wXw has announced the next name for 2019’s 16 Carat Gold tournament. The company has confirmed that David Starr will be taking part in the tournament. Starr is one of the more underrated talents on the UK/European scene, he is currently a free agent. The likes of AEW, NJPW and ROH are likely to start taking notice with his recent performances across the globe.
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 includeWALTER, Daisuke Sekimoto, Pentagon Jr, Fenix, Jurn Simmons, Chris Brookes, Timothy Thatcher, Shigehiro Irie, Mark Davis, “Avalanche” Robert Dreissker 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.
On Tuesday, WWE issued a statement confirming the report by PWTorch.com that Dean Ambrose will not be renewing his contract when it expires in April.
It was unprecedented move for WWE to announce the departure of a top performer so far in advance. The only possible comparison would be CM Punk in 2011, although that only became apparent around a month or so before his contract was set to expire.
On Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer described the backstage reaction to the announcement. Meltzer himself believes that the situation is legitimate, although there are some within WWE that believe it’s a work.
Meltzer confirmed that some talent were aware of the situation prior to Monday’s RAW. However, most were kept in the dark until it was announced on Tuesday. It was also noted that most of the creative team were unaware that Ambrose would not be renewing his contract.
As the Ambrose situation was unfolding on Tuesday, PWInsider reported that Ambrose declined a 5-year deal deal worth over a million dollars a year. Upon asking around in WWE, the details of their offer to Ambrose surprised a lot of people.
WWE confirmed on Tuesday that Dean Ambrose will be ending his time with the company in April. WWE’s unprecedented statement reads, “We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE.”
Reports seem to indicate that Ambrose is unhappy with his creative direction – so much so that he turned down a long-term multi-million dollar contract.
Prior to joining WWE developmental back in 2011, Ambrose had an impressive run on the independent scene under the name Jon Moxley. Moxley was for his ‘death matches’ in promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).
With the news of Ambrose’s imminent departure from WWE, one independent star who is already thinking about the possibilities is none other than Jimmy Havoc.
Havoc is one of the most popular death match wrestlers anywhere. The former PROGRESS World Champion is also a CZW Tournament of Death winner in his own right and could bring it to Ambrose in a hardcore setting.
Havoc vs. Moxley has potential written all over it and would be a draw for any company that could sign this contest.
KUSHIDA took part in his final NJPW match at yesterday’s Korakuen Hall show. The icon of the Juniors Division wished for his final match to be against Hiroshi Tanahashi and 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 discussed the bout earlier this week, playing up the emotional aspect of facing his idol in Tanahashi. The former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion stated “I’ve only got one match left. It will be very emotional. I’ve taken a lot of damage over these past 8 years. But the memories I’ve made in this time, I’m sure because of them…that I have become stronger. Going forward, I’ll always fight with that knowledge close to my heart.”
KUSHIDA finished up by saying “8 years ago, here at Korakuen Hall, Tanahashi said he’d make me a complete pro wrestler. I’m forever grateful to him, I’ll never forget that.”
The question now that KUSHIDA’s contract is up is where will he head? The likely destination is WWE/NXT however AEW, IMPACT and Ring of Honor are certainly not off the table as of writing.
PROGRESS has announced the World Championship match for their upcoming Chapter 84 event. Chapter 84 will be taking place on Sunday February 24th from the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London.
NXT UK Superstar WALTER will be facing Chris Ridgeway. WALTER is the PROGRESS World Champion and one of the hottest stars in the European scene right now. After his shock appearance on NXT UK’s Takeover event the questions have been asked as to when WALTER may end his independent bookings. PROGRESS are aligned with WWE, that is now confirmed. The co-owners of PROGRESS are all working alongside NXT UK if not actually running the promotion.
