Pete Dunne will be defending his WWE United Kingdom Championship on Sunday January 14th against fellow WWE UK superstar Joseph Conners.
The pair will face off as part of PROGRESS Wrestling’s 61st Chapter event ‘Don’t Touch Me…Don’t…Don’t Touch Me’ inside Birmingham’s O2 Academy. The match was originally scheduled to take place at Chapter 59 but was postponed due to the severe winter weather conditions, forcing Dunne to remain in Dublin, Ireland where he performed for OTT Wrestling the night before.
This highly anticipated bout could well be one of the last that the ‘Bruiserweight’ has in a PROGRESS ring, his incredible rise to stardom through the WWE UK division will likely see him make an appearance in this year’s Royal Rumble event and quite possibly see him perform at Wrestlemania in April.
Insane Championship Wrestling’s (ICW) Fight Club show will be making it’s return on January 21st when they host ‘It’s Always Raining in Glasgow.’ The company always over delivers when it comes to their event posters and fans of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ will likely agree that they’ve pulled it off again (check out the tweet below).
Emanating from the company’s spiritual home of the Garage in Glasgow, Scotland the event will feature some massive bouts heading into the ‘Square Go’ pay per view event the next night.
The matches currently announced are:
ICW World Heavyweight Championship – “The Oddity” BT Gunn (c) vs Red Lightning
Glasgow Street Fight – The Kinky Party (Sha Samuels & Jack Jester) & Kenny Williams vs The Filthy Generation (Stevie Boy, Aspen Faith & Lewis Girvan)
Mikey Whiplash vs Jordan Devlin
“The International Sex Hero” DCT vs Joseph Conners
“The Regulator” Wolfgang vs Kid Fite
Leyton Buzzard (w/ Joe Hendry) vs Chris Renfrew
Ravie Davie & Kasey vs “The King Of All Evil” Bram & Martina
If you want to check out ICW then their On Demand service is available here.
It looks like Enzo Amore is ready to make his in-ring return on Monday Night RAW, as WWE announced that tomorrow night he will finally defend his Cruiserweight Title against Cedric Alexander:
“It is now official that Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore will defend his Cruiserweight Title against Cedric Alexander tomorrow night on Raw.
“The match, originally scheduled to take place last week, had to be postponed after The Certified G was hospitalized with the flu. However, with Amore now out of the hospital and ready to compete, he will square off against one of the most dynamic and toughest challengers to his title reign – 205 Live standout Alexander.
“Will Enzo be at full health for the title contest, or will Raw be Cedric’s night to rise to the top of the Cruiserweight division? And how will the Zo Train factor into the major championship match? Find out tomorrow night on Raw!”
Last weekend Amore reportedly got sick during WWE’s annual holiday live event tour after working with Kalisto that entire week. He did not wrestle in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and waited to go to the hospital until he flew into Miami, Florida for last week’s RAW. There he received IV treatment and attempted to talk WWE officials into allowing him to compete on RAW hours before the show.
His request was denied and Amore was instead ordered to return to his hotel room and rest up as it was feared he could be contagious. Cedric Alexander has been waiting for his Cruiserweight Title shot for the past several weeks after defeating Drew Gulak for the No. 1-contender’s opportunity on RAW.
Former WWE and WCW writer Vince Russo was recently interviewed on The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast to talk about his time in the industry. The highlights can be found here below:
Where the “crash TV” concept came from when writing for the Attitude Era:
“Basically where “crash” TV came from is real simple because there is no reason in the world that they should not instill the same freaking work ethic and if they instilled this today the show would go from a one to a ten overnight. Where “crash” TV came from was because we were going head to head with Monday Nitro. The way Ed (Ferrera) and I wrote the show is you had a television with a wrestling fan sitting in front of that television set on Monday night and they had a choice between Nitro and RAW.
“When they flip over to RAW and they are watching RAW they are begging you to give them a reason and give them a low and give them the opportunity to tune over to the other show and (bro) knowing if they tune over to the other show and there is something good there, they may never come back. Ed and I literally wrote that show like the wrestling fan was sitting in front of his TV on Monday nights and he had the remote control in his hand and he was begging you to let him flip over to see what was going on on Nitro. That is where “crash” TV came from and you know what? There is no reason in the world that it should not be the same psychology today.”
The main issue plaguing WWE across the board:
“Here is the problem in a nutshell and this is the problem across the board. It’s because of politics and that is what it is all about. It is all about ego and because of ego, politics and power they have people in key positions that have no reason being there. You know how in every other big company like if you work for Apple or you work for a Chevrolet, any company you work for will want to hire the best people to make their company better. That is how companies become better. You look at kids coming out of college and you look at people that are out there with experience and you are always looking for better people to make you better. Bro, wrestling is the complete opposite.
“They have inadequate people in key positions that got there because of politics and if you are on the outside looking in and you have any kind of talent whatsoever they will do anything in their power to keep you away. They will bury you, they will start campaigns online, they will smear your name, they will lie about you, they will make crap up about you and anybody that is better than them they just destroy because they are protecting their spot. When somebody comes in that is better than them all of a sudden they are exposed. There is no light at the end of the rainbow and they don’t have the right people in there and they don’t have the right people doing the key jobs and that is evident every time you watch one of their shows.”
Vince McMahon surrounding himself with “yes men”:
“Bro, you want to know something that makes no sense? All of these clowns, they are all writing to please Vince. They are all writing to please a 72 year old man. Unfortunately, 72 year old men are not your audience.”
Challenging Vince McMahon on booking calls:
“I will never forget there was a Summer Slam at Madison Square Garden with AC/DC Highway to Hell and I’ll never forget the main event was Taker vs. Austin. Taker and Austin were really good friends and they wanted to go into that match at Madison Square Garden and they wanted to make it a babyface match because as a shoot they were very close. I remember getting in a yelling match with Vince McMahon and lets face it Taker and Austin were the top guys and they earned that spot so Vince wanted to make them happy and I couldn’t understand that.
“I remember saying to Vince and especially in New York at Madison Square Garden that people do not want to see a babyface match between Austin and Taker, they want to see these guys freaking kill each other. It’s freaking New York City bro this isn’t Wisconsin and I remember yelling at him in his freaking car. The end of that story is they had their babyface match and there was no response and both guys knew why but that doesn’t matter. My point is that I got away with that stuff because at the end of the day Vince knew my passion and he knew that Vince Russo wasn’t about power and ego and money and all that crap but he was about wanting the show being the best it could absolutely be.
“Vince knew that and if he didn’t know that do you know how many times he would have fired me? He knew what my agenda was and he knew where my heart was and it was always in the show being the best it could be. Today it is all about protecting your spot and making sure you are safe, write something that Vince will like and OH MY GOD bro it is freaking horrible.”
The biggest misconception people have about himself:
“You know what part of the misconception is about me and listen I’m not saying this to be braggadocios because I swear to you I do not have an ego and I don’t give a crap. But I wrote for characters long enough to know what gets a character over and at the end of the day here is what gets a character over. Basically you’ve got to find something in them that is very real so when they go out and portray that (character) you magnify it a million times over and people believe it. They are not acting because it is real to them. That is the key to getting a character over. With that said, when they started putting so much freaking pressure on me to get rating at WCW, bro I never wanted to be a character on TV and I never had any intentions of being a character on TV. To this day, I promise you that is 90% of the reason why so many people disdain me.
“They disdain me because in their minds I am still that character and I’m not. That is not me, I don’t carry myself that way and I swear to God that I buried myself at WCW and later on in TNA buried myself because I never put on a power play, I never wanted power, never wanted more money I just wanted to write the television show. That is all I cared about and those around me who were political animals buried me and were burying me because they were afraid of me and because they knew my talent. The only way they were going to bring me down was to continue to bury me over and over again until they convinced that person that I was the person that they wanted me to be. Bro, I didn’t fight back because my whole theory was if you want to buy into that and want to believe them than no problem just get rid of me and let them do the job and lets see what happens.
“With TNA, you can look at TNA and you can look at the numbers and you can pinpoint exactly where Russo left the company. You can look at those numbers and see that Vince wrote up to this point and than Vince left because you look at that number month after month and they started losing more and more audience. So that is the misconception, people don’t know me, they have no idea of who I am and they don’t know about Vince Russo the son, the husband, the father, they know of me as being a fictional character that they saw on TV.”
You can listen to Russo’s interview on The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling by clicking this link here.
“The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman recently appeared on ESPN Radio’s The J&J Show to promote WWE’s upcoming episode of Monday Night RAW from Memphis, Tennessee. During the interview Strowman revealed his favorite part about being a WWE Superstar, and it turns out its the influence he has on the younger generation of WWE fans:
“When it comes to the kids, I always have time for [them]. Literally, that is my favorite part about being a WWE superstar is the influence that we get to [have] with the little ones. Just seeing their faces, walking around the arena now that, per se, I’m more liked by the crowd and almost a good guy. Just on my way out of the ring high-fiving the kids, just the looks on their face. I mean, it’s really, really special.
“There’s so many opportunities to open a kid’s eyes and show them a window of things that they’re not used to seeing. Just that little split second when I stop on my time just to give them a handshake or a high-five. That, in my opinion, leaves a lasting impression… At the end of the day, that’s the best part about all of this.”
You can listen to Strowman on The J&J Show by clicking this link here.
– WWE Hall Of Famers Sting and Hulk Hogan are set to appear at the Ace Universe Comic Con on Monday, January 15th in Glendale, Arizona for a photo-op. Both Sting and Hogan took to Twitter to cut promos in order to promote the upcoming appearance; with Hogan referencing his 1997 loss to Sting at Starrcade, while Sting did his best impression of “The Hulkster.” Check it out:
– The Revival’s Dash Wilder took to Twitter to ask RAW General Manager Kurt Angle for a shot at the RAW Tag Team Titles against Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan. Wilder reminded Angle that he and Scott Dawson are undefeated as a tag team since making their main roster debut:
– This past Thursday morning Marty Scurll dropped the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship to Will Ospreay in a Fatal Four-Way Match that also featured Hiromu Takahashi and KUSHIDA at Wrestle Kingdom 12. Scurll’s entrance featured mechanical wings, that Cody Rhodes said Scurll worked all day on backstage before the show. Cody took to Twitter to praise Scurll for his dedication:
WWE Hall Of Famer and former Monday Night RAW General Manager Mick Foley recently did an interview with Sky Sports about his historic WWE Championship win over The Rock on Monday Night RAW back in January of 1999. Here are the highlights:
Seeing his WWE Championship win as a ‘mistake’:
“It meant so much to me on a personal level and I think I’m right in saying the fans have voted it the best ever Raw moment,” Foley said. “I’m excited to have been part of so many big matches on Raw. But I saw me as champion as a mistake. I didn’t think it was a good idea. I always thought the challenger should be chasing the champion, and The Rock was a great champion. But it turned out to be the best thing for everybody. We were going up against a massive live WCW show at the Georgia Dome in front of 40,000 people and nobody thought we’d be celebrating a big victory that night.”
The ratings proving how big of a moment it was:
“It was not seen as a big moment at the time,” Foley said. “I saw it as a big moment for myself because I’d never dreamed of being champion, but we all thought it had been an exciting conclusion to a good show. We didn’t realize the force of the show until the ratings were revealed the next day.”
