Gina Carano recently praised both Sasha Banks and Shayna Baszler on Twitter. This somehow led to Banks taking a shot at the former MMA fighter turned actor. Carano, who recently starred in The Mandalorian from the Star Wars franchise, posted the following message to Twitter in response to an angle from WWE RAW this Monday:
Banks, perhaps still upset at taking the shot from Baszler, then said she’d whoop Carano too.
And just like that, I wanna whoop your ass too… you wouldn’t last in my Universe but you’re welcome to try ? #2BeltzBankshttps://t.co/vqjaB3OKb8
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) August 4, 2020
Baszler has been lobbying for a title shot since coming back to RAW. She most recently fought to a double count-out with Nia Jax. Next week on RAW, Asuka will take on Bayley in single’s action. If Asuka is victorious, she’ll get the next RAW Women’s title match at SummerSlam later this month.
Banks holds the record for most reigns with the RAW Women’s Championship with 5. She rarely holds the title for long, however. As of this writing, her combined days spent with the title across 5 reigns is only 97 days. That’s less than 3 weeks per title reign.
RAW Women’s Title Combined Days Spent as Champion:
Impact Wrestling on AXS TV for August 4th, 2020 featured an emotional retirement speech from Rich Swann followed by a heinous attack by Eric Young. Both the TNA and Impact World Championships were on the line and Wrestle House was back as well.
Impact 8/4 Quick Results:
TNA World Heavyweight Championship (Unofficial) Moose (c) defeated Heath
Wrestle House Susie & Alisha Edwards defeated Johnny Swinger (referee: Cody Deaner)
Impact World Championship Eddie Edwards (c) defeated Sami Callihan
TJP & Fallah Bah defeated Chris Bey & Rohit Raju
Wrestle House Kylie Rae defeated Rosemary (referee: Taya Valkyrie)
Here are 8 takeaways from Impact 8/4
Rich Swann’s Retirement Speech Ends With Vicious Assault By Eric Young
Rich Swann made a surprise return in the main event of Slammiversary. Swann was returning from an injury that doctors said might end his career. He cut a promo this week and spoke about how hard he had to work to return only for Eric Young to assault him on the PPV. With his leg in a walking boot, Rich Swann announced he was retiring.
The entire Impact locker room emptied out and banged on the mat in support of Swann. As the former X-Division champion looked to take one final moment on the stage, Eric Young sprinted out and assaulted his already badly injured leg before running away. Young has quickly become the most hated man in the promotion since returning.
Rob Van Dam Takes Out Sami Callihan Ahead Of World Title Match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQdmdBqnfA0
Sami Callihan was set to take on Eddie Edwards for the world title this week. As he was making his entrance, however, he was assaulted by Rob Van Dam and twerked at by Katie Forbes. Callihan had interrupted Forbes’ new website reveal last week.
Despite the assault, Callihan managed to make it to the ring for a match with his longtime rival. Even after taking a beating before the match, Callihan was competitive and almost won the title for a second time. He grew frustrated after not being able to pin Edwards after several piledrivers, however. Callihan picked up a chair but then thought better of using it. He then took two Boston Knee Parties from the champion and was pinned. One has to wonder how this match would have gone had Callihan not been assautled by Rob Van Dam beforehand.
Doc Gallows Arrested, Ace Austin & Madman Fulton Assault Karl Anderson
The Good Brothers are walking back to their truck when they noticed it was open and beer cans were on the ground next to it. As it turns out, this was a trap set by Ace Austin and Madman Fulton. During a melee with Austin and Madman, Gallows accidentally gave a back elbow to a police officer who had arrived to investigate. The police then arrested Gallows, leaving Anderson on his own.
Later in the show, Karl Anderson was on the phone saying he was going to get Gallows out of jail. He was then jumped by Ace Austin and Fulton and the two delivered a 2-on-1 beatdown to the Good Brother.
Wrestle House Returns
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaZKFs1aGlc
Wrestle House continued this week and there is a lot to cover here.
Susie and Cousin Jake seem to have a budding romance. Alisha offered to help Susie with her love-interest but this drew some comments from Johnny Swinger. As a result, Susie and Alisha took on Swinger in a 2-on-1 match at Wrestle House with Cody Deaner as the referee. It didn’t take long for the two Knockouts to land a double splash on Swinger for the win.
Kylie Rae is motivated to get back to the Impact zone as she is the #1 contender for the Knockouts title. Rosemary said nobody is leaving until John E Bravo (who Rosemary has been trying to seduce) “gets the hint.” Later, Kylie would inform Bravo of this who then seemed to not really understand and left the house. This infuriated Rosemary and set up a match between her and Kylie Rae.
Taya would be the special guest referee here, which is notable as she seems to find Kylie quite annoying. Kylie seems comedically oblivious to this. With the referee in her back-pocket, Rosemary seemed to have the match won. John E Bravo then returned and began cheering for her. Bravo’s reappearance seemed to please Rosemary and while she was distracted, Kylie super kicked her in the face. Taya reluctantly and slowly counted the pin and awarded the match to Kylie.
Heath Suffers Loss To Moose, Still Without Contract
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-q8b4Pnlj0
Scott D’Amore granted Heath a match against Moose this week with the stipulation that if he could defeat the self-proclaimed TNA champ, he’d earn a contract. While Moose isn’t officially the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, he has been victorious in numerous unofficial title defences. He would do the same thing here, finding a way to snatch victory from the claws of defeat.
The referee got bumped during an irish whip into the buckle. With the ref down, Heath hit a reverse bulldog which he is now calling “The Wake-Up Call” but there was no ref to count the pin. Moose then hit a low blow and got the 3-count after the ref recovered.
The North Cashing In Rematch Clause Against The Motor City Machine Guns At Emergence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx82UXKIcHY
Yesterday, Impact Wrestling announced a special 2-week event called Emergence. The branded shows will take place August 18th and 25th. The North announced during this segment that they will be cashing in their rematch clause on one of the two shows.
Jimmy Jacobs sat down with Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin for an interview this week. The team talked about how they had been training together for a return and decided to reunite. Ethan Page and Josh Alexander then came out and said MCMG didn’t beat them when they were at 100%. Page said that defending the titles for over a year had left them injured and far from the team they can be. The North said they will be at 100% for Emergence.
TJP Makes X-Division Champ Chris Bey Submit In Tag-Team Match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZQnsopmph0
Chris Bey defeated Willie Mack to win the X-Division Championship at Slammiversary. This week, he teamed with Rohit Raju to take on the team of TJP and Fallah Bah. The finish of the match came when Bey went for his patented springboard cutter finish but was countered by TJP. Bey then submitted to a cross arm-breaker possibly setting TJP up for a future shot at the X-Division title.
Kimber Lee Agrees To Take Out Jordynne Grace For Deonna Purrazzo
There was a backstage segment this week featuring Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo and the newly signed Kimber Lee. Purrazzo is set to defend the title against Jordynne Grace at Emergence. Kimber Lee offered to take Grace out ahead of the match on the condition that she receive a title shot after. Purrazzo agreed to the deal.
Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage had an on-again off-again friendship both on-screen and off. Hogan was recently interviewed by WWE.com about his year-long angle with Savage from WrestleMania IV to WrestleMania V. During the discussion, Hogan talked about having reconciled with his former Mega Powers teammate before his death.
“It was so tough when we had that blow-up when he got divorced. He didn’t want to have anything to do with me for eight years. I just thank God that we got back together before he passed away,” Hogan said during the interview.
Hogan then detailed the story of him and Savage reconciling just a few months before Savage died. Savage died on May 20th, 2011 at the age of 58. He suffered a heart attack and crashed his Jeep Wrangler into a tree.
“We ran into each other at a doctor’s office. I was on my seventh or eighth back surgery,” Hogan said of what sparked their reconciliation.
“We talked on the phone a couple of times,” Hogan continued. “I invited him over to have a barbeque, and really got back on track, which was cool. Later, I was with Lanny, his brother, at an independent wrestling show. He told me their mom wasn’t doing so well with [Randy’s father] Angelo passing away. So we had planned on having a barbeque at her house — because I got along well with Randy’s mom — and try to cheer her up. So, Lanny and I called Randy from the arena. Three days later, he had the heart attack. It was crazy.”
Kimber Lee is now officially a member of the Impact roster. She has been performing on recent shows since the promotion began empty arena tapings. Impact announced today they have locked her up to an official contract.
The 30-year-old is a former CHIKARA Grand Champion. She also performed in WWE as part of the NXT brand from 2016 to 2018, sometimes under the name Abbey Laith. Kimber Lee defeated Havok twice to kick-start her run in Impact. She has since been defeated by Jordynne Grace, Neveah, and Deonna Purrazzo on episodes of Impact on AXS TV.
The company took to Twitter to announce Kimber Lee’s signing:
Impact Wrestling is back on AXS TV tonight with a stacked card. The former Heath Slater will make his in-ring debut for the promotion. Eddie Edwards will look to defend the Impact title for the first time this reign as well.
The following matches have been announced for tonight’s show:
Moose vs Heath (if Heath wins, he earns an Impact contract)
Impact World Championship Eddie Edwards (c) vs Trey from the Rascalz
Smackdown’s Sonya Deville recently took part in an interview with the International Business Times. During the interview, Deville revealed that Tegan Nox reached out to her before coming out as gay last month.
“She reached out to me a couple of months ago and she just kind of picked my brain on my coming out story. What it was like and what she was going through and how to kind of navigate some of the dark waters that she hasn’t done yet.”
Deville then said the advice she gave Tegan was to do things on her own time and in her own way.
“I just gave her the best advice I could, and I told her that I think she’s awesome and speaking her truth is a powerful thing, but to do it on her time, in her way and not to let anybody else dictate that journey for her.”
Deville also spoke about representation in wrestling in both AEW and WWE.
“Having Jake Atlas and Tegan in WWE, and seeing Sonny Kiss and Nyla Rose in AEW, it’s so powerful and it means the world to me.”
Arn Anderson was working backstage in WWE in 2010. He recently spent some time talking with Conrad Thompson about the Money in the Bank PPV from that year. During the discussion, Anderson spoke about the state of women’s wrestling at the time.
“It takes a long time to get at this,” Anderson said on The Arn Show. “Let’s just face it, the girls didn’t have enough reps to be polished. They were just beautiful women. They were meant to just be beautiful women out there. And if they were athletic on top of it, then great.”
“This was prior to the really polished ladies that were just world class athletes, got the business, were meant to be in the business, it was ordained probably centuries before they were ever even thought about.”
“Because when the shoe dropped and the ladies were getting all those reps and then you started to see the talent just get better and better and better, it was because of reps.”
Anderson continued to talk about how some women wrestlers in WWE back in 2010 were not as skilled as the wrestlers who would come after them.
“These ladies were just meant to be on TV just not necessarily as wrestlers.”
Eric Bischoff was the Executive Director of WWE Smackdown from the summer of 2019 until March of 2020. He moved to Stamford, Connecticut near WWE’s headquarters for the role. Bischoff spoke about moving to Stamford on a recent edition of the 83 Weeks podcast.
“I must have known this just intuitively or whatever but I said ‘Look, we’re not going to sell the house, we’re not going to pick up and sell everything we own and start over at 64 years old.'”
Bischoff continued to say that he was hoping to make some changes to the creative process in WWE. Once that was set up, however, he figured he would leave the promotion.
“I kind of looked at WWE as a 2 or a 3-year gig. And not because I wouldn’t have wanted to work there longer, not because I devalued it in any way but I was honest about what could I really contribute that actually mattered.”
Bischoff wasn’t expecting to be in Stamford long and said he looked at the whole thing as something of an adventure.
“I’m just going to go there and we’re going to make the most of it and that’s kind of what we did. It felt like we were 21 again.”
AEW will be running a women’s tag team tournament this summer. The teams will be drawn at random and the first pairing was made on Dynamite this week. Nyla Rose will be teaming with Ariane Andrew, the former Cameron in WWE.
Chris Jericho noted a few more teams for the tournament recently. He revealed 3 pairings of teams for the tournament on his Saturday night live stream. One of the teams involves former NXT star, Taynara Conti.
Here are the teams Chris Jericho revealed for the tournament recently:
Taynara Conti & Anna Jay
Ivelisse & Diamante
Allie & Brandi Rhodes
Brandi Rhodes spoke about how the tournament is a bit of an experiment. If it goes well and fans respond positively to it, the tournament could become an annual event.
“I think that’s how you look at a lot of things. You try things, you see how they go. I, of course, am very hopeful that this tournament is something that can continue to happen as it’s going to bring great opportunities to a lot of women who don’t normally get to be seen on Dynamite or on AEW Dark as often as we’d like to.”
