Lacey Evans says that her time working with the Marine Corps prepared her to work in an environment full of stress like the WWE.
Speaking with The Peoria Journal, Evans talked about the guts it takes to perform in front of large crowds and how nerve-wracking it was for her to perform in the Royal Rumble.
“It takes a lot of nerves to be a sports entertainer and to be in front of those big crowds. The military and the Marine Corps prepared me to be numb to the stress.”
“It nerve-wracking. I was the first one out, and even had a promo,” Evans said about the Royal Rumble match. “It was so much fun. It had a huge crowd, and what an experience.”
Lacey also revealed that she travels to almost every show with her six-year-old daughter Summer and her husband.
“She travels to almost every show with me and my husband,” Evans said. “She tells everyone who will listen that her mother is in the WWE. They are my biggest supporters.”
Evans will be facing Nikki Cross at the Peoria Civic Center on this Sunday in a live event. Evans said that while Cross can do anything unexpected, she herself is the classiest star in the WWE.
“She’s (Cross) is full of chaos and has no discipline. She’s insane,” Evans said. “There’s no telling what she will do. We are such polar opposites. I’m the classiest superstar ever in the WWE.”
The current one-half of the Raw Tag Team Champions, Dash Wilder of The Revival moved to the main roster with his partner Scott Dawson in April of 2017.
The Revival answered an open challenge by The New Day on Raw and defeated them. This would start their journey on the main roster which was full of ups and downs, mainly due to injuries.
A lot of fans have trouble understanding their favorites from NXT underperforming in the main roster. Wilder addressed this difference seen in their performances and tried to look at the potential causes for it while speaking to talkSPORT.
“Oh man, I wish I understood! There’s just so much that goes into the Raw side of it, the SmackDown side of it and NXT side. In NXT, you have a little bit more time to get things situated and to build stuff and get everything flowing in the right direction whereas Mondays and Tuesdays, everything is very hectic and can change in an instant. So it’s always kind of flowing and moving. I thought around that time period [NXT TakeOver: Orlando/WrestleMania 33] we were at our most popular and it worked out really well for us with the debut against New Day and everything. The fans were really good for it.”
Wilder fractured his jaw shortly after his Raw match with The New Day which kept him out of action for eight weeks. Bad news followed the duo as Dawson tore his right bicep a month after Wilder’s injury. Dawson was out of action for five months. Wilder says these injuries really killed their momentum and the reason why the casual crowd took a longer time to get behind them.
“I feel like the injuries back-to-back – one to me, one to Dawson – that obviously put a big bump in the road for us and took away a lot of the momentum, but at the same time, the crowds are a little bit different. NXT, for the most part, their crowds are a little more die-hard and a little more ‘in the know’ I guess? Whereas Monday’s and Tuesday’s, they reach out to a broader audience, a more casual audience. They still come out and have fun and enjoy it, but they don’t know as much about NXT or TakeOver: Orlando as they do about the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. So it’s just getting those guys established and things going the right way.”
“And then Dawson tore his bicep a month after I came back. So within three months, we had two pretty significant injuries and that really hurt. The first one, we were still around, we were still on TV. The second one was a little bit longer, more rehab for Dawson and that one hurt a lot because we were going to work The Hardyz at SummerSlam and get that opportunity the NXT guys are getting now and there’s nothing you can do about it – it’s out of your hands.”
Wilder also talks about the idea they pitched for WrestleMania 35, what he wants to see in WWE’s tag team division and more. You can read the entire interview by clicking here.
On this week’s Raw, Dana Brooke interrupted Ronda Rousey during a promo and called her out for using vulgar language and disrespecting the WWE and the women’s locker room.
Brooke attempted to challenge Rousey for the Raw Women’s Championship but Rousey attacked her viciously and hit the Piper’s Pit, and was going for the armbar but the referees stopped her.
Brooke posted a lengthy post the following day on Twitter about her confrontation with Rousey and explained why she came out to the ring. She also addressed her appearance looking a bit different from usual.
Brooke said she is not done with Rousey and she will not back down from someone who is disrespectful to the business and a bad role model for children. You can read the entire statement below:
“‘SHE IS STRONG BUT SHE IS TIRED” – take a look in my eyes… Last night I HAD NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE! I meant every word I said… I felt like I was going to cry, but I wanted to be BRAVE for all of YOU… I wanted to use my platform to be the voice of ALLL #wweuniverse! -Listen, we only expose so much on social media, but behind closed doors, we face so much! Last night, you heard ‘Ashley’ you heard the true passion behind my heart that is bottled up inside ‘DANA’… I wanted you all to see ME.. every day I look like this, not heavy makeup, hair up in the gym grinding away to look the best I can & be the best I can be. Most of you know what I have been through in the past year in a half, I lost & loved, I lost vision, I wasn’t comfortable, here I am now- this is me… @rondarousey .. you might think you are the baddest woman, is it because you cuss and play tough girl, how can little girls want to be like you!? Are you tough because you think you make your rules here because no one will stand up to you !? Let me tell you something sister, I respected you, from the moment you walked into the locker room, I told you leave your bags here, we are a family no one will ever mess with your stuff, you were shocked… Now I know why, because you are the one who would destroy others, you are the one who would play nasty games and destroy personal property, and you are the one to disown OUR family and leave, you knew alllllll along your nasty plan, but I will never ever back down… I might get my “ass” kicked .. but they say ‘what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’ – I woke up this morning blessed and have a sigh of relief because I left my feelings all out there nothing left to lose.. while you probably feel like a POS deep inside, I am not done with you, run and hide- but you don’t belong here if you don’t respect it! I will stand up for what I believe if it kills me but I will speak on the behalf of millions who have felt this way!!! @wwe I love this business & I will never be a disgraceful B*+% like our ‘fake’ champion!”
The finals of WWE 205 Live’s #1 Contender’s Tournament will take place on next week’s episode of 205 Live.
Tony Nese and Cedric Alexander will meet in the ring to determine the number one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship. The winner will then face the current champion Buddy Murphy at WrestleMania 35 on 7 April.
In the semifinals, Alexander defeated Oney Lorcan meanwhile Nese faced Drew Gulak and won.
If Cedric Alexander wins the tournament he would a get a chance for having a second reign for the Cruiserweight title. Cedric first won the then-vacated title at WrestleMania 34 on April 8, 2018 by defeating Mustafa Ali in a tournament final.
Buddy Murphy has been champion since October 6 when he won the title at the Super Show-Down event in Melbourne, Australia from Cedric Alexander. Murphy has held the title for 157 days at the time of this writing. Murphy has been appearing only in video promos on 205 Live and hasn’t made a ring appearance in a few weeks.
The CEO of WWE will address Kofi Kingston’s warning on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live.
For those who are unaware of what took place at Sunday’s Fastlane event (full results here), Kofi Kingston was told during the pre-show that Mr. McMahon wanted to talk to him about the WWE Championship match which was set to take place later in the night.
McMahon told Kingston that he would be added in the WWE Championship match between Daniel Bryan and Kevin Owens (who replaced Kingston in the first place), making it a triple-threat match, with the condition that The New Day will be banned from ringside. When Kingston made it to the ring he was informed that McMahon actually lied and he was set up for a two-on-one handicap match against The Bar.
Needless to say, The Bar was heavy on Kingston as both Sheamus and Cesaro were allowed to be in the ring at the same time. Big E and Woods came out to the aid of The New Day member, but Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev stopped them. The Bar won by hitting a double White Noise on Kingston.
In what must have been very hurtful for Kingston, Mustafa Ali was later added in the WWE Championship match, making it a triple-threat. The arena was filled with “We want Kofi” chants during the majority of the beginning of the bout.
Kingston rightfully took to Twitter on Monday afternoon to tell McMahon that he is not going anywhere and he will see him on SmackDown. It was later confirmed by WWE that McMahon will appear on SmackDown to address Kingston’s warning.
I’m not sure what Vince was trying to accomplish last night, but one thing became very clear: He does not want to see me as WWE Champion.
After 11 years, I finally have your attention…and I’m not going away. See you Tuesday @VinceMcMahon ?
Ciampa underwent successful anterior cervical fusion surgery on March 7 in Birmingham, Alabama. The usual recovery time from such surgeries is around three to six months. The statement from Tommaso gives hope that the champ will be back in no time.
Ciampa and Johnny Gargano were put on a program in the main roster with the current Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival, and their ongoing feud with each other was not mentioned at all.
The feud with Revival, unfortunately, had to be dropped due to Ciampa’s condition. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that WWE decided not to resume the feud between Ciampa and Gargano on the main roster because they were aware of Ciampa’s condition and that he “couldn’t go.”
As for the NXT Championship, there is no word yet on when the title will be vacated. Gargano was set to face Ciampa for the title at the TakeOver: New York event on April 5, but now the main event will have to be changed.
WWE has filed a new trademark for ‘Tough Enough’ on March 5, according to a report by PWInsider.
The trademark’s description reads as the following: “a show about professional wrestling; entertainment services, namely, the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events rendered live and through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing wrestling news and information through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment through broadcast media including television and distributed via various platforms across multiple forms of transmission media; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fans; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment.”
Tough Enough first aired for three seasons from 2001-2003 on MTV. The fourth season was held in 2004 and was integrated into SmackDown. The reality show is about aspiring wrestlers living together to make it as a WWE star.
Tough Enough was later revived in 2010 by USA Network for two more seasons, the fifth season airing in 2011 and the sixth in 2015, which gave us current superstars like Mandy Rose and Velveteen Dream.
Other talents who competed in the show and later found footing in the business include names such as The Miz, Chelsea Green, Ryback, John Morrison, and Sonya Deville.
While speaking to Mirror, Bayley revealed how The Revival helped them transition from a singles wrestler to a tag team: “It’s so hard. It’s so so different. It’s a whole different psychology and it’s been a struggle to learn, but it’s been very fun.”
Bayley also expanded on how The Revival helped them understand the psychology of tag-team wrestling and why it is necessary to stay in sync with your partner.
“Sasha and I are so lucky to have The Revival on Raw with us and we’re so lucky to be such good friends with them because they help us so much in understanding the why in so many things. They teach us the psychology of actually being a tag team – people don’t understand that.”
“Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder will sit with us and watch matches with us and show us matches that we all learn from and I can’t say enough good things about them, because they’ve helped us so much. I’m just excited to get better.”
As previously reported, WWE held a press conference in Tampa, Florida to announce WrestleMania 36 for April 5, 2020 which is going to be held at the Raymond James Stadium.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, before the event was conducted, WWE gave a list of “WWE Do’s and Don’ts” to local officials at the conference which contained some interesting information.
The list asks the officials to not use words such as “professional wrestler” but instead use “WWE Superstar” to refer to their talent.
Other words such as “Divas,” and “belt” are also not to be used. “WWE Superstars” and “WWE Championship/WWE Title” are to be used instead, respectively.
The company should be referred to as just “WWE” and not “World Wrestling Entertainment” nor “the WWE.”
The list also highlights how to describe WWE’s brand with a very useful example. The word “professional wrestling” should not be used while talking about WWE but instead, you could describe them with a natural-sounding sentence like “I have always been a fan of sports entertainment.”
It has always been known that WWE likes to keep a distance from some words that are mentioned above. But this also gives an insight on how the company operates its events and what rules the non-WWE staff have to follow while working with them.
Former WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam revealed touching advice that Vince McMahon gave to him about taking chair shots to the head years ago.
While promoting his new documentary ‘Headstrong‘, Rob Van Dam spoke to TV Insiderand discussed about a conversation that he had with Vince McMahon when he first signed with the company. RVD revealed that McMahon advised him to put his hands up to protect his head from the chair shots but he didn’t want to do it because he wanted to show how tough he was.
“I never knew I could be doing long-term damage. For me, one of the things I enjoy about professional wrestling is showing how tough I am. That’s an outlet for it. I would get hit in the head with a chair, and I knew it would knock my senses a little loopy. This was part of the job for me. I just thought I was really tough because I could take it. Now I feel very fortunate that at this point in life that I don’t have the CTE that the football players have suffered…Vince McMahon told me when I first got into WWE to put my hands up to protect my head from those chair shots.”
Eventually the former WWE Champion argued with Vince McMahon but the boss “went all fatherly on him.”
“I was arguing with him because I was stupid because I thought I was tough. He went all father on me, ‘I’m your father telling you to put your hands up. He was really serious. Now I won’t be cheering on chair shots to the head, but most of my concussions have probably come from landing and hitting the back of my head. So, I’m going to be cautious of that as well. There’s been once or twice I’ve had similar things happen since shooting the movie. Thankfully, I didn’t get concussed.”
RVD also talked about his his wrestling schedule, his upcoming marquee match teaming up with Sabu to face Pentagon Jr. & Fenix at Impact Wrestling’s United We Stand event, AEW, and more. You can read the entire interview by clicking here.
Ring of Honor has announced that the G1 Supercard will feature an Honor Rumble match on the event’s pre-show.
The event is going to be held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on April 6, 2019.
The pre-show begins at 6:30 pm ET, an hour before the main card starts broadcasting.
The Honor Rumble match is basically a battle royal match comparable to WWE’s Royal Rumble. The winner of the match recieves a shot at the ROH World Championship. However the company has not announced yet if that is the case this time.
The first Honor Rumble match took place in 2008 at the ROH New Horizons event. It has been periodically held seven times since then.
The company said that more details will be announced for the pre-show soon. We’ll keep you updated as more information is revealed.
As for the main card of the event, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White will defend his title against the winner of the New Japan Cup. Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) will go against The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) in a winner takes all tag team match for both the IWGP Tag Team Championship and ROH World Tag Team Championship. A three-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match is also set in place where the champion Taiji Ishimori will defend against Dragon Lee and Bandido.
You can check out all the coverage on G1 Supercard by clicking here.
Dean Ambrose made the decision to leave WWE after his contract expires at the end of April. He declined to renew an improved contract by WWE, citing frustrations with the creative direction of his character.
The March 4 episode of Raw saw a Shield reunion with the recently returned Roman Reigns who also gave his opinion on Ambrose leaving the company.
Reigns says that at first he didn’t seriously believe the news of Ambrose’s rumored departure from the company.
“I think I actually read it on Twitter so I didn’t take it too seriously,” Reigns told Sky Sports. “I’ve always known Ambrose and he likes to stay unpredictable and march to the beat of his own drum.”
Reigns described the news as a “big shock.” He says he is concerned but okay with Ambrose’s decision as long as he is happy.
“It still is a big shock and we haven’t had much time to talk about it because we’ve been on the gas pedal since I’ve been back.
It concerns me a bit – the last thing I want is for one of my good friends to leave but as long as he’s happy and healthy we’ll be good.
We’ll still talk all the time but this is WWE and you never know what’s going to happen.”
WWE had issued a statement regarding Ambrose’s contract with the company which stated, “Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April. We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE.”
As of now Dean Ambrose will partner up with his Shield brothers to take on Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, and Bobby Lashley in a six-man tag team match on the upcoming Fastlane PPV event on March 10 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
At the March 7 NXT Live Event in Largo, Florida, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions ‘The Boss n Hug Connection’ made a surprise appearance.
The duo were received with a strong “Welcome back!” chant from the crowd.
Bayley said that since they were present at the WrestleMania 36 announcement press conference in Tampa Bay, Florida, they decided to pay a visit to the yellow brand.
They then stayed ringside to watch the triple threat tag team match between the teams of Io Shirai & Kairi Sane vs Aliyah & Vanessa Borne vs Rhea Ripley & Reina Gonzalez.
The match resulted in a no contest when Shirai and Sane got ganged up by the other four women. Banks and Bayley however came to the rescue and cleared the ring.
The WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship can be defended on any brand, including NXT. The champs previously made an appearance on NXT during the February 20 TV tapings at Full Sail University and announced that the tag titles are open for the NXT women to challenge for.
The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection will make their first title defense against Nia Jax & Tamina at the Fastlane PPV event on March 10 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The former Impact Wrestling owner “Double J” Jeff Jarrett has reportedly joined the WWE creative team.
According to a new report by PWInsider, the WWE Hall of Famer joined the company full-time in an executive level role.
This is only over a month after Jarrett was signed to a producer role in the end of January, during the time when WWE hired a bunch of talents for producer roles which included Impact personalities like Abyss & Sonjay Dutt and former WWE star Shane Helms.
The report also states that Jarrett was not only involved in WWE Production meetings last week during the TV tapings, but that he also spent several days at the WWE Headquarters the past week before officially joining the creative team.
Back in January, Jarrett appeared as a surprise entrant in the Men’s Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Elias. This started a short feud between the two and on the February 4 edition of Raw, Jarrett had his first match on the show in 19 years.
Last night on the Major League Wrestling tapings, Jim Cornette made his début in the promotion by joining the broadcast team alongside Rich Bocchini as a color commentator in Chicago, Illinois.
MLW CEO Court Bauer commented on Jim Cornette joining MLW. “The breadth and depth of our commentator pool sets the bar. Each commentator or analyst excels at bringing a passion for the sport which is a key driving force behind MLW’s programming.”
Jim Cornette joins Rich Bocchini, Tony Schiavone and Matt Striker as part of MLW’s English commentary team. MLW will make announcements regarding their broadcast assignments on a case-by-case basis.
PWInsider reports that Cornette will also be working behind the scenes as a producer. He is reportedly scheduled to be part of MLW’s back-to-back shows next month in NYC during WrestleMania 35 weekend.
Cornette has worked with the wrestling industry since he was 14 when he served as a photographer, ring announcer, timekeeper, and a magazine correspondent in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
He made his début as a manager in 1982 with Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler‘s Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). He would go on to work with the WWE in many roles starting from 1993 to 2005. Cornette then worked for TNA/Impact Wrestling from 2006 through 2009. His last appearance in the WWE was at the Hall of Fame where he inducted The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express into the Class of 2017.
Impact Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling partnered up to host a show dubbed ‘Crash in the Bluegrass’ on Saturday night. The event was held at the Davis Arena in Louisville.
Impact also noted on their website that Clash in the Bluegrass will be “first of many shows that IMPACT and OVW produce together.”
Team OVW (Dustin Jackson, Shiloh Jonze, “Mister Marvelous” Melvin Maximus, and “The Boy Wonder” Sam Thompson) defeated oVe (Jake & Dave Crist, Sawyer Fulton, and Ace Austin) via DQ
Brian Cage defeated “The Trinidad Titan” Justin Smooth via pinfall
Johnny Impact (c) defeated Adam Revolver and Eddie Edwards via pinfall for the Impact World Title in a Triple Threat match
The War Kings (Crimson & Jax Dane) (c) defeated The Void (Nigel Winters & Chace Destiny) and Kings Ransom (Maximus & Leonis Khan) via pinfall for the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles
Mustafa Ali made waves since making his debut on the main roster and was headed to the Elimination Chamber event for his first shot at the WWE Championship. He was unfortunately sidelined from the show match due to recently suffering a concussion.
The Chamber match was going to be a major milestone in Ali’s eventful yet short stint on the main roster. Kofi Kingston replaced him in the event and even got close to winning the title.
After a short hiatus, it looked like Ali was recovering and close to a return as recently he was teasing a return to action on Twitter. He finally stepped in the ring with Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at a live event Saturday night in Minneapolis, MN.
The high-flyer was unable to capture the championship in the end and Bryan emerged the victor. This however is good news as it will be interesting to see how Ali’s story goes on from here on the main roster and if we will see him return on the higher card again.
“The God’s Greatest Creation” Mandy Rose has shown herself to be one of those stars that not only have the look of a star but are also able to carry their character well.
During a recent interview with the New York Post, Mandy talked about her bombshell gimmick and said that she thinks she is the best person to play the character in WWE.
“I feel like it works with me and I feel like we’re very careful and I don’t want to push that envelope [too far]. Obviously, we’ve [the women] come a long way. What we do is entertainment and, you know, I’m really enjoying our story. And I think that it gives me a lot of different opportunities and showcases my character. So, it’s been a lot of fun.”
She also talked about Corey Graves complimenting her on her every other move and how much his comments add to the character.
“He says a lot of valid, true points that I’m sure a lot of guys are saying when they see me on TV,” Rose said. “It’s only normal. I’m not really fazed by it. I think it’s great that he’s always complimented me and talking about how good I look. … He knows what he’s doing, so I’m flattered just like, you know, any other woman would be when a man talks like that about a woman.”
Mandy also revealed that she is all for the idea of inter-gender matches in WWE. She believes that it is great entertainment and there is no reason to not do it.
“I think it’s a great time for it,” Mandy said of inter-gender matches. “Women are breaking down those barriers and they’re becoming, you know, they’re main-eventing and it’s just been an amazing time for women in general in sports. I feel like, yeah, why not do inter-gender matches? It brings entertainment. It brings a lot of different viewers and demographics and all that, so why not do it?”
The Bruiserweight Pete Dunne has held the WWE United Kingdom Championship for 628+ days since winning it on NXT’s TakeOver Chicago event in May 2017.
He recently spoke with Emirati publication The National where he talked about whether he would like to stay in the United Kingdom or move to the main roster, among other things.
The face of NXT UK said that he doesn’t feel like his career is a race and he is not in a rush to move to the main roster and work in the United States and would like to take his time.
“I think there’s two sides to that. So there’s a side that this isn’t a race, like personally for my career this isn’t a race. I’m 25 years old so if I can build this and spend a few years doing this and then maybe go to NXT in the US and have more of a full-time schedule there and then eventually work my way to main roster, it’s definitely a slow burner, I think that’s a good thing.”
But on the other hand, if he was asked to choose between the main roster or stay in UK, Dunne says that he would pick the latter because of his passion about the British wrestling scene.
“But then the other side of it is sort of what I want do and if I had my choice right now I’d still be here. If I had the option to go to main roster, if I had the option to go more full time in Orlando I’d still be here because I’ve been passionate about British wrestling because I’ve been a part of this when it was literally non-existent. So to bring it to this point is just exciting to see how far we can keep pushing it.”
Dunne also talked about a potential feud with Walter, what he thinks of WWE’s expansion in the UK and more. You can check out the entire interview by clicking here.
Sasha Banks has been hardly seen wrestling a single match since her bout with Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. This was believed to be because of the injury and WWE was trying to protect her till she recovers properly for Sunday’s match.
But WWE released a report last night saying that Sasha has “re-aggravated” her shoulder injury after getting slammed onto a barricade on Raw, and that her status for the PPV is unclear. However there seems to be some good news in sight for the Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection.
Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer Radio noted that Sasha has been officially cleared to compete as of Tuesday. He added that she was partly cleared on Monday and that’s the reason the barricade spot was done.
The WWE report had stated that more updates will soon be coming and it seems like the injury will be played as part of a storyline where Sasha overcomes her injuries to take part in the match.
Sasha and Bayley, who together are the Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection, are set to compete in a Elimination Chamber Match against the teams of Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan, Carmella & Naomi, Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose, The IIconics and Tamina Snuka & Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. The event will emanate from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on Sunday, 17 February.
WWE Hall of Famer Booker t suing video game publisher Activision for allegedly using his alter-ego G.I. Bro in one of their video games, Black Ops 4.
The Verge reports that Booker filed a copyright complaint at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas which alleges that there are similarities between G.I. Bro and Black Ops character David “Prophet” Wilkes.
“They could have drawn him any way they wanted. But they chose to steal Booker T’s ‘G. I. Bro,’” the complaint states.
The complaint is mainly about the visual similarities between the characters. You can take a look at the image the complaint uses to compare the characters below:
“There is no doubt that Defendants copied “G. I. Bro,”” states the document.
The complaint gives further information about Booker T’s character. It states that G.I. Bro is a “retired special operations soldier, fighting an old enemy he thought he had finished off years before, with the support of his old military friends.” Artworks and a comic book has been made on the character.
However, the copied video game persona in question, Black Ops 4‘s David “Prophet” Wilkes doesn’t share much in personality or backstory to G.I. Bro.
The biography of Prophet goes something like this:
“Wilkes got his first set of cybernetic augmentations while serving in the British Engineering Corps. Five years and many upgrades later, he is the embodiment of the cutting edge of human weaponry on the battlefield, using his superior technology to disrupt opponents’ tactics before moving in for the kill.”
We will keep you updated as more developments in the case occur.
WWE star Paige spoke with The New York Post to promote her upcoming film Fighting With My Family. During the conversation, Paige discussed the fallout from her intimate home videos that leaked online in 2017.
“To be publicly humiliated like that was terrible, and I don’t wish that for anyone,” Paige said.
She went into depression and was nearly suicidal. “I didn’t go to work; I didn’t do anything. I felt so rock bottom,” she said.
Paige revealed how one day when she was at a grocery store in Texas she had an encounter with a 7 year-old female fan and how it helped her cope.
“Of course, she didn’t have the internet and thought I was the most beautiful and most successful woman in the world,” Paige said. “It opened my eyes to so many things. I was like, ‘I’m gonna let videos get in the way of things?’ ”
“I thought, what am I doing? I need to be successful for her. My whole journey was supposed to be about inspiring people,” she added.
Paige said that this wholesome encounter was the reason she was able to get out of the downward spiral and work on herself to inspire others.
Paige’s wrestling career unfortunately came to an end when she suffered another neck injury and retired for fear from getting paralyzed.
To fill in Lana’s spot, it was officially revealed that Sonya Deville will join the Total Divas show as a new cast member.
On the AfterBuzz TV’s SmackDown After Show, Sonya Deville called in and said that she will be on the Season 9 of Total Divas.
On the topic of the idea of having cameras outside of the ring and how she’s adapting to that, Deville said:
“Part of being a WWE Superstar to me is showing the fans what happened outside of the ring. Who I am in the ring, and in my personal life, is important to defining my character. I am tough for a reason. I have been through things and I am the person I am for a lot of reasons and I love sharing those stories for the fans because it’s relatable.”
“And on that topic, I’ll be on Season 9 of Total Divas, which is something I am super excited about.”
She also revealed that the filming of the show will be starting this week but a bit of the filming was already done during the Royal Rumble.
The team of Sasha Banks and Bayley, The Boss ‘n’ Hug Connection, were probably on many people’s list to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on the upcoming Elimination Chamber event. This however has been put in jeopardy as Sasha Banks has “re-aggravated” her shoulder injury according to a report released by WWE.com last night.
On this week’s episode of Raw, during a triple threat tag-team match against Nia Jax & Tamina and Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan, Banks was driven into the barricade by Ruby Riott, and was unable to compete in the majority of the match. Banks has not been overly active in any match she has participated in since her injury at the Royal Rumble title match against Ronda Rousey.
It looked like Sasha was getting ready for the Elimination Chamber match with her making appearances on Raw each week. But this sudden report from WWE without much details has made her status for the event unclear. The report simply states:
“Sasha Banks re-aggravated a shoulder injury during a Triple Threat Tag Team Match on Raw, WWE.com has learned.
The injury forced Banks out of the match, leaving her partner Bayley to compete by herself.
Stick with WWE.com for more updates on Sasha Banks’ status as they become available.”
So is the WWE planning to sideline Sasha Banks from the Elimination Chamber? Or is this part of a storyline? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has issued that the winner of the annual New Japan Cup tournament will receive only the IWGP Heavyweight Championship title shot at Madison Square Garden on the G1 Supercard show. It will take place on April 6, with ROH and NJPW co-producing the show.
The company said that 68th IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White will be defending his title against the New Japan Cup winner. Previously, the winner of the Cup was able to receive a title shot of their choosing, but this year, the winner could only challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Jay White captured the Heavyweight title from Hiroshi Tanahashi on the New Beginning in Osaka show on February 11.
The New Japan Cup is a single-elimination tournament held annually since 2005. Zack Sabre Jr. was the winner of the 2018 cup and he went on to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Sakura Genesis in a losing effort.
This year’s New Japan Cup will begin on Friday, March 8 and end on Sunday, March 24.
