Earlier this month, James Ellsworth denied reports he was possibly due to return to WWE. According to Ellsworth, he had a booking in China that day which confirmed he would not be at Money in the Bank.

There are now reports that Ellsworth has cancelled his booking in China for this weekend.

As recently as June 11th @realellsworth was promoting his appearance in China on Twitter, this morning I wake up to this posted to the English-language @MKWwrestling fan group chat by MKW's owner. V. Uncool. pic.twitter.com/LsznC3Bdmx

— NuclearConvoy (@NuclearConvoy) June 14, 2018

“James Ellsworth was scheduled to appear this weekend (June 16/17, 2018) in Harbin, China as part of Middle Kingdom Wresting 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 travelling to China. This news came after repeated attempts by MKW management to contact Ellsworth over the last six days to confirm travel arrangements.”

China this week people pic.twitter.com/K5QqhO3wLS

— James Ellsworth (@realellsworth) June 11, 2018

Will James Ellsworth Be At Money in the Bank?

After speculation was running that Ellsworth would be at the event in Chicago this weekend, Ellsworth denied the claim. He played a major role in the event last year, however, helping Carmella win the first-ever female Money in the Bank match.

Ellsworth was officially released from his WWE contract in November of last year. He had been with the company full-time for 14 months at that point. Before then, he had been used as enhancement talent in the summer of 2016 shortly after the brand extension.

Ellsworth is said to have been popular and well-liked backstage. His Inter-gender championship act on the independent circuit has also received positive reviews.

Longtime pro-wrestling journalist, historian, and expert, Dave Meltzer, confirmed today that Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada from Dominion last weekend was the greatest match he has ever seen. He awarded the match 7-stars out of what was originally only a possible 5.

All four matches between Omega and Okada have received a 6-star or higher rating from Meltzer.

While assigning a rating or score to a match is controversial, Meltzer’s rating system is the most high-profile of its kind.

6?16?(?)26?5????????????????6.9??????????IWGP??????????????????vs???????????
??????????????????????
?????????https://t.co/fxJBt7ZeTD#??????????? #tvasahi #njpw pic.twitter.com/wfyHoafdRt

— ?????????????? (@njpw1972) June 14, 2018

Dave Meltzer’s Match Ratings Explained

Meltzer began reviewing matches with a star-based system back in the tape-trading era. For those unaware, this pre-internet period involved fans connecting via ads in wrestling magazines. Fans would tape (with a VCR) their local shows and mail them to fans outside of the market. Tape trading allowed fans to keep up with promotions from around the world before the internet did.

Meltzer’s match-ratings were originally just to let fans know which tapes they might want to trade for. It wasn’t meant to be used as a way to compare matches or wrestlers. All the same, a 5-star match is usually confirmation that something special has occurred.

Dave Meltzer’s Highest Rated Matches Ever

In total 8 matches have broken Meltzer’s 5-star system by receiving more than 5 stars.

1. Kenny Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada (c) (NJPW Dominion 2018) 7*,
2. Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada (time limit draw) (NJPW Dominion 2017) 6.25*
3. Kenny Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada (G1 Climax 2017) 6*
4. Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Kenny Omega (WrestleKingdom XI) 6*
5. Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW June 1994) 6*
6. Tetsuya Naito defeated Kenny Omega (G1 Climax 2017) 5.75*
7. Hiromu Takahashi defeated Taiji Ishimori (Best of the Super Juniors 2018) 5.5*
8. Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi (Wrestling Dontaku 2018) 5.5*

Notable 5-star WWE matches include Bret Hart vs Austin at WM13, Michaels vs Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell match, and CM Punk vs John Cena MITB 2011.

NXT has also produced several 5-star matches in recent years, including Takeover: New Orleans. The North American title ladder match and Gargano vs Ciampa matches from that show each earned 5-stars from Meltzer.

Tokyo Sports is reporting that longtime Joshi veteran, Meiko Satomura, will be taking part in the second Mae Young Classic. The 38-year-old is a former World of Stardom champion and 1/3 of the Chikara Trios champions.

Author Chris Charlton posted the following this morning:

Tokyo Sports reporting Meiko Satomura is in the WWE mae young classic, but she herself has no comment. https://t.co/4QjIS8EsvR

— chris charlton (@reasonjp) June 14, 2018

Meiko Satomura Mae Young Classic

In 2005, Satomura co-founded the all-woman promotion, Sendai Girls. She also worked with WCW in the mid-90s on their short-lived women’s division which was to feature the likes of Bull Nakano and Madusa.

She helped create Sendai Girls after a previous female promotion, Gaea Japan, went out of business. Satomura wrestled in the final match ever held by the promotion before founding a new company the next year. She is the current Fight Club Pro champion. Satomura is also the last person to win the Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize award before Io Shirai began her sweep of the award. Satomura was given the award in 2013 and Shirai has swept every year since. That will change in 2018, however, as Shirai has spent the year with NXT.

Satomura defeated Kairi Hojo (Kairi Sane) for the World of Stardom Championship on July 26th, 2015. She held the title for 150 days before losing it to Io Shirai, who would then hold the title for 546 consecutive days. The most recent title change in the promotion saw Toni Storm drop the belt to Kagetsu on June 9th in Nagoya. Storm is recently believed to have signed a WWE UK deal and could likely end up in the second Mae Young Classic as well.

Mae Young Classic II

Last year, the tournament taped over a couple of days in July. They then aired the finale live in September. This year, it is believed they are looking at filming the tournament in August. This has not been confirmed, however. Full Sail University is expected to host the tournament again this year.

