Vince McMahon retiring from WWE has sent shockwaves through the pro-wrestling industry, as many believe the decision was due to the Wall Street Journal piece accusing him of severe misconduct, with more allegations and stories reportedly set to come.

One person who is not shocked by this news is former WWE star Paul London, who joined Rene Dupree on his podcast to discuss McMahon’s retirement, as well as reveal his own stories of the Chairman that may have remained unknown.

London, who was with WWE from 2003-2008 says that McMahon used to constantly harass Ashley Marasso, a women’s star from that era who tragically passed away in 2019. He says that McMahon would proposition her to fly with him on his private jet, and McMahon’s right-hand man, Kevin Dunn, would follow in suit.

“I do remember specifically, many times when she would, she would be crying to me because Vince was propositioning her to fly on the jet with them like Kevin Dunn – buck tooth Bucky would be telling her that she has to fly on the jet with them. They’d always put the Divas up at like the TV hotel or whatever, you know, he’d been knocking on her door and you know, trying to get her to answer.”

While London once again says that he’s not surprised by the allegation he is shocked that something like this didn’t surface within the last 10 years.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t come out within the last 10 years. But it just goes to show how afraid people are of that power dynamic where they’re so fearful of losing their job or and it’s like what does that say about you if you’re protecting this 90-year-old f**king corpse with a thong tan line just because he’s a billionaire. I mean it’s like I said money changes people.”

Stories of McMahon’s retirement will continue to come out in the following weeks, and have already shaken up top WWE stars like Brock Lesnar, who left SmackDown when he heard the news, but was eventually convinced to return to the venue for the main event segment.

Sescoops wil continue to provide up to date coverage on this story.

(Quotes by WrestlingNews.Co)

Adam Cole feels confident that he will be returning to the ring soon.

The Owen Hart Memorial tournament winner and leader of the Undisputed Elite was interviewed by the Wrestling Buddies podcast, where he discussed the injury he sustained at last month’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view during the IWGP world heavyweight title matchup, a bout won by Jay White, who pinned Cole once he realized he was hurt.

Cole has been absent from AEW programming ever since, but he hopes it is not for too much longer. During the interview he recalls barely getting injured in his 14-year career, adding that taking this much time away is eating at him.

“I’m doing okay. I’m definitely on the path, on the track to recover for sure. I have a great team around me that is helping and just making sure that I’m taken care of to the best of my ability. AEW has been fantastic as far as making sure that I’m getting the right care that I deserve and I feel like a progress and I move forward every single week for sure, because I had been — I was pretty banged up.”

“So again, for 14 years, being in the pro wrestling industry, I think the most time I had ever had off, ever, as far as traveling, being on the road was one month. I’ve been going, going, going non-stop so, eventually our bodies kind of catch up to us and I had a couple of things that were kind of lingering for me and then with what happened at Forbidden Door but… so I feel good. I’m very confident I’ll be back in the ring soon, I’m excited to be back. I miss it so much already. But yeah, I’m feeling good, I’m feeling good.”

Cole would then talk about the moment he got hurt at Forbidden Door, calling it a very scary moment.

“Injuries like that can be a little bit scary, I think not just for me but kind of for everybody. But like I said, fortunately — the most important thing in a situation like that is having a good team of people who know what they’re doing and are concerned about your well-being being around you and that was definitely the case for me so, yeah, I’m getting the proper care that I need and I’ll be good to go in no time. It was definitely scary for me too.”

The former NXT champion may be out of action in AEW, but fans can catch him on his CHUGS Twitch channel.

(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)

Ahead of this weekend’s ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) spoke with WebIsJericho to hype up their highly-anticipated rematch with the Briscoes for the ROH tag team titles.

The two teams went to war at Supercard of Honor back in April, a matchup that was called one of the very best of the year and saw the Top Guys dethrone Dem Boys to become the promotion’s newest champs.

During the interview Dax Harwood reveals that he actually went into the critically-acclaimed bout with a torn labrum, an injury that happened from taking a suplex to the floor. Harwood doesn’t specify exactly when he got hurt, but details how much pain he is still in because of the tear.

“I got that [a torn labrum] right before the match with The Briscoes. I took a suplex on the floor, and it’s still very uncomfortable just to sit down. To walk or to run it doesn’t bother me, but to sit down, it just kills me. Every match you have, I don’t care how old you are or how young you are, every match is gonna take a toll on your body.”

Harwood would then give a quick rant about how hard the industry can be on a wrestler’s body, and why fans should be aware how much it actually hurts them.

“I gotta go home to my daughter, and that one tackle, that one bump hurt so bad that I can’t play with her.’ So why are we telling these fans this doesn’t hurt? ‘Watch. The ring is springy, it’s like a trampoline.’ It’s the complete opposite. Everything hurts.”

FTR currently hold the AAA, ROH, and the IWGP tag team titles, the latter of which was won at last month’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view from the United Center in Chicago.

Tonight AEW kicks off week two of Fyter Fest with a special edition of Dynamite, which will feature Chris Jericho battling Eddie Kingston in a barbed wire everywhere matchup, with the Jericho Appreciation Society hovering above inside of a shark cage.

Top company superstar Bryan Danielson took to Twitter to comment on the matchup, where the American Dragon take shots at both men, and warns them for his impending return. He writes:

“One of these men takes credit for injuring me and the other one is the man I actually blame for it. Excited to see them destroy each other… and when I get back I’ll kick both their heads in.”

Danielson has been out of action with a concussion since May’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view in Las Vegas. The injury forced the former WWE champion to miss the critically acclaimed Forbidden Door event, as well as Blood & Guts show the Wednesday after. He would handpick his replacement, new AEW signee Claudio Castagnoli.

Ric Flair is grateful to Vince McMahon.

The Nature Boy spoke about his love for the WWE Chairman on the latest edition of Busted Open Radio, where the former 16-time world champion addressed having his signature WOOOO added back into the WWE opening as of the July 4th episode of Monday Night Raw.

Flair was actually removed from the opening back in the fall of 2021 shortly after the release of the “Plane Ride From Hell” episode of VICE’s Dark Side of the Ring, which revealed multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him, ones that caused massive fan backlash.

During the interview Flair says he personally went to Vince McMahon to thank him for allowing the WOOOO back in after some time had passed from the allegations.

“I went and saw Vince yesterday [Monday] to personally thank him because they were in Tampa. It made me feel like my world had changed again. It made me feel a lot better than when they took me off.”

Flair adds that everything his old boss has ever told him has come true, including his promise to put him back into the intro.

“Everything Vince McMahon has ever said to me has come true and he said, ‘I promise you I’ll put you back on it,’ and he did. I went over there and thanked him.”

The Nature Boy is preparing for his Last Match Ever on July 31st, where he teams with his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo against Jay Lethal and WWE Hall of Famer, Jeff Jarrett.

(Quotes Fightful)

Sad news in the wrestling world.

Cynthia Heenan, the wife of WWE Hall of Famer Bobby Heenan, has passed away. The news was broken by longtime commentator Mike Tenay, who was close friends and worked side-by-side with “The Brain” during their time together in WCW.

Tenay writes, “Sorry to report the passing of Cindy Heenan, an incredible wife, mother and grandmother. Her devotion and support for Bobby was unparalleled. Survived by daughter Jess, son in law John and grandkids Austin and Hannah. Our times with them were the happiest and most memorable.”

Cynthia, also known as Cindy, stayed by her husband’s side until his death in 2017. “The Brain” passed from organ failure due to complications from throat cancer, which he was diagnosed with back in 2002.

All of us here at Sescoops would like to send their sincerest condolences to the friends and family of Cindy. Rest in peace.

Goldberg opens up about his rocky relationship with Bret Hart.

The WWE Hall of Famer and former two-time WWE Universal champion chatted with SHAK Wrestling about his history with “The Hitman,” which is mainly remembered for one infamous incident…the day he ended Hart’s in-ring career.

The two were headlining WCW’s Starrcade 1999 pay-per-view when Goldberg nailed Hart with a stiff thrust kick to the face, one that left the then world champion severely concussed, and eventually led to his retirement due to post-concussion syndrome. Hart has never been shy about labeling Goldberg as an unsafe worker since that night nearly 23 years ago.

When talking about his relationship with Hart prior to the kick Goldberg says that he learned so much from the highly-respected wrestler, even going as far as to call him an ally.

“I was a sponge and he taught me. I learned through osmosis from Bret. To have a talent like that down in WCW at a time when I felt as if everyone was trying to expose me and push me in the wrong direction, I saw in him an ally.”

However, Goldberg is aware that Hart may never forgive him for cutting his career short. He himself is still incredibly remorseful for how everything played out, but shoots down any claims that he intentionally set out to do it on purpose.

“For what happened to have happened, I’ll be remorseful to the end of my days. For anybody who thinks that was intentional, that is extremely foolish and I’ll just leave it that way.”

Goldberg’s WWE Legends Bio airs this evening on A&E, which will take a deep dive look at his career, and his dominant runs in both WCW and WWE.

(Quotes via Fightful)

According to Fightful Select, several stars in WWE’s women’s division have been frustrated with their use up-and-down the card on SmackDown.

Reports are that the the aforementioned talent were waiting to see “where the chips fell” after this year’s WrestleMania in hopes that things would get better, and were prepared to take their concerns to WWE higher-ups. Some of these did play out as Lacey Evans returned, as well as former women’s champion Asuka, who both went to Raw and left more availability on SmackDown. (Evans eventually jumped back to SD). The absence of Charlotte Flair also led to more women being featured on the blue-brand.

Top superstar Ronda Rousey made it clear that she was willing to work with a variety of talent, which was another chip that fell in helping getting more talent on the show. The publication notes that WWE has integrated more women on SmackDown since the May 13th episode, although satisfaction has varied.

The source who shared this information to Fightful did mention that it seemed like Vince McMahon was more concerned about putting himself on the show due to the WSJ story rather than book or protect any of the female talent.

Stay tuned .

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, better known as The Good Brothers, have had a dominant run in Impact Wrestling since joining the promotion back in 2020 shortly after their release from WWE. They are the company’s current tag team champions, their third reign in two years.

However, PW Insider reports that Gallows and Anderson’s contracts with Impact will be expiring after tonight’s television taping in Kentucky, which means they’ll officially be hitting the free agency market starting tomorrow and can accept any offers made from any company in that time.

Reports are that The Good Brothers are expected to resume working for New Japan Pro Wrestling as they already have dates line up. However, this does not mean that their time with Impact is over as they did agree to work some extra dates for the promotion as long as it doesn’t conflict with their NJPW dates. Again…their contractual commitments to Impact end after tonight.

Aside from their work in Impact The Good Brothers appeared multiple times in AEW, and played a huge role in the ongoing dissension of the Elite, a storyline that will eventually play out further once Adam Cole, reDragon, and Kenny Omega return.

Stay tuned.

We’ll keep you updated on their situation.

One of the biggest rematches of the year just got a major stipulation added to it.

Team FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) will be defending the ROH tag team titles against the former champions, the Briscoes (Mark & Jay), at the July 23rd Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view in Lowell Massachusetts next weekend.

This is a rematch from ROH Supercard of Honor earlier this year, which was won by FTR and called one of the best tag team bouts of the last few years.

The two teams met face-to-face to hype the highly-anticipated contest, where it was revealed that it will now be 2-out-of-3 falls to determine the new ROH tag team champions. AEW has released the sit-down on their company Youtube channel. You can check it out below.

UPDATED LINEUP FOR DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR:

FTR vs. The Briscoes 2-out-of-3 falls for the ROH tag team championship

Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH Television championship

-Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure chamipionshp

-Mercedes Martinez vs. Serena Deeb for the ROH women’s championship

Cody Rhodes has given an update on his torn pectoral recovery.

The American Nightmare made an appearance on today’s episode of Busted Open Radio and spoke with the show’s hosts about the injury he sustained right before his Hell in a Cell showdown with Seth Rollins, a matchup that Rhodes bravely competed in anyway and earned a marquee victory.

The top WWE babyface begins by saying that the doctor who performed his surgery was one of the best in the world, but that they are being coy with how well it went.

“I had Dr. Dugas, he’s the best in the world to do it, but the problem with him doing it is he knows me and they’re being very coy.”

The doctors have also not given Rhodes any timeline to return out of concern that he will try and push it too hard and come back earlier.

“They’re not going to give me a timeline just yet for when I’m going to be back because they’re afraid if they give me that timeline, I’m going to try and jump it by a month or two.”

Rhodes’ gutsy performance at Hell in a Cell earned him critical acclaim from wrestling fans all over, as well as a five-star ratings from top journalist Dave Meltzer. However, Rhodes reveals that his surgery did have a scary moment due to how much blood there was, which fans recognized from the bruising on his body in the matchup.

“But I don’t think people know, the surgery was — I almost hemorrhaged in the surgery because there was so much blood. People have seen the picture of it, in the match per se, it was pretty gnarly.”

You can hear Rhodes talk about the situation below.

Rhodes going down derailed some of WWE’s longterm booking plans, but the hope is that he’ll be back in time for next year’s Royal Rumble premium live event. His match at Hell in a Cell was his first ever PPV main event for WWE counting his time prior to forming AEW.

We’ve updated our Injury Tracker to reflect the latest on Cody’s condition.

(Quotes via WrestleZone)

The rise of Becky Lynch in WWE has remained one of the company’s greatest success stories. Lynch went from a top NXT prospect, to the first ever SmackDown women’s champion, but then lived in limbo on the main roster card for nearly two years, which included competing on the pre-show of WrestleMania 34.

Big Time Becks would eventually receive another title opportunity at SummerSlam 2018, which led to a character shift that catapulted her into the main event, a spot she has remained ever since.

When talking about Lynch’s career on the latest edition of his podcast WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley revealed that at one point the former multi-time women’s champion was planning on leaving WWE due to be unsatisfied.

“Before Becky Lynch became The Man, before she got that break that we all thought she was due, she was really wondering, you know, she’s really down on herself, down on her role with the company, wondering if it was all worth it. “

The hardcore legend then shared some advice he gave to Lynch, which he believes helped her ultimately decide to keep pursuing her dream in WWE.

“I remember giving her two pieces of advice. I said, be patient, be ready.”

Another aspect that helped Foley convince Lynch was when he found out how much more money women wrestlers were making in this era than previous ones.

“I won’t tell you what she made, I’ll just tell you my reaction was, oh, well, you’ve got to stay in WWE. I didn’t know that the money had picked up for the women to that extent. And like you said, how many women do you think are making seven figures? Six or seven?”

Even though she lost the Raw women’s championship at WrestleMania 38 to Bianca Belair she has continued to compete in the main event scene.

(Quotes via Inside The Ropes)

Keith Lee turned some heads last night when he posted a short statement on his Twitter account hinting that he may be leaving to deal with a potential family issue, adding that it was bad news.

The AEW superstar and former NXT champion has kept the situation pretty hush since tweeting it out last night, but he did promote his participation in this evening’s triple threat AEW tag title match at Fyter Fest. His full tweet reads:

“Got some very much less than stellar news today….No matter the results, tomorrow’s match belongs to my two brothers. It’s all I can do until I return. Love you boys.”

Tony Khan spoke was able to provide an update on Lee’s situation during “Tony Time” on today’s Busted Open Radio. The company president doesn’t reveal too much information other than Lee will still be competing tonight, and that he has AEW’s full support for his situation.

“I don’t want to get into Keith’s personal business. Keith is here, he is wrestling tonight. He had a family situation. It’s not my place to talk about it. Keith is here and here to wrestle, as I understand it. I can’t really comment on what is happening, but we’re going to support him through what is happening.”

Lee debuted for AEW back in February of this year. He has since been on their Revolution, Double or Nothing, and Forbidden Door pay-per-view cards as a featured act. Sescoops would like to wish him well on his situation.

(Quotes via WrestleTalk)

The legendary Paul Wight (fka The Big Show) recently joined Wrestling Inc. for an in-depth conversation about his current run in AEW, with Wight providing an interesting update on one of his oldest wrestling incarnations.

The former world champion stated last year that AEW and Tony Khan had secured the rights to Captain Insano, the fictional pro-wrestling character played by Wight in the hit Adam Sandler comedy, The Waterboy. During his interview Wight gave some more details as to where they are in the process.

“He’ll [Captain Insano] be back. The guy who wrote The Waterboy has approved. Tony Khan and I have secured the rights to Captain Insano. There’s already an outfit made, the whole nine yards. We’re doing a lot of prep work, and this will be my last hoorah so to speak.”

One question Wight would be asked is what type of presentation Captain Insano would have in AEW. He states that this is more for fun, and fans shouldn’t expect him to be a world champion anytime soon.

Let’s be honest – I don’t think this character is going to be a killer going out there trying to beat Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. At this point, I think this character is just to have fun. We’ll see how it goes, but for me right now, this is just a chance to have fun with this character and be a bright spot on the show.”

Speaking of competing…Wight has not wrestled on AEW programming for months. However, he does plan on competing in the ring more.

“My whole reason for coming to AEW was to work on commentary and to compete more.”

You can check out the full interview here.

One of WWE NXT 2.0’s best prospects over the last few months has been women’s division star Nikkita Lyons, who debuted for the brand back in February and went viral online shortly afterwards due to her swagger and very unique finishing maneuver.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, NXT has big plans for Lyons, which may include crowning her as women’s champion, a title that is currently held by Mandy Rose. Head journalists Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer reported about Lyons’ future when previewing this evening’s edition of NXT 2.0.

Tonight’s show features Rose defending her NXT women’s title against Roxanne Perez, another star that Meltzer believes would be a suitable champion.

“Roxanne Perez should be the person. She’s young, she’s very good, she’s very charismatic. She’d be a good one to win that championship.”

It was here that Lyons would be brought up, revealing that there had been talks from higher-ups to eventually crown Lyons, but how that wouldn’t be happening for a long time.

“I know that there was talk of Nikkita Lyons winning but not for a long time, not right now.”

The report later adds that Lyons has heavy marketability for the company, and has been showing great improvements with her in-ring work. Prior to signing with WWE she wrestled as Faith The Lioness in the popular WOW (Women of Wrestling) promotion. Aside from wrestling she’s also a model, an actress, and a musician.

Stay tuned for more NXT updates.

A new report has surfaced explaining a strange stipulation that is happening on next week’s edition of AEW Dynamite.

The Mad King Eddie Kingston will be clashing with his current Rival Chris Jericho in a barb-wired deathmatch, one that should be a fitting end to their months long feud. However, Jericho’s faction, the Jericho Appreciation Society, will all be hovering above the ring inside of a shark cage as the guaranteed bloodbath occurs.

According to Dave Meltzer from the Wrestling Observer, this is happening on a request from Warner Bros Discovery. The publication notes that the network asked AEW to add some sort of tie-in promoting their annual programming event, Shark Week. The deep dive (no pun intended) of one the sea’s most unique creatures began back in 1988.

Kingston holds a victory over Jericho from their clash at Revolution earlier this year, but the rivalry only intensified after The Wizard through a fireball in Kingston’s face. This has led to the critically acclaimed Anarchy in the Arena brawl from Double or Nothing, and the more recent Blood & Guts showdown in Detroit.

Stay tuned.

Former five-time world champion Booker T made his grand return to the squared circle at last night’s ROW (Reality of Wrestling) event in Texas, his first in-ring competition in roughly two years.

The WWE Hall of Famer wrestled in a 10-man tag team contest alongside of Bryan Keith, Blake Cortez, Gaspar Hernadez, and Mysterious Q, who all competed as the Team Booker group. They faced off against the pairing of Edge Stone, Ryan Davidson, Stephen Wolf, Will Allory, and MLW star Gino Medina.

That’s not all. Booker also gave fans at the event a treat by wearing a throwback outfit of his days in WCW, where he became one of the companies biggest standout stars. The 57-year old has remained a prominent figure in pro-wrestling due to his panel work with WWE, and his hit weekly “Hall of Fame” podcast.

Booker took to Twitter to give his thoughts on wrestling for ROW, which he founded in 2005. He writes, “Got to step back in the ring last night at Reality of Wrestling and it felt GOODT!”

You can see photos and video of his return in the tweets below.

Here are some additional photos of Booker T’s return to the ring for Reality of Wrestling:

Tony Khan hints that AEW is on the verge of a historic media rights deal.

The AEW President sat down with the New York Post to hype the promotion’s success since their inception in 2019, which saw Khan secure a massive deal with Warner Media, one that helped them survive during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When speaking about his current broadcast relationship, which now includes Warner Bros. and Discovery, Khan had the following to say:

“I’m incredibly grateful every day that AEW has this great relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery and we’ve done well for TBS and TNT with “Dynamite” and “Rampage” where we’re a strong performer for Warner Bros. Discovery on a weekly basis.”

However, Khan is always looking towards the future as his company continues to grow in scope. He states that AEW’s supportive fanbase are to thank for potentially securing them a new deal down the line.

“I do believe our future media rights will be important and frankly a very large revenue stream for AEW going forward, and I think that’s because of the great support we’ve had from the fans and the hard work of everybody backstage and the wrestlers every Wednesday and Friday, pulling it together and delivering great shows.”

Regarding a new media rights deal…Khan promises that history will be made in the pro-wrestling circuit once again.

“Whenever our next media right deal, the next one does kick in, it will be historic. It will be recorded in history because everything in wrestling is recorded in history into posterity. It will make history however it goes. Right now, everyone would expect very, very well. We expect it’s going to go very well for us based on how strong we’ve been performing.”

Khan will continue to do interviews to promote AEW’s upcoming Fyter Fest television special. Stay tuned.

Earlier this year WWE inducted one of their biggest superstars of all-time into their Hall of Fame , the Undertaker. The Deadman has provided fans with some of the most memorable moments in the company’s long history, and his induction was a fitting cap on what was a legendary career.

Undertaker recently sat-down with Bleacher Report to discuss his speech, and address some certain questions and criticisms that came because of it.

At one point the former multi-time world champion dropped the line “never say never” when talking about whether he would ever step into the ring again after his appropriate cinematic send off with AJ Styles back at WrestleMania 36. Taker explains that while he has no aspiration of returning he believes that WWE is a place where anything can happen.

“Just the fact you asked that question, mission accomplished. You never say never. I don’t have aspirations of ever stepping into the ring again, but this is the WWE, man. You never say never. You just never say never.”

One person who thought the line was a little too much was Taker’s longtime fried and boss, Vince McMahon

“I thought it was a great button that I can put on that and for that very reason. That was a little bit for Vince, too.”

Taker would then go on to discuss the minor backlash he received for omitting a few names during his speech, particularly Mick Foley, whom he has had many iconic moments and matches with.

“ I did get a little bit of, ‘I can’t believe you didn’t mention Mick Foley.’ I’ve talked about Mick Foley until I’m blue in the gills. I love Mick Foley. I think what we did will outlive the test of time as far as our angle.”

He would explain that he didn’t purposefully leave certain names out, but that he was just conveying his 30-plus year journey to the WWE Universe. However, he knows how it could seem like a jab so he does apologize to those he forgot to mention.

“But then I can talk about Edge and so on. I haven’t talked to any of those guys. I hope they didn’t get their feelings hurt, but it wasn’t about all that. It was about my journey and the things I’ve learned through those 30-plus years that I was trying to share and help people in their lives and thank the WWE Universe. That’s what it was all about. If anyone was offended, I’m sorry.”

Finally…Taker discusses why he make a large portion of the speech about Shawn Michaels and Triple H.

“It was more about those three pillars I referenced back when I’m talking about Shawn [Michaels], that had a direct meaning to never being content. That’s why I talked so much about Shawn then, Triple H.”

Undertaker was also promoting his upcoming biography special on A&E.

Since the arrival of new company President Nick Khan WWE has been attempting to run their major shows, now known as premium live events, on Saturdays instead of the traditional Sunday slot, with last weekend’s Money In The Bank being a prime example. However, this may begin to cause WWE to go head-to-head with major competition.

According to Dave Meltzer in his latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE’s decision to run major shows on Saturdays puts them up against Dana White and the UFC, who run an event nearly every weekend. The report notes that this month’s SummerSlam (July 30th) will be going up against UFC 277, which will see a massive main event as Amanda Nunes attempts to reclaim her Bantamweight championship from Julianna Peña.

While talking about the subject Melzter also mentioned how AEW President Tony Khan has been moving major events from his company on Sundays to avoid competition with White and the UFC. His full statement was:

“Regarding UFC and WWE going head-to-head, this will happen more frequently because Nick Khan wants to move WWE big shows from Sunday to Saturday, ironically at the same time Tony Khan is moving AEW from Saturday to Sunday (except against the NFL). Since UFC runs almost every Saturday, that will mean more conflicts. On 7/30 for SummerSlam, there will be a UFC PPV head-to-head. I believe there will also be a conflict on 10/8 and also in November.”

We will see if WWE will continue to run on Saturdays in the future following the release of their quarterly report. WWE fans online have made it known that they much prefer the Saturday spot as it gives them one extra day to recoup afterwards.

A new report has surfaced revealing that AEW is in talks with the very popular all-women’s Japanese promotion STARDOM about a potential working relationship together.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, top officials from both companies have been in communication, and fans should expect an announcement regarding a collaboration sometime in the near future. However, it is noted that there are no deals as of yet, but that talks are going well.

STARDOM is interested in working with top AEW women’s star Toni Storm, who joined the promotion earlier this year and has been regularly featured on AEW programming, which included her challenging for the women’s title against Thunder Rosa at the recent Forbidden Door pay-per-view.

Storm herself confirmed in a recent interview with TalkSport that she would be interested in working with STARDOM agains. She was previously there from 2016-2018, and is a former Word of Stardom Champion and a former SWA Undisputed World Women’s Champion.

As a reminder…AEW President Tony Khan told the wrestling media in the post-Forbidden Door scrum that he wanted to book STARDOM talents for that event, but there were scheduling and visa issues that didn’t allow it to happen.

NJPW did announce that STARDOM talents will be working their U.S. based shows going forward, a collaboration that will only increase both promotion’s presence in the states.

One of AEW’s biggest success stories has been the rise of Wardlow, who will challenge Scorpio Sky for the TNT championship on this evening’s edition of Dynamite.

Mr. Mayhem’s journey towards being a babyface superstar went through the path of the company’s top heel, MJF. For years Wardlow acted as the Salt of the Earth’s muscle until he eventually turned and vanquished his former boss at Double or Nothing back in May.

However, Wardlow’s momentum would play second fiddle to the controversy caused by MJF, who for months had been butting heads with AEW President Tony Khan, which culminated in MJF begging for his boss to fire him during AEW’s debut show in Los Angeles. He has not been seen since.

Wardlow spoke about the MJF drama on the latest edition of the Wrestling Classic. The War Pig begins by saying he doesn’t even really want to discuss the issue, but feels like he has grounds to say something considering how much time he spent with the man.

“Honestly, I shouldn’t even give this subject the time of day, and I really don’t care to, but I do understand — people gotta understand, we were together for three years. He was the first three years of my career, he was a big part of my career. So if anybody is allowed to touch on this subject, it probably is me.”

Wardlow would then tear into MJF, calling him a horrible person and fitting of the character he portrays on-screen.

“I’ll just say this, he’s not a good person. He really is a piece of shit. It was not enjoyable working with him. He put me through more stress than anything and his behavior inside of the business and outside of the business is unacceptable. But that’s all I’m gonna say about that.”

There have been multiple sources speculating that perhaps the entire fiasco is an elaborate work, though it would be hard to see who it would benefit.

(Quotes via Fightful)

AEW held it’s first ever event back in the spring of 2019, a show that saw a surprise appearance from the legendary Kia Stevens, better known as Awesome Kong.

The former multi-time Knockouts champion was immediately paired with Brandi Rhodes, but her momentum never quite took off after that initial debut. The faction that featured the duo was eventually disbanded in February of 2020, and Kong took even more time off that year to film the latest season of GLOW.

Kong remained with AEW until 2021. She recently appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vilet to discuss her time with the promotion, one that she says was not all bells and whistles.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m bashing the crew over there at AEW, especially since we were just up and running.. I felt unheard. I wasn’t in control.”

The now retired legend explains that it wasn’t due to her lack of trying.

“All I could do was say, ‘I have this idea of XYZ.’ I couldn’t get in the room where final decisions were made. I tried to get into that last meeting where decisions were made. Never had a chance to.”

In the end Kong realized that it was out of her control, otherwise she would have stolen the show every single time.

“It’s out of my control. If I had control, give me 15 minutes of Kia. Kia’s 15 Minutes of Fame. ‘Go out there and steal the show from them boys. You, you, you. Nyla (Rose), go steal the show from the boys.’”

Kong retired from the sport of wrestling back in the summer of 2021 after wrestling her last match at NWA Empowerrr.

(Thanks to Fightful for quotes)

There had been multiple reports over the last week hinting that Major League Wrestling was working on a new media rights deal ahead of their FURY ROAD event later this month, which will be the promotion’s debut in El Paso, Texas.

Today MLW has confirmed that news by announcing a new broadcast partnership with Ayozat TV on SKY based out of the United Kingdom. Starting this Wednesday (July 6th) the League will have their content aired, both current and classic, on a weekly basis.

The full details of the deal can be found below, which include quotes from Ayozat TV chairman Umesh Perera, and MLW CEO Court Bauer.

Tetsuya Naito has written a new blog post stating that he is unhappy to have not been included on last Sunday’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view card.

The NJPW superstar and former multi-time IWGP heavyweight champion has not been involved in any cross-promotional storylines with AEW since the company formed back in 2019. Naito has spoken publicly about potentially working with AEW, but nothing has come to fruition as of late.

Naito says he has yet to watch any footage of the event, which took place from the United Center in Chicago Illinois. His reason is that since he was not asked to compete he feels frustrated as if both NJPW and AEW thought he was “not needed.”

“Unfortunately I was not invited to the “AEW x NJPW” show that is being talked about all over the place. Not invited = not needed. Right?”

The leader of LIJ (Los Ingobernable de Japon) adds that he is genuinely upset about the situation.

“Because of that frustration, I haven’t watched any footage of this show. I’m genuinely upset about it.”

It is not known if Naito, who is a fan-favorite in NJPW and loved by American fans, was even available for Forbidden Door. This potentially could be him playing up a future angle for Forbidden Door II, an event that NJPW President Takami Ohbari wants to hold in Japan.

Naito’s full blog can be found here (membership required).