Chris Ridgeway is a hard hitting, very credible competitor. This would be an ideal opportunity for PROGRESS to have WALTER drop the title and move full time into NXT UK. Whilst the contract information for NXT UK Superstars has been convoluted WALTER must be considered a top tier talent. Top tier Superstars are apparently going to be exclusive to the WWE brand, although WALTER is also confirmed for the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament. With WALTER’s ties to European wrestling he may well have signed a special deal with independent dates included. This however is speculation and we cannot confirm at the time of writing.
Following her appearance in the Men’s Royal Rumble, Nia Jax attacked Dean Ambrose on WWE RAW. Ambrose had just lost a match against Seth Rollins and began cutting a promo in the ring. Nia Jax and Tamina interrupted Ambrose and after a standoff between the two Superstars Ambrose would try and leave the ring. Jax then connected with a forearm to Ambrose that sent him through the ropes.
WWE’s official YouTube channel caught up with the former WWE Champion after the fact for his thoughts. Ambrose stated “I have spent a lot of time and drank a lot of cocktails with Tamina over the years, Great woman. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt here, I don’t know why she’s fraternizing with this Nia Jax.”
Ambrose went on to say “I’m going to assume that Nia simply tripped and fell in to me, and was not trying to start some physical altercation with me, a man. Because that’s insane, right? So, I’m going to accept her, what I assume is an apology is what she was yelling at me from the ring as I was being escorted away by referees. Like I would do something. Can you imagine? I’m going to accept her apology. And we’re all good.”
The Royal Rumble this past Sunday featured a few surprise appearances. One of these was sure-fire Hall of Famer Kurt Angle coming out at Number 4 in the match.
According to Wrestling Observer Radio this spot was originally planned for Zack Ryder. Angle was eliminated by the second entrant in the match Shinsuke Nakamura. Again this was meant to be Ryder initially eliminated this early. According to WON this decision was made as Kurt Angle would get a bigger pop from the live crowd.
Zack Ryder has seen a very stop-start ride in his WWE career. The Long Island Iced-Z found great success with his YouTube channel earlier this decade. ‘Z True Long Island Story’ was innovative and took Ryder all the way to the company’s United States Championship. Sadly for Ryder his own attempts at ‘getting over’ appeared to have backfired. WWE began to push Ryder down the card after a disastrous programme with John Cena. This was at a time where the company hoped that Ryder’s popularity would rub off on Cena, but it had the complete opposite effect.
Whilst being bumped for Kurt Angle was clearly the right decision, it’s yet another near-miss for Ryder in his WWE career.
Drew McIntyre first signed for WWE back in 2007. At the time the Scottish Superstar was 21 years old and essentially still fresh in the business. The former NXT Champion recently spoke to WrestlingINC regarding his release in 2014 and how it helped ‘mature’ him and shape his current successful run.
“What’s changed from my first stint is that I don’t take anything for granted,” confirmed McIntyre. “I’m a lot more mature and I don’t have negativity in my life. Partying isn’t as important to me anymore like it was when I was younger. I focus very much on the job and my goals and dreams…” McIntyre elaborated further, saying that “They say opportunity is everything you’ve got. I didn’t realize that the first time around because I had lost perspective.”
When asked if he wanted to return to WWE or NXT and McIntyre made it clear that he wanted to do to the developmental brand. “I had a lot of conversations with Triple H and I made it clear if I come back, I would like to go to NXT,” admitted McIntyre. “You need those experienced leaders because that makes a difference in the product,” McIntyre stated. “NXT had lost a couple of people and I felt I could really make a difference going in there.”
KUSHIDA is currently taking part in his final tour for New Japan Pro Wrestling. The Junior Heavyweight icon’s contract runs out at the end of the month and he will be a free agent for the first time in a very long time.
At yesterday’s Road To New Beginning event KUSHIDA tagged with Hiroshi Tanahashi for the final time. After the bout KUSHIDA made some comments backstage regarding his time in the ring with the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. KUSHIDA stated “That was my last time tagging with Tanahashi. I know that what makes a pro wrestler is different for everyone, but my definition is some who devotes their life to this. That’s what makes a pro wrestler.” KUSHIDA followed this up by mentioning his final match for NJPW. “I’ve only got one match left. It will be very emotional. I’ve taken a lot of damage over these past 8 years. But the memories I’ve made in this time, I’m sure because of them…that I have become stronger. Going forward, I’ll always fight with that knowledge close to my heart.”
KUSHIDA finished up by saying “8 years ago, here at Korakuen Hall, Tanahashi said he’d make me a complete pro wrestler. I’m forever grateful to him, I’ll never forget that.”
There’s been yet another twist in the saga of the WoS Women’s Championship. Viper won back the WoS Championship from Bea Priestley in Blackpool last night.
Before the tour started Kay Lee Ray held the Championship. As you may have seen the ICW star appeared on camera at the NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool event earlier this month. This essentially indicated that she would be leaving WoS and heading onto WWE/NXT UK.
At the first night of the WoS tour Viper defeated Kay Lee Ray in a triple threat match to become the new WoS Women’s Champion. This was also an interesting development, as Viper is also being linked to WWE. The Wrestling Observer have even claimed that the NXT UK deal offered to Viper was greater than Ray’s as “there was interest from AEW.” Viper has been losing her independent Championships over the past few weeks, including in a bout for STARDOM where she lost her Pro Wrestling: EVE International Championship.
With Viper winning back the title everything is once again up in the air. Viper is most likely heading to NXT very soon, with NXT UK looking like the destination. The World of Sport tour is still ongoing and Viper could easily lose the title at some point before it finishes, leaving her clear for WWE.
Last night in Blackpool, @missviper91 won the WOS Woman's Championship in a grueling match up againt @BeaPriestley , in front of a jam packed #Blackpool Tower Ballroom.
NJPW President Harold Meij spoke to Yahoo!’s Japanese website and was asked if New Japan would possibly form a partnership with the newly formed All Elite Wrestling. Meij made comments relating to AEW’s “approach to “their presentation” of pro wrestling. The NJPW President felt NJPW would have to see how AEW was going to present their product. This was before making any sort of co-branding decisions.
Meij made the following comments, translated by @kakutolog:
“AEW is a new organization to start from now, and I do not know what kind of relationship we would [have]. I think that it is necessary to figure out what policy they would develop on pro-wrestling.”
It was initially reported that NJPW and AEW would be meeting after Wrestle Kingdom to discuss their positions going forward. It was believed that NJPW would not work with AEW and continue their relationship with Ring of Honor. One of the key elements to their decision is Kenny Omega.
The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion is still a huge part of New Japan’s plans. If the former Champion does move to AEW the company may wish to come to some sort of arrangement with the new upstart. Whether there would be any other sort of cross-promotion is completely up in the air at this point.
Since WWE’s ‘new era’ began the company decided to oust the General Managers of both RAW and Smackdown Live. One of these of course was former WWE Superstar Paige. The Norwich born Superstar recently spoke to Sky Sports about her opportunities in WWE beyond her previous position as GM.
When asked what role she like to play right now Paige replied “At this point I don’t know.” Paige did state that she’d “love to be a manager for somebody. I don’t know who, but that’s something I’d love to do, so I’ll put that out there in the universe. I just want to be part of the company.” Paige also stated that she “love[s] this company and I love to talk a lot, so give me a microphone and I’ll give it a good old-fashioned try.”
Paige also commented on her ‘firing’ as General Manager. The former Champion in NXT and WWE seemed to be well suited to the role before creative plans changed. Paige stated to Sky Sports that “I loved being General Manager and it was a surprise to me [to stop that], but WWE evolves all the time and you have to evolve and deal with it.”
*Credit to WrestlingINC for the transcription
Posted January 27th, 2019 in News, WWE. Tagged: Paige.
