ESPN’s Ariel Helwani is about to become a free agent. His contract will soon run out and the popular MMA reporter is open to the idea of moving into pro-wrestling. Helwani was the guest recently on Renee Paquette’s “Oral Sessions” and spoke about the possibility.
“I was a massive pro wrestling fan. I was born in ‘’82, so I remember WrestleMania I, going to the video store and watching it with my brothers,” Helwani said during the interview (transcriptions via WrestlingNewsCo).
He would continue to say he sort of stopped following wrestling when he went to high school but that all changed when he attended Survivor Series 97 in Montreal. It was a fairly notable PPV, if you remember.
“I remember going home, going on Scoops Wrestling and those sites, reading up on all the drama, and thinking, ‘Holy Crap.’ That got me right back in. Then ‘97, ‘98, ‘99, 2000’s, I was more of a fan than ever before. Attitude Era. So in the moment, I was a little bit oblivious, but now in hindsight, I’m like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I was at one of the most historic matches of all time.”
Really enjoyed being on @ReneePaquette’s pod, “Oral Sessions.” She’s a fantastic interviewer and, like me, a proud Canadian. We had a lovely chat and, wouldn’t ya know it, I even got emotional at the end. Shocking, I know. Thanks again for having me Renée! https://t.co/HHotliV2gm
In terms of the possibility of him moving to wrestling, Helwani sounds enthusiastic about the idea.
“Wow, TNT, I like it yea…it would be fun,” Helwani said about possibly working with AEW. “We also have ONE Championship on TNT so that’s an MMA organization that’s over there. Back in 2006 or so, I actually had a brief conversation with Double J Jeff Jarrett to work in TNA for the early days in TNA through Kurt Angle, who I befriended at the time. The wrestling world has always been a big part of my life and an influence. I’ve never worked for WWE as you know but I’m open to anything…If you know Mr. Khan, put in a good word.”
Maxwell Jacob Friedman threw Chris Jericho off the top of the cage following the conclusion to last week’s double-cage Blood & Guts match. The ending of the match has drawn polarizing reactions from fans. Jericho discussed the “big spot” recently on his Talk is Jericho podcast.
Jericho noted that there was a 6 inch mat and several empty cardboard boxes to break his fall. He also noted that he just missed hitting his head on the stage lights. He then spoke in regards to hearing negative feedback about the spot.
“It was only later on that I started hearing that people thought the fall was on a crashpad and it didn’t look great,” Jericho said. “For me, I watched it back, I thought it looked amazing. The thing that was really scary is that if you watch it back, I barely missed hitting my head on the lights at the back of the stage. I went so far back that I almost overshot everything.”
“Everybody in the business knows how dangerous this can be, how terrifying it is and just the margin for error is so slim. Like I mentioned earlier, there is some hardcore wrestling fans that were bagging on it, that’s fine, you have the right to bag on it and out of the 1.3 million people that watched, like I said if 3,000 people didn’t like it, that’s a very small percentage. Most people thought it was crazy as did I.”
“It’s one of those things that I hope you enjoyed it because you will never see me do it again. Ever. And I’m glad it turned out the way that it did.”
Chris Jericho On Blood & Guts Happening Early In the Pinnacle vs Inner Circle Feud
Jericho also addressed the Blood & Guts match taking place at the beginning of the feud with the Pinnacle rather than being the blow-off.
“Originally, we had kind of thought about doing (the match) later on,” Jericho said on the show. “But then it was decided let’s do it earlier. I think Tony came up with the idea and we thought about it and we thought why does Blood & Guts have to be the blow-off to the feud? Why can’t it be kind of the kick-off? I mean, we built it with these promos.”
“I think it blew everybody’s mind that we did it right out of the gate,” he continued.
Jim Ross was the voice of WWE during the Monday Night Wars. He then was the voice for AEW during the Wednesday Night Wars. According to comments he made recently on his “Grillin Jr” podcast, the Monday Night Wars were far more intense.
“I’m glad that there’s no more ‘Wednesday Night Wars’. That was just a cop out for the Monday Night Wars,” Ross said. “It wasn’t nearly that extreme, in my view, but hey, If you want to believe that and that helps motivate you as a fan, adds more enjoyment to your game plan then hell, have at it, make that your agenda.”
The Wednesday Night Wars lasted from October 2, 2019 to April 7, 2021. The Monday Night Wars lasted from September 4, 1995 until WCW’s death on March 26, 2001.
During an interview last year with Sportskeeda, Tony Schiavone agreed that the Wednesday Night War is not as “cut throat” as the Monday Night version was.
“You’re right, it’s not as cut-throat as it used to be,” Schiavone said. “There is still a want to be better than the other guy, but I think competition makes everybody better and everybody would agree with that. The cut-throat nature of what it was back in the day was really exhausting.”
JR’s comments regarding the Wednesday Night Wars begins around the 8:41 mark of the podcast below:
WWE has announced NXT TakeOver: In Your House will take place Sunday, June 13th. The news was first reported by Fightful. The event will air live on Peacock and the WWE Network.
