Alberto El Patron has commented on last night’s locker room brawl with Alan Xtreme/Rafy of IWRG’s Ninja Turtles in Naucalpan, D.F., Mexico with the following tweet:
Just to clarify. If you inappropriately touch my fiancee in front of my face you have to prepare to learn a lesson. #Respect
As we noted last night, one of the stories going around was that Alberto thought Rafy had touched Paige, so it’s no surprise that this is Alberto’s official version of what happened. Late last night, he had tweeted this after the story had broken in English language wrestling media:
As for Rafy, late last night (as in before Alberto’s comments), Lucha World’s Alfredo Esparza noted that the luchador posted on Facebook that the fight happened but everyone should move past it:
Tortuga Ninja Rafy update from his facebook page. He said Alberto & him had a fight, threw punches, he's okay. Move on. @luchablogpic.twitter.com/DVcOPobU6k
To wit, as noted last night, the loudest voice on social media was IWRG wrestler and backstage figure AK-47, who was posting on Facebook about how Alberto “nearly killed” Rafy. That said, Super Luchas reports that Alberto had another locker room incident recently, as at WWC Lockout on December 3rd, he got into a “heated argument” with Robbie E. over something having to do with Paige.
– As noted last week, Vader was involved in a serious car accident last Tuesday that left him trapped upside down for more than 30 minutes while unconscious. Vader tweeted this photo of his wrecked car, noting that he rolled over twice.
Rolled it over twice I was loke a giant penatta That bigdent is where my head was A very thanful Vader Time pic.twitter.com/hQ0buFnVQs
– Here’s the official logo for WWE’s new 205 Live cruiserweight series, which premieres on the WWE Network next Tuesday November 29th following SmackDown Live on the USA Network.
Powerbomb TV, the upcoming fully independent streaming service, made some big announcements on Saturday when they tweeted about their first content partners:
As we said, Lucha Libre will be a big part of https://t.co/mfZ70gKUdN. We're proud to announce that we've partnered with RIOT Lucha Libre…
Analysis: This definitely differentiates Powerbomb TV from WWE Network, Flo Slam, and Highspots Wrestling Network right out of the gate. With both Flo and Highspots carrying some of the bigger name indies plus WWE likely eyeing a lot of the same groups as Flo, this immediately gives Powerbomb a unique hook.
Plus, in the event that one of the bigger players were to pick up shows from one of the top lucha libre promotions like CMLL, AAA, or Elite, then fans who got into the Mexican scene through those services could see more from the same wrestlers on Powerbomb TV. In Mexico, independent shows are flush with name talent booked from the major offices, and there are no restrictions on who can appear on video like with American indie shows.
Billy Corgan’s very public argument Thursday with Anthem Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of The Fight Network, keeps going late Friday afternoon in the form of Corgan replying to The Fight Network’s tweets about the situation:
To break this down, it looks like the tweet about Anthem “lying through counsel” relates to their promise to pay back the money he loaned to TNA by the November 1st deadline set in Corgan and TNA’s agreement. An attorney for Anthem appeared in court during the Corgan/TNA hearing in Nashville last week for that reason.
Analysis: Whatever you think of Corgan, he comes off much better than Anthem here. He’s right that Anthem really has no business saying that there’s “public discourse” about the situation “is inappropriate” when they issued multiple press releases about the situation, one of which dropped the bomb that he was out of TNA without any explanation. And he’s also right to clarify that he hasn’t been paid back if that’s the situation, since the press release was incredibly vague about that matter.
Enuhito, one of the most reliable denizens of Wrestling Twitter for Japanese to English translations, tweeted some big news later Monday night, which he sourced from Tokyo Sports:
Breaking News:
Tokyo Sports reported NOAH has been bought by IT company called Estbee. The new head of the company may be ex AJPW Uchida.
