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There were reports surfacing online this week regarding Shelton Benjamin possibly returning to WWE, however that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Shelton Benjamin has not re-signed with WWE as of earlier this week. If his status changes, we will keep you updated.
Many of you have noticed that Billy Gunn has been using his WWE name outside of the company and are wondering how he’s getting away with that.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that he is now allowed to use the name “Billy Gunn” because WWE did not continue the trademark. When they let it go, he trademarked it himself and he now owns the rights to the name worldwide.
Kurt Angle talked about the success of GLOW on his recent interview with the Dallas Observer recently.
He talked about GLOW’s recent popularity which led wrestling into mainstream environment again, and the main event women’s matches:
I would say that GLOW’s popularity had an influence on us having women’s main event matches. But the WWE has been working on their women’s division for years, and we’ve already been leading up to having the girls main event TV shows.
A few years ago, WWE made the decision to stop referring to the women wrestlers as “divas.” When I was in WWE the first go-round, the women were having bikini pillow fights and it was all about the look of the girl. Now it’s all about their in-ring ability. GLOW is helping bring more attention to wrestling and women’s wrestling in particular. I think people who watch WWE will watch GLOW and vice-versa.
GLOW is Netflix’s latest show which is based on a promotion of the same name, called Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. The show was released via Netflix on June 23, 2017.
As previously reported, there is speculation that the beginning to the end of The Hype Bros is currently on-going on WWE programming after Mojo Rawley eliminated Zack Ryder from the Independence Day Battle Royal Tuesday night.
Bryan Alvarez discussed the Battle Royal on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio and said it’s obvious that the team is splitting up. It’s believed that Zack will be the one to turn heel on Mojo in their on-going storyline.
We noted back in May via Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE has plans to push Mojo as a single’s star. Dave Meltzer indicated at the time that the company would probably split the team once Ryder got back from injury and it now appears that those plans are in place.
As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, WWE announced that John Cena would face Rusev in a flag match at the upcoming WWE Battleground event. Bryan Alvarez speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live that the reason WWE decided to have a flag match between the two was in case they decide to have Rusev win.
“The Flag match is essentially the professional wrestling version of capture the flag. For the match two flags are placed on opposite turnbuckles, each representing a specific wrestler or team of wrestlers, and the object of the match is to retrieve the opponent’s flag and raise it while defending the flag in the wrestler’s corner.”
According to the rules (seen above), the match will conclude when a specific wrestler retrieves the flag of their opponent. This means Cena doesn’t have to actually be pinned to lose the match. Historically, WWE normally has gimmick matches as a blow-off match in a feud or as an “out” for a screwy finish.
The Hardy Boyz’ “BROKEN” gimmick may be appearing on WWE programming shortly.
Dave Meltzer reported on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that The Hardy Boyz and Anthem Sports are close to reaching a deal for Matt & Jeff Hardy to use the “BROKEN” gimmick outside of the now-GFW promotion. Meltzer didn’t specify exactly what the terms of the deal would be, but indicated that a deal will be reached soon.
We will keep you updated if we receive any more details on the on-going negotiations between The Hardys and Anthem.
As previously reported, SummerSlam was expected to be headlined by Braun Strowman vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Title this year. Those plans have changed and WWE has decided to go a different direction, according to the Wrestling Observer.
Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that Lesnar vs. Strowman is not the plan anymore. Meltzer mentioned that Lesnar will defend his WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns or Samoa Joe at SummerSlam instead of Strowman.
If WWE decides to book Reigns against Lesnar at SummerSlam, it’s expected that Roman will carry the championship all the way until WrestleMania 34, where he would then defend it against the “free agent” John Cena. This could be one of the reasons as to why Cena is now working both RAW and SmackDown Live shows.
Dave Meltzer mentioned on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE will be writing Sheamus off television in the near future.
The story is that Sheamus has a role in the upcoming “Buddy Games” film and shooting for the movie takes place sometime in August. It’s believed that Sheamus will be written off television around that time. Meltzer indicated that Sheamus could be off of television for around six weeks or however long the shooting for the film is.
We will keep you updated if we hear anymore details.
Cody Rhodes is the new ROH Champion after last night’s Best in The World pay-per-view event. However, the Grandson of A Plumber was busted open early on into the match by his opponent, Christopher Daniels.
According to Wrestling Observer, the American Nightmare needed six stitches on his busted upper lip. A headbutt by Daniels is the cause of this minor injury.
Former Ring of Honor wrestler Bobby Fish has been spotted at Full Sail University, which NXT tapings.
According to our correspondent at the event sent word that he was seen speaking to producer Ryan Katz. While it’s not confirmed, it is very possible that he could make his debut at tonight’s tapings. As of this writing it is unknown if he signed a deal with the company. It’s worth noting that The Wrestling Observer reported back in March that he didn’t want to sign a full-time deal with ROH because it may tamper with his chances of getting hired on by WWE.
We will keep you posted if we find anything out.