Ahead of his WWE Super ShowDown matchup, John Morrison spoke about travelling to Saudi Arabia with The National. During the interview, Morrison also opened up about being back in WWE, confessing that it still “surreal” to him.

Looking to his “important” matchup in Saudi Arabia, Morrison shared his excitement over being back in the Middle East. “I’m excited. I’ve been to the Middle East before, but I am big on ‘first time ever’ experiences and I’ve seen Crown Jewel and it just looked wild. I’m excited for this and I can’t wait to feel the energy of the crowd.”

Morrison left WWE back in 2011. The once again-SmackDown Superstar confessed he never meant to leave the promotion for as long as he did. Despite getting the chance to travel the world and wrestle for several promotions, “you can’t compare wrestling for WWE to wrestling for any other place.”

He also highlighted how WWE is the biggest platform in the world, and that every detail is done to perfection.

John Morrison’s Future Goals

Given his accomplishments outside of WWE, he was then asked what he hopes to accomplish now that he has returned. Morrison has a grounded goal in mind: striving to be the best version of himself he can be.

“If you asked me that question 10 years ago the answer would be to main-event WrestleMania and that is still the answer, but because there are a lot of things about wrestling you can’t control it is really now about being the best version of myself,” he stated. “Keeping up physically and unlocking new movement patterns is something I’m always interested in, different combinations of movements. Outside of the ring it is about realizing the people closest to me are the most important.”

John Morrison and The Miz face off against The New Day at WWE Super ShowDown for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. The event takes place on February 27th from Mohammed Abdu Arena on the Boulevard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Returning WWE Superstar John Morrison has opened up about his upcoming matchup at WWE Super ShowDown. According to Morrison, the tag match against the New Day is the “most important” matchup he’s had since returning to WWE.

Speaking with Arab News, Morrison addressed the match, admitting he is “ridiculously excited” to be travelling to Saudi Arabia. He is fully aware of how important it is to be wrestling for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions with his former partner, The Miz.

“Kofi and Big E (The New Day) are no joke,” John Morrison said. “They are individually talented and together they are very dangerous. For The Miz and I to beat them requires 100 percent focus and for us to be on top of our game. That’s what I’m planning on doing.”

John Morrison On Super ShowDown Being Like WrestleMania

John Morrison liked Super ShowDown to WWE’s premiere event, WrestleMania. He noted how it gives families a chance to feel the electricity and excitement of WWE. He added how Super ShowDown has the power to “capture the imagination of the people” in the same way ‘Mania does.

Having initially left the promotion in 2011, rumors began circulating that John Morrison had re-signed with WWE last year. He would eventually make his return to the company, once again aligning himself with The Miz.

WWE Super ShowDown takes place on February 27th from Mohammed Abdu Arena on the Boulevard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Taya Valkyrie is working alongside her husband, John Morrison, on a horror film with a premise many wrestling fans will likely find quite entertaining. The film “The Iron Sheik Massacre” focusses on a toy Iron Sheik doll that becomes sentient. The doll then targets a group of new school wrestlers who it feels are insulting old school wrestling traditions. The sentient Iron Sheik doll will be voiced by none other than the Iron Sheik himself.

Valkyrie and Morrison co-wrote the script together on their Honeymoon.

Valkyrie spoke to Metro.co.uk recently about the project.

“As of right now, last week John was doing some meetings with the special effects people,” Valkyrie told Metro.

“It’s a very effects-heavy short film because of the nature of it being a horror-comedy. There’s a lot of stuff that’s being worked on right now that did take longer than expected – I’m slowly learning about this. I always thought things just happened, and they were out and ready [laughs] – which sounds ridiculous, but I’ve learned that things take time.”

“It is taking its time, but I think it’s all going to be extremely worth it. We have some of the best special effects people working on it. It will be done this year, 120%.”

John Morrison spoke to BANG Showbiz about the project last May.

“The last thing that I did that I’m finishing right now is a horror-comedy short that Taya and I wrote on our honeymoon. It’s called ‘The Iron Sheik Massacre’,” Morrison told the outlet.  

“It’s about a group of new school wrestlers who are dumping on old school wrestling, lightning hits the house and an Iron Sheik doll becomes sentient.”

The reports of John Morrison signing with WWE came out in September last year and WWE finally confirmed the return of the former Champion in December.

Morrison then made his first WWE appearance in 8 years when he showed up during a backstage segment on the January 3rd episode of SmackDown and the latest WWE Chronicle episode documents the events of his return.

