Former WWE broadcaster Renee Paquette (Renee Young) is launching a new podcast. The show, titled Oral Sessions, premieres Tuesday, November 24th on all major podcast platforms.
You can listen to the ‘trailer’ in the player embedded below:
Paquette says the weekly show will feature “cool ass people having great conversation” – unfiltered and unscripted.
The whole entire concept for the show is about the conversation. She finds people fascinating – and wants to dig into their stories, their processes, backgrounds and methods. Guests will include athletes, actors, celebrities, entertainers and of course, wrestlers.
Becky Lynch has released photos from her recent pregnancy photoshoot.
Lynch last competed at WrestleMania 36, when she successfully defended the Raw Women’s Championship against Shayna Bazsler. She told the Bella Twins that she was already feeling pregnancy-related nausea during WrestleMania weekend, but she did not yet know she was carrying.
Becky Lynch announced her pregnancy on the May 11th edition of WWE Raw. She surrendered her title that night. During an interview with People Magazine, Lynch revealed she does not now if she’ll ever return to the ring.
“I don’t know what the next chapter is because I only know what it’s like to think for myself when I’m by myself. So I don’t know what it’ll look like and how my priorities shift and what I’m going to want in the future. So, everything’s open.”
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW averaged 1.778 million viewers with a 0.51 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This was up from last week in total viewers, which did 1.690 million viewers, but down for the 0.54 demo rating.
WWE went up against an NFL game that aired on ESPN, which was between the Vikings and Bears that had 11.450 million viewers.
To compare, just one year ago, RAW averaged 2.127 million viewers. This show not only served as the go-home show for Survivor Series but also featured WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre as well as RAW Tag Team Champions New Day vs. The Hurt Business. These matches were done to help boost ratings for a week.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.868 million, 0.55 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.740 million, 0.48 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.728 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
SmackDown Viewership
Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.234 million viewers on FOX. This is down from the 2.315 that the show did for the previous week on FOX.
The overnight rating was 2.142 million viewers, which was down from 2.209 a week ago. The first hour did 2.111 million viewers while hour two did 2.172 million viewers. This was up from a week ago with hour one doing 2.312 and hour two doing 2.155.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 demos, down from 0.70 rating as last week’s show.
Kurt Angle could’ve made a return to Impact Wrestling earlier this year.
The promotion reportedly made a strong push to have Angle come back after being away for several years. PWinsider.com reports that Impact came up with for him to appear at the Bound For Glory pay-per-view event last month.
The report goes onto state that while they did have talks, those conversations stalled. It should be noted that he posted this photo on Twitter with the TNA title last month:
The WWE Hall of Famer has stated in previous interviews that his focus is now on his Physically Fit Nutrition business. Once he was let go as a producer for WWE, he was offered to be the manager of Matt Riddle but turned down the opportunity.
With Angle being outside of the WWE bubble, there’s been some hope from fans regarding him potentially going to AEW, a direct rival of WWE as they’re seen as the second biggest promotion in the United States.
“The thing is, when I came back to WWE, I wasn’t expecting what I got, and I was very grateful. I got the Hall of Fame. I wanted the Hall of Fame, but I didn’t want it first. I wanted it last, and I wanted to wrestle first.”
Angle is a member of the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame but hasn’t made an appearance for the company since March 2016.
When Don Callis was hired by Impact Wrestling in 2018, he had his eyes set on bringing in Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega. Callis famously helped organized the Jericho vs Omega bout from the Tokyo Dome on January 4th, 2018 that many credit with having changed the course of wrestling.
Callis recently told Fight Game Media that had it not been for AEW, Kenny Omega would have signed with Impact.
“I’ll say this: If AEW had not come into play … Kenny Omega would have come into Impact Wrestling. Not that he ever agreed to it, but it’s something that Scott D’Amore and I would have made happen,” said Callis.
At an Impact press conference to promote Slammiversary 2018 from the Rebel Nightclub in Toronto, Callis told SEScoops that he planned to pursue signing both Jericho and Omega to Impact.
“There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him, his name is Kenny Omega,” Callis said. “Another is Chris Jericho.”
Callis talked about his history with Omega on the Jim Ross podcast that summer.
