Australia’s World Series Wrestling (WSW) promotion has reached an agreement with the Global Wrestling Network (streaming service run by Anthem Sports and Entertainment).
World Series of Wrestling joins promotions such as Border City Wrestling, RISE, Smash, and Destiny Wrestling on the GWN roster of promotions. World Series of Wrestling events can now be seen in their entirety on the Global Wrestling Network app.
The streaming service is most closely associated with Impact Wrestling but features events from other promotions as well. The app has reportedly seen a rise in downloads since Impact footage appeared on WWE programming as part of the Hardy Boyz documentary. The app has the entire Hardy Saga available for viewing.
The most recent exclusive event on the service was Impact Wrestling’s “Zero Fear One Night Only” pay-per-view. The event featured a main event of Austin Aries taking on Rich Swann from Mississauga, ON, Canada.
We are delighted to present some of the very best from Australia as we welcome @WSWWrestlingAUS as a @GWNapp partner. Past and future @WSWWrestlingAUS events will appear on GWN!
“Founded in 2005, WSW has toured across Australia, hosting shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Newcastle. The reigning WSW World Champion, Austin Aries, appropriately nicknamed “The Belt Collector,” is also the current IMPACT World Champion. Events have showcased other stars from IMPACT Wrestling, including Brian Cage and Tessa Blanchard, plus popular independent wrestling talent such as Ricochet, Marty Scurll, The Young Bucks, Matt Riddle, Zack Sabre Jr. and The Briscoes.”
Recently on episodes of Impact Wrestling, footage of Brian Cage wrestling for World Series Wrestling has been shown.
Austin Aries is the current heavyweight champion of the promotion. He defeated Ricochet for the honors. The name of the tag-team champions is the “Concrete Dongs”. Joey Ryan and Concrete Davidson make up the team. The previous champions before them had been the Young Bucks.
World Series Wrestling will be filming matches in upcoming shows for a pay-per-view show scheduled to air on the FITE app.
WWE has reportedly reached an agreement with Japanese promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH, on a talent sharing deal. The agreement will see Hideo Itami return to the company he first made his name for.
According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE and NOAH reached a talent-sharing agreement at least as it concerns Itami. The wrestler formerly known as KENTA, will return to NOAH for a show in August.
WWE and Pro Wrestling NOAH Reach Deal For Hideo Itami/KENTA
Kenta Kobayashi, better known to WWE fans as Hideo Itami, has struggled to become relevant in WWE. He spent 13 years in Pro Wrestling NOAH previously, winning their Junior Heavyweight Championship on 3 occasions. Near the end of his career with NOAH, Itami would enter the heavyweight division and win the GHC Heavyweight Championship as well. Itami signed with WWE in 2014 but injury woes caused him to lose momentum on the NXT roster.
The wrestlers Itami shared the roster with in NXT have all been on the main roster for some time now. Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tyler Breeze, and even the Ascension were some of the top names in NXT at the time.
Itami dropped his KENTA name when he debuted for NXT. Before his first match, he announced he would be going by the name Hideo Itami. The name translates to “Hero of Pain”.
Eventually, Itami’s lack of success led to a heel turn. In 2017, he was moved to the cruiserweight division on 205 Live. On Tuesday night, Itami moved closer to his first shot at the Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali in a 3-way match. The win likely moves Itami into a position to be the next to challenge Cedric Alexander for the title.
WWE will run two shows from Tokyo on June 29th and 30th next week. Shinsuke Nakamura will challenge for the WWE Championship each night.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has released the full lineup for the upcoming G1 Special in San Francisco. The show takes place just outside city limits in the Cow Palace on July 7th, 2018.
NJPW G1 Special in San Francisco Lineup
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
Omega vs Cody was announced shortly after Dominion. It will be the second time the two have faced each other since the Bullet Club civil war angle began. In the first meeting, Cody defeated Omega at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor show this April.
Jay White has been attacking Juice Robinson after matches during the Kizuna Road tour. Robinson’s arm is now in a cast and could still be by the time this match comes around in a few weeks.
Takahashi challenged Dragon Lee to a title match after he defeated El Desperado in Tokyo last week. There has been some speculation the two longtime rivals could end up in a mask vs hair match somewhere down the line.
Goto lost the NEVER Openweight title to Elgin at Dominion but then won it back on the 1st night of the Kizuna Road tour. Jeff Cobb challenged him to a match immediately after he won back the title.
Last but certainly not least, King Haku will return to New Japan Pro Wrestling on July 7th. He will be teaming with his sons, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. HIKULEO, his youngest son, is still out with a leg injury.
Smackdown General Manager, Paige, and WWE host, Renee Young, recently decided to play a prank on Becky Lynch. The orange-haired Lass-Kicker arrived backstage at Smackdown but was surprised to learn that wrestlers in the back had tampered with her luggage.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkOvE7nna9H/
Becky Lynch’s Bag Smells Great
Somehow, the moral of this story turned out to be that Becky Lynch’s bag seems to smell great.