In the episode of the WWE documentary series, John Morrison talked about his comeback and revealed that a ‘butt dial’ from Vince McMahon actually led to his return.

Per Morrison, he first thought of returning to the company towards the end of his run as the Impact World Champion and he then decided to make a move. He texted Vince McMahon and got a callback but it turned out to be a ‘butt dial’

“Towards the end of my run as Impact Champion I felt like it was time for me to make a move to a bigger organization, and the biggest wrestling organization is here [in WWE],” Morrison said. “I texted Vince, he texted me back,”

And then, actually he called me right away after that, and I picked up the phone. I was like, ‘Oh my God, Vince is calling me.’ He goes, ‘Hey John. Sorry, that was a butt-dial. Let’s talk next week.'”

• Also Read: Speculation Over John Cena Returning At Royal Rumble

John Morrison then recalled how he had a long talk with Mr. McMahon after this call, which led to a series of good talks with The Game, Triple H and his re-signing.

The former IC Champion also said that in his head, he felt that the door for his WWE return was always open because he treated people really good but he had gotten a little bit nervous due to all the time that had gone by.

John Morrison has reunited with his former tag team partner the Miz since his return and WWE recently announced that both these stars are going to be competing in the Royal Rumble match this Sunday.

In the opening segment of the January 10 edition of SmackDown, John Morrison made his appearance on his former tag team partner The Miz’s MizTV segment. He insulted the audience for booing The Miz, establishing himself as a heel.

The two found themselves in a confrontation with SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day. John Morrison helped The Miz win his match against Kofi Kingston in a rematch from last week’s episode. Morrison took out Big E at ringside which was enough to help Miz win.

A singles match between Morrison and Big E was later announced, which will take place on next week’s SmackDown in Greensboro.

After the match, in a backstage interview, Kayla Braxton talked to Miz and Morrison and mentioned how Morrison’s return was advantageous to him.

“I mean, honestly like – I just cannot believe he’s back,” Miz said of Morrison’s return.

They then joked around and compared their abs after which Kayla asked Morrison how he felt to be out there in front of the WWE Universe after eight years. Morrison said that it was his best night in those eight years.

“Eight years… I mean this has gotta be the best night in eight years that they have ever had. No just kidding. Honestly, that I have ever had. I am joking around a lot but really it touches your heart to be out there under the light. To be out there with The Miz, with Mike. To be out there with everybody. It’s cliche to say it feels like home but it feels like home,” Morrison said describing his return to the company.

“You know it’s funny like, coming back from like, God it was what? 2007, 2008, 2009?” Miz reminisced about his past with John Morrison. “Those years were some of the best years of our lives, like we grew up in this business together, elevating one another to get better, to be better, and now we’re back again. So all I can say to everyone out there in WWE is: be jealous!”

John Morrison appeared on WWE television which marked his official WWE return as he did so on WWE Friday Night SmackDown with a backstage appearance. 

Morrison appeared in a segment on Friday’s episode in Memphis, TN at the FedExForum on FOX. This marked his first appearance on WWE television in years.

The segment before saw Kofi Kingston pin The Miz in a short singles match. After the match, Miz attacked Kingston from behind. Big E rushed into the ring only for  Miz quickly escaped to ringside. 

John Morrison Appears

Morrison’s return happened when a backstage interviewer was trying to get a comment from The Miz but Morrison answered the door to his dressing room instead. 

It was reported that Morrison had agreed to a deal to return to WWE back in September. Several weeks ago, WWE and Morrison confirmed the signing. 

During his first stint with WWE, Morrison found success both as a singles and tag team star including a run with Miz where they were tag team champions. 

Morrison, who worked for the company between 2002 and 2011, stayed busy outside of the company. He worked for promotions such as Lucha Underground, AAA and Impact Wrestling over the last nine years.

Morrison had been under contract with the promotion since 2017 where he became a top star for them with his Mayor of Slamtown” persona. He also became a top star for the El Rey Network’s Lucha Underground promotion where he performed as Johnny Mundo. 

• WWE Friday Night SmackDown Results & Live Coverage (1/3)

WWE has confirmed the return of John Morrison.

The reports of Morrison signing a new contract with the company first came out in September. However, at the time, the former Champion had denied the claims.

Now WWE has officially confirmed John’s return to the company and they have announced that he has signed a new multi year deal with the promotion. The news was broken by Ryan Satin on the latest episode of WWE Backstage as seen below:

The former IC Champion himself also commented on the news after the announcement and he made the following tweet, saying that he can’t wait to stand in a WWE ring again:

John Morrison started his wrestling career in WWE itself when he was chosen as a participant for Tough Enough III in 2002. He went on to become a co-winner of the show and was offered a WWE contract.

