New Japan Pro Wrestling plans to run 3 more events in the United States before the end of the year. It was reported earlier this week that the promotion planned to return to Long Beach on September 30th (Fighting Spirit Unleashed). They have now announced 2 more shows in Anaheim on November 10th and 11th.
The Anaheim shows will not feature the top-tier stars of NJPW, however. Rather the two shows will be deemed “Lion’s Break” events similar to the Lion’s Gate shows in Japan and feature trainees. Although not specifically mentioned, it’s possible the Lion’s Break shows could feature talent scouted at their Long Beach dojo camps earlier this year.
In total, NJPW will have run 5 shows in the United States by year’s end. They have also toured the UK, Australia, and Mexico this year. Many believe the increased focus on international expansion has come from their newly appointed President, Harold Meij.
Just announced! Get ready for more NJPW action coming Stateside!
Meij told Japanese media his plans for the promotion include an emphasis on expanding from their traditional market.
“I want to expand the fan-base regardless of age, gender or nationality,” Meij explained. “New Japan has fantastic content, so it has the possibility of picking up popularity overseas. At the moment, there are some 100,000 registered members on our video streaming service ‘New Japan Pro-Wrestling World,’ and 40,000 of them live outside Japan. I would like to aim for the international market with things like videos in English or events for foreign tourists.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling is just outside of San Francisco tonight for their G1 Special. Earlier today there were slightly over 1000 tickets available for the event online. NJPW announced there were a small number of walk-up tickets available at the Cow Palace. Earlier reports had the building half sold-out but with it being the most expensive half of seats sold. It now looks as though it should be just under a sellout tonight.
Impact Wrestling last night was a taped show from Windsor, ON, Canada. This was the second show to air from the tapings held there last month.
After tonight’s episode, there will just be two more weeks until Slammiversary and the final card for the event is becoming solidified.
Impact Wrestling July 5th, 2018 St. Clair College Windsor, ON, Canada
Here are the top 7 takeaways from Impact Wrestling this week:
LAX Civil War!
Bullet Club isn’t the only faction imploding this summer. A leadership issue has also torn apart Konnan, King, and LAX.
Previously, Konnan returned to the group and told Ortiz and Santana he has proof that it was King who put the hit out on him all along. Konnan’s proof was only to dispute a series of phone calls from when he was in the hospital but King confessed all the same.
Santana and Ortiz were given the chance to go with either King or Konnan and they chose Konnan. This brought out Homicide and Hernandez who took out Konnan, Santana, and Ortiz. King’s LAX then stood tall to end the show.
It’s possible we get Konnan’s LAX (Santana and Ortiz) defending the Impact tag-team championships against King’s LAX (Hernandez and Homicide) at Slammiversary.
On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that fans have been writing in to tell him about how good this match was live. Impact mentioned this on Twitter recently in an effort to promote the show.
This match received the treble of approving chants from the live crowd: “This is Awesome!” “Both these guys!” and “Fight Forever!”. Some streamers were even thrown.
After the match, oVe came out to attack Fenix. It looked as though Pentagon had made the save but then he kicked Fenix in the groin and revealed it was just Sami Callihan in a mask.
The real Pentagon came out to make the save (as did Swann) setting up our main event for next week: Sami Callihan & oVe vs. Fenix, Pentagon, and Rich Swann.
Don Callis Signs Killer Kross
One of the best parts about having Don Callis on commentary is he can give explanations as to why Impact management would do something. Such was the case this week when Callis explained why Impact signed Killer Kross after he spent several weeks assaulting people in the back (while seemingly pretending to be a security guard).
Callis explained that when they discovered Kross was the person who had been attacking people, he looked him up. Turns out Kross has a background in bare-knuckled boxing and had pro-wrestling training. Callis continued to explain that the nature of the wrestling business allows for him to sign Kross to a contract in response to his unprovoked assaults rather than say pressing criminal charges.
Kross defeated Fallah Bah in easy fashion this week. He choked out Bah and then did the same to KM after the match.
The Undead Brides Can Wrestle
We saw one of Su Yung’s undead brides wrestle this week, confirming they are able to do so. Undead Bride #1 teamed with Su Yung to take on the team of Allie and Madison Rayne.
In an interview earlier in the evening, Rayne said she was looking to Allie for guidance for when she takes on Su Yung at Slammiversary. Allie has been down some dark paths with her feuds with Rosemary (plus she was locked in a coffin a few weeks ago by Yung) and so has advice she can pass down to Rayne.
Madison Rayne picked up the win for her team in this match with the “Cross Rayne” on the undead bride.
During the match, Tessa Blanchard hit the ring looking to get revenge on Rayne. Blanchard has dropped two straight matches to Rayne via pinning combination. Allie took out Blanchard, however, possibly setting up an angle between the two of them. It’s possible we get Allie vs Blanchard at Slammiversary.
Is Brian Cage The Future of the X-Division?
The X-Division isn’t about weight limits, it’s about no limits. This vague yet somehow also descriptive explanation for the X-Division has been given since its inception. In a sense, it is meant to say the action in the X-Division is innovative, athletic, and boundary-pushing. Nobody epitomizes that more than Brian Cage.
Cage defeated Kongo Kong last night, moving a step forward to receiving another shot at Matt Sydal and the X-Division championship. On a previous episode, Sydal defeated Cage via count-out after Kongo interfered.
Sydal appeared to strike some deal with Jimmy Jacobs to have Kongo take out Cage but the plan doesn’t appear to have worked.
Shortly after the conclusion of last night’s episode, it was revealed that Cage will receive another shot at the X-Division title at Slammiversary. Will the Machine take the title from Sydal? If so, just how dominant can Cage be in this division?
Eddie Edwards’ feud with Sami Callihan caused him to spiral to a dark place. Tommy Dreamer, who saw his own career impacted by a similar obsession with Raven, tried to help Edwards. In response, however, Edwards’ delusions convinced him that Dreamer was involved with his wife.
Last week on Impact, Edwards traveled to Philadelphia and confronted Dreamer at a House of Hardcore show. He caned Dreamer in the head and busted him open. This week, Dreamer cut a fiery promo on how Edwards is obsessed with Sami Callihan but now Dreamer is obsessed with Edwards.
It was also revealed that Tommy Dreamer and Eddie Edwards will face each other in a House of Hardcore match at Slammiversary.
The build-up to Moose vs Austin Aries at Slammiversary has been done through sit-down interviews. Aries claims that Moose is a failed football player trying out a new career whereas Aries is a wrestler and has always been a wrestler.
Moose, however, says he left football for wrestling. Not only that, he says he left a lot of money on the table in the NFL and even took a shot at his ex-wife for not supporting him when he decided to leave football for wrestling. Moose did mention, however, that unlike his ex-wife, his mother was supportive of his decision to chase his wrestling dream.
Aries got in the line of the night this week when he told Moose after he beats him at Slammiversary, he’d better hope the XFL is hiring.
A couple of other notes from Impact Wrestling:
The Great Gama Singh is running the Desi Hit Squad through several old-school drills.
Joe Hendry arrived in a backstage segment with Grado.
Konnan was able to lead the crowd in a “Gloryhole” chant during his segment with King and LAX
Katarina defeated Rebel
A new Knockout will debut shortly
Quick Results:
Fenix defeated Rich Swann
Killer Kross defeated Fallah Bah
Madison Rayne & Allie defeated Su Yung & an Undead Bride
Katarina defeated Rebel
Brian Cage defeated Kongo Kong
Updated Slammiversary Card
Mask vs Hair
Pentagon Jr vs Sami Callihan
Impact World Championship
Austin Aries (c) vs Moose
X-Division Championship
Matt Sydal (c) vs Brian Cage
Knockouts Championship
Su Yung (c) vs Madison Rayne
House of Hardcore Match
Tommy Dreamer vs Eddie Edwards
Taiji Ishimori vs Johnny Impact vs Rich Swann vs Fenix
3 more names have been confirmed for All-In on September 1st, 2018 from the Sears Center in Chicago. Despite hating the city the event is being held in, the members of ROH”s SoCal Uncensored faction have just declared for All-In.
Christopher Daniels announced the news earlier today on Twitter:
The trio from Ring of Honor consists of Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky.
All-In September 1st, 2018
Cody will challenge for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship that evening but it has yet to be confirmed who the champion will be at the time. Assuming Nick Aldis retains the championship leading up to September 1st, he will then face Cody.
The first official match announcement is expected later today.
Confirmed For All-In
Cody
the Young Bucks
Hangman Page
Marty Scurll
Kota Ibushi
MJF
Madison Rayne
Paul Turner (ref)
Rick Knox (ref)
Todd Sinclair (ref)
Jerry Lynn (ref)
Earl Hebner (ref)
Matt Cross
Kazuchika Okada
Stephen Amell
Specifically not Flip Gordon
Tessa Blanchard
Joey Janela
Jay Lethal
Pentagon
Fenix
Brandi Rhodes
Cody On WWE Signing Talent Away From All-In
Recently, Deonna Purrazzo dropped out of the planned event. It is largely believed she will be competing in the Mae Young Classic on the 8th and 9th of August and likely wants to keep her options open should WWE offer her a contract.
“That’s a possibility,” Cody admitted on Twitter regarding the possibility of WWE signing talent booked for All-In. “Everybody has different goals. If your goal is to take a meet/greet style handshake photo, and pretend to be excited about going back to wrestling school…that’s your prerogative ha”
New Japan Pro Wrestling is believed to be organizing their 3rd show in the United States this year. The company could even make an announcement regarding the show this weekend at the G1 Special in San Francisco.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, NJPW plans to be back in Long Beach on September 30th, 2018, 4 weeks after All-In.
“While not official,” the report reads. “It looks like the 9/30 return to the U.S. after the Cow Palace show will be back in Long Beach. That’s awfully quick after All In but it’s clear they want to do regular live specials on AXS to build the brand in the U.S.”
New Japan Pro-Wrestling comes to San Francisco for the first time on July 7!! G1 Special in San Francisco will feature Kenny Omega vs Cody in the IWGP Heavyweight Championship! And many more! Tickets available now. More info here: https://t.co/diVcJWu0gv#g1usapic.twitter.com/phBaeRlsLO
In addition to now running several shows a year, NJPW ran two wrestling camps in Long Beach this spring. The camps were presided over by Katsuyori Shibata.
Earlier this month, newly appointed NJPW President, Harold Meij, spoke about the company’s plans for international expansion.
“I want to expand the fan-base regardless of age, gender or nationality,” Meij explained. “New Japan has fantastic content, so it has the possibility of picking up popularity overseas. At the moment, there are some 100,000 registered members on our video streaming service ‘New Japan Pro-Wrestling World,’ and 40,000 of them live outside Japan. I would like to aim for the international market with things like videos in English or events for foreign tourists.”
Meij is a Dutch national businessman who is familiar and experienced with the Japanese market.
