The Royal Rumble match earlier this year saw a number of NXT stars making their presence felt and the stars that got a moment to shine include people like Bianca Belair, Shayna Baszler and Keith Lee.
However, during a recent interview with Tokyo Sports, NXT star Io Shirai revealed that she was actually scheduled to compete in the Battle Royal earlier this year.
Shirai revealed that she was pulled from the match because she suffered an injury while competing in a match with Toni Storm before the PPV in January:
“I had a match with Toni Storm before Royal Rumble, when Storm hit a tope to me at outside of the ring, my knee had bent to the wrong direction. I was scheduled to participate (in the) Royal Rumble, but I was so frustrated that I (couldn’t) participate.”
Io Shirai returned from the injury in March and in April, she became the number one contender for Charlotte Flair’s NXT Women’s Championship after winning a ladder match.
The NXT star defeated Candice LeRae, Tegan Nox, Mia Yim, Dakota Kai, and Chelsea Green to earn the opportunity and she will be challenging the Queen for her title at this week’s episode of the Black and Yellow brand
AJ Styles hasn’t been seen on WWE programming since WrestleMania 36 but now latest reports have revealed that the former World Champion would be returning to TV soon.
According to reports from Post Wrestling, The Phenomenal One is scheduled to make his return during the upcoming Money In The Bank go-home episode of Monday Night Raw.
The site also reports that AJ is expected to get involved in the men’s Money In The Bank match at the namesake PPV taking place from the WWE HQ next Sunday on May 10.
There is no news on what he will be doing at the show but there is obvious speculation of the former Champion’s participation in the last chance gauntlet match on Raw.
The last chance gauntlet match was announced because Apollo Crews was removed from MITB due to an injury. The company has not revealed the participants for the match so far and AJ Styles could be one of the persons to compete in the bout.
The former TNA World Champion was last seen on WWE programming at WrestleMania 36 where he competed against The Undertaker in a highly praised boneyard match.
Taker defeated Styles in the bout and it was reported later on that the company will be keeping him off television for a while to sell the loss.
Mandy Rose had been involved in a storyline with Otis in the last few months and their angle concluded with the two finally getting together at WrestleMania 36 where Rose helped the former NXT star in winning his match against Dolph Ziggler.
The duo then shared another moment backstage when they were interviewed after the show and during a recent interview, the Golden Goddess revealed that the segment was actually unscripted.
Mandy recently spoke to Sports Illustrated where she talked about a number of things and revealed that her post WrestleMania segment with Otis was completely unscripted:
“That was just us, off-script, being ourselves. I was shocked it got so many views. We’re really thankful that people are enjoying this. This was something we thought was really funny, and we both thought it could be a great story.
Though I never thought it would resonate with people this much. But it’s relatable, and it’s really cool that we’ve been able to involve so many people.”
The segment in question has garnered a lot of attention from fans and as of this writing it has more than 3.5 million views on WWE’s official YouTube channel.
Apart from this, Mandy Rose also talked about the start of this storyline and revealed who pitched the idea for it. You can check out her comments about the same here.
Nia Jax stands out in the WWE roster due to her size difference and the former Women’s Champion has been doing so from the first day of her WWE career.
The Irresistible Force recently appeared on WWE’s The Bump where she talked about things like her recent injury, her time away from the company and more.
Talking about her start in the promotion, Jax recalled how she stood out even in her tryouts and revealed what Joey Mercury told her after her first match:
“I will never forget my tryout, there was an obvious difference between me and the other girls. They were fitness models and bodybuilders. I walked in with no makeup, hair up in a ponytail, ready to sweat, and these girls had their hair and makeup done.
“I never thought in a million years that I would ever get this job.” said Nia Jax “I remember after my first match one of the coaches, Joey Mercury, came up to me and said, “Just so you know, you’re my first-round pick. I said, ‘What,’ and he said, ‘Your body, your size, you’re unique and you will be incredible.’ It was so cool.”
The former NXT star underwent surgery for a knee injury in April last year and she had been out of action ever since. She returned during the WrestleMania 36 follow up episode of Raw where she defeated Deonna Purrazzo in a squash match.
Apart from this, Nia Jax also talked about Simone Johnson joining WWE, what the Rock told her during her time away and more. You can check out her interview in the video below:
The cinematic matches at WrestleMania this year received high praise and fans are open to seeing more such content. Now it appears that Becky Lynch is open to the concept as well, including the possibility of creating her own version of the boneyard match.
The Raw Women’s Champion recently had an interview with TVInsider to promote her cameo in Billions where she talked about things like the upcoming Money In The Bank PPV, how she landed the role and more.
Talking about the cinematic matches and the possibility of WWE producing more such content in future, Lynch said that they can keep going along the lines:
“The thing is, it’s a crazy time. You have to see what works and what doesn’t. The fact that we have the ability to make more cinematic matches, I think it’s a testament to how we can adjust and move forward.
I think we have to keep going along those lines.” said Becky Lynch. “Not necessarily every match has to be a cinematic match, but just [exploring] different ways of dialogue and how we adjust our storytelling to this new reality we’re in now.”
When asked if she can picture herself outside of a traditional match Lynch revealed that she has pitched some ideas for it “I’ve pitched plenty of things. We’ll see what happens. Sometimes your pitches go through, sometimes they don’t. We’ll see what happens. “
Apart from this, Becky Lynch talked about things like adjusting to the quarantine lifestyle, new faces getting a chance in WWE and more. You can check out her interview at this link.
The Money In The Bank will be taking place from the WWE headquarters and latest update reveal that the ladder matches this year will be unique in more than one way.
WWE announced on this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown that both male and female Money In The Bank matches this year will be taking place at the same time:
The company previously revealed that the ladder matches will start from the ground floor of the WWE Headquarters and the competitors will have to ‘climb the corporate ladder’ and reach the top floor to win the bout.
Now this new announcement means that the male and female participants will be competing simultaneously and we might even see some interaction between them.
The Money In The Bank PPV was originally scheduled to take place from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD but it was moved due to the coronavirus restrictions.
The event will now air live from the WWE Headquarters on May 10, with some of the content such as the ladder matches announced for the show airing with tape delay.
A total of five matches have been confirmed for the show so far and you can check out an updated match card for the upcoming event at this link.
It’s safe to say that at the age of 42, Jeff Hardy has more of his wrestling career behind him than in front. It appears that the former World Champion also understands this as he is already talking about a potential retirement match for himself.
The Charismatic Enigma recently appeared on the After The Bell podcast of Corey Graves where he talked about his long and illustrated career in the wrestling business in detail.
During the interview, Hardy also expressed the desire to face Brock Lesnar once again and said that maybe he can compete with the Beast in his last match:
“That’s one more thing, I would love to get my a** kicked by him [Brock Lesnar] again because he’s just intimidating and insanely gifted. To be as successful as he was in the MMA world, he’s amazing. That would be interesting, man. Maybe that could be my last match. I was his first match; he could be my last match.”
Jeff also talked about the recent SmackDown promos promoting his return. He talked about his rehab and problems with alcoholism and drug abuse and said that he is doing everything he can to make the situation better.
Brock Lesnar’s debut match in WWE main roster was against Jeff Hardy. Lesnar faced the Attitude Era star in a singles bout at Backlash 2002 and the Beast defeated the wrestling veteran via a TKO in five minutes.
The Hardy Boyz then went on to pick up victories over the former WWE Champion in the following weeks but Jeff has never faced Brock in a singles match since then.
Sami Zayn has not been seen on WWE programming in recent times and new reports suggest that it’s his own decision which has prevented him from making an appearance.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the current Intercontinental Champion was originally expected to be part of last week’s episode of SmackDown.
However, he was written off the show after Zayn made the decision to not travel to WWE Performance Center in Orlando over coronavirus concerns.
Both AEW and WWE have previously told their employees that they are free to not work the shows amid the pandemic and their decision will not be held against them in the future.
Sami Zayn is the second big-name which seems to have taken advantage of this advisory after Roman Reigns pulled out of his WrestleMania 36 match with Goldberg.
The former NXT star has not been seen on WWE programming since WrestleMania 36 where he successfully defended his title against Daniel Bryan in a one on one match.
Zayn’s partners Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura have been appearing on shows in recent weeks and they both have been working their own storylines without the current champion.
It’s worth mentioning here that the former NXT Champion noted on twitter that he had his wisdom teeth taken out recently which may be the reason why he wasn’t written into storylines prior to this week’s SmackDown from which he pulled out.
There is no news on when Sami Zayn might return to Television but it’s believed that Roman Reigns will not make his comeback until the pandemic is contained in some way and the same could be true for Zayn as well.
Kofi Kingston’s surprising loss to Brock Lesnar during the SmackDown 20th Anniversary episode infuriated a lot of people and fans were not happy with him losing the WWE title match without any offense.
However, the former WWE Champion did get a moment of retribution at Royal Rumble earlier this year when he, Rey Mysterio, and Big E teamed together to try to topple the Beast during the Battle Royal.
During a recent interview with Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT, Kingston confirmed that the angle was put together by Lesnar himself and he said that people wouldn’t have gotten up for it as much as they did if it wasn’t for his SmackDown loss:
“If Brock and I had more of a match at the debut of Smackdown on FOX, then the moment at the Rumble, people wouldn’t have gotten up as much as they did for it. It was great. It was a really big piece of a story having myself in there trying to fight.
It was a lot of great storytelling coming together.” said Kofi Kingston. “Everything is important as minuscule as it may be. It’s definitely a big part of the Rumble seeing me, Rey and E, all of us on the outside banding together and going in there doing what we did.”
.@TrueKofi confirms Brock Lesnar put together their moment at the 2020 Royal Rumble and explains why Brock was such a genius in making @DMcIntyreWWE, too.
"He has an awesome mind for the business and I feel he'll never get the credit he deserves for that." pic.twitter.com/0RWXlMjBwV
The New Day member then mentioned how on the top of their moment, the whole first half of the Royal Rumble match was Brock Lesnar throwing everybody out only for Drew McIntyre to throw him out at the end.
Per Kofi, The Beast Incarnate did this to elevate the Scottish star and build his credibility as a champion for when he finally beat Brock for the WWE title at WrestleMania 36.
WWE is looking to oppose several trademark applications that were filed by the former WWE stars Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson collectively known as The Revival.
The duo was already preparing for their release in recent months and they had filled for a number of trademarks as their WWE contracts were nearing its end.
Now the company has filed an opposition against terms such as “No Flips, Just Fists,” “#FTRKO” and “Say Yeah” which the Revival was looking to register for merchandising and other purposes.
WWE filed the application two days after the trademark filings became eligible for the opposition. The company has been granted the standard 90-day extension to prepare their opposition and they now have until Wednesday, August 26 to submit their application.
The terms include their original NXT names “The Mechanics” and the phrase “No Flips Just Fists” which is the same as The Revival’s filings, just without the commas.
Now it would be interesting to see how The Revival reacts to this move from the company and who ends up winning this trademark war.
This week’s episode of NXT saw the return of Mauro Ranallo and Beth Phoenix on commentary and now latest report on the matter has revealed how it was made possible.
According to reports from Pro Wrestling Sheet, both the commentators recorded their portion of the show from their homes as an additional precautionary measure during the coronavirus outbreak.
The production team put together a way for the duo to record the show from home in an effort to keep them on commentary while also limiting the amount of travel they need to do for the time being.
The company was able to make this change because the NXT announcers are not placed on the ringside and they appear on screen less than the Raw and SmackDown commentators.
For those who don’t know both Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuinness took time off from their schedules because they have young children and they didn’t want to quarantine for two weeks after working WWE shows.
On the other hand, Ranallo had decided not fly from his home in Southern California to the Performance Center in Florida for the shows.
Both Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton have been calling the shows in their absence in recent weeks and it was reported recently that the company was looking for a way to bring the original commentary team back in the mix.
Posted April 30th, 2020 in News, NXT. Tagged: NXT.
John Cena has achieved a lot in the wrestling business. However, his victories in the wrestling world are not the only impressive accomplishments of his career and one of the most impressive achievements of the 16 Time World Champion is the 600+ wishes he has granted with Make A Wish foundation.
The organization recently celebrated its 40th anniversary and the Cenation Leader posted a video from his Twitter commemorating the moment. In the video as seen below, Cena revealed which is the most memorable wish for him, explaining that the first wish he granted was the most memorable of his whole record:
“A question I am most often asked is what is some of my most memorable wishes. Each wish is unique and beautiful. The one that comes to mind is my first one. So in my first experience of Make-A-Wish, I didn’t know what it was and I was asked to go into a room and say hi to a bunch of people which I willingly did.
When I left, the live event representative was very thankful and said, ‘Hey that was great, thank you very much for doing that. That was for Make-A-Wish,’ which led me to my next question, ‘Well, what’s Make-A-Wish?’” recalled John Cena. “And so started a wonderful two-decade relationship with an organization that’s become very important in my life. So that first one’s always the most memorable to me.”
I’ve had the honor of granting more than 650 Wishes and counting. Today is a day to celebrate @MakeAWish and their incredible milestone of 40 years of granting wishes. #WorldWishDaypic.twitter.com/jGVweqBOAu
John Cena was last seen on WWE programming during WrestleMania 36 where he competed in a Firefly Fun House match with Bray Wyatt. There is no word yet on if the company has any plans for his return so it’s hard to say if we will see him on WWE TV again anytime soon.
The last few weeks of AEW Dynamite have received praise for its well-written script and latest reports reveal that the credit for it goes to the president of the company Tony Khan.
According to report from PWinsider, the word making round is that the AEW officials realized that they were going to have a very small crew to work with because of the restrictions that have been put in place around the country.
After understanding the situation, Khan sat down and wrote the script for the last 4 weeks of Dynamite himself and completed the work in a ‘matter of minutes’.
He built the shows around the TNT Championship tournament and the available local talents. The situation was described as a “trial by fire” moment for the boss and his crew.
Cody was instrumental in putting the things together as Tony’s right hand. He was very hands-on with his own program and he helped others with their programs as well.
Chris Jericho has gotten praise for his commentary work on the shows because the former World Champion was given less than 24 hours of notice to work the role while he also put together the inner circle vignettes.
Orange Cassidy and The Best Friends are some more names who were applauded internally in the promotion as they wrestled four times over the course of 24 hours of the tapings.
This hard work seems to have paid off for Tony Khan and the talents as the last few weeks of Dynamite programming has been liked by the fans.
The company will return to live programming next week with the return of many top names including the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley.
Dustin Rhodes was one of the first stars to leave WWE to join AEW and he paved the path for a number of stars to leave the company and reignite their passion for pro wrestling.
The former WWE star recently appeared on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, where he talked about things like his responsibilities in AEW, training young stars and more.
Talking about his final days with WWE, Dustin said that
sitting at home and doing nothing made him lose his passion for wrestling for
the first time in 31 years:
“When you’re sitting at home for a couple of months with another company who doesn’t value you at all, and you’re sitting there knowing you have so much more to offer. You kind of lose your passion, and for the first time in my 31 years, I lost my passion for the wrestling business,”
Explaining his decision to quit the company, the former Goldust said that he had enough. So for the first time, he stood up for himself in a big way and asked for his release:
“They just will not give me the time of day, and I had enough.” said Rhodes,” I said enough was enough, and for the first time, I kind of stood up for myself in a big way and said, ‘I am quitting. I am asking you for my release. I am done. I’m not happy here anymore,'”
However, the company didn’t grant his request right away and they stalled the former Champion for a while before finally approving his release in March 2019.
A month later in April, it was announced that Dustin Rhodes will be facing his brother Cody Rhodes in a match at Double or Nothing. Since then he has signed a contract with the company to work with them as a performer as well as a coach.
There were rumors before WrestleMania 36 that WWE could be planning a mask vs. title match between Rey Mysterio and The US Champion Andrade for the show.
While this match obviously did not take place, it appears that the Master Of 619 is not shying away from the concept and he is open to putting his mask on the line in WWE.
The former World Champion recently appeared on The Bump and talking about the possibility of putting his mask on the line, Mysterio said he would jump to it in a heartbeat if the opportunity came about:
“If the opportunity came about, I would jump in a
heartbeat [on putting his mask on the line again], I think that’s what makes
Lucha Libre exciting and in this case to bring Lucha Libre to the WWE, and show
the WWE Universe the excitement behind the mask vs. hair match, or the mask vs.
title match.
You know you put your heart out there in those matches.” said Rey Mysterio. “I would actually love to jump in the ring one of these days before I retire and put my mask on the line against something that is well worth it.”
The former World Champion had previously put his mask on the
line when he teamed up with Konnan and lost to Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in a
hair vs. mask match at WCW SuperBrawl IX in 1999.
His unmasking caused quite the stir and Rey Mysterio had to
seek permission from the Lucha Libre Commission to wear his mask again because
of its significance in the lucha libre world.
It appears that the recently released WWE star Zack Ryder is looking to bring back an old idea he used to get himself over with the fans while he was in WWE.
It was recently revealed that the former IC Champion has filed an application to trademark the term Internet Champion for his own personal use.
After this, Ryder took on his Twitter and posted the following teaser of his title, while also tagging the popular pro wrestling belt maker Wildcat Belts:
Zack Ryder started a YouTube show called Z! True Long Island Story back in February 2011 and proclaimed himself as the Internet Champion of the company.
The fans liked the concept, and it became a hit. The former WWE star then had a custom belt made for his title and he even defended the championship in a few WWE shows before the idea died.
Now the latest tweet suggests that Zack Ryder is looking to
revive the old concept and bring back the Internet Championship and possibly a
variation of his Z! True Long Island Story YouTube show as well.
Ryder was one of the guys released by WWE as part of their budget cuts. There is no word yet on what he is planning for his future but we should get a better idea after July 15, when his non compete clause with the company expires.
Shawn Michaels has taken a coaching position in NXT in recent times and the WWE Hall Of Famer has helped mentor many of the current generation NXT stars such as Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream.
The former World Champion recently appeared on WWE Backstage where he talked about things like working with Drew McIntyre, his work in the development territory and more.
When asked who he thinks is going to be the next big star in
the Black and Yellow brand, Shawn said that it’s a changing group of people
before naming stars such as Killer Kross and Dexter Lumis:
“As you know it’s sort of an always changing group, so
to speak, over the years, I started with Drew McIntyre, Aleister Black,
Ricochet, and The Revival. On to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa, and of
course, Adam Cole and Velveteen Dream.
“Killer Kross — or Karrion Kross — I should probably be better about saying that.” said Shawn Michaels. “Dexter Lumis, [Timothy] Thatcher, I think there’s a number of guys coming up that are going to be very interesting, and again, take NXT to that next level.”
The former DX member also talked about his friendship with Diesel and said that the current NXT stars Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez have the same kind of bonding.
Apart from this, Shawn Michaels talked about putting together the Triple H tribute segment from last Friday’s SmackDown and more. You can check out his full interview below:
Things took a very interesting turn during the night two of Impact’s Rebellion PPV and the event saw the crowning of a new Impact World Champion in Moose that was not originally on the card for the show.
Tessa Blanchard was set to defend her World title in a
triple threat match against Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards at the event.
However, both Blanchard and Edwards failed to make it to the show due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
Michael Elgin was the only one to show up and he started demanding to be declared the new World Champion because the other contestants failed to appear.
However, as the referee was going to make the announcement, Moose, who has been feuding with many TNA originals in recent times, showed up with the old TNA World Title.
Hernandez was the next to join the party and the three then
started fighting, officially starting a triple threat match for the Impact
World Heavyweight Championship.
Moose won the match after hitting a No Jackhammer Needed on
Hernandez and the former Football player left the show as new World Champion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMgzPu7whI
There is no word yet on what the company is planning for Moose after this victory but the re-introduction of the old belt could likely mean that we will see a feud between him and Tessa Blanchard to determine the undisputed champion in the coming time.
Posted April 29th, 2020 in News, WWE. Tagged: Moose.
Jon Moxley made a surprise cameo at WWE Backstage a few weeks ago but it seems his appearance didn’t sit well with the WWE officials and his wife and WWE Backstage host Renee Young got heat for the incident.
The AEW World Champion recently spoke to PWInsider to promote his upcoming Cagefighter movie where he talked about things like his life in lockdown and more.
Talking about his health, Mox described some of his injuries
and explained that the biggest contributor to his condition was the constant
travel that came with the WWE schedule:
“What ran my body down in the grounds over time was the
travel, because it’s that and getting put there two tables on house shows five
nights a week for years straight. But it’s like, I go through the table, but
then you got to jump in a car and drive 300 miles,
Even when I started getting rundown, I should have taken some time off” said Moxley. “or I should have been like, I’m injured, I shouldn’t do this, or whatever, I just kept pushing through. Foolishly, I might add because there was no gold star for that.”
When asked about his cameo at WWE Backstage and if Renee Young got heat for his appearance, he replied with “Short answer is yes.”
Though Jon Moxley refused to go into any detail so it’s hard to say how the WWE officials reacted to his appearance or what they told Young about it.
Apart from this, Mox also talked about the difference between Tony Khan and Vince McMahon and more. You can check out his full interview at this link
Christian is one of the stars WWE Universe believes should be inducted into Hall Of Fame and fans root for his name every time the WrestleMania season comes around.
The former World Champion recently had an interview with
Andrew Thompson to promote his upcoming Cagefighter: Worlds Collide movie where
he talked about a number of things.
When asked about a potential Hall Of Fame induction, Christian claimed that he doesn’t think about it on a regular basis but he does appreciate the people who want him there:
“It’s not something that I think about on a daily basis, It is what it is and I feel like the things that I’ve done, I’m content with what I’ve accomplished and it’s like, everybody gets offended. And I appreciate — I really do appreciate the people who wanna see me in there
But it’s not like this is gonna be the last year, or next year’s gonna be the last year or the year after that is gonna be the last year. So honestly I don’t think about it at all. It doesn’t bother me. But I do appreciate the people who wanna see me in there.”
During the interview, the Attitude Era star also confirmed the rumors that their E&C Pod of Awesomeness podcast was canceled due to Edge’s planned return to in-ring action.
Apart from this, Christian also talked about the recent budget cuts made by WWE. He said it’s unfortunate and it’s hard to see people who he knows lose their jobs. You can check out his full interview at this link.
Former NXT star Deonna Purrazzo was one of the stars that were let go by the company last week and the list includes names such as Kurt Angle and Rusev.
The former WWE star recently had an interview with SportsKeeda where she talked about things such as the support she has received since her release from the company and more.
When asked how she felt after getting the call from the
company, Purrazzo claimed that she knew in her heart that she would get the
call and revealed that she was unhappy with her position in the company:
“I kind of knew, in my heart, that I would get a call last week. It’s not something that I didn’t expect because I was unhappy for the last six or so months with what I was doing in NXT – and I let office people know that. We had conversations where I said, if nothing is going to happen for me, I’d just rather be let go.”
Deonna Purrazzo also discussed how the company did not announce the NXT releases publically but she decided to go online and address the situation after knowing about it.
Apart from this, the former NXT star also talked about her future and a potential AEW run as well. You can check out her comments about possibly joining WWE’s rival promotion at this link.
This week’s episode of Monday Night Raw saw Apollo Crews picking up a big victory over a current champion but things didn’t end the way he wanted to.
The former NXT star teamed up with Rey Mysterio and Aleister
Black on the show to face the team of Angel Garza, Austin Theory and Andrade in
a 6 men tag team match.
Apollo won the match for his team while pinning the US
Champion Andrade in the process. This win earned him a shot at the US
Championship later in the night.
However, the Raw star ended up suffering a leg injury while
attempting a Frogsplash in the championship match and the bout was stopped
because he couldn’t continue the match.
The company later announced on their website that Apollo Crews is not medically cleared and so he will not be able to compete in the upcoming Money In The Bank ladder match as announced.
The company has not confirmed a replacement for the high flying star so it would be interesting to see who ends up taking his place in the upcoming match.
The Money In The Bank this year will be contested at the WWE Headquarters on May 10. After Crews’ removal, the remaining confirmed participants for the bout are Daniel Bryan, Aleister Black, Rey Mysterio and King Corbin.
WWE announced the release of over a dozen stars earlier this month including names like Kurt Angle and Rusev. However the actual count was even bigger and there were many names which were let go by the company quietly.
Kalisto who has not been seen on WWE programming in recent
months became subject to such rumors and so the WWE star had to come forward to
clarify his status.
The former US Champion recently released a new video. He confirmed that he is still with WWE and revealed that he has actually been out of action due to a shoulder injury:
“I wanted to take this moment because I am seeing a lot of fans tweeting at me, messaging me: ’Where am I?’ ‘Am I still in WWE?’ and the answer is yes.
But unfortunately, I got hurt back on December 31, at the staples center in LA. So I ended up having ACL separation on my shoulder and some ligaments. Thank god no surgery but it’s a longer recovery.”
Kalisto continued by saying that he watches SmackDown and he
believes his Lucha House Party partners Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado will
win the tag team championships.
The former Champion did not provide a timetable for his return so it’s hard to say when he will be back on WWE TV but we will keep you posted on his status.
Heath Slater had been a company man for WWE from a long time and the former Nexus member has spent most of his wrestling career working for WWE in various roles.
However, the former 24/7 Champion is not associated with the company anymore and for the first time in his career, he has the option to choose from the various opportunities that are available in the wrestling world right now.
Slater recently appeared on the Chasing Glory podcast and talking about his future, the former SmackDown champion said that there are many cool things in the wrestling world right now and he wants to dabble into some of that:
“I have never been outside of the WWE. You know, I
never got to go to Japan. I’ve never been to any other federation. AEW is amazing,
they’re doing good stuff, [they’re] good people. Impact is doing good things.
I’ve never ever got to go to ROH; they have so much good talent coming from
there. Even NWA is back up with their old school stuff.
There are so many cool things out there that you can do, that’s what excites me.” said Heath Slater. “I want to dabble into some of this because I have never in my life done it. This is like a new journey for me.”
The former NXT star also claimed that he was burned out in
his position at WWE mentioning how he had been on the road for more than 10
years.
Heath Slater started his wrestling career in 2004 and he was picked up by WWE in 2006. He had been featured on WWE programming regularly ever since his main roster debut in 2010 before being released earlier this month.
Last week’s episode of SmackDown featured the 25th-anniversary celebration of Triple H’s in-ring debut for the company, however, it didn’t manage to attract the audience and the show saw another decline in viewership numbers.
The episode of the Blue Branded Show featuring the return of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon drew a total of 2.005 million viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily.
This is an 8.3% decline from the previous episode of the
show which had drawn 2.187 million viewers. This number is also down from the
overnight viewership released on Saturday morning which was counted at 2.014
million viewers.
The episode managed to draw a 0.5 rating in the key 18-49 demographic compared to a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demo for the previous episode of the Blue Brand. The episode ranked #7 in ratings for the 18-49 demographic.
The show made a new record for low viewership with these
numbers as they are the lowest SmackDown audience that have been registered
since the start of this year.
This is also the new lowest SmackDown viewership since the show moved to Fox Network in October last year and with WWE returning to taped shows recently, the numbers are only expected to get worse in the foreseeable future.