Pro Wrestling NOAH had been, at different times, either the biggest or second biggest pro wrestling promotion in Japan dating back to not long after its debut in August of 2000. The company launched after the death of promoter Shohei “Giant” Baba caused turmoil on All Japan Pro Wrestling, leading to almost the entire roster and office staff, led by top star Mitsuharu Misawa, breaking away. The company didn’t immediately get network TV due to the nature of the deals that were made, but NOAH eventually landed AJPW’s old slot on Nippon TV.
After a few years, the combination of the network TV deal, a fresh product, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s downturn, and Kenta Kobashi replacing Misawa as top babyface led to a huge boom in business. While it’s hard to gauge specifics due to the way that numbers are exaggerated, NOAH’s two shows at the Tokyo Dome were among the biggest wrestling cards in the building’s history. They legitimately packed the stadium, and unlike other promotions, NOAH lit up the building like a Christmas tree so you could tell on TV.
The downfall of the company started with Misawa’s in-ring death in 2009. The network TV deal went away a year later due to budget cuts, which dealt a huge blow in both exposure (cable and satellite pay TV are not prominent in Japan) and direct revenue (NTV heavily subsidized all TV tapings). The company was no longer a superpower.
A few years ago, NJPW started funding the company in some form, eventually making it more obvious by sending Minoru Suzuki’s Suzuki Gun stable over to boost business. Around the same time, Super Crazy, who had worked for NOAH for years on and off, did an interview where he suggested the two promotions were one company. NJPW co-booker Jado started booking NOAH. It all appeared to be leading to something more official when NOAH’s existing TV contracts (on cable/satellite and enhanced digital broadcast channels) expired, but now, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Analysis: Clearly, there’s something missing here. NJPW was not mentioned once in the Tokyo Sports article. Maybe the idea was just to get NOAH into good enough shape that the company could find a corporate savior, but that’s not how NJPW has treated NOAH for the last couple years. There was a distinct change from NOAH being just like every other company that’s friendly with NJPW to being on that NJPW was seemingly pouring resources (both financial and talent-wise) into and was reluctant to pull those out. This should be a very interesting story to track in the next few weeks.
So, what makes this a violation? First, let’s reexamine the key section of what Zak wrote:
She has gone private and went to a different Dr, who is amazing I’ll add. He gave her PRESCRIPTION pain killers to ease the pain that she’s in 24/7 and I have witnessed.
They’ve not excepted [sic] this and this leads to yet another suspension.
Nobody is disputing that Paige has a legitimate neck injury to the point where she may need narcotic/opiate painkillers to be functional. It’s been reported in the past (and was alluded to by Dave Meltzer on Monday night’s Wrestling Observer Radio for F4WOnline subscribers) that WWE prefers to have talent get painkiller prescriptions from the company doctors. Presumably, this also extends to any specialists that the company sends talent to. This way, WWE avoids the perils of talent going doctor shopping, as the performers’ use of dangerous and addictive drugs is being tracks by trusted physicians
The implication of Zak Knight/Zak Bevis writing that Paige “has gone private” is that she got a second opinion from a doctor other than the one(s) that WWE sent her to. That means that they’re going to be more scrutinizing of prescriptions for banned substances. Still, the written policy has a procedure for requesting a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to a banned drug, and there are no medications or classes of medications listed as ineligible for exemptions That said, according to the policy, it appears that the talent just needs to have the doctor provide a copy of the prescription if the drug is being taken for less than 60 days.
If “the use of such prohibited drug is required for more than sixty (60) consecutive days,” that’s when the more formal TUE process must be undertaken. According to the policy, “A WWE Talent in need of a TUE must immediately notify, or cause his/her issuing physician to notify, the Medical Director of the existence of a prescription for a prohibited drug and the medical need for the TUE.” A TUE lasts one year, and “A urine sample which is found to contain a prohibited drug will not be deemed a positive test result if such sample was provided by a WWE Talent with a valid and effective TUE for that prohibited drug.”
If a performer tests positive for a banned prescription drug and does not have a TUE, then they “may not challenge a determination that he/she violated the Policy by contending, in connection with a ‘no fault or negligence’ defense or otherwise, that he/she believed he/she would qualify or had qualified for a TUE.” In other words, don’t plead ignorance. In Paige’s case, it appears that she’s saying that whatever happened with her, which presumably involves a non-WWE doctor, was not substantively different from other cases where the talent was not deemed to be in violation.
Also, specific to painkillers, “a test that confirms the presence of drug metabolite concentrations in excess of the levels expected when a drug prohibited by this Policy is being used consistent with the therapeutic management of pain will be treated as a positive test.” There’s no specific definition, numerically speaking, given in the policy. Since continuous use of narcotic painkillers can, even if taken as directed, lead to the patient building up a tolerance and requiring higher doses to get the same effect, this isn’t inherently a sign of abuse, but for the safety of the talent, it’s definitely cause for concern.
Rob Naylor, who worked as Creative Assistant under Dusty Rhodes in Florida Championship Wrestling/WWE NXT from 2011 to 2013, tweeted some interesting stuff over the weekend. He kept formats, memos, and other documents from his time with WWE and decided to make some images of them public…
Format sheet for the first Full Sail University pilot taping in 2011 (note the puns):
Another gem. Before there was "NXT" – a secret pilot was taped at "Full Sail". Dream dubbed it "Project H" #1stdraftpic.twitter.com/jqJOr8nRLr
A list of indie wrestlers from 2012 that Naylor would sign if he could, which he was asked to make by Triple H’s assistant (the note about Alex Shelley being clear of a TNA contract is most likely due to TNA’s lawsuit against WWE and Brian Wittenstein being an ongoing matter at the time):
Naylor also mentioned that he found other things going through his collection of records, like performance reviews and a list of tips from Ricky Steamboat on how to work babyface, so hopefully there’s more to come.
At a couple different points tonight, the official WWE Games Twitter account tweeted these animated GIFs to hype Tuesday’s release of the Hall of Fame downloadable content pack for WWE 2K16, which is out this Tuesday:
It was already known that 1991 versions of Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami plus a relevant match replay mode were in the Hall of Fame pack, but they had two matches that year. It seemed like it made more sense for 2K to base it off their match from Superbrawl in St. Petersburg, Florida, but from the above footage, it looks like they didn’t. Instead, 2K picked the OTHER Flair-Fujinami match, from the NJPW Tokyo Dome show that year, which is known as both WCW Japan Supershow and NJPW Starrcade ’91 In The Tokyo Dome. So that means that the arena that comes in the pack is an ersatz Tokyo Dome, faithfully recreated by 2K Sports. They can’t call it that (and I don’t believe WWE games ever name real venues), but 2K does a great job with the presentation of the arenas and this should be no exception.
Here’s the full lineup for the DLC pack, which, if this is any indication, should also include at least two more WCW arenas and some early ’90s WWF arenas along with period appropriate versions of the wrestlers:
“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Rikishi vs. The Rock
Alundra Blayze vs. Paige
Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair
The Bushwhackers (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) vs. The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake)
The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) vs. Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray)
– The New Day reacted to what happened with The Dudley Boyz at Saturday night’s WWE Network special from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The New Day ended up making Kyle Edwards walk away from the interview with a box over his head. Video below:
– During a No Disqualification Match against Roman Reigns at last night’s WWE live event in Bangor, Maine, Bray Wyatt suffered bad cuts to his head and hand. It was reported that the hand injury came from a kendo stick shot where his trainers attempted to tape Wyatt up and continue the match. Ultimately, Bray lost the match. Below are tweets obtained from reporter Jon Alba:
Bray Wyatt's head busted open the hard way here at #WWEBangor. No DQ match with Reigns. Doctors out but he's good. #WWE
On Monday’s RAW, we saw another throwaway Divas match, with The Bella Twins defeating Paige and Emma in 30 seconds. Shortly after the match, #GiveDivasAChance was trending on Twitter – and it still trending on Tuesday afternoon more than 12 hours later.
