Pro Wrestling Illustrated has selected Jon Moxley as the top wrestler of the year. Moxley unseats his former stablemate in the Shield, Seth Rollins, who topped the list in 2019.
Moxley ranked 20th in 2019 and 106th in 2018.
PWI-500 Top 10 For 2020
Here are the top-10 rankings for this year’s PWI 500:
(Last year’s ranking in parenthesis)
Jon Moxley (20th)
Adam Cole (18th)
Chris Jericho (Unranked)
Drew McIntyre (36th)
Tetsuya Naito (25th)
Kazuchika Okada (5th)
Cody Rhodes (15th)
Seth Rollins (1)
Kofi Kingston (4)
AJ Styles (3)
Since the cover is already making its way around online, no point in waiting any longer: Congratulations to @AEWrestling's @JonMoxley on being the #1 ranked wrestler in this year’s PWI 500! Preorder your print copy now at https://t.co/EuUXs75XJBpic.twitter.com/O0JrkyvJ6U
— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI) August 27, 2020
Previous PWI Top-500 #1 Ranked Wrestlers
Moxley joins a prestigious list of the top wrestlers in the world who have been ranked #1 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated for the year.
Joseph Melton James, better known to wrestling fans as “Bullet” Bob Armstrong, has passed away. He was 80 years old. Armstrong is a WWE Hall of Famer, having been inducted in 2011.
Armstrong’s 4 sons, Scott, Brad, Steve, and Brian all became professional wrestlers as well. Brian Armstrong (aka Road Dogg) currently works backstage in NXT. Scott Armstrong is a WWE referee. Brad Armstrong wrestled in the NWA and WCW for years before taking a job as a producer in WWE. He died in 2012 at the age of 50. Steve Armstrong wrestled for years as well in WCW and briefly in WWE.
Bob Armstrong’s son Scott announced the news on Twitter:
It is with a very heavy heart we announce the passing of our Father and @WWE Hall of Famer “Bullet” Bob Armstrong. Information regarding funeral arrangements will come at a later date.
It is with a very heavy heart we announce the passing of our Father and @WWE Hall of Famer “Bullet” Bob Armstrong. Information regarding funeral arrangements will come at a later date.
WWE is saddened to learn that “Bullet” Bob Armstrong, a WWE Hall of Famer and patriarch of the legendary Armstrong wrestling family, has passed away at age 80.https://t.co/VC0Lzr0RGO
Tributes to Bob Armstrong have been pouring in online.
“AEW and the wrestling world mourn the passing of the legendary “Bullet” Bob Armstrong, our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his fans. #RIPBulletBob” wrote AEW on Twitter.
“Everyone here at CAC is deeply saddened to hear that wrestling Legend and WWE Hall of Famer “Bullet” Bob Armstrong has passed away at the age of 80. Our sincerest condolences to his family and friends during this most difficult time. Your legacy is etched in stone rest easy Sir,” wrote the Cauliflower Alley Club.
Sable had two stints in the WWE. She first began working for the company in 1996 after WWE hired her then-husband Marc Mero. By 1999 things had gotten contentious backstage in WWE and she left the company. Sable would return in 2003, however. Jim Ross recently spent some time on his Grillin Jr podcast talking about Sable’s departure from the company again in 2004.
“I think she wanted to be a Mom,” JR said when asked why he thinks Sable left the second time.
“She had made massive money. Sable made more money in a year than in the best year of a guy like Lou Thesz or Buddy Rogers. I would say for the majority of their career. She may have had years that surpassed Ric Flair. And the talents all become aware of that, what somebody’s making.”
JR and Conrad then spoke about Marc Mero finding out that Sable and Brock Lesnar had gotten together. Mero was considerably less willing to confront the person Sable was with after finding out it was Brock Lesnar.
JR continued to talk about Sable’s legacy in wrestling and successes in life.
“She’s made full circle, from housewife to wrestling star back to being a housewife and Mom,” JR said. “So I think that her life in my estimation, Sable’s life was a great success story.”
“If somebody said to me ‘did you hear Sable is going in the Hall of Fame?’ I’d say ‘great! She earned it.'”
Booker T recently commented on his controversial loss to Triple H at WrestleMania 19. He made the comments on his Hall of Fame with Booker T and Brad Gilmore radio show and posted to his Reality of Wrestling YouTube channel.
Triple H defeated Booker T in a World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 19. Many fans felt that due to the nature of the rivalry between the two, it would have made more sense for Booker to win, however.
“I would change the outcome in the WrestleMania match with Triple H, that’s about the only thing that I would do differently,” Booker said when asked about his career on the show.
The match result doesn’t appear to bother him too much, however.
