Peyton Royce & Billie Kay no longer comprise the Iiocnics. After losing to the Riott Squad’s Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott on RAW, the team is being forced to disband. Both Peyton Royce and Billie Kay took to Instagram to post tributes to each other and the time they both spent as the Iiconics.
“Last night was one of the most emotional nights of my life,” Billie Kay wrote. “Realizing that The IIconics are no more was devastating & heartbreaking. Peyton Royce you have been my rock, my strength, my heart & inspired me for the past 5+ years.”
The Iiconics won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 35 from Sasha Banks and Bayley. They drop the titles 4 months later to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
“You’ll always be my high school sweetheart, my life partner, my iconic duo, my icon.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEnY_q6gc1F/
“24 hours removed from this moment & it’s been a rough day. I’m emotionally exhausted, I’m so sad but I realize there is a silver lining. I believe everything happens as it is supposed to. Billie Kay & I have been the eyes in the back of each other’s heads for 5+ years. It’s time for us to make some growth as individuals. I know we can do this, it just sucks I won’t have her by my side through all of it.”
Impact 9/1 featured a changing of the guard as Eric Young defeated Eddie Edwards to win the World Championship. Additionally, the Knockouts Champion’s black-tie event did not go as she hoped and Rob Van Dam squared off with Sami Callihan.
Impact 9/1 Quick Results:
Sami Callihan defeated Rob Van Dam w/ Katie Forbes
Rhino defeated Reno Scum
Wrestle House Susie defeated The Deaners & Team XXXL
The Rascalz defeated Ace Austin & Madman Fulton
Wrestle House Taya Valkyrie defeated Rosemary (John E. Bravo – referee)
Impact World Championship Eric Young defeated Eddie Edwards (c) – New Champion
Here are 9 takeaways from Impact Wrestling 9/1:
Eric Young Wins Impact World Championship
For the second time in his career, Eric Young is the Impact World Champion. In the main event, Young took advantage of a distracted referee to hit Edwards with a hockey mask followed by a pile driver for the win. After the match, Young continued the assault on the former champion, targeting his leg much like has done previously to Rich Swann.
Young returned to the promotion at Slammiversary and immediately unleashed his vicious maniac side. Now, he’s the new world champion.
EC3 took the TNA World Heavyweight Championship belt from Moose recently and this week Moose spent the whole show searching for him. EC3 said he’s going to destroy the title belt and send it back to Moose piece by piece.
In the final segment of the show, Moose discovers a room that has photos of him plastered all over it. It looks like someone, likely EC3, has been watching Moose and perhaps plotting something against him. Moose is concerned as the show goes off the air.
Tenille Dashwood Returns, Interrupts Deonna Purrazzo’s Black Tie Celebration
Deonna Purrazzo had a special segment planned for this week to celebrate her victory over Jordynne Grace. Purrazzo and Kimber Lee were in the ring as several members of the roster surrounding the ring area. Purrazzo talked about having painted a masterpiece in her matches against Jordynne Grace at Slammiversary and Emergence. This brought out Grace, however, who told the champ her reign is not going to last.
As Grace was talking, Tenille Dashwood’s music hit and she came out for the first time in months. Dashwood joked about how everyone must be there to celebrate her return. She told Purrazzo that she’s never defeated her. Grace, Purrazzo, and Dashwood were arguing when the cast of Wrestle House teleported inside the ring. This requires its own subheading:
The Cast Of Wrestle House Teleports Back Into The Impact Zone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxz55pbWlws
Storylines concluded, mysteries were solved, and character arcs were completed this week, leading to the cast of Wrestle House returning to the Impact Zone. In fact, they teleported there.
Taya Valkyrie defeated Rosemary in a match that was “Winner Takes All” this week. John E Bravo was included in the “All”. Valkyrie picked up the victory with the Road to Valhalla but the real developments took place after the match. Bravo proposed marriage to Rosemary, who was at first reluctant due to the fact that she is a demon. Taya then appeared to briefly overcome her selfishness and gave the union her blessing. These developments pleased Kylie Rae who has been hoping to get back to the Impact Zone as she is the #1 contender to the Knockouts title. Taya agreed that the cast can go back and as they celebrated this fact, they all disappeared. They would reappear in the middle of the ring during Purrazzo’s celebration.
After the cast teleported in the ring during Purrazzo’s black tie affair, Kylie Rae ducked an attack from Purrazzo and ended up in a skirmish with Kimber Lee. Kylie super-kicked Kimber Lee out of the ring and held up the Knockouts title and celebrated with Susie.
Susie Has Blood On Her Hands
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdPQG45NJrs
Team XXXL and The Deaners also got into this week on Wrestle House. The Deaners have been searching for who stole their beer and Larry D and Acey Romero are easy targets for such accusations. They comically brawled throughout the whole house until Susie involved herself in the match. Susie and Cousin Jake went on a rather bad date recently and Susie seems motivated to ensure the Deaners and Team XXXL abide by the truce they brokered earlier.
When Susie realized the two teams had broken the truce, she was not pleased. Her anger seemed to cause some visual disturbances on-screen and the audience did not see exactly what she may have done to Cousin Jake and the others involved in the match. When she came out of the room, however, Tommy Dreamer made the call to just name her the winner of the match. As he raised her hand it became clear that Susie literally had blood on her hands.
It was later revealed that Crazzy Steve is the one who took the beer, as he was not able to read the labels and didn’t know whose it was.
Heath Helps Rhino Beat Reno Scum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtbRzZCBfHg
Heath disguised himself as a cameraman this week to help his tag-team partner, Rhino, defeated Reno Scum. The former Heath Slater has been lobbying Impact management for a contract in recent weeks but Scott D’Amore didn’t sign him in time to team with Rhino for this match.
With Heath still unsigned, Rhino started the match against Reno Scum on his own. The finish of the match came when Heath put down the camera and hit the Wake Up Call on Adam Thornstowe with the referee distracted. Rhino then covered him for the win.
After the match, D’Amore came to ringside as Rhino and Heath celebrated in the ring. Security chased Heath out of the ring and D’Amore looked upset at Rhino.
The Rascalz To Challenge Motor City Machine Guns For Titles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyaD1OUCH0k
Wentz and Dez of the Rascalz defeated Ace Austin and Madman Fulton this week. They utilized their tandem offence to keep the big man on the outside of the ring and double-team Austin.
After the match, Impact tag champs the Motor City Machine Guns appeared on the ramp. MCMG defeated the Rascalz in an Open Challenge match at Slammiversary. The MCMG noted that the Rascalz were not prepared for who they would be facing in that match and offered up a title shot to them next week.
RVD and Katie Forbes Attack Sami Callihan After Match
In the opening match this week, Sami Callihan faced off with Rob Van Dam. This rivalry has been brewing ever since Katie Forbes mistook Callihan for a fan backstage. Callihan then interrupted a segment where Forbes was going to release new photos from her website.
Madison Rayne noted on commentary during this match that Forbes’ frequent attempts at interfering often don’t work out well for RVD. Forbes would get involved at the end of this match as well. As Callihan was going for a pile driver, Forbes got in the ring and began twerking. Callihan then chased her out of the ring and RVD attempted to roll-up Callihan into a pinning combination. Callihan reversed the pinning combination, however, and got a 3-count on RVD.
After the match, RVD attacked Callihan as his attention was focused on Forbes. Forbes and RVD closed the segment by attacking Callihan with a chair in the corner.
Eric Young is the new Impact World Champion. He defeated Eddie Edwards last night on Impact’s weekly show. Young hit Edwards with a hockey mask as the referee was distracted and then hit a piledriver for the win. After the match, Young continued the attack on Edwards’ leg, much like he has done to Rich Swann recently.
Young returned to the promotion at Slammiversary and was entered into the 5-way match for the world title that night. After getting eliminated, Young assaulted Rich Swann, causing the injured former X-Division champion to retire (in storyline).
Eddie Edwards’ second reign with the belt ends after just 28 days. His first title reign came in 2016 when he defeated Bobby Lashley. Edwards would then drop the title back to Lashley in early 2017.
This is the second time that Young has won the title. His first reign came when he defeated Magnus (Nick Aldis) in 2014. Young would drop the title to Bobby Lashley 70 days later.
Young begins the 50th reign in the title’s lineage. Overall, 27 wrestlers have won the title throughout its history dating back to 2007. Prior to 2007, Impact/TNA used the NWA World Heavyweight Championship as its major title.
The Retribution faction that has been terrorizing episodes of RAW and Smackdown as of late will apparently only be doing that to the RAW brand now. According to a report from John Pollock of POST Wrestling, a source has confirmed to him that the angle will now be exclusive to RAW.
“One source noted to us that Retribution is expected to only appear on Raw moving forward,” wrote Pollock.
The faction appeared on WWE RAW last night. They attacked during the Street Profits vs Andrade and Angel Garza match. Garza took off along with his date from the Bachelor to avoid the attack but would run into the group backstage later in the show. During this attack, Garza left Demi Burnett on her own as well.
Who Is In Retribution?
There has been a lot of online speculation about who the members of Retribution are. The talent currently taking part in the angle may not be the finalized group, however.
Dominik Dijakovic, Chelsea Green, Vanessa Borne, Dio Madden, and Mia Yim’s names have all been speculated on as possible members of the group. Kayden Carter possibly as well.
Jim Ross recently spent some time with Conrad Thompson talking about an episode of RAW from 2001 on his Grillin JR podcast. During the conversation, Ross offered up his opinion on Stephanie McMahon as a performer.
“Stephanie was a great heel, by the way,” JR said on the show. Conrad then asked Ross if there was any hesitation to putting Stephanie on-screen in such a role.
“She’s got a lot of the old man in her and I had no issues whatsoever because she worked very diligently to improve,” Ross said. “And because she had a major name to carry. She was more like Vince than Shane was like Vince, in my view, and Vince has even said that to me.”
“But she became a great heel and just followed in the footsteps of her old man who was the hottest heel we had in the Attitude Era.”
Stephanie’s first appearance on WWE programming came in 1998 when she was 22-years-old. By 2001, Stephanie was the storyline new owner of ECW and one of the major figures in the Invasion angle.
Last night on WWE RAW, The Iiconics were booked in a match against the Riott Squad. The winners would receive a tag title shot. The losers would have to disband. After Ruby Riott scored a pinfall on Billie Kay, it meant the end for the longtime Iiconics tag-team.
WWE correspondents caught up with the Iiconics backstage in an interview exclusive to WWE’s social media.
“Ever since we started in NXT 5.5 years ago, this has been us,” Royce said backstage. “It’s just very unnatural.”
“It’s scary thinking that we won’t be by each other’s sides when we walk through that curtain, we won’t be in that ring together, we won’t be on the outside cheering them on, we are going to be in this alone. That’s scary but that’s life,” Billie Kay said.
“Everyone goes through changes of growth and times where you have to evolve and we’re at that point. So as scary, and as sad as we are, we both know that we can achieve anything we set our mind’s to. And even though we won’t be supporting each other out there, back here we will have each other’s back 1000% every single damn day for the rest of our lives. And that’s something that will never go away.”
The Iiconics WWE Stats
The Iiconics became the 2nd WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions at WrestleMania 35 after winning a fatal 4-way match. They would hold the belts for 4 months before dropping them to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships:
The Kabuki Warriors (1x champions) 171 days as champions.
Sasha Banks and Bayley (2x champions) 145 days as champions.
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (2x champions) 123 days as champions.
The Iiconics (1x champions) 120 days as champions.
Nia Jas & Shayna Baszler (1x champions) 2+ days as champions.
WWE purchased independent wrestling promotion EVOLVE this summer. Some of the promotion’s events are already available on the WWE Network.
According to a recent report from PW Insider, WWE has signed 5 wrestlers from the promotion and assigned them to its developmental program:
Josh Briggs
Anthony Greene
Brandi Lauren
Curt Stallion
Leon Ruff
WWE Signs EVOLVE Stars
Josh Briggs is a 6ft 8 270lbs monster and the last holder of the EVOLVE Championship. He debuted in late 2016. Briggs defeated Austin Theory to win the EVOLVE title back in November.
Anthony Greene is an 8-year pro from the New England area. He was trained by Spike Dudley and Ryan Waters.
Brandi Lauren is a 23-year-old from Tampa who has been used as an extra at WWE shows over the past few months. She was trained by Jay Lethal and made her debut in 2016. Lauren also worked some tapings for Impact Wrestling in 2017/18. Also in 2018, Lauren worked an NXT taping and lost a match to Lacey Evans. Her Instagram account sometimes features cameos from Joey Janela:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDpPEyKJzJ4/
Curt Stallion is a 7-year pro out of Texas. He’s had matches with several wrestlers now signed to WWE while in EVOLVE. He’s wrestled Jake Atlas, Dexter Lumis, and Matt Sydal in the promotion.
Leon Ruff is a 23-year-old who made his debut in 2017. News of his signing was reported in late July. He once held the EVOLVE tag titles along with AR Fox. Ruff worked 9 matches for WWE during the pandemic era before news of his signing was reported. His last match was a loss to Drake Maverick on the July 21st episode of 205 Live.
Wade Barrett returned to WWE recently to work at the NXT commentary booth last week. Mauro Ranallo is out dealing with a family issue at the moment.
According to multiple sources, WWE and Barrett are currently negotiating an agreement that would see him return to the promotion full-time as a commentator.
Barrett’s Superstar Profile has already been added back to the NXT section of WWE.com:
The 40-year-old former Nexus leader with WWE from 2006 through 2016. Barrett joined the broadcast team for episodes of NWA Powerrr in December of 2019.
Barrett was the winner of season 2 of NXT back when the program was a reality game-show style competition. He would then serve as the leader of the Nexus faction beginning in 2010. Barrett would go on to be a 5x Intercontinental Champion. He also won the King of the Ring tournament in 2015.
Wade Barrett WWE Return Reportedly In The Works
Shortly after Barrett made his WWE return as a commentator on NXT, his former stablemate in the Nexus, Bray Wyatt/Husky Harris, commented on his return.
In January, WarnerMedia and AEW struck a new deal that was also said to include plans for a second television show. Then the pandemic hit and the President of TNT, a noted supporter of AEW, was let go from his position recently. According to recent comments on Wrestling Observer Radio, however, a second AEW show is still in the works and should debut before the end of the year.
“Yep, soon,” Meltzer said in response to a question about if the second AEW show is still happening. “Before the end of the year.”
Second AEW Television Show
It was noted back in January that when the new show does debut, it will not replace AEW Dark.
“When the new show launches, the Wednesday tapings would expand and also include matches taped for the streaming show Dark, which would not be going away,” wrote Dave Meltzer. “This means there will be about four hours a week of the product being taped.”
Although the former President of TNT, Kevin Reilly, is no longer with the company, he also spoke about a second AEW show back in January. Reilly departed TNT earlier this month.
“Let’s bring it onto the network and make it a place where you truly plant up and coming talent,’” Reilly said about a second AEW show. “I think we’ll start doing more packages there and filming some behind-the-scenes stuff, not for the matches that night but with other talent to plant stories and grow things that could eventually become another show in and of itself.”
Major League Wrestling is coming back. The promotion announced today plans to film new content in October that will begin airing in November. MLW’s Court Bauer spoke to SI.com about the news.
“The hibernation is over,” said Bauer. “We’ll air in November on a weeknight in primetime on Fubo Sports Network, and our content will also be available on DAZN, which includes exclusive content, and Saturday nights on beIN. As for the filming, we’re not going to publicly announce our location. If fans were to show up, it would just cause a wave of complications with the COVID protocol, but we are very excited to return for our fans.”
Bauer also outlined a strict COVID-19 testing protocol for all tapings. The company has hired a COVID-19 compliance officer to oversee the operations. Talent will be tested before traveling to the tapings, once they arrive, and then again before actually participating in the tapings. That is 3 tests each talent will take before actually getting in a ring.
Bauer also noted the name of the show might be changing from MLW: Fusion to MLW: Underground, the name of the promotion’s TV show from its original run. Replays of MLW: Underground have been airing in place of new episodes of Fusion in recent months.
In terms of how the returning show will look, Bauer teased the matches may have a “Raging Bull” feel to them.
“We’re going to have more of a Raging Bull setting,” said Bauer. “We’ve had the luxury to see what works in this era.”
“We spent the whole summer building our business to emerge from the pandemic ready to run on a larger scale,” said Bauer. “It’s now the right time for us to safely get back to work, and our talent is going to put on a great show in our return.”
Matt Hardy recently spoke to Chris Van Vliet and mentioned what he feels WWE would have done with him had he re-signed with the company. The 45-year-old’s last stint with WWE lasted from 2017 until March of this year. Hardy says that had he re-signed with WWE, the company wanted him to move into more of a coaching role.
“Vince and WWE, they already had it in their mind,” Hardy said. “In Vince’s mind, he was ready to move me on from being a talent into working backstage. Being a producer, helping give back and teach other guys behind the scenes. And I’m very happy to do that but a little later on.”
“These last few years that I have to do this physically, I want to do it to the highest level that I can.”
Hardy continued to say that WWE did offer him other roles during negotiations but Hardy figured they had made up their mind about him.
“Even though they offered to do other things after I expressed that was my concern, I know in my head they had already made up their mind how they see me as. So I just knew I needed to go somewhere else.”
Hardy now gets to perform and give back to younger talent in AEW. He has been working with the young team of Private Party so far in the promotion.
“On top of still being able to perform and still do what I want to do in my last few years, I also still get to help back and help young talent as well.”
The NXT UK brand is returning but things will be a little different. Triple H spoke to Metro recently about the return of the United Kingdom division. One notable change is that new episodes of the weekly NXT UK show will be filmed inside the BT Sport studio in London.
“When you look at that studio, it’s perfect for what we do,” Triple H said in the interview. “But they are perfect for what we do. They have been a leader in changing the game in sport across all of Europe and, really, globally.”
“It’s an amazing facility. The intent is for us to be able to in there long term to be able to create this content, and I think if later down the line, we get to a place where fans can come in – obviously we’d be thrilled and excited.”
Triple H also spoke about the impacts of the #SpeakingOut movement which rocked the UK wrestling scene earlier this summer.
“Part of this is why we started [NXT UK] in the first place – to professionalize and put that system into place where everyone can feel safe and protected and have a working environment that is inclusive of everyone and the opportunity to do what we do.”
In terms of how WWE deals with allegations against its roster members, Triple reiterated the company policy.
“We look into it, we go from there to see what is legitimate, what is not, what is real, what isn’t, and deal with it accordingly.”
WWE announced the return of the NXT UK brand during the TakeOver XXX broadcast. New programming is already being filmed and is set to premiere on the WWE Network on September 17th, 2020.
Dominik Mysterio made his professional wrestling debut at SummerSlam 2020. The match occurred 15 years after his father Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero met at SummerSlam 2005 with custody of Dominik on the line. Dominik recently spoke to Talk Sport about the reaction backstage from Vince McMahon and others to his debut.
“The reaction backstage was crazy. I got very emotional, hugged my mum, hugged my dad, hugged Jamie, Seth – the whole deal. Everyone was very happy and clapping for me, so it was a surreal moment,” Dominik described the backstage atmosphere after his debut.
Dominik also discussed Vince McMahon’s reaction to his debut during the interview.
“I definitely gave the bossman [Vince McMahon] a hug afterwards and thanked him for the opportunity. It was just a crazy experience,” Dominik continued. “From seeing other people and other wrestlers finish their matches and walk through gorilla and hug Vince and stuff like that, having that be my turn to do it… I’m forever grateful.”
Dominik will team with his father tonight to take on Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy at Payback. Tomorrow night on RAW, Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins will face each other in singles competition.
Dominik also spoke about how he feels it was Vince McMahon’s decision to bring him into the storyline.
“At the end of the day, I don’t know what people think, but I wasn’t asking for things or begging my dad, so I think me being brought into this storyline and being put in the position I was put in was definitely coming from someone that has a lot of power and my guess is that would be Vince. I’m very grateful.”
Chadwick Boseman, the actor famous for playing the title role in Black Panther, died recently after secretly battling colon cancer for 4 years. Fans have been paying tribute to the late actor online and so has Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.
The Rock posted the following in tribute to Boseman.
“‘Press on with pride. Press on with purpose’ – Chadwick Boseman This was hard to hear about. Hard to imagine the quiet pain and struggle you went thru all these years, yet still shined your powerful light and talents to inspire the world.”
“Especially, our kids who finally saw themselves as a superhero — because of you. Rest in power, brother. My love and strength to your family. You will always press on with pride and purpose.”
The Rock is set to become part of the DC superhero universe much like Boseman was a part of Marvel. Rock will portray “Black Adam” in the DC Universe film set to be released in late 2021.
The Rock’s full tribute to Boseman is below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEdqWu1FE6j/
Kevin Owens also paid tribute to Boseman on Twitter. He posted the following upon hearing news of the actors death:
Can’t believe it. I’m at the drive-in watching Black Panther with my kids as I type this. I was just thinking to myself how talented Chadwick Boseman was right before finding out he had passed.
WWE has reportedly heard much of the social media buzz surrounding Naomi as of late. In recent months, the hashtag “#NaomiDeservesBetter” has trended on Twitter. Support for Naomi began after she took part in the poorly-received Karaoke segment on Smackdown and after multiple losses to Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke.
According to a report from PW Insider, WWE officials have heard the support for Naomi “loud and clear” and plan on giving the Smackdown Superstar a push in response.
2 weeks ago on Smackdown, Naomi wrestled two matches as the opponent for both Bayley and Sasha Banks in a Beat the Clock Challenge. While Naomi lost her match to Sasha Banks, she defeated Bayley, possibly putting her in the mix for a future Smackdown Women’s Championship title shot.
Naomi’s Record Since WrestleMania
Naomi is 2-4-1 in singles matches since Wrestlemania. She also didn’t not win the recent battle royal on Smackdown.
8/21/20: defeated Bayley
8/21/20: lost to Sasha Banks
8/13/20: didn’t win the Tri-brand battle royal
7/21/20: defeated Lacey Evans
7/17/20: lost to Lacey Evans
7/2/20: vs Lacey Evans – No Contest
5/11/20: lost to Dana Brooke
4/17/20: lost to Dana Brooke
The 32-year-old is a 2x Smackdown Women’s Champion. She won the WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal in 2018 as well.
In 2001, WWE featured the infamous Invasion angle. After both WCW and ECW went out of business, WWE worked them into their storylines but the angle received poor reviews from fans. WCW and ECW would form “The Alliance” and feud against WWE.
“The main thing that I will agree with is that the angle was bungled because any time you cut one short that you knew had more legs and longer legs, that’s a little rough to handle. This was a good story and it got good numbers. It was just challenging to manage. We got a bunch of new guys in the locker room and everyone reacts differently when you move to a new home.”
Conrad and JR would continue to talk about how the angle failed to meet fans’ expectations.
“The Invasion angle was probably the most under productive TV angle that we did to have that much potential,” Ross continued.
Many fans say the reason the angle didn’t perform up to expectations is that several of the top WCW stars weren’t part of it. It made more sense for many WCW wrestlers to sit at home and collect paychecks from their previous WCW contracts.
“What are you going to do? Are you going to grab the NWO out of their homes kicking and screaming and forsake those massive checks they got every single week from Time Warner?” JR said when asked about not having WCW’s top stars fro the angle.
“It was a situation where you hope that some of these guys that we did bring in, somebody might break through, somebody might break out. And quite honestly, that really never happened.”
Eric Bischoff recently spent some time on his 83 Weeks podcast talking about hiring wrestlers from ECW to bring into WCW. According to Bischoff, ECW contracts were not anything WCW took seriously.
Conrad asked Bischoff if he was worried about contractual agreements Raven and Stevie Richards were supposedly still under to ECW when they were brought into WCW.
“I wasn’t worried about it,” Bischoff said about the pair’s ECW contracts.
“You could drive a half-tonne pickup through the holes that were in the ECW contracts. And a lot of those contracts were non-existent. Paul would say ‘we’ve got him under contract,’ we’d go to the talent and say ‘are you under contract?’ ‘No’.”
“Or you’d look at the contract and realize that you could drive a truck through it or Paul had already breached the contract so it was no longer really a contract. It was such a cluster when it came to anything that ECW professed to have contractually that for the most part, we took none of it seriously.”
ECW filed a lawsuit against WCW for tortious interference. Conrad noted that Paul may have been familiar with a rumored Turner policy of settling all lawsuits under $100,000.
“I think Paul (Heyman) was doing what Paul knew he could do to get a payday.”
“Yes, Paul was just looking for a payday. There was no valid claim, there was no valid agreement, Paul could not have afforded to take this to court.”
The NWA is embarking on a new period in its history beginning September 15th, 2020. The promotion has partnered with the United Wrestling Network to produce weekly wrestling PPVs on Tuesday nights. The NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis has received a challenge from former WWE Superstar, Mike Bennett, to face him on the first show.
The challenge has been issued!
The full unedited, uncensored video will be available tonight for our $10 & $50 patrons at https://t.co/DDV3c72AAs.
“It’s time to take back what’s mine. My name is Mike Bennett. Do you hear me? Mike Bennett. I’ve been a professional wrestler for 20 years,” Bennett says in his video challenge. “I’ve traveled the world. It’s time to prove everybody that ever believed in me that you are 100% correct and the only way to do that is to hit the ground running.”
“Nick Aldis, September 15th, I want the World Heavyweight Championship,” Bennett continued.
? BREAKING: The United Wrestling Network, @nwa & @Thunder_Inc are partnering to launch a new, live, weekly wrestling PPV series on national cable / satellite TV and streaming on @FiteTV!
“United Wrestling Network’s Primetime LIVE” will premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 9 pm ET. pic.twitter.com/KBnIGqnNIO
— United Wrestling Network (@unitedwrestling) August 10, 2020
The shows will be available on FITE and traditional PPV outlets. The company still plans on bringing back episodes of Powerrr at some point.
“My goal here is simple: to provide the best contests possible with the greatest talent available, carrying on the great legacy of the National Wrestling Alliance as an independent governing body. And in that we hope to feature at least one championship match on every live broadcast,” said NWA Owner, Billy Corgan in a press release.
Kenny Omega, or at the very least an image of him, was visible inside WWE’s Thunderdome Friday night on Smackdown.
Many fans likely assumed this was another case of a virtual fan trolling WWE’s ThunderDome by featuring an image of an AEW star. Omega himself has issued a comment that seems to imply he really did serve as a virtual fan for the show. That doesn’t necessarily mean he was, however.
Fans on Twitter noted an image of Omega as a virtual fan was visible during Smackdown.
This got the attention of Kenny Omega himself, who addressed his ‘cameo.’
“I was just trying to have a good time, I honestly didn’t think anyone would notice,” Omega Tweeted.
Several virtual fans have posted images of various wrestling personalities inside WWE’s Thunderdome, however. Despite Omega’s comments, it is still entirely possible that it was not him serving as a virtual fan.
While Omega was on Smackdown this week, he was surprisingly absent from Dynamite on Thursday. Omega’s partner, Adam Page, prevented the Young Bucks from moving on in the gauntlet match and was subsequently kicked out of the Elite. Omega and Page will now face FTR for the tag belts at All Out on September 5th, 2020.
WWE and Chris Jericho have reportedly reached an agreement on various trademarks. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the two sides have reached a deal allowing Jericho to use his name but WWE will keep the rights to various other trademarks, including the term “Y2J”.
“WWE agreed to give Jericho the rights to use the name in exchange for Jericho giving WWE the rights to own the intellectual property of anything created by either of them,” wrote Dave Meltzer. He continued to speculate this would mean Jericho is not able to use the Money in the Bank match concept. Jericho is said to have come up with the match idea while in WWE.
“Jericho wouldn’t be able to use the term Y2J or any of the trademarks of his other characters in WWE,” Meltzer continued.
The report continues to state that Jericho would have been able to use the name “Chris Jericho” regardless, however. This is due to his past use of the name outside of WWE. The agreement struck involves WWE acknowledging that Jericho can use the name, however.
Jericho faces Chris Jericho in a “Mimosa Mayhem Match” at All Out on September 5th, 2020. Thus far, no trademark has been granted to anyone for the term “Mimosa Mayhem”.
Wade Barrett worked the commentary booth for NXT this week and was welcomed back to the company by one of his former Nexus stablemates. The former Husky Harris, now known as Bray Wyatt, asked Barrett if he was returning to the company for the once-rumoured Nexus reunion.
Barrett posted a thank-you on Twitter to those who had congratulated him on his NXT commentary role and Wyatt appeared in the replies section.
Former member Darren Young commented on the Dropkick Podcast earlier this year that plans had been in place for a Nexus reunion at WrestleMania. Young has recently been announced as making his NJPW debut on the NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed shows.
Sonya Deville lost a Loser Leaves WWE match at SummerSlam last Sunday. The stipulation and Deville’s recent challenges outside of the ring have left many fans wondering when or if they will see her back in a WWE ring. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Deville will not be leaving WWE but possibly would have been taking some time off for an acting role anyway.
According to the report, Deville was going to lose the Hair vs Hair match at SummerSlam but would not be shaved completely bald. Instead, most of her hair would be cut off for an acting role she has upcoming.
“The original idea was not to shave her bald, but to cut off most of her hair for some sort of an acting role. No word on how long she’ll be gone but she’s not leaving WWE,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
Latest On Sonya Deville
It has previously been reported that the reason the Hair vs Hair stipulation was changed to a Loser Leaves WWE stipulation is that Deville’s lawyers didn’t feel it was a good idea for her to be appearing in court with a recently shaved head.
“The reason they switched the stipulation from the hair vs hair to the loser leaves town was because her lawyer basically said that with this thing going on it’s probably not a good idea to cut your hair, get your head shaved, for court,” said Dave Meltzer on a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Deville appeared in court yesterday to obtain a restraining order against the man who broke into her home.
In terms of what acting role Deville may have landed, this is unclear. She was up for the role of Batwoman recently but that was given to actress. Javicia Leslie.
WWE has a job posting up at the moment looking for a new lead writer for Smackdown. Ed Koskey is said to be the current head of the Smackdown creative team, working underneath Bruce Prichard, who manages both the RAW and Smackdown teams.
The posting was listed on LinkedIn but now reads that they are no longer accepting applications for the role.
Last week, it was reported that Joe Belcastro, lead writer for NXT, had left the company. Former producer for NXT, Johnny Russo, updated his LinkedIn account in July, listing himself as the current lead writer of NXT. Russo has been working with the company for the last year.
Triple H was asked about the departing head writer from NXT during a media call to promote TakeOver XXX recently.
“As far as the writing of NXT goes, we shift around a little bit as things happen. I won’t necessarily comment on people that aren’t necessarily talent for us but we have a team that works with NXT that includes Shawn Michaels, Brian James, myself. So, it’s a group and the ideas all go through that. It’s really business as usual for us,” Triple H said.
Jeff Hardy recently engaged in a rivalry with Sheamus on WWE Smackdown where his past drinking and DUI issues were a focal point. During a recent interview with the Daily Star, Hardy opened up about his real-life issues being used on WWE programming.
“The stuff with Sheamus that’s happened most recently, I knew there was a great outcome in it. I knew that bar fight was going to be cinematic and good,” Hardy said. He continued to say that he does not read comments online that have been critical of the angle.
“I’m not a social media guy at all, I don’t read comments or the negativity of people who thought it was wrong or that [WWE] were treating me [badly], I don’t read any of that.”
He then spoke about how his angle with CM Punk had similar undertones.
“Even thinking back to the stuff with CM Punk when I was failing drugs tests, they turned it into a storyline and that’s what I mean when I talk about roller-coasters of good and bad,” Hardy continued.
Hardy then said that he hopes his real-life problems playing out on WWE programming can help people who suffer from similar problems.
“Throughout all of that, so long as I can continue to do good, especially with this, my last chance to get it right, it is going to inspire people around the world that I’ll never meet, that need to stay sober to survive.”
“Hopefully I’m doing that through the television screen and helping people I’ll never know.”
Tony Khan spoke with the socially-distanced crowd inside Daily’s Place before Dynamite began last night in Jacksonville, Florida. Khan spoke to the crowd about the importance of wearing masks, keeping distanced, and not chanting things which may incur a fine for the promotion.
“You guys gotta promise me a few things, okay?” Khan said to the crowd. “Please, promise me you guys will wear masks. We can’t shoot the crowd if you’re not wearing masks. You guys have done a great job spacing out, please, stay in your groups, try not to leave your groups.”
“And then we’re on live TV. It’s been a long time since we’ve had live fans. If you guys could please avoid a couple of things: Please do not, the F-word, please do not chant holy blank, even though it happens at wrestling shows. Please don’t do it. The other thing, can you guys just be hot? Because you guys represent this entire place, you can be the hottest wrestling crowd in the world.”
