. Ciampa added that Candice has always been more of a man than Gargano.
The crowd chanted “mess him up Candice!” and Ciampa dared her to mess him up. Tommaso claimed that he was thinking at their wedding how on earth could this woman possibly be marrying such a big…
Ciampa was interrupted by a slap to the face by Candice. Ciampa smirked and waved at Candice before rolling out of the ring. LeRae exited the ring as Ciampa said “I win!” outside the ring. The crowd once again chanted “you suck!” as Ciampa made his way to the back.
Lacey Evans Dominated & Kairi Sane Got Some Revenge
Photo Credit: @WWENXT on Twitter
Brandi Lauren faced Lacey Evans tonight on NXT. Evans quickly took control of the match and stomped on Lauren in the corner. Evans followed it up with a Bronco Buster and then stood on Lauren’s neck. Evans hopped to the ring apron and connected with a slingshot Elbow Drop. Lacey casually walked over Brandi and climbed up to the second rope. Evans then connected with a great Moonsault and hit the Women’s Right for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Kairi Sane attacked Evans on the ring apron and hit a flying forearm to the face. Sane brought Evans down to the ring and scaled to the top turnbuckle. Kairi set up for the Insane Elbow, but Lacey rolled out of the ring and retreated up the entrance ramp.
Dakota Kai was interviewed at the WWE Performance Center. Nikki Cross showed up with a cell phone and asked when Kai was going to face Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship. Cross grabbed Kai by the hair and shouted “face your fear and fight!”. Cross then laughed in Kai’s face before walking away.
Ricochet battled Velveteen Dream tonight on NXT. The two Superstars locked up to start off the match. Dream dragged Ricochet to the canvas and danced while doing so. Ricochet hopped up and knocked Dream to the mat and danced as well. Dream applied a Headlock and brought Dream to the mat. Ricochet countered but Dream quickly got him back in the Headlock.
Ricochet escaped and elbowed Dream in the back of the head. Ricochet applied a Headlock of his own, but Dream threw Ricochet to the ropes. Dream and Ricochet had an awesome of exchange that ended with Dream throwing Ricochet out of the ring. Ricochet battled back and hit a Dropkick that sent Dream to the floor. Ricochoet backflipped to the center of the ring as Dream slithered into the ring at the same time.
The two Superstars had a brief stare down before Dream sent Ricochet to the corner. The two then ran into each other and both Superstars fell down. Ricochet threw Dream to the corner and started throwing some punches. Lars Sullivan attacked both Ricochet and Dream and the match ended in a DQ. Sullivan planted them both with the Freak Accident and then stood tall in the ring as the crowd booed. Sullivan shouted that he will be the new NXT Champion and raised his fists in the ring as his theme hit.
Later on the show, Dream and Ricochet were shown by NXT GM William Regal’s office. They both said they wanted Lars Sullivan and entered Regal’s office. It was announced before the main event that Dream & Ricochet will face Lars Sullivan in a Handicap Match next week.
Kona Reeves faced Raul Mendoza tonight on NXT. Reeves handed his jacket off to an employee and told him to not scuff his jacket. The crowd chanted “Kona sucks!” as Reeves shouted that he is the finest. Reeves started off the match in control and worked on Raul’s right arm.
Mendoza battled back with an elbow to the face, but Reeves quickly applied a Headlock. Mendoza broke free but was knocked on his ass by a massive shoulder tackle by Reeves. Kona bounced Raul’s face off the turnbuckle and unloaded a few giant stomps on his midsection in the corner.
Reeves connected with a Suplex and then dropped a fist to the face. Kona followed it up with a reverse Elbow Drop off the second rope and then followed it up with another elbow to the face. Reeves dragged Raul’s face on the canvas and then locked in the Cobra Clutch in the middle of the ring. Mendoza countered into a Jawbreaker and then hit a boot to the face.
Raul connected with an Enziguri that knocked Reeves to the corner. Mendoza hit a flying forearm and hopped to the ring apron. Mendoza leaped off the top rope but got a boot to the face for his troubles. Reeves shouted “that’s why I am the finest” and connected with the Hawaiian Drop for the pinfall victory.
Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch Defeated Undisputed Era
Photo Credit: @WWENXT on TwitterDanny Burch, Oney Lorcan & Pete Dunne faced Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) in tonight’s main event.
Dunne and Strong started off the match, but Strong immediately tagged Kyle O’Reilly and exited the ring. Danny Burch tagged in and locked up with O’Reilly. Kyle locked in a Knee Bar but Burch quickly grabbed the bottom rope to break the hold. The two Superstars locked up again and Burch applied a Headlock and dragged O’Reilly to the canvas.
