Former NXT star Dexter Lumis now going by the name Samuel Shaw will be making his return to the NWA during the Alwayz Ready PPV on June 11.
The official Twitter account of the promotion broke the news on Friday. They teased that the Tortured Artist will be competing on the show.
Though they did not reveal the opponent for Shaw. We will have to see if he gets a singles match on the PPV or if he ends up competing in a multi-man match:
“Breaking: We’ve received word that on June 11th, Samuel Shaw will be at #ALWAYZREADY?? No word yet on his plans although we’ve been informed he WILL be ready to compete.”
Breaking: We’ve received word that on June 11th, Samuel Shaw will be at #ALWAYZREADY??
No word yet on his plans although we’ve been informed he WILL be ready to compete.
Dexter Lumis was a big part of the Black and Gold era of NXT. He was one of the show’s prominent stars when they were competing with AEW in Wednesday night wars.
However, the officials did not see a future for the heavyweight star in the company after the revamp of the show. The 38-year-old was released from his contract in April this year.
Lumis has previously used the Samuel Shaw persona in Impact Wrestling and elsewhere. He made appearances for NWA before signing with WWE in 2019.
Eddie Guerrero not only inspired countless names to get into the wrestling business, but the late legend also helped aspiring wrestlers whenever he could. This list includes Hall of Famers such as Beth Phoenix.
The former divas champion recently took on her Twitter to tell a story about the late great star. She recalled the time when she was still working in the independent circuit back in 2002.
Phoenix noted that she was struggling in the ring. This is when Guerrero told her that it was all about getting back up after being knocked down:
“In 02 I met Eddie Guerrero. He kindly offered advice & helped me in the ring. Seeing I was nervous and struggling he said “The measure of a person isn’t how many times you get knocked down. It’s how many times you get back up.” Then he arm dragged me & said. “Get up!””
In 02 I met Eddie Guerrero.He kindly offered advice & helped me in the ring. Seeing I was nervous and struggling he said “The measure of a person isn’t how many times you get knocked down. It’s how many times you get back up.” Then he arm dragged me & said. “Get up!” ?Eddie
Beth Phoenix later got signed by WWE herself in 2004. She had a successful career, that includes multiple runs with the women’s title.
Unfortunately for The Glamazon, she never got to share the screen with Eddie. The wrestling veteran passed away in November 2005, months before Phoenix made her main roster debut in May 2006.
CM Punk started trending on Twitter after his big announcement on Rampage. Like many fans, the AEW locker room also took the time to show their support for their world champion.
The Straight Edge Star cut an emotional promo on the show this Friday night. He revealed that he will have to step away from the company to get a surgery.
Many AEW stars took on their Twitter to react to the news. Dax Wheeler of FTR posted a picture of them and Punk. He promised to hold down the fort until he comes back:
AEW later confirmed that CM Punk will not be relinquishing the AEW world championship. They will crown an interim champion in the meantime.
As the top-ranking singles star, Jon Moxley will get the chance to qualify for the championship bout in a singles match on Dynamite. The company also announced a battle royal to determine Mox’s opponent for the show.
Evil Uno commented on this announcement wondering what would happen if he won the battle royal and became the new champion:
I’ve Fought for the @AEW World title twice Unsuccessfully. Now that a new champion is needed! And will be crowned at #AEW#ForbiddenDoor with @njpw1972 That I spent nearly 9 yrs with. Just feels like the RIGHT time! 3rd times the charm as they say! LFG! #MurderHawkChamppic.twitter.com/bflpf5qcA2
— The Murderhawk Monster Lance Archer (@LanceHoyt) June 4, 2022
Chris Jericho has clarified his comments about CM Punk’s injury and the future of the AEW world championship after Rampage.
The AEW world champion cut an emotional promo on Rampage. He announced that he will be stepping away from the company because of an injury that requires surgery.
Though fans were left confused about the status of the AEW world championship. Chris Jericho, who was on commentary claimed that Punk will be relinquishing the title.
The Straight Edge star himself, however, said during his promo that Tony Khan declined his offer to give up the belt. This created a lot of confusion over the future of the title.
Chris Jericho Clarifies AEW Title Plans
Chris Jericho later took on his Twitter and clarified his comments. He admitted that he made a mistake and CM Punk is not going to relinquish the championship:
I misspoke. He’s not relinquishing the title…he needs to get surgery which puts him on the shelf indefinitely. https://t.co/a3vDSm3Gqx
AEW has since announced that they will be crowing an interim world champion until Punk comes back. Jon Moxley, who is the top-ranking singles star at the moment will get the chance to qualify for the championship bout in a singles match on Dynamite.
His opponent will be determined via a battle royal that will open Wednesday’s show. The winner of the match will advance to the Forbidden Door PPV on June 26 to crown the interim champion.
Tony Khan is very different from any other promotor in the history of wrestling. There is no surprise in the fact that Jeff Hardy didn’t recognize him to be the owner of AEW when he first met him. This was before he decided to join the company.
The Hardy Boyz both recently appeared on an episode of Talk Is Jericho. They discussed things such as Jeff’s time in WWE, the manner of his release, and more.
Speaking of his AEW debut, Jericho asked the Charismatic Enigma about his first impression of Khan. Hardy said that it was an incredible experience:
It Was An Incredible Experience: Jeff Hardy
“I loved it from the first [meeting]. I actually met him at Ric Flair’s anniversary party like a long time ago. I had no idea who he was.” recalled Jeff Hardy, “But then when he said ‘Yeah, I own this company called AEW. [I was like] ‘Oh wow, it’s crazy.’
We had a great time and the first impression was an incredible experience. Just getting to know him and now actually working for him it’s just [incredible]. I mean it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Apart from this, the duo also talked about things such as their reunion after Jeff Hardy’s WWE departure, dream matches, and more.
Fans got concerned about the status of Jeff Hardy after he was pulled from an announced match on Dynamite. Now Matt Hardy has revealed the reason behind it.
The AEW star opened up about his brother’s condition on the latest episode of his podcast. He revealed that Jeff actually got knocked out during their Double or Nothing match against The Young Bucks. This is why he was pulled from Dynamite.
Per Matt, his brother was running on fumes through the PPV match because of his injury. Though he still held up his end of the bargain:
“Very early on in the match Jeff was almost knocked out. So he got hurt pretty bad. That’s why he’s being pulled from the match in Los Angeles, obviously.
So he was kind of running on fumes going through the match.” said Matt Hardy, “He still held up his end of the bargain pretty good in the big scheme of things,”
Matt also revealed that Jeff Hardy actually has no recollection of their match at Double or Nothing. So it’s hard to say where exactly he suffered the injury.
Though The Broken One claimed that despite the injury, his brother did pretty good in the bout. He noted how Jeff is still a great athlete and good at what he does.
WWE superstar Liv Morgan has landed a big movie role that will see her sharing the screen with the likes of Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson.
The news was broken by Deadline which revealed that the female star has landed a role in Yale Entertainment’s darkly comic thriller titled The Kill Room.
Apart from Jackson, Thurman, and Morgan, names such as Joe Manganiello, Maya Hawke, Debi Mazar, Larry Pine, Dree Hemingway, and Leah McSweeney have previously been announced for the film.
The story of The Kill Room centers around a hitman Reggie (Manganiello), his boss (Jackson), and an art dealer (Thurman). The three have a money laundering scheme that accidentally turns Reggie into an overnight sensation.
This forces the dealer to play the art world against the underworld. Liv Morgan plays the role of an art purist in the movie.
The movie is written by Jonathan Jacobson and it will be directed by Nicol Paone. The details about its shooting schedule are not available right now.
There is no word on if Liv Morgan will have to take any extended breaks from WWE for the filming of this movie. We will keep you posted about details of this upcoming movie project.
The first-ever Wrestling Entertainment Series event in UK which was scheduled for next month has been rescheduled, or canceled entirely, depending on who you ask.
The official Twitter account of Fite TV recently shared some match graphics promoting the upcoming event including stars such as Adam Scherr and more.
The Impact Wrestling star however replied to this tweet with one of her own. She claimed that the wrestling event has actually been canceled:
Wrestling Entertainment Series has since confirmed its inaugural event will no longer be taking place on June 4th. As of this writing, the show is now scheduled for July 9th.
The event was originally scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates, but was moved to the UK due to the passing of Sheikh Khalifa. According to WES:
“It was a huge undertaking to move the event to a completely different continent on three weeks’ notice. Unfortunately, with the Queen’s jubilee celebrations and the impact that is having on the events sector in the UK, and with just three weeks to prepare, it proved to be an impossible task.”
Unfortunately we have to postpone our first event.
Wrestling Entertainment Series will now debut on July 9th at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham ??
— Wrestling Entertainment Series (@wesofficialtv) May 31, 2022
The Launch Of Wrestling Entertainment Series
Wrestling Entertainment Series is a brand-new wrestling promotion. The former NXT tag team champions Authors of Pain launched it.
The duo had not been active since their WWE release in September 2020. Though they had claimed multiple times that they were not done with wrestling.
The former tag champs finally unveiled their future plans earlier this month. They announced the launch of their own wrestling promotion with a big show from Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England on June 4.
Michelle McCool has wrestled in a few battle royals since her 2018 return. What she hasn’t done is participate in a singles match and she appears to be eying a current women’s champion for the same.
The former Divas champion recently appeared on Wives Of Wrestling podcast. She talked about things such as the different eras of wrestling and more.
Speaking about potential opponents if she were to wrestle another singles match, McCool said that she would love to work with Raw women’s champion Bianca Belair:
“If I were to ever come back, I would love to work with Bianca. It’s just crazy, she’s just crazy strong, she’s just crazy talented, but I really had fun with some of the newer girls this past Rumble,
Liv Morgan, I really enjoyed working with, Zelina, but I think Bianca.” said Michelle McCool, “Becky would be fun just to talk trash with, but yeah, I think Bianca would be the one.”
Matt Hardy had an honest conversation with Vince McMahon before leaving WWE. According to him, the boss appreciated his honesty.
The AEW star talked about the end of his last WWE run on the latest episode of his podcast. He claimed that while Mr. McMahon still saw value in him, the boss had started seeing him more as a producer than an in-ring talent.
Hardy on the other hand thought that he still had gas left in the tank. So he decided to just tell this directly to the chairman of the boards:
“I just told him, ‘I know how you see me,’ you’re trying to move me to a producer role, and I’m not ready to do that quite yet. I’m ready to still finish up in the ring, I know I have a few more years left and I’m going to go until it’s time for me to step out.”
Revealing Mr. McMahon’s reaction to the conversation, Matt Hardy said that the boss respected this truth because so many people try to lie to him:
“He absolutely respected that and he said ‘Well, thank you for being honest,’ because so many people just bullsh*t him all the time … They knew where I was going to end up.”
Matt Hardy also revealed that Triple H had pitched the idea of him leading a faction in NXT while also working as a coach for younger talents to try and keep him in the company. Hardy left WWE in March 2020.
Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out of WWE has been one of the most talked about stories of the past few weeks. There are a lot of rumors and speculations about the motivation behind their decision. However, the only people who know the complete truth are the WWE stars and the officials who handled the situation. Former WWE star AJ ‘Top Dolla’ Francis is emphasizing this fact while talking about the whole thing.
The former Hit Row member recently had an interview with Public Enemies podcast. Weighing in on the situation with Sasha Banks and Naomi, he mentioned how everyone thinks they know the truth. At the end of the day, both the wrestling stars did what they think was the right thing to do:
“I don’t know the backgrounds of what happened. I mean at the end of the day; we don’t know what was the real reason. Everybody’s gonna have a story. Everybody gonna have a reason why they did something. Everybody [will say] they know the reason that they did something.” said Top Dolla, “But at the end of the day, Sasha and Naomi felt that what they did was the right thing to do. If you agree with it, or you don’t agree with it, that was their call.”
He continued: “Are they probably gonna get punished for doing that? Yeah, probably. Are they gonna come back? I would assume. I would assume they’d come back from it. But like, you never know man.”
You can check out the full interview of Top Dolla below:
Last-minute WWE changes leading to announced appearances getting nixed is not a new thing. Lacey Evans is the latest victim of this trend.
WWE had announced on last week’s episode of Monday Night Raw that the Sassy Southern Belle will be returning to action on this week’s episode of the show.
However, the episode this week had no mention of why Evans’ match was cut. WWE did reference her appearance as the honorary Grand Marshal at the Coca-Cola 600.
WWE Rebooting Lacey Evans’ Character
Lacey is a former US Marine so the company probably wanted to time her return with the Memorial Day but plans changed and it couldn’t take place.
Lacey Evans has been away from ring for over a year. She last wrestled during the February 15, 2021 episode of Raw. She was scheduled to compete at the Elimination Chamber but was pulled due to her pregnancy.
WWE started airing vignettes for her return from the April 8 episode of SmackDown this year. She was then drafted to Raw.
Despite the vignettes promoting her as a babyface, reports suggested that Evans is supposed to work as a heel. Whether or not it actually turns out to be the case will be revealed when the female star finally makes her in-ring return.
Both Jeff Hardy and Adam Cole have been removed from a match they were previously supposed to take part in during the upcoming June 1 episode of Dynamite.
AEW had announced during last night’s Double Or Nothing PPV that The Undisputed Elite will be competing in a 10 men tag team match on Wednesday’s show.
They had confirmed that Jeff and Matt Hardy will be teaming up with Christian Cage and the AEW tag team champions Jurassic Express to face Adam Cole and company in this bout.
However, the company posted an updated graphic for the bout on Monday. In the tweet as seen below, both Hardy and Cole have been removed from the promotional image:
This match is now advertised as an 8-man tag
The team of Jeff and Matt Hardy took on The Young Bucks in a dream match during the Double Or Nothing PPV. The Hardys picked up the win in this tag team match.
Adam Cole on the other hand, competed in the finals of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament against Samoa Joe. He defeated the current ROH TV champion to win the tournament.
There is no word yet on why either of these names were removed from the match. It’s possible that one of them may not have been cleared to compete and the other was simply removed to balance things out.
William Regal was ready to finally take some time off from wrestling after over three decades following his WWE release, but Bryan Danielson talked him into joining AEW.
The former NXT General Manager recently had an interview with Talk Sport. He discussed things such as the formation of the Blackpool Combat Club and more.
Speaking about his release from WWE, Regal said that he was ready to take a year off to just guide his son. However, Bryan reached out to him about joining AEW:
“I was ready to just have a year off and do nothing but talk with my son and guide him through what he’s doing. And then Bryan called me. And if it hadn’t of been Bryan calling me, I wouldn’t probably be here now. Nobody else would have talked me into this.”
William Regal said that Danielson is like another son to him. He then explained how quickly his AEW deal was put together:
“We have a 22-year relationship, but he is like another son to me. There was just no questions asked. It was to come and do something with Bryan, but they didn’t even tell me what. ‘Course I will, yeah.’ A few days later, I was having conversations with AEW and then two weeks later I was at the pay-per-view,”
Regal was released from his WWE contract in January this year. He made his surprise AEW debut during the Revolution PPV in March. He broke up a fight between Danielson and Jon Moxley and later formed a team with them.
Tony Khan has fired back at Eric Bischoff for calling CM Punk ‘the biggest financial flop in wrestling history.’
The Double or Nothing PPV saw AEW finally pulling the trigger on the Straight Edge star. He beat Hangman Page to become the new AEW world champion. After the show, Punk was asked about his very public feud with the former WCW president. Khan, however, took it upon himself to reply to Bischoff and claimed that it’s ‘f*cking bullshit’:
“That’s fucking bullshit.” said Tony Khan, “I can tell — there’s only one person who can attest to that. I don’t what other people — I can only attest to what’s happened here, and in public record, and some of these things are a matter of public record, because of things of freedom of information and stuff. We do have over the years a good amount of financial data in pro wrestling.”
No One Has Made A Bigger Difference: Tony Khan
(via AEW & WWE)
It all started when Eric Bischoff said that AEW needs to stop catering to a specific audience. CM Punk responded by saying that fans should let “bad-take carnies” die in the dark. This is when the former wrestling promoter called out Punk and claimed that he has not been a financial success. Though according to Tony Khan, their new world champion has made a more positive impact than any other star:
“I can tell you, like no one wrestler has ever come in and made a bigger plus-delta financial difference in the history of my company going into, this is the third-year anniversary this week, going into year four no one person has ever made a more positive impact. We just did a record pay-per-view buy. Every PPV we’ve done, he’s done a four PPV cycle now, ever one of them was the record.”
Tony Khan also noted how CM Punk was the guy he put on Rampage when they clashed against SmackDown last year. He mentioned that WWE admitted to their loss in that face off and it’s a ‘matter of record in a f*cking court.’ The AEW Owner said that Punk is ‘the biggest part of financial success’ in the history of his promotion.
Tony Khan has decided not to make any public comments about the MJF situation that occurred before the Double Or Nothing PPV this Sunday.
The AEW president and owner took part in the post-media scrum after the big event. As expected, the very first question he was asked was about the young star but he declined to comment on the situation:
“I’m not gonna comment on that,” said Tony Khan, “I’ve got a lot of stuff from the pay-per-view that I can comment on, but I’m not going to comment on that.”
MJF has been unhappy with his current contract for a while. He has been looking to get a raise and has made public comments about how he should be paid more.
This started many rumors about his status for Sunday’s PPV. He wasn’t seen in the arena early in the day. AEW also stopped advertising his match with Wardlow for a bit and people were not sure about his status for the show hours before the event.
MJF did finally show up and competed in the opening match of the night. However, a report from Fightful select noted that he arrived “shortly before his match, left right after, and has a lot to think about.”
Now Tony Khan’s refusal to comment on the whole situation reaffirms that the dispute between the two parties is real. There is a lot of work that needs to be done before they are on the same page again.
CM Punk thinks that the majority of the AEW locker room likes him. The ones who don’t are the same ones who aren’t providing any value themselves.
The wrestling veteran took part in the post-media scrum after Double or Nothing PPV. He was asked about his previous comments about not fitting in the AEW locker room and how he feels now. Punk gave his best diplomatic answer to it:
“I have grown so wise in my old age that I will do my best to be as diplomatic as I possibly can with this answer. If there are people backstage that don’t like me, it’s a minority. If anybody says nobody wants me here and nobody likes me, I would like to say that nobodies don’t like me and nobodies don’t want me here.”
CM Punk main evented the Double or Nothing PPV alongside Hangman Adam Page. He defeated the Cowboy to become the new AEW World Heavyweight Champion at the show. Opening up about his recent comment of wasting his time in WWE, Punk said that he feels he never reached his full potential in Vince McMahon’s promotion:
“I said something that I think a lot of people obviously on its face will think is ridiculous. I said I feel like the seven years I was out of the ring I didn’t feel was wasted. I feel almost that the 10 years that I spent in WWE was wasted.
Because I feel it is Management, Owner, Booker, whoever’s job, is to get the most out of all the talent. I feel that I never [reached my full potential]. I reached the potential that I could have given the limitations they constantly put on me. I feel here [in AEW] there’s no limitations put on myself or anybody and sky’s the limit. So I finally feel like I could reach my potential.”
According to CM Punk, he doesn’t have to engage in silly battles in AEW. Tony Khan’s company is a place where everyone can reach their full potential:
“So that’s what I mean. When I say that. God damn, I look back on that time, and I’m like, ‘What are we doing?’ To me, you’re always trying to make the most money and put on the best possible show you can. It felt like 10 years of fighting silly battles and standing on my own d*ck and I’m not in the business of trying to stand on my own d*ck. I’ll say one more time. I don’t do that here. I think everybody here can reach their fullest potential.”
You can watch the post Double Or Nothing media scrum below:
If you use any quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription
All great and successful wrestlers have humble beginnings. Former NXT champion Tommaso Ciampa is no exception to this rule.
The wrestling veteran recently had an interview with Quetzalli Bulnes on El Brunch de WWE. During the talk, the former NXT star told the story of how he got started in wrestling. Ciampa revealed that he wanted to start his training at Killer Kowalski’s wrestling academy when he was still in school.
He couldn’t do it because his parents didn’t allow him to enroll. So Ciampa used to go to the facility and watch other students as they trained. Tommaso Ciampa finally got in after graduating high school and buying his first car:
“The rule my parents had was that I had to finish high school and I had to get my own car. So my first car was like a $500, beat-up van, like real old. [It was] terrible, rusty, but just good enough to get me to the facility and back.” said Tommaso Ciampa,
He continued, “The second I got the car, I just went and [signed up]. That was my graduation present, I paid tuition for the wrestling school. I started with Killer’s and then from there just snowball. I ended up traveling kind of all over the country with it.”
Apart from this, Ciampa also talked about his relationship with Johnny Gargano. He said that he misses sharing the locker room with his DIY partner. Though he mentioned how they live close to each other and they see each other a lot.
Bryan Danielson was one of the most shocking names to leave WWE to join AEW. Per Bryan, one big reason for it was being able to spend more time with his family.
The former world champion recently had an interview with Sports Illustrated. He talked about his upcoming Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing and more.
Speaking about his reason to join AEW, Bryan mentioned the recent Texas shooting. He explained that it made him want to spend more time with his family. The former WWE star then dived into some philosophy from a book called Four Thousand Weeks:
“The book says it’s about time management, but it’s actually a book about philosophy. The average lifespan is only 4,000 weeks. If you look at where I’m at now, I’m 2,000 weeks in, and I’ve got 2,000 weeks left. With all the craziness in the world, do I want to spend the rest of those weeks entertaining people? Or do I want to spend more time with my family?”
Bryan Danielson explained that the ability to have freedom in his wrestling career while also having more time for his family is one of the key reasons why he signed with Tony Khan’s promotion:
“That’s actually one of the reasons why I chose AEW. It allows me the ability to have a little more freedom with my wrestling and wrestle different people with different styles, but it’s also to spend more time with my family.”
Apart from this, Danielson discussed things such as the longevity of Chris Jericho, if he would consider joining the Chris Jericho appreciation society, and more.
After weeks of uncertainty over the future of the tag team titles, WWE finally made the decision to unify the titles. Last week’s episode of SmackDown saw The Usos finally defeating RK-Bro to become the new Unified Tag Team Champions. Since then, people have been discussing whether the company would take the same step with other titles as well. Corey Graves for one, believes that it would be the right thing to do.
Bully Ray recently shared the idea to replace the IC and US championship belts with a new one. Graves has now made the case for more titles to be unified during the latest episode of After The Bell. He talked about The Bloodline now holding the Unified World and Tag Team Championships and said that WWE’s mid-card titles should be next:
“I wanna talk about what’s on everybody’s mind right now this week, that being all of the gold in the WWE now belongs to The Bloodline. All of the gold meaning Universal World [title, and] now unified Tag Team Champions. Vic, I am just gonna come right out and say it, I think it is time. I think it’s beyond time. I think we take the final step. I think we need to unify the United States and Intercontinental championships as well.”
‘It Makes Everything More Important’: Corey Graves
Corey Graves. Image Credit: WWE.com
Corey Graves explained his reasoning behind the move saying that fewer titles will make everything mean more. He admitted that WWE sometimes uses championships to build stories without much effort. He explained that unified champions will be allowed to float from brand to brand and take on emerging challengers. Per Graves, having fewer titles will force stars to get over with their character work rather than just being the champion:
“Having the champions float to me just, it freshens everything up. It makes everything more important because there’s less of them. Supply and demand. If there’s only a handful of titles, the titles all become more valuable. I think it’s high time we do this.”
William Regal is not only a wrestling coach for Bryan Danielson but a mentor in life as well. It’s only fitting that the two are now getting to share the screen alongside members of the Blackpool Combat Club. Though according to Bryan, he never thought it would be possible because he believed WWE would not let someone like Regal go.
The former world champion recently spoke to WrestleRant Radio. During the talk, he was asked if he ever envisioned forming a team with William Regal in AEW like he has. Bryan said that he never thought it would be possible. He then told a story about how the legendary wrestler helped him during his retirement when WWE made him the General Manager of SmackDown in 2016:
“To be fair, I never thought WWE would let him go. Because he is such a valuable commodity and all the talent loves him. Right? He’s helped a lot of talent more than just like in-ring wrestling. I’ll give you an example for me specifically, when I was forced to retire. Then they brought me in as GM.” recalled Bryan Danielson,
He continued, “I was actually relatively settled at ‘Okay, I get it, I should probably retire,’ They had wanted me to retire. But then when they brought me in as the GM. All of a sudden now I’m forced to be around wrestling. It was driving me crazy. It was making me ready to quit. Regal was the one who talked me off the ledge. He is always great with advice. He has a lot of perspective, given that he has been in wrestling since the mid-80s.”
Major League Wrestling has announced that they have officially signed Lance Anoa’i, the cousin of current WWE Undisputed World champion Roman Reigns.
The wrestling promotion sent out a press release highlighting the heritage of the young star that includes being the grandson of legendary Afa the Wild Samoan:
“Lance Anoa’i, the grandson of the legendary Afa the Wild Samoan, son of Headshrinker Samu and cousin of Roman Reigns has signed with MLW. Lance’s new deal with MLW ensures the new era Samoan SWAT Team will be a force in the league for years to come.”
The 30-year-old made his wrestling debut back in 2010. He has since been wrestling on the independent circuit and has competed for a few known organizations.
This isn’t the first time Lance will be competing for MLW. He made his debut for the promotion back in March 2018. He has made several appearances for them since then.
Lance Anoa’i has also had multiple tryouts with WWE in the late 2010s. He has made several appearances as an enhancement talent for the company as well.
Back in May 2019, he represented the Anoa’i family in a match against Shane McMahon. Lance Anoa’i lost the bout and was saved by Roman Reigns from a post-match beatdown by McMahon and Drew McIntyre.
Queen Zelina Vega has disappeared from WWE TV in recent weeks. New reports suggest that the reason behind this is an injury she suffered recently.
According to PWInsider, the winner of the Inaugural Queen’s Crown tournament has undergone surgery recently.
While the nature of her injury is not known, Vega is expected to stay out of action for another 6 to 8 weeks. This means she should be ready to return around SummerSlam.
The report also noted that the female star’s hard work and her willingness to do what was requested of her have been noticed behind the scenes.
There have been talks of the former women’s tag team champion receiving a push because of it when she makes her return to WWE programming.
Zelina Vega returned to WWE back in July 2021. She defeated Doudrop to win the Queen’s Crown tournament during the Crown Jewel PPV in October last year.
She also won the women’s tag team championship with Carmella back in November. Their reign lasted for 132 days.
Queen Zelina last wrestled during the April 4 episode of Monday Night Raw. The episode saw Bianca Belair defeating Vega in a match that lasted less than 3 minutes.
Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, collectively known as The Street Profits have been a tag team since 2016. In this time, they have won tag team gold in all three of the WWE’s televised brands, including NXT, Raw, and SmackDown as well. When it comes to WWE this tag team run is on the longer side. Many wonder if the company may now be looking to break them up.
These talks have specially picked up after Montez Ford had a one-on-one match with Roman Reigns last year and showed that he had the potential to make it big as a singles star. Though if Angelo Dawkins is to be believed, there hasn’t really been any talk in this direction behind the scenes.
The Street Profit member recently had an interview with NBC Sports Boston. He was asked if there has been any discussions about the two going separate ways. Dawkins responded to it negatively, but he also explained that it’s not only Montez Ford who has the potential to make it big if the split does happen:
“No, not really. I mean obviously Tez had his match against Roman last year, I think. So like, obviously he’s proven that he can go out there and handle business by himself. I [have] just been around, you know, just handling business. The cool part about it is, Tez is so good. I know everybody wants to see him and I want to see [him] do great things as well.” said Angelo Dawkins,
He continued: “But the cool part about all of that is nobody knows what I can really do. So I’m like, I can hide over here. Like still do our thing in the Tag Team division and it’s like, ‘oh, Tez is the athletic one.’ Then here I come with [my own moves]. One time I dove. Everybody was like ‘Wait, what?’ I was like ‘yeah. I really ain’t gotta worry about that because Tez is the one that usually does all that stuff.’ So obviously I’m the guy that comes in and just beats people up, throw them around. [So] that’s that. But nobody knows how much of an arsenal I really have.”
Will Ospreay has been making headlines with his comments about WWE recently. He has now called out WWE stars in a manner that is sure to get some attention.
Speaking about WWE stars, Ospreay told them that they aren’t wrestlers. Per the high-flying star, it’s not a dig but the reality of the situation:
“You guys aren’t wrestlers, you’re actors and you just do wrestling and I don’t think that’s a dig. You guys make way more money than me like, good on you, but I just feel like when I say proudly, ‘That’s a wrestler. I am a wrestler, I am not an actor,’
But I know you guys can wrestle, you’re just not really allowed to show it, I guess.” said Will Ospreay, “But other than you want to make a lot of money and retire, that’s what WWE is kind of for these days.”
Apart from this, the NJPW star also talked about the upcoming Forbidden Door PPV. He revealed which AEW star he would like to face on the joint show.
What do you think about Will Ospreay’s comments about WWE stars? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