Former WWE broadcaster Todd Pettengill will return to host. Pettengill is best known to wrestling fans for his time as a WWE host and backstage interviewer during the mid-1990’s.
This is the second installment of NXT Takeover: In Your House, a revival of the mid-90’s WWE pay-per-view series. Last year’s show saw NXT Champion Adam Cole defeat Velveteen Dream in a Backlot Brawl and Io Shirai capture the NXT Women’s Championship by defeating Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat match.
As we look ahead to NXT Takeover: In Your House, WWE presents an all-new episode of NXT tonight on the USA Network. There are two championship matches announced for the show:
A rematch for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship will take place on the card. New champion KUSHIDA will defend against former champion, Santos Escobar. The match will be contested under a best 2-of-3 falls stipulation.
The NXT Women’s Championship will also be defended tonight. Raquel Gonzalez will look to defend the title when she faces Mercedes Martinez in singles competition.
NXT Champion Karrion Kross is also set for singles action tonight. He’ll take on Austin Theory from the Way.
In other action, former Sanity teammates will collide when Killian Dain faces Alexander Wolfe.
We saw a title change on last week’s edition of NXT on the USA Network. Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae defeated Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon for the NXT tag-team championships. Blackheart and Moon had previously defeated the Way at Stand and Deliver. It’s possible a trilogy match between the two teams could take place at NXT TakeOver: In Your House.
Jinder Mahal and the tag-team of Indus Sher are now a new faction on WWE RAW. The former NXT tag-team of Rinku Singh and Dilser Shanky are now known as Veer and Shanky. For Veer (Singh), his debut on WWE RAW takes place after a long journey that included a stint in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
In 2008, Singh won a 2008 reality television show competition in India titled “The Million Dollar Arm.” The show took Indian athletes from other sports and had them tryout in baseball as a pitcher. Prior to appearing on the show, Singh had been a high-level javelin thrower and cricket player.
Rinku Singh – Bucs Pipeline
After winning the competition, Singh signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The story was turned into the 2014 film “Million Dollar Arm.”
Along with Dinesh Patel, who also competed on the reality television show, Singh became the first Indian to sign with an MLB team and in 2009 became the first Indian to appear in a professional baseball game. He pitched in the minors and in the Dominican summer league for several seasons. Singh would go through some injuries during his minor league career, however. He got in just one inning of relief work in 2016 and his baseball career ended soon after.
Rinku Singh – Pirates Prospects
WWE signed Singh to a contract in 2018. He would then help form the Indus Sher team in 2020. At the WWE Superstar Spectacle earlier this year, the duo joined forces with Drew McIntyre and faced Jinder Mahal and the Bollywood Boyz. The team have since joined forces with Jinder and debuted on the main roster. Mahal picked up a win over Jeff Hardy last night on RAW.
Rinku Singh On Signing With WWE
Upon his debut on NXT last year, Singh spoke with local media in Pittsburgh about transitioning from baseball to WWE.
“I wanted to share the journey of Rinku Singh,” Singh said. “I want to put a smile on peoples’ faces all around the world, inspire them and share my story with them. So many kids can relate to it, and WWE allows you to do that.”
He also compared the feeling of putting on a baseball jersey to stepping in-between the ring ropes.
“When I put on the [baseball] uniform, I was a totally new human,” Singh said. “Now I feel like I did when I would put a baseball uniform on. It’s game time. There’s new energy. I’m ready to go out there and perform.”
John Cena is set to create, produce and narrate a new WWE series set for NBC’s peacock streaming service. The show will be titled “WWE Evil” and will take an entertaining look into the minds of some of the most diabolical antagonists, AKA bad guys, from WWE history.
“For every good guy, there has to be a bad one and WWEhas created some of the BEST bad guys (and ladies) in the history of entertainment. Excited to highlight those who made us boo, scream, and sometimes cry! WWE Evil on Peacock!” Cena Tweeted.
News that Cena will be creating this program for Peacock comes on the heels of him teasing a new WWE project on Instagram. Over the weekend, Cena posted the following leading some to speculate a return to WWE was imminent.
Cena has also been targeted by Karrion Kross as of late. The NXT Champion has been stating in interviews that he would like to face Cena in the ring.
“John Cena would be the match that would I be interested in for the immediate future,” Kross responded. “Everyone has already called out The Rock and Brock Lesnar, and everyone has exercised interest in seeing Scarlett and myself vs. The Fiend and Alexa Bliss,” Kross said in an interview with BT Sport.
“But having the opportunity to work with John Cena on a big stage, hopefully with people, would be awesome. I think it would be a battle of two generations. I attribute a lot of my modern-day inspirations to his generation. I’ve never met the guy before, but it’s very easy to see that he’s one of the hardest working people in the history of this industry. He’s the reason why a lot of us have jobs today. Personally, it would be an honor to work with him.”
Chelsea Green has goals. The 30-year-old wrestler recently spoke to Metro UK and talked about what she would like to accomplish outside of a wrestling ring. One of the goals Green says she’s chasing, is building some contacts at Playboy.
