Fans attending Bullet Club’s “All In” event will be able to attend a Meet and Greet with CM Punk the night before. The Pro Wrestling Tees retail store in Chicago has just announced Punk will be at their location on August 31st, 2018, the night before All In.
Our special guest appearing Aug 31st, 2018 at the Pro Wrestling Tees retail store in Chicago, IL will be CM Punk. Limited meet & greet tickets go on sale May 23rd at 12pm ct. Visit our retail store events page on ProWrestlingTees or our Facebook event for details. @CMPunkpic.twitter.com/RqTu8G0RPO
Cody Rhodes re-tweeted Pro Wrestling Tees’ announcement of Punk’s Meet and Greet. This could fuel speculation of Punk’s further involvement with the event. That news of Punk’s meet and greet in Chicago is coming just before tickets go on sale this Sunday might be a coincidence.
Punk has an upcoming MMA fight to worry about first, however. He takes on Mike Jackson at UFC 225 on June 9th, 2018. UFC 225 will also be held in Punk’s hometown of Chicago.
Punk previously teased the idea he would be appearing at the September 1st, 2018 event earlier this year. Punk posted a Tweet saying fans had been asking him if he’s “All-In”. He followed it up with a post about being “In” for the Chicago Cubs upcoming season, however.
Recently, a lot of people have been asking me if I'm "in"… 1/2
Punk’s friend, Matt Jackson, said this of Punk in an interview he gave earlier this year:
“I will say this: I text message Punk on a weekly basis. We’re good friends,” Matt Jackson said. “We talk wrestling. He still loves wrestling, of course, he does. We’re pro wrestlers. That’s what we do. Even when you quit or retire or whatever, it’s still in your blood.”
Punk has said he’ll never return to WWE but he’s never fully closed the door on a return to wrestling either. On the now-famous episode of Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast, he did mention the idea of wrestling with the likes of the Young Bucks for promotions such as Pro Wrestling Guerilla. Ever since signing with the UFC, however, Punk’s focus has been solely on MMA it seems.
In addition to the All-In event scheduled for September 1 in Chicago’s Sears Center, Arena, Bullet Club has been putting together a solid roster of entertainers and podcast hosts to appear at their Starccast convention the weekend of the event.
In addition to notable wrestling podcast hosts such as Konnan and Bruce Prichard, Starrcast has recently announced Macauley Culkin, Diamond Dallas Page, and several other names will be appearing at the event.
Tickets for All-In go on sale this Sunday while tickets for Starrcast go on sale May 15th.
Impact Wrestling last night featured an episode-long plot regarding management deciding the future of Sami Callihan. Josh Matthews was solo on commentary as Don Callis was involved in the meeting.
Impact Wrestling (5/10/18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf0jehxB-J8&t=5s
Update on Sami Callihan and Impact Wrestling
The show opened with footage of Sami Callihan’s attack on Don Callis from a recent Destiny Wrestling event in Toronto.
Callihan attacked Callis out of revenge for Callis stopping his match with Eddie Edwards at WrestleCon. Callis was left bloodied by Callihan and required help to the back.
Josh Matthews let the viewing audience know that Impact Wrestling management was meeting to discuss Callihan’s future and there would be an announcement by the end of the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9t43WV8db0&t=3s
1. DJZ & Andrew Everett defeated LAX
After losing their tag titles and the subsequent rematch, LAX fell further down the tag ranks with the loss here.
LAX looked in control and was going to give the 5150 to DJZ but the X-Division star rolled up Ortiz and got the pin while Everett tossed Santana out of the ring.
It was later revealed that DJZ and Andrew Everett will challenge Eli Drake and Scott Steiner for the tag titles next week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04dKqTwYJyk&t=13s
2. Grado (w/ Katarina) defeated Rohit Raju
In a backstage segment before the match, Grado introduced Joseph Park to his new girlfriend Katarina.
Katarina is actually Katarina Waters who has also wrestled under the names Katie Lea Burchill and Winter. She is a former 2x Knockouts Champion.
Grado pinned Raju after a cannonball in the corner.
After the match, Grado discovered Joseph Park knocked out with an “X” over his body. 2 other people have been attacked in similar fashion in recent weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvESX7gSCTo&t=90s
3. El Hijo Del Fantasma defeated Aerostar, Drago, and Taiji Ishimori (Fatal 4-Way)
Aerostar looks like he might have been injured during this match as he landed awkwardly on the outside after a plancha. He finished the match, however, and reports are he was banged up and sore but not injured after.
Fantasma hit a modified cradle-piledriver (Thrill of the Kill) on Aerostar for the win.
Josh Matthews stated Fantasma has now earned the next X-Division title shot against Matt Sydal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O-4WDWaiUI
Impact Management Decision on Sami Callihan
Eddie Edwards interrupted Impact management’s meeting regarding Samm Callihan to insist the promotion doesn’t fire the controversial wrestler. Edwards, who received a broken orbital bone from Callihan at the company’s January television tapings, insisted he gets a chance to enact revenge on Callihan instead.
Impact management ruled they would not fire Callihan but would not allow Edwards to get his revenge on him inside an Impact ring. Rather, House of Hardcore will host a street fight between Edwards and Callihan which will air next week on Impact Wrestling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm_xme1OFfU
4. Moose defeated Kongo Kong w/Jimmy Jacobs via DQ (House of Hardcore)
This match was filmed at a House of Hardcore event.
Moose was about to get the win but Jacobs entered the ring and hit him with a chair for the DQ.
Freaked Out Allie Develops Facial Tick
Allie watched her demon friend, Rosemary, locked in a coffin last week by Su Yung and her army of undead bridesmaids.
This week a clip aired of Allie in her home. She received a knock at the door but when she answered it there was a charred-up stuffed bunny holding a note. Allie read the note and developed a freaky little facial tick.
The note may have been an invite to Rosemary’s funeral, which Su Yung will be hosting on Impact next week.
WWE has recently confirmed that the next challenger for Cedric Alexander’s championship will be Buddy Murphy. The match will take place on the May 29th, 2018 edition of 205 Live.
The event is scheduled to take place from the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Buddy Murphy vs Cedric Alexander
This is the match 205 Live has been building towards for weeks. Murphy had previously earned a title match but had it rescinded by General Manager, Drake Maverick after he failed to make weight.
Murphy had won a fatal 4-way match against Akira Tozawa, Kalisto, and TJP to earn the right to challenge Alexander before failing to make weight. Kalisto then won a gauntlet match to earn a Cruiserweight title match at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
After making weight, Murphy has won three straight on 205 live including a victory over Kalisto. His main event victory over Mustafa Ali this week avenged his only loss since arriving on 205 Live. Ali defeated Murphy in the semifinals of the recent cruiserweight tournament. Murphy explained the loss by stating he was still getting used to the weight cut at the time.
Tom Phillips recently appeared on the Sam Roberts wrestling podcast and talked in detail about his role on commentary. The 28-year-old openly joked about some of the criticisms he hears from fans.
“I get Tweets from people saying I don’t have much of a personality on air. I’m like “that’s great!” I’m not supposed to, I’m supposed to tell you when the show is, here’s why this guy hates this guy and try to tell you some moves along the way,” Phillips said.
He also relayed a story of his father telling him his commentary is like white noise during the show.
“I’m not out there to be myself, I’m there to give you the information.”
This week @TomPhillipsWWE is on the Wrestling Podcast! The voice of #SDLive has a pretty great story.
“Nobody is buying a ticket to see Tom Phillips” – Tom Phillips
Tom Phillips Interview with Sam Roberts.
One of the more interesting parts of the interview involved Phillips’ comments regarding JBL. Phillips stated that JBL receives an unfair reputation and said he learned quite a bit from him.
Phillips also relayed several stories involving his interviews with Chris Jericho. He said that Jericho and Owens would not let him in on the things they were going to say to him and Jericho confusing him with Mike Rome caught him off guard.
Phillips majored in broadcasting at Penn State and did play-by-play for Juniata College football. He was signed by WWE in 2012 and worked his way up from conducting interviews on the App to doing play-by-play on the main roster.
There is news today that Smackdown wrestler, Big Cass, went off script during the May 1st, 2018 edition of Smackdown. The segment involved a little person dressed up to impersonate Daniel Bryan.
According to a report from the Pro Wrestling Sheet, Big Cass went farther in his beating of Daniel Bryan’s impersonator than backstage officials wanted. Big Cass was told to give a boot to the face of the impersonator but Cass felt a longer beating would be better.
Cass is said to have approached Vince McMahon and asked to go farther during the segment but McMahon denied his request. Despite this, Cass continued his beating after delivering the boot during the segment. He mounted Bryan’s impersonator and continued to deliver punches.
The additional strikes thrown by Cass which were not approved by backstage officials were not included in the YouTube clip WWE published of the segment.
Cass was not on Smackdown this week but he did give an interview to WWE.com yesterday, taking credit for Rusev’s victory over Daniel Bryan. This seems to indicate Cass’ feud with Daniel Bryan will continue.
Big Cass on Smackdown
Since returning from injury recently, Cass has wrestled two matches on WWE programming and another 4 at live events. He competed in the Greatest Royal Rumble match in Saudi Arabia. Following that, he submitted to Daniel Bryan in under 8 minutes at Backlash.
Following Backlash, Cass defeated Tye Dillinger on a house show Monday night but was then not used on Smackdown this Tuesday. He’s not advertised for upcoming shows on the European tour though he could still be there. Cass has not posted on social media since Sunday night. He doesn’t post regularly on social media, however, so this easily could just be a coincidence.
Reports surfaced last July that Cass had backstage heat then as well. At the time, Cass was said to have rubbed some people the wrong way by expressing his pro-Trump views loudly.
As for Cass’ rival, Daniel Bryan, he just lost a Money in the Bank qualifying match to Rusev on Smackdown.
During today’s Impact Wrestling Media conference call featuring Matt Sydal, Sami Callihan called in and insisted on being heard. He demanded Impact Wrestling show footage of his recent attack on Don Callis during tonight’s episode.
Callihan attacked Callis recently at a Destiny Wrestling event in Toronto. The show was being promoted by Santino Marella and Callis was scheduled to receive an award.
Audio of Callihan interrupting the media call can be heard in the player below:
https://youtu.be/qcdVQYD-KVQ?t=19m12s
Sami Callihan on Impact Wrestling
Impact Wrestling officials announced they will show the footage of Callihan’s attack on Callis during tonight’s episode. They also said there would be an announcement regarding whether or not Callihan is fired tonight.
The company had previously placed a poll on their website asking fans if Callihan should be fired.
“Impact management knows the numbers I put up and Impact management knows exactly what they need to do, whats best for their business model.” – Sami Callihan
Callihan continued to complain about the lack of exposure his Ohio Vs Everything group gets from Impact management. He mentioned the faction aren’t even in the show’s opening video.
Matt Sydal, who was the scheduled talent for the call, expressed both positive and negative sentiment towards Callihan’s interruption.
“Props to Sami Callihan for thinking for himself and questioning authority. What a great attitude,” Sydal said. “I hope when he hung up the phone he didn’t accidentally hit himself in the eye and break his orbital bone,” he then added.
Callihan’s feud with Eddie Edwards has been a focal point of Impact Wrestling for several weeks. The rivalry was thrust further into the spotlight following the spot which broke Edwards’ orbital bone during the promotion’s January television tapings in Orlando.
In recent weeks, Edwards accidentally struck his own wife with a kendo stick. To further torment his rival, Callihan was shown visiting Edwards’ wife in the hospital last week.
