John Cena posted a photo of Kenny Omega on his Instagram account. This is nothing new for Cena, as he has posted pictures of AJ Styles and CM Punk in the past. Following his loss to Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11, Omega has stated that he is leaving Japan. This could be Cena just getting the fans riled up or Omega may be making his way to the WWE. Cena posted a picture of AJ Styles on his Instagram just four days before he made his WWE debut at last year’s Royal Rumble. This has led many to speculate that Omega might make an appearance at this year’s Royal Rumble.
In a Impact Digital Exclusive, The Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) challenged Matt and Jeff Hardy. The teams will meet on this week’s episode of Impact with the Tag Team Championships on the line. You can check out the video below.
TNA Tag Team Champions The Wolves have signed new exclusive contracts with the promotion, according to a report by PWInsider.com.
Under the terms of the deal, any indie promotions looking to use Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards would have to book them through TNA.
TNA is said to be in the process of signing a core group of wrestlers to exclusive deals to avoid departures. In light of the embarrassing situation they created regarding AJ Styles & The Bullet Club slipping away, it’s probably not a bad idea to locking down their top performers.
TNA Tag Team Champions Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards recently appeared on Ring Rust Radio to discuss their brief stint in NXT and the differences between ROH and TNA matches. Here are the highlights.
Their brief run in NXT:
It was great. They treated us really well there. It was long days, but very enjoyable days. Everything they said they were going to do they did do and they were very respectful. The facility there is absolutely amazing, and we got to work with Dusty Rhodes at the time. We would definitely entertain the thought of going back there, but we are very happy with TNA so I don’t see any reason to leave at this time.
On the differences between ROH and TNA matches:
With ROH, you are going to have those longer matches that you won’t see week to week on TNA. Styles wise, TNA is quicker and flashier, where ROH is more hard hitting. You can’t go wrong with either one, so for wrestling fans in general just watch them both.
– There were two title changes on last night’s episode of Impact Wrestling. Global force Wrestling stars Trevor Lee and Brian Myers defeated The Wolves to become the new TNA Tag Team Champions. The Wolves will get their title rematch next week.
Bobby Roode also defeated GFW’s PJ Black to become the new TNA King of the Mountain Champion.
– TNA announcer Josh Mathews and TNA Knockout Madison Rayne were married in Nashville last week.
There were two more title changes at the TNA Impact Wrestling television tapings in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday night.
After losing the TNA Tag-Team Championships to “Team GFW’s” Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) and Trevor Lee at the tapings on Tuesday night, The Wolves won back the gold on Wednesday night. This marks the fifth TNA Tag-Title reign for Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards.
Another title change at the taping last night saw Gail Kim beat Brooke Tessmacher, Awesome Kong and Lei’D Tapa in a four-way match to become the new TNA Knockouts Champion. This is Kim’s fifth reign as Knockouts Champion.
As reported on Tuesday evening, Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) and Trevor Lee, representing Team GFW, defeated The Wolves to become the new TNA Tag-Team Champions at the TNA Impact Wrestling television tapings in Orlando, Florida. However, that wasn’t the only title change that took place last night.
In addition to the tag-titles, Bobby Roode, representing TNA, defeated PJ Black (Justin Gabriel) to become the new King Of The Mountain Champion.
Another big GFW vs. TNA spoiler from last night’s tapings saw Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett cut “shoot promos” on each other. This led to Carter announcing a “Winner Takes All” Lethal Lockdown match for Wednesday’s Impact Wrestling tapings with the winner taking all of TNA’s shares and controlling the company.
The match will be Team GFW vs. Team TNA’s Bobby Lashley, Drew Galloway and The Wolves.
The TNA vs. Global Force Wrestling (GFW) invasion angle continued in a big way at the TNA Impact Wrestling television taping tonight in Orlando, Florida.
There is no word yet on what exact date the show will air, however, Brian Myers (Curt Hawkins) and Trevor Lee defeated The Wolves to become the new TNA Tag-Team Champions.