O’Reilly escaped and Burch told him to bring it on. O’Reilly stayed on the mat and dared Burch to come down to him. O’Reilly booted Burch in the back of the leg and then Adam Cole tagged in. Cole knocked Burch to the canvas and called him a joke. Cole connected with an elbow to the face and followed it up with a knee to the midsection. Cole shouted “is that all you got?” as he stomped on Burch in the corner.
O’Reilly tagged back in and connected with a few knee strikes for a two count. Strong tagged in and hit a Backbreaker for another two count. Strong taunted Dunne and then stomped on Burch’s left arm. Strong once again taunted Dunne and then Burch backed into the corner and Dunne tagged in.
Pete Dunne unloaded with a few jabs to Strong and applied a Hammerlock and took Strong down to the mat. Dunne bent back Strong’s fingers as Roddy screamed in pain. Chaos broke out as everyone ran into the ring. Burch, Lorcan and Dunne then bent back Cole, O’Reilly and Strong’s fingers. Undisputed Era rolled out of the ring to regroup.
Strong capitalized on Cole and O’Reilly distracting Dunne by attacking him in the corner. Cole tagged in and stomped on Dunne before O’Reilly tagged back in. O’Reilly connected with a few boots to the ribs before Strong got back into the match. Strong applied the Coba Clutch in the middle of the ring.
Dunne battled back to his feet but Strong connected with a Neckbreaker for a two count. Strong hit a Dropkick to the back and then tagged Adam Cole back into the match. Cole kneed Dunne in the back a few times and then clubbed him across the face. Cole booted Dunne in the face and dragged him back to the corner.
O’Reilly tagged in and started working on Dunne’s arm. Kyle followed it up with a sliding knee to the ribs and tagged Strong back in. Strong applied an Arm Bar as Lorcan and Burch pleaded for a tag in the corner. Dunne battled out of the corner with a series of forearms. Dunne leaped across the ring to tag in Oney Lorcan.
Oney unloaded a bunch of chops to Undisputed Era. Lorcan blasted O’Reilly with an uppercut and then planted Strong with a Suplex. Lorcan hit Cole with a Blockbuster and tagged Burch back in. Lorcan flipped on Cole outside the ring as Burch leveled Strong with a Clothesline for a two count.
Dunne hit a massive right hand to Cole that knocked him back out of the ring. Strong threw Lorcan into Dunne that knocked him out of the ring. Strong then hit a Backbreaker to Burch and tagged O’Reilly in. Kyle hit a boot to the face for a two count. Burch connected with a right hand and then threw Cole and Strong out of the ring. Burch then locked in the Crossface in the middle of the ring. Lorcan applied the single-legged Crab to Strong. Dunne got Cole in a Wrist Lock, but Strong booted Lorcan into Dunne, who then fell onto Burch to break up the Crossface.
Dunne Suplexed Cole to the outside, but Adam somehow hit a Neckbreaker to Dunne onto the top rope and both Superstars fell out of the ring. Lorcan planted Strong and Lorcan with a double Blockbuster. Danny Burch then planted O’Reilly with a DDT as Lorcan held him up for the pinfall victory. Dunne, Burch and Lorcan then celebrated in the ring after their victory. This match was outstanding.
WWE ‘Smackdown Live’ may have a new television home in the very near future.
According to a report from the Hollywood Reporter, NBCUniversal — the owner of the USA Network — is making a significant offer to WWE to keep ‘Raw’ on their network but plan on letting ‘Smackdown Live’ go to another bidder.
NBCUniverse is expected to pay around three times what they are currently dishing out to WWE to keep Raw on the USA Network on Monday nights where it’s not only one of the longest running episodic show in television history but also still a ratings juggernaut from week to week on the network.
As of now, FOX appears to be leading the bidding war to land ‘Smackdown Live’ as the network has long coveted the WWE as a potential partner for the future. Just recently, FOX sold off the majority of their assets to Disney with the focus at the network then shifting to around 80-percent live programming.
FOX landed a deal NFL Thursday Night Football just recently and the addition of ‘Smackdown Live’ would give the network a potent one-two punch for live programming during the week.
‘Smackdown Live’ boasts the sixth biggest audience amongst cable originals and will likely fetch a high asking price of its own now that its expected to hit the open market with NBC bowing out of the bidding.
As for NBC, the network has also been interested in potentially obtaining the remaining television rights to the UFC after the mixed martial arts promotion just recently signed a $750 million deal with ESPN for 15 live cards a year to air on ESPN+. NBC nearly landed the UFC back in 2011 before FOX swooped in with an offer at the 11th hour to become the exclusive home to the world’s biggest mixed martial arts promotion.
Whether or not NBC’s potential interest in the UFC had anything to do with only keeping one of the WWE properties rather than both is unknown at this time.
For now, ‘Smackdown Live’ will begin looking for suitors who are interested in teaming up with WWE with the deal reportedly kicking off in September.
Former UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey has worked her first WWE live event.
On Wednesday, the sports entertainment company held a RAW live event in Geneva, Switzerland at the SEG Geneva Arena that featured Rousey making her live event debut.
Fans in attendance noted that she teamed up with Natalya and Ember Moon to take on the team of Mickie James, Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott.
The finish of the match saw Rousey take down James then applied the armbar for the quick submission.
Originally, Rousey was slated to wrestle Mickie James in a singles match on this tour. However, WWE changed plans and it appears that she will be working six-woman tag team matches going forward.
She is advertised for the following dates for this ongoing UK tour: May 17th in Vienna, Austria on May 18th in Turin, Italy, and on May 19th in Paris, France.
Rousey is slated to challenge Nia Jax for the RAW Women’s Title at the upcoming Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.
Revolution Pro Wrestling (Rev Pro) have announced two more names for the upcoming Strong Style Evolved UK events taking place on June 30th/July 1st in Milton Keynes and Manchester respectively.
Japanese wrestling legend and leader of the Suzuki-Gun stable Minoru Suzuki and the returning Bullet Club member and ‘New Bone Soldier’ Taiji Ishimori will be making their way to the UK joining the already announced Tomohiro Ishii and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada.
Fans hoping to see the likes of Kenny Omega at the shows are sadly out of luck, he confirmed recently that he will not be heading to the UK for SSE. More names are expected to be announced for the shows in the coming weeks and we will update here on the site as soon as news becomes available.
Tickets for the first Strong Style Evolved shows outside of the United States are available to purchase via the official Rev Pro website.
WWE today announced the first 8 competitors for the upcoming United Kingdom Championship tournament will which establish a Number 1 contender for Pete Dunne’s WWE UK Title. Several of the names announced for the tournament will be making their official WWE live event debuts for the company in this massive tournament, including former ICW, PROGRESS and Revolution Pro Wrestling Champions.
The 8 men announced were as follows:
Joe Coffey
Joseph Connors
Jack Gallagher
Zack Gibson
Amir Jordan
El Ligero
Dave Mastiff
Kenny Williams
Fans of the UK scene may have noticed that several of the stars included in the tournament were previously involved in the World of Sport reboot, notably Dave Mastiff who worked in the main event of the original New Years Eve special. Kenny Williams, Joe Coffey, El Ligero and Zack Gibson were also involved in the WOS reboot so it will be interesting to see how their involvement affects the planned return to ITV for the WOS project.
You can check out just some of the reaction below:
Japanese wrestling legend Hiroshi Tanahashi recently spoke to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s English Language site NJPW1972.com on the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors tournament. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion was on hand to give his thoughts on the prestigious tournament and offer his insight on the key matches to watch.
When asked who he believed would win the tournament, he stated that Los Ingobernables’ Hiromu Takahashi would go all the way and become the eventual winner, stating that “my pick is Hiromu. When it comes to getting motivated for his matches and really making the fans happy, Hiromu is the best. There might be people that rival him on pure ability, but he has that charismatic X factor that will make him win I think.”
Tanahashi also picked his top four bouts in the A & B Blocks, with the following bouts getting the nod out of the upcoming field:
Will Ospreay vs ACH from May 20th
Sho vs Takahashi from June 2nd
El Desperado vs Takahashi from May 22nd
Taguchi vs Marty Scurll from June 2nd
New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors begins on May 18th and Night 1 of the tournament will be available to view for free on NJPWWorld.com
Taiji Ishimori recently made his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling by attacking IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay at the Wrestling Dontaku show on May 4th. The ‘New Bone Soldier’ claimed that he was in New Japan to ‘get to the top of the junior heavyweight division’ and with his inclusion in the Best of the Super Juniors he now has his opportunity to put himself in the title picture.