Michael Jones is known to many wrestling fans by the name Virgil. He’s also wrestled under the names Vincent, Soul Train Jones, and a few other monikers. When Virgil was hired by WCW in 1996, he was placed in the New World Order. Virgil became the 8th person to join the faction on September 23rd, 1996.
Eric Bischoff was recently asked on the 83 Weeks podcast what went into the decision to hire him for the NWO angle.
“It wasn’t my idea to bring him in. I think it was a combination of a couple of different people, I think Hulk Hogan being one of them but it wasn’t his idea. He didn’t originally come to me with the idea. It might have been Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. It was the trifecta, it was that group who came to me and said ‘why don’t we do this? It’ll be fun. He’s a good dude.'”
“There was a diversity issue that was apparent to me, keep in mind this Turner Broadcasting. Turner Broadcasting was way more interested in diversity before diversity became as important as it is today.”
“We had a challenge in terms of diversity within the NWO and he was available.”
“Regardless of whose idea it was, it kind of made sense on paper. He was never brought in to be a big star, he was never brought in as a big damn deal. He was a supporting cast member for crying out loud.”
Virgil appeared as “Soul Train Jones” in a couple of segments with the Inner Circle in AEW last November.
Nattie Neidhart (aka Natalya) writes a column for the Calgary Sun. Her Uncle Bret used to do the same for many years. Natalya dedicated her column this week to Kairi Sane. The former NXT Women’s Champion has now departed WWE after the most recent set of tapings.
“This week WWE said goodbye to Kairi Sane, as she is moving on to exciting new adventures in her life. I couldn’t be more proud of Kairi and all that she’s accomplished in just a few short years after leaving Japan to chase her dreams in WWE,” Natalya says in the column.
Natalya continued to write about the first time she met Kairi. It was backstage at the Mae Young Classic. Both Natalya and Beth Phoenix noted how talented she was and how much the fans responded to her.
“I remember meeting Kairi for the very first time with Beth Phoenix at the Mae Young Classic, as she stood out in such a special way to me. After watching her compete, I said to Beth, ‘Kairi is so talented in the ring. She also has a way of connecting with the audience that is so genuine and so authentic.’ Beth responded by saying, ‘The audience loves Kairi because they can feel how much heart she has and how much she loves what she does in the ring.'”
Last week on RAW, Kairi was the victim of a backstage assault by Bayley. At the time, Asuka was wrestling Sasha Banks in a RAW Women’s title match. As Asuka left the match to rescue her friend, she was counted out. This gave Banks the win and the title due to a stipulation added to the title match.
Mick Foley and David Arquette will both star in the upcoming film, 12 Hour Shift. A trailer for the film was recently released. The film was set to debut initially at the Tribeca film festival. This was canceled due to the ongoing pandemic, however. The film is a dark comedy and will be released through the Tribeca digital library tomorrow.
“It’s 1999 and over the course of one 12 Hour Shift at an Arkansas Hospital, A Junkie Nurse (Angela Bettis), Her Scheming Cousin (Chloe Farnworth) and a group of black market Organ-Trading criminals (Mick Foley, David Arquette, Dusty Warren) start a heist that could lead to all of their demise,” reads a description of the film.
The film will be the first IMDB credit for Foley this year. Some of his previous credits include:
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Chokeslam (2016)
I Am Santa Claus (2014)
Hellevator Man (currently in production.)
As for Arquette, his latest films include
Spree (2020)
Mob Town (2019)
2099: The Soldier Protocol (2019)
The MisEducation of Bindu (2019)
A trailer for the film can be viewed in the player below:
55-year-old Mick Foley also spent some time recently commenting on a potential Big E singles run.
“I believe if he can show a little different side of himself. A little bit more seriousness, a little bit more anger when the situation calls for it, that he will go down in history as one of the great WWE Superstars and I hope it happens.”
MVP is currently a member of “The Hurt Business” along with Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin on RAW. There have been rumours as of late that Vince McMahon is (or at least was) interested in rebooting the Nation of Domination stable from the late 1990s. Speaking on a podcast with former WWE writer Kazeem Famuyide, MVP says he has no interest in taking part in such an angle.
MVP On Rumored Nation of Domination Reboot
“No, no, short answer is no, because I’ve been hearing the chatter and I’ve been seeing that and I don’t wanna do the new anything. The Nation was done, it was awesome in the time that it was done. It was needed, stars were made. I don’t wanna rehash something else, I wanna bring something new, and I don’t necessarily, in our approach to The Hurt Business, me and Bobby, as you know are legitimate friends away from wrestling. We boys. Shelton is one of my closest friends. I just like making money with my friends, you know what I’m saying?” MVP said on the show.
MVP continued to say he’s excited about getting to work with Apollo Crews and Ricochet. He would also say that his current angle with The Hurt Business isn’t a statement about race.
“I have no interest in rehashing the Nation of Domination and while I do wanna present myself and Bobby and Shelton as strong black role models, successful, we’re businessmen. We’re not trying to make a statement on race. We’re trying to just make a statement.”
MVP’s last match on RAW came two weeks ago when his Hurt Business dropped a trios match to Cedric Alexander, Ricochet, and Mustafa Ali. Lashley then defeated Ali this week on RAW. MVP is also claiming to be the United States champion at the moment, though the title actually belongs to Crews.
After making a strong impression on the microphone and in the ring against Cody on Dynamite 2 weeks back, AEW has signed Eddie Kingston. The 18-year veteran pro has had stints with ROH, the NWA, CHIKARA, Impact Wrestling, CZW, and PWG.
“I learned a long time ago, in this life, you never lose, you learn,” Kingston said following his match with Cody on Dynamite. “I learned tonight that Cody is the better man, he’s the better grappler, he was the better fighter. But just tonight. I’ve been doing this for a very long time … I have nothing else in this life that I love doing.”
“So whether AEW brings me back or not, I’m going to keep going. I’m going to keep going until the wheels fall off,” Kingston continued. As it turns out, AEW will be bringing him back regularly as an official member of its roster.
Kingston spent 2019 with the National Wrestling Alliance. He formed “Outlaw Inc” along with former ROH World Champion, Homicide. In 2018, Kingston managed “The OGZ” in a feud against Konnan and LAX. The OGZ consisted of former LAX members Homicide and Hernandez.
Members of the New Day have been doing what they can to raise awareness about racial injustice. Kofi Kingston and Big E have been wearing armbands each week on Smackdown with the names of people who have lost their lives at the hands of police including Breonna Taylor, Tamla Horsford, Botham Jean, Freddie Gray and many others.
Big E spoke to Yahoo Sports about New Day using their platform to make a statement. He said when they went to Vince McMahon with the idea of taking a knee on Smackdown, he was in total support.
“When Kofi and I got to the Performance Center that day, we felt like we had to do something,” Big E said. “We went and had a conversation with our boss, Vince McMahon, and he was completely on board. We felt like that even if it was just a five-second gesture, it was important to let people know that the things that affected them, we were feeling too. We’re not above this because we’re on TV or because we make money, we’re still people. I was born Black, I will die Black, I have lived my life as Black American much longer than I will ever be a WWE wrestler.”
Big E would continue to say although he doesn’t know how to solve a systematic problem, it is important to him to do something with the anger and frustration he feels about it.
“It really weighed on me. I felt that even though I didn’t know how to change the structure or end systemic racism, I wanted to do something with my anger and frustration, I wanted to do something positive and we were all on the same page with that.”
Peyton Royce took to social media recently to open up about her experience with depression. The 27-year-old posted a photo from last year taken just weeks before her wedding to Shawn Spears. Royce said that even though on the outside everything was going great in her life, inside she was dealing with depression.
“I was dealing with the lowest low I’ve ever experienced. My mental health was suffering more than I had ever dealt with & I felt like I could not get myself together. I felt like I was letting so many people down including myself & I just couldn’t pick myself up,” Royce said in the post. She would continue to say that many people who suffer from mental illness look fine on the outside.
“Everyone is going through something. Be kind & know that everyone is dealing with whatever it is, the best they can. The more love, support & kindness we can show each other might help someone feel less alone. Even if they seem happy & confident like they’ve got it all together… They could be a fantastic fibber.”
Real name Cassandra Arneill, the Australian was signed to WWE in 2015. Along with her partner, Billie Kay, she debuted on the main roster in April of 2018.
WWE exceeded expectations in the 2nd quarter of 2020. The company recorded $223.4 million in revenue generated resulting in $43.8 million in total profits. They had been expected to generate approximately $231 million in revenue and $12 million in profit. Even though WWE generated less revenue than expected, they earned more profit due to decreased operating expenses.
“Revenues were $223.4 million as compared to $268.9 million in the prior year quarter reflecting the timing of the Company’s large-scale event in Saudi Arabia; Revenues reached a record $514.4 million year-to-date, representing 14% growth from the prior year period,” reads a WWE report on their financials this quarter.
In comparison, quarter 2 for 2019 saw the company bring in $268.9 million in revenue and $10.4 million in profit.
WWE Records Record Profits
WWE has saved money by producing television shows from the Performance Center and taping multiple episodes in a row. This has led to an increase in profits even with the decline in revenue.
The company has also seen an increase in subscribers to the WWE Network. There are currently 195,000 more subscribers to the Network than what had been projected for this time.
“Our second quarter financial performance was strong and demonstrated our ability to respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO. “We continue to adapt our business to the changing environment, focusing on the development of new content for global distribution platforms and increasing audience engagement to drive growth and value for our shareholders.”
It should also be noted that WWE’s financials this quarter were unaffected by the talent releases in April. WWE continued paying main roster talent until mid-July, meaning they were all still being paid throughout Quarter 2. Some have been critical of WWE for cutting talent during a pandemic at a time when they were on pace for record profits.
On an investors call yesterday, Vince McMahon noted that profits will likely be down once the company starts touring again. With social distancing guidelines in place, it will make running live shows a more financially risky situation.
Last week on Smackdown, Kofi Kingston revealed he’ll be out of action for 6 weeks. Kingston told Big E it’s time for him to show the world what he can do as a singles wrestler. Booker T recently addressed Big E as a singles wrestler on his ESPN Hall of Fame radio show and YouTube channel.
Booker T On Big E As A Singles Wrestler
“I think Big E is going to have to shed a few things in order for people to look at him like the world champion,” Booker said on the show.
“Big E still trying to be the New Day is not going to work for him as far as him working at the top of the card. I’m talking about being the main attraction. I’m talking about being the guy that the company has put in position to be the guy.”
“You can’t rehash something that you’ve been doing for so long and think that’s what’s going to take you to the next level,” Booker continued.
Booker and Brad Gilmore then spoke about wrestlers evolving their characters throughout their careers.
“I talked to Big E maybe a year and a half ago and I could tell he wasn’t in the best place,” Booker continued. “I think it was right after Kofi won the title actually and I said ‘trust me bro, your time is coming. Your run is going to actually happen.’ And he looked at me and I could see he was almost like ‘Nah, it ain’t going to happen.’ I said ‘trust me, it’s going to happen for you cause you’re talented, just keep doing what you’re doing.'”
AEW’s commentary booth was without Excalibur this week. The masked former luchador’s absence was addressed on Wrestling Observer Radio. According to comments from Dave Meltzer, it’s possible Excalibur missed the show due to a controversial wrestling angle he participated in a long time ago. The angle involved using the N-word in reference to a Black wrestler.
Before addressing Excalibur’s absence, Dave Meltzer noted he had not heard any concrete reasons as to why the announcer missed the show. He did offer speculation as to a possible reason, however.
“There was an angle, I’m not sure if it was in 2003 or 2005. It was a long, long time ago,” Meltzer said.
“In that angle, Human Tornado, who was kind of being pushed as a top babyface and he would often ask for guys to do heavily-racial promos on him and he asked them to use the word. From what I was told, Kevin Steen was very reluctant and Human Tornado convinced Kevin Steen.”
“I don’t know if Excalibur and Disco Machine were reluctant or not. The person who was there said he doesn’t know what they were. But they all knew after they did it, and this is again like 15-17 years ago, they all knew after they did it that they f***ed up big time.”
“I have no idea what the story is as far as is he gone? Is he off for a couple of weeks? I know he took the trip to Florida for the show and was not used. And that’s all I really know.”
Randy Orton will challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. The Legend Killer has had an eventful year in the promotion. He has been involved in a feud with Edge that spanned 2 PPVs. He’s also punt-kicked legends like Christian and the Big Show and is arguably the biggest heel in the company right now.
Orton recently spoke to SI.com and said that having been bullied as a kid is one of the things he feels taught him to be an effective heel.
“When I was younger, I was bullied, I was picked on,” Orton said. “I know how that feels, so it’s just reversing that and being the bully, knowing what to do or say to get under somebody’s skin. Growing up, my younger sister just hated my guts. I took out being bullied at school on her. As far as where I get that motivation, I’m not sure there is just one explanation. I feel comfortable being the heel.”
Arn Anderson recently said that he feels Orton is the best heel in the business.
“When he’s a heel and allowed to get heat, he’s the best heel in the business and I believe that,” Anderson said on the Arn Show. “Randy works old-school, Randy doesn’t do a one-and-a-half off the top. He doesn’t dive out on the floor, he doesn’t do any of those things.”
Randy Orton On Less Being More In Wrestling
Orton also spent some time during the interview talking about modern in-ring styles. According to Orton, wrestlers need to slow down and sell more.
“If two guys are going 100 miles an hour, and they never slow down and they never sell, it’s a big fireworks show and I’m not getting any drama,” said Orton. “I’m not getting invested, and I’m not wanting to see more. When it’s over, it’s over, and onto the next train wreck. It’s too much. Less is more, sometimes. Sometimes you do need to slow it down.
A lot of things involving people aligned with Arn Anderson took place last night on Dynamite. Double-A was called into FTR’s contract-signing on the show as the team’s tag-team advisor. It appears Anderson will likely be aligned with the new signees moving forward.
Anderson also manages Cody Rhodes and the Nightmare Family. This week on Dynamite, Cody was rescued from a Dark Order attack by the debuting Matt Cardona (FKA Zack Ryder). Next week on Dynamite, Cardona, and Cody will team up to take on John Silver & Alex Reynolds. The rest of the Dark Order will then take on FTR, the Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega & Hangman Page.
Anderson spoke about the upcoming matches his guys have against the Dark Order on this week’s Coach’s Corner segment. He said he knows they can trust the debuting Cordona, as he and Cody go way back.
“They’ve got the numbers. What do they got, 20-30 guys in that Dark Order?” Anderson asked. “Sides have been chosen. Now, Matt and Cody go along way back, I know we can count on him. I’m going to have to move some chess pieces around to make this thing fly because I’m going to expect the unexpected, I’m going to expect it to be at its worse.”
Anderson then issued a message to the Dark Order.
“Boys, you jumped on Cody at a time when he should have been shaking Warhorse’s hand who gave him a hell of a fight,” Anderson continued. “But now the focus has changed and it’s changed totally. Now, we’re on the attack and you’re going to be in the crosshairs.”
CM Punk and the Miz traded jabs regarding WWE Backstage back in January. After appearing on the show one week, Miz used the line “Sorry I didn’t change the culture” in reference to a comment CM Punk made when he was first announced as a regular on the show. Punk responded to a Tweet from the WWE on Fox Twitter account regarding the comment:
The Miz was recently interviewed by 411 Mania and addressed the situation. He said he still considers him and Punk friends.
“I have no idea to be honest with you. Like, I still to this day have no idea,” Miz said. “To be honest, I thought we were friends. And it’s just like one of those things where you’re like, ‘God, man.’ I don’t know. I just don’t know, like I really don’t. I wish I could answer any of the questions that you would have about that, but I honestly, I don’t know. I don’t get it. I don’t get him.”
Miz also spent some time during the interview talking about those who are critical of him main eventing WrestleMania 27.
“People were still talking like I didn’t deserve to be in that spot, ‘I should’ve been in that spot!’ ‘Blah blah blah!’ Let’s put it this way: There was no one that generated more heat, more bad guy like oriented couldn’t stand you heat if you will than me at that moment.”
Conspicuously absent from the tag team rankings are FTR, Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler. The omission was not lost on Wheeler, questioned, “Hello? Anyone there?”
This prompted a response from AEW President Tony Khan, who revealed that Harwood and Wheeler have yet to sign their AEW contracts.
As I’ve told your attorney, you each need to sign your contracts before we can rank you in the top 5.
Dax Harwood then noted he and Cash will make a decision on the matter today.
“Mr. Kahn dropping personal information on twitter. We’ll make our decision today,” Harwood Tweeted in response.
AEW Tag Team Rankings
FTR are 4-1 thus far in AEW. They have defeated Butcher and the Blade, SCU, The Lucha Bros, and Peter Avalon & Brandon Cutler. Their only loss came at Fyter Fest when they teamed with the Young Bucks and dropped an 8-wrestler match to the Lucha Bros and Butcher and the Blade.
Kairi Sane finished up with WWE at the last set of tapings. She defeated Bayley in single’s action last week on RAW but then was beaten up backstage by her this week. After the segment aired, Sane sent out a Tweet thanking WWE for her time with the company. According to comments made by Bully Ray on Busted Open Radio, she should not have sent out the Tweet when she did.
“Sending out that tweet 3 minutes after the segment ended was atrocious,” Bully said on the show. “Anything that WWE and those women tried to build up for that moment is now completely thrown out the window.”
Sane Tweeted out the following after the segment aired:
I was able to accomplish so much in the last three years, but it wasn’t because of my ability or my strength. It was because of all of the constant, warm support from the fans. I am so thankful I could meet you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Kairi Sane???? pic.twitter.com/BaH2UBi9wn
Bully continued to talk about why Kairi’s Tweet bothered him. According to Bully, the thanking of wrestlers on social media hurts the angle that has been built between Asuka and Banks.
“Wrestlers thanking each other on social media, and what we saw from Kairi Sane last night, in my opinion, has absolutely no business in there. Now, who knows Kairi Sane might be done with wrestling and she might not care anymore. You’d think that she did give a d**n about all those women.”
Bayley’s attack on Kairi Sane on RAW this week also helped Sasha Banks capture the RAW Women’s Championship. The stipulation to the match was that if Asuka, who was technically champion heading into the match, was DQ’ed or counted-out she’d lose the title. Asuka then left the match to go help Sane leading to Banks winning the title.
Cody faced Eddie Kingston for the TNT title last week on Dynamite. He is scheduled to face Warhorse on tonight’s card. Cody has said he plans on defending the title frequently and against competition not necessarily signed to AEW. During a recent interview with ESPN, Cody named two non-AEW wrestlers who he’d like to face for the belt.
Cody mentioned both Ethan Page from Impact Wrestling and Nick Aldis from the NWA as potential title-challengers.
Here is what Cody had to say about potentially facing Ethan Page.
“There’s maybe two guys that I hear a lot about. One is my good friend Ethan Page [of Impact Wrestling]. I’ve kind of watched his glow-up continue,” Cody said. “He maybe doesn’t have the God-given talent, but just absolutely will outwork you and will continue to grow up, glow up and mature, which is the key if you’re going to make wrestling your life’s work.”
Cody has performed for Page’s Alpha-1 promotion in Hamilton, ON, Canada on numerous occasions.
The TNT Champion once traded the NWA World Heavyweight title with Nick Aldis. Cody won the title at All In in 2018 but then dropped it back to Aldis at the NWA 70th Anniversary show. According to Cody, Aldis would make an excellent challenger for the TNT title.
“That guy and I, we couldn’t be any farther from friends, but there’s this natural bit of respect between us because we did do the two NWA matches and they did have a really warm following. The match at All In, that was one of my favorite moments of my life as a wrestler. And we never finished this. We were 1-1.”
Cody also noted that he’s surprised MJF hasn’t answered his open challenge. Additionally, he made a point to note that he is 1-1 against Kenny Omega as well.
Eric Young was one of the many names released from WWE back in April. He has since resurfaced in Impact Wrestling where he attacked Rich Swann at Slammiversary.
Young was interviewed recently by Chris Van Vliet and said that Vince McMahon failed as a leader while he was in WWE.
“I’m not bitter in any way. One person made a massive mistake and I’m not the first person he’s made a mistake on, I will not be the last and that’s it,” Young said during the interview.
He continued to talk about how the first love in his life was pro-wrestling. Despite that, over the last 3 years with WWE, he stopped watching the shows.
“I avoided it as much as possible. That’s a weird place to be in,” Young continued.
Eric Young On His Time In WWE
Young continued to talk about the frustrations he experienced while in WWE.
“It’s impossible to be creative, it’s impossible to get ahead, it’s impossible to feel like you have a foothold in your career at all,” Young said.
“The whole time you’re there you are just trying to fix other people’s mistakes, that’s what it feels like.”
He then issued a comment directly at Vince McMahon.
“If you have a 3-hour television show, pro-wrestling television show, and you can’t find something for me to do then you are failing as a leader,” Young said. “Plain and simple. You failed your company. You failed the shareholders, you failed the fans and you failed yourself.”