Daniel Bryan’s recent heel turn has reinvigorated his WWE return. The WWE Champion recently spoke to the State of Combat podcast about his recent change of character.
Change of Character
Bryan said “You have to understand that this was a day-of decision. Me being the bad guy was a day-of decision.” Bryan elaborated further, stating that “I had kind of been thinking about [turning heel] because I had been doing stuff with the Miz and I started to realize, hey, the tide is turning on this role, the whole thing of me being a good guy. And eventually, people are going to get tired of me in the same way people began booing John Cena and all that kind of stuff.”
In quite a damning assessment, Bryan also stated that “The tide is going to turn on this. Eventually, I’m just going to be another good guy shoved down people’s throats to a chorus of boos. That’s the last thing I wanted to happen.”
Babyfaces in WWE
Bryan also made some interesting comments regarding babyfaces in the WWE and how they’re booked. “I think 100 percent there is a place for it, but it has to be presented in the right way,” Bryan claimed. “A good guy, a ‘white-meat babyface’ as you’re talking about — can’t be presented as a loser or a dork or somebody who, any time an authority figure [threatens to fire them], they hang their head.”
Again Bryan elaborated further, saying “No. If you want a good character that people like, and he has something that he believes in … [they would respond]. ‘Fire me, fine, but guess what, I’m great at what I do, I can go get a good job somewhere else.’Presenting those kind of characters, it’s still a white-meat babyface character in that sort of sense. But you have to present it properly. I don’t think it’s impossible, I just think a lot of times we just don’t present it in the best way possible.”
WWE are currently holding their Royal Rumble Axxess weekend with NXT Takeover, Worlds Collide and the Rumble itself as the main attractions. The company confirmed last week that NXT UK would be taping some upcoming shows from Axxess for the weekly show.
Here’s the spoiler results for Day 1 of the tapings, including dark matches/segments:
Heavy Machinery b. Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner (dark match)
NXT UK Match: Noam Dar b. Jordan Devlin – Dar took the win with an assist from Travis Banks. There was also a post-match brawl
NXT UK Match: Jinny b. Mia Yim
Samoa Joe came out and praised the NXT UK brand, and commented on how he will win the Royal Rumble on Sunday (dark segment)
Kacy Catanzaro b. Reina Gonzalez (dark match)
Tony Nese b. Mark Andrews (dark match)
NXT UK Match: Dave Mastiff b. Riddick Moss
NXT UK Match: Travis Banks b. Fabian Aichner
NXT UK Match:Trent Seven b. Shane Thorne – WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne appeared after the match to cut a promo
NXT UK Match:Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch b. The Coffey Brothers of Gallus, Joe Coffey and Mark Coffey with Wolfgang
New Japan’s first ‘official’ brand tour has just begun. January’s Wrestle Kingdom was a historic event and the Fantastica Mania tour alongside CMLL drew some impressive crowds. The Road to New Beginning tour has begun and we’ll have the full results as and when the cards take place.
Here’s the results for the Road To New Beginning Saitama (01/26):
Yota Tsuji and Yeya Uemura went to a no contest
Toa Henare b. Ren Narita – Henare took the win with the TOA Bottom
Manabu Nakanishi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan b. Shota Umino and Ayato Yoshida – Tenzan took the win with the Anaconda Vice over Yoshida
Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga b. YOSHI-HASHI and Tomoaki Honma – Loa took the win after hitting Apesh*t on Honma
Toru Yano and Togi Makabe b. Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi – Yano took the win with a School Boy over Takahashi
El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki b. Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, SANADA, EVIL and Tetsuya Naito – Taichi took the win after hitting the Tensho Jujihou on BUSHI
Jay White, Gedo, Bad Luck Fale and Taiji Ishimori b. KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi – White took the win after hitting the Blade Runner on KUSHIDA
New Japan has announced that a company legend will be making a small appearance at each of their US tour dates. Katsuyori Shibata is the head trainer of the company’s Dojo in Los Angeles. The former NEVER Openweight Champion will be addressing the crowds before each of the dates in Los Angeles, Charlotte and Nashville before bell time.
New Japan had to scramble and make huge changes to the tour recently. With the government shutdown in the United States the company were unable to get the necessary visas for their Japanese talent to perform in America. The cards will now feature almost exclusively US based talent. The company released the following statement regarding Shibata’s involvement:
“NJPW LA Dojo head coach Katsuyori Shibata will make a special appearance at each of THE NEW BEGINNING USA tour cities.
Shibata will address the crowd to welcome our fans attending the first NJPW US tour in Los Angeles, Charlotte and Nashville before bell time. There will also be an opportunity to photograph him in the ring.
Fans will have the chance to hear Shibata’s thoughts on the New Japan spirit — a wrestler trained in the New Japan dojo and now training new wrestlers as the head coach of the LA Dojo. We hope our fans will support the next generation of stars trained by Shibata.
Once again, we would like to express gratitude to our US fans and hope you look forward seeing the work put in by Shibata and the LA Young Lions before the biggest matches of their career.”
Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega were in serious negotiations to join Impact Wrestling, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Jericho and Omega’s relationships with Impact Executive Vice President (and fellow Winnipegger) Don Callis are well-documented. Callis was the one brokering the talks and was “very close to deals” with both Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho. That is, until All Elite Wrestling (AEW) entered the picture.
Dave Meltzer reports, “The expectation before AEW is that Omega would work for New Japan and do 30 dates per year [for Impact] and Jericho would work here because he’s have so much input on his creative if he wanted to work another year with New Japan.”
Callis is currently a prominent figure in New Japan’s presentation, where he serves as the English color commentator. When he was first announced as the EVP of Impact, there were rumors that he would be looking to lure some New Japan talent over to the company.
This would not have been the first time that Impact (formerly TNA) had worked with New Japan. However, they are now a very different company in virtually every aspect. TNA had previously had the likes of Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger on their programming. Okada in particular did not enjoy his time with the company. With Okada believing that he was ‘mis-used’ and it soured the relationship between TNA and New Japan at the time.
With Don Callis at the helm there are still opportunities for New Japan talent to be on Impact programming. Landing Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega would have been tremendous for the fledgling promotion, which remains steadfast in its ongoing attempts to rebuild in 2019.
NXT UK’s latest episode this past Wednesday set up some big bouts for next week’s show.
Former NXT Champions Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) will be taking on Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner. Bate and Seven are well acquainted with Barthel, who wrestled on the independent scene as Axel Dieter Jr. Barthel was also previously in a stable called Ringkampf, alongside EVOLVE’s Timothy Thatcher and new NXT UK Superstar WALTER.
Speaking of WALTER, he will also be making his in-ring debut on the show next week. WALTER was one of the hottest free agents on the market before he was confirmed with WWE’s UK brand. Reportedly WALTER did not wish to sign with NXT in the United States. This was due to him being happy living and performing in Europe. WALTER is one of the head trainers for the wXw brand in Germany and has strong ties to the European companies, including PROGRESS where he headlined their Wembley Arena show late last year.
WALTER made his NXT UK debut at the Takeover: Blackpool event, he appeared following the main event between Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey, seemingly declaring his interest in facing Dunne for the WWE United Kingdom Championship down the line.
NXT UK’s momentous Takeover: Blackpool event created a buzz behind the brand that was missing initially. The card featured some stellar matches with the NXT UK Tag Team Title bout between Moustache Mountain and Grizzled Young Veterans effectively stealing the show. Pete Dunne and Joe Coffey also put on an impressive performance in the main event. The match was for the WWE United Kingdom Championship and Dunne once again defended successfully.
This week’s episode of NXT UK featured the aftermath of the Takeover: Blackpool event. Here’s the full results from the week’s show (01/24):
Pete Dunne addressed the crowd, saying at Takeover: Blackpool “we made history!” Gallus then appeared to attack Dunne before WALTER made the save. WALTER then stood toe to toe with Dunne, WALTER eyeing the WWE United Kingdom Championship before leaving the ring.
It was confirmed that 3 episodes of NXT UK would be taped at the Royal Rumble Axxess shows this weekend
Nina Samuels b. Lana Austin – Samuels took the win in 4:09 after hitting Prima Donna
Eddie Dennis b. Jamie Ahmed – Dennis took the win in 4:41 after hitting the Next Stop Driver
Jordan Devlin b. Travis Banks – This match went to a double countout in 13:24, the feud is now likely to continue
There are reportedly plans being made for Sin Cara once he returns from injury. The Luchador Superstar has been out of action since August with a knee injury. Apparently Sin Cara has returned to the WWE Performance Center this week and has begun training for an in ring return.
The plan according to PWInsider is for Cara to feud with Rey Mysterio at some point in the near future. This will of course take place on the Smackdown Live brand.
There were rumors many years ago of a planned Mysterio vs Sin Cara match to take place at a WrestleMania. This was with the original Sin Cara who worked as Mistico in Mexico as the top star for many years. The original Sin Cara now works as Carístico for CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling during their Fantastica Mania tours. The original reported plan was that WWE was attempting to break a record. The company would hand out masks for the crowd to wear and to make it the biggest crowd in history (inside of a dome or Arena) to simultaneously be masked. These plans were quickly scrapped when Sin Cara did not become the ‘replacement’ to Rey Mysterio as WWE had hoped.
WWE has been looking for a Mexican star to essentially take up the mantle of Rey Mysterio for years. This could be WWE’s attempt to re-develop the newer version of Sin Cara, played by Hunico.
NXT Superstar Otis Dozovic has been removed from the Worlds Collide tournament that will take place during Royal Rumble Axxess this coming weekend. This may well be due to his main roster call-up. Otis’ replacement has been confirmed as Shane Thorne.
WWE has confirmed that the tournament will begin taping on Saturday. This will be in the afternoon during the second Axxess session. The finals will be taking place on the final session on Sunday before the Royal Rumble event itself. A 15 man Battle Royal will be determining the first round matches which will be taking place on the Saturday morning.
WWE issued the following regarding the tournament: “Brand-versus-brand dream matches will become a reality as 15 Superstars in total — five from NXT, five from NXT UK and five from 205 Live — will compete over the course of two days, with the tournament winner receiving a future NXT, NXT UK or 205 Live Championship Match of their choosing. That means anyone can become a champion on any brand!”
205 Live star Ariya Daivari is campaigning for Hideo Itami to become WWE’s new Cruiserweight Champion. Itami will face Buddy Murphy, Akira Tozawa and Kalisto in a Fatal 4 Way match for the Cruiserweight title this Sunday at the Royal Rumble.
Daivari tweeted a video of WWE Champion Daniel Bryan describing just how dangerous Hideo Itami is. Nearly 13 years after they battled each other in Ring of Honor, Bryan says he is still feeling the effects of Itami’s brutality.
“Hideo Itami. Is Hideo Itami dangerous? Well, I can’t hear out of my left ear,” Bryan stated. “You see, Hideo Itami and I were fighting in Ring of Honor in 2006, and we got into a battle of strikes, a battle that I lost. A battle that ruptured my ear drum, and shortly thereafter, not only could I not hear out of my left ear, I can’t even go under water.”
Bryan continued, “So, is Hideo Itami dangerous? Yes, he’s dangerous, and if I ever see Hideo Itami on SmackDown, he’s going to get all that’s coming to him.”
205 Live’s Mustafa Ali recently moved up to Smackdown Live, which could pave the way for more cruiserweight talent on the main roster. Itami’s WWE run has been plagued by injuries thus far, so it remains to be seen if we’ll ever get a chance to relive his rivalry with Daniel Bryan.