“I gave him his first break wrestling for the promotion I had in Winnipeg [Canada]. And his uncle, The Golden Sheik, who was an indie wrestler in Winnipeg helped train me in the [pro wrestling] business in 1989, so my roots with Kenny go back many years. I’ve been on this journey with him, and specifically since I’ve been in New Japan and we have a very close relationship. We talk about ideas, we do things, I helped put together the match between him and Chris [Jericho] for the Tokyo Dome.”
While Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are no longer with WWE, several former members of Bullet Club still are. Finn Balor is a founding member of the group from NJPW back in 2013. Then known as Prince Devitt, he introduced Bad Luck Fale as his “personal bouncer” and they were joined shortly after by Tama Tonga and “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson.
Balor, who is scheduled to appear on NXT this week for the first time since suffering a broken jaw against Kyle O’Reilly, posted the following to Twitter:
Finn Balor, AJ Styles, and Adam Cole In “The Club”
Finn Balor and AJ Styles’ time in Bullet Club didn’t really overlap. Styles arrived in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the spring of 2014 just as Balor was leaving for WWE. Styles would win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship twice before he would leave for WWE as well in 2016. Styles was joined by Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in WWE later that same year.
Adam Cole was briefly a member of Bullet Club as well before his untimely death on an episode of Being the Elite in 2017. Cole was one of the top members of the faction in Ring of Honor. He won the ROH World Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in the Tokyo Dome as a member of Bullet Club.
WWE will celebrate The Undertaker’s legendary career this Sunday at Survivor Series. His 30 year reign of darkness comes to an end, as WWE is advertising the appearance as his “final farewell.”
Several wrestling legends will be in attendance for the special celebration, including Kane, The Godfather and Savio Vega. We now know about another all-time great who is headed to Orlando, FL for the festivities. WWE Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle will be at Survivor Series. The news was first reported by PWInsider.
At this time, it is unclear if Angle and the other legends will appear on television. It is possible that cameras will be rolling backstage to capture footage to be used in future programming on the WWE Network.
Kurt Angle Angle was released by WWE earlier this year. He was working as a backstage agent / producer at the time, but was let go in April when WWE released several dozen people as a cost-cutting measure just as the COVID-19 pandemic was hitting.
WWE offered Kurt Angle a chance to return as the manager of Matt Riddle, but he declined. Click here to read what Kurt Angle said about that decision.
WWE faction Retribution has executed a hostile takeover of the company’s official Twitter account, @WWE. On Tuesday morning, the WWE Twitter account posted the following video of the takeover:
Twitter has launched a new featured called Fleets, which is similar to the ‘story’ functionality on competitor services like Snapchat and Instagram. Retribution members used the hijacked @WWE account to cut ‘fleet’ promos.
Mustafa Ali said, “Payback is for the weak. Retribution is for the strong. And now we write our own story. We have the pen in our hand – and if that pen pen should run out of ink, that’s fine because we will use our own blood to finish writing the story. We will not rest until we shut you down.”
MLW is set to return to new programming tomorrow night. A new episode of Fusion will air for the first time since the spring. The show will be headlined by Jacob Fatu defending the MLW World Championship against Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Alexander Hammerstone is MLW’s reigning National Openweight Champion. He is part of the Dynasty along with Richard Holiday as well. Hammerstone recently spoke with Chris Van Vliet about how he almost gave up on wrestling after a frustrating experience stemming from a WWE tryout.
As it turns out, WWE contacted Hammerstone in November of 2017 and implied that he was going to be brought into the company.
“It ended up being like ‘Hey, well I think we want to bring you in. We’re going to start the hiring process’. And I remember, I was on the toilet at work when I read that email and I had to read it four times over and then I started crying because I was like ‘Holy crap! Dream come true! It’s happening.’ And then I literally burst out of the bathroom and knocked on my boss’s office. It was just like an involuntary reaction, I was like ‘Jeff, read this!’ and he was like ‘Oh my God!’ and he legitimately called a staff meeting to tell everybody what had just happened and everyone congratulated me,” Hammerstone said.
He continued to talk about how he was getting ready to start his WWE career. Despite what they had told him earlier, however, WWE decided against bringing him in.
“The next step is my whole medical test and it’s not happening, it’s not happening, it’s not happening. And then I start pestering them to see what’s going on. Then in April, and keep in mind in my head I’m moving there in May, so in April they say ‘Sorry to inform you but we’re just way too full right now, we hired too many people this year and we can’t bring you in’. And it doesn’t say like ‘Give us three months’ or ‘Give us this’ it just says ‘We can’t bring you in’. And that was it. And I was like what?”
Similar Stories From Other Wrestlers
Hammerstone’s story is similar to ones told by other wrestlers in the past. Willie Mack once detailed being hired by WWE only to be released before actually reporting to the PC. Taya Valkyrie has told a similar story about WWE reneging on an offer that had been promised to her. This was before Taya started performing with AAA in Mexico.
“A little unknown fact is that about seven months before I went to Mexico, I was offered a contract by WWE. And I went through all the steps, I was waiting to get all my medical tests done, and they decided to not take me, so needless to say I wasn’t given an explanation and to this day I don’t really know what happened,” Taya said on Talk is Jericho in 2017.
Almost Quitting Wrestling
Hammerstone continued to talk about how the experience with WWE almost led to him quitting wrestling.
“And for the next couple of months someone every once in a while would be like ‘Hey, when are you going to Florida?’ and I’d have to explain the whole thing to them. I had to explain this so many times and every time it was like a punch in the gut, you know? So it was rough, man. It was a rough time and literally that experience almost made me quit wrestling. I was very close.”
Marti Belle is no longer under contract with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). In a Twitter post sent out Tuesday morning, Belle thanked the NWA for giving her the opportunity to hone her craft. She is now a free agent who is able to negotiate with other promotions. She wrote:
Thank you @nwa for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the talented locker room & create some amazing moments. I met incredible people that I’m sure I’ll see again. I am no longer signed to a contract with NWA. I am not sure what’s next for me, but I am excited to find out
The 32-year-old star from the Dominican Republic has wrestled for Impact Wrestling, WWE, Ring of Honor, Game Changer Wrestling and others.
She competed in the 2017 Mae Young Classic tournament and is one half of the Shine Tag Team Champions along with Jayme Jameson. She was ranked in this year’s Pro Wrestling Illustrated Women’s Top 100 list
Heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury is lending support to The Undertaker ahead of this weekend’s WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Fury is a lifelong wrestling fan who has appeared on WWE television multiple times in recent years. He even stepped in the ring last year and defeated Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel.
On Tuesday morning, Fury posted a video message showing his utmost respect for The Undertaker. He donned WWE’s custom Undertaker ‘winged eagle’ championship belt to thank The Dead Man for 30 years of great matches.
Fury says he will be tuning in to Survivor Series to witness what WWE is advertising as The Undertaker’s “final farewell.”
The respect between the two men is mutual. The Undertaker replied to Fury’s video by writing:
“Massive respect…thanks Champ. Keep doing what you’re doing and stay healthy. Watched your inspiring journey for a long time and cant wait to see you fight in person in the future!”
You can see Tyson Fury’s video message to The Undertaker in the tweet embedded below:
Massive respect…thanks Champ. Keep doing what you’re doing and stay healthy. Watched your inspiring journey for a long time and cant wait to see you fight in person in the future! ?? https://t.co/Wj69LWCtAl
AEW star and new TNT Champion Darby Allin recently appeared on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. The former EVOLVE and Independent star discussed a number of topics during his time on the programme. These would include winning the TNT title from Cody Rhodes.
Darby Allin defeated Rhodes at the Full Gear PPV to become the new TNT Champion and the ‘Face of TNT.’ Allin has previously discussed his turbulent life in past interviews and why he chose to live a Straight Edge lifestyle. Beyond that, Darby Allin had to struggle as a ‘starving artist’ type to get ahead in his pursuit of a pro wrestling career. From the interview it’s clear that it is something he never intends on forgetting.
Darby Allin on his Roots
The skate, hardcore punk and sXe ethos is underpinned by a ‘don’t forget your roots’ mentality. Darby Allin lives by this mantra. “Leading up to the pay per view? I purposely slept in my car. [That was] instead of sleeping in the hotel that they got for us” Darby would reveal on Busted Open Radio.
“I wanted to remind myself of just how sh*tty things were. So I slept in there and the weather in Jacksonville is still so much more muggy than other places. It was just a reminder to myself. You don’t need to forget where you came from just because this week’s huge. To keep it? It makes you want to fight more. So now I’m grateful to have this house with 13 acres and a wrestling ring downstairs. [Also] skate ramps and a bunch of crazy sh*t.”
Tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling will feature fallout from this weekend’s Turning Point event and the final appearance from The Rascalz. We have a full preview for the show below.
In addition to The Rascalz leaving Impact, a few other top stars have their contracts expiring in the weeks ahead. Former champions Ethan Page and Taya Valkyrie’s deals are up at the end of December. Ethan Page alluded to this in his latest video blog. This does not mean they are leaving, but both would have the chance to explore free agency if they wanted to gauge interest from other companies.
Taya Valkyrie and Ethan Page’s Impact Wrestling contracts are set to expire at the end of the year. Both deals are believed to be up at the end of December. Page alluded to this in his most recent vlog.
Tonight’s Impact will see:
Moose vs. Willie Mack in a No Disqualification match
The Rascalz Final Match: Dez & Wentz vs. Trey Miguel & Rich Swann
Brian Myers vs. Crazzy Steve
Hernandez vs. Fallah Bahh
Tenille & Alisha vs. Havoc & Nveah in a Knockouts Tag Team Title Tournament opening round match.
Below you can see the full brackets for the Knockouts Tag Team Title Tournament:
WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry recently discussed WWE releasing Zelina Vega. The story broke over the weekend and is the hottest topic in wrestling, bringing the ‘independent contractor’ status of WWE on-screen performers into question once again.
“I was a little shocked but I wasn’t completely surprised” Mark Henry began on the latest episode of Busted Open Radio. “Because I know how much of a Twitch and social media maven that she is. And it was gonna be hard to get her not to do Cameos, it would be hard to get her not to do Twitch, and so on, and so on.”
Zelina Vega’s Parting Gifts
“I mean you just look at Halloween? Like she dressed up like three or four different people” Henry continued. “This cosplay stuff and having relationships with the fans based on all the characters that she played. So, I didn’t see her dropping it, there’s a couple other people that I didn’t see dropping it.”
Several people in the arts and entertainment industry have rallied behind Zelina Vega in the aftermath of the release. SAG-AFTRA have also declared that they’re looking at helping professional wrestlers to “secure the protections they deserve.”
Avid Streamer Thea Trinidad (Zelina Vega)
Mark Henry would then reveal that Zelina Vega was aware that she would be getting the axe from WWE before the news was officially released.
“But the thing about it is? She knew she got…and this is this comes from good authority, I don’t release my sources. It comes from good authority that she knewbefore they gave her the future endeavor speech. Then she was like ‘well I’m gonna leave some parting gifts.'”
WWE RAW aired live from the ThunderDome in the Amway Center. It was the final episode of RAW before Survivor Series this Sunday. Randy Orton defended the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre in the main event.
RAW Results (11/16)
Asuka, Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke def. Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Lana
New Day def. Hurt Business to retain the RAW Tag Team Championships
RETRIBUTION def. Team RAW
Bray Wyatt def. The Miz
Drew McIntyre def. Randy Orton to become the new WWE Champion
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Orton & McIntyre Hyped Their Title Match Tonight
Drew McIntyre welcomed everyone to Monday Night RAW and noted that this Sunday is Survivor Series. McIntyre said Survivor Series was an American Thanksgiving tradition and brought up a couple things he is thankful.
McIntyre stated he was thankful for his friends, family, and the ThunderDome bringing him closer to the fans. Drew added that he was thankful for the doubters because it made him work harder.
McIntyre brought up Roman Reigns and claimed that he doesn’t care about anyone but himself and has his head shoved up his ass. Drew vowed to win the WWE Championship off of Randy Orton tonight and said he was going to humble Roman Reigns at Survivor Series.
WWE Champion Randy Orton interrupted and said he was thankful for being a 14-time WWE World Champion. Orton added that he has been fined and suspended more than any other superstar but is still here because he is the greatest wrestler ever. Orton vowed to walk out of RAW tonight still the WWE Champion.