Morrison made his main roster debut in 2004 after spending some time in development. He stayed with the company for almost nine years and won over half a dozen titles before being released by the promotion in 2011.

The WWE star has competed for a number of well-known wrestling promotions since leaving the company including Lucha Underground and AAA and just recently, he had a stint with Impact Wrestling as well.

According to WWE, the former Champion’s TV return and brand affiliation are yet to be determined and we’ll keep you posted on any announcement regarding the same.

WWE Backstage correspondent CM Punk replied to Morrison’s announcement. Punk joked that if he wants to work with the most talented person in the wrestling business, he’ll have to go to Japan.

An interesting rumor is going around online regarding a potential name that could be revealed as the fourth and final member of Team Ciampa at NXT TakeOver: WarGames III. 

That star is former WWE Intercontinental Champion John Morrison, also known as Johnny Impact from his time with Impact Wrestling.

The rumor is that he will be the final member of the team, who has yet to be revealed, as WWE has been waiting for the right time to put him back on television.

Dolph Ziggler Addresses John Morrison WWE Rumors

Triple H stated on a media conference call earlier this week that WWE would keep the final member a secret until the night of the show, which he called epic. 

It was reported that Morrison had agreed to a deal to return to WWE back in September. Since that time, WWE and Morrison have not confirmed the signing. 

Tommaso Ciampa, Donovan Dijak, and Keith Lee have been confirmed thus far for the team. They’ll take on The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) in a Men’s WarGames Match. 

WWE presents the NXT TakeOver: WarGames III event on Saturday, November 23, 2019 in Rosemont, Illinois at the Allstate Arena that will air on the WWE Network.

Impact Wrestling star Taya Valkyrie was recently asked about the chances that her husband, John Hennigan, will return to WWE.

Speaking with Forbes, Valkyrie stated “[…] we don’t really talk [about potentially working for two different promotions]. We’re together all the time and I’ve never—in the almost four years that we’ve been together—there’s never been an argument or problem or like a lack of finding time for each other.”

She continued,” Even though we’ve worked together a lot of that time, part of that time—when we first started for example—I was living in Mexico. We were traveling back and forth and we made it work and no matter where he goes on his next step of his journey and his professional wrestling career, it’s going to be okay because we love each other, support each other and I know he’s got my back, I’ve got his back and it’s just part of life.”

Hennigan has wrestled under numerous pseudonyms including John Morrison, Johnny Impact and Johnny Mundo. He has reportedly signed a new deal with WWE.

At the time of writing, neither WWE nor Hennigan have confirmed the signing. Hennigan previously wrestled for WWE from 2002 to 2011. He is a former WWE Intercontinental Champion and multiple-time WWE Tag Team Champion.

The news of former Intercontinental Champion John Morrison signing a new contract with WWE left the wrestling world buzzing and people have been talking about it since the reports came out.

However, both WWE and Morrison had been quiet about it so far and it left fans wondering if the report of the former Star returning to the company is not accurate.

Now John has broken his silence and commenting on the matter on Twitter, he implied that the reports of him re-signing with the promotion are not true:

John Morrison left WWE back in 2011. WWE had offered him a new contract at the time but he chose not to re-sign with the promotion because he wanted better control over his time.

Since then, the former Champion has returned to the independent circuit and competed for a number of well-known promotions in America and Mexico.

He competed for promotions such as Lucha Underground and AAA. He also made his debut for Impact Wrestling in 2017 and started pursuing the Global Championship.

He went on have a long stint with the promotion which culminated in him wrestling his final match for the company at the Slammiversary XVII PPV in July this year.

It would be interesting to see how things develop after Morrison’s comments and we will have to wait to find out if he actually returns to WWE or not.

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion John Morrison has signed a new contract to return to the promotion, according to PWinsider.

John Morrison effectively started his wrestling career in WWE when he was chosen as a competitor for Tough Enough III in 2002 and he became the co-winner of the show.

He spent some time in development after the win and Morrison, along with Joey Mercury and Melina made his main roster debut with a tag team championship win over Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero in April 2005.

After his debut, John went on to have a lengthy and successful run with WWE. Before his release from the company in November 2011, he had won over half a dozen championships in the promotion.

After his release from WWE, John Morrison started competing in the independent circuit. He has wrestled for a number of well-known promotions since his departure from WWE, including Lucha Underground, AAA and just recently Impact Wrestling.

There is no word yet on what is the length of Morrison’s new contract but in the current competitive environment, it’s not hard to imagine that the company has offered him a long term deal.

Now it would be interesting to see when the former Champion makes his return to the company and if he makes a surprise appearance during the SmackDown 20th anniversary show or the upcoming draft episodes.

Johnny Impact aka John Morrison is headed to Medellin, Colombia to undergo advanced stem cell treatment for his nagging injuries.

The 39 year-old shared the news on his social media yesterday. Morrison explained that he is excited to be heading to the South American country to receive the advanced treatment.

He wrote, “I’m excited to head to Medellin, Colombia, South America to receive according to my research safe and extremely advanced stem cell treatment for nagging injuries incurred over the last 18 years of making towns, bumping & feeding, & taking dudes to Slamtown”

John Morrison last appeared on Impact Wrestling at Slammiversary XVII where he challenged X Division Champion Rich Swann for the title. It was later reported that he was done with the company.

It’s great that he is trying to get treatment – there’s a lot going on in the wrestling world right now and since he’s done with Impact Wrestling it’s safe to say that he has essentially become one of the hottest free agents in wrestling.

Here’s hoping Morrison gets well quickly and after his treatment we can see him back in the ring again.

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion John Morrison was recently interviewed by CBS DC to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During the conversation, Morrison was asked about a possible return to WWE.

Morrison is a former ECW World Champion, Intercontinental Champion and Tag Team Champion under WWE. His run lasted for nine years from 2002 to 2011, before he departed to the independent circuit.

Since then Morrison has worked for various promotions such as Lucha Underground, AAA, IMPACT Wrestling and more.

In regards to a possible WWE return, Morrison admitted that WWE is a great company. Despite this, he assured that there are plenty of other cool promotions out there to work for. He’s happy with where he is currently at this point in his career and isn’t looking for a change:

“WWE is a great company. There is nothing specific on the horizon between me and them right now. I plan on staying with Lucha Underground for a while. As far as do I see anything on the horizon? Who knows.

“When I left WWE in 2012, I was planning on taking a year off, and now that’s turned into quite a while. But I couldn’t be happier outside of WWE right now, because of places like MLW, Impact Wrestling, Lucha Underground and independent promotions all over the place.

“There are a lot of really cool places to work outside of WWE, and I’m having a really great time doing that right now.”

– It was originally reported that WWE would be taping the second installment of the Mae Young Classic tournament on August 7th and 8th.

It turns out according to a report by F4Wonline.com that the sports entertainment company will be taping the tournaments on Wednesday, August 8th, and Thursday, August 9th at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.

As of this writing, there’s no word yet on when the first-round matches will air on the WWE Network or when the finals will take place.

– Thursday night marked the final night that former WWE and current Impact Wrestling star John Morrison would be a single man as he is set to marry fellow Impact star Taya Valkyrie this weekend.

Morrison took the time to spend some time with his good friends WWE stars Zack Ryder and The Miz along with Impact star Brian Cage.

https://instagram.com/p/BjeAarFnwhp/?utm_source=ig_embed

What are your thoughts on the WWE bringing back this tournament? Sound off in the comment section below.

John Hennigan is now confirmed as a contestant of the 37th season of the CBS reality competition series, Survivor.  ‘Survivor: David vs. Goliath’ was filmed in Fiji and will see “Davids” (underdogs who have overcome adversity) competing against “Goliaths” (standout athletes and lifelong overachievers) competing for the big $1 million prize.

Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst spoke to Entertainment Weekly about Hennigan being a perfect fit for the David vs. Goliath theme. “This guy that’s known as Johnny Mundo [a.k.a. John Morrison], the mayor of Slamtown. He’s a professional wrestler, he’s gigantic, he’s charming, and he’s smart. He started with advantage, he had a great family, and he’s used all of these skills to slay everybody his entire life.”

Hennigan is no stranger to the reality television scene, having won the third season of WWE Tough Enough along with Matt Cappotelli. He would later become a WWE Superstar, winning the Intercontinental Championship (3x), the WWE and World tag team championships and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.

Hennigan is part of the fourth season of Lucha Underground that premieres on June 13th. He’s also been working for Impact Wrestling as Johnny Impact and has competed for MLW. It’s rumored that he could be working for New Japan Pro Wrestling in the near future.

