PROGRESS’ latest Chapter event took place this past weekend from the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London.
The main event of the show saw the team of Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos (#CCK) defend their PROGRESS Tag Team titles against the Grizzled Young Veterans. Early into the bout Kid Lykos sustained an injury to his shoulder and had to be taken out of the building for medical assistance.
Company co-owner Glen Joseph confirmed via Twitter that Lykos had to have his shoulder ‘popped’ back into place, this comes after Kid Lykos recently returned from a wrist injury so the timing is hugely unfortunate for the rising UK star.
In case you weren’t aware…Chris Jericho will be making his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling when he faces IWGP United States Champion Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 12 on January 4th.
This once in a lifetime match appears to be making a huge difference to the sale of WK tickets, reports indicate that sales are up a staggering 80% from this time last year, that equates to 20,000 from October 25th – November 25th in 2017 as opposed to around 11-12,000 in 2016.
NJPW announces that 20,000 tickets have been sold for Wrestle Kingdom 12 in the first month of sales (Oct. 25 – Nov. 25), an 80% increase from last year, which would be in the 11-12,000 range. https://t.co/Z2RrzJikZF
Whether this rise can be attributed solely to Jericho/Omega can of course be disputed, however stars within the company, including ROH Champion Cody Rhodes are certainly attributing a major portion of the sales to the massively hyped match:
PROGRESS Wrestling’s 58th Chapter event took place this past Sunday from the fabled Electric Ballroom in Camden, London. Here are the full results from the show:
PROGRESS World Championship Match – Travis Banks b. “Super King Of Bros” Matt Riddle – Banks won the opening match of the night to retain his PROGRESS World Championship and avenge his previous loss to the ‘Bro’
Mark Haskins & Jimmy Havoc (w/ Vicky Haskins) b. Maverick Mayhew & Connor Mills – The veterans took the win after DECIMATING the newcomers in Mayhew/Mills…brutal
Eddie Dennis b. Jack Sexsmith – This match ended via ref stoppage, after the bell Dennis continued to attack Sexsmith until Travis Banks appeared for the save, Dennis then issued a challenge for the PROGRESS World Title
PROGRESS Women’s Championship No.1 ContenderMatch – Jinny defeated Dahlia Black by pinfall to become the number one contender to the PROGRESS Women’s Championship, this was an extremely tense No DQ bout
Timothy Thatcher b. Strangler Davis – Thatcher defeated Davis to become the Number 1 contender to the ATLAS title, the VALHALLA vignette played during the match and it was revealed that Rob Lynch had returned to the company
Timothy Thatcher b. Chris Ridgeway – Thatcher demanded another bout after defeating Davis and debutant Ridgeway was happy to oblige
Joseph Conners b. Flash Morgan Webster – WWE UK star Conners won via pinfall
PROGRESS Women’s Championship Match: Toni Storm b. Alex Windsor – Storm won via pinfall to retain the PROGRESS Women’s Championship
PROGRESS Tag Team Championship Match: Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) b. CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) – Gibson won the match via submission to capture the tag titles for the Vets
WWE.com caught up with Goldust, who returned as “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes at Saturday night’s WWE Starrcade one-night special event at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, to discuss the significance and importance of the event to him on a personal level.
Goldust discussed his late father, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, being honored at the event and what it felt like to be at a Starrcade show for the first time-ever without his father.
Regarding the event itself as a whole, Goldust stated, “It was pretty special.” In discussing his father, Goldust replied, “It’s like when he was with me and Cody, and we fought The Shield, it was special. Every time I’ve been with him in the ring, it was special.”
Goldust continued, “But tonight, he wasn’t there, and it was very emotional for me. Standing behind the video wall, listening to the package they put out of dad and knowing all those promos by heart. Just listening to it was just ‘Wow, this is so surreal’ and it just brought it back. It’s been almost three years since he’s been gone and it was just incredible.”
Posted November 27th, 2017 in News, WWE. Tagged: Goldust.
Former NXT Champion Drew McIntyre will be out of action for the remainder of the year after suffering an injury at NXT Takeover: WarGames earlier this month.
McIntyre dropped the gold to Andrade “Cien” Almas at Takeover, ending his 3-month reign. The Scottish Superstar suffered what’s believed to be a torn biceps during that match. Should McIntyre require surgery to repair the tear, typical recovery time for that procedure is four to six months.
He tweeted the following on Monday afternoon, promising to return better than ever in 2018.
