The following are highlights of a new Under The Mat Radio interview with TNA star Davey Richards:
On the return of the six-sided ring: “Well it gives TNA their own personality and it’s unique to them. It takes a little bit to get used to…having two more sides and it can make things more confusing at the end of the day you still got to get the job done so I’m fine with it.”
On what his goal is right now in TNA: “Just me and Eddie (Edwards) making a mark as one of the greatest tag teams in TNA history. There’s the Hardy Boys who’s back together and Team 3D is back together…there’s always Beer Money who could get back together. We want to test ourselves with those guys and leave our mark in TNA.”
On his thoughts on his WWE tryout with Eddie Edwards: “We did a one week tryout for them and that was about it. It’s not somewhere where I longed to work for their travel schedule doesn’t work for me. I’m not moving down there and getting trained how to wrestle again I’ve already been trained and if I don’t’ have it now then I won’t have it.”
TNA has announced a ladder match for the X-Division Championship, as well as some celebrity appearances for this Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view event.
– Eric Young vs. MVP (TNA World Title)
– Bully Ray vs. Ethan Carter III
– Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley
– Willow vs. Magnus
– Manik vs. Tigre Uno vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Sanada vs. Eddie Edwards vs. Davey Richards (Ladder Match For X-Title)
– Mr. Anderson vs. James Storm
– Austin Aries vs. Kenny King
– The Von Erich Family to appear
– JUST ANNOUNCED: George Selvie and the Dallas Cowboys to on Sunday
– Kurt Angle to announce next TNA Hall Of Fame inductee
– Make sure to visit SEScoops.com this Sunday night for live TNA Slammiversary PPV play-by-play results coverage.
– Davey Richards noted in a recent interview that he and Eddie Edwards will be defending the TNA Tag-Team Championships at the Slammiversary pay-per-view this Sunday. While he wouldn’t announce who their opponents will be, he did say that fans would “dig it.” You can check out the interview at FightNetwork.com.
– TNA stars Velvet Sky, Taryn Terrell, Jessie Godderz and Bully Ray were in attendance on behalf of the company at the Spike TV “Guys Choice Awards,” which airs tonight at 9pm EST.
– The following is the ninth installment of Kurt Angle’s “#MyComeback” video series:
The following are results from TNA’s “World Cup” pay-per-view taping, which took place on Saturday night in Orlando, Florida.
The teams were selected by way of a draft. The teams were as follows:
Captain Eric Young with Bully Ray, Eddie Edwards, Gunner and ODB.
Captain Kurt Angle with Davey Richards, Mr. Anderson, Sanada and Madison Rayne.
Captain Ethan Carter III with Jessie, Robbie E., Magnus and Gail Kim.
Captain Bobby Roode with James Storm, Kenny King, Samuel Shaw and The Beautiful People.
Qualifying Matches
– Eddie Edwards def. James Storm
– The Bro Mans def. Mr. Anderson and Sanada
– Gail Kim def. Madison Rayne
– Eric Young def. Bobby Roode
– Kurt Angle def. Magnus
– Angelina Love def. ODB
– Ethan Carter III def. Davey Richards
– Bully Ray & Gunner def. Kenny King & Samuel Shaw
TNA World Cup Finals
(The remaining two teams, captained by Young and EC3, met in elimination matches.)
– ODB def. Gail Kim
– Robbie E. def. ODB
– The Bro Mans def. Eddie Edwards
– Bully Ray def. Jessie
– Robbie E. def. Bully Ray
– Gunner def. Robbie E.
– Magnus def. Gunner
– Eric Young def. Ethan Carter III via DQ.
– Eric Young def. Magnus to win the TNA World Cup for his team.
– TNA star Kurt Angle’s comments about WWE in interviews that were arranged for him to promote TNA events, as well as his recent tweet about Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton, are seen within TNA as Angle preparing for life elsewhere once his contract with the company expires this coming fall.
– Apparently Bully Ray is very high on Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards as talents. Ray has reportedly been protective of them when it comes to how they are booked by TNA.
The original plan for Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards debut in TNA was for the two to win the TNA Tag-Team Titles from The Bro Mans right out of the gate.
According to one source, TNA changed the plan because creative writer Dave Lagana feels the company has finally gotten The Bro Mans over as a tag-team.
As things stand now, Richards and Edwards are set to work a program with Christopher Daniels and Kazarian.
Former Ring Of Honor standouts Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards have signed one-year agreements with TNA Wrestling.
