Mike Chioda worked with WWE for over 30 years, before his release came in August 2020.
Chioda, like many at the time, was cut due to budget cuts, reportedly brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reffing the Chairman
Over his 30+ years with WWE, Chioda was often called upon to officiate matches with Vince McMahon.
McMahon had a total 57 sanctioned matches prior to his retirement in July this year, a month after stepping down as CEO and Chairman of WWE.
Speaking on his ‘Monday Mailbag,’ Chioda recalled how stressful it was to have his boss in the ring (via Wrestling Inc.)
“You’re stressed with Vince in the ring, you don’t want to f*** up. If he asks for a spot or asks for something like, ‘Hey, what’s next?’ you better, you better know it, you know what I’m saying? What I like about Vince is when Vince asks you do something, you say I can get it done.”
“”If he asks for a spot… you better, you better know it.”
Mike Chioda on officiating a Vince McMahon match.
Chioda said that his concerns only grew as McMahon got older and more prone to injury.
McMahon’s final WWE match came at this year’s WrestleMania, where he defeated Pat McAfee.
The ‘match’ saw little offense by McMahon himself, but more by Austin Theory who was the on-screen protege of the then-Chairman at the time.
McMahon’s win at WrestleMania marks his only victory at his biggest creation.
In June 2019, Dani Luna had her first match for WWE, competing in a handicap match at that year’s Download Festival as part of NXT UK.
In January 2020, WWE confirmed that Luna had signed a contract with the promotion, but had fewer than 20 matches before her release.
Luna was cut from WWE last month, alongside the majority of talent from NXT UK, as part of WWE’s plans to launch NXT Europe next year.
Released, Not Fired
Speaking with SEScoops correspondent Steve Fall of NBC Sports Boston, Luna reflected on her time in WWE, and made it clear that there’s a difference between being released and being fired.
“I was released. I don’t want to set any of those rumors alight. I was released under very nice terms. I wasn’t fired. It was just a case of what they’re doing at the moment doesn’t fit what I’m doing at the moment kind of thing.”
Luna wasn’t too mad at her situation, admitting that she still had her friends made in NXT UK, and that she was in good company.
Speaking Out
NXT UK was never the focus of WWE, and the brand was hit hard by the 2020 Speaking Out movement.
The movement highlighted several wrestlers in several promotions who had engaged, or alleged to have engaged in abusive behavior with women.
Joe Coffey, Jack Gallagher, Travis Banks, El Ligero, Jordan Devlin, and referees Joel Allen and Chris Roberts were all NXT UK talent who were accused of misconduct.
Speaking about the decline of NXT UK, Luna said how the Speaking Out movement had an impact.
“I don’t know. I don’t know if it [NXT UK’s decline] was necessarily WWE’s fault, or obviously we had the whole Speaking Out Movement over here as well, so I don’t know if that obviously affected it a little bit too.”
Luna added that low viewership also had an effect in the decline of NXT UK.
NXT Europe
NXT UK is now on what WWE have called a “brief hiatus” to make room for the launch of NXT Europe next year.
Luna said how the demise of NXT UK came suddenly.
“It was a pretty quick turnaround, to be honest. But the same you hear all these rumors, we hear them all too, and it’s even more unsettling when you work there… we were all understandably upset.”
Despite WWE’s claims of a brief hiatus, many believe that NXT UK is finished for good.
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite will air from the KeyBank Arena in Buffalo, New York, and will be the first event since All Out 2022 last Sunday.
Dynamite will therefore be the first event following the All Out 2022 post-show media scrum, where CM Punk had fiery comments for many members of the roster.
Punk was also reported to have been in a fight, where he and trainer Ace Steel fought the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega.
Changes to the Card
Tonight’s Dynamite will be show fans will want to see, and the event has some added star power.
According to the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, both Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley will be appearing on tonight’s show, despite not previously being advertised.
It is believed that their appearances were made after several AEW names were suspended for their involvement in the fight after All Out.
All Out saw Moxley lost the AEW World Championship to CM Punk in the main event, while Jericho defeated Bryan Danielson.
Other Plans
In addition to Moxley and Jericho, fans will hear from MJF on tonight’s Dynamite, in his first appearance on the show in over three months.
MJF has been absent since a fiery worked-shoot promo during the June 1, Dynamite, where he called Tony Khan a “f***ing mark” and begged to be fired by the AEW President.
MJF returned at All Out by winning the Casino Ladder match under a mask, and revealed himself at the end of the show.
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta will defend against Daniel Garcia, and the Death Triangle will face Orange Cassidy and Best Friends.
Pat McAfee has got another job outside of WWE. He will be a full-time member of ‘College GameDay’ on ESPN and will be on the show this Saturday. Pat hinted that something was coming earlier tonight on social media before it was reported by The New York Post.