– Tonight’s edition of TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America will feature the reveal of the new TNA authority figure. Also on tonight’s show are title defenses from TNA World Heavyweight Champion Ethan Carter III, TNA Knockouts Champion Taryn Terrell and TNA Tag-Team Champions The Wolves.
– TNA has a new article up on their official website, ImpactWrestling.com, focusing on Rockstar Spud granting a wish to a six-year old boy in the U.K. named Reegon. Reegon has been diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition. The wish came through TNA’s partnership with the U.K.’s “Starlight Foundation.”
“I can honestly say that not one thing I’ve accomplished in wrestling or in any other aspect of my life will stand out above this day,” said Spud of the day he spent with Reegon.
– Ethan Carter III defeated Kurt Angle on this week’s Impact Wrestling to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
– The Wolves defeated The Dirty Heels in a 30-minute Iron Man Match on Impact to win the vacant TNA Tag Team Titles. This is their 4th reign in TNA.
– The Beat Down Clan also defeated The Rising on Impact. As per the match stipulation, The Rising must now disband and Drew Galloway will officially break the group up on next week’s show.
Following Sunday night’s TNA Slammiversary, below is the updated lineup for this coming Wednesday night’s special “Bell 2 Bell” edition of TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America.
TNA World Heavyweight Title
– Ethan Carter III vs. Kurt Angle
TNA Knockouts Title
– Awesome Kong vs. Brooke Tessmacher vs. Taryn Terrell
TNA Tag Team Titles 30-Minute Iron Man Match
– Austin Aries and Bobby Roode vs. The Wolves
Losers Must Disband
– The Beat Down Clan vs. The Rising
– At the TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view on Sunday night in Orlando, Florida, Global Force Wrestling owner Jeff Jarrett won the main event to become the new TNA King Of The Mountain Champion. After the match, the announcers speculated on whether Jarrett will return to TNA now that he has the new title, or if he’ll take it to GFW with him.
– Also at the Slammiversary show last night, Austin Aries defeated Eddie Edwards in a singles match where the winner gets to pick the stipulation for The Dirty Heels vs. The Wolves tag-team title match at the TNA “Bell 2 Bell” special on Wednesday. Aries ended up winning the match and announced that the match will be a 30-minute Iron Man match for the TNA Tag-Team Titles.
One-half of The Wolves tag-team — Davey Richards — recently spoke with Marc Madison of The News Hub for an in-depth discussion. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On how joining TNA came about: “We were talking to TNA pretty much the whole time and I really wanted to go to TNA from the start and Eddie really wanted to give NXT a chance and check it out and I can understand. So we went down and TNA was really cool about it. They totally understood. We go and do our thing with NXT and TNA came to us with the deals and said hey we’ve got something for you and can get you guys started right away on TV. As soon as we cleared up things with NXT we told them we weren’t going to go any further and they said they weren’t willing to go any further and we had a contract with TNA within 5 minutes.”
On his time with NJPW: “It was a great experience. It was absolutely phenomenal. I was pretty much there full time for over two years. That was always the one company in Japan that I wanted to work for. I always wanted to be in the Super Juniors and I did that and wrestle in the Tokyo Dome and I did that. It was great and it really helped me to understand how a big company like that works. I always did the independents so it was a phenomenal thing and I learned a lot from those guys and I still carried a lot of what I learned there and work ethic and the professionalism that they embedded in me there carried it on to now. It approaches my style a lot to where wrestling is first and foremost as a sport and a time that I hold very near and dear to me.”
On which matches stood out throughout his career: “I really liked my matches with (Tetsuya) Bushi from Super Juniors in New Japan and then Ring of Honor I would have to say that 45 minute match between me and Eddie (Edwards), Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black as well it was in Canada I remember that was a really big one and I don’t really remember my world title wins because I was knocked out for most of it. I’m sure that was swell too. That match and then my matches with Bushi were just two of my matches I just remember having a lot of really fond memories and having a lot of fun in those.”
