TMZ Sports caught up with Lesnar’s WWE advocate, Paul Heyman, to get his thoughts on Ngannou – and others, like Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder – calling out his client.
Heyman says he’s not surprised that so many people are coming out of the woodwork and throwing Brock Lesnar’s name around. It’s WrestleMania season and Brock Lesnar is the biggest box office attraction in all of professional sports. It’s one thing to throw out empty challenges – it’s another thing to actually stand toe-to-toe with The Beast.
Fans saw on RAW what happened to Roman Reigns when he got too close to Lesnar – and Francis Ngannou wouldn’t fare any better than Reigns did.
You can check out Heyman’s awesome promo below. Visit MMANews.com for read what Francis Ngannou had to say about WWE’s Beast Incarnate.
– WWE Superstar Braun Strowman took to Twitter to thank 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame inductee Mark Henry for helping him break into the business of professional wrestling:
– As noted on last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW by General Manager Kurt Angle, RAW Women’ Champion Alexa Bliss will defend her title against Nia Jax at WrestleMania 34. The ex-best friends took to Twitter to hype their upcoming bout in New Orleans:
I made you something and I’m gonna take it all away from you. You think you can take the #Raw Women’s Championship from me? Ha! Rude. #GoddessAboveAll
— Lexi (Kaufman) Cabrera (@AlexaBliss_WWE) March 20, 2018
They’ll tell you… Not to try. Not to dream. Not to be yourself.
– WWE posted a video of Seth Rollins doing an interview with Mike Rome after saving Finn Balor from The Miztourage on RAW. Rollins will challenge Balor and Intercontinental Champion The Miz for the strap in a Triple Threat match at WrestleMania. Rollins says Balor owes him one and also said he wants a rematch with Balor before WrestleMania:
– Injured WWE Superstar Big Cass was backstage at last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW and was reportedly telling people he had been cleared to return, per a report from PWInsider. Cass has been out-of-action since August of last year when he suffered a torn ACL during a match with Enzo Amore. He required surgery to fix the injury and has been rehabbing ever since.
Cass was expected to return around May, meaning he’d be out of the question for a possible WrestleMania 34 appearance. He has been back training in the WWE Performance Center since mid-February. The initial word backstage around RAW was that Cass was in the final stages of his recovery and could be returning to RAW storylines soon.
– Tension between Sasha Banks and Bayley continues to boil over on Monday Night RAW, as rumors of a possible match between the pair at WrestleMania 34 swirl around. It’s expected that both women will instead be involved in the first-ever Women’s WrestleMania Battle Royal.
Banks and Bayley got into an argument in the middle of their tag team match against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, leading to them suffering a loss. Banks took to Twitter to comment on the situation:
Either you're with me or you're not, there's no in between. #RawDallas
— Mercedes Moné Varnado (@MercedesVarnado) March 20, 2018
– WWE Intercontinental Champion The Miz used Finn Balor and Seth Rollins’ old indy names (Prince Devitt and Tyler Black) on Monday Night RAW last night during a promo. Miz mispronounced Balor’s indy name, however, calling him Prince “Nevitt” instead. Balor responded to Miz’s mispronunciation on Twitter:
Prince Nevitt?? ….. and Miz is talking about ‘no respect’ HA!
– RAW opened up yesterday with Roman Reigns being handcuffed by US Marshals before taking a savage beating from Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. When Reigns was put up on the stretcher and escorted out of the arena, WWE snapped a photo that caught “The Big Dog’s” wrists bruised and scarred after the segment. Check it out:
Last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW ended with WWE showing The Ultimate Deletion between “Woken” Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt at the Hardy Family Compound. The segment received positive reviews from the professional wrestling world on Twitter, and Hardy noted himself in a Tweet that the Ultimate Deletion was trending #1 worldwide:
Tonight was much more than just a professional victory on #RAW for me..
It was an ENORMOUS PERSONAL VICTORY.
I couldn't have done it without YOU, my LOYAL #WOKENWarriors..#UltimateDELETION has been the #1 WORLDWIDE TREND for OVAH an hour now..
Hardy also responded to Michael Cole’s negativity before the segment aired. Cole apologized for the “obnoxious and surreal” segment WWE fans were about to witness. Hardy responded to Cole’s comments in a later Tweet:
Yeeeaassss, that was absolutely MAGICAL Great Commander. Now it is time to DELETE that JEJUNE ORANGUTANG Michael Cole. He is undoubtedly deletion worthy
After more than two years out of action, WWE announced on Tuesday that SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan has been medically cleared to wrestle again.
Bryan underwent extensive testing by leading neurosurgeons, neurologists and concussion experts, including Dr. Robert Cantu, Dr. Javier Cárdenas and Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher. According to WWE.com, “Bryan underwent a full review of his medical history and received comprehensive neurological and physical evaluations independent of WWE. He was cleared by each doctor as well as WWE’s Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Maroon.”
Bryan retired from in-ring competition back in February of 2016 after several concussion-related injuries throughout his career.
In recent months, Bryan made it clear he intended to wrestle again – whether it was in WWE or elsewhere. Thankfully for the WWE Universe, he’ll be back in a WWE ring very soon – almost certainly at WrestleMania. WWE noted, “It’s possible he teams up with Shane McMahon against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in a Tag Team match.”
As you can imagine, fans on social media lost their minds over the news that Daniel Bryan will be back in action. He was trending worldwide within minutes of the announcement.
Last night’s episode of Monday Night RAW closed out with the Ultimate Deletion between Bray Wyatt and “Woken” Matt Hardy at the Hardy Family Compound. Hardy won the match and threw Wyatt into the Lake Of Reincarnation. Senor Benjamin searched for Wyatt’s body in the lake after he fell in but was unable to find him. Hardy celebrated his Deletion of Wyatt to close out the show.
After the match on Twitter the professional wrestling world began to speculate that this could be a sign WWE is getting ready to repackage Wyatt and the Ultimate Deletion was a way of writing his old persona off WWE TV. Speculation ran rampant as to what WWE could be planing; with some claiming it could mark the return of Husky Harris, while others believe Wyatt could come back as Sister Abigail.
Dave Meltzer even commented on the speculation during the latest installment of Wrestling Observer Radio, saying that it also seems apparent to him WWE could be repackaging Wyatt after the Ultimate Deletion segment. He noted that the Wyatt character had run its course some time ago and hopes to see something completely different when he’s brought back.
Discussion: What do you think WWE’s plans are for Wyatt after The Ultimate Deletion? Do you think WWE is actually going to repackage him? And if so, how would you like to see him return and with what character?
Asuka has gone undefeated in WWE competition for about two years now, and the company plans on keeping that streak going for the time being. “The Empress Of Tomorrow” won the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble this past January and recently selected to challenge SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in New Orleans despite being a RAW Superstar.
This leaves RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss to defend her strap against Nia Jax. Also on the WrestleMania card will be the in-ring debut of former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, as she teams with WWE Hall Of Famer and Monday Night RAW General Manager Kurt Angle against Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. WrestlingNews.co is reporting that WWE has big plans for Rousey and Asuka within the next year. It’s expected that Asuka’s streak will continue on at WrestleMania when she defeats Flair for the SmackDown Live Women’s Title.
Asuka’s streak will be kept alive for the next year leading into WrestleMania 35 in NJ/NY, where Ronda Rousey will challenge the Japanese star. If Rousey is able to be kept ‘special’ by WWE, and Asuka continues to be protected, Rousey vs. Asuka could be the first Women’s match to main event a WrestleMania in WWE history. It was also noted that the match could happen at SummerSlam, however, it would make much more sense as a WrestleMania “dream match.”
On last week’s episode of Monday Night RAW John Cena addressed his Road To WrestleMania and once again called out The Undertaker. WWE Hall Of Famer Edge recently offered his thoughts on the promo in the latest episode of he and Christian’s podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, calling it “hokey”:
“The John Cena promo, I thought it was pretty hokey,” Edge admitted. “I’m not going to lie. It was cool at some points, but then it was very… I don’t know, just a very hokey delivery. And I know that’s Cena’s schtick sometimes, but it just didn’t feel like this was the moment or the opponent for that, I think. That was my gut when I first watched it. Yeah, I don’t know.
“I think that’s a huge, massive match and I’m glad the crowd reacted the way they did and I didn’t even mind the going into the crowd thing, like, the way they’re setting this up like if he doesn’t have this match, or he doesn’t have this match, or he doesn’t have this match, he’ll go and pay to sit in the audience. I guess it was just when it got to talking about The Undertaker stuff, it just didn’t feel quite as… I don’t know.
“I don’t even know how to put my finger on it. I guess it’s just sometimes it’s kind of hokey delivery can kind of work, but in that instance, it just didn’t work for me. I mean, John never sounds like he’s at a loss for words.” Edge continued, “it’s a good promo. I don’t know. I guess it’s just the tone of it. I don’t know. I don’t know even how to put my finger on it.
“That just feels like one of those promos that should be nothing but serious, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’d have to watch it again, obviously. I could completely backtrack on everything I’m saying right now, but my gut was like, ‘huh, that was odd.’ Yeah, but they’ll have such an iconic match. But we called it, brother-brother! I don’t know if it’ll be career vs. career like I think it should be.”
You can listen to E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness by clicking this link here.
WWE Superstar Roman Reigns recently joined Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg to promote his upcoming WrestleMania 34 Universal Title match against Brock Lesnar next month. Reigns has been doing quite an excellent job of hyping his match with “The Beast” at WrestleMania with some shoot-style promos on his adversary for seemingly skipping out on his Monday Night RAW appearances.
This, of course, is all part of WWE’s storyline and Reigns commented on Lesnar’s current standing with the WWE Universe:
“It’s a little bit different for him, right now, especially where we are at and the stuff I am bringing to light about him and his character and work ethic, I think some of the fans are taking it negatively,” Reigns said. “For the most part, Brock Lesnar is a cool dude, you can’t deny the fact that he is a big, jacked up brother who comes in and throws people on their necks.”
Reigns said that he has worked with Lesnar plenty of times before, including their main event match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31. “The Big Dog” said he and Lesnar have developed some good chemistry inside the ring, however, they don’t have much of a relationship outside of their professional one:
“I’ve had interactions with him, I’ve had history with him. We had our main event match at WrestleMania 31 and we had a few different Four-Ways and Triple-Threat matches like that where other characters are involved. It’s a different dynamic,” Reigns said. “Every time you are in a situation like that you do get to spend a little more time with somebody. Yeah, on his own time he seems like a cool dude, I don’t know him that well, but we’re not friends or anything.”
As fans saw during Braun Strowman’s interaction with Lesnar during their Royal Rumble match, where Lesnar legitimately punched Strowman in the jaw for delivering a stiff knee to him, the former UFC heavyweight champion puts on some extremely physical matches. Reigns said Lesnar’s aggressiveness inside the ring isn’t something he shies away from, and his past as a college football player allows him to match that physicality when need be:
“If he throws two at me I’m throwing three back. My dad was a big man. One of the easiest things about wrestling Brock Lesnar is that there isn’t much thinking about it. It’s just all physical stuff, and I’ve been doing physical stuff since I was seven years old. I played Division-One Football at Georgia Tech, so I’ve seen and been around some of the best athletes in the world,” he said.
“What we do is a different form of entertainment and athleticism, but you still have to be an athlete in order to do what we do all year round, you have to keep yourself in that shape so, I’m never scared to be able to push that button, let’s go, if I have to protect myself, I’m more than capable, no doubt.”
You can listen to Reigns’ interview on Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg by clicking this link here.
– Current rumored WrestleMania 34 plans for the United States Championship have Randy Orton defending his title against Bobby Roode and Jinder Mahal in a Triple Threat match. WWE posted the following backstage video of “The Modern Day Maharaja” claiming he is the uncrowned United States Champion:
– Tonight’s episode of Monday Night RAW will feature The Ultimate Deletion segment between Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt at The Hardy Family Compound. Hardy took to Twitter to hype tonight’s segment:
Roman Reigns has notably been accused of being involved with an illegal steroid ring over the past several weeks. Filmmaker Jon Bravo had been teasing the release of evidence against Reigns in his latest YouTube video on the case, however, the video presented no evidence suggesting Reigns was involved.
Initially when the story broke Reigns released a Twitter statement claiming no involvement in the matter in addition to saying he didn’t know the man, Richard Rodriguez, accusing him:
“I have never heard of Richard Rodriguez or Wellness Fitness Nutrition. I learned from the mistake I made nearly two years ago and paid the penalty for it. Since then, I’ve passed 11 tests as part of WWE’s independent drug testing program.”
Recently Reigns was interviewed on The Jim & Sam Show and was asked about the accusations against him. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:
“At one point it’s like, who is this [Rodriguez]? Where is this coming from? What did I do? Like, what the heck is going on? I’m just sitting at home playing with kids. I’m feeding babies and changing diapers, and doing dad stuff and then all of a sudden this happens. I think it’s just a good lesson of where we’re at. If you have any kind of social media presence; essentially, my Twitter is a billboard, unfortunately some people want to use whether it’s in a positive passion and a negative passion
“At the same time, it’s one of those deals where, I know me, I know what I have done, and I know what the truth is. You have to have one of those bulletproof mentalities where it’s like, these things are ricocheting off of me.”
2018 WWE Hall Of Fame inductee D-Von Dudley was recently a guest on former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory, to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During the interview Dudley discussed the influence both Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman had on The Dudley Boyz’s, D-Von and Bubba Ray, characters:
“All the promos we were able to shoot and to be good at it is all because of ‘Dr. Frankenstein.’ The Dr. Frankenstein I am referring to is Paul Heyman. He was the creator. We would like to say, Paul Heyman was the one that found and created us, but Vince McMahon molded us into the Superstars that we are today. We are grateful for both men, number one, ECW and Paul Heyman changed the face of Professional Wrestling and helped start the Attitude Era, and of course Vince McMahon, who is the master.
“He is the ‘Yoda’ of Professional Wrestling and Sports Entertainment. I am not just saying that because I still work for the man as a backstage Agent, but when you look at what he has done and where he has brought Professional Wrestling. Whether you like him or not, you see that he has changed Professional Wrestling. Pro Wrestling was that thing that you never talked about, if you did it was only among the selected few. Now, it is one of the biggest things out there and now everybody loves Professional Wrestling.”
Dudley also revealed that he once advised current SmackDown Live star and New Day member Xavier Woods to leave TNA:
“Xavier Woods was in an organization [TNA Wrestling] that I am not too keen on. This organization treated him bad, and Xavier told me that he may have a chance to go to WWE, but he may not and he doesn’t know what to do. We sat and talked for about 40 minutes; till this day he thanked me for making that phone call, and I believe it was Terry Taylor who was helping doing the hiring at the time, not sure who was in charge, but he basically thanked me for helping him make that decision in going to the WWE.
“I am not saying that there wouldn’t have been a New Day without Xavier Woods, but each individual brings something to the table, and I believe the success of all three of them with the charisma and personality is what made New Day who they are today. So, I was very happy when I came back to WWE and Woods was there. I had forgotten all about it until he reminded me that I was one of the reasons that made him go back and have that conversation with WWE.”
You can listen to Dudley’s interview on Chasing Glory by clicking this link here.
WrestleMania 34 is right around the corner, and two of WWE’s biggest stars have the opportunity to make quite a bit of history at “The Show Of Shows” in New Orleans next month. Starting off with Roman Reigns, “The Big Dog” has main evented the past three WrestleManias with names like Brock Lesnar, Triple H, and The Undertaker. If his match (a Universal Title match against Lesnar) closes out WrestleMania 34 for the fourth-consecutive year he’ll tie Hulk Hogan for the most consecutive WrestleMania main events of all time.
RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss can also make significant history with a win at WrestleMania. She’s expected to defend her strap against Nia Jax at the event, however, that has yet to be made official by WWE. Regardless, if Bliss retains her title next month she’ll join Victoria and Trish Stratus as the third and only women to defend their titles at consecutive WrestleManias.
Given Bliss doesn’t lose her RAW Women’s Title before WrestleMania, she’ll also become the first woman ever to defend both the SmackDown Live Women’s Title and RAW Women’s Title at WrestleMania as well. It should be interesting to see if Reigns and Bliss break their respective records.
– As we’ve noted, former WWE Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz will be inducted into the 2018 WWE Hall Of Fame class the day before WrestleMania 34 next month. One question WWE fans have been asking is who will induct the pair? Bubba Ray Dudley recently appeared on Sirius XM’s Busted Open Radio and revealed exactly that.
He claimed that fellow WWE Tag Team Legends Edge and Christian will be doing the honors, but hopes Matt and Jeff Hardy are on stage with them as well. Here’s the official audio of Dudley’s announcement from Busted Open’s Twitter:
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) March 19, 2018
– WWE Superstar Elias recently did an interview with Guitar World and commented on possibly releasing music with WWE. Elias said that there are definitely plans in the works for him to record music with the company:
“Absolutely, I believe WWE—which, if you are not aware, stands for “Walk with Elias”—the company is taking notice of what I’m doing every week and there’s absolutely plans in the works to record music, release music, put it out there and give them the sound of Elias that they can take with them. They can have it on their phone, they can have it wherever on whatever music format they have.”
You can read Elias’ full interview with Guitar World by clicking this link here.
– WWE Champion AJ Styles missed last night’s live event in San Angelo, Texas after it was once again announced he was injured. “The Phenomenal One” also missed Saturday’s live event from Odessa, Texas after suffering a storyline injury at Friday’s Madison Square Garden live event due to a beatdown from Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
It’s unknown if this angle is being used to rest Styles so he can heal a legitimate injury that has yet to be disclosed. He’s expected to defend his WWE Championship against 2018 Men’s Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura in a WWE dream match of sorts. We’ll keep you updated…
– WWE has released the official poster for WrestleMania 34, which features all Superstars expected to compete at the event smiling (except of course Triple H and Brock Lesnar). One top WWE Superstar missing from the poster, however, is The Undertaker. He is rumored to be taking on John Cena at the event. If that match is made official WWE will likely release another poster featuring “The Deadman” as well. Check out the poster here:
– Despite suffering a grade one partial left biceps tear a few weeks ago, leaving him out-of-action for up to a month, Rey Mysterio is still set to appear at tomorrow’s CRASH Lucha Libre event.
Mysterio was originally scheduled to face Bestia 666 at the event, but due to the fact that he was wearing a sling this week, it’s unknown if he will be engaging in anything physical at the show. There’s also no word yet on if he’ll be facing Jushin “Thunder” Liger at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) Long Beach event on March 25th. We’ll keep you updated.
– Former WWE Superstar Rich Swann had recently announced his retirement from professional wrestling, however, he’s still advertised for tomorrow’s CRASH Lucha Libre show as well. This is interesting considering Swann pulled himself from several upcoming bookings after announcing his retirement.
– With just a few weeks until he challenges WWE Champion AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34, Shinsuke Nakamura is set to get two English re-releases of two autobiographies. The books will be released in both physical and digital editions on August 7th. PWInsider has confirmed the news, and Viz Media – who has acquired the rights to the books – made the following announcement:
“VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), a premier company in the fields of publishing, animation distribution, and global entertainment licensing, springs into the wild world of professional wrestling as it announces the acquisition of the English-language publishing rights for KING OF STRONG STYLE: 1980-2014.
“Originally published in two paperback volumes in Japan, (1980-2004, 2004-2015), the autobiography of one of Japan’s greatest professional wrestlers, Shinsuke Nakamura, will be released as a single-volume hardcover print edition as well as a digital edition by VIZ Media in the summer of 2018. Both hard copy and digital releases will feature select color and b&w photographs.
“Nakamura now appears weekly on USA Network’s Tuesday night program, Smackdown Live, which has over 2 million weekly viewers, where he is frequently featured in the main event match-ups.
“Before he became a star of American professional wrestling, Shinsuke Nakamura was Japan’s “King of Strong Style.” His autobiography traces an amazing life and career from the amateur grappling ranks to the Nippon Budokan. Thrill to his matches against such legends as Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, his reign as the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and his success as a mixed martial artist.
““Professional wrestling is at the crossroads of extreme sports, over-the-top theatre and pop culture, and Shinsuke Nakamura, already a huge star in Japan, is seeing his star rising fast among millions of U.S. fans,” says Masumi Washington, Sr. Director, Publishing Production. “His autobiography, a riveting story depicting one man’s quest to conquer the world both inside and outside the wrestling ring, is a unique and special addition to the VIZ Media catalog.”
“Born in Kyoto, February 24, 1980, Shinsuke Nakamura began amateur wrestling in high school before attending university at Aoyama Gakuin University. After a brilliant career there, he joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling in March 2002 and made his professional debut at Nippon Budokan in a match against Tadao Yasuda on August 29, 2002. On December 9, 2003, a mere sixteen months into his professional career, he crushed Hiroshi Tenzan and was crowned the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history. Even as he pursued greatness in the professional wrestling ring, Nakamura participated in MMA, facing Daniel Gracie of the legendary jiu-jitsu family, and superheavyweight kickboxing champion Alexey Ignashov. Now he thrills fans in the United States and beyond on a weekly basis as one of the top wrestlers in the world.”
As we’ve been reporting, Daniel Bryan’s WWE contract is set to expire this fall. Daniel Bryan will be a free agent on or about September 23rd, according to a report at PWInsider. Unfortunately, this would prevent Bryan from appearing at the big “All In” event from Chicago scheduled for 9/1.
– Online wrestling clothing store, Grplgme., recently asked former WWE Superstar Batista if he’d step in to face John Cena at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans next month. Batista said that match won’t happen, but did reveal he has been “very vocal” about a return to WWE.
Batista doubled down on his belief that his career inside the ring isn’t over, as he turned down a WWE Hall Of Fame induction.
Batista said a return hasn’t happened yet because of both scheduling and creative issues. He concluded by saying “Never say never, I would love to go back.” It should be noted Batista said last year that if he did come back to WWE he’d like it to be on a full-time schedule.
Former WWE Superstar James Ellsworth was recently interviewed by Andy Malnoske of Wrestling Inc. to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Ellsworth first talked about fans probably being uncomfortable with him being presented as Carmella’s ‘pet’ on WWE TV during their time together on SmackDown Live:
“I was OK with doing it, who wouldn’t? It’s Carmella,” Ellsworth said. “But to me, I thought the fans thought it was weird, so I’m glad it didn’t last long. But again, I personally didn’t mind it but I think it was weird for people to watch.”
Ellsworth was released from his WWE deal back in November and has been working the independent circuit ever since. He has since established an Intergender Championship that he plans on defending. When asked who he’d like to defend the belt against, Ellsworth named former WWE Superstar Tenille Dashwood (a.k.a. Emma):
“I’m wrestling Emma next month who’s also in the indies, she goes by Tenille Dashwood now. I think on the independent scene she’s probably the biggest name that’s a girl,” he said. “I would love to wrestle Carmella for it, that would be cool, I think people would love that. But yeah, as far as the indies go I can’t wait to get in the ring with Emma next month, I think that will get a lot of people talking.”
He was then asked about his thoughts on WWE bringing in former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Ellsworth said he believes the relationship will be mutually beneficial for both WWE and Rousey, and thinks Rousey will surprise some people with how good she’ll be in the ring:
“I mean, she’s one of the biggest stars in the world. As far as star power, she’s great for WWE. It’s good for both, it’s good for her and WWE, I think it’s a good relationship with them too,” he said. “I think both parties will make a lot of money off of her being there. She’s awesome and she’s been working hard in the ring and I think she’s gonna surprise a lot of people and be a really, really good wrestler.”
You can read Ellsworth’s full interview with Wrestling Inc. by clicking this link here.
– Former WWE Superstar and three-time Women’s Champion Melina is set to make her in-ring return on Friday, March 23rd for Australian Wrestling Entertainment (AWE). This seems to be Melina’s first match since dislocating her knee last March in England during an indy match. Initially Melina feared the injury would end her professional wrestling career. For more information on Melina’s AWE appearance click here.
– Former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia was recently a guest on Renegade Radio with Jay Ferruggia to talk about her career with the professional wrestling juggernaut. Garcia also spoke about what it was like to work with former WWE Champion-turned Hollywood mega-star The Rock:
“[The Rock] would always make me blush. And so, all of a sudden [WWE’s creative writers were] like, ‘Ah, that’s so cute. Let’s do that, let’s put her in situations where she would totally blush.’ And he would call me out sometimes at ringside, you know, and there I am and I’m just blushing,” Garcia said. “So it just became fun and he loved working together and vice versa. I’m blessed, I’m blessed that I had that situation with him, for sure.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgB18qsHgKd/
You can listen to Garcia’s interview on Renegade Radio with Jay Ferruggia by clicking this link here.
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
– Former WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee (real name AJ Mendez) has announced that she will be hosting a book signing on Saturday, March 24th at a Barnes & Noble Bookstore in East Brunswick, New Jersey. The event will be used to help raise awareness of mental illness and fight stigma:
Jersey! Who wants to hang out with me and help an amazing cause?! Join me, March 24th, at the NAMIWalks NJ 2018 Kick-Off Event to help me raise awareness of mental illness & fight stigma! There will be a book signing too! More info here: https://t.co/3kzlQaoTFZpic.twitter.com/T6W2URdFw5
– WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler held a wrestling event in the parking lot of his Hall Of Fame Bar & Grille restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee to celebrate one year of being open for business. Lawler wrestled Moondog in the rain for the event and posted the following pictures on Twitter:
Packed house today at my barbecue restaurant on Germantown Parkway in Memphis! Thanks to everyone who came out. pic.twitter.com/NGWhJKrNo3
– WWE Superstar Finn Balor has launched his own clothing brand, PE&K. The website https://smileitspeak.com/ launched this week and only features t-shirts for sale at the moment. Here’s PE&K’s self-description of their company:
“Smile it’s PE&K!
“Our goal at PE&K is to provide clothes that will make you smile, whilst having the least amount of impact on our lovely planet as possible.
– All our shirts are made in USA , and printed in UK,
– We don’t use plastic, but if there is, biodegradable YAY!
– And the only paper we use will be the sticker for shipping & international custom sheets (We are trying to source recyclable paper)
– No stickers
– No wasted cardboard
– Nothing that is going to hurt our planet
– We like to say. We are friends of the environment”
Balor and the PE&K Twitter account sent out the following Tweets to hype the line’s debut:
– Former WWE Superstar Darren Young, now going by his real name Fred Rosser on the indies, returned to in-ring action at a WrestlePro event last week in Uniondale, New Jersey. Rosser picked up a win over IMPACT Wrestling star Fallah Bahh. He posted the following highlights video from the match on Twitter:
– In one of Cody Rhodes’ latest Tweets he nudged at the possibility of his upcoming “All In” event in Chicago featuring pyrotechnics. The event goes down on September 1st from The Sears Center Arena, which holds up to 11,800 fans:
You better Slick Nick, because today's "All In" production call also included the revised budget…and I might have hyperventilated…#Pyro#wtfhttps://t.co/e9ID7oUkw0
– This week marks 14 years since late-WWE Hall Of Famer Eddie Guerrero defeated Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 20 to retain his WWE Championship. The Monday Night RAW General Manager took to Instagram to pay homage to his fallen friend:
“14 years ago to this day, I shared the ring with possibly the greatest overall performer of all time, #eddieguerrero. He always had something up his sleeve, and he didn’t disappoint in this Wrestlemania Showdown. Thank you Eddie. #LieCheatSteal #itstrue”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BgT3HtdBrNZ/
– WWE has posted its latest installment of “List This!” on their YouTube channel. This week’s episode features the five shortest WrestleMania matches ever. Check them out here:
– WWE Superstar Rusev recently held a live stream on his Instagram account. Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Ryback joined in the stream and made a comment that forced “The Bulgarian Brute” to end the stream. Ryback said the following:
“Are you involved in this steroid scandal? I can’t have you involved in my company if you’re involved in this [Jonny] Bravo stuff.”
Rusev responded by saying that he was going to block Ryback on Instagram and told fans to thank him for being the reason he is ending the stream now. It was all captured on video by “The Top Rope” on YouTube, and you can watch here:
– WWE made the decision to change the name of the Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal to simply “WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.” This came after a ton of backlash towards, not only WWE, but to WrestleMania sponsor Snickers. Shortly before the name change Mars Wrigley Confectionery US, who is the parent company of Snickers, issued out the following statement on the matter:
“We were recently made aware of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc’s (WWE) decision to honor a former wrestler during the upcoming WrestleMania 34 event. As a principle-based business that has long championed creating inclusive environments that encourage and empower everyone to reach their full potential, this is unacceptable. We are engaging with the WWE to express our disappointment”
After the name change was made, another announcement was made by Mars Wrigley Confectionery US:
“We are very pleased that WWE has decided to proceed with the name ‘WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.’”
Former WWE Champion CM Punk is expected to make his mixed martial arts (MMA) return at UFC 225 on pay-per-view (PPV) in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois on June 9th. There has been a ton of speculation that fellow 0-1 record-holder Mike Jackson will be his opponent, however, nothing has been officially confirmed as of this writing.
Punk made his debut at UFC 203 in September of 2016 when he took on Gracie jiu-jitsu brown belt Mickey Gall in welterweight competition. “The Cult Of Personality” was immediately taken down, battered on the ground, before subsequently being choked out via rear-naked choke. Punk’s coach, Duke Roufus, recently joined The Luke Thomas Show on SiriusXM Rush 93 to offer his thoughts on Punk returning to the Octagon.
Roufus said that he believes Punk will be “200 percent” better upon returning to the cage. Punk will have had two more years to hone his craft when he returns to fight in June (quotes via MMA News):
“200 percent [better]. I’m not even his coach. We were friends first before we did this. I would not do this with anyone else except for my friendship with him from before he decided to fight. He’s just one hell of a guy. He’s a celebrity but he’s different than a lot of celebrities I know. Great guy. He works his ass off. He’s very well-liked on our team and he’s improved a lot.”
– As we’ve reported, WrestleMania 35 will be going down from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey in 2019. Wrestle Votes is reporting on Twitter that because of this it’s likely SummerSlam will be moved out of the Brooklyn region:
SummerSlam, and the surrounding weekend events, are moving on from Brooklyn after this upcoming year. Location still TBD, but high probability of SummerSlam being held at a stadium venue. Likely a MLB stadium.
– Dean Ambrose has been forced to pull out of several autograph signing appearances at World Of Wheels this weekend. It’s unknown why Ambrose was forced to pull, but it should be noted he’s currently recovering from a surgery back in December to repair a torn tricep. He was given a return timeframe of around 9 months, meaning he won’t be back in the ring until around August or September:
– As we’ve previously reported, the site Bodyslam.net has reported that “Ms. Money In The Bank” Carmella is likely to cash-in her briefcase in a losing effort at WrestleMania 34 next month. Carmella caught wind of these rumors on Twitter and responded to them sarcastically:
