AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are considered to be two of the greatest in-ring performers of the current generation so fans rejoiced when WWE announced a match between the two for WrestleMania 34.
However, the bout between the two wrestling veterans failed to live up to the expectation of the fans and during his recent appearance on the After The Bell podcast, the Phenomenal One explained the reasoning behind it.
Styles first explained that the expectations for their match at the Show Of Shows after their Wrestle Kingdom 10 match were too high and Nakamura also thought the same:
“Expectations are way too high, I know Nakamura [thought so] too because no matter what we would have done in that match, the expectations were way too high.”
AJ Styles On The Difference In Crowds Of NJPW And WWE
AJ then claimed that the crowd is everything. He said the fans set the tone on what is a great match and their match in Japan would have not been declared great in WWE:
“It’s how they respond to it, and in Japan, they’re so respectful. When they do respond, it’s huge. Wow, this is such an amazing match, but had that same match been done in a WWE ring without the same response, it’s not going to be declared as that great of a match.”
Fans are everything. They dictate a great match.” said AJ Styles “It’s just the reality and the truth of the whole thing, and a lot of people don’t understand. The expectations, they were so high because what we did at Wrestle Kingdom. I was like, ‘oh man.’ I still think it was a great match.”
The Former WWE Champion gave the example of the match between The Rock and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18, saying that the crowd reaction made it a classic match.
Shinsuke Nakamura challenged AJ Styles for his WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. Though Styles managed to win this bout after countering a Kinshasa from the Japanese star into a Styles Clash.
Chris Jericho reignited his 10 years old feud with Mike Tyson during last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite and it looks inevitable that the two will have a match in coming future.
The former AEW World Champion recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated where he talked about things like his upcoming cruise, his stadium stampede match and more.
The interviewer compared Jericho’s interaction with Tyson to the rivalry between Roddy Piper and Mr. T, and responding to it, Y2J revealed the kind of match he would like to have with the former boxing champion:
“I loved the concept of Piper-Mr. T, but the actual execution was not good. We’ll never do a boxer vs. wrestler. Either we’ll do a straight up boxing match—I’m not kidding. So what if I’m knocked out by Mike Tyson? I’ve been knocked out by worse — or we’ll do a street fight.
Right now, the match is secondary to the pomp and circumstance that we will have in getting to the spectacle of the pay per view. That’s what wrestling is all about, it’s the story.” said Chris Jericho “People are so focused on the in-ring, which is great, but if there’s no story, there’s no match.”
With Matt Riddle having been announced as the newest addition to the Smackdown roster, it appears RAW will be bringing in a former NXT star as well. According to comments made by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dominik Dijakovic is headed to the RAW brand.
“Dijakovic is going to be on RAW,” said Dave Meltzer. “I don’t know starting when but pretty darn soon.”
The 33-year-old’s last match on NXT was a loss to Johnny Gargano on the episode from May 6th, 2020. He was trained by Chaotic Wrestling and made his debut in 2013. He was offered a contract by WWE in January 2017 but a contract dispute with Ring of Honor delayed his reporting to the WWE Performance Center until that summer.
Dijakovic made his NXT debut on May 10th, 2018 in a loss to Ricochet. In January of 2019, he wrestled in the Worlds Collide Tournament. He made it to the quarter-finals before being eliminated by Tyler Bate. In October he was given an NXT North American title shot against Roderick Strong in a triple threat match along with Keith Lee. Strong retained the title.
Dijakovic was on Tommaso Ciampa’s winning team from the men’s War Games match in November as well.
It was reported yesterday that WWE has banned the use of Buckle Bombs (power bombing someone into a turnbuckle). In an update to this story, Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the botched move from Nia Jax to Kairi Sane in a match on RAW from April is what led to the move being banned.
“Remember the show a couple of weeks ago where Nia Jax wrestled Kairi Sane and she threw her in there and we were all worried?” Meltzer asked his co-host. “I think she was going for the middle one and I think she hit the bottom one but whatever, it didn’t look good. That was the one that caused it.”
It was also stated that there were those in the company uneasy with the move after Sting’s injury from 2015. Sting suffered an injury after taking a Buckle Bomb from Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015. It was the final match of Sting’s career.
“Because of what happened to Sting, I was almost surprised it didn’t happen then,” Meltzer continued. “There were people who were wanting it banned before that. It was one of those things where there were people against it and then when that thing happened it was kind of like that was the straw that broke the camel’s back and Vince banned it.”
He would continue to say, however, that he has not heard of powerbombs onto the ring apron or barricades being banned.
A biography focusing on the life of Vince McMahon is in the works. Author Abraham Riesman noted on Instagram that he is hoping to publish the book in 2022. Riesman is the author of a similar book, a biography on comic book legend, Stan Lee.
Simon and Schuster’s Atrium Publishing group will be publishing the book.
Riesman made his announced on Instagram, “I come bearing good news: I’m writing another book! This one’s a biography of Vince McMahon, the emperor of professional wrestling. It’s for @simonandschuster’s @atriabooks imprint. Release date TBD, but I’d guess 2022. Many thanks to my amazing agent, @rossharris1, and my tremendous editor, @amardeol. Wish me luck!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAxyTOdj9RJ/
Books About Vince McMahon
An unofficial Vince McMahon biography was written by Michael Essany and is available Amazon here.
Much of McMahon’s life is covered in the novel “Sex, Lies, and Headlocks” as well.
“Sex, Lies, andHeadlocks is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at the backstabbing, scandals, and high-stakes gambles that have made wrestling an enduring television phenomenon. The man behind it all is Vince McMahon, a ruthless and entertaining visionary whose professional antics make some of the flamboyant characters in the ring look tame by comparison,” reads a description of the book.
WWE Superstar Mustafa Ali issued an interesting statement on Twitter recently. Ali is a former Chicago area police officer and recently made a comment in reference to George Floyd’s death at the hands of police. According to his comments, Ali became a police officer in order to help change policing from within.
“I’m a former police officer. I joined the force because I believed the only real way to bring change to policing is from within. I remember being told “empathy will get you killed.” No, lack of empathy allows you to kill. We have to change policing from within. #GeorgeFloyd,” reads Mustafa Ali’s Tweet.
I’m a former police officer. I joined the force because I believed the only real way to bring change to policing is from within. I remember being told “empathy will get you killed.” No, lack of empathy allows you to kill. We have to change policing from within. #GeorgeFloyd
And like always, there’s going to be some comment about “you were part of the problem.” No. I saw the problem and did something to combat it. Countless times, I showed up and put a stop to any sort of harassment/excessive force. You can’t change anything sitting behind a screen.
The point of all this is simple; society and specifically our African American brothers and sisters have a justifiable distrust with the police. It’s the responsibility of the police to fix that issue but they won’t. Thus, it is on us,as a society to force that change from within
“As a current police officer, I totally agree. I will continue to support you. Thank you for everything,” reads one response to Ali’s Tweet.
“I’m a black man and just got my Criminal Justice degree. I’m working to join the force. After this event I was thrown into flux. I nearly gave it up because I “didn’t want to be part of the problem.” You’ve changed that for me Ali. Thank you, I really needed this,” reads another.
Independent wrestler Desmond Monroe noted on Twitter that he has received messages from people stating he’ll lose bookings as a result of his comments about police/race relations. Ali responded to him and offered to cover his booking for Freelance Wrestling.
I’m sorry to hear you’re dealing with that, man. When everything’s back up and running and you feel you speaking up has hurt your bookings, let me know. I’m sure @FreelanceWres would love to have you in. Booking fee covered by me.
AEW has removed a match from this week’s episode of their YouTube series AEW Dark after some controversial tweets from one of the involving wrestlers have come to light.
Indie wrestler Clutch Adams was announced to face the self-proclaimed chairman of the company Shawn Spears in a one on one match this week.
However, the company vice president Cody Rhodes was made aware of a series of tweets containing homophobic and racial slurs made by the wrestler seven years ago by the fans.
After this revelation, the AEW official announced on Twitter that Adams’ match has been removed from the upcoming episode of Dark and the company’s official twitter confirmed the same:
Clutch Adams’ had made his AEW debut during the May 19th episode of Dark where he competed against QT Marshall. There is no news on his future with the company but he is most likely done with the promotion.
It appears that the indie stars’ Twitter profile has since been deleted or made private as it’s no longer accessible. Below is the updated line up for the AEW Dark episode for Tuesday:
Billy Gunn with Austin Gunn vs. John Skyler
Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon with Leva Bates vs. QT Marshall and Dustin Rhodes with Brandi Rhodes
The Butcher and The Blade with The Bunny vs. Jon Cruz and Joe Alonzo
WWE Superstar and Mayor of Knox County Glenn Jacobs/Kane recently appeared on WWE’s The Bump. The Big Red Machine was appearing on the WWE Network show to discuss the ongoing The Last Ride documentary that features his on-screen brother The Undertaker.
One of the points raised was the respect between the two performers, with Kane being asked if there was a specific moment or moments that he knew he had earned the Deadman’s respect.
Kane Talks Respect
“I actually do, there’s a couple” Kane vegan. “First of all, let’s keep in mind that from the beginning of my career? even before I was in WWE? He was always a big advocate of mine” Kane revealed.
“Even when I was having a lot of trouble early on? This person was there pushing for me and talking with me and making sure that I was doing what I needed to do eventually to become successful” Kane would continue. “I got a lot of that. The conversations weren’t always the most pleasant (laughs), they could be sometimes a little harsh! Nevertheless, they were much needed.”
Glenn Jacobs would then praise The Undertaker for the way that he treated him as a ‘peer’ when he first appeared in the company. “When I came in as Kane, and just overall the whole like 1997 into 1998 and working with him so much? The whole time he treated me as a peer, and as an equal. Then I remember, wince 2003 when I had taken the mask off? We were actually at a wedding, and he told me how proud he was of the transition, and not only my in-ring work but also my work on the microphone.”
Do you think that Kane’s character developed and changed as well as The Undertaker’s during his run in WWE? Let us know in the comments
The Montreal Screwjob is one of the most notorious incidents in the wrestling history and the Undertaker, who was the locker room leader at the time, was not very happy about it.
The Dead Man recently appeared on The Bill Simmons Podcast where he talked about a number of things and also discussed the infamous incident.
Revealing his reaction to the screwjob, Taker claimed that he was ‘p***ed’ about the whole thing and he felt that he could have been used to get what they needed:
“I was p***ed about the whole thing because I felt like I possibly could have been used to get what we need. Take Shawn out of this, let me do it, and then I’ll do business on the other side and I think Bret probably would’ve gone with that.
“There was such disdain at that time between the two of them, but I was just at the point where if you would’ve just come to me with this too I think I could’ve helped this whole thing out.” said The Undertaker. “I’m right here and you know I’m going to do business. It happened and I was really p***ed.”
The former World Champion continued by saying that he was really disappointed in the whole situation. He also talked to Vince McMahon and told the boss to involve him if something like that happened again because it didn’t have to go down like that.
It’s interesting to note here that Earl Hebner, who was the referee for the match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart recently had an interview and he claimed that the Montreal Screwjob was a work. You can check out his comments at this link.
Drew McIntyre is one of the few guys in WWE who are allowed to cut their own promos and who don’t have to use the script given to him by the writers word to word.
The WWE Champion recently had an interview with SportsKeeda where he talked about a number of things and discussed the change from scripted to unscripted promos.
McIntyre explained that inevitably, it comes down to Vince McMahon being cool with everything and he revealed how Paul Heyman helped him get the approval:
“I mean, inevitably, it comes down to Vince McMahon being cool with everything and, if it’s working, he’s going to be cool with it.
I think, like, a Paul Heyman knows exactly who I am, what I’m capable of and what I was doing outside of the company, and was maybe looking for that opportunity to let me be myself, to allow Mr McMahon to see that.”
Drew McIntyre then recalled a promo he cut after an episode of Raw and the Executive Director of the show told him that it was the start of his transition from a TV character to just being himself.
Apart from this, Drew McIntyre talked about how he doesn’t use the script given to him by WWE writers and more. You can check out his full interview at this link.
The Stadium Stampede match involving Chris Jericho and others during the AEW Double Or Nothing PPV mostly received praise from the fans but there were a couple of instances that were criticised.
Matt Hardy’s drowning spot was one such angle fans believe should have been altered in the light of the recent tragic demise of the former WWE star Shad Gaspard.
Jericho responded to the fan reaction over the spot during his Saturday Night Special live stream and the former AEW Champion said that it was unnecessary:
“The backlash was not unnecessary, there was the big chuck of Santana and Ortiz kind of ‘drowning’ Matt Hardy under the water as he changed his personas. None of us ever even thought about it. I never even thought about it once.
Looking back on it, there’s a couple of things that were said they we shouldn’t have said,” admitted Jericho “but, the spot itself, Matt’s being doing that for a long time. It’s not like we maliciously set out to do anything disrespectful.
Y2J then said that they should be more cognizant about such things in future but he also claimed that Shad himself would have appreciated the match:
“But, I actually think that Shad would really appreciate that match ’cause he enjoy kind of those goofy sides of that sort of thing.” – Chris Jericho
The Stadium Stampede match saw Matt Hardy teaming up with The Elite to face the Inner Circle and the faces ended up winning this bout.
Alexa Bliss suffered multiple concussions during her 2018 Hell In A Cell match with Ronda Rousey and she was out of action for an extended period of time.
The former Women’s Champion stayed out of action for almost 5 months and during this time, there were many rumours about her in-ring career possibly coming to an end.
During a recent interview with BT Sport, Bliss talked about the time and revealed that she also didn’t know if she was going to be back in the ring again:
“It was very scary because I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get back in the ring again, because you know we’ve had a lot of WWE Superstars have to retire from that.
And you know, I didn’t want to be one of those.” said Alexa Bliss “But with concussions it’s such a dangerous thing because it could take a week to heal or it could take a year. You can’t just wrap a brain up in a cast and hope it heals.”
The former NXT star then revealed that all of her other symptoms were gone but she was experiencing a really bad vertigo for an extended period of time.
Though Alexa Bliss did manage to recover from the injury and she returned to the ring during the 2019 Royal Rumble event. She has formed a team with Nikki Cross since then and the duo currently holds the Women’s Tag Team Championships.
You can check out her full interview in the video below:
The Undertaker has been one of the last protectors of kayfabe but he has started to open up a little bit in recent years by joining social media and giving off character interviews.
The next step in this journey is The Last Ride documentary series on WWE network which documents the thought process of the Dead Man from recent years.
During a new interview with Busted Open Radio, Taker talked about the documentary and revealed that they originally started filming things before his WrestleMania 33 match with Roman Reigns, because he thought it was going to be his last bout:
“It’s kind of strange how [The Last Ride] came about and this process. We didn’t start with the process of, ‘Let’s make a documentary.’ This original concept just started, because when I got to Orlando [for WrestleMania 33] and was going to work with Roman, in my mind that was going to be it.
So I just wanted [the footage], because I protected this character for so long,, and I didn’t know what we were going to do with the footage but I knew that I wanted it and I knew I wasn’t going to have another opportunity to get it.”
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) May 22, 2020
The Undertaker faced Roman Reigns in a one on one match in the main event of WrestleMania 33. The Dead Man lost this bout and he left his coat and hat in the ring afterwards, signalling the end of his character.
However, Vince McMahon managed to pursue the Attitude Era star to return to the ring and he has competed in a number of big matches since then.
The coronavirus outbreak forced WWE to change a lot of their plans for WrestleMania 36 and a new interview reveals that the COVID-19 crisis forced them to nix a huge angle for the show involving the Nexus.
Former WWE star Darren Young recently had an interview with the VP Show where he revealed an interesting angle that was planned for the show.
The former Nexus member claimed that the group was set to make its return during this year’s edition of the Show Of Shows but the plans were canceled:
“If Nexus would’ve come back… and who knows what would’ve happened, but we were scheduled to come back for WrestleMania. Yeah, this year’s WrestleMania in Tampa.”
The Nexus debuted on WWE television in June 2010. It originally consisted of eight rookies from the first season of NXT, including current stars such as Daniel Bryan and Heath Slater.
There have been reports that WWE had planned a big angle that would have unfolded over the weeks in spring and summer which the promotion canceled due to the coronavirus.
Now after this revelation, the big question is if the Nexus reunion was the angle the company had planned and if the officials could still execute it somewhere down the line.
Triple H spoke with TMZ Sports about whether WWE has any interest in working with Daniel Cormier and Conor McGregor.
First up was Cormier, a former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Champion, who could work in the ring as he has a wrestling background or on commentary, which is something that he’s doing in the UFC now.
Triple H stated that they’ve talked a lot in the past about him doing stuff whether that’s in the ring, commentary, or doing different things.
He pointed out how Cormier is doing what he’s doing and if he decided he’s done or wants to leave UFC, then yes they would be interested. He added that he loves Cormier and every time he sees him, they have a great conversation.
Triple H noted that Cormier is a good due and that’s what makes him good at commentary.
“I think he’s great, we’d love to do something with him, if the time is right, obviously in respect to UFC and Dana White. We’d love to chat with him and we have an open relationship as far as communication.”
Up next is Conor McGregor, a former UFC Lightweight and Featherweight Champion.
“I think Conor McGregor versus Vince McMahon with the billion-dollar walk on the line, I think that’s a match made in heaven.” Triple H joked. “I think the nature of what we do — even being entertainment — it lends itself to combat sports. It lends itself to people like Conor McGregor or Ronda [Rousey], as it does with Tyson Fury. It did in the past with Mike Tyson and Floyd [Mayweather]. Entertaining people are what makes those fights, a lot of times.”
Triple H continued by noting that the styles and fight itself is part of that but also entertaining and the ability to capture people as a personality is what makes those fights.
He thinks that it is the same in WWE. Thus, he thinks if you can transfer that over and really now let yourself go and be larger than life, that’s the key thing.
Jon Moxley took to social media to show off an interesting injury that he recently suffered.
The AEW World Heavyweight Champion posted a photo of a bruised tailbone injury on Twitter. As of this writing, there’s no word yet on when he sustained the injury nor did he mention it. You can see the photo here:
Moxley made his latest title defense as the AEW World Heavyweight Champion against Brodie Lee at the AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view event last weekend. This was a hard-hitting affair with a brawling style.
He also worked the AEW Dynamite TV tapings earlier this week in Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place. Thus, he could have suffered the injury at the TV tapings or PPV event.
All Elite Wrestling has already confirmed that Moxley will make his next title defense against Brian Cage at the upcoming Fyter Fest special. However, the promotion has yet to confirm when this event will take place.
Cage won the Casino Ladder Match at Double or Nothing, which served as the opening contest, to earn this title match against Moxley.
WWE has added a new move to its list of banned-maneuvers.
According to a report from PW Insider, WWE Superstars are now not permitted to use turnbuckle bombs in their matches. These are moves where a performer is lifted up and thrown into the corner landing on the turnbuckle.
Sting’s career-ending injury took place when he took a turnbuckle powerbomb from Seth Rollins. Last month, Kairi Sane took a nasty-looking spill into the corner when a similar move was given by Nia Jax but resulted in Sane landing short of the turnbuckle.
WWE has banned several moves in the past. Some return while others do not. Piledrivers have been banned for some time, though some wrestlers have used the move sparingly including the Canadian Destroyer version in WWE. Rey Mysterio and Andrade used the move on Smackdown last year in a match.
Seth Rollins’ Curb Stomp was also banned for several months by WWE. Rollins has since been permitted to use the move again.
The parent company of New Japan Pro Wrestling and Stardom, Bushiroad, will be implementing salary reductions for several of their executives. NJPW has not run a live event since February 26th, 2020.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, directors from Bushiroad will be taking pay cuts ranging from 15% to 95% depending on the person. These pay cuts will be in place from May 27th until September 2020. As of this writing, Bushiroad has not released any wrestlers from NJPW or Stardom.
In addition to pro-wrestling, Bushiroad also produces trading card games and smartphone apps.
Harold Meij On NJPW’s Return To Live Events
Harold Meij addressed NJPW’s roadmap to the return of live events recently in a YouTube video.
“New Japan is an industry leader both in Japan and worldwide,” Meij said. “With that position comes a great responsibility. As the global society holds a magnifying glass up to us, it behooves New Japan to act to the highest possible ethical standards.”
He continued to say that the promotion’s first step would be to run empty-arena show.
“This step will be taken when and only when the state of emergency restrictions are lifted, the number of new coronavirus infections declines and when matches can take place in a properly disinfected and safe setting.”
Chris DeJoseph was released by WWE this week, as first reported by Dave Meltzer at f4wonline. He served as one of the lead writers of Friday Night SmackDown.
Some outlets have speculated the departure was a cost-cutting measure related to COVID-19, but that is not the case. DeJoseph was let go Thursday due to inappropriate conduct and remarks during a backstage meeting.
DeJoseph worked closely with Executive Director Bruce Prichard, but it was WWE boss Vince McMahon who made the call to fire him. McMahon was said to be irate over DeJoseph’s “highly unprofessional” behavior.
In addition to this incident, we’re told that people who worked closely with Chris DeJoseph felt he was struggling to keep up with WWE’s grueling schedule.
CM Punk was pretty amused at some aspects of an angle that played out on WWE programming last night. Smackdown this week opened up with a scene that implied Jeff Hardy had driven under the influence, hit Elias with his car and then took off. CM Punk then took to Twitter and pointed out what he found amusing about the segment.
LOLOLOL AT THE COP SNIFFING THE FULL BEER BOTTLE THAT DIDNT GET SPILLED THEN SAYING “JEFF HARDY” LIKE HES CALLING BINGO NUMBERS. IM DYYYYYYYING
Punk also answered a question about his thoughts regarding returning to wrestling:
Currently divided. The country is on fire and it legit made me laugh out loud for a second so, entertained? Mission accomplished? I’m happy I don’t take it so seriously anymore.
The angle led to both Elias and Jeff Hardy being removed from the Intercontinental tournament. AJ Styles was granted a bye to the finals. Sheamus then won a battle royal to determine who would face Daniel Bryan later in the night with Bryan winning the match between the two after Hardy returned and distracted Sheamus.
Matt Hardy Praises Tony Khan and AEW
Also last night, Matt Hardy took to Twitter to note he is happy working at AEW with company President Tony Khan.
Just to reiterate..
I’m happy to be working at @AEWrestling for @TonyKhan on Wednesdays.
Tony Khan also responded to Matt Hardy’s comments:
“You’re one of the greatest pros I’ve worked with across sports, what a privilege it is to spend Wednesdays with you. Thank you for everything you do for AEW, our fans & staff & your fellow wrestlers weekly, as you not only lead by example but are so generous with your time & mind,” Khan Tweeted.
On last night’s edition of WWE Smackdown, Michael Cole noted that all of the PC trainees and NXT talent who were acting as fans had been tested. Cole did not specifically state what they had been tested for, however. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE is not testing for COVID-19 but rather continuing with temperature and symptom checks instead.
“Although it was hinted on the air that they were testing all talent for COVID-19, there was no testing done at all again at the tapings this past week past temperature readings and asking people if they didn’t feel well,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
The report would continue to say that many people found this surprising as the UFC has been conducting COVID-19 tests for all athletes. Similarly, AEW has also been testing all of its talents at tapings as well.
PC trainees and talent from NXT began acting as fans in the stands at shows that aired this week.
In an interview with Variety back in March, Stephanie McMahon elaborated on WWE’s testing procedures.
“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,” McMahon said. “Working with our doctors, you have your temperature taken. If you have a temperature over 100.4 degrees, you are automatically asked to leave.”
It was recently confirmed that WWE has furloughed Nigel McGuinness and now another release has been confirmed, though this time it’s an off-screen personality who has been let go by the company.
According to reports from Wrestling Observer, the company has released Chris DeJoseph, who was the lead writer of SmackDown under the Executive Director Bruce Prichard.
DeJoseph previously had a run with the company in the mid-2000s. He was also used as an on-screen character during the time under the ring name Bick Dick Johnson.
He returned to the company last year in December and started working with the promotion again beginning with the TLC PPV.
Chris’ release is even more surprising because he had received a promotion in the company in the last week and he was at the TV tapings earlier this week.
There is no news yet on why he was let go by the officials but reports suggest that it has nothing to do with the budget cuts related to the COVID 19-crisis.
Chris DeJoseph is not the only big backstage name that has left the company recently and Vice President of Global Television Production Michael Mansury also recently parted ways with the promotion.
WWE Superstar and Mayor of Knox County Glenn Jacobs/Kane recently appeared on WWE’s The Bump. The Big Red Machine was appearing on the WWE Network show to discuss the ongoing The Last Ride documentary that features his on-screen brother The Undertaker.
One of the questions posed to Kane was the planning of matches between he and ‘Taker. Kane would discuss how it was sometimes difficult to plan and map out bouts against the ‘Deadman.’ This was because both men were behemoths in stature, and as Kane later mentions, they would prefer to have a smaller performer to work with.
Undertaker vs Kane
“In fact, it was kind of hard because when you have two characters like Undertaker and myself who are very much alike? We do the same things” Kane would begin. “And the characters? Even though they’re mere opposites they’re in many ways…they’re almost exact clones. They’re very, very similar.”
Kane elaborated further, saying “how do you construct a match? When you have the Undertaker who’s indestructible, and Kane who is indestructible? You have to figure all that stuff out. Also you don’t want, for instance, you don’t want The Undertaker to look ‘normal’ by Kane beating them up. So you have to figure out ways to get around all that.”
Kane would finish by saying that planning matches with The Undertaker was always an epic undertaking. The Big Red Machine would also bring up the aforementioned ‘David vs Goliath’ approach. “Frankly, for me it’s always been an epic undertaking, ‘Taker would tell you the same thing. It’s always been easier to work with a smaller guy because you have a built in story; to kind of have the David vs Goliath, you know? The Rocky Balboa story, whereas when you have the Clash of the Titans? It’s harder to do traditional storytelling in that fashion.”
Have you been enjoying The Last Ride? Let us know in the comments
AEW star Darby Allin recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast. The former pro skateboarder discussed a number of topics during the interview with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards; these included his love of documentary film-making and his straight edge lifestyle.
Arguably the most famous Straight Edge (no drink, no drugs, no casual sex) wrestler in history is CM Punk, who used the movement and its beliefs as part of his on-screen gimmick. Although in reality Punk is actually sXe, with his father’s alcoholism being one of his main driving factors towards the clean living lifestyle.
Although Darby Allin does not explicitly bring up his Straight Edge lifestyle on television, it is a huge part of his belief system and mentality.
Darby Allin on sXe lifestyle
“There’s lots of reasons” Allin began, describing why he decided to live a sXe lifestyle. “But, you know, just growing up and having friends, close friends and family members kind of waste their life on drugs or alcohol? It kind of sucked to see that they couldn’t reach their full potential in life.”
Darby Allin elaborated further, saying “they’re sitting around wasting life, blaming it. ‘Oh, I didn’t make it to where I wanted because of alcohol and drugs.’ I was sick of hearing these excuses. So I told myself, a long time ago. If I fail in life? I can’t blame it on alcohol or the drugs, it’s gonna be 100% my fault. I have no one to blame it on except my own self.”
Unfortunately drug use and professional wrestling have gone hand-in-hand over the past few decades; with iconic performers losing their lives due to misuse of alcohol, illegal drug use and prescription pills.
“Since I’ve started with wrestling I haven’t taken a pain pill or anything” Darby Allin revealed. “I don’t even take aspirin. And that’s a shock to some because of the stuff that I do. All I’d have to credit for it? It’s just stretching and like, you know, icing and just eating, taking care of yourself.”
Do you think that Darby Allin could end up being one of the biggest stars in AEW? Let us know in the comments
The May 29th episode of WWE SmackDown aired from the Performance Center in Orlando. Jeff Hardy & Elias were both removed from the IC Title tournament after a hit & run segment to open tonight’s show.
SmackDown Results (5/29)
Sheamus won a Battle Royal to get back in the IC Title Tournament
Lacey Evans vs. Sonya Deville ended in a double countout
Sasha Banks def. Alexa Bliss
Shorty G def. Cesaro
Daniel Bryan def. Sheamus to advance to the finals of the IC Title Tournament
In addition to the takeaways below, Kurt Angle officially announced that Matt Riddle was coming to SmackDown.
WWE SmackDown kicked off with a hit and run angle on Elias. The car belonged to Jeff Hardy and the person seen leaving the car was wearing a black shirt and pants. Kayla Braxton then interviewed Universal Champion Braun Strowman as a witness. Strowman stated that they need to catch the son of a bitch that did this because it was ridiculous.
The “police officers” were then shown grabbing Jeff Hardy out of the bushes. Hardy complained that his head was killing him as the officers said Jeff smelled like alcohol. Jeff stated that he had not been drinking and grabbed his head in pain. They then put handcuffs on Jeff Hardy as Jamie Noble tried to calm Jeff down.
Renee Young said that Jeff appeared to be drunk and the rental car was in his name. Hardy started freaking out as Elias was being loaded into the ambulance.
The superstars then argued backstage about who would replace Elias and Jeff Hardy in the tournament. AJ Styles demanded a free ride to the finals of the tournament and was given it. Daniel Bryan didn’t take the cowardly way about and it was announced that a Battle Royal will go down to determine Bryan’s opponent in the tournament tonight.
Just to reiterate..
I’m happy to be working at @AEWrestling for @TonyKhan on Wednesdays.
Opinion: I saw tons of people complaining about this angle because they are using Jeff Hardy’s substance abuse issues in the past and thought that was low. I couldn’t disagree more. I don’t need my wrestling storylines to be politically correct. I just want them to be entertaining and this has my interest. I cannot imagine getting offended by an obviously ridiculous wrestling angle.
Someone set Jeff up (likely Sheamus) and it will make for compelling television. The storyline isn’t going to end at Jeff Hardy being guilty of drunk driving. Any wrestling or WWE fan knows that. This is one of the only interesting storylines WWE has done in a while and people instantly bashed it.
I’ve always longed for the days of the Attitude Era and this reminded me of it. The only offensive thing in WWE has been their lack of creativity as of late but this certainly wasn’t an example of that.
Sheamus Won The Battle Royal To Get Back Into The IC Title Tournament
Photo Credit: WWE.com
King Corbin dominated the Battle Royal early and eliminated three superstars including a returning Drew Gulak. Corbin then launched Ziggler over the top rope and turned around into a Superkick from Jey Uso. Corbin tumbled over the top rope and was eliminated as SmackDown went to a commercial break.
Shorty G eliminated Nakamura and Cesaro. Cesaro then got back into the ring and sent Shorty G over the top rope and somehow none of the referees caught it. The Battle Royal was down to Sheamus and Jey Uso. Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick and eliminated Jey to win the Battle Royal. Sheamus will face Daniel Bryan in the semifinals of the IC Title Tournament.
New Day joined Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross for a Moment of Bliss. SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks interrupted and joined them in the ring. Sasha was wearing a Hana armband to honor Hana Kimura.
Sasha threw her jacket on Alexa and Bliss got pissed off. Nikki calmed Alexa down and congratulated Bayley on her victory over Charlotte last week. Bayley claimed that she was the most dominant champion in SmackDown history and wondered why Alexa didn’t look impressed.
Bliss mocked Sasha Banks for being the only one without a championship in the ring. Bayley referred to Alexa as “Charlotte Jr.” and stated that Banks was the leader of the women’s division. Sasha added that they put the Women’s Tag Team Championships on the map and they wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for them.
Banks said that they can take the titles back whenever they want. Bayley then made a match between Banks and Alexa Bliss and pissed Sasha off because she wasn’t in her wrestling gear. Bliss hit a Dropkick as SmackDown went to a break.
Match Recap: Sasha beat Alexa down to start things off as Nikki Cross and Bayley joined commentary. Cole asked why Bayley would volunteer Sasha for a match and Bayley avoided the question. Banks connected with a Meteora as Nikki Cross started up a “Lexi!” chant. Alexa climbed to the top rope and Bayley hopped on the apron. Nikki jumped on the apron and Bayley shoved her onto Alexa. Sasha hit Bliss with Double Knees and rolled her up for the pinfall victory. It was later announced that Bliss & Cross will defend the Women’s Tag Team Championships against Bayley & Banks next week.
Opinion: Nikki Cross on commentary screaming at Bayley made this match way more fun than it should have been. There are so few teams in the women’s tag team division that it makes sense for Banks and Bayley to enter a feud with the champs.
Shorty G confronted Cesaro after the Battle Royal and it led to a match later on SmackDown.
Match Recap: Shorty G went after Cesaro’s left leg to start off the match but Cesaro battled back with a massive Clothesline. Cesaro followed that up with an impressive Powerbomb and went for the cover but Shorty G kicked out at two. Shorty G dodged an uppercut and rolled up Cesaro for the pinfall victory.
Opinion: The announcers played this up as a massive victory for Shorty G tonight. I don’t really consider a roll-up win this monumental moment for Chad Gable. He’s a terrific in-ring talent that has been saddled with a terrible gimmick that will likely never work. Escaping with a win over Cesaro in a short match isn’t going to solve that problem.
Sheamus battled Daniel Bryan in the semifinals of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament. The winner of the match will go on to face AJ Styles in the finals.
Match Recap: Sheamus controlled the action early and taunted Bryan while doing so. Sheamus dominated through a commercial break and launched Bryan into the barricade when SmackDown returned. Back in the ring, Sheamus continued to beat Bryan down and boasted about defeating him in 18 seconds at WrestleMania.
Bryan fought back and went for a Crossbody but Sheamus caught him with an Irish Curse Backbreaker. Sheamus locked in a Texas Cloverleaf submission but Bryan reached the bottom rope to break the hold. Sheamus hit Bryan with White Noise and went for the cover but Bryan kicked out at two.
Daniel sent Sheamus with a Dropkick but Sheamus shrugged it off and clubbed Bryan to the canvas. Sheamus set up for the Brogue Kick but Jeff Hardy showed up on the entrance ramp. Bryan capitalized with a Running Knee for the pinfall victory. After the match, Jeff Hardy attacked Sheamus in the ring. Sheamus then retreated up the entrance ramp to close the show.
Opinion: I thought this week’s SmackDown was a very good show and the Hardy & Sheamus storyline was the best part of it. It will be interesting to see where this storyline goes in the coming weeks. It wasn’t explained at all how Jeff got out of jail so quickly but it doesn’t need to be because this is wrestling storyline. The hacker could have provided proof to the authorities that Hardy was framed or Jeff broke free. Either way, this is entertaining as hell and I’m looking forward to next week’s show.
