With speculation that Matt Hardy could be AEW bound running rampant, the free agent teased that we could find out more about his future soon..
Hardy and the Young Bucks have been building a story via YouTube as of late. With Dynamite set to air tonight, Hardy is teasing that “Today is the Day.”
Hardy recently spoke to SI.com about his free agency. He mentioned that he has spoken with Impact, NWA, and NXT in addition to AEW.
“My goal is to legitimately surprise people and draw emotion from them. I always want to entertain the audience and keep them guessing. I’ll make a decision within the next 30 days, and it could be by next week. It all depends on how everything comes together,” Matt would say. “I am speaking with AEW, and I am very close with the Young Bucks. We’ve been great friends for a long time. They understand this business and know how to break the fourth wall and have fun with all of this. They really are special. I’ve also spoken with IMPACT and I spoke with the NWA. I had great conversations just this week with Triple H about NXT.”
Hardy’s time in Impact Wrestling came to a bit of tumultuous end but he has since offered much praise to the promotion. He seems to be into the angle with ICU:
AEW has released its weekly rankings for March 11th, 2020. The promotion releases new top-5 rankings every Wednesday for its men’s, women’s and tag team divisions.
AEW Men’s Division
World Champion: Jon Moxley (7-0)
Chris Jericho (0-1)
MJF (3-0)
Kenny Omega (1-0)
PAC (3-2) (+1)
Cody Rhodes (3-1) (-1)
The only movement in the men’s single’s division this week saw PAC move up to the #4 spot after defeating Chuck Taylor. MJF and Cody didn’t compete this week. Kenny Omega is on the shelf with an injured hand so he didn’t compete this week either. Jericho picked up a win in the main event of Dynamite as he and Sammy Guevara defeated Darby Allin. Jon Moxley was supposed to be Allin’s partner but was attacked pre-match by the Inner Circle.
AEW Women’s Division
Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1)
Hikaru Shida (4-1)
Riho (3-1)
Kris Statlander (2-2)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1)
Britt Baker (2-2)
There was no movement in the women’s rankings this week. Big Swole picked up a win over Leva Bates on Dynamite this week so she might have earned some votes but still sits outside the top-5. Hikaru Shida defeated Abadon this week on Dark to retain her #1 ranking.
AEW Tag Team Division
Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0)
The Dark Order (5-0)
The Young Bucks (2-0)
SCU (2-3)
Best Friends (3-2)
Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara (1-0) (previously unranked)
Private Party falls out of the top-5 rankings this week. They picked up a win on Dark against Brandon Cutler and Sonny Kiss but Le Sex Gods (Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara) crack the rankings after their win over Darby Allin & Jon Moxley in the main event of Dynamite, although Moxley never did make it to the match.
The Dark Order lost in 8-man tag action this week to SCU and Colt Cabana but that doesn’t count to their 2-on-2 record. Jurassic Express picked up a win on Dark as well over Kip Sabian and Peter Avalon but still sit outside the top-5.
Impact Wrestling presented a show from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas last night on AXS TV and Twitch. The main event this week featured the final match in the best-of-5 series between Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards.
Impact Wrestling 3/10/20 Quick Results:
Rhino defeated Madman Fulton
The Rascalz defeated Desi Hit Squad
Knockouts Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) defeated Lacey Ryan
Willie Mack & Ace Austin defeated the Swinging Disco Balls (Disco Inferno & Johnny Swinger)
Best-of-5 Series: Michael Elgin vs Eddie Edwards ends with no declared winner.
Triple Threat World Title Match At Rebellion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay84DGY4K_M
Michael Elgin and Eddie Edwards met in the main event this week. The match was the 5th and deciding bout in their best-of-5 series. The winner would earn a shot at the World Title at Rebellion. It looked like Edwards had the match won after hitting the Boston Knee Party but the original ref was down and the replacement ref was not able to get into the ring in time.
Then with two refs in the ring, Elgin had Edwards locked in a submission but Edwards turned it into a pinning combination. One ref called for the end of the match after Eddie tapped to the submission but the other counted Elgin’s shoulders down for three.
As the referees argued, Tessa Blanchard came out and announced she’d take them both on at Rebellion and we now have our main event set.
Sabu Returns To Impact Wrestling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBJAjs7-VFU
Rhino defeated Madman Fulton this week in the opener with a Gore. The Crist brothers accompanied OVE’s monster to the ring but were quickly sent to the back by the ref. OVE returned to ringside after the match to deliver a post-match attack to Rhino. The lights went out and a fellow ECW alumni returned to the ring when Sabu appeared along with Super Genie. Sabu delivered a DDT on Fulton onto a chair.
Jordynne Grace’s Open Challenge Continues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArKTqcv7daY
Unlike the previous Knockouts Champion, Jordynne Grace has set out to be a fighting champion. She set out another open challenge for this week and Madison Rayne was only too happy to find a challenger to take her on.
Lacey Ryan answers the call this week and gave it her all but ultimately the champion retained with a Grace Driver. Madison Rayne did not seem pleased with the result.
Chris Sabin To Referee King of the Mountain Match At TNA: There’s No Place Like Home
Chris Sabin is a pioneer of the X-Division and his tag-team with Alex Shelley, the Motor City Machine Guns, is one of the most influential teams of the last two decades. Sabin will be returning to Impact Wrestling as the special referee of the King of the Mountain World Title match at the TNA: There’s No Place Like Home event on March 3rd.
Moose interrupted his interview and announced he will be in the match. Moose has had his issues with wrestlers from “TNA” as of late.