Ishimori recently spoke to New Japan’s English Language site on a variety of topics, here are some of the highlights:
That’s a stupid question. The Bullet Club is the most famous group going. I can be in Japan and still have my name go worldwide. If I’m in Bullet Club, Taiji Ishimori’s name goes global. And this way, I can pick fights with anyone in the junior division, Marty Scurll excepted.
When asked about the Bullet Club ‘Civil War:’ I don’t really know the ins and outs, and I don’t really care about that. I’m not looking to be bogged down with that stuff. All I care about is how best I can use the Bullet Club to benefit me. And if you look at any show in America right now, you see a sea of Bullet Club shirts.
When asked about his match against Will Ospreay on Night 1: I get my chance right away (grins). Anyway, he’s the champ, his speed and technique is awesome for sure. But there’s still a bit of sloppiness in there if you ask me. I think he’s still a bit green.
New Japan Pro Wrestling have announced that their upcoming Dominion event at Osaka-Jo is officially a sell out. The iconic building holds a capacity of around 13,500 (when taking into account the staging for a pro wrestling event).
This is the first time that New Japan has sold out the building for a Dominion show since moving from the Bodymaker Colosseum for the 2015 iteration of the event, the 2017 event drew a crowd of around 11,700.
It should come as no surprise to longtime NJPW fans that this event has sold out, with the blockbuster main event between IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega being the fourth encounter between the two world class performers. The highly anticipated match will be contested with no time-limit and will be contested under a 2 out of 3 falls stipulation.
The show will be taking place on June 9th and will be available to watch live on NJPWWorld.com.
Don Callis recently took part in the weekly Impact Wrestling media call and delivered his “State of Impact” address.
From fan feedback to ratings, Impact Wrestling appears to be on an upswing. Callis broke down the promotion’s future and recent history during today’s State of Impact address.
.@CyrusOverHuge is the guest on this week's Media Teleconference as he delivers a State of IMPACT address. Listen along with it NOW!
Callis immediately began the call by addressing the storyline situation involving Sami Callihan. Last week on Impact, company officials only chose not to fire Callihan due to the urging of his rival, Eddie Edwards. Tomorrow night on Impact, Edwards and Callihan will face each other in a street fight hosted by House of Hardcore.
“Some people see help as being told what to do and they don’t like it,” Callis explained. “That’s probably the nicest thing I can say about Sami in that situation, at this point.”
Callis touched on the relationship between Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground. While the next season of Lucha Underground is set to begin airing later next month, many of the promotion’s stars have become regulars on Impact programming. SEScoops had the chance to ask Callis his thoughts on Impact’s relationship with the rather unique Lucha Libre promotion.
“With respect to the Lucha Underground relationship, I think that’s been one of the more exciting stories in the wrestling business the last 3 months,” Callis stated.
“I think us and LU doing this is is symptomatic of what’s going on in the wrestling business,” Callis continued. “We have broken the traditional old school wrestling paradigms of ‘you only work with who you work with’.”
Stars such as Brian Cage, Johnny Impact/Mondo, Taya Valkyrie, Sami Callihan/Jerimiah Crane, and many others now compete for both promotions regularly.
Impact Wrestling’s X-Division Update
Callis also gave a couple of updates on the company’s X-Division. In response to a media question, Callis stated he is not looking to separate the division from the rest of the roster. The recent signing of former WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Rich Swann, to the division also was addressed by Callis.
“As you probably know, his wife works for us and was an advocate for him coming in,” Callis explained. “He’ll be at our next set of tapings and he’s going to get an opportunity in the same way other talent that come in gets an opportunity to show what they can do.”
Former WWE superstar Enzo Amore will not face any charges after he was accused of sexual assault back in January.
Amore — real name Eric Arndt — was released from the WWE after the allegations first surfaced, where the former cruiserweight champion was accused of assaulting a woman at a Phoenix hotel in October 2017 while she was under the influence of drugs. At the time, Amore was the WWE cruiserweight champion prior to his release.
Phoenix Police confirmed on Wednesday that following an investigation into the matter, no charges would be filed against Amore although the case could be re-opened if new evidence comes to light.
“The Phoenix Police Department recently informed Mr. Arndt and his counsel that there is insufficient evidence in this matter to warrant any criminal charges, that the matter will not be transferred to the County Attorney for prosecution and that their investigation and case is closed. No charges were ever filed. The matter is closed,” Amore’s attorney Tom Cargill wrote in a press release on Wednesday.
Following his release from WWE, Amore fell out of the public spotlight but according to his attorney, he is already working on his next venture ‘in the entertainment industry’ but there’s no word yet if he plans on resuming his professional wrestling career.
