Former WWE Superstar Sean “X Pac” Waltman recently appeared on The Tomorrow Show with Keven Undergaro and spoke about the recent passing of former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader. Waltman first expressed his displeasure with Vader being forced to cut a promo that basically humiliated himself:

“They had him [Vader] go out there and like kind of humiliate himself… ya know, call him self a big–a fat piece of s–t and things like that. I just hated it… It’s one thing having somebody else call you that but going out there and having you call yourself that, what the f–k?”

For his size, Waltman considers Vader to be the greatest of all time:

“For his size, for that category of wrestler, [Vader’s] the best of all time.”

Waltman then discussed how bad Vader wanted to be in the WWE Hall Of Fame and how much it meant to him:

“It was really important to him to be put in the Hall of Fame, and it really sucks. He deserved it too. Sometimes when you push too hard and you’re out there and you’re begging for it too much, it works against you. And that sucks in that case.”

You can listen to Waltman on The Tomorrow Show with Keven Undergaro by clicking this link here.

WWE has announced that the 2018 Mae Young Classic will kick off on Wednesday, August 8, 2018 from Full Sail University. The Mae Young Classic tournament will air on the WWE Network some time this summer, although no premiere date has been announced at this time.

WWE confirmed the Mae Young Classic will once again be a 32-woman single-elimination tournament. This year’s field of competitors will feature talent from 12 countries.

“We are thrilled to once again present the Mae Young Classic and provide a global showcase for 32 of the top female talent from around the world,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative.  “Last year’s event was a significant milestone in WWE’s Women’s Evolution, and I am confident this year’s event will break even more barriers.”

Last year’s inaugural Mae Young Classic saw Kairi Sane defeat reigning NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler in the finals. Many of the participants in the first Mae Young Classic are now under contract to WWE. In addition to Sane and Baszler, Candice LaRae, Deonna Purrazzo, Bianca Belair and Lacey Evans are among the other signees.

Discussion: What female wrestlers from the independent scene would you want to see in this year’s Mae Young Classic?

In the latest episode of Something Else To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard on the WWE Network, Conrad Thompson and Bruce discussed current WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy’s 2003 release from the company. This was Hardy’s first release from the company since starting with them in 1994.

He was released in April of 2003 after a downward spiral of issues. Hardy suffered form drug addiction, erratic behavior, and consistently arrived late to events or even no-showed. Here’s what Prichard had to say on the matter:

“Jeff did have a drug problem, and everything that you just said was taking place. All of the sudden, we had a different human being on our hands, and it wasn’t someone that anyone really liked to work with anymore. if he did show up, he would go on high, and you couldn’t find him all day long, or he’d show up and then leave again.

“It was difficult times being with Jeff Hardy. Jeff had a drug issue—Jeff admitted having a drug issue—but Jeff didn’t want to go to rehab. The condition was ‘Jeff you have to go to rehab or we’ve got to let you go. We’ve got to release you.’ And they released him because he refused to go to rehab. In my opinion, Jeff had a drug problem. Jeff had a lot of issues going on and wasn’t handling them well.”

H/T WrestleZone for the transcriptions

Prior to his WWE release, former Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore was scheduled to be current RAW Women’s Champion Nia Jax’s Mixed Match Challenge partner. Unfortunately Amore fell ill just before he needed to film a bunch of footage for the Facebook show and was replaced by Apollo Crews.

WWE teased a romantic relationship between Jax and Amore on TV for a few weeks. The conclusion to the angle between Amore and Jax was never brought to light, however, as he was subsequently released by the company. Amore recently appeared on the Store Horseman podcast to discuss this.

The Realest Guy In The Room revealed the conclusion would have resulted in Jax finding out that he was hooking up with Alexa Bliss on the side:

“I was getting so much heat it was awesome that people probably won’t appreciate it until five, ten years from now,” Amore said. “Like a babyface transition that I made and on a marketing level too it was crazy and Vince wanted me in that grey area though. He didn’t want me full-blown. He had plans to make me full-blown that nobody else knew about, not even the other people that were involved in it.

“I mean look at that Nia / Alexa Bliss WrestleMania blow-off. What do you think was gonna happen? How else could I get full-blown heat? Enzo Amore with the grey area trying to get full-blown heel real, real f–king heat. How do you do that? I’m using Nia as a heater to keep my title and I get caught hooking up with her best friend backstage. Bang, that’s how you do it. Nia didn’t know that. Alexa didn’t know it. I knew that because Vince told me […] I was just toying along with her I wanted her to win me matches, I wanted her to be like Chyna.

You can listen to Amore on the Store Horseman podcast by clicking this link here.

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

David Arquette Returns To The Ring At A Local Event

As we’ve reported, former WCW World Heavyweight Champion David Arquette has announced that he’d be returning to professional wrestling as David “Magic Man” Arquette. He was a part of a Championship Wrestling from Hollywood event last week when he hit the ring for a run-in.

He hit a double stunner on a heel tag team, helping the babyface team win. Check it out here:

The Rock Unveils New Headphones

The Rock is now venturing off into the headphone industry. The Great One is set to release Project Rock Wireless headphones as a part of his Chase Greatness Collection from Under Armour. He posted the following on the matter:

“They’re here
Like you, my gym time is critical.
It’s our time to shut the world out and anchor in.
I prefer training in “over the ear” headphones, but have been consistently disappointed (pissed is a better word) with every pair, from every brand that just couldn’t handle my workouts.
I thought if no one is going to design headphones BUILT FOR TRAINING, then I would.
And I’d make them the best.
Almost 2 years later, they’ve arrived.
Our next @underarmour collection DROPS NEXT WEEK 6/28.
#ProjectRockWireless
#Durability
#Functionality
#HighQuality
#BadAss”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkNQuDoFKTS/

Update On The Undertaker’s Instagram Account

The Undertaker joined social media a few weeks ago, launching an Instagram account. Many begun to wonder whether or not it was real. Since its launched, Undertaker’s wife, Michelle McCool has tagged the account in a few photos, and several WWE stars follow the account as well.

McCool finally took to her own Instagram account to confirm that the account is in fact Undertaker’s and it’s his only account:

“YES, y’all….THIS is official! My man @undertaker is officially on IG & this is his ONLY account! Sit back & enjoy the ride…..#myheart #hubs”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkOtiz6BbPk/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkIrNu-gquH/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkOQi2pAEDQ/

Big E On The New Day Breaking Up

One fan recently responded to a WWE Tweet, asking them to break-up The New Day. Big E saw this and responded to the fan in a hilarious manner:

Please breakup the new day.

— Kevin Purl (@kevin_purl) June 20, 2018

I don’t pester you to divorce your wife! Leave us be! https://t.co/sYajJl0zdm

— Ettore “Big E” Ewen (@WWEBigE) June 20, 2018

WWE’s Triple H and Shawn Michaels recently did an interview with GiveMeSport to talk about several professional wrestling topics. The podcast has yet to be uploaded but Alex McCarthy has been posting snippets on his Twitter account.

One such note was that Triple H teased a “huge announcement on women’s professional wrestling coming very soon.” The Heartbreak Kid then chimed in and said that “he doesn’t think an all-women’s PPV or even an all-women’s brand is “too far away at all””:

Triple H says there is a “huge announcement on women’s wrestling coming very soon”.

HBK said he doesn’t think an all-women’s PPV or even an all-women’s brand is “too far away at all”. #WWE

— Alex McCarthy (@AlMac_talkSPORT) June 19, 2018

There’s currently no news on what the “huge announcement” could be, but it can’t hurt to speculate. An all-women’s brand or PPV is certainly a possibility. Or maybe WWE is finally considering giving the women of WWE Tag Team Titles. Regardless of what it is, hopefully it can live up to The Game’s “huge” claim.

Discussion: What do you think the announcement regarding WWE’s women’s division is going to be?

The United Kingdom crowds in WWE are some of the most entertaining the professional wrestling world has to offer.

They certainly proved that right during the WWE’s UK Championship Tournament taping this week. The chant started off during the WWE UK Championship match between Zack Gibson and Pete Dunne. Those in attendance took off their shoes and chanted,

“If you hate Gibson, shoes off!”.

Interestingly enough, the chant was started by PROGRESS commentator and wrestler Dahlia Black. She was likely in attendance showing support for her South Pacific Power Trip stablemate Travis Banks – who was in the UK Tournament.

You can check out a video here:

https://twitter.com/ProWrestleShow/status/1009179659605565440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwnerd.com%2Fwatch-fans-take-their-shoes-off-and-join-in-on-a-unique-chant-at-wwe-uk-taping%2F

The UK fans in WWE never fail to disappoint. The results from yesterday’s (June 19, 2018) WWE NXT UK Title Tournament tapings can be found below:

NXT UK Title Tournament Tapings Results (6/19)

– Tyler Bate & Trent Seven def. Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions.

– Charlie Morgan def. Killer Kelly

– Noam Dar def. Flash Morgan Webster, Travis Banks & Mark Andrews in a Fatal 4-Way to become the new #1 contender to the WWE UK Title

– NXT North American Champion Adam Cole def. Wolfgang

– NXT Champion Aleister Black & Ricochet def. EC3 & The Velveteen Dream

– NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler def. Toni Storm

– WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne def. Zack Gibson

Ronda Rousey impressed a lot of people during her in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 this past April.

The Rowdy One teamed up with WWE Hall Of Famer and Monday Night RAW General Manager Kurt Angle in a Mixed Tag Team match against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. Rousey surpassed a lot of fans’ expectations and actually put on one of the more entertaining matches of the night.

In the end, Rousey and Angle emerged victorious. It turns out that Rousey was very ill in the days leading up to her in-ring debut in New Orleans. Triple H recently did an interview with GiveMeSport and revealed Rousey had food poisoning while preparing for the match.

The Game credited Rousey for her determination after she refused to stop training despite how terrible she was feeling. Triple H himself had to stop the training session in order to let Rousey get some rest before the match.

Ring Of Honor (ROH) and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) star Cody Rhodes recently participated in an AXS TV conference call to promote the G1 Special in San Francisco. The former ROH World Champion commented on wanting to see NJPW run a tour in the United States:

“The next time you come over, if you’re NJPW, you should make a tour of it,” Cody said. “When I say a tour, I mean, let’s hit Los Angeles, let’s hit New York, let’s grow a pair — which they have — and make a run of all the ‘A’ markets and see how you do. That might be the first step into seeing what you can do consistently in the United States. “I think, next time, make a tour of it.

“They won’t, but it’d be really cool if they did. It may take some time, but I think if you hit all the ‘A’ markets you’re going to sell out or come close to it everywhere you go. And I think it’s also real important that you give them New Japan Pro Wrestling, don’t dress it up with something that they might be comfortable with … you don’t have to decorate it with American stars. What’s got them to where they are is the Japanese talent and Japanese stars. “Don’t do enough market research that you change your product.”

Rhodes went on to call 2018 an “era of choice”:

“I don’t consider this an era of competition as much as I consider it an era of choice,” Cody said. “Look at the competition and where it got us. We ran WCW out of business, we destroyed an entire region in the US in terms of their love of wrestling and WWE has had to rebuild it. I’m from Georgia, I felt the fallout of a company losing in a competition before. I don’t think it’s about competition anymore, I think it’s about choice. I hope to see more efforts made to cross those bridges.”

H/T Cageside Seats for the transcriptions

John Cena found himself in quite a predicament with the Ford Motor Company not too long ago.

The company sued the 16-time WWE World Champion for selling a Ford GT he bought that included a contract saying he couldn’t sell it until two years after he had purchased it. Cena got the Ford GT in September of 2017. He sold the vehicle a month later. After Cena sold the $450,000 Ford GT, the motor company sued him that November.

In addition to the cost of the car, Ford was seeking $75,000 in damages. Cena claimed the terms of not being allowed to sell the car were not made aware to him and he asked the judge to throw out the case in February.

According to a report from Autoblog, Cena and Ford have come to an out-of-court settlement on the matter. Cena will give Ford an undisclosed amount in the form of a settlement, and Ford is prepared to donate it to charity.

Cena released the following statement on the matter:

“I love the Ford GT and apologize to Ford, and encourage others who own the car to respect the contract. I am pleased we could resolve this matter outside of court, and that a worthy charity will benefit from one of the most iconic cars in the world.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxhVi2JeEyY

WWE recently took to Twitter to congratulate 16-time World Champion John Cena on being a finalist for the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian of the Year award:

Congratulations to @JohnCena on being named a finalist for @ESPN's Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award! https://t.co/umn7UfWEAB

— WWE (@WWE) June 19, 2018

WWE notes that Cena is being nominated for his work in “philanthropy.” He joins fellow nominees such as the Seattle Seahawks’ wide receiver Doug Baldwin, the Golden State Warriors’ forward Kevin Durant and the Houston Texans’ defensive end J.J. Watt.

One of Cena’s biggest accomplishments is being the most requested Make-A-Wish wish-granter, as well as the only celebrity to have granted 500 wishes. He also starred in the first-ever Make-A-Wish campaign entitled “Wishes Take Muscle.”

The Leader Of The Cenation has also done a lot of work with Susan G. Komen to support breast cancer research and awareness. He is also a big supporter of the U.S. military and was the recipient of the USO’s 2016 Legacy of Achievement Award.

The Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian of the Year award recipient will be announced at the 2018 ESPN Humanitarian Awards on Tuesday, July 24, at 7/6 C on ESPN.

In the aftermath of WWE Doctor Chris Amann’s lawsuit against CM Punk and Colt Cabana, some interesting information came to light.

Deadspin ran an article revealing that Amann actually had a romantic relationship with former WWE Superstar Jillian Hall. Hall has apparently received a ton of backlash from people since the past relationship with Amann became public, claiming she has been ‘slut shamed.’

She posted the following lengthy response to the matter on Instagram:

“I’m going to get really serious for a minute.. as much as I hate using the word “slut” in any capacity, this post is very necessary right now! The past several days I’ve received messages, emails, and read some comments that have completely slut shamed me due to information coming out about a prior relationship I was in. Maybe read that last line again! It contains the word “relationship.”

“To those of you that have decided this makes me a bad person, a girl that was trying to get ahead in my life and career, someone that uses people or just a plain “slut,” you are the problem with this world! Not really wanting to bring up specifics, but am I really the bad guy here?? I did absolutely nothing wrong myself. If the other party involved did in your eyes or the law’s eyes (and that’s hypothetical), why am I the one that is being pretty much bullied by some of you?

“Do you not see what your words can do to people? This is me being real, some of your accusations towards me have given me elevated anxiety, made me feel depressed, and really hurt my feelings. Stop the slut shaming! Think about it, and if you have harsh words or opinions about the situation that you weren’t even involved in, direct them where they deserve to be directed… it’s not towards me!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkMQkRgFim7/

The Undertaker & Michelle McCool’s Date Night

The Undertaker created his own Instagram account several weeks ago. On Monday he posted a photo of himself and rapper Post Malone at his concert in Austin, Texas from Saturday night. Undertaker destroyed a guitar on stage and also chokeslammed Malone backstage in a segment.

Taker’s wife and former WWE Women’s Champion, Michelle McCool, took to her Instagram and posted a photo of herself and The Deadman on their “date night”:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkItQ-rBnzz/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkIrNu-gquH/

Drew McIntyre Reacts To Dolph Ziggler’s IC Title Win

Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship on last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW. Ziggler’s partner, Drew McIntyre, took to Twitter to react to the former WWE World Champ’s victory:

I know everyone has been waiting to see what controversial truth bombs will be dropped next. All I have to say is this– do we have your undivided attention now?? #BURNEDITDOWN #Raw pic.twitter.com/DfC9Eu6eN5

— Drew (@DMcIntyreWWE) June 19, 2018

Several WWE programs have made the cut for the Emmy Prelim Ballots.

WrestleMania 34 has been nominated for the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category. Monday Night RAW and the Mixed Match Challenge have been nominated in the Outstanding Structured Reality Program category.

Both Total Bellas and Total Divas were included in the Unstructured Reality Program category. WWE Studios and HBO’s documentary on Hall Of Famer Andre The Giant was included in the Best Documentary or Non-fiction Special section, as well as WWE Network’s WWE 24 special “Empowered.”

It should be interesting to see if any of these programs make the final cut of nominees for the Emmys. Earlier this month WWE participated in a For Your Consideration event in attempt to lobby for Emmy nominations.

Discussion: Do you think any of these WWE programs will make the final cut of nominees? And which program do you think has the best chance at actually winning an Emmy Award?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1vhC_SdmZE

Pete Dunne Ranks Himself Alongside HBK

WWE U.K. Champion Pete Dunne was recently a guest on BBC radio alongside WWE Hall Of Famer and Performance Center trainer Shawn Michaels. Dunne posted a photo of he and Michaels during the interview, and made quite a confident caption:

The two best wrestlers of all time on @1Xtra today pic.twitter.com/X26tR7iWI1

— ‘The Bruiserweight’ Pete Dunne (@PeteDunneYxB) June 19, 2018

JR & Bully Ray Back Becky Lynch

WWE Hall Of Famer Bully Ray recently took to Busted Open Radio and discussed the Women’s Money In The Bank (MITB) Ladder match. Ray noticed that fans were cheering on Becky Lynch whenever she’d climb up the ladder.

Ray suggested he hopes backstage officials take note of this and perhaps give Lynch a push soon:

“Every time she climbed that ladder, those people were on their feet. They’re invested in her, they wanted to see her win. Hopefully the people in the back are listening.”

"Every time she climbed that ladder, those people were on their feet. They're invested in her, they wanted to see her win. Hopefully the people in the back are listening." – @bullyray5150 on @BeckyLynchWWE #MITB #SDLive pic.twitter.com/wmo88FUt1X

— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) June 18, 2018

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross responded Ray’s comments, agreeing with him that Lynch is due:

It’s those supermodel cheekbones…only kidding…@BeckyLynchWWE is due! https://t.co/1WX6lfot8J

— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) June 19, 2018

https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1008931006357917698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mandatory.com%2Fwrestlezone%2Fnews%2F966709-jr-goes-to-bat-for-becky-lynch-mauro-is-ready-for-day-two-of-the-u-k-tourney

Former WWE NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon recently did an interview with The Miami Herald to promote this past weekend’s Money In The Bank (MITB) pay-per-view (PPV). During the interview, Moon discussed getting the call up to the WWE main roster after WrestleMania 34.

Moon recalled being called into a room with several WWE executives, including Triple H, and being told she was getting the call up to be a part of Monday Night RAW:

“That weekend was such a blur, because it was coming off Mania Week, but I remember being pulled into a room with [WWE executive vice president of talent, live events and creative] Triple H, [WWE assistant head coach/NXT producer] Sara Amato and [WWE head coach] Matt Bloom, and I thought I was in trouble for some reason. Oh no.

“I don’t ever do anything wrong, but I’m like, ‘Oh God. I did something wrong. What is it?’ Like it’s a kid stealing a cookie and getting caught. They were like, ‘We just want to thank you for the awesome match at TakeOver [New Orleans]. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for NXT. You’re going to Monday Night Raw.’”

She then revealed what her first words were just after getting the news:

“I was like, ‘What? Hold on. Hold on,’ and I remember I broke down, and I started crying, and a camera came out of nowhere, and it was in my face, and I was like, [sounding emotional], ‘Why do you guys have to ruin everything with cameras.’ [chuckles]. That’s the first words I said, after finding out I’m on Monday Night Raw.”

You can read Moon’s full interview with The Miami Herald by clicking this link here.

For the past several weeks WWE has been teasing the SmackDown Live debut of former NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY. Now, the promotion has officially announced that the faction will be making their official main roster debut on tonight’s (Tues. June 19, 2018) episode of SmackDown Live.

They’ll face some steep competition in former three-time SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions The Usos:

“For weeks, the impending arrival of SAnitY has been hanging over SmackDown LIVE. No one knew what the chaotic crew of Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and the monstrous Killian Dain had in store for Team Blue after joining during the Superstar Shake-up, but the wait is over, as they will be making their debut tonight.

“SAnitY isn’t wasting any time, either, as they’ll be taking on The Usos in their first match on SmackDown LIVE. Will The Usos put the newcomers in their place, or will chaos reign in SAnitY’s arrival? “

As we’ve noted before, former WWE Champion Sid Vicious was a guest on Prime Time with Sean Mooney to talk about several professional wrestling topics. One such topic was his relationship with Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan during his 1991-1992 run with WWE.

Face-to-face Vicious had no issue with Hogan during their interactions together, and has no recollection of Hogan talking about him behind his back:

“Face-to-face he was always great to me,” Sid said. “I don’t know if he said or did things behind my back, I don’t know that. From the very first day to the last time I saw him, the guy was really good to me.”

As far as Hogan’s 1991 run he wasn’t getting the type of pops that he used to. Vicious believes this was due to an in-ring style that fans were getting sick of at that point his his career:

“In that year of the business, Hogan was already on the downhill skid, he wasn’t getting cheered,” Sid responded. “You know that ‘Three Stooges’ comeback [‘Hulking Up’] wasn’t working anymore. You know the ‘Three Stooges’ comeback, right? He copied that from Curly of the ‘Three Stooges.’ He presented it to me like that, I wanted to have a heel match and he said, ‘No, brother, this is going to be easy.

“You just beat me up a little bit and all of a sudden I’ll get the shakes, slap my face a couple times – like Curly does – you go throw a punch, I’ll block it, we’ll do that a couple times.’ That’s how easy it was. It didn’t make for great matches, but it worked for him. So when you’re doing that kind of match for that long of a time, people are going to s— on that.”

Vicious then stated that his run with the company didn’t go well for several reasons, but a big one was wrestlers like Hogan and Ultimate Warrior behaving poorly. Sid got so furious about Hogan ranting and raving about the 1992 Royal Rumble that he told Vince McMahon he was leaving the company:

“In that company I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I left a big guarantee contract to come into this place,” Sid said. “I was going to do TV and PPVs for one year and after WrestleMania I was going to be the World Champion. Well, [Vince] had to fire [The Ultimate Warrior] and all that s— changed. From the very beginning things didn’t go right. We were in Albany for the [1992] Royal Rumble, Hogan pulled me out from the outside and the fans started booing him.

“We get back to the dressing room and Hogan is screaming and acting like a woman! And he’s screaming at Vince [McMahon], ‘He set this up! He made this happen’ I didn’t even know Vince was that bad of a person at the time that did things like, that was all hearsay. I went to Vince’s office, stuck my hand hand out and said, ‘I wanna thank you for the opportunity, but I’m gone. I cannot work in a place where grown men act like women.’

“He said, ‘No, no, no, I’m not shaking your hand.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s not going to do you any good, I’m leaving.’ He said, ‘Well, will you stay until WrestleMania?’ and I said ‘okay,’ and that’s what I did and finished up a couple days after WrestleMania.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNSjioPxvAI&feature=youtu.be

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger recently did an interview with Wrestling Inc. to talk about several professional wrestling topics. One such topic was the controversial “We The People” gimmick he sported alongside his former manager Zeb Colter in WWE.

2013’s Real Americans rhetoric was very anti-immigration and garnered a solid mixture of support and hate while trying to portray a heel persona. After attracting some negative feedback from mainstream news outlets, the gimmick was toned down a bit.

Swagger explained why the gimmick was so short-lived and how it tackled real-life political and controversial issues:

“It was definitely cut short but it’s one of things where it is not my company. I think ‘We the People’ is an example of why pro wrestling is so cool because it was a storyline that started out very political and very controversial and very nasty,” Hager said.

“It really evolved into a movement of the people, not just American people, but people everywhere. Our fans around the world still say it and they have taken it to make it their own. It is more of that universe than it is mine.

“I am just happy to be part of it. It’s just cool because you can do something in pro wrestling and have it evolve and just watch it transgress it’s pretty cool.”

You can read Swagger’s full interview with Wrestling Inc. by clicking this link here.

What Was Originally Slated To Close Out MITB

Last night’s WWE Money In The Bank (MITB) pay-per-view (PPV) was closed out by the Men’s MITB Ladder match. That bout was eventually won by Braun Strowman.

PWInsider is reporting that the RAW Women’s Championship match between Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey was originally scheduled to close out the show. This includes the subsequent MITB cash in by Alexa Bliss to win the title and walk out of Chicago RAW Women’s Champion.

Of course, eventually the decision was made to have the Men’s MITB Ladder match close the event instead – which reportedly didn’t sit well with some of the female performers backstage.

More On James Ellsworth’s WWE Return

As for the return of James Ellsworth, which occurred during the SmackDown Live Women’s Title match between Carmella and Asuka, it seems that has been discussed as far back as the Greatest Royal Rumble. There were reportedly talks of having him re-appear as early as during the Greatest Royal Rumble match.

Current IWGP Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho recently took to his podcast, Talk Is Jericho, and shared a rather interesting story about ‘roughing up’ WWE commentator Michael Cole.

Apparently Cole was instructed by Vince McMahon to call one of Jericho’s segments on RAW, a Highlight Reel segment with Jericho, Brad Maddox, Wade Barrett and The Miz, “the worst segment in RAW history.”

Jericho wasn’t too happy with this and took it out on Cole the following night on SmackDown during one of his matches:

“I was so freaking hot on this.” Jericho recalled, “it was a Highlight Reel that led to a match. And it was, what was that guy’s name, Brad Roberts or McGillicutty or whatever his name was? Brad something-or-other was the General Manager of RAW. Brad Maddox! And it was me, and [Barrett], and [The] Miz, and Brad Maddox in some kind of promo. And we had to show a clip of your movie, I believe it was the first one.

“Was that the one with Colin Farrell? Dead Man Down. And this promo just ran off the rails and I just remember it was really bad.” Jericho continued, “well, when I came to the back, I remember Vince was like, ‘oh, that promo was terrible.’ And I was like, ‘it was bad. It was poorly written and it was just s–t.’ But I found out afterward that Michael Cole, on instructions from Vince, called it ‘the worst segment in RAW history.’ I know [that statement was a stretch].

“The next night on SmackDown, I was wrestling a match and it was one of those, I was just, no pun intended, stewing, and I was just looking at Cole and I ran over. And I ripped the top of the [table] off and slammed the desk, ‘you f–king asshole!’ He was like, ‘what are you talking about?’ I said, ‘you motherf–ker!’ I roughed him up a bit. I lost my mind! And I go to the back, and, of course, everyone’s mad at me. And then, of course, Vince knows why.

“I go, ‘why would you say it’s the worst segment in RAW history?’ And he said, ‘well, it was pretty bad.’ I said, ‘Vince, of all the s–t you’ve had on this show and of all the stuff I’ve done for this show, you’re going to call it the worst segment in RAW history?’ And he goes, ‘well, maybe I overreacted.’ I go, ‘you’re damn right you overreacted!’ I was so mad! I didn’t tell anybody. It wasn’t one of my proudest moments.”

You can listen to Talk Is Jericho by clicking this link here.

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

As we’ve previously reported, current WWE Champion AJ Styles has been announced as the cover athlete for WWE 2K19.

Styles gets the news just hours after successfully defending his WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match at the Money In The Bank (MITB) pay-per-view (PPV) from Chicago’s Allstate Arena.

The game is set to get released on October 9, 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A trailer for the game has yet to be released. Styles, a huge fan of video games, joins past cover athletes such as The Rock, John Cena, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins last year.

Styles took to Twitter to react to the big news, calling it an absolute honor to be on the cover:

I’m absolutely honored to be the cover Superstar for #WWE2K19. Pre-order now: https://t.co/pBm5m4zk9d #ad pic.twitter.com/w5rYFfqaM3

— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) June 18, 2018

Although 2K games has yet to officially announce who the pre-order bonus character will be, a recent report suggests who it’s expected to be. If you want to know, click this link here.

Colt Cabana was cleared of all defamation charges brought upon him by WWE doctor Chris Amann after his podcast with CM Punk. Cabana recently took to his podcast, The Art Of Wrestling, and discussed how he has been feeling after the trial.

Cabana explained that as a result of how mentally taxing the trial was, he has found it difficult to wrestle, train and even interact with others:

“I can feel like a gravitational pull,” said Cabana. “And I’m trying to fight it, and I’m trying to smile at kids, and I’m trying to talk the grocer, or whoever it is, but I can feel, I can feel, I can feel it. And I’m fighting it. I really am. I felt it on the road this week, I know my podcast is about talking to people, a lot of me had zero desire to do any of that, [but] I still did it.

“A lot of me was thinking almost people were judging me, or the only thing to talk about on this podcast would be this trial. And then I’m like, we’re just gonna put on the recorder and talk about this trial? That really didn’t make sense to me.”

You can listen to The Art Of Wrestling by clicking this link here.

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions

The RAW Women’s Title was on the line last night during WWE’s Money In The Bank (MITB) pay-per-view (PPV) when champion Nia Jax defended her title against former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.

It was Rousey’s first singles match on WWE TV. To many’s surprise, both Rousey and Jax performed quite impressively. The action was fairly entertaining and well executed, with the exception of Rousey accidentally falling outside of the ring through the ropes.

Of course, their success was short-lived as Women’s MITB briefcase holder Alexa Bliss cashed in after attacking both Rousey and Jax. She won the RAW Women’s Title after hitting Twister Bliss on Jax.

According to sources backstage at the event, both Rousey and Jax received standing ovations when coming back through the curtain after their match.

Both Jax and Rousey certainly put on the best performances of their respective careers. Jax did an exceptional job of guiding Rousey through her first singles match, and The Rowdy One certainly impressed for it being her first one-on-one opportunity inside the squared circle.

Discussion: How did you feel about Jax and Rousey’s match last night?