Taya Valkyrie is dealing with the impact of losing her Knockouts title while Rosemary is still reeling after the death of her friend the Bunny. Rosemary had thought that helping Suzie escape the clutches of James Mitchell would bring her peace but it hasn’t. The two unlikely allies found solace in each other at the bar this week.
Willie Mack Gets Help Against The Swinging Disco Balls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Mf0h2quCI
The Swinging Disco Balls (Disco Inferno & Johnny Swinger) wrestled in their second match for Impact this week. The match started as a 2-on-1 handicap match against Willie Mack but X-Division Champion Ace Austin ran to ringside to be Mack’s partner. Austin hit Disco with the Fold followed by Mack’s 6-Star Frog Splash for the win.
Is this a new side to Ace Austin?
Later in the show, Swinger and Disco were heard arguing and Disco stormed off.
The mysterious ICU has continued to hack into Impact Wrestling accounts. This week, they hacked into the official Impact Wrestling Twitter account but not only that, somehow ICU was able to hack into ShopImpact.com and put its own merchandise for sale!
ICU let it be known that the secret will be revealed next week:
The Desi Hit Squad has been on quite the roll since the return of Mahabali Shera but they weren’t able to handle the double-team moves of Wentz and Trey from the Rascalz this week. The loss will likely not sit well with Gama Singh. As for the Rascalz, they put themselves one step closer to a shot at the tag belts with the win.
City officials and Mayor of Tampa Jane Castor will meet tomorrow to discuss the possible canceling or postponing of major events in the city. This could include WrestleMania 36, other planned WWE events in the city, and all independent wrestling events scheduled for the week.
.@CityofTampa and @JaneCastor will meet on Thursday to discuss canceling or postponing "major" events due to #Coronavirus. This weekend's River O'Green fest isn't likely to be canceled.
Santa Clara County in California has already banned all large gatherings in the area. The ban puts at risk several San Jose Sharks home games. Pearl Jam and several other music artists have postponed tours as a result of the outbreak. South By Southwest in Austin, Texas this year has been canceled. The Coachella Music Festival has been postponed until October.
Major sporting leagues such as MLB, NHL, and NBA have limited media access to locker rooms as a result of the outbreak. The NBA has discussed the idea of holding games in arenas with no spectators as well.
Ireland has canceled all St. Patrick’s Day parade events as well.
Chris Jericho has said that Fozzy’s tour will go ahead as planned unless they are told they can’t.
“Why wouldn’t it?” Jericho said after being asked if the tour was still on. “I don’t think the public should panic so much. [We’re still going on] unless the cops tells us we can’t.” He then referred to the coronavirus situation as “mass hysteria.”
Nia Jax had double-ACL surgery in April of last year and has been on the shelf ever since. At the time of her injury, it was reported that she would be back sometime in the first quarter of 2020. According to a recent report from PW Insider, Nia Jax has been cleared to get back in the ring and could return at any time. WWE is said to just be waiting for the right time to introduce her back into the company’s storylines.
At the time of her injury, Nia Jax was in a tag-team along with Tamina Snuka. The two women competed at WrestleMania 35 in a fatal 4-way tag team match. The bout was for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. The match was won by the Iiconics, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce. Sasha Banks and Bayley went into the match as the tag champs. Beth Phoenix and Natalya comprised the fourth team.
At the previous years WrestleMania, Jax defeated Alexa Bliss to win the WWE RAW Women’s Championship. She would hold the belt for 70 days until dropping it back to Bliss at Money in the Bank.
Wrestling legend Haku recently spoke to TV Insider about a range of topics including his sons wrestling in NJPW, his memories of Rocky Johnson and more. During the interview, Haku was asked about his history in the business and getting started alongside the Barbarian.
Haku and the Barbarian originally left Tonga to become sumo wrestlers in Japan after having been scouted.
“We grew up together, we came from the same country, on a small island of Tonga. We came from the same high school. He was a year ahead of me,” Haku said.
“From there, we went into sumo together. He saw me on TV in Los Angeles. Those who were before me. Especially from the South Pacific. I appreciate everybody all together, but those of us that came from the island like High Chief Peter Maivia and the Wild Samoans, Don Muraco, Mr. Fuji, Professor Tanaka. I’m grateful. My sons I’m proud also. We all owe those who paved the way for us before me. It’s not just about me and my children, but about those who came before me. I’m very grateful. Barbarian is an uncle to my kids in that way.”
Haku’s sons comprise the Guerillas of Destiny in NJPW. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa are 6x IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, which is tied for the record alongside Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. They rank 4th in terms of days spent with the titles and 5th in terms of total title defenses.
“When my sons are in Tokyo, which I always considered my second home, it is unbelievable to see them wrestling,” Haku continued. “You want them to go on in life to get a real job like Tama Tonga had in the Air Force. Tanga Loa with football and going to college. You think they were going to have a better job than me.”
Haku also spoke about the current state of the wrestling business. He said he’s glad there are so many companies around today.
“I’m grateful that it’s not just WWE anymore. That we have AEW. NWA is coming back also,” he said. “You have all these independent companies. I like it because there are so many wrestlers and guys who call themselves wrestlers. There are places to go. It’s not just WWE. You have New Japan of course, places in Europe and other spots. The business is alive and well.”
Haku On Rocky Johnson’s Passing
Haku also spoke about the recent passing of Rocky Johnson.
“It was losing a brother that was kind enough to teach me the way. It reminded me of the days we used to drive around going from town to town. Now he is gone,” he said. “My boys, my family was with me. I’m glad because not many are in town. I’m glad they were in town for his funeral.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling has canceled the remainder of the New Japan Cup this year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. NJPW has canceled all events up until March 21st, 2020.
