WWE Hall Of Famer Kevin Nash seems to have zero interest in wrestling again at this point in his life.
Hall recently took to his podcast, “Kliq This,” to discuss a variety of professional wrestling topics. One such topic being the Last Match of two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair. Nash noted that he wasn’t live at the show, but did watch Flair’s match from home.
The Hall Of Famer actually was at the event before the show started doing meet and greets, but didn’t stick around for the actual match alongside the likes of The Undertaker and Mick Foley. Nash admitted that he didn’t want to stick around in case something physically happened to Flair.
He then addressed the possibility of himself getting back into the ring again. Nash doubled down that he has no interest in competing inside of the ring at this point in his life. He even went as far as saying WWE Saudi Arabia show money wouldn’t be enough to get him back in the squared circle.
“No, I don’t. The f**king thought of my f**king rickety ass body hitting that f**king wood. Like nah man and not even for f**king Saudi money.
“You come with me the half a million bucks let me take two bumps, f**k you. What am I gonna do with that? Let me put that in the bank with the rest of my f**king money I don’t spend.”
Nash hasn’t wrestled in an official match since August of 2018. He defeated Flex Armstrong for the Big Time Wrestling Heavyweight Championship. Nash would officially announce his retirement from in-ring competition two years later in January of 2020.
The former WWE Champion is a two-time Hall Of Famer; inducted first in 2015 individually as Diesel, and again in 2020 as a member of the New World Order (NWO).
Charlotte Flair is the next guest appearing on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions.
Broken Skull Sessions features WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin having candid conversations with some of the industry’s biggest stars. Recent guests have included Sami Zayn, Jeff Jarrett, Cody Rhodes and Bubba Ray Dudley.
Episode 30 with Charlotte Flair premieres on Peacock next Friday, August 19th.
WWE has curated this playlist of “unforgettable” stories from Broken Skull Sessions:
Charlotte Flair’s Hiatus from WWE
Charlotte Flair has been out of action since May. Her last match took place at WrestleMania Backlash, when she dropped the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Ronda Rousey.
After the match, WWE announced that Charlotte Flair would be “out of action indefinitely” due to “injuries” she sustained during the match at WrestleMania Backlash.
Ric Flair wishes he didn’t call his match in Nashville his “Last Match.”
Flair competed in what was advertised as his last match ever on July 31. He teamed up with son-in-law and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Andrade against the team of Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett.
The match ended with a win for Flair and Andrade, seemingly concluding the two-time WWE Hall of Famer’s iconic professional wrestling career at 73-years-old. During a recent edition of his podcast, “To Be The Man,” Flair reflected on the matchup.
“The Nature Boy” admitted that he wishes he didn’t advertise it as his last match, suggesting he’d like to wrestle yet again. He then mentioned his recent appearance for The World Wrestling Council’s 49th Anniversary Show in Puerto Rico.
Flair appeared there as a manager for Andrade, and took a few punches and a headbutt from Carlos Colon. The promotion actually wanted him to wrestle, but he declined.
“I wish I hadn’t said it was my last match. That’s gonna get heat. Hell, they wanted me to wrestle in Puerto Rico on Saturday night.
“I said ‘Guys, I cannot get in the ring one week later.’ And the guy looked at me and said ‘Well, you know what, could retire in Puerto Rico can’t you?’ No, no, no that’s not the point.”
Flair also mentioned during the show that he actually passed out twice during his match in Nashville. With that being said, it’s likely not a great idea for the 16-time World Champion to compete inside the ring again.
There was already enough public push-back for the 73-year-old to compete in Nashville in the first place. Although Flair did promise beforehand that the match would be his last, given his recent comments, it will be interesting to see if he sticks to the decision.
“Judo” Gene LeBell has passed away at the age of 89.
Nicknamed “The Godfather of Grappling,” LaBell is an icon in the worlds of martial arts and pro wrestling. He was also an actor, stuntman and so much more.
LeBell earned a 10th degree red belt in Judo and a 9th degree black belt in Ju-jitsu. He also trained some of combat sports most famous names including Chuck Norris, the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey.
For more on Gene LaBell’s storied life and professional career, check out his Wikipedia page.
In December 1963, perhaps the first televised MMA fight took place as Gene LeBell representing the Japanese martial arts (Judo) took on Milo Savage representing modern Western Boxing.
Here are some reactions to the passing of the great Gene LeBell:
Everyone here at the CAC is saddened to hear the legendary "Judo" Gene LeBell has passed away at the age of 89. A long time supporter & lifetime member of the CAC. He was an actor, pro wrestler, martial artist, stuntman and more. Our sincerest condolences to his family & friends pic.twitter.com/cRZsD8PCWn
Gene LeBell remained a towering figure in the history and expansion of mixed martial arts and sports entertainment. A teacher to many of the sport’s greats, his influence is felt throughout @WWE to this day. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones at this time.