The first batch of competitors has been announced for the upcoming WWE UK Tournament.
On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, the sports entertainment company revealed the following competitors for next month’s tournament to determine who will face UK Champion Pete Dunne on 6/19 on the WWE Network live from Royal Albert Hall: *Joe Coffey.
*Joseph Connors.
*Jack Gallagher.
*Zack Gibson.
*Amir Jordan.
*El Ligero.
*Dave Mastiff.
*Kenny Williams. It should be noted that the remaining competitors will be announced this Friday (May 18). WWE NXT’s live events as part of the 2018 Download Music Festival in Great Britain on 6/8 through 6/10 will host the opening rounds of the tournament. The sports entertainment company will then present two live WWE UK Championship broadcast on the WWE Network. 6/18 will feature the tournament finals to determine who will challenge the WWE UK champion on 6/19. The remainder of the 6/19 event will feature WWE UK competitors facing WWE NXT stars.
What are your thoughts on the first batch of competitors being revealed? Do you plan on watching this tournament? If so, who do you think will face Dunne for the UK strap? Sound off in the comment section below.
The latest episode of the NWA’s “Ten Pounds of Gold” series documents the organization’s involvement with All In, including Nick Aldis defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Cody Rhodes.
Ten Pounds of Gold: All The Way In features exclusive footage of this past Sunday’s All In press conference from Chicago. In addition to surprise appearances from Aldis and NWA President Billy Corgan, it was also announced that Rey Mysterio is All In.
One of the biggest news stories to keep an eye on this year involves the next TV deal that WWE gets.
WWE’s television contract is expiring in 2019 with the USA Network. The sports entertainment company held many of the same meetings before their last TV negotiations a few years ago. WWE has talked with the USA Network, FOX, Disney, CBS, Amazon, and YouTube.
There is a lot of speculation that WWE could sign with FOX. The reason for the potential move would be due to UFC possibly leaving FOX as the UFC and WWE’s TV deals expire around the same time. If WWE signed with FOX then Monday Night RAW would go to FOX while SmackDown Live would go to FOX Sports 1. If this happened then RAW may have to go back to two hours and they wouldn’t have an overrun due to local news starting at 10pm EST.
WWE Chief Financial Officer George Barrios took part in the 46th Annual J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference this week. During that conference, he talked about potentially airing RAW and SmackDown Live on separate TV networks. “Market determines that opportunity. From our end, [we don’t think] it’s an issue to split it,” said Barrios. “We have done it before. We think we’re pretty good at promoting and moving our viewers from one platform to another. Seven or eight years ago, it was only from one network to another network, which changed dramatically. We can’t over-emphasize it, is the nature of social and digital and helping do that. “So, we’ve been able to do it before, we would feel even more comfortable doing it today just because we have a direct connection with all our fans which we did not have seven or eight years ago. So, our ability to do that, if it made sense economically, there were partners interested, if we felt comfortable with the partners in question, operationally we would not see an issue with doing that.”
One WWE Hall of Famer has pitched an idea for a potential show that would air on the WWE Network.
That WWE Legend is Bubba Ray Dudley, also known as Bully Ray. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame earlier this year alongside his longtime tag team partner D-Von during WrestleMania 34 weekend in April.
In a recent post on his official Twitter account, Dudley noted that he had pitched a show for the WWE Network, which is the sports entertainment company’s streaming service. He wrote the following:
“I pitched an idea for a game show to @WWENetwork called “SuperStar Squares” (think “Hollywood Squares”) Would be fun and entertaining w/ fans being the contestants.”
I pitched an idea for a game show to @WWENetwork called “SuperStar Squares” (think “Hollywood Squares”)
WWE fans has voiced their opinion about how WWE has been booking the feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.
Styles and Nakamura have wrestled each other four times over the last month. Styles successfully retained the title against Nakamura at WrestleMania 34, they went to a double count-out at both the Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash events.
Then, Nakamura beat Styles in a non-title match on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in London, England at the O2 Arena on the USA Network. As a result of this big win, Nakamura will now choose the stipulation for their upcoming WWE Title match at the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV.
Although the matches have been good, there have been a lot of fans who have taken to Twitter to show their frustration with the sports entertainment company and the way they have booked this feud thus far.
WWE producer and Smackdown Live creative team member Road Dogg responded to this criticism on Twitter where he wrote the following:
“You’re a fan since 2011? Thanks for being a fan but I need my job dude, I’d appreciate you not trying to get me fired. But, if you need to try…. ok ? #OUDK.
