PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles (BOLA) tournament is one of the most highly regarded in all of independent wrestling. The full lineup for this year’s iteration of the prestigious tournament has been announced and is as follows:
Flamita
Keith Lee
WALTER
Travis Banks
Rey Fenix
Dezmond Xavier
Donovan Dijak
Jeff Cobb
Trevor Lee
“Flash” Morgan Webster
Zack Sabre, Jr.
Sammy Guevara
Mark Haskins
Jonah Rock
Brian Cage
Rey Horus
Marty Scurll
Michael Elgin
TK Cooper
Matt Sydal
Sami Callihan
Matt Riddle
Ricochet
Penta el Zero M
The British/European wrestling scene will once again be a major influence on the tournament with PROGRESS favourites Travis Banks, Mark Haskins, ‘Flash’ Morgan Webster, TK Cooper and WALTER making appearances alongside tournament veterans such as Ricochet, Zack Sabre Jr and Matt Sydal.
PWG likes to give newer upcoming independent performers a starring role in the tournament so look for the likes of Morgan Webster, Travis Banks and TK Cooper to make an impact when they enter the tournament for the very first time.
Travis Banks is the fourth entrant in the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles!
The much anticipated Pro Wrestling World Cup is now well underway.
If you have not yet heard of the tournament or are unaware of the format then check out the statement from WCPW below for full clarification:
“Run over ten separate dates beginning March 21st, the Pro Wrestling World Cup will see competitors from six continents compete in eight preliminary tournaments – to be held in several different countries.
The preliminaries will see eight men competing in a single fall elimination tournament. Each preliminary tournament will consist of competitors from a single country: Canada, England, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Scotland, USA. A tournament will also be held for competitors from the Rest Of The World, with eight further countries represented. Two winners will proceed from each tournament.”
WCPW has announced that the full German and Japanese qualifiers will be airing this weekend on YouTube. The German qualifier will be shown at 7pm GMT on Friday and the Japanese qualifier will be available from 7pm GMT on Saturday.
We can now confirm that this weekend is a DOUBLE BILL of FREE World Cup shows! Friday at 7 UK for German qualifier, Saturday 7 for Japan!
Ronda Rousey, and the entire 4 Horsewomen of MMA faction, are at Full Sail University to support teammate Shayna Baszler. The 16 year veteran of mixed martial arts, was announced as an entrant in the tournament earlier today.
Mae Young Classic
Earlier today, WWE announced all 32 participants in the tournament:
Former WCW President and Monday Night RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff took to his podcast, Bischoff On Wrestling, to react to the news that ex-TNA Wrestling President Dixie Carter could be working with WWE in an on-screen capacity. The comparison of Carter to Vickie Guerrero came up, and Bischoff explained why Carter would not be a good authority figure heel on WWE TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4hyPVBc0yE
“The difference is that Vickie Guerrero was an inherently good performer. Dixie Carter is not. Dixie is not a great performer. It took all day for her to get ready to do a two minute in-ring. It was tough. It was really tough. The other part of the equation here is her as a performer. I can take this perspective with a lot of people if you want to break it down. For a character like Vickie Guerrero you have to be really comfortable with people hating you. I can tell you from personal experience that I thrived on it.
“I still do in certain situations when you can get people to react the way I want them to react. You bring out that heel in your personality and have fun with that situation. I like it. Dixie Carter’s problem with being a heel, in my opinion having worked with her and known her for awhile, is that she wanted everyone to love her. She doesn’t want anyone to hate her. If you don’t have a personality that not only allows you to be comfortable but also dig deep and find new, creative ways to capture the little moments when they reveal themselves and exploit them as a heel then you won’t last two days. That’s the problem.”
On June 22, 2007 former WWE World Heavyweight champion Chris Benoit murdered his wife, Nancy Benoit, and his 10-year-old son Daniel before hanging himself and committing suicide. Since then, “The Crippler” has been essentially blacklisted from WWE history, with the exception of a few of his matches being available on the WWE Network. The tragedy marked one of the darkest days in the history of professional wrestling.
Former WWE referee Marty Elias recently held a Q&A to talk about his time in the business, and was asked how the roster was alerted of the tragic news after the events had transpired. Here’s what he had to say:
“For me personally, being there, and being in that whole backstage thing, it wasn’t real. It wasn’t real,” Elias explained. “When everybody found out, it was the meeting with Vince and Stephanie. They pulled everybody together, and that’s when they made the announcement.”
“I mean it was so surreal. Everybody were scratching their heads, and I remember people dispersing, and going off and crying. People just literally being in shock and awe. When they found out that it was a murder/suicide… everything just kind of stood still,” Elias continued. “We had another talent meeting, and we were advised that we weren’t gonna do anything for Chris.”
“It was just a whole different vibe. I’ve been backstage at WWE so many times, but that particular instance, during that whole time, was a whole different vibe.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin took to his podcast, The Steve Austin Show, to talk about a number of professional wrestling topics. “The Texas Rattlesnake” discussed Roman Reigns and praised his in-ring work, as well as explaining why WWE shouldn’t turn “The Big Dog” heel anytime soon. He also offered his thoughts on Big Cass turning heel on his longtime tag team partner Enzo Amore. You can check out the highlights here below:
Roman Reigns’ storylines being ‘on and off’:
“I think he [has] got a great physique, a good looking guy, a pretty damn good worker. Storylines have been kind of on and off, hot/cold. Roman Reigns in and of himself, I think he has ‘star’ written all over him. He has still got to find his way. He still has to climb his way up the ladder. He’s built to take the road. He’s always in shape. He doesn’t get gassed out in his matches. There’s a lot to like about the guy, so when they came out as The Shield, those three guys, him, Seth [Rollins], and Dean Ambrose, when they came out as The Shield, they were really hot as heels.
“And all of a sudden, they split them up. And Roman, I don’t know, came out of that… All of those guys had to find their way and Vince [McMahon] kind of picked him to be the babyface and because of the response he was getting when he hit the ring. He really draws your attention. If they get his storylines straightened out, I think the kid’s going to be fine. I just think they need to keep running him like they’re running him. He’s doing [well] in the ring. I loved his matches with AJ.”
Why Reigns shouldn’t turn heel:
“I think you keep him on the road that he’s on and you don’t turn him heel just for the sake of turning him heel to make the fans happy because you’re not pushing him anymore because if you’re going to turn him heel, you’re going to push him even harder. Then, if you were tired of him to begin with because he was overpushed to begin with, in your opinion, then you’re not going to like him as a heel either.
“So if he keeps going down the road in the fashion that he is, but then turns, in an organic fashion, heel, when the time is right, or just stays down the road, the kid is going to be just fine.” Austin added, “he still has things to learn in the ring. He still has to work at getting to the top level, but he’s a top guy, in my opinion.”
Comparing Reigns’ fan reaction to John Cena’s:
“Look at John Cena. Now, he [has] been on top for over 10 years and has had a [pro wrestling] career that is absolutely phenomenal, but he still sometimes has those divided chants. But, nonetheless, there’s electricity in the air and everybody is engaged. And he has been able to have such a strong mindset to not get in his head and mess with him. That’s the confidence of John Cena. I think that Roman Reigns has the same type of confidence and self-belief that he is going to weather those bad chants and he’ll end up getting over.”
“He’s starting to loosen up and show some personality and I like it. And so I’m looking forward to see Roman keep developing. To me, here’s a guy who’s starting to get some confidence behind him.” Austin continued, “whatever role Roman’s in, he’s really settling into a groove here. I have here Braun [Strowman] is really over as a baby. Roman continues to get over. I’m really looking forward to this match.”
Big Cass’ singles run:
“All he has to do is good, solid work. Don’t fly like a cruiserweight. Don’t worry about taking the big bumps. Just work logic. Be mean. Be vicious. Sell when it’s your time to sell. Don’t turn into super coward mode. Don’t oversell. Just sell. And learn. And sometimes when you’re working a guy that’s smaller than you, register and if they get you into sell mode, then you sell, but be vicious in your heat. Good luck to Big Cass. Good luck to both of them.”
Austin said, “right now, in this heel vein that he’s going, maybe even heel Barry Windham. But I liked Barry better as a baby. I don’t want to say Bruiser [Brody] because anybody could study Bruiser because of just the generality of what he did was awesome.”