Matt Sydal says he was reborn after his 3rd eye was opened and he achieved a higher state of consciousness. On a recent Impact Wrestling media conference call, we had the chance to ask Sydal how his personal philosophies impact his wrestling performances.
“The more I’ve integrated my personal philosophy into my wrestling performances the more success I’ve had, the more genuine a connection I feel with the crowd and the more liberated I feel in the ring,” Sydal said.
“Now I rely on the mind-body connection, it’s an ecological awareness that allows me to not just be a mind separate from a body but a mind and body integrated into one and integrated into the whole system that we all live in and are all a part of.”
“I see in slow motion, I move in fast-forward and there is nobody who can do the things I can do” – Matt Sydal
Matt Sydal’s Plans to Curate the X-Division
While he admits there are still plenty of challenges awaiting him on the current roster, Sydal expressed his desire to curate the X-Division by bringing in innovative wrestlers from all over the world.
“I know these guys in Lima, Peru that you might have never seen wrestle but they are out of this world,” Sydal said. He also mentioned a group of wrestlers who train out of a Shaolin temple in China.
“My ability to see trends forming and to be an early adopter is a skill,” he said on the call.
“As you watch this X-Division unfold, the men you will see popping, appearing, and hanging around in this X-Division are going to be the people that are wrestling. The people that all the fans are going to be talking about and enjoying will be X-Division wrestlers.”
While Sydal may have plans for the future of the division, he will be paying particular attention to a match on tonight’s episode of Impact. A fatal 4-way featuring Drago, Aerostar, Taiji Ishimori, and Fantasma could decide Sydal’s next title challenger.
Ring of Honor kicked off their 4-show War of the Worlds tour last night. The first stop for the promotion was in Lowell, MA. The show aired live for Honor Club subscribers.
ROH War of the Worlds Lowell
1. the Briscoes defeated Jushin Liger & Flip Gordon
Flip was just booked to participate in the Best of the Super Juniors later this month in Japan.
Jay Briscoe took Liger out of the match with a low blow. Moments later the Briscoes hit a double-team neck-breaker from the top on Flip for the win.
2. Tenille Dashwood and Sumie Sakai defeated Deonna Purrazzo & Skylar
Brandi Rhodes was originally scheduled for this match but was removed due to injury.
Dashwood pinned Skylar with a Shining Wizard.
Colt Cabana played up on commentary how it was Dashwood and not WOH Champion, Sumie Sakai, who got the pin for their team. The commentary team speculated Dashwood could be the next in line for a title shot.
After the match, Kelly Klein attacked Purrazzo and the two had to be broken up by security.
Dalton Castle Announcement/Brunch
Castle came out to announce he would not be facing Matt Taven for the ROH World Championship as he has been dealing with a back injury.
He read out his exact medical diagnosis: “My back is garbage”.
Castle made it clear that even though he couldn’t compete that night, he was not relinquishing the title.
To appease the fans, Castle said he would serve them all brunch. His music cued up and the Boys came out with buckets full of croissants and tossed them to the live crowd.
3. Coast 2 Coast defeated the Kingdom w/ Matt Taven
Matt Taven was on commentary and he complained about losing out on his ROH World title shot due to Castle’s injury.
C2C was coming into this one off of wins over War Machine and the Motor City Machine Guns.
While the match was going on, members of SoCal Uncensored came to ringside and stole back their 6-Man tag-team championships which the Kingdom had taken from them (SCU were the legit holders). This allowed Coast 2 Coast to pick up a roll-up victory off the distraction.
Taven complained that this was all part of the conspiracy against the Kingdom. He then challenged the members of SoCal Uncensored to face the Kingdom in 6-man action with the belts on the line later that night.
4. Cheeseburger defeated Bully Ray via Count-Out
Bully beat him up with multiple powerbombs while Colt Cabana complained the match should have never been booked.
Bully then hit Cheeseburger with a low-blow, walked out of the ring, and got himself counted out. He then returned to the ring, raised Cheeseburger’s hand, then gave him another powerbomb. After power-bombing Cheeseburger one more time on the outside, Bully finally left the ring area.
5. Marty Scurll, Adam Page, and Cody defeated Roppongi 3K
Page appears to be going by just Adam Page now so possibly the Hangman gimmick has been dropped.
More dissension between Marty and Cody was teased during this match. This has been building for a little while now.
Scurll accidentally super-kicked Burnard the Business Bear. This upset Cody and he and Marty Scurll got into a shoving match before it was broken up by Page.
They would put their disagreements aside, however, and Cody pinned Rocky Romero after a Cross Rhodes for the win.
After the match, Cody went to check on the bear. Marty seemed to throw streamers on the bear in a sarcastic manner and then walked out on Cody and Page.
Scurll continued to jar at Cody from the ramp while Cody was still in the ring.
6. Evil, Sanada, and Tetsuya Naito defeated Brian Milonas, the Beer City Bruiser, and Silas Young
The members of Los InGobernables de Japon picked up the win in this match after Evil pinned Milonas following an STO.
After the match, the two teams jarred at each other while LIJ celebrated in the ring.
7. Chuckie T defeated Jay White and Jay Lethal
This match was as a result of the card shuffle due to Castle’s injury/brunch.
Lethal gave the Lethal Injection to Jay White but immediately after Taylor rolled up Lethal and got the pin.
8. ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championships the Kingdom defeated SoCal Uncensored (c)
In a match made earlier in the evening, the Kingdom won back the 6-Man tag-team championships
Taven is from the area. He hit the frog splash on Daniels for the win.
9. the Young Bucks defeated Hiromu Takahashi and Bushi
In a high-paced exciting match, the Young Bucks picked up the win in the main event.
Near the end of the match, Bushi hit Matt Jackson in the face with the poison mist. The result was that he super-kicked everyone (including his brother) and put a sharpshooter on the referee. Nick finally splashed water in his eyes.
The Bucks picked up the win after a Meltzer Driver on Bushi.
Impact Wrestling is back tonight with a show from their April tapings in Orlando. Last week, Eli Drake announced he would be cashing in his Feast or Fired briefcase this week to challenge Pentagon Jr for the Impact World Championship.
Tonight, Drake will attempt to regain the Impact World Championship in the main event.
Impact Preview (5/10/18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ozYsHrj6Js
Impact World Championship Pentagon Jr. (c) vs Eli Drake
Pentagon shocked the wrestling world when he defeated Austin Aries at Redemption for the Impact World Championship. Even more surprising is that he dislocated Aries’ arm, essentially taking the former champion out of the title picture for the time being.
Eli Drake won a gauntlet match in August to win his first World Championship for a major promotion. He lost the title to Austin Aries at the company’s 1st set of TV tapings under their new management regime, however.
Drake is just one of several potential challengers for Pentagon. Moose has also indicated he wants a title shot. Austin Aries is also waiting in the wings for a rematch once his arm heals.
Moose vs Kongo Kong
Moose wants to be referred to as “Mr. Impact”. He cut a promo last week stating he would be the one to take the title from Pentagon.
As for Jimmy Jacobs’ monster, Kongo Kong, he’s coming off a victory in his rivalry with Abyss.
The winner of this match should move closer to a shot at the Impact World Championship.
Will Sami Callihan Be Fired?
Sami Callihan recently attacked Impact Wrestling Vice President, Don Callis, at an independent show in Toronto.
Impact put a poll on their website asking fans if they think Callihan should be fired.
We should get some update from the promotion tonight regarding this matter.
Tessa Blanchard Speaks
Last week on Impact, Tessa Blanchard interfered in a match between Taya Valkyrie and Kiera Hogan.
Blanchard has said she plans on skipping to the front of the line in the Knockouts division but upcoming stars like Hogan may have something to say about that.
The “Girl on Fire” might decide to get some revenge on Blanchard this week.
Who is the Mystery Attacker?
Someone is attacking people in the back. Don Callis and Josh Matthews are concerned.
Over the last few weeks, multiple people have been attacked in the back and had an ominous X placed on their unconscious body.
Impact is teasing we could find out more about this tonight.
Aerostar vs El Hijo Del Fantasma vs Drago vs Taiji Ishimori
4 stars of the X-Division are featured in this match tonight. The winner could easily find himself near the top of the heap and closer to a shot against champion Matt Sydal.
Taiji Ishimori was recently announced for the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors tournament with New Japan Pro Wrestling
Brian Cage in Japan
Brian Cage’s world tour continues tonight.
Cage was victorious in a Fatal 4-way match last week from World Series of Wrestling in Australia.
Tonight he will be in Japan, though Impact has yet to announce who he will be facing.
DJZ & Andrew Everett vs LAX
X-Division wrestlers, DJZ and Andrew Everett will enter into tag action this week against former champions, LAX.
LAX is going through a rough time as Konnan has been taken out and Homicide has gone radio silent. It’s tough to know what’s really going on within the faction at the moment.
In the weeks leading up to the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, WWE switched the Undertaker’s opponent twice. Rusev was originally revealed as the Undertaker’s opponent for the match but was removed not long after the announcement. Both Rusev and Lana posted on social media in regards to the match, which may have been the catalyst for the change. Chris Jericho was announced as his replacement.
Not long after that, Jericho was then removed from the casket match as well. Rusev was then reinstated as Undertaker’s opponent. According to the Wrestling Observer, Jericho was told a Saudi Prince asked for Rusev to be put back in the match.
Chris Jericho and Rusev at the Greatest Royal Rumble
Also according to the report, Chris Jericho notified Vince McMahon that he would be returning to Japan to shoot an angle with Tetsuya Naito. The report continued to say that just hours after this, Vince McMahon contacted Jericho to say he was being removed from the casket match. According to McMahon, Jericho’s removal from the match had only to do with a Saudi Prince who asked specifically for Rusev to be put back in. There was no mention of Jericho’s NJPW angle as a possible cause for the switch.
The Saudi Royal Family reportedly requested several WWE stars from bygone eras appear at the event. Some of the wrestlers requested have been deceased for several years. Names mentioned included Yokozuna and the Ultimate Warrior. There is speculation that Sumo wrestler, Hiroki Sumi, was added to the match for this reason. His background in sumo would perhaps be reminiscent of Yokozuna.
Chris Jericho also revealed recently that WWE contacted him about being Shane McMahon’s replacement at WrestleMania. Shane suffered diverticulitis and a hernia in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania 34. There were concerns he would not be able to perform on the show.
Johnny Impact (Morrison/Hennigan/Mundo/Nitro) has not appeared on Impact Wrestling in several weeks. In storyline, Johnny has been targetted by the “Emo Princess” Jimmy Jacobs and his monster, Kongo Kong.
It appears his absence from recent television tapings has been due to participating in the upcoming season of the hit reality television program, Survivor. Earlier this week, several blogs and websites dedicated to the show released word of Johnny’s participation in season 37.
Back in November, the website “Surviving Tribal” stated the showrunners were looking for “Super Hero” types to participate in season 37. It is believed the season was taped in full throughout March and April in Fiji. The last time John Hennigan wrestled a match was in February for 5-Star Wrestling in Liverpool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wp-ayjD2KE
John Morrison Outside of Wrestling
Morrison is the 3rd person associated with the wrestling industry to be involved in Survivor. Ashely Massaro competed on Survivor: China but was the 2nd contestant to be eliminated. Johnny Fairplay, who had a brief run in TNA Wrestling, also competed on two seasons of the show.
IMDB credits obtained by Hennigan include the Netflix series GLOW, Shameless, Sharknado 5, and his own film “Boone: the Bounty Hunter”.
In addition to competing for Impact, Morrison has been a key player in each season of Lucha Underground thus far. A former Lucha Underground Champion, Johnny Mundo is the leader of the World Wide Underground along with his real-life fiancee, Taya Valkyrie, and cronies Jack Evans, PJ Black, and Ricky Mandel.
Morrison’s fiancee, Taya Valkyrie, also competes for Impact Wrestling. She is one of the top-ranked Knockouts in the division. Most recently, Taya defeated Kiera Hogan at the Redemption PPV. She was defeated by Allie 2 weeks ago on Impact in a Knockouts Championship match, however. Last week, a rematch between Hogan and Taya resulted in a no-contest after Tessa Blanchard got involved.
Ring of Honor begins their War of the Worlds 2018 tour tonight in Lowell, MA. The 4-show tour will continue on Friday in Toronto then head to Royal Oak, MI, and Chicago on Saturday and Sunday.
ROH War of the Worlds 2018 Lineup
Night 1 Lowell, MA
ROH World Championship
Dalton Castle (c) vs Matt Taven
the Young Bucks vs Hiromu Takahashi and Bushi
Hangman Page, Marty Scurll, and Cody vs Roppongi 3K (Sho, Yoh, and Rocky Romero)
SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) vs Jay Lethal, Jay White, and Chuckie T
The Briscoes vs Flip Gordon and Jushin Liger
Silas Young, Beer City Bruiser, and Brian Milonas vs Tetsuya Naito, Evil, and Sanada
The Kingdom (TK O’Ryan and Vinny Marseglia) vs Coast 2 Coast (LSG and Shaheem Ali)
Tenille Dashwood & Brandi Rhodes* vs Deonna Purrazzo and Skylar
Bully Ray vs Cheeseburger
*Brandi Rhodes was recently injured and is likely not cleared to compete in this match.
Night 2 Toronto, ON
IWGP United States Championship
Jay White (c) vs Punishment Martinez
SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) vs Roppongi 3K (Sho, Yoh, and Rocky Romero)
Cody vs Jushin Liger
the Young Bucks vs the Super Smash Bros (Evil Uno and Stu Grayson)
Tetsuya Naito vs the Beer City Bruiser
Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kenny King and Flip Gordon vs Bushi, Evil, and Hiromu Takahashi, and Sanada
ROH World TV Title
Silas Young (c) vs Hangman Page
Night 3 Royal Oak, MI
Punishment Martinez vs Hangman Page
Cody vs Hiromu Takahashi
Evil vs Shane Taylor
Marty Scurll vs Kenny King vs Jay Lethal vs Matt Taven
the Young Bucks vs the Motor City Machine Guns vs Roppongi 3K
SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) vs Flip Gordon, Cheeseburger, and Jushin Liger
ROH World Tag Team Championships
the Briscoes (c) vs Tetsuya Naito and Bushi
Night 4 Chicago
Bushi, Evil, Hiromu Takahashi, Sanada and Tetsuya Naito vs Cody, Hangman Page, Marty Scurll, and the Young Bucks
ROH World TV Title
Silas Young (c) vs Austin Aries
ROH Women of Honor Championship
Sumie Sakai (c) vs Jenny Rose
Jay Lethal vs Chuckie T
Kelly Klein vs Deonna Purrazzo
ROH World Tag Team Titles
the Briscoes (c) vs Roppongi 3K w/Rocky Romero
Jonathan Gresham vs Flip Gordon
the Dawgs (Rhett Titus and Will Ferrara) vs Cheeseburger and Jushin Liger
NXT this week will air a taped show from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. The main event for the show is scheduled to be a singles match featuring Tommaso Ciampa versus Kassius Ohno.
NXT Preview (5/9/18)
Kassius Ohno vs Tommaso Ciampa
The story here is that Ohno used to travel with team DIY and was with Johnny Gargano when he was loaded into the ambulance following the latest attack by Ciampa.
Ohno has said that Ciampa needs to be made to feel the same helplessness that Gargano would have during that attack. He also thinks he’s just the person to give Ciampa that kind of beating.
As for Ciampa, he has continued to antagonize the NXT fans for several weeks now. Ever the heel, Ciampa reportedly blocked WWE’s Twitter account after it wished him a happy birthday.
Heavy Machinery vs the War Raiders
The War Raiders are in action this week as they will take on a fellow superheavyweight team in Heavy Machinery.
Tucker Knight of Heavy Machinery recently made his main roster debut as an entrant in the Greatest Royal Rumble. His partner, Otis Dozovic, was not entered into the match.
With the Authors of Pain and Sanity now on the main roster, there are opportunities for new teams in the division. The War Raiders can start to move up the rankings fast with a win over Heavy Machinery tonight.
EC3 vs Raul Mendoza
EC3 wrestled in the North American Championship ladder match at Takeover but tonight will be his first single’s match in NXT since 2013.
His last single’s match in NXT was a loss to Big E Langston. EC3 wrestled the match under the name Derrick Bateman.
Vignettes featuring EC3 have been airing on NXT for weeks and tonight he will have a chance to show the Full Sail crowd what he can do.
205 Live last night was from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD.
The main event of the night was a single’s match between Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy.
205 Live 5/8/18
1. the Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik) defeated Jack Gallagher & the Brian Kendrick
Before the match, Drew Gulak walked to ringside and took a seat at commentary.
Both teams defeated Hideo Itami & Akira Tozawa previously so this match was for cruiserweight tag-team bragging rights. Perhaps, top-seeding in the division was also on the line as we continue to build towards the introduction of cruiserweight tag team championships.
It looked as though Gallagher and Kendrick were controlling their luchador opponents, but a hot tag, a pair of superkicks and a by a pair of suicide dives was followed by a Shooting Star Press picked up the win for the Lucha House Party. Dorado pinned Gallagher after the SSP.
The Luchadors celebrated in the ring with noisemakers after the victory as Gulak looked on with dissaproval.
2. Tony Nese defeated Keith Clayball
Nese was shown in the back with Buddy Murphy before the match, perhaps indicating the two of them are now alligned.
This was a showcase match for Nese who won with a knee to the face in the corner.
3. Buddy Murphy defeated Mustafa Ali
Ali defeated Murphy in the recent single-elimination tournament to crown a new champion. It is the only loss Murphy has suffered in the cruiserweight division thus far.
Murphy began to work the shoulder and arm of Ali’s. He was able to do this more so after Ali missed his 450 splash from the top.
Murphy won the match after ramming Ali’s shoulder into the post and giving him “Murphy’s Law”.
With the win, Murphy should be in position to receive a Cruiserweight title match against Cedric Alexander as he’s now avenged his only loss in the division.
Sami Callihan has assaulted Impact Wrestling Vice President, Don Callis. The incident took place at an independent wrestling event near Anthem Sports and Entertainment’s head office in Toronto. Impact Wrestling is stating they plan on addressing the issue tomorrow night.
In the mean time, they have a poll on their website asking fans if Sami Callihan should be fired. As of this writing, more Impact Wrestling fans feel the controversial wrestler should be fired than not.
Sami Callihan Assaults Don Callis
Callihan attacked Callis at an event promoted by Santino Marella’s Destiny Wrestling promotion on April 29th, 2018. The attack is just being acknowledged by Impact Wrestling now, however.
The actions and behavior of @TheSamiCallihan at a recent @DestinyWrestle event were absolutely unacceptable. IMPACT Wrestling are considering all options regarding Callihan's future in IMPACT Wrestling as a consequence.
Callis was being given an award for “Comeback of the Year” and had his family in attendance when he was attacked by Callihan.
Callihan responded to Impact’s comments with the following:
How about you consider not being such bitches. This is OUR company now. Sit back and just watch your ratings go up. #TheDRAW#oVehttps://t.co/rAMJR65G1J
THIS THURSDAY – after his reprehensible assault of @CyrusOverHuge, we will learn the decision of IMPACT management regarding the consequences of @TheSamiCallihan's actions.
Callis began his career in 1989 wrestling in various Canadian independent promotions. He was brought into WWE as a manager in 1996. He managed the Truth Commission and the Parade of Human Oddities before being released in 1999.
After leaving WWE, Callis ended up in ECW where he was a color commentator and representative for “The Network”. He signed with TNA Wrestling in 2003 but would opt to retire from the wrestling industry in 2004. He would later say the business was too unstable at the time. Callis went to work in local government and by 2012 became the President, CEO and Executive Director of the Manitoba Trade and Investment Corporation.
In 2016, Callis began a podcast with his longtime friend, Lance Storm, titled “Killin the Town with Storm and Cyrus”. The following year, fellow Winnipeg native, Kenny Omega, pitched the idea for Callis to become the new color commentator for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Following that, another Winnipeg native, Chris Jericho, served as a reference for Callis to Anthem Sports and Entertainment President, Ed Nordholm. Impact announced Callis as their new co-Vice President on December 5th, 2017.
WWE reported Sunday night that Alexa Bliss suffered a shoulder injury. Bliss lost a WWE Raw Women’s Championship match at Backlash to Nia Jax. Sources also stated that the injury was legitimate and not a part of a storyline.
Bliss’ shoulder was scheduled to be further evaluated at Raw on Monday. Speculation is that Bliss’ shoulder was not as bad as originally believed as Nia Jax stated on Twitter she’s scheduled for the upcoming European tour.
Haha!! If you haven’t heard. Alexa is perfectly fine. She couldn’t beat me in the ring, so she blamed it on a fake injury. Trust me, she is perfectly fine. She’s scheduled to be on tour, so you and all your troll friends can come worship your coward goddess. https://t.co/kor5YAeOLX
It’s really tough to determine who is bullying who in this storyline sometimes.
Alexa Bliss vs Nia Jax
Alexa Bliss reported to the WWE Performance Center in 2013. Nia Jax would do the same the following year. Throughout that time, Bliss and Jax developed a friendship which has been referenced on WWE programming frequently.
At WrestleMania 34, Nia Jax defeated her friend to win her first ever WWE championship. For two wrestlers who went through the WWE developmental process together, wrestling in that match against one another would have been a special achievement for both.
Backlash 2018 was the 4th singles match the two have had against one another. Despite going through NXT together, they never wrestled each other on the brand. Here are the results from the 4 head-to-head matches between rivals/friends Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax:
Monday Night Raw June 5th, 2017 WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Alexa Bliss (c) defeated Nia Jax via DQ
Monday Night Raw September 18th, 2017
Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss
WrestleMania 34 April 8th, 2018 WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss (c) (new champion)
Backlash 2018
May 6th, 2018 WWE Raw Women’s Championship
Nia Jax (c) defeated Alexa Bliss
The only time Alexa Bliss has defeated Nia Jax was via DQ. Other than that, Nia Jax has won every match the two have had.
It will be interesting to see who gets the next shot at Nia Jax’s title. If Bliss isn’t injured she could still be in the running, though after dropping her title rematch it could be time for a new challenger to emerge.
205 Live tonight takes place from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. Two matches have been announced for the show thus far. The main event features a single’s match between two top contenders. We will also get a match in the burgeoning cruiserweight tag-team division tonight.
205 Live Preview (8/5/18)
Mustafa Ali vs Buddy Murphy
Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy will meet in 1-on-1 action tonight.
Ali is coming off a loss to Cedric Alexander at WrestleMania 34 and is looking to get back in the title picture.
As for Buddy Murphy, he returned to 205 Live recently after being absent for several weeks due to missing weight.
Murphy had originally earned the right to challenge Alexander for the cruiserweight championship but 205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick, rescinded it after Murphy failed to make weight.
While Maverick hasn’t specifically said as such, the winner of this match could easily be the next to challenge Cedric Alexander for the WWE cruiserweight championship. Drew Gulak, who defeated Kalisto last week, could also be in the running, however.
As for the champion, Cedric Alexander’s most recent title defense came against Kalisto at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher vs. the Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik)
We will also get another preview of the pending cruiserweight tag-team division tonight, as the Lucha house party will take on the team of the Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher.
Last week, Gallagher and Kendrick defeated Hideo Itami and Akira Tozawa. Following the match, Itami and Tozawa got into an argument. It’s possible the team of Itami and Tozawa will be broken up before the tag titles are even introduced.
As for the Lucha house party, their stablemate Kalisto was the last to challenge Cedric Alexander. Kalisto won a gauntlet match to earn the right to challenge for the title. He then lost to Gulak in single’s action last week.
Both of these teams will be looking to rise up the rankings before cruiserweight titles are finally introduced.
Chris Jericho attacked Tetsuya Naito Friday at Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka, Japan. The two had previously been involved in a brawl at the New Beginning earlier this year.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has officially confirmed that Jericho will face Naito on the June 9th Dominion show from Osaka, Japan.
NJPW Dominion in Osaka
Jericho vs Naito will be contested for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Naito defeated Minoru Suzuki for the title recently but has since refused to wear it or bring the belt to the ring. Kevin Kelly cleared up on commentary that Naito does this because he feels New Japan Pro Wrestling has too many title belts. Jericho versus Naito will likely be the semi-main event for the show.
Three other matches have been announced for the show thus far and the promotion has also revealed Rey Mysterio Jr will compete in single’s action. They have not, however, announced who the legendary Luchador’s opponent will be.
Lineup Announced so Far:
Rey Mysterio Jr. vs TBA
NEVER Openweight Championship
3-Way Match
Hirooki Goto (c) vs Michael Elgin vs Taichi
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
Evil and Sanada (c) vs the Young Bucks
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Chris Jericho
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Best 2-of-3 Falls
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Kenny Omega
It was Okada who challenged Kenny Omega to main event Dominion this year. Following his victory over Hiroshi Tanahashi, Okada said he wanted to make his next title defense special and so he needed to face Omega. He pointed out that the last time he faced Omega at Dominion, it went to a time limit draw.
The Young Bucks challenged Evil and Sanada to a heavyweight tag team championship match at Wrestling Dontaku last week.
The full lineup and schedule for the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors has been released. The tournament will kick off May 18th, 2018 and the finals will be held on June 4th.
Previously, 13 names had been leaked through promotional advertising but today the final lineup and blocks were also revealed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tafGUf3xE
Best of the Super Juniors 2018 Lineup
Block A
Tiger Mask
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
ACH
Flip Gordon
Yoh
Bushi
Will Ospreay
Taiji Ishimori (Bone Soldier)
Block B
Dragon Lee
Sho
Ryusuke Taguchi
El Desperado
Kushida
Chris Sabin
Hiromu Takahashi
Marty Scurll
This will be the 25th version of the event. It will also be an important tournament for last year’s winner, Kushida. 2 of the last 3 BOSJ have been won by Kushida. Only two wrestlers in history, Jushin Liger and Koji Kanemoto, have ever won 3 BOSJ tournaments.
Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Will Ospreay, won the tournament in 2016. He also recently defended his title successfully against Kushida at Wrestling Dontaku last week.
Chris Sabin returns to New Japan Pro Wrestling for this tournament. Sabin had previously competed for the promotion in 2009-2010. The Motor City Machine Guns won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag-team titles from Yujiro Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito at WrestleKingdom III in the Tokyo Dome. After successfully defeating Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) once, they would drop the following two matches and the belts in a trilogy to them.
Taiji Ishimori was recently announced as Bullet Club’s new Bone Soldier. Ishimori resigned from Pro Wrestling Noah earlier this year in order to become a free agent. He has also been wrestling for impact and is a former X Division Champion. He lost the title to Matt Sydal and also lost his rematch on last week’s episode.
Finally, Flip Gordon will make his Best Of The Super Junior’s debut this year as well. The youngster has been making a name for himself as of late on the Being the Elite YouTube series and in Ring Of Honor.
Former Ring of Honor World Champion, Cody, has announced plans to run for the Texas State in 2020. The announcement was made on the season premiere of “Being the Elite” released last night.
Cody recited a speech from a Harry Potter movie into a mirror as if it was a political address and then handed Page a tablet with a “Cody for Texas State Senate 2020” logo.
Being the Elite Season Premiere
The Young Bucks had previously teased they were finished with Being the Elite following SuperCard of Honor. After a couple weeks hiatus, however, two mini-episodes were released. On last night’s show, Flip Gordon was able to convince the Bucks to bring the show back by pointing out their dwindling merchandise sales.
The first episode of the new season titled “Premier” featured updates on several other characters as well.
Hangman Page ran into Lanny Poffo backstage at an ROH show. Poffo was there to participate in an in-ring segment with Jay Lethal. Page confirmed with Poffo that a long-held rumor about him is indeed true but not the one he was thinking about. On his way out of Poffo’s locker room, Page accidentally hit Jay Lethal in the head while opening the door, knocking him out. When Lethal came to and saw Poffo, he reverted to his old Black Machismo character from TNA.
Last season on the show, Scurll signed a recording contract and announced he was leaving the Elite. A clip was shown in yesterday’s episode showing Scurll getting fired from the record company for just re-hashing old Backstreet Boys songs.
As for Kenny Omega, he was shown receiving a package marked “urgent” from the Young Bucks. The show would end before he opened it, however.
Tickets for All-In go on sale May 13th, 2018. The show takes place September 1st, 2018 from the Sears Center Arena in Chicago.
Daniel Bryan took a shot at Big Cass’ wrestling ability in a recent social media post. Bryan and Big Cass will wrestle tonight at Backlash in New Jersey.
For Bryan, it will be his first PPV single’s match (not counting GRR) since being medically cleared to return. It will also be Big Cass’ first single’s match back since returning from a torn ACL suffered this summer.
Big Cass’ first official match since returning from injury was the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He entered the match at #49 and only lasted a little over seven minutes.
Big Cass would only eliminate one person from the Rumble and that person was Daniel Brian. As for Bryan, he entered the Rumble at number one and lasted for over an hour and 15 minutes until he was by eliminated by Big Cass.
While a rivalry between Big Cass and Daniel Bryan has been building, WWE has hinted that the Miz and Daniel Bryan rivalry we thought we’d never see is not far off either. In storyline, it was Bryan who arranged for Miz to be drafted to Smackdown after Bryan learned he had been medically cleared to compete.
Here is what the Miz said regarding Bryan being medically cleared to get back in the ring:
“Am I happy? No. Good for him that he is back. Congratulations. Bravo. The thing is he was the one that said, ‘fight for your dreams?’ He didn’t fight for his dreams when he walked away like a coward on Talking Smack now did he? That’s real. Fight for your dreams. His playbook goes something like this: go out there, get sympathy, talk about your wife, cry a little and get your ass kicked.”
WWE might want to hold off on the culmination of this feud until SummerSlam, so it could be a slow build.
205 Live General Manager, Drake Maverick, has announced two matches for Tuesday night’s show. Smackdown and 205 Live will be held in Baltimore this week from the Royal Farms Arena.
The Cruiserweight Championship is not one of the five championships which will be on the line tonight at Backlash. The last time the Cruiserweight Championship was defended was the Greatest Royal Rumble. Cedric Alexander successfully defended the title against Kalisto on that show.
The two matches which have been announced thus far include:
Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik vs. Jack Gallagher & The Brian Kendrick
Mustafa Ali vs Buddy Murphy
The tag-team match may influence future seeding for the pending cruiserweight tag-team division. It looks like the team of Hideo Itami & Akira Tozawa is already on the splits as they were shown arguing after their match last week. They had just been defeated by Gallagher and Kendrick in tag action. We still don’t know when WWE plans to introduce tag-team titles to the division but one would have to suspect it is not far off now.
Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy should be an interesting match. Murphy had previously earned a title match against Cedric Alexander but had it rescinded after missing weight. Murphy made weight this week and then promptly won a squash match later in the show.
As for Ali, he’s looking to get back into title contention after losing to Cedric Alexander at WrestleMania 34. Speaking ahead of his match with Alexander, here’s what he said regarding breaking down stereotypes with his character:
“To me, it’s a huge opportunity for representation. There are preconceived ideas and these barriers that have come along with a name like mine. [I’d be] typically portrayed as the ‘bad guy.’ I have a chance to knock all that down and show young guys and girls who look like me and have a name like mine, here’s a guy like you that chased his dreams and wasn’t worried about labels.”
WWE has a major announcement to make regarding the future of the United Kingdom division. They aren’t revealing it just yet, however. The company will host the 2nd WWE United Kingdom Championship tournament next month. The shows will be on June 18th and 19th from London’s Royal Albert Hall.
“Just in the next few months you will see two full main roster tours of Raw and SmackDown all through the UK,” Triple H told the Mirror in the UK. “You will see not only the Download Festival with NXT but shows in Paris and Antwerp, and you will see us coming back to one of the most famous arenas in London, the Royal Albert Hall, for two days back-to-back, with the WWE UK Championship and NXT combo on the second day. It’s massive.”
He then stated an announcement would be made at the upcoming tournament.
“While we are there at this UK event at the Royal Albert Hall, we will be making some announcements about the future of the UK Championship brand there in the UK and moving forward.”
Some believe the announcement could be regarding the brand finally getting their own show. Further speculation has WWE opening up a training center in the UK as well. Triple H talked about international training centers at the recent WWE Business Partners Summit.
“That brand still remains very near and dear to me and it’s something I want to move on. It’s taking a little bit longer than I anticipated in getting things done and getting them done in the way I want them to get done… but it’s happening”, Triple H said in regards to the UK division. “It will be meaningful to everybody there and over there and I look forward to showcasing the UK talent to the world.”
WWE United Kingdom Show
The inaugural WWE United Kingdom championship tournament concluded on January 15, 2017. In the finals of the tournament, Tyler Bate defeated Pete Dunne to win the title. A little over five months later, however, Dunne defeated Bate at NXT Takeover: Chicago to win the championship.
Chris Jericho has returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling. He attacked Tetsuya Naito last night/this morning on night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku 2018.
Jericho had previously said he was done with NJPW but reports surfaced earlier this week that he had been spotted in Japan. He was dressed as a Los InGobernables fan and wearing a mask. As Naito was exiting the ring area following his match Jericho attacked him.
Security and the Young Lions were unable to pry the masked Jericho off Naito as Callis and Kelly speculated he was some overzealous fan. After beating him up for awhile he rolled him back into the ring. Jericho then fumbled to get his mask off which drew a bit of laughter. When the crowd realized it was him, however, they reacted pretty positively, even getting a few Y2J chants.
Jericho then grabbed the ring bell and cracked Naito over the head with it, busting him wide open in the process.
Chris Jericho versus Tetsuya Naito
Naito and Jericho had a slight back and forth in the days leading up to WrestleKingdom this year. Naito took exception to Jericho calling the show a double main event despite his match with Kazuchika Okada closing the show. Jericho later attacked Naito at the New Beginning. It looked like a match was going to be made between the two, possibly scheduling it for Strong Style Evolved but then it seemed as though Jericho was done with NJPW.
Jericho even teased earlier this week that he was in Tampa with his family
Tetsuya Naito recently defeated Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Since then, however, he has refused to wear the title or carry it with him to the ring. Kevin Kelly has said Naito is doing this because he feels NJPW has too many title belts.
