All Elite Wrestling has released its newest rankings. The promotion unveils its top-5 rankings in the men’s, women’s, and tag-team divisions every Wednesday. Here are this week’s rankings:
The only movement in the men’s single’s rankings this week saw Cody Rhodes pass PAC for the #2 spot. Cody defeated Kip Sabian this week on Dynamite while PAC had the week off.
AEW Women’s Single’s Division
Women’s Champion: Riho (2-0)
Nyla Rose (2-1)
Hikaru Shida (1-1)
Kris Statlander (0-1)
Britt Baker (1-1)
Awesome Kong (1-0)
There was no movement in the women’s division rankings this week. Shida defeated Mel on Dark this week and Nyla Rose defeated Big Swole on Dynamite. Champion Riho recently teamed with Kenny Omega and defeated Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford on the Jericho Cruise.
AEW Tag Team Rankings
Tag Team Champions: Kenny Omega and Adam “Hangman” Page
Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky (SCU) (1-1)
The Young Bucks (1-1) (+1)
Proud and Powerful (0-1) (-1)
The Dark Order (1-0)
The Best Friends (1-1) (previously unranked)
SCU maintain their #1 ranking after defeating the Hybrid2 on Dynamite last week. The Young Bucks moved up one spot after defeating the Butcher and the Blade. Santana and Ortiz drop down one spot despite being victorious along with Chris Jericho against Darby Allin and Private Party last week.
The Best Friends re-enter the rankings after picking up a win on Dark. The Lucha Bros fall out of the rankings this week as a result.
Major League Wrestling announced a partnership with AAA back in November and in March the two promotions plan to co-promote an event together. MLW recently issued a press release stating that on March 13th MLW and AAA will work together to produce a show from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
“This collaboration between the two organizations continues Major League Wrestling’s strategic alliances with international federations to create a unified global system to help introduce the sport to new markets, exchange talent, collaborate on content and develop opportunities for fans, athletes and the sport,” An MLW press release for the show reads.
Major League Wrestling featured AAA stars prominently on their recent show from Dallas, Texas. AAA’s Drago challenged Injustice’s Myron Reed for the MLW Middleweight Championship on a recent episode of Fusion.
MLW previously ran a show from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico last October. On that show, the promotion partnered with the Crash Lucha Libre. The show drew 5000 fans and featured La Rebelion Amarilla (Bestia 666 & Mr. 450) & LA Park defeating members of the Contra Unit in the main event.
ROH World Champion PCO re-signed with the company late last year. He defeated Rush for the promotion’s top belt at the Final Battle PPV on December 13th, 2019. The 52-year-old recently spoke to Vulture Hound about why he chose to re-sign with the company.
“I think to go to a big company, be the Champion, be something big. It’s already done. It’s already there. I think to become Champion with the company itself and being the Champion and then help the company make it as big as WWE. I think that’s a very challenging goal.”
PCO also talked about having negotiated with 3 different companies at the end of 2019. He also mentioned what it was about ROH’s pitch to him that got him excited to re-sign.
“I had talks with three companies before I decided to sign with Ring of Honor, they flew me to Baltimore, they showed me what Sinclair broadcast group was like, 217 TV stations, the businesses that they own, the money that they were ready to inject into Ring Of Honor. When they did the 17th-anniversary show in Las Vegas, they showed they have been going around for 17 years.”
According to PCO, ROH wants to grow into a much larger wrestling company.
“Maybe before they didn’t want to be underwater, didn’t want to compete with the number one company in the world but I felt that, when I had my meeting with them, I felt that we really wanted to go big, to become like something like WWE, and in my dream, when I wanted to become Hulk Hogan, I wanted to help pop the territory, take it and make it explode. That’s why I decided to go with Ring Of Honor.”
Former Smackdown Women’s Champion and 2x 24/7 Champion Carmella says she misses working with R-Truth and felt their act still had a lot left in it. Carmella is currently assigned to the Smackdown brand, however, and Truth to RAW. She spoke to BT Sport recently about her time with Truth.
"I miss him! We had so much more we could've done"
"Without @RonKillings this last year would've been so boring, he's become one of my closest friends."
“I felt like we still had so much more we could’ve done, it wasn’t, to me, getting old,” Carmella said. “I feel like we could have taken this and run with it for a long time, however, now I’m excited for when my opportunity comes again.”
Carmella also recently spoke to SI.com about her new wine brand.
“I knew I needed to do something with all of my creativity, and I love drinking wine,” she said. “So I started researching and networking. We’re still in the early stages because I’m very busy with my WWE schedule, but it’s all very exciting.”