– Gallows and Anderson both were advertised for weekend’s Starrcade event but they surprisingly didn’t appear on the show, which left people speculating. Though according to F4Wonline, the duo was simply pulled from it to work on the Raw Brand Live Event from Nashville.
– Speaking of Starrcade, we noted before how Goldust used his ‘Natural’ Dustin Rhodes gimmick during the show and defeated Dash Wilder in a match.
After the event, his brother Cody commented on Dustin’s performance via the following tweet, saying that he has had a Hall Of Fame worthy career:
Pro-wrestling is real.
Dustin's journey is a triumphant one. Dream liked to say it's not about tonight but it's about "your body of work"…and Dustin/Goldust has had a HOF career. I'll always have his back. https://t.co/cGoSgyvme4
Goldberg was also featured in the movie “American Satan” which released on October 13th this year. That film was produced via several artists who have worked on Rob Zombie films in the past.
He also has roles confirmed for “Holly, Jingles, and Clyde” as well as a movie called “Con Man”, both expected to be released in the coming months.
Posted November 27th, 2017 in News. Tagged: Goldberg.
Women’s wrestling has never been better over the past several years in WWE. After seeing first-ever matches for women; such as Hell In A Cell, Money In The Bank Ladder Matches, Steel Cage main events, and many more – the WWE could be considering to take things a step further. Per a report from Wrestling Sheet Radio, there has been a lot of talk within WWE about doing a first-ever Women’s Elimination Chamber match.
WWE has already confirmed an Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (PPV) event for February of 2018, and it will be a RAW exclusive event.
RAW General Manager Kurt Angle recently indicated that a Women’s Elimination Chamber match is in the works during a Facebook Q&A session When asked why fans haven’t seen a female Elimination Chamber match for the RAW Women’s Title yet, Angle responded “Patience. You will.”
It should be interesting to see if the match comes to fruition in the coming months.
As we’ve previously noted, WWE will be celebrating 25 years of Monday Night RAW with a special anniversary show that will be simulcasted from The Manhattan Center and the Barclays Center in New York on January 22nd.
WWE is considering the show to be “all-hands-on-deck” and are bringing in big names such as The Undertaker to make appearances. Aside from brining in The Undertaker, however, it looks like WWE has even more plans for the special event.
WWE has reportedly been contacting former talents and personalities to film video messages for the show as well. It’s not yet known if the messages will be used during the actual broadcast or for promotional material for the event.
Discussion: Are you excited for RAW’s 25th Anniversary Show? And will the event live up to the hype?
Last week Roman Reigns defeated The Miz to capture the Intercontinental Championship in the main event of Monday Night RAW. Shortly after the victory “The Big Dog” claimed that he’d be holding open challenges to defend his newly acquired title:
Wherever I am, consider it My Yard. So if you want my title… …all you have to do is step up. #Rawpic.twitter.com/jjJaklC5fF
It turns out that two RAW stars have already seemingly accepted that challenge, as they took to Twitter to respond to Reigns. The son of RAW General Manager Kurt Angle, Jason Jordan, posted the following video in which he accepts Reigns’ open challenge:
Tonight’s edition of WWE RAW takes place from Knoxville, Tennessee at the Thompson-Boling Arena. We hope our readers in the United States had a good Thanksgiving weekend.
Survivor Series is in the books and the RAW brand has a rare 2-month gap until its next pay-per-view event – the co-branded Royal Rumble on January 28th from Philadelphia.
– Last week, Roman Reigns defeated The Miz to become the new Intercontinental Champion. Since his win, Reigns has issued an open challenge for anybody to step up if they want his title. Who will answer Reigns’ open challenge tonight?
– Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose continue their quest to reclaim the RAW tag team titles from The Bar.
– After the return of Paige and her new sidekicks Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, the rampage of this new trio continues.
– Braun Strowman seeks retribution against Kane.
Join us here later tonight for our WWE RAW Live Coverage.
Wherever I am, consider it My Yard. So if you want my title… …all you have to do is step up. #Rawpic.twitter.com/jjJaklC5fF
Aro Lucha has signed Rey Mysterio Jr. to headline their show from Nashville on December 10th. The promotion already announced earlier this month that Konnan will serve as Aro Lucha’s head writer.
Co-Founder of Aroluxe, former part-owners of TNA and current owners of Aro Lucha, Don Harris, had this to say about bringing Mysterio in.
