More Information On If “All In” Is Going To Be Broadcasted
Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks’ self-funded “All In” event sold out in under 30 minutes. There’s obviously a huge demand from fans to witness the Chicago-based event, and many have been wondering whether or not it will be broadcasted for fans to watch from home.
A fan recently asked Cody Rhodes on Twitter about this, and he provided a brief update on the situation. Rhodes said that there are currently on plans to broadcast “All In,” but teased some upcoming meetings in which they’re exploring their options:
We have no plans to broadcast at the moment. But we do have fun meetings in LA, Baltimore, and Dallas almost the moment we get back from the UK. Probably cover some of it on #BeingTheElite
In the main event of last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW, Braun Strowman defeated Finn Balor in a solid main event. Despite the size difference, the pair actually showed great chemistry and put on a tremendous bout.
Strowman took to Twitter this morning to offer some praise for the former Universal Champion:
Several months ago when WWE paired up Rusev and Aiden English, they had no idea that they’d be creating one of the biggest fan-favorite gimmicks on the roster today.
Rusev and English have developed “Rusev Day” together and the WWE Universe has been eating it up ever since. Despite the love Rusev Day has been receiving, WWE has been reluctant to push it to its full potential.
WrestlingNews.co is reporting that WWE likely won’t ever give Rusev Day a push, as it’s expected that Rusev is set to turn on Aiden English very soon and end the Rusev Day references. Instead, the Bulgarian Brute will return to playing a more “ruthless” character.
It will be a sad day when Rusev decides to end Rusev Day, but WWE just doesn’t seem to want anything to do with pushing it any further.
Discussion: How do you feel about WWE refusing to push Rusev Day?
Former WCW and WWE ring announcer Gary Michael Cappetta recently did an interview with The Wrestling Estate to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Cappetta first discussed professional wrestlers today, such as Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, succeeding outside of WWE:
“Yeah, and it’s healthy for everybody. When I see the success of Cody, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, I call it the democratization of wrestling. That’s a group of guys who have gained power, mostly independent from a major corporate organization. If WWE ever seeks them out or if they ever want to go to WWE, there’s an even playing field that didn’t exist in the past.
“I would compare them to Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody and Abdullah the Butcher, who didn’t need American promoters in order to have a successful wrestling career. They were able to call their own shots. And now they’re All In promotion in Chicago. I wish them well. They’re really sharp. It was more difficult to do in the past because today there are free marketing tools available online, but they’re very savvy in how they use them.”
Cappetta then discussed Roman Reigns and his current position in WWE. In regards to his match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34, Cappetta thoroughly enjoyed it and called it a ‘brutal’ match he’d show to anyone who thinks wrestlers aren’t athletes:
“I like Roman Reigns. I don’t understand what exactly they’re doing with him, and I don’t really understand why the fans boo him, other than they’re following what somebody else said they should be doing.
“Anybody that saw the WrestleMania match between him and Lesnar, you’ve got to have respect for these guys. What a brutal match. That would be a match I’d show someone who says these guys aren’t athletes.”
In regards to the late-WWE Hall Of Famer Bruno Sammartino, Cappetta says he ranks him in the top five all-time greats:
“Top five. There would not have been a healthy WWF to purchase and take forward and expand if it wasn’t for Bruno. I kind of chuckle when I hear Mr. Today Wrestler is seven-times world heavyweight champion. But how long did he hold that title for?
“Sammartino was a two-time champion, but he held it for a long stretch of time and carried the promotion on his back. There’s a big difference and it sort of diminishes the title. That kind of phraseology is meant to build up the personality for the here and now, but it shuts out the historic importance.”
You can check out Cappetta’s full interview with The Wrestling Estate by clicking this link here.
Former NXT Champion Samoa Joe recently did an interview with Sky Sports to promote the WWE’s European tour. During the interview, Joe was asked about some of the feuds he has been a part of before he joined WWE.
This was in reference to the work that Joe has done with other promotions such as IMPACT Wrestling and Ring Of Honor (ROH). The interviewer joked that they couldn’t mention the names of the other companies.
Joe revealed that he is allowed to name other companies while with WWE, but he chooses not to in order to anger some wrestling fans:
“Yeah, I worked with him at a bunch of other companies other than here. No, we can, we can totally say the name, I chose not to. Everybody says ‘Oh, you can’t say the name’ no, I don’t because I know at home you’re going to get on your message board and you’re gonna be like, ‘He didn’t say it! He didn’t say it!
“Just say it for me!’ I’m not saying it because you’re reacting that way and you’re a grown human being, it’s ridiculous. … You know! You already have the information, you just want me to say it again? It’s just so redundant.”
You can read Joe’s full interview with Sky Sports by clicking this link here.
Roman Reigns is a hot topic of conversation in the professional wrestling world. Much of that discussion has to do with whether or not The Big Dog should turn heel or not.
Reigns is continuously pushed as the top babyface of the company, but the WWE Universe has been denying him for the past several years by booing him relentlessly.
Many WWE legends, such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, believe the time is now to turn Reigns heel. Add former WCW star Kevin Sullivan to that list.
He recently joined Interactive Wrestling Radio (IWR) and offered his thoughts on the Reigns situation. Here’s what he had to say:
“It is so easy. I think I could get him (Reigns) up and running in 8 weeks. To me, it doesn’t matter if they cheer him or boo him as long as it gets asses in seats. I used to think you could get a guy over just by pushing him. You can’t do that anymore. This is now. Wrestling fans are conasaursnow.
“Like the cigar days or the wine craze where everybody was a conasaur of wine. Now everybody is a conasaurs of wrestling and they’re not going to take you shoving people down their throat. I think this is a challenge that they think they’re going to win. I think they should cut their losses and turn him.”
You can listen to Sullivan on Interactive Wrestling Radio by clicking this link here.
According to a report from Austin Kellerman, the trial for CM Punk and Colt Cabana against WWE doctor Chris Amann has been delayed. It was set to take place this morning but apparently the case was reassigned to a new judge, Judge Elizabeth Budzinski, thus the reason for the delay:
WWE Superstar Maria Kanellis recently took to Instagram to post a lengthy comment to her critics. Here’s what she had to say:
“Tell me again how I don’t belong, how I don’t deserve it, how I am talentless… thanks for the inspiration a-holes. I worked in WWE for 5 and a half years before working on the Indy’s. I could have quit after WWE. Married some rich dude ‘to take care of me.’ I didn’t. I worked my ass off. My house was foreclosed on in 2012. My reality show got dropped. I kept working.
“So, I graduated with honors with a bachelors degree. My husband had a drug addiction. So, I fought for my marriage. I got pregnant. So, I started a business. I had a baby… so, now I’m working my way back. I’m not done. ‘Fans’ keep running your mouths. And I’ll say thank you because one of my favorite things to do is prove people wrong. ‘Fans’ forget I love this business. I love wrestling. I love managing. And I’m not done.”
A former WWE Superstar was very badly beaten outside of his Los Angeles home this week after a dispute over a parking spot.
The former WWE Superstar is none other than Tom Magee, who went under the ring name “MegaMan” during his WWE run from 1986 to 1990. He was trained by Stu Hart in the Hart Family Dungeon but his wrestling career never really took off.
CBS News reports that Magee got into a dispute with a man in another car over a parking spot. Six men got out of the opposing car and jumped Magee, punching him and kicking him on the ground. When neighbors came out to investigate the commotion, the six men fled from the scene.
Magee suffered a broken jaw, eye socket, and concussion. A photo of Magee after the attack can be seen here below, but WARNING, it is very graphic and the injuries may be disturbing to some:
Professional wrestling legend Jim Cornette recently took to his podcast, The Jim Cornette Experience, to offer up his thoughts on Cody Rhodes telling Vince Russo to “stay away” from All In this September.
Russo has been mentioning the event quite frequently lately, and seems very interested in making an appearance. Cornette had this to say about Rhodes banning Russo from the Chicago event:
“He knocks them all the time, so why would he want to, if he believes he has any credibility, why would he want to associate himself with that where then people would have to say ‘well, look. Russo knocks them,” said Cornette.
“Same thing I thought immediately. Russo knocks them, but he’s not above a payoff to come up here and be a part of the thing. That was my main consideration for not being involved, because I don’t want people to think that I’m a f***ing hypocrite. But he has no problem with that.
“But then, to not know enough to take the booking and not realize that a bunch of the people on the show that are running the show because it’s the boys running the show, I believe we’ve mentioned that, that the boys wouldn’t want you on [the show] because… dealing with him is like picking up a turd from the clean end. There’s absolutely no way to do it where you can please the majority of the people involved in the situation, because nobody wants him around.”
You can listen to The Jim Cornette Experience by clicking this link here.
Former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor recently did an interview with What Culture to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Balor was first asked to name the three toughest wrestlers he has had the pleasure of sharing the squared circle with thus far:
“Let me think. Samoa Joe. Huge man but moves like a cruiserweight, hits like a heavyweight and has stamina for days. Bray Wyatt. He has size that just doesn’t translate on TV, like in person he’s much bigger than he looks. I had to use a lot of the lessons I learned from fighting Samoa Joe and apply them to Bray Wyatt.
“The third most toughest person I’ve ever faced in the ring would be Zack Sabre Jr, who despite his size and unique frame has deceptive toughness and uses your own movements against you. He’s someone who’s very economical with his movement and someone who can counteract someone’s strength with his technique.”
In regards to Bray Wyatt, he and Balor were initially supposed to wrestle at the Tables Ladders and Chairs (TLC) pay-per-view (PPV) last year. Unfortunately Wyatt fell victim to a viral illness backstage and was forced off the card. Balor explained what fans could’ve expected from his match against Wyatt at the event:
“I don’t know [laughs]. It’ll always be that great unknown question. I think that it could have really went either way. What were we going to see with Sister Abigail, I don’t even know what we were going to see but I think it worked out well for me in the end.
“Obviously Bray was struck down with illness, was it fate or not I don’t know – maybe it was Sister Abigail that stuck him down [laughs]. But obviously Bray had to step out, AJ (Styles) stepped in and I believe that was definitely a turning point in the year for me and helped me get a little bit of steam to where I am now. So, thank God we didn’t see that Sister Abigail!”
You can read Balor’s full interview with What Culture by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar Roman Reigns recently did an interview with The Express where he talked about several professional wrestling topics. One of these topics included Reigns’ relationship with Vince McMahon.
Reigns said Vince has never steered him wrong, and also noted that the entire McMahon family are great people:
“All the McMahons are great people and if you know them you get to talk to them on that level. It’s very easy to see them, they’re very personal and that’s key – you have to build a relationship,” Reigns revealed. “It’s not just with the McMahons, it’s everybody. It’s just about getting to know people and a lot of people getting to know you.”
“I can’t say Vince has ever done me wrong. Regardless of all the fantasy bookers out there, at the end of the day life’s been pretty good for me in the wrestling business so I have to attribute a lot of that to the relationship that I do have with Vince and the way that he has always taken care of me. He takes care of all of us. To have that responsibility and that role is not easy – to be a provider and a protector and that’s what he is. I think along with everybody else, I can say that we are all very grateful,” Reigns said.
You can read Reigns’ full interview with The Express by clicking this link here.
The Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson, recently joined Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Matt Jackson revealed that when AJ Styles first departed to WWE, he wanted to bring The Young Bucks with him:
“We had just signed a contract with ROH at the time in November because AJ pulled us aside and was like, ‘tell me you guys don’t have any contracts now please,’ and we were like, ‘we just signed.’ And he was like, ‘argh!’ because he wanted to bring us over too. And I don’t know if that would’ve happened, but that was his idea. And we were like, ‘naw, man. We just signed for two years’ or whatever it was.”
“It would be kind of dumb of us because they couldn’t pay us what we’re making right now.”
Matt then explained why they wouldn’t go to WWE right now, as it would be a “dumb” decision to do so:
“If we left right now [for WWE], it would be kind of dumb of us because they couldn’t pay us what we’re making right now, not with the schedule we’re on too. There’s no way.” Matt clarified, “of course they could [afford the pay]! Do you know what I mean? I just don’t think they would!”
He also discussed if he and his brother would ever sign with WWE, and while he admits it will always be a big question in their careers, they won’t have any regrets if their careers ended tomorrow:
“It’s always going to be a question. No matter how big we get, it will always be a question that lingers on in our career, I think, as well as Kenny because the three of us, well, he went to [WWE] developmental for a little bit, but people don’t remember that. I don’t even know if that counts as a WWE run, but it will always be a question.
“The way we’re going, we could probably quit in five years.” Nick said, “at this point, [WWE]’s not a goal. We don’t need it. It was [a goal] for sure. For our first eight years, that was the goal.
“We could literally quit tomorrow and do something else. And we would be fine though because we have enough saved now at this point. Like, we’re in a good spot!” Matt reflected, “we’ve built this empire, man, The Young Bucks brand. What else could I want? That would be literally the last missing piece, going there and doing a run.”
You can listen to The Young Bucks’ interview on Talk Is Jericho by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan recently did an interview on Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho, where they discussed his return to the squared circle in WWE. Bryan first discussed working as the SmackDown Live General Manager when he was unable to compete, and how he grew to hate the job:
“Then they brought me back as GM, and I still have to do a bunch of traveling with that. I have to sit around for a bunch of matches It hurt and it also was like, ‘What am I doing?’ This is the part of me where I’m like, ‘What a sissy I am!’ Lots of people go to their jobs that they don’t like and make way less money than me being the GM of SmackDown, but I could not get out of this mental state where I hate being here,” Bryan said.
“I really disliked going to work every week, and there would be times where I would fly in and get the script to the show, I would try to get as many people as I could to get in the shoot so I can leave that night and just get out of there. That was when I really started to say that I wouldn’t accept this anymore, I’m going to come back.”
Bryan then had a serious conversation with Vince McMahon about coming back to the ring. It was there that he presented an interesting idea to The Chairman Of The Board that would allow him to wrestle again:
“I had a conversation with Vince McMahon. He was pushing the hard questions about what would happen if I would get another concussion? I had answers for him and laid it out. I would have different concussion protocols than everyone else, and one of my pitches to him is that this happens in every sport, when guys get a concussion and a trainer goes over to him and they are asked if they are okay, and the guy would say that he is fine.
“They would ask if he has a concussion, and the guy would say no, he’s fine. Myself included would say that. So, stop that because that has been an issue with me before. In the past, when I would have a concussion I would just walk it off,” Bryan said. “My proposal would be that after every match I have to go to the trainer’s room and they have to do their checks, and if I don’t do it maybe I get a fine, or something like that. After every match now I get checked.
“Not even thanking my opponents, after WrestleMania, I walked to Gorilla. No thank you’s to anybody, just walked straight to the Doctor’s and then I get checked. They do basic neurological stuff, and we are revising that as we go because it is new to them too.”
McMahon then told him to send his proposal to WWE’s medical director Dr. Maroon, and the rest is history:
“He told me to type it up and put it in an email to Doctor Maroon and say this. I give Doctor Maroon a lot of credit because it is hard to reverse your decision regarding clearing me. I have a lot of respect for him because he said, okay, my opinion might not be right for this. He sent me to three Neurologists that he thought were the best Neurologists. He could have easily sent me to Neurologists that backed his opinion.
“He sent me to people that had the latest, up to date research on concussion,” he said. “He wanted to get to the right answer. I have a lot of respect to him for that. If I get hurt, it goes to Doctor Maroon because he is the Head of Medical in WWE. That was the beginning of the process.
“He said that if we do clear you, what is your schedule going to look like? Turns out, we haven’t talked about the schedule much because they pretty much have thrown me in live events, so now, I am on that full European tour, so it’s back to the full-time stuff.”
You can listen to Bryan’s full interview on Talk Is Jericho by clicking this link here.
At the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia this past April, no female WWE competitors performed on the card due to the culture of the country.
Many fans were up in arms about this due to the Women’s Revolution currently being pushed by the company. There have been rumors going around that the women could get paid for missing out on the show, however, that has not happened as of this writing.
WWE Superstar Natalya recently did an interview with Joe.ie and discussed women being left off the Greatest Royal Rumble. Here’s what she had to say on the matter:
“It was an awesome show. And I was thinking ‘Wow this is so cool, I really want to be a part of this one day’ and it goes back to everybody evolving. It takes time to grow and move forward. I believe everything is going in a positive direction.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say, but I think definitely we’ll get there, I’m excited about it. I was talking with several of the male talents that were over in Saudi Arabia, and Roman Reigns said it was just so incredible, and that he can’t wait to go back. So it’s exciting for us to think about going there. I think one day I’ll be there for sure.”
You can read Natalya’s full interview with Joe.ie by clicking this link here.
Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks’ self-funded “All In” event has sold out in less than 30 minutes. The action all goes down from the Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois on September 1st.
Rhodes recently joined Wrestling Observer Radio to talk about All In and also discussed the possibility of offering the event on pay-per-view (PPV). It turns out there may be a key issue getting the program broadcasted.
While Rhodes noted that making the event available on PPV is accessible, and those conversations have been had, there’s also the issue that several talents on the card are under contract with other promotions.
Some of the competitors’ contracts with their respective promotions could pose issues with the event being broadcasted. Okada is under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Rhodes and The Young Bucks are under deals with Ring Of Honor (ROH), and other stars such as Pentagon Jr. who is under contract with Lucha Underground.
It turns out that former WWE Champion Randy Orton is, in fact, dealing with a minor injury. Orton hasn’t been seen since losing his United States Title match to Jeff Hardy at the WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view (PPV).
WrestlingNews.co is reporting that Randy Orton had a minor surgery on his knee this past Tuesday. It was not specified which knee Orton had the operation on, but it was noted he could be out until July. Orton’s wife recently posted a video on Instagram in which The Viper’s left knee is wrapped up. You can check that out here:
A fan recently shared a picture of an old Playstation WWE game “SmackDown Shut Your Mouth” from 2002. The cover features Superstars such as Triple H, Booker T, Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar, and Kurt Angle – all who are still affiliated with the company today.
Kenny Omega responded to the photo and joked that it could be a poster for the WWE’s upcoming PPV:
Former WWE Champion Chris Jericho recently did an interview with The Mirror to help promote his upcoming one-man shows in Glasgow, Manchester and London next week. Here are a few highlights:
Making sporadic appearances and people not knowing when you may turn up or what shows you might be on, gives you a ‘marquee attraction’ feel as a performer, similar to what Brock Lesnar has in WWE. It keeps an appearance by you a special event, in of itself.
“Well, Brock Lesnar has what Chris Jericho has in WWE, you know what I mean? I come and go when I feel it’s right. I’m there more than Brock is when I’m there, but as far as being there/not being there, I’m not under contract to WWE. Everyone always thinks that, they’re always like ‘oh is WWE cool with you working in New Japan?’
“It doesn’t matter if they’re cool or not because I’m not under contract. My contract with them ended in May of last year. So I have the right to do whatever I want to do, I don’t have to ask permission from anybody. I tell them what I’m doing out of courtesy because I respect the company and respect Vince McMahon, but I don’t have a contract with anybody, other than the match I have with Tetsuya Naito coming up.”
You made a dramatic return to NJPW on May 4, ambushing NJPW icon Tetsuya Naito. The seeds had been sown for that back in January, when you first attacked him the day after Wrestle Kingdom. You have long been the master of keeping people guessing, spreading misinformation, and down the years you have kept a lot of big surprises secret, such as your appearance at the Royal Rumble in 2013. This time there were a few rumours and the cat got out the bag – why do you think that was?
“I don’t know man. It’s one of those things, the cat got out of the bag, but everyone was convinced I was going to be in Long Beach too [NJPW held a show titled Strong Style Evolved in California on March 25]. You can’t tell me that you really knew for sure because no one knew for sure. I have found out that fans have a way to track your flight patterns now… which really makes me feel safe.
“Maybe that’s how, they found out that Chris Jericho was flying into Tokyo or whatever it was, but once again, I don’t feel bad because we were very specific, very secret about it. I flew into Haneda Airport, stayed a night there, then secretly flew into Fukuoka and stayed at a different hotel, so if people say they knew I was there that’s wrong, because there might have been some rumors, but it’s not like I was busted or caught red-handed or anything along those lines. If I hadn’t have been there, people would have just said ‘oh that’s Jericho, we thought he was going to be at Long Beach too’.”
Are there opponents still in WWE that you would love to work, a long program with [Daniel] Bryan for example?
“It’s all about the story. If it’s a good story I will work with anybody. I enjoy wrestling still but I enjoy the storyline behind it. I liked the idea of a surprise attack on Naito, I like all these type of things that you don’t really expect to see. That’s why I still enjoy wrestling.
“Yeah sure, working with [Braun] Strowman would be great, working with Daniel Bryan would be great, working with any of those guys would be great, I love Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins and all of those dudes. But what’s the story behind it? If we can come up with a good story, then I’m all in. If not, then I will just continue doing what I’m doing right now and having a lot of fun doing it.”
You can read Jericho’s full interview with The Mirror by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin recently took to his podcast, The Steve Austin Show, to talk about working with fellow Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14. Austin said to the best of his recollection, he can’t remember shaking Michaels’ hand after the match:
“Proper etiquette is if you work a match with somebody, whether you’re working heel, baby, it doesn’t matter, new to the territory or been around, you always thank the guy you work with.” Austin explained, “that’s just what you do.
“Whether you knocked it out of the park or whether you s–t the bed, you always go thank the person that you worked with. So there wasn’t any animosity between me and Shawn. Me and Shawn we always cool. He just wasn’t in a good place and we just didn’t know if he was going to get in the ring.
“And there were a couple of stories about The Undertaker taping up his hands and stuff like that. Shawn was late to a few things, but there was never any heat between me and Shawn. Man, as long as I’ve known Shawn, we’ve never had heat. He was just in a bad place in that time in his life.
“He had a bad back and he wasn’t thrilled about dropping the [world] title, but he certainly did and he was a complete pro about it. But I do not remember getting a chance to shake his hand or talk about the match.”
The Texas Rattlesnake said that he always got along well with Michaels whenever they’d work together. In fact, Michaels would let Austin call some of their matches, something The Heartbreak Kid didn’t do too often back then:
“I had worked with Shawn at house shows many times before that and we had absolutely ripped the roof off of these places having these matches, just calling it on the spot, calling it on the fly. Shawn was always cool with me calling the matches because 90% of the time, he was calling his own matches because that’s how Shawn worked.
“And I was used to calling my matches, so he was like, ‘dude, you want to call the match?’ It gives him a night off. You’re talking about hands down probably the best worker in the history of the business, and he’s going to let you call a match, so he can take the night off and just do his part, he’s down for it.
“I don’t remember shaking his hand after that match.” Austin added, “but never any heat, but that’s what you do. You shake people’s hand after. You’re trusting this person with your life, basically.”
Austin also shut down any rumors that he had heat with Shawn after what happened at the WrestleMania 14 press conference:
“Anyway, he shows up at the press conference that was for me, and Mike Tyson, and Vince [McMahon], or whoever it was, to answer questions.” Austin recalled, “and Shawn left, but Shawn was totally cool after that. And Shawn is probably one of the people I keep in contact with most.
“I mean, we don’t call each other everyday, obviously, but I give him a call every three to four months just to see how he’s doing, what’s going on, how the ranch is doing or if he’s able to get out and enjoy the woods anymore now that he’s down there working in Orlando [Florida] at the [WWE] Performance Center. And he’s doing really well and he’s happy. But I keep in contact or regular contact just to shoot the breeze with one of the guys and he’s one of my all-time favorites.
“I really think from bell-to-bell, Shawn Michaels was probably the best to ever do it in the business of professional wrestling. That’s my opinion. When it comes to well-rounded, athletic, storytelling, psychology, everything, performance, Shawn is the guy.”
You can listen to The Steve Austin Show by clicking this link here.
The WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble event was held last month in Saudi Arabia, and there’s a ton of controversy surrounding the involvement, or lack thereof, WWE’s female Superstars.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that none of the female Superstars have been paid for missing out on the show due to Saudi Arabia’s culture. It was noted that none of the female stars expect to be paid and they’ll be very surprised if they do.
WWE has been receiving a lot of negative feedback for agreeing to do a show in a country where the culture towards women is completely opposite of the Women’s Revolution WWE has been pushing recently.
WWE Co-President Michelle Wilson took to a recent earnings call to defend the company’s decision:
“I think everyone is familiar with the fact that we have obviously been very vocal about our female performers and re-branding them as Superstars,” Wilson said.
“We feel really good about our continued commitment on that front. There are many countries around the world where we perform and we’re respectful to the cultures there but we certainly hope to be a part of the change moving forward.
“We’re proud and happy with how the event went,” Wilson added. “And we will continue to treat those cultures respectfully while hoping to be a part of some of the change that will be taking place.”
Wrestling Observer Newsletter also notes that there is currently no news on the pay for WWE’s GRR event, because as of a few days ago it still hasn’t come in. Nobody reportedly knew about pay before the event except top WWE Superstars who were there for one-shot appearances.
Former WWE Superstar and current Ring Of Honor (ROH) star Tenille Dashwood (a.k.a. Emma) recently did an interview with TV Insider‘s Scott Fishman to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Dashwood first opened up on her current run with ROH and how she feels it’s going:
“I feel revived and alive again with wrestling. I started this because I love wrestling. Back when I was younger in Australia, I wanted to be a wrestler and loved what I did with WWE.
“It’s completely different now. It’s not five minutes on TV where I’m asked to do such and such. It’s having competitive singles matches every night. There are different opponents every night. I’m meeting new people and improving my own skills every time by working with different people in the ring. It got me going again.”
She also revealed that she got some advice from fellow former WWE star Cody Rhodes recently:
“We talked about how to go about things and make sure I enjoy it and taking advantage of the opportunities I have now. Just to do the things I haven’t been able to do in years.
With WWE you don’t always get to do things the way you like to do them, so now he said to remember that I’m in control and can do things my way. To be doing things for a reason and to wrestle around the world. And not to do it for job, but to do it because you love and enjoy it and travel and meet people and wrestle. It was to remember all that.”
In regards to what’s going on in WWE, Dashwood offered her thoughts on The IIconics making their main roster debut on SmackDown Live:
“I kind of knew it was coming, but I told them not to tell me if it’s happening because I wanted to be in the moment. I called Peyton out. I called her a liar. I said, ‘You’re not at home right now.’ She was like, ‘Oops you got me.’ I said, ‘No, don’t tell me!’ I have been friends with those girls for years.
“I just talked to the girls yesterday. They are on the European tour right now. We always catch up. We stay in contact. They come over my house, and we go into the hot tub. We’re good friends. I’m so excited for them. Seeing them really warms my heart doing what they love. I know what it feels like to have those big moments and that feeling. So, I’m happy for them.”
You can read Dashwood’s full interview with TV Insider by clicking this link here.
Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann was released from WWE back in February for a domestic abuse incident that occurred with his wife. Since then, Swann and his wife have reconciled and he has begun working for IMPACT Wrestling.
PWInsider Elite’s Mike Johnson recently discussed the possibility of WWE bringing back Swann, and said he believes the company could bring him back at some point:
“I think WWE will bring him back at some point. Whenever somebody gets in trouble, WWE has them serve their penance and then they eventually get brought back into the fold. I think that is the process that Rich Swann is in right now. He’s working for Impact but he’s not signing a 5-year contract.”
H/T Ringside News for the transcriptions
Batista Praises Titus O’Neil
WWE Superstar Titus O’Neil took to Twitter to celebrate staying in shape at the age of 41. He’s nearing his goal of cutting down to 270 pounds, as he currently weighs 284. His good friend and former WWE Superstar, Batista, responded to O’Neil’s Tweet and praised him for his hard work:
284lbs now 6weeks from today I’ll be ready for a Lifelong Goal 2be reached&I’m excited about the process to go down to a Leaner 41 year old 270lb @Marvel Character ?? Has nothing to do with @WWE but everything to do with being a Blessed Man! @DaveBautista I’ll see you soon ? pic.twitter.com/zdeuhaQ7GK
There have been some rumors going around suggesting that former WWE and World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton is injured or has backstage heat – being the reason why he missed WWE’s European Tour.
This is not true. Wrestling Observer Newsletter‘s Dave Meltzer reports that Orton missed the tour because he was not contractually obligated to attend. The Viper’s current WWE deal allows him to work a lighter tour schedule, thus he was able to hang back state-side and spend time with his family.
Orton does not have any backstage heat and has no injuries as of this writing. At this point in his career, he simply worked out a deal that would limit the amount of overseas traveling he has to do in order to be able to spend more time back home with his wife and kids.
Randy, son of WWE Hall Of Famer “Cowboy” Bob Orton, has been with WWE for almost 20 years. It’s safe to say he’s earned some say-so in how many tour dates he works.
Ring Of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling stars The Young Bucks recently appeared on Sean Waltman’s X-Pac 1,2,360 podcast to discuss their upcoming “All In” event. During the show, The Young Bucks discussed not only selling out a wrestling show will “All In,” but also selling out a party.
All In: Wrestling Show Party
Nick: “We have such passionate fans and we wanted to give back to our fans in a way, to make something special for one night.”
Matt: “It’s been very strategic too, how we were going to roll out the whole plan… We knew that we couldn’t just sell a wrestling event. You have to sell more than a wrestling event, you have to sell a feeling, you have to sell a movement. To make them {Fans} feel something like ‘hey this is for you’.
“Because right now is the best professional wrestling that there has ever been. Everybody can work, some of the best matches you’ll ever see… You’ve got to give the people something more than that you know what I mean? And I feel like they agreed with it, they felt it. They wanted to be apart of it. This movement, this change, you know? We wanted to show them, hey this is something new, fresh, and organic.
“It’s an alternative and it may be only celebrated one-time so let’s party. And that’s what we’re selling we’re selling a party and everyone wants to party with us and we’re glad they’re on board.”
Paul Heyman Congratulating Them
Advocate for WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, recently Tweeted out and praised Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks for selling out the Sears Centre in Chicago for their self-funded event. Nick and Matt were blown away by the sentiment:
Nick: “Almost everyone I’ve looked up to has reached out in a way. That blows my mind because it’s so cool to see some of the guys I grew up praising, praising us now its’ so weird.”
Matt: “For me, I think the Heyman one was really big because it feels like what he did with ECW was kind of a revolutionary new style of wrestling and he changed the wrestling business forever you know what I mean.
“And for him to say that about us I feel like he’s one of the greatest promoters of all time and that’s what we essentially are now… So just to hear from a guy who always has his finger on the pulse of what’s cool in wrestling to give it up to us like that when he didn’t have to was really really cool of him.”
Which WWE Talent They’d Like To Use At All In
The Young Bucks also listed off some WWE names that they wish could be involved in the event if they weren’t under contract with the professional wrestling juggernaut:
Nick: “Oh man that’s a hard one. I’d have to use at least a few AJ Styles and Kevin [Owens}, the first two as well as a Sami Zayn. I’d like to use a lot of the guys though.”
Matt: “Man, Nick kinda stole my answers but I feel like giving a team who hasn’t really got called up, haven’t really had a fair shake, I’d love to have The Revival on the show and do The Young Bucks vs The Revival. That’d be my match probably.”
As we’ve previously reported, RAW Women’s Champion Nia Jax will defend her title against Ronda Rousey at the Money In The Bank (MITB) pay-per-view (PPV) next month in Chicago.
Charlotte Flair Tweeted out the following in reaction to the announcement, warning both women to be prepared for when she wins the Women’s MITB Ladder match:
Witnessing history. Glad to say I got to see this up close! But both of you ladies need to be prepared for when I win that #MITB contract. ? #RondavsNiahttps://t.co/945j9t7VEf
AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura Hype Stipulation Match (Video)
Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live will feature a non-WWE Title match between champion AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura. The winner will select the stipulation for their WWE Title match at the MITB PPV.
Both Styles and Nakamura posted videos on WWE’s Twitter account hyping the match-up tonight. Check them out here:
Styles and Nakamura first fought it out at WrestleMania 34 this past April. Styles won that match-up but was assaulted by Nakamura afterwards. At the Greatest Royal Rumble they rematched, but that ended in a double count-out and resulted in Styles assaulting Nakamura after the match in return.
At Backlash last week, Styles and Nakamura put on what was probably their best match against each other in WWE. That ended in another double count-out, as neither men could get to their feet and answer the referee’s 10 count after exchanging low blows. It should be interesting to see how things shake out at MITB next month.
WWE personality Renee Young was recently a guest on former Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian’s podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Young discussed being a pro wrestling fan as a child but losing interest as she got older:
“So I was [a pro wrestling fan growing up]. I was when I was younger, when I was a kid, but I had fallen out from watching it. I mean, I was always playing a bunch of sports growing up. I was always a busy kid doing stuff, so I did fall out from watching it. But yeah, once I kind of resubmerged myself in it, I got back in it seeing who was still around, what was going on, what the storylines were, and everything.” Young added.
“I knew enough about it, but I didn’t know everything about it. I wasn’t like the voice of wrestling by any stretch at that point, so yeah, I had to figure some stuff out.”
Young also admitted that she had some initial reservations about leaving her Canadian TV gig with The Score Television Network in Canada, however, she knew she wanted her next step to be in the U.S. She had several offers from other outlets, including a great audition with ESPN:
“Yeah, I definitely did – I certainly had some reservations in the sense that I was winding down at The Score no matter what, so I was looking for my next step. And I knew that I wanted my next step to be in the U.S.
“And I did, at the time, have a couple of different offers on the table or a lot of different career path opportunities.” Young recalled, “but the week of my audition at WWE, I think it was later in the week or maybe it was a Monday to a Monday kind of situation, but the week prior, I had gone to ESPN because they were really heavily considering bringing me in to take over SportsNation when Michelle Beadle first left.
“Yeah, so I was down there, went in, had a great audition, like, you know when you have a s–t audition, but this was like a good audition, everyone was giving me high-fives.”
She then got an audition with WWE, which she believes didn’t go great, but ended up being offered the job:
“The next week, my agent was like, ‘hey, WWE wants to bring you in.’ I was like, ‘okay, cool,’ went down, had, like, not a great audition with WWE by any stretch,” Young acknowledged. “I went for my audition, went and did commentary with [an unnamed former WWE commentator], which was brutal, brutalious, it was quite heinous.
“And I was like, ‘wait, what am I doing? What?’ And it was just a feeling of a lot of pressure figuring out what doing commentary does, which I still haven’t figured out, and they gave me a battery and they were like, ‘sell this to me.’ They put me through the gauntlet, so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Lo and behold, here I am and I got the job, you guys.”
When she joined WWE initially, the company pitched Renee (real name Renee Paquette) the name “Renee Sterling” for her WWE name. This caused some tension for Young, as she had already established herself with the Paquette name on TV and didn’t realize a name change was required:
“When I got the job, it was still a weeks weeks after that and I was going back and forth from like Stamford [Connecticut] to Toronto, and figuring out my visa, blah, blah, blah, whatever.” Young remembered, “and I got an email with my new name change, which was Renee Sterling and I was so stressed out about this.
“Yeah, it was Renee Sterling. I didn’t know that my name was going to change and that kind of threw me for a loop because, as [Edge and Christian] said, I was working in Canada before and had been on TV before, so I felt very odd about changing my name. And then, they let me give a few other name options and I ended up with Young.”
Young said that nowadays ring names likely aren’t required for WWE commentators anymore:
“Yeah, it’s super odd and, like, I do get it in the way of like, it’s different now. A lot of people got to keep their name.” Young explained, “we’ve hired a few other people that are down in NXT now and they’ve all got to keep their name, so it seems like that may be dying off, but I felt like that kind of put me into the machine of WWE for all rights and whatnot for them to just own the name.
“But yeah, that was the biggest thing I had reservations about. I just felt like I didn’t know that was going to be part of the deal and it threw me for a loop. And it was not met with good reception when I didn’t want to change my name, but that was somebody else who also doesn’t work here.”
You can listen to Young on E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.
On a recent edition of the Table For 3 show on the WWE Network, Road Dogg, WWE Hall Of Famer Jeff Jarrett, and RAW Superstar Elias sat down for a chat.
During the episode, Road Dogg made a very interesting revelation. It turns out that the current theme song for WWE Champion AJ Styles wasn’t originally written for him. Instead, it was written for IMPACT Wrestling’s James Storm.
Storm had a brief run in WWE with the NXT brand back in 2015. Instead of signing a deal with WWE, however, he instead decided to return to IMPACT Wrestling. AJ Styles made his WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble shortly after, and decided to use the song.
Here’s what Road Dogg had to say:
“That was originally written and developed for James Storm,” said Road Dogg. “And James passed [on the theme song] and he went a different direction, and AJ stepped in and it just worked out perfectly.”