WWE Superstar and one-third of former WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day, Big E, recently did an interview with Mid Day. Here’s what he had to say:

The impact The Hardys have had on the WWE’s Tag Team division:

“I think it’s definitely heating up obviously with the addition of the Hardy Boyz… that’s huge for igniting people’s passion with WWE tag team wrestling again. Also, The Revival, dastardly as they maybe, I think they are very talented. They say ‘what’s old is made new’ so, they borrowing a lot of Brainbusters from the tag team and wrestling of that age has helped them feel new. On SmackDown Live, seeing The Usos with their latest turn as heel and reigniting their careers as well as seeing how much momentum they have. I am a big fan of Breezango as well. Those guys need to be given a chance which they are finally getting. I really feel they are gonna tear it up with the opportunity they have with The Usos.

“It’s exciting to sit back a bit, we are kind of forcibly before we eventually make our SmackDown Live debut. The tag team division is in pretty good hands. We also have an eye on what is going on at NXT. There’s a lot to like about tag team wrestling and we will see how things shape after the superstar shake up.”

The New Day’s journey from being heels to where they are now:

“Oh it is a very long story! Well, Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods (the third member of The New Day) and me noticed quite early that we shared chemistry and a bond that was uncommon. Regardless of what incarnation the group would take, the WWE universe would see our chemistry and that would be the selling point. We believe that energy attracts energy. When we have fun and enjoy each others company, people are drawn in. However, The New Day would have manifested, we would be fine. Initially, we had a rocky start with ‘The New Day sucks’ chants. I remember, Xavier Woods being really fired up in the ring a few times. Initially it just started with a ‘clap’ (The New Day’s gimmick) and no words and Xavier Woods came up with that. It was a way to give us a clap that was unique and one that fans register as The New Day. It was hard on us for months. I remember us working a lot of time outside of WWE, at home, writing texts and emails trying to get on the same page and going out of our way to get this off the ground. And for people to tell us we suck, I mean, we are working as hard as we can.

“Most of WWE’s hardcore fan base wants to see underutilized wrestlers in better positions. And that was us. Kofi has been with WWE for a long time and never really had a world title opportunity and Woods never got to showcase his talents. We thought people would pull through for us, as underutilized guys, but it was not that way.

“I think, the one beautiful thing is that the WWE universe demonstrated that they have a voice and that they matter. If it wasn’t for them being so vocal and if they were apathetic, The New Day would have been dead in the water. It was perseverance for us as we believed in each other and that is the biggest take-away from this for us. If the WWE universe believes, they can definitely change a lot – like with Daniel Bryan and his WrestleMania moment. That is what is unique about WWE, that the fans can change and alter careers of the very WWE superstars that they watch.”

Former WWE Universal Champion Bill Goldberg recently did an interview with Raj Giri of Wrestling Inc. to talk about his recent run with the company. You can check out the highlights here:

The build-up to him and Brock Lesnar’s WrestleMania 33 match:

“It was a very tense build up and everything; 13 years far removed from the business, 13 years removed from the match, and the way we had went out. At the same time it was different circumstances, but in everyone’s eye it was a negative, self included so to be able to be able to have an opportunity to put something positive ahead so people don’t dwell on that the rest of their lives and get a little retribution and go out and show everyone that I can still do it.

“There are a lot of things on that checklist that I had to take into consideration, I’m currently writing a book about my last run; I mean, there was a lot packed in within a very short period of time. At the end of the day I am honored, humbled and privileged to anybody that thought I could pull it off and given the opportunity to show that I can. From the first day to the last day, I had all the confidence in the world to no confidence at all, which is what drives me; trying to be humble in every respect, where sometimes the negative pushes you to the point where you are in an emotional tizzy about it, which is a word I have never used. It’s a mentally lobotomizing situation that I can sit here and complain about all day long where people wouldn’t understand it, but at the end of the day I am the luckiest guy in the world to be given that opportunity.”

Everything being worth it after admitting he was ‘miserable’ during his recent WWE stint:

“People had made mention that I was so miserable throughout the previous run, but you know what, a woman is miserable throughout her pregnancy, but it doesn’t mean that at the end of the day she has the baby it is a negative experience. I tell it like it is; it sucks burping and farting all day because you are pushing your body to count the calories and be a semblance of who you were back in the day. There are certain things that are difficult to do; packing on the weight at 50 years old is extremely difficult for me to do because at 30 I was trying to gain weight and your body doesn’t react the same way. Through the miles of abuse you put on it throughout the years; whether it’d be on the field or in the ring, it doesn’t want to respond the way that it used to, but again, as miserable as I may have sounded, i was more than humbled to of been given the opportunity that it happened.”

What it was like working with Lesnar at WrestleMania:

“Brock is one of my best friends on the planet. He always has been and always will be. Whether we’re inside the ring with him. He has done a lot of things in his life and is the utmost professional. That guy can work his ass off. Whether we shell 2 moves or 200 moves, whether it’s the psychology or the simple art of selling, Brock Lesnar is one of the best that has ever been out there. I hope people can appreciate the growth he has made as a person and character throughout the years because he’s a pro; he knows what to do, to be able to share the ring with him again 13 years far removed from the last time, and like you said, I may be beating a dead horse here, it was an honor and a privilege.”

Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English (Kickoff Show)

Prediction: Tye Dillinger has already defeated Aiden English and will move to 2-0 against the former Vaudevillian.

Erick Rowan vs Luke Harper

Rowan has already picked up a victory over Harper recently on SmackDown. This match was made on Tuesday night’s episode of Talking Smack. Erick Rowan was a guest on the show and demanded that the match be made. SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon granted Rowan’s wish and the two former Wyatt Family members will battle on Sunday night.

Prediction: I’d like to believe that Luke Harper will pick up the win this Sunday at Backlash. Harper is very talented but has been completely wasted on SmackDown the past couple of months. Rowan has a new gimmick where he is hearing voices from his mask. It comes off as dumb rather than scary. Harper gets the win on Sunday and hopefully becomes relevant again on SmackDown.

Baron Corbin vs Sami Zayn

Sami Zayn made the move from RAW to SmackDown during WWE’s Superstar Shake-Up. The brand switch hasn’t made a difference for Zayn, as he is right back to getting his ass kicked on a weekly basis. Zayn was attacked by Corbin during an episode of Talking Smack. Corbin has beaten down Zayn since then and it would be a major upset if Zayn were to pick up a victory at Backlash.

Prediction: The announcers will praise Sami Zayn for not giving up, but he will ultimately lose the match. JBL will say something like “yeah, but you’ve got to know when to just stay down” as Corbin is punching Zayn in the face. Corbin hits the End of Days and wins in dominant fashion.

Becky Lynch, Naomi & Charlotte Flair vs Carmella, Natalya & Tamina Snuka

Natalya, Carmella, Tamina Snuka and James Ellsworth have named themselves the “Welcoming Committee” and have made Charlotte Flair’s life a living hell since she came over to SmackDown. They tried to recruit Becky Lynch, but Lynch beat them down instead. Charlotte Flair has her eyes set on Naomi’s SmackDown Women’s Championship, but agreed to put that on hold in order to deal with the Welcoming Committee.

Prediction: Charlotte and Naomi will get frustrated with each other during the match. Ellsworth will probably try to interfere and get kicked out. If the Welcoming Committee is going to remain a stable on SmackDown, they need a victory here.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The Usos (c) vs Breezango

Breezango have been on a roll lately. They defeated The Colons on Tuesday night and are heading into WWE Backlash with confidence. The Usos have been cutting promos on Breezango after their matches on SmackDown.

Prediction: I think Breezango will win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships in the future. However, The Usos should retain the titles on Sunday. The New Day should be making their SmackDown debut soon and I’d like to see them feud with The Usos.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Dolph Ziggler

Shinsuke Nakamura will wrestle in his first match on WWE’s main roster this Sunday at Backlash. Ziggler has pretty much built up this match by himself, as Nakamura has only made a couple of entrances and thrown out an insult or two in the past few weeks. Ziggler believes that Nakamura has done nothing to deserve such praise from the WWE Universe and wants to embarrass Shinsuke at Backlash.

Prediction: I would be shocked if Shinsuke Nakamura lost this match. Nakamura will pick up the victory but Ziggler will attack him after the match. I’m guessing this feud will continue after Sunday night and that is fine by me. Ziggler and Nakamura can put on an incredible match and I predict that they will steal the show on Sunday night.

United States Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs AJ Styles

AJ Styles earned a shot at Owens’ United States Championship a few weeks back. There hasn’t really been much to this feud until the most recent episode of SmackDown. Owens cost AJ Styles his match against Jinder Mahal. Owens has declared himself the new “Face of America” and AJ Styles wants to take his title and bring it back to the USA.

Prediction: Kevin Owens will either get himself disqualified or cheat to win. There is no reason to take the United States Championship off of Owens right now. AJ Styles can absorb a loss, he is practically untouchable. Styles should be in the WWE Championship picture anyway, so a loss here really doesn’t matter. This match also has the potential to be the best match of the night.

WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton vs Jinder Mahal

Mahal has gotten the upper-hand on Orton pretty much since winning the Six-Pack Challenge to become #1 contender. Mahal has attacked Orton during the House of Horrors Match at Payback, stole Orton’s WWE Championship and planted Orton with a Khallas to close out Tuesday’s SmackDown.

Prediction: Jinder Mahal has done the best he could with this opportunity. He has cut a few solid promos and has done his best to make this feud feel legitimate. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I think several factors have prevented this feud from being great. First, people just didn’t want to accept Jinder Mahal as the #1 contender. Fans complain that they want to see new people get opportunities in WWE. When that finally happens, they get annoyed that it wasn’t the guy or girl they wanted. Thus, WWE was immediately fighting an uphill battle when they pushed Jinder Mahal.

WWE didn’t do enough to get the doubters to change their minds. I gave the feud a chance, but I got bored with it rather quickly. Another reason why this feud hasn’t worked is because Randy Orton is the WWE Champion. Orton hasn’t brought anything to the table since taking the WWE Championship off of Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania 33. If the WWE Champion was beloved by the WWE Universe, maybe fans would have reacted to Jinder Mahal more. Instead, the ratings for SmackDown have plummeted and this feud was ultimately a failure.

Randy Orton will retain his WWE Championship this Sunday at Backlash. One can only hope that his next feud is entertaining. SmackDown has been quite boring since he became the top guy on the show. Maybe after Backlash, Randy Orton will finally decide to …entertain.

Who do you think will win this Sunday at Backlash? Share your predictions in the comments below.

While promoting the Baywatch movie, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night.

Rock was asked about his comments in GQ earlier this month, stating that his running for President is a “very real possibility”.

The Rock on the Tonight Show

After doing a Baywatch style slow-motion entrance onto the show, Rock answered questions related to a possible Presidential run. When Fallon brought the idea up it received a pop from the live audience.

They talked about a poll that came out recently which showed the Rock would be favoured to defeat Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Here is an article on the poll.

“3 years is a long way away so we’ll see”

Marty Scurll joined Bullet Club at the War of the Worlds PPV event this weekend. The Young Bucks have now released previously unseen footage from backstage at the event.

The Bucks insinuate that Scurll has been with Bullet Club longer than what has been shown on television.

Bullet Club’s “Villain”

At the War of the Worlds PPV, Adam Cole lost a singles match to Hiroshi Tanahashi. After the match the Bucks came out and acted like they were going to super-kick Cole, but then 2-sweeted him instead.

The lights went out and Kenny Omega’s face appeared on the screen. Omega publicly fired Cole, and announced “the Villian” Marty Scurll as the newest member of Bullet Club. The lights went out again, Scurll was in the ring, and the Bucks super-kicked Cole, officially ending his time in the faction.

On a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer provided an update on the statues of WWE Superstars Paige, Summer Rae and Eva Marie.

Paige is still out of action recovering from neck surgery, but the feeling is that she wouldn’t be brought back to television at this time even if she was cleared to wrestle. In light of her personal issues and how outspoken Alberto has been about WWE, her status with the company is helped by the fact that WWE and The Rock are developing the movie based on her family.

Summer Rae is ready to return, but WWE does not currently have anything planned for her in the short term.

Eva Marie will not be appearing on the upcoming season of Total Divas and could be done with WWE entirely. She has several projects going outside of WWE and we’ve come a long way from the days when Eva Marie was seen internally as ‘the female Roman Reigns’ (ie. in line for a monster push and one of the faces of the company).

Meltzer noted, “There’s an even number of women on both [RAW and Smackdown], so they don’t want to mess with that right now.”

Visit f4wonline.com for details on how you can subscribe to the Wrestling Observer. 

Eric Bischoff recently took time during his Bischoff on Wrestling podcast is discuss the …dive controversy surrounding Randy Orton. He had this to say:

“Drawing more money, what does that mean anymore? Again, I like Randy a lot and I have a ton of respect for him so I do not mean this to be any kind of a shot at Randy. But Randy has the luxury of having a very successful career with for what is in all intents and purposes — it wasn’t intentional but [WWE’s] a monopoly.”

“Yes, WWE makes a lot of money and as a result so does Randy. Randy hasn’t had to change his style because he has the privilege of working for a company that is able to pay Randy a lot of money. And he doesn’t have to go out and make his living on the independent circuit. Randy doesn’t have to go out and create new fans. All Randy has to do is stay on the treadmill.”

“[Randy] has that luxury, that privilege of getting [his] seven figures and having a check show up in the mail once a month for things [he] don’t even remember doing, and getting merchandise money because [he has] this machine behind [him] that prints that money. And a lot of people don’t, the vast majority of people don’t. It’s a little bit like the music industry where 2% of the people make 98% of the money. Well, I don’t think that 2% of the people who are making 98% of the money should necessarily look down their nose at the other 98% who are trying to craft a living.”

Credit to Still Real To Us for the transcription.

What do you make of Bischoff’s comments? Let us know in the comments.

Reports indicate that DIY member Tommaso Ciampa was injured at an NXT live event mere days before his tag team title match at NXT Takeover in Chicago.

Ciampa and DIY partner Gargano were in a tag team bout against Sanity when the match was stopped and the referee threw up the ‘X’ sign. Early indications point to this being a legitimate injury that comes at a terrible time for both Tommaso and Johnny Gargano.

Join us here this Saturday night for our Live Coverage of NXT Takeover: Chicago.

https://twitter.com/briantheguppie/status/865375861134020608

https://twitter.com/briantheguppie/status/865415082850697218

New Japan Pro-Wrestling is going all-in on their American expansion plans.

The company held a press conference in Los Angeles today, with Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and Cody all in attendance.

"The Cleaner" @KennyOmegamanX has arrived in Long Beach! Tune into the press conference live at 4pmPST/7pmESThttps://t.co/1cR44svZ9k #njusa pic.twitter.com/zRwJyvCuS3

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) May 18, 2017

Press Conference Highlights

• AXS TV will air the July 1st show live as it happens. Night 2 will just be on njpwworld.com.
• The July 1st & 2nd G1 shows in LA each sold out in under 2 hours.
• The IWGP USA championship will be given to a tournament winner on July 1st & 2nd.
• Hangman Page and Jay Lethal are the only two tournament entries confirmed so far.
• They read through some of the roster that will be at the July 1st and 2nd show. No real surprises there, except they have Yoshi Tatsu and Billy Gunn back. They wrestled in the tag league tournament in December.
• Bullet Club got special attention during the roster unveil portion.
• They introduced Cody, the Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega to come up and take questions.
• They are each asked about their matches at the Dominion event in June. The Bucks are challenging for the junior heavyweight tag titles, Cody wrestles Michael Elgin, and Kenny Omega challenges Okada for the IWGP heavyweight championship. Dominion is on June 11th, so Omega could be champion heading into the G1 shows in LA.
• Kenny Omega was on fire. He reminded Okada that at the last show the fans were chanting for him, because they recognize that Omega is giving his heart and soul for this business.
• Cody has taken bookings during the G1 tournament, leading many to believe he won’t be in the G1. This is just me speculating, but it makes sense for Cody to be in the US tournament on July 1st and 2nd. He could win.
• Each member talks about how they were the reason the events sold out so quickly. Matt Jackson believes this fact will lead to his wife wanting to make love to him, then asks for the remark to be edited out.
• The Bucks talked about how much NJPW has grown over the last 4 years, how big the live crowds are etc.
• Bullet Club then posed for pictures and that was that.

NJPW previously released this commercial for their USA shows:

New Japan legend Hiroshi Tanahashi has been ruled out of the rest of the BOSJ tour due to a Bicep injury. Tanahashi was scheduled to appear in non-tournament bouts but has now been sidelined until at least June 9th.

According to New Japan’s official English language site NJPW1972.com:

New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament started yesterday with a bang. You can check out the complete results from Day 1 here.

The Best of the Super Juniors (also known as BOSJ) is essentially the Junior Heavyweight version of the G1 Climax tournament that takes place in July. Competitors are split into two Blocks and must compete with every wrestler in their block round robin style. Points are awarded for victories and the eventual winners of the two groups face off in a final match to determine the winner. Here are the results from Day 2:

Non Tournament Matches

Tiger Mask IV, Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka b. Katsuya Kitamura, Shota Umino & Tetsuhiro Yagi – Kawato made Yagi submit with a single leg crab

Yoshinobu Kanemaru & El Desperado b. Volador Jr. & ACH – Desperado took the win for his team after hitting a jumping crucifix hold on ACH

Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi b. Raymond Rowe, Hanson & David Finlay  – Tama Tonga secured the win for Bullet Club when he hit the Gun Stun on Finlay

Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI b. Satoshi Kojima, Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA – Bushi used the Bushiroll on KUSHIDA to take the win in just over 9 minutes

The battle continues tomorrow! #njBOSJ Day02 The Live shows only on @njpwworld Sign up https://t.co/DtSLcoUJqT & Get ready for super actions pic.twitter.com/5GC5W9AAa8

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) May 17, 2017

A BLOCK Results

Taichi b. TAKA Michinoku – Taichi took the win with his patented Gedo Clutch in a very entertaining DDT style ‘match’

Dragon Lee b. Marty Scurll – Dragon takes his second win in the tournament after hitting a Patellas en el Pecho on Scurll for the pinfall win

Hiromu Takahashi b. Jushin Thunder Liger – Hiromu defeated the legend Liger with his TIME BOMB finishing move. This was his first win and Liger’s second loss

Will Ospreay b. Ricochet – Ospreay took the win in a mesmerising match after hitting the OsCutter

@KingRicochet v @WillOspreay was awesome! Check the bout!#njbosj Day2 is now available on VOD! ?https://t.co/dcYZE1bmEp#njpw #njpwworld pic.twitter.com/JWBKuJcWAD

— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) May 18, 2017

Here are the current tournament standings:

A Block

• Dragon Lee – 4 Points
• Hiromu Takahashi – 2 Points
• Marty Scurll – 2 Points
• Ricochet – 2 Points
• Taichi – 2 Points
• Taka Michinoku – 2 Points
• Will Ospreay – 2 Points
• Jushin Thunder Liger – 0 Points

B Block 

• ACH – 2 Points
• El Desperado – 2 Points
• Ryusuke Taguchi – 2 Points
• Volador Jr – 2 Points
• BUSHI – 0 Points
• KUSHIDA – 0 Points
• Tiger Mask IV – 0 Points
• Yoshinobu Kanemaru – 0 Points

WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose recently did an interesting interview with The Sun to talk about a variety of topics. You can check out the highlights here:

What it’d take for him to do an MMA fight:

“I’ll fight anyone for enough money. Give me half-a-million dollars. Put them in the ring, I’ll do it right now, I’ll do it tonight.”

Nearly dying after crashing his bike right before WrestleMania:

“I’m big into mounting biking. I actually crashed my mountain bike about a week ago very badly. I thought I was going to die. I fell over the handlebars, full on ninja roll, I flew like 8ft into the air. I thought I probably shouldn’t be doing this a week before WrestleMania. You have to immediately get back on. I crashed on a downhill, you have to just continue. If you stop and think about it too long you’ll psych yourself out.”

You can read the full interview at this link.

WWE Hall Of Famer Jimmy Hart recently did an interview with Cerrito & 5 Starr to discuss Hulk Hogan, his upcoming endeavors and if we’ll ever see the Hulkster back on WWE television. Here are the highlights of what Jimmy Hart said about:

What Hogan has been up to:

“Well first of all The Hulkster has been great, we were in LA a couple of weeks ago for a couple of shows. Then we went to San Francisco for a couple of shows and a business meeting. I went to Las Vegas Cauliflower Alley for the WWE of course, but Hulk is doing great. He has his Clearwater beach shop doing phenomenal down in Clearwater Beach, and he just opened a brand new one he’s been working on for two years. We finally got the okay and the building done, fixed it up unbelievable right at WrestleMania time. It’s doing great up in Orlando right now.

“But we’ve got a couple of great projects that Hulk has been working on that we’re gonna let the whole world know about in a couple of months. One of them might be an overseas major tour with some of the Superstars. You see how The Rock does those big bus tours? We’re gonna grab one of those big buses over there and hit five or six cities during a week, come back home for a month, go back – maybe Australia, maybe Germany, maybe England, and kind of do that. So many of the fans have asked Hulkster to come back over there, but we’ve never really done a Q&A, we’ve never really done autographs, we’ve never done a ton of merchandise over there. So we’re in the process of working some things out. There’s a lot of great things happening with The Hulkster.”

If Hulk will ever return to WWE:

“You never say never on anything. I know there has been a lot of people I thought would never ever return to the WWE, but for some reason – It’s like Triple H always says ‘We’re gonna do what’s best for business.’ You never know what might happen but I know Hulk still loves the WWE and everyone up there, like me too, and I’m grateful to still be doing stuff with them and doing stuff with the Hulkster.”

You can listen to Hart’s interview with Cerrito and 5 Starr here.

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcribed quotes

WWE’s Stephanie McMahon recently did an interview with Mirror to talk about The Undertaker’s retirement following his loss to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33, as well as what it’s like working for her father, Vince McMahon. Check it out:

The backstage atmosphere at WrestleMania after The Undertaker retired:

“There will never be another Undertaker… and everyone feels the same whether it’s backstage or out in the arena. I think that everyone that is part of the WWE Universe is a fan of The Undertaker. There will never be anyone [else] like him.”

How long she has known Taker:

“Yeah. Ha ha. He would say ‘maybe not that little’. He’d say ‘I’m not that old’. I’ve known him for a very long time. He’s almost like a brother to me.”

Working for her father, Vince McMahon:

“Working for my dad is incredibly challenging, in a variety of ways. It can be challenging from a family standpoint, right, because I think sometimes working with family you take certain things for granted, and that can be challenging, as I keep saying! But from an opportunistic standpoint, I would never have had the opportunities that I have been given and afforded if it weren’t for my father. I think you have to work that much harder when you are part of the family to prove yourself and to keep growing, but again those are the best life lessons that you can possibly have. The best part of working together, at least in my family, is this incredible shared passion. We all love what we do. To be able to bring different aspects of that passion literally to the table is a unique proposition and one I would never give up.”

According to a report from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there’s still a possibility that the WWE could bring back Mauro Ranallo to the SmackDown Live commentary desk. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Ranallo is coming back, however, the issues between the two sides are now considered water under the bridge.

Recently, Ranallo and WWE struck a deal in which the company will continue to pay him until the expiration of his contract on August 12th. If he does decide to return, however, it won’t be anytime soon, as Ranallo recently noted on Twitter that he’s extremely busy as of late:

https://twitter.com/mauroranallo/status/862380917612040192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wrestlinginc.com%2Fwi%2Fnews%2F2017%2F0518%2F626296%2Fbackstage-news-on-mauro-ranallo-and-wwe%2F

WWE SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon was recently a guest on WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast, The Steve Austin Show, to talk about his return to the company. You can check out highlights from their conversation here:

Nobody but Mark Calaway could’ve been able to portray ‘The Undertaker’ character:

“It’s iconic. No, I don’t [think anyone else could have pulled off The Undertaker gimmick]. It also gets into Mark’s temperament as a human being. That’s who he is. He is Cool Hand Luke. He is the king of the locker room. He is that. Everything is measured and reserved. That’s how he works. His punches are thrown for a reason, not just to throw punches in bunches, but thrown for specific reasons and things like that. Moves are not wasted, so that is who he is as an individual.”

Getting heat from The Undertaker’s mom:

“I got heat for that from his mom! Oh my God! I got heat from that. It happened. I did. I tatered the hell out of him. But that was the week before, the go-home WrestleMania in Brooklyn [New York] and something went awry. We were throwing hands and we were outside. I went to hit him with the monitor or something and it was stuck, so, all of a sudden, he sits up and I’m like, ‘well, he’s a big dude.’ I was like, ‘what am I going to do?’ So I panicked a little bit. I didn’t quite get my range, so I wasn’t completely looking at him and I went ‘whack!’ And I stuck it out there and I felt it. It went, ‘thunk!’ I went, ‘oh my God!’ I saw his eyes roll back into his head for a minute. He looked at me, and as soon as I saw that trickle of blood come down, I went, ‘I’m dead.’ So what do I do? I quickly get on him and whack, whack, whack. ‘I may as well get them in now and give him a couple of extra!'”

“Oh, he crushed me. He crushed me. In the beginning of that match with Taker, we’re doing stuff and we’re throwing hands. When we’re throwing, we already had the deal that we’re going to go. We’re starting to throw and we’re tagging. And then, one thing, he hit me and I just went into my own little world for a second, protect mechanism a little bit and then I leg-kick him. It went, ‘whack,’ and, and all of a sudden, he looked at me and he goes, ‘ouch’ and I saw it and he was hot. At some point he had grounded me and I was gassed, so I’m like, ‘let me catch my breath for a minute,’ so I’m laying in the fetal position totally relaxing because I know he’s about to go do something else. I got maybe 20 seconds to catch my breath. I’m taking big breaths in. My eyes are closed and my face’s flat on the canvas and he bear paw’s me, ‘whack!’, wide open jaw. All of a sudden, I’ve got those gold glitters when you get hit hard.”

Making his WrestleMania 32 entrance with his sons:

“I asked them maybe five minutes before they came out. I said, ‘do you guys want to come out with me?’ And they were like, ‘really?’ and I was like, ‘oh yeah.’ So when they came out, they just took to it like water out there. Like, I couldn’t believe it. Like, my two older boys, specifically. I was like, ‘look at these little guys!'”

Jumping off Hell In A Cell at WrestleMania and warning his wife:

“Well, I made the mistake once of doing something and not smartening her up and I was in the doghouse forever. So now I smarten her up on the potential of things like that happening. She knew, she knew. She was just like, ‘be careful.'”

Taking big bumps: 

“Straight up, I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to nail this thing.’ That’s it. So I get up there. Here we go and jump off.” McMahon continued, “oh my God, stiff. I cracked two ribs on my right side. Yeah, at least two because it was sore for about [eight or nine weeks] ribs suck to heal.”

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcribed quotes

Former WWE Superstar and current Impact Wrestling star Alberto El Patron (a.k.a. Alberto Del Rio) recently did an interview with Sports Illustrated’s “Extra Mustard” to talk on a view pro wrestling topics. Here are the highlights:

His work with Impact Wrestling:

“I am so happy to work with Impact Wrestling. I have nothing but respect for them. Unlike another company, who I don’t watch, I don’t follow, and I don’t even look at their tweets. I have some real beef with some of the people in that company.”

WWE being dramatically larger than any other promotion in pro wrestling:

“It’s horrible for the business, but you cannot blame that company. That company is doing what a company is supposed to do—monopolize, get the best talent from everywhere, and try to destroy the competition. They’re smart, you cannot blame them. The problem is with the talent. Just going there to be there with the promise of being on TV, but not even charging good money for your work, is not good business. We as wrestlers need to remember that this is a business. We started because we love the business and we stay in it because we have a lot of passion for it, but you have to be rewarded for your work. I was there and saw some of the main guys, new top heels and new top babyfaces, get paid nothing for their matches. The new talent joining NXT is taking pay cuts to work there, sometimes even 80 percent less. You need to be rewarded for your work in a business.”

What his goals are moving forward in his career:

“I’m planning on retiring in two years. I’m still good to go and I don’t have any major injuries, but I always promised myself I would leave on top. I started wrestling when I was eight years old with the amateur wrestling team in Mexico. I love the business with all my heart, but my body is getting tired. It’s all the travel. I’m going to do my last two years with Impact Wrestling. I’ll continue to do some indie shows here and there, and I have a lot of projects outside the business. I am going to continue running Combate Americas, the MMA company that I work for, and I am going to start a soap opera in Mexico in two months. We also have a reality show produced by Combate Americas that was sold to Amazon. People should be able to see that in three more months. I opened a restaurant and bar in San Antonio in November. We are the place to go on Fridays and Saturdays. God is blessing me. I’m getting married pretty soon. We changed the date twice, but we’re getting married in the last week of July, so I am keeping very busy outside the business.”

You can check out the full interview by clicking this link.

NXT
airdate: May 17th 2017
Full Sail University

1. Drew Mcintyre vs. Sean Maluta (no highlights available)

Things have really turned out fine for the former members of 3MB. Jinder Mahal is challenging for the WWE championship this weekend, Mcintyre is positioned to be a top guy in NXT, and Heath Slater had a run as tag champ.

Sean Maluta is a member of the legendary Anoai family. He was trained by his Uncle, WWE Hall-of-Famer Afa Anoai. Although he has competed on NXT & 205 Live, he is not signed full time to WWE.

Maluta did get in some offence here, including a codebreaker from the 2nd rope. Mcintyre came back, and landed a hard headbutt which set up the Yakuza kick for the win.

Winner: Drew McIntyre 

• After the match McIntyre is interviewed. He challenged Wesley Blake to a match, since he had been bad mouthing him.

• A highlight video package of Sanity attacking Roderick Strong after his match last week. Young and Strong will now meet at NXT Takeover: Chicago on Saturday.

2. Sonya Deville vs. Lacey Evans

Lacey Evans has an interesting gimmick. She comes out dressed up as though she is going to a fancy tea party. Conversely, Deville’s gimmick is that she is a trained MMA fighter, or something along those lines. One wrestlers looks like an athlete, the other a fashion model.

Surprisingly, these two ended up having a rather unique feeling match, with a heavy MMA influence on it. Deville used MMA style striking and takedown moves, but then so did Lacey a little!

A turning point in the match came when Evans hit a solid right hand punch that dropped Deville. This allowed Lacey to go on offence a bit, until Deville just kicked her in the stomach and then hit a running step-up kick for the win.

Winner: Sonya Deville

3. Kassius Ohno vs. Andrade (Cien) Almas

Both guys recently lost in big matches. Almas lost at the last Takeover to Aleister Black, and then recently to Drew McIntyre. Kassius Ohno lost an NXT title match not longer after debuting, but then defeated the Drifter in a loser-leaves-NXT match. The Drifter is still just hanging around Raw.

Almas got most of the offence early, but Ohno made a comeback with a series of kicks, and a neck breaker. He missed a moonsault from the top which allowed Almas to get back into it however. Almas hit a running double knee in the corner, but was countered when he went for his DDT finish. Ohno got back on offence and hit a discus punch and got the 3-count.

Winner: Kassius Ohno

• Bobby Roode came out to cut a promo on Hideo Itami. He told Itami he would fail in his quest for the title.
• This brought out Itami, and despite the best efforts of security, he got in the ring and took out Roode. Itami then gave members of the security team the GTS while Roode watched. Then Roode got in the ring and got a GTS himself to close the show.

– Ryan Dilbert of Bleacher Report has published an in-depth look at The Miz’s long journey from MTV reality television star to WWE Superstar. The profile includes interviews with Daniel Puder and Rick Bassman of UPW, who helped train The Miz. It’s a great read – check it out at BleacherReport.com.

– Former WWE Superstar AJ Lee is the latest guest on comedian Marc Maron’s popular WTF podcast. AJ Lee’s new book Crazy Is My Superpower is now available at Amazon.com.

Today is @TheAJMendez day on @WTFpod! Wrestling, Mental illness, perseverance! Great talk! Do it up! https://t.co/TRZkCfr7QU

— marc maron (@marcmaron) May 18, 2017

• AJ Lee: WWE Punished Me For Refusing ‘Space Dinosaurs’ Storyline

– After Goldust betrayed him on RAW and put a nail in the coffin of Golden Truth, R-Truth has a message for his former tag team partner.

@Goldust don't let me see yo ass

— Ron Killings (@RonKillings) May 18, 2017

– Hideo Itami’s run in NXT has been plagued by injuries thus far. The Japanese phenom knows it and he’s ready to finally show the WWE Universe what he’s capable of. Itami challenges Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship this Saturday night at NXT Takeover: Chicago.

Since I've come to WWE. I haven't lived up to my expectations. But finally I will have the opportunity to show, WHO I AM.
Get ready #G2S

— KENTA aka Lil’K (@KENTAG2S) May 18, 2017

On NXT this week, it was announced that Sanity’s Eric Young will take on Roderick Strong at Takeover: Chicago. The match announcement gives the card 6 total bouts for Saturday.

Strong had a chance to earn a title shot against Bobby Roode last week on NXT, but dropped a match to Hideo Itami. Now, Itami will wrestle Roode on Saturday. After his match last week, Sanity attacked Strong, leading to the recently announced match.

#SAnitY doesn't normally take requests… but they'll make an exception for @roderickstrong! The challenge has been THROWN DOWN! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/adZufCBryS

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) May 18, 2017

Updated Takeover: Chicago Card

• NXT Champion Bobby Roode (c) vs. Hideo Itami
• NXT Women’s Champion Asuka (c) vs. Nikki Cross vs. Ruby Riot (Ember Moon removed from match due to injury)
• NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors Of Pain (c) vs. Team DIY (Ciampa & Gargano)
• WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate (c) vs. Pete Dunne
• Eric Young (Sanity) vs. Roderick Strong

This Sunday will be the 13th edition of WWE’s Backlash PPV. It seems fitting then to take a look at some of the biggest moments in the PPV’s history.

Backlash’s Biggest Moments

• The first Backlash took place on April 25th, 1999. On that night Steve Austin successfully defended the WWE championship against the Rock. This was just one month after Austin had defeated the Rock for the title at WrestleMania 15. This was during the Rock’s “Corporate Champ” phase.
• In the 2000 version of the event, the Rock had turned face, while Triple H was now aligned with Vince & Stephanie. Triple H had won the title the previous month at WrestleMania. The corporation tried to help HHH win here, but Austin evened up the odds and helped Rock win the title.
• In 2001, it was one month after Austin’s controversial heel turn. He teamed up with HHH in the main event of this show, and they defeated the Brothers of Destruction.
• Backlash 2002 saw the return of Hulkamania. Hogan received a thunderous ovation at WrestleMania 18 in Toronto, so the company brought back the red and yellow for this event. Hogan defeated HHH in the main event of this show to win the WWE championship.
• Backlash 2003 was the WWE PPV debut of Goldberg. He had been announced as coming to the WWE at the previous month’s WrestleMania. Goldberg started off his WWE career here by defeating the Rock in the main event.
• Backlash 2004 was a rematch of the main event of WrestleMania 20. The same result happened as well, as Chris Benoit defended the world championship in a 3-way match against HBK and HHH. Benoit had won the title at the previous month’s WrestleMania.
• Backlash 2005 saw Batista defeat HHH in the main event, but also a controversial angle with Hogan and HBK teaming up to defeat Davairi and Muhammad Hassan.
• Backlash 2006 featured John Cena successfully defending his newly won world championship against HHH and Edge, who was now the Rated R Superstar along with Lita.
• Backlash 2007 was a multi-brand PPV. Cena defended his title against Orton, Edge, and HBK, while Batista and the Undertaker went to a draw in a Last Man Standing match for the world heavyweight title.
• 2008 was another multi-brand PPV year. Undertaker defended against Edge, and HHH defeated Orton, Edge, and JBL to win the title from Orton.
• Backlash 2009, saw Edge win the title from Cena, as well as Evolution take on Randy Orton’s Legacy faction.
• Backlash then went on a 7 year hiatus until it returned last September.
• In 2016, AJ Styles beat Dean Ambrose to win the WWE championship
• Also, Heath Slater and Rhyno to win the tag titles.
• Becky Lynch won the 6-pack challenge to become the inaugural Smackdown women’s champion.