The topic of luggage was clearly still on Lynch’s mind when she Tweeted out the following:
Lynch made Billie Kay of the IIconics tap out last night to her armbar submission finish.
Praise for Becky Lynch
Lynch earned some praise recently from WWE Hall-of-Famer, Bubba Ray Dudley.
“Every time she climbed that ladder, those people were on their feet. They’re invested in her, they wanted to see her win. Hopefully, the people in the back are listening.” – Bubba Ray Dudley
Lynch was the inaugural Smackdown Live Women’s Champion, having won the title shortly after the brand extension in 2016. She won a 6-Pack Elimination Challenge at Backlash that year to win the title. She would lose the title that December at the TLC pay-per-view to Alexa Bliss, however. Lynch dropped a tables match and then a steel cage rematch to Bliss due to interference by Mickie James. She then fell out of the title picture altogether.
Matches for tonight’s episode of NXT were taped before Takeover: Chicago II inside All-State Arena. WWE is teasing they will show what happened after Takeover: Chicago II went off-air on Saturday night as well, however.
NXT Preview 6/20/18
At Takeover: Chicago II, it looked as though Johnny Gargano had defeated his rival. As medical personnel was taking Ciampa away on a stretcher, however, Gargano let his anger get the best of him. He continued the attack on Ciampa while security and others attempted to get him to stop. Somehow, the match continued on while this was all ongoing. Ciampa took advantage of Gargano being distracted by security and landed a draping DDT onto an exposed ring canvass. He then covered Gargano for a 3-count and the victory.
Now, Ciampa is saying his feud with Gargano is over and he is moving on to new goals.
This is an important match tonight for both Superstars. Belair has been coming on as of late and looks as though she could be the next to graduate into the NXT Women’s Championship picture.
As for Dakota Kai, she was beaten soundly by Shayna Baszler in her last match but finally stopped being intimidated by the champion, which is a moral victory of sorts for her.
Belair defeated Aliyah fairly soundly last week and then was involved in a dispute backstage with Kai, leading to this match tonight. Kai was being interviewed about her match with Baszler when Belair interrupted, upset she wasn’t being interviewed after her decisive win over Aliyah.
2) The War Raiders vs TM-61
TM-61 have been taking shortcuts to win matches as of late. They will need to find plenty of shortcuts to beat the surging War Raiders, however. With the Authors of Pain having been called up to the main roster (that did happen, right?), NXT’s tag division is wide open.
Currently, the Undisputed Era and teams for the UK division have been feuding over the titles.
TM-61 named the War Raiders as a team they believe they can beat in a recent interview. This upset Hanson and Ray Rowe, who will look to prove them wrong tonight.
As Rusev let go of the Accolade (camel clutch) last night following his victory in the Gauntlet match, the emotion on his face was visible. The 33-year-old has been with the company since September 2010. He will wrestle in his first ever WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules next month.
WWE.com caught up with Rusev and Aiden English following last night’s Smackdown.
“I’ve never had an opportunity before for a World Heavyweight Championship,” Rusev explained. “I couldn’t miss the chance. Aiden was there the whole way and Lana, of course, helping me morally in everything.”
Rusev vs AJ Styles at Extreme Rules 2018
Rusev and Aiden appear upset that Styles took a shot at Aiden last night. Following Rusev’s victory in the Gauntlet match, Styles came to the ring. While Styles and Rusev would shake hands, Aiden pulled his hand away from Styles just before they could shake. Styles then decked Aiden and knocked him to the ground for his trouble.
“We’re trying to have this feel-good moment, all fun and games, and all of a sudden (Styles) just punches him,” Rusev said. “I thought it was the wrong move.”
Rusev and AJ Styles have met twice in single’s competition. Both matches took place this year and both matches ended in DQs. Styles defeated Rusev via DQ on the March 13th, 2018 edition of Smackdown via DQ and again on the April 17th, 2018 version of Smackdown.
Rusev has won his last 2 single’s matches. He defeated Samoa Joe on the June 12th, 2018 edition of Smackdown. His match before then he defeated Daniel Bryan to successfully qualify for the Money in the Bank match. His only other single’s match since WrestleMania, however, was a loss to the Undertaker. Rusev was defeated by the Deadman in a Casket Match from the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Chris Jericho’s cruise this fall will feature talent from both Ring of Honor and Impact Wrestling. As part of their involvement, Ring of Honor will be holding a “Sea of Honor” tournament with the winner receiving a shot at the ROH World Championship at a later date.
Jericho recently revealed the 1st round matches for the tournament.
The cruise runs from October 27th, 2018 to October 31st, 2018. The boat will sail from Miami, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas.
