Your Daily Source to Wrestling News
Ahead of tonight’s NXT Live Event at the Download Festival in England, Pete Dunne attacked Mark Andrews at a concert. Andrews was able to recover and flipped off the stage, taking Dunne out. The two are scheduled to face later today for the WWE UK Championship.
Here is footage from the flip:
While speaking to Josh Barnett of USA Today, Austin Aries addressed reports that he was taking time off from WWE soon. He explained that the quote from the interview he was featured in was taken out of context.
“If you look at the full quote and what I said was, Everyone is dealing with various stuff,” Aries said. “I don’t think there is anyone in the locker room is 100%. We’re all nicked and banged up to various degrees. Like anything else, you pick and choose the times you need address when it needs to be addressed and some times are better than others. I figure no matter what interview I do, the real good ‘journalists’ are going to find the completely irrelevant quotes that will drum up some controversy and stick it on their page to get some clicks and completely miss the real context of what the interview is about. That’s what we do nowadays and call it ‘journalism.’”
While the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported last week that Nakumara was the favorite to win the Money in the Bank briefcase this year, betting odds would have you thinking otherwise.
Early betting odds suggest that Baron Corbin will be leaving the June 18th as the rightful holder of the briefcase. Here are the odds for the match:
* Baron Corbin -165
* Kevin Owens +500
* AJ Styles +600
* Sami Zayn +600
* Shinsuke Nakamura +700
* Dolph Ziggler +2500
A listener calls into the show and points out that the promo graphic for Great Balls of Fire somewhat resembles a penis and two testicles. Taz says that this has been brought up online already and it’s hard to deny the resemblance. He says that WWE has a graphic design team that does all the work for PPV graphics, but Vince McMahon has to approve everything.
Taz says that he just chooses to look at that logo and see a literal ball of fire, but some people might choose to see other things. Either way, it’s an interesting piece of graphic design work without a doubt.
Another listener calls into the show and says that WWE should change the Cruiserweight division to a Light Heavyweight division. Taz says that if they did that they’d still have all the same issues that the Cruiserweight division has, because more than the name needs to change. Taz says that the specific Cruiserweight branding with purple ropes and aprons simply isn’t working.
In addition, filming 205 Live after Smackdown Live isn’t working either. Taz says that WWE needs to change their approach to the Cruiserweights and start filming 205 Live at Full Sail University. He also doesn’t mind the idea of WWE merging the Cruiserweights into the main roster, where they can also challenge for WWE Titles such as the United States Title and Intercontinental Title.
Bischoff opens today’s show speaking about Bruce Prichard’s recent episode of ‘Something to Wrestle With’, which focused on Bischoff’s time in WWE.
Bischoff says that he thinks about his initial WWE interview quite often, when Vince McMahon asked him to interview a broom. He didn’t know that Bruce Prichard was there that day; in fact he couldn’t even see McMahon, he only heard his voice. Looking back now, he thinks this was a genius move by McMahon because by putting people in uncomfortable positions, you’re able to test their confidence and see their ability to improvise.
When Hogan arrived in WCW, Bischoff says that he and Hogan spoke often about his departure from WWE. From Bischoff’s perspective it was easy to see that there was a strong personal relationship between Hogan and McMahon. Although they had their differences, Hogan seemed to regret the way everything played out, and Bischoff didn’t sense any distain or hatred from Hogan when he was talking about McMahon. It was easy to see that there was still some affection there.
During his show, Prichard said that he believes McMahon would have done a lot of the same things Bischoff did during the Monday Night Wars if the roles were reversed, such as giving away the finishes of taped matches.
Gail Kim recently did an interview with Kevin Eck of Pressbox Online. Here are a couple of highlights from the interview:
Tell me about the nature of your back injury and how you’re feeling now.
“My back was injured just basically from wear and tear over the years. Luckily, Impact has been so good to me in terms of letting me take time off to make sure I’m healthy and never making me feel bad about it. I’ve been ready to come back for a little while but [Impact Wrestling] has had some time off because we film a bunch of shows once a month or once every other month, so that’s the only reason why I haven’t been back in the ring, but I’m going to be back shortly.”
You’re not under contract with at Impact at the moment, correct?
“Technically, no, but I have a contract in hand. I won’t ever go anywhere else. That’s my family.”
Have you given thought to how much longer you’d like to wrestle?
“Those questions have popped in my head. We kind of incorporated it into the storyline, and I guess we teased [retirement]. People really thought I retired because we never really continued it or explained it; I just really got injured and never came back, so people assumed I was retired. I said, “No, you will know when I’m retired. I wouldn’t go away that quietly.”
Click here for the full interview.
Pro Wrestling Elite announced today that Alberto El Patron will no longer be appearing on their July 21st and 22nd events. They posted the following on their Facebook page:
***BREAKING NEWS – MAJOR CHANGE TO JULY EVENTS***
It is with regret we have to inform our fans that Alberto El Patron will no longer be appearing at our 6 Year Anniversary weekend of events on Friday and Saturday the 21st and 22nd of July.
It is due to various factors that we are unable to bring you the advertised appearance and match with Alberto, and for this we are very sorry. We would like to wish Alberto El Patron well, and hope that we may be able to work with him in the future.
Please be assured we are working round the clock to bring you suitable changes to combat this disappointment and we kindly ask your patience and understanding at this time.
Thank you.
Ross opens today’s show by speaking about the fact that wrestling commentary teams continue to document the length of every Title reign. He can only assume that the higher-ups in each promotion want to have those stats discussed, but it’s starting to bother Ross because he doesn’t think it’s a necessary talking point.
He says that he was pleased to see Samoa Joe emerge victorious form the Fatal 5-way match at Extreme Rules, because he thinks a match between Joe and Brock Lesnar is a real money maker. He can’t wait to see how WWE decides to book this program because if it’s done correctly, Ross thinks this can be a massive success for Joe, Lesnar and WWE as a whole.
Ross thought that all five men in that Fatal 5-way match came out of it stronger than they went into it. All five competitors had their chance to shine and none of them were really sacrificed to highlight another. He gives each man credit for carrying their weight Sunday night and delivering a terrific match.
Smith Hart announced on Facebook that he has entered Hospice Care. For those not aware, he’s the eldest child of Stu & Helen Hart and has been battling terminal prostate cancer in recent months.
Here is the announcement:
“I am now more comfortable after being moved into Hospice care. I would like to end any strife or suffering I have been involved with over my life. To anyone and everyone, cherish the moments you have in this world. Do not waste your time with hate or anger. To anyone I have offended, mistreated or been at odds with, please accept my humblest of apologies. While I may not have always been everyone’s cup of tea, I always did my best to be the person I was most inspired by, my father. I would also like to thank my dear friend Carl Leduc, for making the visit from Montreal to come see me. It meant the world and I really like the new phone.”
Former WWE Diva Kelly Kelly posted this photo and message on Instagram reflecting on her visit to Afghanistan years ago with WWE:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUsH-BulZE1/
One male fan didn’t like her post and wrote the following response:
“Hahaha you post a picture of yourself on #MemorialDay could you be anymore of a self centered worthless pig?”
Her husband Sheldon Souray had the following remarks to say towards the fan’s negative comments:
“looks like you lost a fight with a barbell there you meathead. Does it make you feel like less of a man that a young lady that was/is adored and admired by so many brave men and women protecting our country for dipshits like you?!! Does it bother you that My wife is a young successful powerful woman with a heart of gold that put her life on the line to put a smile on a few faces?! Whatever the reason is that you felt compelled to write a moronic post on her page, just shows what an absolute piece of shit you are. I can’t respond to every big dumb idiot like yourself that trolls a superstar like @thebarbieblank but I couldn’t let it slide that you are a giant clown. So next time your trolling her social media looking at her stunning pictures that her fans really enjoy, keep your mouth shut. It’s hard to be dumber than you look but you’ve proven your point.”
Kelly responded to her husband sticking up for her with the following:
“that’s my man always having my back !!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ love you baby!!!! #killedem @bigguyheat take a walk you troll because my man just showed you whose boss!!!!!”