The name of Carmella’s win is Capo Cagna.
“That means ‘Boss Bitch’ in Italian,” said Van Dale. “It’s important to embrace your inner ‘Boss Bitch.’ I want women and girls who follow our shows to see that, and it’s important to empower them to follow their dreams. I’m a product of that, so it’s important to spread that message.”
Carmella’s interview with Sports Illustrated can be viewed here.
Aron Stevens is the NWA National Champion at the moment. He owes some of his success to his Mongrovian Karate Sensai, the Question Mark, however. Both Stevens and the Question Mark spoke with Chris Van Vliet recently about the NWA, Mongrovian Karate, and more.
“Well, it’s been wonderful,” Stevens said when asked about his time in the NWA. “This company, its taken an old-school template, it has applied the modern flair to it like where the wrestling industry is headed but then when you have the template of that studio wrestling setting it just has a nostalgic feel but modern-day thrills and excitements.”
The Question Mark understands English but is unable to speak it. Stevens appears to understand the Question Mark’s Mongrovian perfectly but does not appear to speak the language himself.
“(The Question Mark) hails from the nether-regions of Mongrovia,” Stevens said. “We met on the set of one of my movies ‘Shogun in Malibu’ he was the fight coordinator and I brought him here to the NWA to kind of watch my back, help me out, and we are getting him accustomed to western culture.”
The full interview can be viewed in the player below:
Impact Wrestling presented another show from Frontenac, Mexico this week. The promotion is building to the Impact Plus exclusive event “Impact Sacrifice” on February 22nd. Impact will also be in Las Vegas for a set of TV tapings this weekend.
Impact Wrestling 2/4/20 Quick Results:
Tessa Blanchard defeated Adam Thornstowe (Reno Scum)
Rhino defeated Taurus
Rosemary vs Suzie – Double Countout
TJP defeated Vikingo
Daga & Dr. Wagner Jr. defeated Dave & Jake Crist
Street Fight: Ace Austin defeated Tommy Dreamer
Here are 8 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 2/4/20:
Tessa Blanchard Prepares To Face Ace Austin
As Blanchard prepares to take on Ace Austin on February 22nd, 2020, she faced his run-in buddy from Reno Scum this week. Blanchard defeated Thornstowe with a Buzzsaw DDT but was attacked after by Luster the Legend and Ace Austin. This brought out Tommy Dreamer for the save and set-up the night’s main event between Austin and Dreamer in a street fight.
Ace Austin Goes To The Extreme To Defeat Tommy Dreamer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIVmcqbqxqw
Ace Austin has the biggest match of his young career later this month when he faces Tessa Blanchard at Impact Sacrifice on February 22nd. The X-Division champion would main event this week’s show against Tommy Dreamer in a street fight.
Austin would pick up the victory by using his wand-like weapon to knock Dreamer off the ropes and onto a ladder. He then hit “the Fold” for the win. Austin would celebrate with his title belt as the show came to a close.
TJP Defeats Vikingo Before The North Attack
Last week, Vikingo faced Josh Alexander in single’s competition. This week, he’d take on TJP in another fast-paced action-packed match. With his friend Fallah Bah by his side, however, TJP was able to do what Josh Alexander could not and defeat the luchador from AAA. TJP countered a headscissors attempt into a submission for the win.
After the match, however, Josh Alexander and Ethan Page (the North) attacked Vikingo. Fallah Bah came in and broke up the attack, however. Perhaps a match between the North and TJP & Fallah Bah is upcoming in Impact Wrestling.
2 weeks ago on Impact Wrestling, Rob Van Dam said that Joey Ryan’s match against Maximo made him embarrassed to be a pro-wrestler. Ryan responded last week by saying that RVD is just mad because Katie Forbes wants to “touch it.”
This week on Impact, Katie Forbes provided the distraction as RVD attacked Ryan from behind. After being accused of having lost his cool, RVD would then say that next week Ryan will find out just how cool RVD really is.
Rosemary Brings Su Yung Back To Life
Rosemary and Suzie met in single’s competition this week but Rosemary wasn’t concerned with winning or losing the match. Her goal was to trigger Suzie’s memory and bring out the former Su Yung.
The match spilled to the back where Rosemary attempted to wrap a noose around Suzie and throw her over a staircase just as Havok had done to her previously. As she did so, however, Suzie morphed back into Su Yung as she remembered Havok having done the same to her oh so long ago now.
James Mitchell walked across the scene awhile later and told Rosemary that they are all doomed.
Dr. Wagner Jr. & Daga Get Revenge On OVE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nspNJgM87h0
Recently on Impact Wrestling, the members of OVE attacked Dr. Wagner Jr and beat him up in front of his son. Don Callis described the members of OVE as anarchists this week and that their attacks on Wagner were unprovoked and completely random.
