Sean “X-Pac” Waltman just finished wrapping up a set of independent wrestling dates in the U.K. and afterwards, Waltman called out a promoter from Exposure Entertainment.
Featured below are some of the back-and-forth comments from Waltman and the promoter.
– According to the L.A. Times, WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart is selling his home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The asking price for the property is $705,000, which is down from the $725,000 they were asking for back in May. Hart originally paid $675,000 back in 2004 for the home, which is 2,064 square feet of living space, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a wet bar, a center-island kitchen and a personal office.
– Former WWE star Tyler Reks turned 37 today. In other wrestling birthdays today, WWE Hall Of Famer Bobby “The Brain” Heenan turned 71 years old.
– A new poll on WWE.com asks fans which Superstar would make the best MMA fighter. Topping the list is Roman Reigns with 1,000 votes, followed by Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Kofi Kingston, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Brian, Kevin Owens, King Barrett, Neville and Rusev. You can vote on the poll at WWE.com.
Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker rolled on this past week. First, Gawker president and General Counsel Heather Dietrick conceded that the company will probably lose at trial. Then, Gawker filed a stay to attempt to freeze and overturn a ruling allowing their computers to be searched for evidence that they leaked Hogan’s racist comments. Now, the latest big move is from Hogan’s side, who filed on motion on Tuesday demanding that Gawker reimburse his attorney’s fees and other court costs stemming from a number of discovery issues in the case.
Discovery is the pre-trial procedure where the two sides get information from each other as well as third parties via document production, answering interrogatories, and deposition testimony. For example, Hogan’s 1998 WCW contract was everywhere last week. How? It became public record in the famous racial discrimination lawsuits against WCW because it was filed as an exhibit by the plaintiffs, who got it from WCW during discovery. There are of course a number of very specific rules governing discovery, and in the case of Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker, Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) is saying that Gawker is in violation of a bunch of them.
Hogan is asking for $427,665 ($392,475 in attorneys’ fees and $35,190 in court costs) stemming from the abuses that his side his claiming Gawker has committed throughout the discovery process. His lawyers are arguing that Gawker is doing this specifically to raise costs to the point that the case is too expensive for Hogan to litigate. As for their accusations of wrongdoing, they include:
* That “Gawker repeatedly refused to produce any documents or information related to” sister company Kinja/Blogwire Hungary. It’s alleged that they continued to do this even after the Special Discovery Magistrate overseeing the case ruled in Hogan’s favor. “Eventually, Gawker’s delay tactics required Mr. Bollea to sever Kinja from the case simply to secure a trial date.”
* This: “Gawker attempted numerous times to turn discovery into an inquisition into Mr. Bollea’s private life. At the start of this litigation, Gawker wanted to know the name of every woman Mr. Bollea had sex with over the course of a decade. Gawker wanted to know if there were sex tapes other than the illegal recording that had been sent to Gawker [Note: There were, but they were other illegally made recordings], and Gawker repeatedly asked witnesses at deposition about Mr. Bollea’s private sex life. Gawker also wanted all of Mr. Bollea’s medical records, even though Mr. Bollea did not seek any damages based on any claim that Gawker’s actions led to his seeking medical treatment.”
The claim is that Hogan had to spend “large amounts of money” just to go to court to protect basic privacy rights. And that’s even after the judge issued an order prohibiting discovery of that nature.
* Gawker filed 24 third-party subpoenas in the case, “many of which were not tailored at all to the First Amendment defenses in its case,” instead seeking “private information” that violated the judge’s protective order. Among those served subpoenas were Dixie Carter, TNA Wrestling, WWE, Bischoff Hervey Entertainment, Hogan’s lawyer David Houston, Keith Davidson (the lawyer representing the mystery person who tried to extort Hogan using the sex tapes), and Matt Loyd (a former Bubba the Love Sponge employee). Hogan says he cooperated with all of the subpoenas.
* Gawker objected to a subpoena to their loan broker in an attempt to determine the worth of the company.
You get the idea: Hogan’s side is saying that Gawker tried to block legitimate discovery because they knew it would run up costs for Hogan. while the other side made ridiculous requests to further run up said costs. Where exactly the truth lies, who knows?
As for the costs themselves, Hogan has a total of eight lawyers working on the case at rates ranging from $295 to $550 per hour. In determining costs that Gawker were owed, Charles Harder, one of Hogan’s lawyers, wrote in a sworn affidavit that not only did he did not include travel costs, but all hourly billings were rounded down instead of up.