My life is dumb. If I was 2 die tomorrow, right b4 passing I’d be proud & dumbfounded of what I have been lucky enough 2 do.
Massive announcement coming at some point this week..truly Bananaland.
The 35-year-old will continue his daily sports show on YouTube, as ‘The Pat McAfee Show‘ is currently in the middle of a four-year $120 million dollar deal with FanDuel. Pat will remain with WWE as an announcer for SmackDown. He signed a multi-year contract extension with WWE in July.
After the news broke, Pat took to Twitter and said that he’s been a fan of the GameDay show forever and that he had “real cool conversations” with WWE about accepting the new gig and will reveal the details to kickoff his show tomorrow.
It’s an absolute honor 2 have this tweet tweeted about me. GameDay is a show that I’ve been a fan of FOREVER So many moving parts including real cool conversations w/ the fine folks from WWE..all moved quickly Will lead show manana w/ all the deets. DUMBEST LIFE OF ALL TIME
It’s an absolute honor 2 have this tweet tweeted about me.
GameDay is a show that I’ve been a fan of FOREVER
So many moving parts including real cool conversations w/ the fine folks from WWE..all moved quickly
‘The Pat McAfee Show’ was featured on SiriusXM until late August. He sent out a Tweet shortly after it was announced the show would no longer be on satellite radio.
Find where you’re celebrated… not where you’re tolerated.
Ric Flair’s life story would make for an entertaining movie. As it turns out, we might get to see this for ourselves. According to comments from the man himself, a Nature Boy biopic is in the works and the creators have had talks with a Hollywood A-lister about portraying him.
On latest episode of the “To Be The Man” podcast, host Conrad Thompson presented Ric with a question sent in by a listener.
Q: Who would you like to play you in a movie?
Flair reveals that feelers have been sent to Bradley Cooper about playing him on the big screen. There is no deal in place, but he’s hopeful that Cooper signs on.
“Well, there’s talks right now that I can’t mention. They are making a movie about my life and I know that they’ve talked to Bradley Cooper.”
“I could see him doing that. I could se him.. that’s the only name that’s come up I don’t.. That’s only rumored. I mean, I’ve heard it officially, but it’s not in place. So ladies and gentlemen, it’s not true that he’s playing Ric Flair. I’ve heard they’ve talked to him, that’s it. Bradley Coooper is not playing me in a movie, yet. I hope he does.”
Flair has been talking about wanting Bradley Cooper to portray him in a movie since 2019.
If Not Bradley Cooper..
If they can’t get Bradley Cooper to portray him, Flair has another box office heavy hitter in mind.
“You know who else I like? Chris Pratt. That TV show Terminal List is unbelievable. Have you seen it? On Prime? Oh, you’ve gotta see Terminal List, it’s phenomenal.”
Conrad told Ric he’s heard actor Sebastian Stan wants to portray him, and Ric said he’s heard the same thing.
Listen to Ric Flair’s To Be The Man podcast with Conrad Thompson and if you use any quotes from this article, please h/t SEScoops for the transcription.
The September 6, 2022 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Doudrop and Nikki ASH defeated Toxic Attraction
JD McDonagh defeated Wes Lee.
Meiko Satomura defeated Roxanne Perez
Ricochet defeated Trick Williams
Axiom defeated Nathan Frazer
Bron Breakker and Tyler Bate defeated Gallus
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Nathan Frazer vs. Axiom
Nathan Frazer vs. Axiom in a Best of Three Rounds Match was booked. It was originally slated for last Sunday’s Worlds Collide, but it was moved without explanation to this show.
The match came to a close when Axiom hit Frazer with a Superman Punch for a two count. Axiom hit Frazer with his jumping superkick finisher for the win.
Wes Lee vs JD McDonagh in a singles match took place. The match was back and forth. It ended when McDonagh kicked out of a Sunset Flip. McDonagh hit Lee with a Devlin Side for the win.
NXT Champion Bron Breakker beat NXT UK Champion Tyler Bate in the main event of Worlds Collide to unify the titles.
Tyler Bate cut a promo to open the show about how proud he is to be the first and last NXT UK Champion. Gallus came out and said that Bate let the UK down and let the NXT UK brand down. They wondered what happened to the big strong boy.
Bate said that Gallus also didn’t win at Worlds Collide. Gallus attacked Bate until Breakker ran out to make the save. Breakker said the worlds unify tonight as they will kick their ass. This set up a tag team match.
Nikki ASH & Doudrop vs. Toxic Attraction (Jacy Jayne & Gigi Dolin) went down.