“Even with the Triple H match, I’ve said this several times, I forgot all about that match after I got the check,” Booker continued. “When you get a check big enough where you can pay for your house, you don’t think about the title or the match or anything like that.”
“The thing is you can’t get the check if you ain’t championship quality. You got to be a guy that they are giving the ball to.”
Booker T on Kofi-Mania
Booker was then asked what impact it would have had on Kofi-Mania had Booker T been victorious at WrestleMania 19.
“I think the moment that we are in right now in society, I think that’s one of the really, really big reasons we needed Kofi to win that night. Just because of what’s going on in our culture right now.”
“The moment of Kofi winning was so much more important for him winning than it was for me,” Booker continued. “That moment pretty much solidified Kofi Kingston as being a guy that came through this business, a guy that won the World Championship. For me, I won so many world titles, it ain’t even funny. Big difference. I won all the titles except that one!”
Booker’s comments can be heard in the player below:
Triple H’s Promo, March 3rd 2003
On an episode of RAW leading up to WrestleMania 19, Triple H cut a promo that many fans perceived to have racist undertones to it.
“Booker, I think you’re a little bit confused in your role in life here,” Triple H said during the promo. “You see Booker, you’re going to get to go to WrestleMania but see the fact is Booker, somebody like you doesn’t get to be a World Champion. You see people like you don’t deserve it. That’s reserved for people like me.”
“See Book, that’s where the confusion is. Your confusion is… see you’re not here to be a competitor, you’re here to be an entertainer.”
Triple H would later say at a WrestleMania press conference that it was not his intent for the promo to be perceived as his character being racist to Booker. He said he only meant to refer to legal problems Booker encountered earlier in his life when he said “People like you.”
Bruce Prichard has since said that the whole angle was meant to portray Booker as the flag-bearer of WCW at the time.
“The way it was intended and the way it was written, and the way that the whole angle was laid out, was about Booker T being the standard-bearer of WCW. Because at that time, Booker was the biggest star to come out of WCW,” Prichard said on his podcast in regard to the angle.
The wrestling world is continuing to grapple with the seriousness of what took place at Sonya Deville’s residence in the early hours of August 16th. Several updates are now available concerning the case.
Deville is scheduled to appear in court this morning. The purpose of today’s hearing is to seek a restraining order against Phillip Thomas in case he is released in the future.
Deville also testified a week ago today at a court hearing. That hearing ultimately ruled Thomas would not be granted bond and will remain in prison until his trial.
Deville noted that after learning the person’s name, she checked her social media and found countless threatening messages from him.
“I found hundreds of messages he sent from his account and two other accounts threatening my life. threatening my baby niece, saying he knew she was my world and he’d make sure she was dead,” Deville said, “saying that he’d cut off my ex-girlfriend‘s head and deliver it to my doorstep and do various forceful sexual things to me and my family members. I was horrified.”
Fox 13 published the following report which features security footage of the man entering Deville’s residence.
Court Rules To Keep Evidence Sealed
According to a report from PW Insider, The Hillsborough County Court ruled against a motion from local Florida media recently. The motion was for the release of evidence regarding the case to the public. Such evidence includes video messages sent by the suspect through social media. This evidence will remain sealed as a result of the court ruling against the motion.
Deville Has Received Additional Threats
A court-document obtained by HeelByNature, appears to indicate that Deville has received additional threats following the attack. Such messages reportedly read “I’ll finish the job that Phillip started”, and “My knife is sharper than Phillp’s.” These messages are addressed in the below document’s 3rd note:
7-years ago yesterday, AJ Lee delivered a promo that has lived in the memories of many wrestling fans ever since. The promo from 2013 took place just after AJ had turned down a spot on the Total Divas reality series. Vince McMahon approached AJ backstage and asked her why she didn’t want to be part of the cast. The conversation led to Vince asking AJ to air her grievances with Total Divas, and some of its cast members, live on RAW.
“OMG you guys, I just watched last night’s episode of Total Divas and it was insane, oh my gosh,” AJ said in the promo.
“It was great, it really was, it was the end of the world and it’s Sunday nights on the E Network, ahhh!”
“Do you want to know what I see when I look in that ring?” AJ continued, speaking to the Bellas and other Total Divas cast members. “Honestly? A bunch of cheap, interchangeable, expendable, useless women. Women who have turned to reality television because they just weren’t gifted enough to be actresses. And they just weren’t talented enough to be champion. I have done more in 1-year than all of you have done in your entire collective careers. I have saved your Divas division, I have shattered glass ceilings, I have broken down doors, why? So a bunch of ungrateful, stick-plastic mannequins, can walk on through without even as much as a thank you?”