TNA performer Davey Richards was interviewed to promote the upcoming TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view event. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On what to anticipate at TNA Slammiversery: “We are going to do what we always do and go out there and deliver the best package of professional wrestling match that we can on the planet today. For this one, I don’t want to spill the beans but we’re going to have something truly special and something that hasn’t been done in a very long time and it takes a very unique blend and a lot of trust from a company to do and they are going to allow us to do it. It’s going to be something that I think we are going to be remembered for a very long time and something I’m very proud to be a part of. So definitely don’t miss it.”
On training under “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and Tony Kozina: “Paul was real old school. When I say old school, people always say what does that mean. He was really just get in there and do the basics over and over and over again I have a lot of respect for what you do where you had to have it perfect because you were taking someone’s life in your hands. I learned all the basics and a real good fundamental grasp of wrestling and Tony really helped me out with getting out there and getting my name known and getting out there and travelling and being recognized and really sacrificed a lot of things for himself to really help me get out there and make my name. I wouldn’t be where I am today without either one of those guys so I’m eternally in debt both are great guys. Paul was a little more scary and a little more stern and Tony is definitely the funniest person I have ever met so it’s very unique blend of guys.”
Check out the complete interview by clicking here.
Despite previous reports to the contrary, the rumored TNA Heavyweight Championship match between Kurt Angle and Ethan Carter III will not be happening at the upcoming TNA Slammiversary pay-per-view on June 28th.
Instead, the Angle-EC3 match is booked for the July 1st edition of Impact Wrestling and the contract signing for the bout will take place on this coming Wednesday’s episode. The match is currently scheduled to be taped at the Impact Wrestling tapings later this month, which is actually before the Slammiversary pay-per-view.
Speaking of TNA Slammiversary, while there is only one official match at this point — Magnus vs. James Storm — other matches rumored for the show include The Wolves vs. The Dirty Heels for the TNA Tag-Team Titles, Low Ki vs. Grado vs. Tigre Uno for the vacant TNA X-Division Title and Brooke vs. Awesome Kong vs. Taryn Terrell for the TNA Knockouts Title.
TNA executive John Gaburick announced this week that three talents have re-signed with TNA. Gaburick noted on Twitter that The Wolves — Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards, along with Bram, have all re-signed with the promotion.
TNA performer Jeremy Borash recently spoke with The Pain Clinic about a number of TNA-related topics. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On TNA’s ratings on Destination America: “Can you imagine that? A network actually putting out a press release, giving us credit for the credit we deserve? That’s a new one for us! Destination America has been great. When we made the move from Spike to Destination America, being part of a growing brand in the long term and being that network’s flagship show versus being kind of buried in the midst of a whole lot of other stuff, is really what we were looking for. So if you haven’t seen Destination America yet, you gotta get it. Great channel, a lot of great programming, and we are their flagship so you know it’s gotta be good. If you haven’t seen Impact, what I like about it is every week you see such a better show than what’s out there right now from anywhere else. Right now I think everything is kind of clicking. Those eyeballs are coming. We need more, obviously, so spread the word that Impact is kicking some serious tail on Destination America. It’s a great show.”
On additional TNA programming on Destination America: “We’ve got such a good roster right now. That’s the good thing about Destination America, there’s all kinds of programming on right now. Some things we’re going to develop for the future are going to be pretty exciting. Between Greatest Matches, between Unlocked, between Impact….I’ve got Impact on the season pass and I’m up watching TV at 2 a.m. and it notifies me that Impact is about to come on. I look and it’s a big marathon going all day! It’s very cool that we get so much presence on the network, no matter what time of the day it is.”
On if TNA will resume live events this year: “Yes, we are. I don’t think anything has been announced yet. We are going to some domestic places in North America, and some far region places as well. In fact, a place I’ve never been to before. We’ve been to a lot of places, but this will be a first for this country. I can’t say yet, we’ll be announcing it soon. There are some rumors out there I cannot confirm or deny, but, you know, where there’s smoke, there’s fire so I’ll say that much. It’s been way too long. Our live events, let’s not forget, have been stellar over the years. We always get great reviews for the experience and we do things a little differently, so we can’t wait to get that back on the road.”