Sea of Honor Tournament
Jay Lethal vs BJ Whitmer
Christopher Daniels vs Delirious
Marty Scurll vs Rhett Titus
Silas Young vs Flip Gordon
Mark Briscoe vs Will Ferrara
Hangman Page vs Frankie Kazarian
Cheeseburger vs Beer City Bruiser
Jay Briscoe vs Kenny King
Also of note regarding the tournament, is that the Young Bucks are not entered. Jericho and the Bucks have teased forming a 3-person team named “The Bucks of Jericho” on the cruise.
The current IWGP Intercontinental Champion posted the following to his Instagram:
Yesterday, WWE announced they had parted ways with Smackdown talent, Big Cass. The announcement was made just hours before Smackdown went to air from Toledo, OH last night.
Also of note regarding Cass’ release is that it did not come with the normal wishing well in his future endeavors statement. WWE also chose not to wish Enzo Amore well on his future endeavors when he was released either. All other recently released WWE Superstars, including Austin Aries, Rich Swann, Darren Young, Emma, and Summer Rae were wished well by the company.
What Was Big Cass Fired For?
Sports Illustrated is reporting that multiple sources have told them that Cass’ drinking on the most recent European tour was an issue. Evidently, Cass was intoxicated often and in public during the tour. His attitude while drinking was also said to be an issue. According to SI’s Justin Barrasso, company officials were happy with Cass’ match at Money in the Bank and were surprised at his release, his attitude problems notwithstanding.
Cass was no stranger to heat while he was with WWE. There had been reports not long after he was brought up to the main roster with Enzo that Cass could be obnoxious in his political views, namely those regarding Donald Trump. Last month, Cass also upset officials when he reportedly went off-script during a segment. Cass’ character was involved in a scene with a little person dressed up as Daniel Bryan. Even though he was told not to go overboard with his beating of the little person, Cass did exactly that.
William Morrissey was signed to WWE in 2011 after being trained by Hall of Famer, Johnny Rodz. Prior to his signing, Cass played basketball for New York University. Despite being with the company for 7 years, Cass never won a title in either NXT or the main roster.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has just announced the full schedule for this year’s G1 Climax tournament.
In the final night of the round-robin for Group A, Hiroshi Tanahashi will take on Kazuchika Okada. Meanwhile, on the final night in Group B, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi will go one-on-one for the 3rd time in their careers.
“I got verified again so that I can beg Shania Twain to play my favorite song “When” at her concert this summer in Montreal because I’ll be there. I’m serious.” – Kevin Owens Twitter bio.
According to Kevin Owens, tonight is the night he finally sees Shania Twain in concert. The former Universal Champion will see if the return to Twitter was worth it.
“Hello, @ShaniaTwain! I’m Kevin. I’m a @WWE wrestler and fellow Canadian. I had quite a rough couple of days. I was thrown off a very tall ladder by an awful man. I’m really hurting… What would make me feel better is hearing you sing “When” at your concert in Montreal tonight.”
Shania Twain’s official concert at Montreal’s Bell Center takes place June 26th, 2018. It’s possible Owens is referring to a small, unannounced warm-up show taking place before her “Now” Tour begins, however.
“By the way, I’m sorry that my tweet will now probably get you bombarded all day by @WWE fans asking you to play “When” tonight but my awesome wife surprised me with tickets for your concert and I really want to hear it live. It’s my favourite.
Thanks!”
Kevin Owens Really Likes Shania Twain
Shania Twain is a singer-songwriter from Timmons, ON, Canada. She is perhaps best known for her hit singles “Any Man of Mine”, “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Man, I Feel Like A Woman”.
Owens is evidently a big fan of the song “When”. The song’s official video can be viewed in the player below:
New Japan Pro-Wrestling presented another show from Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall this morning. They’ll be in the venue tomorrow for a special retirement ceremony for Super Strong Machine as well.
The main event for the show was an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match between champion, Hiromu Takahashi and El Desperado.
NJPW Kizuna Road
Monday, June 18th, 2018
Tokyo, Japan
Korakuen Hall
Yota Tsuji vs Yuya Uemura – Time Limit Draw
Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club) defeated Ren Narita and Shota Umino
Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata defeated Tomoyuki Oka and Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Sho, Yoh, Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano (CHAOS) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare, David Finlay, and Togi Makabe
Bushi, Evil, Sanada, and Tetsuya Naito (LIJ) defeated Taka Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, and Takashi Iizuka (Suzuki-Gun)
Kushida, Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin and Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White, Hirooki Goto, and Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS)
In the closing moments of the main event, El Desperado landed a low blow with the referee down. Takahashi countered by unmasking El Desperado (who made little attempt to shield his face). Desperado then hit Takahashi with the title belt and placed his mask back on. As the referee came to, Desperado hit his opponent with a sit-down piledriver for a near-fall. Takahashi countered Desperado’s next attempt into a triangle, however. Shortly after, Takahashi hit the Time Bomb for the win.
Yoshi-Hashi scored the win for his team. He made Henare tap out to a Butterfly Lock. As he doesn’t normally win matches for his team, this was likely done to build Yoshi-Hashi up a bit since he’ll be included in this year’s G1. Togi Makabe, who will be in the same G1 Block as Yoshi, attempted to get in his face after the match as well.
Following Los InGobernables’ victory over the Suzuki-Gun team, Sanada and Naito shared a moment in the ring. The two will be in the same Block for this year’s G1 tournament. Naito attempted to give a fist-bump to Sanada but Sanada left him dry.
Following the semi-final match, Jeff Cobb and Hirooki Goto brawled to back, previewing their upcoming title match.
As he did on Sunday as well, White attacked Juice Robinson after the match. The two will meet for the IWGP United States Championship on July 7th from the Cow Palace. This time Juice was able to fight back, however. As Juice was going for the Pulp Friction, however, White low-blowed him. He then proceeded to hit Juice with a series of elbows from the crucifix position. After that, he then attacked Juice’s arm with a chair shot.
NJPW Super Strong Machine Retirement Ceremony
June 19th, 2018
Tokyo, Japan
Korakuen Hall
Ren Narita and KUSHIDA vs Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club)
Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Togi Makabe vs Shoto Umino, Tomoyuki Oka, and Toa Henare
Sho, Yoh, and Rocky Romero (CHAOS) vs Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (Suzuki-Gun)
Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS) vs Taichi and Takashi Iizuka (Suzuki-Gun)
David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb, and Michael Elgin vs Yoshi-Hashi, Jay White, Hirooki Goto, and Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS)
SS Machine No.69, SS Machine Don, SS Machine Justice, SS Machine Buffalo, SS Machine Ace vs Hiromu Takahashi, BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL, and Tetsuya Naito (LIJ)
Smackdown General Manager, Paige, says she was assaulted by a fan last night at Money in the Bank. She is believed to have been high-fiving fans when one pie-faced her and told her to lose weight. The incident is alleged to have happened outside Chicago’s All-State Arena as Paige was leaving the building.
She posted the following through Instagram stories:
“To the fan that decided to pie face me through my car window and then told me to ‘lose some weight, Paige’ you inspired me to keep being myself and eat whatever the f— I want. Good luck with your karma!”
Paige has not made any further comment on the matter. So far, it is not believed that police have been involved.
Paige in 2018
Shortly after WrestleMania 34 this year, Paige announced she was no longer medically cleared by WWE doctors to compete. Despite only being 25 years old, Paige has wear-and-tear damage to her neck and shoulders. Paige was born with a condition called Scoliosis, which causes a curving of the spine. Although not serious, there are concerns her condition may have led to her being more injury-prone during her career. The condition was only detected by WWE trainers shortly after she signed with the company.
Paige’s last match was a December 27th, 2017 house show. The bout was stopped early as Paige was injured after taking a kick to the back. She would then spend the beginning of 2018 managing the Absolution stable before being named as the Smackdown General Manager in April.
Posted June 18th, 2018 in WWE, News. Tagged: Paige.
Last night at Money in the Bank, AJ Styles successfully defended his WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. In the closing moments of the match, Styles kicked Nakamura low before hitting a Phenomenal Forearm which took the challenger through an announce table. Nakamura was unable to make it to his feet in time to meet the referee’s 10-count and Styles was declared the victor.
WWE.com caught up with Styles after the match and spoke to him about the tactics he used last night:
“When the championship’s on the line, it’s my livelihood. I’m not about to let that go no matter what,” Styles said. “Winners find a way and I found one. It may have not been the most respectable but it’s an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth out there and I won.”
AJ Styles WWE Championship Statistics
Styles is currently on his second run with the title. His previous run with the belt began at Backlash 2016 when he defeated Dean Ambrose to become champion. Styles then dropped it 140 days later to John Cena. He won the title for a second time by defeating Jinder Mahal on the November 7th, 2017 Smackdown from Manchester, England. His current reign is at 222 days, the longest since Brock Lesnar held the title for 224 days back in 2014 and the 20th longest of all-time.
Styles recently passed Big Daddy Cool Diesel as having held the title for the 15th most combined days.
WWE Championship
Most Combined Days Spent as Champion
Bruno Sammartino (4,040)
Hulk Hogan (2,185)
Bob Backlund (2,138)
John Cena (1,257)
Pedro Morales (1,027)
Randy Orton (660)
Bret Hart (655)
Triple H (610)
Brock Lesnar (578)
Steve Austin (530)
Randy Savage (520)
CM Punk (463)
Shawn Michaels (396)
The Rock (378)
AJ Styles (362)
WWE Championship
Longest Single Reigns of All-Time
This morning in Tokyo, Japan, NJPW released the block groupings for the G1 Climax 2018 tournament. The announcement was made at the Kizuna Road show held in Tokyo’s famed Korakuen Hall.
The promotion unveiled the participants on Sunday’s show and will release the schedule in the coming days.
Block A
Togi Makabe (GBH)
Michael Elgin
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS)
Jay White (CHAOS)
Yoshi-Hashi (CHAOS)
Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club)
Hangman Page (Bullet Club)
EVIL (LIJ)
Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-Gun)
Notable matches which will occur during the round-robin portion of Block A include Hiroshi Tanahashi facing his longtime rival, Kazuchika Okada. Also of note, is that recent CHAOS newcomer, Jay White, will get to face Okada as well, something he said he wanted to do not long after joining the stable. White is also the only Champion in the block so far. Any matches he loses during the tournament could lead to a future title defense. He will have to defend his title against Juice Robinson on July 7th, 2018 before the G1, however.
B Block
Juice Robinson
Hirooki Goto (CHAOS)
Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS)
Toru Yano (CHAOS)
Tama Tonga (Bullet Club)
SANADA (LIJ)
Tetsuya Naito (LIJ)
Zack Sabre Junior (Suzuki-Gun)
Kenny Omega (Bullet Club)
Kota Ibushi
These groupings mean Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi will face each other at some point during the round-robin portion of the tournament. The two Golden Lovers teammates have met twice in single’s action before. Both matches took place in DDT. Ibushi won both matches, the first in 2008 and the second in 2012.
As of this writing, Omega and Goto are the only champions in the block. Any losses they incur during the tournament could lead to future title defenses. Juice Robinson will have the chance to win the IWGP United States title before the G1 stars as well, however.
Omega and Tama Tonga will also meet in the G1 this year. Omega previously beat Tonga in the tournament in 2017. Leading up to the match, Tonga complained that Omega was too focussed on the Elite and not on Bullet Club as a whole. Tonga has also been complaining through social media about the recently unveiled “Golden Elite” faction. He will get to wrestle Kota Ibushi at this year’s G1 as well.
Carmella was ready for Asuka. She defeated her last night at Money in the Bank thanks to a returning James Ellsworth. In the closing moments of the match, Ellsworth appeared in disguise at ringside. As the challenger was distracted by Ellsworth in an Asuka mask, Carmella hit a super-kick and pinned her for the win.
The victory is Carmella’s second successful title defense on WWE programming, her first coming against former champion, Charlotte Flair. Carmella has defended it 20x when you include house shows, however.
WWE.com caught up with Ellsworth and Carmella following the match.
James Ellsworth Cancels Booking in China Days Before Money in the Bank
In the days and weeks leading to Money in the Bank, rumors began to circulate Ellsworth could be at the event. Ellsworth countered by stating he was booked for Middle Kingdom Wrestling in China that day.
Last week, Middle Kingdom Wrestling announced that Ellsworth had informed them at the last minute that he would not be attending the event. The company released the following statement regarding his canceled booking:
“James Ellsworth was scheduled to appear this weekend (June 16/17, 2018) in Harbin, China as part of Middle Kingdom Wrestling presents Eyes on the Prize and an MKW Meet N Greet party. This booking has been in place since February.
James Ellsworth informed us last night that he will not be traveling to China. This news came after repeated attempts by MKW management to contact Ellsworth over the last six days to confirm travel arrangements.”
Ellsworth also played a major role in last year’s Money in the Bank PPV as well. On that night, he helped Carmella win the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank match.
Last night in Chicago, Nia Jax defended her Raw Women’s Championship against Ronda Rousey. It looked as though Rousey was en route to winning the title as she locked-in the armbar but Alexa Bliss interfered causing the match to be thrown out.
After insuring Rousey was taken out, Bliss then cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase. Bliss was easily able to defeat an injured Jax to win back the Raw Women’s Championship. She is now a 3x Raw Women’s Champion and a 2x Smackdown Women’s Champion.
Jax Tweeted out the following not long after Money in the Bank ended:
Not the ending I was hoping for, but can’t help but be proud of what @RondaRousey & I accomplished tonight. She is the REAL DEAL! #MITB
“Not the ending I was hoping for, but can’t help but be proud of what @RondaRousey & I accomplished tonight. She is the REAL DEAL!”
Raw Women’s Championship
Only 5 people have held the Raw Women’s Championship since its inception at WrestleMania 32 on April 3rd, 2016.
Bliss is the all-time most decorated champion in the title’s lineage, having held the belt for a combined 336 days. Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks have each won the title 4x but their title reigns have not been as lengthy. Flair has held the title a combined 246 days and Sasha Banks only 84 days. Bayley has held the title once and dropped it after 76 days. Nia Jax’s only run with the belt concluded last night after 70 days.
Hirooki Goto defeated Michael Elgin for the NEVER Openweight Championship today from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Shortly after doing so, however, he was challenged to a future match by Jeff Cobb. Elgin and Cobb were teammates in the World Tag League last year.
The likely time and date for Cobb vs Goto for the NEVER Openweight Championship is July 7th at NJPW’s G1 Special in San Fransisco.
Elgin’s run with the belt was the shortest in history. It lasted only 8 days and did not include a single successful title defense. Goto is now a 3x champion and has defended the title 6x in total.
Jeff Cobb, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare & Togi Makabe defeated Rocky Romero, SHO, Toru Yano, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI
BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito defeated El Desperado, Taichi, TAKA Michinoku, Takashi Iizuka & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Jay White, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii defeated David Finlay, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
NEVER Openweight Title Hirooki Goto defeated Michael Elgin (c)
Kizuna Road Developments
Jay White and Juice Robinson built up their upcoming title match on today’s show. White attacked Juice after their tag match and attempted to injure his rival’s arm with a chair. Juice fought back and punched the chair into White’s face to end the melee, however.
White also chose to enter the ring separately from his fellow CHAOS stablemates again.
Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi had a weird exchange after their match. Takahashi set the Best of the Super Juniors trophy on the mat in front of Naito. Although Naito initially looked like he was going to bow to the trophy, he instead kicked it and broke off a piece. Takahashi was upset by this. He picked up the trophy and walked away from an apologetic Naito. Whenever he is around a title belt or trophy, Naito can’t help but want to destroy it it seems.
Updated G1 Special In San Francisco Card
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Kenny Omega (c) vs Cody
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
the Young Bucks (c) vs Evil and Sanada
IWGP United States Championship
Jay White (c) vs Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay vs Tetsuya Naito and Bushi
Likely to be announced soon:
NEVER Openweight Championship
Hirooki Goto (c) vs Jeff Cobb
Early this morning from Tokyo, Japan, NJPW announced the full participant list for this year’s G1 Climax tournament. The promotion will announce the full schedule and tournament blocks in the coming days.
The announcement came during the first of two back-to-back shows from Korakuen Hall as part of the Kizuna Road tour.
G1 2018 Participants
Kenny Omega
Michael Elgin
Jay White
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Togi Makabe
Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada
Hirooki Goto
Tomohiro Ishii
Toru Yano
YOSHI-HASHI
Bad Luck Fale
Hangman Page
Tetsuya Naito
EVIL
Sanada
Minoru Suzuki
Zack Sabre Jr
Kota Ibushi
Not many changes in the tournament this year. Hangman Page and Jay White both enter the tournament for the first time this year. Nagata said last year would be his last tournament so he’s no longer entered. All heavyweight single’s champions are entered, which should set up some future title matches as well.
NJPW also said that all 19 shows will air live and with English commentary available. Normally, only a select few shows are available live with weekday matches usually being posted later in the day and with no English commentary available.
In addition to the upcoming G1 tournament, NJPW is building towards the show at the Cow Palace on July 7th, 2018. Cody vs Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship will be the main event of the show. The Cow Palace show creates a unique opportunity for Cody. He will have a chance to win the ROH World Championship, the IWPG Heavyweight Championship, and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in matches on June 29th, July 7th, and September 1st, 2018.
Yesterday, Xavier Woods competed against Kenny Omega at E32018. They played against each other in Street Fighter V. The showdown was even promoted by WWE.com.
Today, Woods posted a heartfelt thank you to fans who have been following his YouTube channel and supported his gaming efforts.
“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.
Everyday 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!”
He also posted this photo of himself with Kenny Omega from E3, where the New Day squared off against The Elite in a Street Fighter V battle.
While Xavier Woods’ week has been filled with video games, he’ll be back wrestling this weekend. The New Day still has not revealed which of their members will be competing in the Money in the Bank ladder match on Sunday. All three will likely be in Chicago for the event, however.
While Hangman Page’s career seems to be skyrocketing, recent events could lead to his downfall. As has been alluded to recently on Being the Elite, there are concerns that Hangman Page is responsible for the disappearance of famous dick-wrestler, Joey Ryan.
He recently sat down with Impact Wrestling and AMBY’s Alicia Atout and spoke about the current allegations against him.
“If (Joey Ryan) is missing forever, I’m kind of fine with that,” Page explained. “But you know, it wasn’t me.”
Did Hangman Page Murder Joey Ryan?
Atout brought up that Joey Ryan’s wife has been raising concerns about Ryan’s whereabouts. She insinuated some are of the belief Page is responsible for Ryan’s disappearance. She asked Page why he dislikes Ryan so much.
“He was a penis pretender,” Page said. “I’m going to talk about him in the past tense maybe; he’s missing.”
“For years and years he built his whole career off a lie,” Page said regarding Ryan’s emphasis on his genitals. “As if he had a more impressive nether region than I did and it just wasn’t true.”
If Joey Ryan is ever to return, he might want to face Hangman Page on a big show. All-In on September 1st from Chicago seems like a possible time and location for such a match.
Hangman Page on Bullet Club Civil War
Atout also asked Page about the dissension in Bullet Club.
“At this point, it’s just down to Kenny and Cody; Two alpha males who they can’t help but want to call themselves the leader,” Page said. “We’re grown men, I don’t think we need a leader.”
Hangman Page will be in Texas tonight and tomorrow for Ring of Honor’s “State of the Art” tour. His most recent match was at Dominion this weekend. Page teamed with Cody and Marty Scurll to defeat the team of Rey Mysterio Jr, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Jushin “Thunder” Liger. He’ll team with the Young Bucks and Marty Scurll to go up against the Briscoes and KES tonight in San Antonio and then part of an ROH TV title 6-way Proving Ground match in Dallas on Saturday.
Ring of Honor will be holding their first of what they hope will be many “International Cup” tournaments in mid-August. The promotion will be heading back to the UK from August 16th to 19th, 2018.
The cup will be competed for via an 8-man tournament featuring wrestlers from the United States against wrestlers from the United Kingdom. ROH noted they hope to follow a similar format for tournaments in Japan, Germany, and Mexico.
ROH’s International Cup
While the participants for the tournament have yet to be announced, ROH has revealed the tournament format.
The four 1st-round matches in the tournament will all take place in Edinburgh on August 16th, 2018. Each match will pit a UK wrestler versus one from the United States.
Both the semi-finals and the finals of the tournament will be held in Doncaster, England on August 18th, 2018. This part of the tournament does not appear to be based on the UK versus the United States theme but rather just pits wrestlers who advanced past the 1st round against each other regardless of where they are from.
The winner of the tournament will then move on to the show from London’s York Hall on August 19th, 2018. On that show, the ROH World Champion will defend the title against the winner of the first-ever ROH International Cup.
Tickets are available for all shows on ROHWrestling.com.
ROH Dojo
In other Ring of Honor news, the ROH Dojo is due to open next week. The Ring of Honor dojo is holding a 2-day camp on June 23rd and 24th. Delirious, BJ Whitmer, Jonathan Gresham, and Will Ferrara will be on hand for the camp.
Selected camp participants will then be invited to continue training at the dojo.
ROH will be in Texas this weekend. They have shows from both San Antonio and Dallas coming up on Friday and Saturday night.
Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Enzo Amore, recently appeared on the “Store Horsemen” podcast. The podcast features comedians from “the Comedy Store” in Los Angelas talking about pro-wrestling.
Enzo Amore on Almost Quitting WWE
During the podcast, Amore noted that he got into a disagreement with WWE management shortly after his heel turn. According to Enzo, the company never officially told him he was turning heel.
“I was backstage, I wrote the most tremendous promo of my life, which would have saved me as a babyface if I would have gotten the microphone,” Amore said. “So I was in the midst of turning heel but they didn’t want to tell me that, per say, per say. For the first time they come to me and say ‘no, you can’t say anything. You have to read this verbatim.’ And I’m backstage losing my sh*t, and Hunter comes up to me and was like ‘you say what’s on that script if you wanna keep your job.’ And they didn’t tell me I was turning heel so I get it, but at the time and in the moment, I was like f*ck this man I’m quitting.”
As talk turned to the allegations which have been plaguing his career as of late, Enzo had this to say:
“You know how scarred I am, bro? I haven’t even talked to a woman in five-six months. I’m out here hitting the repeat list, dawg.”
Enzo Amore’s Problems With WWE Creative
It also appears Enzo did not get along well with the creative team in WWE. During the podcast, Enzo also spent some time explaining why he and the WWE writers often came into conflict.
“As a writer, you gotta understand why people were maybe were mad to work with me or say I was difficult to work with. If a writer has a job to work with you and you get to work on Monday I re-write the whole f*cking promo,” Enzo said. “So they would give me my bullet points and I would rewrite my whole promos you know what I’m saying, and sometimes I could and could not, for instance ‘zero dimes’ you remember that thing? Like, Vince didn’t get it. So I used in NXT a bunch when I got to the main roster, Vince was like ‘…what’s that mean?’ So he doesn’t get but we’re making money off merchandise with it.”
WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Cedric Alexander, recently took the time to put Lio Rush in his place on Twitter. He got in a shot at former Cruiserweight Champion, Enzo Amore, as well.
Rush earned himself some heat late last year after posting an insensitive remark concerning Emma following her WWE release. His upcoming debut in the cruiserweight division is currently being built up on episodes of 205 Live with a series of vignettes. Possibly in response to his reputation, Rush is being portrayed as an arrogant and entitled young prospect.
Rush and Alexander have been having a back and forth on Twitter recently.