WCW’s decision to have Hulk Hogan defeat Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Title with the “Fingerpoke of Doom” match the same night:
“I did watch Nitro later that night and the ‘Fingerpoke of Doom’ was a dreadful creative decision, but the even worse decision was to give away the ending to our show,” Foley replied. “It obviously backfired. It’s interesting to talk to Eric Bischoff these days and he says he was doing what he thought he had to do to make his show better. He miscalculated and ended up kind of giving us a huge victory.”
You can read Foley’s full interview with Sky Sports by clicking this link here.
“Free Agent” John Cena will be working a more regular schedule for WWE during WrestleMania season starting with the RAW 25th Anniversary show on January 22nd.
Cena is slated to work several RAW brand events in addition to being a part of the 30-Man Royal Rumble match, a “Special Guest Appearance” at the SmackDown Live-exclusive WWE Fastlane (the final PPV before WrestleMania), and the 25th Anniversary Show of Monday Night RAW on January 22nd.
You can check out Cena’s updated WWE schedule here below:
January 22nd Monday Night RAW – New York City
January 28th Royal Rumble – Philadelphia
January 29th Monday Night RAW – Philadelphia
February 5th Monday Night RAW – Des Moines, Iowa
February 11th RAW live show – Fresno, California
February 12th Monday Night RAW – San Jose, California
February 18th RAW live show – Prescott, Arizona
February 19th Monday Night RAW – Phoenix, Arizona
February 26th Monday Night RAW – Anaheim, California
March 11th WWE Fastlane – Columbus, Ohio
April 8th WrestleMania 34 – New Orleans, Louisiana
A fan recently Tweeted at SmackDown Live star Mike Kanellis asking about his current status with WWE. He was also asked if he would appear in the men’s Royal Rumble match later this month. This led to an exchange between Kanellis and a few other users over if he has failed during his WWE run. Even Road Dogg chimed in on the action to defend Kanellis. Here’s the full exchange:
He doesn't mean you're a failure, you only did those things because you got good money to do almost nothing, you barely appeared on tv and only had one throw-away storyline is his point. Every other match was pointless tag matches or jobbing.
– Unfortunately is seems that WWE Champion AJ Styles is going to have to cheer on his Georgia Bulldogs from the road as they take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football National Championship game Monday Night. “The Phenomenal One” took to Twitter to announce that he reluctantly had to turn down an offer to attend the championship game:
– For those wondering, the reason No Way Jose has been off of NXT TV for the past month is because he has been dealing with injuries. It seems like he’s doing better, however, as he returned to action during Thursday’s set of television tapings at the Center Stage arena in Atlanta. He is currently not booked for the NXT:TakeOver Philadelphia event.
Two of the UK’s best performers will collide on January 17th when IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay takes on the WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne.
The match will be taking place at IPW:UK’s ‘Magnificent Zeven’ event which will see seven men compete for the company’s Z-Force Championship.
Jimmy Havoc, Mark Haskins, Cara Noir, Kip Sabian, Chief Deputy Dunne and Chris Ridgeway have also been announced for this must see event from Milton Keynes’ Unit 9 and tickets can be found here.
Former WWE and Impact Wrestling star Christy Hemme has given birth to quadruplets.
The 37-year-old revealed the big news in a tweet on Saturday, saying that her surgery went well and all four babies — three boys and one girl — are safe.
Hemme has been documenting her high-risk pregnancy on YouTube and in this video below, said she expected to give birth on Saturday. She also notes that her newborns share the same birthday as her first child, a girl named Charlie Rose, who was born on January 6, 2015.
Hemme was the winner of WWE’s inaugural Diva Search in 2004, with a prize of a one-year WWE talent contract worth $250,000. She stayed with WWE until December 2005 and would join Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling) in April 2006. She worked as a wrestler through 2009 and stayed on as a ring announcer until 2016.