The WWE Smackdown crews’ stay at the Memphis Sheraton earlier this week did not go smoothly. Rusev, Lana, and Paige have all reported they had items stolen during their stay.

Despite public Tweets from Rusev and Paige criticizing the hotel, Sheraton has chosen not to respond. Looking at their social media accounts, it’s evident the Sheraton has a policy of only responding to positive comments.

Rusev made further comment on the matter today after the Pro Wrestling Sheet stated the Sheraton was not interested in speaking to them.

Dig in. I’m prosecuting. Especially after the head of security said it’s my fault for living my stuff in the room. https://t.co/VFXa5P3bL0

— Miro (@ToBeMiro) June 13, 2018

Rusev, Lana, and Paige Unhappy With Memphis Sheraton

In further Tweets, Rusev stated he had put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on his door as well. He also said they had filled out a police report.

https://twitter.com/WWEMaverick/status/1006753215730339840

Drake Maverick has not made further comment on his Mac.

Paige has not made any further comment on the matter either. Lana does not appear to have commented publicly.

Memphis Sheraton Hotel

The Memphis Sheraton is a 600-room hotel located just off highway 40. It is often used for conventions and big events held in the city.

Previous news reports concerning the hotel also include a shooting which took place there in September and a couple being attacked while walking to their car in October. Following the two crimes, the city has been looking into hiring a safety consultant to discuss a plan to make the downtown area safer.

“A security consultant in crowd dynamics should take a look at the look at street before the task force makes its formal recommendations to city council,” said Berlin Boyd, the city taskforce chairman in a statement.

Earlier this month, the city began reviewing recommendations made to them by the task force. In general, it seems city council believes over-crowdedness is leading to a surge in crime in the area and they are looking at ways to address this.

Impact Wrestling has hired Alicia Atout as the company’s new backstage interviewer. Atout runs the award-winning blog and interview site, AMBY. The site posts interviews with wrestlers and musicians.

Atout was brought in by the company for the latest set of TV Tapings in Windsor. She recently posted to her social media account that she is now with the company in a more permanent role.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj8QuU7Ah1y/?hl=en&taken-by=aliciaatout

Changes At Impact Wrestling

Impact’s previous host, McKenzie Mitchell, recently posted about moving on to new adventures. This should lead some to believe she is no longer going to be working with the promotion.

Wherever you go, go with all of your heart ? time for a new adventure! Next new home: #LosAngeles pic.twitter.com/f0g8XL9qQn

— McKenzie Mitchell (@mckenzienmitch) June 11, 2018

The company likely chose to bring in Atout over McKenzie at the most recent set of tapings due to geographical convenience. McKenzie is based out of Nashville and it had been easy to bring her in for the Orlando shows. As the tapings earlier this month took place in Windsor, ON, Canada it would have been cheaper for the company to bring in Atout, who is from Toronto.

Atout has also interviewed wrestlers for promotions such as Smash Wrestling, RISE, Shimmer, and appears frequently on the Fight Network in Canada.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bixn_uvAfxs/?hl=en&taken-by=aliciaatout

On the latest episode of “Being the Elite”, the Young Bucks and Chris Jericho teased forming a 3-person team. Jericho and the Jackson brothers toyed around with team names “The Bucks of Jericho”, “Y2Jacksons”, and even “The Bucks of Jericho or is it Y2Jacksons?”.

After much deliberation, Jericho says he is now ready to land on a team name.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj-J6wyFjxk/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=16okonc0u8e9j

The Bucks of Jericho

Also on a recent episode of “Being the Elite”, the three speculated as to under what promotion they would be able to team together. As they brought up on the show, they work for different companies: Bullet Club and Alpha Club. They then began to tease they would team together on Chris Jericho’s cruise this fall.

There has been some speculation that Jericho won’t be appearing in NJPW for some time. He has said he will not be at the Cow Palace show and others have said his winning the IWGP Intercontinental Championship might be a way for the promotion to put the title on ice. As with anything involving Chris Jericho, however, he’s only going to let out the information he is OK with people knowing. Jericho and NJPW are likely the only parties who know when he will be appearing for the promotion next.

The Golden Elite

Following the main event of NJPW Dominion over the weekend, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks reunited. The trio had been out of contact following the Bullet Club civil war this spring and Omega taking time off to prepare for his 4th bout with Okada. Omega chose to hug with the Bucks before he was even handed the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt.

Omega, the Bucks, and Kota Ibushi then unveiled the four of them will be known by the name “the Golden Elite”. This development is most likely not going over well with Cody or some of the Bullet Club OG faction.

Eric Bischoff’s 83-Weeks podcast has been gaining some traction lately. The former President of WCW is the latest to co-host a podcast with Conrad Thompson. The show takes a look back at Bischoff’s recollections of his time running WCW. His most recent show concerned his dealings with Chris Jericho.

Interviewer Chris Van Vliet recently spoke to Bischoff and asked him how he would book Roman Reigns if he was running WWE. Although Bischoff stated he hates to fantasy book, it turned out he had plenty to say on the matter.

Eric Bischoff on How He’d Book Roman Reigns

“I think the way he’s been packaged and the way he’s been presented and dare I say it because I don’t like to be critical but there’s no other way to say it, he’s been forced down everybody’s throats for two years,” Bischoff said. “But no matter how good you are, I don’t care if you’re Vince McMahon or you’re Steven Spielberg or if you’re William freaking Shakespeare, it’s doesn’t matter. The audience is only going to go so far. You can only force that fish to swim upstream until it just gets tired as has to go the other way. I wish they would turn him heel. I wish they would embrace that.”

Bischoff on WWE SmackDown Moving To Fox

Talk also turned to WWE’s most recent deal with Fox. Bischoff brought up a point which perhaps has gone under the radar regarding the deal.

“(USA Network and Fox Sports) are competitive networks. Now, what’s going to happen when the WWE, which traditionally has been able to cross-pollinate talent and do all kinds of cute little things creatively? What’s going to happen when WWE says ‘We’re going to take this guy who’s really getting over here on FOX and put him over here on Raw for a night?’” Bischoff wondered aloud. “I think some FOX executives are going to go ‘Woah, woah woah! I can give you a billion reasons over the next 5 years why we don’t want that to happen.’ That’s the kind of thing that I think politically is going to be an interesting manifestation of those choices.”

Lucha Underground’s 4th season begins tonight on the El Rey Network. There will be plenty of changes this season, most notably a new venue. Dario Cueto’s old temple has been replaced with a building previously used as an ice house. The new venue promises to have a unique look and feel. The producers of Lucha Underground have stated the new temple will factor heavily into season 4.

Season 4 of Lucha Underground will only be 22-episodes. The abbreviated season is likely a consolation many fans will put up with for the sake of having the show continue to air at all. Despite the reduced season, show-runners feel more confident now than ever about the promotion’s future.

Lucha Underground has also announced several new characters will be appearing on the show this season.

Lucha Underground Season 4 New Stars

In 24 hours, LUCHA UNDERGROUND RETURNS – and things will never be the same again…TOMORROW 8p ET on @ElReyNetwork!!! #luchaunderground #luchalibre #prowrestling #wrestling #lucha #newseason #action #tv #eljefe #ridewithelrey pic.twitter.com/0y35pWKXOM

— Lucha Underground (@LuchaElRey) June 13, 2018

The mysterious Antonio Cueto will join the cast of Lucha Underground in season 4. This member of the Cueto family could be related to Dario or Matanza. At the end of Season 3, Dario was seen shot and possibly deceased in his office.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjvHPHChfVJ/

Jessie Godderz will also be joining the cast for Season 4. He will be wrestling under the name “Mr. Pec-tacular”.

Jake Hager, aka Jack Swagger, is also believed to have signed with the promotion and will take part in Season 4. Chelsea Green, the former Laurel Van Ness, is also believed to be apart of Lucha Underground’s upcoming season.

The promotion will be without Prince Puma (Ricochet) this season, however. Puma had formerly been one of the promotion’s top babyface luchadors. After leaving Lucha Underground last year, Ricochet is now in NXT. He will face the Velveteen Dream this Saturday at NXT Takeover: Chicago II.

Season 4 of Lucha Underground premieres tomorrow night at 8 PM est on the El Rey Network.

WWE Smackdown General Manager, Paige, was not pleased with her stay at the Memphis Sheraton Hotel last night. She expressed her discontentment with the hotel in a recent post to her social media followers.

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1006750819394387968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F411mania.com%2Fwrestling%2Fpaige-criticizes-the-memphis-sheraton%2F

“If you’re in the Memphis area don’t EVER stay at the @SheratonMemphis,” Paige Tweeted. “it’s literally the worst. Things stolen, bad customer service and room service takes two hours just for a salad and WE are the inconvenience. Ugh. The worst.”

Apparently, all the GMs stay together, as Paige’s Tweet concerned 205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick. He Tweeted out the following:

https://twitter.com/WWEMaverick/status/1006753215730339840

There has been no update on Drake Maverick’s Mac or mind as of this writing.

Rusev Complains About Sheraton in Memphis Too

Paige is not the only member of the Smackdown roster to complain about the hotel situation in Memphis. Rusev was also staying at a Memphis area Sheraton and also complained of items stolen and bad service.

Thank you @sheratonhotels Memphis for “cleaning” the room and stealing my wife camera and my money from my wallet

— Miro (@ToBeMiro) June 11, 2018

Rusev was in Memphis on Monday after the Smackdown crew had a house show in Mississipi on Sunday. It’s likely that some from the Smackdown roster would have gone straight to Memphis following the Mississipi house show.

Sheraton Hotels has not made any comment publicly regarding the complaints from either Paige or Rusev.

Rusev defeated Samoa Joe in single’s action on Smackdown last night. The Miz was the special referee and caused Joe to become distracted with him thus allowing Rusev to hit the Matchka kick for the win. Rusev, Joe, and the Miz will all take part in the men’s Money in the Bank match on Sunday from Chicago.

As for Paige, she hosted a women’s Money in the Bank summit to start last night’s show. The segment broke down, however, and resulted in the 10-person tag-team main event match to close the show. She’s been working as the Smackdown General Manager since the Smackdown after WrestleMania 34.

205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick, opened up last night’s episode of 205 Live by announcing Hideo Itami was suspended. Itami attacked Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy last week during their main event match and would miss last night’s show as a result.

Maverick would later book Itami, Ali, and Murphy to face each other in a triple threat match next week. The winner could move into a spot to challenge for Cedric Alexander’s Cruiserweight Championship soon.

It’s what they want…

NEXT WEEK, @HideoItami vs. @MustafaAliWWE vs. @WWE_Murphy in a #TripleThreat match on #205Live! @WWENetwork @WWEMaverick pic.twitter.com/i0AUNZxzEd

— WWE (@WWE) June 13, 2018

Hideo Itami vs Mustafa Ali vs Buddy Murphy

First of all, Nice jacket every week.

Second of all, Great idea.

I’m going to make #205Live more interesting. https://t.co/6Vh6epfPRV

— KENTA aka Lil’K (@KENTAG2S) June 13, 2018

Throughout last night’s episode of 205 Live, both Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali asked Maverick for a match with Itami. Maverick decided then to give them both what they want. Now, all three will meet in a triple threat match next week.

