Tommy Dreamer recently revealed on his House of Hardcore podcast that he contracted COVID-19 while on a tour of Alaska. Unfortunately, the 50-year-old has had a real tough time battling the virus. He spoke about his 24-day experience with COVID during the podcast.

“This is day 24 since I’ve been exposed to COVID. I’ve never been sicker in my life. I went to Alaska and was exposed on that Friday. The company I went for, Wrestle Pro, everyone tested negative. They were there about a week before I came in and someone tested positive,” Dreamer said (transcriptions via Fightful).

“The company did everything and told the wrestlers and fans. Nobody asked for refunds or anything,” he continued.

Dreamer continued to say that he agreed to continue working the tour but upon seeing the unmasked crowd in attendance realized he made a mistake.

“I did it for selfish reasons and wanted to check Alaska off my bucket list to say I wrestled in every state and financial reasons. There was a good financial deal for me. It’s going to have long-term effects on my health,” he continued.

Tommy Dreamer Describes COVID-19 Symptoms

Dreamer continued to talk about his experience with the virus. Unfortunately, he would also reveal that his wife and daughter were exposed to the virus as well.

“It felt like I had a massive concussion and I had a non-stop throbbing pain in my head for 17 days. Then came the fever. It was going up to 102, 102.4, and I had that for about seven days. The chills, at one point I had four winter blankets on me and I still felt like I was outside naked in the snow. That was about four days. Sweats, I would be freezing for two to three hours and then came the sweats and having to change the sheets daily. That lasted about 16 to 17 days. Weakness and fatigue were next level.”

“I’m on day 24 and I’ve had three good days. It feels like you overcome and then it hits you all over again. I tested positive on Thursday and had already exposed my family. Thursday night, I was in so much physical pain that I literally said, ‘I’m going to pee myself because I can’t get up to walk to the bathroom.’ One night, I woke up crying and in pain. My elbows and hips felt like they were on fire, and I’ve been on fire. It was a raging pain, burning in both my elbows and hips. No matter which way I turned, I lost use of both my arms. They were just hanging. I couldn’t lay in bed. I had to stand for two hours against the wall.”

It was recently revealed that Daniel Bryan’s contract with WWE expired on Friday night after his match with Roman Reigns. What exactly might be going on with Bryan’s free agency was recently addressed on Wrestling Observer Radio. According to comments made by Dave Meltzer, Daniel Bryan’s situation has some similarities to Brian Pillman, who had a very famous free agency stint in 1996.

“I will just say that if anyone tells you that they know, they are lying to you,” Meltzer said about Bryan’s situation.

“It’s up in the air. I’m sure someday that in 30 years, I’ll have more to say. I have Dark Side of the Ring flashbacks on this story already,” Meltzer continued. This comment drew a confused reaction from co-host Bryan Alvarez.

“Dark Side of the Ring, what does that have to do with anything?” Alvarez asked.

“Cause the Brian Pillman’s story is airing tomorrow night,” Meltzer responded.

“What does that have to do with Bryan Danielson?” Alvarez continued to ask. “Did he buy a Humvee?”

“No, he didn’t buy a Humvee, I don’t think,” Meltzer responded.

Daniel Bryan and Brian Pillman Free Agency Stories

In 1996, Brian Pillman famously convinced WCW to give him an official release as part of a planned “Loose Cannon” free agency storyline. Pillman then showed up on ECW television and eventually was able to negotiate a deal with WWE thanks to having received his release from WCW. What, if anything, this has to do with Daniel Bryan is not known.

Meltzer then continued to hint at some big things happening soon in wrestling.

“There’s some crazy things going on in wrestling, some really crazy things going on in wrestling but they haven’t happened yet. I’m sure one of them will be when he shows up somewhere, which could be WWE, could be somewhere else. That’s about it for now,” Meltzer continued.

It was a significant show last night for MLW. The promotion will be taking a hiatus until July 10th when they welcome back fans inside Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena. Last night’s Fusion was billed as the “Season Finale” and in addition to the big reveal of the former Dario Cueto, a major title change also took place on the show.

Myron Reed becomes the first person to win he MLW World Middleweight Championship twice as he defeated Lio Rush to regain the belt. Rush had defeated Reed for the title on January 6th’s Kings of the Colosseum event. Reed would kick out from Rush’s frog splash in the rematch, however, and pick up the win with his “No Cap Splash” moments later.

MLW World Middleweight Championship Statistics

Maxwell Jacob Friedman was the inaugural champion. He held the title for close to 3 months before vacating it. Teddy Hart then won the vacant belt and successfully defended it 6x over the course of the next 11 months. Hart then dropped it to Reed, who held it through 4 title defenses and then a pandemic before dropping it to Rush in January.

1. Teddy Hart (1x) 6 defenses, 330 days as champion.
2. Myron Reed (2x – current) 4 defenses, 424 days as champion.
3. Lio Rush (1x) 2 defenses, 120 days as champion.
4. Maxwell Jacob Friedman (1x) 1 defense, 141 days as champion

MLW presented its “Season Finale” show last night. The promotion will be taking a hiatus until they welcome back live fans on July 10th inside the 2300 Arena. On tonight’s show, there was a major angle and a big title change.

The full show is available in the player below:

MLW Fusion 5/5 Quick Results:

1. Laredo Kid defeated Gringo Loco
2. Richard Holliday defeated Ariel Dominguez
3. MLW World Middleweight Championship
   Myron Reed (c) defeated Lio Rush (c) – New Champion

Dario Cueto Revealed As “El Jefe”

At the very end of the show, we got an update on Salina de la Renta. She was shown last week with a sack over her head being escorted into a car by a masked man presumed to be one of El Jefe’s handlers. This week, we saw a woman believed to be Salina escorted into an office where the former head of Lucha Underground, Dario Cueto, sat. Cueto was revealed as “El Jefe” and the man behind the Azteca Underground faction. El Jefe told the woman that he is starting a new temple, and that requires a sacrifice before the camera cut away.

Myron Reed Wins Back World Middleweight Title From Lio Rush

MLW fans were treated to Rush vs Reed II this week. Rush had defeated Reed for the title on the January 6th Kings of the Colosseum show before defending it against Laredo Kid and Brian Pillman Jr.

Reed would win back the title after a back-and-forth match that could have gone either way. Perhaps the turning point in the match came when Rush hit his Frog Splash on Reed but was delayed in making the cover. The momentary delay allowed Reed to kick out from Rush’s finisher. Rush became frustrated at this point and his next attack was countered by the challenger into his “Cappn Crunch” move followed by his springboard 450 splash for the win. After the match, Reed’s Injustice stablemates Jordan Oliver and Calvin Tankman came out to celebrate with him.

Contra Unit “Gatekeeping” Title For Jacob Fatu

National Openweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone has been calling out MLW World Champion Jacob Fatu but it appears Contra Unit is gatekeeping title matches for the champion. Alicia Atout explained this week that while Contra does have the ability to determine who faces the champion, there is one exception to that rule and that is the Battle Riot event, where the winner is guaranteed a title shot. The 40-man rumble styled event didn’t take place due to the pandemic in 2020.

MLW Top-10

This week, MLW revealed what will be the final top-10 rankings until the summer.

MLW World Champion: Jacob Fatu (Contra Unit)

1. Alexander Hammerstone (Dynasty) (National Openweight Champion)
2. Tom Lawlor (Team Filthy)
3. Lio Rush
4. Mads Krugger (Contra Unit)
5. Richard Holliday (Dynasty)
6. Mil Muertes (Azteca Underground)
7. Myron Reed (Injustice) (World Middleweight Champion)
8. Calvin Tankman (Injustice)
9. Ross Von Erich
10. Rocky Romero

Gino Medina Attacks Richard Holliday

Richard Holliday made quick work of Ariel Dominguez this week. Following the match, Holliday was about to be interviewed by Alicia Atout but was interrupted by his former Dynasty stablemate, Gino Medina. Holliday defeated Medina recently on Fusion but evidently Gino is not done with him. Medina attacked Holliday from behind and gave him a DDT onto the stage area to close the segment.

MLW 2021 Draft

MLW announced on last night’s show that the promotion will be holding a draft in the coming weeks. Recent reports have stated that MLW is looking to freshen up its roster and bring in some new faces. It seems likely then that this draft is how the promotion will announce new additions to its roster.

Coming Up In MLW

MLW will be airing classic episodes for the weeks leading up to its return on July 10th from the 2300 Arena. Saturday episodes will also air on VICE TV. No matches have been announced for the show thus far but El Jefe revealed in the episode’s closing segment that he plans on being there on July 10th. Earlier in the show, Marshall Von Erich also promised Tom Lawlor and Team Filthy that there will be a reckoning in Philadelphia as well.

Matt Riddle and Randy Orton have formed an unlikely team on RAW as of late. It does not appear as though this is a short-term angle for R-K-Bro either.

According to a report from PW Insider, Riddle and Orton are expected to receive a sizeable push as a team on RAW. There are no plans to break them up and RK-Bro merchandise is expected to be produced and marketed shortly.

Randy Orton Speaks On His Impression of Matt Riddle

Orton was on the Kurt Angle podcast recently and spoke about having been impressed with Riddle thus far.

