While WWE has been referencing Impact Wrestling more and more in recent times, their collaboration reached a completely new level when they used Impact Footage in a recent Table For 3 episode and showed an ad for their Global Wrestling Network during the broadcast.
Sportskeeda recently reached out to Anthem Sports for comments on the matter, and replying to it, the parent company of Impact Wrestling revealed that they allowed WWE to use their footage in return for a mention of GWN:
“IMPACT Wrestling collaborated with WWE on the project and sub-licensed the footage to them for use in their original productions. Accordingly, WWE issued a courtesy for GWN when the footage airs.”
For those who don’t know the latest episode of WWE Network’s ‘Table for 3’ featured Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, and Shane McMahon. During the show, they not only name dropped Impact but for the surprise of many fans, they used footage owned by the company and also aired an advertisement for GWN at the end of the show.
While this isn’t the only time the company has used TNA footage for their project as they used some for a Hardy Boyz DVD as revealed last month, this was the first time Officials decided to promote a service related to Impact directly on their programming, so it has still become a hot topic of discussion recently.
WWE has recently confirmed that the next challenger for Cedric Alexander’s championship will be Buddy Murphy. The match will take place on the May 29th, 2018 edition of 205 Live.
The event is scheduled to take place from the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Buddy Murphy vs Cedric Alexander
This is the match 205 Live has been building towards for weeks. Murphy had previously earned a title match but had it rescinded by General Manager, Drake Maverick after he failed to make weight.
Murphy had won a fatal 4-way match against Akira Tozawa, Kalisto, and TJP to earn the right to challenge Alexander before failing to make weight. Kalisto then won a gauntlet match to earn a Cruiserweight title match at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
After making weight, Murphy has won three straight on 205 live including a victory over Kalisto. His main event victory over Mustafa Ali this week avenged his only loss since arriving on 205 Live. Ali defeated Murphy in the semifinals of the recent cruiserweight tournament. Murphy explained the loss by stating he was still getting used to the weight cut at the time.
Tom Phillips recently appeared on the Sam Roberts wrestling podcast and talked in detail about his role on commentary. The 28-year-old openly joked about some of the criticisms he hears from fans.
“I get Tweets from people saying I don’t have much of a personality on air. I’m like “that’s great!” I’m not supposed to, I’m supposed to tell you when the show is, here’s why this guy hates this guy and try to tell you some moves along the way,” Phillips said.
He also relayed a story of his father telling him his commentary is like white noise during the show.
“I’m not out there to be myself, I’m there to give you the information.”
This week @TomPhillipsWWE is on the Wrestling Podcast! The voice of #SDLive has a pretty great story.
“Nobody is buying a ticket to see Tom Phillips” – Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips Interview with Sam Roberts.
One of the more interesting parts of the interview involved Phillips’ comments regarding JBL. Phillips stated that JBL receives an unfair reputation and said he learned quite a bit from him.
Phillips also relayed several stories involving his interviews with Chris Jericho. He said that Jericho and Owens would not let him in on the things they were going to say to him and Jericho confusing him with Mike Rome caught him off guard.
Phillips majored in broadcasting at Penn State and did play-by-play for Juniata College football. He was signed by WWE in 2012 and worked his way up from conducting interviews on the App to doing play-by-play on the main roster.
There is news today that Smackdown wrestler, Big Cass, went off script during the May 1st, 2018 edition of Smackdown. The segment involved a little person dressed up to impersonate Daniel Bryan.
According to a report from the Pro Wrestling Sheet, Big Cass went farther in his beating of Daniel Bryan’s impersonator than backstage officials wanted. Big Cass was told to give a boot to the face of the impersonator but Cass felt a longer beating would be better.
Cass is said to have approached Vince McMahon and asked to go farther during the segment but McMahon denied his request. Despite this, Cass continued his beating after delivering the boot during the segment. He mounted Bryan’s impersonator and continued to deliver punches.
The additional strikes thrown by Cass which were not approved by backstage officials were not included in the YouTube clip WWE published of the segment.
Cass was not on Smackdown this week but he did give an interview to WWE.com yesterday, taking credit for Rusev’s victory over Daniel Bryan. This seems to indicate Cass’ feud with Daniel Bryan will continue.
Big Cass on Smackdown
Since returning from injury recently, Cass has wrestled two matches on WWE programming and another 4 at live events. He competed in the Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia. Following that, he submitted to Daniel Bryan in under 8 minutes at Backlash.
Following Backlash, Cass defeated Tye Dillinger on a house show Monday night but was then not used on Smackdown this Tuesday. He’s not advertised for upcoming shows on the European tour though he could still be there. Cass has not posted on social media since Sunday night. He doesn’t post regularly on social media, however, so this easily could just be a coincidence.
Reports surfaced last July that Cass had backstage heat then as well. At the time, Cass was said to have rubbed some people the wrong way by expressing his pro-Trump views loudly.
As for Cass’ rival, Daniel Bryan, he just lost a Money in the Bank qualifying match to Rusev on Smackdown.
During today’s Impact Wrestling Media conference call featuring Matt Sydal, Sami Callihan called in and insisted on being heard. He demanded Impact Wrestling show footage of his recent attack on Don Callis during tonight’s episode.
Callihan attacked Callis recently at a Destiny Wrestling event in Toronto. The show was being promoted by Santino Marella and Callis was scheduled to receive an award.
Audio of Callihan interrupting the media call can be heard in the player below:
https://youtu.be/qcdVQYD-KVQ?t=19m12s
Sami Callihan on Impact Wrestling
Impact Wrestling officials announced they will show the footage of Callihan’s attack on Callis during tonight’s episode. They also said there would be an announcement regarding whether or not Callihan is fired tonight.
The company had previously placed a poll on their website asking fans if Callihan should be fired.
“Impact management knows the numbers I put up and Impact management knows exactly what they need to do, whats best for their business model.” – Sami Callihan
Callihan continued to complain about the lack of exposure his Ohio Vs Everything group gets from Impact management. He mentioned the faction aren’t even in the show’s opening video.
Matt Sydal, who was the scheduled talent for the call, expressed both positive and negative sentiment towards Callihan’s interruption.
“Props to Sami Callihan for thinking for himself and questioning authority. What a great attitude,” Sydal said. “I hope when he hung up the phone he didn’t accidentally hit himself in the eye and break his orbital bone,” he then added.
Callihan’s feud with Eddie Edwards has been a focal point of Impact Wrestling for several weeks. The rivalry was thrust further into the spotlight following the spot which broke Edwards’ orbital bone during the promotion’s January television tapings in Orlando.
In recent weeks, Edwards accidentally struck his own wife with a kendo stick. To further torment his rival, Callihan was shown visiting Edwards’ wife in the hospital last week.
Matt Sydal says he was reborn after his 3rd eye was opened and he achieved a higher state of consciousness. On a recent Impact Wrestling media conference call, we had the chance to ask Sydal how his personal philosophies impact his wrestling performances.
“The more I’ve integrated my personal philosophy into my wrestling performances the more success I’ve had, the more genuine a connection I feel with the crowd and the more liberated I feel in the ring,” Sydal said.
“Now I rely on the mind-body connection, it’s an ecological awareness that allows me to not just be a mind separate from a body but a mind and body integrated into one and integrated into the whole system that we all live in and are all a part of.”
“I see in slow motion, I move in fast-forward and there is nobody who can do the things I can do” – Matt Sydal
Matt Sydal’s Plans to Curate the X-Division
While he admits there are still plenty of challenges awaiting him on the current roster, Sydal expressed his desire to curate the X-Division by bringing in innovative wrestlers from all over the world.
“I know these guys in Lima, Peru that you might have never seen wrestle but they are out of this world,” Sydal said. He also mentioned a group of wrestlers who train out of a Shaolin temple in China.
“My ability to see trends forming and to be an early adopter is a skill,” he said on the call.
“As you watch this X-Division unfold, the men you will see popping, appearing, and hanging around in this X-Division are going to be the people that are wrestling. The people that all the fans are going to be talking about and enjoying will be X-Division wrestlers.”
While Sydal may have plans for the future of the division, he will be paying particular attention to a match on tonight’s episode of Impact. A fatal 4-way featuring Drago, Aerostar, Taiji Ishimori, and Fantasma could decide Sydal’s next title challenger.
DEFIANT Wrestling has announced several bouts for their upcoming Road To Destruction PPV event on May 28th, this show acts along the lines of a New Japan Pro Wrestling ‘Road To’ show and will be leading to their ‘Built To Destroy’ show on June 17th.