Watch Daniel Bryan talk about how dangerous Hideo Itami can be:
We’re hit the aftermath of New Japan’s biggest show Wrestle Kingdom. This means that the annual Fantastica Mania tour has now begun. Several of the top stars from Mexico’s CMLL promotion will be in the New Japan ring for the next few weeks. The final show took place on the 21st from Japan’s Korakuen Hall.
One of the biggest draws of the tour is that it will be one of KUSHIDA’s last, he is leaving NJPW and is likely signing with NXT.
Here’s the results from the show in Korakuen Hall (01/21):
Barbaro Cavernario and Templario b. Audaz and Flyer – Cavernario took the win over Audaz with the Cavernaria
Atlantis Jr b. OKUMURA – Atlantis Jr took the win after hitting the Atlantida on OKUMURA
YOH, SHO, Toa Henare and Satoshi Kojima vs Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI and Terrible ended in a no contest
MEXICAN NATIONAL TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH – Forastero, Cuatrero and Sanson b. Angel de oro, Titan and Atlantis – Cuatrero took the win after hitting the Cuatrero Bomb on de oro
Ultimo Guerrero, Gran Guerrero and Namajague b. Soberano Jr, Dragon Lee and Mistico – Ultimo took the win with the Guerrero Special on Soberano Jr
THE MOVIE: “MY DAD IS A HEEL WRESTLER” SPECIAL TAG MATCH – Dragon George and Sweet Gorilla Maruyama b. Ginbae Mask and Gokiburi Mask – George hit the Dragon Maker on Ginbae Mask for the win
Volador Jr b. Caristico – Volador Jr took the win after hitting an Avalanche Spanish Fly
CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling star Dragon Lee will reportedly be signing with Ring of Honor. According to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling website, negotiations are close to being finalized. Barring any last-minute issues, the 23-year-old high-flying will be joining his brother RUSH in the Sinclair-owned promotion.
According to the report, Dragon Lee will be signing a one-year deal to take advantage of free agency next year. With AEW, WWE, ROH, NJPW and more all vying for the services of top independent stars this may well be a shrewd move on the lucha star’s part. The deal will mean that Dragon Lee will be exclusive to ROH in the United States. Dragon Lee will still be able to perform in Mexico and most likely New Japan.
As we reported recently Andrade (formerly ‘Cien’ Almas) has been warning Luchador stars Rush and Lee against joining WWE. The Wrestling Observer made the claim earlier this month.
“In the case of Rush, he’s very close with Andrade, who pretty much warned him and Dragon Lee about going to WWE,” wrote Dave Meltzer in reference to Rush’s signing with ROH. “Andrade’s advice was that WWE wasn’t what it was cracked up to being.”
There’s been yet another twist in the saga of the WoS Women’s Championship. Bea Priestley won the title last night at the company’s show in Newport.
Before the tour started Kay Lee Ray held the Championship. As you may have seen the ICW star appeared on camera at the NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool event this past weekend. This essentially indicated that she would be leaving WoS and heading onto WWE/NXT UK.
At the first night of the WoS tour Viper defeated Kay Lee Ray in a triple threat match to become the new WoS Women’s Champion. This was also an interesting development, as Viper is also being linked to WWE. The Wrestling Observer have even claimed that the NXT UK deal offered to Viper was greater than Ray’s as “there was interest from AEW.” Viper has been losing her independent Championships over the past few weeks, including in a bout for STARDOM where she lost her Pro Wrestling: EVE International Championship.
Finally, we reported earlier this month that there was one more independent WoS star on WWE’s radar, Bea Priestley. With Priestley winning the title this once again confuses the matter, unless of course WoS decide to change the hands of the title once again. The tour is ongoing, so there are plenty of opportunities to do so.
New WOS Women's Champ – for the second night running! Congratulations @BeaPriestley. You never know what might happen on our UK tour! pic.twitter.com/lyMbWWofsm