WWE Hall of Famer Sean ‘X-Pac’ Waltman was a member of two legendary wrestling stables in the ’90s: nWo and D-Generation X. In a recent episode of his podcast, X-Pac 12360, Waltman reflected on the different versions of D-Generation X and the time he joined them after leaving WCW in 1998.

“I am sure there was a lot of doubt without Shawn [Michaels], if [DX] can keep going. But I had a f**k ton of momentum coming off of my nWo run, it was the biggest thing in wrestling,” Waltman said. “That was a big deal, that was a huge part. I mean it still would have been great if I were to have came back in that spot but the fact that I was a huge part of the nWo.”

The version of DX that Waltman joined was led by Triple H after Shawn Michaels had departed WWE. He became a part of the stable alongside the New Age outlaws, who he credited as being integral to DX’s success.

“I look back on it and just how everything turned out; obviously they were the perfect addition. And even if I hadn’t come back… the plan was, or the talk was even before I came back; while Shawn was still active to add those guys to the mix,” revealed Waltman. “But they were doing fine on their own at that point. I can’t really stress enough how important those guys were to the whole DX recipe.”

D-Generation X were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year during WrestleMania weekend.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription. 

Ahead of All Elite Wrestling’s premiere this Wednesday, Cody Rhodes sat down for an interview on the Rich Eisen Show. During their conversation, Cody was asked about what it was like to grow up not only as a wrestling fan but as Dusty Rhodes’ son.

“When I heard the first bump in the ring and the crowd react, I never wanted to be backstage again,” Rhodes stated, remembering the moment he became a fan. “Brad Armstrong match in Savannah, Georgia. After that, I was hooked.”

He shared how he had discovered his father’s bloodier matches hidden away in a guest bedroom. Cody revealed that, once he found these matches, he dove right in and watched everything.

“I found, in our guest bedroom, this chest of huge reels. VHS was pretty big at the time, but a lot of the stuff my dad was in was rather violent and bloody. It was hidden from me, but I found it and I dove right in. I watched everything, I was genuinely shocked because I was 8 or 9. I had no clue he was as significant to our industry as a wrestler.”

Even when Dusty would have his supposed rivals over for dinner, Cody remembered how “He always explained it me in a way that I didn’t mind. I liked being disillusioned by it all. He explained that you couldn’t fight outside the ring or else “the league” would fine you, or there would be these big repercussions. At a young age, I bought it. Never once did I question it. I didn’t want to question it. The show was just too fun.”

AEW: Dynamite premieres on TNT this Wednesday, October 2nd.

H/T to Wrestlezone for the transcription.

It appears as though former Ring of Honor (ROH) World Champion Matt Taven isn’t going anywhere.

Amidst rumors of interest from WWE, Taven announced that he had no intention of leaving ROH during Saturday night’s TV tapings in Las Vegas. He cut the promo alongside his Kingdom teammates, Vinny Marseglia and TK O’Ryan. Taven lost the ROH World Championship the night prior to RUSH. His contract was reportedly set to expire at the end of the month.

It was noted by Dave Meltzer via Wrestling Observer Radio that Taven’s new deal starts out as double the money a top NXT Superstar would receive. It can then escalate to triple that amount by the end of it. Meltzer added that, despite WWE’s interest, the difference between the two offers was “ridiculous.”

Taven had high praise for ROH during his announcement on Saturday and explained that his story as one of their top talents is far from over. With this new contract in place, it probably won’t take long for Taven to pursue a rematch against the new champion, RUSH.

Matt Taven won the ROH World Championship back in April during the ROH/New Japan Pro-Wrestling co-promoted show, G1 Supercard. He defeated then-champion Jay Lethal and Marty Scurll in a triple-threat ladder match at Madison Square Garden.

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently shared his thoughts regarding rumors of CM Punk’s reported interest in the show, WWE Backstage on FS1.

Speaking on his podcast, The Hall of Fame, Booker T shared that he knew nothing about Punk’s alleged screentests for the show, calling it the best kept secret FOX has ever pulled off.

“[…] my thing is it must have been the best kept secret FOX ever pulled off. It must have been one of those deals — Now, you know what? The one I read said that he was brought in to do test shots with Renee Young. No Booker T. I know nothing about this at all.” 

Booker T explained how he and CM Punk had no problems during Punk’s time in WWE. He even brought Punk into his wrestling promotion, Reality of Wrestling, when he was a “young, young kid.” He confessed he would be surprised if Punk ever returned to pro wrestling as, “[…] he seemed like that guy that when stepped away from it, he said, ‘I’m done with professional wrestling, and I never want to see a professional wrestler ring ever again.”

“I’d Slap Him Up Good”

He then recalled how Corey Graves became legitimately upset with CM Punk for deleting his contact details. 

“[Punk] pretty much deleted all of his contacts from all of his buddies in the business or anything like that. I remember some of the guys — I remember one of the guys, I mean actually one guy, Corey Graves, was real cool with CM Punk, and Corey was real hot at him because he deleted him [Graves]. And he said, ‘I don’t want to talk to this guy anymore.’ I don’t know what it was. I think it was the tattoos! I think it was the tattoos.” 

Booker T then added that “if I saw Corey Graves, you know what I’d do to him. I’d slap him up. I’d slap him up real good. That’s just because I don’t like the guy. You know what I mean? It doesn’t matter where we was in. It could be in Whole Foods. If I see this guy, I’d slap him up. That’s another story.”

H/T to 411Mania.com for the transcription. 

Former WWE commentator, Taz, has shared his thoughts on three-person announce teams. In an interview with Wrestling Inc., the former SmackDown announcer shared that he is a “firm believer in the two-man booth.”

“To me, it’s a better and easier listen. In some cases, a three-man booth is important, for example AEW because they’re a new brand and there’s a lot of stories that need to be told. I think that’s important as long as the announcers in AEW can get their cadence right,” Taz said.

“I’ve worked in both but I’ve always preferred a two-person booth. Everyone needs to know their role when it’s a three-person booth. There has to be a lead and you can’t step on each other or it will be a horrible listen.”

Reflecting on his time commentating in WWE, Taz brought up his working relationship with Vince McMahon. He explained that Vince was always “more helpful than hurtful.” Taz added that he thinks all announcers need to be produced as it helps the announce team to be prepared.

“I learned more from Vince in my headset. But he would often get upset in a segment cause of the guys in the ring or the ref, and he’d then get on the announcers,” he said. “He was always a little harder on the play-by-play guys than the color commentators because back then the commentators were former champions or former wrestlers. Now the business is different where many commentators weren’t champions or never wrestled much. But back then he did have a little bit of a different respect for guys who laced up boots.”

WWE recently revealed new commentary line-ups for both RAW and SmackDown. Both are comprised of three-person teams.

WWE Hall of Famer ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin has shared some advice for WWE’s current roster of Superstars.

In an interview with SI.com, ‘The Rattlesnake’ spoke about the importance of connecting with fans through emotion. He explained that if the WWE Universe doesn’t care, then they have no reason to watch.

“Emotion sells tickets and draws ratings,” Austin explained. “If you don’t care, then why watch? If you care, you’re invested in those characters. So slow it down a little bit.”

He continued, “You can move as fast as you want in the ring, but to me, the business is built on characters, emotions, and depth. When you have great action on top of it, that’s even better. Right now, those guys and gals are operating at such a high speed and high level of athleticism. It can’t get any higher than it is right now, so they need to keep finding ways to make people care about them. That will elevate the business and make it resonate with the audience.”

Another former WWE Superstar, Ryback, also recently vocalized his concerns over the lack of psychology and emotion.

WWE goes head-to-head with All Elite Wrestling’s Dynamite TNT premiere this Wednesday night. It will be the first time the two shows compete.

Former WWE Superstar Ryback has discussed his concerns over the Wednesday Night Wars between NXT and All Elite Wrestling (AEW). 

Speaking on his podcast, Conversations with the Big Guy, Ryback opened up about his worries over the direction of pro wrestling:

“I caught a good part of the show [NXT’s USA Network premiere], all the talent, everybody is young and hungry; I love it,” stated Ryback. “My concern is just from – and I was thinking about this earlier – with the direction that pro wrestling is headed with WWE and AEW. You can take all of the talents in the world, the teachings of wrestling have changed from when I was called up where it began as psychology and storytelling to now you can get a room of 100 people and teach people all of those same moves.”

He explained how “When you go to a movie, or you watch Game of Thrones week after week if it was just an hour every week of senseless killing with crazy, acrobatic moves where people are being killed in crazy ways with no story, just straight up killing every week, would the average viewer be inclined to watch week after week?”

“There Is So Much More Into Being A Pro Wrestler”

Ryback added he believes this is why the casual pro wrestling viewer has tuned out:

“[…] nobody gives a f**k about senseless killings and mindless moves; anybody can do that. There is so much more into being a pro wrestler, and being charismatic and talking, intensity and believability. If you are watching Game of Thrones and it’s a bunch of people who don’t look like they should be fighting will regular people watch the show? This is just me looking at this from a pro wrestler standpoint and what I saw the system and what it is and where I see the direction going; I don’t know.”

AEW: Dynamite premieres this Wednesday on TNT. It will go head-to-head for the first time with WWE’s NXT brand.

Former WWE NXT Tag Team Champions, The Street Profits, recently featured on an episode of Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory. The team, comprised of Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, spoke about their WWE journey so far as well as their team dynamics.

Before teaming with Ford, Dawkins had been a part of the NXT roster for some time. He recounted watching people leave the black-and-gold brand over the years for WWE’s main roster. He explained how these Superstars had experience honing their craft, competing in promotions across the world. Although he suffered minor envy at their move to RAW or SmackDown, he tried to put everything in perspective:

“They’ve travelled the world, they’ve wrestled countless, like a bunch of matches, they have all this experience and everything, they already kind of got it figured out, so when they got here, they were like, ‘oh yeah, y’all are ready to go up.’ It was like, they have that experience for a reason and they see that in them for a reason,” Dawkins said. “Me, anytime that happened and I saw it, there would be people who would get mad but me, it kinda sucked but at the same time I was like, yo, they did all that. The furthest I ever travelled was like Arizona for a bowl game so…I always had to put things in perspective because if you don’t, it’ll drive you crazy around here.”

He continued, “Granted, I’ve been here longer than everybody here at the PC, going on seven years…the day before we go live. Crazy part about it was, I didn’t really start actually doing mediocre okay until [my] fifth year here because I was still learning and I’m still learning now, but I’m a lot more comfortable doing everything than I was when I first walked in.”

Reflecting on his partnership with teammate Ford, Dawkins spoke about their dynamic as a duo. 

“It’s just the rapport, we’ve already been cool for so long that it was pretty easy just to mesh. Now, finding moves that correlate, that’s a little bit different. But us talking, very easy. But our movements are very different, I’m athletic but he can out-jump me in any aspect possible.”

The Street Profits attempt to reclaim the WWE NXT Tag Team Championships from Undisputed Era this Wednesday on NXT. 

H/T to Wrestlezone for the transcription.

Lio Rush recently returned to WWE during NXT’s premiere on USA Network. The Superstar defeated Oney Lorcan to become the new number one contender for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. In an interview with The Sit Down, Rush opened up about his career in pro wrestling as well as his interest in music.

During their conversation, Rush shared his belief that his career may have greater longevity compared to his Superstar colleagues. He credits this to decisions he has been making. He commented that “That’s true – a lot of not smart wrestlers don’t make it to a certain age.”

When it comes to his WWE character, Rush explained that he had concerns that WWE would rely on lazy stereotypes when it comes to black talent. Rush added that he felt he had avoided these stereotypes by breaking the mold in what he’s doing.

“I always had that fear getting into it at first,” Rush admitted. “Then I felt like I broke that stereotype just because of the things that I was doing and showing that I’m not your typical stereotype, black wrestler who’s like flipping, and flopping, and dancing around and s***.”

With his victory on NXT, Rush will receive an opportunity at Drew Gulak’s Cruiserweight Championship. 

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

WWE Hall of Famer and former WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Billy Graham announced on his Facebook that he had recently suffered a heart attack. In the post, he revealed that he had to admitted to the Mayo Clinic Hospital and was just recently released.

The specific cause of his heart failure has not been revealed yet, What we know so far is that he’s in constant heart failure and has to be on medication for the rest of his life. He however has assured that more details will be made public.

“Hey fans, I am back home from the Mayo Clinic Hospital,” Graham wrote. “I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers. I need rest right now but by this coming Sunday evening I will give all my Facebook fans an in-depth report on the status of my heart. All I will say for now is that I have suffered a heart attack and am in constant heart failure. I am of course on medications for my heart and will be for the remainder of my life. I am keeping the faith and will fight !!!”

Graham’s professional wrestling career lasted from 1969-89. He was active in various promotions, namely the World Wide Wrestling Federation, the National Wrestling Alliance, and the American Wrestling Alliance.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004, by then-World Heavyweight Champion Triple H, who had been inspired to become a wrestler by Graham.

He also served as a commentator for the WWF in the late 1980s, and made occasional returns to the WWE in the mid-2000s to conduct interviews and make ringside appearances.

He parted ways with the company in 2009 but in 2015 he announced that he had signed a legends contract to make infrequent appearances.

If you haven’t heard, Jerry “The King” Lawler is all set to head back to take the commentating role on WWE Raw.

We reported earlier that Lawler will be joining Vic Joseph and Dio Maddin on Monday night on the commentary booth of the show. Michael Cole, on the other hand, will be moved to SmackDown Live for the play by play duties of the show along with Corey Graves and Renee Young.

Lawler spoke about his return to commenting duties in an interview with the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Lawler revealed that he got a call from WWE’s executive vice president of television production Kevin Dunn who offered him the role. “I got a call about it Tuesday morning from Kevin Dunn. He said, ‘I’ve got a proposition for you. It may be good news, and it may be bad news.’ He knows I don’t like to travel a whole lot anymore, so that was the bad part. I said, ‘What’s the good part?’ He said, ‘We want you back on Raw. He told me it’s for however long I want to do it, so that sealed the deal.”

Lawler was told that initially the plan was to have a two-man booth on Raw but Vince McMahon suggested they add Lawler in.

“It was (Raw’s executive director) Paul (Heyman’s) idea to put Vic and Dio on Raw,” Lawler said. “Apparently, what I was told, Vince (McMahon) said, ‘You can’t throw these two new, young guys on our flagship show. Call King.’ That’s how it happened.”

Lawler recalled what Vince told him when he started his job 25 years ago. He feels confident for his return.

“All I’ve been able to think about is what Vince told me when I first started over 25 years ago, ‘It’s live TV — nothing can go wrong,'” Lawler said. “I feel real confident it’ll be like riding a bike. I’ll treat it exactly the way I always have — like I’m watching the show in my living room with my neighbor. The name of the company is World Wrestling Entertainment. And I’ve always thought the commentators are an important part of the entertainment.”

Lawler began his WWF career in December 1992 as an announcer for the the company. He was also involved in a number of storylines with Bret Hart, Vince McMahon and Doink the Clown. By 1998, he rarely wrestled and was primarily focused on commentary. He quit the WWF in protest when his then-wife Stacy “The Kat” Carter was released by the company in February 2001.

He however returned to the company in November of the same year after a brief stint in the indies, and would continue to work as a commentator until 2016. Afterwards, he was kept for special events such as the Hall of Fame ceremony and would only do periodic appearances.

Dragon Gate Pro-Wrestling made an announcement on their Facebook page that Ultimo Dragon has officially joined the company in a senior advisor role.

The statement reads, “Dragon Gate are happy to announce that Ultimo Dragon has officially joined the company in a senior advisor role. In this role he be able provide invaluable coaching and training for the younger generation, while continuing to compete in the ring when his schedule allows it. DG wrestlers & staff, now together with Ultimo Dragon, will continue to strive to make Dragon Gate an exciting and enjoyable experience for our fans.”

The Japanese wrestler has worked with a number of wrestling promotions namely New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah, All Japan Pro Wrestling, CMLL, etc. He has also been trained in lucha libre wrestling and has been credited with inventing and popularizing the now staple variants of Asai Moonsault. He is also known to blend Japanese, Mexican, and American styles of wrestling in the ring.

He is also a veteran of WCW and WWE. He captured the WCW Cruiserweight Championship two times and the WCW Television Championship once. He worked at WCW from 1996 to 1998, and then joined the WWE for a brief stint from 2003 to 2004.

Even though he was one of the most famous masked wrestlers of the time, his run in WWE wasn’t very successful as he was mostly stuck working on Velocity and Heat. Overseas, however, Dragon has found much success and is considered one of the greatest cruiserweights around.

Baron Corbin has been vocal about standing up for WWE and has said before that he will always defend the company against haters. He also seems to can’t keep to himself when it comes to poking fun at supporters of AEW.

Recently, Corbin commented on an Instagram post about fans who overanalyze every little thing done by AEW such as the stickers on the company’s trucks, promos done on Being The Elite, its UK TV deal issues, etc.

Corbin commented on the post taking a shot at AEW and its fans. According to Corbin, AEW is for people who nitpick and complain about everything. He wrote, “The ones who criticize every detail are literally their target audience haha.”

This is nothing new for Corbin, as he has taken shots at AEW fans before too. Corbin had much to say on an Instagram post criticizing fans who complain about WWE putting their titles on older stars but supporting AEW who themselves have Chris Jericho, 48 as the current AEW World Champion.

Corbin chimed in with his opinion, and commented, “All of these smarks have hated everything we do and complained about every detail that now they are forced to love everything these guys do even when it shows dumb they really are.” Corbin didn’t really hold back and called out what he sees as the hypocrisy of the WWE naysayers.

Corbin has said before that he will always support the WWE. “I’ll always stand up for WWE,” Corbin said in an interview. “We have the best superstars in the world, and we have the best people helping. We have Triple H, Michael Hayes, Fit Finlay, and Vince McMahon. We’re the best in the world, and I’m willing to stand up for that. I hold what we do to anyone in the world, no matter if it’s another wrestling company or the MLB or the NFL.”

Corbin’s most recent accomplishment in the ring has been his win at the King of the Ring tournament where he defeated Chad Gable in the finals.

WWE SmackDown star Sin Cara has made his return to the ring at Friday’s WWE live event in El, Paso Texas on 27 September.

He participated in an opening eight-man tag team match where he teamed up with Kalisto, Lince Dorado and Titus O’Neil to defeat the team of EC3, Eric Young, Tony Nese and WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak.

After being involved in a short-lived feud with Andrade, Sin Cara underwent knee surgery back in August 2018. During the checkup, medical personnel found scar tissue in his joint which was surgically removed.

In March of this year he was cleared to return to the ring and he was seen a couple of months later participating in the 51-man battle royal at Super ShowDown in June. That was all we saw from him until last Friday.

Sin Cara’s son also made it to the ring to celebrate with his father after the match at the live event.

The live event was opened with a video tribute for the victims of the August 3 El Paso shooting. Sin Cara and his son welcomed the El Paso first responders to the ring, as another tribute.

You can check out the pictures from the event below:

Rick Bognar has passed away at 49 years of age. News of his passing broke recently by his family but he is said to have passed away on September 20th, 2019. No cause of death was released. His death is said to have been unexpected, however.

Bognar is perhaps most recognizable to North American wrestling fans as the fake Razor Ramon character he portrayed in WWE from 1996 to 97. Before signing with WWE, however, Bognar was known as Big Titan. He wrestled for FMW in Japan from 1988 to 1994. Bognar briefly wrestled as Big Titan in ECW in 1996 before signing with WWE later that year.

A Facebook post from former WCW referee Billy Silverman via Bognar’s brother Ken reads as follows:

“RIP Rick Bognar

It is with great sadness that I share some news with Rick’s Facebook friends. On September 20th Rick passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at the young age of 49. It is tough to comprehend and will likely never sink in fully.

Rick left behind a great legacy and I know he will be remembered and missed by all of us.

Ken Bognar (Rick’s brother)”

Bognar is a former FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Champion. He also once held the promotion’s Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championships along with the Gladiator (Mike Awesome).

He had been working as a motivational speaker since leaving pro wrestling.

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez is in high demand from the top pro wrestling companies including AAA, NJPW, AEW, and WWE. 

Dave Meltzer mentioned on the most recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Velasquez is talking to every promotion that includes WWE as he had a meeting with WWE recently. 

This comes after he had a meeting with New Japan Pro Wrestling when they recently ran a show in California. The UFC star is still scheduled to work the AAA show at the Forum on October 13th where he’ll compete in another match. 

Cain Velasquez Confirms Having Talks With WWE & AEW

As of this writing, he has yet to sign with WWE as he’s still under contract with the UFC and has one date left on his AAA deal. Cain is set to do a meet and greet in San Jose at Mount Pleasant High where he was supposed to do a run-in. The run-in was nixed by the UFC. 

It appears that there is a hold-up in his UFC deal regarding him working events in the United States. 

Meltzer added that Cain is negotiating with AEW and WWE although WWE is serious about signing him to a deal. 

ROH held TV tapings on Saturday night (September 28) in Las Vegas, Nevada at Sam’s Town Casino. Here are the spoilers from the tapings, courtesy of Fightful:

ROH TV Tapings Spoilers

– Dak Draper defeated Austin Gunn to win the Top Prospect tournament.

– Joe Hendry beat an unannounced competitor.

– The Bouncers beat Coast to Coast.

– Silas Young and Josh Woods defeated Chris Bey and Slice Boogie.

– WOH Champion Angelina Love defeated Sumie Sakai and Jenny Rose.

– Dalton Castle beat Mark Haskins.

– Jay Lethal defeated PJ Black to advance in the Top Contenders tournament.

– ROH announced Angelina Love vs. Kelly Klein for October 12th in New Orleans. Kelly Klein cut a promo about how she is bringing a friend to negate Mandy.

– Tyler Batman defeated Jake Atlas. Kathy Capanelli from Championship Wrestling from Hollywood joined Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman. 

– Kenny King, Josh Woods, Jeff Cobb and Brian Johnson defeated Silas Young, Rhett Titus, Joe Hendry and Cheeseburger.

– Tracy Williams beat Flip Gordon after a middle rope piledriver through a table. Post-match, Williams was then attacked by Bateman.

– Matt Taven, accompanied by The Kingdom, announced he would be remaining in ROH.

– ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Villian Club defeated Briscoes and Dragon Lee.

Headshrinker Samu has been living with Stage 4 liver cancer and recently underwent a liver transplant. The surgery is said to have taken 13.5 hours and the legendary member of the Anoa’i family is said to be in pain following it. Members of the legendary Anoa’i family, including his son Lance, have been providing updates on Samu’s condition via social media.

MLW’s Court Bauer has also been providing updates on fundraising efforts to help with medical expenses.

The fundraising goal for the GoFundMe is listed at $25,000. So far, it has raised $11,498.00.

Donations can be made at the following link.

“I am asking for the public to help my family and to make a donation to get him through until we can see what the next phase of this cancer brings. We are all doing the best we can, and I wanted to reach out to you all and ask for any support that could be given. My dad is my hero and I only want to be able to help him in any way possible. I reach out to you all in hopes we can raise $25,000 to ensure we get a head start on my father medicine to survive in order to watch his grandchildren grow. Thank you to you all and from my family to yours, we love you all. Respectfully, Lance Anoa’i,” the GoFundMe description reads.

Samu went public with his cancer diagnosis last year after Roman Reigns revealed his leukaemia had returned.

• Samu Anoa’i Reveals He Is Also Suffering From Cancer

Impact Wrestling this week emanated from Sam’s Town live in Las Vegas. The episode featured several segments from the wedding of Brian Cage and Melissa Santos.

Here are 6 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 9/27:

Sami Callihan Hits Melissa Santos With A Bottle At Wedding

Sami Callihan will challenge Brian Cage for the Impact World Championship at Bound for Glory and found it necessary to involve himself in Brian Cage and Melissa Santos’ wedding reception this week.

After comedic interruptions from Taya Valkyrie and Ethan Page, an intoxicated Eddie Edwards vomited on Cage’s brother who was acting as the minister. Edwards then took a swing at Ace Austin and accidentally hit the minister. Tommy Dreamer then called for a new minister to officiate the wedding which led to James Mitchell entering the room dramatically and marrying the couple. The reception then took place in the ring during the show’s final segment.

Sami Callihan then interrupted the proceedings as the couple was enjoying their first dance. He brought out an empty bottle he said had been intended as a wedding gift for the couple but he and OVE weren’t invited. Callihan called Santos a “b**ch” during his toast and when Cage confronted him Callihan swung the bottle at him but hit Melissa instead. The show went off the air with several people attending to Santos.

Tenille Dashwood to Challenge Taya Valkyrie At Bound For Glory

Tenille Dashwood defeated the locker room leader Madison Rayne this week. The win pushed Dashwood to the top of the knockouts division rankings and it was announced that she’ll face the champion Taya Valkyrie at Bound for Glory.

Tessa Blanchard Qualifies For X-Division Ladder Match At Bound For Glory

Tessa Blanchard defeated Dave Crist this week in a qualifying match for the upcoming X-Division ladder match at Bound For Glory. Title-holder Jake Crist and his OVE stablemate Madman Fulton then attacked Blanchard after the match.

3 other challengers for the 5-person ladder match have yet to be named.

Moose Interrupts Ken Shamrock’s Promo

Ken Shamrock cut a promo this week about what led to his coming to Impact Wrestling. He was interrupted by a video featuring Moose, however, who infiltrated an MMA gym and assaulted several of the employees and people training there as a message to Shamrock. Moose and Ken Shamrock will face each other in singles action October 20th at Bound for Glory.

RVD & Rhino Defeated The Tag Champs

Ethan Page and Josh Alexander kicked off Impact Wrestling this week coming out to the ring dressed as LAX. They were confronted by Konnan who then introduced Rhino and Rob Van Dam as their opponents for this week.

The ECW Legends then defeated the Impact tag team champions which creates an interesting scenario at the top of the division. On commentary, it was noted that Rich Swann and Willie Mack had been named the new number one contenders for the titles after defeating LAX last week.

Mahabali Shera Defeated Cousin Jake

Mahabali Shera defeated Cousin Jake this week. Earlier in the back, Great Gama Singh berated the rest of the Desi Hit Squad for their losing ways. It looks like big things could be in store for the Desi Hit Squad with Shera in their ranks now, however.

Quick Results

1. Rhino & RVD defeated the North
2. Mahabali Shera defeated Cousin Jake
3. Tenille Dashwood defeated Madison Rayne
4. Tessa Blanchard defeated Dave Crist

Next Week:

Matt Riddle was fired from the UFC in 2013 despite being on a 4-fight winning streak. 2 of his 4 victories from that time were changed to no-contests after Riddle tested positive for cannabis, however. UFC President Dana White made several derogatory comments regarding Riddle after his release as well.

“Everybody’s going to have an excuse of why they were cut. Matt Riddle did an interview before that fight where he said ‘I smoke weed so that I don’t beat my children’ then he tests positive for it. He’s a f—king moron,” White said following the UFC 158 pre-fight press conference.

The UFC has since entered into a research agreement with Aurora Cannabis to look into the medical benefits it can provide for athletes.

Riddle has since signed with WWE and is now a major player on the NXT brand with a scheduled title shot against Adam Cole next Wednesday.

White recently said that he is happy for Riddle and his success in pro wrestling. Riddle offered up the following response to White’s comments on his Instagram page:

Matt Riddle Sends Message To Dana White

“Dana I’m not mad that you fired me I’m mad because you’re a heartless moron with to much money and power and felt the need to call me a loser after you fired me when I was on a 4 fight win streak and had my 3rd child almost bankrupting me. Also to say it was the right call to fire me is the dumbest thing ever, you literally tried to ruin my career/life because your a little bald bitch that couldn’t control me, so stop lying it’s sad bro”

CM Punk is reported to have auditioned recently for the upcoming WWE Backstage show set to premiere on FS1 beginning Tuesday, November 5th. According to a recent report from Wrestling Observer Radio, Punk is expected to receive some type of offer from Fox, though that is not confirmed.

“I guess it went well,” Dave Meltzer said in regard to Punk’s tryout with Fox. “Because the feeling is that he’ll probably get an offer.”

Meltzer would also say that there are people at Fox who read the Wrestling Observer and felt that Punk would be a good fit for the Backstage show.

“It just doesn’t make sense in a lot of ways, I can’t imagine WWE would want it,” Meltzer continued.

AEW Says They’ll Never Work With CM Punk

Also noted during this conversation was that people from AEW are saying they are not willing to work with Punk as a result of comments Punk made in a recent ESPN article.

• Cody Rhodes Responds To CM Punk’s Recent Comments

“Even though AEW has told me they would never work with him – and I believe that they believe that on this day – come February there’s going be somebody if not two sides who want him really bad,” Meltzer said during the show.

• Update On The Elite’s Response To CM Punk’s Comments

“They told me that after the Marc Raimondi article, yeah,” Meltzer confirmed.

“It was pretty much told to me that they felt very disrespected by what he said, and they should have if you know what the real story was, and I can’t go into too much detail but I do know it.”

Rush and Dragon Lee are both gone from CMLL. The promotion announced on Twitter that both luchadors are being released for not following company guidelines.

The belief currently regarding Dragon Lee is that he was instructed by CMLL that he was not to work PWG’s BOLA this year and did regardless. The Wrestling Observer reported that this was the reason why Dragon Lee had been removed from CMLL’s Anniversary show.

Rush posted a video announcing he was leaving CMLL shortly before the promotion announced they were firing him and Dragon Lee early Saturday morning.

CMLL owns the rights to the names Rush and Dragon Lee. Rush is already being advertised for events under the name El Toro Blanco, however. He won the ROH World Championship last night at Death Before Dishonor.

• Rush Wins ROH World Championship

Dragon Lee posted the following to Twitter shortly after his release, stating he gave his body to CMLL, thanked Paco Alonso, and suggested he is not happy by the situation:

The folks from LuchaBlog discussed what this situation means for all involved on a podcast which can be found here.

Rush and Dragon Lee Gone From CMLL

Dragon Lee was also a surprise addition to ROH’s PPV this weekend. He was added to the ROH TV title match against Shane Taylor, Tracy Williams, and Flip Gordon. Taylor would retain the title in the match.

• ROH Death Before Dishonor Results

Ring of Honor presented Death Before Dishonor last night from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show featured two world title changes involving both the men’s and women’s titles.

Results of the show are below:

ROH Death Before Dishonor – September 27th, 2019 – Sam’s Town Live – Las Vegas, Nevada

1. Jeff Cobb defeated Brody King (preshow)
2. ROH World Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round 
   Mart Scurll defeated Colt Cabana
3. ROH World Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round 
   PCO defeated Kenny King
4. WOH World Championship
   Angelina Love (c) defeated Kelly Klein – New Champion
5. Jonathan Gresham defeated Jay Lethal
6. The Bouncers (Brawler Milonas & The Beer City Bruiser) defeated Silas Young & Vinny Marseglia
7. ROH World TV Championship
   Shane Taylor (c) defeated Flip Gordon vs Dragon Lee vs Tracy Williams
8. ROH World Tag Team Championships
   The Briscoes (Mark & Jay Briscoe) defeated LifeBlood (Mark Haskins & Bandido)
9. ROH World Championship
   Rush defeated Matt Taven (c) – New Champion

PPV Notes:

Kenny King and Amy Rose attempted to electrocute PCO in their match but this seemed to only strengthen the French-Canadian Frankenstein, who won the match with a choke slam.

Following her WOH World Championship victory, Angelina Love was attacked by Maria Manic, who put several people in a torture rack after the match.

Jonathan Gresham and Jay Lethal seemed to settle their differences after their match. Gresham picked up the win with an octopus stretch and the two seemed to settle their ongoing dispute after but not in any conclusive type of way.

Josh Woods seemed disappointed with his mentor Silas Young’s repeated attempts to cheat during his match against Lifeblood. Vincent even tossed darts into the back of Milonas at one point. Beer City Bruiser would pick up the win for his team by DDT’ing Vincent onto a chair.

Shane Taylor is seemingly no longer contracted to ROH. He now runs Shane Taylor promotions and retained the title here. It sounds as though ROH will now have to negotiate with Shane Taylor promotions for him to defend the title once again.

After the TV title match, Bully Ray came out and bullied everyone, in particular Mark Haskins. He puts Haskins through a table in front of his wife, who was ringside.

Dragon Lee and several of Rush’s other family members were ringside for his world title match and celebrated in the ring with him after he won.

Rush in the new ROH World Champion. He defeated Matt Taven last night in Las Vegas in the main event of ROH’s Death Before Dishonor PPV. Rush becomes the first Mexican-born wrestler to win the title.

Rush ends Matt Taven’s run as champion after 175 days. He is tied with Cody at 15th in terms of total days spent as champion. Taven successfully defended the title 11x during his reign.

ROH World Championship Statistics

Rush becomes the 26th wrestler to win the title and begins the 31st reign in the title’s lineage.

ROH Champions:

1. Jay Lethal (2x) 707 combined days.
2. Samoa Joe (1x) 645 days.
3. Nigel McGuinness (1x) 545 days.
4. Bryan Danielson (1x) 462 days.
5. Adam Cole (3x) 445 days.
6. Austin Aries (2x) 419 days.
7. Jay Briscoe (2x) 375 days.
8. Kevin Steen (1x) 328 days.
9. Davey Richards (1x) 321 days.
10. Takeshi Morishima (1x) 231 days.
11. Tyler Black (1x) 210 days.
12. Dalton Castle (1x) 197 days.
13. Roderick Strong (1x) 189 days.
14. Xavier (1x) 182 days.
15. Cody (1x) 175 days.
16. Matt Taven (1x) 175 days.
17. Christopher Daniels (1x) 105 days.
18. Eddie Edwards (1x) 99 days.
19. Michael Elgin (1x) 76 days.
20. Jerry Lynn (1x) 71 days.
21. Homicide (1x) 56 days.
22. Low Ki (1x) 56 days.
23. CM Punk (1x) 55 days.
24. James Gibson (1x) 36 days.
25. Kyle O’Reilly (1x) 33 days.
26. Rush (current) 1+ days.

A new match has been set for the next pay-per-view event under the Impact Wrestling banner, Bound for Glory. 

On Friday, the promotion announced Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie will be defending her title against Tenille Dashwood at the show. 

Valkyrie currently is the longest reigning Knockouts Champion as she’s held the title for over 260+ days.

Impact Wrestling’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view event will take place on Sunday, October 20th from the Odeum Expo Center in Chicago, Illinois.

As of this writing, only a handful of matches including the main event has been announced for the show. Here is the updated card: 

• Impact World Champion Brian Cage vs. Sami Callihan
• Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie vs. Tenille Dashwood
• Moose vs. Ken Shamrock
• Michael Eglin vs. Naomichi Marufuji
• Rascalz vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. and two partners of his choosing – Six-Man Tag Team Match

The three-hour event begins October 20th at 8 p.m. ET and will be available on all major PPV distributors, including DISH, DirecTV, iN Demand, Vubiquity, Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Sasktel. Also, it will be streamed live globally on Impact Plus and the FITE.tv app.

What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.