According to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the reason WWE booked Dolph Ziggler to vacate the United States Championship title and seemingly “walk out” on the company’s is the latest attempt to re-boot his character again.

This attempt comes weeks after another failed attempt when he was wrote off television for a while to try to repackage him.

The post Reason WWE Booked Dolph Ziggler to Vacate the United States Championship appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Austin welcomes Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake to the show.

Beefcake informs that he was working for about 7 years when he got the call to work for WWE. Vince McMahon Jr. had taken over the company from his father by this point, and he quickly established a good working relationship with him. He was very intimidated by all the McMahons at first, but after getting to know them he had a great relationship with all of them.

Austin asks Beefcake about the origins of his name and gimmick. Beefcake informs that his initial name was supposed to be ‘Baron Beefcake’, and his ring gear would include a top hat and tuxedo. As he, McMahon and other WWE officials were brainstorming ideas someone suggested ‘Brutus’ and that’s the name that stuck.

He admits that he wasn’t fond of the ‘Brutus Beefcake’ name. Working for WWE was his big break and he feared that with a name like that, people would laugh at him and wouldn’t take him seriously. McMahon didn’t like the name either, but they proceeded with that nonetheless.

Soon ‘The Barber’ idea came about, and that’s what really got people’s attention in his opinion. With a crazy name like “Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake” he knew that he had to act crazy in order to live the gimmick. He thinks that McMahon fell in love with the character when he started to see the fans’ reaction to him.

The post The Steve Austin Show Recap w/ Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake – Developing ‘Barber’ Gimmick, Backstage Notes Surrounding WrestleMania I, Parasailing Accident, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

X-Pac opens today’s show by speaking about the arrival of ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy in WWE. He says he was quite excited to see Hardy finally debut this character in WWE, and he’s a huge fan of it. He informs that he spoke with Hardy recently, and they laughed over him admitting to being concerned about Hardy when he saw the initial tweets and videos from TNA. X-Pac thought Hardy had legitimate lost his mind.

X-Pac says he’s intrigued to see what Don Callis (formerly WWE’s Cyrus) can bring to the table as co-Executive Direction of Impact Wrestling moving forward. He adds that he knows the value of Scott D’Amore as he’s been a big fan of D’Amore for a long time, but he’s curious to see what Callis can accomplish in this role.

Commenting on the news that The Rock is receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame later this month, X-Pac says that it’s “bullshit” that The Rock and Vince McMahon are the only two wrestling-related personalities who have received stars on the Walk of Fame. Other stars such as Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and Steve Austin do not have stars on the Walk of Fame.

The post X-Pac 1, 2, 360 Recap w/ Austin Aries – ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy Debuts, Aries’ WrestleMania Debut, Returning to TNA? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Matt Morgan recently spoke with the Wrestling Inc. Podcast. Here are some highlights from the interview:

WWE officials telling him to start wearing a mask to improve his character: “They put a mask on me, first they said because it was going to improve my body language. What? Anyways, you shut up and do what you’re told. So I went to wrestling practice with a hood and a mask, and then I’d be on TV with a mask,” Morgan explained. “So Jim Cornette was like, ‘How the hell do I explain this? You’re the top babyface, you’re the champion, what do I do?’ So I lost a Loser Leaves Town match, come back as The Blueprint and wear a hood and I’m not Matt Morgan anymore, I’m just The Blueprint.”

The mask being part of the plan to turn him into Kane’s Brother: “The cool part was they were going to turn this into, I was gonna be Kane’s brother Abel,” Morgan said. “And I would’ve killed for that! I would’ve worn a hood gladly for that just because I’m a huge ‘Taker and Kane fan. What leads to Kane leads to ‘Taker, right? Nine-year-old Matt Morgan inside was going bananas.”

So what happened?: “Vince (McMahon) stepped in and came up with stuttering Matt Morgan.”

The post Original Plans Revealed for Kane to Have Another Brother on WWE Television appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

According to PWInsider, Impact Wrestling has decided internally that they will no longer be pursuing the “BROKEN” gimmick moving forward. This will allow Matt Hardy to trademark the use of the characters and use them whichever way he pleases.

Speaking of the BROKEN gimmick, Anthem released the following statement to Sports Illustrated regarding WWE using it:

“We have seen the character development and will be interested to see where they take the concept. Our new talent agreements all incorporate language that allow talent to continue to use their IMPACT persona after they leave the company. We are working with our legal team to amend our existing agreements to extend this to all of our current and former talent.”