Nikki and Doudrop lost to Katana Chance & Kayden Carter for the Women’s Tag Team Titles at Worlds Collide.
The match ended in just over 10 minutes after Doudrop caught Dolin, hit her with a Michinoku Driver and connected with a running crossbody for the win.
Aside from all the ongoing AEW drama the cycle of pro-wrestling continues to carry on.
Today it was revealed that the legendary D’Lo Brown is finished with Impact Wrestling after three years. The report was made by PW Insider and later confirmed by Executive VP Scott D’Amore, who had the following to say about Brown’s departure.
“We appreciate D’Lo’s contributions to Impact Wrestling over the last 3 plus years. We wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
Brown’s Run With Impact
Brown returned to Impact in 2019 as a producer and agent, and later did some work as a color-commentator. He also competed for the company through his prestigious 28-year career, including a run with one of the promotion’s top factions, The Aces & Eights.
Brown rose to prominence during his run with WWE in the Attitude Era. There he was a one-time Intercontinental champion, and a four-time European champion, even holding both the belts at one point in his career. He started as a member of the Nation of Domination before breaking off as a singles star.
AEW star Darby Allin has confirmed that he will make his next Nitro Circus appearance on Friday, September 9, in Brooklyn as part of the Nitro Circus Live: Good, Bad & Rad 2022 tour.
Allin tweeted, “THIS FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9th LIVE IN BROOKLYN AT MAIMONIDES PARK ILL BE AT NITRO CIRCUS USE CODE AEWFAN AT CHECKOUT TO SAVE 30% ON TICKETS!”
At one of the recent events, the AEW star attempted to do a backflip on a tricycle while riding down a big air ramp. The first attempt failed as he didn’t complete a full rotation and ended up landing on his back. The second attempt saw him land the trick before wiping out.
Allin’s Latest Match
Allin was most recently in action at this past Sunday’s AEW pay-per-view, All Out, when he teamed with Sting and Miro to go against The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) that saw the babyfaces go over as Allin won the bout for his team as he pinned Black with the Last Supper.
We got @DarbyAllin + some special guests are coming out to select shows for the last weekend of tour in New York! ?
Former WCW president Eric Bischoff believes CM Punk disrespected All Elite Wrestling (AEW) president Tony Khan with his recent media scrum comments.
Recently, CM Punk reportedly got into a physical altercation with The Young Bucks backstage at All Out. The backstage drama that has been going on within AEW has caused quite a stir within the professional wrestling community.
Shortly after the All Out pay-per-view (PPV), where Punk recaptured the AEW World Title, Punk made some harsh comments towards AEW EVPs Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, firing back at what he feels has been disrespectful rhetoric towards him as of late.
These comments seemingly fueled The Elite to confront Punk in his locker room afterwards, sparking the altercation.
Bischoff believes Punk was very disrespectful to Tony Khan, who was seated next to the AEW World Champion the entire time, with his media scrum rant.
“He’s paying that cat lots of money,” Bischoff said. “He’s paying CM Punk a fortune and CM Punk is cutting his balls off, not only in front of everybody else in the roster, the executive team, the production team, oh, by the way, his business partners, you know, like Warner Discovery, potential advertisers, potential sponsors, maybe even if need be, a potential network to sell their show to should something go wrong with the Warner Discovery merger. For what reason?”
The former WCW president did admit that, if this was all a part of an elaborate storyline, he’d be fully behind the idea. However, if this is truly Punk airing out dirty laundry publicly, he feels bad for Khan.
“If there was money in it, if it was part of a story, and everybody I just mentioned including TV partners are on board and understand what you’re doing, have had it man. It could work. I’ll be your biggest fan.
“I’ll support taking a risk like that because you have to take big risks to gain big rewards. You just do.
“Not all of them work out, but you gotta try, and if that’s what they’re doing, hats off if everybody’s on board, but if Punk is just venting his spleen, spreading the heat around the entire roster, instead of focusing on his opponent which is business, man, I feel bad for Tony.”
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Chris Jericho has addressed the criticisms of the promotion having too big of a roster.
AEW has amassed a tremendous roster with huge names such as CM Punk, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Jericho himself, and so many more.
With so many massive talents on the roster, some suggest that the roster is too big, and there are too many top stars on the roster to get the shine they deserve.
Speaking on the Superstar Crossover podcast, Chris Jericho himself addressed these claims. The longtime professional wrestling legend argues that it’s important to have such a variety of talent on a roster, while acknowledging that it’s tough to get everyone on screen with three hours of television a week.
(via AEW)
“Maybe the misconception is that we have too big of a roster. I mean it’s hard to get everybody on TV with only 3 hours a week but it’s important to have a big roster and to have a lot of variety and a lot of different guys on different levels.
“You’ve got vets like myself and CM Punk. Then, you’ve kind of got guys in their prime like Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega, then you’ve got the up-and-comers like Daniel Garcia, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, and Jungle Boy.
“It’s really like a grade football team where you have different levels of what you need to have a successful team. That’s why our team has been so successful.”
Of course, if certain reports are to be believed, the AEW roster could be getting cut one Superstar short after a recent backstage physical altercation.
WWE has announced two main roster Superstars are headed to Orlando for tonight’s NXT 2.0 broadcast on the USA Network.
Raw Superstars Nikki A.S.H and Doudrop will be back in NXT to battle Toxic Attraction. This match is being set up after Toxic Attraction cost Nikki and Doudrop the NXT Women’s tag team titles in their match against Katana Chance & Kayden Carter at Worlds Collide.
The Scottish duo didn’t realize they had issues with Toxic Attraction, but they now plan to make Toxic Attraction wish they’d never stuck their noses in their business.
Tonight’s NXT 2.0 broadcast will also feature:
Ricochet vs. Trick Williams
JD McDonagh vs. Wes Lee
Axiom and Nathan Frazer will kick off their Best of Three series
Meiko Satomura vs. Roxanne Perez
WWE has been teasing that Nikki A.S.H. will be losing the ‘super hero’ gimmick. More on that story below:
Major League Wrestling has made a huge leap by striking a deal with Range Sports.
Range Sports is a division of Range Media Partners, best known for productions in film, television, and music.
Speaking to Sports Illustrated, MLW head Court Bauer made it clear he’s optimistic about the partnership.
“With so much disruption in the content space, live sports are increasingly valued. Range has the resources to take Major League Wrestling to new heights by creating strategic partnerships that enrich and ensure our continued momentum.”
Court Bauer on MLW’s new deal with Range Sports.
Range Sports
Range Sports is led by Will Funk, who has a lengthy history in sports presentation.
Having worked at WarnerMedia for two decades, Funk oversaw the NBA on TNT partnership, and helped lead a joint venture with CBS to acquire March Madness in 2011.
Funk reached the role as Executive Vice President of WarnerMedia before parting ways with the company in July this year.
In wrestling, Funk also helped bring AEW to WarnerMedia, with Dynamite and Rampage airing on TBS and TNT.
Plans for MLW
With Funk’s past success with AEW, Court Bauer is confident in the future of MLW.
In the statement to Sports Illustrated, he explained that the first big step will be for MLW to find a distribution partner.
“The goal is to extract maximum value across television, sponsor sales, event touring, and our full portfolio. We want to grow our windows and that is driven by live broadcasts.”
Funk himself added that the plan is to get MLW to as many people as possible, with the promotion already viewed in 60 countries.
More details are coming out regarding the backstage chaos following Sunday’s AEW All Out pay-per-view. As of this writing, we are still less than 48 hours removed from what’s developing into one of the biggest stories of 2022.
A physical altercation occured in CM Punk’s dressing room after his explosive comments at the All Out post-show media scrum. Punk trashed Colt Cabana, Hangman Page and AEW’s Executive Vice Presidents and stated once again, “come find me” if you have a problem with him.
Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks took him up on the offer as soon as Punk wrapped up his rant at the media scrum. Details are still unclear about who escalated things to the point of violence, but punches (and a chair) were thrown, hair was pulled and Kenny Omega got bit.
Update on the All Out Backstage Brawl
Here’s the the on the fallout from the backstage melee that occurred after AEW All Out:
Tony Khan has suspended several AEW employees who were in the room for the CM Punk – Elite brawl, according to Brian Last’s The Wrestling News podcast.
Fightful Select reports that several members of the AEW roster expect CM Punk to be released after the way things went down. Several people who would typically side with conspicuously not defending him.
Whether the first punch was thrown by CM Punk or a member of The Elite, there is a feeling that the EVP’s should be setting an example and may even lose their titles as a disciplinary measure. (via Steve Muehlhausen)
CM Punk and Kenny Omega had a conversation after things calmed down. However, the talk is not believed to have been productive.
This is a developing story and we’ll provide additional updates as new information becomes available.
Since Triple H took over as Head of WWE’s Creative, the promotion has undergone several changes.
Fans have seen several returns from Superstars released under the previous regime, with Karrion Kross, Dakota Kai, Hit Row, Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis all being rehired.
WWE has also relaxed rules against some ‘banned’ words, allowing terms like wrestler and hospital to make it to air.
Nikki A.S.H, No More?
During this week’s Monday Night Raw, Nikki A.S.H and Doudrop came up short in their efforts to become WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Losing to Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah, this loss came mere days after the pair of Scottish Superstars failed to capture the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships at Worlds Collide.
During a segment backstage, where Damage CTRL were walking to the ring, Nikki could be seen berating Doudrop, and ripped her mask off and threw it at her tag team partner.
Nikki stormed off, and on Twitter, reacted to a video of the clip.
If Nikki A.S.H does revert back to Nikki Cross, she’ll be the latest WWE Superstar to undergo a change.
With Vince McMahon retired, multiple Superstars have had their names changed to monikers used earlier in their careers.
Austin Theory and Tommaso Ciampa both lost their first names as part of a McMahon-era rule against talent using real names.
On last week’s SmackDown, Butch, who previously wrestled as Pete Dunne, competed in his Dunne-era attire.
While Nikki did use part of her real name while working as Nikki Cross (her real name is Nikki Glencross) it is not believed that her name change last year was part of the rule.
The rock and wrestling connection remains strong. No band knows that better than Shinedown. This popular band is taking the charts by storm with their latest album “Planet Zero,” which brought them a 19th number one on Active Rock. Their smash “Daylight,” also gave them their 18th Mainstream Rock number one. We’re talking the most in the 41-year history of the chart’s existence.
Helping them over time no doubt is the exposure that comes when six of their songs play on WWE shows. This includes WrestleMania, and for quite a while, Raw every Monday night. Shinedown’s Zach Myers got a sense of the company’s reach very quickly.
“You’ll be on a day off in Albuquerque and go to a restaurant,” Myers recalled. “I look like I’m in a band I guess, so they’ll ask what band I’m in. I’ll say Shinedown. They’ll respond with, ‘Yeah, you guys were the Raw theme song for two years.’ It’s really cool to have that relationship.”
Myers along with lead singer Brent Smith, Barry Kerch, and Eric Bass have had wrestlers at their shows. They’ve also been at WWE events. Friendships have formed, built on mutual respect and exchange of fandoms.
On August 28, frontman and Knoxville, TN, native Smith was surprised with the key to Knox County, presented by mayor Glenn Jacobs (aka professional wrestler Kane) on stage during the band’s show at Thompson-Boling Arena. Through their relationship with the WWE, Shinedown guitarist Zach Myers and the band’s head of security John Guarnieri helped to plan this special honor for Brent with the mayor’s office. The key was crafted by students at Brent’s alma mater South Doyle High School. PRESS HERE to watch.
“The parallels between those two universes are way more similar than most people realize,” Myers said. “I would go even further as to say there is a percentage of our fans that came from the wrestling world…I think a percentage of our global fan base has come from that which is really cool. It’s always really nice. We were never the cool band. We were never on MTV. We were never on VH1. We kind of made our own cool. We are a radio band that just did the work live and really gained fans from radio and our live shows.”
Myers will make it a point to attend shows when he is home when WWE is in town. Even before being part of rock’s go-to hitmakers, the musician has been a longtime fan.
“I was at one of the Raw’s Hulk Hogan came back after being gone for a long time,” he reminisces. “I remember seeing WCW a long time ago with one of Goldberg’s first appearances when I was younger. They take care of us as we go now. We’re usually in the front row. It’s always super fun. I’m a big shoe guy, so I remember when Hulk Hogan came out in his Jordans. I have been there for a lot of them. It has been really cool to see.”
He admittedly doesn’t follow as much on TV anymore. Touring the world is not only Shinedown but Smith & Myers, Hanson, and other music projects will take up a lot of time. Not to mention being a dad.
“I have two kids, and I’m dad-ing full-time when I’m not on the road,” Myers explained. “When the live events come, I’ll usually backtrack Peacock for a couple of weeks. My younger brother is seven years younger than me. He is super into it still. So we go and he’ll catch me up on what’s going on.”
Photo Credit: Sanjay Parikh
When asked who the biggest Shinedown fans in pro wrestling are, Myers runs down a number of top stars. Everyone from Triple H to Fozzy’s own Chris Jericho, who has been a friend of his for 15 years. Memories start flooding back.
“We did WrestleMania in Chicago, the pre-event at House of Blues,” Myers said. “WrestleMania does the whole weekend wherever they are. John Cena came and a bunch of people came. There is a very early photo of us with John Cena. He looked great. We did not. This is the old days of Shinedown when we weren’t as healthy as we are now. [Happy] Corbin and I are really close. Not even through wrestling. We met each other through wrestling, but we are both cooks. We both love barbecue and cooking outdoors to the point that we actually discussed doing a show together and pitching a show to a network.
Then there was the time he crossed paths with his favorite legend in red and yellow.
“I got to meet Hulk Hogan one time. He said he knew who Shinedown was,” he added. Whether he was lying to me or not, that was cool for me …We were walking in Target the other day and my son saw the wrestling action figures and they did this legend’s remake thing…He pointed to one. I said, “That’s dada’s favorite wrestler of all time. It came full circle for me.
“I told my wife that when he turns 7 I think I’ll let him start watching. He has a brother two years younger than him, and they fight enough for my taste. Wrestling would add more fuel to the fire. I think next year I’ll start him at events.”
“Planet Zero” is out now. See Shinedown when they come to a city near you!
A former AEW star is calling out CM Punk for a shoot fight.
During a recent interview with The Undisputed Podcast, former AEW star Bobby Fish called for a competitive fight against CM Punk.
Fish isn’t very concerned with what the rules are, as he’s willing to fight Punk in boxing, kickboxing, or mixed martial arts (MMA).
“Let’s just make this a formal invitation to Phil [CM Punk]. Yeah, I’m down. If that’s the direction he wants to go and I mean, he could pick the time, the place, we can do it in Chicago. Yeah, that would be kind of fun, right? It can be boxing, it could be kickboxing, it can be MMA.
“I mean sh*t, we can do this bareknuckle. Whatever sounds good to Phil. He can pick the weight, he can pick the place like I said. I mean whatever he wants to do but yeah, let’s make it official. Like come on Phil [Fish chuckled].”
“Oh, they are atrocious [Fish described Punk’s kicks]. Well, you said what you heard on the sheets was that he came out throwing haymakers. He didn’t come out throwing kicks, because he ain’t hitting anybody with those [Fish laughed].”
Fish claims that during his time in AEW he actually tried to get AEW president Tony Khan to give him permission to do a fight several times.
Of course, he had no success on that front. Now, he’s hoping he can land a fight with Punk, who, for the time being, is under contract with AEW.
“So truth be told, since May, I have tried to get Tony Khan to sit down with me no less than five times to ask permission to do a kickboxing fight.
“It was actually something that I talked to other people in the company about but I could never nail Tony down and in Tony’s defense, he’s a busy man, especially on TV days, it is what it is but I wanted permission to do a fight and I couldn’t get there with Tony so now, it’s no secret, I don’t need anyone’s permission at this point so yeah, let’s make this sh*t official Phil… I’ll do you one better. Phil, let’s f*cking go! [Fish laughed] I think that’s how someone else would say it.”
We have some backstage news to pass along regarding Braun Strowman returning to WWE.
As noted, on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, Braun Strowman made his return to the company.
Strowman made a surprise appearance during the Fatal-Four Way Number One Contenders tag team match between The New Day, Alpha Academy, Los Lotharios, and The Street Profits.
Strowman came out and laid out everybody before celebrating with the crowd. PWInsider reports that, despite returning on RAW, Strowman will be used as a member of the SmackDown Live roster. He’s also slated to be used as a babyface.
The former WWE Universal Champion’s first run with WWE began back in 2013 as a member of The Wyatt Family. After several years with the faction, Strowman began a singles career in 2016.
That run saw him feud with top stars the likes of Roman Reigns, winning the WWE Universal Title, Intercontinental Title, and RAW Tag Team Titles. He’s also a former Money In The Bank winner, and an Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner.
Strowman was released from WWE in June of 2021 due to budget cuts. During his time away from WWE, Strowman still competed in professional wrestling on the independent circuit for the Control Your Narrative promotion.
Now, he’s back with WWE and could potentially rejoin the World Title picture as a potential opponent for Roman Reigns.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque has been promoted once again. WWE issued a press release on Tuesday announcing Levesque will now serve as the company’s Chief Content Officer.
In a press release sent in to SEScoops, we’ve learned the responsibilities Triple H’s new role entails.
As Chief Content Officer, Levesque will oversee Creative Writing, Talent Relations, Live Events, Talent Development and Creative Services. The role will report to WWE co-CEO Nick Khan.
WWE also touted a 15% spike in Raw viewership since Triple H took over the creative reigns from Vince McMahon, as well as double-digit gains in social media activity.
Triple H issued the following statement regarding his promotion:
“WWE is one of the most prolific producers of premium content in the world and I look forward to this amazing opportunity,” said Levesque. “Having spent my entire career in this business, I’m confident that we have the right pieces in place to continue to grow our audience and deliver for our fans around the world.”
Triple H Making Big Changes to WWE
New WWE President & CFO
Additionally, Frank A. Riddick III has been promoted to be WWE’s new President and Chief Financial Officer. Riddick joined WWE as Chief Financial Officer last year, after serving on the company’s Board of Directors for more than 13 years and previously holding the role of interim CFO.
As President & CFO, Riddick will oversee Financial Planning & Analysis, Strategy, Controllership, Investor Relations, Tax, Data Analytics, Technology, Event Travel and Facilities. He will jointly report to WWE Chairwoman & co-CEO Stephanie McMahon and co-CEO Nick Khan.
“I’ve had the great fortune of working closely with the talented people at WWE in a variety of capacities over the past 15 years,” said Riddick. “Along with Steph, Nick and Paul, we look forward to executing our ambitious plans and delivering for our shareholders.”
“We are excited to announce expanded roles for Paul and Frank, which will enhance WWE’s ability to create premium content for our partners around the world and, ultimately, drive our business forward,” said McMahon and Khan.
Solo Sikoa is ready to take his rightful place alongside The Bloodline this Friday on WWE SmackDown.
The younger brother of The Usos (and cousin of Roman Reigns) has been making a name for himself in NXT since his arrival in October 2021. After weeks of rumors that he’s headed to the main roster, Sikoa appeared in the main event of Saturday’s Clash at the Castle premium live event.
Sikoa instantly proved his usefulness to Reigns by getting involved when it counted the most. With Drew McIntyre seconds away from dethroning Reigns, Sikoa emerged and pulled the referee out of the ring and interrupted what could have been the deciding pinfall.
Solo Sikoa Joins the Bloodline
Just because Solo Sikoa helped Roman Reigns retain the Undisputed WWE Universal championship, that doesn’t guarantee he will officially join the Bloodline faction.Well, WWE is now advertising exactly that.
WWE has published a teaser video hyping Friday’s SmackDown titled, “The Bloodline’s family grows.” The voiceover on the video states, “This Friday, Acknowledge a Bigger, Badder Bloodline.”
In his first public statement since Clash at the Castle, Sikoa replied to the Smackdown teaser on social media by writing, “[Blood] comes first. Always.”
“I was was going to do something with Gable Stevenson and try to get him launched and get going. When they told me I was like, ‘Okay.'”
Triple H on plans for him at WrestleMania 38.
Triple H added that then-WWE CEO Vince McMahon was counting on an appearance by his son-in-law, who needed “the attraction” of the former World Heavyweight Champion.
However, Stephanie McMahon was reportedly against the idea of Triple H doing anything physical with Steveson, and the idea was later scrapped.
Going Cold
Instead of tangling with Triple H, Steveson appeared at WrestleMania: Saturday, having an in-ring segment with the Street Profits and RK-Bro.
WWE signed Steveson last year, with huge expectations for the Olympic Gold Medalist, who was drafted to Raw last October.
According to recent reports, WWE has gone cold on Steveson, as he’s not shown the level of improvement in training expected of him.
While WWE had plans to fast-track Steveson to the main roster, his name hasn’t come up in creative meetings in months.
Sunday’s All Out pay-per-view was another successful outing for AEW. The matches were well-received, we’ve got a new AEW World Champion (CM Punk) and MJF made his highly anticipated return.
Unfortunately, the events that transpired after the show went off the air have been overshadowing AEW’s latest event.
During the post-show media scrum, new AEW World Champion CM Punk lashed out at Colt Cabana and Hangman Page, who he called an “empty-headed f**cking dumb f***.” Punk also trashed AEW’s Executive Vice Presidents (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks), who he said are incapable of managing a Target retail store.
Punk said once again, if you have a problem with him, he’s not hard to find. His locker room door is always open. Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks took this message to heart. They were waiting for Punk in his locker room after Punk finished ranting at the media scrum.
The Fallout
We know a physical altercation occurred involving CM Punk, AEW producer Ace Steel, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. Details are still coming out, as it relates to escalated the situation to the point of violence.
Punches (and a chair) were thrown, hair was pulled and there’s even been reports that Ace Steel bit Kenny Omega. Nick Jackson was seen with a black eye after the melee. The situation is a complete mess and you can be sure consequences will be levied very soon.
AEW has yet comment publicly on what transpired, but we can report that Ace Steel is not expected to stay with the company due to his conduct. Steel has been working as a producer for AEW since earlier this year. Last week on Dynamite, he played a key role in CM Punk agreeing to wrestle Jon Moxley at All Out.
Additionally, we’re told several AEW personnel who were in the room for the altercation have been suspended. For more on this developing story:
When WWE introduced the 24/7 Championship, the title was at first met with criticism from fans.
Fans had been hoping to see the return of the Hardcore Championship, especially as it was Mick Foley (the first Hardcore Champion) who did the unveiling of the 24/7 title.
The title’s design also spawned criticism, though fans got on board with the new championship thanks to comedy segments, many of which featured R-Truth.
The End of the Championship?
The 24/7 Championship has been around for over three years, but fans haven’t seen much of the title as of late.
The most recent televised title match took place on the July 18, 2022, episode of WWE Raw, when Dana Brooke pinned Tamina to win the gold.
This lack of TV time has led to the belief that the title could be quietly retired as part of the new era of WWE.
While the title isn’t being defended on TV, there are still title changes happening at untelevised WWE Live Events
According to a report from Fightful Select, none of those title changes have been acknowledged, which has fueled belief that the title is finished.
It is not confirmed whether or not Triple H is planning on retiring the title or if he will just be using it for live event purposes.
Replicas of the WWE 24/7 Championship are still available on WWE’s merchandise website.
The current Champion is Dana Brooke, who is in her seventh official reign as Champion, but has held the title several times more than that by winning at WWE Live events.
In 1997, Joan Laurer debated in the WWF, introduced as Chyna: the imposing bodyguard for D-Generation X.
Chyna’s career would see her become a two-time Intercontinental Champion (the only woman to win the title), as well as a one-time Women’s Champion and the only woman to enter the King of the Ring tournament.
After her 2001 departure, Chyna was never welcomed back to the company before her death in April 2016.
Survivor’s Guilt
One Superstar who worked closely with Chyna is ‘Road Dogg’ Jesse James, who often teamed with the Ninth Wonder of the World in DX.
Speaking on his ‘Oh You Didn’t Know’ podcast, James said that he recently filmed content for an A&E Biographies: WWE Legends episode about the deceased wrestler.
Road Dogg said he got emotional thinking about Chyna, and how like her, he too had problems with drugs and other substances, but is still alive (via Wrestling Inc.)
“They came to my house and I didn’t think I was gonna, I was gonna cry, but it got me, man. Some of that survivor’s guilt comes back, you know what I mean? … I did every horrible thing she ever did, why me? … It got me yesterday and the guy said, ‘Oh, man, that’s gonna be good TV.'”
“I did every horrible thing she ever did, why me?”
Road Dogg Jesse James on questioning why he’s alive and Chyna isn’t.
The Hall of Fame
For years, WWE tried to downplay Chyna’s influence, arguing that her career in pornography meant that she could not be acknowledged by the PG-rated promotion.
In recent years, WWE has done a U-turn and now celebrates Chyna, inducting her posthumously into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
While Chyna is worthy of the induction, fans criticized that she was being inducted as part of DX and not as a singles Superstar.
There have been calls for Chyna to receive a second induction, with WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley saying he believes it should happen.
The Miz has been tormented by Dexter Lumis for the past few weeks.
Dexter has dragged The A-Lister out of an arena, hidden in the back of his car, and now he’s kidnapped The Miz once again. Lumis arrived in epic fashion during tonight’s main event. Bobby Lashley put the United States Championship on the line against The Miz inside a Steel Cage.
Tommaso Ciampa was ringside for the match and kept hitting the champion with cheap shots. The Miz appeared to have the match won when Dexter Lumis slid out from under the ring in an awesome camera shot. The A-Lister scurried back into the ring and got hit with a Spear from Lashley for the pinfall victory. Lashley is still the United States Champion.
Dexter Lumis Kidnaps The Miz After RAW Goes off the Air
Dexter climbed up the steel cage as The Miz desperately tried to get away and crawl towards the steel door. Lumis caught up to Miz and choked him out in the middle of the ring. He then patted Miz on top of the head as if he was pet as RAW went off the air.
After RAW ended, the steel cage was brought up and Dexter took the opportunity to kidnap the 2-time WWE Champion. He slid out of the ring like a snake before dragging The Miz to the outside. Dexter put The Miz over his shoulder and walked backstage.
Johnny Gargano made his return to WWE recently after spending nine months as a free agent.
He and his wife, former NXT Superstar Candice LeRae, welcomed a baby into the family and exited the company. Johnny returned on the August 22nd edition of WWE RAW from Toronto, Canada. He got a tremendous reaction from the crowd and claimed that he wanted to become Intercontinental Champion, United States Champion, and perform at WrestleMania and WWE was the only place to do that.
Money in the Bank winner Theory, now known as Austin Theory, interrupted and got a Superkick to the face.
Johnny Gargano’s Return Match Announced For RAW Next Week
Gargano was interviewed backstage tonight during RAW and was interrupted by Theory once again. Austin attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract during the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship at Clash at the Castle between Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre.
Both WWE Superstars were down and it appeared that he picked the perfect time to cash in. Unfortunately for Theory, he was unable to cash in because he received a massive right hand to the face courtesy of Tyson Fury.
The 25-year-old came up short once again tonight against Kevin Owens and was pissed off when he interrupted Gargano’s interview backstage. Johnny announced that he will be returning to the ring next week to Theory but did not name him as the opponent.
Next week live on Monday Night RAW, Johnny Wrestling after nine months returns to in-ring action.
