Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson decided to dedicate an episode of their podcast to King of the Ring 1998. On the 20-year anniversary of the event, Prichard revealed an emotional backstage story which took place during the event.
Prichard also revealed that contrary to popular belief, the second big bump taken by Mick Foley was planned. “I knew the two big bumps and I knew the finish but I didn’t know what they were gonna do immediately after the bump into the ring. I’m screaming backstage for Pat Patterson,” Prichard said.
“I’m going f–king nuts and I’m angry at this point because Pat’s the agent for the match and he’s not there at Gorilla to talk me through the thing. And Jerry Briscoe comes to me and sits down and says, ‘what do you want?’ I said, ‘I’ve gotta know what the hell what we’re doing here, what was planned here, what can we cut out? What can we do? What’s going on? Where the f–k is Pat?'”
Unfortunately, the reason Pat Patterson was absent was his long-time partner had died.
“Jerry just looks at me and says, ‘he got a call about Louis.’ Louis was Pat’s partner for many many years, 35 plus years. It shut me down I looked at him and said, ‘oh my god, is Louis okay?’ Jerry just looks at me and said, ‘he’s dead.'”
Prichard continues to say the events had an impact on him. “I’m screaming like an asshole and a lunatic for Pat not knowing what had happened,” he continued.
“I think Jerry knew I don’t even know if Vince [McMahon] knew at that point. Just that calm comes over ya and it’s a surreal feeling because all this other s–t that you think is so important becomes really unimportant.”
Kofi Kingston thought WWE would cancel the New Day vs the Elite gaming battle at E3. The member of New Day recently spoke to the Unsanctioned Podcast about his experience at the event.
Kingston mentioned he is a big Kenny Omega fan. “To see where [Omega’s] career has gone, and to see him just rise over there in Japan has been awesome to watch,” Kofi said. “So I always regretted not being able to have personal interaction with him, so for me, it was kind of a dream come true.”
Kofi Kingston on WWE Promoting E3 Battle With Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks
Many were surprised when WWE got behind the event, even mentioning the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega on WWE.com.
“It was just great, man. And the Young Bucks are just so cool. It was just an instant vibe, just instant chemistry,” Kingston said. “We were all on the same page and just went out there. And honestly, the vibe in general like leading up to it was like, okay, this is probably going to get canceled because there’s no way that Vince knows this is happening. When was the last time you saw WWE doing anything inter-promotional? Granted it was on the video game stage, but still. Ever since we came out, there was talk of The Elite versus The New Day, all this talk on the internet, on social media. We get those comments every single day. And hopefully, this was like the first step to open up some doors to do more things in the future. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
WWE has shown more openness to working with different promotions as of late. The company recently reached a deal with Pro Wrestling NOAH to allow Hideo Itami to appear on an event for the promotion as well.
AJ Styles isn’t afraid of shutting someone down on Twitter. He did so just recently to a fan who bashed WWE’s potential signing of Bullet Club members.
AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson were in Tokyo recently as part of the Smackdown brand’s live events this weekend. WWE posted the following Tweet in reference to the Club’s Japanese roots.
“I know you’re not implying you’d like to see them all in the WWE,” the fan Tweeted. “Seriously? So they could be ruined and tarnished and have WWE’s corporate stench on them? They’re perfectly fine changing the wrestling world in NJPW, ROH and ALL_IN.”
The fan who AJ ultimately shut down is of the belief if the Bucks and Omega went to WWE, it would not be as entertaining as what they are doing now is. In the fan’s defense, this is a popularly held belief.
Styles saw the Tweet and addressed it directly.
This is what you and some seem to forget….THIS IS A BUSINESS. We have bills and a family to take care of just like everyone else. Everything we put our body’s through on a weekly basis well not last forever. Work hard and earn it all. https://t.co/qdV76UjPgu
“This is what you and some seem to forget….THIS IS A BUSINESS. We have bills and a family to take care of just like everyone else. Everything we put our body’s through on a weekly basis well not last forever. Work hard and earn it all.”
Would WWE misuse Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
New Japan Pro Wrestling named a new President back in May. Dutch businessman, Harold Meij, was given the role. At NJPW’s show in Osaka Jo Hall recently, Meij appeared in the ring to address the fans.
“I will work with all my heart so that you fans can feel a stronger sense of inspiration, and enjoy yourselves even more,” Meij said. “I would like to take New Japan Pro-Wrestling to the next level.”
The 54-year-old recently sat down for an interview with Japanese media outlet, the Mainichi. He explained why he chose to address the crowd in Osaka.
“I think there are long-time fans that must be worrying, ‘What? The operator is a foreigner? What’s going to happen?’ Because I look like a foreigner, you know?” Meij said. “They worry that New Japan might change. I wanted to come myself as the president and talk with the fans to alleviate any anxiety they might have.”
NJPW Plans For Increased International Expansion
Meij would continue to say that 40% of the subscribers to New Japan World are from outside of Japan. Currently, the promotion has 100,000 subscribers to their streaming service.
“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 continued to say he plans to become a pioneer of sports marketing.
“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.” He continued, “I will continue to show up at more and more matches because I have to judge the reactions of the fans for myself. To that end, I will speak with fans whenever I have the chance.”
Kevin Sullivan does not believe wrestling fans think Ring of Honor’s product is cool. He believes the roster is as talented as any he’s ever seen but he lacks faith in the promotion itself.
The 68-year-old former Dungeon of Doom leader was a guest on Interactive Wrestling Radio in May. Sullivan had plenty to say regarding his feelings towards Ring of Honor during the show.
Kevin Sullivan Interview Highlights
On the topic of Ring of Honor’s roster, Sullivan had this to say.
