Big E is hoping to teach people about Black History through a mix of animation, hip hop, and science fiction. He recently announced a Kickstarter campaign to fund the pilot episode of the show. So far, the campaign has raised over $25,000.
“Conceived as a hip-hop odyssey through Black History, ‘Our Heroes Rock!’ is an animated series that shines a spotlight on history’s unsung Heroes of color through infectious music, stunning 3D animation and a family-friendly, sci-fi-flavored narrative designed to appeal to both parents and kids alike.”
Ring gear designer Jonathan Davenport and The Sporting News’ Andreas Hale are also attached to the project. Grammy-nominated artist, Rapsody, is as well. Big E has joined forces with animation studio Something’s Awry, and OHR Media to hopefully turn the idea into reality.
“Our aim is to crowdfund the pilot episode, which will focus on the story of Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to integrate into an elementary school in the South on November 14, 1960, with Rapsody narrating Bridges’ phenomenal story through rhythm and rhyme.”
24 hours ago myself @WWEBigE and @TheRealDavenpoe were a ball of nerves messaging each other as we prepared to share our vision of Our Heroes Rock with you. In 1 day we raised $25k thanks to you. Our hearts are full. But as Kobe said “job’s not finished” https://t.co/mHkiptQzqOpic.twitter.com/fNxFIZ8vgY
Kenny Omega recently clarified that AEW’s agreement with NJPW is not a full-blown talent exchange. He spoke with Talk Sport recently about what fans can expect from the agreement reached between the two promotions.
“So you talk about the ‘forbidden door’ and people talk about it being open. It’s been ‘kicked open!’ or ‘blown open!’ Do I look at it as this gigantic door in the distance… I feel like it’s opened a crack and there’s this heavenly light shining through,” Omega said.
Omega then clarified that a few wrestlers will go from one promotion to the other but it won’t be a full talent exchange.
“A couple things slip through the cracks, you know what I mean? You might get a guy here or there sneaking in from one side to another, but it’s not going to be a full talent exchange where it’s a free-for-all going both ways.”
He continued to say that the agreement is hampered by international travel restrictions.
“It’s more the traveling restrictions and the things that make traveling between countries difficult is actually what is hurting us. But, in the same way, it helped this whole thing become a possibility because now we’ve been able to take a step back and take a look at the world we’ve realized there’s something a lot bigger than company pride or competing with everyone else around you trying to make yourself the number one brand.”
In response to a fan question on Twitter, Omega also recently stated that he believes Brock Lesnar is one of the best performers in history.
Brock is one of the greatest athletes and performers of all time. I’d need more friends if I were to face him.
AEW star Anna Jay will be out of action for the next 6-12 months due to injury. According to AEW, the Dark Order member will require shoulder surgery.
Anna Jay has been replaced in the AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator tournament by Madi Wrenkowski, a student and protege of Thunder Rosa.
AEW announced the news on Monday. Anna Jay commented on her injury, stating that she’s super upset about the situation, but will come back stronger than ever.
I’m super upset about this…. all I can do now is put in the work to come back stronger. Thanks for all the love and support everyone. It means a lot to me! https://t.co/7OM08xn8i3
Fans began suspecting something was up with Anna Jay on on Monday. She was conspicuously absent from AEW’s promotion for this week’s Women’s Eliminator tournament matches. She also did not appear on this week’s Being The Elite.
Wrenkowski trained out of the Hybrid School Of Wrestling in San Antonio. She made her pro-debut in 2019 and has competed on AEW Dark previously.
Tonight’s show on YouTube will feature the semi-finals of the Japanese side of the bracket and two 1st round matches from the American side of the bracket. The scheduled matches are below:
AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (1st Round American bracket) Tay Conti vs Nyla Rose
AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (1st Round American bracket) Britt Baker vs Madi Wrenkowski
AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (2nd Round Japanese bracket) Emi Sakura vs Yuka Sakazaki
AEW Women’s Title-Eliminator Tournament (2nd Round Japanese bracket) Aja Kong vs. Ryo Mizunami
MLW’s next signature event will be “Never Say Never” on Wednesday, March 31st. The show will air on YouTube, Roku, DaZN, and Fubo Sports. It will also air on BeIN Sports on Saturday, April 3rd, 2021.