One of the marquee matches from this already stacked show is the Internet Title Match between Champion Travis Banks, WALTER and Zack Sabre Jr. ZSJ previously had to vacate the title and he will have his sights set on regaining his belt and solidifying himself as a member of the DEFIANT roster once again. This match will see three of the best independent performers in the world collide and present three very different extremes of in ring style, it certainly is not a bout to be missed and the event can be purchased via the FITE app or on DEFIANT’s Access On Demand service for $8.99 per month.
The Superstar Shake-Up sent The Miz to SmackDown Live without Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas, but he brought something far more important: a plan.
The 8-time Intercontinental Champion made it no secret that he wanted to elevate that title to its former glory. You’d be hard pressed to argue that he did anything but exactly that. He now plans to do the same for the WWE Championship. Despite being held by one of the top wrestlers in the world, the sport’s richest prize rarely headlines WWE pay-per-view events. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, The Miz declared,
“My goal is to make the WWE championship as relevant and prestigious as it should be.”
He was quick to clarify that he believes AJ Styles is doing a “terrific job” as WWE Champion. However, the WWE Championship match did not headline WrestleMania, Greatest Royal Rumble or Backlash. That fact bothers a lot of people – Miz included.
“That WWE championship should be in the main event of every single WWE pay per view,” said Miz. “It upsets me when I see that it is not.”
This past week on SmackDown Live, The Miz defeated United States Champion Jeff Hardy in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. He, along with Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Rusev and 4 more opponents TBA, will battle at Money in the Bank (6/17) to earn the coveted MITB contract. The Miz sees this match as the perfect opportunity to advance his goal.
“My goal is to not only win the Money in the Bank contract, cash it in and become WWE champion,” he said. “I want to put that title back where it belongs: the main event.”
These comments from The Miz preview a full-feature article that’s set to publish at SI.com this Friday.
Do you think the perception of the WWE Championship is damaged by it now headlining pay-per-view events?
Daniel Bryan’s comments about returning to independent wrestling were probably one of the reasons why WWE turned their decision back in a surprising manner just a few weeks before WrestleMania and cleared him to return.
During his recent appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Bryan talked about how he hated his job of being the SmackDown General Manager as it meant staying close to the ring but not being able to wrestle.
Later in the episode, Daniel discussed how he aimed to return to NJPW and ROH if WWE had not cleared him and revealed that he was planning to have a long-term feud with the notorious Bullet Club:
“…so Bullet Club is very hot, but they need somebody to go against… something that would draw money and interest and bring independent wrestling to another level… so that’s what I was thinking, a long-term thing. We could do that for a couple years.”
Prior to being cleared, Daniel Bryan had talked openly about wanting to wrestle again and on multiple occasions, he had said that he would consider a return to Independent Circuit if the company does not clear him by WrestleMania 34.
Many consider this to be one of the reasons why the Officials agreed to evaluate the former SmackDown General Manager again just weeks before Mania which resulted in him being cleared for an in-ring return.
It’s worth mentioning here that during the same episode, the host Chris Jericho also revealed an interesting story about how he almost replaced Shane McMahon as Daniel Bryan’s partner at the Show of Shows which you can check out here.
Revolution Pro Wrestling (Rev Pro) will be presenting their ‘Epic Encounter’ 2018 event this Friday from the world famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.
The full card for the event has now been confirmed and it is going to be quite an extravaganza. Several stars linked with WWE will be in attendance including recent rumoured signee Keith Lee and some of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest hitters will also be performing including Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii, Zack Sabre Jr and Will Ospreay.
Here is the full card for the event this Friday:
British Heavyweight Championship Match – Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs Keith Lee
Undisputed British Tag Team Championship Match – Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki) (c) vs CCK (Travis Banks and Chris Brookes)
Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship Match – Kurtis Chapman (c) vs David Starr
Chosen Bros (Matt Riddle and Jeff Cobb) vs Aussie Open
PROGRESS Wrestling have now officially announced that Jack Sexsmith will be challenging Travis Banks for the PROGRESS World Championship at Chapter 69 – ‘Be Here Now.’
The ‘Pansexual Phenomenon’ earned this opportunity way back at Chapter 59 in an 8-man contender match, he announced shortly after that he would be taking his Championship bout at Chapter 69 in front of PROGRESS’ biggest ever crowd outside of London. Sexsmith has been an inspirational figure for the UK scene and has become an almost ‘accidental’ champion of the LGBTQIA community, he heads into this bout as a huge fan favourite and will have the full backing of the PROGRESS fans to win his first World Championship.