“This coming from the kid who wants to be a fake rapper. We had one of those on 205Live,” Alexander pointed out. “You wanna end up like him? I suggest you watch your mouth youngster.”
Lio Rush in NXT
The 23-year-old Rush has been competing on the NXT live tours but has not wrestled much on NXT television since signing with the company last year. Rush has only had 2 single’s matches on WWE programming thus far and he lost both of them. He has lost to Lars Sullivan earlier this year and to the Velveteen Dream late last year.
Cedric Alexander’s Cruiserweight Title Reign
Alexander is the 8th wrestler to wear the title and is currently defending the championship’s 10th reign. He’s held the title since WrestleMania 34 when he defeated Mustafa Ali in the finals of a tournament to declare a new champion. Since that time, he has successfully defended the title against Kalisto at the Greatest Royal Rumble and Buddy Murphy on 205 Live from May 29th, 2018.
David Arquette announced last month he plans to return to pro-wrestling. Few took his comments, or previous run in wrestling, seriously. Yesterday, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood posted the following clip of the former WCW World Champion in action.
David Arquette Returns To Pro Wrestling
“I’d like to announce my return to professional wrestling!” Arquette proclaimed on the Wendy Williams show last month. He would later explain his motivation for returning as wanting to clear his name. “I was promoting a movie I did called Ready to Rumble and it just so happened that I won the championship,” Arquette said. “(Fans) blamed me for ruining WCW, it’s no longer around and maybe I did have something to do with it.”
“For 18 years, I’ve been trolled on the internet,” he continued. “And I just want to bring some respect back to my name!”
According to the German wrestling statistic site, Cagematch, Arquette has officially wrestled in 5 pro-wrestling matches. Not only is he a former WCW World Champion, he actually successfully defended the title once against Tank Abbott.
April 24th, 2000 (Nitro)
David Arquette defeated Eric Bischoff
April 25th, 2000 (Thunder)
WCW World Championship
DDP (c) and David Arquette defeated Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett (Arquette wins title due to getting the pin)
May 1st, 2000 (Nitro)
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
David Arquette (c) defeated Tank Abbott
May 7th, 2000 (Slamboree)
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Triple Threat, Triple Cage
Jeff Jarrett defeated David Arquette and
December 13th, 2010
Monday Night Raw
2-on-1 Handicap Match
Randy Orton defeated Alex Riley and David Arquette
When asked if working for WWE is in his future, Arquette had this to say:
“I love WWE, I’ve always been a fan of the McMahons and Vince and everything they’ve been doing over there,” Arquette said. “It’s always been a weird relationship between me and wrestling. I’m just trying to clear my name.”
Impact Wrestling tonight will feature an X-Division Championship match. Brian Cage, who is undefeated for the promotion, will challenge X-Division champion, Matt Sydal. Moose and Eli Drake will also clash with the winner receiving a title shot against Austin Aries at Slammiversary.
The promotion is beginning the build to their Slammiversary pay-per-view on July 22nd, 2018 from Toronto’s Rebel nightclub.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvR_0EeKaKk
Impact Wrestling (6/14/18) Preview
X-Division Championship Matt Sydal (c) vs Brian Cage
Cage earned this match by defeating Dezmond Xavier on a previous episode of Impact.
Lately on Impact, the promotion has been showing footage of Cage wrestling from promotions all around the world. He’s wrestled for companies such as Destiny, World Series of Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling NOAH.
Sydal most recently defended the title successfully against El Hijo Del Fantasma. He won the title from Taiji Ishimori, who is also booked for Slammiversary despite now wrestling for NJPW as well.
NO DQ Tessa Blanchard vs Kiera Hogan
Two women in their early-20s just starting to get their careers going will clash tonight with no DQ.
Blanchard wants to bounce back from her recent loss to Madison Rayne.
ImpactWrestling.com notes the winner of this match could be in a position to challenge Su Yung for the Knockouts title.
Eli Drake vs Moose
The winner of this match will earn the right to challenge Austin Aries for the Impact World Championship at Slammiversary.
As for the champion, he is likely still on vacation this week. That’s where Aries was last week when Josh Matthews conducted a Skype interview with him.
Aries has been on vacation since defeating Pentagon Jr for the Impact World Championship at Under Pressure.
Also booked for tonight’s show:
Jake Crist vs El Hijo Del Fantasma
Update on the mystery attacks in the back
Fallout from Sami Callihan and Eddie Edwards’ “Fight in the Woods”.
Zero Fear Friday
Also in Impact news, the company’s One Night Only PPV event “Zero Fear Friday” airs tomorrow. That show featured Austin Aries facing Rich Swann, Sami Callihan vs Josh Alexander, Matt Sydal vs Dezmond Xavier, Su Yung vs Katarina, Madison Rayne vs KC Spinelli, and Eddie Edwards vs Trevor Lee.