“In continuing our efforts to give back to the MLW diehard fans, we look forward to giving them the fastest hour of action featuring the climax of rivalries and a championship title fight,” said Court Bauer.
This will be the first signature event for MLW since last month’s Kings of the Colosseum event on January 6th, 2021. Much like last month’s event, this show will run about 55-60 minutes and fit in one episode of MLW Fusion.
The promotion has not been announcing where their shows are being taped, though the venue most recently used looks an awful lot like Orlando’s Gilt nightclub.
There will be no episode of MLW Fusion this week. Rather, the league will be airing a classic episode of MLW Underground from its original run.
Dark Side of the Ring Season 3 has been confirmed by VICE to begin airing sometime this year. Several topics for the 3rd season have already been confirmed and a new one was just revealed today. According to a report from PW Insider, an episode focussed on the life and career of The Dynamite Kid, Tom Billington, is in the works.
Billington’s children, his ex-wife Michelle, and his sister-in-law Julie Hart have all been interviewed for the episode.
Dynamite Kid wrestled with Stampede Wrestling in Calgary and NJPW in Japan during his early career. He became well known for innovative matches with guys like Bret Hart in Calgary and Tiger Mask in Japan. In 1984, he signed with WWE and teamed with his cousin Davey Boy Smith Jr. as the British Bulldogs, where they are former WWF Tag Team Champions.
He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Tokyo Sports in 1991. He was elected to the Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995. Unfortunately, Dynamite was confined to a wheelchair due to injuries around 1997. He then suffered a debilitating stroke in 2013.
Dynamite Kid passed away in 2018 at the age of 60 due to his numerous health ailments.
Dark Side of the Ring Season 3 Episodes
The third season of Dark Side of the Ring will cover the following topics:
Brian Pillman (Season Premiere)
FMW (Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling)
XPW (Xtreme Pro Wrestling)
Nick Gage
WCW/NJPW Collision In Korea 1995
The Smith Family (Grizzly Smith, Sam Houston, Rockin’ Robin & Jake “The Snake” Roberts)
Ion Croitoru (a.k.a. Bruiser Bedlam, Johnny K-9)
Chris Kanyon
More topics for Season Three of Dark Side of the Ring will be revealed in the months ahed. The season will span 14 episodes, so there is still a lot more info to come.
WWE fans in Canada will soon be able to watch NXT live Wednesday nights.
Up until this week, WWE fans in Canada had not been able to see NXT until a 1-hour version of the show aired on Fridays. They could also wait until the show was posted on the WWE Network. Sportsnet and WWE have reached a new agreement that will see NXT air live on Sportsnet starting this Wednesday.
Triple H, WWE’s Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development, commented on this new pact.
“Our fans in Canada have been all in on NXT since day one,” said Triple H. “We’re thrilled about this expanded partnership with Sportsnet which will help us grow NXT’s reach throughout the country and introduce even more fans to the newest generation of WWE Superstars.”
Sportsnet VP of Programming Greg Sansone said, “WWE provides some of the most electrifying entertainment in all of sports, and the passion of their fanbase in Canada is second to none. Reinforcing our already robust slate of live WWE programming with NXT was an easy choice and one our audiences have been asking for. We can’t wait to see the newest generation of Superstars live in action every Wednesday night.”
For more on WWE’s partnership with Sportsnet, visit Corporate.WWE.com.
Wednesday’s NXT will see Karrion Kross vs. Santos Escobar and Xia Li vs. Kacy Catanzaro.
Unfortunately for fans of the popular junior heavyweight, Hiromu Takahashi is going to miss as long as 6 months with a torn pec. NJPW announced the injury today on social media. The company has yet to announce what will happen to Takahashi’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in the wake of his injury.
Takahashi was scheduled to defend his title on night 2 of the Castle Attack show on February 28th in Osaka. He was to face El Phantasmo on the show.
“I’m sorry to everyone at Korakuen Hall,” Takahashi Tweeted regarding missing the recent “Road to Castle Attack” event today.
Takahashi’s Los Ingobernables stablemate, Tetsuya Naito, is also on the shelf at the moment. He is nursing a knee injury but is still scheduled to face Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles on night 2 of Castle Attack.
Takahashi has been one of the most decorated junior heavyweights in recent years. He is a 4x IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Takahashi is also a 2x winner of the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament in 2018 and 2020. Last year, Tokyo Sports presented him with the “Fighting Spirit Award.” He is also a 1x CMLL World Lightweight Champion.
BREAKING: After medical assessment, Hiromu Takahashi's left pectoral injury will leave him out of action for an estimated six months. More information will follow.
A new episode of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions is now available on the WWE Network. The latest interview features Smackdown Women’s Champion, Sasha Banks.
WWE posted a clip of the interview to its official YouTube page. In the clip, Banks talks about how depression led to her taking time away from WWE in 2019.
“Depression was taking over. My mind was taking over, my thoughts were taking over. This place was being bigger than me. I really, really lost myself because for a good 7-years, I didn’t even hear my real name. I didn’t hear Mercedes anymore, all I heard was Sasha Banks.”
Banks then spoke about asking to leave WWE.
“That was probably one of the hardest things I had to do was ask to leave WWE.”
Austin then asked Banks what WWE said when she asked to leave.
“Vince was like ‘No!” Banks said with a laugh.
“He said I’m going to give you 30 days to think about it and I took more than 30 days,” Banks continued.
The Undertaker recently said that he believes The Rock could unify America if he ran for President of the United States. The Rock recently stated that he will consider a Presidential run if that is what the people want him to do.
Taker recently explained to TMZ Sports why he thinks The Rock would make a great US President.
“That man works his tail off and he dives in wholeheartedly in everything that he does and if he gets his mindset that he wants to make a run at politics, ya know what? I think he’ll do it,” Taker said. “He’s so charming, he’s so witty, I think he can be the uniter that people are looking for.”
Taker continued, “I know that he has the charisma. Maybe all it would take would be 1 eyebrow, and he’d look at the left, raise the eyebrow. Look at the right, raise an eyebrow and hit ’em with ‘the People’s Elbow.'”
Watch below to see The Undertaker’s comments about The Rock running for President:
The Rock Open to Presidential Run
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
In a recent interview with USA Today, the Rock spoke about possibly running for President if that is what the people want him to do.
“I would consider a presidential run in the future if that’s what the people wanted,” the Rock said. “Truly I mean that, and I’m not flippant in any way with my answer. That would be up to the people…So I would wait, and I would listen. I would have my finger on the pulse, my ear to the ground.”
Read more about The Rock’s stance on running for President here:
The Undertaker went on the Joe Rogan Podcast recently and ruffled a few feathers when he referred to today’s roster as “soft.” Matt Riddle recently responded to the Undertaker’s comments in an interview with Vibe & Wrestling.
“I would say to the Undertaker and everyone, times have changed, the human race and everyone is changing and yes we don’t carry knives and weapons to work because we have metal detectors to keep us safe so people don’t.”
“We have a wellness policy where we are all tested regularly so that we are safe and in our right frame of mind,” Riddle continued.
In terms of today’s roster being soft, Riddle knows that’s not the case.
“I’m a professional UFC veteran who broke people’s jaws on a steel cage, something that wasn’t there when he was young.”
“He shouldn’t be saying some things about the upcoming roster because we’re real wild, not pretentious, so he should be careful,” Riddle continued.
Riddle said he still respects the Undertaker, however.
“I don’t think he wanted to be mean, I just think he thought his time was harder and I would say this, when he was working, times weren’t harder, they weren’t smart either and they were dumb. They abused certain things, they abused their bodies and they all pay the price.”
Riddle’s comments can be heard in the player below:
On the series premiere of “Young Rock” on NBC Tuesday night, the premise of the show was that Dwayne Johnson is running for President in the year 2032. Many people have expressed that they really would like The Rock to actually run for the Presidency of the United States. In a recent interview with USA Today, the Rock says that he’ll consider it if it’s what “the people want.”
“I would consider a presidential run in the future if that’s what the people wanted,” the Rock said. “Truly I mean that, and I’m not flippant in any way with my answer. That would be up to the people…So I would wait, and I would listen. I would have my finger on the pulse, my ear to the ground.”
The Rock On Childhood Stories Featured On “Young Rock”
One childhood story The Rock told on “Young Rock” this week was when he was disciplined for referring to pro-wrestling as fake. In the show, young Rocky is hoisted in the air by Andre the Giant for the offense. Andre then warned him never to use the “F word” again.
“Honestly, what would happen is when I stepped out of line like that, I would be brought into the ring,” Rock said. “Their way of discipline was to take me in the ring. And beat my a– in a way that I learned actually how not fake wrestling is.”
The horror film “Jakob’s Wife” with CM Punk is set to premiere at SXSW in March. It will debut in theatres and on-demand in April. After that, however, it has been picked up by AMC and its horror-themed streaming service, Shudder, and will debut on the service later this year. The movie has also been picked up by distribution company, RLJE Films.
“We’re thrilled to acquire Jakob’s Wife ahead of its world premiere at SXSW,” said Mark Ward from RLJE Films. “This film has already garnered tremendous following during production, and we’re confident Jakob’s Wife will be well received at the festival.”
The film’s description reads as follows:
“Anne, married to a small-town Minister, feels her life has been shrinking over the past 30 years. Encountering “The Master” brings her a new sense of power and an appetite to live bolder. However, the change comes with a heavy body count.”
“Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Thing, Night of the Living Dead,” Punk responded when asked his favorite horror films of all time. He would also recommend John Carpenter when asked about his favorite filmmakers. “John Carpenter! Christ he’s done so many amazing films!”
WE GOT HITCHED!
Looking forward to all the upcoming adventures with our @RLJEfilms & @Shudder family.
JAKOB'S WIFE premieres next month at @sxsw and hits theaters and VOD on April 16th.
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega believes it is possible that WWE and AEW could work together one day.
Back in December, Triple H had said that WWE is “open for business” when asked about possibly working with other promotions. Omega says he believes Triple H, and that WWE and AEW could work together someday. He detailed his thoughts on the matter in a recent interview with Talk Sport.
“I think Triple H is still being one of the boys for the better part of his career. I’m sure a big part of how he runs his business and how he looks at WWE, NXT and all those things he has a finger in, I really do think he does it for the sake of fans as well.”
“So when he does say things like he’s open for business, I do think if there is a situation which could maybe eliminate some of the worries and fears from the other people that have a say in making these things happen, I do see it being a reality.”
Omega continued to say, however, that it took a pandemic for AEW/Impact/NJPW to come together, so he’s not sure what it would take to add WWE to the mix. He hopes that WWE knows that at least one EVP in AEW would fight “tooth and nail” to make it happen, however.
“But, for us with IMPACT, New Japan, it took a global pandemic for this to actually happen [laughs]. So who knows what it would take for it to happen on their end, but as long as they know at least on the AEW side they’ve got more than one EVP looking to make this a better and brighter place for every wrestling fan young or old and possibly the disenfranchised fan, the fan that used to be a fan but isn’t a fan anymore.”
“We want to make this a fun thing for everyone and if that includes working with literally everyone, which I think would make everyone happy, then I’m all for it and I would lobby very hard for it, fight tooth and nail to make it happen.”
Former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley recently stated that he thought he and Brodie Lee would have formed a great tag-team. Moxley was interviewed by Metro UK and said he felt he and Lee could have had a full run as tag-team together.
“I had an idea to eventually one day – I like tag team wrestling, you know? And there’s so many great tag teams here that I wanna get to work with. ‘But it’s like, OK, I’m gonna need a suitable partner, not just any random guy. I want a full, actual good tag team run with a good partner, make a real run at having a run in this tag division.”
“The guy I was thinking about doing it with was Brodie Lee. He was a good friend, and I wrestled him so many millions of times, our styles would have complemented each other very well.”
Moxley and Brodie Lee wrestled each other countless times in WWE, especially during the Shield and Wyatt Family runs from 2014-2017. Outside of WWE, they met in 3 singles matches. The first was on an EVOLVE show in 2010 that went to a no-contest. Then on January 7th, 2011, Jon Moxley successfully defended the CZW Championship against Lee. Their last match against each other was on the Double or Nothing 2020 PPV last May when Moxley successfully defended the AEW World Championship against Lee.
The full interview with Metro UK can be read here.
Lars Sullivan departed WWE last month after asking the company for his release. The 32-year-old told the company he was retiring from pro-wrestling due to his issues with anxiety. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however, Sullivan plans on getting into the world of bare-knuckled boxing.
“Dylan Miley, the former Lars Sullivan, is now doing boxing training with the idea of working for one of the Bare Knuckle promotions,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
The report would continue to state that Sullivan doesn’t have any illusions about his prospects in the sport, however. He’s 32-years-old and does not have prior boxing training. Still, he plans on making a go of it in the sport.
“He was going to get a push, a real big push as a matter of fact, and he could not handle the pressure. He had an anxiety attack, he was suffering even before. Then he stopped coming, kept not coming, and at that point, this has happened before.”
“They brought him back a second time with a big push, he got the knee injury. They brought him back a 3rd time with a big push, he stopped coming. At that point, I think it was inevitable how it was going to end up.”
Following his release from WWE last spring, Matt Cardona wrestled two matches in AEW. He teamed with Cody and defeated John Silver & Alex Reynolds on the August 5th edition of Dynamite and then teamed with the Natural Nightmares and Scorpio Sky at All Out 2020 and defeated 4 members of the Dark Order.
Cardona is now with Impact Wrestling and appears to be building a feud with his former longtime tag partner and friend, Brian Myers. He spoke to Chris Van Vliet recently about why he is no longer in All Elite Wrestling.
“After the release day, I was in contact with so many people and promotions. The AEW thing worked out first, and that was only for a couple of dates,” Cardona said.
“AEW was awesome, it was fun, it was great but I was in such a long-term relationship, I didn’t want to jump into another relationship with anybody, really. To be honest, I was enjoying the free time at home, building the podcast, and time just kind of flew by.”
“Before I knew it, I got a text, it was the Friday before Hard to Kill, saying ‘hey, do you want to come to work tomorrow?’ I was like ‘you know what?'”
“I like to be able to bounce around and do whatever I want to do right now,” he continued.
Cardona’s comments can be heard in the player below:
Jon Moxley will face Kenny Omega in an exploding barbed-wire deathmatch at AEW Revolution on March 7th. He recently appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio and spoke about the upcoming match.
Moxley talked about how he’d always been a fan of such matches but never thought he’d get to do one in AEW. He wouldn’t say whose idea having the match in AEW was, but did note that it was something that was brought to him rather than something he pitched to management.
“When this was brought to me, quite some time ago actually, I’m not going to turn that down,” Moxley said on the show.
“One thing that I absolutely cannot stand is the thought of promising something and not delivering it to fans. So if I tell you some wild stuff is going to go down, I’m going to deliver on it.”
Later in the show, Moxley said he had the following to say to Tony Khan about the match.
“So now, I made it very clear to Tony, don’t put me in these situations unless you want me to go full-on, full tilt. Be careful of what you wish for because I’m not in the business of under-delivering on promises these days to people. And they know that so in a situation like this, the gloves are off.”
Jon Moxley On Pitching Ideas In WWE
Moxley then continued to talk about other times in his career when he has pitched ideas and had them turned down.
“There were many, many times over the years where I’d say these things like ‘I’m going to put you through Hell in a Cell!’ and whatever they had me say but in my mind I’m like ‘No, I’m not, I’m not going to do any of this stuff. This is stupid, we know exactly what’s going to happen, it’s the same stupid Hell in a Cell.'”
“I felt like I was always over-promising what I was allowed to actually deliver and I pitched so much stuff over the years,” Moxley continued.
Moxley also spoke about pitching an idea for a Hell in a Cell match and getting rejected by WWE management.
“Something simple like tearing the canvas off and exposing the boards,” Moxley mentioned he pitched for a Hell in a Cell match once.
“They looked at me like I’m f***ing stupid,” he said of Vince, Hunter, and Stephanie’s reaction. “They didn’t get it at all. Vince was like ‘I don’t think people are going to get it’. They looked at me like I’m an idiot. Hunter’s rolling his eyes.”
NJPW and AXS TV are reportedly negotiating for a deal that would see the promotion return to the network. This comes on the heels of Juice Robinson & David Finlay drawing a good rating for their debut on Impact on AXS TV this week, and an Impact in 60 show featuring NJPW talent also scoring a good rating.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the talks between the two sides have gotten serious.
“There are significant talks involving New Japan returning to AXS television. AXS was wanting the programming back, and it would likely involve more dealings with New Japan and Impact, as the Juice Robinson & David Finlay debut as regulars show,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
There were recent reports that NJPW turned down a deal with AXS TV in favor of debuting on Roku. This was actually just a case of NJPW not wanting to sign an exclusive deal with a smaller network in order to keep things open for a deal with a bigger network down the line. NJPW’s agreement with Roku is not exclusive and they can continue to negotiate with other broadcasters.
NJPW released a statement earlier about their new broadcast deal with Roku.
“Our fans in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom are among our most loyal, and they have been very clear that they want NJPW’s content made available to them,” said Takami Ohbari, President of NJPW. “NJPW is unlike any other pro-wrestling in the world. It is the most athletic, sports-oriented pro-wrestling on the planet, and we are excited to bring our athletes and matches to these markets in such a major way. Thank you to The Roku Channel, and we look forward to a successful partnership that brings NJPW to millions of new fans around the world.”
Sammy Guevara was reported to have been sent home from a recent set of Impact Wrestling tapings held in Nashville. According to a report from Slam Wrestling, Chris Jericho had come up with the idea of Sammy going to his friend Don Callis’ wrestling promotion following his leaving the Inner Circle in AEW. Guevara evidently disagreed with the creative direction his character would take in the promotion and once the dust cleared, he went home and did not take part in the tapings.
The incident was addressed recently in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The report states that Sammy came in for the tapings held from 2/9 to 2/11.
“We don’t know the details of the creative past he was going to win three matches at the tapings that just took place,” wrote Dave Meltzer. Sammy then is said to have suggested to Impact that he win the X-Division title and never lose it before returning to AEW, which Impact rejected.
Sammy Guevara Makes An Impact
It seems as though everyone involved in the situation has smoothed things over with each other. Still, Jericho and Callis were the ones who came up with the idea and likely weren’t thrilled with how everything went down.
“Chris Jericho was the one who put the angle together with Don Callis. It made Jericho look bad to Impact because he and Callis came up with the idea and then Guevara didn’t want to do it,” Meltzer continued.
Jericho then made a comment on AEW this week that Sammy had been making a lot of bad choices as of late, and some have taken that as an inside jab at the situation.
Meltzer continued to say there were those in Impact quite upset with Sammy.
“Scott D’Amore told Guevara that they didn’t need him when he arrived in Nashville if he doesn’t follow the plans that had already been agreed to. Impact was really mad about AEW sending talent over, them putting plans in place and then the talent wouldn’t do what was planned.”
While the creative had seemingly been agreed on, a source within Impact said that the creative was bad and Sammy was not wrong to disagree with it.
Sammy Guevara tweeted the following on Friday morning, apparently in response to this report circulating about his brush with Impact Wrestling:
Before Jon Moxley faces KENTA for the IWGP United States Championship on February 26th, and before he faces Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship on March 7th, he will face Davey Boy Smith Jr. at Bloodsport 5 on February 20th.
Moxley took to Twitter recently to promote his upcoming match with Barnett.
Moxley last participated in Bloodsport 3. He defeated Chris Dickinson in the main event of that show.
Davey Boy Smith Jr. last defeated Calvin Tankman at Bloodsport 4.
Josh Barnett spoke to the WINCLY podcast last fall about having Jon Moxley on his shows.
“If you watch his match vs. Jake Hager, you can see that he’s got skills, that he spent time grappling and knows submissions skills,” Barnett said on the show. “The man just pure knows how to fight. And that’s what we need more than anything. If you’re in Bloodsport, it’s because I’ve seen something in you that shows that you can fight.”
Salina de la Renta appears to be bringing some aspects of the cult-favorite show, Lucha Underground, into MLW. This started when she summoned former Lucha Underground Champion, Mil Muertes to the promotion. Recently in MLW, Salina’s Promociones Dorado faction was purchased by a mysterious group named Azteca Underground.
On MLW Fusion, Salina referred to the owner of Azteca Underground as someone very wealthy. Los Parks commented this week that they know who the owner is but are keeping the information secret.
There is a section on the Azteca Underground website labeled “The Proprieter.” It has a picture of someone standing outside a building from a distance. Some say the picture resembles the former Lucha Underground owner, Dario Cueto.
While the performer behind the Mil Muertes character owns the rights to it, it’s not clear if MLW would be able to use the name, Dario Cueto. They could just go with Cueto’s “El Jefe” nickname. The El Rey Network, which formerly aired Lucha Underground, has gone out of business, however.
Recently on Fusion, Mil Muertes defeated Savio Vega in an “Aztec Jungle Fight.” This match was setup after Vega refused an offer from Salina to purchase a share of his IWA promotion in Puerto Rico.
Impact Wrestling drew its best rating of the year on Tuesday night with an episode that featured the promotional debut of Juice Robinson and David Finlay. According to ShowBuzz Daily, Tuesday’s episode drew 197,000 viewers on AXS TV and a 0.06 rating in the key demo.
The show finished 117th for the night. The top show on Tuesday night was NBC’s “This is Us” and the #2 show was the debut of “Young Rock.”
The rating is up from last week’s go-home show for the No Surrender event. That episode garnered 153,000 viewers on AXS TV and a 0.04 rating in the key demo. The Kenny Omega debut episode on December 8th, 2020 drew 221,000 viewers and a 0.08 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
Interest for Impact’s latest episode likely increased following the No Surrender event on Impact Plus this weekend. It was announced at the conclusion of the show that David Finlay & Juice Robinson would make their promotional debuts this week. FinJuice defeated Reno Scum on Tuesday night before being confronted by The Good Brothers, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows.
The following matches have been booked for next week’s show:
Winning Team Faces Each Other For X-Division Title Shot Ace Austin, Chris Bey and Black Taurus vs Willie Mack, Josh Alexander and Trey Migue
#1 Contenders Knockouts Tag Team Championships Jordynne Grace & Jazz vs Kimber Lee & Susan w/ Deonna Purrazzo
Tables Match Cody Deaner vs Jake Something
The company also announced this morning that their next streaming event will be on March 13th, 2021.
After Low-Ki was victorious in the main event, Team Filthy hit the ring and looked to deliver a 3-on-1 attack. The Von Erichs theme music could be heard blaring as the brothers drove up in their jeep to make the save, however. They rid the ring of Team Filthy and according to MLW.com, Tom Lawlor fled the island and his whereabouts are unknown.
Dan Lambert was on commentary for this match and noted that he was concerned about the officiating in this match and that proved to be a very prophetic statement. Low Ki had King Mo locked in a triangle choke and it looked as though Mo was trying to reach out for the ring ropes. The problem is, there wasn’t any ring ropes, so it looked for all the world as if Mo was tapping when he tried to grab them.
This match came about after Savio Vega rejected Salina de la Renta’s offer to purchase a share of IWA Puerto Rico. Salina noted that the deal was not optional and now Vega would have to take on Muertes in an Aztec Jungle Fight.
In an undisclosed location, deep in the jungle, Muertes and Vega brawled. The camera cut away from the match on multiple occasions and went back to Filthy Island to cover the matches taking place there. Eventually, Muertes hit Vega in the head with a large crowbar and cover him for the 3. As the camera cut away, Muertes was digging a grave, presumably to bury Savio Vega.
Mauna Loa is the name of an active volcano in Hawaii. It was also the name of a rather large man that Dominic Garrini submitted in the first match on Filthy Island. According to the graphic, Mauna Loa is a 14-time Polynesian Pacific Champion.
It was hard not to notice during this match that a real Fyre Festival-type situation seems to have occurred on the island. The rope without rings was placed on a field with few spectators scattered around. A broken down and dilapidated tent was also visible.
Mauna Loa actually seemed to have the advantage in the match until Lawlor yelled out that he should approach the contest as if he was fighting former MMA Fighter, Emmanuel Yarbrough. Garrini then hit a judo throw and locked in the rear-naked choke for the win.
Team Filthy continued its winning ways in the second match on Filthy Island as Kevin Ku defeated Zenshi. The match started in an interesting fashion, as Zenshi dropped down from the trees into the rope-less ring. He picked up the win with a Dragon Suplex after Zenshi hit the exposed post moments earlier.
TJP showed frustration with Bu Ku Dao after their recent tag-team loss. In an interview with Alicia Atout, TJP expressed that he doesn’t feel Dao has it to be successful and also made fun of his height. Atout accused TJP of bullying and he abruptly ended the interview.
Rocky Romero and El Gringo Loco faced each other in singles action on Filthy Island. At one point, Romero looked at the camera and dedicated the match to his dog. Well, Romero’s dog was likely thrilled to see him pick up the victory after delivering a tornado DDT.
MLW Top-10 Rankings
MLW released updated top-10 rankings this week.
MLW World Champion: Jacob Fatu (Contra Unit)
Alexander Hammerstone (National Openweight Champion) (Dynasty)
The only movement in the men’s singles rankings this week saw #2 PAC move up one spot over #3 Cody Rhodes. PAC defeated Ryan Nemeth last week while Rhodes injured his shoulder in a tag-team win with Lee Johnson over Cezar Bononi and Peter Avalon.
We still don’t have a World Title match announced for Revolution on March 7th. One would expect #1 Jon Moxley to receive a rematch against Omega but that has yet to be announced. TNT Champion Darby Allin is not scheduled to defend his belt on the show. He’ll be teaming with Sting against Team Taz in a street fight.
The only movement in the women’s division this week sees #3 Tay Conti move up past #4 Serena Deeb.
Everything in this division is about the women’s title-eliminator tournament at the moment. The tournament kicked off on Dynamite last week with #5 Thunder Rosa defeating the unranked Leyla Hirsch. The tournament will continue tonight when #4 Serena Deeb takes on former AEW Women’s Champion, Riho.
Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (3-0) (+1)
FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (1-0) (-1)
Santana & Ortiz (3-1) (+1)
The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) (3-1) (-1)
#3 FTR is not going to like the fact that #2 Jurassic Express has now moved ahead of them in the rankings. The only other movement in the rankings this week sees #4 Santana & Ortiz move ahead of #5 the Acclaimed.
Last week on Dynamite, #1 MJF and Chris Jericho defeated #5 The Acclaimed. On tonight’s show, #4 Santana and Ortiz will face The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championships. Whoever leaves that match as champions will then face MJF and Jericho at Revolution.
Tuesday night’s “Young Rock” premiere on NBC delivered an impressive rating, indicating sizable interest in the new series.
Over 5 million people tuned in to see the show. Young Rock was second on network TV for the evening, falling behind only “This Is Us” (also on NBC). It finished first for the night in the males 18-49 category.
Young Rock drew 5,034,000 viewers and did a 0.9 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is Us pulled in a 1.1 rating in the demo.
SNL veteran Kenan Thompson’s new show debuted following Young Rock. It brought in 4 million viewers and a 0.8 rating in the A18-49 demo.
Last night’s ratings via ShowBuzz Daily are below:
“Young Rock focuses on different chapters of Dwayne Johnson’s life. From growing up in a strong and resilient family, to being surrounded by the wild characters of his professional wrestling family, to playing football at the University of Miami, the show will explore the crazy rollercoaster that has shaped Dwayne into the man he is today and the larger-than-life characters he’s met along the way.”