Richards and Edwards will be allowed to work independent wrestling shows, as long as they are approved by TNA ahead of time, but are restricted from working any internet pay-per-view events, appearing on regional television shows, or any events that will appear on DVDs sold in retail stores.
As far as Japan is concerned, it is believed that Richards and Edwards will be limited to working for Keiji Mutoh’s Wrestle-1 promotion, as TNA has a working agreement with them.
Former ROH Tag Team champions Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards made their TNA television debuts on Thursday’s Genesis edition of Impact Wrestling.
They appeared in a backstage segment with TNA President Dixie Carter, who said she’s excited for their “tryout match” on next week’s show. Their team name is The Wolves, a variation of their “American Wolves” name in ROH. Carter told the Wolves that if they impress her, they might be offered contracts. This is obviously a reference to their short stint in WWE NXT, where they worked at the WWE Performance Center and wrestled on an NXT TV taping, but were not signed.
Davey Richards said that they’ve already been signed to contracts by a new “TNA investor” – also playing off the reports that country music star Toby Keith was at one point in talks with TNA about investing in the company.
Despite the fact that Dixie Carter said they’d be wrestling on next week’s show, they did not wrestle at the Genesis Week 2 tapings that took place on Thursday night.
– Both Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards have officially arrived in Huntsville, Alabama, the site of tonight’s TNA “Genesis” event. As previously reported, the two are expected to make their TNA debuts tonight. As we mentioned recently on the website, TNA president Dixie Carter teased new talent debuting at Genesis, with the initials “D.R.” and “E.E.” as a tease.
– TNA star Ethan Carter III alluded to the Richards/Edwards debut in addition to hyping his own match with Sting. EC3 posted the following tweet today:
42. @TNADixie promises "New" faces tonight. I promise to become the "New" Icon. Carters always keep their promises. @sting#50TweetsToSting
TNA President Dixie Carter tweeted the following on Wednesday, revealing a hint about two new faces we’ll see on Thursday’s live Genesis edition of Impact Wrestling:
“DR” amd “EE” are former ROH tag team champions Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards, who recently did a short stint at WWE NXT but were not signed to contracts.
According to reports, Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards will not be returning at the next set of WWE NXT television tapings, nor will they be offered a contract by WWE.
Apparently Triple H didn’t want to sign the two after their recent WWE tryout due to their size. The feeling within WWE right now is that the company has enough talent that isn’t very big, but can “go” in the ring. Because of this mindset, the company was looking for guys who fit a different description in the most recent tryout camp.
A lot of people reportedly went to bat for Richards and Edwards, saying that not only should WWE sign them, but should immediately push them to the main roster. Ultimately, WWE decided not to sign the two.
Apparently the WWE tryout of Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards was not at first intended to lead to a deal for them with the company. The idea was that they worked the first week in NXT and if the company liked them, they would be brought to Orlando to work at the Performance Center and some NXT shows for the first few months of 2014. If everything at that point went accordingly, then that would have led to a deal for the two.
As of right now, there is still no real word on whether or not Richards and Edwards will be coming back to WWE after the first of the year, but it is apparently expected.
Additionally, there is some talk that TNA is either getting ready, or may already have, made a play themselves to get Richards and Edwards to join their company.
– Though UNLVTickets.com’s advertisement promoting an appearance by Batista for WWE’s upcoming live event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, February 16, 2014 was removed, there are still some radio ads in the area saying he’ll be at the show.
– A Six-Man Tag Team Match pitting Daniel Bryan, Cody Rhodes and Goldust against The Wyatt Family that was taped Wednesday night in San Antonio, Texas was edited off Friday’s SmackDown broadcast on Syfy.
– Eddie Edwards, who is currently working for WWE on a trial basis in Orlando, Florida, said at last night’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show in Reseda, California said that it would be his farewell show. Edwards, however, did not reveal his future plans.
– Independent wrestler Slyk Wagner Brown now runs a wrestling school in Waterbury, Connecticut. Those interested in visiting the school can contact him at SWB4Real@yahoo.com. He says he trained Eddie Edwards and former TNA Knockout Roxxi.
– WWE NXT Diva Leah Van Damme has been given her official WWE ring name, which is “Carmella.” Also, Ashley Sebera has been given her official ring name, which is “Dana Brooke.”
– The Ascension vs. Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards match will indeed be airing on the special 200th episode of WWE NXT on Wednesday evening. The WWE NXT official Twitter account tweeted the following:
Who will answer @VikorRiseWWE & @KonnorWWE’s Open Challenge for a shot at the NXT Tag Team Championship? Watch on @Hulu#NXT200
As previously reported, new WWE developmental talent Davey Richards was pulled from his “farewell match” at the upcoming Ring Of Honor “Final Battle” event on December 14th in New York City. Richards, who was scheduled to team up with Eddie Edwards to take on the duo of Jay Lethal and Roderick Strong, was reportedly pulled due to some comments he made in a Total Wrestling Magazine interview in the United Kingdom.
Richards has since been announced as a participant in the competing Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) show on the same night in Vorhees, New Jersey. Richards will work on the “Cage of Death” show on 12/14 in an unannounced match. Also on that show will be former WWE NXT star Kassius Ohno, who is returning to his “Chris Hero” persona, as he faces CZW Heavyweight Champion Drew Gulak.
As far as the ROH “Final Battle” show is concerned, Matt Hardy recently took to his YouTube account to release a video promo he did claiming he will “help ROH out” and give the aforementioned Edwards a “farewell rub” as he offered to replace Richards and work alongside Edwards in the tag-team match against Lethal and Strong.
According to reports, WWE NXT writer Ryan Ward is making a push for Triple H to sign top former Ring Of Honor stars Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. Apparently the two also received good reactions from NXT trainers Billy Gunn and Bill DeMott.
WWE is going to allow both Richards and Edwards to finish out their commitments with Ring Of Honor, including the upcoming ROH show in New York City on December 14th, but the company has apparently told them not to take any additional dates with ROH.
– We recently reported via Indian media outlets that a giant by the name of Rajesh Kumar said he was training in Japan to wrestle for WWE and was motivated after meeting WWE Superstar The Great Khali. People in Indian apparently refer to Kumar as “The New Khali,” however, WWE claims to have no affiliation with anyone with Kumar’s name.
– The latest WWE update on Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards is that there were no issues with their most recent tryout with the company. Richards and Edwards are scheduled to return for the next set of WWE NXT television tapings in January, but have not been offered official contracts as of yet.
– Puerto Rican wrestler Sebastian Guerra, who is a 21 year old, 6-foot-5 and 285-pound independent worker, was at the same WWE tryout camp that included Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Joey Ryan and several others a few weeks ago. WWE apparently wants Guerra to gain additional experience and learn the English language better before doing something with him. As a result, Guerra is expected to head to Ohio Valley Wrestling for further training and to attempt to improve his English by living there.
– Current word is that Paul Heyman is not expected back on WWE television for several more weeks. As previously reported, Heyman is expected to be brought back when Brock Lesnar makes his television return to the company.
At last night’s WWE NXT tapings from Winter Park, Florida, former Ring of Honor tag team champions Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards made their NXT in-ring debuts as the American Pitbulls.
Rob Feinstein, the original owner of Ring of Honor has revealed the details behind Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards’ unique relationship with WWE.
In a Facebook post, Feinstein revealed that The Pitbulls are NOT signed to a WWE contract, but will be working in NXT at and the Performance Center. After a few months, WWE will give them a chance on Smackdown to see if they can get over. If they do, they’ll get signed. Feinstein wrote:
“Here is the deal with them. I knew about this about a month ago but out of respect to all parties involved I felt it was not in my best interest to say anything….They have not been hired by the WWE. In fact Joey Matthews and Steven Regal had to push for them to get looked at because HHH does not want anymore “top Indy” guys and actually said he already has “so and so”, who I will not name and his stance was why would I need another two that are already like him when we already have a few of that kind of person.
“HHH feels that guys from ROH and PWG are hard to transform because they have their set ways and its harder for them to break them down and remold which I understand. So the deal with them is that they are not under contract. They reported to NXT this week and actually have a few other dates that they are still going to work for since they are prior bookings. They are also going to keep them as a tag team and after a few months I have been told they are going to Smackdown as a tag team to see if they get over….If they do get over they will get offered a contract.”
Richards and Edwards are still scheduled to work for Ring of Honor’s Final Battle event on December 14th, where they are rumored to be facing Roderick Strong and Jay Lethal.
Earlier this week, we reported that Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards (former ROH tag champions The American Wolves) would be receiving another tryout this week at the WWE Performance Center.
Richards and Edwards wrestled at last night’s NXT tapings using the new ring name “The American Pitbulls.” They wrestled The Ascension. Their match will air on the December 18th episode of NXT on Hulu.
While still not officially under contract to WWE, word is that former top Ring Of Honor stars Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards will be appearing at the WWE NXT television tapings this Thursday night from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
Both Richards and Edwards have yet to go through the drug testing and the medical testing that WWE requires when they sign new talents. Regardless, the decision has apparently been made to use Richards and Edwards at NXT this week.