Popular rap artist Mega Ran will host Ring of Honor’s upcoming 17th Anniversary event. In addition to hosting, Mega Ran will also will perform his new song “Going to the Garden.”
Mega Ran is a lifelong wrestling fan who appeared on WWE SmackDown back in 2017 during the New Day’s rap battle against The Usos. Video of the rap battle is embedded below
The former teacher from Philadelphia has released two wrestling-themed albums titled “Mat Mania.” He hosts a weekly wrestling podcast of the same name. Visit Megaran.com for details on his upcoming release, The Dewey Decibal System, which drops this spring.
No matches have been announced for ROH’s 17th Anniversary show as of this writing.
Talent signed to appear include ROH World Champion Jay Lethal, World Tag Team Champions The Briscoes, World Television Champion Jeff Cobb, Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein Villain Enterprises, Bandito and many more.
ROH’s 18th Anniversary pay-per-view takes place Friday, March 15th from Las Vegas, NV at Sam’s Town Live. The show will be available for purchase via traditional pay-per-view outlets and will stream live on the HonorClub VIP service.
It was announced earlier this month that former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops will be coaching the XFL’s Dallas team. This was the XFL’s first coaching announcement since revealing the team’s cities in December. Now, we have another head coaching announcement to pass along. Pep Hamilton will be coaching the XFL’s Washington D.C. franchise:
OFFICIAL: Pep Hamilton is the head coach and general manager of @XFLDC.
Hamilton has experience working with NFL teams such as the Browns, Colts, Bears, 49ers, and Jets. He has also worked in college football with the Michigan, Stanford, and Howard University programs. Hamilton’s job in Dallas is his first opportunity at head coaching a team. He released the following statement in response to the news:
“I’m excited to join the XFL and lead the team in Washington, a city with which I have a lifelong attachment. I appreciate the confidence Vince McMahon and Oliver Luck have in me, providing an opportunity to be the head coach and placing the football operations of their Washington team in my hands.
“We plan to put together a terrific, hard-working staff, and a great football team for fans in and around our nation’s capital.”
With Washington and Dallas now having announced their coaches, only six cities have yet to do so. Those being Houston, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, and Tampa Bay. The XFL’s re-launch season is set to kickoff on Saturday, February 8th and Sunday, February 9th, which is the weekend after the NFL’s Super Bowl.
What do you think of how the coaching staff is shaping up for the XFL?
Cruiserweight Classic winner TJ Perkins and Tye Dillinger have both vented publicly about their frustrations. Dillinger issued a statement earlier this week telling fans on social media that he requested to be released. He expressed gratitude for his time with WWE and wrote,
“To the male and female locker rooms, coaches and producers, to the production/ring crew, all the way up to the very top of WWE and most of al the fans…I wish you all the very best and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything.”
TJP wrote the following in response to WWE’s announcement:
Thanks for giving me a chance and letting me play for the team I grew up watching ????? https://t.co/r7001mqjx2
As noted early Friday morning, WWE Hall of Famer Arn Anderson has also been released. Anderson had been working with talent backstage as a producer. AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes commented on AA’s situation:
Love AA. I stole all of his catchphrases & use them on a daily basis. He went to bat for young talent & at the same time is essentially responsible for all of the current top guys & “golden circle”. He’s not corporate, but that’s a compliment. Can’t take wrestlers outta wrestling
Tye Dillinger is no longer under contract with the WWE.
On Friday afternoon, WWE confirmed that the SmackDown star has been released after requesting the termination of his contract. The company issued the following statement announcing the news:
“WWE has come to terms on the release of Ron Arneill (Tye Dillinger).”
Back in October, the company announced that he suffered a hand injury and had to undergo surgery as a result of it. According to the statement that was posted on the official website of the company, the SmackDown star suffered the injury while competing at a live event in Macon, GA at the Macon Centreplex. At this show, he lost to Shelton Benjamin in a singles match.