On The Wolves and Eddie Edwards’ injury: “It was just a bummer, because they’re at the top of their game and they’re probably doing the best work of their careers. Eddie has an unfortunate foot break so he’s going to be on the shelf for a little bit, but I’ll tell you what, I’ve talked to him and heard from him. He will come back from this really fast. Not faster than he should, but the time he spends in physical therapy, he says he’s itching to come back real soon. The Wolves are two good dudes. I’m happy to see the success they’ve had on Impact, and hopefully they’ll get back on track as Eddie’s foot heals. At the same time I don’t mind Davey Richards singles matches in the meantime. We saw that with DJ Z, he’s just incredible. I want to see Davey in there with Kurt Angle; that would be amazing.”
On the rise of Ethan Carter III: “I just can’t believe that somebody in another company did not see all the potential that this kid has. He’s really remarkable. He’s one of those guys, and I’ve come across a few of them in my day, you just know someday they’re going to be a top guy, and he carries himself like that. There’s guys that get there by their athleticism and don’t really have the aura of a star—he’s got it all. I can’t stand him personally, but he’s got it all, I’ll give him that.”
On his thoughts on the current Knockouts division: “Personally, they are some of the coolest Knockouts we’ve ever had on the roster. Taryn Terrell is so funny, so cool. Brooke, Gail Kim….we have a very cool group of gals right now. The locker room, I think, has never been better for the Knockouts. So they’re thriving right now, and I think we’re going to see some good stuff from them for the rest of the year, as far as new things and new Knockouts coming in. Mia Yim, check her out, she’s starting soon. I don’t want to say too much.”
– After making their in-ring debuts on last night’s edition of TNA Impact Wrestling, Eli Drake (aka Shaun Ricker) and Micah (aka Camacho) have been added to TNA’s roster. The two, along with Drew Galloway, make up “The Rising” stable in TNA.
– The TNA Tag-Team titles have officially been vacated by The Wolves. On next Friday’s edition of Impact Wrestling, eight teams will battle for a spot in Ultimate X to crown the new champions. The teams involved will be The Hardys, James Storm & Khoya, Ethan Carter III & Bram, Rockstar Spud & Mr. Anderson, Austin Aries & Bobby Roode, Micah & Drew Galloway, Kenny King & Low Ki and BroMans.
– Below is a video preview for next week’s edition of Impact Wrestling on Destination America:
https://youtu.be/DusrUInc2w8
– TNA recently posted the following vignette for the upcoming debuts of Jade (aka Mia Yim) and Marti Belle.
– With Eddie Edwards currently suffering from an injury, The Wolves have vacated the TNA World Tag-Team Championships. The titles were vacated at the Impact Wrestling tapings on Friday night in Orlando, Florida.
As things stand now, the new TNA World Tag-Team Champions are expected to be decided by the end of the weekend.
– TNA executive John Gaburick announced the re-signing of MVP to the promotion. MVP joins a number of other talents who have re-signed with the company this week.
Below is Gaburick’s announcement of MVP’s re-signing.
Eddie Edwards has been diagnosed with a broken heel, which he suffered while wrestling a match at the TNA Xtravaganza pay-per-view taping this past weekend in Orlando, Florida.
Edwards was working a match against his tag-team partner Davey Richards when the injury occured. The timeline for his recovery from the injury is still unclear.
Edwards had to be helped out of the ring where he quickly sought treatment at a nearby hospital immediately following the match.
The following are highlights of a new interview with The Wolves from The Huffington Post U.K.’s “Royal Ramblings blog.”
In the excerpts below, Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards discuss their WWE tryout in late-2013 and whether or not they would ever go back.
Davey Richards: “I’m extremely happy where I’m at right now. I can never say never. I can tell you that I’d never go into their developmental system and I’m not saying that because I think I’m better than anyone there (I would say the developmental system has better talent than the actual roster). It’s not conducive to my lifestyle and that’s all. I’m not trying to put down their product, I have nothing bad to say to them but I’m happy where I’m at. I kind of lost my fire for wrestling and being in TNA, I got that fire back.”
Eddie Edwards: “It would be a hell of a deal but there’s no point in wasting time by thinking and talking -who knows. At the moment there’s a lot of stuff on, a lot on our plate which is all good stuff.”
– Kevin Nash worked as a special referee for a tag-team match between TNA stars The Wolves and The Maddox Brothers. After the match, Nash praised the two teams on Twitter.
Watched some great indy wrestling last night.The Wolf's vs the Maddox Bros. Nice to be a part of it.
– WWE Superstar Justin Gabriel played the heel against Adam Rose in his match at the WWE live event in Leeds on Sunday. Gabriel cut a heel promo before the match and during the match, was hit with “you can’t wrestle” chants and general heel heat from the fans in attendance. After the match, Gabriel joked on Twitter that as a result of the chants, he was leaving Europe earlier and skipping the rest of the shows. For the record, he is not.
Leeds you suck. I'm never coming back to this town. #WWELeeds
The following are highlights of a new Ring Rust Radio interview with Eddie Edwards:
Edwards on moving to Wednesday and Spike TV negotiations: “As far as the move to Wednesday, I think it was a good idea, you know, with the NFL having the Thursday night games televised now, I thought it was a good idea because it’s a similar fan base and it’s just a smart thing to do. As far as the contract situation, you know, we have nothing to do with that so we just focus on our stuff in the ring and let that stuff handle itself; if you can’t control it, no need to worry about it.”
Edwards on working with Team 3D and The Hardys, and what he and Davey Richards have learned from the experience: “I mean, we have no choice but to learn from being in the ring with those guys. Both teams are legends and me and Davey both watched them growing up and we want to have careers like both of those guys. Being in there, you have no choice but to learn and see what true tag wrestling is and it’s just an honor to be in there with guys of that caliber.”
Edwards on whether he prefers to work tag team or singles: “Right now it’s all tag team stuff, I feel like we have something great going and I would never want to do anything to deter that. Do I look forward to singles matches? Yes, but right now the main concentration is tag wrestling.”
On disappointment that The Wolves are not scheduled for Bound For Glory: “I think as competitors we want to be on every event that they have, but I think they were just trying to play it safe due to Davey’s injury and whatnot. I know that we’re both disappointed but they gotta do what’s best for the company. Either way it’ll still be a great show.”
The most important aspect of building an entertaining match: “I think it would be trying to connect with the fans. The crowd, you have to get that emotion out of them, so that’s the main focus because if the crowd is not paying attention and they’re not emotionally involved they’re not going to care, so you have to make that connection.”
On some of the differences between American wrestling and Japanese wrestling, both in terms of style and crowd interaction: “The style is definitely more hard-hitting and more intense than one might see in the States, and the crowd, you almost have to earn their respect because they almost look at it as a pure sport over there, so they’re waiting to see what you can do and once you get them reacting to what you’re doing, you know you’re doing something right because they won’t just give it to you, you have to earn it.”
Independent wrestlers who would be a good fit in TNA: “There’s so many talented guys out there right now, the Indies is overflowing with them. It’s unfortunate because obviously everyone can’t be seen all the time, but obviously Ring of Honor has a lot of great guys, I don’t know if they’re considered Indy or not, but look at the roster for PWG. You could just pick and choose from that roster and so many of those guys would be ready to jump right into TNA.”
Would Edwards prefer to wrestle with Davey Richards in a tag team match or wrestle against him in his final match either with the company or his career: “That’s a good one, could I do them both? I don’t know, it’s a tough one, I think it’d be, depending on who our opponents are, tag wrestling.”
– TNA posted the following video of The Wolves talking about Davey Richards’ injury, as well as Full Metal Mayhem.
http://youtu.be/JDoPCQQzK0I
– TNA stars Robbie E. and Brooke Tessmacher survived another week on The Amazing Race on CBS last night. The two finished in seventh place, so they will advance to next week’s episode. Below is a clip of the two on last night’s show.