AEW has released its weekly rankings for April 29th, 2020.
AEW Men’s Single’s Rankings
Champion: Jon Moxley (9-0)
Cody (7-1)
Kenny Omega (4-0)
Darby Allin (5-2)
Lance Archer (3-0)
Jake Hager (4-1) (-1)
3 of the top-5 ranked contenders in this division will wrestle tonight in the TNT title tournament semi-finals.
There was no change in the rankings this week from those released on April 24th, 2020. Chris Jericho was dropped from the rankings on the 24th, most likely due to inactivity. Also from the rankings released on the 24th, Darby Allin moved all the way up to the #3 spot after being unranked. Allin defeated Sammy Guevara in the 1st round of the TNT title tournament last week. He’ll face Cody tonight on Dynamite in the semi-finals.
Kenny Omega defeated Alan Angels in single’s competition on Dynamite last week to improve his record to 4-0 in single’s matches this year.
Wardlow, Brody Lee, Orange Cassidy, and Dustin Rhodes all picked up wins on Dynamite last week. Jimmy Havoc went 1-1 this week, losing to Cassidy on Dynamite but picking up a win over Shawn Dean on Dark.
AEW Women’s Division
Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1)
Hikaru Shida (7-1)
Kris Statlander (2-3)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1)
Britt Baker (3-3)
Riho (3-3) (+1)
There was no movement in the women’s division this week. There were no women’s matches on either Dynamite or Dark this week.
AEW Tag Team Division
Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0)
The Dark Order (5-0)
Best Friends (5-3) (+1)
The Young Bucks (2-2) (-1)
SCU (2-3)
Lucha Bros (1-2)
The Best Friends move up to the #2 spot this week in the rankings. They were victorious over Lee Johnson and Musa this week on Dark. They will be in tough tonight on Dynamite, however. Jimmy Havoc and Kip Sabian seem to have formed an alliance in recent weeks in a rivalry against the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy. Tonight, It will be the Best Friends vs Havoc and Sabian in a no-disqualification no-count-out match.
In the build-up to WrestleMania, Otis, Mandy Rose, Dolph Ziggler, and Sonya Deville were involved in a tangled romantic storyline. Otis and Mandy Rose were the couple everyone wanted to get together but Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville conspired to keep them apart. Then on the second night of WrestleMania 36, Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler and then he and Mandy Rose embraced.
Rose was recently interviewed by SI.com. During the interview, she detailed pitching the storyline to Vince McMahon and his reaction.
“It’s hard to get in Vince’s office, but I finally got in and I pitched this story,” Rose said. “He loved it, he had some ideas, and then Sonya and I had a lot of say in the creative, which was really cool. We were able to write a lot of it. We all worked together, and that’s one of the reasons it’s worked so well. Everyone’s been really passionate about it.”
Rose would continue to talk about what Otis is like in real-life when he’s off-camera.
“Ever since we met in NXT, we’d always joke around together,” she continued. “He’d call me ‘Mandy Candy’ and cut different promos, and it was really cute. He’s just so charismatic, even when he’s not on camera. He makes us laugh the same amount when he’s off-camera. He’s funny and super sweet, and he’s so kind, which is one of the best qualities.”
In many ways, the angle has helped propel Rose, Deville, and Otis further up the card in WWE. Deville’s emotional promo on the Smackdown following WrestleMania has also been heavily-praised by many. As for Ziggler, the match against Otis was his first single’s match at WrestleMania.
Becky Lynch will appear on the season premiere of the Showtime series “Billions.” Season 5 of the hit show will debut at 9 PM est on Sunday, May 3rd, 2020. The news was announced today on the latest episode of WWE’s the Bump.
Lynch and series co-creator Brian Koppelman were interviewed on the Bump today. While Lynch’s appearance on the show was praised by Koppelman, there is still no word on what type of role she will be in on the show.
Last year, Koppelman was spotted wearing a Becky Lynch shirt at a watch party. He went on to say that “the Man” had a standing invitation to appear on an episode of the show.
In addition to Koppelman, Billions was created by David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin. It stars Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, Maggie Siff, and more. The show is loosely based on the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara. The character of Charles “Chuck” Rhoades Jr. is said to be inspired by Bharara.
Former Knockouts and Reina de Reinas Champion, Taya Valkyrie, was recently a guest on Konnan’s “Keepin it 100” podcast. During the conversation, Taya talked about what she has been enjoying about empty arena wrestling as of late.
“I watch everything, I try to, at least. So, we’re watching WWE, we’re watching AEW, AAA stuff I watch stuff on YouTube when we can,” Taya said about which promotions she follows. She also noted that empty arena wrestling was hard for her to watch at first.
“I thought it was weird at first,” Taya responded when Konnan asked her about empty arena matches. “I think it’s fine, I actually enjoy a lot of promo segments more without fans because you can really understand what everybody’s saying.”
She continued to use the example of the Miz and Morrison’s segments on Smackdown lately.
“I’m going to put over Mike (the Miz) and John’s (Morrison) segment from this past Friday and they did a really cool in-ring thing and then they sang their rap live. It was cool because you can hear them, you’re paying attention to them and not the reaction of the fans.”
Disco Inferno then chimed in that fans are unable to hijack any segments.
“It reminded me more of a television segment like on Saturday Night Live,” Taya continued.
In addition to wrestling for Impact Wrestling as of late, Taya has been seen in the last couple of Being the Elite episodes. She has been a character in Luchasaurus’ ongoing search for his tail. In Lucha Underground, Taya’s character chopped the head off Luchasaurus’ character.
Bronson Rechsteiner signed with Baltimore Ravens recently. He is the son of Rick Steiner and nephew of “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner. The Steiner Brothers and the newly signed Raven spoke with SI.com recently about Bronson’s football career and the possibility he might become a wrestler someday as well.
“I’m open to it,” said Rechsteiner about a career in pro-wrestling. “But I know wrestling will always be there for me. It’s always been my dream to carry the family’s legacy in professional sports, and I’m staying focused on taking football as far as I can.”
Rechsteiner will be the second son of a tag-team wrestling legend to enter the NFL in recent years. Road Warrior Animal’s son, James Laurinaitis, played in the league from 2009-2016. The Steiners talked about how Laurinaitis has spoken to Bronson and given him advice.
“Bronson called Animal’s son James to talk to him a little bit. He gave Bronson some pointers and helped him out a lot. I stay in touch with some of those guys—Animal, Goldberg, Sting—and Animal called me on Saturday over the weekend to see if I’d heard anything.”
Big Poppa Pump is currently recovering from a health-scare. Steiner collapsed backstage at an Impact Wrestling taping but has since made a remarkable recovery. He also spoke about Bronson’s signing with the Ravens during the interview.
“Animal’s son had a great career, and Bronson’s hopefully on his way, too,” added Scott Steiner. “He’s always intense, and you can always count on him giving 100 percent.”
WCW Legend Rick Steiner 'Super Proud' After Son Signs with Baltimore Ravens https://t.co/sGNEkyhKFY
Impact Wrestling presented night 2 of its 2-part Rebellion event this week. The show advertised an update to the Impact world title situation with Tessa Blanchard unable to attend the tapings and top-challenger Eddie Edwards absent as well.
Impact Wrestling 4/28/20 Quick Results:
Chris Bey defeated Rohit Raju vs Suicide vs Trey
Joey Ryan defeated Cousin Jake
Full Metal Mayhem Rosemary defeated Havok
Unofficial TNA World Heavyweight Championship Moose defeated Michael Elgin vs Hernandez
Here are 6 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 4/28/20:
Moose Declares Himself TNA World Champion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHZLT0ibRVA&t=7s
Michael Elgin came out to cut a promo on Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards. He noted that Blanchard is stuck in Mexico and therefore the only fitting thing to do would be for him to be declared the new Impact World Champion. As David Penzer was introducing him as the new champion, however, the lights went out and Moose’s music hit.
Moose came to the ring with the old TNA World Championship belt wrapped around his waist. He then said he ran off everyone from the old TNA so he’s the rightful TNA champ. This brought out Hernandez who said if you want to be a real world champion, you have to beat someone. A 3-way between Hernadez vs Moose vs Michael Elgin then began.
Moose Wins “TNA World Title”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMgzPu7whI&t=92s
During the 3-way match, Elgin hit a Buckle Bomb on Hernandez and looked to have the match won. Moose pulled the referee out of the ring, however, breaking up the pin. Elgin was then distracted on the outside with the official as Hernadez dove on top of him, taking Elgin out of the match. As the action went back inside the ring, Moose hit a “No Jackhammer Needed” spear on Hernandez and got the win.
Moose, who was wearing some Ultimate Warrior inspired gear for the match, insisted that David Penzer announce him as the winner and new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
Impact World Champion, Tessa Blanchard, has already reacted to Moose’s claim to the title.
With Taya Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace unavailable, the scheduled Full Metal Mayhem match at Rebellion was changed to feature Havok taking on Rosemary. These two have fought together and apart in the undead realm but this week they would be within the confines of a wrestling ring.
Midway through this match, Nevaeh appeared in the live crowd and was watching the action. In RISE, Navaeh and Havok are the current tag-team champions, though this wasn’t brought up on commentary.
This match would involve chains, chairs, and any other weapons these two could find. Ultimately, Rosemary would hit Havok twice with a very large lead pipe to score the victory.
Joseph P. Ryan Attempts To Cancel Cousin Jake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMcn0t1HRo
Joseph P. Ryan of #CancelCulture took on Cousin Jake of the Deaners this week. We’ve seen Cancel Culture members Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes complain about the Deaners’ “toxic masculinity” and this week Ryan attempted to score the victory and cancel the popular tag-team.
Ryan would pick up the win but he needed to use underhanded tactics to do so. After Cousin Jake kicked out of a superkick, Ryan opted to roll his opponent up and grab the ropes for leverage to score the 3-count. A rematch between these two has already been announced for next week.
Chris Bey Scores Big Win In X-Division Fatal 4-Way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kkh1S3SBE
Chris Bey picked up a big victory in an X-Division fatal 4-way match to kick things off this week. It looked as though Trey put away Suicide with a Meteora but Rohit Raju tossed him out of the ring and attempted to steal the pin. Bey then kicked Raju in the spine and covered him to get the 3-count.
X-Division Champion Willie Mack was likely watching this match closely. Bey likely has moved closer to a shot at Mack’s title.
Next week on Impact Wrestling, we’ll hear from Sami Callihan for the first time since he lost to Ken Shamrock at Rebellion last week. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander will somehow defend the tag titles as well. The North have said they will face some of Canada’s top tag-teams while the border is closed. We will also get a rematch from this week as Cousin Jake gets another shot at Cancel Culture’s Joey Ryan. Madison Rayne will also host another edition of Locker Room talk and welcome Havok as her guest.
Impact Tag Team Championships The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs TBD
Shawn Michaels has taken a coaching position in NXT in recent times and the WWE Hall Of Famer has helped mentor many of the current generation NXT stars such as Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream.
The former World Champion recently appeared on WWE Backstage where he talked about things like working with Drew McIntyre, his work in the development territory and more.
When asked who he thinks is going to be the next big star in
the Black and Yellow brand, Shawn said that it’s a changing group of people
before naming stars such as Killer Kross and Dexter Lumis:
“As you know it’s sort of an always changing group, so
to speak, over the years, I started with Drew McIntyre, Aleister Black,
Ricochet, and The Revival. On to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, and of
course, Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream.
“Killer Kross — or Karrion Kross — I should probably be better about saying that.” said Shawn Michaels. “Dexter Lumis, [Timothy] Thatcher, I think there’s a number of guys coming up that are going to be very interesting, and again, take NXT to that next level.”
The former DX member also talked about his friendship with Diesel and said that the current NXT stars Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez have the same kind of bonding.
Apart from this, Shawn Michaels talked about putting together the Triple H tribute segment from last Friday’s SmackDown and more. You can check out his full interview below:
Things took a very interesting turn during the night two of Impact’s Rebellion PPV and the event saw the crowning of a new Impact World Champion in Moose that was not originally on the card for the show.
Tessa Blanchard was set to defend her World title in a
triple threat match against Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards at the event.
However, both Blanchard and Edwards failed to make it to the show due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
Michael Elgin was the only one to show up and he started demanding to be declared the new World Champion because the other contestants failed to appear.
However, as the referee was going to make the announcement, Moose, who has been feuding with many TNA originals in recent times, showed up with the old TNA World Title.
Hernandez was the next to join the party and the three then
started fighting, officially starting a triple threat match for the Impact
World Heavyweight Championship.
Moose won the match after hitting a No Jackhammer Needed on
Hernandez and the former Football player left the show as new World Champion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMgzPu7whI
There is no word yet on what the company is planning for Moose after this victory but the re-introduction of the old belt could likely mean that we will see a feud between him and Tessa Blanchard to determine the undisputed champion in the coming time.
Posted April 29th, 2020 in News, WWE. Tagged: Moose.
Jon Moxley made a surprise cameo at WWE Backstage a few weeks ago but it seems his appearance didn’t sit well with the WWE officials and his wife and WWE Backstage host Renee Young got heat for the incident.
The AEW World Champion recently spoke to PWInsider to promote his upcoming Cagefighter movie where he talked about things like his life in lockdown and more.
Talking about his health, Mox described some of his injuries
and explained that the biggest contributor to his condition was the constant
travel that came with the WWE schedule:
“What ran my body down in the grounds over time was the
travel, because it’s that and getting put there two tables on house shows five
nights a week for years straight. But it’s like, I go through the table, but
then you got to jump in a car and drive 300 miles,
Even when I started getting rundown, I should have taken some time off” said Moxley. “or I should have been like, I’m injured, I shouldn’t do this, or whatever, I just kept pushing through. Foolishly, I might add because there was no gold star for that.”
When asked about his cameo at WWE Backstage and if Renee Young got heat for his appearance, he replied with “Short answer is yes.”
Though Jon Moxley refused to go into any detail so it’s hard to say how the WWE officials reacted to his appearance or what they told Young about it.
Apart from this, Mox also talked about the difference between Tony Khan and Vince McMahon and more. You can check out his full interview at this link
Christian is one of the stars WWE Universe believes should be inducted into Hall Of Fame and fans root for his name every time the WrestleMania season comes around.
The former World Champion recently had an interview with
Andrew Thompson to promote his upcoming Cagefighter: Worlds Collide movie where
he talked about a number of things.
When asked about a potential Hall Of Fame induction, Christian claimed that he doesn’t think about it on a regular basis but he does appreciate the people who want him there:
“It’s not something that I think about on a daily basis, It is what it is and I feel like the things that I’ve done, I’m content with what I’ve accomplished and it’s like, everybody gets offended. And I appreciate — I really do appreciate the people who wanna see me in there
But it’s not like this is gonna be the last year, or next year’s gonna be the last year or the year after that is gonna be the last year. So honestly I don’t think about it at all. It doesn’t bother me. But I do appreciate the people who wanna see me in there.”
During the interview, the Attitude Era star also confirmed the rumors that their E&C Pod of Awesomeness podcast was canceled due to Edge’s planned return to in-ring action.
Apart from this, Christian also talked about the recent budget cuts made by WWE. He said it’s unfortunate and it’s hard to see people who he knows lose their jobs. You can check out his full interview at this link.
Marty Scurll has sounded off on whether he thinks a partnership between ROH and AEW is possible.
Scurll, who is the booker of ROH, did so on the inaugural ROHStrong podcast. This is where he wouldn’t rule out a working relationship. In fact, he thinks it’s quite possible but comes down to timing.
“Both parties are definitely willing to work with each other. It’s just a matter of timing, I guess,” he said. “I’m not saying anything will happen, I’m just saying I wouldn’t rule it out. There’s no reason why we wouldn’t. It’s just that the timing needs to be correct and it needs to be a fitting situation for us to work together. I personally would like to see it happen at some point.”
Scurll also stated he’s on good terms with AEW President and CEO Tony Khan.
There are two reasons as to why the two sides haven’t worked together thus far. First up is due to the departures of talents such as The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Hangman Page, and SoCal Uncensored from ROH as they joined AEW (All Elite Wrestling).
Also, Ring of Honor has a working relationship with NJPW, which doesn’t have a working relationship with AEW as some stars left the promotion to join AEW full-time.
It should be noted that talent such as Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho do work for NJPW despite being under contract with AEW.
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW averaged 1.814 million viewers in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center on the USA Network, which is down from the 1.842 million viewers the previous week.
This week’s show was the lowest viewership for 2020 thus far, which continues the streak of ratings being down for the flagship show of the company as the world battles the coronavirus outbreak. It was also the lowest viewed episode since December 23, 2019, which drew 1.835 million viewers. Monday was the second all-time for a non-holiday show.
RAW Viewership
Here is the hourly viewership breakdown, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
Hour 1: 1.945 million (1.940 Last Week), 0.56 Demo (0.59 Last Week)
Hour 2: 1.888 million (1.866 Last Week), 0.53 Demo (0.56 Last Week)
Hour 3: 1.619 million (1.720 Last Week), 0.43 Demo (0.54 Last Week)
Some of the matches that took place include Aleister Black, Apollo Crews & Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade, Angel Garza & Austin Theory in a six-man tag team match, Liv Morgan vs. Ruby Riott, United States Champion Andrade (w/Zelina Vega) vs. Apollo Crews, and Cedric Alexander & Ricochet vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker & Matt Martel).
RAW featured the return of Samoa Joe, who had been off of WWE television since February, as he replaced WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler on commentary. The in-ring return of former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal occurred after she was on the sidelines for nearly a year due to injury.
Finally, the main event saw the contract signing between WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins.
Jinder Mahal returned to WWE last night on RAW. The former WWE Champion defeated Akira Tozawa in his return from an extended stay on the injured list. It was his first match since a WWE house show on June 15th, 2019. A knee injury hindered Jinder for over 10 months.
WWE correspondents caught up with Jinder backstage at RAW last night. The former champion said he feels disrespected by the WWE fans and his fellow Superstars during the interview.
“Congratulations? You want to congratulate me? I feel disrespected. I feel disrespected by my peers, by the WWE universe,” Jinder said during the conversation. “People thought I was gone for good. I was injured, I had knee surgery, they thought that was it.”
Jinder then continued to talk about his many accomplishments in WWE. These include his run as WWE Champion from May 21, 2017, until November 7th, 2017.
“I’m a former United States champion, a former WWE Champion. I haven’t forgotten that. Akira Tozawa hasn’t forgotten that and I strongly suggest that all of you do not forget.”
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) star Chris Jericho has offered his thoughts on WWE’s recent roster cuts amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. WWE recently laid off a huge list of in-ring talents, and also furloughed a lot of its employees as well.
During a recent interview with TV Insider, Jericho has offered his thoughts on WWE’s talent cuts. In regards to how AEW will respond to the influx of free agents that are now on the market, “Y2J” says he has no clue.
“It’s an interesting time right now, because a lot of guys got released. By proxy, you went from a business that was very profitable in many different levels to everything grinding to a halt. Hopefully, many of them will get picked up by the different companies.
“Some guys may have to go overseas. I don’t know what AEW has planned. That’s not really my wheelhouse. But I’m sure everybody is going to land where they should land. It’s just how it goes.”
Jericho has taken a bit of a break from in-ring competition in 2020. He has only competed in one singles match this year, that being his title loss to Jon Moxley at Revolution.
Jericho has been doing a lot of commentary work as of late on Dynamite, and recently fell out of the weekly AEW Rankings.
Last week’s edition of Dynamite was headlined by Dustin Rhodes vs Kip Sabian in the 1st round of the TNT title tournament. Rhodes put his career on the line in the match as well. Rhodes defeated Sabian and will now face Jake Roberts’ client Lance Archer in the semi-finals.
AEW published a promo from Roberts recently where the legend talks about the upcoming match between Archer and Rhodes.
“Let me think about this, Dustin,” Roberts begins the promo. “Last week, you were talking about retiring if you couldn’t beat Kip Sabian. Christ, you squeaked by that. My friend, it’s not a good thing because now you’re set to go against Lance Archer.”
Dustin Rhodes is also shown in the video. Rhodes noted that he now understands he has the support of the AEW fan base.
“Lance Archer doesn’t need the fans, he feeds off his own anger,” Jake Roberts continued. “He wants to hurt somebody and you happen to be a Rhodes, that makes it even better.”
“I’m laying it out there plain and simple, Lance will F you up!”
“It’s better to acknowledge the fear and the truth and walk away,” Roberts continued. “If you don’t walk away from this, you’ll be carried away from this. Goodbye, old friend.”
In 1998, there were rumors that WCW wanted Chris Jericho to join the NWO. On the Nitro just after Road Wild that year, the NWO’s Giant helped him win the TV title. Many fans took that as the beginning of Jericho joining the group. It never happened, however, and Giant helping Jericho win the title was never explained.
Bischoff commented recently on Jericho not wanting to join the faction on an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. He told Conrad Thompson that Jericho wasn’t in a position to turn anything down.
“He didn’t turn down anything, Chris didn’t have creative control,” Bischoff said on the show. “Could it have been suggested? Could he have balked? Yeah, I’ll go with that as a possibility.”
According to Jericho’s book, he felt as though he had a good thing going outside the NWO at the time.
Bischoff continued to say he has no recollection of wanting Jericho to join the NWO.
“There may have been some discussion about the NWO – which, by the way, I don’t recall because I can’t imagine that making any sense. The only thing I really recall and I’m probably fast-forwarding just a little bit is Chris really wanted to work with Bill Goldberg and that was a problem for me for a lot of reasons. There were a couple of reasons that were pretty significant.”
Bischoff continued to say that he may have suggested the idea to Jericho but it was never anything firm.
“I guarantee you I never went to Chris and said ‘Chris this is what I want you to do’ and Chris said ‘no, I’m not going to do that.’ That never happened.”
On the debut episode of AEW Dynamite, Chris Jericho aligned himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, and Santana & Ortiz. Shortly after, the faction would be named “the Inner Circle.”
During a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Jericho commented on the possibility of adding new members to the group. According to Le Champion, he’s not opposed to the idea but it would have to make sense in storyline.
“It depends on what happens in the storylines,” Jericho said about adding more members to the faction. “To me, everything is based on the story, the story that we’re telling, what fits, what doesn’t fit. I think one of the downfalls of the original nWo was when they started having Virgil and guys like that in there. It kind of takes some of the exclusiveness and cool factor.”
“I’m not opposed to it, but I’m not actively searching for new members,” Jericho continued.
Jericho has been on commentary during recent episodes of Dynamite. He was also dropped from the top-5 rankings that were released on Friday. Jericho has only wrestled one single’s match in 2020, dropping the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at Revolution.
Former NXT star Deonna Purrazzo was one of the stars that were let go by the company last week and the list includes names such as Kurt Angle and Rusev.
The former WWE star recently had an interview with SportsKeeda where she talked about things such as the support she has received since her release from the company and more.
When asked how she felt after getting the call from the
company, Purrazzo claimed that she knew in her heart that she would get the
call and revealed that she was unhappy with her position in the company:
“I kind of knew, in my heart, that I would get a call last week. It’s not something that I didn’t expect because I was unhappy for the last six or so months with what I was doing in NXT – and I let office people know that. We had conversations where I said, if nothing is going to happen for me, I’d just rather be let go.”
Deonna Purrazzo also discussed how the company did not announce the NXT releases publically but she decided to go online and address the situation after knowing about it.
Apart from this, the former NXT star also talked about her future and a potential AEW run as well. You can check out her comments about possibly joining WWE’s rival promotion at this link.
WWE Superstar and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez has reportedly been released by WWE. This according to Dave Meltzer on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. Velasquez has not been used on WWE programming since the Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia. That was back in October of 2019.
Cain Velasquez Cut
The former UFC Heavyweight Champion was reportedly released by the company as part of the recent budget cuts. WWE had signed Cain Velasquez to a multi-year deal however these contracts allow the company to release or cut talent at any time. Velasquez joins the recently released likes of Heath Slater, Zack Ryder, Kurt Angle and Rusev.
Meltzer noted during the episode of WON that AAA may be looking to bring Velasquez back into the fold as he was a short term success there before joining WWE. There had been interest from All Elite Wrestling before Cain signed with WWE, so he may be looking to leverage that to get a deal with the Jacksonville based promotion.
Although at this time it is unlikely that AEW will be looking to bring in too many talents. With of course live event and merchandising numbers being hit due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The full list of on-air and NXT talents cut now stands as follows:
Drake Maverick
Curt Hawkins
Karl Anderson
Luke Gallows
Heath Slater
Eric Young
EC3
Lio Rush
Erick Rowan
Sarah Logan
Referee Mike Chioda
Erick Rowan
Primo
Epico
Mike Kanellis
Maria Kanellis
Zack Ryder
No Way Jose
Rusev
Cain Velasquez
Deonna Purrazzo
Aleksandar Jaksic
MJ Jenkins
Nick Ogarelli
Taynara Conti
Dan Matha
Cezar Bononi
Mars Wang
Tino Sabbatelli
Mohamed Fahim
Marcos Gomes
Faisal Kurdi
Edgar Lopez
Hussain Aldagal
Yifeng
Kassius Ohno
Also Check Out:
Heath Slater Talks About His Future After WWE Release
UFC fighter Colby “Chaos” Covington recently appeared on an episode of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. The 15-2 American Top Team affiliated fighter would appear on the show to express his want to move into the world of professional wrestling, specifically WWE.
Covington’s last MMA fight took place in December 2019, where he took a TKO loss against Kamaru Usman. That bout was for the UFC’s Welterweight Division title, and since the loss Covington has gone public with his want to leave the octagon and enter the squared circle. Colby Covington recently told SB Nation’s “What the Heck” show; “Not this summer, but next summer (2021). I’ve been practising [pro wrestling] moves and really working on my promo and mic skills. Also control and slowing things down and understanding the art of wrestling.”
Drew vs Brock
“Mark [Henry] it’s funny you bring up the name Drew McIntyre, you know?” Colby Covington began on Busted Open. “He’s a guy that’s coming out, he’s a big, powerful guy. He reinvented himself. He beat Brock Lesnar, that’s no joke.”
Top of The Mountain
Covington would go on to say that if he wants to enter WWE then he needs to be aiming for the top of the mountain; that being the WWE Championship. “Maybe, Brock [Lesnar] was overlooking him? Although that’s kind of weird because Drew McIntyre is almost seven foot tall (laughs). I’m getting to the top of the mountain, I’m trying to fight Drew McIntyre. That’s where the view is the best.”
Colby Covington vs Drew McIntyre
‘Chaos’ would elaborate further, saying “I’m not looking to pick on someone smaller than me, and guys? Let’s be honest. WWE may not want this because of the violence and it being too dangerous. The last time I checked? People love danger and violence so let’s give it to them. Because I expressed myself by saying that I want to go to WWE to wrestle. BUT, it sounds like Drew McIntyre expressed himself like he wants to FIGHT. If WWE does not want to sanction this? [Then] I recommend, we can do it in a ‘no sanctioned’ country. Maybe we do it in the UK? Maybe we do it in Saudi Arabia? But I think there needs to be a fight between me and Drew McIntyre, you know? David versus Goliath.”
There have been a number of ‘shoot’ fighters coming into the WWE over the past few decades, with arguably the most successful coming from amateur wrestling backgrounds, namely Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. Covington himself has a solid collegiate wrestling resume, and with that he brings an ability to promote/market his fights that could be a boon for WWE.
Do you think that Colby Covington could be successful in WWE? Let us know in the comments
This week’s episode of Monday Night Raw saw Apollo Crews picking up a big victory over a current champion but things didn’t end the way he wanted to.
The former NXT star teamed up with Rey Mysterio and Aleister
Black on the show to face the team of Angel Garza, Austin Theory and Andrade in
a 6 men tag team match.
Apollo won the match for his team while pinning the US
Champion Andrade in the process. This win earned him a shot at the US
Championship later in the night.
However, the Raw star ended up suffering a leg injury while
attempting a Frogsplash in the championship match and the bout was stopped
because he couldn’t continue the match.
The company later announced on their website that Apollo Crews is not medically cleared and so he will not be able to compete in the upcoming Money In The Bank ladder match as announced.
The company has not confirmed a replacement for the high flying star so it would be interesting to see who ends up taking his place in the upcoming match.
The Money In The Bank this year will be contested at the WWE Headquarters on May 10. After Crews’ removal, the remaining confirmed participants for the bout are Daniel Bryan, Aleister Black, Rey Mysterio and King Corbin.
WWE announced the release of over a dozen stars earlier this month including names like Kurt Angle and Rusev. However the actual count was even bigger and there were many names which were let go by the company quietly.
Kalisto who has not been seen on WWE programming in recent
months became subject to such rumors and so the WWE star had to come forward to
clarify his status.
The former US Champion recently released a new video. He confirmed that he is still with WWE and revealed that he has actually been out of action due to a shoulder injury:
“I wanted to take this moment because I am seeing a lot of fans tweeting at me, messaging me: ’Where am I?’ ‘Am I still in WWE?’ and the answer is yes.
But unfortunately, I got hurt back on December 31, at the staples center in LA. So I ended up having ACL separation on my shoulder and some ligaments. Thank god no surgery but it’s a longer recovery.”
Kalisto continued by saying that he watches SmackDown and he
believes his Lucha House Party partners Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado will
win the tag team championships.
The former Champion did not provide a timetable for his return so it’s hard to say when he will be back on WWE TV but we will keep you posted on his status.
Heath Slater had been a company man for WWE from a long time and the former Nexus member has spent most of his wrestling career working for WWE in various roles.
However, the former 24/7 Champion is not associated with the company anymore and for the first time in his career, he has the option to choose from the various opportunities that are available in the wrestling world right now.
Slater recently appeared on the Chasing Glory podcast and talking about his future, the former SmackDown champion said that there are many cool things in the wrestling world right now and he wants to dabble into some of that:
“I have never been outside of the WWE. You know, I
never got to go to Japan. I’ve never been to any other federation. AEW is amazing,
they’re doing good stuff, [they’re] good people. Impact is doing good things.
I’ve never ever got to go to ROH; they have so much good talent coming from
there. Even NWA is back up with their old school stuff.
There are so many cool things out there that you can do, that’s what excites me.” said Heath Slater. “I want to dabble into some of this because I have never in my life done it. This is like a new journey for me.”
The former NXT star also claimed that he was burned out in
his position at WWE mentioning how he had been on the road for more than 10
years.
Heath Slater started his wrestling career in 2004 and he was picked up by WWE in 2006. He had been featured on WWE programming regularly ever since his main roster debut in 2010 before being released earlier this month.
Last week’s episode of SmackDown featured the 25th-anniversary celebration of Triple H’s in-ring debut for the company, however, it didn’t manage to attract the audience and the show saw another decline in viewership numbers.
The episode of the Blue Branded Show featuring the return of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon drew a total of 2.005 million viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily.
This is an 8.3% decline from the previous episode of the
show which had drawn 2.187 million viewers. This number is also down from the
overnight viewership released on Saturday morning which was counted at 2.014
million viewers.
The episode managed to draw a 0.5 rating in the key 18-49 demographic compared to a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demo for the previous episode of the Blue Brand. The episode ranked #7 in ratings for the 18-49 demographic.
The show made a new record for low viewership with these
numbers as they are the lowest SmackDown audience that have been registered
since the start of this year.
This is also the new lowest SmackDown viewership since the show moved to Fox Network in October last year and with WWE returning to taped shows recently, the numbers are only expected to get worse in the foreseeable future.
Jinder Mahal has made his return to WWE television.
The former WWE Champion did so during Monday’s episode of RAW in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center on the USA Network by beating Akira Tozawa in a singles match.
Mahal, who has a new look as he cut his hair short, squashed the 205 Live star in a short match that was capped off with his finisher to win the contest.
The last that fans saw him, Mahal hadn’t been doing much on television since last year on RAW or SmackDown. He had been involved in recent WWE 24/7 Title chase segments where he became a two-time WWE 24/7 Champion but lost the title.
Last June, Mahal went to Birmingham, Alabama to undergo knee surgery at Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center.
At the time of the injury, he noted in an Instagram post that while wrestling Ali, who won the match, at the WWE live event in Denver, Colorado on Saturday, June 15, he ruptured his patella tendon.
One positive thing going for him at the time was that Mahal had signed a new deal that is said to be for 5 years.