The following scheduled events have been officially canceled by the promotion:
“After NJPW events between March 1 and 15 were canceled as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, and acting under the recommendations laid out by a specialist government task force meeting on Tuesday, March 10, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has arrived at the decision to cancel the five events remaining in the New Japan Cup tour between March 16 and 21,” an NJPW press release reads.
NJPW Cancels New Japan Cup For 2020
The promotion is stating the events are canceled and there has been no mention of making up the dates later in the year. New Japan announced on February 26th, 2020 that they were canceling events from March 1st to 15th due to recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health.
Major League Wrestling presented the 100th episode of Fusion this weekend on BeIN Sports and YouTube. The show emanated from Philadelphia’s famed 2300 Arena and featured a main event of Jacob Fatu defending the MLW world heavyweight championship against CIMA.
MLW Fusion #100 Quick Results:
Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Erick Stevens
Brian Pillman Jr. defeated Jimmy Havoc
MLW World Heavyweight Championship: Jacob Fatu (c) defeated CIMA
The full episode can be viewed in the player below:
Jacob Fatu Retains, Despite Solid Effort From CIMA
Jacob Fatu is arguably the most dominant champion in MLW world heavyweight championship history. Coming into this match, few if anyone would have given CIMA a chance to take the belt here. The member of Stronghearts did manage to give Fatu a surprising run for his money, however.
CIMA must have known that he would need to take risks if he was to gain the advantage on the champ but the end of the match came when he missed a top rope move and Fatu countered into a pop-up Samoan drop. The champion then went to the top and delivered a devastating moonsault but was then instructed by Josef Samael on the outside to deliver one more for good measure before pinning his challenger and retaining his title.
Eric Stevens recently aligned with Tom Lawlor and Team Filthy but he was in tough this week as he took on the 2019 Opera Cup winner Davey Boy Smith Jr.
The end of the match came when Stevens attempted to go off the top rope but was caught by Davey Boy who then delivered his Calgary Stampede Powerslam followed by a diving headbutt for the win. After the match, Davey Boy got in the faces of Lawlor and Garrini, the other members of Team Filthy. Lawlor had been on commentary during the match.
Rookie of the Year Brian Pillman jr. faced Jimmy Havoc this week on Fusion. In Havoc’s corner was “Hell’s Favorite Harlot” Priscilla Kelly and she did not hesitate to interject herself into the match. Throughout the course of the contest, Kelly put Havoc’s leg on the ropes to break up a pin, handed him a foreign object, and as the match wore on she even came off the top rope for an attempted cross-body block.
Pillman was able to thwart all of this, however. As Kelly was coming off the top, he avoided her attack and allowed her to crash into Havoc instead. Moments later, the Hart Foundation member would hit Air Pillman for the win.
Brian Pillman Jr. and Injustice’s Rivalry Continues To Build
Pillman didn’t have to worry about the members of Injustice getting involved in his match against Jimmy Havoc this week as the trio had been banned from the building. MLW cameras caught Injustice trying to get into the building but they were turned away by security. During the course of this interaction, Jordan Oliver repeatedly stated that he would stab Pillman.
We’ve also heard that while Pillman has normally been competing at around 220 lbs, he will look to the keto diet to drop 15 pounds to the 205-pound middleweight limit. This will allow him to challenge Myron Reed for the title he took off Pillman’s Hart Foundation teammate Teddy Hart who has since left the territory. Before Reed can worry about Pillman, however, he must face Laredo Kid for the title next week.
Richard Holliday’s Caribbean Championship Reign Continues
Don’t worry consumers.
There is a very Dynastic episode of “Lifestyle of the Rich and Dynastic” featured in this episode.
Richard Holliday from the Dynasty is currently in possession of the Caribbean Championship title belt. He took that title off of Savio Vega but not by defeating him for it but rather by literally taking it from him after a recent match.
This week on Fusion, viewers were informed that Holliday defended the title on a private island earlier this week. Footage of this supposed title defense was not shown, however, and likely doesn’t exist. It sounds like the Dynasty had a great time on the island, and the trio discussed how Holidays’ new title belt is the 1A belt in the promotion alongside Alexander Hammerstone’s National Openweight belt. One has to wonder how these comments sat with the legitimate Caribbean Championship, Savio Vega.
On March 13th, 2020, MLW and AAA host a joint show in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The last time MLW was in Mexico they performed in front of a capacity crowd of 5000.
Matches listed for the show are as follows:
Black Destiny, Fantastik & Rayo Star vs. Nuevo Poder del Norte (Carta Brava Jr., Mocho Cota Jr. & Tito Santana)
AAA World Trios Title Match Los Jinetes del Aire (El Hijo del Vikingo, Myzteziz Jr. & Octagon Jr.) (c) vs. Injustice (Jordan Oliver, Kotto Brazil & Myron Reed)
Extreme Tiger & Puma King vs. Dominic Garrini & Tom Lawlor
MLW Openweight Title Match Alex Hammerstone (c) vs. Laredo Kid
Mortiz & Pagano vs. Mance Warner & Savio Vega
Gino Medina & Richard Holliday vs. Los OGTs (Averno & Chessman)
Los Mercenarios (El Texano Jr. & Rey Escorpion) vs. Hart Foundation (Brian Pillman Jr. & Davey Boy Smith Jr.)
Nicho el Millonario, Nino Hamburguesa & Psycho Clown vs. El Hijo de LA Park, LA Park & LA Park Jr.
Also, next week on Fusion we’ll see Tom Lawlor take on the debuting Killer Kross.