The Miz and John Morrison joined the party and hyped up Miz’s reality show. The Miz hinted at cashing in the MITB briefcase tonight during the title match. Miz added that change is coming soon and the promo finally ended.
Opinion: This promo lasted about fifteen minutes and was about ten minutes too long.
Nia Jax Slammed Lana Through The Announce Table Again
Lana, Nia Jax, and Shayna Baszler faced Asuka, Mandy Rose, and Dana Brooke.
Before the match, Nia and Shayna approached Lana backstage. Lana said the match was her idea because she wanted to prove that she belongs on Team RAW. Jax and Baszler laughed at her before making their way to the ring.
Match Recap: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler beat Mandy Rose down and stomped on her arm as RAW went to a break. When RAW returned, Asuka and Shayna were trading punches in the middle of the ring. Asuka hit a kick to the face but Nia broke it up at two. Shayna locked in the Kirifuda Clutch but Lana tagged herself in. Asuka applied the Asuka Lock to Lana for the submission victory.
After the match, Nia Jax cleared off the announce table and planted Lana through it for the 9th time.
Mandy Rose was taken to the doctor/ trainer’s room and Dana Brooke waited outside. Reckoning (Mia Yim) attacked Dana from behind until referees broke it up. Adam Pearce announced that Lacey Evans and Peyton Royce will replace Dana and Mandy on Team RAW at Survivor Series.
New Day defended the RAW Tag Team Championships against the Hurt Business (Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander). MVP and Bobby Lashley were ringside for the match.
Match Recap: Hurt Business controlled the match early and isolated Kofi Kingston in the ring. Kingston battled back with a Clothesline and went for a cover but Cedric kicked out at two. Woods tagged in and hit Alexander with an Elbow Drop for a two count.
Woods hit Benjamin with a Dropkick for a near fall. Shelton connected with a Spinebuster and tagged in Alexander. Cedric leveled Woods with another Dropkick for a near fall and tagged Shelton back in. Kingston tagged in and leveled Shelton with a Clothesline and followed it up with a Dropkick.
Kingston went for the Boom Drop but Benjamin countered into a Buckle Bomb as RAW went to a break. When RAW returned, Kingston connected with a Tornado DDT and tagged in Woods. Cedric tagged in as well and Woods greeted him with a kick to the face.
Xavier threw Alexander out of the ring and hit him with a Dropkick through the ropes. Back in the ring, Woods hit a Dropkick off the top rope for a near fall. Kofi tagged in and hit Alexander with a Double Stomp off the top rope for another two count.
Alexander hit Kofi with two Suicide Dives and then hit Woods with one. Benjamin tagged in and brought Kofi back inside the ring. Shelton connected with an Angle Slam and went for a cover but Kofi somehow kicked out at two.
Cedric tagged back in and hit Kingston with a Brainbuster but Woods broke up the cover at the last moment. Kingston hit Cedric with Trouble in Paradise and tagged in Woods. Xavier climbed to the top rope and hit Daybreak for the pinfall victory. New Day are still RAW Tag Team Champions.
There have been some changes to the card for Sunday’s WWE Survivor Series PPV.
The biggest thing to note is Randy Orton no longer facing WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. During Monday’s episode of RAW, “The Viper” failed to successfully retain the WWE Title against Drew McIntyre. Instead, McIntyre won the title.
Due to WWE touting this as a champion vs. champion match, McIntyre will replace Orton in the bout to face Reigns. There’s no word yet on what Orton will do on this show.
WWE has also made a change to the Women’s Team RAW for Survivor Series by pulling Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke from the match. WWE did an injury angle with these two stars thanks to an attack on Rose by Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler in a match while Brooke was attacked by Reckoning backstage a little bit later.
Peyton Royce and Lacey Evans will be working the match in their places.
Updated WWE Survivor Series Card
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
RAW Women’s Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks
WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn
RAW Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits
Team RAW (Keith Lee, AJ Styles, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, Matt Riddle) vs. Team SmackDown (Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, Seth Rollins, Baron Corbin, TBA) – Men’s Traditional 5-on-5 Elimination Match
Team RAW (Team Captains: WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax, Peyton Royce, Lacey Evans, and Lana) vs. Team SmackDown (Bianca Belair, Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, TBA) – Women’s Traditional 5-on-5 Elimination Match
After having several matches over the last few months on pay-per-view, WWE decided to book a rare WWE Championship bout on Monday Night Raw.
Randy Orton put the gold on the line against Drew McIntyre during the main event of the show. Midway through, Orton teased leaving ringside until Adam Pearce announced that it was no disqualifications.
They tried to do a table bump, but the table wouldn’t break. They moved onto a normal table instead of the announce table. Orton was pushed off the apron crashing to the floor through the table, which sliced open the back of Orton.
The finish saw McIntyre hit the Claymore Kick for the win to begin his second WWE Championship reign.
McIntyre will move onto his next match, a non-title match against WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. This bout, which is being touted as champion vs. champion, is slated to take place at the Survivor Series pay-per-view event.
This feud dates back to August. McIntyre successfully retained the WWE Title over Orton at SummerSlam with a backslide before going to the Payback show where McIntyre beat “The Viper” in an Ambulance match thanks to outside interference from a few legends.
The future WWE Hall of Famer dethroned McIntyre as WWE Champion at last month’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.
The Undertaker is set to face what may be his gravest challenge to date.
The Dead Man is doing the media rounds to promote the 30th anniversary of his legendary career at WWE’s upcoming Survivor Series pay-per-view. One stop this week will be for Hot Ones, the digital series that sees celebrities being interviewed by host Sean Evans while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings.
Some guests can take the heat, while others sweat, tear up and quit the challenge before reaching the final stages.
Who will win the matchup between the Undertaker and the Wings of Death? Find out this Thursday, November 19th at 11AM EST when the next episode of Hot Ones drops on the First We Feast YouTube channel.
WWE Survivor Series airs Sunday, November 22nd on the WWE Network.
Several other professional wrestlers have appeared on Hot Ones in recent years, including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Chris Jericho and Sasha Banks. You can catch their episodes below:
Nia Jax has found herself under fire from fans thanks to comments she made regarding COVID-19.
People all over the world have dealt with the virus and numbers have skyrocketed in the United States over the past few weeks.
Some positive news came out last week regarding the COVID-19 vaccine that is currently in development. It’s been reported that Moderna’s vaccine is around 94.5% effective in preventing the spread of the virus. It should be noted that this is just based on interim data from a late-stage trial.
The WWE star took to her Instagram stories where she noted that she is in no way prepared to be vaccinated when it’s ready to hopefully eliminate the illness.
“The Covid Vaccine is 90% effective after 8 months of development, when the flu vaccine is 40% effective after 70 years of development. I’ll go with my immune system, as it’s 99.9% effective. God made my immune system and I trust him the most.”
It’s expected that there will be some people unhappy about her take on the matter considering that WWE has dealt with constant outbreaks of COVID-19. Because of this, it has caused a more chaotic backstage environment over the past couple of weeks and months.
In fact, WWE NXT has been hit the hardest and most recently due to a group of wrestlers attending a party.
The current plan for the main event of WrestleMania 37 remains WWE Champion Randy Orton vs. Edge. According WrestleVotes, WWE has also considered The Fiend as Edge’s opponent. WrestleMania takes place Sunday, March 28th, 2021 at a location to be determined.
The WWE Network has added several episodes of Prime Time Wrestling from 1989-1992.
WWE has announced a storyline fine for Randy Orton. He’s been fined an undisclosed amount of money for roughed up producer Adam Pearce last week. Orton defends the WWE Championship against Drew Mcintyre tonight on Raw.
Training hard and more focused than ever. There's something special about big title fights on #WWERaw, they're rare. I know what losing means… I go to the back of the line, no “next time” for a while, no #SurvivorSeries. But I won’t let that happen pic.twitter.com/zZ2xtfAV9D
Bruan Strowman, Sheamus, Keith Lee and Matt Riddle are scheduled to wrestle Retribution tonight on Raw. (via Fightful)
Stephanie McMahon has been named on AdWeek’s list of Most Powerful Women in Sports.
There has been so much momentum around #womeninsports in 2020, I can’t wait to see it grow into 2021 & beyond! I’m honored to be included among such an amazing group for this year’s Most Powerful Women in Sports list. Thank you @Adweek & congratulations to all the honorees! ??
Sasha Banks appears in the new season of the Disney+ Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. Banks spoke to USA Today this week about the experience, her future on the show and plans to continue pursuing an acting carer.
The SmackDown Women’s Champion is known to WWE fans as Sasha Banks. However, she is using her real name, Mercedes Vernado, for outside projects like this role on The Mandalorian. She takes a lot of pride in her WWE character, but it’s ‘Mercedes’ that has brought her this far.
“I’m so thankful for the role of playing Sasha Banks for so long, but it took Mercedes Varnado to put in that work, and it took Mercedes to get through those doors of the WWE and to be able to do ‘Star Wars,’ ” she says. “I’m just so excited to show the world exactly who I am.”
The role on Star Wars: Mandalorian is sure to get Sasha Banks attention in Hollywood. When asked if she’s interested more television and film projects, Banks said, “Absolutely.”
“I have so many goals and so many things that I would love to do in Hollywood, and so many things that I would love to do outside of WWE that I’m making possible,” she said. “So keep on watching in 2021. I’m going to keep on killing it and crush all my dreams.”
Several members of the AEW roster recently took part in an interview where the main topic of discussion was diversity and representation in wrestling. Their comments were recently published in an article for Complex.
Scorpio Sky talked about the importance of representation in wrestling during the interview.
“If you look at pro wrestling now, there are a lot more people of color being heavily profiled, which is a great thing, ” Scorpio said. “I think kids of color can look up and say, Okay, I see people on television. I see people in wrestling that look like me, so maybe I can do it too. And I think that’s going to do a lot for their confidence.”
Hikaru Shida Comments
Hikaru Shida also was interviewed about the diversity of wrestling styles the promotion offers. In particular, she spoke about introducing joshi puroresu to an American audience.
“Joshi-style wrestling, which is Japanese women’s wrestling, is very unique and original,” Shida says. “So, I believe that joshi-style wrestling can be as good as women’s wrestling in other parts of the world. In Japan, our population, which compared to the US, is very few, but now, representing Japanese joshi wrestlers, I can show myself in front of American fans.”
AEW was expected to feature more Joshi than they have since the onset of the pandemic. Travel restrictions have prevented many of the top Joshi stars from traveling to AEW shows.
Nyla Rose Comments
Nyla Rose was also interviewed for the piece and the interviewer noted that she is the first Black champion in the promotion.
“I like to present the fact that I am Native American because I feel that gets overshadowed a lot, but I’m very much a proud Black woman as well. And I will shout that from the mountaintop every day of the week. To have achieved that goal in February is nothing short of monumental.”
Rose continued to talk about the diversity of AEW’s women’s roster.
“Every woman so far has been a person of color,” Rose continued. “And I think a large part of the public, they have blinders on to that, simply because Riho and Hikaru are fair-skinned. They kind of overlook that but, at the end of the day, they are women of color. They represent a minority, as well.”
Inner Circle member Jake Hager has described the past year in All Elite Wrestling as the “greatest year in my career.”
Hager shared his feelings on his AEW tenure while appearing on Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk is Jericho. From a pro wrestling perspective, he believes signing with AEW has allowed him to experience some memorable moments over the past year.
“I look back at this year with AEW as the greatest year in my career pro wrestling wise. Moments like that were really cool,” Hager said. “14,000 people, the debut episode – I was nervous as s–t and I had the easiest thing to do. All I had to do was run out to the ring without tripping and then slide in the ring and do a couple things. You look back at some of the uncut footage that they have formatted, it’s so cool, and the crowd was going so crazy.”
Hager reflected on how he immediately knew something special was happening as soon as he debuted. He recalled how the crowd was chanting, “We The People.” Hager noted how “[…] the second night is when you completely cut it off, and they haven’t said it since.”
He then stressed how it was essential to separate themselves from previous gimmicks. Hager expressed how “[…] we are different characters with AEW, so let’s be different.”
Jericho agreed with Jake Hager’s point. He explained how, although he appreciates fans still changing “Y2J,” it irks him as the character is 20 years old. Jericho also added how chanting for old WWE gimmicks and catchphrases is “demeaning” to AEW and that fans should embrace the fact they are new people with new characters.
During the WWE Network’s ‘Brothers of Destruction‘ special, The Undertaker and Kane reflected on The Streak coming to an end. They also discussed who they believed should have been the Superstar to end The Streak.
Kane looked back on how he felt that day after Brock Lesnar had defeated The Undertaker, ending The Streak at WrestleMania XXX.
He explained how he initially believed that the finish to the match “got messed up.” Kane explained how he thought the match would restart as something had to have gone wrong. After the realization sunk in, Kane shared how he walked out of the room as he was so angry.
“I know that the streak wasn’t something that anybody had ever planned and it was just something that had kind of organically evolved, but it had become a part of WrestleMania lore at that point.”
The Undertaker shared his memory of that day. He discussed how he had been under the impression he would be beating Lesnar. It wasn’t until later that Vince McMahon told him otherwise.
“I got to the arena that day and I was going over. I mean, we had gone back and forth and when I showed up, I was going over,” The Undertaker recalled. “Through the course of the day, Vince would come to me and say that he’s changed his mind. man, I was like, ‘Okay, I don’t think Brock needs it, but at the end of the day, it’s your show, it’s your call. If you’re sure about it, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Undertaker & Kane Name Who Should Have Ended The Streak
Turning their attention to who they did think should have ended the legendary Streak, both Undertaker and Kane pointed to the same Superstar: Roman Reigns.
Undertaker noted how, “I thought there would be somebody, like Roman Roman would have been, I think Roman would have been fine.”
Kane agreed, adding how defeating The Undertaker at WrestleMania and ending The Streak would have “made” Roman Reigns and “put even more luster” on the decision.
Three years later, Roman Reigns would face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. Reigns defeated “The Dead Man.”
This Sunday’s Survivor Series event also acts as a ‘Final Farewell,’ celebrating The Undertaker’s 30th Anniversary in WWE.
WWE Survivor Series takes place Sunday, November 22nd from the Thunderdome in Orlando, FL.
WWE Hall of Famer and co-host of Sirius XM’s Busted Open Radio Bully Ray recently discussed Leon Ruff’s NXT North American Championship win.
Leon Ruff defeated Johnny Gargano in shocking fashion on the most recent episode of NXT. Bully Ray would state that he ‘loved’ the angle, comparing it to when the 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman) defeated Razor Ramon on WWF television.
Bully Ray on Leon Ruff
“Obviously in the middle of the match I’m saying to myself ‘please do the 1-2-3 Kid thing here'” Bully Ray began on the show. “What they did there? It was great, really entertaining, and with Gargano bitching and moaning [even] later on to Regal? Leon Ruff played his part perfectly.
When Leon Ruff was on the top of the stage and he put the Championship around his waist and the Championship fell down like his pants were too big? Mega Pop, out loud! it was amazing.”
Bully Ray would then discuss the average size of wrestler in the industry today. Of course Leon Ruff is on the diminutive side but even Johnny Gargano is nowhere near the size of a performer from the mid-80s.
“You know what stuck out to me? The size of a lot of wrestlers, it’s not a big man’s business anymore now. That was evident to me last night when Gargano and Regal were face to face in the back.”
“When it was just the two of them on the screen? Oh my god” Bully Ray continued. “Regal was an average size guy in my world of pro wrestling! Back in my day? Regal was average size, and he was towering over Gargano last night. The business has morphed into maybe a smaller man’s game, with a few big men.”
Busted Open co-host Dave LaGreca would chime in by saying how the size of Leon Ruff would’ve made the angle even more memorable ‘back in the day,’ as he was so much smaller than the ‘average’ wrestler. “If that would have happened say 25 years ago it would have been ‘oh my god!’ Just because the pure size of Leon Ruff. [But] we’ve seen champions the size of a Leon Ruff over the last five or six years.”
Do you agree with Bully Ray? Do you think that Pro Wrestling is now a ‘smaller man’s game?’ Let us know in the comments