This week, Dr. Wagner Jr and Daga teamed up in victorious fashion over the Crist brothers. After the match, however, Madman Fulton attacked Daga and Wagner and also fended off Dr. Wagner Jr’s son as well. Fulton stood tall to end the segment.
Moose Breaks Up Match Between Rhino and Taurus
Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen Rhino and Moose’s rivalry involve AAA’s Taurus. This week on Impact Wrestling, Rhino and Taurus faced each other in single’s competition. As Rhino was preparing to give his opponent the Gore, however, Moose invaded the ring and caused the match to be thrown out. Rhino would give Moose a Gore and him and Taurus stood tall to end the segment.
Taz made his WWF debut at the 2000 Royal Rumble in New York’s Madison Square Garden. He choked out Kurt Angle and received a thunderous ovation from the crowd. Taz’s time in WWE was discussed recently on an episode of “Grillin JR with Jim Ross.”
During the show, Conrad Thompson suggested that Taz was worried when he heard the loud ovation in MSG that he wouldn’t be pushed in WWE because he wasn’t a WWE creation.
“There’s no way as a talent or someone that’s involved in talent management that I’m going to look at a great pop like that as a negative,” Jim Ross said on the show. “I think he overreacted there, in my opinion.”
It was also discussed on the show that Taz was talked to by WWE management about dropping people on their heads during matches.
“Taz didn’t do those moves, the suplexes, acapella,” JR continued. “Kurt was taking them, Kurt was a little bit daredevil-ish, it takes two to tango in these scenarios but there is no doubt that there was some release-type suplexes, some things going on that we had not had a lot of in WWE and the reason for that is because they’re not totally safe.”
Ross then talked about some moments from the Taz vs Kurt Angle match from Royal Rumble 2000.
“There were moments in that 3 minutes 16-second match that somebody could foresee that Kurt was just going along trying to help Taz but he was acquiescing to unsafe moves.”
“I don’t know how comfortable (Taz) was once he got with us,” Ross continued.
Ross would then continue to praise Taz, however. His comments can be heard in the player below:
The XFL kicks off its 2020 season on Saturday when the Seattle Dragons take on the DC Defenders. The 2020 season begins 19 years after the conclusion of the XFL’s first season in 2001.
Vince McMahon’s league is the second attempt in recent years to create another pro football organization in the United States. The Alliance of American Football was not able to last through its first season, however.
Additionally, WWE and Vince McMahon are being sued by WWE stockholders in regards to the XFL. WWE stock-holders from the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension Fund has filed suit against Vince McMahon and the WWE seeking transparency in the relationship between WWE and the XFL.
With the XFL’s season about to get underway, one has to wonder what Vince McMahon’s plan is to make his league more successful than the AAF was. The belief is that Vince plans on funding the league for multiple seasons until they are in a position to get a big-money TV rights deal as both RAW and Smackdown currently enjoy. The TV rights deal would then hopefully be enough to cover the losses McMahon is expected to experience the first few seasons.
Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez discussed Vince McMahon’s strategy with the XFL on a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
“Vince has earmarked $300 million and that’s going to get them through 2.5 seasons and he’ll put up more later,” said Dave Meltzer. “The way this whole thing is structured is Vince is probably going to lose about $375 million over the next 3 years on this league and he will and he knows and that’s what he’s going to do.”
“Then at the end of those 3 years, the idea is he’ll be able to get television deals that will total over $125 million a year which would cover his losses and then he’s okay. There’s a lot of factors involved in that and again, the ratings are one of them. If these stations feel that it’s valuable enough to pay that much, it’s not as long a shot as everyone thinks.”
In 2018, ESPN’s Darren Rovell noted that Vince McMahon is prepared to spend as much as $500 million on the league.
“People were focused on the $100 million, but the truth is that doesn’t even get us to the 20-yard line,” league CEO and commissioner Oliver Luck told ESPN.
“There are very few participants who underwrite for this market anymore and it is obviously costly,” he continued.
Kalisto is reportedly dealing with a separated shoulder at the moment. According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Kalisto’s injury will not require surgery but there is currently no timetable for his return.
The 33-year-old just signed a new contract with WWE last month. He hasn’t wrestled since a December 30th, 2019 house show from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The luchador is a 2x United States Champion, 1x Cruiserweight Champion, and once held the NXT tag team titles along with Sin Cara.
Kalisto On Meeting Rey Mysterio
In 2018, Kalisto appeared on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast and talked about meeting Rey Mysterio for the first time.
“Rey, when he won his world title, he did a book signing at my college in Chicago. I met up with him. I was five months in wrestling,” Kalisto said. “When I saw him, I said ‘I’m in the process of being a luchador, I’m learning so much, and you’re a good inspiration.’”
“At the time, I didn’t know he was going to win the title. And when I met him, he’s a little shorter than me, and that gave me inspiration. If he could do it, I could do it.”
Former EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher has reportedly signed with WWE. According to reports from both Squared Circle Sirens and PW Insider, the 36-year-old has been at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando this week.
Thatcher last wrestled in December in a victory over Kassius Ohno on a Progress show from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK. Prior to that, Thatcher had also been wrestling with Major League Wrestling. Thatcher most recently advanced to the semi-finals of MLW’s Opera Cup tournament.
Thatcher also dropped matches to WALTER and Arturo Ruas on EVOLVE shows back in December.
Timothy Thatcher Signs With WWE
Thatcher won the EVOLVE Championship at EVOLVE 45 on July 10th, 2015. He wouldn’t lose the title for 596 days and successfully defended the title 22 times during his reign. Thatcher dropped the title to Zack Sabre Jr. at EVOLVE 79 on February 25th, 2017.
Thatcher’s 596 days as EVOLVE Champion is both the longest single reign in the title’s lineage and also the most combined days anyone has spent with the title as nobody has ever won the title more than once. Zack Sabre Jr’s 404-day title reign is good for second place in this category.
Taya Valkyrie is working alongside her husband, John Morrison, on a horror film with a premise many wrestling fans will likely find quite entertaining. The film “The Iron Sheik Massacre” focusses on a toy Iron Sheik doll that becomes sentient. The doll then targets a group of new school wrestlers who it feels are insulting old school wrestling traditions. The sentient Iron Sheik doll will be voiced by none other than the Iron Sheik himself.
Valkyrie and Morrison co-wrote the script together on their Honeymoon.
“As of right now, last week John was doing some meetings with the special effects people,” Valkyrie told Metro.
“It’s a very effects-heavy short film because of the nature of it being a horror-comedy. There’s a lot of stuff that’s being worked on right now that did take longer than expected – I’m slowly learning about this. I always thought things just happened, and they were out and ready [laughs] – which sounds ridiculous, but I’ve learned that things take time.”
“It is taking its time, but I think it’s all going to be extremely worth it. We have some of the best special effects people working on it. It will be done this year, 120%.”
John Morrison spoke to BANG Showbiz about the project last May.
“The last thing that I did that I’m finishing right now is a horror-comedy short that Taya and I wrote on our honeymoon. It’s called ‘The Iron Sheik Massacre’,” Morrison told the outlet.
“It’s about a group of new school wrestlers who are dumping on old school wrestling, lightning hits the house and an Iron Sheik doll becomes sentient.”
Ruby Riott returned to WWE after having missed 262 days due to two separate shoulder surgeries. The 29-year-old’s last official match before going on the shelf was May 17th, 2019 at a house show in Cardiff, Wales. Riott returned last night and turned on her former Riott Squad teammate, Liv Morgan.
WWE correspondents caught up with Riott backstage from RAW last night. Riott seemed uninterested in answering any questions, however, and stormed away from the interview without issuing any comment.
Video of the attempted interview can be viewed in the player below:
Liv Morgan Reacts To Ruby Riott’s RAW Return
Liv Morgan issued a social media post last night after RAW. She posted the following to Twitter:
Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, and Liv Morgan debuted as the Riott Squad on the WWE main roster on November 21st, 2017. A year later, the trio would all get matching tattoos to commemorate one-year together.
After WrestleMania 35 last year, the faction was broken up when Liv Morgan was drafted to Smackdown. Morgan wouldn’t do much on the brand until reappearing on RAW during the Bobby Lashley and Lana wedding recently. Sarah Logan is also on RAW where she recently had a small angle with Charlotte Flair going before the Royal Rumble. Riott underwent two shoulder surgeries last year, the first in May and then another in August.
AEW will honor more wrestling legends this week on Dynamite. This week’s episode will emanate from the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama and AEW will honor wrestling legends of the SouthEast on the show.
Missy Hyatt and Austin Idol will be honored this week on Dynamite and PW Insider is also reporting that Doug Gilbert and Arn Anderson will be as well.
Missy Hyatt posted the following to her social media accounts to announce the news:
Big news!!! I'm going to be @AEWrestling this Wednesday. I will be honored among continental legend-Austin idol. No truth that I got spot from alan martin, di Carter,lord humungous,Wendell cooley for not picking up the phone.
Missy Hyatt started her career with WCCW in 1985 and would later join the UWF as well. Hyatt then was with WCW from 1987 to 1993. She also managed a little in ECW. Hyatt was inducted into the WSU Hall of Fame in 2009.
Austin Idol is running commercials for his wrestling school on episodes of NWA Powerrr these days. He is a multi-time former CWA Heavyweight Champion and a 2x NWA Alabama Heavyweight Champion as well. Idol was on-hand when AEW honored legends of Memphis Wrestling as well.
Lineup for AEW Dynamite This Week
Lucha Bros, the Butcher & the Blade vs Hangman Page, Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks
According to various reports, Brock Lesnar and Matt Riddle got into some kind of altercation backstage at the Royal Rumble. Lesnar is reported to have told Riddle he will not work with him. Booker T talked about the issues regarding Riddle and Lesnar on his “The Hall of Fame with Booker T” on ESPN 97.5 recently.
“These sites will pick something up in a heartbeat and they will run with it,” Booker T pointed out about wrestling sites.
“I was looking on social media, actually on some of the sites, and they were talking about Matt Riddle saying ‘Man, forget that, I want the title shot, I’m taking his career, I’m going to finish Brock Lesnar.'”
Booker was referencing a video posted by the official WWE PC YouTube channel. In the video, Riddle continued to say he plans on retiring Brock Lesnar. The video was posted after reports of Riddle and Lesnar’s confrontation at the Rumble went public. It is not clear, however, if Riddle’s comments in the video were made before his meeting with Lesnar or after. Some of Riddle’s comments seem to indicate the video was filmed after Lesnar reportedly said he wouldn’t work with him, however.
“I don’t care if he wants the match or not. I’m going to get it. I don’t care, it’s not up to him,” Riddle said in the video. “I don’t like being told no, especially when I work as hard as I do.”
“This ain’t the UFC and that’s what I want to relay also,” Booker said.
“If someone don’t want to work with you, if someone don’t like you, it definitely can be a problem for you,” Booker continued.
Booker would then say he feels the media turned in-character comments of Riddle’s into a shoot story.
“So, that’s why I feel like, this deal right here he was in character one moment and then the media took the character and made it a shoot because of what happened on Sunday.”
“On one of the sites, it actually gives you everything verbatim as far as what he said but you got to click on the video to see what it really is.”
Do you think Riddle’s comments in the WWE PC Video were in-character or “shoot”? Let us know in the comments section below.
Booker’s comments can be heard in the player below:
Major League Wrestling presented an episode of Fusion from Dallas, Texas on BeIN Sports and YouTube this weekend. The show featured a no-ropes, no-holds-barred match between Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Simon Gotch as well as a single’s match between Marshall Von Erich and MJF. The Middleweight title was also on the line this week as Myron Reed from Injustice defended against AAA’s Drago.
MLW Fusion 2/1/20 Quick Results:
No Ropes, No Holds Barred Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Simon Gotch via referee stoppage
With this episode of Fusion having been taped in Dallas, Texas, the live crowd was enthusiastically behind Marshall Von Erich in this match here. The Von Erich’s bitter rival, Tom Lawlor, joined the broadcast booth for this one as well. Meanwhile, Ross Von Erich was off wrestling in Israel and wasn’t in attendance for the show.
To start off this match the two locked up and didn’t let go as they took their lockup to the outside, around the ring area, and then back into the ring again.
MJF would attempt to pull out all the tricks in the book during this match. At one point he trapped Marshall’s fingers in the steel connecting the turnbuckles in an effort to prevent the Iron Claw from being used on him. Hammerstone and the Dynasty’s newest member, Gino Medina, would attempt to interfere as well but to no avail. Marshall would pick up the victory with the Iron Claw as the Dallas fans went nuts. Following his victory, Marshall would have to fend off the remaining members of the Dynasty as well as Lawlor.
The loss likely spells the end of MJF’s time in MLW, at least for the foreseeable future. MJF finished up with the promotion at the tapings in Dallas but the Dynasty has added to its roster as of late and will look to continue its run of success in their post-MJF era.
King Mo Looking To Face Low-Ki?
An interview in the back with Low-Ki was interrupted by King Mo and Dan Lambert from American Top Team this week. Mo pointed out that Low-Ki trains with the Gracie family and King Mo KO’ed Roger Gracie in 2011. Low-Ki has been finishing his opponents via referee’s stoppage/KO as of late but King Mo doesn’t seem interested in giving him credit as MLW’s resident Knockout King.
Contra Unit is attempting to dismantle the Hart Foundation. Josef Samael sent Teddy Hart out of the territory with a fireball to the face and now the faction has turned its sights on Brian Pillman Jr. and the reigning Opera Cup winner, Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Last week, Samael challenged Smith to face Simon Gotch in a no-ropes, no-holds-barred Bloodsport-styled match. Smith and Gotch faced each other in such a match to kick things off this week on Fusion. The match started with a very technical style with both men looking for submissions. Eventually, Smith would change strategies, however, and won the match via referee’s stoppage after several suplexes in a succession relieved Gotch of his consciousness.
Drago had an opportunity to win the MLW Middleweight Championship this week against Myron Reed. The popular luchador from AAA would have to contend with the other members of Injustice, Jordan Oliver and Kotto Brazil, on the outside. In the end, the frequent interference would be too much for Drago and Reed would pick up the win with his patented springboard 450 Splash.
Tom Lawlor and Dominic Garrini Star In Dallas Spoof
With MLW in Texas, and Lawlor likely now the most hated man in the state, the former MLW World Champion debuted a vignette this week featuring himself and his Team Filthy stablemate. Lawlor’s video was a spoof on the famous Dallas TV series. Also along with Lawlor in this video was a member of Team Filthy, Dominic Garrini, who went “Full Gi” on the streets of Dallas as the pair tried on Cowboy boots and visited “Wild Bill’s Western Shop.”
Mance Warner was victorious over Jimmy Havoc in a barbed-wire match last week on Fusion. This week, cameras found a bloodied Warner backstage. According to Warner, now that he’s got Havoc in his rear-view mirror he’s going to drink a few beers and then go after gold. In particular, Warner mentioned that he’s going to be gunning after Alexander Hammerstone and the MLW National Openweight Championship.
MLW still has several matches from the Zero Hour tapings from January 11th, 2020 in Dallas to air. This weekend, the promotion was in Philadelphia’s famed 2300 Arena for Fightland as well.
Recently on the Jericho Cruise, several former members of the New World Order took part in a panel discussion. During the conversation, the topic of what NWO members should be included in the WWE Hall of Fame induction was brought up. The sentiment amongst the panel was that Eric Bischoff should be one of the members going into the Hall of Fame in Tampa Bay before WrestleMania this year.
“You know how things operate up there, it’s not about what you produced or ticket sales,” Hall said when asked what NWO members should be going in. “I certainly think, I would start with Eric (Bischoff).”
Jericho then chimed in on the topic as well.
“I agree times a thousand,” Jericho said. “I think the reason why (Bischoff’s) probably not going in is there’s still the residual heat.”
“Who knows? I don’t think about it too much,” Bischoff himself mentioned.
Hall then joked that Bischoff only thinks about it every time he does his podcast.
“I think it’s crazy, I’m bummed out that Eric Bischoff is not in on this. I feel bad for that, I actually feel bad about that. It goes without saying,” Waltman said about Bischoff not being included.
Bischoff would later react to Waltman’s comments.
“That’s nice of him to say, but he’s not calling the shots, so it really doesn’t matter. I wish he was. That’d be great. I’d like to hang out with my buddies at WrestleMania, that’d be wonderful, but I don’t worry about that. I knew as soon as I saw that, I go, ‘Oh my gosh, my Twitter feed is going to be overloaded with comments about this, I’m going to be dealing with it now for weeks.’ But I love those guys. Those four guys, especially Hulk, these are guys that I have deep affection for, and respect for, so I couldn’t be happier.”
In a recent interview with SI.com, John Cena says that Brock Lesnar is the greatest WWE performer of all-time. Cena discussed watching the Royal Rumble from his home on the WWE Network and how he doesn’t feel his presence was missed on the show.
“I can say with the utmost sincerity that I believe Brock Lesnar is best in-ring performer that I’ve seen and I know it’s an opinion, and if you want a cool quote, here it is: I think he’s the best in-ring performer of all time,” Cena said during the interview.
Cena would continue to talk about Lesnar’s performance in the men’s Royal Rumble match.
“I thought his performance at the Rumble was a clinic on how to establish yourself, how to establish those around you, establish the championship, establish the importance of one event.”
Cena then double-down on his comments regarding Lesnar being the best performer in WWE history.
“I really do think so. I genuinely think he has a good understanding of who he is.”
Cena then said he believes Lesnar has a great presence in the ring.
“He believes so much in his presence, and he has such a definable presence you can’t ignore him and he never wastes anyone’s time and everything he does is special and everything he does meaningful and it’s not all selfish. He’s one of the most giving performers in the WWE and that is the mark of a true craftsman and a true professional. It was awesome to watch. My jaw dropped when I watched the Rumble.”
Cena continued to talk about if he’ll be at WrestleMania and more of his thoughts about the Royal Rumble. The full interview with SI.com can be read here.
Next week on AEW Dynamite, Cody Rhodes will be forced to take 10 lashes from his rival, Maxwell Jacob Friedman. MJF insisted on the stipulation as well as several others in order for Cody to receive a match against him at Revolution on February 29th. He explained the stipulation recently in a video posted to AEW’s social media accounts.
“Cody, a lot of people on the internet, they’re wondering ‘MJF, why 10 lashes? Why that stipulation?’ So specific, so vicious,” MJF says in the video. “It is specific. Allow me to specify why this is going to happen to your hero Cody Rhodes. A wise man once said, if you’re a walk-behinder the view never changes. And oddly enough, Cody Rhodes, that’s exactly was what you were going to allow me to be for the rest of my career. “
“Every lash will be with all my power and all my might and every single time that leather meets your skin it will symbolize all your lies and all your empty promises and you’re going to quit. You won’t make it to 10, hell you might not make it to 8. Do you want to know why Cody? I’ll tell you why. It’s because I’m better than you and you know it.”
AEW posted the below video of MJF cutting a promo on Cody and talking about why he decided on the 10 lashes stipulation.
SOCIAL EXCLUSIVE: "…and every single time that leather meets your skin. It will symbolize all of your lies & all of your empty promises." – @the_MJF.
Next week @CodyRhodes will receive 10 lashes on Dynamite!
In the summer of 1996, there was no bigger angle in wrestling than the NWO teasing they would reveal their 3rd member at Bash at the Beach. Hulk Hogan would famously turn heel and align with Hall and Nash.
In the years since the famous angle, numerous reports have come out about other wrestlers who were considered for the role. Bischoff addressed those rumors on a recent edition of his podcast. According to Bischoff, no names other than Hogan and Sting were ever discussed.
Eric Bischoff on Bret Hart & Others Being The NWO’s 3rd Man
“Bret Hart was never a syllable in any statement that was in any part of any conversation as an option,” Bischoff said. “Never happened. Put that one to bed. Had I talked to Bret? I don’t think at that point I’d talked to Bret, I think I met Bret after that for the very first time.”
“To me, it was always going to be the 3 that I chose,” Bischoff continued. “And Sting was going to be the guy that was going to turn because I wasn’t sure about Hulk.”
“I wasn’t looking for anyone outside that equation.”
Bischoff’s comments can be heard in the player below:
AJ Styles was on his Mixer channel last night playing video games and talking about his recent injury. Styles suffered a shoulder injury during the Royal Rumble match after taking a Spear from Edge in a rather dramatic fashion. Styles did a flip when taking the move and ended up landing on his shoulder.
During his Mixer stream last night, Styles emphasized that the injury was not Edge’s fault in the least.
“Just so everything is clear, Edge did nothing, absolutely 100% nothing wrong. His move, his spear, everything was perfect the way he did it. If there is any blame put on anybody about what I’m dealing with, my shoulder, it’s me. 100% me. I was ‘over-brothered’ as they say. I just went crazy with my bump there. The only problem with flipping over the way that I did was the first thing to hit was my left shoulder. And I thought I had dislocated my shoulder.”
Styles continued to talk about the moments following his injury.
“They wanted to get me out of there right away and I told them I can’t roll under the bottom rope. That’s not how the Rumble works. I said ‘I’m staying in, somebody is going to have to throw me over.’”
It was reported on a recent Wrestling Observer Radio that Styles hopes to be fully recovered in 4-6 weeks. This would mean he’s back in time for WrestleMania.
MVP took to social media recently to thank WWE for what he is referring to as his final match with the company. The 46-year-old was a surprise appearance in the Royal Rumble match on Sunday and then dropped a single’s match to Rey Mysterio on RAW the following night.
Here is what MVP posted to social media:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B77c2ayn0ab/
“Salute to you boss! You’ve had one hell of a run. Next stop, Hall of Fame!” wrote AEW’s Scorpio Sky.
Mad respect…… &…… if it was the last one in WWE, it was a pleasure and an honor to be part of that chapter! ???? https://t.co/5n5KoVKlw0
People keep asking me about the "deal I signed" with WWE. I never signed a deal. I came back so that my son could see me wrestle in person and for him to see me wrestle his favorite wrestler. As usual the industry leeches are reporting misinformation as fact.??? Idiots.
Speaking to Vice, MVP opened up about how going to prison led to the start of his wrestling career.
“My life is an open book,” MVP said. “As a teenager I was into gangs and guns and nonsense. I was all about robberies, I used to say the world was my ATM, I ended up doing six-and-a-half months in the juvenile facility for robbery, armed robbery, aggravated assault, grand theft auto, resisting arrest. It was a nice little crime spree I was on.”
“When I was in work release that’s where I met my buddy, Prime Time Daryl D, aka Daryl Davis, who is a correctional officer and was also an independent pro wrestler.”
Bret Hart posted on Facebook recently that the doctors discovered a basal cell carcinoma on his shoulder. The Hitman also noted that he has surgery scheduled to have the skin cancer removed next week.
Hart posted the following to his official Facebook page:
“Goal for 2020 and beyond: wear more sunscreen! Basal cell carcinoma removal scheduled soon. Another opportunity to remind everyone to look after your health and #getchecked.”
Bret Hart Upcoming Appearances
Hart is booked at the upcoming WrestleCon event in Tampa Bay over WrestleMania weekend. He will be at George Steinbrenner Field on April 4th and 5th. Hart advertised the appearances on Instagram recently:
Jim Ross recently spoke about Bret Hart’s return to WWE in 2010 on an episode of his podcast.
“I was happy. Anytime you can spend quality time with Bret Hart, you are better off for it,” Jim Ross said on the show.
“I’m shocked that somebody isn’t using Bret to help coach, teach, motivate young talents,” he continued. “He’s brilliant, brilliant mind. Great worker, one of the best I ever saw in my entire life.”
WWE United States Champion Andrade has been suspended by WWE for 30 days. The suspension is due to the Superstar’s first violation of the company’s Wellness Policy. WWE has not announced what caused Andrade to fail the test.
Andrade posted the following to social media recently:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B76ffSwnJFR/
“Never give up because things got tough, remember where you come from and where you are going.”
Andrade also recently spoke to Seconds Out about his initial frustrations while training at the WWE Performance Center.
“When you would work out with the guys who have never wrestled in their life? I’ve been wrestling for nine years in this moment and some of these guys don’t know a wristlock, or waist lock, or headlock,” Andrade explained. “I stay in the corner and say, ‘Ugh! Three hours?’ Because the class is three hours.”
“I have to stay in the ring because I’m learning headlocks, or a spot, or a little wrestling. And I’ll say, ‘Okay, Norman Smiley, next.’ People are standing in the ring while he says, ‘A headlock is this, a headlock is this, a headlock is this.’ Norman Smiley keeps saying wait, wait, and he understands because he speaks Spanish and says, ‘Hey, tranquilo, tranquilo, tranquilo, relax, wait, wait.’”
Posted January 31st, 2020 in News, WWE. Tagged: Andrade.
George Barrios and Michelle Wilson have been removed from the WWE Board of Directors effective immediately. WWE sent out a press release thanking both Barrios and Wilson for their time with the company.
The WWE stock is down significantly in response to the news. The company is scheduled to announce its 2019 4th quarter earnings next Thursday. Some are speculating Barrios and Wilson’s departures could be in response to lower than expected results.
WWE also announced that Frank A. Riddick III has been named the new Chief Financial Officer and will report directly to Vince McMahon. Riddick has been on the WWE board of directors for 11 years.
Wilson and Barrios had been Co-Presidents since 2018.
WWE Press Release Announcing George Barrios and Michelle Wilson’s Departures From The Company
“I would like to thank George and Michelle for their 10+ years of service and contributions to the organization,” said Vince McMahon in WWE’s press release. “I am grateful for all that was accomplished during their tenure, but the Board and I decided a change was necessary as we have different views on how best to achieve our strategic priorities moving forward.
The official YouTube channel for the WWE Performance Center has published a video today teasing a possible encounter between Matt Riddle and Brock Lesnar. Riddle has made frequent public comments regarding Lesnar and there have been reports the two had a verbal altercation backstage at the Royal Rumble.
“I really wanted to get my hands on Brock,” Riddle says in the video. “You know, I saw him throwing everybody around. I don’t care what he says or what anybody says, I don’t care if he wants the match or not. I’m going to get it. I don’t care, it’s not up to him.”
“I don’t like being told no, especially when I work as hard as I do.”
WWE posted the following video to the WWE PC YouTube channel:
“NXT Superstar Matt Riddle competed in the 2020 Royal Rumble this past weekend, and he made sure to express his interest in facing WWE Champion Brock Lesnar,” a description of the video reads on YouTube.
Matt Riddle Posts About 2020 Royal Rumble Experience
Riddle posted to social media to say his Royal Rumble appearance didn’t go as planned. He also mentioned his big match on NXT this week along with Pete Dunne against the Grizzled Young Veterans.