Take this for what it’s worth, but UK indy promotion 5 Star Wrestling has offered former WWE Superstar CM Punk $1 million to return to the ring.

Since departing WWE, announced his plan to fight for the UFC. Multiple injuries delayed his Octagon debut, which finally took place on September 10th, 2016. It didn’t go well for Punk, who got steamrolled by Mickey Gall after just 2 minutes and 14 seconds via a rear naked choke. He hasn’t fought since and UFC has expressed uncertainty about whether or not he’ll be offered another fight, despite Punk’s desire to continue.

The $1 million offer from 5 Star Wrestling is for CM Punk to compete in their upcoming 128-man tournament,  the 5 Star Wrestling World Championships. The tournament kicks off June 10th at Liverpool’s Echo Arena.

Wrestlers who work with 5 Star include Jonny Mundo (5 Star World Champion), Rey Mysterio, Carlito, Jay Lethall, Moose, Magnus and Jimmy Havoc.

5 Star promoter Daniel Hinkles confirmed the news on Thursday. He told the UK Sun, “We’ve been trying to contact CM Punk on and off for well over a year. We wanted him on the first show we did in Edinburgh in 2015. I’ve tried going through friends in the industry, I’ve gone through his website and sent dozens of emails but the opportunity has never been this big.”

“We want to offer CM Punk $1 million dollars to come and join the 5 Star Wrestling tour starting June 10th.”

Hinkles maintains that this is a serious offer, since they know CM Punk’s return to the ring would be the biggest story of 2017.

“It’s a genuine offer. We’d love to hear back from the man himself. We want to do this with him. We are hugely ambitious. When we ask the fans who they want to see, CM Punk’s name is on everybody’s wish list and we’re willing to spend big to make it happen.”

Discussion: Do you think we’ll ever see CM Punk in the ring again? If not for 5 Star, maybe for WWE, ROH or even Billy Corgan’s National Wrestling Alliance?

Bully Ray took to Twitter earlier today to congratulate a graduate of the “Team 3D Academy”, Kennadi Brink. The 25 year old was recently signed by WWE.

CONGRATS @Team3DAcademy grad. @LadyKBrink. We are very happy for you! You earned it. Good luck @WWENXT ? pic.twitter.com/hGj9E8qVps

— Bully Ray (@bullyray5150) May 17, 2017

Kennadi Brink

Some speculation is that WWE has signed Brink as a referee, indicating the company plans on brining in female referees. This could be in preparation for the pending women’s tournament, or just to work as a referee in general.

Brink has competed for Ring of Honor, wrestled a job match on NXT once, and has also competed for Shine and Shimmer. She wrestled WWE and ECW alumni, Jazz, at a show over WrestleMania weekend.

While promotional videos for Lana’s return to WWE don’t seem to indicate this, it appears as though Lana will be wrestling on the main roster when she returns.

As Rusev heals up from his injury, Lana has been at the WWE performance centre in Orlando, and on tour with NXT.

Been at the @WWEPerformCtr training the last month & doing @WWENXT shows & haven't my handsome @RusevBUL in a month! I can't wait to see u??

— CJ Perry (@TheCJPerry) May 15, 2017

Lana On NXT House Show Circuit

Lana hasn’t just been training however, she’s also been competing on house shows. Since April 20th, she has appeared on 9 NXT house shows, winning each match.

She has mainly wrestled people yet to appear on NXT programming, but she also defeated Ruby Riot, and Liv Morgan twice.

Soon… #SDLive @LanaWWE pic.twitter.com/jJiqWFDs4J

— WWE (@WWE) May 17, 2017

This week’s WWE SmackDown drew just 2.175 million viewers and set a new low for 2017. Last week’s episode, a taped show from London, drew 2.348 million viewers.

This week’s viewership is especially bad as this was the Backlash go-home edition of SmackDown with several matches and segments advertised ahead of time, including AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal and a main event of Baron Corbin vs. WWE Champion AJ Styles.

SmackDown was #9 in viewership and #4 in the 18-49 demographic this week. ESPN dominated the demographic with the NBA Playoffs finals, the NBA Draft Lottery special and SportsCenter.

By comparison, this week’s RAW averaged 2.751 million viewers, up from the 2.696 million viewers they drew last week.

Here are WWE’s Top 10 Moments from this week’s SmackDown.