“We’ve tried to bring our years of experience in the wrestling industry and tv production to the table, while also marrying that with some of the top talent in the lucha libre world. We’re excited to bring this roster to the fans and families that would not otherwise get a chance to see these stars outside of Mexico.”
Aro Lucha December 10th show lineup:
Rey Mysterio & Pentagon vs Rush & John Morrison
Jack Evans & Hurricane Helms & Maximo vs Garza Jr & La Mascara & Daga
MVP vs Sammy Guevara
Keyra & Lacey Lane vs Vanilla Vargas & Taya
Demus vs Mascarita Dorada
Willie Mack vs Mr. 450
On a recent episode of their podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, WWE Hall Of Famer Edge and former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Christian reviewed Survivor Series weekend. One subject that the former Tag Team Champs touched on was NXT TakeOver: Houston, which featured a match between Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream. It turns out “The Rated-R Superstar” is a big fan of Velveteen, as he issued out some high praise for the NXT product:
“I hadn’t seen much of Velveteen Dream but I watched him and Aleister Black. That kid’s been working 3 years, for 3 years to be where he’s at is incredible. He’s found a character, he’s fully committed to it. It’s parts Rick Rude, it’s part Prince and it’s fun. I really enjoyed that. He’s going to be a player, it was really fun to watch. It was a fun match and I thought there were a lot of cool false finishes and like I said for 3 years in or whatever, he’s going to be a good one.”
The 22-year-old has only been wrestling since October of 2014. With years to go in his career as he’s learning under some of the greatest minds in the business in NXT, Dream has a chance to be something special when his time comes to be called up to the main roster.
Discussion: How do you feel about Velveteen’s potential?
You can listen to E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall Of Famer Diamond Dallas Page recently spoke to the Atlanta Business Chronicle on a number of professional wrestling topics. DDP talked about suffering an injury after signing a seven-figure contract with WCW, his goal for DDP Yoga within the next four years, and who was the first WWE Superstar to use the DDP Yoga program. Here are the highlights:
Suffering an injury in WCW after signing a seven-figure contract:
“I started wrestling when I was 35, but my career didn’t take off until I was 40. When you look at me in the beginning of ’96 and at the end of ’96, I’m two different people. When my career took off like a rocket in ’97 – me against the nWo and Randy Savage – I wasn’t just a top guy, I was the top guy and then in ’98, I blew my back out. [$250,000 is] a lot of money in the real world, but for being on-top of the wrestling world, that sucks. I had just gotten that 3-year, multi-million dollar deal and that’s when I blew my back out.”
What his goal for DDP Yoga is within the next four years:
“I did what WWE did with the network, but I did it with fitness. Now, my goal is to be a $100 million company before I’m 65.”
Who was the first WWE Superstar to use DDP Yoga:
“I had just done the WWE: The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro and while I was there I was shooting behind the scenes with Shawn Michaels, who was the first guy ever to do my program, which, along with his surgery, helped him get back in the ring. [Michaels] told me, ‘Jericho is hurting and I told him to call you.'”
You can read Page’s interview with the Atlanta Business Chronicle by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan’s status with the company has been in question for quite some time, and after his recent comments on Twitter, rumors of his nearing WWE return continue to gain momentum.
Hogan took to Twitter to reveal that he will be making and closing deals this week, and with Dave Meltzer reporting that the WWE is considering bringing “The Hulkster” back in the fold, it should be interesting to see if these two comments are related:
Perfect day, great Thanksgiving. Back to making new deals this week and closing some I’ve beat into submission. Around great, loving, happy, positive people all day. miss the good old days? No, these are the really great days man, the future is really bright!!! Only love HH
In love with my journey,resetting,getting clear,is a whole new life! I’ve learned to listen to people speak,what they say or talk about is who they really are and how they live life,positive words=abdunant life,negative words=low level life,the good doesn’t prevent the better HH
Discussion: Do you think Hogan’s comments on making and closing deals is related to a WWE return? Are you interested in seeing the former WWE Champ back with the company?
Posted November 26th, 2017 in WWE. Tagged: Hulk Hogan.
5Star Wrestling has announced that both Rey Mysterio and John Morrison will be appearing on February 1st at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. The company recently made a groundbreaking deal with UK television channel FreeSports to broadcast live events across the United Kingdom throughout 2018 and beyond.
FreeSports is a channel available via the UK’s FreeView service, Sky, FreeSat, BT, TalkTalk TV and is available in over 22 Million homes.
Also currently announced for the show are Zack Gibson and Rob Van Dam.
Tickets for the show are available to purchase here.
BREAKING NEWS: John Morrison set to defend the 5 Star Championship, at the Liverpool Echo Arena on February 1st. The event will be broadcast LIVE on TV right across the UK thanks to FreeSports.
Last night saw the return of Starrcade inside the legendary Greenboro Coliseum for the first time in 30 years. Incidentally this is also the first time that WWE has used the once iconic WCW pay per view name for one of their events…sadly this was only a house show but none the less there were quite a few high profile appearances and returns from World Championship Wrestling’s historic past, here are the full results from the show:
Bobby Roode b. Dolph Ziggler – Arn Anderson made an impromptu appearance during the match and hit one of his patented Spinebusters on Dolph! Check it out below for the epic WCW nostalgia feels.
Rusev, The Bludgeon Brothers, The Colons, & Mike Kanellis b. Breezango, The Ascension, Tye Dillinger, & Sin Cara
The New Day tweaked with The Rock n Roll Express and The Hardys…the Hardys also spoke to WWE.com on why Starrcade is of such high importance to them as performers:
Naomi b. Tamina (w/Lana)
‘The Natural’ Dustin Rhodes b. Dash Wilder – Dustin made an emotional appearance using his old WCW persona and paid tribute to his father Dusty.
Charlotte (c) b. Natalya in a cage match for the SmackDown Women’s title – Incredibly this was the first cage match that Natalya has ever been a part of, unfortunately for her it was in a losing effort.
Tonight was my first time fighting in a steel cage. I’m bruised, cut up & really exhausted. Tonight, we also made history. We were the first women to ever have a cage match in North Carolina. With all of that being said, I’ll stop at nothing to get my championship back. ?? pic.twitter.com/fWVKxYPdnW
The Nature Boy and possibly the most iconic performer in WCW’s illustrious history Ric Flair made an appearance and spoke briefly with WWE.com on his memories of the Coliseum, let’s face it you can’t have Starrcade without some jet flying and limousine riding…
AJ Styles (c) d. Jinder Mahal (w/ The Singh Brothers) in a steel cage for the WWE Title – A result that will no doubt please a large portion of the WWE fan base, AJ retained the title heading into the Clash of Champions event where he will again defend against Jinder Mahal.
A truly memorable event, the only question that remains is this…why wasn’t this on the WWE Network?
AAA and Lucha Underground star Angelico has announced that he will be departing Mexico as of January 1st.
The Lucha Libre performer took to Twitter to reveal his plans going forward, which include a move east to Europe and his new home in Barcelona, Spain. Reports indicate that Angelico’s leaving is amicable, he made a point to thank Ultimo Dragon & Konnan in his official announcement and it is clear that the door is wide open for a potential return if and when Angelico decides to head back to Mexico.
Former WWE Superstar Fred Ottman (a.k.a Tugboat, Typhoon and The Shockmaster) recently did an interview on the School Of Morton podcast to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Ottman discussed being pitched the Typhoon gimmick, being a part of a feud with Hulk Hogan, and visiting Disneyland with his former Natural Disasters partner “Earthquake” John Tenta. Here are the highlights:
Being pitched the Typhoon gimmick:
“They called me in the office. Vince [McMahon] would sit down with all of his guys and they would have agents or whoever the powers may be. Pat Patterson was always his right hand man. They would throw things back and forth like a committee. He would call you into the office and talk to you. The thing is if they would come up with a gimmick for you they want you to be comfortable.”
Being a part of a feud with Hulk Hogan:
“I couldn’t believe it, actually. You had the man that took the business to the next level and is that American icon. Once you went through that curtain, you get out there and feel the electricity of those people and Hulk was and still is a good, good guy and genuine guy and has helped so many guys in this business. Feel the electricity and the people’s response whether you are a heel or a babyface and getting that response.”
Visiting Disneyland with Earthquake:
“I got a picture of me and him at Disney World with our families. In Orlando on the Dumbo ride with Mickey Mouse ears on. People knew who we were from TV and here’s the two big rhinoceros with Mickey Mouse ears on to ride the dumbo ride. We were lucky we didn’t snap them off. We were both over four hundred pounds!”
You can listen to the School Of Morton podcast by clicking this link here.
– As we’ve previously noted, WWE did an article on WWE Superstars who have won every active title in the company today. The list featured names such as Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, and Roman Reigns who captured the Intercontinental Championship from The Miz on RAW this past Monday.
JBL took to Twitter to react to being left out of the mix, however, it should be noted that the World Tag Team Championship that he won was retired in August of 2010. Therefore, he technically hasn’t won every title currently active in the company today:
I win US Title, Intercontinental Title, Tag Titles and WWE Title-Grand Slam Champion, and @WWE puts out a list and omits me? Come on man!
– In regards to Roman Reigns’ Intercontinental Title run it was noted that he is expected to hold open challenges for the title. 205 Live star Cedrick Alexander teased accepting one of those challenges:
As always, Austin Creed has been working on his YouTube channel: UpUpDownDown. The past week has seen 2 major features uploaded for videogame fans to enjoy. The first is Round 2 of the Madden 18 tournament which sees RAW’s Jason Jordan take on TJ Perkins.
Jordan previously shocked the tournament in one of the most intense, yet hilarious matches as he beat 3 time champion: Seth Rollins.
TJP destroyed the inexperienced Luke Gallows in his last match-up, and demonstrated solid potential as he takes on Jason Jordan: The Champion Slayer. Check out the game below:
However, the most entertaining video of the week on UpUpDownDown featured Austin Creed himself, and Jimmy Uso in a UFC 2 Championship Title match. Although there is no current tournament, Creed has used a similar system to any other championship title in UFC or WWE by hosting championship matches with worthy opponents at any time.
Not only was it an excellent display of skill and talent, there were multiple cameos and moments outside the game which make this a must see. Check out the title match below, as well as a list of highlights.
5 Highlights From Austin Creed vs Jimmy Uso:
This is taking place in a University Volley Ball Court – WHAT!? That’s dedication.
Kevin Owens makes an appearance, wearing his Face of America brand t-shirt; he then partially remains in character as he removes the American flag background and stands in it’s place. Everyone else just accepts this and says “Oh, yeah, it’s his thing”.
They’re told to be quiet, and have to continue the game while trying to whisper – which doesn’t go well as Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Jey Uso are there to provide support and commentary.
Sami Zayn appears, topless, and impress Big E with his New Day like dance moves. If you watch anything from this video, skip to 6:49 just for this!
The in-game fight is ridiculously entertaining and close (without giving spoilers away).
WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler has launched another episode of his podcast, Dinner With The King, in which he discusses a variety of professional wrestling topics. During the interview Lawler touched on WWE being labeled as PG by many people, but thinking it’s actually rated PC for Politically Correct. Here are the highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GArkRkvwwp0
Jim Carrey’s ‘Jim and Andy’ film tidbit:
“After we finished wrapping the movie and did that the last scenes in New York, that day he [Jim Carrey] invited me to dinner, and- and this was like this is going to be so cool because, you know, he was going to be out of character I was used to him being Andy Kaufman.
“So I was going to get to go to dinner and after all this bad blood between he and I during the filming of the movie, we were going to go out to eat together and then then sit and talk about all of this stuff. So he told me this really nice restaurant and to meet him at there in New, York, City. Anyway I went and he stood me up and he talks about that. I didn’t realize at the time that he did it intentionally. But I didn’t know that until I saw this documentary. He was even more of a jerk than I thought.”
WWE being PG or PC:
“Everybody says ‘what does PG mean?’ Think everybody gets that wrong. I don’t think they’re PG. PG means you can be risky and and say some stuff like that, but then it’s up to the parents to decide. If that’s okay, for your kid to hear it, that’s what that means. Parental guidance.
“So the parents should listen and decide whether they think this is okay for the kids, but I think what the WWE has become is PC. And, it’s what the whole world has become politically correct and worrying about offending anybody. That’s what keeps you muzzled so to speak.”
You can listen to Dinner With The King by clicking this link here.
– New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) has launched a new English YouTube channel, and their first video featured IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega. You can check it out here:
– In the latest video of WWE Superstar Sheamus’ official YouTube channel, the Irishman takes fans behind-the-scenes of the process of styling his signature mohawk:
It seems that recently released WWE Superstar Emma now has her first indy booking set. During their recent Hell On Earth show, Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) announced that Emma will be making an appearance for the promotion in February of next year. AIW has hosted big names in the past; such as Johnny Gargano, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, El Generico, Dean Ambrose, Samoa Joe, EC3 , The Young Bucks, and many more:
It was announced earlier that at @aiwrestling’s February show, their special guest will be @TenilleDashwood, (fka “Emma” in WWE)