“Let me tell you about their talent. I’ve seen them all in my 40 years. Jay Lethal and Jay Briscoe matches are just as good as Funk and Brisco, Flair and Steamboat,” Sullivan said. These guys are just superb. They’ve got some great young talent. Dalton Castle? He’s a special talent. They get Cody [Rhodes] there. He’s a special talent and an influx of New Japan guys.”
Sullivan believes the only reason ROH broke their attendance record at Supercard of Honor this year is the event is held over WrestleMania weekend. He believes WWE draws the house for them in that situation.
“What are they going to do if they’re wrestling fans?” Sullivan asked out loud. “Of course, you’re going to go to the show! They haven’t drawn! Are you kidding me? What else would a wrestling fan do?”
Sullivan then described what he feels is definitive proof that ROH is not seen as cool by fans.
“I’ll give you why and I think this is the definite proof. Last Saturday, Ring of Honor was in Chicago with Cody and all of the boys, right? They drew 1,600 people. On Sunday, All In drew 11,000 people in 29 minutes and 31 seconds. What is wrong with this picture? People look at Ring of Honor and think it is uncool.”
What do you think of Kevin Sullivan’s comments about Ring of Honor?
Saturday Night’s Main Event looks to be coming back to NBC. The cable specials were frequently where big storylines and angles would play out in WWE outside of pay-per-views before the advent of Monday Night Raw.
Sports journalist, Brad Shepard, broke the news yesterday. “I have learned that an occasional special event, thought to be a reboot of Saturday Night’s Main Event, will be televised once WWE enters its new television deals with Fox and NBCU,” Shepard said. “The special is expected to happen several times throughout the year, with each event being strategically placed before big dates, like the Saturday night before the NFL’s Super Bowl. Airing of the events would be split between NBC and Fox.”
WWE’s new television contracts go into effect in the fall of 2020.
Shepard was also the journalist who broke the story that the XFL would be returning in 2020.
Saturday Night’s Main Event
The first run of Saturday Night’s Main Event lasted from 1985 to 1992. SNME began airing on NBC after the first WrestleMania. The agreement with NBC signified the end of the promotion’s relationship with MTV (aka the Rock N Wrestling Connection).
Once WWE struck a deal to begin airing Raw on Monday nights, SNME specials were canceled.
WWE would bring back the events in 2006, however. 5 events aired on NBC between 2006-2008.
The last episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event was taped on July 28th, 2008 from the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. On that night, Edge defeated Jeff Hardy, the Great Khali defeated Jimmy Wang Yang, and the team of JBL, Kane, & the Legacy defeated John Cena, Batista, and Cryme Tyme.
Last October, Jimmy Jacobs was fired from the WWE creative team. While multiple reasons have been given for Jacobs’ release, a selfie he took with members of Bullet Club during their “invasion” of Raw is largely believed to have been the catalyst.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZfAy54Ancl/
Many felt Jacobs would sign with Ring of Honor and begin working with Bullet Club following his WWE release. After all, there was a built-in storyline regarding Jacobs being fired from WWE for his association with the faction.
Instead, Jacobs chose to sign with Impact Wrestling. He’s been working as the manager of Kongo Kong and serving as a producer backstage.
Jimmy Jacobs on Impact Wrestling
Jacobs recently gave an interview to Vulture Hound in the UK and spoke about how he has been enjoying his time with Impact.
“I really enjoy working with Impact,” Jacobs said. “I feel like with Impact right now, I get all the upside, I get the chance to help create, I get the chance to help out talents. Having the opportunity to have somebody like me for talents, like Tessa Blanchard who has a lot of potentials and is awesome in the ring.”
Jacobs has returned to in-ring work as well since leaving WWE. In fact, he recently defeated Joey Ryan on June 28th, 2018 for Bar Wrestling in Los Angeles.
Jacobs doesn’t believe he’ll step inside the Impact ring, however. “As far as wrestling with Impact goes,” Jacobs continued. “I don’t see that happening right now, it’s not especially completely off the table but what I do at the shows, producing the shows, honestly it’s a lot.”
Jacobs also mentioned Matt Sydal as someone who he has particularly enjoyed working with recently. On the latest episode of Impact Wrestling, we saw Sydal and Jimmy Jacobs possibly align with each other due to their mutual disdain for Brian Cage.
“Matt Sydal has been one thing his whole career,” Jacobs said. “It’s been great, being a sort of babyface that can have great matches, who doesn’t talk much, being a good wrestler and doing high-flying stuff. That’s been him his whole career and, a few months back, we took a chance on him when we said: “hey I think there’s something more.” We capitalized on what he’s in real life, with him being kind of spiritual and holistic and those sort of things.”
Jimmy Jacobs Speaks to the Irish Mirror
Last month, Jacobs spoke to the Irish Mirror in the UK. The conversation focussed on his time in WWE and his new role with Impact Wrestling
“Going to WWE and working there in the capacity that I did was a blessing,” Jacobs said. “It was great to be there, but that being said it’s great to not be working there anymore.”
“I spent so long on the independent wrestling scene, but sometimes it’s like the cliche goes ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone,'” he continued. “I’m very excited to be working in Impact Wrestling and using some of the things I picked up in my last job to help out here.”
Don Callis is believed to have played a key role in organizing the Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega match at the Tokyo Dome this year. All three are from Winnipeg and Callis also has his own podcast through the Chris Jericho podcast network.
At the Slammiversary press conference in Toronto recently, Callis indicated to me he’d love to bring Omega and Jericho to Impact Wrestling. “There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him, his name is Kenny Omega,” Callis said. “Another is Chris Jericho.”
Callis recently doubled-down on his comments during his appearance on Jim Ross’ podcast.
Don Callis On Jim Ross Podcast
Callis explained his history with Omega. “I’ve been on this journey with Kenny Omega since he was a 16-year-old kid who I booked,” Callis explained.
“I gave him his first break wrestling for the promotion I had in Winnipeg [Canada]. And his uncle, The Golden Sheik, who was an indie wrestler in Winnipeg helped train me in the [pro wrestling] business in 1989, so my roots with Kenny go back many years. I’ve been on this journey with him, and specifically since I’ve been in New Japan and we have a very close relationship. We talk about ideas, we do things, I helped put together the match between him and Chris [Jericho] for the Tokyo Dome.”
Callis On Omega and Jericho to Impact Wrestling
Callis continued to say the chances of Omega and Jericho appearing in an Impact Wrestling ring are less remote than they seemed not too long ago.
“I kind of say, ‘never say ‘never” and I think that one of the things that we’ve been doing under Ed Nordholm here at Impact is breaking some longstanding paradigms of pro wrestling,” Callis said.
“The intellectual property stuff that we’ve talked about before, but also we’ve been working with multiple people now and now recently announced by Chris Jericho and I know [Ross] will be on that cruise, so that’ll be cool, get to have a beer together. It’s going to be Impact and Ring Of Honor on the same cruise ship, so there’s some stuff that’s probably going to happen and I don’t think you can have those talents in a closed environment like that, so we are working, in a sense if you take that, with Ring Of Honor right now.
We’ve got Taiji Ishimori coming in for our pay-per-view and our TV in July. The Bone Soldier just started with New Japan, so we’ll see what happens. How many people would’ve thought that Chris Jericho would’ve headlined the Tokyo Dome with New Japan Pro-Wrestling? I was so sheepish when I pitched it to him because he always told me, ‘I will never work for anyone except Vince McMahon and I have a deep respect for Vince.’ Obviously, he took Vince into consideration. Vince is the first guy he told about it. Nevertheless, it shocked me that Chris was on a New Japan show, so I’ve learned to say, ‘never say ‘never” in this business.”
On Friday night, Kenny Omega produced a live CEOxNJPW show which aired on Twitch. After the show, word began to spread that one of the wrestlers booked for the show was a registered sex offender.
Fans took to social media to voice their concern over the wrestler being booked. Omega issued the following response to the situation:
Big thanks to all that made #CEOxNJPW possible, but I wanted to address a terrible oversight on my part, in depth, for all to read. pic.twitter.com/JKBiqcuzGK
Earlier in the day, Omega released a series of Tweets addressing the matter:
“Here it is: I produced all matches from dark match #2 on. I gave the ring crew (also a wrestling school) carte Blanche to have our first dark. No entrances, no name graphics. And thus they had a match. I met Chasyn once in 2004 so his name was familiar. The other guy I’d never met.”
“Regardless of their history or whatever, this crew of people were all very helpful in set up, tear down, and various odd jobs around the arena. I’d felt giving them the opportunity to have a dark match was the least I could do as a way to show appreciation.”
“I’m gutted that people feel betrayed by their involvement, but at no point did I feel I was working with criminals or anything of the sort. As I’d said earlier, they were nothing but polite and helpful throughout the entire experience.”
“I’ll know better for next time to only use those I’m absolutely familiar/comfortable with”
Ring of Honor crowned a new World Champion last night in Fairfax, VA.
Following his ROH World title defense at Best in the World 2018, Dalton Castle would have to defend his title again for the second night in a row. Not only that, Castle would have to defend the belt in a fatal 4-way match against Cody, Jay Lethal, and Matt Taven.
The winner of the match and new ROH World Champion is Jay Lethal. He is now just the 4th person to ever hold the title on multiple occasions.
The show in Fairfax last night was a scheduled TV taping but the world title match streamed live for Honor Club subscribers. Normally, TV tapings don’t air on the streaming service until after they have aired on television.
— ROH – Ring of Honor Wrestling (@ringofhonor) July 1, 2018
New ROH World Champion
Jay Lethal’s first run with the ROH World title lasted 427 days. During his reign, Lethal successfully defended his title 28 times. He would eventually drop the title to Adam Cole.
As for the former champion, Dalton Castle, it looks as though he’ll be taking some time off. Castle was walking gingerly on his left leg last night and at Best in the World on Friday. Commentary let fans know that he was also suffering from a herniated disc in his lower back as well.
Castle’s reign as ROH World Champion concludes at 198 days. He defeated Cody for the title at Final Battle 2017. He defended the title 5x during his reign. He defeated Punishment Martinez, Tarkan Aslan, the Beer City Bruiser and Beretta (3-way), Jay Lethal, and Cody and Marty Scurll (3-way).
Only Adam Cole has won the ROH World title more than 2x. Lethal now joins Austin Aries and Jay Briscoe as the only others to hold the title multiple times.
Lethal currently sits at #5 on the all-time list of most combined days spent with the title. The record holder is still Samoa Joe, whose one reign with the belt lasted 645 days.
WWE’s newest signee, Io Shirai, was on hand at the WWE live event in Tokyo this morning. She was officially unveiled as the newest addition to the roster. Shirai will be assigned to the NXT brand.
Shirai is a former 2x Wonder of Stardom champion. She has been voted as Tokyo Sports’ Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize winner (the equivalent of woman’s wrestler of the year award) the last 3 years in a row.
Shirai was rumored to be heading to WWE last year but failed medical evaluations prevented this from happening. It was reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that neck and heart problems caused WWE to back away from signing her. She continued to compete for Stardom the following year after not signing with WWE.
Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked Shirai #6 in their female top-50 rankings in 2017.
Shirai confirmed her departure from Stardom back in late May with many speculating she would be headed to WWE.
Parts of Shirai’s blog in late May revealing her departure from Stardom were run through Google Translate.
“I’m going to leave Stardom with me aiming for a further leap of pro-wrestling life in the future.
The Korakuen Hall show on June 17 will be the last for Stardom.”
World of Stardom also Tweeted out the following facts about Shirai’s time with the promotion:
“Io Shirai’s done it all in Stardom.
World of Stardom champion twice, 1014 days.
Wonder of Stardom champion twice, 375 days.
Tag champion 407 days.
High Speed champion.
Artist of Stardom champion 6 times.
SWA champion.
5 Star Grand Prix champion.
Now she will show it to the world.”
There are several brother tag-teams performing at a high-level in wrestling today. Last night, the Briscoe Brothers faced Matt and Nick Jackson for Ring of Honor. Jimmy and Jey Uso are one the best teams in the world. The Hardy Boyz have done fairly well for themselves as well throughout their lengthy careers.
While the Dudley Boyz don’t count as a real-life family combination, the 23-year-old twin sons of D-Von Dudley do. They both received tryouts at the WWE Performance Center recently.
The pair has wrestled both under their real names of Terrence and Terrell Hughes, as well as with the surname Dudley.
You can check out video of the brothers competing at an indy event in late-2016 below:
Terrence and Terrell Hughes
The Hughes brothers were among the 40 WWE hopefuls at the Performance Center this week. Former Impact Wrestling stars, Robbie E and Chelsea Green were also in attendance.
WWE.com had this to say regarding the brothers:
“Terrell & Terrence Hughes, the 23-year-old twin sons of WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley. Both men played football in high school, and Terrell qualified for regional and state competition in wrestling. Their sports-entertainment training began in 2012 at the Dudleys’ Team 3D Academy, and the Hughes brothers have held tag team titles on the independent circuit under the name TNT.”
The brothers have wrestled 36 professional matches on the independent circuit. They have also won several tag team championships already in their short careers.
Their father, D-Von Dudley, retired from in-ring action in 2016. He continues to work with WWE in a producer role, usually for tag-team matches. D-Von and Bubba Ray have been inducted into both the Impact Wrestling and WWE Hall of Fames. D-Von also has two younger sons as well, born 6 and 13 years after Terrell and Terrence.
NXT Head Trainer, Matt Bloom, and Mark Henry presided over the tryouts.
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) June 29, 2018
“Good morning to everyone except Bayley” – Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks vs Bayley Rivalry
Now that the Banks vs Bayley rivalry appears to be in full swing, it’s a good opportunity to take a look at their career stats against each other.
They have wrestled each other 14x in single’s competition in matches that have aired on television or the WWE Network (i.e not including house shows). Banks has won 4x, Bayley has won 9x, and they went to a no-contest once.
Banks and Bayley have met another 13x in multi-person matches. Of these, Banks has won 4x, Bayley once, and neither were the victor in the rest of the matches.
NXT Takeover Revival February 11th, 2015 NXT Women’s Championship
Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte Flair (c), Bayley, and Becky Lynch
Raw, September 12th, 2016
Sasha Banks defeated Bayley and Dana Brooke
Clash of Champions 2016 September 25th, 2016 Raw Women’s Championship
Charlotte Flair (c) defeated Bayley and Sasha Banks
WrestleMania 33 Raw Women’s Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination
Bayley (c) defeated Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, and Sasha Banks
Raw June 26th, 2017
Gauntlet Match
Sasha Banks defeated Bayley, Dana Brooke, Emma, Mickie James, and Nia Jax
No Mercy 2017 September 24th, 2017 Raw Women’s Championship 5-Way
Alexa Bliss (c) defeated Bayley, Sasha Banks, Emma, and Nia Jax
Raw October 9th, 2017
5-Way Elimination
Emma defeated Alicia Fox, Bayley, Dana Brooke, and Sasha Banks
Raw October 23rd, 2017
3-Way
Alicia Fox defeated Bayley and Sasha Banks
Raw November 20th, 2017
5-way
No contest
Royal Rumble 2018 January 28th, 2018 Women’s Royal Rumble
Neither won
Elimination Chamber 2018 February 25th, 2018 Raw Women’s Championship Elimination Chamber Match
Alexa Bliss (c) defeated Bayley, Sasha Banks, Mickie James, Sonya Deville, and Mandy Rose
WrestleMania 34 April 8th, 2014 Women’s WrestleMania Battle Royal
Neither won the match
Raw May 28th, 2018
MITB Qualifying Gauntlet Match
Sasha Banks defeated Bayley, Dana Brooke, Liv Morgan, Mickie James Ruby Riott, and Sarah Logan
In total, Banks has won 8 matches against Bayley and Bayley has won 10 matches against Banks. These numbers do not include tag matches (either on the same side or against) and house show results.
World Wrestling Entertainment is a company now valued at over $5 billion. The rise in company profile is largely due to recently announced television contracts with the USA and Fox Networks.
What allowed WWE more leverage during this round of television contract negotiations was the presence of new suitors at the table. Streaming services, such as Amazon and Facebook Live, entered the market in a big way recently. WWE did business with Facebook Live early this year with the Mixed Match Challenge.
Stephanie spoke with the media outlet, the Drum, about the success of WWE’s Mixed Match Challenge tournament. “It had over 100 million views and it was considered a success by Facebook,” she said. “We’re now in conversations to see where we go from here, but we’re nimble and flexible.”
Streaming Services and WWE
While WWE ended up going with traditional cable networks for this round of television contracts, there is nothing that says they could not end up on a streaming service next time around.
Stephanie also spoke recently about the possibility of WWE products ending up on Amazon, Facebook Live, Netflix, or a similar service.
“I don’t think we’re there yet…Linear is still incredibly important and reaches a huge audience and delivers, but absolutely, I see content moving everywhere that’s why WWE is everywhere because we want to be ready when that time is right.”
WWE Mixed Match Challenge Season 2
Stephanie didn’t go into great detail about whether there will be a season 2 of Mixed Match Challenge on Facebook Live. She did stress that Facebook considered the experiment a success, however.
Miz and Asuka were the eventual victors of the tournament. They defeated the “Robe Warriors” team of Charlotte Flair and Bobby Roode in the finals.
Do You Want To See Another WWE Mixed Match Challenge Tournament? Let us know in the comment section below.
Ring of Honor’s Best in the World pay-per-view last night was from just outside Baltimore in the UMBC Event Center.
The venue holds just over 6000 for basketball and the commentary team said attendance was 2.5x more than for any other Ring of Honor event in the area. ROH has also been looking at booking bigger venues in most markets they run as of late.
The company was also looking to run Madison Square Garden in New York next spring. That deal ended up falling through, however.
ROH Best in the World 2018 Results
ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championships
The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia) (c) defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi, Evil and Sanada)
Flip Gordon defeated Bully Ray via DQ
Bully hit him with a low blow.
Several ROH “young boys” attempted to help. Cheeseburger made the final save.
Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani and Tenille Dashwood defeated Kelly Klein and Oedo Tai (Hazuki, Kagetsu and Hana Kimura)
Kagetsu is the Stardom champion and Sakai the WOH champ. They were teasing something between the two.
Iwatani got the pin for her team.
Austin Aries defeated Kenny King
They mentioned Aries is the Impact World champion but Cabana pretended as though they shouldn’t have said that.
Jay Lethal defeated KUSHIDA
They teased some dissension between the two here. KUSHIDA refused to shake Lethal’s hand before the match. He also later mocked Lethal with a Randy Savage styled axehandle. I feel as though this is something which could be explained during a later episode of Being the Elite. Lethal has been slipping in and out of his old Black Machismo gimmick on the show.
ROH World TV Championship
Punishment Martinez (c) defeated Hangman Page
The finish of this match came when Martinez delivered a South of Heaven chokeslam to his opponent through a table. As the ref counted the three, however, both wrestlers’ shoulders were against the mat. Despite this, the ref awarded the victory to Martinez. ROH officials may have a later ruling due to the controversy at the finish of this match.
ROH World Tag Team Championships
the Briscoes (c) defeated the Young Bucks
The Briscoes have now defeated the Bucks 8 out of their 13 meetings with the Bucks.
After the match, SCU came out and looked as though they were going to attack the Bucks. Instead, they attacked the Briscoes and made their intentions of being the next title challengers clear.
ROH World Championship 3-Way
Dalton Castle (c) defeated Cody and Marty Scurll
Castle retains his title despite seemingly dealing with several nagging injuries. His leg and shoulder were taped up for this match.
NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Nick Aldis, was ringside. At one point, Aldis pulled the ref out of the ring when it looked like Scurll would win the title.
The finish came when Scurll gave Cody his own Cross Rhodes finisher but then Castle gave Scurll the Bangarang and got the pin.
Cody loses the first of 3 big title opportunities he has this summer.
Former Tough Enough winner, Matt Cappotelli, has lost his battle with brain cancer. He was 38.
Matt’s wife, Lindsay, has been keeping fans up-to-date on his well-being through her blogs and Facebook posts. Yesterday, she shared the news with the world.
“Hey Team Capp…I’ve been struggling with what to say and how to say this, and I’ll probably end up rambling, but here goes,” she wrote. “Today my love-my strong, sweet, beautiful love-took his last breath at 3:30 a.m. and went Home to be with Jesus…exactly one year after his brain surgery,” she continued. “You think you can be prepared for this when you know it’s coming, but you just can’t. The only person whose comfort I want right now is the one who can’t give it to me.”
Earlier this year, Lindsay outlined the timeline of Matt’s latest battle with brain cancer.
“Dr. Yao, the brain surgeon, came to our room to discuss things more with us and give us our options,” Lindsey wrote. “He explained that the tumor was of significant size and that he was shocked at how fast it had grown in the 4 months since Matt’s February MRI.”
Cappotelli had been working as a trainer at Ohio Valley Wrestling since 2013. He had previously won the promotion’s heavyweight championship before being diagnosed with a brain tumor for the first time in 2006. He announced last summer that he’d been diagnosed with a grade IV glioblastoma multiforme cancer. This form of cancer is the most aggressive of its kind.
“Throughout all of this, Matt and I really never discussed death,” Lindsey wrote. “A part of me wishes that we had, but I just never wanted to make him think that I didn’t think he would make it. Because I still had hope, and I didn’t want him to give up hope.”
This week’s Impact Wrestling was the first to broadcast from Windsor, ON, Canada. The promotion continues to build toward their Slammiversary PPV on July 22nd from Toronto’s Rebel nightclub.
This week’s episode confirmed two new matches added to the card and built towards several others. This article breaks down the top 6 developments in Impact Wrestling from this week’s episode.
We’ll start things out with the LAX storyline, where Konnan has returned to confront King (aka Eddie Kingston). King took over a leadership position with the faction due to Konnan and Homicide’s absence.
Konnan Confronts King
“All warfare is predicated on deception. You think you’re playing me, I’m playing you” – Konnan to King
LAX may have won back the tag-team championships with King at their side but now that Konnan has returned things could get interesting. Konnan confronted King this week. He told LAX that King can’t be trusted as well. From Ortiz and Santana’s point of view, however, King has turned things around for the faction.
Diamante has already expressed concern that King has ulterior motives. Konnan says he has proof King can’t be trusted and he’ll reveal it shortly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twba5ieaEB4
Brian Cage Is Targetting Matt Sydal But Kongo Kong Is Targetting Him
Last week on Impact, Sydal defeated Cage via count-out after interference from Kongo Kong and Jimmy Jacobs. It’s clear Cage still has Sydal and the X-Division title in his sights, however.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue86JXlRo2E
This week on Impact, Sydal defeated Dezmond Xavier in a non-title match. After the match, Cage came down to ringside to confront Sydal. This brought out Kongo Kong and Jacobs who attacked Cage before he could get to the champion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jutIGsxA0cA
If Cage wants another shot at Sydal’s title, it looks as though he will have to go through Kongo Kong first. The machine will meet Jimmy Jacobs’ monster in single’s action next week.
If Cage gets through Kong, he could be granted another shot at Sydal. The match would likely be scheduled for Slammiversary.
Eddie Edwards Has Made An Enemy of Tommy Dreamer
Eddie Edwards is moving on from his rivalry with Sami Callihan. The feud with Sami seems to have sent Edwards spiraling to a dark place. Tommy Dreamer attempted to help him but Edwards is too far gone and now sees Dreamer as an enemy. In fact, Edwards’ delusions have grown so intense, he’s begun to believe Dreamer is involved with his wife.
This week on Impact, Edwards traveled to Philadelphia to confront Dreamer at a House of Hardcore show. He interfered in Dreamer’s match, caning him on the head with a kendo stick.
Madison Rayne opened up this week’s show and spoke on why she’s returning to the ring. She was interrupted by Tessa Blanchard, however. The two would meet later in the night in the main event.
On a previous episode of Impact, Rayne defeated Blanchard with a pinning combination. Many called the win an upset. She’d defeat Blanchard again tonight, however. This time she used a crucifix combination to get the win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAFnQuf4zKg
Blanchard beat down Rayne after the match but was interrupted by Su Yung and her army of Zombie brides. The brides and Yung surrounded Raye after Blanchard made a timely escape.
Just when it looked like Yung was going to give Rayne her finisher, Allie returned and broke up the macabre scene.
Rich Swann Has Arrived in the X-Division
Rich Swann defeated Trevor Lee this week on Impact. It was just Swann’s second match for the promotion after having lost to Austin Aries at the Zero Fear PPV show.
We asked Swann earlier this week what competing in the X-Division means to him.
“Oh man, I was such a fan,” Swann said of the early days of the X-Division. “Seeing guys like Frankie Kazarian, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal.”
“Growing up aspiring to be a professional wrestler my size and stature that was one of my goals, if not the goal, to be in the X-Division to be in Impact, to get the X-Division championship,” he continued.
After Swann defeated Trevor Lee, it was revealed he will take on Fenix next week. Later in the show, it was revealed Swann will be part of a 4-way match at Slammiversary. His opponents will be Johnny Impact, Taiji Ishimori, and Fenix.
Sami Callihan vs Pentagon Jr Mask Vs Hair
Last week on Impact, oVe took on Pentagon and Fantasma. Callihan took it upon himself to interfere in the match and hit Pentagon in the head with his signature baseball bat.
This week on Impact, we traveled to a PCW Ultra show in Los Angeles, where Callihan attacked Pentagon. Along with the Crist brothers, Callihan unmasked Pentagon.
Later in the show, Pentagon would issue a challenge to Callihan for a Mask vs Hair match at Slammiversary.
Ring of Honor is back on pay-per-view tonight. Best in the World 2018 will also stream live for VIP Honor Club subscribers. The event will emanate from the UMBC Event Center (holds approx. 6000) from Catonsville, Maryland.
ROH Best in the World 2018 Lineup and Preview
ROH World Championship 3-Way Match Dalton Castle (c) vs Cody vs Marty Scurll
Castle has held the title since December 15th, 2017 when he defeated Cody at Final Battle 2017. Tonight could easily be his last with the belt.
Scurll and Cody have not been on the same page as of late and competing for the World Title in the same match will not make things easier. This match could lead to a full-blown Cody and Scurll feud, although Cody has a lot of other things going on as well.
This will be the first of 3 big championship matches for Cody this summer. He will also challenge Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the G1 Special in San Francisco. He will then challenge for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on September 1st.
ROH World Tag Team Championships The Briscoes (c) vs the Young Bucks
This match pits the most successful two tag-teams in Ring of Honor history against one another. Technically, the Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Cesaro) and reDragon (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) have held the tag belts longer than the Bucks, though nobody has held them longer than the Briscoes.
The Briscoes have adopted an anti-Bullet Club stance as of late. Now working as heels, this will be the most high-profile match yet featuring the Briscoes rivalry with the American faction of Bullet Club.
The Young Bucks are fresh off having won the IWGP heavyweight tag team championships in NJPW. They will have to defend those titles at the Cow Palace next weekend, however, against former champions, Evil and Sanada.
Flip Gordon vs Bully Ray
Bully Ray has been trying to take out all the lower-card and younger guys on the roster. He’s already bullied Cheeseburger and several other wrestlers.
Tonight, Flip will try and upset the veteran and maybe try and impress the All-In bookers in the process.
ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championships The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, Vinny Marseglia) (c) vs Bushi, Evil, and Sanada
The Kingdom is the only 2-time holders of these titles. They have defended the titles more times than any other team as well. They are just 52 days away from breaking the Hung Bucks record for most combined days spent with the title.
LIJ has held 6-man gold in NJPW but never in ROH. In fact, no team from NJPW has ever won these titles. Tonight could easily be the first time it happens, however.
ROH World Television Championship Baltimore Street Fight Punishment Martinez vs Adam Page
Martinez won a 6-way proving ground match and then defeated Silas Young for the belt last weekend in Texas. He will be in tough against Page, who is still trying to win his first singles title in either ROH or NJPW.
Also Booked for the show:
Jay Lethal vs KUSHIDA
Kenny King vs Austin Aries
Sumie Sakai, Jenny Rose, Mayu Iwatani, and Tenille Dashwood vs Kelly Klein, Hazuki, Kagetsu, and Hana Kimura
Tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling will be the first from the company’s television tapings in Windsor, ON, Canada earlier this month. The city is home to Scott D’Amore’s Border City Wrestling.
Not every segment will be from Windsor tonight, however. Eddie Edwards will travel to Philadelphia and confront Tommy Dreamer. The segment was filmed at a recent House of Hardcore show from the 2300 Arena. There will also be a match on tonight’s show which was filmed at a PCW show from Los Angeles.
Tonight’s show will continue the build to Slammiversary on July 22nd from the Rebel nightclub in Toronto, ON, Canada.
Sami Callihan has said he wants to take Pentagon’s mask. If his feud with Eddie Edwards is any indication, it’s clear Callihan will go to great lengths to do damage to his rivals.
Last week, Callihan took a bat to Pentagon following a brawl after oVe took on Pentagon and Fantasma.
This could be the beginning of a feud which will carry over until Slammiversary.
2) Matt Sydal vs Dezmond Xavier
It looks as though this will be a non-title match. You can bet if Xavier is able to defeat the champion tonight it will put him in line for an X-Division title match, however.
Speaking of the X-Division, we still don’t know who the champion’s challenger will be at Slammiversary. Xavier is likely hoping he can improve his chances of earning a title shot tonight.
3) Rich Swann vs Trevor Lee
X-Division champion, Matt Sydal, Tweeted out that he will be keeping his 3rd eye fixed on this match. It will be Swann’s second match for the promotion after wrestling Austin Aries at the recent One Night Only PPV, Zero Fear, from Mississauga, ON, Canada.
Trevor Lee’s “Cult of Lee” tag-team has hit a rough patch as of late. He might be thinking it’s time for him to climb back up the single’s rankings.
Earlier this year, a man named Alex Pardo filed a lawsuit against Jose Alberto Rodriguez, FKA Alberto Del Rio. It seems unlikely he’ll have to pay out much, however.
The lawsuit stems back to an incident from November 2016. The Pro Wrestling Sheet was the first to report on the lawsuit. Court documents relating to the case outlined Pardo’s claim below:
“While returning to his table from the restroom, Plaintiff noticed the Defendant, JOSE ALBERTO RODRIGUEZ, flashing his rear end to the other patrons in the establishment. Upon returning to his seat, which was close in proximity to that of the Defendant’s, an altercation broke out and the Defendant and the individuals that were present with the Defendant began to assault the Plaintiff, ALEX PARDO. As a result, Plaintiff had to receive immediate medical attention and was transported to the hospital by means of EMS for further examination.”
Alberto’s side of the story is different, however. His version of the incident is below:
“[Alberto] attempted at this time to resolve the issue without conflict and while he did exchange words with the people celebrating with the 19-year-old Patricia at an adult establishment it the Counter-Defendant Alex Pardo who threw a glass at the Counter-Plaintiff’s head causing severe injury, including multiple lacerations. The entire group with the Counter-Defendant began a huge melee and the entire establishment was in a brawl. Counter-Plaintiff slowly rose to his feet only to be rushed again by the Counter-Defendant. The Counter-Plaintiff immediately protected himself and defended against the Counter-Defendant as it was necessary to protect himself and his companions against the Counter-Defendant’s use of unlawful force.”
Ongoing Legal Proceedings
The case has been going back and forth with legal proceedings. The plaintiff’s lawyer has withdrawn from the case as well. Alberto is counter-suing for $5,000 due to pain and suffering. His lawyer has filed a motion for a default judgment in Alberto’s favor. This was due to the plaintiff missing deadlines to file certain documents.
It won’t matter who WWE pushes on television from October 1st, 2019 to September 30th, 2024. WWE’s ratings can tank, their shows can receive poor reviews, and in the end, they will still hit record profits. This is all thanks to the new television contracts they signed with the USA Network and Fox.
In a press release from earlier this week, WWE revealed revenue generated from television contracts will more than double in the next 2 years.
As the deals won’t take effect until the fall of 2019, it will be a steady climb for the company. The value of their stock has jumped significantly recently with the news.
Expected WWE Television Revenue
The difference between this round of television contract negotiations and last is the boom in streaming services. Amazon, Facebook Live, and Netflix have entered the market in a big way, creating leverage for content producers like WWE. With more media outlets vying for live content, WWE was put in a far more advantageous position this time around.
As a result, WWE’s current television contract revenue is projected to increase drastically.
2017 – $217 million
2018: $235 million
2019: $314 million (includes 3 months of new TV contracts)
2020: $435 million
2021: $462 million
2022: Past $470 million
Update On WWE Stock Price
A report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is indicating the company should achieve double record-profits next year and beyond that for the following years.
On June 26th, WWE stock closed at $70.86 per share. The company is now estimated at $5.467 billion.
Some are now saying Vince McMahon may have waited to sell his stock had he known the stock price would go up as much as it did. This is likely not the case, however. McMahon was under pressure to announce his XFL deal before Charlie Ebersol announced his. Had Vince McMahon waited to invest in his own company, he would have been behind Ebersol’s league in terms of negotiating with venues, players, and cities.
With that being said, however, McMahon sold his stock at less than $30 a share. Had he waited until now to sell his stock, he would have gotten 133% more for it in return.
The inner child of Xavier Woods is very much alive. The proprietor of YouTube’s UpUpDownDown has spent part of today riding around the streets of Tokyo dressed up was “Wario” from the Mario Cart video game franchise.
Although Big E is not present for the fun, Kofi Kingston and Becky Lynch have each joined Woods for the ride.
Check out Xavier Woods’ post on what the three are up to below:
Woods says he plans to release the whole footage on his YouTube channel later.
Xavier Woods’ UpUpDownDown
After his recent E3 showdown with Kenny Omega, Woods posted the following thank you to fans of his YouTube show.
“I started my YouTube channel ‘UpUpDownDown’ in order to have a creative outlet that was my own where I had the ability to create something that was mine. For the past three years all of you have watched the videos, laughed with me, cried with me, made fun of me, and most importantly just had a good time with me.
Every day my amazing team works hard to bring you the most ridiculous and fun content that we possibly can. Yesterday we did something that no one thought we could ever do. We pulled off the “impossible” and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone involved. Yes, the rivalry between Kenny and myself was our story. But the larger picture was to shine a spotlight on the fighting game community. This group of guys and girls live this life all year long. They are an amazing group of people and we wanted to show the world what they are missing if they aren’t keeping an eye on them.
Yesterday was an example of how entertaining esports can be so find your local tournaments scene and support them. Thank you to everyone who has come along on this wild ride!”
Since being called up to the main roster, Shinsuke Nakamura has had 6 televised WWE Championship matches. He’s failed to win the title in all 6. He was scheduled to have his first match for the WWE United States championship this Tuesday. Unforeseen events prevented this from happening, however.
On Tuesday, it was reported Nakamura had sustained an injury on the previous day’s house show. He would not be able to face Jeff Hardy on Smackdown. Instead, Sanity’s Eric Young took his place.
It was later revealed that Nakamura had been bitten by a police dog on Tuesday, causing him to be taken to a local medical facility for treatment.
Police Statement On Dog Biting Nakamura
“On Monday, June 25, 2018, officers of the Bakersfield Police Department Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Team were conducting a protective sweep of the Rabobank Arena in preparation for the WWE Live Summerslam Heatwave Tour.
During the sweep, the EOD Team, which consisted of an explosive detection trained canine team and bomb technicians entered an area of the arena where an employee of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) was present. The canine entered the room to sweep for the presence of any explosive material. As the sweep took place the WWE employee was accidentally bit by the canine. The employee sustained an injury to his lower left leg. Medical aid was immediately summoned to the scene and the employee was transported to a local area hospital for medical treatment.”
Nakamura’s 2018
There is no update on Nakamura’s condition. WWE is likely hoping he will be in good shape to compete on WWE’s shows in Japan this weekend. Nakamura is expected to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE championship on the tour. He has played a primary role in the company’s advertising of the shows as well.
It’s been a difficult 2018 for Nakamura so far. After starting the year hot by winning the 2018 men’s Royal Rumble, he then followed that up by failing to win the WWE championship from AJ Styles in 4 attempts.
There has been some concern in NJPW about low ticket sales for their upcoming G1 Special in San Francisco on July 7th. A recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is stating that the company has sold a little over 5,000 tickets to the event. The venue is believed to hold approximately double that for wrestling events.
Despite the low ticket sales, the revenue generated is still expected to produce the highest gate in venue history. This is due to the high cost of ticket prices. It is also notable that while only half the tickets have been sold, it is primarily the most expensive seats which have been purchased.
There has also been speculation that most of the tickets sold have gone to fans traveling from out of town. The tickets available on the secondary market have gone from being 95% local sellers to 86%, indicating recent ticket sales are going to people outside the Bay area as well.
A reader of the Observer Newsletter wrote in to say they have not seen any local advertising for the event. This leads to further speculation the fans who have purchased tickets are from the hardcore wrestling base and not casual fans located in the area.
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
Rich Swann will take on Trevor Lee tomorrow night on Impact Wrestling. Many feel the 27-year-old’s style is a perfect fit for the promotion’s X-Division. He was given an opportunity to show what he can do at Impact’s recent television tapings in Windsor, ON, Canada.
Additionally, Swann wrestled Austin Aries for the Impact World championship at the One Night Only pay-per-view, Zero Fear. He can also be seen on Major League Wrestling’s show on BeIN Sports, Fusion.
Swann recently answered questions from the media as part of Impact Wrestling’s teleconference call.
“Oh man, I was such a fan,” Swann said of the early days of the X-Division. “Seeing guys like Frankie Kazarian, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal.”
Swann would also specifically mention AJ Styles as someone he enjoyed watching during this period of the X-Division.
“At that point in time in professional wrestling, there was only one company,” Swann continued. “Then to see these guys kind of throw out this style, this cruiserweight style, this style that had kind of been forgotten about thrown out and abandoned, and put it on TV, it mesmerized me.”
Swann emphasized that he was influenced by the X-Division style growing up. Winning X-Division gold was something he dreamed of as he aspired to be a pro-wrestler.
“Growing up aspiring to be a professional wrestler my size and stature that was one of my goals, if not the goal, to be in the X-Division to be in Impact, to get the X-Division championship.”
The X-Division roster is pretty stacked these days, so Swann will have no easy climb to the top. Current champion, Matt Sydal, recently Tweeted that he will be keeping his 3rd eye fixed on Swann’s match with Lee tomorrow night.
“That’s a dream right there for me,” Swann said in reference to competing in the X-Division. “That means the world.”
What’s Up With Rich Swann’s Hair These Days?
Swann’s recent haircut was addressed on the conference call as well. He stated the haircut is an homage to Minoru Suzuki. The “Beautiful Sadist” and leader of Suzuki-Gun often shaves designs into the top of his head and leaves the back longer than the top.
Rich Swann and Su Yung Moving Forward, Focussed on Positivity
“My wife and I are living a happy life,” Swann said on today’s conference call. “We would like to forget about the past and focus on the present and our future and focus on positivity.”
Impact Wrestling Vice President, Don Callis, addressed Swann’s hiring on an earlier conference call. He stated unequivocally that after speaking with Su Yung, Impact management (Scott D’Amore, Ed Nordholm, and Don Callis) made the decision on the spot to give Swann a chance in Impact Wrestling.
“(Su Yung) explained the situation to us and what happened and it was decided there and then between the three of us” – Don Callis
Yung and Swann are moving forward, focussed on the future, and focussed on Impact Wrestling.