The post Impact Wrestling No Longer Pursuing “BROKEN” Character from Matt Hardy appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Austin informs that the Ric Flair 30 for 30 documentary brought back so many great memories for him because he grew up watching and wanting to be Ric Flair. In the early part of his career he even modelled his character off of Flair, but he admits that he couldn’t come close to what Flair accomplished with that type of character. He says that Flair is his favourite professional wrestler, and he considers Flair to be the greatest of all time.

He considers Flair’s career to be amazing because of the length of his in-ring career as well as the things he was able accomplish throughout the years. He was a travelling World Champion who’d work 60-minute broadways night after night before transitioning into the later part of his career in WCW and WWE, where he’d go on to entertain another generation of fans.

Austin says it was great to see Hulk Hogan give Flair so much praise during the film because those two men were presented as bitter enemies and fierce rivals throughout the entirety of their careers. They shared the prime of their careers but they really weren’t ever enemies, and it was wonderful to hear how much respect Hogan has for Flair.

The post The Steve Austin Show Unleashed Recap – Ric Flair 30 for 30 Documentary, WM13 Match Against Bret Hart, Dangers of Getting ‘Colour’, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

It looks like Neville may be making his return to WWE, despite reports of him asking for his release from the company.

According to PWInsider, recent talks between WWE and Neville have been positive and he could be returning to the company before the end of the month. One source close to the situation says that Neville could even be back even as early as this week but we won’t know for sure just yet.

As previously reported, Neville wasn’t happy with the direction of his character on WWE television and had a disagreement. There were reports that Neville didn’t like having to lose to Enzo Amore on several occasions but that actually wasn’t the case as the two have reportedly became close friends.

WWE sources denied reports that he was released from the company but he was later removed from the opening for 205 Live. At that time, Neville had pushed for a release from the company and wanted to build his name outside of WWE. Neville was never released and now it appears that the two sides could come to terms for his return.

The post Neville Returning to WWE Soon? appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Joey Ryan recently spoke with Sports Illustrated. Here are some highlights from the interview:

How he’s doing financially compared to if he worked for WWE: “Right now, I know I’m making above average WWE money, and I’m making my own rules and setting my own schedule. That’s if they were to approach me; if they don’t approach, then that’s OK, too.”

Whether his character would work in a PG-rated WWE: “If Vince is still taking headbutts, then he could definitely take this, too. But in the PG-era of WWE, I don’t think the Joey Ryan character would be doing anything with the penis in WWE. The super, powerful penis would not be part of his repertoire in WWE. I don’t think that’s the place for it.”

His status with Lucha Underground: “I wouldn’t mind starting my own 21-0 WrestleMania streak. But fingers crossed, I’d love to see Lucha Underground have a season four. Lucha Underground has the right to pick up my contract, and I would love to be a part of it. Opportunities come my way, and I try to make the best of them.”

The post Joey Ryan: I’m Making “Above Average WWE Money” on The Indies appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

While speaking to In Touch to promote her new book, Charlotte revealed that best advice that she has ever received from her father Ric Flair was to know her character and to believe in herself.

“To go to bed every night knowing who you are and I guess that could be professional as well, but professionally the best advice was, ‘When you go through that curtain, you have to know exactly who you are as a character and believe in yourself, because if you don’t the fans won’t buy it from the second you walk through that curtain.’”

You can check out her full interview here.

The post Charlotte Reveals the Best Advice Ric Flair Has Given Her appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Charlotte recently spoke with The Los Angeles Times. Here are some highlights from the interview:

Advice to people wanting to become wrestlers: “First and foremost, go to school, go to college and get your education. Because I am living proof that it doesn’t really matter how old you are when you start. I started very late in the game and it hasn’t changed my path to success. Secondly, if it is something you are still passionate about after college, then get in contact with the WWE performance center and find out when their tryouts are. Go to a tryout and see what you need to work on. But when you do go, know it is more about showing off who you are as a person and your personality and are you coachable versus ‘Hey, I’ve got all these moves and I’m athletic!’”

Currently working as a face: “I do miss the evil queen, but I think that my on-camera relationship with Becky is allowing the audience to see a softer side of the queen. For two years I was so intense and stern and always in the title picture. I think now the audience gets to take a breath of fresh air with me, so when I do turn into the evil queen again, they are ready for it. It’s a nice break right now for my character and for the audience.”

Working with Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch: “Yes! I think part of our success is because we don’t necessarily do this to be stars. We work together as superstars to change the game for women, so we never lose touch with why we are doing this. But I am traveling the world with my best friend in a car 90% of the time. Getting lost, getting in car accidents, eating at random places in the middle of the night. So, it is that great.”

The post Charlotte Misses Being a Heel on WWE Programming appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.