So for example: When responding to Gawker’s exception to the ruling on discovery about Hogan’s sexual partners, four of his lawyers billed a total of 27 hours ranging from $395 to $550 each for a total of $12,390. That’s on the lower end of some of these itemized arguments, as they ranged from $6,315 to a whopping $72,960 (five lawyers working a total of 160 hours).
Legendary wrestling promoter Jerry Jarrett, who co-founded TNA with his son Jeff Jarrett, noted via social media that he is currently preparing to get back into the business. He wrote the following on Facebook:
“Don’t you just live it when a plan comes together. I once stated that I would get back in the wrestling business when hell froze over. I’m feeling a chill in the air. It is a bit early to announce the plan, but the contracts are with the attorneys. If you wishes for wrestling like it was, you will have a chance to tune in.”
There is no word yet regarding what Jarrett is getting involved in, however he and his son Jeff are on speaking terms these days, so a role of some kind with Global Force Wrestling is a possibility.
According to PWInsider.com, Jarrett could be getting involved with the Classic Wrestling Revolution promotion based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the promotion that is planning to give wrestlers benefits and also has plans to have legends like Jake Roberts teach old-school wrestling.
Mexico’s AAA promotion has postponed their television tapings that had been scheduled for Monday as a result of Alberto Del Rio’s return to WWE.
Del Rio had been advertised for the AAA show and was rumored to be dropping the AAA Mega Championship as he finishes up his run with the company. Instead, he’ll be appearing on WWE RAW from Denver and Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Colorado Springs. From there, he’s headed overseas for WWE’s latest European tour.
It remains to be seen when Del Rio will be available to appear for AAA next, but Konnan stated on a recent episode of MLW Radio that AAA has a nice surprise in store for Del Rio when he does show up.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler and his girlfriend Lauryn were involved in a head-on collision on Saturday night. Lauryn posted the following on Facebook:
“Not exactly how we expected to spend our Halloween, but while on our way home from dinner (Peyton wasn’t with us thank God) a girl ran a red light and hit us totaling the car… the airbag deployed hitting me in the face (hence why I look like Sandy the Squirrel from SpongeBob) causing the swelling to my face…have to wear a silly brace and crutches for my knee for the time being…thank God we are ok other than that & I think Jerry is superman…not a scratch or anything….he tried to cover me to save me from the airbag before it deployed.”
WWE Hall of Famer Jesse “The Body” Ventura recently spoke with Graham Bensinger for his sports interview show In Depth with Graham Bensinger. Here are some highlights from the interview:
What’s the likelihood you ever try and run [for president]?
“Who knows? I’ll decide that next spring because I won’t get in now. Why would I get in now and waste money?… Let’s wait ’til it’s down to two of them. Let’s wait ’til the Libertarian convention next June, where the Libertarians announce their candidate and that candidate gets ballot access throughout the whole country. Then you time it out. You spend the least money, you come in, you destroy their two candidates – if you’re allowed in the debate. If they got the fricking guts to let me in a debate, I’ll come in and destroy their two candidates and steal the election in November, just like I did in Minnesota.”
“Would you like to be president?”
“No, not particularly. But in the back of my mind, there’s always that patriotic voice saying to me, ‘If not you, then who? Who’s gonna restore America? Who’s gonna take on the two party dictatorship and beat them? Who can do that?’ Well I’ve done it twice; haven’t lost yet. Why do you think I’m a scary guy to them?… Because I’ve never lost to them.”
If he has hard feelings toward Vince McMahon:
“Is Vince [McMahon] a ruthless billionaire businessman? Yes, but you probably have to be. I bare no grudge against Vince.”
If he ever held a grudge against McMahon:
“No. I just, when I disagreed with him I did the proper thing – I took him to federal court and beat him and I have a retirement now. He has to pay me for every tape I’ve ever been on as long as he sells them. So quarterly, I get a check from him and have since 1991. I call it my wrestling retirement. I’m the only wrestler in the world that has it – a retirement. Even though technically it’s not.”
“You and Hulk were once good friends. What’s the likelihood of that ever being repaired?”
“Never… I can’t trust him. I’m never friends with anyone I don’t trust. I have to have trust with someone to be their friend. And he’s the one that ratted me out to Vince [McMahon] when I tried to unionize. I found that out under a federal deposition when Vince was put under sworn [oath]… My attorney said, ‘Did you hear Mr. Ventura?’ ‘No.’ ‘Well then how do you know he did?’ With no hesitation Vince went, ‘Hulk Hogan told me.’ And I didn’t show any emotion, but I almost tipped over in my chair because he was my friend… but then understand why. When we went to court, I saw in WrestleMania 3 Hogan got paid more than all of us combined. Now, why would he want a union when he’s getting taken care of?”
His lawsuit against Chris Kyle, who claimed in his bestselling book American Sniperthat he punched someone at a bar who had insulted Navy SEALs. He later said the person he hit was Ventura, a claim Ventura said was a lie used to boost book sales.
“I said [to Kyle], ‘If you’ll go out with me to the media, admit you fabricated the story, I will forgive you and we’ll go our separate ways.’ He wouldn’t do it. He didn’t have the honor. He didn’t have – this hero from the war didn’t have the courage to tell the truth. And he’s not a hero. You know why? He’s a backstabbing liar. He whored the trident for money and fame. He took an old-timer like me and threw me under the bus so he could get money. You know why he’s not a hero? Because heroes have to have honor. A liar has no honor.”
Why he got emotional after winning governorship of Minnesota when he received a pair of red Everlast gloves from his childhood idol and hero, Muhammad Ali, with a message that read, “To Governor Jesse Ventura: You shocked the world”:
“Because he’s your hero. And I get emotional now because he gave up the greatest title in the world, being a man of his conviction. And if I can be half that man – he is the greatest. No, he gave up the title, the most prestigious title in the world, because he refused to go to war… And he stood up and said I’ll give up the greatest title in the world because I will be a man of conviction.”
WWE is teasing a Sasha Banks vs. Natalya match for this coming Monday’s edition of RAW from Denver, Colorado.
Additionally, WWE is teasing Tyler Breeze’s RAW debut match for this Monday night’s show. They posted the following teaser on WWE.com:
“Tyler Breeze has always been narcissistic, but Prince Pretty has really been kicking things up a notch since joining the main WWE roster last week. Aligning with Summer Rae and repeatedly targeting Dolph Ziggler, it’s clear that “The King of Cuteville” is desperate to show up The Showoff. But why? Is it jealousy that fuels Breeze, or is he simply out to prove that there can only be one flashy, blond-haired Superstar on the roster?
Regardless, expect Ziggler to strike back against the egotistical upstart on Raw. After all, something tells us The Showoff is no stranger to crashing VIP sections.”
Rey Mysterio is open to a potential WWE return, despite the reduced schedule he’s currently enjoying while headlining shows in Mexico for AAA.
During an interview with the Gorilla Position Podcast, the lucha libre legend said he would get back in a WWE ring if the right opportunity presented itself.
“Never say never,” he said. “I didn’t leave on bad terms. There was no dispute or bad intention on me leaving. So, if there is an opportunity down the road and both parties agree to it, why not.”
Mysterio was plagued with injures during the final years of his WWE run. Working for AAA has given him the chance to work a lighter schedule as well as spend more time with his family.
“At this stage of my career and my personal life, I’m enjoying it (time off),” Mysterio said. “It’s what I want to do. I wanted to spend time with my kids and my wife, and I wanted my body to heal up. So, I’m going through that right now.”
Biff Busick and Rich Swann made their NXT live event debuts in Gainesville, Florida in a Halloween costume battle royal. NXT Women’s Champion Bayley, who was dressed up as a Lego, ended up winning the battle royal.
It’s worth mentioning that NXT Champion Finn Balor appeared to be dressed up as CM Punk, with a Dolph Ziggler hoodie on, while Aiden English dressed up as current WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens.
WWE Hall Of Famer Kevin Nash recently spoke with Sports Illustrated’s “Extra Mustard” blog to talk about a number of topics. Below are some of the highlights.
Focusing on his acting career:
“I take every role, whether it’s a line or more, and try to make it my own. All these people talk about the secret to acting. To me, it’s once you find the character, like Engleheart in ‘The Longest Yard.’ I could turn that character on morning, noon, and night. That’s the key–finding the character.”
“I’ve had a career in wrestling, and this is the next area where I’m determined to be successful. You have to be realistic and know that you’re just going to be a character actor. You’re not going to be a lead, you’re not going to be doing romantic comedies, but there is plenty of work out there.”