It ain’t easy but I try to rise above it. It gets to me some times tho for sure, I’m only human.”
You’re a fan since 2011? Thanks for being a fan but I need my job dude, I’d appreciate you not trying to get me fired. But, if you need to try…. ok ? #OUDK
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has some big plans in mind for Mandy Rose.
Pro Wrestling Sheet’s James McKenna is reporting McMahon believes that the SmackDown star would be a good fit for a character that was originally designed for now-former WWE star Emma.
If you recall, a repackage vignette was shown on Monday Night RAW for months in late 2016 teasing a “makeover of Emma to Emmalina.”
These videos would air and air, but she didn’t make her return until February of 2017. Yes, 17 weeks later, she was back. Fast forward to May, she suffered a shoulder injury at a live event in Liverpool, England. The character didn’t stick and Emma went back to her previous gimmick. Emma ended departing from WWE later in the year.
McMahon insisted Mandy Rose would be perfect for the character. He added that the entrance has the feel that WWE wanted with the Emmalina gimmick.
The pro wrestling journalist wrote the following on his official Twitter account:
“fun fact : when they figured out emma wasnt going to fit well for the emmalina bit vince was adamant that mandy rose would be a good fit for the gimmick. damned if that entrance doesnt have a feel like what they were going for with the emmalina character. #SDLive”
fun fact : when they figured out emma wasnt going to fit well for the emmalina bit vince was adamant that mandy rose would be a good fit for the gimmick. damned if that entrance doesnt have a feel like what they were going for with the emmalina character. #SDLivepic.twitter.com/DvTCdJhMZk
BRODY KING LOOKS TO COLLECT $20,000 BOUNTY WHEN HE FIGHTS SHANE STRICKLAND JUNE 7TH AT MLW FUSION TV TAPING IN ORLANDO
ORLANDO – Brody King has been called the “intelligent monster” and “The Destroyer” but now you can call him “bounty hunter” as the 6’5″ violence machine has accepted the $20,000 bounty on Shane Strickland. MLW officials can confirm that a Bounty Match has been signed featuring Brody King vs. Shane “Swerve” Strickland for June 7th at Gilt Nightclub in Orlando as MLW tapes Major League Wrestling FUSION for beIN SPORTS.
You can purchase tickets now at MLWTickets.com. Ticket prices range from $15-$45 with a limited number of “VIP Packages” also available.
Earlier this week Salina de la Renta called out “all bounty hunters and sicarios to step up and collect” after the events of the May 3rd Strickland-Pentagon Jr. title fight. League officials have publicly condemned this controversial move by the founder of Promociones Dorado.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynudBk09wNM
Overnight, MLW.com received a video where Brody made his intentions known that he was coming to collect the bounty. Upon hearing rumors that Brody had stepped up to collect, Strickland formally requested MLW set the match.
“If Brody wants to try and collect that bounty, let’s do it… but let’s do it in my house. June 7th at Gilt Nightclub in Orlando,” said Strickland.
Brody quickly accepted and thus on June 7th, Brody King will fight Shane Strickland in a bounty match.
https://youtu.be/ICTNv8zkBoM
Matches signed thus far for MLW’s June 7th card include:
BOUNTY MATCH: Shane Strickland vs. Brody King
Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix (presented by Salina de la Renta) vs. Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta vs. Dirty Blondes (managed by Col. Parker)
Rich Swann vs. ACH
Talent signed for June 7th thus far include:
Barrington Hughes
Sami Callihan
MVP
“Filthy” Tom Lawlor
Kotto Brazil
Simon Gotch
Jake Hager (managed by Colonel Robert Parker)
“Bad Boy” Joey Janela (with Aria Blake)
Maxwell J. Friedman
Mike Parrow (managed by Colonel Robert Parker)
Rhett Giddins
More matches and wrestlers will be announced in the coming days and weeks at MLW.com.
Two more Money in the Bank qualifying matches have been announced for next week’s SmackDown Live from Worcester, Massachusetts.
The final spot in the Men’s MITB Ladder Match will be determined when Samoa Joe squares off against Big Cass. This will mark Joe’s return to television for the first time since losing to Roman Reigns at Backlash.
Already confirmed participants include Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, The Miz, Finn Balor, Bobby Roode and a member of The New Day yet to be determined.
On the women’s side, Lana will face Billie Kay next week. This will be Lana’s first televised match since last October. Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss and Ember Moon have already qualified.