Solo Wrestling has an interview up with Ring Of Honor (ROH) star Kenny King to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Below are the highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHVZPdHULAQ
After Tough Enough, has anyone from WWE contacted you or have you tried to return to WWE:
“I had a tryout in 2007, but I’ve been under contract for a major wrestling company since 2008. We’ve been in contact. I was talking with the WWE office about going to NXT [in December of 2016]. My whole situation is based around I have joint custody of my daughter. So moving to Florida to NXT was a problem. That’s why I decided to sign with ROH last year.
“WWE is everybody’s goal when they start, but I think the goal of every professional wrestler is to be able to pay your own bills and work as a wrestler no matter what company you work with.”
The Beat Down Clan was expected to be a big thing in TNA, but after all the problems with Hernandez and Lucha Underground, the idea was quickly dissolved. As a wrestler, how did you feel when this happened? Was that the main factor of you leaving the company and going back to ROH?
“It was very heart breaking for me because I loved the idea and I thought we were on the way to do our very best work. For the way it happened, over nothing, over poor business… one night we film like six episodes where we were the focal point and then we just disappeared. There was a lot of that that sucked. After it was gone, I just didn’t think the direction they had for me and the direction I wanted to go didn’t seem to go in the same direction. Credit to John Gaburick and Dixie [Carter], we had a very amicable split. We are still friends. It was just business.”
After all the problems in 2012, was it hard to go back to ROH and earn the confidence and the respect of the company back?
“There was never any heat. There was never any heat with someone that matters inside the company. There was heat with one guy that isn’t even allowed to enter the locker room. I didn’t leave the company in an unprofessional way. If I did, Joe Koff wouldn’t welcome me back with open arms. He’s always welcomed me back.
“There was never any heat or lack of respect, the issue was because of the heat with [Jim] Cornette and a lot of people believed whatever BS that he was saying. Other than that I’ve never had a bad relationship with the ROH office.”
You can read King’s full interview with Solo Wrestling by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar Seth Rollins recently spoke to ESPN about CrossFit and how much its benefited him as a training regiment. Here are the highlights:
Looking for a training regiment that fit his body type:
“I’m 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. I have to move around in the ring a lot. I can’t be like a Braun Strowman or an Andre the Giant. They kind of get to just stand there and throw bodies around. I’m the body that gets thrown around. I figured it would behoove me to maybe put some of this into my training. And the more and more I got into it, the more and more I started to fall in love with the training paradigm.”
The “CrossFit Jesus” nickname he has received:
“I think I bear a striking resemblance to the western version of Jesus Christ of Nazareth facially with my own beard and long hair and stuff like that. And I’m always talking about CrossFit, so somewhere along the line, somebody put that together and came up with the CrossFit Jesus moniker, which is fantastic. I think it’s wonderful. It’s funny, and it’s correct, and my wrestling school made a T-shirt out of it.”
Using CrossFit to train his students at his Black and Brave Wrestling Academy:
“I’m trying to basically start a new wave in functional training with wrestling, with professional wrestling. I just think it’s the best foot to start off on. At least after three months, they’re going to have some idea of the fundamental of how to move their bodies through space with strength and speed and accuracy. So I’m just trying to pass the information and the things that I’ve learned and accomplished on to the next generation.”
You can read Rollins’ full interview with ESPN by clicking this link here.
WWE SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair recently did an interview with The Times of India to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Here are the highlights:
NXT Assistant Head Trainer Sara Amato:
“[Sara] Amato has had a huge impact. She was the first ever female brought in to work with the women wrestlers at the performance center. Her knowledge, her experience is immense, and she has wrestled all over the world. Being able to know what we go through as females in a male-dominated industry helped all of us a lot. I think she is one of the key elements to what changed in the women’s division. A few years ago, when FCW changed in to NXT and then NXT had its first-ever TakeOver pay-per-view, she had a big part to play. Just having a female presence in meetings, and having someone qualified as her, I think our collective effort and having her on our team made the difference.”