The announcement came just a few hours before he was supposed to challenge then-champion Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship on the blue branded show in Atlanta, GA. R-Truth would later replace him.
He worked under the WWE banner as recently as February 18 against EC3 at a live event. Dillinger had two stints with the WWE with the latest run starting in 2013 on the NXT brand. He would later be called up to the main roster in 2017.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced that the upcoming G1 Supercard event will be streamed on the NJPWWorld.com platform. The company wrote the following on their English language site NJPW1972.com. “New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor are pleased to announce that G1 Supercard will stream live on NJPW World and HonorClub worldwide on April 6, 2019 for all subscribers.”
G1 Supercard will be taking place on Saturday April 6th from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show is a co-branded event alongside Ring of Honor.
New Japan recently announced IWGP Champion Jay White’s match. The company said that 68th IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White will be defending his title against the New Japan Cup winner. Previously, the winner of the Cup was able to receive a title shot of their choosing. This year, the winner can only challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
The New Japan Cup is a single-elimination tournament held annually since 2005. Zack Sabre Jr. was the winner of the 2018 cup and he went on to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Sakura Genesis in a losing effort.
White won the title at the from Hiroshi Tanahashi on February 11th at the New Beginning in Osaka show. The win came as a shock to NJPW fans and saw White ascend to the top of the company.
Two more WWE stars have been granted their releases from the company today (Fri. February 22, 2019). WWE announced that they have come to terms on the release of former Cruiserweight Champion TJ Perkins and 205 Live star Hideo Itami. WWE did not wish either man good luck in their future endeavors.
Perkins signed with WWE back in 2016 after winning the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic tournament. With the tournament win, he also captured the Cruiserweight Championship. He’d go on to lose the strap to Brian Kendrick at that year’s Hell In A Cell pay-per-view (PPV). As for Itami, he has been rumored to be leaving the company for quite some time now.
It was reported last month that the Japanese star asked for his release from the company. This came after his loss to Akira Tozawa on the January 29th episode of 205 Live. Itami was reportedly unhappy with the way he was being used. As of this writing, four releases were granted today by WWE. Those being Arn Anderson, Tye Dillinger, Itami, and TJP.
This makes things particularly interesting now that All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is on the rise. Perhaps some of these names could be seen at Double Or Nothing in May.
What do you think about WWE’s decision to release TJP and Itami?
Earlier this month saw Revolution Pro (Rev Pro) Wrestling present their High Stakes 2019 event. The show took place from the world famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.
The main event featured an independent dream match with NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay facing Dragon Gate star PAC. The match featured a run in from CCK’s Chris Brookes and Jon Gresham. The bout ended in a time limit draw, with the contest going the allocated 30 minutes.
PAC took to the top rope and counted along with the fans in the final seconds, opting not to hit his Black Arrow finishing move. The contest was a critical hit with fans in attendance but many were questioning the finish, blaming ‘politics’ between New Japan and Dragon Gate.
Rev Pro has now announced that Ospreay and PAC will be teaming to take on CCK. The company will be heading to the Hilton New York Midtown Ballroom this WrestleMania weekend on Friday 5th April. Tickets for the show are available to purchase now.
There were rumors that Ospreay and PAC would be involved at the New York showing following their time limit draw. Initial reports indicated that it would be another singles match however CCK’s involvement in the original bout makes much more sense.
NEW YORK: OSPREAY & PAC combine for the first time ever to take on CCK: Gresham & Brookes
Can they co-exist? Can Ospreay finally earn the respect of one of his heroes? Can CCK spoil the party?
NJPW has announced three of the stars who will be appearing at the upcoming Royal Quest event.
The company confirmed earlier this month that “Three of our top Japanese wrestlers have confirmed they will be on the card and they will be bringing New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s fighting spirit to the heart of the UK’s capital.” Those three stars are Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.