AJ is currently working with Aimee Garcia on Scrappy Heart Promotions. They co-wrote a “GLOW vs the Babyface” comic book series and are currently working on a Dungeons and Dragons comic book due for release in October.
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson and Under Armour had been planning a promotional event today to launch the new Project Rock gym training shoes. In the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23rd, The Rock and Under Armour have announced they will postpone the launch.
The Rock Tweeted the following to announce the postponement and to comment on the situation:
“Out of respect for Jacob Blake & his family we’ll postpone our @projectrock@underarmour PR3 launch today. I’ll keep you posted on our relaunch date. Unbelievable we’re here again. Shot 7xs. In the back. In front of his kids. There’s no progress without humanity.”
Out of respect for Jacob Blake & his family we’ll postpone our @projectrock@underarmour PR3 launch today. I’ll keep you posted on our relaunch date. Unbelievable we’re here again. Shot 7xs. In the back. In front of his kids. There’s no progress without humanity.
This news comes on the heels of the NBA canceling all playoff games scheduled for yesterday. That was announced after the Milwaukee Bucks, the team closest to the shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, boycotted their game against the Orlando Magic. Several MLB teams also followed suit and did not play yesterday.
The shoes the Rock and Under Armour were set to announce have been in the works for a year now. The Rock has been personally testing out the sneakers. He posted to Instagram about them earlier this week:
AEW has released new top-5 rankings for the week of August 26th, 2020. The big change in the rankings this week comes as a result of Brodie Lee’s TNT Championship victory over Cody on Saturday. With the loss, Cody drops to the #3 position.
AEW Men’s Singles Division
AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley (15-0) TNT Champion: Brodie Lee (6-1)
MJF (8-0)
Lance Archer (12-1)
Cody (18-2) (previous TNT Champion)
Brian Cage (6-1) (-1)
Scorpio Sky (7-2)
Brodie Lee is the new TNT Champion. He squashed Cody in the main event of Saturday’s edition of Dynamite. The former champ had to be stretchered out of the arena and could possibly be out of action for awhile. Cody drops to the #3 position in the rankings with the loss.
Everything else in the men’s singles division stayed pretty much the same. Before winning the title, Lee was ranked #4. Brian Cage drops one position due to Cody being ranked at #3 this week.
AEW Women’s Division
AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida (16-1)
Nyla Rose (8-2)
Big Swole (6-3)
Penelope Ford (7-4)
Abadon (4-1)
Dr. Britt Baker (4-4)
There was no movement in the women’s singles division this week, though there were some big developments. NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa was featured in a vignette on Saturday challenging Shida to a title match. That match has been made official for All Out.
Also last week, Diamante and Ivelisse made history by becoming the 1st ever AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup winners. Rumors are AEW is working behind the scenes to sign them both.
#5 Britt Baker returns to action tonight (kind of). She’ll team with Penelope Ford and Rebel/Reba in a handicap match against #2 Big Swole.
AEW Tag Team Division
AEW Tag Team Champions: Kenny Omega & “Hangman” Page (12-0)
FTR (6-0)
Best Friends (14-4)
Young Bucks (6-2)
The Natural Nightmares (6-1)
Dark Order (8-2)
There was no movement in the men’s tag team division this week but a highly significant match has been scheduled for Thursday’s Dynamite. A gauntlet match will determine which team takes on Omega and Page for the belts at All Out. The order of the gauntlet match will be based on ranking. #4 The Natural Nightmares will start the match against #3 the Young Bucks. Whoever wins that match will move on to face #2 the Best Friends. Then the winner of that match will take on #1 FTR and whoever wins that fall will face the champs at the PPV.
New details regarding WWE’s deal with Orlando’s Amway Center have been revealed. WWE’s agreement with the venue extends until the end of October.
Orlando-based reporter for Spectrum News 13, Greg Angel, obtained a copy of the full contract between WWE and the city of Orlando. WWE is paying $12.5K for events on Sundays and $10K for RAW and Smackdown events.
WWE also will pay $7.5K for any days they work inside the venue and $2,500 for days where they are not working inside the venue. The deal runs through October 31st, but can be extended.
Orlando-based reporter Jon Alba has speculated that the reason the deal is not for longer is because of the prospect of the NBA’s Orlando Magic returning to the venue later this year.
“A thought on the #WWE and Amway Center situation: Perhaps a reason the City of Orlando has not commented on WWE potentially extending its lease at the arena could be the uncertainty of the next #NBA season. The #Magic are the primary tenants and would get priority,” Alba Tweeted.
“The #NBA has reportedly targeted beginning next season as early as December. The current #WWE lease at Amway Center for the #ThunderDome runs through October.”
WWE Saving A Fortune Running Amway
Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline commented on how much money WWE is saving through the deal with Orlando’s Amway Center. The breakdown is staggering.
“They are paying a whopping $450 thousand dollars to run this Thunderdome from now until the end of October,” Alvarez said. “The cost to run a live RAW before the pandemic was over a million dollars an episode.”
WWE’s has a 10-week residency at the Amway Center that spans from late August through the end of October.
“Granted, there is the cost of sending it up to the satellite uplink and everything like that but the point of this is, they’re saving a lot of money right now,” Alvarez added.
Of course, there are some drawbacks to WWE’s ThunderDome setup. During the first week in operation, several “inappropriate” images appeared on WWE television. The company issued a statement on Tuesday thoroughly denouncing some of the objectionable content.
Impact Wrestling on August 25th, 2020 featured the second night of Emergence. The show was headlined by a 30-Minute Ironman match between Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and former champ Jordynne Grace.
Impact Results 8/25:
Impact World Championship Eddie Edwards defeated Rob Van Dam
Wrestle House Blindfold Match Crazzy Steve defeated Johnny Swinger
Deonna Purrazzo Retains In 30-Minute Ironman Match
After an epic encounter at Slammiversary, the current champ and the former champ clashed under Ironman rules to headline Emergence night 2.
Purrazzo would begin focussing on the hand and arm of her challenger. The bulk of her attack continued to be on Grace’s limb as the match pushed across the 20-minute mark with no falls yet recorded. Grace began mounting a comeback as we approached 5-minutes left. She locked in a rear-naked choke in the center of the ring causing the champion to fade. Purrazzo’s arm dropped 3 times and the ref signalled that Grace had won the first fall.
With time running out, the champion had to work fast or lose her title. She landed a knee lift and quickly locked in a submission. Grace would reach the ropes, however, causing the break. With 2-minutes left Grace accidentally hit the ref in the corner. She then hit Purrazzo with a Grace Driver but the ref was down. As Grace went to help the ref, Purrazzo picked up the title belt and hit Grace with it and covered her to get the pin.
With a minute left and the score tied, Purrazzo fought feverishly to lock in the arm bar on Grace. She briefly got Grace in the Venus de Milo but transitioned to the Fujiwara armbar with seconds to go. Grace tapped and Purrazzo would retain.
Eddie Edwards Defeats Rob Van Dam, Attacked By Eric Young
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbI_gVT5pRk
Eddie Edwards kicked off Impact this week with his world title open challenge. Former TNA World Champion Rob Van Dam answered the call along with Katie Forbes. RVD looked like he might have the title won at one point too. He hit a jumping kick from the top, followed by Rolling Thunder, and then he looked to put things away with the 5-Star Frog Splash. Edwards moved out of the way, however, and then hit the challenger with a Boston Knee Party for the win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do08V2_qLfY
After the match, Eric Young came out from the back and attacked Edwards from behind. Young said that Edwards will face him next week.
A few segments later, Edwards came back to the ring and cut a promo on Young. He told Young to come out “right here, right now.” Young came out and said the match will happen next week as he planned. Edwards said that was fine but his ass-kicking would start now and a pull-apart began. During the melee, Young shoved Scott D’Amore to the ground.
Later in the show, Sami Callihan appeared in a vignette. He said that the reason RVD lost this match was that he is in his head. Callihan also said that he’s in Katie Forbes’ head as well. This all stems from Callihan interrupting Katie Forbes’ new website reveal a few weeks back after the two had an altercation in the back. Callihan promised to be there next week to kick RVD’s ass.
EC3 Says He Will Destroy The TNA World Heavyweight Title
"Destroying this title is the only way I'll be free."
Last week, EC3 attacked Moose and took possession of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He has been saying that he must destroy his past and the TNA title is a big part of that. He cut a promo this week saying he plans to destroy the title but he’s not yet sure how to go about doing that in a fitting way.
Wrestle House: Throw Powder In Someone’s Eyes and Yell “Fuji!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipd5vaItKp4
There was a toga party at Wrestle House this week. Also, the Deaners discovered a fun game where you throw powder in someone’s eyes and then yell “Fuji!” The team again confronted Acey Romero about having stolen their beer but again the Team XXXL member says he didn’t take it. The mystery of the missing beer continues.
Swinger attempted to hit Larry D with a “Fuji” but he hit Crazzy Steve instead. This led to Swinger and Crazzy Steve having a blindfold match at Wrestle House. The stipulation was added that the loser had to dress like the winner next week. Swinger was at quite the disadvantage as Crazzy Steve is already legally blind. Steve used a bike horn to distract Swinger and eventually picked up the victory with a roll-up.
Wrestle House: John E Bravo Confronts Lawrence D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMkfE5nBB1I
Also on Wrestle House this week, Lawrence D and Rosemary went on a date. This is all a ploy from Rosemary to make John E Bravo jealous, however. Rosemary is interested in John E Bravo because several weeks ago some tarot cards told her to be.
John E Bravo confronted Lawrence D before the date could begin and it led to a match. Lawrence made quick work of Bravo with a headbutt followed by a punch to the face for the win.
After the match, Bravo admitted to Taya that he has feelings for Rosemary. A drunken “Toga” Valkyrie did not like this news. She got in Rosemary’s face and blamed her for everything, saying she is jealous of her. Taya challenged Rosemary to a match next week in a “Winner Takes All” match and “All” includes John E. Bravo.
Brian Myers Picks Up A Win Over Willie Mack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twsKXLRH5EM
The Most Professional Wrestler Brian Myers and Willie Mack had an altercation in the back last week leading to this match. Myers hijacked an interview featuring Willie Mack talking about his injured partner, Rich Swann. Mack then attacked Myers in response and the end result is this week’s match.
Myers resulted to under-handed tactics to gain the victory, grabbing a handful of trunks on the pinning combination.
Rhino was jumped by Reno Scum recently. The team was hired by Hernandez to get his money back after Rhino and him had a gambling dispute. Rhino cut a promo backstage hoping that his tag team partner, Heath, would team with him next week. For that to happen, however, Heath will have to be hired by Impact.
Heath purchased advertising again this time to promote the “Heath4Impact” hashtag and encouraged fans to use it so that he gets hired by Impact.
Tully Blanchard was recently revealed as the new manager for FTR in AEW. Arn Anderson has also been involved with the team, having served as their tag-team advisor during negotiations with the company. Recently, on an episode of the Arn Show, someone asked how Arn feels a match between FTR and him and Tully Blanchard would go.
“Well we could start off as the heels but I’m sure pretty quickly they would be,” Anderson said about who would be heels and who would be the faces in the match.
“I wouldn’t even consider it now because what would have to happen if we had the match now is I literally would have to stand in the middle of the ring and they would have to bounce off me. I’m totally immobile.”
During the discussion, Anderson also revealed how he began working with AEW.
“Cody got a hold of me,” Anderson said. “I was just going to wander off into person appearances and comic-cons and have Tony Hunter book me around the world for however long I felt like doing anything.”
“(Cody) says we have some exciting things going on here, I’d love for you to be apart of it,” Anderson continued about his conversation with Cody. Anderson then talked about how Cody pitched the idea of him coming on as Cody’s head coach.
“I decided I’d love to do this for awhile yet, as long as I’m able to contribute and earn my way then I’d love to give it a try,” Anderson continued. “I’m proud to say I’ll be with them for a while yet to come.”
Bret Hart vs Hollywood Hogan was once rumored to main event Halloween Havoc 98. Hogan would face the Ultimate Warrior on the show instead, however. Meanwhile, Bret tended to get lost in the shuffle quite a bit during this period in WCW.
On a recent episode of the 83 Weeks podcast, Conrad Thompson suggested to Bischoff that some feel it was Hogan not wanting to work with Bret Hart that led to the change. According to Bischoff, that narrative is only pushed by those who don’t like Hogan.
“I think the narrative about Hulk reaching out and convincing me to bring in Warrior so Hogan didn’t have to work with Bret… Look, the people that live in that world who believe that… who want to be on the ‘I hate Hogan team’ so much that they will believe any kind of nonsense that fits that narrative.”
Bischoff says that all Hogan would have had to do if he didn’t want to work with Bret was say so.
“All Hogan would have said with regard to Bret is ‘No, I don’t want to work with him’ that’s it. It wouldn’t require that Hulk do a duck-and-weave or bob-and-weave move to bring in (Warrior) to avoid me pressuring him to work with Bret.”
Major League Wrestling is gearing up to restart. The promotion announced today that they have hired a COVID-19 compliance officer. The person will work to ensure the health and safety of staff and talent throughout and beyond the pandemic.
The league has been steadfast in saying they would not restart until it was safe to do so. Recent advancements in COVID-19 testing appear to have the promotion feeling confident in running events again.
“MLW has introduced a COVID-19 compliance officer (C19CO) as a member of its team moving forward,” reads an MLW press release. “This newly designated position is responsible for establishing and enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols, training staff, and monitoring compliance on all sets and venues.”
“Just like all broadcast productions have a producer or a football team has an offensive coordinator, the COVID-19 Compliance is another necessary member of our organization moving forward,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer.
MLW is saying they plan to reveal details of its restart in the near future. In storyline, the league has been shut down due to attacks by Contra Unit.
Vince Russo left WWE for WCW in 1999. He became the head of creative for the company but his time with WCW is not well-reviewed by many. Jim Ross was recently asked about Russo on an episode of his Grillin JR podcast.
According to JR, there was interest from WWE’s end in bringing Russo back when things fell apart for the first time between him and WCW in 2000.
“I want to say that there was some interest in bringing Russo back, I also want to say that I thought that maybe he came back to Stamford for a meeting with the old man. I can’t remember all the details, I’m a little foggy.”
“He had not destroyed a bridge, he could have come back and I think he wanted to come back,” JR said about Russo and WWE in 2000.
“There was an interest in bringing him back and seeing if he could recreate his magic and all that stuff. But for whatever reason, whether it be money or job description or whatever, I don’t know that the job to be the head writer was available to him. When a guy’s driven the wagon, you don’t want to sit in the other seat.”
Russo did have some negotiations with WWE and was actually employed for a 2-week period by the company in 2002 before leaving for TNA.
WWE’s Thunderdome has been the home to 3 shows since last Friday’s Smackdown. During last night’s edition of WWE RAW, images of a man in a KKK uniform waving a Confederate flag were shown in the front row. The images were visible during the Dominik and Rey Mysterio vs Seth Rollins and Murphy match. Additionally, it was visible as well as during the Retribution angle.
WWE sent the following statement to Pro Wrestling Sheet regarding this issue:
“This abhorrent behavior does not reflect WWE‘s values and we have zero tolerance for these unacceptable acts. We are working to ban those involved from future events and per our policies, any inappropriate actions result in the removal from the live stream.”
A “Fire Velveteen Dream” sign was also visible in the Thunderdome. A fan claiming to be behind the sign took to social media to detail what happened to them:
WWE is using a fan coordinator to give instructions to virtual fans inside the Thunderdome. The coordinator will tell fans when to make it look like they are cheering, booing, etc. WWE’s deal with the Amway Center will see the company take up residence in the venue for at least the next two months.
Following her “last hurrah” with WWE over SummerSlam weekend, Renee Young (aka Renee Paquette) published an article on the Players Tribune to thank WWE. In the column, Renee goes into detail about her time with the company and offers up thanks to several people. The first people Renee thanks in the column were Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H.
“A lot of ink has been spilled about the legend of Vince McMahon over the years, and I doubt that I can top any of it, so I won’t even try,” Renee wrote. “But what I’ll add is this — probably one of the best things you can say about a CEO: You always want his approval. I mean…… always, always, always. It’s like a miracle drug, getting Vince’s approval.”
After thanking Vince, Renee then turned her attention to Stephanie McMahon. Renee clearly has a lot of affection for Stephanie. She even referred to her as “warm and friendly.”
“Stephanie….. I mean, she is “women in WWE,” you know? But it goes so far beyond that. She’s just a boss, period. And I hate to use the term “boss lady” with Stephanie, because she’s a boss by any gender, but you really can’t say enough about the job she’s done in this male-dominated business. She’s so warm and friendly and inviting, but at the same time, you always know she’s taking care of her shit.”
Renee then spoke about working with Triple H in her column. She said that to her, Triple H represents the idea of progress in WWE.
“Hunter, to me — he represents this idea of progress in WWE. He’s always pushing talent in the direction of opportunity, and in the direction of something new. You see it first and foremost in his work with NXT, and just the way he’s built that brand into one of the most exciting things in wrestling right now.”
Renee also wrote paragraphs on people she worked with on the announce team. Additionally, Renee spoke about the women in WWE, Corey Graves, and some of the legends she worked with as well. Finally, she thanked the WWE Universe for their support.
She also noted that her favourite thing from her time in WWE was working with Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack.
“Thank you to Daniel Bryan and everyone involved with Talking Smack. Out of everything I did in WWE, that’s probably the single thing that I enjoyed the most.”
Jim Ross recently discussed the amount of heat CM Punk supposedly had backstage during his time in WWE. JR said that he disagrees with the sentiment that people backstage in WWE didn’t like Punk.
“All I got from anybody negative about CM Punk was that he was a different breed of cat, he can be a strange guy and that’s because he was not overly extroverted. So, in other words, he wasn’t fake,” Ross said.
“Because that was so contrary to the normal behavior of a top guy in any wrestling territory that I’ve ever been in, any of them, that he was just a different breed of cat and folks did not know how to deal with him. Simple as that, bad communication, and he didn’t have the support from the front office that he should have had.”
JR also addressed the rumor that Punk wanted the Shield to be Seth Rollins, Jon Moxley, and Chris Hero.
“Poor Chris Hero, who is a hell of a worker and a hell of a talent and a great guy, he basically got fat-shamed as well,” Ross said on Hero being left out of the group. “His work was amazing, one of my favorite guys to call matches for is Chris Hero. Solid citizen. The body, the DNA, was not good in the eyes of some, much like Punk’s.”
Arn Anderson was recently asked about Kamala on an episode of the Arn Show. James “Kamala” Harris passed away at the age of 70 recently. According to Double-A, Kamala was easy to work with and safe in the ring.
“My first booking in Louisiana for Bill Watts was against Kamala,” Anderson said on the show. “For about 5-minutes I was shown that it was his job to get over and me to get him over.”
Anderson continued to talk about how easy it was to work with Kamala in the ring.
“It was the safest, easiest money I ever got getting slaughtered,” Anderson continued. “He slaughtered me and you never forget your first house show in the business and that was against Kamala. I’ll never forget it and so sorry that he passed way too soon.”
“All of his stuff still looked good,” Anderson continued. “That big chop looked like it cut you in half. His stuff looked good but he was very safe. (He) never dropped anybody on their head bad. He was just a great character and he had full control of that gimmick and he got that gimmick over everywhere he went, he drew money.”
WWE debuted the Thunderdome last Friday on Smackdown. Orlando’s Amway Center has been transformed into a new set complete with LED boards featuring images of fans watching the show. According to comments made on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE had a production team giving instructions to virtual fans throughout the show.
“The basic gist is the Thunderdome is WCW, those Orlando tapings, same city even, from Disney World from the mid-90s where they would hold up signs that say ‘cheer’ ‘boo’ and all this,” said Dave Meltzer. “What they do is there is a coordinator, fan coordinator, on a headset and all the people can hear him. And he says like ‘everyone put your thumb down’ and that’s why when I watch on the screen and you see all the fans at the same time put their thumb down, it’s like this is so fake.”
“No one does this in real life as a real crowd, in synchronized,” he continued.
He would continue to say that there would be points throughout the show where the coordinator would tell fans to clap, give a thumbs down, or make similar gestures.
“Most of the time the people just sit there and don’t do anything and it’s all the pumped in crowd noise but every now and then you would have something where everybody would boo or everybody would cheer but it wasn’t the whole match, it would just be in certain spots. What it would be is when the coordinators says ‘everybody cheer,’ ‘everybody boo,’ if there was a chant, that’s what they would tell them to do.”
“In some ways this is better for (WWE) because they can control the fans, which they could never do before,” Meltzer continued.
On Saturday’s edition of Dynamite, NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa appeared in a backstage interview. She challenged AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida and the match has been made official for All Out on September 5th.
Thunder Rosa’s appearance on Dynamite has some fans wondering what the relationship is between her and AEW. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer, the deal for Thunder Rosa to wrestle on the AEW PPV was struck between Tony Khan and NWA owner Billy Corgan.
Unlike with recent AEW signee, Ricky Starks, Rosa is not leaving the NWA and has not signed with AEW. Rosa is still with the NWA and the NWA Women’s title is expected to be apart of the weekly NWA internet PPVs scheduled to begin next month.
“The deal with Thunder Rosa, the NWA women’s champion, challenging Hikaru Shida for the AEW title on the 9/5 PPV was a deal that Tony Khan worked out with Billy Corgan, so it’s not an indication of anything more and the NWA is still targeting a weekly iPPV schedule with FITE TV,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
The NWA has announced a partnership with the United Wrestling Network. They will present weekly PPVs on Tuesday nights beginning September 15th.
Dominik Mysterio had his first official pro-wrestling match last night at SummerSlam. The 23-year-old was defeated by Seth Rollins. In a WWE social media exclusive interview, Dominik talked about how he wished Eddie Guerrero was still alive to have seen his debut match.
“I wish Eddie was here, that would have been something else too man. I wish he was here to see this, I think it would have been cool to see his reaction to me debuting 15 years later from him and my Dad having a match for me.”
Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio’s SummerSlam 2005 match carried the stipulation that the winner gained custody of Dominik. In storyline, Eddie was actually revealed as Dominik’s biological father.
“I saw his relationship with my Dad and they were best friends. Every time WWE would have house shows in San Diego, he would stay at our house and he didn’t like to because I guess it was something personal to him and staying in other people’s homes, their own privacy, and stuff. But my Mom forced him, that’s the Mexican in her, she’s like ‘no, no, no, you have to come to my house.'”
“I remember waking up in the morning and having breakfast burritos with them. He always treated me so well with all the stuff that we did and our angle. I think it would have just been cool to have him here,” Dominik continued.
The Hair vs Hair stipulation originally scheduled for the Mandy Rose vs Sonya Deville match at SummerSlam was removed on Smackdown last week. Deville said she wanted to up the stakes and a “Loser Leaves WWE” stipulation was added to the match instead.
According to a report from Wrestling Observer Radio, Deville’s lawyers noted it probably was not a good idea for her to appear 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.
The report continued to speculate what might be next for Deville after losing the match.
“Maybe because of the case she’s going to take some time off,” Meltzer continued. “I know there’s other projects she was looking at doing. Obviously, she’s going to be back at some point. I wonder if anyone really believes she’s really gone because they never adhere to their stips.”
Rose defeated Deville at SummerSlam. According to the stipulation, Deville must now leave the company.
The late Luna Vachon was released by WWE in 2000 after multiple altercations with people backstage. She had been with the company since 1997 and also had a run with WWE from 93-94. Jim Ross recently spoke about what led to Vachon’s release from the company on an episode of Grillin JR.
Jim Ross on Luna Vachon
“Luna had some issues,” JR said on the show. “Self-esteem issues, she was insecure, she was always concerned with how she looked.”
“She wasn’t the most feminine female in the locker room and she knew it. I think it bothered her,” he continued.
“She had other issues too. I can’t go into detail because I don’t know all of them. But I can just say that poor Luna would have given Dr. Phil a week’s worth of shows. Cause she just had a lot of issues that were deep-rooted that occurred in her life long before she came to WWF.”
“I didn’t have any issues with her one-on-one. She would apologize and cry and come to my office at TV and try to talk through it.”
JR then mentioned that Luna had arguments in the back with Marc Mero, Blackjack Lanza and others. Ross was then told to fire her. JR then mentioned that if the same situation happened now, Luna likely would have been asked to go to counselling instead.
“If that same scenario would have happened and we could have identified her issues we would have gone to HR and said this young woman needs some help,” JR said.
Luna passed away in 2010 at the age of 48. In the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble, Lita had Luna’s name (and others) written on her arm in tribute. She was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.
The Ultimate Warrior signed with WCW in 1998. His run with the company began in May of that year. He competed in 3 matches and was eventually gone from the company that fall.
Eric Bischoff recently spent some time on his 83 Weeks podcast talking about what it was like working with Warrior. In particular, Bischoff spoke about Warrior cutting a 20-minute promo on Hulk Hogan on his debut appearance with the company.
“It was the worst feeling I’ve ever had on live television,” Bischoff said about the promo. Warrior’s promo went almost half an hour, causing chaos for the production that night.
Bischoff was asked by Conrad how many minutes he feels they had scheduled for Warrior’s promo.
“Under 10,” Bischoff responded. “Probably 7 or 8 tops. Keep in mind we had to hit a commercial break. Fortunately, we were owned by the same company that owned the network we were on.”
Bischoff continued to say that even short promos can be hard to keep the audience engaged for.
“I think this could have gone as long as 27 minutes,” Bischoff said about Warrior’s promo. “I don’t know anybody who can get out there for 27 minutes and hold an audience.”
Bischoff told Warrior to wrap it up during the promo.
“When you’re standing in that ring and the camera is on you and you realize that at home 3,4,5 million people possibly are dying all at the same time, there is nothing worse as a producer or a talent of live television than a moment like that, and that’s how I felt.”
WWE debuted its Thunderdome viewing experience last night on Smackdown. Jon Moxley recently appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio and during the discussion he gave his thoughtson the images and video of Thunderdome he has seen.
“All the LED boards and shit in their Thunderdome isn’t going to fix their problems. We know what their problems is,” Moxley said on the show. “I saw a picture of the Thunderdome. It was like a Zoom call with all the faces on the wall and it tripped me out.”
Moxley then continued to talk about the Thunderdome reminding him of something from the Ray Bradbury novel, Fahrenheit 451.
“I want WWE to be awesome,” Moxley continued. “Honestly, when WWE sucks at this point I don’t get excited about it like ‘haha, you suck’, it pisses me off. Because they are the #1 brand in the sport. They represent the sport to a lot of people and when their product is embarrassing to watch, it makes all of wrestling look bad.”
Earlier in the conversation, Moxley talked about his opinion of WWE’s current product.
“We know what their problem is, it’s one person, 3 letters, VKM, that’s the problem. Until he’s gone or relinquishes control, it’s not going to change. When I watch their show during the pandemic era, or I guess even before, especially during the pandemic era I’m just like ‘oh thank god I’m not there.'”
