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.
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.
Rhea Ripley became the inaugural Women’s Champion on WWE’s NXT UK brand and her career in the company has been on the rise ever since.
However, during a recent appearance on the Wrestling Friends podcast, the former champion discussed a number of things and she also revealed that she wasn’t originally going to win the title.
Rhea revealed that she wasn’t supposed to make it past the second round of the tournament that was held for the crowning of the inaugural champion, but she somehow ended up winning the whole thing:
“It was a wild couple of days. I don’t think I was supposed to make it past the second round. I don’t really know what happened, everything just kept changing. They kept changing the matches, everything.
Going into the final with Toni, I wasn’t supposed to be in the finals.” said Rhea Ripley “I don’t know what happened in the meetings or what was said or done, but somehow I won the whole tournament.”
The female star joined NXT UK in 2018 during the shows’ premiere. She competed in the tournament for the crowning of the inaugural women’s champion of the brand and defeated Toni Storm in the finals to win the title.
Ripley has become a fan favourite since then and she has been featured regularly on WWE programming. After losing the NXT UK title, she had a reign with the NXT Women’s Championship and she competed at this year’s edition of WrestleMania as well.
A lot of famous WWE superstars have ended up in the company by coincidence and the story of the current United States Champion Apollo Crews is something similar.
The new champion appeared on this week’s episode of WWE Backstage and among other things; he also revealed how music artist Wale and WWE Hall Of Famer Mark Henry played a part in getting him into the company.
Crews explained that the music star messaged him on Twitter after seeing his work. He got in contact with Mark Henry and the WWE Hall Of Famer then arranged a tryout for him:
“Wale messaged me on Twitter about 2013 or something like that. He was like, ‘I just got hip to all your work. I love it. How can we get you in the WWE? At the time, I was just traveling around in England and Japan, just enjoying what I was doing.
He gets in contact with Mark Henry who sees my work and he gets me a tryout.” recalled Apollo Crews. “A couple of weeks later I get an email from Canyon Ceman saying they want to bring me down to Orlando for a tryout and I was like there’s no way this is real.”
The US Champion took part in a WWE tryout camp in October 2014 and he was then offered a development contract. He reported to the Performance Center in April 2015 and the former NXT star has been a part of the WWE roster ever since.
Apollo Crews made his main roster debut in April 2016. He recently won his first title in WWE, defeating Andrade for the United States Championship at this week’s episode of Raw.
The Undertaker has been doing media rounds to promote his The Last Ride documentary series and in the spree he recently had an interview with Pardon My Take podcast. During the interview, the former World Champion was asked about the worst bump he has ever taken and The Dead Man recalled one of his old matches with Yokozuna where he gave the Monster Sized Athlete a flying DDT.
Taker explained that Yokozuna hit the mat half a second before him and it drove up a piece of wood. The wood caught him in the ribs and it broke a couple of his ribs. According to the wrestling legend, it was a pretty painful experience. The Last Outlaw then also talked about his recent Super Showdown match with Goldberg and discussed a ‘nearly catastrophic’ bump he took during the bout:
“Obviously, I’ve had a few recently. The bump that I had in Saudi when I was working with Goldberg, I think that one was a couple of inches from being catastrophic.” said the Undertaker. “The way I hit on that one, it kind of set out nerve impulses to all of my injuries at once. It was like an electrical charge went through my body.”
The Attitude Era star also talked about the various types of matches he has competed in and said that he always trusted the company and never objected to any kind of match. The Undertaker faced Goldberg at Super Showdown 2019. The former WCW Champion got concussed early in the match and his condition resulted in many failed spots. The bout attracted a lot of criticism from the fans after the show.
The death of Owen Hart is one of the most tragic incidents in the history of wrestling and it has been in talks recently due to the release of a documentary on the matter.
Former World Champion Edge recently had an interview with Inside The Ropes where he talked about a number of things and he also discussed the unfortunate incident.
During the interview, Edge revealed how he found out about Owen’s death. He recalled how he had left the building before the show and they got a call from Luna Vachon:
“We actually left the building because we weren’t on the show, I think Luna called Dave (Gangrel) because we were riding together and told us, and we went to the hospital. Jeff was the only one there, and we just sat.
We knew, but we just sat there.” said Edge. “We sat there for hours just thinking that can’t be real, how is that real? Even to this day, it just doesn’t seem real.”
Kofi Kingston was one of the stars who attended the beach memorial service held for the former WWE star Shad Gaspard after his passing earlier this month.
The New Day member was the recent guest on WWE Backstage where he talked about a number of things and discussed the impact of Shad Gaspard on the people around him.
Kingston dubbed Shad as a ‘gentle giant’ who enjoyed the presence of other people. He continued by saying that his impact on people’s lives was emphasized by the number of persons who attended his memorial:
“On the inside, he was kind of a gentle giant who really enjoyed the presence of other people, and it was shown by being there on that beach with all of those people, I looked around several times saying, ‘man, Shad really had an impact.’
“It’s really unfortunate for his wife [and] his son, but with a glass half full mentality, it really emphasizes how important it is to live your life, with enthusiasm, with passion and kindness.” said Kofi Kingston. “So that way, when the day comes, when you do get called to a different place, you have left an impact, and Shad, 100 percent, left an impact.”
Shad Gaspard passed away after being caught up in a riptide at Venice Beach, California earlier this month. Lifeguards had reached out to the former wrestler but he asked them to help his 10-year-old son first.
Gaspard unfortunately got crushed by another large wave before rescuers can reach back to him. People from around the world including present and past wrestlers like Kofi Kingston and The Rock have since paid their tribute to the former WWE star.
Seth Rollins recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated where he talked about things like his new role as the Monday Night Messiah, his coffee shop and more.
Roman Reigns has been away from WWE programming since before WrestleMania and this is the longest he has been off TV without any injury or health scare since his debut.
Reigns has since came out and explained that he is trying to protect his family and talking about his best friend, Rollins said that it was nice to see him come out and explain the reasoning behind his absence:
“Oh yeah. They’re just turning out twins, man. This is their second set of twins now, which is crazy to me. I’ve never met anyone that had two sets of twins back-to-back. I was fortunate to get the news a while back, and it was nice to see him come out and explain why he’s been taking time off.
He’s got five kids running around at home, and he’s trying to help the wife out and make sure everybody’s safe.” said Seth Rollins. “It’s awesome. It seems like everybody is getting in on the new kid thing these days (laughs).”
The former World Champion also talked about Becky Lynch’s pregnancy announcement on Raw saying that he thought it was perfect to watch her go out and tell the world exactly the way she wanted.
Seth continued by revealing that he was right behind the curtain watching Becky’s announcement on the monitor and it was the first time he really felt like they were going to be parents. You can check out Rollins’ full interview at this link.
WWE has announced a number of big matches and segments for next week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, including a champion vs. champion match for the show.
Apollo Crews surprised everyone when he defeated Andrade and became the new United States Champion on this week’s episode of the Red Branded Show.
The company has since announced that the new champion will have his first defence on the upcoming episode of the show and he will face an opponent of his choosing.
Another interesting match which has been announced for the show includes the current Raw Women’s Champion Asuka who will be facing the NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in a non-title champion vs. champion match.
Asuka won the Money In The Bank and she was awarded the Championship after Becky Lynch relinquished the title. On the other hand, Charlotte Flair won the Royal Rumble and went on to defeat Rhea Ripley for the championship at WrestleMania 36.
Both these matches are in addition to the announced retirement segment for the former World Champion Rey Mysterio which WWE confirmed earlier.
Seth Rollins is expected to hold the ‘retirement ceremony’ for Mysterio on the show and it would be interesting to see how this segment between the two high flyings stars unfolds.
Rhea Ripley made her WrestleMania debut on this year’s edition of the Show Of Shows where she defended her NXT Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair.
During a recent interview with Wrestling Friends podcast, the now former women’s champion talked about the big bout and revealed how she felt about it afterward.
Ripley revealed that she started crying after the match was over because she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she was very happy:
“I remember, after the match was done, even though the outcome wasn’t exactly what I wanted, it didn’t matter. Once the match ended — it was such a stressful day, you have no idea — I remember, everything was done, the cameras were off and I just started crying. I was bawling.
Everyone came down to the ring and were like, ‘please tell me these were happy tears.’ ‘Guys, you have no idea. I’m so happy. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as well.'” said Ripley. “I was super stressed and I was so happy because it is WrestleMania and it still means a lot. I was happy that we did well.”
The Australian star also mentioned how WrestleMania 36 was her first time wrestling in an empty area with no audience because, before that, she had wrestled during the NXT Fans Appreciation night in early March.
Rhea Ripley will get a chance to win her title back when she will face Charlotte Flair and Io Shirai in a triple threat match at the NXT TakeOver: In Your House event on June 7
Though she has since revealed that her boss Tony Khan did not mind the incident and she is allowed to attend WWE shows without facing any consequences.
During her recent appearance on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Baker talked the other side of things and revealed if her boyfriend and the current NXT Champion Adam Cole is allowed to attend shows of their company:
“He [Adam Cole] originally was told he can’t come to our shows. For All In actually, he had a plane ticket booked, and then they told him you can’t go. So he still came to be support. He just watched it on his phone in the hotel room so he could be at the after party afterwards. We both wanted to go.
Recently, they’ve changed their tune, and he was able to come to our New Year’s show. And it’s great for him too because this is his family like The Young Bucks and Adam Cole go way back. They have been together long before Adam Cole and Britt Baker were together.”
The AEW star also talked about her relationship with the NXT champion. She revealed that the two talk about wrestling a lot and Cole helps her by critiquing her matches.
Apart from this Britt Baker talked about her wrestling career and during the episode, the co-host Tony Schiavone told a funny story about the NXT star.
It appears that the recently released WWE NXT star Deonna Purrazzo has made her mind about her future and she is all set to join Impact Wrestling very soon.
The company aired a vignette on her during this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling. In the video she claimed that she is a Virtuosa who expresses outstanding technical abilities.
The former WWE star also confirmed the news on Twitter with a post about Impact. You can check out Purrazzo’s post and the video hyping her Impact debut below:
Deonna Purrazzo made several WWE appearances during the same time period as well before she officially signed a contract with the company in May 2018.
She competed in the second Mae Young Classic tournament after joining the company officially. Though she didn’t wrestle a lot for the promotion and the former NXT star only had 16 televised matches in WWE before being released earlier last month.
The released NXT stars have a 30 days non compete clause opposed to the 90 days period required for the main roster stars which means that the released stars from the Black and Yellow brand are all free to sign with any promotion they like.
Matt Riddle’s main roster debut is imminent and latest reports have now shed some light on which brand the former UFC star will be joining.
Wrestling Observer first reported the news that WWE is looking to call up the NXT star soon and his main roster debut is “scheduled to be imminent.”
Now PWinsider has provided some update on the former MMA star. Matt Riddle is soon headed to the SmackDown brand. WWE has planned this call up since before WrestleMania, but the call-up was delayed coming out of the big event. The talks of finally bringing him to the main roster heated up once again several weeks ago.
Matt Riddle was released from UFC in 2013 after testing positive for marijuana and he started his professional wrestling career in 2014. He was signed by WWE in August 2018 and he made his NXT debut in October that year.
The former MMA fighter has been featured regularly on NXT programming since then and he has made a lot of headlines with his controversial remarks about part-time talents like Brock Lesnar and Goldberg.
There is no word yet on when exactly will Riddle make his main roster debut but it’s believed that his upcoming Cage Fight with Timothy Thatcher on this week’s NXT could be his last match for the Black and Yellow brand.
The Crown Jewel travel woes made a lot of headlines last year and recently released WWE star Heath Slater was one of the stars who was stuck in the country after the show while rumors about their situation ran rampant.
The former champion recently had an interview with WrestlingInc where he talked about a number of things and also discussed their controversial trip to Saudi Arabia.
Slater said that it’s one of those things where you know something’s up but you don’t know what it is. He then added that he still doesn’t know the truth about the situation:
“It’s one of those things where you are there and you know something’s up but you don’t know what’s up, but we all got out okay. I still don’t know the truth. I heard there were mechanical reasons and it was this and it was that.
When I was on the plane, I fell asleep for five hours and when I woke up,” recalled Heath Slater “I looked over at Hawkins. I’m like, ‘Where are we at’ and he says we haven’t even left yet. ‘That’s when I was like, ‘What the heck?’
The former Nexus member recalled how they got off the plane after this and went over to the hotel. They got back on the plane after some wait and it finally left the country.
WWE held the Crown Jewel PPV in Saudi Arabia on October 2019. After the show, it was reported that a charter flight carrying most of the WWE roster including Slater and many other stars had been delayed.
This delay caused many rumors including one claiming that there was animosity between WWE and Saudi Arabia because the Kingdom had failed to pay the promotion for their previous shows but this was never proven.
The latest Undertaker: The Last Ride documentary has divided the opinion of fans. Many have been wondering if it’s the right thing for the Dead Man to break his character so publically now after keeping the kayfabe alive for decades and former Universal Champion Seth Rollins has some interesting comments on it.
Seth recently appeared on the After The Bell podcast of Corey Graves to talk about a number of different things. During the interview, he also discussed the latest documentary series on the Dead Man and Rollins interestingly claimed that it was the right time for Taker to produce the series because his character doesn’t work today.
“The smart thing about this with Taker is, he did it at the right time in his career… 12-year-old you, if you had seen The Last Ride, it would have ruined everything. But we didn’t have that. His character doesn’t work today. There are some weird exceptions, Bray Wyatt comes to mind from an ultra-character perspective who sort of slides by a little bit or gets a pass.”
“The Undertaker character is so supernatural, so now that he’s at this point in his life where he is comfortable transitioning out of the character and into Mark Calaway,” said Seth Rollins ” It makes it okay for me to watch it and see him being a human being.”
The Monday Night Messiah also responded to the controversial comments from Jim Cornette about the pregnancy of Becky Lynch during the same episode. Rollins said that Cornette’s comments caught him off guard and they hurt his feelings on a personal level.
Double Or Nothing was AEW’s first PPV with no audience in attendance and the AEW Champion Jon Moxley successfully defended his title against Brodie Lee during the show.
The World Champion spoke to media after the event where he talked about things like how he felt about his match, working extra hard at PPVs and more.
Discussing the backstage reaction to the culmination of the show, Mox said that they all felt like they had just won the Super Bowl after the PPV ended:
“Backstage after the show ended, it feels like we just won the Super Bowl. We put on a hell of a PPV and everyone is jacked up and high-fiving. It feels like we won a game when we were an underdog.”
Moxley also talked about potential future challengers for his title saying that he doesn’t think that the chapter between him and Kenny Omega is closed just yet.
He then mentioned how Hangman Page has the momentum behind him right now and the current champion took the name of Cody Rhodes as a potential opponent as well.
It’s worth mentioning here that Brian Cage made his AEW debut during Double Or Nothing. He went on to win the Casino Ladder match and he now has a future world title opportunity against Jon Moxley.
Otis has found great success since his main roster debut in January last year. The former NXT star has constantly been featured on WWE programming since then and he also recently won the Money In The Bank match.
Due to his physique and charismatic in-ring presence, some people have started comparing the SmackDown star to the late great Dusty Rhodes.
Otis commented on these comparisons during a recent interview with SportsKeeda. He said that there is only one Dusty Rhodes and being compared to him is an honor:
“There’s only one Dusty Rhodes. I haven’t heard too much of that comparison but I guess you could say that because we’re both big, beefy guys. Good looking, thick men.
It’s an honor. He’s one of the best of all time, Dusty Rhodes.” said Otis. “And watching his stuff back too, just to see how he was working his swagger on the camera, how he translated to the fans was awesome, man,”
The 2020 Money In The Bank winner continued by saying that he hasn’t studied Dusty too much but you have to appreciate his work every time you watch his old matches.
There is no news on when Otis might cash in his Money In The Bank but there are speculations that he can use the contract for a title shot at the Tag Team Championships with his partner Tucker instead of a world title opportunity.
Japanese female wrestling star Hana Kimura has passed away at the age of 22. Her promotion Stardom confirmed the news of her demise with the following statement:
“Stardom fans, we are very sorry to report that our Hana Kimura has passed away. Please be respectful and allow some time for things to process, and keep your thoughts and prayers with her family and friends. We appreciate your support during this difficult time.”
Hana Kimura was a second-generation wrestler who was the daughter of Kyoko Kimura. She had been a part of the Wrestle-1 roster for some time but returned to Stardom where she became the leader of a faction called Tokyo Cyber Squad.
There were some concerns raised over her status earlier yesterday after Kimura posted some images of self mutilation along with the following cryptic message on Twitter:
“Nearly 100 frank opinions every day. I couldn’t deny that I was hurt. I’m dead. Thank you for giving me a mother. It was a life I wanted to be loved. Thank you to everyone who supported me. I love it. I’m weak, I’m sorry. I don’t want to be a human anymore. It was a life I wanted to be loved. Thank you everyone, I love you. Bye.”
There is no word yet on how the message posted by the young wrestling star coincides with her death but there have been all kinds of rumors about the same.
Apart from being a two-time Artist of Stardom Champion and a one-time Goddess of Stardom Champion, the female star also starred in a Netflix reality show in Japan dubbed “Terrace House” last year.
Two stars injured at Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite will be unable to compete at tonight’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view.
While it was originally said that Rey Fenix has been cleared to compete at the Double Or Nothing PPV, he has now been removed from the show.
The high flying star got banged up during this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. The company then announced late Friday night that the former LU star is not cleared to compete at the show this Saturday.
Fenix will now be replaced by Joey Janela in the Casino Ladder match with the winner getting a future title shot at the AEW World Champion Jon Moxley:
.@ReyFenixMx is out of the #CasinoLadderMatch due to injury. Fenix isn’t expected to miss significant time. @JANELABABY is now entered in the Casino Ladder Match. 1 mystery wrestler is still TBA. DOUBLE or NOTHING is available on all major providers @brlive @FiteTV tomorrow 8/7c pic.twitter.com/0RKeirEhtU
AEW also announced Britt Baker has been pulled from the show. She suffered a knee injury during the women’s tag match. Her health will be addressed Saturday night. Penelope Ford will now face Kris Statlander in her place.
AEW Double Or Nothing will be taking place this Saturday from Daily’s Place and TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check out the updated match card for the show below:
Pre-Show #1 contenders match for AEW World Tag Team Championship: Private Party vs. Best Friends
AEW World Heavyweight Championship: Brodie Lee vs. Jon Moxley (c)
AEW TNT Championship Tournament Finals: Lance Archer vs. Cody Rhodes
No DQ, No Count Out Match for the AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose (c)
Stadium Stampede Match: Matt Hardy and The Elite (Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, AEW World Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega and Hangman Page) vs. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz)
Casino Ladder Match: Joey Janela vs. Luchasaurus vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Kip Sabian vs. Scorpio Sky vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Darby Allin vs. Colt Cabana vs. Mystery Man TBA
There are a lot of stories about how Vince McMahon is in real life but if there is one person who knows the Boss up close and personal, then it’s the Undertaker. The Dead Man has been with WWE for 3 decades now and in the time he has developed a relationship with the boss which only a few stars have developed in the history of the company.
During a recent interview with The Bill Simmons podcast, Taker talked about the Boss and revealed how Mr McMahon is in real life. He was talking about his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 30 where Undertaker suffered a concussion. The Last Outlaw was taken to the hospital after the bout and he revealed that Vince left the show to go with him:
“I don’t remember doing any of this but I cut a promo on him like ‘Don’t you have a show to run? Why are you here? Most people think he’s this tyrant, but you really only get to see it if you’re close to him, he’s just such a giving person. He’s a really kind giving person, he knows how to run business obviously, but for years all the charities we worked with there was no publicity about any of it.
“We worked with Make A Wish for years and you never heard a word about it because that’s not what he was about.” said Undertaker. “Tribute to the Troops, every year whether it was Iraq or Afghanistan, he was on that plane with us. I don’t think people realize what a big heart he has and how much he cares about the people around him.”
The Undertaker also talked about a potential retirement for the chairman saying that McMahon loves the product and he loves working out. Taker mentioned how Mr. McMahon’s mother is 99 years old and she played tennis when she was 97. He then said that he hopes that nobody is waiting to take over Vince’s position because he will be there for long and the Dead Man claimed that McMahon will outlive him.
A major departure from WWE’s production team was confirmed recently as reports revealed that longtime WWE producer Michael Mansury left the company last week.
The now-former WWE employee was considered a big part of Triple H’s team and many within the company dubbed him as the “next” Kevin Dunn.
The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter provides some updates on the situation and reveals the reason why the WWE official decided to leave the company.
It notes that everyone who is seen as a potential successor to Kevin Dunn has their life “made difficult” in the company and “they get constantly criticized” to Vince McMahon.
Regarding his departure, it was said that Mansury decided to leave the promotion as he had gotten impatient when it comes to upward mobility in the company. Though his departure was not sudden and Michael Mansury had given his notice months in advance.
The former WWE official joined the promotion as a Production Assistant and rose through the ranks over the years to become the Vice President of Global Television Production. Though his last promotion came in March 2016.
Michael Mansury had been with WWE for 11 years since joining the promotion in 2009. He was well-liked among the people in the company and many were shocked with his departure.
The demise of the former WWE star Shad Gaspard is one of the saddest news coming out of 2020 and fans around the world have been paying their respect to him since his death was confirmed.
WWE also paid tribute to the Cryme Tyme member through an opening graphic on this week’s episode of NXT and he was remembered on SmackDown as well.
During a recent interview with TMZ Sports, WWE Vice President Triple H was asked about the star and he recalled his last meeting with Shad which happened six months ago:
“Stephanie and I saw him maybe six months ago. We were at FOX for a meeting and he was just coming out of the lobby, we were coming into the lobby. We probably stood there for 20 minutes talking. He was just the greatest guy, so nice.”
The Game then discussed the unfortunate circumstances of his death. Triple H said that Gaspard was a great human being and his thoughts are with Shad’s wife and kid:
“With the circumstances around all of this, and you know, his son, thank God he’s okay. Knowing that he said, ‘Save my son’ and that was the last thing he did, that’s all you need to know about the guy.
He was just a great human being and it’s tragic, and my thoughts and prayers, as are everyone’s here, are to his wife and his kid, just the family, it’s tragic.”
The former World Champion continued by explaining how even when the incident was happening everybody was holding hope for Shad’s safe return and his death is very tragic.
You can check out Triple H’s comments in the video below:
WWE made a surprising change to the SmackDown roster this week and traded the former World Champion AJ Styles from the Raw roster to the Blue Branded show.
The company had stripped Sami Zayn of the Intercontinental Championship and then announced a tournament for the crowning of a new champion last week.
Styles was the only Raw star to be included in the tournament brackets, which suggests that the officials had already planned this move by then.
The Phenomenal One then showed up on this week’s episode of the Blue Branded Show and competed in a first-round match against long time rival Shinsuke Nakamura.
AJ Styles went on to win the bout and he will now be facing Elias in the second round of the tournament next week. Elias had beaten King Corbin last week to advance in the tournament.
It’s interesting to note here that no trade has been announced for the former World Champion for Raw and he has instead been traded for a future draft pick.
This means that it’s very likely that we will see a big star from the Blue Brand’s roster being traded to the Red Branded Show in coming weeks and it would be interesting to see who it turns out to be.