Also this week on 205 Live, the Lucha House Party picked up a win over Jack Gallagher, Brian Kendrick, and Drew Gulak. Mustafa Ali also picked up a win over Tony Nese and Akira Tozawa picked up a win over a local competitor. Tozawa and Itami’s tag-team appears broken up permanently. We still don’t know when the brand plans to introduce tag-team titles but they continue to book tag matches on the show. There are also no plans for a cruiserweight match on the Money in the Bank PPV this weekend.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bjq7p0yhukC/?hl=en&taken-by=wwemaverick

Major League Wrestling has announced the first 4 participants for the July 19th, 2018 Battle Riot match. Not surprisingly, the sadistic Kevin Sullivan is among the first group of confirmed entrants.

MLW promises the winner of the match will earn a shot at the MLW World Championship currently held by Shane Strickland. Eliminations occur via pinfalls, submissions, or from being thrown over the top rope.

“A mash-up of a battle royal, royal rumble and anything goes street fight, this super-sized main event will feature 40 wrestlers with new participants entering the ring every 60 seconds.”

The match will be filmed for MLW’s weekly television series, “MLW Fusion” on BeIn Sports. The event will be held in Queens, NY at the Melrose Ballroom on July 19th, 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qFDyPfyHM8

First Battle Riot Participants Announced

4 wrestlers have been confirmed for Battle Riot so far:

John Hennigan – the man known as Johnny Impact/Mundo/Hennigan/Nitro has been with the company since late last year. It’s a big summer for Johnny, who will also be a participant in the upcoming season of Survivor.

As Johnny Impact, he is also booked for Slammiversary on July 22nd, just 3 days after Battle Riot takes place. Hennigan will also be featured in the 4th season of Lucha Underground which premieres tomorrow on the El Rey Network.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. – One-half of the Killer Elite Squad, Smith debuted in the original Major League Wrestling 14 years ago. The original MLW formed out of the ashes of ECW but was only short-lived. Promotion owner, Court Bauer, would later be hired to work as a writer for WWE.

“Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan – the man who once put together the alliance to end Hulkamania will be in an MLW ring on July 19th. With names like Sullivan, Col. Robert Parker, and Tony Schiavone, MLW likes to pay homage to the past. While Sullivan’s best days might be behind him, he was always ahead of his time, meaning he’s still got something to offer modern-day wrestling.

ACH – ACH has been a featured performer for MLW since its re-launch. The Dragonball Z fan will have his work cut out for him if he is to outlast 39 other participants, however.

MLW also stressed the following in regards to Battle Riot:

There will be surprises! There will be legends! There will be WTF entries! And there will be no disqualifications!

New Japan Pro Wrestling presents Kizuna Road this weekend. The promotion will be Saitama on Friday night and then will present two shows from Korakuen Hall on Sunday and Monday night, each with a title match main eventing the show.

NJPW will continue the tour next week, including a special retirement ceremony for Super Strong Machine on Tuesday.

The company will also be in Tokyo tomorrow night for Lion’s Gate Project 13 featuring many of their top prospects.

NEVER and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship matches – highlight the Kizuna Road tour! #njpw #njkizunahttps://t.co/hDe0O5kelC pic.twitter.com/U23DPuhjYJ

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) June 11, 2018

NJPW Kizuna Road Nights 1-3 Lineups

Kizuna Road Night #1
Friday, June 15th, 2018
Saitama, Japan

1. Yota Tsuji vs Yuya Uemura
2. Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka vs Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi
3. Ren Narita, KUSHIDA, and David Finlay vs Roppongi 3K and Rocky Romero
4. Toa Henare and Togi Makabe vs Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano
5. Elimination Tag Match
   Hiromu Takahashi, Bushi, Sanada, Evil, and Tetsuya Naito vs Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, and Takashi Iizuka
6. Elimination Tag Match
   Ryusuke Taguchi, Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White, Hirooki Goto, and Kazuchika Okada

Kizuna Road Night #2
Sunday, June 17th, 2018
Tokyo, Japan

1. Yota Tsuji vs Yuya Uemura
2. Manabu Nakanishi and Yugi Nagata vs Shota Umino and Tomoyuki Oka
3. Ren Narita and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi
4. Ryusuke Taguchi, Kushida, Toa Henare, Jeff Cobb, and Togi Makabe vs Sho, Yoh, Rocky Romero, Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano
5. Hiromu Takahashi, Bushi, Sanada, Evil, and Tetsuya Naito vs Taka Michinoku, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, and Takashi Iizuka
6. David Finlay, Juice Robinson, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White, and Kazuchika Okada
7. NEVER Openweight Championship
   Michael Elgin (c) vs Hirooki Goto

Kizuna Road Night #3
Monday, June 18th, 2018
Tokyo, Japan

1. Yota Tsuji vs Yuya Uemura
2. Ren Narita and Shota Umino vs Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi
3. Tomoyuki Oka and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
4. Ryusuke Taguchi, Toa Henare, David Finlay, and Togi Makabe vs Sho, Yoh, Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano
5. Bushi, Evil, Sanada, and Tetsuya Naito vs Taka Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, and Takashi Iizuka
6. Kushida, Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii, Jay White, Hirooki Goto, and Kazuchika Okada
7. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion
   Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs El Desperado

The new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kenny Omega, recently spoke to Tokyo Sports. During the interview, Omega mentioned why, despite the many offers to go elsewhere, he chooses to stay in NJPW.

Kenny Omega in New Japan Pro Wrestling

We’ve run Omega’s interview through Google Translate, which doesn’t always lead to the most exact translations. Most of Omega’s sentiment still comes through, however.

“It was a really bout, I still have a pain in the whole body, but that’s why I felt again that I should stay in New Japan,” Omega told Tokyo Sports. “I want to evolve the business of professional wrestling.” 

“I was touched by Mr. Takagi who was still watching my game,” Omega continued. “I am thankful to those who cheer for me from the DDT era, and my style is to tell people that I have never seen a wrestling yet I want to increase new fans in the future.”

The Tokyo Sports article then concluded with the following statement:

“It is because Kenny’s constant efforts are widely known to be able to honor his accomplishment beyond nationality and genre. A foreign champion to be loved will be a new leader in the Japanese wrestling world.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3841EKmcF_8

Omega on Pro-Wrestling Revolution

Omega has consistently said he wants to evolve professional wrestling. He expressed the same desire during a pre-Dominion interview he gave to New Japan World.

“You (Okada) may be the best wrestler on the planet. I’ll admit it, you are,” Omega said “It’s not even an opinion thing anymore, this is something that you’ve proven. But you can’t say you are the best performer. That goes to me. If we’re going to move this thing forward, if we’re going to cause this revolution of professional wrestling and make it worldwide and something cool, we can’t just have the best natural wrestler steering the ship. We need someone who captures the imagination, who captures the heart. We need a professional wrestler and a showman. Which is why I’m doing everything in my power, to overtake your natural wrestling ability.”

“Switchblade” Jay White does not appear to be a team player. This is likely the sentiment being expressed by his stablemates in CHAOS following a controversial social media post from the IWGP United States Champion.

CHAOS had a chance to leave Dominion with the IWGP Heavyweight, Junior Heavyweight, NEVER Openweight, Jr Heavyweight tag-team, and IWGP United States Championship gold over the weekend. In the end, however, White is the only member of the stable still carrying a title belt.

White referenced the recent losing skid from the stables’ champions in a Twitter post below:

“Mr Switchblade, we don’t feel so good” pic.twitter.com/HMf4BNJMoR

— Switchblade Jay White (@JayWhiteNZ) June 11, 2018

CHAOS member, Beretta, responded:

The fucks your problem man

— TRENT? (@trentylocks) June 11, 2018

“Switchblade” Jay White, IWGP United States Champion

In the above photo, only White still holds their title. Roppongi 3K lost their titles at the New Beginning in Sapporo but had a chance to win them back at Dominion. They were defeated in Osaka by the Suzuki-Gun team of El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, however.

Hirooki Goto lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Michael Elgin on Saturday in a triple threat match also involving Taichi. Will Ospreay lost his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on Saturday as well. He dropped his belt to the winner of the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, Hiromu Takahashi.

Finally, Kenny Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada of the IWGP Heavyweight title in Osaka.

Jay White and CHAOS

White joined CHAOS earlier this year after turning down an offer to join Bullet Club from Kenny Omega. White would then defeat Omega at the New Beginning in Sapporo to win the IWGP United States Championship. Despite joining his faction, however, White has said he wouldn’t mind facing Okada someday. He’s also chosen to come out separately from his teammates during ring entrances, something Kevin Kelly has noted on commentary.

It seems Jay White may have joined CHAOS for his own reasons. He doesn’t appear committed to the stable as much as he is to his own career. We could see White leave the faction in the not too distant future.

Original Bullet Club member, Tama Tonga, does not appear pleased with the events which took place at Dominion. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega won heavyweight gold in Osaka, Japan on Saturday. Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the Bucks defeated Evil and Sanada to win heavyweight tag gold for the first time in their NJPW careers.

Although the Bucks and Omega are technically his Bullet Club stablemates, Tonga does not appear happy for their success. He has posted several ominous messages on his Twitter recently.

I got your one sweet pic.twitter.com/KU24KuMkIJ

— Tama Tonga (@Tama_Tonga) June 10, 2018

Tama Tonga and the Elite Issues

This isn’t the first time Tama Tonga has appeared less than happy with members of the Elite. Tonga and Omega previously beefed over Omega’s commitment to the BC sub-faction during the G1 last summer. Although the two appeared to squash their differences, Tonga (and at times other members of the Bullet Club OGs as well) may still harbor some resentment.

A further Tweet has led many to believe Tama Tonga is planning something.

pic.twitter.com/QmNCHgzfSd

— Tama Tonga (@Tama_Tonga) June 10, 2018

Bullet Club OGs

Although it looked as though the Bullet Club OG sub-faction (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, HIKULEO, Chase Owens, etc.) would play a role in the Bullet Club civil war angle, it never played out that way. The Young Bucks and Tama Tonga squashed their beef on an episode of Being the Elite before Supercard of Honor.

Despite this, there are plenty of Bullet Club fans who would rather the NJPW faction be further separated from the American contingent.

Forever The Elite ?

— Tama Tonga (@Tama_Tonga) June 10, 2018

The Bullet Club OGs were not on the most recent NJPW tour. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Bad Luck Fale have not wrestled for the promotion since Wrestling Dontaku 2018. On that show, they teamed with the Golden Lovers to defeat Cody, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page, and the Young Bucks.

Lio Rush is no stranger to Twitter. The recent 205 Live signee earned some heat from fans and co-workers last year after Tweeting that Emma was not “ready for Asuka” following her WWE release.

Now it seems Lio Rush is involved in another Twitter-related incident. This time, however, Lio is dealing with someone still on the roster.

The Twitter beef started after Rush posted the below Tweet:

https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1006277984691552257

Ricochet then declared shenanigans on the photo, claiming the car was not his.

https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/1006280775359172608

Moose, from Impact Wrestling, decided to make it an inter-promotional war by pointing out Rush was standing in front of a 2006 Jaguar. Moose will face Eli Drake this week on Impact Wrestling. The winner will face Austin Aries for the title at Slammiversary.

https://twitter.com/TheMooseNation/status/1006288747980296197

Lio Rush and Ricochet Twitter Beef

Things then started to get personal as Rush took a shot at Ricochet’s in-ring style.

https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1006283110240178180

Ricochet then claimed Rush hasn’t been watching NXT. The show has recently featured Ricochet and the Velveteen Dream building to their match at NXT Takeover: Chicago II. While there has been mic work from both, Ricochet has also demonstrated some flips during the feud.

https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/1006284795767328771

Rush then began to claim Ricochet’s in-ring style will shorten his career. He then said he’ll be going into the Hall of Fame and Ricochet can induct him when the time comes.

https://twitter.com/itsLioRush/status/1006286298095775744

Ricochet then disputed Rush’s claims he will be going into the Hall of Fame someday.

https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/1006290838618550274

Rush then answered back with, “Oh I guess you want me in that parking lot selling them snazzy snaz #Ricochet T-shirts with you right?” Rush Tweeted. “I’m good.”

Ricochet then quipped back, “You can go to @WWEShop and get my shirt, where can you get yours? Oh wait, you don’t have one.”

There has been speculation that Ricochet could be heading to 205 Live after an abbreviated stay in NXT. If that is the case, we could see Lio Rush vs Ricochet sooner rather than later.

Chris Jericho recently reiterated that he will never work for another wrestling company in the United States other than WWE. It’s a statement Jericho has been making ever since taking a sabbatical from wrestling in 2006.

The new IWGP Intercontinental Champion was a guest on a recent episode of “Inside the Ropes.” He went into further detail regarding his current situation with both NJPW and WWE.

“I got asked to do Long Beach, I said no, I got asked to do Cow Palace, I said no, I got asked to do All In, I said no,” Jericho explained. “I don’t want to do that.”

Chris Jericho Comments on Working Outside WWE

“(This) is the most I’ve made for the least amount of matches I’ve had in my career,” Jericho said regarding his current situation with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He then stressed he would not be entertaining offers from promotions other than WWE to wrestle in the United States unless they were willing to offer a significant payday.

“I’m not going to work anywhere else unless you wanna pay six f***ing  figures,” he said. “This is Mayweather-McGregor type s**t for me.”

During the interview, Jericho talked about the commitment he made to Vince McMahon and WWE.

“The unwritten rule is I don’t want to go into the States,” Jericho said. “I feel like that would be a real slap in the face to Vince.”

While Jericho seems committed to living up to his promise, one has to wonder how long he can avoid being booked on NJPW’s United States shows. As the company looks to expand internationally, Jericho is a star the company likely wants to promote outside of Japan.

As for Jericho’s relationship with WWE, the last time he appeared on WWE programming was at the Greatest Royal Rumble from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The 4th season of Lucha Underground premieres on Wednesday. The unique promotion will only air 22 episodes this season and are working with a lower budget. Despite the changes, Executive Producer Chris DeJoseph feels the promotion is in a good space and the future looks good, however.

He spoke to ProWrestling.com recently about his goals for season 4.

“Hopefully, there will be more eyeballs on it,” DeJoseph said. “If we had my way, we’d be on every week of the year. We’ll see what happens. I think the future is good for Lucha Underground. We are going on past 100 episodes. I don’t think anything is going to stop us.”

Lucha Underground and Impact Wrestling

Lucha Underground and Impact Wrestling have recently formed a partnership of sorts. DeJoseph also spoke about how this agreement has worked out for both sides.

“I think (Impact Wrestling) are a great partner,” DeJoseph said. “I also think it’s great for not only the talent, who get to be seen in other places. But sometimes Impact’s audience may not be Lucha’s audience. So, for the two brands promote each other I think it’s a great thing. I think the kickoff to that was WrestleMania weekend with our joint production, I think it’s off to a great start. I think it’s good for everybody. It’s good for the talent. It’s good for the brand. It gives people more opportunities to do things. I think Lucha Underground exists in its own universe as does Impact. But being able to help each other and help the talent and get our characters and people out there. You’ll even see some Impact stars on Lucha Underground this season so that’s a good thing.”

Lucha Underground Season 4

DeJospeh also recently spoke to the Bleacher Report regarding Season 4. He seems to be insinuating there is some secret which will be revealed to viewers.

“I think it’s probably like above 100 percent, like 125 percent excitement rating,” DeJoseph said. “I think it’s been a while, and everybody is super excited to be back on the air and on El Rey Network and to be back and let the fans finally see what we have held secret for a few months now. It’ll be well worth the wait.”

Season 4 of Lucha Underground will take place in a different venue. Dario Cueto’s old temple has been retired in favor of a new location with an entirely different look, feel, and history.

“One thing for sure is that we are in a whole new warehouse. It’s a whole, new temple and basically, it’s based off of the end of Season 3,” he said. “The Temple had to relocate to this old icehouse. It’s a pretty cool thing, but just like the old temple, this new temple is just as big of a character in the show as the original.”

According to the 16x World Champion, Ric Flair, WWE’s hottest mainstream celebrity is only signed on through next year’s WrestleMania. Flair’s understanding of the situation is that Rousey is only on a short-term commitment deal as she plans on starting a family.

Flair made the comments during an interview with Chris Van Vliet.

Ric Flair: Ronda Rousey Only Signed To 1-Year Contract

During the interview, the topic turned to Charlotte Flair possibly facing Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35 next year. It’s possible Charlotte and Ronda will be the first women to headline a WrestleMania.

Flair seemed to suggest Charlotte vs Ronda will need to happen next year as Ronda is only signed to a 1-year deal with the company.

“If they are ever going to put the women where they belong, this is the year because Ronda – I think Ronda only signed a 1-year deal and then she’s out of there,” Flair said. “She wants to have kids and all that.”

Flair and Hogan have been making promotional appearances together for several months. Since his health scare last year, Flair has been one of Hogan’s biggest proponents, stating the Hulkster has been there for him during some very tough periods in his life. Flair has been advocating for a return to WWE for Hogan as well.

The interviewer then turned his attention to Hogan. He asked the Hulkster how things were going in terms of an eventual return to WWE.

“Things are moving in that direction quite quickly,” Hogan said. “It’s all about execution and timing.”

Enzo Amore is returning to professional wrestling. The promotion responsible for this is House of Glory, run by wrestler Amazing Red. The promotion has been running shows out of New York for the last 6 years. Their most recent event featured members of the Latin American Xchange and Juventud Guerrera.

The event will take place August 17th, 2018 from Jamaica, New York. There will be a pre-show Meet and Greet scheduled at NYC Arena as well. Amore now appears to be going under the name “Real1”, which has been his social media handle for some time now.

It is not yet clear if Enzo will be wrestling on the show or just making an appearance.

https://twitter.com/HOGwrestling/status/1005613086961627136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

What’s Going On With Enzo Amore?

Shortly after being cleared from a criminal investigation, Enzo released a rap video through World Star Hip-Hop. His first single took shots at his accuser, even referencing that her wages would be garnished due to the impact her accusations had on his career.

Enzo then released his second music video recently. The track “Bury Me A G” was released on June 7th, 2018 and has almost a half a million views on YouTube already. His first track “Phoenix” is up over 2 million views.

Enzo recently shared some advice given to him by the late Dusty Rhodes:

“Dusty Rhodes gave me the best advice I ever got in life,” Real1 Tweeted.“You could be good, you could be bad, or you could be different. Be different.”

Amore’s last professional wrestling match was on January 21st, 2018. The match took place on a 205 Live house show. Amore successfully defended his Cruiserweight Championship against Cedric Alexander in a match which also featured Nia Jax as the special referee.

Corey Graves is evidently not CM Punk’s biggest fan. The color commentator for both Raw and Smackdown seemed to revel in Punk’s loss at UFC 225 on Saturday night.

“Maybe abandoning everybody who stood by your side, even when we weren’t supposed to, only to have you turn your back on us wasn’t the right move after all?” Graves Tweeted not long after the fight ended. “No anger. Only sadness.”

Graves seems to be echoing sentiment once expressed by Chris Jericho; that Punk didn’t keep in contact with people who considered him a friend in WWE.

“The first rule of ‘punk rock’ is loyalty, and this guy betrayed it all,” Graves continued. “I still love you, “friend” and I’m sorry you got lost.”

Don’t worry, hey @VinceMcMahon this has nothing to do with you.

You either @TripleH

This isn’t corporate. This is real life.

Calm down internerds.

— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) June 10, 2018

Corey Graves Clarifies Tweets Regarding CM Punk

“Awww. Seems the “fans” are disappointed. Maybe you guys should know that “That Dude” held my first son before I did because I was on tour and I trusted him,” Graves continued. “I had dinner with him the week after he quit.”

About 4.5 hours into the Twitter tirade, Graves then came out with the following:

Hey @CMPunk, call me tomorrow. I still love you.

— Corey Graves (@WWEGraves) June 10, 2018

Graves then spoke with Fightful.com about his Tweets.

“What really set me off was this week when he essentially disowned the business that made him,”Graves said. “My only issue with him was that he turned off people that actually loved and supported him. Beyond “the business” and he never wanted anything to do with us…yet continued to present himself as this ‘Punk’ hero.”

Graves continued to say that nothing he said had anything to do with WWE or the recent lawsuit.

“Dude, this has ZERO to do with court, or testimony or any of the above. Nothing that I tweeted was corporate,” said Graves. “I’m simply hurt/pissed off that a guy that I looked like as a big brother-type has turned his back on me and everyone that loved and supported him only because of the name on my paycheck. I’m definitely not the only one. I won’t name names, but there is a large group of us to this day that inexplicably lost a solid friend because of where we work.”

An inter-promotional trios match-up has been announced recently. While all 6 of the participants are wrestlers, however, this match will be conducted on a gaming console.

Over the weekend, Xavier Woods and new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kenny Omega, got into a war of words. Woods eventually announced he was bringing in Kofi Kingston and Big E to E32018 as his partners. Just last night, the Young Bucks revealed that they will be Omega’s partners at the event.

E32018 is large gaming expo taking place in Los Angeles this week.

New Day vs the Elite will be contested via Street Fighter V. The event will be live streamed at Twitch.tv/CapcomFighters on June 14th, 2018 at 1PM local time.

New Day vs the Elite

Woods let Omega know he was bringing the New Day with him to E3 this week:

As I said, ive already got my team for #E3. Who you bringing Kenneth? @kennyomegamanx @streetfighter @upupdwndwn pic.twitter.com/6a5ivHZsSZ

— Austin Creed (@AustinCreedWins) June 10, 2018

“I appreciate the sentiments on my historic win,” Omega responded to Woods on Twitter. “But for you to assume that I wouldn’t find any friends for #E3 is about as silly as your mid-card comedy act partners. Get ready for your first main event, boys.”

WWE.com reported on the matchup. They even referred to New Day’s challengers as IWGP Champions. Omega’s “Best Bout Machine” nickname is referenced in the article as well.

The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega won heavyweight gold in NJPW over the weekend. Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada to finally win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion 2018. The Young Bucks won the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships from Evil and Sanada as well. It’s the first time the Bucks have won heavyweight gold in NJPW.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has just announced that Kenny Omega’s first title defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship will be against Cody. The match will take place July 7th, 2018 from the Cow Palace just outside of San Fransisco.

Omega won the title on Saturday’s Dominion show from Osaka, Japan. He defeated Kazuchika Okada in a Best 2-of-3 Falls match to end his record-breaking title reign.

Cody, who defeated Omega at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor over WrestleMania weekend, appeared on the entrance ramp after Omega’s victory. Despite being invited into the ring by Omega, Cody opted to turn to the back instead of joining the Golden Elite in the ring.

??????7?7????????????????????????
???vsCody?IWGP?????
???vs?????US??https://t.co/X7Jv2lvf3W #g1USA #njpw pic.twitter.com/cXdV5Oz9aL

— ?????????????? (@njpw1972) June 11, 2018

Cody vs Kenny Omega II, NJPW G1 Special in San Francisco

NJPW also confirmed 3 other matches to take place on the show. The newly crowned IWGP Heavyweight Tag-Team Champions, the Young Bucks, will give a rematch to the former champions, Evil and Sanada. “Switchblade” Jay White will also defend the IWGP United States Championship against Juice Robinson.

The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, will team with Will Ospreay on July 7th. They will take on the LosIngobernables team of Bushi and Tetsuya Naito. So far, the company has not announced that Chris Jericho will be booked for the show.

Additionally, the promotion announced some of the matches for the upcoming Kizuna Road tour from the 16th-18th. The G1 blocks and participants will be announced during this tour as well.

2 title matches will take place on the Kizuna Road tour. Michael Elgin will defend the NEVER Openweight title against Hirooki Goto on June 17th. Hiromu Takahashi will defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title against El Desperado on June 18th, 2018.

For the first time in their careers, Matt and Nick Jackson have won heavyweight tag-team gold in New Japan Pro Wrestling. The brothers defeated Evil and Sanada at NJPW Dominion in Osaka this morning.

The Bucks, along with Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Michael Elgin, and Hiromu Takahashi all became new champions this morning.

Omega, the Bucks, and Kota Ibushi are now referring to themselves as “the Golden Elite”.

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/1005429405299007489

The new faction might not sit well with Cody. At Dominion last night, Cody teamed with Marty Scurll and Hangman Page to defeat Jushin Liger, Rey Mysterio Jr, and Hiroshi Tanahashi. So far, Cody has not commented on the Golden Elite.

The Young Bucks Championship Resume

The Young Bucks’ championship resume reads like no one else’s. The brothers first debuted for a major independent promotion in 2007 when they started with Pro Wrestling Guerilla. 6 years later the Bucks began wrestling with Bullet Club in NJPW and have been winning titles ever since.

Here is the Young Bucks’ championship history:

• 7X IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions (most all-time)
• 9 combined defenses of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships (3rd all-time)
• 706 combined days as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions (2nd all-time)
• 3x NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions (2x with Kenny Omega and once with Marty Scurll)
• Super Junior Tag Team Tournament Winners (2013)
• 3x ROH World Tag Team Champions
• 1x ROH 6-Man Tag Team Champions (with Hangman Page)
• 4x PWG World Tag Team Champions
• 3x Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Championship Tournament Winners (PWG)

In addition to being a decorated team in storyline, the Young Bucks have received numerous accolades from the wrestling media. Matt and Nick Jackson were named the tag-team of the year in 2017 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has awarded them two 5* matches. The first was a 6-man tag from 2016 when they teamed with Adam Cole and faced Matt Sydal, Ricochet, and Will Ospreay. The 2nd 5* match in their history was against the Golden Lovers at Strong Style Evolved. They have also been awarded the tag-team of the year every year since 2014 by the newsletter.

Chris Jericho has won gold in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He defeated Tetsuya Naito in Osaka, Japan to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship early this morning. Jericho is just the 12th person to ever win the title and begins the 19th reign in the championship’s lineage.

The all-time record-holder with this title is Shinsuke Nakamura. He has held the title 5x and defended it 17x. Nakamura holds the record for the most combined days spent with the title as well with 901.

Naito’s reign finishes at just 41 days and 0 title defenses. He won the title from Minoru Suzuki at the New Beginning in Sapporo on April 29th, 2018. It was Naito’s 2nd reign with the title. He had previously held the belt for 259 days and defended it 4x from 2016 to 2017.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjzSelnlBNt/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=6ndt4hc5qk

Complete NJPW Dominion Results

1. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
   El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (c) defeated Roppongi 3K
2. Juice Robinson and David Finlay defeated Jay White and YOSHI-HASHI
3. Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
4. NEVER Openweight Championship
   3-Way
   Michael Elgin defeated Taichi and Hirooki Goto (c)
5. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
   The Young Bucks defeated EVIL and SANADA (c)
6. Cody, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll defeated Jushin Liger, Rey Mysterio Jr., and Hiroshi Tanahashi
7. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
   Hiromu Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay (c)
8. IWGP Intercontinental Championship
   Chris Jericho defeated Tetsuya Naito (c)
9. IWGP Heavyweight Championship
   Best 2-of-3 Falls
   Kenny Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada (c) (2-1)