Archive for March, 2020

Lance Archer Making In-Ring Debut On Next Week’s AEW Dynamite

Lance Archer was announced to be signed with All Elite Wrestling on February 26. The former New Japan pro-Wrestling star was supposed to make his in-ring debut for the company on the March 4 episode of AEW: Dynamite, but the plans were nixed and WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts was debuted on the show instead.

Lance Archer was revealed as the client of Jake Roberts on the March 11 episode of the show, a week later after Jake Robert’s debut.

On this week’s episode of Dynamite, Cody defeated Jimmy Havoc in the opening match of the night. After the match, Jake Roberts appeared on the titantron and told him that The Murderhawk was chomping at the bit to get in the ring and asked Cody to give Archer a chance.

Later on the night, Cody was on commentary where he made the announcement that Archer will make his in-ring debut on next week’s episode of the show. There is no word as of this writing on who will be facing. However, Dustin Rhodes seems to be eager to be in the ring with him as seen by his comments on Twitter.

On the news of Archer’s upcoming in-ring debut, Dustin tweeted, “Jake, you don’t want none of the #Rhodes fam!! You and your #ChickenHawk @LanceHoyt!!” To which Archer replied, “You’ll learn!”

Archer will finally make his in-ring debut for the company on the next week’s episode of Dynamite.

In 2019, Archer had a great run in NJPW with his impressive performances he showcased in the G1 Climax tournament. He also went on to win the IWGP United States Championship. Archer also worked in the WWE from 2009 to 2010 where he appeared on the ECW and SmackDown brands under the ring name of Vance Archer.

WWE Reportedly Upset With AEW’s Brodie Lee Segment On Dynamite

This Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite episode highlighted a segment featuring “The Exalted One” Brodie Lee with his fellow members of The Dark Order – Alex Reynolds and John Silver.

The much-discussed-vignette saw Brodie Lee have a steak dinner with Alex Reynolds and John Silver where he chided them for depending on their strength in numbers. He told them to get with the program in regards to what direction The Dark Order is heading in. While Lee was busy chastising, Silver tried to eat his steak before Lee finished his meal which angered him. He threw him out of the room.

After this happened, Alex Reynolds sneezed, which disturbed Lee very much, to the point where he kicked him out as well.

Related: Brodie Lee Talks About His AEW Debut, Not Wanting To Be Compared To Bray Wyatt

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that the entire segment was made to rib on Vince McMahon, and it didn’t sit too well with the company.

The part where Lee gets angry at Silver for eating his food before he finished his own meal is a reference to Vince getting upset whilst having a meal at Morton’s Steakhouse because he wanted to be the first to eat. Vince is also known to dislike sneezing a lot, and he gets very mad when someone around him sneezes.

Meltzer noted that people in the company were very upset with this segment by AEW.

This is just another segment by Lee needling Vince McMahon – as during last week Lee had said the following about his former boss: “You’re not the first out-of-touch old man to not believe in me. But I will make damn sure you are the last.”

You can watch the segment below:

Related: Brodie Lee On Pitching Ideas To WWE Creative, Working With Vince McMahon, His Departure

Eric Bischoff Compares WWE and AEW ‘Empty Arena’ Production

Former WCW President and co-host of the 83 Weeks podcast Eric Bischoff recently commented on the AEW and WWE ’empty arena’ shows that have been taking place over the past couple of weeks. With the COVID-19 coronavirus causing major sports and entertainment to either be cancelled or re-scheduled, the two biggest pro wrestling promotions in the United States have opted to continue with their live broadcasts.

Eric Bischoff on AEW and WWE

WWE were first to broadcast from the Performance Center for Friday Night SmackDown. With the situation being fluid and no one truly knowing what will happen week to week, the company would attempt to try and still entertain fans with a skeleton crew and no actual audience in attendance. When AEW aired on TNT, they had a different, more ‘Ring of Honor hard camera’ approach to their production, which garnered praise seemingly across the board. Eric Bischoff was also someone who appreciated the quality of AEW’s production and style over the past couple of weeks.

“WWE missed the mark on the first couple of shows”

Eric Bischoff

“I think AEW is doing a great job” Bischoff began on this week’s episode of After 83 Weeks w/ Christy Olson. “WWE missed the mark on the first couple of shows. I almost, almost picked up the phone to call someone and say ‘hey maybe you just want to think about this?'”

WWE Is Too Glitzy?

Bischoff would then give his insight and ideas. “Here’s my take, right. When you look at the WWE product its very glitzy. You know, the high production values are second to none. When it comes to live event production? There is no one on the face of the earth that does live event production the way WWE does. It’s an art. That’s the good news…bad news is, when there’s no audience and you still dress everything up? It’s still bright. There’s colours, there’s lights, you can see that there’s nobody there. But the venue has no personality, the venue has no character. It’s a bright, multicoloured, very sterile environment. And for me it was kind of like, I just can’t watch it.”

AEW Giving The Arena ‘Character’

Eric Bischoff finished by comparing how the AEW product seemingly made the venue a ‘character.’ Something that added to the show instead of being a deterrent. “AEW kind of made the venue a little bit more of a character. And one of the ways they did it is the way they shot a lot of their angles. They were tighter, there was a lot more close ups, a lot less wide shots. To me they shot it better.”

WWE have reported already pre-taped a large number of segments/matches for WrestleMania 36 next weekend. It will be interesting to see if the company will be making any changes to the production style for the shows, considering how the ’empty arena’ presentation will play a huge part at the biggest show of the year.

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Bobby Lashley Quarantined After Trip From South Africa

Bobby Lashley was not present on the March 16 episode of WWE Raw – which led him to miss out on building up his WrestleMania 36 match against Aleister Black – due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bobby Lashley was supposed to appear on the episode of Raw to take part in some form to start the build for his match against Aleister Black.

The reason why Lashley was in South Africa is that he had to be there to do promotional work for a tour that WWE was planning to do in the country beginning from April 29 to May 2. The tour has now moved to September because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Since Lashley traveled outside of the country, he had to be quarantined when he returned to the United States.

Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley is still set for WrestleMania 36 as the match was announced on Monday night, to no build whatsoever. Lashley didn’t appear on this week’s Raw too seemingly due to being in quarantine.

Read more: Bobby Lashley On Continuing Rusev/Lana Storyline, Bringing Back “The Old Bobby”

The Observer also noted that Lana was available earlier than expected since she was supposed to be filming for the action and science fiction movie starring Bruce Willis, Cosmic Sin – but all work has halted in Hollywood due to the coronavirus pandemic meaning she was available to work with WWE. It is believed that the company decided to move forward with Lashley vs. Black due to her availability.

Besides Lashley, other WWE stars that are put into quarantine and are not permitted to perform at the Performance Center are Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke. Daniel Bryan is also self-quarantining after returning home from taping WrestleMania.

Related: More Names Reportedly Off WrestleMania 36 Card

Injury Update On AOP’s Rezar

Rezar from the Authors of Pain is looking at spending a significant amount of time on the injured list. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he recently had surgery to repair a torn biceps. The 25-year-old is expected to be out of action for 7-8 months.

Additionally, the decision is being made for his tag-team partner, Akam, to simply sit-out during the time his partner is on the shelf.

“Right now the decision is not to use Akam without him so as of right now there are no plans for either of them for appearing on television,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

Akam and Rezar had both been members of Seth Rollins’ stable along with Buddy Murphy on RAW as of late.

The Authors of Pain are former 1x RAW tag team champions. They won the titles by defeating Seth Rollins in a 2-on-1 handicap match on the November 5th episode of RAW. They then dropped the titles to Bobby Roode and Chad Gable in a 3-on-2 handicap match when their manager at the time, Drake Maverick, was pinned.

Footage of the AOP winning the RAW tag titles can be seen in the player below:

WWE’s Relationship With CM Punk Is Even Worse Than We Thought

CM Punk’s agent reportedly reached out to WWE recently. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however, WWE sent word they are not interested in opening up conversations regarding Punk.

“Vince McMahon labeled him the one man I just can’t do business with and nobody at the top level, including Paul Heyman has argued the point or pushed for him,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

It was also included in the report that Punk’s agent attempted to open a dialogue with WWE but was turned down by the company. It is being said that Punk’s role on WWE Backstage was something FOX pushed for and WWE allowed it only to appease FOX.

It is also being reported backstage that Punk’s role on WWE Backstage has devalued him some, as the show’s ratings have not been strong. Punk’s inclusion on the show did cause an initial spike in ratings his first week but the ratings have since been in something of a holding pattern.

“I was told that while you never say never in wrestling, there is no interest right now in him for anything in WWE,” Meltzer continued.

Many In WWE Reportedly Upset With Decision Not To Postpone WrestleMania

WWE filmed content this week for several of its shows including matches for WrestleMania 36. According to comments made in a PW Insider audio update, there is only one person who wanted to go ahead with the WrestleMania and that person was Vince McMahon.

“I can confirm after speaking to dozens of people in the company,” said PW Insider’s Mike Johnson. “I’m talking wrestlers, behind the scenes people, whatever, there is only one person who felt that they should have went forward with WrestleMania and that’s why they’re going forward with WrestleMania and that’s Vince.”

There are also reports that several WWE wrestlers reported feeling sick and were taken off the shows this week. Other WWE wrestlers said they did not feel comfortable flying out to the shows.

Vince McMahon Sells Off WWE Stock

McMahon also recently sold off about 15% of his WWE stock through a prepaid variable forward contract with Morgan Stanley. This type of transaction allows McMahon to receive something of a cash-advance without actually having to hand over the stock until 2024. He also won’t have to pay taxes on the deal. According to a report from Bloomberg, McMahon received approximately $80 million.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown Preview: #1 Contender’s Match, Daniel Bryan In Action

A new episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown is here and it’s a loaded show.

Several matches have been announced thus far for this show including The New Day vs. The Usos to crown new #1 contender’s for the Tag Team Titles. The winner of this match will challenge John Morrison for the titles at WrestleMania. 

Also, Drew Gulak vs. Shinsuke Nakamura is booked. The stipulation of this contest is that if Gulak wins, then Daniel Bryan gets a title shot from WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 36

WWE holds this show from Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center. As usual, fans should expect more matches and segments to be revealed this afternoon for SmackDown. 

WWE is advertising the following items for tonight’s broadcast:

  • Alexa Bliss vs. Asuka
  • The New Day vs. The Usos – #1 Contender’s Match
  • Drew Gulak vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
  • Bray Wyatt hosts a new Firefly Fun House episode

WWE will also be announcing matches for existing feuds that will take place heading into the WrestleMania 36 pay-per-view event next weekend that was already taped. 

Join us here later tonight for our WWE SmackDown results and post-show Takeaways feature.

Stu Bennett on WWE Departure – “I Need To Leave, I F*cking Hate It”

AJ Styles Comments On “Boneyard Match” Name & Rules

AJ Styles is scheduled to face the Undertaker in a “Boneyard Match” at WrestleMania 36. Little was known about the stipulations of the match but AJ Styles recently commented on it during a video game streaming session on his Mixer account.

Styles didn’t waste any time addressing the boneyard match after starting his steam.

“I think I need to explain a few things,” Styles began. He then thanked some new subscribers before offering up an explanation on the Boneyard match name and rules. “A boneyard match, everybody wants to know what the heck is a boneyard match? Even I was wondering what a boneyard match is?”

“There’s a reason why I think it’s called a boneyard match because we didn’t want to say cemetery,” Styles said. “Or graveyard, let’s tread a little delicately on this.”

“Boneyard is slang for graveyard, it really is,” Styles continued. “What is the match? I mean, Chris, if I said boneyard match what would you think the match rules are?” he asked his co-host. Chris responded that it would be like a street fight in a cemetery.

“Bingo,” Styles responded.

“How does the match end, is there a referee?” Styles asked Chris, who responded he figured there would be. Styles, however, then indicated there would not be a referee involved in the match.

“Maybe this is something new, I don’t know,” Styles continued. “It’s not in an arena, of course.”

“I think it’s a combination of things you thought it was,” Styles said.

AJ Styles’ past Mixer streams can be viewed here.

Braun Strowman Expected To Be Roman Reigns’ WWE WrestleMania Replacement

News broke earlier today that the former World Champion Roman Reigns has decided to pull himself from the upcoming WrestleMania event due to coronavirus concerns.

WWE was working on a replacement for the Big Dog for the PPV and on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio; Dave Meltzer provided an update on Goldberg’s potential new opponent for the Show Of Shows.

It was reported previously that the company taped some of the bigger WrestleMania matches on Wednesday and they planned to complete the tapings by Thursday before the Florida Mayor’s ‘stay at home’ mandate came into effect. Meltzer mentioned that he believes it was Braun Strowman who replaced Roman Reigns on the card and wrestled Goldberg at the tapings.

The Big Dog was present for this match and the former World Champion himself made the call for the Monster Among Man to be his replacement for the match.

It’s not confirmed how WWE is handling this situation storyline-wise and we should get a better idea about it on tonight’s episode of SmackDown.

There is no confirmation about the winner of this bout either. It would be interesting to see if the officials went with their original plans and put the title on Braun Strowman, giving him his first world title reign in the company.

More Names Reportedly Off WrestleMania 36 Card

The lineup for WrestleMania 36 reportedly underwent even more changes this week. Matches for the show were taped this past week from the WWE Performance Center and Full Sail University in Florida. WWE has content filmed for shows up until after the 4/6 episode of RAW. Most of WrestleMania was taped this Wednesday and Thursday.

According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, more wrestlers have reported feeling sick and did not take part in the tapings. It is not yet clear who those Superstars are and what changes this caused to their scheduled matches, however.

“Names are being kept confidential because so few know, but it’s been confirmed that multiple people on the card either said they were sick, which meant instantly being pulled off all shows this week,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

There are reportedly other names who did not feel sick but had fevers over WWE’s cutoff point of 100.4. Others on the roster reportedly said they were not comfortable flying in for the show.

At least one match, Undertaker vs AJ Styles, appears likely to have been filmed on location. The match was made a Boneyard match and will likely have been taped in a studio graveyard setting, though this is not yet clear.

Both Rey Mysterio and Dana Brooke have already been reported to be off the shows and in quarantine. Brooke exhibited symptoms when checked out by WWE medical personnel and was asked to go into quarantine. Mysterio exhibited symptoms while at home in California and quarantined himself. Nobody in WWE has tested positive for the virus, however.

Jerry Lawler is also said not to have been at the shows out of concern due to his age.

WrestleMania 36 will air on the WWE Network on April 4th and 5th.

Brodie Lee On Pitching Ideas To WWE Creative, Working With Vince McMahon, His Departure

Brodie Lee, the Exalted One of AEW’s Dark Order, was Chris Jericho’s guest on the latest installment of the Talk is Jericho podcast. It was a great discussion chock full of interesting anecdotes and details about Lee’s journey to All Elite Wrestling. We will be breaking up this recap into a few parts.

Here are some highlights of Brodie Lee’s talk with Chris Jericho, courtesy of SEScoops correspondent Eric Brown:

Brodie Lee on Struggling in WWE, Working with Vince McMahon

Jericho talks about how early on he felt like Brodie had all of the tools necessary to succeed in WWE. Brodie says the biggest hang up was: “The way I do talk. Vince doesn’t see a person who looks like me, talking like me. And I don’t think he could get over that. He saw a backwoods hillbilly who talked in a Southern draw, and being from Rochester, New York, and being somewhat eloquent, he didn’t understand and it just didn’t compute with him.”

“I had my supporters, just not vocal ones.. not ones that were willing to go to bat for me. Once I fell into a role – no matter what I pitched, no matter what I showed anybody – I just wasn’t digging my way out of it. To the audience of one.” He talks about Arn Anderson speaking up for him in meetings, but eventually telling him, “I’m just going to stop speaking up for you, because I don’t think it’s doing you any favors.”

Says his peak in WWE was probably when he was the Intercontinental Champion, and specifically cites his ladder match with Dolph Ziggler. “But even then, I don’t think I won a match on TV with the belt, did a bunch of DQs, lost a bunch of matches, and it almost was like I lost favor almost instantly, as soon as I won the belt.. Never even had a chance to do anything with it.” Brodie talks about different ideas and angles he pitched for his character, but that Vince “wasn’t buying them.”

One idea was that he would be a ‘collector’ of sorts – inspired by serial killers – where he would collect something from each person he beat. “The problem just became that I wasn’t beating anybody.. so it was hard to collect from people to do that (laughs).” Another was that he would be a ‘smart monster,’ where he would speak the way he does, and also break down his opponents in an intelligent way. But again, the hang-up seemed to be his way of talking. He recalls going into Vince’s office and Vince asking him to do a Southern drawl. Brodie said that he’s from New York, and that he thinks it’s going to sound really fake. He tried it, and Vince didn’t like it, which Brodie thought would mean that was the end of that. Yet the very next week, in the script, it called for him to do a Southern accent.

Jericho brings up that it’s strange, considering that Rowan actually did end up getting a ‘smart monster’ gimmick. Brodie jokes, “Exactly, I don’t know if he just didn’t know the difference between us, or.. (laughs)” He says that Vince saw him and Rowan as a team, and always ended up bringing them back together. Jericho draws the comparison to John Morrison, who “goes away, does all these great things, he comes back, and a week-and-a-half later he’s Miz’s tag team partner.”

During the storyline where Randy Orton had allied himself with Bray Wyatt, Brodie predicted to the writers that this would result in Brodie organically getting over with the crowd. The writers told him it wouldn’t work that way, but he noticed every week his crowd reaction increased. By the time Randy turned on them, Brodie was over to the point where he was in a championship match battle royal, as one of the final two competitors along with AJ Styles. The match was supposed to end with both of their feet touching the floor at the same time, leading to a 1 on 1 match the following week. It worked fine in rehearsals, but when they did it live Brodie’s butt slipped on the apron and their feet obviously didn’t hit at the same time. WWE worked around this and said that they touched at the same time, which led to the 1 on 1 match. “And then the next week, AJ – who was the heel – ended up making me tap and pinning me, in the same match.. I was like, ‘Yup, this is the end!” After that, he was off TV for 8 months, but continued to do dark matches, as he hoped his positive reaction from the crowds would encourage Vince to give him another chance.

Says he and Vince “chatted many, many times. He was always very honest with me. he’s like, ‘I just don’t have anything for you right now.'” Jericho interjects, “That’s the worst thing to hear.” He said he would try to brainstorm and work with the writers to come up with something, but “I knew there was nothing coming.. It was literally the most frustrating thing I could imagine, as a career.. You just go sit in catering and watch these shows and you’re like, ‘Man, I know where I could f***ing fit in on these.'”

On his souring relationship with WWE, Brodie mentions a time in Detroit where he sat outside Vince’s office (while he waited for him to finish with a production meeting) for three hours only to be told by Vince that he didn’t want to see anybody. Brodie had various pitches he had written down, but left so frustrated that he threw them in the trash. He recalls eventually getting to see Vince and give him a pitch, which he felt like Vince dismissed by saying that he’d look at it later while on the plane. Eventually, Brodie got Vince’s phone number, and feeling that he had nothing to lose, he texted him asking what was going on with his career. Vince asked him why he wasn’t in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which Brodie recalls responding with “Sir, that’s a question that you should probably be able to answer.” Vince replied “Well, you are now.” When he had originally seen the plans for the battle royal, he was set to be one of the final 2 or 3 remaining, which he felt optimistic about, but later found out “they had kayfabed us on the end of the battle royal, and there’s like 10 other people after me.”

One idea pitched to him was to be Sami Zayn’s heater. He thought, “F***, man, that’s exactly what I don’t want to do. That’s exactly what I’ve done my entire career. I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to be behind anybody, I just want to go do my thing.” He tried to be optimistic about it and wanted it to work out. They were set to debut on the Smackdown following Wrestlemania, but it was suddenly canceled.

His Relationship with Erick Rowan

On the Bludgeon Brothers: Says he was shown a picture of Demolition and told “this is what [Vince] wants you guys to be.” They felt like they needed up update the look, and he gives Rowan more credit them himself when it came to those ideas. When they first tried on the gear, he thought “we look like a couple of f***ing idiots.” They had to go into Vince’s office to show him, and when they went in he was in the middle of getting a massage. “Vince looks up, and he goes, ‘Yup, love it!’ And I go, ‘Well, do you want to see the other..’ ‘No no, love it!'” They talk about how different talking to Vince can be based on what he’s doing, specifically that it’s always a bad idea to talk to him when he’s eating.

Brodie says that the Bludgeon Brothers’ mallets (which they could not call sledgehammers “for obvious reasons”) were made out of wood and “heavy as hell.” One time, Brodie swung a mallet at Kofi Kingston and hitting the ring mat, and was told afterwards that he “dented the boards” underneath. During a trip to Saudi Arabia, he knew they would not be able to check them onto the plane, so Vince brought them over on his personal plane.

On his relationship with Rowan, “We do make a good tag team,” but “when we first got together in the Wyatt family I despised the man. I hated him.” “He snores more than any man I’ve ever met in my life, so rooming with him was f***ing hell.. if I didn’t fall asleep first, I didn’t sleep. So I would wake up hating him, and then we’d be calling a match, and I’d just thinking about how much I hated him (laughs). So it was a bit of a to-do, but in the long run we became really great friends.” Brodie compares his career trajectory in the WWE to Rowan’s recent spider storyline. “They built him up, he didn’t lose a match, he was beating people weekly. And then Aleister Black beat him two weeks in a row for no reason. And then the spider was revealed and killed. And now who knows what’s going to happen to him.” Jericho says, “And you know he didn’t piss anybody off because he’s not that type of guy.” to which Brodie responds, “No, I think he’s too nice. And that’s the same thing I thought about me in WWE – I might have been too nice, as well.”

He talks about his Wrestlemania moment of The Bludgeon Brothers winning the tag team championships at Wrestlemania against The Usos and The New Day, but unfortunately they were only given 9 minutes for the match, including entrances. “Still, there’s a very cool moment of me holding the belt up and spotting my wife and son in the front row.” Brodie recalls a conversation he had with CM Punk when they were feuding in 2014, “Just so you know, man, everything in WWE could always be better.” “Back then, I’m like, ‘No, f*** this guy, there’s no way that that’s true.’ And it’s been true almost every… The Wyatt family could have been better, The Bludgeon Brothers could have been better, that match could have been [better]. And it’s like, just give us another 10 minutes.”

Brodie talks about how tough Rowan is, and that nobody had even noticed when he tore his bicep in a match. Despite the injury, Rowan was still happy to have a match the following week to drop the titles to The New Day before he had to take time off (Brodie later names this match as his favorite tag match with Rowan). Brodie mentions how both Rowan and himself suffered injuries at almost alternating points, and since they were so often paired together as a tag team, when one of them got hurt it typically put a hold on the other one, as well.

Brodie said he had continued to receive contract offers from WWE up until the day they released him, even though they weren’t using him. “That was their M.O. at that point, ‘Let’s just keep everybody.'” He says it was “quite the conundrum” deciding what the right thing to do was, since he had a wife and kids, and WWE was offering him “ungodly money, honestly. I could never even imagine making that money in wrestling, and it was literally to stay home.” Ultimately, they felt it was better for his sanity to leave.

Requesting his WWE Release

With support from his wife, Brodie asked for his release, and ended up having two 20-minute phone conversations with Vince about what it would take to keep him with WWE. It was at this point he found out that he wasn’t the only one to ask for his release, as others had done so privately. “Hunter even told me later, ‘We can’t release you or it’s going to make [it look] like people are jumping off this sinking ship.'”

On making his release request public: “I never said anything negative about them online. I just said, ‘Look, I asked for my release, thank you everybody for everything.’ I wanted to do it publicly because I knew the court of public opinion was very important to the next move I was going to make. To have the support was important, and I also didn’t want them to be able to control my narrative anymore.” He notes that “Spears had done the same thing a few months earlier, and they had granted his release, so I thought, honestly, that they were going to do it. And then, after the second conversation with Vince, he called me and said ‘Hey man, for business reasons I can’t let you go.’ And I said, ‘Okay, that’s totally fair. It’s your decision, obviously, I signed the contract.'” He asked if he could get out in November, instead of having 6 months added to his contract for having been out for wrist surgery, but was told “That’s a question for somebody else.” Jericho cites his signing with AEW as the window closing for WWE granting releases, which is why Spears was able to get out but Brodie was denied.

He said he had conversations with Triple H about wanting to wrestle. Hunter asked if he wanted to wrestle in NXT or even NJPW, and Brodie was interested in either option, but neither came to fruition. Eventually, Daniel Bryan called him and asked if he wanted to come back to work with him – and being someone that Brodie respects more than almost anybody – he agreed. He and Rowan were originally supposed to win the PPV match against Bryan and Roman Reigns, but the ending was switched at the last moment. He was then given the impression that he would stick around with Rowan for a bit, and hoped to help give him a bit of a boost before he left, but Rowan was then abruptly drafted to Raw and Brodie was simply sent back home.

“I don’t want to speak ill of them, because WWE gave me more in life than I could ever dream of, but man, I just wasn’t picked.”

You can listen to the Talk is Jericho podcast with Brodie Lee embedded below or at Onmy.fm.

Brodie Lee Talks About His AEW Debut, Not Wanting To Be Compared To Bray Wyatt

Brodie Lee, the Exalted One of AEW’s Dark Order, was Chris Jericho’s guest on the latest installment of the Talk is Jericho podcast. It was a great discussion chock full of interesting anecdotes and details about Lee’s journey to All Elite Wrestling. We will be breaking up this recap into a few parts.

Here are some highlights of Brodie Lee’s talk with Chris Jericho, courtesy of SEScoops correspondent Eric Brown:

Brodie Lee on his AEW Debut

Regarding the Coronavirus impacting his AEW debut, Brodie saw the news a week before his debut about Trump’s presidential address, Tom Hanks being diagnosed with coronavirus, and the NBA shutting down their season. “I was pretty aware, at that point, that it was maybe over for the Rochester debut.”

Jericho was hopeful that they could have at least made it to Blood & Guts in Newark, which could have acted as a season finale of sorts, but in the span of his match that Wednesday night, the news broke and he figured they were going to have to cancel their show in Rochester the following week. Brodie says he was “heartbroken” that it had to be canceled.

Brodie says he was released by WWE on December 8th, with a 90-day clause, which should have expired on March 8th. However, when he received the official letter in the mail, it strangely had his final date as March 11th. “So they moved it three days, so that I couldn’t do the Wednesday that week. Somehow, it was like a 94-day period. I think that was one little extra ‘f*** you’ to me.” Although, if WWE hadn’t released him, his contract wouldn’t have been up until March 25th, so he wouldn’t have been able to appear at Rochester, but ultimately it didn’t work out that way.

On the day of his debut: “It just didn’t feel right, all day. I was very stressed out about it – more than I thought I would be – and not as pumped up or excited as I should have been.” It wasn’t until he was told that his debut was up next that he suddenly got pumped up for it. The promo video debut was his first time seeing it, so he was enjoying watching it in the ring. Afterwords, he said “it felt right.”

Tony Khan told him that if he didn’t want to do this, then he didn’t have to do it, but Brodie said that he had been “cooped up for so long” that he was eager to get out and do something. The uncertainty of when they could follow up on it (due to the coronavirus) also helped lead him to that decision, because he didn’t want to potentially risk wasting additional months of his career.

Later in the discussion, Brodie Lee revealed that he actually had some reservations about portraying the Exalted One character. Specifically, as the leader of the Dark Order cult, he did not want to be compared to Bray Wyatt.

When he was first told he would be debuting as The Exalted One he was nervous. “I didn’t want to be compared to Bray, I didn’t want to be compared to the Wyatt family. But then, in my head, I’m like, ‘Well no, I can make it better. I can be better than that. I can be what it should have been.'” He also has had some history working with both Evil Uno and Stu Grayson.

You can listen to the Talk is Jericho podcast with Brodie Lee embedded below or at Onmy.fm.

The Young Bucks On Turning Down Tony Khan’s Initial Offer To Join AEW

The Young Bucks alongside other members of the Elite were one of the first stars to sign with AEW and their signing helped the company in convincing other stars that their promotion was something real.

However, while appearing on the latest episode of AEW Unrestricted podcast, the brothers discussed their start with the promotion and revealed that they had actually refused the initial offer from Tony Khan.

Matt Jackson first recalled how he was the first person to pick up the phone from the AEW President because everyone else thought that he was crazy.

Nick Jackson then explained how he didn’t believe Khan either and said “I didn’t believe him. He actually reached out to me and [I] said nope,” Nick said. “I’ve heard this story multiple times throughout my career.”

The AEW Vice President continued by saying that at the time, they were negotiating with every company in the world and he had told his brother to go with something they knew:

“At that time, we were negotiating with literally every company in the world that was involved in wrestling, so this was another thing, and I was like there’s no way this is gonna be real because here we have these real companies offering the world to us. At that point, I [was like], ‘Matt, let’s go with something we know’.”

The Young Bucks then explained that they wanted to become writers and bookers but no one believed in them and they signed with AEW because the company gave them the chance to be themselves.

While it started slow, AEW has become one of the top wrestling companies of the world in the past year. It became clear that they will be sticking around when the promotion signed a new multi-year deal with TNT.

Quotes via WrestlingInc

Jon Moxley Makes Cameo Appearance On WWE Backstage (Video)

The current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley formerly known as Dean Ambrose made a surprise cameo on this week’s episode of WWE Backstage.

Since the F1S studio is closed due to the coronavirus epidemic, the stars were filming content from their homes, which included the co-hosts Renee Young and Booker T and WWE star Xavier Woods.

The three of them were watching the WrestleMania 25 match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels and Mox made a sudden appearance as Booker was talking.

The AEW World Champion was also in the home due to the outbreak and he decided to scare his wife with a dog and jumped behind her.

Both Xavier and Booker T burst into laughter over this and Young also commented on her husband’s surprise appearance later saying “recording from home, babe.” You can check out a video of the incident below:

Jon Moxley left WWE earlier last year after his contract expired in May. Since then, he has signed a contract with AEW which allows him to work indie events and he is allowed to wrestle for NJPW as well.

Mox won the AEW World Championship from Chris Jericho at the Revolution PPV in February and he also holds the IWGP United States Championship.

Backstage News On Plans For Seth Rollins’ Stable After Rezar’s Injury

One half of the tag team AOP, Rezar suffered a biceps injury earlier this month and latest reports reveal the changes it has forced WWE to make to Seth Rollins’ stable.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the decision right now is not to use Akam without his partner and there are no plans for either of them to appear on WWE TV.

This means that the stable of Seth Rollins which consisted of the former NXT Tag Team Champions and Murphy has now been reduced to only the team of Murphy and Rollins.

Rezar suffered a torn biceps during the March 9th episode of Raw while competing in an 8 man tag team match with his partners against The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits.

The injury occurred when the former NXT star took a crossbody from Montez Ford. While Rezar managed to catch the crossbody, his biceps went out.

He has undergone surgery to repair the torn biceps and the Raw star is expected to stay out of action for 7-8 months. This means that AOP could stay out until after SummerSlam.

Seth Rollins is currently scheduled to face Kevin Owens at WrestleMania in a one on one match and there are speculations of the company adding another team to his group but there is no confirmation for the same.

There are also rumors of Samoa Joe possibly getting involved in the storyline again after his suspension ended but we will have to wait and see if it turns out to be the case.

Stephanie McMahon Details WWE’s Precautions Against Coronavirus

The whole world is cutting down on non-essential operations but WWE is still running their shows, although they are doing it at closed facilities with no audience and bringing only the essential personnel for the events.

During a recent interview with Variety, WWE executive Stephanie McMahon talked about the current situation and also detailed their precautions against the coronavirus spread.

The former Raw Commissioner first discussed how talents are milling about at a typical WWE event but she stressed that this isn’t the case anymore:

“There’s extensive testing and screening when you first come in the facility regardless of whether you’re a talent, a crew member, or anyone else.

Working with our doctors, you have your temperature taken. If you have a temperature over 100.4 degrees, you are automatically asked to leave.”

WWE had previously released a statement on the matter as well and in response to a question, the company had confirmed that all WWE staff are required to participate in medical screening before entering the Performance Center.

Stephanie McMahon On Talents Coming From Other Countries

WWE stars are constantly on road and many of the talents who are not working on the current programming are often sent to other countries on promotional events.

Revealing the promotion’s strategy for talents who have been to other countries recently, Stephanie McMahon said that they are taking every precaution they can:

“If you’ve been out of the country or been in touch or in contact with anybody who’s been out of the country you’re not allowed in the facility, we’re taking every precaution we can.”

Stephanie McMahon also took a shot a AEW while talking about WWE taking precautions to protect its talent.

“It’s also why you don’t see talent or anyone else in the audience. We really are adhering to all the guidelines that we can to maintain the health and safety of our crew and our performers.”

In the wake of the current coronavirus outbreak, the company has announced that WrestleMania 36 will be held without an audience and it will be a two-night event this year.

Roman Reigns Removed From WrestleMania Match Against Goldberg

Roman Reigns has been removed from WrestleMania.

Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that the former World Champion recently let WWE know that he did not feel comfortable doing any more of the Performance Center shows amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Roman was concerned about his well being because he is immunocompromised from his previous battle with leukemia and he didn’t want to risk his health.

The company officials honored his request and they will be replacing Reigns in the upcoming Universal Championship match against Goldberg.

So far there is no word on who the company will choose as the replacement for the former Shield member at the show but we should get a better idea on tomorrow’s episode of SmackDown Live.

Roman Reigns’ Battle With Leukemia

Roman Reigns’ battle with leukemia is well documented and he was first diagnosed with the disease when he was only 22 years old. This diagnosis is believed to be the reason why he had to retire from football.

His cancer returned in 2018, which forced the WWE star to relinquish his Universal Championship in October that year and leave the company for his treatment.

Reigns returned to the promotion in February 2019 where he announced that his leukemia was once again in remission and the former Champion received a huge ovation from the crowd.

AEW Dynamite & NXT TV Viewership (3/25)

Viewership data is in for this week’s battle in the WWE NXT vs. AEW Dynamite Wednesday Night War. AEW won in total viewers. NXT didn’t crack the top 50 shows on cable for the night. 

Here is the breakdown of the live and same-night DVR viewership, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:

WWE NXT Viewership

NXT on the USA Network averaged 669,000 viewers, which is up from 542,000 last week. In the 18-49 demo, they drew a 0.20 rating, up from the 0.16 rating that the show did last week. 

The episode featured Cameron Grimes vs. Tony Nese, Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Brendan Vink & Shane Thorne, Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong, Tyler Breeze vs. Austin Theory, Candice LeRae vs. Kayden Carter, Aliyah vs. Io Shirai, and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa having to answer to Triple H.

AEW Dynamite Viewership

AEW Dynamite on TNT was watched by 819,000 viewers, down from the 932,000 viewers last week. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite pulled in a 0.34 rating, down from the 0.35 rating that the show did last week. 

AEW Dynamite featured such as Darby Allin vs. Kip Sabian, Jake Hager vs. Chico Adams, the in-ring debut of Brodie Lee, Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc, Kenny Omega vs. Sammy Guevara for the AAA Mega Championship, Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho having a one-on-one confrontation and more. 

Matt & Nick Jackson On Being Named “The Young Bucks”

Matt & Nick Jackson are this week’s guests on the AEW Unrestricted podcast with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards. During the conversation, the brothers told the story of how they came to be known as “The Young Bucks.”

Early in their careers, Matt and Nick got booked on a show at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. The venue has hosted several wrestling and boxing events in the past including ECW’s Heatwave 2000 PPV.

“There was a local show that was running the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles,” Nick Jackson said.

“Famous building for boxing and wrestling,” Matt Jackson chimed in.

“The promoter contacted us and he had saw us wrestle at a local lucha libre show and he was interested in booking us,” Nick Jackson said.

Matt Jackson said at the time the brothers weren’t even wrestling as a tag-team yet.

“So, they were like, ‘we’re going to team you up” and we were like ‘what?’ Nick continued.

“The arena was famous and we had to do it because this was going to be our first big break.”

The brothers then joked that at the time, they were being paid in hot dogs and lucha masks.

“So eventually we get to the building and we look at the names on the list of who is booked and we’re not seeing our names,” Nick continued. “So we went up to the promoter and we were like ‘hey, our names aren’t on the list’ and he’s like ‘no, they are, we have you named as the Young Bucks.'”

Matt Jackson then recalled how the promoters explained the name to them.

“If I have to be honest, I didn’t know your names so when we were going over the card we were like ‘hey, didn’t we book those two young bucks? Yeah yeah, throw them on there and will call them Matt & Nick the Young Bucks,'” Matt said. “They just remembered our first names.”

Mandy Rose Talks Tough Enough, NXT, Negativity from WWE Fans

Mandy Rose joined Corey Graves for this week’s episode of After The Bell. The 28-year-old Superstar discussed a number of topics from her career, including the atmosphere backstage at NXT when first started in the company.

“I’m trying to remember as when I first came in, there was for sure, you know that type of divide a little bit.”

Mandy Rose

Mandy Rose broke onto the national wrestling scene as a contestant on the 2015 season of WWE Tough Enough. “Coming in through Tough Enough, it was a little different” she revealed. “Because I feel like a lot of the cast members on Tough Enough had different backgrounds. Like there was football player, there was, you know, I think Patrick was actually the only wrestler on Tough Enough as I remember (Velveteen Dream)?”

She continued, Yeah, I don’t know, I’m trying to remember as when I first came in, there was for sure, you know that type of divide a little bit. And you know we always kind of got issues especially from fans.”

Mandy Rose on Fan Negativity

Tough Enough was a fast track to WWE for Mandy Rose. However, it was not an entirely smooth ride. She found that some fans did not appreciate that she was not a lifelong wrestling fan. In fact, the negativity from some fans continues to this day.

Mandy would elaborate further, saying “it was like, ‘Oh, you didn’t grow up watching this’ or ‘you didn’t want to always do this for your whole life’ and ‘you don’t belong here’ type of thing. I kind of just was always like whatever, just don’t give them reaction. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of us may still get that in all the hate and all, you know. Just because I didn’t grow up doing this, or I didn’t always want to be a wrestler? Doesn’t mean that you know I didn’t fall in love with it. It kind of drives me and makes me more competitive than I even am to prove those haters wrong and kind of show them that I can do this.”

Mandy Rose is currently involved in a romantic storyline with Otis of the Heavy Machinery tag team. It is widely regarded as one of the best angles on WWE television.

David Benoit Talks Dealing With Trolls Online and Dark Side of The Ring

VICE recently released episode 1 of the new Dark Side of The Ring series. The episode centered around the tragic murder/suicide of Nancy, Daniel and Chris Benoit. Another of Benoit’s sons, David, recently appeared on Busted Open Radio to discuss the two parter documentary and how he has to deal with the negative elements surrounding the situation on a near daily basis.

“I still get trolled all the time on Instagram” Benoit began. “I get rude comments and, you know, I just block them and you know I just forget about it but you know it hurts a little bit.”

Busted Open co-host Bully Ray would elaborate further on the question, asking “does it hurt a little bit? I’m not, I’m not trying to be too harsh on you. But I would think that it has to hurt a lot, because it’s something that you can’t really escape from. Despite the fact that you’re your own man. And you got, you know. One of the things that you know struck me was that that smile on your face in part one of the documentary. You seem like a guy that just wants to enjoy his life. And it’s just so difficult to get out of the shadow of what happened in the past.”

David Benoit would reply and finish by saying “You know when we were filming it, we were talking about the good times. I was just smiling, having a great time and then towards the end there. You know I just, I broke real hard. And then, Chavo came up and gave me a big hug during it.”

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Natalya Talks Relationship With Vince McMahon Ahead of WrestleMania 36

WWE Superstar Natalya recently appeared on the Gorilla Position podcast. The Hart Family member discussed a number of topics on the show, with one being her relationship with WWE CEO Vince McMahon. Natalya would describe how McMahon has “been there” for her at numerous times in her career.

“You know what’s really funny? And maybe, I’m gonna say this because…it’s coming from a place that, it’s a compliment!” Natalya began. “Vince is the type of boss, that if you need to talk to him as a talent, you can talk to him. And in the most serious moments of my career and the most serious moments of my life? [Like] When my dad passed away, when I was announced that I was going to Saudi Arabia.”

Natalya elaborated further, saying how she had spoken to McMahon even this week. “In the last week I’ve spoken to him and communicated with him. He’s been wonderful. He’s always as crazy as it gets. And as crazy as his schedule gets because he’s running so many things? He is so accessible, he is so accessible for us if we really need him. He’s been there for me through the best and worst times in my life.”

Natalya Crown Jewel

Natalya would finish by saying “if it was something I needed to ask him a question about my match or, you know, say I I’m concerned about this or I wanted to add this idea or I think we can contribute this way? He’s all open, like we can always…I’ve never not been able to talk about anything with him.”

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The Young Bucks Reveal Tony Khan’s Big UK Ambitions

AEW Executive Vice Presidents The Young Bucks recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast. The tag team discussed a number of topics on the show surrounding their own careers as well as the initial growth of the upstart All Elite promotion.

One of the more intriguing elements of the conversation revolved around Tony Khan’s lofty ambitions for the company in the United Kingdom.

Tony Khan Taking AEW To the UK?

Khan’s family own and operate the Premier League football (soccer) team Fulham FC. Fulham are a club based in London, England and have a stadium with a 50,000 capacity. Craven Cottage traditionally seats around 25,000 during football matches, however The Bucks would refer to a 50,000 number. This likely could be attained if the pitch was utilized for ringside seating.

“He took us to one of their arenas when we went over there [the UK].”

Nick Jackson

“That night I think we had dinner [in the UK]” Matt Jackson began. Nick Jackson would also confirm that before AEW was made official the pair were flown to England and locations were already being discussed. “He took us to one of their arenas when we went over there [the UK].”

Matt Jackson would then confirm that was one of the reasons they got behind the AEW project, due to Khan’s ambition. “And it was like, I think that night we looked at each other. We’re like, I think this is it right?”

Nick Jackson would then talk about Fulham’s ground Craven Cottage specifically, saying “we’re at Fulham arena whatever you call it, it sits like 50,000 people and he’s like, ‘we’re gonna fill this one day with people, for a wrestling show.’ I thought ‘I like this guy, he thinks big.'”

Matt Jackson would finish by praising the overarching nature of Khan’s style in pro wrestling thus far. “He doesn’t want us to just be wrestlers” Jackson admitted. “He wants us to be more than wrestlers, like nobody else can offer us that.”

Do you think that AEW will run big stadium events in the UK at some point soon? Let us know in the comments.

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Killer Kross Shown During Final Segment On NXT (Video)

WWE had been airing strange vignettes on NXT from the past few weeks. There was a lot of speculation that Killer Kross could be behind the promos and this doubt was confirmed during the latest episode of the show.

The final segment of this week’s episode of NXT saw Triple H bringing both Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa face to face for a confrontation and the Game then announced that in 2 weeks, he will find an empty building for the two to fight in and end their feud.

However, as soon as he was finished, another ‘coming soon’ teaser appeared on the big screen at the entrance ramp, leaving the stars in the ring puzzled.

Killer Kross Finally Appears On NXT TV

The video featured the same images we have seen in previous videos over the weeks, but this time the newest WWE signee Kross also made an appearance.

The video had a promo as well. It was believed to be in the voice of Scarlett Bordeaux who was also recently signed by the company to the development brand.

The promo as seen below, is believed to be in Romanian and roughly translates to: “Only the man will win and if you lose, the weaker man is done. Now you’ll all see pain … there’s a very dangerous man coming. The clock ticks at midnight and the end is near.”

There is no word yet on when Killer Kross will make his NXT debut or where the match between Ciampa and Gargano will be held but we’ll keep you posted on the matter.