“Matt Riddle, yeah. I think he is going to do fantastic, I think he has already kind of outshined most of his little class of NXT that have kind of come up over the last year. I mean, you have a lot of those guys doing well,” Orton said about Riddle (transcriptions via Sportskeeda).

Orton also spoke about his first time meeting Riddle during the interview.

“I walk by Matt Riddle, and my olive branch was basically me all looking at Matt, and I just said, I go, ‘Oh, there he is, there he is!’ Just kind of icebreaker, expecting maybe a, ‘Oh, hey Randy. My name is Matt; nice to meet you.’ But instead, Matt just kind of barely, you know, with the bloodshot eyes glanced over at me, he is just like, and he just kept walking. I remember thinking, ‘that motherf****r’.”

Tony Khan opened what he has coined “The Forbidden Door” in wrestling this year by seemingly breaking down barriers between promotions. He spoke with Entrepreneur recently regarding how “Forbidden Door” decisions are made.

Khan began by talking about how when he was younger, it was common for wrestling promotions to work together.

“When I was younger, there were partnerships between a lot of the other wrestling companies. And there was the Wrestling Peace Festival, which was a great idea, and some of those companies did keep working together,” Khan said.

“You saw wrestlers from AAA in WCW, and you saw wrestlers from New Japan in WCW, and so I think it’s very natural. Twenty years later, things have come back full circle, and now you’re seeing those wrestlers from New Japan and AAA competing again on TNT. You’re seeing IWGP titles defended on TNT. I think it’s the natural balance of the universe just coming back.”

How Are Forbidden Door Decisions Made?

Khan was also asked how the promotions involved make decisions on who wins, loses, and more. He would say that he goes into it with the same mentality as a sports general manager goes into making trades with other teams.

“I have to make sure we’re getting taken care of, and obviously the promoter we’re working with is going to have stuff they need to make sure they’re getting taken care of,” Khan continued. “And I’m pretty reasonable. I don’t want to screw it up for anybody. So whether it’s Konnan with AAA or dealing with the New Japan office or talking to Scott [D’Amore] and Impact, I just generally go into it like I’m dealing with another party in sports if you’re making a trade or something. You know, you just try to work it out and be a good person and a fair partner in the negotiation.”

The “Forbidden Door” will open again on next week’s Dynamite, when NJPW’s Yuji Nagata challenges Jon Moxley for the IWGP United States Championship.

Throughout Jeff Jarrett’s long career in wrestling, he’s worked with Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, and Cody Rhodes. In a recent interview with Comicbook.com, Jarrett spoke about the similarities and differences between the 3 Rhodes’.

“Me and Dusty used to have conversations about Cody,” Jarrett said. “The acting bug and his amateur [background], to fast forward, when he came on board (in Global Force) for that short period, he’s got a charisma like his father, and I’ve worked with Dustin back in the late ’80s.”

Jarrett then spoke about how Dustin made a success out of the Goldust gimmick.

“Dustin took his character of Goldust and that could have been… It goes without saying, that wasn’t the easiest character, but you talk about taking a character and making it your own? Dustin has a unique ability that Cody doesn’t, but Cody has the ability, like his father.”

Jarrett continued to praise Cody during the interview.

“You talk about the acorn not falling from the oak tree, he’s got a magnetic charisma about him. He looks the part and he’s obviously a great athlete,” Jarrett said. He would add, however, that he feels Cody is one of the few in AEW that is connecting with the audience.

“On AEW when you see him and he’s one of the few, in my opinion, that really is connecting with his audience, and that is what sets him apart,” Jarrett continued to say of Cody.

The first episode of Jarrett’s new podcast was released this week:

WWE recently updated its famed “Then, Now, Forever” slogan to include a fourth word. The official slogan is now “Then, Now, Forever, Together.”

Stephanie McMahon recently spoke with Forbes about the significance behind the change.

“Ultimately what the signature does is it recognizes our fans. It recognizes our community, and the message of inclusivity is so important,” Stephanie McMahon said. “WWE has always been about inclusivity. … We are all about bringing people together, putting smiles on people’s faces and creating moments and memories that last a lifetime.”

Stephanie would continue to talk about the significance of WrestleMania 37 during the interview. It was the first time WWE had welcomed back fans since the onset of the global pandemic.

“Standing on the stage for WrestleMania 37 at Raymond James Stadium looking out at history being made in that moment was absolutely the shining moment that brought it all together.”

She would continue to say that WWE’s goal is to make every fan feel like family.

“No matter who they are, no matter what they do for a living, no matter where they live, no matter how much money they make, they belong, they are a part of WWE and that’s the inclusive nature of our community and the bigger WWE family.”

In an interview with Adage last year, Stephanie spoke about efforts WWE is taking in this regard.