“Survivor: David vs. Goliath” will air this fall:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ae7J9byr8

Johnny Impact (Morrison/Hennigan/Mundo/Nitro) has not appeared on Impact Wrestling in several weeks. In storyline, Johnny has been targetted by the “Emo Princess” Jimmy Jacobs and his monster, Kongo Kong.

It appears his absence from recent television tapings has been due to participating in the upcoming season of the hit reality television program, Survivor. Earlier this week, several blogs and websites dedicated to the show released word of Johnny’s participation in season 37.

Back in November, the website “Surviving Tribal” stated the showrunners were looking for “Super Hero” types to participate in season 37. It is believed the season was taped in full throughout March and April in Fiji. The last time John Hennigan wrestled a match was in February for 5-Star Wrestling in Liverpool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wp-ayjD2KE

John Morrison Outside of Wrestling

Morrison is the 3rd person associated with the wrestling industry to be involved in Survivor. Ashely Massaro competed on Survivor: China but was the 2nd contestant to be eliminated. Johnny Fairplay, who had a brief run in TNA Wrestling, also competed on two seasons of the show.

IMDB credits obtained by Hennigan include the Netflix series GLOW, Shameless, Sharknado 5, and his own film “Boone: the Bounty Hunter”.

In addition to competing for Impact, Morrison has been a key player in each season of Lucha Underground thus far. A former Lucha Underground Champion, Johnny Mundo is the leader of the World Wide Underground along with his real-life fiancee, Taya Valkyrie, and cronies Jack Evans, PJ Black, and Ricky Mandel.

Morrison’s fiancee, Taya Valkyrie, also competes for Impact Wrestling. She is one of the top-ranked Knockouts in the division. Most recently, Taya defeated Kiera Hogan at the Redemption PPV. She was defeated by Allie 2 weeks ago on Impact in a Knockouts Championship match, however. Last week, a rematch between Hogan and Taya resulted in a no-contest after Tessa Blanchard got involved.

Former WWE Superstar John Morrison (also known as Johnny Mundo) recently did an interview with WSVN-TV Entertainment reporter Chris Van Vliet in his backyard where he has his own wrestling ring. During the interview Morrison talked about what it was like to work with Ricochet and seeing him go to WWE:

“It’s bittersweet to see him go. I wrestled Puma/Ricochet/Trevor all over the world by all these different names. He’s one of the best in the business right now and I’m really excited to see what happens for him at WWE and see him on NXT. It’s sad to see him go but when he was a kid he grew up watching WWF and I think it’s something he had to do for himself.

“He had to get there and see what it was like for himself. I think he’s going to kick ass there… Everyone’s going to miss Puma. I actually teared up on that last episode when he walked away. It was emotional man.”

If Morrison were to return to WWE, there are a ton of talents on the roster that he’d be excited about working with:

“There’s a lot of cool matchups that are waiting for me in the WWE. I’d love to teach Roman Reigns how to work. Just kidding. Seth Rollins. Unfinished business with The Miz. It’d be fun to get back in there and maybe do some Dirt Sheet episodes with him. Me, Miz, Ziggler and Zack Ryder would have a hell of a faction I think. I’ve never really had a long program with Cena. That’d be a fun one. I have a feeling that Daniel Bryan will be back when he gets cleared.”

After Morrison and The Miz split up as a tag team in WWE during their early days, Miz has gone on to enjoy a tremendous amount of success with the company. He is a former WWE Champion, main evented a WrestleMania with John Cena and defeated him, and has won the Intercontinental Championship several times. None of this comes as a surprise to Morrison:

“I’m not surprised. The Miz is someone who people are usually like ‘I can’t believe how well he’s doing. I can’t believe this, I can’t believe that.’ But to me he’s someone who really always defined what it takes to becomes a successful public persona and in-ring entertainer and to me that’s being authentic. The Miz is always emphatically himself. He’s always The Miz. He’s in my wedding party.”

Over the years in his professional wrestling career Morrison has wrestled under several names. He regrets doing this simply because he doesn’t own any of them:

“I don’t own any of these names. I don’t own Johnny World, Johnny Mundo, John Morrison, Johnny Nitro, Johnny Blaze or Johnny Impact. None of it. If I had my career to do over again, I think I would wrestle under my real name John Hennigan because if there was some sort of brand test associated with professional wrestling I would hardcore fail that test because I have so many names it’s confusing to me even. I don’t know how to introduce myself to people on the phone depending on who I’m talking to.”

Morrison also discussed the heat that has has with Vampiro:

“He’s always going to be a turd cutter. Are you kidding me? I believe he’s going to be back for Season 4. Him and I and Kevin Cross, Fantasma, Tejano and Dr. Wagner have some unfinished shenanigans in AAA. Pretty much if you ask the entire wrestling world they will agree with the turd cutter assessment as far as Vampiro goes.”

Its been a hectic schedule for Lucha Underground in preparation for the promotion’s fourth season. Morrision discussed what to expect from the organization when it finally drops:

“This is going to be an insane schedule. They’re going to try to get Season 4 done in 5 weeks. The entire season. I’m not even sure how it’s going to be scheduled, that has yet to be completely announced but I think we are going to be taping 3 days a week and so we’re probably going to be knocking out 6 episodes a week.”

5 Star Wrestling has announced the main event for their next live show on the UK’s FreeSports channel this Thursday. 5 Star Wrestling Champion John Morrison will be facing former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger for the belt inside Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena.

The company sent out the following press release hyping the match:

‘The All-American American’ Jake Hager will challenge John Morrison for the 5 Star Championship next Thursday night (February 8) at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle. This main event match was confirmed on Thursday night’s historic 5 Star Wrestling:LIVE on FreeSports broadcast as Hager defeated ‘English Lion’ Eddie Ryan then Morrison retained his belt against Rob Van Dam. Hager has vowed that he is in 5 Star Wrestling to become champion ever since he was unveiled as the company’s big money signing at a press conference in Sheffield in January. And the big Oklahoman reiterated this statement before he narrowly defeated his nemesis Ryan in an exciting bout at Liverpool Echo Arena. Meanwhile Morrison recorded his sixth successful defence in what is turning out to be an epic reign. Rob Van Dam joins AJ Styles, PJ Black, Carlito, Moose, Drew Galloway and Rey Mysterio as a who’s who of names that ‘The Shaman of Sexy’ has beaten in 5 Star Championship matches.

BREAKING NEWS from the 5 Star Wrestling website: John Morrison vs Jack Swagger 5 Star Championship match… https://t.co/UADQVQSnnP

— Brand (@5StarWrestling) February 2, 2018

5Star Wrestling has announced that both Rey Mysterio and John Morrison will be appearing on February 1st at the Echo Arena in Liverpool. The company recently made a groundbreaking deal with UK television channel FreeSports to broadcast live events across the United Kingdom throughout 2018 and beyond.

FreeSports is a channel available via the UK’s FreeView service, Sky, FreeSat, BT, TalkTalk TV and is available in over 22 Million homes.

Also currently announced for the show are Zack Gibson and Rob Van Dam.

Tickets for the show are available to purchase here.

BREAKING NEWS: John Morrison set to defend the 5 Star Championship, at the Liverpool Echo Arena on February 1st. The event will be broadcast LIVE on TV right across the UK thanks to FreeSports.

Tickets are available from https://t.co/w3tuYhNjHC https://t.co/gIrlBKOaTq

— Brand (@5StarWrestling) November 15, 2017

Former WWE Superstar John Morrison recently spoke to Brandon Kravitz on Open Mike on 96.9 The Game. Below are some of the highlights from his interview:

Working on Netflix’s Glow:

“GLOW was rad. First of all, it was one of the first names in wrestling I’ve had where I wasn’t using ‘John’ and one of the coolest names I’ve had, Salty ‘The Sack’ Johnson, was my name for GLOW. The whole cast and crew on GLOW was super dope; Marc Maron, Alison Brie, I also got to work with Marty Elias, the referee from Lucha Underground and Chavo Guerrero, who is getting more and more into doing a lot of stunt coordinating work in television. It was a real pleasure being on set. Jenji [Kohan], Carly [Mensch] and Liz [Flahive] the show creators and writers, really set a precedent for that show to have a really friendly tone. Everyone had a good time on set and I think it came across (to me) when I was watching the show. Me and Taya [Valkyrie] binged the entire season in two days. We loved it.”

Why he really left WWE:

“Really I left because I wanted more creative autonomy. At the end of my contract I got offered another deal to sign for another 3-5 years, and I wanted to take off to start doing some TV and film. Really, I left, ultimately to make a film like ‘Boone The Bounty Hunter’. I didn’t realize that ‘Boone The Bounty Hunter’ was the the movie I was going to put all of my time into and make when I left, but it’s why I left because I wanted to have some more control over my own time, and to be able to think about who I want to spend my time with and what I was spending time doing. I’ve been really happy knowing that everything’s worked out…”

How this is a good time to be outside of WWE:

“Wrestling is big time right now. MLW, December 7th [Never Say Never live event in Florida] is an example of another hot promotion right now that will be a really cool place for me to go work, and for fans to go see top notch wrestling. Lucha Underground season 4 was renewed, Impact Wrestling is happening. I’ve been involved in all of these new, really cool alternatives to WWE. It’s a really good time, I think, to be outside of [WWE], and like you said [WWE] has been number one for a long time, but if you’re not there, now’s the time where it’s possible to have good matches with hot crowds and have a good time as a professional wrestler with some more control over your own time.”

Quotes via WrestleZone

Lucha Underground star Johnny Mundo (a.k.a. John Morrison or Johnny Nitro) recently did an interview with ESPN to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Mundo discussed how Prince Puma’s (a.k.a. Ricochet) in-ring talent has challenged him, his life after leaving WWE, and how much of a help his fiancee, Taya Valkyrie, has been to him. Here are the highlights:

How Prince Puma’s in-ring talent has challenged him:

“Prince Puma is one of the most talented people in the history of the business. He can do anything. He’s so ridiculously talented. When you’re in the ring with someone like him, that means that anything is possible. I mean, I could pretty much do anything I want to, so you’re dealing with two ridiculously talented performers who are gunning to steal the show, who both have a chip on their shoulder, who both have something to prove.

“He is just so strong, agile and quick that it’s impressive and sometimes scary to be in the ring with somebody that talented. On the other side of it, I love it because sometimes I’m in the ring with people that don’t challenge me in all those aspects — creatively, with their quickness, with their agility, with the way they think about things. So when I’m in the ring with somebody like Puma, it really forces me to level up and rise to the top of my game. It’s sometimes just face-melting, the kind of stuff that he can do.”

His life after leaving WWE:

“I thought things we’re gonna go much better, much faster [when I left WWE]. I worked on Boone: The Bounty Hunter for five years. I tried to find money for it. I couldn’t. I ended up selling my house to finance it personally. Lucha didn’t start until 2014. Impact, I just started with. I feel like I’ve been busting my ass since I left WWE to create opportunities. There are some things I did that I’m proud of that didn’t take off. I’ve tried to keep in mind throughout this whole journey, instead of taking the path of least resistance, take the path that I’m most passionate about. That’s been my guiding force.”

How much his fiancee, Taya Valkyrie, has helped him:

“Taya’s got my back. I can’t begin to tell you how helpful she is with the juggling of all the responsibilities. There’s a lot on my plate, but the cool thing is everything that I’m doing I’m really into. I love Lucha Underground. I love Impact. I love wrestling every weekend all over the world. I love promoting ‘Boone: The Bounty Hunter.’ I truly believe in all these things. Maybe most of all, my wedding with Taya. It feels like I don’t have a lot of free time these days, but the time that I spend is well-used.”

You can read Mundo’s full interview with ESPN by clicking this link here.

The first day of latest Impact Taping schedule was filled with a number of interesting events including the crowning of a new GFW World Heavyweight Champion and the Impact debut of a former WWE Intercontinental Champion.

As we noted before the first episode of Impact which was taped during the first day of the 4 days taping schedule saw the return of Jim Cornette.

Cornette announced a Gauntlet match for next week to determine the new GFW World Champion after Alberto El Patron was stripped of the title recently.

During the episode, they also announced the debut of former WWE Star John Morrison now renamed as Johnny Impact. The announcement was made through a video package which can be seen below:

JOHNNY IMPACT IS COMING #IMPACTonPOP #DestX #GFW #ImpactWrestling pic.twitter.com/eT1ldnogDa

— pwguru (@pwguru65) August 18, 2017

The episode featuring the Gauntlet match was taped later in the night and Johnny Impact made his debut during the Championship bout while coming out as a participant at number 13.

He stayed in the match for a while and was one of the final four contestants in it along with Moose, Eli Drake and Eddie Edwards, before being eliminated. Below are some of the photos of his Impact debut:

Spoiler 46: Johnny Impact is out next! pic.twitter.com/aMWIiCUs4L

— The Rogue Fan (@TheRogueFan) August 18, 2017

https://twitter.com/theredstandard/status/898366501111123970

Spoiler 55: Final 4 are Moose, Drake, Eddie Edwards, Johnny Impact pic.twitter.com/P2VSYlUwDe

— The Rogue Fan (@TheRogueFan) August 18, 2017

It’s worth mentioning here that John Morrison made his GFW debut during a Live Event earlier this month from Long Island New York on August 4rth.

It looks like John Hennigan (aka John Morrison and Johnny Mundo) will debut on Impact Wrestling in the near future.

The former WWE Superstar was scheduled to appear at StocktonCon 2017, an annual pop culture convention taking place on August 19 and 20 at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California. However, due to his contractual agreement with Global Force Wrestling, he is now unable to attend the event.

StocktonCon made the announcement earlier this week on Twitter.

Very sorry to announce that due to a contractural agreement with GFW Impact Wrestling, @TheRealMorrison is unable to attend StocktonCon

— Lodi Comic Con Spring – Saturday, May 10th!! (@StocktonCon) August 8, 2017

It was then announced that Melina Perez, Hennigan’s ex-girlfriend, will appear at StocktonCon 2017.

We are very excited to announce that @RealMelina will be a Special Guest at StocktonCon on August 19-20! pic.twitter.com/4vV4kObsDo

— Lodi Comic Con Spring – Saturday, May 10th!! (@StocktonCon) August 8, 2017

StocktonCon 2017 coincides with GFW’s next set of Impact Wrestling tapings, which takes place August 17 through August 20 at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando.

Hennigan appeared for GFW last weekend at non-televised live events in the Tri-state area. In his debut on August 5, he teamed with James Storm and Moose to defeat Ethan Carter III, Lashley, and Eli Drake in Staten Island, New York. He teamed with Storm and Moose again the following day in Bridgeport, Connecticut, beating Carter, Lashley and Low Ki.

• Who is Jessie in WWE NXT?

Former TNA World Champion already done with Global Force Wrestling

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, former TNA Champion Nick “Magnus” Aldis already finished with Global Force Wrestling. Magnus was offered a contract by GFW but ultimately decided not to sign back with the company. Magnus was only at the last set of Impact TV tapings under a handshake deal so GFW could  “protect the lineage of GFW title” and then give it to Alberto El Patron.

Magnus signed with TNA in 2008 and then was one of the first talents to sign with Global Force Wrestling in 2015 when the promotion was announced by Jeff Jarrett. The report added that many of the GFW talent deals require performers to give Global Force Wrestling 10% of the revenue they earn outside of GFW. The new deals also gives them none of the profits earned from selling merchandise bearing their likeness sold directly by Global Force Wrestling.

Per @SInow, GFW talent contracts now stipulate that 100 percent of all merchandise sold goes to the company.

That seems… lopsided.

— Jason Solomon ?? (@solomonster) July 19, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97FZGI1_HlU

Former Intercontinental Champion to make GFW debut

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion John Hennigan (John Morrison, Johnny Mundo) is set to make his Global Force Wrestling debut at the upcoming Impact live events in the New York Tri-state area. The live events will take place on August 4th in Long Island, August 5th in Staten Island and August 6th in Bridgeport, CT. Jeremy Borash recently announced that Hennigan will be making his GFW debut during a conference call.

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion and current Lucha Underground star Johnny Mundo (a.k.a John Morrison) recently appeared on former WWE Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian’s podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, to talk about his career since leaving WWE. You can check out what he had to say here:

Why he left WWE:

“I knew I wanted to do a movie, an action movie, and when I left WWE in 2011, I didn’t specifically know. I didn’t leave to do Boone: The Bounty Hunter. I left to do a movie and I wanted to be able to do what I’m best at, which I think is pro wrestling, parkour, and MMA-style fight choreo, and have a comedic, self-deprecating, have a reluctant hero be the star and have it be an action movie, an action comedy.”

Selling his dream house to fund his movie:

“I just kept cutting the budget further and further and further until we ended up with the current iteration of Boone, which I ended up having to fund because around 2014 it felt like, we had all this cast, director, and everyone attached. And we pushed the dates a couple of times. And it felt like if we pushed the dates again, it would slip away, so I ended up selling my house to fund the production of Boone: The Bounty Hunter. And once I did that, I was locked in because a half-finished movie, it turns out, isn’t worth anything.”

Using pro wrestling terminology in real-life:

“I assimilate things in life and just in general with [pro] wrestling all the time now. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be like I sit down at Denny’s and my eggs come out wrong, ‘uh oh, the server just turned heel.’ ‘It’s a cluster, oh God.’ ‘Looks like a TNA house show, uh oh.’ No offense.”

You can listen to Mundo’s interview with Edge & Christian by going to this link here.

H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions