Impact Wrestling held the latest round of TV tapings on Thursday night from Orlando, Florida. This show will air next week. Thanks to Jacob Cohen on Twitter for the following recap:

– EC3 out, says he carried this company on his back for 3 years, Prichard told him to look in the mirror and he saw a Demi-God. EC3 will not be pushed aside by any new talents that come to the company. EC3 told all the fans to kiss his ass. At Slammiversary EC3 will once again become the Impact champion because he is the best wrestler anywhere today. Storm out, says he doesn’t blame EC3 for doing what he’s doing because he’s jealous, Storm has been here since day 1. Storm is here because he wants to be, he has been out of the title picture for so long to give young guys a chance. James Storm challenges EC3, says he has to stand on his own because his family is no longer here to protect him. They brawl for a little, EC3 gets a low blow and the upper hand. EC3 tells James Storm to remember “I am a Carter… and this company needs me!”

– CVE retains the GFW Women’s Title by defeating Ava Storie. Ava Storie appears to be legit hurt, hasn’t got up and medical attention is tending to her. Ava is up and walking out with some help.

– Grand Championship match up next, Davey Richards vs Moose, Scott D’Amore is one of the judges. Moose vs Davey has gone to a decision, Eddie ran in to attack Davey right after the bell. Moose came out with 2 guys (presumably athletes) one of them bodyslammed Davey, the results of the match were not announced.

– Swoggle and Spud schtick in the ring, ended with Spud accidentally removing Swoggle’s Pants.

– Kongo Kong won a squash.

– A new tag team was introduced, the Veterans of War. The team is comprised of Mayweather (a returning Crimson) and Wilcox (Jax Dane). they beat Fallah Bahh and Mario Bokara.

– LAX beat Decay in a street fight. Barbed wire boards and thumb tacks were involved.

Charlotte moving to SmackDown was one of the most significant ‘trades’ during the recent Superstar Shake-Up. During an interview with Brian Fritz of SportingNews.com, Charlotte gave her thoughts on moving to WWE’s blue brand.

“I’ve established myself on Raw so I feel moving to a different brand, the pressure of reestablishing myself with a whole new group of women and figuring out where my character goes on SmackDown.”

Charlotte continued, “I can’t speak for the other women on Raw or SmackDown but I know, for myself, personally, the minute I left Raw Monday night I said to myself SmackDown is the women’s division that you’re gonna want to be on. That’s my mindset. Yes, competition is in full effect because that’s kind of the point of having two brands. Obviously, I want both brands to do well but I’m just that competitive. I want the SmackDown women to do extremely well and let’s see what we can do.”

Head over to SportingNews to check out the full interview.

Discussion: Which brand has the best Women’s Division?

• RAW: Bayley, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, Mickie James, Alicia Fox
• SmackDown: Naomi, Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, Natalya, Carmella, Tamina
• NXT: Asuka, Ember Moon, Liv Morgan, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Aliya, Ruby Riot, Mandy Rose

Women of Wrestling (WOW) might be in a position to make a big splash soon. The promotion has entered into an agreement with MGM television that should increase their production quality and give the brand wider exposure.

WOW is owned and operated by David McLane, creator of the popular GLOW promotion, and Jeanie Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.

WOW and MGM Partnership

A recent press release sent out by the promotion reads as follows:

“By challenging the status quo in transforming women’s wrestling for the past two years, we feel WOW is now positioned for tremendous growth,” said WOW Owner Jeanie Buss. “We are very excited to have MGM’s incredible management team, headed by Chairman and CEO Gary Barber and Mark Burnett, in place to grow our business model.”

Ring of Honor TV
Episode 291
Las Vegas, NV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWVF0UijvS4

1. Caprice Coleman w/Kenny King (the Rebellion) vs. Chris Sabin (Seek and Destroy)

With the Rebellion having been responsible for Alex Shelley being put on the injured list, Sabin was looking for revenge in this singles match against Coleman. Lio Rush came down to ringside to counter Kenny King’s attempts to interfere.
The finish of the match came when Sabin went for a sunset flip, Kenny King attempted to interfere but Lio Rush kicked him away. Sabin rolled up Coleman for 3. It was the exact finish from the Peyton Royce & Billy Kay match on NXT this week.
Winner: Chris Sabin

2. Roppongi Vice (Rocky Romero & Beretta) vs. Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara

The story being told by commentary on this match was that if Cheeseburger and Ferrara could defeat Roppongi Vice they would be in line for the IWGP jr heavyweight titles in Japan due to RV’s history with those belts.
They didn’t win however, Roppongi Vice won the match with their Strong Zero spiked piledriver.
After the match Ferrara didn’t want to shake hands and seemed to be angry with Cheeseburger, so there is some dissension brewing on that team.
Winner: Roppongi Vice

3. Jay White, Jay Lethal, Silas Young & Hangman Page vs. Colt Cabana, Lio Rush, Bobby Fish & Hanson

This was the wild card 8-man tag, where each team was drafted at random. The winning team will face each other at a later event in a 4-way match to determine a new #1 contender for world champion Christopher Daniels.
Page refused to accept a tag from Lethal and left his team near the end of the match. He was jumped by Kazarian on the stage area as he did so, so their feud continues.
Lethal and Rush ended up being the final two in the ring and Lethal hit the Lethal Combination for the win.
Winners: White, Lethal, Young and Page (face each other to determine new #1 contender)

Here is yesterday’s Ring of Honor update with Ian Riccaboni:

Former WWE Superstar Damien Sandow (Aron Stevens) was Sean Waltman’s guest on the latest episode of the X-Pac 12360 podcast. Sandow spoke with X-Pac about his acting career, his future in wrestling and much more. Here are the highlights of what he said about:

Landing his latest movie role:

“I essentially just walked into this casting directors office and it was really strange. I had about two or three previously (Hollywood Meetings) and so I kind of knew. You go in, you sit, you talk about yourself blah blah blah. Shake hands walk out the door, you know on to the next thing… So this guy comes walking in and he goes,” Are you, Aron?” I said, “Yeah.” “Congratulations you’ve just been hired for your first Lions Gate movie.” But I hadn’t auditioned yet so I go, “What?” … the next day I was on set which was a cool experience.“

His future in wrestling:

“ I assure you the boots are not burnt. You know, will I ever lace them up again? Like I don’t know. And see one of the things is like I’m a very transparent person especially with the fans … You know I’m not going to lie and say oh I’ll be back. You know I don’t know if I’ll be back maybe I will maybe I won’t you know. But the one thing is I miss the interaction with the fans, I miss the crowds, and I miss being able to kind of like entertain you know. Just put these weird twists on characters I genuinely do miss that. But again where I’m at in life right now it’s just kind of taken me in a different direction not to say that I won’t end up in a ring again.”

Who created the Damien Sandow character:

“There is no one I respect more than Rip Rogers. You know and in terms of the mind, that man has for the business… In terms of like just how he lays it out in just a simplistic way. And had it not been for Rip Rogers I would have never been the intellectual savior (Damien Sandow) because he, he just taught me how to again simplify everything.”

The backstage reaction to him creating the Miz Stunt Double character on the fly:

“I remember Tyson Kidd of all people who is a good buddy of mine and an awesome guy. He goes, “Did you just put the figure four on the invisible man when Miz did?” I go, “Yup.” He goes, “ That was the greatest thing I’ve seen on the show (Monday Night RAW) in a long time.” And I just said,” Well you know what, watch next week.” After a couple weeks like Vince( McMahon) was like, “ Well I noticed you are mimicking Miz?” “Yup.” “Do whatever you want if it gets too overboard I’ll pull you back. And I just went, “ Okay.”

WWE sent out a press release earlier today unveiling a new Vice President and General Manager of WWE India. This comes just 3 weeks after the company announced WWE Shop products will be made available in the country for the first time ever.

• Jinder Mahal: From Jobber To #1 Contender

Many are speculating that Jinder Mahal’s recent push is due to WWE’s desire to expand their fanbase in the country by creating a local star. Mahal was born in Calgary, AB Canada but is of Punjabi Sikh origin. He is the nephew of Stampede Wrestling alumni Gama Singh.

WWE India Expansion

Sheetesh Srivastava will now be the head of WWE’s expanded operations in the country.
Today’s press release detailed WWE’s plans for increased exposure in the Indian market.

“India is key to the global growth of WWE, and we are confident Sheetesh will successfully help develop our brand and business in this critically important country,” stated the release. “WWE is committed to expanding its presence in India, and we are pleased to welcome Sheetesh to further our efforts in the market.”

India represents WWE’s single largest regional contribution to the brand’s massive social media community of 750 million followers globally. To increase engagement with fans in India, WWE recently launched WWEShop.in, the company’s first-ever local, e-commerce experience in India.

The WWE Network in India was made available in the fall of 2015, close to 2 years after it was made available in other countries.

This isn’t the first time the company has attempted to create a local star in India, having featured the Great Khali on their programming from 2006-2014.

WWE’s full press release can be read here.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla has announced their next show Head Like A Cole takes place on May 19th. The following matches have been announced:

– PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Trent?
– PWG Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. Rey Fenix & Penta El Zoro M
– Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle
– Sami Callihan vs. Adam Cole
– Shane Strickland vs. Michael Elgin
– Lio Rush vs. Mark Haskins
– Keith Lee vs. Trevor Lee

Tickets for Head Like a Cole go on sale next week.

Tickets for Head Like A Cole go on sale Thursday, April 27th at 8PM PDT!

— PWG (@OfficialPWG) April 20, 2017

We’ve got some more newsworthy quotes from Jim Cornette’s recent appearance on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. Below, can you can read what Cornette said about where he stands on Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Kenny Omega and Joey Ryan.

The perception that he does not like Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn:

“Once again everyone said that Cornette must be hanging himself in his closet and slitting his wrist because they are so successful. Which is ridiculous. Kevin Steen (Owens) and El Generico (Sami Zayn) were both pains in the asses to deal with. It was the 80/20 principle where you spend 80% of your time dealing with 20% of your talent’s problems. Part of it is that they are French Canadian and I’m sorry but French Canadians in wrestling have always been pains in the ass except for Pat Patterson.

But part of it was we are paying them to play professional athletes on television so Steen, we’d like you to lose some weight, f*cking buy some new clothes and f*cking trim your beard up and look a little neater. El Generico a television company has just bought the promotion you work for so we’d like you to be able to do interviews instead of being a mute and we’d like you to take the God damn mask off ( I didn’t even broach that with him) because OH MY GOD it would have been like I sodomized his f*cking mother if I would have said take the mask off. But you’ve got a French Canadian muslin with red hair trying to play a Luchador and nobody understood it.”

“When people that are paying you ask you to do and get a long a little better and son of a gun we just found out that Ring of Honor wasn’t paying them enough money because when somebody comes along and pays them more money they do what we asked them to do and as a result they are tremendously successful. I never said that they were f*cking horrible wrestlers. We made Steen the World Champion for a f*cking year, we tried to sign Generico to another contract but that is when he had the WWE sniffing around him so he wouldn’t do it so we didn’t use him. Everybody said ‘oh God damn’ Cornette has run these guys off…well no. I just wanted them to be more accessible to a wider audience. Now when they have done everything I had asked them to do they are now superstars, imagine that? Wouldn’t you know who won the pony.”

“I never said that (once again) they were bad wrestlers and they couldn’t get over. I said they ain’t getting over unless they do certain things and tweak what they’ve already got. They’ve done that and they have been successful. They’ve never embarrassed the business by beating up grade school children or having matches with blow up dolls. Kenny Omega (I’ve said this about him) I don’t care if he discovers the cure for cancer in his spare time, brings Lou Thesz back from the grave and stretches him in a shoot..he is still a piece of sh*t that should never be in the business because he had matches with nine year old girls and blow up dolls. I don’t care how good he is. I don’t have any time for him, don’t want to look at him, don’t want to hear about him and if I had complete control over pro wrestling I would have Dan Severn go and beat the f*ck out of him and leave him laying in a f*cking ditch.

Why he still has such strong feelings about the wrestling business and how comedy spots hurt the industry:

“He (Omega) embarrassed his profession and he embarrassed everybody that has ever been in it. Steen and Generico never did that. They just had misguided ideas of the facets of their gimmicks and their personalities. They didn’t do phony spots with their d*ck like that f*cking idiot Joey Ryan. He just blatantly does phony bullsh*t because he is an underneath guy that doesn’t have the talent to compete with the major main event level wrestlers so he does this sh*t to get attention.

Everybody says that Cornette says all that stuff because he wants people to listen to his podcast and how can he take wrestling that seriously. Well I do! I’ve made several million dollars off of wrestling and not only because it has been my profession but it has been my favorite thing in life as a hobby since I was nine years old. So yeah I do take it that seriously and Joey Ryan is an embarrassment to it and so is Kenny Omega. At least Omega has a job on top and Joey Ryan is still working ‘outlaw’ shows in front of 400 people shaking his d*ck because that is all he can do.”

Former WWE RAW General Manager Mick Foley underwent a long overdue hip surgery on Wednesday. When asked by a fan on Twitter if the surgery was the reason he was written of WWE television, Foley responded, “Perhaps. Those last five months were really killing me.”

Back in December, Foley revealed that he’s needed the surgery for a long time, but kept putting off the procedure because he did not have health insurance. He wrote on Facebook:

“Luckily, I am used to the constant pain – and it’s not like I wasn’t warned by almost every guy in the wrestling business that the moves I was doing as a younger man were going to come back to haunt me. Well, they’re haunting me! The weight-loss has helped considerably; without it, and the DDP yoga, I don’t believe I could even get through airports. But the constant travel means constant pain. I love being the Raw GM, and I will miss it when it’s gone. But my quality of life will probably improve when Stephanie and WWE decide to go in a new direction.”

We’d like to wish Mick Foley a speedy recovery.

https://twitter.com/RealMickFoley/status/854873367274549248

Impact Wrestling star Eli Drake was the latest guest on Ring Rust Radio, hosted by Donald Wood. Here are some highlights of what the man who delivers the ‘Facts of Life’ said about:

How the locker room is handling the big shakeup behind the scenes in Impact Wrestling:

“It’s different for sure because you got a lot of guys have kind of establish themselves over the last few years under a different regime. No matter what regime, there is undeniable talent here. The fact is now you got a bunch of new faces coming in and it’s a mixed reaction because you look at that and it’s like these guys are coming to try to take my spot? Nah. That’s a problem. So, I look at it like that, but I enjoy that competition. All that does is light a fire under me and once that happens I start to get hot whether it’s verbally or physically, but it’s actually good fuel.

The biggest differences between the leadership styles of Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett:

“I don’t want to badmouth anybody, but let me just put it like this, since the new regime has taken over, there is definitely more structure. Things seem to be more level for relations between the office and the talent, a lot more organization if you will. Not so up in the air. There were too many questions before and a lot of it now seems we are getting a lot more answers, so that’s a big plus.”

His first 2 years with Impact Wrestling and his future:

“It’s been pretty amazing. I have to tell you, when I first got there, I had a goal in mind; make a lot of noise, be seen, make sure people that have seen me before see me again and they know that this guy is going to make an impact, no pun intended, Since I’ve been there it’s been really cool and great. They’ve given me a great platform to do things kind of my way in a sense. In the sense that I get to go out there and do my talk show and a lot of that is been at my own creation. A lot of that has been going out there and just saying what’s on my mind. If you saw the segment with EC3 back in October, it was a real and heated segment, it was one of my favorites. We just went out there and said what was on our minds. That’s kind of what I like about it. It is a tightly run ship, but at the same time there is a little bit of wiggle room.”

His reaction to big name stars like Matt & Jeff Hardy leaving Impact Wrestling:

“Personally, I love the Hardys and I wish they hadn’t gone, on a personal and professional level. I just think they are incredible. Especially for the fact you can take guys that had an established thing for over 20 years and be able to reinvent themselves that way is amazing. That’s a huge talent to lose, but at the same time it’s the wrestling business. People are going to come and go and you got to keep churning and keep pushing and that’s an opportunity I salivate at. Now there’s a big void to be filled and who is going to fill that void? If I’m looking at it, I can’t see how I don’t fill that void. You got a guy that has all the tools, the total package, not Lex Luger, the actual real total package. That’s a great opportunity for me to kind of step up and get noticed and put me right in that spot.”

Something he thinks Impact Wrestling can improve upon:

“I tell you this: I am there, I watch the show, I’m in the show and that crowd is a lot more reactive and interactive than you can ever tell on TV. I don’t know if it’s just the mic in the crowd or the acoustics in the room, but that energy you can feel it in the room, but for whatever reason it doesn’t translate to TV. I think that would be a big thing that would help the viewers at home enjoy the show. If you see the crowd in house enjoying the show, you are going to enjoy the show that much more. I think that’s a huge thing. I think, and this might be a controversial thing to say, but I think taking guys from another brand or maybe mid-card guys and bringing them over and putting them immediately in the main event, I don’t think is a great idea. I think that kind of solidifies us as second place and I don’t think that is a smart move. That’s just one man’s opinion, though. I think that would help us move forward.”

NXT TV Report
April 19th 2017
Full Sail University

Bobby Roode and Hideo Itami Segment

Roode’s promo was directed at people who had been saying nice things about Nakamura following his departure from NXT. Roode reminds fans that Nakamura left because he beat him so badly. This brought out the returning Hideo Itami, who eventually gave Roode the GTS and knocked him out.

Jack Gallagher and Tyler Bate Segment

We get a short segment promoting next weekend’s UK championship match between 205 Live’s Jack Gallagher and the UK tournament champion, Tyler Bate. Things were kept on a sportsmanship level between the two later in the show when they were both interviewed backstage.

Andrade Almas and Drew McIntyre Segment

We see captured video of Drew McIntyre working out with Heavy Machinery when Almas enters the gym and gets in McIntyre’s face. The two will face each other in single’s action next week.

1. Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Danny Burch

This was a showcase match for Almas, who won with his modified DDT. Almas is gaining steam as a heel, though his loss to Aleister Black at Takeover: Orlando set him back a peg.
He faces Drew McIntyre next week on NXT.
Winner: Andrade Almas

2. Liv Morgan and Aliya vs. the Iconic Duo (Billy Kay and Peyton Royce)

The babyfaces pull off an upset here, as Aliyah manages to score the sunset flip pin on Peyton Royce. After the match the Australian heels threw a tantrum in the ring.
Winners: Morgan and Aliyah (Aliyah pinned Royce)

3. Steel Cage Match
Tye Dillinger vs. Eric Young

Dillinger becomes one of the rare few to leave NXT on a winning note, as he defeated Eric Young in an exciting steel cage match in last night’s main event. Young seemed to get busted up hard-way, but no effort was made to clean up the blood.
Members of Sanity all rushed the cage, but the rest of the mid card babyfaces (Ohno, Strong, Ruby Riot) came out to even the odds.
Young hit an elbow drop from the top of the cage at one point. Dillinger also went off the cage and hit Young and another member of Sanity with a cross body. Finish of the match was Dillinger escaping through the cage door and locking the rest of the members of Sanity inside.
Winner: Tye Dillinger

Finn Balor has made another cryptic statement regarding a possible Club reunion on Raw. Balor and Karl Anderson were 2 of the 4 original members of the Bullet Club stable in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

He posted the following to Instagram last night:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTFg8oUBF66/

Bullet Club in WWE

With Finn Balor health, and Anderson & Gallows still on Raw, many are speculating a Club reunion could take place soon on Monday nights. Originally it was believed that Styles would move to Raw, or that Anderson and Gallows would move to Tuesday nights. Neither of those two scenarios came to pass during the Superstar Shakeup however.

Bullet Club was created during Finn Balor and Karl Anderson’s heel turns in 2013. Balor was the faction’s most visible member until he left NJPW for NXT in 2014. AJ Styles then replaced Balor in the faction until he too left NJPW for WWE in early 2016. Anderson and Gallows followed Styles later in the year.

NXT taped the next several weeks of television on Wednesday night. These shows will run through the upcoming Takeover: Chicago event on 5/20. Thanks to Will Henderson (@willh94) for texting us the following results:

May 3rd Episode:

* Killian Dain with Eric Young defeated Danny Burch. Danny tries to fight early, but Dain pulls him off the top rope and attacks. After a running senton and a running flying elbow, Burch fights back, but gets hit with a running dropkick & the One Winged Angel for the win

* Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic destroy two unnamed jobbers. The jobbers are barely taller than the top turnbuckle and weight maybe 130 each. Heavy Machinery are super over. After the match, Heavy Machinery cut a promo saying they love having a good time and hitting the buffet between weight sessions. In the ring, they’ve devoured some appetizers, but they want the main course – NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain. Tucker says they’re getting hungry, and it’s time they ate

* Sonya Deville (Daria Berenato) defeated Lacey Evans (Macey Estrella). Decent match. Sonya wins with a running step up knee

* Aleister Black defeated Cezar Bononi. Cezar gets in some shots on Black before Aleister hits several stiff shots and the Black Mass for the win

* Hideo Itami defeated Roderick Strong to become the new #1 contender to the NXT Title. Great back and forth match lasting around 15 minutes. At one point Strong catches Hideo outside the ring and throws him into the apron. They trade chops and punches before Roddy hits a knee to the face for a near fall. Hideo ducks a punch and hits the GTS for the win. After the match, Hideo picks up Roddy and raises his hand. Roddy gets an ovation from the crowd until SAnitY runs in and attacks him 4-on-1, with Dain hitting the One Winged Angel and EY hitting the wheelbarrow neckbreaker to leave him laying

May 10th Episode:

* Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford defeated Dylan Miley and HoHo Lun. Dawkins and Ford were introduced as “Street” something, but I couldn’t catch it. Dylan dominates until tagging HoHo, who then takes the pin. Miley then kills Hoho after the match

* Drew McIntyre defeated Sean Maluta in another stiff Drew match. Drew got busted open under his eye at some point. He hit the running kick for the win. After the match, Kayla Braxton interviews Drew on the ramp and says he’s caught the attention of Wesley Blake. Drew says it doesn’t matter, but next week, Blake can have his undivided attention in a match

* Kassius Ohno defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas. Thea Trinidad was sitting in the corner at ringside watching Andrade closely and making sultry faces at him. Good, hard hitting match. Ohno has new Orlando Magic gear. Ohno hits the rolling boot for a near fall. Ohno misses a moonsault from the top rope. Andrade hits the double knees, but Ohno reverses the La Sombra attempt. Ohno kicks out of a pin at one and fires up, hitting Death by Elbow for the win. Thea looked on disgusted at Andrade after the match

* Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa are out. DIY says they never had a fair, one on one rematch for the titles and challenge NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain at Chicago. Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss interrupt. The crowd gives them nuclear heat when they try to talk. Ciampa tells Tino it’s really hard to hear what they’re saying. Tino says the tag team division has changed. Riddick and Tino bury the entire division and continue to get booed out of the building. They say the line starts behind them. Ciampa says if there was a line, they just crossed it and attack Tino and Riddick

* DIY defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss. Tino and Riddick control the match until Ciampa gets the hot tag to Gargano. They run wild and hit Meet in the Middle on Riddick for the win. After the match, William Regal comes out to name a challenger, but is interrupted by Paul Ellering, saying they only survived Orlando because it was 4-on-2. Ellering says DIY’s blood will be on Regal’s hand. Regal announces DIY vs. Authors of Pain in a Ladder Match at Takeover

May 17th Episode:

* NXT Champion Bobby Roode is out. He says everywhere he goes he’s hearing about Hideo Itami. He admits Hideo knocked him out while he was standing here minding his own business in a $5000 suit unprovoked. He says it will never happen again. At Chicago, he’ll be in his gear ready to take care of business and make an example out of Hideo. Roode says he was here, then gone, then back, then got hurt, and he didn’t even realize Hideo was still employed. Meanwhile he’s taken NXT to new heights. The crowd is just booing this promo and heckling Roode. Roode says he beat Shinsuke Nakamura twice and he tucked the violin between his legs and left NXT. He says at least Shinsuke accomplished something here, but Hideo failed in NXT. Hideo comes out, but Regal stops him with security. Hideo clears security and jumps Roode, but security stops him again. Hideo hits a GTS on all the security, then Roode jumps him, but Hideo hits a GTS on him as well and leaves Roode laying

* A Battle Royal to name a #1 contender to NXT Women’s Champion Asuka ends in a no contest. It came down to Ember Moon, Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross. Nikki attacks Ruby, Ember then goes after Nikki. Ruby tries to dump Ember after she hit Nikki with the Eclipse. Asuka runs down and knocks Ember off the top rope, then throws Ember out of the ring. Ember essentially did a suicide dive and nailed the guardrail with her shoulder. Asuka nails Nikki and Ruby with kicks and the refs throw the match out. William Regal announces a Fatal 4 Way between Asuka, Ember, Nikki and Ruby for Takeover. Ember slammed the guardrail with her shoulder and was crying as referees and medics helped her to the back

Order of elimination: Victoria Gonzalez, Bianca Blair, Rachael Ellering, Sonya Deville, Lacey Evans, Kimberly Frankele, Candice LeRae (to massive boos), Aliyah, Liv Morgan, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce

Jinder Mahal made his WWE television debut on April 29th, 2011. He confronted The Great Khali backstage. Mahal spent the next few months confronting wrestlers, but it never led to anything substantial. Mahal then began appearing on NXT and put together a winning streak. Mahal had the chance to become the first ever NXT Champion but lost in the Gold Rush Tournament Finals to Seth Rollins.

On September 21st, 2012, Mahal joined forces with Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater to form 3MB. Heath Slater was getting destroyed by Brodus Clay on an episode of SmackDown but McIntyre and Mahal came to his aid.

3MB lasted for a while and certainly had their fans. They were a goofy team that often lost their matches. If they were not on RAW or SmackDown every week, they would have most likely would still have been on Main Event or Superstars. The Three Man Band officially broke up on June 12th, 2014 when both Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre were released. Two weeks after he was released from WWE, Mahal did an interview with Slam! Wrestling. Mahal stated that he hoped to one day return to WWE and accomplish things he never got to do.

“I want to keep wrestling,” said Mahal. “I’m still young and I would like to go back to WWE someday and accomplish things that I never got to do, work with people that I never got to work with.”

Jinder Mahal made his WWE return on August 1st, 2016. Heath Slater was showing up on both WWE RAW and SmackDown begging for a contract. Mick Foley was the GM of RAW at the time and made a match between the two former members of 3MB to determine which Superstar would get a contract. Mahal seized the opportunity and quickly defeated Slater to earn a contract on RAW.

Jinder Mahal then recently joined the SmackDown roster during WWE’s Superstar Shake-Up. Mahal wrestled Mojo Rawley in his first SmackDown match last week and Rob Gronkowski was watching the match in the first row. Gronk had previously leveled Mahal with a shoulder tackle at Wrestlemania 33. This time Gronk thew his beer in Mahal’s face and Mahal wound up losing to Rawley. Mahal still hadn’t made an impact since returning to WWE.

On this past week’s episode of SmackDown, everything changed. Jinder Mahal competed in a Six-Pack Challenge against Mojo Rawley, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. The winner of the Six-Pack Challenge would become the #1 contender to the WWE Championship. Sami Zayn was about to hit Mahal with the Helluva Kick but was prevented from doing so by the Bollywood Boyz. Mahal then took advantage and won the match and became the #1 contender to the WWE Championship. Mahal will most likely face Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at the SmackDown exclusive PPV WWE Backlash on May 21st, 2017.

Time will tell if Jinder Mahal will actually become WWE Champion at Backlash. Even if he doesn’t, this is a major opportunity for Mahal. He is guaranteed to headline a PPV with the WWE Champion. Mahal cut a very solid promo after winning the Six-Pack Challenge and you can see it at the end of the video above. This can either be a disaster or WWE and Mahal can hit it out of the park. It all depends on whether Mahal and the WWE creative team can get the WWE Universe to legitimately despise him. We will see if that winds up being the case. At the very least, it is something new and it appears that SmackDown truly is the land of opportunity in WWE.

At Wednesday night’s NXT TV tapings from Full Sail University, Hideo Itami defeated Roderick Strong in a #1 contender’s match to earn a shot at NXT Champion Bobby Roode. The match will headline next month’s NXT Takeover: Chicago event.

https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/854841182182035456

NXT General Manager William Regal also announced that NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain will defend against Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in a Ladder Match at Takeover: Chicago.

Finally, Asuka will defend the NXT Women’s Championship against Ember Moon, Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross and Ember Moon in a fatal 4-way match.

NXT Takeover: Chicago takes place on Saturday night, May 20th from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL.

Becky Lynch Versus James Ellsworth

SmackDown Superstar Becky Lynch was asked by a fan if she can face James Ellsworth in a match. Ellsworth has interfered in a couple of Lynch’s matches on SmackDown and usually gets a Dropkick to the face for his troubles. Lynch responded to the fan and asked Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan if they can make the match happen.

https://twitter.com/JessDeStefanoo/status/854412642236215296

Yes, can we? @shanemcmahon @WWEDanielBryan https://t.co/hOhsJhJgby

— Rebecca Quin (@BeckyLynchWWE) April 19, 2017

Ellsworth then responded and stated that Lynch doesn’t want a piece of the Mack Daddy of SmackDown Live. Becky Lynch fired back with a picture of her hitting Ellsworth with a Suplex at Wrestlemania 33.

Pssssssh come on @BeckyLynchWWE you don't want a piece of the #MackDaddyofSDlive Duh! https://t.co/XaW6PiGYQh

— James Ellsworth (@realellsworth) April 19, 2017

.@realellsworth Don't try me boy. pic.twitter.com/Sf9tFklUGD

— Rebecca Quin (@BeckyLynchWWE) April 19, 2017

Becky Lynch Not Featured On Last Night’s SmackDown

Becky Lynch was not featured on last night’s episode of SmackDown. Lynch made a joke about her absence and stated that she was there in disguise.

I was just in disguise tonight lads…. Specky Lynch. #SDLive pic.twitter.com/IxUWD4t0jp

— Rebecca Quin (@BeckyLynchWWE) April 19, 2017

Lana’s New Ring Gear Potentially Revealed

WWE Superstar Natalya may have revealed Lana’s new ring attire in a new tweet posted earlier today. Natalya was promoting the new episode of Total Divas that airs later this evening. WWE has been hyping Lana’s SmackDown debut for the past couple of weeks and have released two videos. In both videos, Lana is seen dancing by a chair and the videos ends with “coming soon to SmackDown Live”. In the photo below, Lana’s new ring gear may have been revealed.

Oh hello @LanaWWE! …just getting ready for an all new episode of #totaldivas tonight! …… ??????? 9/8c ONLY on #E! pic.twitter.com/xvCxFTS3LP

— Nattie (@NatbyNature) April 19, 2017

Nia Jax On Facing Tamina Snuka In The Future

A fan sent a tweet to WWE Superstar Nia Jax and stated that he would love to see Tamina Snuka and Nia Jax square off in the ring. Nia Jax quoted the tweet and ensured the fan that he will see that in the future. Tamina Snuka and Nia Jax are cousins and Nia claimed that “nobody fights harder than family”.

I would love to see @TaminaSnuka and @NiaJaxWWE square off in the ring.

— B.Bowen (@Bowen_Arrow7) April 19, 2017

Don't worry you will ?. Nobody fights harder than family ?? https://t.co/bwgfKcAbNj

— Lina Fanene (@LinaFanene) April 19, 2017

AJ Lee On What Scares Her

AJ Mendez Brooks (known in WWE as AJ Lee) filmed a new video that listed off things that irrationally scare her. The video was released by “Crazy Is My Superpower” publisher Penguin Random House. In the video, AJ stated that cats sitting on staircases, escalators and the wrath of shaman are things that irrationally frighten her.

Andrade “Cien” Almas Confronts Drew McIntyre At WWE Performance Center

WWE has released a new video of a confrontation between Drew McIntyre and Andrade “Cien” Almas. Drew McIntyre was working out at WWE’s Performance Center but was interrupted by Andrade “Cien” Almas. Almas informed McIntyre that he will see him next week and walked away.

This week’s WWE SmackDown drew 2.544 million viewers, down from last week’s 3.105 million viewers, which was the 2017 high and the highest SmackDown viewership going back to the 2016 Draft episode.

SmackDown features AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin in the main event plus a Six-Pack Challenge to crown a new #1 contender to the WWE Championship, Kevin Owens’ Face of America Open Challenge and more.

SmackDown was #6 in viewership and #3 in the 18-49 demographic for the night on cable, which was topped by the NBA playoffs.

By comparison, this week’s RAW averaged 3.346 million viewers.

Jeff and Matt Hardy will be keeping commitments they made to Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion this weekend. Matt also seems to be indicating they will be in their “broken universe” characters for the shows.

*WEEKEND SCHEDULE*

Appearing at HOH on Fri & Sat as @WWE graciously allows us to fulfill commitments.

Monday is #RAW in Kansas City, MO. pic.twitter.com/x07tVKNHrG

— MATT HARDY (@MATTHARDYBRAND) April 19, 2017

House of Hardcore 24 & 25

HOH 24 will be Friday night in New Jersey. The main event for that show will be Tommy Dreamer vs. Matt Hardy in a “New Jersey Delete Street Fight”.
Also on the show:
Bully Ray vs. Sami Callihan
Brian Cage vs. MVP

HOH 25 is Saturday night at the 2300 Arena in Philly. That show is headlined by Matt and Jeff Hardy vs. Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray. Pentagon Jr. will also wrestling Sami Callihan on that show.

Both shows air live on the FloSlam app for subscribers.

ICMYI – Drew Galloway/McIntyre has re-signed for WWE on the NXT brand.

Since his departure from the WWE in 2014 Galloway has become one of the biggest stars on the UK independent circuit. His return to the WWE will now leave a big void in the UK  scene, particularly for WCPW where he is the World Heavyweight Champion.

Drew’s final two appearances for WCPW are at No Regrets on April 29th and the Pro Wrestling World Cup Mexican Qualifier on April 30th.

What Culture Pro Wrestling General Manager Adam Blampied has announced that Galloway will defend his WCPW Title in a 30-Man Championship Rumble at No Regrets, check out the video below for further information:

New NXT signee Aleister Black is now being billed by WWE as a Cruiserweight competitor. The man formally known as Tommy End weighs in at 205 pounds and has been booked to compete in Cruiserweight Title matches against Austin Aries and Neville as part of WWE’s upcoming UK tour.

It is not yet known whether Black will be joining the 205 Live roster officially or whether this is a temporary move to bring some added star power to the WWE European tour.

https://twitter.com/WWEAleister/status/853281634522681344

WCPW has announced that UK star El Ligero will be facing Rey Mysterio at the ‘No Regrets’ iPPV taking place on April 29th. The show will be available to watch via the What Culture Extra Service.

El Ligero is one of the hardest working performers on the UK scene today. He is a mainstay in companies such as PROGRESS, IPW:UK, Southside and PCW. His showing as part of the New Years Eve World of Sport programme earned him a spot on the WOS roster and he looks set to have a big year with his ‘kid-friendly’ persona hitting the mark on mainstream UK television.

Other matches announced for the show are as follows:

• Travis Banks vs Penta El Zero M
• Alberto El Patron vs Joe Coffey
• Internet Title Match – Cody Rhodes (c) vs Gabriel Kidd vs Joe Hendry
• Prince Ameen vs Brandi Rhodes

https://twitter.com/Ligero1/status/854425036580696065

205 Live
April 18th 2017
Louisville, KY

1. Akira Tozawa vs. Tony Nese

This match continued the storyline between Tozawa and Brian Kendrick, with Tozawa now being the one who teaches Kendrick lessons. This week Tozawa picked up the victory over Nese after Kendrick attempted to get involved, only to have it backfire. Nese then attacked Kendrick. After the attack ended, Tozawa told Kendrick his next lesson was “to have eyes in the back of his head”.
Winner: Tozawa

Rich Swann, Alicia Fox, Noam Dar Segment

In a big update to this storyline, Alicia Fox dumped Noam Dar in an in-ring segment, but was made to look a fool afterwards. Swann then revealed to Fox that he had only sent those gifts to Fox in order to get her to make a fool of herself. He continues to say that he was getting revenge for his friend Cedric Alexander, who is currently out with injury.

Fox then snapped in the ring and seemed to get into an off-script argument with the live audience. The camera switched to commercial (on the Network mind you) before the segment ended. Fox may have gone a little off-script there, she’s possibly prone to going rogue.

2. Mustafa Ali vs. Ariya Daivari

They showed clips in the back of Daivari arriving to the arena in an expensive sports car, and commentary played up his “Persian wealth”. Daivari picked up the win here as well. Ali was looking to go for his inverted 450 splash but Drew Gulak came down the ramp protesting high-flying moves. The distraction allowed Daivari to capitalize and get the win.
Winner: Ariya Daivari

3. TJ Perkins vs. Austin Aries

With Aries set to get his rematch with Neville at Payback, this week’s main event had him taking on the champion’s new run-in buddy TJ Perkins. The cruiserweight classic winner Perkins had been struggling as of late, leading to the heel turn.
Arise picked up the win with the discus forearm. This brought out Neville, but Aries was ready for him however. Perkins joined in and the bad guys used the numbers advantage to soften Aries up for Payback.
Winner: Austin Aries

As Renee Young put it on Talking Smack last night, Brie Bella’s baby is “about to drop”. The impending birth is what caused Daniel Bryan to miss Smackdown last night.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTAG1szlv7X/?taken-by=thebriebella&hl=en

Birdie Joe Danielson

Brie and Bryan’s pending baby girl has already been given the name “Birdie Joe”. The couple’s struggles to conceive had been documented on Total Divas and the E! Network.

Birdie Joe was originally due on April 30th, but it seems she is eager to come into the world a little early. Brie is past 38 weeks however, so even if the baby is early she would not be considered premature.

13 days ??? #BirdieJoeDanielson #almostamom https://t.co/hXWYkreNmc

— Nikki & Brie (@NikkiAndBrie) April 18, 2017