Who she’s picking to win the Women’s Royal Rumble match:
“There are so many. Actually, it is a tough question. I would say from RAW brand, Bayley is a fighter. Anyone who has followed her career would know she never gives up and she is the lovable underdog. From SmackDown, I would have to go with my best friend Becky Lynch, but personally I don’t want to face her at WrestleMania. She has shown that whenever she is knocked down, she gets right up. There are a lot of women in the division who are capable of winning. Sasha could win, Asuka could 100 percent win that.”
The highlight of her career:
“Up until few weeks ago, it was WrestleMania 32 facing Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch and winning the first ever RAW women’s championship after we re-branded the division. But a few weeks ago, I won the SmackDown championship in my home town of Charlotte, North Carolina. It had been hard couple of months for my family and winning the title against Natalya and my dad coming out in the end was very emotional.”
You can read Charlotte Flair’s full interview with The Times Of India by clicking this link here.
Justin Credible was recently a guest on former WWE European Champion Sean “X-Pac” Waltman’s podcast, X-Pac 12360, in which he talks about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Below are the highlights:
Not being able to adapt in WWE:
“In ECW, I felt really comfortable because we were kind of allowed to just do our own thing and the pressure weren’t on. But I never could adapt to WWE and it wasn’t because of WWE. I think I still carried that Aldo Montoya thing, where I was still the young boy and I always felt that. I took it too far where I wanted to show respect and humility. But I took it to a level where it sounded like, I was beating myself up and it didn’t serve me well. And I really lacked confidence. Anytime I went up there really. You know? And that’s a me thing. I caused that. Nobody else did.”
Appearing drunk at a recent indie event and the positives that came out of the incident:
“This all happened so quick. I was actually doing stuff with Dallas (DDP) prior to this. Just not to this level, we were communicating. It’s funny, this came through a third party and somebody reached out to Dallas like, ‘Hey, can you get a hold of PJ?’, and Dallas was like, ‘I’m already talking to him.’ Long story short, a gentleman by the name of Douglas Cartelli who works with pro athletes… he is actually going to sponsor me and send me to Atlanta to Dallas’ after I have thirty days of clean time to go down there and to go through his program.
“Because of that, they’re thinking of pairing with this director locally who does documentaries and other films, to possibly shoot a documentary about this whole journey of recovery and hopefully redemption, really. It’s a real cool opportunity and at the end of the journey, this Douglas wants to open up a facility to train athletes in wellness from all walks of life. So something in Connecticut and kind of wants me to be one the professionals in that facility.”
Getting to meet Chester Bennington before he passed:
“I had the privilege of meeting Chester Bennington from Linkin Park. I got to meet him a couple of times. I met him last year, before he passed away this August. I was actually in treatment in Tampa when I got the news. I can’t say he was a friend and he probably has no clue who I am. But that is not the point, the point is that this guy from the outside looked like he had everything in the world. I communicated through twitter with his wife; he was doing fine days before he killed himself. I think mental health and addiction have a component and work hand in hand and I think mental health has this stigma attached to it.”
You can listen to Credible’s interview on X-Pac 12360 by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall Of Famer Kevin Nash recently underwent knee replacement surgery this past December. He took to Instagram to share some gruesome pictures from the surgery, including one taken during the actual operation and another showing the post-operation scars (which required 20 stitches to close up). You can check them out here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdgd8Atgu8W/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcaxo22g0DA/
Nash is currently advertised to appear at WWE Monday Night RAW’s 25th Anniversary special episode on January 22nd.
– During the post-Wrestle Kingdom 12 press conference earlier today it was announced that Jay White would be joining CHAOS after turning down Kenny Omega’s invitation to join The Bullet Club. At the New Year’s Dash event following Wrestle Kingdom Omega got on the mic and invited White to join The Bullet Club (H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions):
“I am sick of the in-fighting. I am sick of the Bullet Club talking behind everyone’s back. This group, the Bullet Club, hasn’t been whole for a long time,” said Omega. “We need unity, we need to be a team again. Bullet Club needs to be number one. No more fighting. And so, I have an idea. I know exactly what we need. Switchblade! Jay White.
“Jay, I’ve always seen the potential. I’ve always known what you could be. You could have the world. You remind me of ‘The Cleaner,’ Kenny Omega, in 2015. Look at you. You’re the complete package. And so, Switchblade: I would like to honor you. Bullet Club, Switchblade. Welcome to The Club.”
White put on a Bullet Club shirt and celebrated with Omega before hitting “The Cleaner” with his Blade Runner finisher and fleeing the scene. At the press conference White explained why he decided to join CHAOS instead:
“Since I came back, there’s always a lot of speculation about if I was going to join a group or not,” White said. “See, the way things work over here in New Japan is you can’t always do it alone. Not completely, anyway. So, if I’m going to take on the Bullet Club – I’m not delusional – I know that I can’t do that by myself.”
– Ring Of Honor (ROH) released an article on the top five wrestlers to watch for in 2018. The list named Shane Taylor, Kelly Klein, Matt Taven, Flip Gordon, and Punisher Martinez at the number one spot. You can check out the article here.
– As we’ve noted before, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defeated Chris Jericho in one of the featured bouts of Wrestle Kingdom 12. The match received a ton of positive reviews after being hyped up for several months. Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega Tweeted out the following about their match:
– Per report from F4WOnline, Wrestle Kingdom 12 generated 43,000 total fans (34,995 paying fans) in attendance at the Tokyo Dome. It was the largest audience for a professional wrestling event in Japan in 15 years. The event was considered to be a near-sellout because of the stage and ring setup NJPW used.
– NJPW is set to return stateside on March 25th from Long Beach, California at the Walter Pyramid for USA: Strong Style Evolved. It was announced tickets will go on sale on January 29 at 1pm ET / 10am PT. Prices range from $50-$200. Ticket sell site has yet to be announced.
– Immediately after Monday Night’s RAW goes off air the WWE Network will be airing a new episode of Corey Graves’ “Straight To The Source” featuring an interview with WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore.
– Nia Jax doesn’t seem too thrilled about having to team up with Apollo Crews for the Mixed Match Challenge. WWE posted the following video of Jax, Crews, Titus O’Neil, and Dana Brook backstage being interviewed by Renee Young after the news broke:
– Shayna Baszler Tweeted out a video of herself at the WWE Performance Center in which she makes fun of a group of female talents trying to learn submission holds inside the ring. Baszler insists on helping one of the girls, Jessie Elaban, but keeps her in a strong rear-naked choke hold way too tight and long. A few other female talents had to get Baszler off of Elaban:
– WWE Superstar Natalya recently did a column for The Calgary Sun in which she discussed the first-ever all-female Royal Rumble match set to take place later this year. Here’s what she had to say about the match:
“Being able to compete in our own Royal Rumble allows the entire WWE Women’s division to feel equality like we never have before. That feeling is truly empowering, and marks a pivotal moment in the WWE Women’s evolution. I am excited to be a part of history. The cherry on top for this Canadian girl would be to carry on the excellence of the Hart family members who came before me and to win the Royal Rumble and get my shot at being a two-time SmackDown Women’s Champion. WrestleMania, here I come!”
– Current ROH Television Champion Silas Young recently took to Twitter to announce that his contract with the promotion has expired and he’s currently a free agent. He said he is currently in Florida and teased potentially signing with WWE soon:
– Following Wrestle Kingdom 12 at the New Year’s Dash event a 10-man match took place between Cody, Chase Owens, Marty Scurll, Yujiro Takahashi, and Lao Tongo vs. Kushida, Kota Ibushi, Dave Finlay, Juice Robinson, and Ryusuke Taguchi. The Bullet Club ended up winning the match and Cody looked to ambush Ibushi with The Bullet Club afterwards to avenge his loss at WK.
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega then rushed the ring and stopped Cody and The Bullet Club, before getting into an intense shoving match with each other:
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore recently did an interview with The Sun to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Here are the highlights:
Neville’s crazy travel schedule and his ability as a performer:
“Neville is one of my favorite pros in the business. He carried NXT with that title and was a tag-team champion there. Then he worked the 205 division with the hardest schedule in silence, he was working Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then Mondays and Tuesdays. When guys were catching red-eye flights from the west coast after Raw, Neville was driving on to the next town or taking an early morning flight. It’s the hardest schedule in pro wrestling because you are closing out 205 [Live] at the end of the week. I hope Neville comes back and we feud. I have never seen a guy work like he does.
Who Neville is like in the WWE ring:
“He might move better than anyone has ever moved in a ring – like the Dynamie Kid. I have seen him tear it up in matches that no one will ever see – absolute bangers – I would love to move around with him because that dude can dance.”
You can read Amore’s full interview with The Sun by clicking this link here.
WrestleMania season is arguably the best time in all of wrestling and the first quarter of 2018 will be no different. Earlier this week fans around the world witnessed New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 12 event, including Chris Jericho’s highly anticipated return to the promotion. Up next: WWE’s Royal Rumble on January 28th.
The Royal Rumble has more than earned its place as one of WWE’s premiere annual pay-per-view events. The Rumble has produced countless memorable moments since it’s inception back in 1988. Today, we’re looking at 3 of the most memorable WWE Superstar debuts that took place in the Rumble match.
Rusev
The ‘Bulgarian Brute’ made his main roster debut for WWE during the 2014 Rumble, making his appearance as the 6th entrant in the match. Whilst still using the first name Alexander (before WWE began dropping the first names of several Superstars), the former NXT standout was made to look like an absolute powerhouse alongside WWE’s more established acts such as Cody Rhodes, Kofi Kingston, CM Punk and Seth Rollins.
Rusev also played an integral part in one of the match’s best moments, the annual “Kofi Kingston spot,” when he caught Kofi as he was falling to the outside and rested him on the black mat guardrail, allowing the New Day member to leap back to the safety of the ring.
Rusev’s current run alongside Aiden English is arguably some of the best work of his WWE career and his ‘Rusev Day’ campaign has really taken off. With some momentum behind him, it will be interesting to see how Rusev performs later this month in the match that got him started on the main roster.
Vader
Vader is considered to be one of the greatest big man ever to compete in pro wrestling ring and for good reason. The 3-time WCW World Champion made his WWE debut during the 1996 Rumble match entering as the 13th participant. The ‘Mastodon’ eliminated Jake Roberts, Doug Gilbert and Savio Vega before being sent over the top rope by eventual winner, Shawn Michaels.
The following night, Vader took part in a memorable angle on Monday night RAW when he viciously assaulted then-WWF President Gorilla Monsoon. It was the first time that an ‘authority figure’ was attacked on WWE television.
Vader actually made an appearance on New Japan Pro Wrestling’s January 4th show in 1996, then dubbed ‘Wrestling World,’ he fought (in a losing effort) against Japanese legend Antonio Inoki…fairly similar circumstances to our final name:
AJ Styles
The Phenomenal AJ Styles
Was there really another choice for the top spot? The ‘Phenomenal One’ made his WWE debut during the 2016 Rumble and has been tearing through the WWE ever since.
Making his entrance as the third participant in the match, Styles received a thunderous ovation from the live crowd after weeks of rumors that he was WWE bound. The excitement over Styles’ WWE debut was amplified by the fact that the only other man in the ring was the controversial “chosen one,” Roman Reigns. AJ Styles’ entrance into the 2016 Royal Rumble was an iconic moment that will be remembered for years to come.
The former IWGP, TNA and Rev Pro Champion is now a staple of WWE programming, but a possible Rumble debut from AJ Styles seemed almost too good to be true after he competed at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 10 event just weeks prior. Styles battled Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on that show, a match that many are hoping is replicated in a matter of months at Wrestlemania 34.