NJPW aren’t strangers to the United Kingdom. They have held numerous events in conjuncture with other promotions. Most notably Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) and Ring Of Honor (ROH). ‘Royal Quest’ will be their first major solo show in the UK.
You can find more information on their website, NJPW1972.com.
We’re still working out a few final tweaks to the seating, but we have great news!
Tanahashi, Okada and Naito are wresting at NJPW Royal Quest!
Last week, it was reported that Jimmy Uso was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. TMZ reported that Naomi was driving with Jimmy Uso in the passenger seat when they were pulled over for going the wrong way on a one-way street. Jimmy is then said to have exited the vehicle and “squared up” as if he was going to fight the officer, leading to his arrest.
Naomi commented on the recent incident on Twitter:
I was NOT ticketed, I was NOT drinking, leaving the lot I was unaware that it exits to a 1 way street (it was dark snow no signs no traffic I was pulled immediately made a mistake and I own it) as for my husband he’s more of a man you’ll ever be & I’ll leave it at that #blockedhttps://t.co/ymRRanIQeH
WWE issued the following statement to media following Jimmy Uso’s arrest: “Jonathan Fatu is responsible for his own actions.”
Naomi Featured In Kontrol Magazine
Naomi was recently featured in Kontrol Magazine. During the interview, she spoke on how having her personal life broadcast on Total Divas can be difficult.
“It is very difficult at times, but I’m happy we get to share our story and literally watch ourselves grow and learn together,” she said. “I like to think that our children and grandchildren years from now will watch us back, be proud and get a kick out of it (She Laughs)”.
Naomi’s latest storyline on Smackdown has involved her teaming with Carmella. The pair were the first eliminated from the Elimination Chamber match on Sunday, however. Mandy Rose had been antagonizing Naomi as of late by making overtures to Jimmy Uso.
The Usos just won the Smackdown tag-team titles from the Miz and Shane McMahon at Elimination Chamber. As a result of the events from Smackdown this week, the Usos will again face Miz and McMahon on March 10th at Fastlane.
Pop TV President Brad Schwartz spoke with Deadline.com where he talked about a wide range of topics including the reason why Impact Wrestling is no longer airing on the network.
Last month, it was announced that Impact had signed a new television deal with Pursuit Channel to air their flagship show in the United States. It also saw a change as the show was moved from Thursday’s to Friday’s.
This deal came about once Impact had to find a new home to air their weekly television series after not agreeing to a new deal with Pop TV. Since then, Impact has simulcast its program on both Pursuit as well as Twitch.
“Yes, we had a wrestling show every Thursday night, which by the way was one of our 10 highest-rated shows on the network,” Schwartz said. “They wanted to keep going, obviously.”
He brought up Impact provided two hours of original content every Thursday night every week of the year that would do 400 thousand-500 thousand viewers every Thursday night.
He would add, “We had to really start focusing on brand and expectation, and I think if you’re going to pitch yourself and tell audiences that you’re this place for premium content, Schitt’s Creek, Flack, Florida Girls, this type of stuff, then people need to know what to expect from you when they come to the channel.”
When Lucha Underground hit the pro-wrestling scene in 2014, it was received as a truly unique take on what pro-wrestling could be. The show has generated over 90% positive reviews on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes.
After 4 seasons and 127 episodes, however, it looks like Lucha Underground could be finished. Co-Executive Producer, Chris DeJoseph, responded to a fan on Twitter asking about the future of the show:
Lawsuits Launched Against El Rey Network were launched recently by Ivelisse, Kobra Moon, and Joey Ryan in attempts to get out of their contracts. King Cuerno has also filed a separate suit as well.
DeJoseph also commented on what they saw in Pentagon Jr. when they first brought him into Lucha Underground.
“Producers wanted Pentagon Jr. on Lucha Underground,” DeJoseph Tweeted. “He was a masked, cool looking heel and had charisma, we were told he “wasn’t the guy” and didn’t have ‘it’. We needed mid-level guy and thought he could be more. End of story.”
In 2016, DeJoseph told the Wrestling Mayhem show that WWE tried to shut Lucha Underground down.
“They basically tried to sign our entire roster, and pretty much tried to shut us down,” he said on the show. “I think that’s what they want to do is just take everybody, sign them into NXT and then wipe out companies. I know they tried to do it with TNA too, and I’m sure ROH too, but it makes sense for them to pay someone $750 a week, put them into developmental and then in the meantime, they try to take away a company’s roster. And they can just leave those guys down in NXT, they don’t care.”
Impact Wrestling’s event over WrestleMania weekend this year will now be a PPV on the FITE app. The promotion earlier announced a dream tag-team match for the event featuring Rob Van Dam & Sabu teaming up to face Pentagon Jr. and Fenix, the Lucha Bros. Sami Callihan vs Jimmy Havoc in a Monster’s Ball match was also scheduled for the event recently.
United We Stand takes place on April 4th from the Rahway Center in Rahway, New Jersey.
Impact Wrestling has recently announced 3 more matches for the event. Tessa Blanchard and Eli Drake will face each other in a special inter-gender match.
A team representing Impact Wrestling will also take on a team wrestling Lucha Underground on the show. Brian Cage, Johnny Impact, Moose, and Eddie Edwards will make up Team Impact. The Lucha Underground team will consist of Aerostar, Drago, King Cuerno, and Daga.
Jake Crist, Jack Evans, and Kotto Brazil are all confirmed for the Ultimate-X match that night as well.
“We are delighted to welcome two legends in Rob Van Dam and Sabu back to an IMPACT Wrestling ring,” said Ed Nordholm, President of IMPACT Wrestling. “Add this to the list of other matches we have announced and United We Stand is becoming a dream night of action for wrestling fans all over the world made available through our partners at FITE.tv.”
The most iconic member of the 4 Horsemen not named Ric Flair has been let go from WWE. According to a report from Pro Wrestling Sheet, Arn Anderson is no longer with the company. As of this writing, it is not clear what led to Anderson’s departure.
Anderson began working for WWE as an agent not long after WCW closed. The 60-year-old was also inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012 as part of the 4 Horsemen. WWE has planned a 70th birthday celebration for Arn’s longtime ally Ric Flair on Monday.
While Anderson has spent most of his behind-the-scenes career in WWE, he spent most of his in-ring career outside of it. He only wrestled in the company for one stint between 1988 and 1990. During that time, Arn teamed with his longtime teammate Tully Blanchard. They were named “the Brain Busters’ and were managed by Bobby Heenan.
Despite winning the tag titles on one occasion with Blanchard, Arn returned to WCW in early 1990.
The readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Arn as the “Best on Interviews” in 1990. The highest ranking he ever achieved on the PWI top 500 was at #9 in 1991. He was forced to retire in 1997 due to injuries.
According to comments he recently made on Twitter, Matt Hardy has about a week and a half left on his WWE contract. He also stated he’s always been comfortable outside of WWE even though he loves the company.
Hardy posted some throwback pictures on Twitter from 2014:
A fan responded that Hardy’s comments made it sound as though he was going to leave the company. To which Hardy responded with the following:
Not a threat at all, just a fact. I have 11 days left on my current deal. I love @WWE, but I’m 100% comfortable being outside the walls of pro wrestling’s "Alexandria" Safe-Zone. I’m a born SURVIVALIST.
the Hardyz signed with WWE just before WrestleMania 33 where they would return and win the RAW tag-team championships. It’s likely then that given Hardy’s comments both he and his brother Jeff signed 2-year-deals with the company back in 2017 that are coming up for renewal soon. It’s possible Jeff and Matt signed separate deals but that seems unlikely.