One half of former WWE SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions American Alpha, Chad Gable, recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Gable discussed starting over on the main roster, getting the opportunity to work with Kurt Angle, and his goals for WrestleMania. You can check out what he had to say here:
Starting over on the WWE main roster:
“The process of re-establishing ourselves was new to us. We started in Orlando at the Performance Center, and the local crowd saw us even before we were on NXT. When we got to SmackDown Live, we had to assume that no one had ever seen us before. That’s what we did, and it’s very hard to start over, but Jason and I were ready for this. We told ourselves ahead of time that we were going to prepare extra hard because not everyone watches NXT, and we’re working to attain our goals.”
Getting to work with WWE Hall Of Famer Kurt Angle:
“I saw Kurt at the hotel during WrestleMania weekend, and he still trains really hard. I figure there will be sometime when he is going to stop, but after watching him train, it doesn’t look like it. Jason and I are both very excited to sit and chat with him, and hopefully pick his brain. He carved the path that we’re following, he set the example for what we want to do, and he’s the best in the world at it.”
His goals for WrestleMania:
“In amateur wrestling, my goal was always to get to the Olympics. My goal in WWE is to make it to WrestleMania 34 with my partner and win the tag team titles. I’d love to be in a spot where we are defending the titles at next year’s ‘Mania, and hopefully that is in a marquee match in a prime place on the card. We can show people that tag team wrestling is, in my opinion, the greatest form of pro wrestling.”
You can read Gable’s full interview with Sports Illustrated by clicking this link here.
Earlier this year, ex-WWE Tough Enough season three winner Matt Cappotelli announced that his brain tumor had returned after having it removed 10 years ago, and this time much more aggressively. He underwent his second surgery to have the tumor removed, however, there was a portion in his brainstem that was inoperable and doctors were waiting on a pathology report to get back before treating it any further.
Cappotelli took to Facebook to announce that the pathology report as returned and determined the tumor was, in fact, malignant. He has been diagnosed with grade IV GlioBlastoma Multiforme (GBM) and will undergo a spinal tap Friday to determine if the cancer has spread to his cerebral spinal fluid. He will meet with doctors next week to discuss treatment options:
“Update: Diagnosis is in. I have a grade IV GlioBlastoma Multiforme (GBM). This is not the news I was looking forward to hearing or sharing, but it will in no way deter me from continuing my fight. Spinal tap this Friday will determine if the cancer cells have spread to my spinal fluid. Monday is a follow up with my team of doctors to determine the treatment steps needed to beat this. Thanx to everyone on #TEAMCAPP”
This past Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live saw brand commissioner Shane McMahon announce that a Fatal Five-Way match between Charlotte Flair, Lana, Becky Lynch, Tamina Snuka, and Natalya will take place on July 23rd at the WWE’s Battleground pay-per-view (PPV) from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to determine SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Naomi’s next challenger.
Per Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is planning a RAW Fatal Four Way match to add to the plethora of multi-man matches they have been putting on as of late. Meltzer explained why WWE has been booking so many multi-person matches as of late, stating that they’re able to protect their talent without writing strong personal storylines:
“Well, you know, that’s what they’re doing a lot of right now,” Meltzer stated. “The thing with multi-person matches is you can always gimmick the finishes so nobody has to lose and it’s easier for the bookers when you do that and plus when you have multiple person matches, inherently you’re not going to do strong personal storylines so you don’t have to worry about writing good stories because you know, you can do a little heat where they’re all mad at each other, but that’s all you can do in a multiple person match.”
“I think we were both good cops there” – Fandango “No Dango, we were great cops” – Tyler Breeze
Fandango and Tyler Breeze have caught fire recently due to their well-received “Fashion Files” segments. For Curtis Jonathan Hussey, better known as Fandango, his recent success is the result of 11 years of hard work.
Recently his leg tattoos were featured on a video posted to WWE’s YouTube channel:
Fandango
The 35-year old Fandango has been under contract with WWE for 11 years, having signed in 2006. He made his main roster debut in 2013, and despite an initial push (which included a WM match against Chris Jericho) he has spent the last few years near the bottom of the card.
Last night’s episode of NXT featured the return of Johnny Gargano. It was the first time the WWE Universe had a chance to hear from Gargano since being turned on by former tag team partner, Tommaso Ciampa.
The episode also featured the Authors of Pain defending their tag titles against Heavy Machinery.
NXT July 12th 2017 Full Sail University
1. Aleister Black vs. Bobby Fish
No Highlights of this match were uploaded by WWE, though a post-match interview with Bobby Fish was.
Fish provided the most challenge for Black thus far, but in the end the dutch kickboxer hit his roundhouse head kick and picked up the win over the former ROH TV champion.
Winner: Aleister Black
2. Mae Young Classic Qualifying Match Vanessa Borne vs. Jayme Hachey
The Mae Young Classic gets going later today from Full Sail University. At 630pm all of the participants, including the winner of this match, will be announced on WWE’s Facebook page.
Vanessa Borne picked up the win to move onto the MYC.
Winner: Vanessa Borne
Johnny Gargano Segment
Johnny Gargano talked about the shock and disappointment he felt at Takeover: Chicago, when he was attacked by former teammate, Tommaso Ciampa.
Gargano also mentioned he wants to compete at Takeover: Brooklyn, and he’s going back to being Johnny Wrestling again.
3. NXT Tag Team Championship Match the Authors of Pain (c) vs. Heavy Machinery
The Authors of Pain came up victorious in what was built up as the largest (in total size) match in NXT history.
After the match however, members of Sanity appeared no on the stage and cackled as pieces of the Authors of Pain’s book fell from the ceiling.
The commentators speculated that this was all a ploy by Sanity’s leader, Eric Young.
Conor McGregor may not be the only athlete from Ireland looking for a big time fight this summer. Former Smackdown women’s champion, Becky Lynch, has had some choice words for Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino lately.
For those of you unfamiliar, Cyborg is arguably the most dominant female athlete in the history of MMA. She has been dogged by a previous drug test failure, and continued allegations of steroid use however.
Becky Lynch and Cyborg on Twitter
Whether this conflict between Cyborg and Becky was staged or not is currently unclear.
Do I have to make 135 to play? Last woman standing?
Sami Zayn’s real name is Rami Sebei. He was born in Laval, Quebec Canada, the son of Syrian immigrants who moved to Canada in the 1970s.
He grew up Muslim and speaks fluent Arabic, French and English. Zayn has spoken before of wanting to use his WWE fame as a way to dispel myths about muslims.
Yesterday he launched his “Sami for Syria” program, aimed at raising money for medical clinics in the war-torn country.
Today is a special day. Happy to launch #SamiForSyria!
“SAMS’s mission is to save lives and alleviate suffering. SAMS is one of the most active and trusted medical organization working inside Syria.
In Syria, SAMS operates over 100 medical facilities that provide general and specialized medical care for Syrians in need. Programs range from primary care to more specialized treatment, such as our GI endoscopy program, in order to provide effective and needs-based healthcare in Syria. SAMS proudly supports medical programs in eight governorates. To learn more about our work in Syria, please visit the Medical Relief Work page.
“The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) is a nonpolitical, nonprofit medical relief organization that is working on the front lines of crisis relief in Syria and neighboring countries to alleviate suffering and save lives. SAMS proudly provides medical care and treatment to every patient in need.”
more information about the Syrian Medical Society can be found here.
Jim Ross recently appeared on the “2 Man Power Trip of Wrestling” podcast, and spoke at length about several issues. One of which was the recent criticism he faced following NJPW’s G1 Special shows in Los Angeles.
Jim Ross Interview Highlights
On wanting to rove himself, despite his accomplishments:
“I am competitive, I’ve always been competitive. When you come up in the business like I did and you get in the business like I did where you are not somebody’s relative, you are not related, you are not a shooter, you are not a world class athlete, etc etc and complete cold turkey getting in the back door working for Bill Watts and Leroy McGuirk at 22. I wasn’t supposed to stay long. I thought I’d have a summer time job and have some great stories to tell my wrestling fan buddies when I went back to school in the fall and that is how it would be. Well, forty years later I am still waiting to go back to that one more semester of college and I’m not sure that I’m not still going to do that one day but this has lasted so much longer than I ever dreamed and I’ve had a dream career but I wasn’t supposed to make it. Unfortunately for me, I still believe that I have to prove myself everyday. Every broadcast you have got to prove yourself. Today’s audience that didn’t hear my work in the 80s or in the 90s in the Attitude Era and the 2000s, they are young, they are defiant, they are millennials, they have a little different mindset and they don’t know my history and so I have to prove myself to them that I am worthy of them investing their time to listen to my broadcasts and I don’t have a problem with that. I am a Hall of Famer, in fact I am in three Halls of Fame so who cares for the young fans that don’t give a damn. They just give a damn about themselves and what they are hearing now. What can you do for me now? What have you done for me lately? I’ve got no problem with those rules and I know the rules going in and I am happy to play the game that way.”
On the NJPW G1 Special shows in Los Angeles:
“It was a good weekend for me and I would have liked to not been called out on the carpet by the fans about a couple of boo-boos that I made but you are doing live TV and there is no net, you live with what you say, you do the best you can and hopefully you get better next time. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve never called a perfect match ever and my best work has yet to be recorded. That is how I approach every job.”
“You can’t rest on your laurels and I can’t stay in a comfort zone and you want to get better all the time so I wish that some of that had been better but I think that is what you get when you have a crew that is out manned and you’ve got not a lot of experience and you will just have one of those deals. I like this; I like that fact that everything you heard was real, everything you heard if it was a mistake or fumble was real and it wasn’t packaged or rehearsed. We rehearsed nothing and I love that part, we did it live just like we would do a ball game. I had no idea who was going to win any of the matches, didn’t talk to anyone from New Japan and neither did Josh about what was going on with the creative that night and didn’t want to know. Somebody told us that the New Japan people didn’t want us in the locker room and they aren’t going to tell us about the creative. That was cool with me and I would have preferred not to know what the creative was going to be. Why do I need to know the creative? It makes it more of a work, makes it more of a “show biz” presentation. If we are doing great athleticism than that is enough show business for me.”
On returning to WWE:
“I had never stopped communicating with WWE and the WWE had never stopped communicating with me. Basically, I was in contact with Vince regularly because we are friends and are still friends and if I saw something on TV that I liked than I might send him a text. Kevin Dunn and I are friends from OU football because he is an OU football fan and a lot of people don’t know that so that was always our link. Triple H was a guy that I signed and he’s done pretty well for himself like a lot of guys that we were fortunate enough to get under contract and I had just moved on because they didn’t have a spot for me at that point in time and I thought that was cool because I had plenty of work to do. I really reinvented myself and I had plenty of projects to work on. My wife (God bless her) wanted me to go back to the “home team” as she called it.”
How did his WWE return materialize:
“Kevin Dunn and working through Vince was very instrumental in me coming back. It was the Friday night before WrestleMania and this was a week after my wife got killed that I signed my contract. They were negotiating with my manager Barry Bloom (who represents a lot of guys like Goldberg, Jericho and Foley I think) but we got a deal done and I signed the contract on Friday night, got it notarized and I think it was on Saturday before WrestleMania that I heard Vince wanted me to work a match.”
“I went there on Saturday and found out they wanted me to work the Undertaker’s match and by the way it is going on last. I was very honored that Vince had picked me to call that match with Cole and JBL and it was a great way to get put back on the team and we kept it under wraps as best we could because there are so many leaks and guys calling me asking if I can give them a story and can you give me the scoop and it got to be ridiculous. The wrestling websites and guys that have podcasts would say that I’ve got to have a story and what is the deal. I didn’t answer those calls and didn’t want to feed that monster. Let somebody else feed it because I know there are plenty of other guys that love to do that but it wouldn’t be me. The whole thing was a good healthy negotiation and the biggest aspect of the negotiations believe it or not was not the money because WWE stepped up big time on the money but it was my other obligations that I had on going like my Fox Sports contract, my AXS TV contract and my book was in the process of being written. Those were the business issues that needed to be worked through and they were. They were all satisfied to everybody’s level of comfort.”
What is his future outside of WWE looking like and does he have to be exclusive to WWE:
“With social media like it is and everybody sensibilities like they are, the last thing I want to do is overstay my welcome and be an embarrassment to my body of work. I am not going to let that happen. I plan on being a WWE guy for the duration and in a perfect world and if I was allowed to do it and I don’t know that I am not or I am, I would love to be able to continue my AXS TV work because I think it keeps me sharp, allows me to call a lot of matches, it is a couple of days a month in L.A. (which is not a bad place to hang out) and I hope I can continue to do both. But the WWE is always going to be in my professional life and personal life quite frankly.”
It sounds like yet another RAW star is having issues with his colleagues behind-the-scenes. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Big Cass has garnered heat with the majority of the WWE locker room. As previously noted, Cass’ now-former partner Enzo Amore isn’t winning over his WWE peers either.
According to Meltzer, Cass’ heat stems from sharing his views on politics. Cass is said to be a strong supporter of Donald Trump, which is not a view shared by many in the WWE locker room. Despite the negative feelings towards Cass, he reportedly doesn’t have nearly as much heat on him as Enzo does.
Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon is a part of the Trump Administration, so Cass’ views may not be seen as a negative thing by the McMahons.
Coming out of Wednesday night’s NXT TV tapings, the card for NXT’s Takeover: Brooklyn III event is taking shape. More matches have been confirmed for the pay-per-view next month.
Takeover: Brooklyn III takes place on August 19th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, the night before WWE SummerSlam. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com.
NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III card
NXT Title Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Roode
NXT Women’s Title Match: Ember Moon vs. Asuka
NXT Tag Team Title Match: SAnitY vs. The Authors of Pain
Kassius Ohno vs. Hideo Itami
Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas (with Thea Trinidad)
Join us on Saturday, August 19th for live Takeover: Brooklyn III coverage and discussion.
According to a report by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Roman Reigns stepped up to help take control of a situation that upset several people on a WWE talent bus weeks ago.
A disturbance was allegedly caused by Enzo Amore, which prompted Reigns to get up out of his seat and kick Amore off the bus. There are no details on what exactly Amore did to upset the other passengers.
Enzo reportedly has a lot of backstage heat with the WWE roster, and has been kicked out of more than one dressing room according to the report by Dave Meltzer.
Below is the updated card for WWE’s Battleground pay-per-view on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This show will mark the return of the Punjabi Prison cage match. The Punjabi Prison structure will be in the house on next Tuesday’s SmackDown from Birmingham, Alabama for the go-home show for Battleground.
WWE Battleground 2017 card:
WWE Title Punjabi Prison Match: Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton
Flag Match: John Cena vs. Rusev
WWE US Title Match: AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens
Fatal 5-Way #1 Contender for Women’s Title Match: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Tamina vs. Lana
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: The Usos vs. The New Day
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin
Join us on Sunday, July 23rd for live Battleground coverage and discussion all night!
The Anthem Sports vs. Broken Hardys legal battle has flared up again online after Matt commented that a trademark deal was imminent, then Jeff Jarrett denying that, and Matt’s wife Reby then calling out GFW and Jarrett by saying a deal was reached last week.
In a new report by PWInsider.com, sources say that Reby’s story is true and Anthem and the Hardys agreed in principle to a deal that would allow the Hardys to use the Broken gimmick.
This verbal agreement reportedly called for both sides to issue statements wishing well to the other, and would cease publicly speaking about the dispute. It was indicated that Anthem would receive a payoff for the deal, and that WWE was not involved in any negotiations.
Anthem Sports executive Ed Nordholm reportedly feels that the agreement Hardy’s lawyer sent him is not what they had verbally agreed to. If Nordholm does not sign the agreement or renegotiate the terms, the Hardys are expected to file a lawsuit for breach of contract from their old TNA deals signed by Dixie Carter.
Triple H recently announced that Bobby Fish has officially signed with NXT….well now it looks as though his reDragon tag partner will be joining him.
Kyle O’Reilly made his NXT debut at the July 12th tapings and faced Aleister Black. The match was said to be a lengthy back-and-forth affair that saw O’Reilly take the loss. According to Pro Wrestling Sheet O’Reilly has not yet inked a deal with WWE but that his signing is imminent.
Are you excited to see O’Reilly in NXT? Would you like to see him as a singles star or with Bobby Fish? Let us know in the comments.
Kevin Kelly has announced that he will be leaving Ring of Honor imminently. Kelly cited his work with New Japan Pro Wrestling as well as ‘new opportunities’ as the reason for leaving.
Kevin Kelly had been working for ROH since 2010 when he was brought in during the Jim Cornette administration. Kelly’s departure leaves a huge gap in Ring of Honor’s presentation and his replacement has not yet been formally announced.
