After both Chris Jericho and Adam Page won their respective matches at Double Or Nothing, AEW confirmed that these two will face each other for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship at the upcoming All Out event.
After the announcement was made, Chris took on his Instagram
account and put over the upcoming bout as one of the biggest matches of his
career.
The former World Champion wrote that the upcoming bout will be one of the biggest matches of his career and he mentioned that it will be against one of the hardest hitting, most talented athletes he has seen in years:
Hall Of Famer Praises Cody Vs. Dustin
The Double Or Nothing match between Cody and Dustin Rhodes was one of the most praised bouts of the show due to its intensity and storyline.
Since the event, a number of wrestling legends have called
the match one of the greatest ever and WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase Sr
recently took on his Twitter to do the same.
He wrote that the duo delivered something special and that their father Dusty Rhodes would be very proud of the two for delivering this bout:
They stole the show, folks. @CodyRhodes vs @DustinRhodes had the makings to be a great match. It exceeded that & delivered something special. Cody & Dustin are very talented. Versatile students of pro wrestling. Dusty would be very proud. Dustin showed 50 is the new 30. #AEWDoNpic.twitter.com/xnRrF3hZoE
Mick Foley’s daughter, Noelle Foley was at one point training to be a wrestler and she even had a tryout with WWE in 2016 but her wrestling career never picked up.
During the tryout, Noelle was also subject to a WWE Network reality show dubbed Holy Foley! The show followed the WWE Hall Of Famer and his family and according to Noelle, the whole experience made her tryout even more stressful.
She recently had an interview with WrestlingInc, where Foley talked about her WWE tryouts in 2016 and she called her experience of training for a wrestling career while also filming ‘nerve-racking’:
“Filming while training was incredible nerve-racking,
it’s like you’re just learning but then you have all these eyes on you, and
cameras, and trainers, even when I had my tryout, I looked out of the corner of
my eye and I see Triple H, and I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness.’
Though continuing on the topic, Noelle Foley said that the whole thing was a bit overwhelming at times but it’s also cool to look back now and realize that she actually did those things.
Unfortunately, after the tryout, Foley decided not to pursue a career in wrestling anymore and in a separate interview, Mick Foley had revealed that she decided to stop after suffering some serious injuries.
WWE sent out the latest Fan Council survey on Friday. The latest query asks fans what they think about WWE as a company.
At a time when annual revenue has never been higher, fans (and wrestlers) have been increasingly vocal about WWE’s creative direction. The survey is an encouraging sign that WWE is open to feedback and possibly change.
Most of the descriptive terms listed in the Fan Council survey are positive. they include, Fun, Exciting, Smart, Honest and Inspirational.
Among the negative terms: Boring, Out of Date and Unoriginal.
You can see the full field of options below.
Which of the phrases below would you use to describe WWE?
Brock Lesnar will cash in his ‘Money in the Bank’ contract this
Monday Night on ‘Raw’ according to his ‘advocate’ Paul Heyman.
Heyman made the announcement on Friday confirming that Lesnar
plans to cash in his title bout contract some time on Monday night against Universal
champion Seth Rollins.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please be advised, my client Brock Lesnar hereby cashes in the Money in the Bank contract effective this Monday, June 3, 2019 between the hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET at a moment of his choosing live on ‘Monday Night Raw’ against the reigning, defending, undisputed Universal heavyweight champion Seth Rollins,” Heyman said in the video.
Lesnar made a surprise appearance at the ‘Money in the Bank’
pay-per-view where he jumped into the match at the last second and ultimately
claimed the prize for a title bout of his choosing at a later date.
Since that time, Lesnar has been making regular appearances
on television, which has been a rarity for him since returning to WWE several
years ago.
Lesnar has also recommitted himself to WWE after deciding
not to return to the UFC where it was rumored that he was going to take a fight
against heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier later this year.
When that deal fell apart and Lesnar informed the UFC that
he didn’t intend to fight again, he almost immediately began appearing on WWE
programming again.
Now Lesnar will look to regain the Universal championship
that he lost at WrestleMania 35 when he shows up during ‘Monday Night Raw’ this
week to cash in with a match against Rollins.
“A personal message to Seth Rollins from my client Brock
Lesnar — Mr. Rollins, here comes the pain,” Heyman said in closing.
Over the past several months, WWE has watched ratings for
both ‘Raw’ and ‘Smackdown Live’ lose ground but Lesnar’s reappearance has
helped surge interest in the weekly programs.
Now Lesnar will look to compete on Raw as he attempts to
take back the Universal championship this Monday night.
Former WWE Universal Champion Goldberg is hyped and ready to go to take part in his next match under the WWE banner. He’ll face The Undertaker in one of the top matches advertised for the Super ShowDown pay-per-view.
Goldberg took to his official Instagram account where he wrote the following about message to “The Deadman:”
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByB0Ex6JuXS/
WWE presents the Super ShowDown pay-per-view event on Friday, June 7th, 2019 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium that will air on the WWE Network at 2PM ET/11 AM PT.
As noted, Goldberg is slated to appear on next Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live in Laredo, TX at the Sames Auto Arena to promote this upcoming match. This will serve as the go-home show of the blue branded show for Super ShowDown.
WWE Star Expecting Child
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese shared some exciting news on social media. He took to his official Instagram account where he noted that he and his wife Liz are expecting their first baby boy.
They currently have a daughter together. Congratulations to the married couple. Nese shared the following to announce the pregnancy:
WWE NXT star Matt Riddle has once again called out former WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar for a showdown inside of the squared circle.
This isn’t the first or likely last time that Riddle will challenge “The Beast” to a match under the WWE banner. He did so yet again when talking with The New York Post to promote the NXT TakeOver: XXV event on Saturday.
During this interview, he was asked why retiring Lesnar is important to him. This is is where he noted that it was a goal of his once he saw Lesnar beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30 to break Taker’s winning streak at the show.
That’s when Lesnar solidified himself in WWE history just by doing that. He also doesn’t like seeing someone bully other stars from Day 1 as he hates bullies, which is why he competed in MMA.
“And honestly, I want to break him. I want to break him and show the world him break and I want to beat him and I want to be the one because I think I’m the only one who can carry what he’s done and not like he’s carried it but in a better way.”
At the NXT TakeOver: XXV event, Riddle will take on Roderick Strong in a singles match.
Kenny Omega had new theme music for his main event battle against Chris Jericho at AEW: Double for Nothing. Since then, wrestling theme enthusiasts have been waiting for the full version to be released. On Friday, they got their wish.
Omega’s new theme song is “Battle Cry” by Little V. It is a departure from his wildly popular music from New Japan Pro Wrestling, Devil’s Sky.
As seen below, the music video features Little V performing the song, with footage of Omega from ITV’s Before the Bell: The Story Of All Elite Wrestling spliced in. There is also some pixel artwork by Wrestling Arcade, the must-follow Twitter account that recreates popular events in wrestling history in 16-bit.
Kenny Omega’s next match for AEW will be at Fyter Fest on June 29th from Daytona Beach, FL. He will team with The Young Bucks against The Lucha Bros. (Pentagon & Fenix) and a partner TBA.
Omega is not currently advertised for Fight for the Fallen (7/13) but is expected to face Jon Moxley at ALL OUT in August (8/31).
Check out the music video for Kenny Omega’s AEW theme song, “Battle Cry” by Little V:
ROH (Ring of Honor) is gearing up for their next events, which will be titled, State Of The Art.
The Baltimore-based promotion holds these events in Kent, WA at the ShoWare Center on June 1st and in Portland, OR at the Viking Pavilion at the Peter W. Stott Center the following night.
ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. Tracy Williams will serve as the headliner of the show in Washington while ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. PCO vs. Flip Gordon vs. Mark Haskins in a Defy or Deny Match will main event the show in Oregon.
These will be important shows as the promotion starts the build of programs for the Best in the World PPV on June 28. Here are the updated cards:
State of the Art in Kent, Washington – TV taping
ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. Tracy Williams.
The Kingdom vs. The Bouncers
NWA National World Champion Colt Cabana vs. Mark Briscoe
Kenny King vs. Jay Lethal.
PCO vs. Jay Briscoe
Jeff Cobb vs. Mark Haskins
RUSH vs. Dalton Castle vs. Flip Gordon vs. PJ Black
State of the Art in Portland, Oregon
ROH Champion Matt Taven vs. PCO vs. Flip Gordon vs. Mark Haskins – Defy or Deny.
Jeff Cobb vs. PJ Black
Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe
Mark Briscoe vs. Josh Woods
The Bouncers vs. TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia vs. Coast 2 Coast vs. Shane Taylor & Silas Young vs. Rush & Dalton Castle – Tag Team Gauntlet Match For Future Tag Title Shot
Ric Flair has released another video today and this one calls out Shawn Michaels for comments HBK made about Flair on the 30 for 30 documentary dedicated to the Nature Boy.
“Shawn Michaels, I’m sorry but you’re not in a position to judge me,” Flair said in the video. “Telling me I’ll never know who Richard Fliehr is, really?”
HBK made comments on the documentary that Ric Flair does not know who Richard Fliehr is.
“Richard Fliehr – like I said before was an irresponsible kid who was blessed with the greatest parents in the world, did everything wrong,” Flair continued. “By the way, who are you to judge me? I mean, really? Come on man, let’s get serious. You’ve opened the door, so I’m giving it back to you. Who are you to judge me? I mean, are you kidding me?”
“You idolized me and then all of a sudden, contempt? For what?” Flair asks HBK in the video. “For what you grew up loving and for what inspired you to be who you are?”
Shawn Michaels’ Comments About Ric Flair
HBK had the following to say regarding Flair on the 30 for 30 documentary.
“Ric doesn’t love Richard Fliehr,” HBK said in the film. “I don’t know that (Ric’s) ever taken the time to get to know him or to find out who in the world he is.”
Ric Flair Responds To Jim Ross’ Comments From The Film
Flair also responded to Jim Ross comments from the 2017 documentary. In the case of JR, however, Flair was more understanding of the comments made.
“I will never, ever be able to thank you, Jim Ross, for what you said on my 30 for 30, as mad as I was at you for saying it, because it’s the truth! I was irresponsible, I did have tax problems. One thing you’re wrong about, I never went upstairs alone!”
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin recently offered advice to wrestlers who are considering leaving WWE. He made his comments during an appearance on Dale Earnhardt’s podcast.
Austin noted that anyone considering leaving should make sure they depart the company in such a way that momentum is on their side.
“If you got some feelers out there and you’re trying to network other things based upon you having a high Q rating or a lot of television exposure, and you get your hands into different things, do it,” Austin said. “Right now (WWE) is your bread and butter, but starting planting those seeds right now so when you spin out of this you come out with momentum.”
Austin continued to say he wished he hadn’t of waited as long as he did to start his acting career after retiring from wrestling.
Austin also noted how things were different back when he was at his peak. He was asked about who he feels is the next “Stone Cold” and he hesitated to answer.
“That’s a tough question to answer right now,” Austin admitted.
“Do you see those guys in this current climate?” Earnhardt asked.
“When I got hot, I pushed the envelope,” Austin said. “I was saying words you could still say on television, I wasn’t dropping f-bombs, I knew what I could get away with. The deal was I wasn’t afraid to push the envelope, I wasn’t afraid to go out on a limb, so I did. And I knew I had to, and it was in me!”
Austin would continue to say there is more control and restrictions on the current roster.
“When you turn me up to 11, that’s me,” he added about his character.
Austin then suggested WWE could give their talent more freedom with their characters and stories.
Watch Steve Austin’s conversation with Dale Jr. here:
All Elite Wrestling’s first official PPV is trending toward a buyrate of close to 100,000. Official numbers are not yet in but the trends are looking good. The estimated buyrate for the event was addressed recently in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“Double or Nothing is currently estimated at doing roughly 98,000 buys between television and digital PPV, with close to a 50/50 split between the two,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
AEW Double or Nothing Buyrate
The report would continue to say most PPV events see only 15-25% of sales through streaming. 2/3 of the purchases are said to be from the United States, the UK in second, and then Australia, Canada, and Germany also showing notable numbers.
“With replay buys, it should easily top ECW’s biggest-ever show (99,000) and be the biggest PPV in pro wrestling history that wasn’t produced by WWE or WCW. It also soundly beat the last UFC digital-exclusive events, and wasn’t far behind the previous show.”
AEW’s next events will be Fyter Fest on June 29th and Fight for the Fallen on July 13th. After that, AEW will present All Out on August 31st from Chicago.
For what it’s worth, here’s a look at wrestling pay-per-view buyrates prior to the launch of the WWE Network in 2014.
Sasha Banks has not wrestled in almost 2 months. She lost her last bout on April 7th at WrestleMania 35 when she and Bayley dropped the tag titles.
Banks is reported to be on a leave of absence due to her frustrations with WWE but according to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer, she could be back this summer.
Banks is said to have met with Vince McMahon last week.
“Sasha Banks and Vince McMahon had a meeting on 5/23,” wrote Dave Meltzer. “Things are said to be better and she could be back sometime this summer but nothing is official.”
Sasha Banks & Bayley Backstage At WrestleMania 35
There had been reports that Sasha Banks and Bayley staged a type of backstage protest regarding losing the titles at WrestleMania. These reports were recently refuted by Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, however.
“Immediately after the match we were all in tears, all crying,” Royce said to Express Sport earlier this month. “Just filled with emotion, we got pictures together which we then posted on our Instagram. I mean, I know there’s all these rumors going around and we didn’t see anything.”
“We had a great experience with them and it holds a really special place in our hearts,” Billie Kay added. “You can find them [pictures], we’re all embracing each other.”
Sasha Banks Congratulates Bayley
Following WrestleMania 35, Banks’ tag-team partner, Bayley was drafted to Smackdown. Bayley would go on to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship at Money in the Bank.
Sasha offered up congratulations to her 4-Horsewoman partner on Twitter:
Retired MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre has drawn the interest from WWE. According to comments Georges St. Pierre made to TVA Sports, WWE approached him at the ESPN awards recently and asked him about coming to work for them.
GSP noted that he does not know if he would be ready to dive back into something such as going to work for WWE, however.
“It’s a form of competition and I do not know if I’m ready to go back into it,” said St-Pierre in French to TVA Sports regarding WWE. “If I accept, it will be for a special event.”
“I don’t know if I’d want to sign a contract and do it every week and making it a living,” he continued.
GSP is said to have put WWE in contact with his agents.
“They wanted to contact my agents, I gave them their number, but I don’t want to switch to wrestling full time,” GSP added.
GSP continued to say it was not the damage from fighting that had him worried about long-term damage. The former 2-division champion says he’s more worried about the damage from the stress he feels before fights.
“My biggest fear was not the punches,” GSP said. Often, the damage to the head comes from how one trains. In my case, my biggest fear was the stress I was feeling. We know that it can cause cancer.”
Matt Hardy is promising his fans that more “Broken” content will be released in the future. Hardy noted that he doesn’t know when and he doesn’t know where the content will be released, however. He noted he is not sure if the Broken Hardy saga will continue on the WWE Network or not.
While Hardy made a point to note he’s not sure what platform the Broken content will be on in the future, he said he has enjoyed working with the team from the WWE Network. He also said that ideally he would like to do 4-6 episodes of House Hardy per year.
Gotta say this.. The @WWENetwork team that we worked with for The #HouseHardy Halloween special were off the charts INCREDIBLE to work with. Can’t say enough positive things about the experience. In a best case scenario, I’d love to do 4-6 episodic specials a year on the network. https://t.co/w0DRXddg69
Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy have about another 9 months left on their WWE contracts. It was reported in February that WWE was exercising an option to extend their contract by a year.
Before WWE extended his contract earlier this year, Hardy noted that he is comfortable working outside the company. He posted the following to Twitter in February:
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.
Chris Jericho was considered to be a WWE guy for almost two decades but he left the company a couple of years ago and since then, Y2J has reinvented himself in the indie scene and now in AEW.
During his recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, Jericho talked about his departure from the company and revealed when he knew that it was the time to leave.
Chris talked about his 2017 storyline with Kevin Owens which led to a match at WrestleMania 33 and said that the whole saga was the best storyline leading into the show.
However, in retrospect, knowing that the bout wasn’t given much importance and it was positioned very poorly on the card was what made him realize that it was the time to split:
“We should have not been second match on the card, and when I saw that we were slotted as that, I didn’t realize it much at the time, but in retrospect, that’s when I knew it was time to split.”
Continuing on the topic, Chris explained that if you have the best story on the show which everyone is excited about and you still get placed as the second match, then there isn’t a lot you can do to get higher on that card:
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) May 30, 2019
Jericho didn’t stay with WWE for long after this match. He made his NJPW return on November and as we all know, Chris has since become one of the hottest commodities in the entire industry.
Mick Foley introduced the WWE 24/7 Championship on Raw a
couple of weeks ago and since then people have heavily criticized the belt for
its design.
During a recent episode of his E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness
podcast, former WWE Champion Edge talked about the belt and declared it the
ugliest title ever created.
Edge was discussing the positive and negatives of the new Championship and giving word to the feelings of a lot of fans, he said that it’s the “ugliest championship ever created,”
Though continuing on the topic, he said that it’s great.
Edge explained that he always thought the Hardcore title was fun and he thinks
that right now, that’s exactly what the WWE Programming needs.
Later in the interview, he mentioned how you can take a guy like Bobby Roode who is super talented and you can show that he is also an entertaining guy.
Edge’s partner Christian also commented on the matter and
said that it’s one of those things which you won’t mind once you have gotten
used to it.
He went on to wonder why the company didn’t just reintroduce the Hardcore Championship and the Rated R Superstar implied that they are past the time of labeling things as hardcore. You can check out the full episode of their podcast at this link.
Ric Flair was forced to withdraw from “the Roast of Ric Flair” which was to be featured at Starrcast II last weekend. Flair underwent heart surgery last week and was advised against traveling from Atlanta to Vegas for the convention.
Flair recently published a video on his YouTube channel, updating fans on his condition, and promising not to slow down.
“First of all, thank you to my beautiful family, to all my friends, to all the doctors, nurses, everybody that brought me back again,” Flair said. “It’s a miracle again!”
Ric Flair Is Not Slowing Down
Flair promised this recent health scare will not slow him down.
“I’m living here to tell you that the kiss-stealing, wheeling-dealing, limousine-riding, jet-flying, son of a gun, is not going to change, slow down, I’m moving forward. I got autographs to sign, commercials to make, pictures to take, friends to have a cold beer with, and I mean 2 cold beers if it’s Stone Cold.”
Flair then went on to say he knows who had his back and who did not. He added that he’ll answer more questions on that later. He then turned his attention to his daughter, Charlotte.
“I’m also not going to be afraid to tell you that the Queen is the greatest wrestler in the history of the female division, that’s just a fact,” Flair said.
Mr. Money In The Bank Brock Lesnar had been teasing to
reveal his choice of opponent from the past couple of weeks however he decided
against it on this week’s episode of Raw.
Lesnar learned that he has a whole year to decide which
champion he wants to fight and so the Beast backed off from announcing his
opponent and revealing a date for this bout.
And it appears that the Bosses of WWE didn’t like this move
from the former Universal Champion as they are promising to take action against
the Beast.
They released the following video from their YouTube account in which Stephanie McMahon claims that the duo of Lesnar and Paul Heyman have disrespected the WWE Universe and they are going to take action against them:
“They disrespected what the money in the bank contract represents. They disrespected both the Universal champion as well as the WWE Champion. I think they disrespected WWE and the entire WWE universe.
So on behalf of our organization, on behalf of all of our fans, I am going to take this matter up officially and we are going to take action.” (Transcription: SEScoops.com)
It’s worth mentioning here that in a recent interview Paul Heyman had hinted at Lesnar making more TV appearances than before. After this video, it appears that a feud with the Authority is what will keep Brock on the screen.
So it’d be interesting to see what action the Bosses of WWE take against Lesnar and his advocate and how the Beast Incarnate reacts to it on this week’s episode of Raw.
WWE recently announced that the Undertaker will be returning to WWE Programming this week for an appearance on Raw and now they have confirmed the return of Goldberg too.
The company recently sent out a tweet and confirmed that for
the first time ever the former Universal Champion will be making an appearance
on SmackDown Live this Tuesday:
The officials announced a first time ever clash between the
Dead Man and the former WCW Star a few weeks back and they have been promoting
this bout on their programming ever since.
However, the company decided to do an old school build up
for this match and so far we haven’t seen any interaction between these two
stars.
And it appears that the Officials are continuing this strategy. While they have finally decided to bring these stars out, they are making sure the two are not under the same roof on the same night.
With Undertaker being on Raw and Goldberg being on SmackDown
Live, the company will effectively keep them separate from each other and it
seems that we’ll only see an interaction between the two this Friday Night
during the Super Showdown event.
WWE Super Showdown will take place on Friday June 7th, from the
King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Kenny Omega lost to Chris Jericho at Double or Nothing. Following the bout, he was also attacked by a debuting Jon Moxley. During a recently published interview with Alicia Atout, Omega spoke on having unfinished business with Jericho and on potentially wrestling Moxley.
“This is going to be the start of something beautiful,” Omega said. “If I had won yesterday, I feel like I might have gotten that feeling of complacency.”
Omega would say that now he has something to really motivate him, such as getting his hands on Jon Moxley.
“Now, I’ve really got something to train for,” Omega said regarding Moxley. “I can’t lose to a guy that came from that place, you know what I mean?”
“There’s a little bit of pride on the line,” he added.
Omega would then briefly turn his attention to Jericho.
“So Jericho, what we have is not over,” Omega continued. He then said that Jericho would have trouble dealing with a healed-up Adam “Hangman” Page next.
Kenny Omega Hypes Up Fyter Fest
Omega is said to have been spending lavishly on the upcoming Fyter Fest on June 29th from Daytona Beach.
“You want to see a fun wrestling show?” Omega asked. “A show where every single match has a purpose? Where every single match will leave you wanting more?” he asked. “That’s the place to go. We’re going to make it available to be viewed and again, show #2 for AEW.”
Omega is scheduled to team with the Young Bucks at Fyter Fest. They will face the Lucha Bros and a replacement for PAC to be named later. Moxley is scheduled to face Joey Janela.
All Elite Wrestling will crown its first World Champion at the upcoming AEW: All Out pay-per-view during Labor Day weekend. The news comes courtesy of Chris Jericho, who made the announcement Thursday morning during an appearance on Busted Open Radio. AEW has since confirmed the match.
Jericho will face “Hangman” Adam Page to crown the inaugural champion. Jericho defeated Kenny Omega at Double or Nothing to earn the title shot, while Page won the Casino Battle Royale match on the Buy In kickoff show.
AEW: All Out takes place Saturday, August 31st at Sears Centre Arena outside Chicago. This is the same venue that hosted All In last year. Tickets for All Out go on sale Friday, June 14th.
AEW has several shows coming up in the months ahead:
6/29: Fyter Fest (Daytona Beach, FL)
7/13: Fight for the Fallen (Jacksonville, FL)
8/31: All Out (Chicago, IL)
Each of these shows will be available for streaming online via Bleacher Report Live and the other services that carried Double or Nothing. The belief is that Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen will be shorter in length and lower in price than All Out, which will be one of AEW’s full-fledged tentpole pay-per-views.
AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes tweeted this video of the AEW World Championship in all its glory earlier this week:
Since 1 of the 4 EVPs(me) forgot to get the championship professionally photographed…here’s a short clip of the biggest, heaviest, most beautiful and damn expensive belt I’ve ever seen @AEWrestling pic.twitter.com/LnelywWv4m
Bully Ray says he can relate with the frustrations Jon Moxley recently expressed on the Talk is Jericho podcast. Moxley spoke at length regarding his discontent with WWE’s creative system and today Bully Ray said on Busted Open Radio that he can relate.
“I understand where he comes from,” Bully said on the show. “Everything that Dean says I can relate to.”
Bully then talked about moments in his career when he was frustrated with WWE creative.
“There were things that went on, and I don’t want to make this about me but you asked,” he continued. “There were things that went on in my career there with D-Von where we would show up and basically we were like ‘are you out of your mind?’ You’re serious? You really want us to do this?'”
Bully continued to say he lobbied against him and D-Von being split up.
“When Vince decided to split me and D-Von up, we told him ‘it’s not going to work’,” Bully said. “Low and behold, it did not work.”
“Everything (Moxley) is saying about being handed wonky lines or being put in scenarios that are – where you’re just trying to tread water – completely relate to everything,” Bully continued. “And you know what? If Tommy Dreamer was on, he could relate to it.”
Bully would then continue to say that Busted Open’s Mark Henry would likely be able to relate with it more than anyone.
Sasha Banks has given a not-so-subtle seal of approval to Jon Moxley and his blockbuster appearance on Chris Jericho’s Talk is Jericho podcast earlier this week.
In a show of solidarity after the interview dropped, Moxley’s wife, WWE broadcaster Renee Young, posted a photo of Instagram of them together. Several pro wrestling personalities gave supportive comments on the photo, including Brie Bella, Mickie James, Brandi Rhodes, Ryback and more.
Sasha Banks also chimed in, which you can see below. She wrote, “All good things come to those who stay true.” The former Raw Women’s Champion is on hiatus from WWE, reportedly due to her sharing the same frustrations that led to Moxley’s departure.
There have been rumors of Banks sitting out the rest of her WWE contract as talks between the two sides have been at a stalemate since she asked for her release in April. The former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion hasn’t worked a match or been seen on WWE programming since WrestleMania 35.
Jon Moxley makes his in-ring debut for All Elite Wrestling next month when he faces Joey Janela at AEW: Fyter Fest (June 29th).
On Thursday afternoon, Sasha Banks posted another inspiration quote on Twitter. At what appears to be a crossroads in her career, Banks wrote, “I will conquer my biggest dreams. Once you open the cage, I bet that I’ll spread my wings”
Tyler Breeze will challenge Velveteen Dream for the NXT North American title on Saturday. Today, Triple H confirmed that Breeze is once again a full-time member of the NXT roster.
Breeze sent the below message to his former partner Fandango earlier today. The video features highlights of Breeze and Fandango teaming together:
Fandango has been out of action for 11 months after suffering a torn left labrum. His original timeline for return was 6 months and he reported to the WWE PC in December. It’s not clear what has led to Fandango’s extended absence.
Breeze recently joked with his former trainer, Lance Storm, about his position on the main roster in WWE.
Breeze has never won a title in NXT or the WWE main roster. He is a former Florida Championship Wrestling champion and co-held the FCW tag titles along with Roman Reigns.
In 2011, Reigns was wrestling under the name Leakee and Breeze was wrestling as Mike Dalton. They defeated the team of Corey Graves and Jake Carter (Big Van Vader’s son) for the belts. Dalton and Leakee (Breeze and Reigns) would drop the belts to the team of Juice Robinson and Jason Jordan just one month later.
UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier sounded off on Brock Lesnar’s decision to return to WWE instead of making a return to UFC.
Earlier this month, UFC President Dana White went on record by stating that Lesnar had retired from MMA competition. This nixed plans as the UFC had been trying to get a fight done between Lesnar and Cormier for an event in August.
Cormier recently spoke with ESPN’s Marc Raimondi where he talked about the fight not being made. In the eyes of Cormier, he thinks Brock couldn’t get a deal done for the right amount of money with UFC as there is uncertainty in the world of mixed martial arts right now in terms of pay-per-view.
“I think when Brock looked at the landscape of the sport, what they were offering him, Brock said, ‘I can make guaranteed money [in WWE].’ Not work as hard. He’d have to work his ass off [to fight me] and it’s probably gonna go the bad way. Whereas with the WWE, it’s usually determined in his favor. So, as a businessman, I think Brock made the right decision.”
Shortly after White confirmed that Lesnar was retiring, Lesnar made his return to WWE by winning the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Cormier also commented on fans being upset about how Vince McMahon keeps putting Lesnar in the Universal Title picture. Cormier thinks that he does this because it increases ratings and exposure for the company.
“There’s a method to the old man’s madness. He just continues to kind of rely on Brock and Brock has shown to be a commodity that keeps working for him.”
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