With the Hardyz likely testing free agency in the coming weeks, it could lead to speculation they are entertaining the idea of signing with a non-WWE promotion, possibly AEW. The last match the Hardyz had before signing with WWE in 2017 was against the Young Bucks at ROH Supercard of Honor XI. The Hardyz returned to WWE at WrestleMania 33 the next night.
There have been more than a few dynamite documentaries set in the world of professional wrestling but only a handful of dramatized versions with the bar set awfully low for what would be considered a watchable film.
If “The Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke is the best of the best and “Ready to Rumble” is the somewhere swimming in the sewer, then you’ll be happy to know that “Fighting with My Family” — the new biopic based on the real life of former WWE superstar Paige — is definitely near the top of the list now.
Based on the documentary “The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family” — a one-hour special that ran in England following the Bevis family, a real life pro wrestling brood — the film version centers mostly around Saraya Jade-Bevis better known by her professional wrestling moniker Paige.
Stephen Merchant — one half of the writing team behind the original British version of ‘The Office’ — handles writing and directing duties on this movie and he offers up a truly inspiring story about an outsider trying to find her way into the wrestling business.
“Fighting with My Family” follows a young Saraya from her earliest days learning hammer locks with her brother Zak in the living room to the days when they were grappling with each other inside the ring while going up against their own mother and father (who were also wrestlers of course).
Ricky the dad is an ex-con (mostly for violence but some robbery) and Saraya the mom is a former homeless cast out who connects with her future husband through a passion for professional wrestling. Together they raise three children who are all drawn to wrestling while they run their own promotion out of Norwich, England.
When WWE comes to the United Kingdom, Saraya and Zak get called into a tryout and both are convinced that their dreams will come true. Sadly when the tryouts are finished, only Saraya gets picked to join the WWE developmental roster while Zak is left behind in England with a new baby on the way and a bit of jealousy that his baby sister is off to America while he’s still stuck at home.
It’s when Saraya transforms into Paige and arrives at WWE does the story really start taking turns as she struggles to adjust to new surroundings where she is constantly seen as the odd woman out while her brother suffers through the same ills at home trying to figure out where he fits in without his own dreams being realized.
Florence Pugh, who portrays Paige, is really the breakout star in this movie and it’s a requirement because she’s forced to do a lot of the heavy lifting for the emotional storytelling throughout the film. Pugh does a remarkable job playing Paige both from her physicality in the ring to the real turmoil she faces when trying to find where the square peg fits into the round hole at WWE.
The rest of the cast fills out nicely, especially with the remainder of Paige’s family. Jack Lowden shines as her brother Zak with Nick Frost and ‘Game of Thrones’ star Lena Headey offering the perfect amount of encouragement and humor as their parents.
Vince Vaughn plays the other lead role as the tough-as-nails yet quietly encouraging WWE trainer, who recruits Paige. Vaughn’s dry sense of humor plays well in this role, although admittedly the cookie cutter part of a drill sergeant with a heart of gold feels like something we’ve seen play out in virtually every sports movie in history.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson also pops up as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — a role he was born to play. There are a few cameos from other professional wrestlers but this doesn’t feel like a movie that’s trying to play ‘spot your favorite WWE superstar’.
Instead, “Fighting with My Family” is a warmhearted and genuinely funny family film wrapped up in a wrestling movie.
Hardcore wrestling fans will see some parts of Paige’s life being dramatized and others left out entirely but for a 100-minute, PG-13 film, some stuff is going to get sacrificed to the cutting room floor.
What remains in “Fighting with My Family” is a charming and uplifting comedy-drama that will leave you with a proud smile on your face when the final bell tolls.
Posted February 22nd, 2019 in News, WWE. Tagged: Paige.
Roman Reigns will return to WWE television this coming Monday.
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon announced on Thursday afternoon that Reigns will be on hand to address “the status of his fight with leukemia.”
Monday’s WWE RAW takes place from Atlanta, GA at the State Farm Arena.
Reigns most recently addressed his health publicly in an Instagram post published on January 25th. He stated, “All of your outreach and support has been a blessing and it’s only pushed me to get back in the ring as soon as possible.”
The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament is returning in two weeks. This will be the fourth installment of WWE NXT’s tag team tournament honoring the late American Dream.
This year’s Dusty Classic will feature teams. The winners will be awarded the Dusty Rhodes Classic Cup trophy, which are modeled after Dusty’s signature cowboy wrestling boots.
The first four teams in this year’s tournament include:
Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
The Forgotten Sons
Aichner & Barthel
The Street Profits
The remaining four teams will be announced in the coming weeks.
The finals of the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will be held at NXT Takeover: New York at the Barclays Center during WrestleMania 35 weekend.
Past winners of the Dusty Classic include Finn Balor and Samoa Joe, The Authors of Pain and The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reily).
Check out: The Rhodes Family unveils the Dusty Rhodes Classic Cup
WWE has posted a video on Youtube welcoming several new backstage producers to the company. The list includes several former stars from Impact Wrestling, including Abyss (Chris Parks), Sonjay Dutt, TNA co-founder Jeff Jarrett, Shawn Daivari and Shane Helms.
Jarrett says Double J returned at the Royal Rumble, but Jeff Jarrett returned the following night at Raw. He believes WWE has a ton of young talent with potential, but nothing replaces experience and wisdom. It is now his job to doing everything he can to pass that wisdom on to the next generation.
Joseph Parks revealed that joining WWE is a lifelong dream come true and something he’s wanted for over two decades. After a Hall of Fame career in Impact, he’s now ended up with the best organization there is.
Sonjay Dutt is excited to work with so many old friends and colleagues again.
Shawn Daivari feels being back in WWE as a producer is the natural evolution of his career that he wanted to take. This is not a job you apply for and is honored WWE chose him.
Former WWE Cruiserweight champion Shane “Hurricane” Helms says, “you never wind up where you think you will.” He’s looking forward to mentoring WWE superstars.
Watch WWE’s video welcoming Abyss and more:
Posted February 21st, 2019 in News, WWE. Tagged: Abyss.
SmakDown Live stars Andrade and Charlotte Flair are rumored to be WWE’s newest romantic power couple.
Over the past week, there has been speculation that the former NXT Champion and the former NXT Women’s Champion are currently dating. There have been reports of them spotted traveling together, with reporter Sean Ross Sapp tweeting (then deleting) that they have been seeing each other since “at least last month.”
Andrade and Charlotte have been bombarded with fans on Twitter inquiring about the legitimacy of the scuttlebutt. Charlotte gave the following coy comment on Wednesday:
WWE’s new Women’s Tag Team Championships will be defended in NXT.
Inaugural champions Sasha Banks and Bayley made a surprise appearance at Wednesday night’s NXT TV tapings from Winter Park, FL. Click Here to check out complete spoiler results from the tapings.
The Boss and Hug Connection hit the ring at Full Sail University, the scene where both of them raised the bar for women’s wrestling before joining the main roster. Banks says it’s good to be home and she’s never forgotten where she came from. Both of their journeys started in NXT and they have a big announcement to make.
Bayley said the last time Sasha was in an NXT ring was the first ever Women’s Iron Women Match at NXT Takeover: Respect (2015). They are fighting champions and they welcome all challengers. That includes the women of NXT.
Sasha Banks and Bayley officially put NXT’s female wrestlers on notice: their titles will be defended not only on Raw and SmackDown, but NXT as well.
Female competitors in NXT that could challenge the Boss and Hug Connection include established teams like Io Shirai & Kairi Sane, Marina Shafir & Jessamyn Duke as well as the likes of Bianca Belair, Candice LaRae, Dakota Kai and Deonna Purrazzo.
Check out the Full Sail University crowd react to Sasha Banks & Bayley’s surprise return:
Tuesday’s edition of WWE SmackDown Live from averaged 2.269 million viewers, up from 2.034 million the previous week, according to ShowbuzzDaily. This served as the post-show for the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event that took place on Sunday night.
The show had to go up against Curse of Oak Island on History that did 2.440 million viewers, Rachel Maddow Show with 3.066, and Project Blue Book that drew 1.306.
Matches that took place on this show include Aleister Black vs. Andrade, Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Bar, Mandy Rose vs. Asuka, Ricochet vs. Eric Young, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy & Kofi Kingston (w/Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton & Samoa Joe in a six-man tag team match.
WWE hyped the Fastlane PPV and the matches taking place at that show. In case you missed the show, you can check out the 6 takeaways from it here.
WWE will attempt to rebound with next week’s episode, which should be interesting to see what number it pulls in. As of this writing, there are no matches or segments announced for the show. It’s expected to feature more actions from NXT stars Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black, and Ricochet.
Watch: Top 10 Moments from Tuesday’s SmackDown Live (2/19/19)
The most high-profile of those appearances is scheduled for Starrcast 2, the convention being held in conjunction with All Elite Wrestling’s Double Or Nothing event.
“I heard it through the grapevine that The Undertaker’s decision to appear at Starrcast for Conrad Thompson has not been a popular front office decision,” said Ross.
“They’re not happy in the front office, apparently.”
That word may not be surprising, as the general response to Undertaker at Starrcast among fans was shock.
Someone as closely associated with WWE as Undertaker appearing at an event in the same city, on the same weekend as Double Or Nothing is jarring, in spite of the fact that Starrcast is just one of the appearances that Undertaker has lined up.
To that end, Ross wonders what those upset with Undertaker would have him do to earn income.
“How mad can you get at The Undertaker?” asks Ross.
“You’ve got a 50-year-old guy with young children and a son in college. His track record with marriages is much like mine. It takes a while sometimes to find the right one, and he has. But he’s got to make a living.”
JR believes that personal appearances are the way to go for Undertaker at this point, rather than physicality in the ring.
“If he’s at the point age-wise where WWE doesn’t want to use him in the ring, or he doesn’t feel able to compete in the ring, if you want to keep him around, you’ve got to pay him something,” Ross says.
Conrad Thompson On The Undertaker At Starrcast II
Ross further discusses Undertaker at Starrcast with the convention’s promoter, Conrad Thompson, and Thompson says that he understands WWE’s discontent, but underscores that fans should not read anything into the appearance.
“Just because he’s at Starrcast, nobody should read into anything for All Elite Wrestling,” says Thompson. “That’s the natural conclusion everybody jumps to, but it’s a totally different thing.
“He’s going to be at Starrcast on Satuday. There won’t even be anybody from All Elite in the building. There’s no crossover. It’s a totally separate event.”
Still, Thompson says, he’s thrilled to have Undertaker at Starrcast.
“I was sort of shocked when I learned that he was available,” Thompson says. “I had assumed that he would be a big part of WrestleMania, and part of that closely guarded group, and not sort of able to freelance a little bit.”
“To my surprise, we were able to put together a deal with Taker’s management team, and we’re super excited to have him.”
It was announced earlier this week that X-Pac would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year as a member of D-Generation X. On his podcast, X-Pac 12360, the the star opens up on what it means to him to be inducted.
X-Pac also discusses his feelings on being inducted as part of a group rather than being honored individually. He also gave his take on the controversy surrounding Chyna and the Hall of Fame.
X-Pac Hall Of Fame Call
X-Pac says that he learned of his induction through a phone call from WWE’s head of talent relations, Mark Carrano.
He says that he recently renewed his WWE Legends contract, but did not see that as a hint that his induction was forthcoming.
“It kind of made me assume it was just because of everything going on with AEW,” X-Pac says of his contract renewal.
“I never really connected it to a Hall of Fame thing.”
X-Pac On Being Inducted As Part Of A Group
Although X-Pac made his feeling clear earlier this week on Twitter, he again says on his show that he is happy to go in as part of DX.
“I could give two sh-ts about going in on my own,” he says.
“If you ask me what my choice is, go in on my own, or go in with the people I had the greatest time in my life with, I’m going to pick going in with them every single time you ask me.”
X-Pac Calls Chyna Being Inducted “A Win”
Chyna’s inclusion with DX in this year’s induction was considered by some to be WWE doing the bare minimum in honoring her. There are many fans, and some in the industry, who believe that anything short of a solo induction for Chyna is not good enough.
X-Pac sees the matter differently.
“Obviously she is worthy of being inducted by herself,” says X-Pac. “For a lot of people, this wasn’t good enough.”
“I would encourage them to take the win. A win doesn’t always come exactly how you want it to, but it’s a win none the less,” X-Pac says.
As to whether he feels worthy of induction, X-Pac allows that he understands his contributions to the wrestling industry, but was still caught off guard.
“It’s not that I don’t feel worthy, because I do understand the things I’ve done in the industry and in my career and all that, but I’m just blown away by all of it,” X-Pac says.
After a history of issues related to addiction, X-Pac says he is grateful to get to experience his induction.
“I’ve done things in my career, accomplishments, DX, nWo, being in The Kliq and all that. You go, okay, eventually that induction will happen, but I wasn’t sure I would still be around for it to be honest with you,” X-Pac says. “Not everyone is going to make it up to that stage.”
“My children are going to come see me inducted, and that’s really cool.”
You can hear X-Pac’s entire discussion on X-Pac 12360. The full episode can be found below.
When using this transcript, please credit SEScoops.com. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Last night on NXT programming, Velveteen Dream defeated Johnny Gargano to win the NXT North American Championship. News concerning title changes on taped shows tends to be reported in the media but NXT found a unique way to combat this at the last set of tapings.
The match between Gargano and Velveteen was taped on January 30th from Full Sail and aired last night. NXT is said to have taped two different endings to the match, however, to prevent news of the title change from leaking. First, Velveteen was filmed winning the title and then later they restarted the match and had Gargano win. Last night, they only aired the version with Dream winning clean.
“At the 1/30 tapings, they decided to get cute and tape two different endings for the Johnny Gargano vs. Dream match, with each winning clean,” wrote Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer. “So fans wouldn’t know who won the match until it aired.”
Most websites covering the spoilers from the tapings reported that Dream won the title, however.
Velveteen Dream is already the 4th person to win the title in its just 10 months of existence. Adam Cole won the inaugural championship and then lost it 4 months later to Ricochet. Gargano then won the title at Takeover: Phoenix before dropping it to the Dream last night on NXT programming.
Mustafa Ali will be featured on season 2 of the television series “The Secret Life of Muslims”. A launch party for the second season of the show was held last night at New York University.
The Secret Life of Muslims lists the following description on the show’s website:
“Featuring a diverse set of American Muslims from a wide range of ethnic and national origins speaking directly to their own respective experiences, the series illuminates the existing complexity and diversity of America’s 3.3 million Muslims, while pointing to a common shared humanity. The first season has been viewed more than 35 million times in our effort to contribute to a dialogue of tolerance and peace in contentious times.”
“My mission is to erase as many preconceived ideas, barriers and stereotypes as I can.”
Ali told Aljazeera in 2018.
Ali was scheduled to be in the Elimination Chamber last Sunday. He was forced to withdraw from the match due to a concussion, however.
“I remember one kid … he said to me it’s always cool to see someone you consider a role model doing something big and chasing their dreams, but it’s even cooler when that person looks like you,” Ali recalled.
“When he said that, I really realised it’s true. It’s a little easier to relate to someone when you feel ‘hey that’s me. That’s how I look and it’s someone with the same concerns I have growing up’.”