All Elite Wrestling will reveal the rules for the upcoming “Blood and Guts” match this Wednesday on Dynamite. The promotion revealed the participants in the match today, however.
The 2-ring steel cage match will pit two teams against each other: The Elite and the Inner Circle. Based on the match graphic released by AEW, it will be Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana, and Ortiz representing the Inner Circle against Cody Rhodes, Adam “Hangman” Page, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks.
The rules for Blood and Guts will be announced on this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite.
AEW’s first Blood and Guts match takes place on a special edition of Dynamite on Wednesday, March 25th from Newark, NJ at the the Prudential Center.
MATCH ANNOUNCEMENT#AEWDynamite: Blood & Guts Newark, NJ | @PruCenter – March 25th!? It's the #InnerCircle vs. #TheElite in your main event! Rules will be announced this Wednesday on Dynamite!
The show will emanate from the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah, USA. The following week AEW will broadcast from the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York.
Big E noted on Twitter today that he has given names to two of New Day’s signature moves. The 34-year-old took to Twitter to announce the names given to the moves.
ATTENTION: The powerbomb/double stomp will hereby be known as Afternoon Delight & the uranage/backstabber will be referred to as Morning Woods. Thank you for your time.
The multi-time tag team champion also spoke with the Daily Orange recently and noted that he had trouble being entertaining early in his career. Something that has not been an issue in recent years.
“I would say that, early in my career, I had trouble being entertaining. I grew up an introvert in a sports background, where the goal is to physically overwhelm your opponent. There, it’s not about hospitality, it’s not about connecting with the fans,” Big E said during the interview.
“So, switching things up was difficult but also because the entertainment industry was something that I was never involved with. It took me a while, but it took me by surprise that I was able to start showing my personality. Now, I get so much fulfillment going out there and looking around seeing people smiling or laughing.”
The full interview with the Daily Orange can be read here.
Scott Steiner is expected to make a full recovery after collapsing backstage at the recent Impact Wrestling TV tapings in Atlanta. According to a report from PW Insider, the 57-year-old was scheduled to undergo heart surgery yesterday.
Both Tommy Dreamer and Steiner’s wife have updated fans to let them know he is expected to make a full recovery.
Scott Steiner is expected to make a full recovery Thank you all for your concerns & prayers 99% Life + 1%death = Genetic Freak Steiner math contiues Holla if ya hear me#BigPoppaPumppic.twitter.com/nFvWpwisod
Scott’s wife Christa sent out the following on Twitter. She thanks Scott D’Amore, Dreamer, Johnny Swinger, Joey Ryan, everyone at Impact Wrestling and the Cobb County EMTs.
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against WWE, Vince McMahon, Georgie Barrios, and Michelle Wilson by the City of Warren Police and Fire Retirement System in regard to the company’s deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The action was filed yesterday.
“This is a securities fraud class action on behalf of all purchasers of WWE Class A common stock between February 7, 2019 and February 5, 2020,” read documents relating to the case. “These claims are asserted against WWE and certain of its senior executives who made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company during the Class Period.”
The filings continue to state that WWE hid tensions between the company and the Saudi government from investors.
“Unbeknownst to investors, the events in late 2018 fomented simmering tensions between WWE and the Saudi government. In particular, conservative elements of the Saudi government disliked WWE’s portrayal of women and what they viewed as the questionable morality reflected in WWE programming and live shows. At the same time, WWE was under immense pressure to justify its decision to continue working with the Saudi government and outwardly claimed that it was trying to push for change from within the country.”
The filings then contend that WWE publicly displayed confidence in the ongoing Saudi deal despite the ongoing trouble related to it.
“In reality, however, the prospects for a deal continued to worsen throughout the Class Period, as the Saudi government failed to make millions of dollars in additional payments owed to WWE following a June 2019 live event held in the country and the negotiations with OSN floundered.”
WWE is also dealing with legal action from the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension Fund, seeking transparency on the relationship between WWE and the XFL.
Scott Steiner collapsed backstage during the recent Impact Wrestling tapings in Atlanta, GA. According to multiple reports, Steiner needed to be worked on by paramedics and was later taken to the emergency room. The 57-year-old is said to be recovering and doing well currently.
Impact Wrestling EVP Scott D’Amore updated fans on Twitter to let them know Steiner is doing well and his family appreciates the concern.
For all concerned parties @ScottSteiner is OK. His family is grateful for everybody’s concern and support.
Tommy Dreamer also posted that he and Joey Ryan traveled with Steiner to the hospital.
Im at the hospital right now w/ @ScottDAmore@JoeyRyanOnline Scott Steiner is doing well And under great care Say a prayer for Big Poppa Pump Holla if ya hear me
Rick Steiner Comments On Steiner Brothers WWE Hall of Fame Potential
Rick Steiner recently commented about the Steiners Brothers potentially going into the WWE HOF. According to him, Scott’s frequent ripping of WWE will prevent that from occurring.
“I think about it when people ask me about it but I know there’s not a chance in hell that we get to be inducted because of the way my brother [rips WWE].”
“The Headshrinkers went by and shot fireworks at us and so we pulled off and got eggs and milk and anything we could throw out the window and we started chasing them … I think most of the time sh*t just happened. You hang around Hennig, you hang around Bossman and Rude [and] sh*t happens.”
AEW has released its weekly rankings for March 4th, 2020. The promotion releases new top-5 rankings every Wednesday for its men’s, women’s and tag team divisions.
AEW Men’s Division
AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley
Chris Jericho (0-1) (-1)
Maxwell Jacob Friedman (3-0) (+3)
Kenny Omega (1-0) (+1)
Cody Rhodes (3-1) (-2)
PAC (2-2) (-2)
Jon Moxley is the new AEW World Champion and Chris Jericho drops to the top contender spot as a result. MJF’s victory over Cody at Revolution saw him jump 3 spots to the #2 spot, which is his highest-ranking yet. Cody drops two spots for the loss. PAC dropped 2 spots for his loss to Omega in an Ironman match on last week’s Dynamite.
AEW Women’s Division
AEW Women’s Champion: Nyla Rose (4-1)
Hikaru Shida (3-1) (+2)
Riho (3-1)
Kris Statlander (2-2) (-2)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1)
Britt Baker (2-2)
Nyla Rose successfully defended the title against Kris Statlander at Revolution. Shida won a fatal 4-way against Big Swole, Shanna, and Yuka Sakazaki last week on Dynamite to see her jump up 2 spots to the #1 contender position.
AEW Tag Team Division
AEW Tag Team Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0)
The Dark Order (5-0) (+2)
The Young Bucks (2-2) (-1)
SCU (2-3) (-1)
The Best Friends (3-2) (+1)
Private Party (1-0) (previously unranked)
The Young Bucks drop one spot after losing a tag title match against Omega and Page. Dark Order picked up the win over SCU on the Buy-In which saw them jump two spots this week. The Best Friends defeated the Butcher and the Blade on Dynamite and jumped one spot in the rankings this week.
Matt Hardy has released a new #FreeTheDelete video on his official YouTube channel. In the video, Hardy is seen talking on the phone to two unknown people. Hardy tells the unknown them that Zenith is infected and dying. He needs the two of them to come to the Hardy Family Compound and remove Zenith from his body. Zenith is the name of Hardy’s broken “essence.”
“You were the only two that have been able to separate Zenith from my body,” Hardy says in the video. “There are great higher powers out there that believe in me and if I believe in them then I’ll have everlasting life, everlasting broken brilliance. Zenith is infected. Zenith is dying. I need you two to come to the Hardy Compound and remove Zenith from my body again and bury us both.”
“In the meantime, I’m going to get my affairs in order in case anything goes wrong. Thanks, see you soon.”
Hardy then sheds the neckbrace he had been wearing, plays with his kids, and creates a tombstone for him and Zenith.
The video ends when a car containing Matt and Nick Jackson pull up to the compound.
CM Punk just finished up shooting a new movie by horror-legend Barbara Crampton. The film Jakob’s Wife was shooting in Canton, Mississippi and recently wrapped up. Travis Stevens, who worked with Punk on “Girl on the Third Floor,” directed the film.
The film is a supernatural horror that follows a woman in her late 50s who develops powers. Also set for the film are Larry Fessenden (Stake Land), Bonnie Aarons (The Nun), Robert Rusler (Weird Science), Sarah Lind (Edgemont), Mark Kelly (Fear the Walking Dead), and Nyisha Bell.
“I’m thrilled to be able to bring Jakob’s Wife to life with such highly experienced producing partners at AMP International. It’s been wonderful working closely with Bob Portal in developing this amazing project, and reuniting with two of my favorite colleagues in the business, Travis Stevens and Larry Fessenden,” said Crampton.
“Since making We Are Still Here together; I’ve been looking forward to telling more scary stories with Barbara and Larry. Jakob’s Wife has been a chance for us to dig deep in to the lives of these fictional characters and test them in ways I think genre fans are going to love seeing,” added Stevens.
Impact Wrestling this week emanated from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas and featured a main event of Tessa Blanchard defending the Impact World Championship against Taya Valkyrie. It was the first Impact World Championship match to feature two female wrestlers in history.
Impact Wrestling 3/3/20 Quick Results:
TJP & Fallah Bah defeated the North (Non-title match)
Moose defeated Petey Williams
Acey Romero defeated Joey Ryan
No Disqualification: Su Yung defeated Havok
The Deaners defeated the Swinging Disco Balls (Disco Inferno & Johnny Swinger)
Impact World Championship Tessa Blanchard (c) defeated Taya Valkyrie
Here are 9 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 3/3/20:
Tessa Blanchard Retains Over Taya Valkyrie
A historic title reign resulted in a historic title match this week as Tessa Blanchard took on Taya Valkyrie with the Impact World Championship hanging in the balance. John E Bravo attempted to interfere in the match, grabbing at Blanchard’s ankle as she hit the ropes. Taya attempted to take advantage of this and charged at the champion but missed and hit Bravo instead. Blanchard then took advantage with a head-scissors into the buckle followed by a Buzzsaw DDT for the win.
Blanchard celebrated on the stage with the belt to bring the show to a close. In terms of what may lay ahead for Blanchard, Eddie Edwards told her earlier in the night that after he defeats Michael Elgin in the finals of their best of 5 series next week, he’s coming for Blanchard’s belt.
Joey Ryan, Katie Forbes, & Rob Van Dam Becoming Allies?
Joey Ryan seems conflicted. As Acey Romero was being made to “touch it” this week Ryan did not execute the penis suplex move he usually does in such a situation. Instead, Ryan seemed as though he did not want to use the move for whatever reason. This allowed Acey Romero to capitalize and hit a devastating elbow for the win.
Later on in the back, Ryan was seen talking to Katie Forbes. Rob Van Dam walked up to the two and Forbes again stated to RVD that Ryan understands what they go through with entitled fans on social media. Is there an alliance brewing between these 3 wrestlers?
Su Yung Gets Revenge For Her Own Murder
The rivalry between Su Yung and Havok is a little personal. That tends to be the case when one or both of two feuding wrestlers have attempted or succeeded in murdering the other one. Previously, Havok had tossed Su Yung over the side of a stairwell with a noose around her neck. This led to “Suzie” wandering around the halls of possibly the undead realm as James Mitchell attempted to manipulate her into doing his bidding. Rosemary helped bring the old Su Yung back, however, and she got her revenge this week on Havok.
Su Yung finished off her rival by wrapping a noose around her neck and using the mandible claw type finisher of hers. After the match, the Undead Bridesmaids made their return to Impact as well, Su put Havok in a coffin and the undead bachelorette party walked off with her inside. After, Rosemary was interviewed in the back about what had happened.
Rosemary may have thought that rescuing Suzie from the grips of James Mitchell would bring her some type of satisfaction but it hasn’t. After Su Yung got her revenge on Havok, Rosemary was interviewed but seemed surprised that she doesn’t feel as she thought she would, possibly because nothing can bring the Bunny back (because she died, not because she signed with AEW). Rosemary may have to go searching now to find what it is that she is missing.
Vengeance is meant to taste so very sweet.. this crumbles like ash in our mouth..
What did we miss..? Where did we miss it..? Why do we still feel so excruciatingly empty..? https://t.co/cgNVWZiaRB
Johnny Swinger wanted to form a tag team with Willie Mack but Mack is not interested, noting that he has a tag partner in Rich Swann who just happens to be injured at the moment. Swinger and Disco Inferno opted to form a team instead and this week took on the Deaners.
Disco and Swinger attempted to use a roll of quarters to attack their opponents but the Deaners outsmarted them, causing Disco to hit his partner and the Deaners to pick up the win.
ICU Strikes Again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2mSdkF5iXU
Disturbances to Impact Wrestling’s broadcasts have been taking place in recent weeks. It’s not yet clear what “ICU” wants or why they are stalking Impact broadcasts but its disturbances aren’t limited to Impact’s television broadcasts. ICU has been active on social media as well, hacking the accounts of people on Twitter.
Moose Is Ready To Take On TNA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psZog_WMN1s
Impact Wrestling has a special event planned for WrestleMania weekend in Tampa Bay. On April 3rd, Impact presents “Impact Wrestling TNA: There’s No Place Like Home.” There will be a King of the Mountain match and an Ultimate X match on the old school TNA themed card. Moose has let it be known that he has no time for wrestlers from TNA’s past and that includes X-Division pioneer Petey Williams. They met in single’s action this week on Impact with Moose coming out the victor.
TJP & Fallah Bah Gunning For The North’s Tag Titles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zDW3jBLtlI
TJP and Fallah Bah have beat the members of the North in single’s matches and now have defeated them in non-title 2-on-2 action as well. TJP and Fallah Bah scored the clean victory on the tag champs this week and have seemed to have their number for a while now. With the non-title victory, TJP and Fallah Bah have no doubt earned a tag title shot somewhere down the line.
Michelle McCool was not included in a recent WWE.com article focussing on some of the greatest women’s champions in company history. 45 women wrestlers from WWE’s past were mentioned in the article, but not Michelle McCool. The list was later updated to include more entries, including McCool.
McCool is a former 2x Divas Champion and held the title for a combined 278 days.
WWE’s List Of 50 Women’s Wrestling Champions
The updated list (which now includes McCool) is as follows:
Becky Lynch
Nikki Bella
The Boss N Hug Connection
Trish Stratus
Michelle McCool (added later)
Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross
Naomi
Shayna Baszler
Charlotte Flair
Eve
AJ Lee
Rhea Ripley
Asuka
Melina
Jaqueline
Ronda Rousey
Nia Jax
Bayley
Carmella
Maryse
The Kabuki Warriors
Brie Bella
Kaitlyn
Natalya
The Iiconics
Kay Lee Ray
Sasha Banks
Alundra Blayze
Alexa Bliss
Ivory
Beth Phoenix
Toni Storm
Candice Michelle
Alicia Fox
Victoria
Chyna
Layla
Molly Holly
Kairi Sane
Ember Moon
Paige
Mickie James
Lita
Kelly Kelly
Stephanie McMahon
Bull Nakano
Jazz
Jillian Hall
Sable
Wendi Richter
The list does not include the Fabulous Moolah, who holds the record for the longest time spent with a WWE women’s title. Sensational Sherri also held the title for 441 days but does not appear in WWE’s article. Gail Kim is also absent from the list.
In 2007, the world lost Nancy, Daniel, and Chris Benoit. In the years since the case has been a difficult one for many wrestling fans to come to terms with. The Vice documentary series “Dark Side of the Ring” plans to dedicate their premiere episode of Season 2 to the case. The episode will air on March 24th, 2020 at 9 pm.
And we’re back! Season 2 premieres March 24 on @VICETV. @IAmJericho joins us as narrator — plus, Variety has the official trailer and full episode list below???? https://t.co/z5TAAG9FAl
— Dark Side of the Ring (@DarkSideOfRing) March 3, 2020
Former AEW World Champion Chris Jericho will serve as the narrator for the series.
The following topics are confirmed to be covered this season on the documentary season:
The murder of Dino Bravo.
Brawl for All tournament.
An episode on New Jack’s career
David Schultz’s run-in with a 20/20 reporter.
The death of Nancy Argentino and allegations against Jimmy Snuka.
“The first season of ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ was a massive hit,” said Morgan Hertzan, executive vice president and general manager of Vice Television. “These powerful stories transcend wrestling fandom and resonate with both fans of the sport and newcomers who were captivated by this incredible storytelling. We rise to the challenge and do not shy away from the truth. I am proud and excited to continue telling these courageous stories in season two.”
“As lifelong fans, we have always been fascinated by the behind-the-scenes, human stories of the world of professional wrestling,” said executive producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener. “For our second season we’re going even deeper into its secretive past. Many wrestlers and family members we interviewed have never spoken out before. Our series seeks to help bring closure to their stories.”
One year ago, All Elite Wrestling announced a strategic partnership with Mexico’s AAA promotion. Since that time, AEW talent has appeared on AAA shows. Last summer’s AEW TripleMania show saw Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and the Lucha Bros. in action. AEW tag team champion Kenny Omega is the reigning AAA Mega Champion. However, we never saw an influx of AAA stars on the AEW roster.
On the latest episode of his Keepin It 100 podcast, Mexican wrestling legend Konnan shed some light on the situation. According to Konnan, he believes AEW put the AAA partnership on hold when they realized the grind of doing weekly television.
“When (AEW) first started they were very high on El Hijo del Vikingo, they were very high on Laredo Kid,” Konnan said.
Disco Inferno then interjected that Vampiro has been high on Vikingo as well.
“Well he actually discovered him, Vamp’s the one that discovered him. When I got to AAA, Vamp hadn’t used him. I was like ‘how come you’re never on TV? How long has it been since you’ve been on TV? He said ‘like 5 months’ I was ‘bro, you need to be on TV every week.’ So, he was just one of the guys I started to push.”
Konnan on AEW Using AAA Talent
Konnan then continued to talk about how AEW wanted to sign Laredo Kid.
“They wanted El Hijo del Vikingo, they talked to Laredo Kid and then just as Laredo Kid was about to sign, he got on this humungous reality show in Mexico and he was there for like 3 or 4 months, so they’ve been interested.”
Konnan then continued to talk about his feeling that AEW discovered the weekly grind of TV and that changed their approach to dealing with AAA temporarily.
“This is what I think, I think that once they got in there and they saw the grind of what weekly TV is and everything that it entails, they’ve got bigger things to do than right now bring in AAA wrestlers but I’m sure they’re going to bring in some people in the future and we’re going to keep bringing in people from AEW.”
You can listen to Konnan’s thoughts on the AEW-AAA relationship below:
Game Changer Wrestling’s Joey Janela’s Spring Break 4 is scheduled for Friday, April 3rd, 2020 but will not feature the Great Muta as originally announced. The promotion is stating publicly that Muta being pulled from the show has to do with shady negotiating tactics by Muta’s self-described agent, Sonny Onoo.
GCW posted the following message to their social media accounts:
An update regarding The Great Muta appearing at Joey Janela's Spring Break 4… pic.twitter.com/Jlr9V7GPuq
— GameChangerWrestling (@GCWrestling_) March 2, 2020
The message states they reached a deal for Muta to come in for Spring Break 4 back in November. GCW was then contacted by Sonny Onoo, who works as an agent for many Japanese wrestlers, in December and said he would be taking over as Muta’s representative even though the deal was already finalized. Onoo informed GCW he would be looking for other events WrestleMania weekend for Muta as well. GCW said that was fine so long as the other promoters shared in Muta’s lodging and travel expenses. This is how wrestling promoters often work together to reduce costs for bringing in top-talent for a weekend. GCW says Onoo was shocked by this part of the deal.
GCW then pieced together that Onoo himself was the vendor for Muta’s other booking. They concluded the message by saying they are still open to working with Muta on a deal for Spring Break 4.
GCW then posted the following regarding Sonny Onoo’s demands for WrestleMania weekend:
As an aside, here were some of the extras that Sonny Onoo tried to tack on while holding us up… pic.twitter.com/RlQbZpsQj9
— GameChangerWrestling (@GCWrestling_) March 2, 2020
They also posted the following Tweet alleging a possible fake account that has popped up on Twitter:
Also, this account has started popping up with some tweets in the last couple days suggesting GCW failed to meet our deal with Muta.
Cody Rhodes has made many bold decisions in recent years. Leaving WWE, starting a new company, announcing a stipulation that he can never challenge for the AEW World title again, and now he’s tattooed the Nightmare Family logo on his neck. He tends to go “All In” on things.
The former NWA and ROH World Champion took to social media to better explain his most recent decision.
“I’m humbled by the run I’ve been on and the love of the fans. Incredibly lucky man.”
Cody commented on his tattoo with the following statement in the post:
“It was very simple, I wear a lot of brands…I wanted to make sure mine was one of them. And I wasn’t hiding it. More details on tomorrow’s “Road To Denver”… – thank you @inkanddaggertattoo@craigbrocktattoo for taking the design and making it a reality!”
Brandi Rhodes commented on Cody’s new tattoo during the AEW Revolution post-event media scrum.
“I’m the one person that doesn’t like the neck tattoo, I don’t like it,” Brandi said. “I’ve said it, there it is.”
“I know a lot of wives like to be really hands-on,” Brandi continued. “My husband makes his own decisions. He’s allowed to make his own decisions. So, if I decided to do something crazy, he can just let me make my own decisions.”
Brian Pillman Jr. offered up perhaps the best reasoning as to why Cody got the tattoo where he did.
Simple. He's wearing it on his neck so it's always visible, can't be covered up easily. It's symbolic of him going "all-in" on his brand and his company and not having a backup plan. It means he's literally got his neck on the line for AEW and his family. SKIN IN THE GAME!!! https://t.co/7MpqXPbDtw
Tony Khan also commented on Cody’s new ink. Khan said the tattoo looks great if Cody just wants to be a “badass wrestler” but might make it difficult for him to get some acting roles.
Major League Wrestling presented its first episode of Fusion from its recent Fightland tapings in Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena. The main event of the show featured the return to the promotion of LA Park as Los Parks took on Josef Samael & Simon Gotch from Contra Unit.
MLW Fusion 2/29/20 Quick Results:
Richard Holliday, Gino Medina, & Alex Hammerstone (the Dynasty) defeated Logan Creed, Savio Vega, and Mance Warner
Kotto Brazil & Jordan Oliver (Injustice) defeated Zenshi & Laredo Kid
Lumberjack Match LA Park & El Hijo de LA Park (Los Parks) defeated Josef Samael & Simon Gotch (Contra Unit)
The full episode of Fusion can be viewed in the player below:
Los Parks Get Measure Of Revenge Against Contra Unit
The last time we saw LA Park in MLW, he was defeated by Jacob Fatu in the main event of the Super Fight PPV in November. He returned to the territory this week along with his son El Hijo de LA Park and they faced two members of Contra Unit in Simon Gotch and Josef Samael in a lumberjack match.
Contra Unit attempted to get an early advantage by attacking the father-son team during their ring entrance. The crowd was vocally behind Los Parks, however as they mounted a comeback throughout the match. Park would finally pick up the win for his team with a twisting senton onto Samael. Contra Unit doesn’t take to losses well so we will have to see how they respond to taking the L against the legendary luchador and his son here.
Richard Holliday, Gino Medina, and Alexander Hammerstone came out to kick things off on Fusion this week. Holliday is still wearing the Caribbean Championship belt he stole from Savio Vega as well. The trio were interrupted by Konnan who was then backed up by 3 wrestlers who have all had their problems with the Dynasty in the past: Logan Creed, Savio Vega, and Mance Warner. An impromptu 6-man tag would begin.
The Dynasty would pick up the win after Holliday hit Vega with the belt. After the match, however, Konnan picked up a measure of revenge on Gino Medina with a flapjack and the babyfaces retook the ring to end the segment.
After the previous segment, Konnan found himself alone in the ring. The members of Injustice then came out and continued their ongoing rivalry with the legend. Brian Pillman Jr. who has had his own problems with Injustice stemming from their attack on him before the Opera Cup, came out to back up Konnan and serve on commentary for Inustice’s match against Zenshi and Laredo Kid.
Injustice would pick up the win after Laredo Kid was distracted by middleweight champion Myron Reed on the outside. Oliver and Kotto hit Zenshi with a crucifix stunner combo for the win.
After the match, Laredo Kid went after Myron Reed on the outside as Injustice was confronting Pillman at the commentary booth. Laredo Kid then hit Reed with White Noise in the ring and allowed the live crowd to count the 3-count on him while the luchador held up the middleweight title. It looks like a title match between these two is in the works and Pillman looks to have that title in his sights as well, though he might be a little heavy for it.
Brian Pillman Losing Weight To Go After Myron Reed’s Middleweight Title
In a backstage segment later in the show, Injustice poked fun at Pillman Jr for being north of the 205lbs middleweight limit. Pillman has since announced plans to go on the Keto diet to get down to 205 and take on Myron Reed.
Next week will be the 100th episode of MLW Fusion. The special episode will feature an MLW World Heavyweight Championship match pitting title-holder Jacob Fatu of Contra Unit against CIMA.
Rush has regained the ROH World Championship. He defeated former champion PCO and Mark Haskins in a triple threat match over the weekend at ROH’s Gateway to Honor event from St. Charles, Missouri. PCO had defeated Rush in single’s competition to win the title at the Final Battle PPV from Baltimore on December 13th, 2019.
With the win, Rush becomes just the 5th person to win the ROH World Title for a second time. Jay Lethal, Jay Briscoe, Adam Cole, and Austin Aries are the other 4 wrestlers. Adam Cole is the only wrestler to ever win the title a 3rd time.
PCO’s title reign finishes at 78 days and included successful title defenses against both Rush and Dragon Lee.
Nick Aldis played a role in the title change from Saturday. The NWA World Heavyweight Champion’s “Strictly Business” faction has been in an inter-promotional rivalry with Villain Enterprises as of late. Aldis is also scheduled to face PCO at Supercard of Honor. He hit PCO in the head with the NWA title, allowing Rush to capitalize for the win.
Matt Hardy is now a free agent and has allowed his WWE contract to expire. Hardy had been with the company since returning in 2017 with his brother Jeff. He announced his free agency on a live stream from his YouTube channel at midnight.
“Right now it’s just a little past midnight, we have just entered Monday and that is March 2nd, 2020 and my WWE contract was set to expire at midnight on March 1st,” Hardy confirmed regarding his WWE contract. “This is what’s happened. As of this current time, I have decided to let my contract with WWE expire. I am going to become a free agent and that’s not saying I’m not going to return to WWE.”
“I did not want to leave WWE, I love WWE, WWE is my home. WWE has treated me great as an employee for the last 3 years. They’ve been good to me, they’ve been good to my family, they’ve been great to my kids. I have nothing but great things to say about WWE and all the people that work there.”
Hardy continued to thank Vince McMahon for what he’s done for him. He also thanked Michael Hayes, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon and more.
Hardy would then say that creatively he and WWE are not on the same page right now and that has played a large role in his decision to leave.
“I just think myself and WWE are on different pages,” Hardy explained.
“I want to enter a creative renaissance and I want to have non-stop input on my creative process and I think that’s where WWE and I are on different pages.”
Hardy would then say he does plan on being back in WWE at some point in some way.
“I definitely think there is a Hall of Fame ring waiting on myself and my brother,” he continued.
Hardy’s comments can be heard in the player below:
