PROGRESS has announced two more bouts for their upcoming Chapter 61 event at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, England.
Newly crowned IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay will be facing the debuting Australian Adam Brookes, Ospreay has made the Australian scene a home away from home recently and now he will be welcoming one of the country’s best to UK shores.
From welcoming Australia to PROGRESS we get this…Jimmy Havoc and Mark Haskins will be looking to cause absolute destruction when they face the impressive Aussie Open, comprised of Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis this team has been establishing themselves on the UK scene over the past year and now they get their sternest test in PROGRESS against the two former PROGRESS World Champions.
It was hailed as one of the best matches of 2017 and now WWE has released Tyler Bate vs Pete Dunne for FREE on YouTube.
The match for the WWE United Kingdom Championship at NXT’s Takeover Chicago event showed the world exactly what these two British stars could do, two of the youngest performers on WWE’s books went out and delivered on the big stage and put UK wrestling in the worldwide spotlight.
If you have not seen the match then check it out below:
Following the success of New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom event they have announced that tickets for their return to the United States with ‘Strong Style Evolved’ will be on sale January 29th. The show takes place from the Walter Pyramid arena in Long Beach, California on March 25th.
You’ll be able to guarantee your place at the show as of 1/29 10AM (PST) /1PM (EST) on the 29th, so make sure you don’t miss out on this massive event.
Tickets are currently priced as follows:
On Court
Rows 1-4: $200
Rows 5-12 $150
Stadium
Rows 1-7: $100
Rows 8-14: $80
Rows 15-24: $50
*Service charge not included
NJPW’s next event in the USA: STRONG STYLE EVOLVED! Tickets on sale 1/29 10AM (PST) /1PM (EST)!https://t.co/A0CPdnP48V
WWE’s 205 Live brand has been struggling recently with ratings on the WWE Network falling short of the top 20 on a weekly basis. In an attempt to reverse the fortunes of the Cruiserweight brand WWE decided to announce a brand specific 3 date tour with stops at Kingston RI, Lowell MA and Poughkeepsie, NY.
Well it appears as though the show has hit yet another roadblock, the Ryan Center in Rhode Island has announced that the January 19th event has been cancelled due to “routing and scheduling issues.”
What this means for the brand as a live touring entity is not yet clear but for a third of their first ever tour to be cancelled weeks beforehand does not bode well.
In addition to Superstars of the 205 Live division, WWE had advertised Bray Wyatt and “Woken” Matt Hardy to boost ticket sales.
The ‘Chosen Bros’ have been announced for their tag team debut in the United Kingdom. The enigmatic duo are the first team announced for Fight Club: Pro’s ‘Dream Tag Team Invitational’ that takes place March 30th – April 1st from Wolverhampton, Manchester and a yet to be named location for Night Three.
Two of the UK’s top promotions PROGRESS and Pro Wrestling: EVE have decided to release shows online for free…just because it’s Christmas.
PROGRESS’ ‘Unboxing Live’ from 2016 is available to view via their Demand Progress service. Unboxing is an annual tradition for PROGRESS, the show has no announced matches and anyone can appear! The 2016 iteration has some massive names in the world of wrestling, including some WWE UK, New Japan and NXT stars.
Pro Wrestling: EVE has released Day 2 from their incredible ‘SHE-1’ tournament on YouTube. This show features an absolutely massive main event in Meiko Satomura vs “The Vixen of Violence” Viper (AKA Piper Niven) and is well worth a watch.
WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne will be making his way to Oberhausen, Germany for a match against Marius Alani this evening. The UK superstar was contacted last minute to perform at the event as Zack Sabre Jr was unfortunately unable to attend due to illness.
The full card for wXw’s historic 17th Anniversary event is now as follows:
Tag Team Match
Jay FK (Francis Kaspin & Jay Skillet) vs. Monster Consulting (Avalanche & Julian Nero)
wXw Women’s Title Tournament Final Match
Martina vs. Melanie Gray
Singles Match
David Starr vs. Jurn Simmons
Singles Match
Marius Al-Ani vs. Pete Dunne
wXw World Tag Team Title Match
Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher & WALTER) (c) vs. The Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan)
Jim Cornette is a fairly outspoken personality in the wrestling world, his views on the ‘modern’ style of pro wrestling ala The Young Bucks have been in the news once again and as always are fairly disparaging.
In a slight change to usual proceedings Cornette has some praise for a match from this week’s NXT show. The main event for the WWE UK Championship between Tyler Bate & Pete Dunne has been garnering plaudits from fans online and now Cornette has described the two young superstars as “WAAY beyond their experience level” and that they “mix modern style/WOS style well, at their ages they will be stars for years to come.”
Did you enjoy the WWE UK Title match from this week’s NXT? How far do you think Bate & Dunne can go in the WWE? Let us know in the comments.
Both guys are WAAY beyond their experience level & mix modern style/WOS style well, at their ages they will be stars for years to come. https://t.co/fTVNIr5V2H
Irish promotion Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling has announced two bouts for their ‘Homecoming’ event which takes place on February 3rd from Dublin, Ireland.
The first sees British Strong Style member and WWE UK Superstar Tyler Bate taking on Zack Sabre Jr. This will be the second time that these two men face off in 2018 following their Rev Pro ‘High Stakes’ tag team match in January.
The second will see a clash of international standouts Keith Lee and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. Lee has been making a huge mark on the British scene throughout 2017, his bouts in the headline slot of PROGRESS’ recent Chapter events have seen his stock rise exponentially. Mike Bailey will be looking to once again cement his name on the world stage with this bout, he has been quietly stealing shows across the UK region recently and this match is expected to be another barn burner.
PROGRESS has announced the first match for their 61st Chapter event ‘Don’t Touch Me…Don’t…Don’t Touch Me’ which takes place from the O2 Academy in Birmingham on January 14th.
Chris Ridgeway will be taking on former PROGRESS Tag Team Champion Chris Brookes in a match that could well be a show stealer. Ridgeway made his Chapter debut for the company in a losing effort against Timothy Thatcher and he massively impressed the PROGRESS Ultras and management leading to his involvement here. Brookes is looking to establish himself in PROGRESS’ Singles division as his #CCK tag team partner Kid Lykos was unfortunately injured against the Grizzled Young Veterans where CCK lost their tag team titles.
More matches for this show will be announced after the Christmas period, keep checking back here on SEScoops for updates as we have them.
Cormier, who is a huge fan of professional wrestling has revealed that he would love to enter the 2018 Royal Rumble if given then chance. The UFC star recently spoke to Sports Illustrated’s Justin Barrasso and stated that “I wish I could be in the Royal Rumble this year, don’t think they will invite me, but fighting against Oezdemir in Boston works for me, timewise. My fight is in January, which opens up WrestleMania for me this New Orleans–not to compete, but to go.” Cormier will be defending his UFC title in Boston at UFC 220 against Volkan Oezdemir.
The Light Heavyweight Champion also had some interesting comments to make with regards to one of WWE’s top stars, Roman Reigns; “Roman is the number-one star in the company right now, and I enjoy his work, A lot of people boo him because they think he’s pushed too hard, but WWE is smart. Now they’ve spun it–they’ve stuck Roman back with The Shield, and now people cheer him again. They’ll find a way to make him the good guy, and I believe that he will get the championship back in New Orleans, but not from Brock Lesnar. I think Braun Strowman will be carrying the belt by then.”
Revolution Pro Wrestling has announced a potential match of the year candidate for their upcoming ‘High Stakes’ event on January 20th. Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki (representing SUZUKI-GUN) will be taking on the team of Trent Seven & Tyler Bate. This NJPW vs WWE UK bout for the Rev Pro British Tag Team Championship will headline one of the biggest events in Rev Pro’s year.
As well as pitting 3 of the most technically gifted UK performers around the presence of Japanese legend Suzuki will lend a strong style edge to the bout, this is certainly not one to be missed if you are a UK fan and can make it to York Hall on January 20th. Tickets are available to purchase via the tweet below.
You may have noticed a certain sequence from the recent ROH event involving The Young Bucks being the subject of much debate recently, Jim Cornette and UFC star Daniel Cormier had some rather disparaging comments on the Buck’s in ring style and how they felt it was too much like “gymnastics.”
Former WWE/WCW writer Vince Russo has now offered his thoughts on the controversy and he too decided to give his take on ring psychology and the foundations of wrestling. Check out what he had to say below and how Young Buck Nick Jackson decided to respond…
US Wrestling is about Ring Psychology, Storylines and Characters. It has been for decades. If you're going to change the very foundation to gymnastics and acrobatics, then just call it something else. Really don't know what the issue is. Not disrespecting at all.
UK promotion Pro Wrestling: EVE will be holding the biggest All Women’s event in European history ‘Wrestle Queendom’ when they invade York Hall on May 5th 2018.
3 of the matches for the card have already been revealed and it looks set to be an absolutely massive event that UK fans shouldn’t be thinking twice about attending. The card is currently as follows:
Aja Kong vs “The Vixen Of Violence” Viper/Piper Niven
Meiko Satomura vs Kay Lee Ray
“The ACE of EVE” Charlie Morgan Challenges For The Pro-Wrestling:EVE Championship
The show falls on the same day as PROGRESS’ Super Strong Style 16 Day 1 event so fans in London should be able to travel via the tube system and make the 8pm kickoff for the EVE event.
Former WWE Superstar Emma/Tenille Dashwood has been announced for top United Kingdom promotion IPW:UK’s ‘International Battle Royale’ event on April 29th 2018.
The event will also feature the likes of PROGRESS’ Mark Haskins & Jimmy Havoc, James Castle, Kip Sabian and more.
IPW:UK recently held their ‘Undisputed’ event that saw Mark Haskins successfully win the company’s World Title, only to then lose in the main event against new champion Austin Aries. The former 205 Live competitor has not been officially confirmed for an appearance in April however the now co-Defiant Wrestling/IPW:UK Champion will likely be headed to the UK for appearances more often than not in 2018.
Tickets for the event are now available to purchase via Big Cartel.
This past Sunday saw Daniel Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura stood across the ring from each other in a WWE match, unfortunately for fans it was not in the manner they had hoped for.
The Clash of Champions match where Shinsuke teamed with Randy Orton to take on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn saw Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon act as the special guest referees. After the bout Shinsuke took to Twitter to mention the fact that he finally shared the ring with Bryan, and Daniel responded (check out the tweets at the bottom of the page).
Bryan has been discussing his want of a match with Shinsuke for a number of years, once it was announced that Nakamura would be coming to WWE’s NXT brand in 2016 Bryan took to Twitter and publicly asked the WWE to clear him for a match against the ‘King of Strong Style.’ Since then Bryan has been officially retired and while he still wants to perform in the ring it appears that WWE aren’t looking to clear him anytime soon.
I do not remember how many years passed. Anyway I surely stood in same ring with @WWEDanielBryan last night.
A number of WWE and NXT contracted stars have been making appearances for independent promotions across the United States and UK over the past year, most notably Kassius Ohno and Noam Dar for ICW. Apollo Crews will also be making his way to PCW in February of next year.
Now another NXT star has been confirmed for an independent event…Oney Lorcan will be making his way to Beyond Wrestling’s ‘Heavy Lies The Crown’ event on New Year’s Eve at The White Eagle in Worcester, MA.
Lorcan will be performing in front of the live crowd however he will not be making an appearance for the On Demand feed.
Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega are set to have one of, if not the biggest match in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s history on January 4th at Wrestle Kingdom 12. During a recent interview with Yahoo Sports in Japan Jericho alluded to not only potentially having multiple matches with ‘The Cleaner’ Kenny Omega but also not ruling out other matches for New Japan going forward.
Japanese wrestling writer Chris Charlton recently transcribed the interview with Jericho and the following statement speaks volumes: “Ive said maybe me and Kenny will never happen again. But I never said I’d only do one match. I never said this would be my last match with New Japan. Wait and see”
Whilst this could just be another promotional tactic from Jericho it is worth considering that with New Japan’s upcoming ‘United States Expansion’ and their ongoing growth with AXS TV he could be around for far longer than just the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.
Jericho 'Ive said maybe me and Kenny will never happen again. But I never said I'd only do one match. I never said this would be my last match with New Japan. Wait and see'
Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wresting tag team War Machine seem to have made their final appearance in ROH. During the company’s recent television tapings the team appeared to ‘bow to the crowd’ following a loss to Leon St. Giovanni and Shahdom Ali, signalling an imminent departure from Ring of Honor.
Rumors are now circulating as to where the team will be heading next, whilst NXT is certainly a possibility; Rowe is engaged to recently called up Sarah Logan and Hanson trained Sasha Banks, it is nowhere near confirmed and there is a good chance that the team are looking to establish themselves in New Japan full time or be readily available for the planned NJPW ‘American Expansion’ in the coming months.
The UK has been at the forefront of the wrestling scene throughout 2017, some of the hottest names in the United Kingdom have been signed to the WWE both on the main roster and the dedicated UK division.
It’s interesting to note that some talents have also been making their way from the main roster to perform at special one off events on the UK independent scene, Kassius Ohno and Noam Dar both performed for Insane Championship Wrestling earlier this year and now another RAW main roster star is set to make his way to Preston City Wrestling (PCW).
Apollo Crews was once a mainstay on the UK independents as Uhaa Nation, he has now been confirmed for a place in PCW’s Road to Glory event on February 10th. The company sent out a tweet thanking the WWE, Triple H and William Regal specifically for making the deal happen.
With Wrestlemania season fast approaching WWE will be looking to finalise their inductees into the Hall of Fame in April 2018.
It looks as though 5 names have already been leaked for the 2018 ceremony, blogger Brad Sheppard (who is well regarded and broke the potential XFL revival story) has revealed that the following names will be confirmed for a New Orleans induction:
Goldberg – The biggest home grown talent in WCW will finally be making his way to the WWE Hall of Fame following his short Universal Title run earlier this year
Bam Bam Bigelow – Long overdue an induction, Bam Bam will be the posthumous inductee for 2018
Ivory – One of the most underrated talents from WWE’s Attitude Era Ivory will be making her way to the Hall in 2018
Dudley Boyz – Arguably the most decorated tag team in professional wrestling history, the Dudleys will finally be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018
Kid Rock – There’s always a celebrity
Are you happy with the potential class of 2018? Who would you like to see inducted?
Rumors have starting circulating through Twitter on a planned revival of the XFL professional football league.
If you aren’t aware, the XFL was a league created by Vince McMahon during the height of WWE’s Attitude Era, the venture was a huge failure on all counts as the presentation did not appease fans of wrestling or pro football, not knowing what either demographic wanted and subsequently the project ended up costing the WWE reportedly in the hundreds of millions.
SEScoops contributor David Bixenspan of Deadspin contacted WWE to confirm if there were any truth to these rumors and he received an interesting response. It appears as though McMahon is personally funding a separate entity from WWE named ‘Alpha Entertainment.’ The goal is to “explore investment opportunities across the sports and entertainment landscapes, including professional football.”
While this is nowhere near confirmation of an XFL return it is interesting to note that “professional football” is on the cards, and it is highly unlikely that Vince is looking to work alongside the NFL…
This past week on USA Network was billed as WWE Week and NXT was broadcast on the network for the very first time. The show was headlined by Aleister Black taking on Adam Cole and also featured appearances from the NXT Champion Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas, The Authors of Pain and NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon.
The number for the show was in the region of 841,000. This equates to being the 22nd highest rated cable show of the night and the highest rated programme on all of USA Network on Wednesday night.
As a comparison, the more established Total Divas show on the E! Network drew 517,000 viewers on Wednesday night, gaining the 43rd highest cable spot.
Zack Sabre Jr recently faced Chuck Taylor in a ‘no ring, falls count anywhere’ match in a Brooklyn bar. The Tender Trap bar played host to one of the most unique bouts in recent times and saw one of the world’s most technically gifted wrestlers in ZSJ perform about as far outside his wheelhouse as is possible.
Check it out below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
205 Live star TJ Perkins recently engaged in discussion on the impact of Net Neutrality. As you may be aware, federal regulators in the United States are expected to vote today on the Obama-era regulations that demand internet service providers keep the speed on online traffic equal and ‘net neutral.’ Eliminating the Net Neutrality protections would allow Internet Service Providers to favor certain traffic and web services over others or block services entirely.
TJ posted his thoughts on cyber bullying and how he felt that an internet that was no longer neutral would be beneficial. He posted the below tweet and was subject to a litany of responses.
Whilst TJ may well have some valid points there was one glaring irony that he may appeared to have missed…you can see Maffew of popular web series Botchamania calling out the Cruiserweight superstar on Twitter below: