Current Impact and Major League Wrestling wrestler, Sami Callihan, has some thoughts on his former partner, ex-WWE Superstar Dean Ambrose (now known once again as Jon Moxley)

The two teamed together as part of “The Crew” in Heartland Wrestling Association, as well as the Switchblade Conspiracy in Combat Zone Wrestling, but despite this history together, Callihan has admitted that even he doesn’t know what Ambrose’s next move will be before calling him “the weirded human being” he’s ever met.

“No One Really Knows What Jon Moxley’s Gonna Do”

Speaking with the WINCLY podcast, Callihan said:

“The thing is with Moxley is that you don’t know what the hell he’s gonna do. He is the weirdest human being I’ve ever met in my life. I wouldn’t past him to do a fight with the UFC at this point. No one really knows what Jon Moxley’s gonna do. But I know if he wants to throw hands or jump into oVe, the door’s always open for him.”

He then commented that if Moxley were to end up with Impact Wrestling, he would be an undeniable asset to the promotion.

“It would be a huge get for Impact Wrestling and I don’t even know if I’d wanna him in oVe as I’d rather go toe-to-toe with him as there’s unfinished business between me and him and I wanna shut his damn mouth,” Callihan declared.

He continued, “It’s a weird relationship of ‘little brother, big brother’ and it’s always the two of us striving to see who’s better. We’re both weird human beings and messed-up individuals. One day we’re gonna get back in the ring together as grown-ass adults and see who’s better.”

With Dean Ambrose now no longer a part of WWE, the possibility of seeing Callihan and Moxley reignite past feuds, partnerships, or rivalries on the independent scene may actually have a chance at happening.

Thanks to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

It seems Nikki Cross is still getting used to having a friend in WWE.

Cross replaced her new friend, Alex Bliss, in a Fatal 4 Way match. She would emerge victorious this past Monday on RAW, defeating Naomi, Natalya, and Dana Brooke in the process.

After the match, WWE caught up with her to gauge her feelings. She was aksed not only about the match, but also about her newfound friendship with Alexa Bliss.

“I got here a few months ago, and Alexa’s really been the first person to welcome me to Monday Night RAW. Being here at Monday Night RAW in London…I grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, and I spent years and years performing in front of the crowds in the United Kingdom before coming to WWE, and it just feels amazing to come here, not only getting to perform but get to win my match. My first huge victory on Monday Night RAW and I get to win that for me, I get to win that for Alexa. We got the win together, and I just couldn’t be more happy, I couldn’t be more excited.”

“That’s What Friends Do”

When asked how Alexa reacted to her victory, Cross shared that she received a huge hug before commenting that Bliss has been going through a “hard time” recently.

“I was glad I could help. She just gave me a big hug, and she just said ‘thank you for your help,’ and it made me feel good. I just hope that one day she would do that for me and she would return the favor, because that’s what friends do. It’s so weird, I’m just getting used to, like, having a friend. It’s just hard to get used to.”

Nikki Cross recently revealed she could finally call RAW her home after languishing on the main roster without a brand association.

During that reveal, she teased that things may change for her going forward. Her new attitude change on RAW has at least landed her a friend in Alexa. For now.

Jim Ross is officially a member of the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) promotion. He joins the company as an advisor and commentator, bringing his undeniable wealth of knowledge and experience to the table.

Speaking with Busted Open Radio, Ross discussed his new role within AEW and whether Vince McMahon had issues with him joining a different wrestling company.

Surprisingly, Ross claims that Vince has been “very pro-me making this move. He has been very positive about this. We have communicated a lot. Probably the most in a month or so than in months, which is my fault. I would like to make him proud. I learned a lot working with the guy. We built a talented roster that I am proud of. I am proud of what we did together. It was a team effort.”

“He Is Bulletproof”

He was then asked whether Vince McMahon was concerned at all over the advent of AEW, especially given that they are being backed by a billionaire in the Khans. Vince hasn’t had to take on a billionaire-funded wrestling company since Ted Turner and WCW in the ’90s.

“You know, I don’t know if he is concerned about going head-to-head with anybody. I doubt it. I think he is bulletproof in that regard,” he said. “I have said this internally with AEW; the worst mistake we can make is trying to chase WWE. We don’t need to chase WWE.

He continued, divulging that he believes there is “concern financially about rosters. I am not officially in that department, but I asked one guy in WWE who is an under-card guy, a solid hand, who can help the younger guys earn, early 30s, and they said to me that he is not available. He just signed for a half a million dollars. He is not even on television. $500,000 just to keep him off the streets, sort to speak. So yeah, I think there is a reactionary phase that is going around that AEW is willing to pay people.”

AEW’s next event, Double Or Nothing, takes place later this month on May 25th. It goes down in Paradise, Nevada at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

SmackDown Live Superstar, Ali, continues to establish himself as a top WWE talent ever since his move up to the main roster from 205 Live. But his journey into wrestling for the promotion hasn’t always been an easy one, especially when he was competing in the Cruiserweight Classic.

Sitting down with The Independent, Ali discussed striving to achieve his life goal of becoming a professional wrestler whilst simultaneously juggling his duties as a police officer.

“That Was A Crazy Schedule”

His ambition to wrestle never left him, as Ali claimed that he “always had the dream that when I closed my eyes, I could see myself vividly, wrestling on pay per views and doing media calls like this. But when I opened my eyes, I didn’t see it and reality would set in – money, a house, a sick family member; real life stuff would get in the way.”

Despite that, he said he continued to “chase this dream on the side and, eventually, I thought this dream wasn’t going to happen and it was kind of one foot in, and one foot out with it.”

However, when an opportunity arose to become a police officer, he took it.

“I was at the stage where I felt like law enforcement would be meaningful work – you could actually do something and change somebody’s life. That was it – I went into it with the intention of making it my career and retiring at whatever [age] and having a full law enforcement career. But, for some reason, I couldn’t let go of wrestling.

He reflected on his time working as a police offer, wrestling on independent shows on the side, confessing “That was a crazy schedule.”

“It wasn’t until the official offer came from WWE that I resigned. I was working as a cop the entire time I was doing the Cruiserweight Classic and the NXT stuff, and, on the side, I was doing independent wrestling shows! I’d do a show at 9pm, jump in my car and race to the police station to make it for 11pm for when my shift started.”

Going Full-Time

When the chance to wrestle for WWE full-time presented itself, Ali knew he couldn’t turn it down. He recalled his last day as an officer, saying:

“I left the law enforcement career behind, but my last day at work was a Friday, and the following week I came to TV on the Monday to start [with WWE.] I worked all the way up to when my contract started and left nothing to chance. Somehow I held on to the dream and, in the end, I’d say it all worked out.”

Ali has impressed and entertained the WWE Universe ever since his debut and continues to grow and solidify his place as a top Superstar with each passing week. He is currently performing for the company on their European tour.

WWE Champions Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins have gone public about their rumored romantic relationship. The revelation comes after the RAW and SmackDown Women’s champion had a Twitter exchange with Beth Phoenix, who is married to WWE Hall of Famer Adam “Edge” Copeland.

“I’ll Ask Him…”

Uploading a photo of herself holding her championships aloft, Lynch’s initial tweet issued a warning to Phoenix, who is standing next to her in the image. She advised the Glamazon to not “get too close to that title.”

Phoenix would respond by writing, “No worries Becky Lynch… I’m just glad that we are friends and not steaming over a silly little detail like being tied for number of title reigns. Cheers!”

But it was Lynch’s next response that would bring Beth Phoenix’s husband, Edge, into the conversation.

“Yeah, we’re neck and neck alright” she said, including an image of her and Edge, who was forced into an unfortunate retirement due to a neck injury.

Edge would then insert himself into the proceedings:

“Listen The Man, you’re doing good for yourself now kid. But we can all find the footage of your steampunk phase, with a familiar entrance where you attempt Edge lite. And fail. Sooooo begone with you.”

At this point, Lynch mentioned that WWE wanted her to be “nicer” on social media. She conceded Edge’s point with a tongue-in-cheek reference to his old theme music.

Beth Phoenix would then ask her friend if they were “involving our men now” to which Becky 2 Belts replied, “I’ll ask him…@WWERollins?” providing public confirmation that the two are officially dating.

Seth Rollins Confirms Relationship With Becky Lynch

Seth Rollins then posted this on Instagram, confirming that Becky wasn’t just being coy with her response to Beth Phoenix.

Paige has recently returned to WWE programming, managing the new tag team of Kairi Sane and Asuka. Before that, she had been missing from SmackDown Live ever since being removed as SmackDown’s General Manager position.

In an interview with ComicBook.com, Paige addressed being unceremoniously removed from her General Manager role, and her new manager responsibilities.

“I was sad because I loved that role,” she admitted. “I had such a good time with it, and it pushed my boundaries a little bit because I had multiple promos in a day and I wasn’t used to that. So it really helped me grow creatively and professionally. But I was excited about another role. I was like, ‘Okay, no worries,’ because I knew the WWE would take care of me. They always do.”

“I pitched to manage Ronda Rousey, kind of like the Paul Heyman-Brock Lesnar thing,” she said. “And then also be with Asuka, because Asuka had trouble speaking on the mic sometimes. As much as she’s an amazing athlete, an incredible wrestler, and I was like, ‘I’ll help her, give me the microphone, I’ll talk for her.’ And then Paul Heyman called me one day and said, ‘We have a great role for you. You can be the next me with these two women.’ I was like, ‘Wow, what a crazy tag team, they’re incredible…Absolutely, I’ll take it!’ “

Paige has openly expressed her interest in managing talent in the past, and having Paul Heyman’s support would undoubtedly bolster her spirits in managing talent—even if it isn’t Ronda Rousey in the way she had envisioned.

A new episode of WWE 24 will document Becky Lynch’s momentous journey to the main event of WrestleMania 35, where she would emerge victorious as both RAW and SmackDown’s Women’s Champion. That win would earn her the new moniker, Becky 2 Belts. 

The documentary itself will be an hour long and will chart her career from wrestling on the Irish independent circuit, to her undeniable explosion in popularity amongst the WWE Universe, to eventually besting both Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania. 

WWE’s short synopsis reads:

“Witness the rise of ‘The Man’ Becky Lynch from her Irish wrestling days to competing in WrestleMania’s first all-women’s main event!”

Becky Lynch is scheduled to defend both her championships in separate matches at Money In The Bank. She will defend her RAW championship against Lacey Evans, and her SmackDown championship against Charlotte Flair.

The WWE 24 special will air via the WWE Network on May 19th, once WWE’s next PPV, Money In The Bank, has concluded.

Money In The Bank 2019

RAW Women’s Championship Match

Becky Lynch (c) vs Lacey Evans

WWE Universal Championship Match

Seth Rollins (c) vs AJ Styles

Men’s MITB Ladder Match:

Braun Strowman vs Ricochet vs Drew McIntyre vs Baron Corbin vs Ali vs Finn Balor vs Andrade vs Randy Orton

Women’s MITB Ladder Match:

Natalya vs Dana Brooke vs Naomi vs Alexa Bliss vs Bayley vs Mandy Rose vs Ember Moon vs Carmella

Roman Reigns vs Elias

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match

Becky Lynch (c) vs Charlotte Flair

The Miz vs Shane McMahon

WWE Championship Match

Kofi Kingston (c) vs Kevin Owens

WWE United States Championship Match

Samoa Joe (c) vs Rey Mysterio

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match

Tony Nese (c) vs Ariya Daivari 

It seems that wrestling fans aren’t the only ones to have seen Lars Sullivan’s controversial posts. Turns out WWE sponsors are now being made aware of the situation and are eager to engage in conversations with WWE to address the matter.

A Reddit user, Snitchboy, allegedly shared a response he received from Mars Wrigley Confectionary after he e-mailed them, alerting them to Sullivan’s comments.

They replied with the following:

“Dear Loyal Consumer,

Thank you for reaching out to Mars Wrigley Confectionery with your comments.

We learned of Lars Sullivan’s comments recently and share in your shock and disgust. As a values-based company, we find his behavior abhorrent and unacceptable. We have engaged the WWE to discuss this situation and seek to understand what actions they will take to swiftly address this matter.

We hope this information is helpful and wish you a great day!

Your Friends at Mars Wrigley Confectionery”

Official Statement

In the wake of his previous comments coming to light, Sullivan has released an official statement apologizing to anyone he offended. He stresses that his past comments “do not reflect my personal beliefs nor who I am today.”

He has also reportedly discussed his comments and apologized to the New Day. Big E was the first Superstar to publicly acknowledge the Reddit thread that compiled all of Sullivan’s comments.

Sullivan is currently participating in WWE’s European Tour.

New Ring Of Honor (ROH) faction, The Allure, debuted during last month’s G1 Supercard event on April 6th. The ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) co-promoted show would see Mandy Leon turn heel, aligning herself with both Angelina Love and Velvet Sky.

In an interview with TV Insider, Sky addressed the concern fans had over the new stable, acknowledging that The Allure is not a rehashed version of The Beautiful People.

“Everyone keeps comparing The Allure to the Beautiful People,” she said. “It’s not the same concept. Adding Mandy to the group, she is a perfect fit. She looks great. She can definitely hold her own in the ring. We’re not doing the Beautiful People 2.0 without Madison [Rayne], which seems to be the consensus that is out there among certain people in the business and wrestling fans as well.”

Sky also addresses the criticism that the group has received since their debut, saying that there are a lot of “Lots of haters, subtweeters, group texting, shade thrown our way, jealousy we’ve seen” before sharing that this reaction doesn’t faze them at all. Instead, they reflect on “the powerful buzz the three of us have created just by joining forces together.”

Alluring Goals

Looking forward, Sky divulged that The Allure already has their eyes set on getting the Women Of Honor championship into their group, confessing that “We aren’t everybody’s cup of tea. That’s fine. We’re not there so everyone can like us. The Ring of Honor fan base is much different than the Impact fan base because the Impact fan base appreciates that extra entertainment. They are not all about strictly in-ring action. I’m not saying that’s bad. To each their own, everybody has their likes, dislikes, flavors.”

“Maybe it won’t take any time at all,” she continued. “Or maybe the Ring of Honor fan base won’t warm up to us. That’s totally fine because we are not there to make friends with the fan base. We’re there to make a statement on Women of Honor, at the top and eventually get that Women of Honor championship in The Allure.”

Only time will tell whether The Allure will be able to make the kind of impact they envision in ROH, but with their impactful debut they’re already on their way to shaking up the Women Of Honor status quo.

Lars Sullivan has been a hot topic of conversation in the past few days. This is due to a number of overtly incendiary bigoted and racist comments he has made in the past that have recently come to light.

Sullivan has issued a formal apology and an official statement in an attempt to quell the inevitable backlash.

According to Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live, it turns out that WWE has been well aware of his bigoted comments for quite some time.

Alvarez also mentioned that Lars Sullivan has also apologized to The New Day:

“He talked to Big E [and] I believe all of the members of The New Day. As I noted yesterday, WWE has been aware of this forever. This was nothing new and he apologized to them for it in the past, and it was considered a dead issue, but it has come up twice in the last six months so this time he did in fact address it with that statement.”

Despite the controversy, Sullivan is currently on the WWE European tour.

There has allegedly been no discussion over culling his main event push due to these comments. Sullivan will most likely continue to be pushed into a main event spot and, eventually, compete for the companies top titles.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the Revival in recent weeks. The RAW tag team, comprised of Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, have gone from allegedly requesting their releases, to winning the tag team championships, to losing them to the team of Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. Most recently, they were featured on RAW as the victims of a prank that saw the Usos sneak “Ucey Hot” into their tights.

Speaking with The Sun, Dash and Wilder reflected on their journey in WWE and how they try to use these situations to “fuel” them going forward.

“We work great with chips on our shoulders. We work great being a-holes,” Wilder confessed. “That’s just something we’ve always used to fuel us and help us get where we wanted to go. We’re on the right trajectory.”

“We Had Some Unfortunate Incidents — Life Happens”

His partner, Dawson, added that “The experience in WWE has been exactly what you’ve watched – it’s been up and down. Going into our main roster debut, we were on a personal and creative high. But we had some unfortunate incidents – life happens. It’s what happens in this and any sport,” he said. “When we came in and beat The New Day, with that kind of reaction, maybe that boosted our ego a little too much. It was like someone said, ‘Settle down, let’s put that chip back on your shoulder.’”

They would end the interview discussing the quality of their actual matches.

“There’s good wrestling and there’s bad wrestling. What we do every night of the week is good wrestling – great wrestling if you ask me,” said Scott Dawson. ““Every night I lace up my boots up and I every night I take a breath and say, ‘It’s going to be a good match.’ With as much humility as I can muster up, there aren’t too many people who are as good as we are.”

Here’s hoping that the Revival can leverage their match quality with consistent character growth. Given the segments they have been appearing in recently, thanks to WWE Creative, we may be waiting a while.

Recent months has seen some significant changes take place within WWE. More Superstars are openly expressing their discontent with their positions and how the company has utilised them, with more and more talent requesting their release from the company.

Some were granted their requests; others, however, weren’t so lucky.

One Superstar who requested and was subsequently granted their release was the former “Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger.

Catching up with Edge and Christian on their popular podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, Dillinger—who is now wrestling under his former indie name, Shawn Spears—opened up about the entire process.

“It Was Time To Go”

He admitted that the decision had been on his mind for about six months. It was during his time off injured that he was able to clear his head and figure out what he wanted to do in WWE and accomplish in pro wrestling. This injury gave him three months to think about his options. During that time he changed his look, his gear, and recalled pitching at least half a dozen ideas to WWE Creative.

Recalling speaking with Vince McMahon, he said that he “might have put my foot in my mouth, but I needed to say what I needed to say and I stand by what I said. I did feel that when I came back, things were going to be different. They were not. I had a conversation and was told to wait and give it a few weeks. Weeks passed, and it was it,” he said.

“It put me in a bad place because my performance was suffering. I was dreading it. I was praying that [the audience] would acknowledge that I still existed because it felt like I didn’t at the time. When you’re not giving it your all, they could see it, and it wasn’t fair to them. It was time to go. I was probably late in leaving, actually.”

Dillinger revelled via Twitter on his birthday, February 19th, that he had requested his release. WWE would grant this request only a few days later on February 22nd.

H/T to Fightful.com for the transcription.

Ex-Sanity member, Nikki Cross, finally has a WWE brand that she can call home.

During a post-match backstage interview, Cross revealed that she is the “newest RAW Superstar” before expressing her frustration at having lost her match that night on Main Event. She would compete against one half of the current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Peyton Royce.

“Tonight…tonight was my chance. The newest RAW Superstar, Nikki Cross…it was my chance to make an impact on Main Event tonight. It was my chance, and I lost. I lost. Is there something I need to change here? Do I need to change? What needs to change? Do I just fight from the ground up, scratching and clawing? What needs to change? I’m always talking in the dark. Maybe it’s time to step out of the dark and take a long, good hard look in the mirror.”

Nikki Cross accompanied several NXT Superstars to the main roster last year. However, whereas her colleagues were eventually associated with either RAW or SmackDown, Cross was left in relative limbo for months.

Now, with her officially on Monday night’s, it appears that she is teasing a possible change to her style and attitude going forward—one that could help her to immediately establish herself within the women’s division.

Former NXT Champion, Tommaso Ciampa, has provided an injury update via his Twitter account. He posted the news on his 34th birthday, referring to himself as “The Greatest Sports Entertainer Of All Time” whilst doing so.

“Got the results to my 2 month follow up x-ray. Doc said ‘this doesn’t look good…it looks great’. Happy Birthday to The Greatest Sports Entertainer of All Time#PartWolverine#AllBlackheart”

Succesful Surgery

Ciampa, who relinquished the title due to injury and his subsequent need for neck surgery, underwent the required operation two months ago.

Despite the fantastic update, there is still no set date as to when the WWE Universe can expect an in-ring return.

His full recovery time is projected to be between nine months to a year, though he did return to a light training regimen last week.

Main Roster Call-Up

Tommaso Ciampa joined a number of NXT Superstars earlier this year in their main roster call-ups. He would accompany Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black, and Ricochet, wrestling on both Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live.

His main roster run was unfortunately scuppered due to the severity of his injury. This put a halt to WWE’s plans for him, which allegedly included a continuation of the fantastic Ciampa/Gargano feud that unfolded on NXT.

Luminary Superstars such as The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and a returning Goldberg will join current roster members like Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston, Braun Strowman, and Seth Rollins when WWE returns to Saudi Arabia later this year.

Speaking with the NHB Podcast, Natalya expressed her interest in accompanying WWE to Saudi Arabia and making history by being the first woman to wrestle there.

“I would really love a chance, one day, to go to Saudi Arabia. I think that would be such an incredible thing for women to make some history over there. So one day I hope, in a way that Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss were able to wrestle in Abu Dhabi, one day hopefully that would be a place I would like to go to and be able to do something historical for women over there,” she said.

“I don’t know, but I’m a firm believer in never say never. For women to be able to one day be able to perform in Saudi Arabia, I know it’s not something we’re doing it at this moment, but one day I want to be one of the women to do that. For me, I just think it would just be so historical for women to make those positive steps over there. I think it’d be a huge step for WWE and huge step for that country. It’s something I want to be a part of.”

This next special will take place in Saudi Arabia on Friday, June 7th 2019. The show will take place at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah. It will be available to stream on the WWE Network. No matches have been announced at this point in time.

H/T to Fightful.com for the transcription.

RAW Superstar, Drew McIntyre, has revealed which wrestler he would like to have a match against before they retire from in-ring competition: John Cena.

In an interview with Express UK, “The Scottish Psychopath” confessed that a matchup with Cena would be an undeniable “notch on my belt.”

“A match with John Cena is on my list,” McIntyre admitted. “I never had a singles match with John Cena. Before he hangs it up officially, I definitely want that match. A victory would be another notch on my belt.”

Cena has been working a highly reduced schedule at this point in time. He has been selectively appearing for WWE for big-time angles and moments due to outside commitments. He recently brought back his Doctor Of Thuganomics gimmick to confront Elias during WrestleMania 35.

For what it’s worth, McIntyre actively trains at Hard Nocks South gym. The connection? John Cena owns that establishment.

The gym recently uploaded a tweet featuring McIntyre in their facilities, pulling an incredible 500 pounds:

Drew McIntyre recently had his biggest WWE match to date at WrestleMania 35. He would lose to a returning Roman Reigns.

He is scheduled to be a part of WWE’s upcoming Money In The Bank ladder match. McIntyre will compete against Braun Strowman, Ricochet, Baron Corbin, Ali, Randy Orton, Andrade, and current Intercontinental champion, Finn Balor.

Ring Of Honor (ROH) tag team, The Briscoe Brothers, have just called out another popular brother duo for a matchup. The only problem? That tag team are signed to WWE.

In a recent interview with Rebellious Noise, conducted backstage at Madison Square Garden, the team would discuss travelling internationally to wrestle, their next steps in ROH, and what it was like wrestling at MSG in New York. It was during this conversation that former ROH World Champion, Jay Briscoe, would lobby the challenge at WWE’s Jimmy and Jey Uso.

Jay would admit that, at this time in their career, they just want to have “big time matches.” With the Briscoes having dominated the ROH tag team division for years, they seem to be interested in looking outside of ROH’s remit for potential new opponents. But for those big time matches to happen, “[…] we need big time tag teams to wrestle against. So, uh, yo, Usos, what’s good? Have your people call my people, we can do this.”

His brother, Mark, would then add “We can make it work out, baby, we can work it out.”

The Briscoe Brothers have held numerous championships during their time with ROH. The pair are ten-time ROH World Tag Team Champions and have also held the IWGP Tag Team Championships in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

“The Planet’s Champion” Daniel Bryan and his tag team partner, Rowan, defeated the Usos this past Tuesday to become the new SmackDown tag team champions. The championships were relinquished by The Hardy Boyz, due to Jeff Hardy’s injury and subsequent need for knee surgery.

Now, the duo has promised that WWE will undergo a tag team evolution, much in the way the company experienced with the recent women’s revolution.

Tag Team Jokers

Speaking backstage, Daniel Bryan took issue with how previous champions have treated the titles as though they were a “joke.” He then ensured the WWE Universe that will never be the case while he and Rowan are champions.

“[…] speaking of jokes and speaking of the tag team division, think of The Usos, right? What were they doing on RAW last night? Joking around as if the tag team division is some sort of joke. And what about Heavy Machinery? Joking around as if the tag team division is some sort of joke. And what about The New Day? Joking around like being the tag team champions is some sort of joke.”

He proceeded to claim an oncoming evolution for the SmackDown tag division is coming, saying:

“You know, they talk about a women’s evolution, about women main eventing WrestleMania. Do you know who’s never talked about main eventing WrestleMania? It’s the tag team division and do you know why? Because for years, they’ve been led by jokers like the New Day, like the Usos, like Heavy Machinery, and they go out there and they do Thanksgiving turkey fights, and they’ll do Halloween contests.”

“We are not those kind of tag team champions—and speaking of which, do you know what? There’s going to be a tag team evolution, and this isn’t going to be one dictated to us by The McMahons, no.”

Self-Led Evolution

Bryan then said that the evolution would be self-led by himself and Rowan. He highlighted that, unlike the New Day and the Usos, they aren’t satisfied with just being a “great” tag team. Instead, they want to become the greatest of all time, promising that they will be going on to main event WrestleMania as The Planet’s Tag Team Champions.

Although neither Roman Reigns nor Elias appeared on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live, WWE released a backstage interview of Elias speaking with Sarah Schreiber.

Discussing his upcoming matchup against “The Big Dog” at Money In The Bank, Elias was asked about where he gets his confidence from. His response? His reflection, apparently.

“My reflection. When Roman Reigns looks in the mirror he sees his true self, a weak, broken down shell of what he used to be. But when I look in the mirror, I see the greatest acquisition in SmackDown Live history. The power of Elias is insane, and the support has been overwhelming.”

He would clarify that, when he says “support,” he isn’t referring to the WWE Universe:

“Everybody loves me, but I’m talking about people that actually matter. The kingmakers, the McMahon family. I mean, did you see the support I had from Shane McMahon last night on Monday Night RAW when we beat up Roman Reigns?”

He concluded, promising that” At Money In the Bank, Roman Reigns is going to realize that he is no longer the one chosen to carry WWE on its back, because now and forever, WWE stands for Walk With Elias.”

Money In The Bank takes place on Sunday, May 19th, from the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut.

WWE Superstars Alexa Bliss and Buddy Murphy have reportedly broken off their engagement, according to Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet.

Tweeting out the news, Satin divulged that Bliss and Murphy haven’t been an item since at least the fall of 2018.

“In regards to rumors of Alexa Bliss and Buddy Murphy calling off their engagement — a source close to Bliss confirms she & Murphy ended their relationship & have been living apart since Sept. ’18. FWIW, I’m told Bliss is still a huge fan of Murphy as both a wrestler and person.”

The WWE Superstars became engaged in December 2015. With many Superstar couples managing to end up on the same brands with the promotions recent Superstar Shake-Up, questions began to circulate when Bliss and Murphy didn’t ultimately end up on the same brand.

Alexa would stay on Monday Night RAW whilst Buddy would leave the purple brand, 205 Live, with his call-up to SmackDown Live.

Despite this turn of events, Alexa Bliss still congratulated Buddy Murphy on his new opportunity on the blue brand every Tuesday night.

Murphy, appearing on Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory, earlier in the year had high praise for Bliss. He addressed having a long distance relationship and how they maintain that before stating that “I support her 110%, I watch her stuff. I send her my promos. She’s the one that helped me how to speak, she’s taught me heaps.”

WWE Writer, Jen Pepperman, has apparently found herself in some hot water after a recent Production meeting.

According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com, the writer managed to earn herself some unintended heat amongst production staff and other writers after bringing her Daytime Emmy award with her. Pepperman allegedly placed the award in front of her on the table during the meeting itself, irking those around her in what has been called a move of “blind arrogance.”

Apparently several members of the meeting also “zinged” her, but she thought they were all merely joking. A final note also highlighted that she flew commercial with her Emmy accompanying her on the trip.

Emmy Award Winning

Pepperman is supposedly well liked backstage by WWE’s staff, production team, and roster. But, when factoring in that WWE has never managed to win an Emmy award, her actions were said to earn her immediate heat backstage—with some most probably experiencing a little jealousy.

Nia Jax recently posted the following to her Twitter account, pinpointing Pepperman as a “HUGE voice” for the women’s roster:

Yaaay! So well deserved! @JenPepperman this woman is a HUGE voice for us! Was the main writer for the storyline I did with @AlexaBliss_WWE leading up to Wrestlemania 34! Jen is so incredibly talented! I’m beyond happy for her Yay PEPPERMAN!!!!!”

Although both claiming that they want the best for each other, maintaining that they will continue to be friends, it appears that John Cena and Nikki Bella’s attempts to do so have ended.

Taking to her social media, Nikki Bella sent out a message that seemed to have a rather obvious target in mind:

“When you don’t give him what he wants, he will delete you, silence you, manipulate you, do what he can to destroy you, but turn that hurt into strength. Take the high road and prevail! Happiness can’t be bought, it is priceless. It’s your true secret weapon. N.”

She would send this tweet a day after Cena wrote the following on his own account:

“Beware those who think you owe them happiness at the expense of your own well being.”

For what it’s worth, adding to the speculation of a definitive rift between their attempts at friendship, the two have stopped following each other on Twitter.

This comes after Nikki’s insistence that she is happy for John Cena. During an episode of her podcast, she playfully promised she would Rack Attack anyone who hurt him.

The couple broke up last year after first getting together in 2012. They were engaged for a year after Cena famously proposed to her in the middle of the ring during WrestleMania 33 in 2017.

Nikki Bella is currently dating her former Dancing With The Stars partner, Artem Chigvintsev. Cena, meanwhile, is now reportedly seeing Shay Shariatzadeh.

The Queen of Salt, Lana, is still disgruntled with her position within WWE. In recent weeks, the SmackDown Live Superstar has been uploading videos to her personal YouTube channel. In these videos she candidly admits she is “salty” over her booking with the company. She usually does so whilst pouring copious amounts of salt everywhere.

Despite appearing at recent WWE Live Events accompanying Rusev, WWE hasn’t had much for the duo on the SmackDown Live for the past few weeks. This fact is probably a major contributing factor as to why she continues to do anything and everything within her power to try and grab management’s attention. Social media, YouTube, fan engagement, Lana is doing it all to try and bolster herself in WWE’s eyes.

In a recent post to Twitter, “The Ravishing Russian” uploaded a risqué, not particularly PG, video of her. She accompanied it with a bold claim, stating:

“#SDLIVE call me when you want ratings….. because no one will make #SDLIVE, #RAW or #MITB ladder match #RAVISHING like I can”

Lana hasn’t featured in an in-ring capacity since the Women’s Battle Royal during WrestleMania 36. She has also not been booked to participate in the Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match at the promotion’s upcoming PPV on Sunday, May 19th.

With All Elite Wrestling’s next event, Double Or Nothing, now under a month away, wrestlers are busy training for their scheduled bouts.

One AEW grappler, in particular, has undertaken a different training regimen than he might generally be used to.

In an interview with Cheddar, Chris Jericho discussed his reasons for signing with the upcoming promotion, as well as incorporating Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) training into his routine.

When asked about the crossover that exists between MMA and pro wrestling, Jericho revealed he has been “doing MMA training” to get ready for Double or Nothing.

“It’s so cool to do a different type of training, and when I’m in there, I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna fight Conor McGregor. I can do this!’” he joked. “Obviously you can’t, but just to be in there doing something different, it’s a lot of fun.”

“It Was Just The Right Move”

On the subject of signing with AEW, Jericho added that he believes the moment was right, claiming that the promotions formation, coupled with fans wanting a different product to WWE, is “something that I don’t think can ever happen again.”

He continued, “It’s a company starting from scratch that consists of a bunch of guys who have traveled around the world, who have become very good and popular, but not in mainstream America. Combine that with a family who has a lot of money and a lot of passion for wrestling, combined with a great TV deal. I think it was just the right move from me knowing that I would be doing something that I never did before.”

Double Or Nothing takes place on May 25th from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Las Vegas, Nevada.

NXT’s newest Japanese Superstar, KUSHIDA, began his time with NXT earlier in the month and continues to adjust to his new life in the United States.

Taking to Twitter, KUSHIDA shared his experiences in America so far, and what it has been like wrestling for a new company—one drastically different from his former employee, New Japan Pro Wrestling.

He comments that, although a month or so has passed since his move to Florida, it feels as though it has been more like a year to him.

“I was in a state where I didn’t understand the new practice environment, food, housing, English, Matches…but I feel that a little more open time has been created recently.”

KUSHIDA shares that on weekdays “practice picked up at the performance center” and also reveals that he has been taking one-on-one English classes in an attempt to better understand and speak the language.

His weekends are dedicated to house shows, and he states that he is “desperate every day to get through a day.” He breaks down his routine as “Driving to the venue yourself, setting the ring, wrestle, and clear the ring. Then drive back to home again … it is the life in NXT.”

These new experiences have allowed him a “series of fresh discovers”, and he feels as though he is becoming more experienced as a performer and person.

With his new life in America starting to settle, he promises that he can “finally put my feet on the pedal and 100% power on my engine. Bring all of this into the ring.”

The former 6-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion will be making his NXT TV debut next on next week’s episode. He will compete against Kassius Ohno.