“You need to make sure diversity is real. And it’s not just representation, but that those voices are really heard, and that those voices matter.”

After NJPW pulled several wrestlers from yesterday’s Wrestling Dontaku Night 2 event, the promotion has revealed that 2 wrestlers have tested positive for COVID-19. NJPW has not revealed who the two wrestlers that have tested positive are, however.

Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH were all removed from yesterday’s event. A scheduled IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match between El Desperado and YOH was scrapped from the show.

The two wrestlers who recently tested positive were both discovered to have a fever the morning of the show.

“According to protocol, they were taken for immediate testing, while those that had close contact with the individuals in the last two events were removed from proceedings. NJPW has learned that the individuals’ tests were positive for COVID-19,” reads an NJPW update on NJPW1972.com. 

Both wrestlers are said to be experiencing mild symptoms and are under medical care.

NJPW has two significant events upcoming this month. On May 15th, the promotion presents Wrestle Grand Slam in Yokohama Stadium. No matches have been announced thus far fro that show. Then on May 29th, NJPW will present Wrestle Grand Slam from the Tokyo Dome. Kazuchika Okada is currently scheduled to challenge IWGP World Champion Will Ospreay on the show.

Ring of Honor is looking to re-build its women’s division. The company now airs Women of Honor Wednesdays on YouTube. One wrestler who is interested in performing for the company is Chelsea Green. The former WWE Superstar took to Twitter recently to state her interest in wrestling for ROH.

The above Tweet garnered the attention of several people from ROH including Ian Riccaboni.

Green’s trainer Lance Storm noted that ROH is one of the only companies she hasn’t worked for.

Maria Kanellis might be alluding to the fact that she holds “the pencil” in ROH’s women’s division at the moment with the below Tweet.

Green was also asked recently if she is interested in returning to Impact Wrestling. She spoke to Cultaholic and gave the below answer:

“Here’s what I’ll say, never say never because I had such a good relationship with them. Obviously, I was their women’s champion in 2018 – feels like it was yesterday – and I have a great relationship with everyone in that company,” Green stated. “So, I am excited to maybe pop in and out. Who knows?”

Green also spoke about ideas she pitched while in WWE during an interview with Chris Van Vliet.

“I can’t tell you how many ideas I came up with. If I think about it, they all led back to The Hot Mess. But with that being said, it wasn’t The Hot Mess like you saw at IMPACT. I tried to pitch a darker, creepier Hot Mess that you could relate to. Not just like the girl at the bar, more so any psychotic person you’ve had in your life.” 

NXT Champion Karrion Kross recently stated that he hopes Jon Moxley returns to WWE so that they can face each other again. Kross was taking part in an interview with Barstool Sports when he made the comments.

“I have to say it, I hope (Jon Moxley) comes back one day,” Kross said during the interview. “I think he will, not that I would know or nothing has been said.”

“I hope he comes back one day. If he does, he’s going to have to go through me and I think he knows that. We have unfinished business.”

Moxley and Kross have faced each other once previously. Kross was defeated by Moxley at a show for Future Stars of Wrestling in Las Vegas on July 5th, 2019.

Kross also spoke about which wrestlers have influenced him throughout his career.

“Disco Inferno believe it or not has probably been the best mentor that I’ve had and the reason being is because he prepared me to understand what this business actually is before I was involved with it at the highest level. He prepared me to understand the business model of what this is at the highest level.”

Eric Bischoff recently spent some time on his 83 Weeks podcast discussing which 5 modern-day wrestlers he would choose to start a new promotion with. He ended up choosing 3 wrestlers currently with AEW and another 2 currently with WWE.

Bischoff noted that he’s a big MJF fan and has been impressed with Matt Riddle as of late as well.

“In AEW, I’m a huge fan of MJF. Anyone who follows me on social media probably knows that. He’s just an amazing young talent, and the fact that he’s as young as he is and as good as he is, I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I dig him as a performer. This one will shock people maybe, but Matt Riddle. I’m kind of digging it. He’s different, and he’s good. He’s gonna get better and better and better.”

Bischoff continued to talk about the RK-Bro team of Riddle and Orton on RAW.

“I love the Randy Orton and Matt Riddle combination,” Bischoff continued. “I don’t know if it’s long-term, but there’s a buddy cop moving that takes place in the ring. You’re talking about two different types of personalities that could really play well off of each other. The potential and entertainment for that combination is off the charts good. I dig Matt Riddle and think he’ll be one of the people I’ll be watching. So, right now, I’d say him and MJF. Cody Rhodes is doing a great job and has a lot of things going on. If he doesn’t get himself spread too thin and stays focused, I think Cody could emerge as one of the biggest names in the business.”

In addition to MJF, Riddle, and Orton, Bischoff then mentioned Kenny Omega and Cody Rhodes as the other two in his top-5.

“[MJF], Matt Riddle. I’d snatch Randy Orton in a heartbeat. Kenny Omega, got enough momentum. If you’re starting fresh, there’s a lot of talent in WWE, but I only get five. You’re looking at anchors and people you’re gonna be depending on for the next five or 10 years. I’m going Cody,” Bischoff said during the interview (transcriptions via 411Mania).

Wrestling Dontaku night 2 this morning from Fukuoka has undergone several lineup changes due to COVID-19 protocols. 6 wrestlers have been removed from the event. The scheduled IWGP Junior Heavyweight title match between El Desperado and YOH has been scrapped entirely.

Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH were all removed from the event. NJPW explained the changes in an update on its website.

“One wrestler who was scheduled to appear on today’s Wrestling Dontaku Day 2 card presented with a fever on the morning of the event,” NJPW’s update reads. “This individual is currently undergoing thorough examination and PCR and antibody testing. In addition, another wrestler who has been a part of events since May 1 in Beppu and has since also presented with a fever is also undergoing evaluation.”

The scheduled IWGP World Championship match on the show was not impacted by the changes. Will Ospreay will still face challenger Shingo Takagi on the card. The winner of that match will face Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Grand Slam. That event will take place from the Tokyo Dome on May 29th.

Will Ospreay On Being IWGP World Champion

Ospreay was recently interviewed by NJPW1972.com about being the new champion.

“It sits with me. It sits well with me. It’s all about the journey. Years ago I saw what was then the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on a guy I admired in AJ Styles, and he said to me ‘if you want this, you’ve got to come to Japan’.”

“I feel like there’s two sides to me. Half of me is that 14 year old boy with stars in their eyes. The other half is the 27 year old man who’s all business. I don’t have friends or brothers except the United Empire. Everyone else is trying to take food off of my table and I’ll walk over anybody to stop that. It isn’t a dream, it’s reality, and I have to do all it takes to stay at the top of this mountain.”

Chris Jericho recently spoke with Comicbook.com to promote Wednesday’s Blood and Guts match on AEW Dynamite. Jericho’s Inner Circle will go to war against MJF’s Pinnacle faction in the first Blood and Guts match in AEW history.

During his discussion with Connor Casey, Jericho spoke about the “forbidden door” and AEW’s ongoing partnerships with Impact and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

AEW currently has a working relationship with Impact, but Jericho does not think they should do a full-blown invasion storyline with the Toronto-based promotion.

“Our roster is jam packed as it is,” Jericho said. “And I think our involvement with Impact has been pretty much what it should be. I’m not saying this in an egotistical way, but AEW is at a completely different level than Impact is. So anything that we’re doing with them benefits them a lot more than it benefits us, in my opinion.”

Jericho feels that it’s a good thing for AEW stars like Kenny Omega and Private Party to appear at Impact events. However, don’t expect to see him doing the same.

“Chris Jericho will never go to Nashville and work in an empty studio in front of somebody,” he added. “There’s just no reason for me to do that. If those guys came over to invade, who are they going to [send]?”

AEW could always do an invasion angle down the road if it makes sense, but for now, they need to focus on their own up-and-coming talent. They have so many guys that are on the verge of breaking out that he wants AEW to focus on them, not outsiders.

Jericho on AEW vs. NJPW

Although Chris Jericho isn’t keen on wrestling in an empty studio for Impact Wrestling, he did express interest in matches outside of AEW. In particular, Jericho is interested in facing several wrestlers from NJPW.

“There’s a couple of matches there that I would love have. [Minoru] Suzuki and Jericho,” he continued. “I think Ospreay and Jericho. I think Kenny and myself as a tag team against Tana and Okada or against Ibushi and Okada. That’s a Tokyo Dome main event. So all of those matches are in the pipeline. I love Japan.”

Head over to Comicbook.com to check out their full interview with Chris Jericho.

The NJPW-AEW forbidden door flies open again on the May 12th edition of Dynamite. Jon Moxley will defend the IWGP United States Championship against NJPW’s Yuji Nagata. Moxley will also be in action on an upcoming episode of NJPW Strong.

The season finale of MLW Fusion airs this Wednesday on YouTube. It will be the final first-run show for the next two months.

MLW boss Court Bauer recently announced that the promotion will take a hiatus until July, when the return in front of a packed house at Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena.

With the “Season Finale” show falling on Cinco de Mayo, MLW is teasing a big angle involving Azteca Underground.

Scheduled for this week’s show is Myron Reed challenging Lio Rush for the World middleweight title. Richard Holliday will also be in action although an opponent has yet to be named.

Azteca Underground

The Azteca Underground angle is expected to make a big impact in the promotion shortly. Last week on MLW Fusion, Salina de la Renta escaped from El Jefe’s handlers via helicopter after falling out of favor with the organization.

The Lucha Underground style faction has yet to reveal who “El Jefe” is but many are speculating it could be Dario Cueto. Konnan is expected to return to the promotion shortly as well.

MLW News and Notes

In addition to the Azteca Underground angle, MLW is said to be looking to freshen up its roster. PW Insider noted that the company is in the midst of negotiating with new talent. An MLW source stated the company is looking to have “a focus on bringing in high profile talent.”

Calvin Tankman is said to have impressed a lot of people in MLW as well. He had a high-profile match against Jacob Fatu for the MLW World Heavyweight Championship at Never Say Never.

The biggest match the company is building to continues to be Alexander Hammerstone challenging Jacob Fatu. It is rumored that this match could take place on a special event broadcast on DAZN.

Matt Hardy is arguably one of the most innovative wrestlers of the current era. Jim Cornette, on the other hand, has been frequently critical of the current state of the wrestling business. The two have been clashing on social media as of late.

Ironically, this all started when Matt Hardy put out a tweet encouraging people to not be so negative online. He wrote, “If you read/watch someone’s take & you dislike it, why would you waste any of your time to negatively comment on it? This is odd. Move on. People believe differently than you, whether you accept it or not. Unless someone’s being unethical & immoral, let people live their life.”

This led to someone commenting that Hardy sometimes is sometimes critical of Jim Cornette online.

Naturally, this led to Jim Cornette responding.

Matt Hardy & Jim Cornette’s Exchange

“Not a gig, Matt, just my real opinions since I’m done with this dog & pony show some of you guys call wrestling these days. A shame what’s happened to the business. Had great respect for you when you didn’t teleport to other dimensions and change clothes in a fucking ice machine,” Cornette Tweeted.

Reby Hardy wasn’t going to just sit on the sidelines while someone insulted her husband.

Things then started back up in the thread this morning. Hardy sent out the following at 9:30 AM.

“Your principles will always be tested by people who care more about fame than integrity or money instead of what’s right. Cash in & be a whore or stand up for what you believe in and have a bunch of stupid idiots say you “can’t change.” Words of wisdom. Also don’t do stupid shit,” Cornette responded to Hardy’s Tweet.

Will Ospreay is set to defend his IWGP World Championship on night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku tomorrow against Shingo Takagi. He recently sat down with NJPW1972.com and spoke about his run as champion.

Ospreay was asked how he feels being called the IWGP World Champion.

“It sits with me. It sits well with me. It’s all about the journey. Years ago I saw what was then the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on a guy I admired in AJ Styles, and he said to me ‘if you want this, you’ve got to come to Japan’,” Ospreay said.

Ospreay was also asked about his United Empire faction and what he enjoys about having them with him.

“I enjoy having them there. You see a lot of shenanigans from seconds in New Japan. But I’m different. I don’t need Jeff Cobb and Aaron Henare to help me win a singles match. We work together in tags of course, and we’re training hard together to help improve there. But I never need help in singles matches.”

Whoever comes away from Wrestling Dontaku as IWGP World Champion will face Kazuchika Okada on May 29th at Wrestle Grand Slam. Ospreay spoke about the importance of that match and facing Okada once again.

“The history with Okada is against me. I only beat him once, and that was the one and only time I needed help to win a match. If, when I beat Shingo, Tokyo Dome is May 29. It’ll be my third big singles match in under two months, and Okada has had a lot of rest.”

The full interview with Will Ospreay can be read here.

WWE Hall of Famer Lita (Amy Dumas) appears in the horror movie, “It Wants Blood.” The film was made by Acid Bath Productions in 2019, but is now (finally) available for rent and purchase at Vimeo.

The official synopsis reads, “Two giant monsters are forced to battle head to screaming head on the political circuit as they run against each other for a seat as a senator. But the unsuspecting public doesn’t realize there are actually creatures that each running mate owns, feasting on helpless, big-breasted, quivering-lipped women and charity-thieving priests. The perils of politics never involved two enormous behemoths fighting to the death…until now! You’ll be on the edge of your seat watching fangs feasting on heaps of flesh as beautiful babes are fed to the beasts in It Wants Blood!”

Here are the trailer for It Wants Blood:

What Lita Has Been Up To Lately

Lita has been keeping in contact with fans as of late with a pen pal club.

She also has a Twitch channel that she keeps active.

Last year, in an interview with the Women’s Wrestling Weekly podcast, Lita commented on WWE doing another Evolution PPV.

“Dude, why is it not back? So Mae Young got so much positive feedback, Evolution was sold out, granted, you can’t look at your own timeline for how people feel because they’re like, ‘You’re so great,’ and I’m like, oh, everyone loved it, but from what I got, everybody responded really positively to it, even just financially, it was sold out, I don’t understand why there is not another Evolution, why it didn’t make the regular PPV cut, was really shocking to me.” 

Andrade appeared on AAA’s Rey de Reyes show over the weekend and issued a challenge to Mega Champion Kenny Omega for TripleMania. Omega has since responded to Andrade on Twitter.

Andrade has since responded to Omega as well:

“BUSY GUY. I debuted at 13 years old and I always kept busy and traveled around the world winning championships and you in Japan playing with children when I was a superstar, now is my first #Traquilo year,I will wait for your answer on the beach”

Angles For TripleMania

The Rey de Reyes show set up several angles that will likely play out at TripleMania. In addition to Andrade appearing on the show and challenging Kenny Omega, Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo challenged Faby Apache after she won the Reina de Reinas championship. Purrazzo then attacked Apache and put her in an arm-bar. The match between the two will be title for title.

There was also an invasion angle on the show. Sam Adonis,  Puma King and Diamante Azul are now a stable known as La Empresa and are playing up their history with CMLL. The Sexy Star character has also been recast with Hija de Gatubela now playing the role.

NBC’s “Young Rock” featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been renewed for a second season. The 10th episode in the series aired this week and garnered 2.4 million viewers. The 11th episode in the series will air on May 4th.

NBC announced that both “Young Rock” and Kenan Thompson’s show “Kenan” have been renewed yesterday.

“It has been a true joy to watch Dwayne Johnson & Kenan Thompson on NBC every week and see families connect with their relatable, entertaining and heartwarming stories,” said Lisa Katz, president of scripted programming for NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We’re thrilled to renew both of these shows for another season and can’t wait to see more from Dwayne, Kenan and the incredibly talented casts and producing teams behind each of them.”

Show writer and former WWE creative team member Brian Gewirtz took to Twitter to comment on the show being renewed.

The Rock recently revealed to Deadline that Young Rock star Uli Latukefu, who plays the college-aged Rock on the show, has also been tapped for a role in Black Adam. The DC Comics movie starring the Rock is due for release in the summer of 2022. It has not been revealed what role Latukefu will have in the movie.

AEW will present “Blood & Guts” on the May 5th edition of Dynamite. Chris Jericho and his Inner Circle will take on Maxwell Jacob Friedman and the Pinnacle. While the double-ring steel cage match draws many comparisons to the War Games matches created by Dusty Rhodes in the 1980s, Jericho says Blood & Guts will be different.

“It’s not a true blue War Games either,” Jericho said on Wrestling Observer Radio. “The apparatus is different just because of the way – I don’t think I’m giving anything away here – the configurations of Daily’s Place… you’ve never seen an apparatus like this, there are some differences to it.”

“Blood and guts really is a new version,” Jericho continued. “It’s not WWE’s version of a War Games, it’s not Dusty’s version of a War Games, it’s AEW’s version of War Games which is why it’s called Blood & Guts, it’s got a different name to it. And I like that, I like the fact that it has to be a different match, not just because we don’t own the copyright for War Games because we actually are making this a little bit different from what you’re used to.”

Jericho also confirmed while there might be some blood, no guts will be visible during the match (unless something has gone horribly wrong).

“I’m sure there’ll be some blood. There won’t be any guts. I don’t want to disappoint you guys but nobody’s going to be hara-kiri’ed with a samurai sword where you see the endtrails or anything like that,” Jericho said.

Jon Moxley defeated KENTA to retain his IWGP United States Championship on an episode of New Japan Strong in February. AEW recently revealed that Moxley will defend that title May 12th on Dynamite against NJPW’s Yuji Nagata. NJPW announced last night on New Japan Strong that both Nagata and Moxley will be in action on next week’s show.

Jon Moxley will team with Chris Dickinson next week on New Japan Strong to take on the team of Yuji Nagata and Ren Narita.

NJPW President Comments On New Japan Strong

In a recent interview with NJPW1972.com, NJPW President Takami Ohbari spoke about the importance of New Japan Strong to the promotion.

“Up to now, New Japan has been exclusively about Japan,” he said during the interview. “Until very recently, the only way to see a New Japan wrestler live outside of Japan was in another company. And vice versa; the only path to wrestlers from overseas to compete in a NJPW ring was an incredibly difficult one. What we have in STRONG is a mid-way point. That’s what I’ve always wanted to build. Now we have a place for wrestlers from all these other promotions to get together. It’s a place for wrestlers you’ve never seen before and matches you’ve never seen before. Without a practical example, it was hard for me to go out in that press conference in November 2019 and say ‘listen, this is going to benefit fans all over the world’, but now it’s happening.”

On AEW Dynamite this week, Chris Jericho made reference to Jake Hager having saved him from an “assassination attempt” in Abu Dhabi in 2012. Jericho appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio recently and detailed what exactly took place during this situation.

“That is a true story. He didn’t save me from assassination but he did have my back,” Jericho said on the show. “We were in Abu Dhabi and we were in a club and some guy was being a jerk so I just walked by him and gave him a body check, body checked him into the wall, a good o’l fashioned hockey move.”

“He claimed that his father owned, and I quote, 27% of the country and that I would be assassinated by the end of the day, like in 24 hours. I had a bounty for $7 million on my head.”

Jericho continued to say that he asked the person if $7 million was a good number for a bounty and what other size bounties are given in similar situations.

“Hager was behind me going ‘dude, this is the wild west, don’t mess with this guy.'”

Jericho would later say that he went back to his room and was thinking he wouldn’t go out again until things blew over. Eventually, he was convinced to go back to the same club, however.

“I go back to the club and the bouncer’s there and he goes ‘oh, you haven’t been assassinated yet’ and it’s like ‘no, should I be worried?’ and he goes ‘that m***erf***ker says that all the time. His dad doesn’t own the country, he owns a gas station down the street.’ But at the time we didn’t know and Jake had my back when I was threatened with assassination in Abu Dhabi.”

Last year when WWE released 20+ talents in April, Impact built up their Slammiversary PPV around who would be debuting or returning to the company. Promotional materials for this year’s Slammiversary event carry a similar feel.

Scott D’Amore recently appeared on the Wrestling Perspectives podcast and implied that negotiations with some recently released WWE talent might have already begun.

“I think you look at what we did at Slammiversary last year with all the buzz, and I think there’s an opportunity here. There’s some great talent and they’ve got this hiccup in their career. We’ve all been there probably where we’ve been let go and they’ve got the opportunity to do like so many of the people did last year and forge new opportunities and different and in some ways better opportunities for themselves,” D’Amore said (transcriptions via Fightful).

Scott D’Amore on Samoa Joe

With Samoa Joe now a free agent, D’Amore made specific mention of when he wanted to bring Joe to TNA in 2005.

“In 2005 when I got put in charge of the creative for TNA I knew there was one guy that I wanted, and that was Samoa Joe, and I worked very hard getting on the phone because WWE wanted him as well. Myself and Mike Tenay, who’s an amazing, amazing dude that I know some of you have met and got to be around, we just knew Joe was different and special and we wanted to have him there. That was 2005, we were able to get him and do some pretty damn cool stuff. I got mad respect for Samoa Joe and would always love an opportunity to work with him again, both because of his unbelievable talent and his unique charisma and also because he’s just a good dude.”

Scott D’Amore On Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, and Chelsea Green

D’Amore also hinted that some conversations may have already started.

“So many of that other talent. you look at it, whether it’s Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, whether it’s Chelsea Green, you know, there’s just so much there and I just got to say, I think there’s a chance that some talent’s going to move around and you’re just going to have to stay tuned and be careful what I say, but maybe some conversations have started.”

The NBA Playoffs get going on May 22nd, 2021 and several of the games will air on TNT. The episode of AEW Dynamite originally scheduled for May 26th, 2021 will not air in the promotion’s usual time slot due to the basketball schedule.

According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the show scheduled for the 26th will now take place on Friday, May 28th. Additionally, the show will air at 10 PM est rather than at 8 PM est. AEW’s next PPV is scheduled to be Double or Nothing on May 30th, 2021. This means the delayed show on the 28th will be the go-home show for the event.

AEW was also forced to move several shows last summer to make way for the NBA Playoffs. The NBA was forced into a bubble for the end of the season and playoffs last year, months after the season would have normally already ended.

Tony Khan On AEW’s Deal With Turner For Wednesday Nights

Turner Sports also recently signed a deal with the NHL. The deal is not expected to impact AEW programming much, however. Tony Khan recently spoke about AEW’s deal with Turner for Wednesday nights during an appearance on Busted Open Radio.

“I know Wednesday night is our slot and our home,” he said. “I’m thrilled with our partnership with TNT. It’s the lifeblood of our company and our primary revenue source and t’s the way most fans get exposed to AEW and see our show. And tonight and every night that we do Dynamite, for a lot of wrestling fans, it’s a really important night of the week.”

“We have a contract with over two and a half years left for Wednesday nights in this slot. And if there was ever an opportunity to move or if there was a deal to be had, I would consider it. If we did something, it would have to be a really good deal for AEW and it would have to make sense for us. As it stands right now, that is the spot we’re in. If we move, I would certainly consider a deal if there was something in it for AEW.”