In the build-up to WrestleMania, Otis, Mandy Rose, Dolph Ziggler, and Sonya Deville were involved in a tangled romantic storyline. Otis and Mandy Rose were the couple everyone wanted to get together but Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville conspired to keep them apart. Then on the second night of WrestleMania 36, Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler and then he and Mandy Rose embraced.
Rose was recently interviewed by SI.com. During the interview, she detailed pitching the storyline to Vince McMahon and his reaction.
“It’s hard to get in Vince’s office, but I finally got in and I pitched this story,” Rose said. “He loved it, he had some ideas, and then Sonya and I had a lot of say in the creative, which was really cool. We were able to write a lot of it. We all worked together, and that’s one of the reasons it’s worked so well. Everyone’s been really passionate about it.”
Rose would continue to talk about what Otis is like in real-life when he’s off-camera.
“Ever since we met in NXT, we’d always joke around together,” she continued. “He’d call me ‘Mandy Candy’ and cut different promos, and it was really cute. He’s just so charismatic, even when he’s not on camera. He makes us laugh the same amount when he’s off-camera. He’s funny and super sweet, and he’s so kind, which is one of the best qualities.”
In many ways, the angle has helped propel Rose, Deville, and Otis further up the card in WWE. Deville’s emotional promo on the Smackdown following WrestleMania has also been heavily-praised by many. As for Ziggler, the match against Otis was his first single’s match at WrestleMania.
Becky Lynch will appear on the season premiere of the Showtime series “Billions.” Season 5 of the hit show will debut at 9 PM est on Sunday, May 3rd, 2020. The news was announced today on the latest episode of WWE’s the Bump.
Lynch and series co-creator Brian Koppelman were interviewed on the Bump today. While Lynch’s appearance on the show was praised by Koppelman, there is still no word on what type of role she will be in on the show.
Last year, Koppelman was spotted wearing a Becky Lynch shirt at a watch party. He went on to say that “the Man” had a standing invitation to appear on an episode of the show.
In addition to Koppelman, Billions was created by David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin. It stars Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, Maggie Siff, and more. The show is loosely based on the former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara. The character of Charles “Chuck” Rhoades Jr. is said to be inspired by Bharara.
Former Knockouts and Reina de Reinas Champion, Taya Valkyrie, was recently a guest on Konnan’s “Keepin it 100” podcast. During the conversation, Taya talked about what she has been enjoying about empty arena wrestling as of late.
“I watch everything, I try to, at least. So, we’re watching WWE, we’re watching AEW, AAA stuff I watch stuff on YouTube when we can,” Taya said about which promotions she follows. She also noted that empty arena wrestling was hard for her to watch at first.
“I thought it was weird at first,” Taya responded when Konnan asked her about empty arena matches. “I think it’s fine, I actually enjoy a lot of promo segments more without fans because you can really understand what everybody’s saying.”
She continued to use the example of the Miz and Morrison’s segments on Smackdown lately.
“I’m going to put over Mike (the Miz) and John’s (Morrison) segment from this past Friday and they did a really cool in-ring thing and then they sang their rap live. It was cool because you can hear them, you’re paying attention to them and not the reaction of the fans.”
Disco Inferno then chimed in that fans are unable to hijack any segments.
“It reminded me more of a television segment like on Saturday Night Live,” Taya continued.
In addition to wrestling for Impact Wrestling as of late, Taya has been seen in the last couple of Being the Elite episodes. She has been a character in Luchasaurus’ ongoing search for his tail. In Lucha Underground, Taya’s character chopped the head off Luchasaurus’ character.
Bronson Rechsteiner signed with Baltimore Ravens recently. He is the son of Rick Steiner and nephew of “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner. The Steiner Brothers and the newly signed Raven spoke with SI.com recently about Bronson’s football career and the possibility he might become a wrestler someday as well.
“I’m open to it,” said Rechsteiner about a career in pro-wrestling. “But I know wrestling will always be there for me. It’s always been my dream to carry the family’s legacy in professional sports, and I’m staying focused on taking football as far as I can.”
Rechsteiner will be the second son of a tag-team wrestling legend to enter the NFL in recent years. Road Warrior Animal’s son, James Laurinaitis, played in the league from 2009-2016. The Steiners talked about how Laurinaitis has spoken to Bronson and given him advice.
“Bronson called Animal’s son James to talk to him a little bit. He gave Bronson some pointers and helped him out a lot. I stay in touch with some of those guys—Animal, Goldberg, Sting—and Animal called me on Saturday over the weekend to see if I’d heard anything.”
Big Poppa Pump is currently recovering from a health-scare. Steiner collapsed backstage at an Impact Wrestling taping but has since made a remarkable recovery. He also spoke about Bronson’s signing with the Ravens during the interview.
“Animal’s son had a great career, and Bronson’s hopefully on his way, too,” added Scott Steiner. “He’s always intense, and you can always count on him giving 100 percent.”
WCW Legend Rick Steiner 'Super Proud' After Son Signs with Baltimore Ravens https://t.co/sGNEkyhKFY
Impact Wrestling presented night 2 of its 2-part Rebellion event this week. The show advertised an update to the Impact world title situation with Tessa Blanchard unable to attend the tapings and top-challenger Eddie Edwards absent as well.
Impact Wrestling 4/28/20 Quick Results:
Chris Bey defeated Rohit Raju vs Suicide vs Trey
Joey Ryan defeated Cousin Jake
Full Metal Mayhem Rosemary defeated Havok
Unofficial TNA World Heavyweight Championship Moose defeated Michael Elgin vs Hernandez
Here are 6 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 4/28/20:
Moose Declares Himself TNA World Champion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHZLT0ibRVA&t=7s
Michael Elgin came out to cut a promo on Tessa Blanchard and Eddie Edwards. He noted that Blanchard is stuck in Mexico and therefore the only fitting thing to do would be for him to be declared the new Impact World Champion. As David Penzer was introducing him as the new champion, however, the lights went out and Moose’s music hit.
Moose came to the ring with the old TNA World Championship belt wrapped around his waist. He then said he ran off everyone from the old TNA so he’s the rightful TNA champ. This brought out Hernandez who said if you want to be a real world champion, you have to beat someone. A 3-way between Hernadez vs Moose vs Michael Elgin then began.
Moose Wins “TNA World Title”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyMgzPu7whI&t=92s
During the 3-way match, Elgin hit a Buckle Bomb on Hernandez and looked to have the match won. Moose pulled the referee out of the ring, however, breaking up the pin. Elgin was then distracted on the outside with the official as Hernadez dove on top of him, taking Elgin out of the match. As the action went back inside the ring, Moose hit a “No Jackhammer Needed” spear on Hernandez and got the win.
Moose, who was wearing some Ultimate Warrior inspired gear for the match, insisted that David Penzer announce him as the winner and new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
Impact World Champion, Tessa Blanchard, has already reacted to Moose’s claim to the title.
With Taya Valkyrie and Jordynne Grace unavailable, the scheduled Full Metal Mayhem match at Rebellion was changed to feature Havok taking on Rosemary. These two have fought together and apart in the undead realm but this week they would be within the confines of a wrestling ring.
Midway through this match, Nevaeh appeared in the live crowd and was watching the action. In RISE, Navaeh and Havok are the current tag-team champions, though this wasn’t brought up on commentary.
This match would involve chains, chairs, and any other weapons these two could find. Ultimately, Rosemary would hit Havok twice with a very large lead pipe to score the victory.
Joseph P. Ryan Attempts To Cancel Cousin Jake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwMcn0t1HRo
Joseph P. Ryan of #CancelCulture took on Cousin Jake of the Deaners this week. We’ve seen Cancel Culture members Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes complain about the Deaners’ “toxic masculinity” and this week Ryan attempted to score the victory and cancel the popular tag-team.
Ryan would pick up the win but he needed to use underhanded tactics to do so. After Cousin Jake kicked out of a superkick, Ryan opted to roll his opponent up and grab the ropes for leverage to score the 3-count. A rematch between these two has already been announced for next week.
Chris Bey Scores Big Win In X-Division Fatal 4-Way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kkh1S3SBE
Chris Bey picked up a big victory in an X-Division fatal 4-way match to kick things off this week. It looked as though Trey put away Suicide with a Meteora but Rohit Raju tossed him out of the ring and attempted to steal the pin. Bey then kicked Raju in the spine and covered him to get the 3-count.
X-Division Champion Willie Mack was likely watching this match closely. Bey likely has moved closer to a shot at Mack’s title.
Next week on Impact Wrestling, we’ll hear from Sami Callihan for the first time since he lost to Ken Shamrock at Rebellion last week. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander will somehow defend the tag titles as well. The North have said they will face some of Canada’s top tag-teams while the border is closed. We will also get a rematch from this week as Cousin Jake gets another shot at Cancel Culture’s Joey Ryan. Madison Rayne will also host another edition of Locker Room talk and welcome Havok as her guest.
Impact Tag Team Championships The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) vs TBD
Jinder Mahal returned to WWE last night on RAW. The former WWE Champion defeated Akira Tozawa in his return from an extended stay on the injured list. It was his first match since a WWE house show on June 15th, 2019. A knee injury hindered Jinder for over 10 months.
WWE correspondents caught up with Jinder backstage at RAW last night. The former champion said he feels disrespected by the WWE fans and his fellow Superstars during the interview.
“Congratulations? You want to congratulate me? I feel disrespected. I feel disrespected by my peers, by the WWE universe,” Jinder said during the conversation. “People thought I was gone for good. I was injured, I had knee surgery, they thought that was it.”
Jinder then continued to talk about his many accomplishments in WWE. These include his run as WWE Champion from May 21, 2017, until November 7th, 2017.
“I’m a former United States champion, a former WWE Champion. I haven’t forgotten that. Akira Tozawa hasn’t forgotten that and I strongly suggest that all of you do not forget.”
Last week’s edition of Dynamite was headlined by Dustin Rhodes vs Kip Sabian in the 1st round of the TNT title tournament. Rhodes put his career on the line in the match as well. Rhodes defeated Sabian and will now face Jake Roberts’ client Lance Archer in the semi-finals.
AEW published a promo from Roberts recently where the legend talks about the upcoming match between Archer and Rhodes.
“Let me think about this, Dustin,” Roberts begins the promo. “Last week, you were talking about retiring if you couldn’t beat Kip Sabian. Christ, you squeaked by that. My friend, it’s not a good thing because now you’re set to go against Lance Archer.”
Dustin Rhodes is also shown in the video. Rhodes noted that he now understands he has the support of the AEW fan base.
“Lance Archer doesn’t need the fans, he feeds off his own anger,” Jake Roberts continued. “He wants to hurt somebody and you happen to be a Rhodes, that makes it even better.”
“I’m laying it out there plain and simple, Lance will F you up!”
“It’s better to acknowledge the fear and the truth and walk away,” Roberts continued. “If you don’t walk away from this, you’ll be carried away from this. Goodbye, old friend.”
In 1998, there were rumors that WCW wanted Chris Jericho to join the NWO. On the Nitro just after Road Wild that year, the NWO’s Giant helped him win the TV title. Many fans took that as the beginning of Jericho joining the group. It never happened, however, and Giant helping Jericho win the title was never explained.
Bischoff commented recently on Jericho not wanting to join the faction on an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast. He told Conrad Thompson that Jericho wasn’t in a position to turn anything down.
“He didn’t turn down anything, Chris didn’t have creative control,” Bischoff said on the show. “Could it have been suggested? Could he have balked? Yeah, I’ll go with that as a possibility.”
According to Jericho’s book, he felt as though he had a good thing going outside the NWO at the time.
Bischoff continued to say he has no recollection of wanting Jericho to join the NWO.
“There may have been some discussion about the NWO – which, by the way, I don’t recall because I can’t imagine that making any sense. The only thing I really recall and I’m probably fast-forwarding just a little bit is Chris really wanted to work with Bill Goldberg and that was a problem for me for a lot of reasons. There were a couple of reasons that were pretty significant.”
Bischoff continued to say that he may have suggested the idea to Jericho but it was never anything firm.
“I guarantee you I never went to Chris and said ‘Chris this is what I want you to do’ and Chris said ‘no, I’m not going to do that.’ That never happened.”
On the debut episode of AEW Dynamite, Chris Jericho aligned himself with Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, and Santana & Ortiz. Shortly after, the faction would be named “the Inner Circle.”
During a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Jericho commented on the possibility of adding new members to the group. According to Le Champion, he’s not opposed to the idea but it would have to make sense in storyline.
“It depends on what happens in the storylines,” Jericho said about adding more members to the faction. “To me, everything is based on the story, the story that we’re telling, what fits, what doesn’t fit. I think one of the downfalls of the original nWo was when they started having Virgil and guys like that in there. It kind of takes some of the exclusiveness and cool factor.”
“I’m not opposed to it, but I’m not actively searching for new members,” Jericho continued.
Jericho has been on commentary during recent episodes of Dynamite. He was also dropped from the top-5 rankings that were released on Friday. Jericho has only wrestled one single’s match in 2020, dropping the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at Revolution.
The 201st episode of Being the Elite was released on YouTube today. At the start of the episode, Matt and Nick loosely address rumors that BTE was finishing soon.
“When are we going to end it, who knows?” Nick asked.
Nick then said he had some bad news he had to deliver. Last week, the show ended with a tease that the brothers “had something else to do” and as it turns out, Nick went back to the hospital to get checked out. He went straight to the hospital and doctors told him his health is only at 15%. Far from what he’ll need to be to return to the ring.
Matt then said he also went to the hospital and doctors told him his back is hurt for another 2 years. He lamented that fans might get tired of him selling the injury for that long.
As they were sitting around talking, they noticed a message in the sky. At the conclusion of the episode, the message in the sky was revealed and displayed, “FTR.”
The episode also features an update on Luchasaurus searching for his tail. This week he turned to “Dr.” PJ Black for help. He ended up going on quite the psychedelic journey as a result. Brandon Cutler is starting the “kick out challenge” in an attempt to improve his losing AEW record. Colt Cabana also gets himself on the show again. Private Party is also trying to solve the mystery of who threw an exploding bear at them.
The full episode can be viewed in the player below:
Major League Wrestling presented a new episode of Fusion this weekend on YouTube and BeIN Sports. The show featured the 5th and 6th matches in the MLW vs AAA Super Series.
The full episode can be viewed in the player below:
MLW Fusion 4/25/20 Quick Results
Caribbean Championship Richard Holiday (c) defeated Chessman
Hart Foundation (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Brian Pillman Jr.) defeated Texano Jr. & Rey Escorpion Jr.
Hart Foundation Give MLW A 4-2 Lead In Super Series
Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Brian Pillman Jr. teamed up for the first time in many months this week. They took the early advantage in their match against Texano and Rey Escorpion Jr. but the members of Injustice would change that. The trio caused a distraction while Pillman was in the ring, allowing the AAA team to take control of the match.
There was several examples of referee bias toward AAA wrestlers in this match as well. Davey Boy was prevented from tagging in during a key moment for his team. Eventually, Pillman fought off both opponents and tagged in Davey Boy right in front of the referee. Davey Boy cleared house and Pillman hit a plancha to the outside. The Hart Foundation then hit a modified version of the Hart Attack (with Pillman springboarding off the ropes and Davey Boy holding up Texano) for the win!
With the win, MLW goes up 4-2 in the MLW vs AAA Super Series.
Richard Holliday Retains “His” Caribbean Championship
In previous episodes, we’ve seen that Holiday didn’t even know who he would be defending his title against in Tijuana. It should also be noted that the Caribbean Championship doesn’t actually belong to him. Savio Vega is the rightful holder of the title that Holliday is in possession of. Despite this, Holliday’s lawyer/father continues to lobby for the belt to be made an official MLW title.
Holiday informed the fans in attendance that they likely would not be able to afford his air pods, ingratiating himself to them. Chessman then took the early control of the match before Holiday hit him with a chair. Chessman would battle back but would miss a top-rope move allowing Holiday to hit the Market Crash for the win.
Low-Ki Interrupts Team Filthy Press Conference
A press conference featuring the members of Team Filthy was planned for this week. It never happened, however. Low-Ki is reported to have gone after Dan Lambert and then Team Filthy left before the press conference could begin. Lambert played an instrumental role in King Mo’s controversial victory over Low-Ki a few weeks back.
Low-Ki was filmed in the parking lot telling Team Filthy and American Top Team that they are the ones who started this war.
The officiating during the MLW vs AAA Super Series has been suspect at best. Douglas James was denied a victory over Averno after a long 2-count during his match. Tom Lawlor and Dominic Garrini were denied a blind tag in their match last week as well. It was noted on this week’s MLW broadcast that the league has issued a formal complaint to AAA regarding the officiating.
Last week on Fusion, Mance Warner shoved Alexander Hammerstone’s face into Alicia Atout’s birthday cake. This week, Warner apologized to Atout and offered her a light beer as a gift. Atout told Warner she was happy he sent MJF out of the territory and suggested he could turn his attention to other members of the Dynasty as well. Warner said he’d like to get some gold like Hammerstone’s National Openweight title.
A video was shown featuring Hammerstone saying the Openweight title is like his birth certificate, as in it always has his name on it. These two are bound to clash for that belt sometime soon.
Inustice will get a shot at the AAA Trios titles next week when they take on Los Jinetes del Aire (El Hijo del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. & Octagon Jr.). This match came about after Injustice and Konnan had a backstage run-in previously. Brian Pillman Jr. may be watching this match closely. The members of Injustice came out to distract him this week and Pillman still wants revenge for the faction’s recent attack on him. Pillman is also said to be losing weight in order to qualify for a middleweight title shot against Myron Reed.
WWE 2K Battlegrounds is the new video game is development.
Following the recent confirmation that WWE 2K21 has been shelved, 2K has announced the launch of WWE 2K Battlegrounds. The game will be an arcade-style action experience easy for newcomers to pick-up. The tagline reads, “Brawl Without Limits.”
“We’re thrilled to introduce you to WWE 2K Battlegrounds, a completely new WWE gaming experience that will feature arcade-style action and over-the-top Superstar designs, environments and moves,” 2K’s press release reads. “We’re focusing on social pick-up-and-play fun, but with plenty of depth for those who want to get way into it.”
WWE 2K Battlegrounds will be released for home video game consoles this fall.
A trailer for the upcoming game can be viewed below.
WWE 2K Battlegrounds Trailer
As for the future of WWE 2K games, the press release confirmed again there will be no WWE 2K21 game. The company announced they have extended the development timeline for the next game.
“We are extending the production timeline and will not be releasing a WWE 2K simulation game in 2020 (T2 fiscal year 2021). We want to ensure the development team at Visual Concepts can create a great game that will entertain grizzled WWE 2K veterans, as well as newcomers who want to climb through the ropes and step into the ring for the very first time.”
2K also announced that they have hired Patrick Gilmore as the next Executive Producer.
Marty Scurll was the first guest on the new ROH Strong podcast. During the conversation, Scurll talked about the company’s decision to cancel shows and mentioned that ROH has filmed a handful of empty arena matches.
ROH was forced to cancel its planned 18th Anniversary PPV on March 13th and television taping scheduled for the next night. The company then announced on March 17th that they were canceling all shows up to May 31st.
“It broke my heart but I was like ‘we can’t run these shows,'” Scurll said on the show. “This is way bigger than pro-wrestling, like, that would be so irresponsible for us to run a wrestling show.”
Scurll continued to talk about how the predicament was particularly upsetting for him as he is just starting in his new position with the company.
“No one was more heartbroken then myself,” Scurll continued. “Even though I’ve sort of been hands-on with the show since January, I felt like these were really my first shows that I had full control of.”
“I put so many hours of time and thought into these shows.”
Marty Scurll On Canceled ROH Shows
Scurll continued to say he had a lot planned for the weekend.
“I had a lot of surprises in store for that weekend, a lot of new and exciting things,” he continued. “I wanted so badly for those shows to happen but ultimately, it wasn’t worth putting people’s lives at risk.”
He continued to say that ROH did film a few empty arena matches in Vegas. The matches involved talent who had already arrived in Vegas before the shows were canceled.
“We discussed about doing empty arena shows and everything else. We actually did film a handful of matches with no fans with some of the talent that was there just to see how it would look and if we can make something from it,” he continued. Ultimately, Scurll says the decision was made to save the “Past vs Present” concept until a time when they can do it right.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman is currently on the shelf with a hangnail. He updated fans on his condition during the latest episode of AEW Dynamite. Recently, MJF took a shot at both EC3 and Drake Maverick on Facebook. Friedman said that EC3’s new gimmick appears to be a Jon Moxley rip-off and he told him and Maverick to sign with Impact Wrestling since they are the only promotion who would take them.
“Hey Essential Character III (EC3) or whatever name you call yourself these days, why don’t you take your loser gimmick back to Impact Wrestling, the only company that will take your new Jon Moxley rip off character and take that irritating little weasel Drake Maverick/Rockstar Spud with you!” MJF wrote on Facebook. “Extended an olive branch to you and what did you do with it, spat in the face of someone who is better than you and you know it!”
EC3 had mentioned MJF in a recent video he posted.
“The Top 1% is a character that could garner a reaction, to entertain you, and its a character I could do better than anybody else, MJF,” EC3 says in the video. “It was a reality, though, that I simply imitated.”
ec3 character synopsis?? ?? Created by a perfect storm of frustration, angst, restraint, solitude and the sense of losing everything, the character of ec3 forced himself to consider the inconceivable.?? ?? That he was defeated.?? pic.twitter.com/63vA5avDgg
Chelsea Green is currently a part of the Robert Stone Brand on NXT programming. Green’s WWE career is just getting started but for many their time in the company came to an end earlier this month. Green was recently interviewed by WCSN and commented on the releases which included her partner, Zack Ryder and her friend, Deonna Purrazzo.
“This has been happening all over the world in every profession,” Green said. “It’s really, really unfortunate that two of the people who are closest to me in my life were released, but on the other hand, both of them are going to go on to do so much more, and I would feel terrible if that wasn’t the case, but that’s the case.”
Green continued to talk about how she is looking forward to seeing what both Ryder and Purrazzo do outside of WWE.
“Deonna has so much potential,” Green continued. “She was not used in the capacity she should have been used in. Matt has so much potential and has continued to prove that throughout his entire career. So, whatever Matt does, he’s fine.”
Green also noted during the interview that Lance Storm was a big influence on her career. She trained at the Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary. Storm shut the school down last year in order to work on the road with WWE as a producer. He was then one of the many producers who were either furloughed or released earlier this month.
“He really is like a dad to me, and to PeytonRoyce, and to Rachael, and everyone who’s gone through his school,” Green said about Storm.
Green last competed in the #1 contenders ladder match for the NXT women’s championship. She almost won the match as well but a knee injury prevented her from climbing the ladder. Highlights of the match can be seen below:
Dark Side of the Ring’s second season continues this week with an episode focussed on Dr. D David Schultz and his run-in with reporter John Stossel. The Rock recently commented on the upcoming episode.
The Great One noted on Twitter that he has already seen a cut of the episode and recommends wrestling fans watch. He tweeted, “This man was one of my all time fav heels (bad guys) in pro wrestling and an influence on me when I first shook his hand in Hawaii when I was 12. I’ve seen an early cut of this episode and highly recommend you watch, if you have any squared circle DNA in your blood. #DrD”
Schultz and Stossel were involved in an altercation backstage at Madison Square Garden in 1984. Stossel stated that he believed pro-wrestling was fake and Schultz physically assaulted him in response.
The episode will air Tuesday night at 10 pm on Vice TV and on Crave in Canada.
Schultz was fired from the WWF in 1984 possibly because of his altercation with reporter John Stossel. There are those who believe he may have been let go due to an altercation backstage with Mr. T, however. He returned to wrestle in Memphis after the incident but retired shortly after. Schultz then opened a bail bonds company.
Schultz was awarded the men’s Wrestling Award by the Cauliflower Alley Club in 2019. He is also a former 3x North American Champion in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling from Calgary and was inducted into the promotion’s Hall of Fame.
Eric Bischoff recently responded to a fan on Twitter who asked why he does not like the term “Attitude Era.” According to Bischoff’s response, WWE’s Attitude Era was influenced by WCW Nitro and the product that the company he was President of was presenting at the time.
“Because the Attitude Era was nothing more than a derivative (I’m being elegant) of the nWo and Nitro era which forced WWE to abandon their previous creative strategy and presentation to compete with a new formula,” Bischoff Tweeted.
Bully Ray then noted on Twitter that ECW influenced both WCW and WWE at the time. The ECW alumni posted the following to Twitter in response to Bischoff’s comments:
And, the nWo, Nitro and Attitude Era were nothing more than a derivative of the ECW era.
ECW was the Napster of the wrestling business.
Both co’s may have gone out of business…but both co’s revolutionized their respective industries.
“I really do believe that they need more emphasis on story,” Bischoff said of the young promotion. “I know they have stories, I’m not suggesting that they don’t. Please don’t misunderstand me, that’s not what I mean. But what I do mean is, I think the storytelling? Could be vastly improved. I think the character development could really be improved. Not AS much as the storytelling, because they’ve got some great characters. But I do believe that the characters could be developed to be a little bit more unique. To be a little more different from each other. There’s a ‘sameness’ to the characters. It’s just the way I see things, in the way I interpret things.”
Taynara Conti was one of the many wrestlers released from WWE this month. Conti had been assigned to the NXT brand. She had been with the company since 2017.
“It’s been more than a week and I’ve said nothing yet but here I am,” Conti says in the video.
“First of all, I want to say that I’m okay. I’m happy, I’m healthy, and most important, I’m so excited for the future, for real.”
“As you guys know, I don’t work for WWE anymore. I was with the company for 2 and a half years or so, a little bit more I guess. Honestly, it was the most crazy and amazing opportunity of my whole life. I will always be grateful because WWE changed my life, and for the better. I came here to US and I had no English, I had no idea what wrestling was before.”
Conti also spoke about how her enthusiasm for WWE started to decrease in recent months.
“In the last couple of months, I was not feeling like that anymore, I was not happy,” she continued. Conti would then confirm she asked for her release a few months back.
“I asked for my release about 2 months ago and they were not able to give it to me by then and I had no option but to try again. Then in the middle of the pandemic, I got a call ‘Hey Tay, goodbye!’ They released me.”
As for what’s next for Conti, she mentioned that she wants to learn more about non-WWE wrestling.
“I want to learn wrestling more because I just know WWE and wrestling is much bigger than that,” she continued.
Hi guys, here it’s my video talking about my release from WWE and my future steps.
Former XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck is suing Vince McMahon. Luck was not listed as a creditor during the XFL’s bankruptcy filings. According to a recent statement issued by Vince McMahon’s attorneys, this was because Luck was terminated from the position on April 9th, 2020.
McMahon has issued the below statement on the lawsuit through his attorneys:
“Oliver Luck’s services as Commissioner and CEO of The XFL were terminated by a letter sent to him on Apr. 9, 2020 which explained the reasons for the termination. As to the lawsuit he filed, his allegations will be disputed and the position of Mr. McMahon will be set forth in our response to his lawsuit.”
Luck’s XFL contract was believed to be worth $20-25 million over 5 years depending on how well the league performed. The agreement stipulated he would receive all money owed if terminated without cause. His lawsuit is seeking to recoup the money owed on the contract.
The league issued the following statement to TMZ earlier this month:
“Unfortunately, as a new enterprise, we were not insulated from the harsh economic impacts and uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, we have filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. This is a heartbreaking time for many, including our passionate fans, players and staff, and we are thankful to them, our television partners, and the many Americans who rallied to the XFL for the love of football.”
AEW updated its rankings on Friday, April 24th, 2020. The promotion normally releases its new rankings every Wednesday. The rankings were briefly available on AEW’s website on the 22nd but that edition has since been removed.
The updated rankings involve Chris Jericho dropping out of the top-5 altogether. The tag-team and women’s rankings are unchanged from the ones posted on April 22nd.
Darby Allin also goes from unranked to #3 after defeating Sammy Guevara in the TNT title tournament this week. Jake Hager had been ranked #4 and Lance Archer #5 but they switched places between the April 22nd and 24th rankings despite neither of them competing on Dynamite this week.
The image of the rankings posted on April 22nd is below:
The updated rankings as of April 24th are below:
It is possible that Chris Jericho’s 0-1 single’s record in 2020 is why he was removed from the top-5. His only single’s match this year was when he dropped the AEW World Championship to Jon Moxley at Revolution.
AEW Women’s and Tag Team Rankings
Both the women’s and tag-team divisional rankings stayed the same between the Wednesday and Friday editions of the rankings. They are below:
Last night’s edition of WWE Smackdown featured tributes to Triple H’s 25 years with WWE. Vince McMahon also sent out a tweet commemorating Triple H’s time with the company. President of the United States, Donald Trump, replied to the post stating he believes Triple H is a “total winner.”
Donald Trump is a WWE Hall of Fame inductee. He was inducted into the celebrity wing of the HOF in 2013. Other inductees that year include Mick Foley, Bruno Sammartino, Trish Stratus, Booker T, and Bob Backlund.
Triple H’s 25 Years In WWE
Triple H’s quarter-century in WWE was celebrated on Smackdown this week and several people have been congratulating him online as well. In a recent interview with ESPN, Triple H commented on some of his favorite matches from his career.
“Probably myself vs. The Undertaker in “Hell in a Cell” [at WrestleMania 28]. They billed it as an “End of an Era” match. Shawn Michaels was the guest referee. I think it was the most meaningful for the three of us — the end of all of our time together, the last big hurrah in the ring. So that one really stands out to me.”
Jon Moxley plays the role of Randy Stone in the upcoming film “Cagefighter: Worlds Collide.” The film also stars Chuck Liddell, Christian, Luke Rockhold, Gina Gershon, and more. Moxley’s character is a former pro-wrestler transitioning into MMA. Footage of Moxley from AEW is shown in the film’s trailer.
Moxley spoke with “With Spandex” recently about how Christian got him involved in the film.
“I got a call from Jay Reso, who wrestling fans know as Christian. He was working as an executive producer on the movie,” Moxley said during the interview. “It was very shortly after I had left the previous place, WWE, and was a free agent, and he said they were looking for somebody who was a recognizable pro wrestler who’s available and I had just happened to become available.”
Several big names from the MMA world appear in the film in addition to Rockhold and Liddell. Matt Hardy, Bully Ray, Tommy dreamer, Drad Pickett and Rigan Machado,
“From being friends with Christian I knew that he wouldn’t be involved in some real crappy movie, so I just said, ‘Let’s go’ and pretty much jumped in right away,” Moxley continued.
The film will be released on May 16th digital on-demand at FITE.TV for those outside of the United States. Details about a wide release in the United States are coming soon.
Jim Ross has called some of the most important wrestling matches and moments in history. Recently on an interview with the Roman Show, however, JR talked about the one match he didn’t call that he wished he had.
“Yeah I would have loved to call Mick Foley’s first WWE title win,” Ross said on the show. “I was off work with Bell’s Palsy facial paralysis at the time. But I was very pleased cause Mick was one of my favorite hires. I hired him over the objections of several, including Vince. So, when Mick got that first title win, I would have loved to have been there for that moment but I did watch it on TV. That’s the one match I can think of that I would have really liked to have called if given the opportunity.”
Mankind won the WWF title for the first time on December 28th, 1998. The title change aired on the January 4th, 1999 episode of Monday Night RAW. He would only hold the belt a few weeks before losing it, however. The Rock defeated Mankind to win the title back at the 1999 Royal Rumble in an “I Quit” match.
JR’s full comments can be heard in the player below:
Earlier this month, WWE announced they would run episodes of RAW, Smackdown and NXT live from the Performance Center. Last week, WWE confirmed this was no longer the plan. WWE will return to pretaping several episodes at a time from its Orlando location beginning this weekend.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer, WWE was informed by its television partners that switching from live to taped content would not impact their ongoing agreement.
It had been reported that WWE’s contracts with both Fox and NBC Universal only allowed for a certain number of pretaped shows a year. Speculation then held that WWE was worried that pretaping episodes during the pandemic could lead to the networks stating the agreements had been breached thus putting them in jeopardy.
“The change (from live to taped content) was made when both NBC Universal and FOX made it clear to WWE after getting numerous media questions (which neither company answered) that in this pandemic situation they would accept non-live programming despite the contract,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
All tapings are expected to take place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. Tonight’s Smackdown is expected to be the last live show for the foreseeable future.
Arn Anderson went through several rounds of talent cuts during his time working backstage in WWE. On a recent episode of “The Arn Show,” Double-A gave his thoughts on WWE’s recent layoffs. He also spoke about the impact such cuts had other times the company laid off several wrestlers at the same time.
“Well, I’ve seen it before,” Arn Anderson said when asked his thoughts on the recent cuts. “I couldn’t tell you the year but one year after WrestleMania, there were 17 guys let go. And there was no pandemic, no coronavirus. It was one of those things where you went ‘Jesus’ and then you ended up getting to TV, ‘Ok, 17 guys got fired, who are we going to beat today?’ We got all this TV to produce, who are we going to beat?”
“Should have never let those guys get out of here without at least doing business on the way out,” he continued.
Arn Anderson on WWE Recent Talent Cuts
Anderson then commented on WWE cutting talent when the company is on pace to have a very profitable year.
“When you got a world crisis now, like we have, and things are the way they are and things are shut down. For all these people, and a lot of them are very good friends of mine. A lot of these people, to lose their job, just breaks your heart. The reality of the matter is, which I read and I’m sure its accurate, after cutting all these guys but before that the company was in line, even with all the things that have happened in the last 6 or 8 weeks, the company was still on pace to have their highest-earning year. Now unless that’s a bald-faced lie coming from an independent source, why did you need to cut all these guys if you are inline to have your biggest year yet?”