“Even though there are a plethora of markets abroad, many Japanese companies aren’t making any use of them. As someone not bound by language or cultural barriers, I would like to become a pioneer in sports marketing.” Meij continued. “In three years at least, I will achieve profits of 10 billion yen. The figure is close to the 10.2 billion yen made by the Japan Sumo Association in 2016.”
Ruby Riott has been out of action since suffering an injury on WWE’s June 29th house show from Rapid City, South Dakota. She suffered a sprained MCL in a match she lost to Dana Brooke.
Last night on Wrestling Observer radio, Dave Meltzer gave an update on Riott’s timetable for return. “She’s not going to be out a long time,” Meltzer said. “She’s going to be out for sure a couple of weeks.”
The plans are to evaluate the injury in 3-4 weeks and go from there.
“From what I gather it’s not going to be surgery, it’s not going to be a long time off,” Meltzer continued. “So, she dodged a bullet there.”
I only lost last night cause I was missing my bae @RubyRiottWWE .. don’t feel too special @WWEEmberMoon … I’m sure I’ll see you in that ring again ???
Riott was absent from Liv Morgan’s match with Ember Moon this past week. Morgan lost the match, her 3rd straight single’s defeat since moving up to the main roster.
Riott recently explained why her trio likes to cause so much chaos:
“We’ve never been given nice things and because of that we are more aware of the people around us that take those nice things for granted. And the only way to teach those much needed lessons….is to destroy all the things you hold close to you.
Sasha Banks and Bayley, we understand we weren’t what started this fire, but we are proud that we were the gasoline that fueled it!”
Lars Sullivan is going to be out of action for awhile. He’s on the injured list with a broken jaw. He sustained the injury midway through his match with Aleister Black at Takeover: Chicago II.
The timetable to return from a broken jaw is pretty variable. A few months is a good rough estimate, however.
This is the second time in 2018 Sullivan has been out with an injury. He missed a set of TV tapings back in February due to a knee issue as well.
Lars Sullivan in WWE
29-year-old Lars Sullivan is believed to have reported to the WWE Performance Center in October of 2014. He began wrestling matches on NXT house shows in 2016 and started on television in April of 2017. There are no reports of Sullivan having worked anywhere else before being signed to WWE.
Sullivan has been protected on NXT programming. He’s wrestled 12x in single’s matches on NXT TV (not including house shows). Sulivan’s record is 9-1-1 with his only loss coming to Black at the most recent Takeover event.
Shortly after he lost the NXT championship match in Chicago, Triple H said the loss will likely make Sullivan even more dangerous. He continued to say that Sullivan will be an even more dangerous competitor once he learns from his rookie mistakes. You can check out Triple H’s interview below:
In September of 2017, AJ Styles returned to Japan and wore a mask for his ring entrance. The mask was “Club” themed, an homage to Styles’ time in NJPW as leader of Bullet Club.
Styles broke out the mask again this weekend as WWE traveled back to the country. Styles was supposed to renew his rivalry with Shinsuke Nakamura on the shows but a bomb-sniffing dog bite kept Nakamura out of action.
Now reunited with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows on Smackdown, the Club made a memorable entrance in Tokyo recently. Check out the below video on the faction’s entrance:
AJ Styles’ WWE Championship Reign
Styles’ 240 days with the WWE Championship is now the longest reign since CM Punk’s 434-day run with the belt in 2011-13. Before Punk, you have to go back to John Cena’s 380-day reign from 2006-07 for the next champion who held the title longer than Styles has.
Styles defeated Jinder Mahal for the title on November 7th, 2018. The match was held in Manchester. It was largely believed at the time that Styles was winning the title so it would be him and not Jinder Mahal who would face Brock Lesnar in the Raw vs Smackdown world champion match at Survivor Series last year.
Styles has defended the title 7x on WWE programming during his reign. He defeated Jinder Mahal in a rematch at Clash of Champions 2017. Then he defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a handicap match at the 2018 Royal Rumble. Styles then won a 6-pack challenge at Fastlane 2018. He also held onto the WWE Championships for four straight title defenses against Shinsuke Nakamura as well.
Kenny Omega and Cody will go one-on-one for the second time in their rivalry this Saturday at the Cow Palace. Not only will the match be for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the winner will be declared the leader of Bullet Club.
Omega built the match up with the following Tweet from earlier today:
Both Cody and Omega alluded to the idea that the winner of their last match would be declared leader of Bullet Club as well. The faction leadership was still up for debate after Cody had won, however.
Kenny Omega versus Cody II
Saturday will be Omega’s first defense of the title he won at Dominion. Omega’s victory over Kazuchika Okada ended the longest running IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign of all-time. He is just the second member of the faction to win the title after AJ Styles did so in 2014.
As for Cody, this will be his 3rd title match in a week’s time. He unsuccessfully challenged for the ROH World Championship this weekend. At Best in the World on Friday night, Dalton Castle won a 3-way match against Cody and Marty Scurll. The next night in Fairfax, Jay Lethal would win a fatal 4-way match against Castle, Scurll, and Matt Taven to win the title for the second time in his career.
“NJPW G1 Special in San Francisco
Sho, Yoh, Rocky Romero, Gedo, YOSHI-HASHI (CHAOS) vs Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, Tanga Loa, Tama Tonga, and King Haku (Bullet Club)
Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS) vs Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-Gun)
KUSHIDA and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Marty Scurll and Hangman Page (Bullet Club)
NEVER Openweight Championship
Hirooki Goto (CHAOS) (c) vs Jeff Cobb
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
the Young Bucks (Bullet Club) (c) vs SANADA and EVIL (LIJ)
Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS) vs Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI (LIJ)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Hiromu Takahashi (LIJ) (c) vs Dragon Lee (CMLL)
IWGP United States Championship
Jay White (CHAOS) (c) vs Juice Robinson
Cody Rhodes is generally complimentary of Triple H when he speaks about his time in WWE. He decided to take a jab at WWE’s COO recently on Twitter, however.
Cody’s jab came after it was revealed that Deonna Purrazzo has pulled out of All-In on September 1st, 2018. Speculation is Purrazzo is likely going to be competing in the Mae Young Classic next month.
“It’s been incredible to see first hand what @MattJackson13, @NickJacksonYB, & @CodyRhodes envision for pro wrestling. I am so sad I won’t be wrestling at #AllIn but my heart will be there September 1st ”
Cody responded to Deonna’s Tweet with some advice on how to handle her potential photo with Triple H.
Take 1 large step forward in the photo, he likes to make people look shorter than him.
“Take 1 large step forward in the photo, he likes to make people look shorter than him. Good luck D. Beat everybody. Run up the score.”
WWE Signing All-In Talents?
Last month, Cody addressed the possibility of WWE signing talents scheduled to appear at All-In. The discussion began when a fan asked Dave Meltzer on Twitter about how WWE might decide to counter the Chicago event.
“Nope and tickets are sold,” Meltzer responded to a fan’s question of possible WWE action against the event. “All they can do it try and sign the talent on the show and pull them, and most are under contract elsewhere past that date.”
Cody saw the Twitter conversation and responded. “That’s a possibility,” Cody admitted. “Everybody has different goals. If your goal is to take a meet/greet style handshake photo, and pretend to be excited about going back to wrestling school…that’s your prerogative ha.”
In 2002, Hulk Hogan and Edge won the WWE World Tag Team Championships. They did so by defeating the team of Billy & Chuck on the July 2nd, 2002 Smackdown from the Fleet Center in Boston.
Edge is truly one of the greats in the WWE. Only a neck injury stopped him from surpassing all of us. He knows the business’s inside and out brother. Only love4EDGE. HH
Edge grew up a Hulk Hogan fan. He has spoken of attending WrestleMania VI in Toronto as a youngster frequently. Hogan has not had much luck at WrestleManias in Edge’s hometown, losing high-profile matches each time WrestleMania has been held in the city. Hogan lost to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI and again to the Rock at WrestleMania 18.
“Coming from the brother brother who inspired me to be a wrestler, this type of compliment will resonate with me until I’m the old, surly, uncool grandpa who tells all the grandkids, back in my day I teamed with Hulk Hogan. And the people went banana! Although they actually did”
Johnny Gargano Grows Up an Edge Fan
Just as Edge grew up a fan of Hulk Hogan, there are Superstars active today who grew up fans of Edge. One of those Superstars is Johnny Gargano. Recently, Gargano posted a photo he took of himself as a kid posing with Edge.
“Hey @EdgeRatedR, Remember on the @EandCPod when I said that the first time we met was backstage at an indy show in 2015?.. A trip to my Mom’s house jogged my memory. That totally wasn’t the first time we met.. This was 2004!”
Independent wrestler, Anthony Gaines, got more than he bargained for over the weekend. He took on House of Hardcore wrestler, Ace Romero, at an Empire State Wrestling event.
The match took place at ESW’s “Summer Sleaze” event on June 30th, 2018. The match was for the Interstate Championship. Check out the highlight below:
Last night @TheAceyBaby pounced me into absolute oblivion. 14ft deep up the isle way.
Romero is a regular for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion. You can also see him competing for PCW Ultra and Rockstar Pro. Unfortunately for Romero, he was not booked on House of Hardcore’s upcoming tour of Australia.
As for Gaines, he is the current Interstate champion in ESW. He also competes regularly for Pro Wrestling Revolver. He started his career in late 2014.
Empire State Wrestling has been in operation since 2002 and generally runs shows out of the Buffalo – Niagra Falls region. Notable former wrestlers for the promotion include Braxton Sutter, Jimmy Jacobs, AR Fox, Gangrel, Joey Ryan, Petey Williams, Simon Grimm, and Stevie Richards.
Sami Callihan has called out the entire Ring of Honor roster. The Impact Wrestling star who will meet Pentagon in a Mask vs Hair match at Slammiversary sent out the following video message directed to the ROH roster:
Last year, Jericho announced that Ring of Honor would be part of his cruise. After his longtime friend, Don Callis, took over Impact Wrestling at the end of 2017, however, Jericho announced his promotion will be on the tour as well.
Jericho revealed the first round matchups for the Sea of Honor tournament earlier this summer.
NXT is back tonight with a show from Full Sail University in Florida. The main event for the night is scheduled to be Johnny Wrestling taking on EC3.
Several other matches and segments have been confirmed for tonight’s show.
NXT Preview 7/4/18
Johnny Gargano vs ECIII
NXT General Manager, William Regal, has told Gargano he needs to move on from his rivalry with Tommaso Ciampa. This is why Regal has scheduled him in a match tonight with EC3. If Gargano can’t get his mind off what Ciampa did to him, he will be in tough against the top one percenter tonight.
Shayna Baszler Has Defeated All Challengers
Recently, NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler has defeated Dakota Kai, Nikki Cross, and most recently Toni Storm (at the UK tapings).
Bianca Belair and Candice LeRae are two members of the division who seem to be winning matches a lot lately. Either of them could potentially come out to challenge the champion tonight.
Heavy Machinery vs The Mighty
TM-61 are now known just as the Mighty and they use any under-handed techniques they can to defeat their opponents. They have already used such tactics once to defeat the powerhouse team of Heavy Machinery.
After their recent loss to the Mighty, Heavy Machinery indicated that playtime was over. They get a chance at revenge tonight.
Chris Dijak vs Velveteen Dream
After dropping a tough loss to Ricochet at Takeover, the Dream could use a win here.
The 31-year-old former ROH wrestler, Dijak, dropped his first match on NXT television in May to Ricochet.
R-Truth has been dealing with an arm injury since October. Despite his injury, he did compete at in the WrestleMania Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal this year. Aside from that match, however, Truth hasn’t wrestled since an October 14th, 2017 house show match against Elias.
Truth was backstage at Smackdown last night, however. He appears to be looking for a new tag-team partner as well. Despite coming to believe he is an alien, Truth first asked Tye Dillinger to be his new partner. When that didn’t work out, Truth then challenged Samoa Joe to face Dillinger in a future match.
WWE.com has released video of the interaction:
R-Truth WWE Career
46-year-old Ron Aaron Killings has been wrestling professionally for 21 years. He was first signed to WWE in 1999. His first stint with the company lasted only a few years, however. He was released by the company in 2002 and wrestled in TNA for 5 years. Killings even won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on 2 occasions while he was there.
He returned to WWE in 2008 and has been there ever since. Truth’s WWE resume includes winning the Hardcore championship twice, the US title once, and the WWE tag titles once along with Kofi Kingston. He is also a 2x Slammy Award Winner, having won awards in 2008 (best musical performance) and 2015 (LOL moment of the year).
In TNA, Truth is a 2x NWA World Heavyweight Champion, 2x NWA World Tag Team Champion (w/ 3 Live Crew), and once won the TNA Tag Team titles as well with Adam “Pacman” Jones.
Last night on 205 Live, General Manager Drake Maverick scheduled Cedric Alexander’s next Cruiserweight title defense.
2 weeks ago, Hideo Itami defeated Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali in a triple threat match. Maverick has now scheduled the Itami versus Alexander match for next week.
This week on 205 Live, Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy would meet in a no disqualification match. The winner of the match is likely in a position to challenge the winner of Hideo Itami vs Cedric Alexander title match next week.
205 Live Results 7/3/18
Century Link Center Omaha, NE
1. Noam Dar defeated TJP
TJP has been asking Drake Maverick to give him better competition for several weeks now. Maverick told him he had picked his opponent for this week himself. TJP questioned whether Maverick should actually be doing this every week, seeing as he is the GM of the brand.
Noam Dar was the surprise opponent. The returning Scottish SuperNova made short work of TJP.
2. Akira Tozawa defeated Jason Strife
Lio Rush came out to do guest commentary during this match.
This was the 3rd straight victory for Tozawa on 205 Live. He defeated Tony Nese last week and another local talent 2 weeks before that. His last loss was to Drew Gulak on an episode of Main Event from June 4th, 2018.
After the match, Lio Rush said, unlike Tozawa he doesn’t wait for anything.
Rush then challenged Tozawa to a future match.
3. Mustafa Ali defeated Buddy Murphy (no disqualification match)
Ali started the match off with a diving senton to the outside on top of Murphy and things just kind of went from there.
Some of the big spots included Ali giving Murphy a Spanish fly from the guardrail on top of an announce table. Ali also gave Murphy a super-plex from the top an over-turned set of steel steps. Murphy also used the steps to jump over the ring ropes onto Ali.
The finish of the match began when Ali got tied up in the ring ropes and Murphy delivered several running knees to his face. After untying Ali, Murphy went for the pin but only got a close 2-count. Ali then fought back and gave Murphy a tornado DDT off the steel steps and got the 3-count for the win.
The commentators suggested Ali will be watching next week’s title match closely.
According to the Drifter, he is now sponsored by one of the world’s most highly recognized guitar manufacturers. Elias recently announced on Twitter that he is now officially sponsored by Fender.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkxgOp0hLuZ/
Elias Officially Sponsored By Fender
Elias previously mentioned Fender is a favorite brand of his during an interview with Guitar World. He was asked by the media outlet about his first guitar when he mentioned his affinity for Fender’s products.
“I’m going to say the brand was a [Yamaha] Pacifica electric kit for learning guitar,” Elias said of his first guitar. “Once I had enough knowledge of guitar, that’s when I branched out to Fender, which is a favorite brand of mine, and so on.”
Elias was also asked during the interview if there are plans to record any of his songs rather than just performing them at live events.
“Absolutely,” Elias responded. “I believe WWE—which, if you are not aware, stands for “Walk with Elias”—the company is taking notice of what I’m doing every week and there’s absolutely plans in the works to record music, release music, put it out there and give them the sound of Elias that they can take with them. They can have it on their phone, they can have it wherever on whatever music format they have.”
Elias in NXT
Earlier this year, Elias spoke with Edge and Christian on their podcast. Elias said Triple H told him while he was still in developmental that his character was a better fit for the main roster than NXT.
“Triple H has told me specifically from the very first time when he saw me, he said that it would be a better main roster character than NXT. It never really clicked with the NXT audience the way it has, (and) the way I see it, I took my live event act in NXT and brought it to the main roster.”
“They saw the live event act and said let’s put that on TV. On NXT, I would sing songs, but wouldn’t even do that, plus it was very dark and cryptic, but this is the kind of stuff I was doing on live events in NXT before being called up.”
Posted July 3rd, 2018 in News, WWE. Tagged: Elias.
The color commentator for NJPW and the Vice-President of Impact Wrestling, Don Callis, recently shared his thoughts on Juice Robinson. Callis made the comments on his weekly podcast “Killin the Town”.
Callis mentioned that Juice’s reputation as a fun guy to party with exceeds almost anyone’s in the business. Not only that, however, Callis believes Juice is immensely talented. He would even say the 29-year-old former WWE developmental wrestler is the kind of guy you can build an entire company around.
“Juice is a tremendous performer with unlimited likeability and unlimited charisma,” Callis said. “He definitely is a rock star.”
“I really like him a lot,” Callis continued. “He’s a guy you build a company around.”
Callis and his co-host, Paul Lazenby, also mentioned that Juice is not online. He does not have a Twitter or social media account but mentions if you buy him a beer in a bar, he’ll talk your ear off. They also mentioned how Juice’s nickname is “the Pope of Roppongi”.
Juice Robinson vs Jay White – G1 Special in San Francisco
The next big match for Juice Robinson will be this weekend at the Cow Palace. Robinson has a chance to win the IWGP United States championship from Jay White.
On the most recent NJPW tour, however, White has targetted Robinson’s injured arm. NJPW would state that Robinson has been allowed to wear a cast into the ring on his injured arm, however, he is not allowed to use the cast against his opponent. It is not yet known if Juice’s arm will still be in a cast by the time of the Cow Palace show.
Don Callis Bringing Talent To Impact Wrestling
Callis has continued to say he plans to break down barriers in wrestling. The management team at Impact Wrestling has been creating talent-sharing partnerships with other wrestling promotions.
“I agree with a lot of the conjecture online that talks about the fact that there are walls being broken down in the business right now,” Callis said. “I might just be the guy holding the hammer.”
Tonight’s episode of 205 Live will emanate from Century Link Center in Omaha, NE. The featured main event will see Buddy Murphy take on his rival, Mustafa Ali in a no disqualification match.
205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick, announced the match last week on social media.
Aside from the main event, the only other known segment for the show features 205 Live newcomer, Lio Rush.
Rush defeated Dewey James in his debut last week. He was also joined backstage by one of his more famous fans, Danielle Fishel.
Fishel had also followed Rush’s career when he competed at PWG shows.
All we know is Rush is in the city and will be on 205 Live. It’s not clear if he will be wrestling in another squash match or just appearing on the show, however.
Buddy Murphy vs Mustafa Ali NO DQ Match
Tonight’s main event will feature 2 of the top ranked cruiserweights on the brand.
Both Murphy and Ali were in-line for another shot at Cedric Alexander but Hideo Itami won a 3-way match to move to the top of the contenders.
Both Murphy and Ali have been as close to cruiserweight gold as possible without having won the title.
Murphy is 5-2 in single’s matches in the cruiserweight division. His only losses have been to Ali and Cedric Alexander. He’s another 1-1 in multi-person matches.
Ali and Murphy are 1-1-1 against each other in single’s action.
Ali is 6-3-1 in 2018 single’s matches. He’s another 1-6 in multi-person matches.
Other Cruiserweight Developments
Current speculation is that Drew Gulak’s brother, Rory Gulak, may have signed a deal with WWE. Rory was one of 40 hopefuls who attended tryouts at the Performance Center last week. He would later Tweet out the following comments:
“Did I die and go to wrestling heaven? Extremely thankful and grateful to be apart of something as amazing as this tryout. Cant say thanks enough to everyone for their time and helping me get this far. One step closer to reuniting The Amazing Gulaks”
In the Being the Elite universe, Joey Ryan is presumed dead. That Ryan has been wrestling regularly on the independent scene is not referenced on the show. The characters on Being the Elite believe Joey Ryan is missing and presumed dead, however. Stephen Amell had been considered a suspect.
Marty Scurll and Hangman Page ran into Joey Ryan’s hot-wife, Laura James, to start off the episode. James noted that Page looks an awful lot like Amell. Scurll and James then talked about how they would beat up Joey’s killer if he was there. This caused Page to storm off from the scene.
James then told Scurll that she is unable to make her late husband’s funeral and Scurll commented on how poorly Ryan’s funeral is going to draw.
Later in the show, it was revealed that actor, Stephen Amell, had been let out of prison due to insufficient evidence.
Matt Jackson confronted Page about having killed Ryan and Page responded by strangling him and storming off. Jackson then told his brother he believes Page is responsible for Ryan’s disappearance.
During the funeral, Flip Gordon noted that since Ryan was presumed dead there is an open spot on All-In.
Hangman Page showed up to the funeral at the very end despite Matt Jackson not inviting him. He said Joey Ryan taught him to never give up and to never quit. Page continued to say he believes Ryan would be proud that he became a famous dick-wrestler just like him. As Page is in the hallway collecting himself a mysterious voice tells him “I know you didn’t kill Joey Ryan, because I did.”
Other Developments Stemming From the Show
The Bucks released their Funko Pops at Hot Topic. They showed footage of them taking their kids to Hot Topic and buying some.
Matt Jackson also has a kids book coming out soon about anti-bullying. Pre-orders are available at Tasselson.com.
Most of the scenes were filmed while ROH was in Baltimore for Best in the World.
The members of SCU offered the Bucks and Flip Gordon some “gimmicks” from a pill bottle. This caused Scurll to pause the live action and give a Zack Morris-style narration promo. After un-freezing, the Bucks and Flip said they didn’t want any because they are drug-free. They would later show up to Joey Ryan’s funeral but only because Joey was from Southern California. It was the worst funeral they had ever been to.
Cody came out after this and confronted the Bucks about their attitudes leading into his second match with Kenny Omega. He said he’s aware the Bucks meant to kick him in the face at SuperCard of Honor.
On July 19th, 2018, Major League Wrestling will air a special 2-hour event on BeIN Sports.
The featured match of the evening will be the 40-person Battle Riot match itself but the promotion recently announced 2 new championship matches to take place on the card.
MLW World Heavyweight Champion, Shane “Swerve” Strickland, will defend his title against Sami Callihan.
the New Hart Foundation (Teddy Hart & Davey Boy Smith Jr) w/ Brian Pillman II vs ACH & Rich Swann
MLW World Middleweight Championship (Vacant)
Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs Joey Ryan
MLW Tag Team Championships
Pentagon & Ray Fenix (c) vs Aerostar and Drago
MLW Heavyweight Championship
Shane “Swerve” Strickland vs Sami Callihan
40-Person Battle Riot Match The winner will receive an MLW World Title shot
Battle Riot Confirmed Participants
Tom Lawler
Pentagon Jr.
Pierre Carl Ouellet
Rich Swann
Jason Cade
Joey Ryan
“Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan
ACH
John Morrison
Lance Anoa’i
Swoggle
Konnan
Jake Hager
“Worldwide Desperado” Sami Callihan
Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Teddy Hart
Barrington Hughes
Jimmy Yuta
“A mash-up of a battle royal, royal rumble and anything goes street fight, this super-sized main event will feature 40 wrestlers with new participants entering the ring every 60 seconds.
Elimination is by pinfall, submission or by throwing an individual over the top rope.”
Court Bauer on MLW Battle Riot Airing Live For Free
“I heavily considered pay per view, but I want to give the fans something special and do it for free,” Bauer said. “Some promoters put a price tag on everything and I could see the temptation here, but I want to reward fans that have been supporting us. Disruption is key for MLW, and a free two-hour special is the ultimate disruption. BeIN is a great partner and I’m glad they agree.”
Two nights before SummerSlam emanates from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, Dolph Ziggler will be throwing a comedy event. He’ll be joined by fellow WWE roster members, Zack Ryder and Renee Young as well.
The event will be held at Caroline’s Comedy, located near Times Square in New York.
Ziggler posted the following to promote the event.
Ziggler will also be in Boston on August 15th, 2018 for a comedy show.
Dolph Ziggler Comedy Career
On Ziggler’s Twitter bio he describes himself as a stand-up comedian who wrestles to pay the bills. In 2015, WWE.com caught up with Ziggler to ask him about some of his comedic influences.
“There are a few that pop into my head,” Ziggler said. “My dad used to work a night shift when I was five years old, so I would get up when he went to work and watch Johnny Carson. I remember not knowing what was going on, but loving it. A couple of years later, I had a friend who had Cheech & Chong records. And my uncle who had shown me, Ric Flair, had SCTV episodes. I really enjoyed all that stuff. And even “SNL” reruns on Nick at Nite, which was “best of’s” from the first few seasons. And later on, movies like “Fletch”, “[National Lampoon’s] Vacation” and “Caddyshack.” Those are some of my favorite movies of all time.”
It had been reported earlier this year that Ziggler had re-signed with WWE. Ziggler refuted this claim in an interview with Fox Sports, however.
“I have a bunch of things going on and I don’t like taking days off and I don’t want to leave WWE but it’s great to have some options,” Ziggler said. “I’ve asked before to go away for a little while just so everyone can forget I lose 99 times out of 100 and it’s never really come through, so I might have to do it on my own and see what happens.”
The main event of last night’s Raw was scheduled to be a match between Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman. Owens ran away from the match shortly after it began, however. This resulted in a count-out victory for Strowman.
Strowman then chased after Owens and eventually trapped him inside a portable washroom. Strowman then shoved the portable toilet off the Raw stage.
WWE cameras kept rolling after Raw ended and captured Owens being helped to the back after the incident.
Kevin Owens vs Braun Strowman
Although not officially announced, it looks as though Strowman will likely face Kevin Owens at Extreme Rules on July 15th, 2018. There is speculation the match could take place inside a steel cage.
Strowman and Owens have met in single’s action 3 times previously. Owens defeated Strowman via DQ in their first meeting from early 2017. That match was for Owens’ Universal Championship at the time. The next time they met was on May 7th, 2018. Strowman defeated Owens in a Money in the Bank Qualifying match. Last night was their 3rd meeting and Strowman won again, this time via count-out.
Kevin Owens Signs 5-Year Contract Extension
As Owens’ opponent climbs the ranks in WWE, Owens recently solidified his future in it. The 34-year-old recently signed a 5-year contract extension with the company.
“I don’t see why I will not finish my career with WWE,” Owens told TVA Sports after he signed. “I just recently signed a new five-year contract with them. I do not intend to go anywhere (when) my contract ends. If the WWE wants to continue, if I want to continue and my family is ready for me to continue, I do not see why it would not happen.”
Additionally, Owens recently lived out a dream of his by appearing on stage with Shania Twain. Owens offered Angle free Shania Twain tickets last night on Raw as well.
Former Lucha Underground champion, Johnny Mundo (aka John Hennigan/Johnny Impact) is being hunted by Kobra Moon’s reptile tribe. The storyline is currently playing out on season 4 of Lucha Underground.
Mundo, who is the leader of the World Wide Underground on the show, recently took part in the promotion’s “Social Interview” series.
“Let me tell you something,” Mundo starts off his promo. “When reptiles ruled the Earth, the Earth kind of sucked. There was no tanning salons, no corvettes, no gyms, no Taya, no Slamtown”
“But Kobra Moon seems pretty damn proud of being the Queen of the serpents,” he continued. “More like Queen of a bunch of slimy d***bags.”
“Kobra Moon has got to be the dumbest luchador on the entire roster,” Mundo said. “We all know it was a really stupid move for the Reptile tribe to declare war on the World Wide Underground.”
“I promise you this,” he said before giving a line you could tell he was proud of. “Not since Homer Simpson on Whacking Day has there ever been a man more hell-bent on reptile violence than Johnny Mundo.”
“Kobra Moon, you may be Queen of the Reptiles, but I’m the mayor of Slamtown and I’m tired of these m*****ing snakes in this m*******ing temple!” Johnny Mundo
Johnny Mundo in Lucha Underground Season 4
After losing the Lucha Underground championship late in Season 3, Mundo now appears to be moving into a feud with Kobra Moon and her Reptile Tribe. Ricky Mandel appears to have a mysterious backstory in this season as well. The newest World Wide Underground member has been speaking with a charred doll as of late. This has been creeping out the other members of the faction.
Lucha Underground airs Wednesday nights at 8 PM on the El Rey Network. Fans without access to the station can also purchase the shows through iTunes.
Jeff Hardy will defend his United States championship against a competitor TBD tonight on Smackdown. Tonight’s event will take place inside the Century Link Center in Omaha, NE. It will be the second last show before the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on July 15th from Pittsburgh.
Smackdown Live 7/3/18 Preview
Team Hell No Kicks Off Smackdown
Smackdown will kick off with Team Hell No in a talking segment tonight. They’ve been announced as the first segment tonight.
Last week on Smackdown, Paige announced the newly reunited team will take on the Bludgeon Brothers for the Smackdown tag-team championships at Extreme Rules.
We should get a preview of that match tonight as there is only one more episode left until the PPV.
AJ Styles vs Aiden English
Rusev and Aiden English believe Styles took a cheap shot at English a couple weeks ago on Smackdown. English will get his shot at revenge tonight.
With Styles taking on Rusev at Extreme Rules, expect the Bulgarian Brute to play a role in this match tonight.
Jeff Hardy US Open Challenge
With title contender, Shinsuke Nakamura, out with a standard bomb-sniffing dog bite injury, Hardy will defend the title tonight against anyone daring enough to answer the challenge.
Last week it was Eric Young who answered the challenge in Nakamura’s absence. Will it be someone else from Sanity tonight or a new contender altogether?
Becky Lynch vs Peyton Royce
Lynch made Billie Kay tap out recently and now she’ll get a chance to do the same to another member of the Iiconics.
Lynch seems to be on a bit of a win streak as of late.
Asuka vs James Ellsworth
Inter-gender wrestling takes place tonight on Smackdown! Asuka will look to get her revenge on Ellsworth for causing the distraction in her title match with Carmella at Money in the Bank.
Asuka and Carmella will meet again for the title at Extreme Rules.
New Day 3rd of July Pancake Eating Contest
New Day will celebrate July 4th eve by eating a bunch of pancakes tonight on Smackdown.
The trio says this is the start of a new annual tradition.
At Extreme Rules on July 15th, 2018, Alexa Bliss will defend her Raw Women’s Championship against Nia Jax. Last night on Raw, it was announced that the match between Bliss and Jax will be an Extreme Rules match.
Renee Young caught up with Bliss backstage to get her comments on the news.
“I’m fine, I’m happy it’s an extreme rules match,” Bliss said. “You being nervous, because I can tell your nervous and it’s really throwing me off.”
Not long after the show ended, Bliss Tweeted out the following:
I have turned every single opportunity into a championship. EVERY SINGLE ONE! I hope everyone enjoys this long, wonderful #MomentOfBliss…because it’ll only continue after #ExtremeRules.
— Lexi (Kaufman) Cabrera (@AlexaBliss_WWE) July 3, 2018
“I have turned every single opportunity into a championship. EVERY SINGLE ONE! I hope everyone enjoys this long, wonderful #MomentOfBliss…because it’ll only continue after #ExtremeRules.”
Rousey has been counting down the days until her suspension is over and she can get her hands on little Miss Bliss.
Also announced last night on Raw, Ronda Rousey will be front row for the match between Bliss and Jax. Raw General Manager, Kurt Angle, suspended Rousey for 30 days from Raw but evidently, Rousey will be in attendance in Pittsburgh on July 15th. This was revealed recently via a WWE.com interview given by Rousey.
Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss have wrestled each other on television 5 times previously. Bliss won the first match by DQ, Jax won the next 3, and then Bliss technically defeated Jax at Money in the Bank after cashing in her newly won briefcase.
Bliss is the most successful Raw women’s champion of all-time. She’s held the title for 351 combined days across 3 reigns. That’s over 100 days longer than the next person on the list, Charlotte Flair. Jax’s one reign with the title lasted 70 days, the shortest in the title’s lineage. Only 5 people (Bayley, Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, and Alexa Bliss) have ever held the championship.
What do you think of the Alexa Bliss/Nia Jax/Ronda Rousey angle? Let us know in the comments section below.