Travis Banks enters the bout having gone undefeated since the ‘Chase The Sun’ event wherein he defeated Pete Dunne to become the PROGRESS World Champion. Banks has been receiving a fairly mixed reaction from the PROGRESS crowds lately, his winning defence against Matt Riddle seemed to solidify the fans turning against the ‘Kiwi Buzzsaw’ leading him to adopt Roman Reigns-esque mannerisms to ‘troll’ the PROGRESS faithful. The bout against Sexsmith became official after Banks defeated former ATLAS Champion WALTER at the Super Strong Style 16 event this past weekend.
UK based promotion RIPTIDE Wrestling has announced a huge David vs Goliath battle for their ‘International Waters’ event that takes place Friday July 6th from the Brighthelm Centre Auditorium in Brighton, England.
‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey will be facing former PROGRESS ATLAS and wXw Unified Heavyweight Champion WALTER. You may have seen WALTER’s name appear sporadically in the news recently, he has been heavily linked with a move to WWE/NXT in the near future alongside fellow independent star Keith Lee. Whilst Lee has reportedly signed a deal WALTER has continuously denied the rumours. If WALTER does indeed make his way to NXT he will be joining his former wXw colleague and Ringkampf stablemate Axel Dieter Jr.
Only one other match has been confirmed for ‘International Waters,’ CCK leader and former PROGRESS Tag Team Champion Chris Brookes will be taking on Naoki Tanizaki in what is sure to be a stellar technical affair.
WWE again aired a “coming soon” promo for SAnitY’s upcoming debut on SmackDown Live. Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain took to Twitter and noted they want to “purge” Tuesday nights:
Former WWE Superstar Darren Young has uploaded a new vlog on his YouTube channel, including footage from a recent convention appearance. Young, real name Fred Rosser, is now going by the name “Mr. No Days Off” on the independent circuit:
Current Impact X Division Champion Matt Sydal recently did an interview with Wrestling Epicenter to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Sydal discussed the most recent IMPACT tapings that took place in Orlando, Florida, and the positive response they received:
“Well, all I can tell you about those tapings are these were the tapings where I was most heavily involved. I was integral to these tapings and I really felt like I was able to get what I’ve been trying to say across. As the weeks go on, I think people will be able to enjoy our product, they’ll be able to log on, they can watch on POP! I always stand behind the things that I do.
“I don’t listen to those who downplay things nor do I pay attention to those who grovel at our feet and tell us that we’re the greatest. For me, that is just noise. I’m out there to produce the best content – The most creative content I can do and express myself through wrestling. If you watch what happened at these tapings, if you’re a fan of wrestling, you’ve got something to watch!
“I don’t know how much time you have got in your week to watch wrestling – Quite frankly, you’d be better off walking around a park with your phone not in your hand. But, when you’re done with that, come inside and watch Impact.”
Sydal also noted that the atmosphere backstage changed for these most recent set of tapings:
“One different thing that I can tell you about backstage was, there were a lot of monitor sell outs this taping. People really wanted to see what was happening in the ring. The production is coming together, the production looks great. Impact is just always improving at all angles.
“There is a lot of creativity and thought that goes into everything. I’m happy to be a part of it as we move forward. And, I’m happy to move things in the wild direction! I am able to move things and steer things into a direction I’ve wanted to for my whole career.”
He also compared his runs with WWE, Ring Of Honor (ROH), and his current run with IMPACT Wrestling:
“That’s the thing. I always love the locker rooms that I end up in. There is so much great talent. [In WWE] I had so many awesome matches with the Usos, Primo and Epico, me and Kofi tore it up for years. I’ve wrestled Chavo. I’ve wrestled Jericho! I had so many awesome matches there. In Ring of Honor, I had such awesome matches with Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles both before and after my turn with WWE.
“I mean, working with Will Ospreay before he broke out of England, working with him in Japan. Marty [Scurl], The [Young] Bucks! I’ve just been forever super lucky. So, in this Impact locker room, we’ve got some insane talent. Guys you need to keep your eye on are Desmond Xavier and Zach Wentz, the oVe guys are killing it.
“LAX and oVe had this insane feud! Brian Cage, Austin Aries, John Morrison [Impact] is returning from a secret location that may not be disclosed. … All you can do is keep swinging for the fences. Whether it is good or bad, it all comes from a good place. I’m glad Josh [Mathews] thought these tapings were good. Clearly his spiritual path is right and he’s got his third eye open. I expect everybody else to do the same.”
Former WWE Divas Champion and current SmackDown Live General Manager Paige recently did an interview on Edge and Christian’s podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, to talk about her in-ring career coming to an end and her new role in WWE. Paige was forced to retire after suffering an injury at a live event in January.
She injured her neck just months after returning from a long layoff following multiple neck surgeries. Paige believes she pushed her body too much too soon, and it finally caught up with her:
“I honestly felt really confident about it, but that’s the inner-wrestler stubbornness. You know how we are; we can be fine, and all believe we are unbreakable. Just coming back and it kind of humbled me a little bit,” Paige said.
“I thought I was fine, and perhaps earn a championship match, but I did come back with the confidence that this was going to be fine, but I kind of felt that in a single’s match where something didn’t feel right as it was before.
“I had to go down to the Performance Center and take bumps by moving my neck somewhere and kicking out of a finish and moving my head to the side because it couldn’t be the same. I had to adjust in a lot of ways.”
Paige then recalled the moment she suffered the injury and called it the scariest moment of her life. She also said she feared she would end up in a wheelchair:
“I felt it in a single’s match where I realized that something didn’t feel too good, but I thought that it was fine, I’m just rusty. I’m doing a 25 minute match, and I thought, ‘Okay, this is going to be fine,’ but then when the accident happened and I lost all feeling in my legs and arms, it was the most terrifying experience in my life, and I never wish that upon anyone. It was so scary,” Paige said.
“I literally was done, and I thought I was going to be in a wheelchair. I had pushed myself too much. I really did. Every time I was in a match I was like, okay, I will take the bumps, I pushed myself too hard where my body was literally done. I have been doing this since I was 17, it’s like, I need to let my body grow a little bit.”
Her injury came at a time where women’s wrestling in WWE was on the rise, however, that doesn’t erase the amazing accomplishments Paige has already achieved in her legendary career:
“I am really, really proud. I definitely filled in a lot of stuff after my small career in WWE. I have been with WWE for over 6 years now, and I had that year and a half out which wasn’t the best year of my life, but missions were accomplished after I came back,” she said.
“I even had a couple months to accomplish a little bit more, and getting to commentate the all-female Royal Rumble, it was great. It’s not ending like I haven’t done anything with my career. I actually have a couple of trophies that I have to display under my belt as well.”
You can listen to Paige’s interview on E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.
Batista Improvised A Hilarious Line In Avengers: Infinity War
Yahoo recently did an interview with two screenwriters from Avengers: Infinity War, and they shared a very interesting story about how former WWE Champion Batista improvised one of the more hilarious lines of the film:
“Then there’s Dave Bautista, the giant of a man behind Drax, who is quickly emerging as one of the funniest Avengers/Guardians, thanks to laugh-landing lines like, “Why is Gamora?,” which perfectly breaks the tension during a heated standoff between Iron Man and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) on Titan.
““The script only said, ‘Where is Gamora?’ ‘I’ll do you even better: Who is Gamora?’ And then one day Bautista just goes, ‘I’ll do you one better: Why is Gamora?’” Markus recalled. “It’s like, ‘OK, you’re very good at your job.’””
The Miz Taunts Daniel Bryan
The Miz continues to tease Daniel Bryan now that they’re both on the same brand on SmackDown Live. He Tweeted out the following after Bryan lost his Money In The Bank Ladder Match qualifying bout to Rusev:
Ring of Honor kicked off their 4-show War of the Worlds tour last night. The first stop for the promotion was in Lowell, MA. The show aired live for Honor Club subscribers.
ROH War of the Worlds Lowell
1. the Briscoes defeated Jushin Liger & Flip Gordon
Flip was just booked to participate in the Best of the Super Juniors later this month in Japan.
Jay Briscoe took Liger out of the match with a low blow. Moments later the Briscoes hit a double-team neck-breaker from the top on Flip for the win.
2. Tenille Dashwood and Sumie Sakai defeated Deonna Purrazzo & Skylar
Brandi Rhodes was originally scheduled for this match but was removed due to injury.
Dashwood pinned Skylar with a Shining Wizard.
Colt Cabana played up on commentary how it was Dashwood and not WOH Champion, Sumie Sakai, who got the pin for their team. The commentary team speculated Dashwood could be the next in line for a title shot.
After the match, Kelly Klein attacked Purrazzo and the two had to be broken up by security.
Dalton Castle Announcement/Brunch
Castle came out to announce he would not be facing Matt Taven for the ROH World Championship as he has been dealing with a back injury.
He read out his exact medical diagnosis: “My back is garbage”.
Castle made it clear that even though he couldn’t compete that night, he was not relinquishing the title.
To appease the fans, Castle said he would serve them all brunch. His music cued up and the Boys came out with buckets full of croissants and tossed them to the live crowd.
3. Coast 2 Coast defeated the Kingdom w/ Matt Taven
Matt Taven was on commentary and he complained about losing out on his ROH World title shot due to Castle’s injury.
C2C was coming into this one off of wins over War Machine and the Motor City Machine Guns.
While the match was going on, members of SoCal Uncensored came to ringside and stole back their 6-Man tag-team championships which the Kingdom had taken from them (SCU were the legit holders). This allowed Coast 2 Coast to pick up a roll-up victory off the distraction.
Taven complained that this was all part of the conspiracy against the Kingdom. He then challenged the members of SoCal Uncensored to face the Kingdom in 6-man action with the belts on the line later that night.
4. Cheeseburger defeated Bully Ray via Count-Out
Bully beat him up with multiple powerbombs while Colt Cabana complained the match should have never been booked.
Bully then hit Cheeseburger with a low-blow, walked out of the ring, and got himself counted out. He then returned to the ring, raised Cheeseburger’s hand, then gave him another powerbomb. After power-bombing Cheeseburger one more time on the outside, Bully finally left the ring area.
5. Marty Scurll, Adam Page, and Cody defeated Roppongi 3K
Page appears to be going by just Adam Page now so possibly the Hangman gimmick has been dropped.
More dissension between Marty and Cody was teased during this match. This has been building for a little while now.
Scurll accidentally super-kicked Burnard the Business Bear. This upset Cody and he and Marty Scurll got into a shoving match before it was broken up by Page.
They would put their disagreements aside, however, and Cody pinned Rocky Romero after a Cross Rhodes for the win.
After the match, Cody went to check on the bear. Marty seemed to throw streamers on the bear in a sarcastic manner and then walked out on Cody and Page.
Scurll continued to jar at Cody from the ramp while Cody was still in the ring.
6. Evil, Sanada, and Tetsuya Naito defeated Brian Milonas, the Beer City Bruiser, and Silas Young
The members of Los InGobernables de Japon picked up the win in this match after Evil pinned Milonas following an STO.
After the match, the two teams jarred at each other while LIJ celebrated in the ring.
7. Chuckie T defeated Jay White and Jay Lethal
This match was as a result of the card shuffle due to Castle’s injury/brunch.
Lethal gave the Lethal Injection to Jay White but immediately after Taylor rolled up Lethal and got the pin.
8. ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championships the Kingdom defeated SoCal Uncensored (c)
In a match made earlier in the evening, the Kingdom won back the 6-Man tag-team championships
Taven is from the area. He hit the frog splash on Daniels for the win.
9. the Young Bucks defeated Hiromu Takahashi and Bushi
In a high-paced exciting match, the Young Bucks picked up the win in the main event.
Near the end of the match, Bushi hit Matt Jackson in the face with the poison mist. The result was that he super-kicked everyone (including his brother) and put a sharpshooter on the referee. Nick finally splashed water in his eyes.
The Bucks picked up the win after a Meltzer Driver on Bushi.
We now know who produced a few of the matches from this week’s episode of SmackDown Live. Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful is reporting that Charlotte Flair and Carmella’s match was produced by Sarah Stock – better known as Sarita during her time in TNA.
Tyson Kidd reportedly produced the match between Mandy Rose and Becky Lynch. Cesaro and Xavier Woods’ match was produced by Arn Anderson. The Miz vs Jeff Hardy was produced by Dean Malenko.
Michael “P.S” Hayes produced the main event between Rusev and Daniel Bryan, which was a Money In The Bank Ladder Match qualifying match.
Discussion: Which match did you enjoy the most from this week’s episode of SmackDown Live? And which producer’s matches have you been enjoying the most in the past few months?
WWE continues to swoop up the best talent in the world and bring them to their Performance Center in Orlando before grooming them on NXT. Some fans have said that WWE is killing independent wrestling by signing some of the best talent on the indies and locking them up.
In a recent interview with Pop Culture, SmackDown Live Superstar Samoa Joe addressed this notion. Joe had a rather interesting take on the issue. Here’s what he had to say:
“Hey, you know whose fault it is, that your favorite wrestler got bought out? The company he was working for, cause they were too cheap to pay him what he was worth. So he should get paid what he’s worth, and if WWE comes and pays him what he’s worth, that’s on your sorry ass. Get the money right. And start paying these dudes.
“There are too many crazy talented dudes out there that aren’t getting paid, and if you have a problem with WWE making those dudes rich, you can kiss my ass, cause those dudes deserve to be rich, cause they’re talented as hell. It’s funny because people are like, ‘oh, well that’s kind of messed up,’ No. No. That’s how you win.
“That’s why they’re the number one company in the world. You go out there and you get the best dudes. You don’t get mad at a tiger for being a tiger.”
You can read Joe’s full interview with Pop Culture by clicking this link here.
As we’ve noted, it seemed that Alexa Bliss suffered an injury during her Backlash pay-per-view (PPV) match against Nia Jax for the RAW Women’s Title.
It seems like the injury was either minor or a storyline because Little Miss Bliss is booked for WWE’s European Tour and competed at WWE’s live event in Bournemouth, GB last night.
Heath Slater Gets A New Tattoo For His Kids
Former Tag Team Champion Heath Slater recently got a huge tattoo on his left arm for his kids in North Carolina. Slater noted that the tattoo was dedicated to his daughters Remmy and Roz. Check it out here:
The new WrestleMania Fusion card for Peyton Royce on WWE Super Card is out, and it notes that the name of her finisher is “The Ugh.” Royce took to Twitter to react to the name, and you can check it out here:
Former Glamour Girl Judy Martin recently did an interview with Nigel Sherrod to discuss the allegations against former WWE Women’s Champion Fabulous Moolah. There was a ton of controversy surrounding WWE naming the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal after Moolah.
The name was changed and all ties to her were removed after an uproar from fans and WrestleMania’s key sponsor, Snickers. Martin first discussed how she believes Vince McMahon and the WWE should’ve handled the situation:
“Vince should have come out with a press conference and said, “Mars and Snickers, let’s get the fact straight, because here’s a woman that worked for us for so many years and I stand behind her…Let’s see where this came from and who started this mess.”
In regards to the pimping allegations on Moolah, Martin says that she has had members of her own family ask her if it’s true and she explains how much that hurts her:
“I’ve had cousins ask, “Judy did you really do that…about Moolah pimping you out?” Nobody knows how that hurts you that you worked for somebody that pimped you out so you could get where you did…
“I never talked about how much I loved wrestling. That was something that I really loved. I don’t mean to cry but when you get older, you get a little sentimental. I tried my best to be as good as I could and that really hurt.”
As for the fans who signed the petition to have the Rumble match disassociated with Moolah’s name, Martin said she’s not sure if the people who signed are real wrestling fans:
“You really said that she pimped us girls out. That never happened. The drugs, I’ve never done drugs. I was tested way back then and I guarantee the only thing they found on me was a cigarette. It hurts. It really hurts.
“I don’t know if you guys are really wrestling fans…but you damaged a lot of girls that worked in this business at that time. You need to get to know who you’re talking about before you go out and screw up people’s lives…I hope Vince will take it upon himself to correct this matter.”
Dalla and Robo, the new YouTube Red animated series starring John Cena and Kat Dennings, will premiere on May 30th.
The 8-episode series will be available on WWE’s popular YouTube channel and is produced by ShadowMachine (BoJack Horseman, Robot Chicken).
“Dallas & Robo” is a buddy comedy centered on sassy space-trucker “Dallas” (Kat Dennings) and self-proclaimed warrior-poet “Robo” (John Cena) who must navigate their way around cannibal bikers, rival space truckers, and vending machine burritos as they try to make a buck in the seedy world of interplanetary big-rigging.
In a press release sent out last summer, Cena said, “I’m thrilled to join Kat and the rest of this fantastic voice cast for Dallas & Robo. The writing for this series is flat-out funny and very creative, and I’m really looking forward to being a part of such a unique, entertaining project.”
Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s Global Head of Original Content, said, “With Kat Dennings and John Cena bringing these animated characters to life, I have no doubt viewers are going to have fun watching this imaginative, new outer space comedy from Shadowmachine.”
Wrestling legend Rey Mysterio Jr. was Sean Waltman’s guest on this week’s edition of the X-PAC 1-2-360 podcast. You can Subscribe on iTunes and listen to audio of the full show at the bottom of this article.
During the broadcast, Waltman paid his respects to former WWE Superstar Nick “Big Bully” Busick, who passed away this week. Waltman knew Busick for their days together in Dallas wrestling for GWF. He called Busick a wonderful human being, a tough SOB and someone that had the respect of everyone due to the way he treated others.
Rey Mysterio joined the show and spoke about a number of interesting topic, including his son Dominic’s journey to follow in his footsteps, wanting to work with Cody Rhodes outside of WWE and more.
Here are some highlights sent in by the show’s producers:
Rey Mysterio On The Best High-Flyer In The World Right Now
“Oh, you got me there. I want to say, I guess this answer’s fair because they’re from different countries so I’m going to do one from each country. Mexico Rey Fenix, US Ricochet, and UK Ospreay. I would love to see them in a three-way.”
Wanting To Work With Cody Rhodes:
“I actually do hope to work with him and meet outside of the WWE, I think after you’ve been in the WWE and you know what the grind is like and at some point you feel that it’s not for you and you need a break, you need to speak up, be heard. And I think that’s what he did…but now he’s pretty much doing what he loves, he’s still wrestling.
He’s working with I’d say one of the biggest companies in Japan that is starting to make a big impact here in the U.S as well, but I truly hope to see him in the ring one day for New Japan.”
His Son Dominic’s Future In Pro Wrestling
“I’m very happy and honored to pass the torch on to my son, who’s actually training right now. He’s moving along with his training and there’s nothing that excites me and makes me feel proud as to what my son is doing right now, following in my footsteps. Being in the business as hard as it is and as rough as it is…you obviously hope that your kid would follow in your footsteps one day. And that day came about two and half years ago with my son. He’s actually doing a good job, going through his training phases. He started in Tampa last year with Jay Lethal…he’s back home now and in September he goes up to Canada to train with Lance Storm.
He hasn’t had a match, it’s funny how promoters book me and at the end of the conversation they’ll just throw out ‘Hey if you want to bring your son out here, if he wants to come out, we’ll take care of him.’ and I’m like nah he’s not ready yet. I’ll be the first to say he’s definitely not ready. He’s in the learning process but overall I have this mentality on how I want to prepare him to better than his old man, cause I know he will be, I am that positive that he’s gonna be better than his old man. And I wanna take him around and learn from different camps.
I wanna get him into a New Japan camp, they just opened in LA. Get him into Booker T’s school and I might even send him to Japan for a couple months. Hopefully within the next year and a half if he’s ready, I’ll be the last to take care of him. I’ll just finish it up and polish him to be ready to go.
Get it all on this week’s brand new episode of AfterBuzz TV’s X-Pac 12360. Two words for you…DOWNLOAD IT!
As noted earlier this week, Charlotte Flair will be undergoing surgery soon to repair a ruptured breast implant. The 5-time WWE Women’s Champion is currently overseas for WWE’s European tour and is expected to have the procedure after she gets back to the United States later this month.
Timeline of Charlotte’s Injury & Surgery
The latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter provides exclusive details regarding the situation. Charlotte kept the injury a secret from most people up until this week.
Charlotte’s implant ruptured before WrestleMania 34. Initially, she decided to hold off on the surgery because she wanted to work WrestleMania 34 against Asuka. When WWE decided to put the SmackDown Women’s Championship on Carmella, Charlotte was asked to work against Carmella at Backlash.
Charlotte decided to put the surgery off until after the European tour, which is lucrative for the performers. The surgery will happen later this month, as Charlotte wants to be 100% in time for SummerSlam.
As of this writing, Charlotte is advertised to compete at Money in the Bank. The Observer report notes that she’s only expected to miss “a few weeks” – but her recovery schedule will dictate that.
Charlotte in ESPN’s The Body Issue
She recently did a photo shoot for ESPN magazine’s annual “The Body Issue” – which depicts athletes nude and semi-nude – and they were able to ‘shoot around’ the injured part of her body.
The 2017 edition of ESPN’s The Body Issue was released in the first week of July, so expect a similar early-summer release for this year’s installment.
WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey posted for The Body Issue back in 2012.