Still being amazed by The Undertaker:
“There’s a reason why, right now, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson are out touring. People want the drama. When guys are kicking out of 450-f—— moonsaults on one-and-a-half, what’s the false finish? There are so few storytellers left, but ‘Taker can go out there and tell a story.”
One more WWE run:
“I have one more run. I’m started to get things fixed. I’m getting my shoulder fixed, I’m getting my neck fixed. I miss it, so never say never.”
– WWE posted a new preview for the latest edition of “Culture Shock” that features Corey Graves visiting the New York Comic Con. You can check out the video preview above.
– The booking agency that represents WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair announced via social media that he will be featured in an upcoming ESPN “30 For 30” special. They wrote the following on their official Facebook page:
“We named this company Legacy Talent because it’s our mission to help preserve the legacies that our clients have worked a lifetime to build. Yesterday we took a huge step in documenting Ric Flair’s legacy by starting to shoot his 30 for 30 ESPN Film. We are honored to work with such a prestigious group on a project we are so passionate about! ?#?Flair30for30? ?#?ComingSoon?”
– The Thursday, October 29th Halloween edition of WWE SmackDown drew 2.171 million viewers, down from the previous week’s 2.204 million viewers.
Bubba Ray Dudley recently appeared as a guest on Live Audio Wrestling and discussed possibly playing his heel character in WWE, The New Day, James Storm’s NXT debut and more. Below are some of the highlights.
Bringing Bully Ray to WWE:
“If WWE came to me and they told me that is something that they wanted to try out I would be more than happy to go down that road since I know I’ve done it in the past & I know I’ve done it in the past well. So I definitely think it could work.”
New Day balancing being entertaining and playing heels:
“I think when I go out there I go out there with a totally different mentality. My mentality is a little bit more old school and I think my mentality doesn’t exactly fit perfectly into what the WWE would want out of a ‘villain’ or ‘good guy’. What they want is entertainment and the New Day are entertaining and that’s the very first thing you need to be in the WWE. So if you’re entertaining and the people hate you that’s fine. And if you’re entertaining and the people love you that’s fine – as long as you’re entertaining.”
James Storm’s debut on NXT:
“Storm is a really great in-ring wrestler. He is really accomplished on the microphone. He is one of the guys that I worked with from Day One when I was in TNA. He was part of a very successful tag team. He did well on his own. He has a lot of years of knowledge & I think he can only help down there in NXT.”
Possible relationship between WWE and Team 3-D Academy:
“It’s definitely something that me and D-Von have thought about in the past. We’re very proud of our school, the Team 3-D Academy. Our school is a traditional school where if someone off the street wants to become a professional wrestler they come to us and we train them and hopefully they can move on to bigger things. Only 20 minutes away is the WWE Performance Center. So if they were ever interested in possibly getting together and having something like a minor league feeder system we would definitely be interested in talking to them about something like that.”
– The latest “WWE Breaking Ground” episode will premiere on the WWE Network after RAW this Monday night. The synopsis for the show reads:
“A group of hopeful athletes try out for an opportunity to train to become WWE Superstars and Divas. The grind begins for a rookie arrival.”
– A new edition of “The WWE List” debuts on the WWE Network on Tuesday at 4:30pm EST. The description for that one reads:
“Listing the most Infamous Transformations in WWE History!”
– A new episode of WWE’s “Table For 3” will air on the WWE Network this Wednesday at 4pm EST. The scheduled guests for the show are Tamina Snuka, Natalya and Charlotte. The official description for the show reads as follows:
“Natalya, Tamina and Charlotte share stories of what it was like growing up in sports entertainment and being part of WWE family royalty.”
– The latest edition of “Unfiltered with Renee Young” also premieres this week on Wednesday night at 4:30pm EST. The description for that episode, which features WWE Hall Of Famer Lita, reads:
“Renee sits down with former WWE Diva Lita to discuss her new role within WWE, butterflies and a Twitter moment with a famous rap legend.”
Jim Ross has updated his blog at JRsBarBQ.com with his thoughts on Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker bleeding at Hell in a Cell, Ronda Rousey stating she wants to be WWE Divas Champion one day and more.
Some fans have questioned if the blood was planned in advance and JR says it clearly was. “How the blood was derived may be another issue but the two talents taking matters into their own hands without approval isn’t too likely to have occurred. Their match was the best bout on the show Sunday in LA.”
Related: The Latest On Lesnar & Taker Bleeding At HIAC
During a recent interview with FOX Sports, UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey said she would like to be WWE Divas Champion one day. Reigning Divas champion Charlotte responded and offered Ronda Rousey a title shot anytime, anywhere. JR sees blockbuster potential from Rousey in a WWE ring and questions if the baddest woman on the planet would even qualify to be a Diva.
“Ronda Rousey and her camp, influenced by The Rock, are strategic in their thinking. Rousey has a huge payday awaiting her for a Wrestlemania story line down the road and they know it. No one ever makes too much money plus RR knows that she can’t be unbreakable forever inside the Octagon. It was timely of Charlotte to stand her ground and respond to Ronda recently but I would rather see RR versus a heel specifically Stephanie McMahon as I feel that’s the money. Plus, do you really want Ronda Rousey going for the WWE Divas Title? Is Rousey a Diva? Is the term Diva still relevant?
In any event, Ronda Rousey in a hot, personal issue interests me more than her going for the title at this time. The question is can Rousey and WWE come together for something BIG for the Texas WrestleMania?”
NXT General Manager William Regal underwent neck surgery last Wednesday and posted a photo of the aftermath with this message:
“Look at the state of my luscious locks! Just so you here it from me,I had a c-3 through c-6 Laminectomy last Wednesday. I wanted to put it out there so no one can weave a more interesting tale. I’m slowly on the mend.I mean this in all sincerity that I’m not one for sympathy so please no need to tell me best wishes and the like.Its just part of the life I’ve choose and wouldn’t change a thing. No need to tell me you’re praying for me as it would be a wasted prayer.Save that for people who need real help if that’s you’re thing. The only thank you is from me to you for allowing me to entertain you for the last 32 years.”
As a follow up to his 2014 neck surgery, Regal underwent a CAT scan about 6 weeks weeks ago to check on his progress. Despite the fact that he has been feeling better than he has in a long time, Regal was told that he would not be medically cleared to return to action for NXT Takeover: London and a second surgery would be required. WWE’s medical director Dr. Joseph C. Maroon and his team performed the procedure on October 21st in Pittsburgh.
The day after the surgery, Regal spoke to WWE.com about the situation:
“I had a neck surgery last year and everything was very, very good, and I went in for a follow-up exam six weeks ago,” Regal said. “Luckily, we did the exam, because they found there was more damage in the back of the neck that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible. The last surgery I had, they went in through the front of my neck; this one’s in the back, so there’s a lot more work involved and a lot of healing in the muscle in the back of the neck.
It was my C3, C4, C5 and C6 [vertebrae]. I believe the operation is called a laminectomy, where they go in and completely clean out the calcium deposits from the back. Now that I’ve got this done, it’s just a matter of healing up and I’ll be good to go. Dr. Maroon, who is head of the WWE Wellness Program, performed the operation. He said I’ll be good to go for another 50,000 miles, or 50 years. Hopefully, that will cover me for the rest of my time on this Earth, anyway.”
Regal will be attending all of the shows on the NXT UK tour, but will be unable to travel with WWE to the UK in November due to his recovery.
Team Bella member Alicia Fox is sporting a new look after shaving her head this week. The former Divas Champion posted this teaser photo on Instagram showing off her new mohawk:
As noted earlier this week, Alberto Del Rio was expected to work several shows for Mexico’s AAA promotion while that he committed to prior to returning to WWE. Del Rio is the reigning AAA Mega Champion and the promotion was under the impression that Del Rio would be working AAA’s TV tapings on Monday as well as several shows in November while WWE has their overseas tour.
According to f4wonline.com, WWE has confirmed that Del Rio will be working Monday’s RAW from Denver, CO and Tuesday’s SmackDown tapings from Colorado Springs, CO. Additionally, Alberto Del Rio will be replacing the injured Randy Orton on WWE’s upcoming European tour.
At this point, it looks like Del Rio’s run with AAA is winding down a lot sooner than they were hoping for. Del Rio reportedly left things on good terms with AAA when he signed with WWE last weekend, but it remains to be seen when he will work for them again to drop the AAA Mega title.
– The injured Randy Orton has been pulled from the WWE European tour scheduled for next month. The new top matches set for the Roman Reigns-led side of the tour are now Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan vs. Dean Ambrose and The Usos. As noted, The Usos are set to return to WWE television imminently.
– Tyler Breeze has been added to the Seth Rollins-led side of the tour. Matches for that side of the tour include The Dudley Boyz vs. The New Day and Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze in a triple threat match. There is no word yet regarding Rusev’s replacement.
– Kofi Kingston is one of the guests on the latest edition of Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast. You can download the show at PodcastOne.com.
Recent WWE signee Biff Busick spoke to WWE.com this week about his transition from the independent scene to the Performance Center and NXT. Here’s what Busick said about:
When he realized WWE was interested in him:
“It’s funny — I had quite a long history with WWE. About three months into my training was the first time I was booked as an extra [in WWE], and I had no idea about anything. I had a couple more runs with WWE, every couple months when they were in town. The one time I lucked out, about nine months into my training, I was chosen to wrestle The Great Khali on SmackDown, and I had no business being in the ring with Khali whatsoever. It was about an 11-second match – which I lost, unfortunately – but it was just a surreal experience. After that moment, I realized I had to get out there and get more experience to be ready for the next time WWE called upon me.
From there, I traveled the country to learn from as many people as possible. I went to Lance Storm’s school in Calgary, which was an unbelievable experience. That was three months in the ring with him pretty much every day. Then I moved down to Texas, and I trained with Sho Funaki, who is another guy that has a wealth of knowledge. Training with those two guys really gave me the confidence and experience I needed to do much better. I think WWE started to catch on with me working more high-profile matches in more high-profile promotions, and it just took off from there.”
His WWE tryout earlier this year:
“I did a tryout in the first week of June. I was booked as an extra. I was able to have at tryout match at one of the live events. I’ll never forget: I was in California for PWG and I got a call from WWE before the show offering me a deal. It was surreal. I can’t put it into words. It’s something you work your whole life for and then it finally happened. I can’t do it justice by telling you how it felt.”
As noted earlier this week via the Wrestling Observer, Melissa Anderson (Cheerleader Melissa) will be part of of Lucha Underground’s second season, which begins filming in just two weeks. It had been reported that Melissa would be portraying that character of Marty The Moth’s sister, however Diva-Dirt is disputing this information:
“Melissa will not be portraying the sister of Marty “The Moth” Martinez. She will be playing a different role altogether: one that plays heavily into Lucha Underground’s tribe mythology.”
They also confirmed that she will be wearing a mask and will be one of the season’s main characters. Lucha Underground returns to the El Rey Network in January.
Both Ring of Honor and TNA Impact Wrestling saw nice increases in viewership for this week’s shows on Destination America.
Ring of Honor at 11pm EST drew 227,000 viewers, a major increase from last week’s 132,000. This was by far the most-watched episode of ROH TV in the late night timeslot.
Impact Wrestling featuring the World Title Series drew a total of 364,000 viewers for both airings, up from last week’s total of 327,000. The first airing drew 266,000 (up slightly from 264,000) while the midnight replay / West Coast feed did 98,000 this week (up from 63,000).
Earlier this week, WWE announced that 19 new talents will begin training at the Performance Center soon. The list included Tough Enough competitors, independent wrestlers and other athletes. Two of those indy stars now under WWE developmental contracts are Biff Busick and Rich Swann.
WWN issued the following statement to their newsletter subscribers about Busick and Swann signing with WWE:
Our biggest congratulations to Biff Busick for signing a WWE contract and reporting to NXT. Busick was an integral part in the relaunch of EVOLVE in August of 2014. His hard-hitting, technical style defined EVOLVE’s identity. His rivalry against Timothy Thatcher and Drew Gulak popularized the new EVOLVE style. Thank you for all your contributions, Biff. You know we’ll be watching you climb in the ranks in the WWE universe.
We offer a very deep and heartfelt congratulations to Rich Swann for signing a WWE contract and reporting to NXT. Rich has been an important and groundbreaking part of WWN since 2009. He paved the way for American stars in Dragon Gate USA as part of Ronin. He was a crossover star in both Dragon Gate in Japan and DGUSA. He is a former FIP Champion and half of the last DGUSA Open The United Gate Champions. Swann got his first match by impressing in a DGUSA Seminar/Tryout. We watched him climb the ranks and grow in the business. WWN would not be what it is today without the contributions of Rich Swann. Thank you.
