Silas Young has been a full time member of the Ring of Honor roster since 2012. Young recently appeared on The Roman Show and discussed his current role with ROH and why he’s turned down opportunities to head to WWE.

“This isn’t the type of business that you can work like a regular job that you can work for 30 years in the same place, God-willing, that he would allow my body to survive that long,” Young stated. “I’d love to wrestle as long as my body allows me to, but at the end of the day it is a business. Money is important, but money is not everything in life. Being comfortable enjoying what you do and having creative freedom allowing to see my family regularly and happiness is a big key to life.” Young continued, saying “you can make all the money in the world, but if you are not happy what good is that money?”

Young also made comments regarding WWE’s creative restrictions, saying “you see guys that work for WWE regularly asking for a release because they are not allowed that creative freedom. For me, a huge part of Ring of Honor is having the creative freedom after all this wrestling is an art and we are artists.”

*Credit to WrestlingINC for the transcription 

World Association of Wrestling (WAW) has announced that WWE Legend Mick Foley will be heading to Carrow Road for Fightmare this June. The UK based company announced earlier this weekend that the former WWE Superstar will be joining the ranks of British wrestling’s finest at Norwich City’s Carrow Road.

WAW also announced earlier this year that former Premier League football (soccer) player Grant Holt would be swapping his studded boots for wrestling boots and entering the squared circle for the very first time. Holt made his singles debut against Brad O’Brien on 22nd December.

The 37 year old who previously played for the likes of Aston Villa and Norwich recently finished his career professionally for National League side Barrow. The former football star will be headlining a huge stadium show for WAW at Norwich City’s Carrow Road on June 2nd. Holt recently spoke to the BBC regarding the upcoming show, saying that “The club have been fantastic and embraced it from the first moment I walked through the door. They’ve bent over backwards to help us. I’m trying to get people who loved wrestling back in the day back involved in it. I’m hoping everyone comes to enjoy the show and comes to see me in action back at Carrow Road in a different capacity.”

This huge announcement comes with a BANG… or should we say BANG BANG?

‘Hardcore Legend’ @RealMickFoley is coming to Carrow Road for @Fightmare_ !!

For tickets go here: https://t.co/tx3NPsBDQx

HAVE A NICE DAY!#fightmare #waw #fightingwithmyfamily

?? pic.twitter.com/Ds0JLh2tTP

— World Association of Wrestling (@WAW_UK) February 8, 2019

DEFIANT Wrestling presented their latest PPV event ‘Unstoppable’ on Saturday February 9th. The show saw multiple DEFIANT Championships defended, however one star originally confirmed was unavailable. DEFIANT announced earlier this week that Jimmy Havoc would not be appearing due to injury. Havoc would’ve faced No Fun Dunne in a bout for the DEFIANT Hardcore Champion.

Here’s the full results for Unstoppable:

• Rory Coyle & Gabriel Kidd b. Joe Hendry & Primate
• Nathan Cruz b. Omari
• Justin Sysum b. Bad Bones
• DEFIANT Hardcore Three-Way Championship Match: Chief Deputy Dunne b. Los Federales Santos Jr & Detective Drake – Dunne took the win to become the new DEFIANT Hardcore Champion
• Falls Count Anywhere Match: Bea Priestley b. Lana Austin
• DEFIANT Internet Championship Match: Martin Kirby (c) b. Benji – Kirby took the win to retain his Championship
• DEFIANT Tag Team Championship Match: Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) b. CCBLAAAH (Chris Brookes & Lucky Kid) – Aussie Open took the win to retain their Championships
• DEFIANT World Championship Match: Rampage b. David Starr – Rampage took the win to retain his Championship. Rampage is the longest reigning Champion in DEFIANT’s history, and his defeat of Starr continues his winning streak

You can watch the full card On Demand with a free trial of Access DEFIANT. You can find more details via DEFIANT’s official website.

WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston recently spoke to the The Canton Repository. The New Day member stated that the group worked so well due to their incredible chemistry. Kofi stated that he has not argued with Big E or Xavier Woods since their formation nearly 5 years ago.

“The stars aligned, and our chemistry is unbelievable. When we go out there, we’re having genuine fun. We’re not just characters going out there acting like it; it’s actual fun we’re having, and people feel that energy and want to be a part of it,” Kofi commented. “We’ve been traveling together for almost five years now, and we’ve never gotten into a fight ever. We all have the same interests and same hobbies, and we all want to be the best and at the forefront of sports entertainment in WWE. We’re fortunate to be in that position.”

Kofi also discussed what Vince McMahon thought of the group and their original positive preacher gimmick. Kingston also described what vision the WWE Chairman had for the three Superstars. “From the very inception of New Day, we told Vince McMahon no matter what he gave us we would be able to make it work, because we believe in the chemistry we had,” Kofi stated. “Going back and forth with Vince, we had a very different idea of what we wanted it to be. The idea he came back with, we said, ‘OK, he’s really gonna test us on this guarantee we gave him of making anything he gave us work.’ But we just kept doing it, and we evoked a lot of emotion from people, and really, that was what it was all about. Eventually, we kind of got to do what we first wanted, and over time it turned into what it is now.”

It has been confirmed that New Japan and CMLL will be represented at the upcoming ROH/NWA Crockett Cup event.

The NWA announced earlier today that NJPW and CMLL “will be sending teams” to the Crockett Cup. The event takes place Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina on Saturday, April 27. The NWA has not yet confirmed which teams will be representing the respective brands.

The NWA and Ring of Honor are teaming up to present the Crockett Cup. NJPW and CMLL are of course partners of Ring of Honor, and their roster’s involvements will help boost the event.

Two teams have already been announced for the Crockett Cup. Crimson & Jax Dane beat Caleb Konley & Jay Bradley in a qualifying match at the NWA ‘pop-up’ event last month. Villain Enterprises (PCO & Brody King) earned a place  in the Crockett Cup by winning ROH’s Tag Wars tournament.

Jim Cornette, Joe Galli, and Ian Riccaboni have been announced as the commentary team for the event.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson), The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey, Stan Lane & Cornette), Nikita Koloff and Magnum TA will also be appearing at the event in Concord, North Carolina.

DEFIANT Wrestling will be presenting their latest PPV event ‘Unstoppable’ on Saturday February 9th. The show will see multiple DEFIANT Championships defended, however one star will be unavailable. DEFIANT announced earlier today that Jimmy Havoc would not be appearing due to injury. Havoc would’ve faced No Fun Dunne in a bout for the DEFIANT Hardcore Champion.

Here’s the full card for Unstoppable:

• DEFIANT Championship Match – Rampage (c) vs David Starr – After waiting almost a year, and coming up just short in the No Regrets Rumble and the Ringmaster Tournament, an impressive showing in defeat has earned David Starr a World Championship match. On the other side of the ring, stands the longest reigning champion, Rampage, who waited an extremely long time to get the Championship himself. Can David Starr finally win the big one, or will Rampage’s reign continue?
• DEFIANT Internet Championship Match – Martin Kirby (c) vs El Phantasmo
• DEFIANT Tag Team Championship Match – Aussie Open (c) vs CCBlaaah (Chris Brookes and Lucky Kid)
• Falls Count Anywhere Match – Bea Priestley vs Lana Austin
• John ‘Bad Bones’ Klinger vs Justin Sysum
• Omari vs Nathan Cruz
• Gabriel Kidd and Rory Coyle vs Joe Hendry and Primate

You can watch the full card tomorrow night with a free trial of Access DEFIANT. You can find more details via DEFIANT’s official website.

Ricochet and NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa took to Twitter to confirm that Halftime Heat was ‘the most watched NXT match in history.’ Former North American Champion Ricochet stated “It’s official, #HalftimeHeat is the most watched match in @WWENXT history. We out here showing the world why #NXT is the best in the game!”

NXT Champion Ciampa wrote “#HalftimeHeat was the most watched match in NXT history. The Champ and Goldy are best for business. The Greatest Title Reign in NXT History continues this weekend. Day 196, Day 197, Day 198, Day 199.”

NXT aired their Superbowl Halftime show on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The combined The viewership between those three platforms was 86,190 when the special ended. The match peaked at 71,090 live viewers on YouTube, 10,100 live viewers on Facebook, and 5,000 on Twitter.

*Credit to WrestlingINC for the numbers

The Halftime Heat match saw Ricochet, Aleister Black and The Velveteen Dream defeat NXT Champion Ciampa, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole. The short show aired from the NXT Performance Center In Orlando. Vic Joesph and WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels were on commentary for the bout.

With the success of the special and the seemingly cheap production cost this may well become a regular event.

https://twitter.com/KingRicochet/status/1093625403166679040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1093625403166679040&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wrestlinginc.com%2Fnews%2F2019%2F02%2Fhalftime-heat-was-the-most-watched-wwe-nxt-match-in-history-650702%2F

New Japan recently held their latest United States shows. However due to visa issues the company were not able to bring over a litany of Japanese talent, making the roster for the tour extremely different to the ‘genuine’ NJPW product.

The Wrestling Observer recently released the official attendance figures for the tour. The New Beginnings USA tour drew a total of 2,118 fans over 3 shows, with an average of 706 paying fans per show.

Here’s the full information on the attendance:

• 1/30: Los Angeles, CA at the Globe Theater – 531
• 2/1: Charlotte, NC at the Grady Cole Center – 969 (sellout)
• 2/2: Nashville, TN at the War Memorial Auditorium – 618

Ticket sales in the final week may well have been hurt by the lack of Japanese talent. The cards featured many Ring of Honor, independent stars and NJPW Dojo talents. With Charlotte being the only sell out of the tour it will be interesting to see how New Japan approaches US trips going forward. NJPW and ROH will of course be collaborating for the WrestleMania weekend show in Madison Square Garden, which sold out extremely quickly.

WWE’s NXT UK brand continued its weekly show this past Wednesday. This week saw the second bout of WALTER in the main event against Mark Coffey. Xia Brookside would also be making her return and Ligero would be facing off with Mark Andrews.

Here’s the full results for NXT UK from 02/06:

• Ligero b. Mark Andrews – Ligero took the win in 9:04 after hitting a C4
• Pete Dunne was interviewed. The United Kingdom Champion said he was ‘impressed’ by WALTER and would eventually face him in ring.
• Xia Brookside b. Candy Floss – Brookside took the win in 4:31 after hitting the Brooksie Bomb
• Jordan Devlin appeared in a pre-taped segment, vowing to beat Noam Dar at the Phoenix tapings
• Joseph Conners b. “Wild Boar” Mike Hitchman – Conners took the win in 5:28 after hitting Don’t Look Down
• Jinny appeared in a backstage interview, she stated that Toni Storm is constantly getting in her way to the NXT UK Women’s Championship
• Joe Coffey b. Ashton Smith – Coffey took the win in 6:17 after hitting a Discus Lariat
• WALTER b. Mark Coffey – WALTER took the win in 6:31 after hitting a Powerbomb. 

Next week will see the show head to Phoenix. NXT UK pre-taped shows as part of the Royal Rumble Axxess weekender.

Finn Balor recently appeared on Edge & Christian’s Pod Of Awesomeness. The inaugural WWE Universal Champion discussed a number of topics including his severe labrum tear that made him relinquish the title.

The injury took place in the first ever Universal Title match at Summerslam 2016. Balor faced Seth Rollins and said that his shoulder was dislocated immediately. Finn also said that he did not know the extent of the injury when it happened. While the match continued Balor realised that his shoulder was “totally destroyed.” He also realised that he would be out of action for a long time.

“Straight away, I knew the shoulder was out because I could feel it out. I didn’t realize how bad it went out.” Balor stated.”I’ve had a shoulder separation before where, like, I could pop in back in and it wasn’t so bad. But when I hit the deck, I said, ‘oh no, your shoulder’s out of place.’ So instinctively, I pulled it forward and it pops back in.”

Balor continued, saying “I go, ‘okay, phew, breathe, calm down, get your bears, [and] get back in the ring.’ So I get back in the ring, and I start working, and it feels pretty loose. And I think [Rollins] shoots me off and I reverse him, and I’m, like, pushing him in the back, and I give him a little push with my right hand on the back, and it pops out again. I go, ‘oh no, this is going to be a big issue.’

In And Out of The Ring

Balor elaborated further, saying he “ended up coming out [of the ring] three or four times in the match where I kept resetting it, resetting it, but it was totally destroyed. There was, like, a bicep tear, a pec tear, the socket was broken. The labrum was torn, so, like, that’s pretty much why I kept slipping in and out. Kind of halfway through the match I realize. ‘You’re not going to be wrestling, not for a long time.’ But they said, ‘stay the course,’ and I finished the match. And the rest is history.”

*Credit to WrestlingINC for the transcription

WWE Writer Kazeem Famuyide announced that he would be leaving the company. The writer had been with the company for the past year. Famuyide wrote a series of tweets describing his time as part of the writing team. “The journey was incredible,” Kazeem wrote. “The experience was immeasurable, and the respect that I’ll have for every single man and woman that helps put this show together every week will never ever dissipate.”

As well as thanking his fellow writers, Kazeem thanked Paul Heyman in particular. The writer said that Heyman was “A guy who always sought me out to make sure I was good, give advice, help me with my writing and how to maneuver in the machine. Thank you so much.”

Famuyide also wrote about the hate the writing team receives online from fans. Kazeem stated “The WWE creative team are some of the most incredibly hard working, talented, funny, smart and passionate people I’ve ever worked with. They get a s— ton of unnecessary online hate and 98% of you who criticize them wouldn’t last a week. They are brilliant.”

You can check out some of Kazeem’s segments via the series of tweets below. The former WWE writer put multiple examples of his work with the likes of Elias, Lio Rush, Kevin Owens and The New Day.

https://twitter.com/RealLifeKaz/status/1092820279611588608?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1092820279611588608&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wrestlinginc.com%2Fnews%2F2019%2F02%2Fwwe-writer-exits-company-calls-the-writing-team-brilliant-650620%2F

UK independent promotion Fight Club: Pro headed to Japan in January for their Project Tokyo event. The company announced back in 2018 that they would be debuting in Korakuen Hall. The show took place on January 7th with a huge card of international stars.

205 Live Superstar Akira Tozawa had previously been announced for the event. Fight Club: Pro is owned by NXT UK Superstar Trent Seven. Seven was originally confirmed for this card but was recently pulled. Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne were also pulled from the event.

Tozawa’s opponents for the show were the team of Kid Lykos and Chris Brookes (CCK). Tozawa teamed with Fight Club: Pro Champion and Japanese legend Meiko Satomura. Meiko also appeared in the most recent Mae Young Classic tournament.

The ‘Project Tokyo’ event is now available On Demand as part of FCP’s new ‘Unlimited’ service. The new over the top VOD service is available for £5.95 per month and has hours of content from the Wolverhampton based promotion.

For more information check out the tweet below:

?FIGHT CLUB: PRO UNLIMITED?

The @Fightclubpro VOD subscription service is now live!!!

For just £5.95 per month you will have access to hours of events plus exclusive content!!!

Available now: PROJECT TOKYO.

Subscribe at: https://t.co/JfLdlhkqHU#TRAIN #FIGHT #WATCH pic.twitter.com/nlFks9VTvv

— Fight Club: PRO (@Fightclubpro) February 3, 2019

Shortly after winning the Women’s Royal Rumble, Becky Lynch confirmed that she would be challenging Ronda Rousey for the RAW Women’s Championship at WrestleMania.

Since then the two WWE Superstars have been trading barbs via social media. Becky Lynch recently wrote that “Enough though I’ve had just 6 singles PPV matches since my WWE debut (Ronnie has 7) – I’ve changed this whole damn business. Overrated? The Man is underrated af.”

Rousey responded to this by saying that “Unlike you I don’t give a damn about my reputation or how I’m rated. You claim you’re carrying the @WWE, but all you do is cut promos about me, give interviews about me, and tweet me…you need me to have a real chance to get that main event spot at WrestleMania and you know it.”

Update: Becky Lynch has since replied:

https://twitter.com/beckylynchwwe/status/1092486597201645569?s=21

WrestleMania 35 Main Event

There’s been speculation that Rousey and Lynch would be headlining the show. There has also been plans within WWE to add Charlotte Flair to the match and make it a Triple Threat for the title.

• WWE Still Planning To Add Charlotte To WrestleMania Main Event

Last month Becky Lynch spoke to AZ Central regarding some fans calling her ‘overrated.’ Lynch stated “I keep hearing now that I’m ‘overrated,’ I don’t think I even know what that really means. Does it mean that I’m not what you think I should be? I’m working my [rear] off and delivering what I say and get a reaction every single time. What does that mean? Of course, it’s only from a few loud people. And that’s naturally gonna happen as you rise up the ranks.”

Which match would you rather see at #WWE #WrestleMania 35?

— SEScoops (@sescoops) January 29, 2019

Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) has announced a huge Women’s Championship match for their Square Go! event. ICW Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray will be defending against NXT UK’s Toni Storm.

Kay Lee Ray was the first ever WoS/World of Sport Women’s Champion and appeared to be staying with the company for the long haul. KLR shockingly appeared at NXT UK’s Takeover: Blackpool event last month and this caused many to question the future of the ITV reboot. It appears as though Kay Lee Ray is heading to the NXT UK brand.

Interestingly, Toni Storm is of course the NXT UK Women’s Champion, having defeated Rhea Ripley at the aforementioned Takeover event. ICW has long been associated with WWE, with the company being supposedly ‘greenlit’ for NXT UK Superstars to perform. Storm is one of the biggest stars in the NXT UK brand, having won the second ever Mae Young Classic. Kay Lee Ray is also one of the top female talents in the UK/European scene, so this is somewhat of a dream bout.

The NXT UK contract changes were seemingly brought into effect on January 1st of this year. One of the biggest changes was that NXT UK talents could only face other NXT UK talents on independent cards. With Kay Lee Ray now signing with NXT UK this match was good to go.

https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/1092181904978251776

WWE will once again present Halftime Heat during tonight’s SuperBowl. NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano, and Adam Cole will be facing against Ricochet, The Velveteen Dream, and Aleister Black.

Mick Foley took part in an Empty Arena match for the last Halftime Heat, facing The Rock. Foley recently spoke to ESPN regarding the match and who thought of the idea to present a WWE show during the SuperBowl’s halftime.

“I think a year earlier MTV has had a lot of success doing Celebrity Deathmatch with claymation figures, one of which was Stone Cold Steve Austin, and they’d done a tremendous rating during halftime of the Super Bowl,” Foley stated. “I don’t know when the idea came to Mr. McMahon to take that giant audience and kind of keep it for ourselves, but I do remember being asked about it, and then it was my suggestion that The Rock and I do an empty arena match.”

Foley also discussed how different the presentation was to a usual WWE show. “The fact that it was so completely different than anything on television was also indicative of the chances we regularly took, whether it was on the microphone or in the ring” Foley claimed. “Later on, [that] really led to great chemistry as a tag team. We were really rolling, and it was understood that The Rock was going to go on to bigger and better things, one of them being a WrestleMania main event with Stone Cold Steve Austin.”

Former WWE World Heavyweight and Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian participated in a Q&A session as part of their Pod Of Awesomeness podcast. E&C discussed their favorite match stipulations, title designs and more.

When asked what their favorite match stipulation was, they agreed that the Iron Man match was the ‘most intriguing.’

Iron Man Matches

“I never got a chance to participate in one, but I wanted to be in an iron man match. I really just wanted to go in there and I remember pitching a couple of times too, and it wasn’t necessarily for an iron man match. But I wanted to just go out there for a full hour and just do a match.” Christian confirmed.

“I never got a chance, but I think that would have been my favorite stipulation just because it’s such a challenge to pace yourself and keep the audience engaged the entire length of that type of match.” Christian elaborated further, saying “there are so many things you could do with it, like nobody has a fall going into the last minute, or one guy is down a fall, or you could have a bunch of falls happen pretty quickly, whatever, or a few fall quickly toward the end and they’re trying to get that last pin. There [are] so many different ways you could go with it.”

Edge also commented on the stipulation, saying “I’ve never been in one of those either. I think that would have been a cool, fun one to try to wrap your brain around. Yeah, I’m going to agree. And here’s one thing, though, that I think I might have mentioned it in the history of this show, but why do they call it an iron man match still when it’s two women wrestling? It should be an iron woman match.” Edge continued, “that bugs me when I see that.”

Dream Opponents

When asked who they wished they could’ve faced in their careers Edge gave some interesting answers. Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart, WWE Superstars Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, and Shinsuke Nakamura and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Christian said that he wishes he could’ve had a match with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega.

You can check out the E&C Podcast here

H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription

Last week AEW officials met with several television networks to discuss potential deals. There are reportedly several deals on the table, but AEW are deciding between “two legitimate deals.”

Wrestling Observer Radio reported the news that AEW were looking at two deals in particular. Dave Meltzer noted that the consensus backstage among those involved is that the final decision will be between the two aforementioned networks. We do not have the names of said networks at the time of writing.

Meltzer also claimed that not only were these great deals but that they were the best television deals any non-WWE wrestling programme will have secured since the days of WCW.

All Elite appears to be becoming more fleshed out in public by the day, and WWE has taken notice. As we reported last week WWE are scrambling to sign talent to new deals.

• Dean Ambrose Has WWE Scrambling To Sign Talent To New Deals

According to PWInsider, meetings were held backstage at recent at a SmackDown Live TV taping to address the situation. More specifically, wrestlers whose contracts are coming up in the next year or two had private meetings with management. This was to discuss signing long-term deals. The names of said talents are again not available at present but one of the biggest is AJ Styles, whose deal ends in April according to the Wrestling Observer.

NXT Superstar Ricochet recently spoke to the UK’s Mirror on a variety of subjects. The ‘One and Only’ spoke about his high flying style, perfecting moves and more. Here’s some of the highlights:

Ricochet was asked if his high flying, risk taking style has taken a toll on his body. The NXT Superstar replied “Oh I’m broken! [laughs]. But I think the love of it overtakes the struggles that we have to go through, and not just me, because a lot of the guys here have been doing it for like 12, 15-plus years. There’s wear and tear on every single one of us.”

The NXT Superstar also discussed his time on the independents, saying “For 14 years before coming here, I just never took care of my body.” Ricochet elaborated further, stating “since I’ve been here in NXT, they’re so keen on us taking care of ourselves, and that’s why there’s such a great medical staff to say ‘you should take care of this, or that.’

Ricochet also discussed some of the incredible moves he performs in ring. When asked how long it takes to perfect a new move he replied “I don’t do any new moves! I just do the same stuff that I’ve been doing for 15 years but have kind of perfected. I just kind of try to find different ways.”

You can read the full interview here

wXw has announced the next name for 2019’s 16 Carat Gold tournament. wXw legend Ilja Dragunov will be taking part in the 2019 iteration. Dragunov is a former 16 Carat Gold winner and he hopes to join the exclusive 2 time winner’s club. Ilja has been heavily linked to WWE recently, specifically the NXT UK brand.

wXw and WWE have been working together recently with tryouts taking place in Germany for NXT. The German company are apparently part of the ‘greenlit’ promotions for NXT UK talent to perform in, alongside PROGRESS, Fight Club: Pro, OTT and ICW.

This follows the news that NXT Superstar Axel Dieter Jr/Marcel Barthel will be making his way home to Germany. The former wXw and PROGRESS star will be in Oberhausen March 8th-10th to take part in the prestigious event. Other names confirmed for the tournament include WALTER, Daisuke Sekimoto, Pentagon Jr, Fenix, Jurn Simmons. Chris Brookes, Timothy Thatcher, Shigehiro Irie, Mark Davis, “Avalanche” Robert Dreissker, David Starr and Rey Horus.

Dieter Jr recently appeared as part of the company’s Anniversary event. The NXT Superstar took part in a six-man tag team match alongside Ringkampf members Timothy Thatcher and WALTER. The team faced NXT UK Superstars Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate.

Mark Haskins recently signed for Ring of Honor and made his company debut back in January. Haskins teamed with Bandido, David Finlay and Juice Robinson to defeat  Dalton Castle, Flip Gordon, Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb & Jonathan Gresham.

Haskins has been making several more appearances for the company since then. His latest bout for ROH saw him in a losing effort against fellow Brit Marty Scurll. The ‘Underrated’ Haskins took to Twitter to discuss facing his longtime colleague. The tweet read “Started wrestling the same year, trained together, wrestled all over the UK, Ireland, Germany, BOLA in LA. From on camp sites to o2 Brixton Academy and now ROH. I can honestly tell you kicking Marty Scurll as hard as you can is one of the most enjoyable experiences in life.”

Haskins and Scurll’s careers are very closely intertwined. Scurll lost to Haskins at PROGRESS Wrestling’s Brixton Academy event a few years ago. This gifted Haskins his first ever PROGRESS World Championship. Both are considered future world title contenders for ROH and are on an upward trajectory, Scurll recently debuted his new stable alongside Brody King and PCO.

Started wrestling the same year, trained together, wrestled all over the UK, Ireland, Germany, BOLA in LA, from on camp sites to o2 Brixton Academy and now ROH & I can honestly tell you kicking Marty Scurll as hard as you can is one of the most enjoyable experiences in life pic.twitter.com/IvPrGJ0hjS

— Mark Haskins (@ThisIsHaskins) February 1, 2019

NJPW Junior Division legend KUSHIDA finished up with the company earlier this week. The icon of the Juniors Division wanted for his final match to be against Hiroshi Tanahashi. This was granted by New Japan officials.

Tanahashi took the win in around 24 minutes with the Texas Cloverleaf. This was a highly emotional bout, with KUSHIDA bowing out after 8 years with the company.

• KUSHIDA Loses Final Match in NJPW to Hiroshi Tanahashi

According to the Wrestling Observer, KUSHIDA wants to go to the WWE. The reasoning behind his decision is that “Jushin Liger told him he should go to WWE as part of his career experience.” Dave Meltzer also claimed that KUSHIDA would probably not be a good fit for the WWE/NXT. This due to his technical Japanese style and that he “doesn’t have the over-the-top charisma that Nakamura or Asuka have.”

As of now KUSHIDA’s status with WWE is unclear. WWE COO Triple H has reportedly been a longtime fan of the Japanese star. He has wanted to bring him in for a long time. Whether KUSHIDA can translate to the WWE style remains to be seen. Hideo Itami recently asked for his release from WWE, and many are anticipating that KUSHIDA may well suffer the same fate as the former NOAH star.

With Dean Ambrose and Hideo Itami leaving WWE news surrounding contract negotiations is going to be hotting up over the next few months. Especially when acts such as Chris Jericho are able to garner such incredible deals over at AEW

• WWE Locker Room Reacts To Chris Jericho’s AEW Contract

As we’ve previously reported AJ Styles has been looking to work a reduced schedule. The in-ring veteran has been one of the linchpins of the Smackdown Live brand over the past few years and it is very likely that WWE will bend over backwards to keep the ‘Phenomenal One’ in WWE.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Styles’ contract will be coming up for renewal in April. This really couldn’t come at a better time for the former WWE Champion. With the likes of ROH, AEW and New Japan looking to bring in talent WWE will absolutely want to keep Styles on board.

Dave Meltzer stated, “Even though he has friends in AEW he appears to be staying with WWE.” That said, if AEW were to make a blow-away offer to any WWE wrestler coming up for free agency, Styles is the guy.

With Styles’ wanting to work a reduced schedule it will open up a spot for a top babyface on the blue brand. With the likes of Mustafa Ali being called up it does appear as though WWE is trying to work on building some new up and coming Superstars.

WWE’s Royal Rumble event saw possibly the hottest Superstar in the company, Becky Lynch, win the Women’s Royal Rumble. The Smackdown Live Superstar wasn’t originally booked to appear in the match following her loss to Asuka. The ‘Lass Kicker’ took Lana’s place when she was unable to compete, outlasting Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair in the final 3 to win the match and headline WrestleMania.

On Monday’s RAW Becky Lynch appeared to confront Ronda Rousey and demand that she got her chance to face the ‘Rowdy’ RAW Women’s Champion at WrestleMania.

With the success of Lynch at the Rumble it was likely that the Smackdown Live ratings would be positively affected. However, this was not the case. The post Rumble Smackdown was slightly down but essentially even with the last two weeks. Last night’s show averaged 2.137 million viewers, which made it ninth for the night on cable.

According to the Wrestling Observer the show finished second in the 18-49 demo with a 0.70 rating. The only major sports competition on television that night was NBA game on TNT, which did 1.113 million viewers. Smackdown retained around 79 percent of the RAW audience, which is reportedly lower than usual. It’s fairly clear that after a 2 hour NXT Takeover, 6 1/2 hours of Rumble PPV and a 3 hour RAW fans are burnt out.

NXT UK held their latest episode this past Wednesday. The UK brand had been slow to start but following a stellar Takeover: Blackpool event there is a lot more buzz surrounding the product.

Two matches have already been confirmed for next week’s show. The first will see Ligero taking on Mark Andrews. Both men are highly regarded light heavyweight talents in the UK, both men are former PROGRESS World Champions and have been performing for independent promotions across the UK/Europe over the past decade.

Xia Brookside has also been confirmed for a return next week. The female Superstar is an impressive performer in her own right but also has wrestling in her blood. Xia’s father is NXT Performance Center trainer and UK wrestling legend Robbie Brookside.

In the main event WALTER will be taking on Mark Coffey. The Gallus member ran into WALTER during this week’s episode and now the Austrian behemoth will get his hands on the ICW star. When WALTER appeared at NXT UK’s Takeover event it completely changed the landscape of the brand. WALTER is a top performer in the European scene and he looks set to continue his independent dates as PROGRESS World Champion, he is also being scheduled for the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament later this year.

WWE’s NXT UK brand continued its weekly show this past Wednesday. The debut of WALTER was the big feature of the programme and the Austrian destroyed his opponent quickly.

Here’s the full results for NXT UK from 01/30:

• “Bomber” Dave Mastiff b. “Primate” Jay Melrose – Mastiff took the win in 5 minutes after hitting his running cannonball senton into the corner
• A Highlight video played hyping the return of Xia Brookside. She returns to NXT UK next week
• James Drake and Zack Gibson appeared for their Championship celebration. Gibson confirmed that the team was officially the Grizzled Young Veterans on NXT UK. Sid Scala appeared and confirmed that the team would defend the titles against Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch “soon.”
• WALTER b. Jack Starz – WALTER took the win in 2:35 after a hitting a Powerbomb. This was WALTER’s debut match for the company
• A video aired of Jinny beating Isla Dawn two weeks ago
• Marcel Barthel and WALTER met backstage, Barthel spoke to WALTER in German, then asked if WALTER wanted ‘friends’ in his new surroundings. Both men were part of the Ringkampf stable in wXw
• Jinny b. Kasey Owens – Jinny took the win in 5:09 after hitting the Makeover
• Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) b. Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel – Seven and Bate took the win in 13:08 when Seven pinned Barthel. This followed a dragon suplex/springboard lariat combination