Edge tore his triceps during the filming of the Greatest Wrestling Match ever at WWE Backlash this spring. He was a guest recently on Busted Open Radio and gave an update on when he might be able to return to the ring.
“It’s a slow process. I’m not going to lie,” Edge said on his recovery. “The triceps is a different thing. I got back from an Achilles in six months, but I was 35 doing that, so at 10 plus years, I don’t know. It’s a different thing. You don’t realize how much your triceps is involved in almost everything you do in terms of arm movement.”
In terms of a time frame for return, Edge isn’t sure. His recovery has not gone as quickly as he had hoped.
“So, I don’t know yet. I know it’s a lot slower than I thought it was going to be because I just have this mentality of, ‘Right. No big deal. Surgery, PT and we grind through it, we break down the scar tissue and off we go.’ So, I don’t know if it’s the injury itself [or] if it’s I’m a little older, I don’t know what it is, but it’s not as fast as I would’ve liked.”
Edge noted that now, at 47 years-old, he may have to be more patient with his body.
“I just assume by three months, I should be almost ready to go and that’s not the case. So, maybe I just need a little more patience with my body now,” he continued.
He continued to say that his recovery won’t be more difficult than returning from neck issues or Achilles’ problems was. As a result of his age, however, it will take longer.
“Nothing is going to be harder than the neck was nor the Achilles for that matter, so it might just take a little longer than I want this time. So I have to come to grips with that, and I have to realize I’m dealing with a different reality now.”
Edge does not have a time frame for his return but is looking forward to coming back when he is able to.
“So, I’ll get back. I don’t know what the time frame is, but I will because when I do watch, man, I get excited because I’m chomping at the bit to get in there with guys and really just try and hands-on, show them and just the difference of how it can be.”
The National Wrestling Alliance recently brokered a deal with the United Wrestling Network (Championship Wrestling from Hollywood/Arizona/Memphis) to promote joint weekly PPV shows. The 3rd such event aired last night from Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California.
The main event of the show saw Trevor Murdoch defeat Aron Stevens to become the new NWA National Heavyweight Champion.
Previous main events in the weekly PPV series have seen Nick Aldis successfully defend against Mike Bennett w/Maria Bennett and Thunder Rosa defending her belt against Priscilla Kelly.
Trevor Murdoch is now the 59th wrestler to win the title. He begins the 86th reign in the title’s 40-year lineage. He is the 5th title-holder in the current era. Previous recent champions include Aron Stevens, Colt Cabana, James Storm, and Willie Mack.
Austin Idol is the inaugural title-holder, having won the belt in 1980 and holding it for 221 days. His reign is second to only Ron Garvin’s 233-day reign from 1984-85 as the longest single reign in the 1980s. The title was deactivated from 1986 until 1997.
Ricky Murdock holds the record with 817 days as champion for his two title reigns in the 2000s. Willie Mack was the first title-holder in the William Patrick Corgan era of the National Wrestling Alliance.
It was reported yesterday that Joey Ryan has filed a lawsuit against 3 women who accused him of sexual misconduct as part of the #SpeakingOut movement this summer. In an update to this story, PW Insider is now reporting that Ryan has also filed a lawsuit against 11 other of his accusers.
Only one accuser is named in the lawsuit and the other are listed as Jane Does.
Documents relating to Ryan’s lawsuit state that he is seeking compensation “in excess of $25,000.00 for economic damages, $25,000 for non-economic damages, for an order retracting and correcting the defamatory statements, for equitable relief based on principles that are fair and just.”
The SoCal Uncensored website also provided the below updates regarding what they have heard about the case:
“I have never had sex with a woman without her consent, I have never acted criminally towards a woman and I have never acted criminally with sex and unlike these allegations, I have actual evidence that can show you that,” Ryan said in the since deleted video.
Ryan Nemeth Tweets About Joey Ryan
Hot Young Briley aka Ryan Nemeth has been Tweeting about Joey Ryan. Dolph Ziggler’s brother posted the following:
Impact Wrestling is on the road to Bound For Glory on October 24th, 2020. Along that route, Impact will travel down Victory Road on Saturday for a special event airing on Impact Plus. On last night’s edition of Impact Wrestling, the full card for Saturday’s event was set and more.
Impact 9/29 Quick Results:
Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary defeated Havok & Neveah
Jordynne Grave defeated Tenille Dashwood
The Good Brothers defeated The Rascalz
Fallah Bah defeated Johnny Swinger
The North defeated Ace Austin & Madman Fulton
Here are 8 Takeaways From Impact Wrestling 9/29:
Impact’s Tag Division Heating Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV_OKVzEq9s
Impact Wrestling’s tag-team division is really starting to heat up. There were two big matches in the division this week and multiple big matches upcoming.
This week the Good Brothers defeated The Rascalz in tag action. After the match, they got on the microphone and said it was time for them to challenge the Motor City Machine Guns for the titles. They issued the challenge for Bound For Glory.
Later in the night, however, more tag-team action would headline the show. Former tag champs the North took on Ace Austin and Madman Fulton. The North would score the victory after hitting Northern Assault on Ace Austin but a tag-team melee would ensue after the match. The Good Brothers came out to get in Page and Alexander’s face but Austin and Fulton attacked them from behind. The North then joined in on the assault but the sides were evened up when the Motor City Machine Guns came out to assist. 4 of the division’s top teams brawled to end the show.
Ken Shamrock Returns, Attacks Eddie Edwards
Last week’s show concluded with a mystery person attacking Eddie Edwards in the back. Edwards will face Eric Young for the Impact World Championship at Victory Road but perhaps an old rival is attempting to get in his way. He was cutting a promo on Young when Sami Callihan appeared on the stage. Edwards’ longtime rival insisted it was not him who attacked Edwards last week but he knows who it was. The lights went out again and when they came back on Ken Shamrock was behind Edwards. He took him out and applied the Ankle Lock submission. Edwards will have to go into his title match with Young at Victory Road in a weakened state.
Jordynne Grace Evens Series With Tenille Dashwood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcCEv-W99OQ
Tenille Dashwood defeated Jordynne Grace thanks to her personal photographer, Kaleb Konley, in the main event last week. A rematch was granted this week between the two Knockouts. This week Grace would make Dashwood submit to a rear-naked choke, evening the series at 1-1. The rubber match was then scheduled for Victory Road on Saturday night.
Heath To Have His First Official Match At Victory Road
We learned this week that Heath maxed out his credit cards to pay for all the celebrity endorsements and infomercials he’s been purchasing. He pulled out the travelling wad of cash that has been making the rounds between wrestlers lately and noted that he can use the cash to pay his credit card bills. Just as he said this, however, Reno Scum attacked along with Hernandez and took the money.
Later in the show, Rhino convinced Scott D’Amore to allow the unsigned Heath to team with him against Reno Scum at Victory Road.
Moose has been searching for EC3 who stole the TNA World title from him this summer. This week, EC3 appeared on a projection screen. He invited Moose to a funeral he is holding for the TNA title next week where he plans on burning the belt. It looks as though weeks worth of this angle could all culminate in a big segment next week.
This week’s episode kicked off with a wedding-related tag-team match. Rosemary is set to be married to John E. Bravo soon but things are a little complicated. As Rosemary is a demon, she needs a Sinister Minister of sorts to officiate the wedding. This requires bringing James Mitchell back from the undead realm. Havok and Rosemary joined in sending the devilish Mitchell to that realm earlier this year and Havok declined to help Rosemary in bringing him back, leading to this tag match.
Taya Valkyrie would pick up the win for her team when she hit Road to Valhalla on Neveah. After the match, however, Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz would hit the ring. As Taya has been playing an active role in planning Rosemary’s wedding, Hogan and Steelz were told they would play no part in it. Evidently, this did not sit well with them and they opted to attack their new rivals. They would end up retreating as Havok & Neveah re-entered the ring.
It was later revealed that Valkyrie and Rosemary will take on Hogan and Steelz next week.
Fallah Bah To Be John E. Bravo’s Best Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFNJxiKMqyc
Johnny Swinger faced Fallah Bah this week with the stipulation that the winner would be John E Bravo’s Best Man at his wedding to Rosemary. Swinger appeared to have won the match after hitting Fallah Bah with Crazzy Steve’s monkey behind the ref’s back but the match result would not stand. A newly confident Bravo berated the ref for not seeing the illegal use of a foreign object and his assertiveness was enough to get the match re-started. Fallah Bah capitalized and scored the victory with a Banzai Drop in the corner.
Joey Ryan has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against three women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. The accusations were made during the #SpeakingOut movement this summer. According to documents obtained by HeelByNature, Ryan is stating that false accusations made by the women have cost him up to $20,000 a month.
Ryan’s suit asks for the following:
“Award Plaintiff $200,000.00 in economic damages as to each of the defendants or the amount lost by Plaintiff as a result of defendant’s conduct multiplied by the months from June 21, 2020 to the date of the award of economic damages“
“Award Plaintiff $5,000,000.00 as to each of the defendants in non- economic damages.“
The lawsuit is seeking punitive and exemplary damages:
“Award punitive and exemplary damages against defendants and in favor of Plaintiff in the sum of $10,000,000.00 by reason of defendants’, and each of them, malice, hatred, ill-will, despicable and intentional acts.”
He is also seeking to have the women publicly detract their statements.
Joey Ryan Denies Allegations Against Him
Earlier this summer, Ryan released a video on YouTube. In the video, he details evidence he has supporting his claim that he is innocent of the allegations against him.
Ryan spoke about possible legal action in the since-deleted video.
“These are all things that I still have to consider and I’m still thinking about and considering all the legal recourse I have to take with any of these accusations but for right now I want to continue to work on myself and focus on myself because I believe we can all be better people.”
Matt Riddle Launches Civil Suit Against Accuser
Recently, Matt Riddle’s legal team recently stated they will be filing a civil suit against his accuser from the #SpeakingOut movement as well.
A little over a year ago, Impact Wrestling’s parent company, Anthem Sports & Entertainment, purchased AXS TV. The company also owns the Fight Network which airs internationally. Impact Wrestling is reportedly the most-watched program on the network by a significant margin. Now it appears, more Impact Wrestling content will be coming to AXS TV.
During a recent interview with Instinct Culture, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows noted that they will be getting their own special variety show on AXS TV.
“I am letting the cat out of the bag right here right now,” Gallows said. “I can’t say anything about titles or anything like that, but you’re gonna see us with our own special on AXS TV, that’s putting credit/belief into a ‘tag team’ or brand to come together, two guys that can entertain inside the ring and outside the ring.”
They would also say the program will follow a late night talk show format.
“I would say, think drunken late night talk show sprinkled in with Impact Wrestling stars of our choice and a little Talk ‘N Shop A Mania running wild brother…”
Karl Anderson als commented on the Good Brothers’ pending variety show.
“A Good Brother Variety Show, that’s the way to put it. Everything that you could expect from us to just be stupid and fun and sitting down and drinking and talking,” he said.
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows produced “Talk N Shop Mania” recently on the FITE Network. A second PPV is scheduled for November 13th, 2020.
TNA Spinoff Series Possibly Coming To Impact Wrestling
There are also said to be interest from AXS TV in producing a TNA-themed spinoff show. According to a report from PW Insider, the network has been high on this idea since earlier this summer. The TNA World Championship has been re-introduced back into the mix in Impact. Although it is deemed an unofficial title, Moose had been defending it for several weeks. EC3 recently stole the title from him, however.
Alexa Bliss is dealing with two things at the moment. She’s possibly been possessed by Bray Wyatt’s Fiend on Smackdown and fans have been sending her negative comments on Twitter. The negative comments are in regard to a Tweet Bliss sent out regarding the storyline involving her ex-fiance, Buddy Murphy, and Rey Mysterio’s daughter, Aalyah Mysterio.
Bliss responded to a WWE Tweet that featured the supposed DM’s between Murphy and Aalyah with “Honestly I don’t blame him lol #ShootYourShotBud.” The Tweet has since been deleted.
Some fans have been critical of the angle between Murphy and Aalyah due to Mysterio’s daughter only being 19 years of age. Bliss commented on this in a series of other Tweets.
Getting attacked for writing about a show y’all are watching anyway 😂🙄 #GetOuttaHere
She then commented specifically on the concerns regarding Aalyah’s age.
Do I Know her or her age? No. Was I trying to be supportive of Murphy? Yes. Back off and calm down ppl. Just happy Murphy is getting the success he’s worked for. That’s all 🤷🏼♀️ be bothered by something else ✌🏻 https://t.co/AuBYaltYqa
Alexa Bliss is involved in an ominous storyline with Bray Wyatt and Nikki Cross on Smackdown at the moment. She seems to have some type of connection with Bray Wyatt’s Fiend character. Bliss lost to Lacey Evans last week on Smackdown via DQ.
Buddy Murphy’s role as Seth Rollins’ disciple appears in flux. Murphy confronted Rollins last night on RAW after he shared private DMs from his phone. Murphy defeated Dominik Mysterio last night in singles action when he capitalized on Rollins’ distraction.
The members of Retribution weren’t on either Clash of Champions or WWE RAW recently. During a match on last night’s show, the lights flickered and the Retribution logo was shown on the LED boards but the members themselves never appeared.
Members of the group are currently believed to be quarantining after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. T-BAR recently took to Twitter and commented on some of the messages he’s been reading online about the group’s absence.
“If your response to the news that people were potentially exposed to COVID-19 was “Good” then you should probably reassess your morals as a human being,” T-BAR Tweeted.
WWE RAW wasn’t the only show on last night that featured a tease of Retribution appearing. At one point during Monday Night Football it felt as though the group could invade as well.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced that President/CEO Harold Meij will be stepping down from his position over the next month. Meij had been in the role since May of 2018.
A statement at the NJPW website reads, “At a meeting of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s parent company Bushiroad’s board of directors today September 29, 2020, a change was announced in NJPW’s directorship. This change will take effect at the beginning of NJPW’s 50th year of trading on October 23rd.”
Takami Ohbari will take over for Meij in the role. Ohbari is the current CEO of NJPW of America.
Meij wrote a blog on the NJPW website talking about his experiences with the promotion.
“Even though we have escaped from the difficult times when we couldn’t play at all due to the corona wreck, the impact still remains,” A Google Translation of Meij’s blog reads.
“I wanted to continue this mission responsibly until the day when I could say ‘I’ve returned to the state before Corona’ and ‘New Japan Pro-Wrestling is completely okay’, but I have to say goodbye to everyone. It’s time to have to. Please forgive me for the announcement at this time during the ‘G1 CLIMAX 30’ due to the general meeting of shareholders.”
Check out our ongoing coverage of the G1 Climax tournament:
Buff Bagwell suffered an infection from calf implants he got during his career. He ended up having to have the implants removed due to the infection. This was discussed recently on Eric Bischoff’s 83 Weeks podcast. Apparently Bagwell took quite the ribbing backstage as a result.
“I remember when it happened, just the ribbing. I mean, I don’t know how Dave Meltzer or anybody else hadn’t heard about this because the entire roster was laughing and talking about it,” Bischoff said. “It took a long time for Marcus to live that down, a long time. Nobody even tried to hide the fact that they were having a great time at Bagwell’s expense by laughing and joking about this.”
“I do remember it, the ribbing he took, I can only imagine how he felt coming back. I think the only reason he was able to come back and work his way through it is because he was so vain he didn’t care. He probably felt at the time that having massive calves was one of the most important things in his life. Maybe the reason he wore long tights is because he felt insecure about his minuscule calves, I don’t’ know.”
AEW’s Miro made his in-ring debut on Dynamite last week. He’s been aligned with fellow Twitch streamer, Kip Sabian, so far in the promotion. Miro sat down recently with Chris Van Vliet and discussed a variety of subjects including his learning English through 2Pac songs.
The Bulgarian spoke about how he knew from an early age that he was going to travel to the United States and would need to know how to speak English.
“Because I knew I’m going to go to America, in 3rd grade I started learning English,” Miro said during the conversation.
“Video games was English. I loved video games so I had to learn English to see what they were saying. At the same time, I wanted to learn English because I’m going to America and watching all these old movies, they prepared me.”
He also spoke about how learning 2Pac’s lyrics also helped him learn English.
“Again, movies, English, I had to open the dictionary sometimes and look for a word or listen to 2Pac songs, ‘ah, what does that word mean?’ I have to find a big dictionary, it’s not the internet. It’s like the big dictionary where you open and you read this word and that’s how you learn. And on top of that, you go to school and you learn more and more.”
“Of course, of course, 2Pac’s my favourite rapper of all time,” Miro concluded on the subject.
Rob Van Dam & Katie Forbes are no longer with Impact Wrestling. According to a report from PW Insider, the pair’s departure from the company is due to storylines involving them ending. They had been working on a per-show deal for some time and the door is said to be open for them to return someday.
Rob Van Dam had signed with the promotion in February of 2019. RVD turned heel at Bound For Glory 2019. His real-life relationship with Katie Forbes then became a key part of his on-screen persona. Most recently, RVD and Forbes had been involved in an angle with Sami Callihan. The angle came to a conclusion recently when Callihan gave Katie Forbes a piledriver after dropping a singles match to RVD.
RVD and Forbes were briefly members of the faction “Cancel Culture” with Joey Ryan and Jake Crist. The angle came to an end when Joey Ryan was released from the promotion. This was as a result of allegations against Ryan as part of the #SpeakingOut movement.
RVD’s run in the company from 2019-2020 finished with an 11-4 record in singles matches. He defeated Tommy Dreamer, Ethan Page, Sami Callihan (2x), Willie Mack, Madman Fulton, Rhino (2x), Eddie Edwards, Daga, and Joey Ryan. His losses came to Moose, Daga, Eddie Edwards, and Sami Callihan.
Angel Garza was injured last night at Clash of Champions. He was teaming with Andrade in a RAW tag-team title match against the Street Profits. The match appeared to end early when Andrade got his shoulder up at 2 but the ref counted 3 anyway.
Garza’s injury was address on Wrestling Observer Radio:
“During the show Angel Garza got hurt and the first word I heard was a torn quad which is not a good thing. There’s been other talk that that might not be it, might be a lesser injury. Might not be a quad, might be a hip,” said Dave Meltzer.
According to Talk Sport and PW Insider, Garza did injure his hip. They are stating the injury is not quite as bad as first feared.
It's believed Angel Garza's injury was to his hip, not his knee.
However, in better news, the belief is the injury may not be as bad as first feared. [PW Insider]@MikePWInsider has been right on top of this.👏
More news concerning the seriousness of Garza’s injury will likely be available in the coming days.
The Street Profits vs Andrade & Angel Garza
The RAW tag-team title match at Clash of Champions ended in abrupt fashion. Evidently, the decision was made to end the match early but this didn’t play out well. Andrade clearly kicked out before the 3 count and Angelo Dawkins seemed utterly confused and unhappy with what happened.
On commentary, it was noted that Andrade kicked out at 2 but the referee’s vision of his shoulder was blocked.
The victory for the Street Profits was their 6th successful defence of the RAW tag titles. They won the titles initially from Seth Rollins and Murphy on the March 2nd, 2020 RAW. Since then, they’ve defended successfully against Andrade & Angel Garza twice, Austin Theory & Angel Garza twice, Seth Rollins & Murphy once, and the Viking Raiders once.
WWE announced on the Clash of Champions Kickoff show that the scheduled women’s tag-team title match would not take place on the show. Champions Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax were set to defend their title against Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan, the Riott Squad.
It was announced that both Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax were not cleared to compete on the PPV. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer, they were removed from the show due to COVID-19 concerns.
“Nikki Cross and Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax were all called…they were not medically cleared,” said Dave Meltzer.
“The actual issue is, you know it’s the COVID situation,” he continued. “I know at least one of the three and I think two of the three do not have COVID but they were in contact with someone who does. It might even be all three. But I know for sure one and I think two but it’s still they were afraid of a COVID spread.”
He would continue to say that at least two of the three wrestlers are not unhealthy.
“I don’t know how all their healths are but at least two of the three are not unhealthy as we speak,” Meltzer continued.
The former Dominic Dijakovic is now known as Retribution’s T-BAR. Since the faction was given new names recently, many of them have also created all new social media presences.
T-BAR recently responded to comments Eric Bischoff has made about the Retribution angle. Bischoff has been critical of the angle, but T-BAR says Retribution actually draws inspiration from Bischoff’s time in WCW.
Only 5 members of the group were given contracts by WWE in storyline. Retribution attacks have regularly featured more wrestlers than that, however. Mansoor recently noted he had hoped to become NUNCHUCK in the group.
Shelton Benjamin also noted on Twitter that he warned everyone about Mia Yim. He posted the following:
“For years I’ve been telling everyone what a wretched horrible deceptive evil spiteful disgusting and hateful person Mia Yim really is. Believe me now?”
For years I’ve been telling everyone what a wretched horrible deceptive evil spiteful disgusting and hateful person @MiaYim really is. Believe me now? pic.twitter.com/M2dPHIVQtd
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has publicly endorsed Joe Biden for President of the United States. He put out a video on social media today to announce the news.
“Happy Sunday everybody,” Rock begins the video. “We are approximately 5 weeks away from election day. Arguably the most critical election our country has seen in decades.”
“Look, I’ve got friends in all parties, but one thing we can always agree on is the conversation and the dialogue and where that conversation lands is always the most critical part.”
“Now, this is something that I’ve certainly not done in the past, so I’m going to go big. You guys know me, if I go, I go big. So guys I had the opportunity to sit down with Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris to talk about a number of important issues that we are facing as a country. I thought it was a great and extremely productive conversation that we had.”
“As a registered independent for years now with centrist ideologies, I do feel that Vice President Biden and Senator Harris are the best choice to lead our country and I’m endorsing them to become President and Vice President of our United States.”
The Rock continued to talk about his conversation with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and even played clips from it as the video continues. The full video can be played in the Tweet below:
As a political independent & centrist, I’ve voted for both parties in the past. In this critical presidential election, I’m endorsing @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris.
Eddie Kingston recently responded to comments made by Disco Inferno and others on an episode of Konnan’s “Keepin’ it 100” podcast. The hosts and guests of the show were critical of Kingston for perceived similarities between his angle with his new stable on Dynamite and Bret Hart’s Hart Foundation angle in 1997.
During the conversation, it was brought up that Kingston winked at the camera while hugging his stablemates, much like Bret Hart did when he helped Owen Hart and British Bulldog reconcile after weeks of teasing that they would break up in 1997. Evidently, some on the Keepin it 100 podcast felt this was akin to stealing from the angle.
“He was quite clearly a ripoff of Bret forming the Hart Foundation in 1997 even to the hug and the wink at the camera. He stole the entire thing,” said a guest named Billy on the show.
Former WCW commentator Mark Madden offered up his opinions as well.
“There was a reason he was on the indies for so long. There’s a reason he was barely on TV for so long, there’s a reason he never made it for so long,” Madden said about Kingston. “And none of the reasons are good reflecting on him.”
Konnan then chimed in.
“He can cut good promos cause he cut good promos with me in Impact,” Konnan said. “But what Billy is bringing up is true because I saw people on Twitter bringing up that thing about Bret Hart.”
Kingston then posted comments made by Cody about Disco Inferno in 2018 in response.
The members of Retribution all have new names now. 3 members received new names earlier this week and the names for Mia Yim and Mercedes Martinez have now been revealed as well.
Previously, Dio Madden was renamed MACE, Shane Thorne Slapjack, and Dominic Dijakovic as T-Bar.
According to her new Twitter account, Mia Yim will now be known as Reckoning.
According to a report from PW Insider, Mercedes Martinez will be going by the name Retaliation. She does not appear to have started a fun new Twitter account yet, however.
Retribution Causing Chaos On Social Media
Retribution members seem to have been having a lot of fun on Twitter recently. T-Bar in particular has been sending out quite a few Tweets that have gained traction online.
T-Bar commented on why WWE signed Retribution to contracts recently:
Former Impact World Champion, Tessa Blanchard, recently returned to the ring at a Warrior Wrestling show in Chicago. It was her first match since the start of the pandemic back in March. Blanchard took to Instagram recently to update her fans on what she has been doing while away from the ring.
“I’ve been away for a while, the main reason for that is to focus on my wedding & honeymoon. The past few months I’ve gotten back to the basics & been focusing on the relationships I have with family, friends & myself,” Blanchard wrote.
She then borrowed a phrase from EC3 and noted that she is taking back “control of her narrative.”
“The point of this post is because I’m taking back the control of my narrative. I’ve had people weigh in on what I should do, what I should say, what interview to do, where to go.. now, I want to listen to what I want and what’s in my heart.”
She then referenced the allegations against her for allegedly using racist language.
“racist? That’s not me, that’s never been me, I don’t have a history of being that way, I don’t have a history of using that language & that’s the end of it, it’s just not who I am. & I’m tired of being called & my family seeing me be called something so hateful.”
Impact stripped Blanchard of the world title slightly before Slammiversary. Eddie Edwards then won the vacant belt before dropping it to current champion, Eric Young.
Ken Shamrock will be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame next month over Bound for Glory weekend. The Rock says he will be providing a video introduction for Shamrock.
Shamrock and The Rock exchanged messages on Twitter relating to the upcoming Hall of Fame induction.
Congrats, my brother. Awesome news. I will take care of this and get it to you by this weekend. 👊🏾🖤
During WWE’s Attitude Era, Ken Shamrock and the Rock crossed paths frequently. One of the most memorable moments between the two involved the Rock hitting Shamrock with a nasty chair shot on RAW.
Both the Rock and Shamrock commented on the moment after Shamrock was interviewed by Chris Van Vliet.
Great interview, Chris! Watched the whole thing and now I’m late for the gym 😂💪🏾. @ShamrockKen always one of my favs. Our big program was the first of my career and always grateful to him for being a stand up guy, beast & businessman. And that sick chair shot. #geeezus 🤦🏽♂️👊🏾💥
Shamrock and the Rock met in singles competition 5x on WWE programming. This does not include house shows, tag matches, or multi-person matches. The Rock holds a 3-2 lead in their all-time head-to-head stats, with it being very likely they won’t wrestle again.
The last singles match between the two on WWE programming was in the 2nd round of the Deadly Game tournament at Survivor Series 1998. The Rock would defeat Shamrock en route to winning his first-ever WWE Championship.
Both Serena Deeb and Deonna Purrazzo have pulled out of upcoming events due to concerns relating to COVID-19.
In the case of Deeb, the recent AEW signee was scheduled to face Allysin Kay on the next episode of the NWA/UWN weekly PPV series. She put out a statement noting that she had come into contact with someone who tested positive for the virus and will be self-quarantining as a result, however.
Serena Deeb released a statement that she is self-quaranting after coming in contact with someone with COVID-19, she will be replaced by @NikiMSavo in her match with @Sienna on #PrimeTimeLive.
The NWA has since announced that Nicole Savoy will replace Deeb against Allysin Kay on the show.
As for Impact Knockouts Champion, Deonna Purrazzo, she noted on Twitter recently that she is pulling out of an upcoming Game Changer Wrestling show. Purrazzo will face Kylie Rae at Bound For Glory on October 24th, 2020 and wants to make sure she does not have to miss the event.
“Unfortunately, I’ve made the decision to cancel my shows for The Collective weekend. With BFG coming up, my highest priority needs to be staying healthy and leaving adequate time self-isolate, if need be. This is just precautionary. I’ll see y’all soon, I promise. Stay safe!” Purrazzo Tweeted.
Unfortunately, I’ve made the decision to cancel my shows for The Collective weekend.
With BFG coming up, my highest priority needs to be staying healthy and leaving adaquant time self-isolate, if need be.
This is just precautionary. I’ll see y’all soon, I promise ❤️ Stay safe!
Additionally, Ben Carter, who recently performed for AEW on the 1-hour Dynamite special on Tuesday and on AEW Dark, noted that he has tested positive for the virus. It’s been a week of highs and lows for him. Carter posted the following to announce his positive test:
Chelsea Green hasn’t wrestled since May. She fired Robert Stone as her manager and then seemed to disappear shortly after. While rumours had Green set for a main roster debut, it appears she has been sidelined with COVID-19.
Green posted to Facebook that she is feeling better after having dealt with a positive COVID-19 case. Screenshots of her post have been circulating online:
Chelsea Green in WWE
Green was signed to WWE in the summer of 2018. Previously, she is a former Knockouts Champion in Impact Wrestling. Wrestling as Laurel Van Ness, she defeated Rosemary in 2017 to win the vacant championship. She would drop the title 2 months later to Allie.
Green has had 4 singles matches on NXT programming this year. She holds a 3-1 record after exchanging wins with Kayden Carter over 2 matches and defeating Shotzi Blackheart and Xia Li.
On the May 27th edition of NXT, she teamed with Charlotte Flair and defeated Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley. After the match, Green opted to fire her manager, Robert Stone.
It is not clear if Green’s positive COVID-19 case is related to the recent outbreak at the Performance Center as she has been out of action for some time now.
WWE is dealing with multiple positive COVID-19 tests among talent and staff at the WWE Performance Center. The positive cases include talent assigned to the NXT roster as well. WWE issued a statement to the media recently regarding the situation.
“As part of ongoing testing protocols, WWE completed its second round of weekly COVID-19 testing on Tuesday. Individuals that tested positive will quarantine for 14 days, receive medical care, and then will only be cleared when they are symptom-free and test negative. Additionally, extensive contact tracing has taken place and other individuals have been placed in 14-day quarantine, and will then only be cleared after they test negative.”
WWE has not mentioned how many positive tests they are dealing with at the moment. Of talent currently assigned to NXT, Chelsea Green has publicly mentioned that they have tested positive recently.
AEW has also been dealing with multiple COVID-19 cases. Lance Archer publicly confirmed that he has tested positive for the virus. Brian Cage was not on Dynamite this week and had posted a Tweet about not feeling well.
NXT has enough content filmed to take them through to October 4th. According to PW Insider, no training is currently taking place at the Performance Center as they deal with the outbreak.
News broke yesterday that legendary wrestler and 1/2 of the famous Road Warriors tag-team, Joseph “Animal” Laurinaitis, had passed away. According to a report from TMZ, Road Warrior Animal’s death was of natural causes, although an exact cause is not currently known.
Laurinaitis passed away at the Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, MO. Police received a call from his wife at 11:49 on Tuesday evening. When deputies arrived, however, Laurinaitis had already been declared deceased by responding emergency personnel. He is not known to have been suffering from any medical conditions or ill-health.
Laurinaitis’ son James is a former NFL player and took to Instagram to pay tribute to his father:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFgT6dzsg-1/
“I don’t have the right words to say. I’m absolutely crushed. I miss you already. I hate that I wasn’t able to say goodbye. Say hello to Mum Mum, Pop Pop, and Hawk for me. Thank you for your love and support and the many lessons you’ve taught me. I can’t believe you’re gone. I love you Dad,” wrote James Laurinaitis.
The Rock recently shared a tribute to Animal as well.
“When I was making my bones, still learning the business in the WWE as a very young “The Rock” – I wrestled these guys so many times on the road and they always took good care of me and made sure I learned.”
Last night just before AEW Dynamite, it was revealed that the #1 ranked Lance Archer has tested positive for COVID-19. Brian Cage also posted to social media that he was not feeling well and was also not on last night’s broadcast. According to Tweets from Florida-based reporter, Jon Alba, AEW is dealing with multiple positive COVID-19 cases at the moment.
Alba is jointly reporting the news along with Fightful:
“Sean Ross Sapp and I are jointly reporting, via multiple sources, several individuals who present at AEW tapings earlier this month have since tested positive for COVID-19, including talent seen on AEW Dark,” Alba Tweeted.
Over the last few months, #AEW has by far had the most extensive COVID-19 protocols among any wrestling companies that chose to run during the pandemic. The conditions of how or where the virus was transmitted is not entirely clear at this time. Hoping everyone affected is OK.
“It’s entirely plausible talent were kept off this week’s show for precautionary reasons, and didn’t necessarily test positive,” Alba continued to Tweet. “But we can report there were multiple positive cases in the past couple of weeks involving talent who were present at tapings earlier this month.”
Lance Archer’s COVID-19 Status
Just before Dynamite, Archer revealed that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
“While at home, now I’ve also gotten sick tested positive,” Archer wrote. “I feel ok, expect to see me in 2 wks.”
Recently, Brian Cage posted to Twitter, “Not feeling very well, but still looking GOOD! Best body guy even while sick and out of then gym [flexed biceps emoji] #machine #swolverine #redcon1 #bodyguy #luchaundergroundunderwear.”