AEW joins the wrestling world in mourning the passing of “Judo” Gene Lebell. Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his fans. pic.twitter.com/epDTGpY16q
Sad to hear about the death of Gene LeBell, unique life, judo champion, enforcer, announcer, wrestler, stunt man, coach (including Ronda Rousey & Roddy Piper) and self promoter, lots of write about in this one.
“I won every R-E-A-L fight I ever had & was penniless. I LOST every R-E-E-L fight I ever had and made millions” — Judo Gene trying to convince me to quit fighting and go into Hollywood stunt work.
Unfortunately we never met but I’ve read and heard lots of stories and eye witness accounts and we shared a lot of mutual friends. Rest well “Judo” Gene LeBell.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star Kota Ibushi is looking for a potential run with All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Ibushi recently took to Twitter to respond to a fan asking him about potentially showing up in AEW. The Japanese star responded by saying, “At least once.” In another tweet on the subject, Ibushi said he’d like to show up to AEW more than once, and believes Golden Lover teammate Kenny Omega can make it happen.
“I’m going because there are kind of a lot of AEW expectations, maybe three times. I can’t promise that the card will be set up correctly, but Lovers can.”
At the moment, Ibushi is nursing an injured shoulder that has kept him sidelined as of late. In addition to his injury, Ibushi is also dealing with some pretty heated issues with NJPW at the moment.
Ibushi has called out NJPW executives as “cheaters-gun and sexually harassing bosses.” He also claims that NJPW executive Yusuke Kikuchi tried to get him to return from his shoulder injury earlier than he felt comfortable doing.
He suffered the injury at the G1 Climax Final last August. Ibushi was also allegedly reprimanded by Kikuchi for appearing at a Just Tap Out event. Kikuchi allegedly threatened to release Ibushi over the ordeal.
(via NJPW)
Ibushi has stated that he wants a release from his contract with NJPW, indicating he doesn’t believe he can to back after the comments he’s made. While he wasn’t released from his contract, NJPW did announce financial penalties on Ibushi for his comments.
With everything going on between Ibushi and NJPW, it’s no surprise that he wants out of the promotion.
On June 12, 2022, it was announced that Rob Van Dam would make his in-ring debut in CyberFight’s Pro Wrestling Noah at the CyberFight Festival 2022. He teamed with the Stinger duo of Hayata and Yoshinari Ogawa to defeat Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada and Yo-Hey.
On July 16, the former WWE Champion made his return to Pro Wrestling NOAH and competed at NOAH Destination 2022. Van Dam & Masato Tanaka defeated NOSAWA Rongai & Super Crazy in a hardcore tag team match.
“The Wrestling Is So Much Better”
When speaking with Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, the former ECW World Champion spoke about wrestling in Japan and what it was like to work with Pro Wrestling NOAH.
“Well, so it looks like it’s very likely that it will keep happening. I’ve already gone back. So I wrestled there June 12. And then I came back on July the 16th. Just a couple of weeks ago, and we’re talking about maybe returning in January. So yeah, it’s it’s pretty cool.
I love wrestling in Japan. I started wrestling there in 93′. Somebody, a fan there that every wrestler knows this fan, Masa, he’s, we all know this guy. He had the whole breakdown for me.
This was the 22nd time that I had been to Japan. And he had the breakdown of how many times I’ve been to that building, the Nippon Budokan, and how many times I was there with All Japan, and then FMW, and then New Japan, and IWGP, and WWE, and all these different companies. So, it’s pretty cool. And I have a lot of history there.
Man, the wrestling is so much better. Like, I was watching the other matches, and I was like really proud to be part of that. It’s so different.”
“It Was Actually Like Wrestling”
Van Dam went on to speak about how he believes pro wrestling is better in Japan. He even elaborated on how impressed he was with another match on the card.
“It was actually like wrestling you know. A lot of people complain now that the the newer generation kind of got away from wrestling and now it’s just about stunts, and, you know, flying or whatever and diving on to 80 people catching you. You know, like, the more people that catch you the better. It seems like the biggest spot I don’t know.
But man, Muto, the fabulous Muto, he’s retiring. He’s got five matches left. And this match a few nights ago, a couple weeks ago. That was one of his last five. And I watched him wrestle. I don’t want to brutalize the kid’s name that he wrestled and you wouldn’t probably know him unless you follow. You know, the, the product NOAH. I don’t know.
But anyway, man, these guys put on a clinic, like it was so good. And it was like, the story that they told man. I just hadn’t seen anything like that in years. It wasn’t, they barely even like, hit the ropes and saw there was like Muta going for his trademark leg drag. And he would go to do it in the kid would stop and then get him in the move and then they would work their way up for that, work the way up, bam, bam, bam, he goes for it again. This time you know he’s gonna get it boom, you get stopped right back into and they just worked that leg lock and that leg drag and they made so much sense out of it and it was built so that every little thing meant so much and you know, I was humbled.
Actually, I’d already wrestled and I felt, you know, like, not like not worthy. Like, like the fans were over appreciative of my match. I had a hardcore match that night. And it was a tag team match, you know, when your tag team instead of a singles match, if you compare that to a normal job, a lot of times if your singles match, that’s like being the, the waiter, the cashier, the busboy and the cook at the same time, and when you when your tag partner not so.”
Ric Flair claims he “passed out twice” during his Last Match last month.
The 73-year-old had the final match of his career on July 31 in Nashville. Flair teamed up with his son-in-law and All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Andrade against Jay Lethal and fellow Hall Of Famer Jeff Jarrett.
When it was all said and done, Flair and Andrade emerged victorious from the bout. Now, speaking on his podcast, “To Be The Man,” Flair admits that he actually passed out twice during the match.
“I don’t think people realize that I passed out twice,” Flair said. “What happened was, my regimentation for training was so strict that I kept my weight on. I wanted my perfect weight to be like 220lbs going in.
“So, the last day and a half, aside from all the work that we had planned for me to do, I didn’t hydrate cause I had it in my mind that I had to weigh 219lbs. So anyway, I went to the ring at about 217lbs.
“What happened during the body of the match, I just became dehydrated. While I was standing on the apron, I looked at Jay which started the whole wheel of motion.
“I said, ‘Man, I think I’m getting sick because I was getting lightheaded, nothing to do with my heart, nothing to do with my intestines, just getting lightheaded.”
There were a lot of health concerns from fans, media, and peers alike as the 73-year-old Flair prepared to compete in the ring. Given his history of health issues, many were against the idea of Flair competing in the first place.
However, Flair noted that he consulted with doctors before the match who gave him the green light to compete in the bout. Flair is also adamant about the match being his last, but did note he’s still open to doing work in professional wrestling as a manager.
Although he may be done as an official in-ring talent, there’s no getting rid of “The Nature Boy” from professional wrestling altogether.
Tony Khan is setting the record straight about AEW possibly expanding its pay-per-views to be two-night events.
During a Wednesday appearance on Busted Open Radio, Khan squashed the rumor that AEW will be shifting to 2-night pay-per-view weekends.
AEW currently runs four big pay-per-view events per year: Revolution, Double or Nothing, All Out, and Full Gear. The shows typically run for four or five hours, which many fans find excessive.
AEW star Dustin Rhodes recently stated that AEW will address this issue by expanding pay-per-view events to 2 nights, similar to what WWE does with WrestleMania.
According to Tony Khan, Rhodes is mistaken and this is not the case.
AEW Not Shifting to 2-Day Pay-Per-Views
Dustin Rhodes appeared at the “Terrificon” convention Fandom Spotlite and said:
“I think we’re going to go to two-day events now, for pay-per-views. I believe. I’ve heard that down the pike. It’ll be like a WrestleMania experience, you have two days of Double or Nothing or two-days of All Out or Revolution.”
Tony Khan says he’s not sure what Dustin Rhodes is talking about here, because it’s not something that has been seriously discussed internally. He made it very clear: AEW is definitely not shifting to 2-day PPV events in the foreseeable future.
“I love Dustin so much and I was surprised that he said it because it’s not something we seriously internally discussed.”
– Tony Khan
All Elite Wrestling’s next pay-per-view event is AEW All Out,. The show takes place Sunday, September 4th at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois (outside Chicago).
AEW President Tony Khan has addressed the chatter that certain performers are unhappy with their roles in the company.
Khan spoke with Josh Martinez of Z100’s Superstar Crossover this week to promote Wednesday’s Quake by the Lake edition of AEW Dynamite.
In addition to hyping up the latest themed Dynamite, Khan was asked about disgruntled members of the AEW locker room.
According to TK, “the vibe is really positive” in AEW and he believes people are excited for the big season ahead. He touted AEW’s recent management hires and promotions and said they’re focused on continuing to improve communication with talent.
Listen to Josh Martinez’s interview with Tony Khan on Superstar Crossover for Z100:
Improving Communication
“Well, we have a great crew, we’re very happy with the shows we’ve been doing,” said Khan. “I think we’ve got a great team of people. I recently did some promotions and added to the team, and I think with the new group, hopefully, communication is only going to get better, because I can only be in so many places at one time and talk to so many people on such a big team.”
He continued, “I think that will help, but also, I jus tin general think we have a really great environment and a really great backstage, and overall it’s been a really great summer for us and it’s only going to get better. A lot of the big stars in AEW have been out, so it’s been great for us to maintain position.”
“The Vibe is Really Positive”
(via AEW)
AEW Dynamite has been the top show on cable on Wednesdays for 6 of the past 7 weeks, a feat that Khan feels deserves some attention. That consistency has been thanks to the wrestlers and staff they have, and of course, wrestling fans.
Khan says there’s a lot of good camaraderie and momentum in AEW, but it’s been challenging to feature everybody regularly when they only have 3 hours of cable TV programming each week.
“I can’t get everybody on to the show,” said Khan. “It is challenging in some ways when you have 3 hours of television. I get that if you’re looking at a competitor that has 7 hours of television, that really, the people in that company are more than twice as likely to be on TV, if you look at it that way.”
“So, I think it’s very competitive for spots, but it also means that people have to do the most to maximize the time they do get, wherever it is, whether its on TV or streaming.”
He added that overall, there are no serious morale issues in AEW.
“Overall, I think the vibe is really positive and we’re all really excited.”
– Tony Khan
AEW has a big couple months coming up, with All Out taking place in early September and Grand Slam, the company’s biggest TV event of the year, just a few weeks after that.
AEW Morale Issues?
Here are some recent articles related to possible morale issues in AEW:
Solo Sikoa was diagnosed with a sprained PCL on Tuesday’s edition of NXT 2.0. The PCL (Posterior Cruciate Ligament) is a ligament in the knee.
According to the WWE medical professional who examined Sikoa, he’ll be out of action for 4-6 weeks while he heals up. Thankfully, it’s not torn or broken. As a result, he will miss next week’s NXT Heatwave special.
It’s believed that Sikoa tweaked his knee during his Falls Count Anywhere match against Von Wagner next week. On this week’s NXT 2.0, Cameron Grimes visited Sikoa in the trainers room to congratulate him on that match.
Sikoa made it clear that he’s got his sights set on the NXT North American Championship, currently held by Carmelo Hayes.
Solo Sikoa (Joseph Fatu) is a member of the legendary Anoa’i wrestling dynasty. He’s the real-life brother of The Usos and son of Attitude Era star Rikishi.
Below, you can watch highlights of the hard-hitting war between Sikoa and Von Wagner from the August 2nd episode of NXT 2.0:
Since AEW was founded, the company has welcomed several former WWE Superstars, including some of the latter promotion’s biggest names.
CM Punk, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson and others all reached fame and fortune in WWE, before trying their hand in Tony Khan’s company.
In February this year, Cody Rhodes would leave AEW, and would return to WWE at WrestleMania 38, defeating Seth Rollins.
Who Could be Next?
Since returning to WWE, Cody Rhodes has received a hero’s welcome, being booked as one of the promotion’s biggest stars.
Cody’s impressive comeback has led to speculation on who could possibly join him when their deals with AEW expire.
Two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T took to his Hall Of Fame podcast to discuss who he’d like to see make a splash in WWE next.
“I’d love to see Wardlow, as well as Andrade, come back to WWE because he’s not doing anything significant in AEW — not saying that he’s not going out and performing. He’s performing, but you think about Andrade in WWE, and he had some star on him. He had some upside, but I don’t know. I could be wrong about this; I could be wrong.”
Will they Jump?
Wardlow has never worked in WWE, but the promotion has been keeping a close eye on the AEW TNT Champion.
In January, it was reported that WWE has an interest in Wardlow, and are expected to make him an offer when his contract with AEW is close to expiring.
Andrade recently liked a tweet, claiming that Miro would do better if he returned to WWE, and that El Idolo would do so as well.
During this week’s WWE Monday Night Raw, one of the most interesting parts of the show was what was happening in the background.
During several segments, a crashed car could be seen in the background of shots, with WWE Superstars, including Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H checking out the damage.
The crashed car wouldn’t come up until the final moments of Raw, when it was revealed that Dexter Lumis had returned to WWE, appearing in the crowd and starting a program with AJ Styles.
Rikishi Denies Involvement
Before Lumis’ return, many speculated as to who was behind the crashed car on Raw, and whether it was part of the broadcast or something had really happened.
When WWE’s official Twitter account shared an image of the car being towed, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi was quick to deny any involvement.
With Rikishi not appearing in WWE since November 2020, it may seem odd that some considered him a suspect in the car crash.
Rikishi’s claim of innocence is a reference to his infamous Attitude Era heel turn, after Stone Cold Steve Austin was run down during Survivor Series 1999.
Austin, who had been dealing with severe injuries, was written off of TV for close to a year, before it was revealed that Rikishi had been the one who ran him down.
What was supposed to be the start of a monster heel turn for Rikishi quickly faltered, as Austin would squash the superheavyweight at the No Mercy 2000 Pay Per View.
WWE re-wrote the story, saying that Rikishi had been the driver, but was doing the bidding of established top-heel Triple H.
The August 9, 2022 episode of WWE NXT 2.0 aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Nikkita James defeated Kiana James
Wes Lee defeated Trick Williams
Ariana Grace defeated Thea hail
Apollo Crews defeated Roderick Strong
Pretty Deadly defeated Enofe and Blade
Zoey Stark defeated Cora Jade
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Zoey Stark vs. Cora Jade
Zoey Stark competed against Cora Jade in preparation for her match with Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship at Heatwave on August 16.
On the July 19th edition of NXT, Stark was victorious in a 20-woman battle royal to claim Rose’s title as the top challenger.
The match served as the main event. This was a fun back and forth match that saw Jade try to cheat with her weapon, but Roxanne Perez took it away. Stark hit her finisher for the win.
Trick Williams competed against Wes Lee. Carmelo Hayes appears to be Lee’s likely opponent for the NXT North American championship, but Lee must first defeat Williams.
This was a boxing bout with hybrid rules as there was a takedown. This was the closest thing to Brawl for All on WWE television in years. Williams got the first pinfall after kicking the man in the face. They took off the boxing gloves and then it turned into more of a match. Lee went over after knocking him out.
Post-match, Carmelo Hayes cut a promo about how he will remain North American Champion no matter who steps up. Gionvani Vinci confronted him and challenged him to a match at Heatwave. Hayes accepted and said he will put him on a t-shirt and it won’t be designer. They brawled before being separated.
Tony D’Angelo and Santos Escobar appeared in a “final accord” segment. On last week’s program, Escobar made a comeback and denied D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo the opportunity to win the NXT Tag Team titles.
They met in a park at night and had a sit down. Santos said last week was just business. Tony said he told Santos to stay in his lane and reminded Santos that he works for him. Santos reminded him that he’s not a champion. Santos said this arrangement was never going to work. Tony wants him to go back to work for him. Santos challenged him to a match at Heatwave and if Santos loses then he will leave NXT for good, but if he wins then they get their freedom. Tony wanted a street fight.
AEW star Anthony Ogogo recently appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vilet to discuss a number of pro-wrestling topics, which included the former Olympian’s thoughts on his feud with Cody Rhodes in 2021.
The two were set to meet at that year’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view from Daily’s Place in Florida, AEW’s first major event with a packed house since the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020. Prior to the match the hard-hitting Brit and the American Nightmare had several segments to build their feud on Dynamite, with one being memorable for all the wrong reasons.
Ogogo and Rhodes met for a weigh-in segment hosted by Paul Wight, but things went horrendously wrong. Wight had issues reading the scale and fireworks from a local baseball game went off that caused a great distraction. The segment seemed never ending, and since there was no physicality it left everyone with a bad taste in their mouth going into Double or Nothing.
When talking about the weigh-in…Ogogo could not think of one nice thing to say.
“Fucking dogshit mate, fucking dogshit!”
He later reveals that he thought the idea was lame even before the fiascos occurred inside of the ring.
“So Cody said to me that we were going to do a weigh-in. I’m like ‘Cool, so what’s going to happen?’ And Cody is brilliant, he is brilliant at what he does and he has got a great mind for it. [Cody] was like ‘We are going to do a weigh-in.’ I’m like ‘Cool, who is getting knocked out? What are we going to do.’ [Cody responds] ‘It’s a weigh-in, we are not going to touch.’ I’m like oh, I have watched enough wrestling to know that that’s a bit drab, a bit of shit.”
Ogogo doesn’t just call the whole segment a disaster, but believes he was the biggest victim of its failure.
“Mate the whole thing was disastrous, but I feel like I’m the victim. It was my first kind of entry, and I am in this really weird segment that wasn’t my idea. I would have rather knocked out Goldust, knocked out Dustin.”
Rhodes would go on to defeat Ogogo at Double or Nothing. Ogogo has been largely absent from AEW’s main programming (Dynamite & Rampage) ever since.
(Special thanks to Chris Van Vilet for sending over quotes)
WWE announced today in an SEC filing that it has uncovered an additional $5 million in unrecorded payments directly connected to Vince McMahon.
Because of this, they will be delaying filing their quarterly financial report. The payments were made in 2007 and 2009.
WWE previously announced that they had to file for $14.6 million in unrecorded expenses made by McMahon from 2006-2022. They would also have to re-do previous quarterly financial reports going back several years.
“Since that time, the Company has determined that two additional payments totaling $5.0 million, unrelated to the allegations that led to the Special Committee investigation, that Mr. McMahon made in 2007 and 2009 should have been recorded in the Company’s consolidated financial statements,” the filing stated.
“Together, these unrecorded expenses total $19.6 million (the ‘Unrecorded Expenses’). The Company has evaluated the Unrecorded Expenses and has determined that such amounts should have been recorded as expenses in each of the periods in which they became probable and estimable. All payments underlying the Unrecorded Expenses were or will be paid by Mr. McMahon personally. The Special Committee investigation remains ongoing.”
The payments previously discovered were directly linked to the accusations against McMahon for paying multiple former female employees to keep alleged sexual misconduct quiet.
Despite McMahon resigning, he is still being actively investigated by the WWE Board of Directors.
Since launching in 2019, AEW has been home to several wrestlers, with many coming from WWE, and others making it elsewhere.
The company also boasts some home-grown talent, but not everyone is happy with AEW at this time.
Disgruntled Talent
In recent weeks, it’s been reported that multiple AEW wrestlers are unhappy with their positions in the company.
in June, MJF was pulled from programming after a scathing promo in which he addressed his own frustrations, culminating in begging Tony Khan to fire him.
While it is believed that MJF’s promo was in character, it’s also believed it touched on many real issues he has with AEW.
More recently, Miro and Andrade El Idolo have liked tweets suggesting they had things better as part of WWE.
One name who knows about working in WWE, and has been with AEW since the early days is Dustin Rhodes.
The brother of AEW co-founder Cody Rhodes, Dustin also has a backstage role as a coach in addition to being a wrestler.
Speaking at Terrificon 2022, Rhodes spoke about wrestlers being unhappy in AEW and advised those who want to leave to do just that (via POST Wrestling)
“If you don’t like the current atmosphere, that’s a personal issue. You need to move on. Maybe they’ll do something different with you over there, you know what I mean? I think it’s going to be a change slowly with Triple H at the helm but it’s gonna be a good change… If your contract’s up and you’ve had enough with AEW, go, get the f*ck out.”
“If your contract’s up and you’ve had enough with AEW, go, get the f*ck out.”
Dustin Rhodes shares advice for AEW stars unhappy with the company.
Rhodes did not directly name anyone who is reportedly unhappy with AEW.
John Cena has given an update for his status at WWE Clash At The Castle.
Cena recently took part in the 2022 Wales Comic Con, where he held a Q&A. One such question was whether or not Cena would be appearing at the upcoming WWE Clash At The Castle premium event in Cardiff.
The 16-time WWE World Champion admitted that he will not be appearing at the event, but he expects it to be a great show for fans to enjoy.
“I’ve been coming to Cardiff to fight for 15-plus years, and every time, it’s exciting and amazing. I’m not going to be at Clash (At The Castle).”
Cena hasn’t wrestled since SummerSlam of last year when he challenged Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship. However, it’s almost certainly not going to be his last.
WWE.com
While appearing on RAW in June, celebrating 20 years since making his main roster debut, Cena promised that he’ll have another match. He didn’t specify when or where, but he was adamant about wrestling again.
Cena also specified that he expects to wrestle several more matches, not just one. It’s certainly an exciting prospect, especially since Cena is just one World Title win away from breaking the current record he and Ric Flair are tied for.
Both Cena and Flair are tied for most World Title wins ever at 16. Regardless, whatever the situation when Cena finally returns to the ring, it will certainly be a big affair.
Conrad Thompson has opened up on everything coming together for Ric Flair’s Last Match event on July 31.
Flair teamed with Andrade El Idolo vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal in the main event that marked the first time Flair wrestled in 11 years. Flair went over when he tapped out Jarrett with the figure four in the bout.
During the latest “My World” podcast, Thompson noted that he changed his mind about doing a wrestling event after talking about it a year ago. He also teased that the real story coming out of this show will be told one day, but it’s part of something bigger.
“The real story that we’re not talking about, we will tell you one day, but this is part of a bigger master plan.”
– Conrad Thompson on Ric Flair’s Last Match
The Master Plan
“You (Jeff Jarrett) and I talked about this over a year ago,” said Thompson. “I said, ‘No, I’m not doing wrestling. I’m not promoting wrestling. I’m not negotiating. I don’t want to be involved in politics. I like my lane.’ But this opportunity presented itself.
The real story that we’re not talking about, we will tell you one day, but this is part of a bigger master plan. No, it does not involve Ric Flair wrestling again, but the entrepreneur’s brain kicked off, and I saw an opportunity for Sunday, and I said, ‘If I don’t do it, I’ll wonder, what if? so let’s do it.’ We rolled the dice, and I couldn’t be more tickled with the results.”
Early estimates show the event did between 20,000 and 25,000 streaming PPV buys and nearly 4200 more through linear PPV, according to the Wrestling Observer.
The show drew approximately 6,800 fans for a $448,502 gate.
The great Mike “Rocky Jones” Masters has passed away.
The former pro-wrestling star was battling throat cancer and had been admitted to the hospital prior to his passing. He was 68.
Masters worked for WWE (WWWF) back in the late 70s and early 80s, but made a name for himself working in several territories throughout his career. He wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling, was very popular in the Portland area, as well as East Coast Pro Wrestling which he co-founded with Gino Caruso.
One of Masters most famous matchups was against Ken Patera for the Intercontinental title in the fall of 1979. He also clashed with Hulk Hogan in 1980 for All Star Wrestling. You can watch that match below.
Aside from competing Masters worked as a trainer, with one of his students being Little Guido, better known as Nunzio.
Sescoops would like to send our condolences to the friends, family, and loved ones of Masters. May he rest in peace.
WWE Hall Of Famer Mark Henry has revealed the true reason he can’t compete inside the ring.
Henry joined “Busted Open Radio” with Bully Ray, as they welcomed Lex Lugar on the program to discuss him being featured in the latest “WWE Legends” on A&E. Henry was inspired by Lugar’s uplifting attitude despite being confined to a wheelchair.
In the interview, Henry was inspired to open up about his own injury issues. Henry took the opportunity to reveal that he’s suffering from nerve damage – that being the reason he can’t wrestle inside the ring.
Henry also revealed he suffers from “power surges” where he collapses and needs the use of a wheelchair.
Mark Henry (Photo: AEW)
This is certainly unfortunate, as Henry is one of the most iconic big men professional wrestling has ever seen. A veteran of the business for nearly thirty years, Henry had a stint with WWE lasting from 1996 all the way up until 2021.
That time resulted in runs with the World Heavyweight Championship, ECW Title, and European Title. Henry was eventually inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2018.
In May of 2021, Henry signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he currently serves as a commentator, as well as coach for talent.
Damian Priest has refuted a longstanding report about Edge’s departure from The Judgement Day.
Shortly after WWE Hall Of Famer Edge was kicked out of The Judgement Day when he was attacked by Finn Balor and Priest, reports began to circulate regarding the situation. Given that Edge had formed the faction only a few weeks before, many found it strange he was kicked out so soon.
Initial reports suggest that there were creative differences between Edge and Vince McMahon over the direction of the faction. Edge apparently didn’t want the stable to go the supernatural route.
In an interview with Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy, Priest addressed these rumors, shooting them down as inaccurate.
“I guess I understand why people thought that,” Priest said. “I don’t know where the actual rumor came from that that’s what was planned, because it never was.
“If anything, we had conversations of how we didn’t want that and that included Vince [McMahon] himself, who did not want the group to be supernatural-based. We were all in agreement.
“We did some things that seemed that way, I know I did a thing with lightning one night, and the idea wasn’t about supernatural, but it came off that way and then we immediately went, ‘OK, let’s not revisit that because it came off that way’.”
Currently, Priest and Balor seem to be leading The Judgement Day together. On this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, Priest actually challenged Edge to a singles bout in two weeks.
This is because RAW will be in Edge’s hometown of Toronto, and Priest said he wants to beat the Hall Of Famer in front of his friends and family. Edge has seemingly aligned himself with The Mysterios against The Judgement Day.
It will be interesting to see what creative direction The Judgment Day goes in now that Triple H has assumed creative control within WWE.
Fans of the WWE 2K video game series have reason to be optimistic about the franchise’s future.
WWE 2K22, released back in March, promised to “hit different” after WWE 2K20 was so buggy that the following year’s installment was scrapped entirely. Thankfully, it lived up to the hype and was well-received by critics and gamers alike.
WWE 2K20 on PS4 had an aggregate critic score of 43/100 (via Metacritic), while the PS5 edition of WWE 2K22 earned a 77/100.
The fate of the WWE 2K franchise hinged on the success of this year’s game. According to Take-Two Interactive, WWE 2K23 is already in the works.
Take-Two Interactive released its fiscal 2023 first quarter earnings report earlier this week. It cited WWE 2K22 as one of its best-selling games for the quarter, contributing to the company’s healthy sales figures and net revenue:
“The largest contributors to GAAP net revenue were NBA® 2K22; Grand Theft Auto® Online and Grand Theft Auto V; Red Dead Redemption® 2 and Red Dead Online; Empires & Puzzles™; Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands®; WWE® 2K22; Rollic’s hyper-casual portfolio; Toon Blast™; The Quarry®;and Top Eleven®.“
More importantly, Take-Two Interactive lists WWE 2K23 as one of the games scheduled to be released by the end of its fiscal 2023 calendar.
Take-Two’s fiscal year ends March 31, 2023, so it looks like WWE will be sticking with the format of releasing the new video game at the height of WrestleMania season.
We’ll keep you posted as more details become available regarding WWE 2K23.
WWE 2K23 is not not the only wrestling video game in development. As we’ve been covering, All Elite Wrestling is also working on its first console video game, titled AEW Fight Forever.
AEW has yet to confirm the release date, but Fight Forever is due out some time before the end of this year. Instead of directly competing with WWE’s simulation-style offering, Fight Forever looks to be more of an arcade-style game that fans can pick up and play.
Jay White has been pulled from upcoming New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) events.
NJPW made an official announcement, revealing that White has been removed from the promotion’s upcoming shows on August 9 and 10. White is apparently suffering from “heat stroke like symptoms” and his removal is a precautionary matter.
“Jay White, who was scheduled to wrestle in Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall this evening, has been affected by heat stroke like symptoms and as a result will be removed from August 9 and 10 cards due to an abundance of caution.
“As an additional precautionary measure, White has undertaken COVID antigen testing, which has returned negative.
“We apologise to fans who were looking forward to seeing White wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.”
White has been competing for NJPW for the past several years, making a name for himself as the head of The Bullet Club. He currently reigns as the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
(WWE)
He’s also won several other titles during his time with NJPW; including the IWGP Heavyweight Title, IWGP United States Heavyweight Title, and many more. White recently began making appearances for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) back in February.
He was able to retain his IWGP World Heavyweight Title at the AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view (PPV) in June.
Miro is one of the most successful non-American wrestlers of the current generation. He took a huge gamble when he moved to America from Bulgaria and has built himself from ground up. Though this journey was not easy by any means, and the former TNT champion had to struggle from his very first month in America.
The AEW star was recently interview by Renee Paquette for The Sessions podcast. Opening up about his struggles before making a name in wrestling, he recalled how he got fired from his job and was on the street within a month of moving countries:
“Well it started with a hurdle because I came as an exchange student. I was supposed to work for three months and go back. I had a contract. But after the first month, I got kicked out. I got fired. They told me I’m not good at my job. I was a painter of houses. I had to paint outside houses. I have never done this in my life.
I’m not saying I was good at my job but to fire me, to kick me on the street, kick me out of the house [wasn’t fair]. Because they provided the housing which we paid for. I’m in America for one month, and I got kicked out with 150 dollars on the street. I’m a month in.”
‘Two Bedroom Apartment And Seven Of Us’: Miro
Miro
Detailing how he got out of that situation, Miro revealed that some guys from work took him in. So he went and lived with six other guys in a small apartment:
“Well, there was a couple of guys that I knew from work. They were like, ‘Okay, come live with us.’ I was 20 years old. And took a huge debt to come to America. About five grand. And this is Bulgaria. You know in Bulgaria five grand is [huge], Especially [in] 2005. So they took me in. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment about seven of us.”
Though despite all the troubles, Miro kept a positive outlook. He mentioned that he expected these things and said that it’s what life teaches you.”
“It’s okay. It’s America. You expect these things. You know, you watch so many movies. You’re like ‘Shit happens, you gotta persevere’. I think that’s what life teaches you.”
Miro continued working hard and took on many odd jobs. He finally got signed to a development contract by WWE in 2010, and the rest is history.
Major League Wrestling has announced the main event for the upcoming MLW Super Series event from the greater Atlanta, GA area.
MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone will put his gold on the line against high-flying luchador, Bandido.
The following is from MLW’s official match preview and provides backstory on this championship showdown:
“With no man having pinned or submitting Bandido since debuting in MLW in January, this luchador has put himself in contention for a championship bout, a bout that was originally set for the Battle Riot IV.”
“Collecting championships from Mexico to the United Kingdom, Bandido now has MLW’s most cherished gold on his mind. Grabbing this prize wouldn’t just bring him bragging rights for AAA and his homeland but make him the World Champion.”
MLW Super Series ’22
MLW Super Series goes down Sunday, September 18th at the Space Event Center at in Norcross, GA. The card is a FUSION TV taping, airing on beIN SPORTS nationwide.
Super Series has been dubbed a “cross-promotional summit” and will feature talent from Mexico’s Lucha Libre AAA promotion.