WWE’s Bella Twins made headlines recently after their comments a Wizard World Comic Con panel about WWE Divas deserving more time in the ring. They said the women at NXT get much more leeway to practice their craft and entertain the fans, even saying that if they were NXT women’s wrestlers, they wouldn’t want to join the main roster.
Here are some of the tweets from the #GiveDivasAChance movement:
According to various sources, WWE is currently working on securing a licensing deal with one of the leading mixed-martial-arts apparel companies — TapouT.
TapouT co-founder Skrape has since acknowledged the rumors, as he recently tweeted out the following message on his official Twitter page:
I've had lots of messages regarding a WWE deal. We are exploring several partnership opportunities, but there's nothing to announce rite now
-WWE released an official statement recently regarding the current contract status of Rob Van Dam. The statement reads: “Rob Van Dam is currently not under a performance contract with WWE.”
-Despite rumors stemming from some online reports that claim Big E. Langston and Dolph Ziggler refused to make eye contact with each other while working out at the same hotel gym a few weeks ago, there is reportedly no heat between the two.
-For those who keep track of this sort of thing, WWE failed to hit the top 10 rankings last week for Twitter for the first time since they started tracking.
-The Yahoo! Sports website has a featured article up today focusing on the relationship between mega-star MLB player Alex Rodriguez and his real-life girlfriend, former WWE Diva Torrie Wilson. Fans interested in checking that out online can do so at Sports.Yahoo.com.
-Variety ran an in-depth article on the new Twitter ratings system, detailing how little shows with lots of tweets line up with actual television ratings. It’s an interesting read, which you can check out online at Variety.com.
-Part-time WWE Superstar Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently tweeted a happy birthday message to WWE’s Stephanie McMahon, who as previously reported, turns 37 today. The Rock wrote:
@StephMcMahon Happy Birthday boss lady! Hugs to the girls and grunting John Wayne hug to Trip.
-WWE COO Triple H promoted the release of his new DVD documentary, “Triple H: Thy Kingdom Come,” which as previously reported is released in stores today:
My new DVD “Thy kingdom come” out today…….if you get it, let me know what you think. pic.twitter.com/82Ij26DMUn
-WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross tweeted his thoughts on the current Rhodes Family storyline today. JR wrote:
The reason most fans care about the Rhodes Family story on #WWERaw is because it’s a PERSONAL ISSUE & there’s an emotional investment.
– Wrestling legend Kevin Nash recently commented on Daniel Bryan’s current WWE storyline with Triple H and the McMahon Family, throwing a jab at Bryan while commending him for being “fantastic” and part of the company’s hottest ongoing storyline. Nash tweeted this week:
“What’s really amazing is the hottest angle The vanilla midget angle.Bryan is fantastic and the WWE corp. Against him is must watch”
Nash has a long history of controversial comments about smaller wrestlers being featured as main event acts, including CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero.
-Speaking of Daniel Bryan, the WWE Superstar has finally surpassed the one-million follower mark on Twitter. Fans interested in following Bryan on Twitter can do so @WWEDanielBryan.
A recent Twitter study of WWE and UFC revealed that per capita, based on tweets mentioning the brand name, the best three states in the U.S. for WWE are New Jersey, New Hampshire and Connecticut. For UFC, the best three states are Nevada, Montana and New Mexico.
In the case of both promotions, their best states are ones that their headquarters are based out of (WWE in Connecticut, and UFC in Nevada). This means it’s a metric most likely moved by talent and other employees within each respective company.
Geographically speaking, the best states for WWE (in no particular order) are New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, West Virginia, Kentucky, Colorado and Wisconsin. The worst states for WWE (also in no particular order) are Utah, Oregon, Kansas, Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama.