“Right now, I’m trying to work at making contacts in Playboy to hopefully do that,” Green said during the interview.
Wrestlers posing for Playboy was a popular occurrence back in the 1990s and 2000s. Shawn Michaels actually got the ball rolling here in 1996 when he posed for Playgirl magazine while WWF Champion. Sable, Torrie Wilson, Maria Kanellis and others would continue the trend.
Green’s outside of wrestling goals also include being killed in a horror movie.
“Definitely, I wanna be killed in a horror movie. I’ve always wanted that, I always found it so hilarious where you see the girl running and they always trip and fall, and then they get killed.”
Green continued to say she’d like to be a social media influencer and continue with her podcasting as well. She didn’t drop any hints regarding where wrestling fans might see her in a ring next, however.
“When one door closes, so many more open. Sometimes you can’t see what those doors are gonna be,” she continued.
Listen to the latest episode of Chelsea Green’s 50 Shades of Green podcast:
Velveteen Dream hasn’t wrestled a match in WWE since December. He was defeated by Adam Cole on the “Very Gargano Christmas” episode of NXT that aired on December 23rd.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer, Dream was backstage at RAW last night. It is not known why he was there or if there were plans to use him on the show, however.
Last year, Dream was the subject of multiple allegations of inappropriate communication with minors. He has denied all allegations and Triple H has issued several statements saying WWE looked into the allegations against him and determined there was nothing to them.
“Everything that we have done, we are comfortable with him continuing to do what he does and everything else,” Triple H said about Dream last summer.
“We looked into what was there and we didn’t find anything,” Triple H also said.
“You know, in this day today, accusations are made and you take them all very seriously,” Triple H continued. “You look into them the best you can, and you find out what is there and what isn’t. In this situation, (Dream) was also involved in a car accident. That’s what took him off TV. In the moment, all this other stuff happens and you look into it and you find that there is a situation that people bring to everyone’s attention, you look into it and find that it is what it is and there’s nothing there.”
Triple H has since sounded annoyed when similar questions regarding Velveteen Dream have been asked at other media events.
“There’s really nothing to add with Velveteen Dream. We’ve gone over it a million times. Status update – he’s still training,” Triple H said on a call in February. “He had a little bit of a physical thing here for a bit. But, still there, still with us, still PC, still training, still on the roster.”
A since-deleted Tweet from Dream following the allegations stated as follows:
“Be assured I did not communicate inappropriately with anyone. A private photo of mine was shared without my consent or knowledge and I am working with a third party to look into this matter,” Dream Tweeted.
Dark Side of the Ring Season 3 premiered last week with an episode on Brian Pillman. The show airs on VICE TV which recently signed a deal with Major League Wrestling. MLW shows now air on VICE Saturdays at noon est.
Co-creators of Dark Side of the Ring, Evan Husney and Jason Eisener, recently appeared on the WINCLY podcast and spoke about a potential crossover between MLW and Dark Side of the Ring.
“Court Bauer, he’s awesome. I’ve talked to him many times about this,” Husney said. “He had reached out to me, I think, when season two was airing. He reached out to me and and sort of had the idea of ‘wrestling is getting big on this network. What do you think?’ And obviously, because we did the Von Erich story, I knew Ross and Marshall Von Erich from the episode, and them being such a huge part of MLW, I thought it was a cool idea because Vice, the way the network launched originally to where what it’s kind of evolved into, it seems like now Vice TV, as a network, is open to a lot more different types of storytelling.”
In MLW, the Von Erichs are currently feuding with Tom Lawlor and Team Filthy. They lost the tag-team titles earlier this year to Los Parks from Azteca Underground.
Dark Side of the Ring Creators on How To Produce A Wrestling Show
The Dark Side of the Ring creators continued to talk about wanting to change the way wrestling is shot.
“If there is a way to innovate with MLW and to do something different, hey, if they want us to maybe look at some different lighting tweaks or camera tweaks, we can kind of bring a more cinematic lens to wrestling because that for me, as a whole, is the thing that makes wrestling really hard for me to watch today because I think the in-ring talent is great. I think there’s a lot of awesome talent across the board,” Husney continued.
He then continued to say he’s had discussions with MLW about possibly doing a cinematic style FMW show. It’s not clear if Bauer is into this idea, however.
“We’ve talked about it,” Husney stated. “It’s funny because I’ve talked to him about FMW, and I’ve been like, ‘Yeah man, we got the smoke, and the fog and the da da da.’ I have mentioned it a few times to him. I don’t know if he thinks I’m totally out of my mind or if he thinks that it would be cool. But hey, I think obviously being on the same network, there’s got to be some possibility of collaboration. If my schedule frees up, we can do a Halloween themed PPV.”
Dark Side of the Ring returns to VICE TV on May 13th. The episode will focus on Nick Gage.
Last week, AEW presented a War Games style match titled Blood & Guts from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville. According to PW Insider, WWE management hated the match with at least one person believing it will have serious negative implications for the industry.
“That just set the business back 30 years,” one person from WWE management reportedly said anonymously to PW Insider.
The match featured several wrestlers bleeding and Chris Jericho being pushed off the cage at the end.
The term “Blood & Guts” was actually a reference to similar criticism lobbied against AEW by Vince McMahon. At WWE’s 2nd quarter earnings call in 2019, McMahon stated he didn’t feel TNT would put up with AEW’s “blood and guts” approach for too long.
“As far as competition is concerned, the old adage is ‘competition is good for everyone,’ I think that’s generally the case,” McMahon said on the call about AEW. “We’re hoping that, to the extent that they are competition, they don’t continue with blood and guts and gory things that they have been doing, which would be bad. I can’t imagine, I can’t speak for TNT, but I can’t imagine they would put up with that.”
WWE has had similarly violent matches and segments recently, however. At Extreme Rules in 2020, Rey Mysterio’s eyeball was completely removed from his head in storyline. Bray Wyatt was also set on fire recently on WWE RAW.
Wes Lee and Nash Carter, formerly known as Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier, are the current NXT tag-team champions. They spoke to Metro UK recently about their time in NXT and the meaning behind their new team name “MSK.”
“It’s us. MSK is Wes Lee and Nash Carter. It’s what we stand for, it’s who we are,” said Wes Lee. He wouldn’t give away what the letters actually stand for, however.
“It’s what we do. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a mentality,” he continued.
What does MSK stand for?
The duo continued to say they like to “keep people guessing” about what MSK actually stands for.
“It’s like our matches,” Lee continued. “You never know what to expect from us. People identify us as highflyers, but that’s not all we do. We learned highflying because that’s what was exciting to us, but we know how to punch somebody in the mouth, we know how to snap an arm. We know how to get gritty and nasty as well – so you never know what you’re gonna get with us.”
Nash Carter continued to talk about how quickly everything has come since signing with WWE.
“The story of MSK has just been ready, set, go. Not even set! It’s just been ready, go. Everything just happened so fast, where it’s kinda hard to process. ‘Once we got the call, at least for me, I knew this is the place I wanted to be. I’ve always wanted to be a WWE superstar, I always loved WWE and this place, what we have access to, is second to none. It’s the greatest thing in the world.”
Visit Metro.co.uk to read the full interview with MSK.
Controversial NXT referee Drake Wuertz was reportedly suspended by WWE earlier this year and has had his responsibilities reduced backstage. This comes on the heels of journalist David Bixenspan’s reporting on Wuertz’s extreme political views.
In November, Bixenspan published an article titled “WWE appears to have a Drake Wuertz problem.” The article details Wuertz’s relationship with a a QAnon-adjacent “anti-child trafficking” charity, and his activity on Parler including his following the official “Proud Boys” account. According to the report from Fightful, WWE officials were “horrified” by what they read in the article.
According to a report from Fightful, Wuertz is no longer the head referee in NXT. That job has now gone to Darryl Sharma. Wuertz was also not given the role of timing matches in NXT in favor of giving that role to the returning Scott Armstrong. Wuertz is said to have been banned from the Capitol Wrestling Center for a period, either formerly or informally as well. He has since returned, however.
Drake Wuertz Response On Facebook
Wuertz published the following response to the reports about him on Facebook:
“My wife said some folks are apparently writing about our “Radical Views “. *Human Trafficking is modern-day slavery and we seek to eradicate it *Abortion is Murder and needs to be Abolished *Children in my community that are being forced by local government to wear masks for 8 hours a day against their parents wishes is abuse. We have a God-ordained duty to speak up for the ‘least of these’ and petition our magistrates to prevent harm upon children. If this is “Radical” then label me an extremist for Christ. Were not called to fit in with the world. Were called to serve God!…”We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29”
What Is Qanon?
In April, a report was published by the global security-focussed non-profit group the Soufan Center, and stated that Qanon messaging and conspiracy theories were being amplified by foreign countries with the goal of sowing civil discontent within the United States.
“Our data collection and analysis has demonstrated that QAnon has been weaponized by America’s adversaries,” cautioned Zach Schwitzky, Founder of Limbik. “Actors from Russia, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have all entered the fray amplifying QAnon messaging, most likely as a means to sow further discord and division among the American population.”
Jon Moxley will defend his IWGP United States championship against Yuji Nagata on Dynamite this Wednesday. Moxley teamed with Chris Dickinson on NJPW Strong this week and they defeated the team of Yuji Nagata and Ren Narita. Following the match, Nagata locked Moxley in an arm-bar. Both teams were interviewed after the match and Nagata and Moxley both spoke on their upcoming title match.
“Mr. Jon Moxley. Under this COVID-19 situation, I, Yuji Nagata, came for you here in America,” Nagata said. “And I had a match with you. I still want more. I got some good attacks from you. Your move was not bad. However, that was not enough. I am not satisfied with today’s tag match. When is the next match with you? The next one is the US Heavyweight Championship match. I am going to give it all I got. Do same thing to me. And then, I will win. Zea!”
Following Nagata’s comments, champion Jon Moxley and his partner Chris Dickinson were also interviewed backstage.
“Let me tell you about Nagata-san,” Moxley began. “Let me tell you about this guy who got on a plane and came all the way across the Pacific Ocean to do me a favor, to come here and glad handle the American citizens and all the fans. The great respected Yuji Nagata making a tour of the United States, problem is he’s going back to Japan in a body bag.”
“Tonight, what I saw after this match, that’s the Nagata I want! I want an angry Nagata, I want a mean Nagata, I want a pissed off Nagata,” Moxley continued.
NJPW is experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak. 7 additional wrestlers have now tested positive for the virus. This brings the total number of 9 infected people on the NJPW roster. 2 wrestlers also tested positive for the virus following Wrestling Dontaku Night 2.
While NJPW has not announced which wrestlers have tested positive, Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH were the wrestlers removed from Wrestling Dontaku Night 2. According to updates from NJPW1972.com, 2 of those wrestlers presented to the May 3rd show with a fever. Those wrestlers would later test positive for the virus, while 4 additional wrestlers were kept off the show as well.
Following these positive tests, NJPW tested its entire roster and 7 more additional positive tests were confirmed.
“In light of this news, all those who had close contact with the infected parties, in addition to every wrestler on the roster, received PCR tests, with a further seven wrestlers testing positive,” an NJPW update reads.
All 9 wrestlers who tested positive are said to be experiencing mild or no symptoms.
“All those who tested positive are experiencing mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. According to protocols and under medical advice, all are isolating and receiving appropriate treatment,” NJPW’s statement continues.
NJPW recently cancelled planned shows in Yokohama on the 15th and inside the Tokyo Dome on May 29th.
Court Bauer’s MLW promotion is gearing up for the start of a new era. El Jefe from Azteca Underground was revealed on Fusion this week and a big show from the 2300 Arena has been scheduled for July.
It has also been reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter recently that MLW and WWE were developing some type of relationship. Bauer recently spoke to Forbes about those rumors. Bauer noted that his company is in talks with some “interesting people” but any relationship would have to benefit both parties.
“A collaboration must have a long-term vision and a genuine commitment to enriching both parties,” said Bauer.
“We’re having some interesting conversations with some interesting people, and if there is a two-way relationship that feels like it’s a win-win for the companies, the talent and the fans—and has a long-term sustainability to it—we’ll always examine it. You can’t do one-sided. I don’t kiss rings, I don’t need the validation,” Bauer continued.
Court Bauer on MLW and VICE TV
Bauer also spoke about MLW’s new deal with VICE TV and how it helps both parties.
“Vice TV has found an audience in pro wrestling. They’re the fastest-growing entertainment cable network in America, and in this day in age to be growing in linear cable a lot—and their success with Dark Side of the Ring and finding this audience—[the pro wrestling audience] is a very loyal audience. It always has been. That’s why Turner Sports grew in the ‘70s, because of the Atlanta Braves and pro wrestling. The reason USA Network found its way in the ‘80s was because of WWF. Pay-per-view thrives because of wrestling. This formula worked for them, and in us they have a partner that’s very true to their audience, which is full of Gen Z and millennial viewers.”
MLW is looking to add some fresh faces to its roster before the show on July 10th. The promotion announced a draft of sorts will take place in the coming weeks.
Last night, WWE presented a throwback edition of Smackdown. New Smackdown commentator Pat McAfee appeared to resemble Vince McMahon on the show but as it turns out, McAfee had planned on doing a much larger VKM impersonation on the broadcast.
McAfee took to Twitter to comment on an unaired scene from Smackdown last night with him dressed up and acting as Vince McMahon himself.
“Tonight was gonna be a memorable 1. I was prepared to have no voice for weeks.. Got the Bentley driven DAHN there. Shaved my face 4 the first time in my life. Ideas got changed immediately after filming this,” McAfee Tweeted. “I’m thankful we got the clip. All in all fun night on Smackdown.”
McAfee recently spoke to the New York Post about his approach to commentary.
“I’m trying to be something that provides a little more assist for stories that are happening as opposed to interjecting myself in stories. But it was difficult not to be a heel full-time in there, I will say. I think that will naturally turn up a little bit, but I don’t think you’ll ever expect me going on to commentary … maybe it will happen, but I don’t think so, though … of me saying, ‘it must suck to suck’ or whatever to whoever is listening. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. Maybe it will. Maybe that’s how it will kind of feel and lead to. But for me, I’m naturally more of a heel, but I also want to make sure I’m not distracting from all the incredible things going on SmackDown.”
Brian Cage defeated Hangman Page last week on AEW Dynamite. He’s currently ranked #4 in the men’s singles division. Cage recently took part in an interview with the Jobbing Out podcast and spoke about his career leading up to AEW. In particular, Cage had positive things to say about his time in Lucha Underground.
“I remember the last time I was part of something that kind of slowly took the wrestling world by storm was Lucha Underground, which is still one of my favorite times in wrestling,” Cage said (transcriptions via 411Mania).
“I absolutely loved it there. And now that we’re here with another alternative – the biggest problem with Lucha Underground was finances and TV network. (In AEW), we’ve got the finances to back to the company, and we’ve got TNT. If Lucha Underground was on TNT instead of El Rey, it would have done a little better and lasted a little longer to say the least.”
Lucha Underground’s former Dario Cueto character recently debuted in MLW. Now known as El Jefe, he is expected to become a major part of the show. The Azteca Underground faction in MLW is thought to be El Jefe’s new venture following the demise of his “old temple.”
In 2006, at the second ECW One Night Stand PPV, Rob Van Dam defeated John Cena to win the WWE Championship. The atmosphere inside the arena that night was intense and Cena played into the negative reaction he got that night. Paul Heyman recently spoke to Metro UK about Cena’s performance on the show.
“John Cena feeds off of the interaction with a live audience like very few people on the face of the planet in history ever have, ever could, ever would, or ever have the ability to generate that level of passion from a live crowd,” Heyman said.
Cena threw his t-shirt into the crowd as he normally does during this show, only this time the ECW faithful tossed it right back at him.
“I think John Cena, to this day, loved every single micro moment of it.”
“Anybody that says that they wouldn’t cherish the opportunity to work with John Cena on any level is a fool,” he continued.
Heyman continued to reflect on the ECW shows in 2005 and 2006. He also reflected on the type of atmosphere the promotion regularly had before going out of business.
“Everybody talks about the atmosphere of Rob Van Dam versus John Cena at the 2006 show, or The Sandman’s entrance at the 2005 show, or the atmosphere of the entire night at the 2005 show,” Heyman reflected.
“I’m happy the memories of those two shows are so vivid to so many people – and I will use the word “and” instead of “but”. And I would add to that statement – we did this every night in ECW. That was the atmosphere every night in ECW.”
Jordynne Grace has signed a new multi-year contract Impact Wrestling. The former Knockouts Champion (and reigning Knockouts tag-team champion) revealed the news to Pro Wrestling Illustrated this week.
“Honestly, I have no idea what’s going to happen when my contract is up with IMPACT in May. I have no idea, I can’t foresee the future, and who knows who’s going to offer me something or if I’m going to stay here. I truly have no idea.”
“I love the opportunity that IMPACT has given me, but obviously it’s going to be a lot less money than WWE would give me if I were to go there and they would give me a lot less input on my character. So it just kind of depends on if I get older and I’m feeling like I need to be stacking some money for retirement, then I think that’s a place I would probably go.”
Jordynne Grace In Impact Wrestling
Grace held the Knockouts title for 6 months last year. She defeated Taya Valkyrie for the belt on January 18th, 2020. She held it for 182 days and 5 title defences. She successfully retained the belt against Lacey Ryan, Miranda Alize, Havok, Taya Valkyrie, and Kimber Lee during her reign.
Grace will face Tasha Steelz in singles action next week on Impact. Her team with Rachael Ellering will then defend the Knockouts tag-team titles against Fire N Flava (Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz) on May 15th at Under Siege.
Moose recently stated on Twitter that it is his goal to win the Impact World title before his contract expires. That puts a tight deadline on him as he also revealed his contract expires next month.
Moose was victorious last night on Impact Wrestling in a match that moves him one step closer to facing Kenny Omega for the world title. The 37-year-old has been with Impact since 2016. While he hasn’t won the Impact World Championship, he has held the Impact Grand Championship and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship during this run. Prior to his run in Impact, Moose had spent from 2014 to 2016 with Ring of Honor.
Moose’s victory over James Storm qualified him for the #1 contendership 6-way at Under Siege. The updated lineup for the show is below:
#1 Contendership – Impact World Championship Chris Bey vs. Matt Cardona vs. Chris Sabin vs. Sami Callihan vs. Moose vs. Trey Miguel
Knockouts Tag Team Championships Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering (c) vs Fire N Flava
Brian Myers vs Taurus
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Eddie Edwards & FinJuice
W. Morrisey vs. Willie Mack
Deonna Purrazzo will also defend the Knockouts belt against either Rosemary or Havok. Josh Alexander will defend the X-Division title against a challenger determined next week.
An interesting casting call recently went out from Filmmakers Studio for a project based on the life of Vince McMahon. It does not appear as though WWE has any involvement in the project.
The full title of the project is “No Chance: The Vince McMahon Story and The Rise of the New Wrestling World Order.” It appears as though this will be a documentary. The casting is for the role of “host.”
A description of the project is below:
“It was his art of the hustle that led him to raging war on the top territories (AWA, Jim Crocket Promotions, WCCW Mid-South, and many others) and stunting their growth by raiding all of their top talent . It was his novel and bold approach to pitch the Super Bowl of Wrestling Shows , ‘WrestleMania’ into the Pay-Per View stratosphere that wrestling would forever be changed forever.”
“This isn’t a movie but a review retrospective that will dig deep in learning not only about Vince McMahon’s adversaries but how he outsmarted them all in associating USA Pro Wrestling with the World Wrestling Federation. Learn more about other noteworthy promoters who dared tried to oppose the Young Conqueror in which we will focus on each territories noteworthy plays and embarrassing mistakes made on their wrestling shows.”
Impact Wrestling continued to build to Under Siege this week. 3 more qualifying matches for the 6-person #1 contendership match on the PPV took place as well as El Phantasmo making his debut. Juice Robinson and Doc Gallows also went one-on-one.
Impact Wrestling 5/6 Quick Results:
Under Seige Qualifier Chris Sabin defeated Rhino
Taylor Wilde defeated Susan
Under Seige Qualifier Trey Miguel defeated Rohit Raju
Doc Gallows defeated Juice Robinson
El Phantasmo defeated VSK
Rachael Ellering defeated Kiera Hogan
Under Seige Qualifier Moose defeated James Storm
Moose Moves One Step Closer To Facing Kenny Omega
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKMSytLwiwk
This week’s main event was a qualifying match for the #1 contendership 6-way at Under Siege. Before the match, Don Callis visited Moose in the back and appeared to be buttering him up for something. Callis said that Moose shouldn’t have to qualify for the match and that Impact management isn’t treating him fairly. Moose didn’t appear to be falling for Callis’ disingenuous routine, however.
Moose focussed on Storm’s leg for much of the match and this played into the finish. Storm was unable to deliver a crucifix bomb due to his injured leg, Moose was then almost able to hit his Lights Out Spear as a result but Storm countered with a superkick. The move cost Storm, however, who favored his leg heavily after and was unable to make the pin. Moose then got up, delivered the spear and got the win.
After the match, Moose wrapped Storm’s leg in a chair and stomped on it. Chris Sabin ran out to help his partner but the damage had been done.
Doc Gallows Defeated Juice Robinson, “Coach Kenny” Helps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbsnLw0DDBs
Kenny Omega agreed to come out and be at ringside for Doc Gallows’ match against Juice Robinson this week. The finish of the match came when Robinson was setting Gallows up for his Pulp Friction finisher but was distracted by Anderson who had gotten up on the ring apron. He then turned his attention to Omega and Callis who did the same. The distraction allowed Gallows to recover, counter the Pulp Friction, hit a bicycle kick followed by a slam for the win.
After the match, Omega and the Good Brothers kept up the assault on Finjuice. Eddie Edwards attempted to make the save but the Elite still had the numbers advantage and took him out too. They then celebrated in the ring to end the segment.
El Phantasmo Makes His Impact Debut
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV_tVJqeLI
2x Super J-Cup winner and 2x IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag champ El Phantasmo made his official debut for Impact Wrestling this week. He defeated VSK, who has worked a fair bit on episodes of AEW Dark. VSK got a surprising amount of offence in this match but in the end, ELP was able to finish off his opponent with a super kick. It did look as though ELP may have loaded up his boot before delivering the kick, however.
Chris Sabin Qualifies For Under Siege
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzOMw-A4SW8
Two former world champions faced off in the night’s opening match with a spot in the Under Siege #1 contendership match on the line. Sabin’s speed and technical ability gave him the advantage at numerous points during the match, but Rhino’s stablemates from Violent By Design always did something underhanded to give their guy the advantage. It looked like Rhino had the match won when he was setting up his opponent for the Gore but Sabin avoided it and rolled him up in a cradle and got the 3-count.
Brian Myers ran into Rosemary and the members of Decay backstage this week. Myers was upset he wasn’t given another chance to qualify for Under Siege when Rosemary attempted to tell him what the cards had in store for him. Myers tried to flee the situation but promptly got headbutted by Taurus for his trouble. Decay then laughed over top of him to end the scene. Myers vs Taurus was later announced for Under Siege.
Taylor Wilde Does Not Want Tenille Dashwood’s Help
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwXZxRAZVVA
Taylor Wilde faced Susan this week on Impact. Wilde would have to contend with Susan’s ally, Kimber Lee on the outside as well. Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb sauntered out to the ring area during the match as Dashwood has been lobbying to form a tag-team with Wilde. The finish of the match came when Kimber Lee grabbed Wilde’s leg from the outside prompting Kaleb to pick her up in a fireman’s carry to prevent further interference. While the ref was distracted with that, Dashwood gave Susan a neck breaker along the ring ropes just before Wilde delivered a German Suplex for the win.
After the match, Dashwood wanted to celebrate with Wilde but she was having none of it. Wilde bailed out of the ring before Kaleb could get a photo of the two posing together.
W. Morrissey Is No Longer “One-Half of a Catchphrase”
"You associate this face with one half of a catchphrase…so it was entirely up to me to rebuild myself after I was shattered into pieces." @TheCaZXL is here to make everybody else feel the agony he felt. #IMPACTonAXSTVpic.twitter.com/E4JFI0mCuX
W. Morrissey is not kidding around. He cut an intense promo over top of a video package this week. He’s not happy with how fans and the industry itself has treated him.
“You were the first to criticize, you were the first to say ‘he’s done’ and it isn’t just the fans, it’s every member of this rotten industry.”
Morrissey pinned Willie Mack in tag-team action at Rebellion. Mack then challenged Morrissey to a match at Under Siege. Morrissey more or less accepted the challenge in this video package.
Trey Miguel Qualifies For Under Siege
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQVYagl0KjA
Trey Miguel moved one step closer to achieving his goal of winning the Impact World Championship this week. He locked in his hour-glass submission and got Rohit Raju to tap.
As Trey walked back up the ramp, Jake Something walked passed him with his eyes glued on Shera and Raju. Last week, Raju interfered in Something’s qualifying match for Under Siege and cost him the opportunity. He then took out both Shera and Raju to end the segment.
Rachael Ellering Defeats Kiera Hogan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYKNxHlKng8
Jordynne Grace and Rachael Ellering will have to defend their newly won belts against the former champs at Under Siege. This week, Ellering and Kiera Hogan went one-on-one in a little preview for the upcoming title clash. Ellering picked up the victory with a sideslam as her and Grace continue to have the edge over the duo from Fire N Flava.
Later on in the show, the two teams met up backstage and Jordynne Grace and Tasha Steelz agreed to a match next week.
Coming Up In Impact Wrestling
Next week:
Jordynne Grace vs Tasha Steelz
Karl Anderson vs David Finlay
#1 Contendership – Knockouts Title Rosemary vs Havok
#1 Contendership – X-Division Championship Petey Williams vs ELP vs Rohit Raju vs Ace Austin vs Acey Romero vs TJP
Under Siege Lineup (May 15th):
#1 Contendership – Impact World Championship Chris Bey vs. Matt Cardona vs. Chris Sabin vs. Sami Callihan vs. Moose vs. Trey Miguel
Knockouts Tag Team Championships Jordynne Grace & Rachael Ellering (c) vs Fire N Flava
Brian Myers vs Taurus
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Eddie Edwards & FinJuice
NJPW announced today that they have postponed both Wrestle Grand Slam events scheduled for later this month. The events were to have taken place May 15th in Yokohama and May 29th from the Tokyo Dome. Kazuchika Okada was to have challenged Will Ospreay for the IWGP World title on the 29th.
The promotion is working on determining new dates for the event. Tickets for the event will be valid for the new date. Refunds will be available for ticket-holders unable to attend on the rescheduled date.
6 wrestlers were taken off the Wrestling Dontaku Night 2 show on May 3rd. Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH were all removed due to health and safety protocols. It was later revealed that 2 of those wrestlers then tested positive for COVID-19.
NJPW Statement On Postponed Events
“On Friday May 7, the Japanese government announced an extension to the state of emergency currently in place in Tokyo and other prefectures,” reads an update from NJPW1972.com.
“In light of this announcement, as well as current COVID-19 infection status, and in order to prevent any potential further spread of the virus, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has arrived at the decision to postpone the Wrestle Grand Slam events in Yokohama Stadium and the Tokyo Dome previously scheduled for May 15 and 29 respectively.”
Will Ospreay Reacts
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay posted a video reacting to this news. While he understands the issue of safety, he is convinced this is all a conspiracy orchestrated by Kazuchika Okada to avoid getting in the ring with him.
Last night’s AEW Blood and Guts event might have seemed as though it was live, but in fact only the match between the Pinnacle and Inner Circle was. This was discussed recently on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Due to the time it takes to set up the double-cage, the first four matches of the event were pre-taped with no fans in attendance. Those matches were then shown on the big screen to the live fans at Blood and Guts, with their crowd noise being added to the broadcast.
“It was all taped with no fans a couple of weeks ago, the whole first hour,” said Dave Meltzer. “They did it to pretend that it was live so they actually set up the two rings when they did the taping. Because to set up the cage with the thing would take forever and they couldn’t do it live, they just couldn’t.”
“That’s why when they did the advertising, they advertised it was going to be a one match show, the idea was a one match show to the people who bought tickets.”
Tony Khan appeared before the show and explained the situation and offered refunds to anyone who was upset by the situation. In total, 5 refunds were given.
Last night on MLW Fusion, the former Dario Cueto from Lucha Underground, now known as El Jefe, was revealed as the leader of Azteca Underground. Salina de la Renta had been abducted by one of El Jefe’s representatives and delivered to him in the show’s final scene. El Jefe informed Salina that he is building a new temple and this requires a sacrifice. While the camera cut away, it is assumed that Cueto made Salina that sacrifice.
According to comments Court Bauer made to Post Wrestling, the scene was Salina de la Renta’s send-off from the promotion. She is now gone from MLW.
“I think the character deserved a big prominent focus and a great send-off in the last scene of this era of MLW.”
MLW is looking to bring in some fresh names to its roster. They announced on Fusion last night a “2021 Draft” that will take place between now and MLW’s return on July 10th.
Salina de la Renta tweeted this out-of-character message about the end of her run with MLW:
“Nothing to cry about. Everything comes to an end and we’re grateful for those awesome memories. It’s also part of evolution and you gotta start somewhere, this the ending of a chapter in a book with many more chapters to come.”
MLW is on hiatus. The next show is scheduled for July 10th at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.