Will you miss Kelly as the voice of ROH? Are you looking forward to hearing him in the booth more with NJPW? Let us know in the comments.
To focus on @njpw1972 as well as new opportunities, I will no longer announce for @ringofhonor. Thanks to all whom made last 7 yrs so fun!
– On Wednesday WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair appeared with Glenn “Kane” Jacobs for a fundraising event in Knox County, TN. The event was at the Cherokee Country Club in support of Kane’s run for Knox County Mayor.
– Kevin Nash underwent surgery this week for a meniscus tear in his left knee. This was Nash’s 32nd surgery, and he posted the below update on Twitter to let everyone know he came out okay:
Went in for my left knee ended up with a labotomy. Feeling really calm.Not a care in the world. Thought 7 sponge baths was excessive. pic.twitter.com/wQ2WUyeYQ1
– John Cena appeared on ESPN’s 2017 ESPY awards on Wednesday night from Los Angeles, and he presented Jarrius “Little JJ” Robertson with the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance as seen in the video below. The Miz and Maryse appeared on the show as well.
Former TNA President Dixie Carter recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of SI.com, and the subject of Kurt Angle and WWE was raised. During the interview, Carter was asked about the possibility of appearing on next week’s RAW as a part of Kurt Angle’s mystery angle.
“I did hear Raw will be in Nashville, which is very interesting,” Carter said. “But I wouldn’t tell you either way.”
On Monday’s RAW, Kurt Angle revealed that he will announce next week what his mysterious personal issue that could “ruin him” is. Kurt invited a mystery person to appear next week, and speculation has been running wild online that it will be either Stephanie McMahon or Dixie Carter.
“Kurt and I both took a chance on each other,” said Carter. “The results were some of the best matches in the history of the business. From the beginning, I felt a big responsibility to help Kurt on a personal level and on a professional level. Professionally, there has never been a more complete wrestler, ever. Kurt is also a great talker and so charismatic, and maybe he’s the best in-ring talent, ever. He also made sure that everyone he wrestled had their best match. He can look back on his work with Sting, EC3, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and so many others, and the common denominator in those matches is Kurt. He only has one gear, and it’s all out, but that’s also been his biggest challenge.”
Tuesday night’s episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2,465,000 viewers. This is up from the 2,329,000 viewers for the July 4th episode. The show finished #1 in the 18-34 and 24-54 demographics.
Next week’s show will mark approximately one year since WWE moved Smackdown from airing on Thursdays to airing live on Tuesdays.
Global Force Wrestling announced earlier today that they have suspended GFW Champion Alberto El Patron indefinitely until his ‘domestic violence battery’ incident investigation is resolved. Paige once again took to Twitter today and stated that she was the one being held being held for battery charges because she threw a drink on Patron. Paige then called the person that leaked the audio of the incident a “disgusting, horrible human being of a lady”.
Here are Paige’s comments today on Twitter:
“Alberto didn’t want me to say the full story because he didn’t want people to know and I didn’t want people to know that I threw a drink on him.
But the full story is.
I had a phone call saying my uncle is in a bad way. I’m crying outside the restaurant. I go in, Alberto is hugging me. I’m a little sensitive and we start bickering about something so small. I say I’m leaving and he says something that I won’t write on here but it wasn’t nice and I, even though I shouldn’t have done it. I threw a drink in his face because I was so angry. Again. Shouldn’t have done it. It was in front of a lot of people.
I walk out. He follows me a few seconds later and gets the cops and security and a crazy lady decides to leave whatever she’s doing to follow us and invade our privacy in the completely low way. Only low life people would do.
Anyways. It was ME who was being held for battery charges because I threw a drink on him. No. He never touched me and no I never hit him with a glass 3 times like the internet in all their glory is making out. It’s completely ridiculous how one story can spiral out of control. Oh and guess what internet. He smelt like beer BECAUSE I THREW A BEER ON HIM. Nothing more. Nothing less. No one got arrested. There’s no mug shots. There’s no charges. Nothing.
The horrible, disgusting human being of lady decided she wanted to make money out of our misfortune. I wish, WISH people would give us the privacy we deserve. I know we won’t get it. But I WISH that would happen.”
