More Backstage News On Hulk Hogan’s Return To WWE

It had been previously reported that Hulk Hogan has been reinstated to the WWE Hall of Fame, and made his return to the company, addressing the backstage locker room and apologized for his actions over the last few years.
But how did his return actually go down?
According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, when Hogan gave his speech, he talked about how he regretted not only what he said, but the people he hurt and embarrassing the company. However, there were very mixed feelings with many not believing that he was sincere, and taking the speech as more of an “I embarrassed the company because somebody filmed me without my knowledge, and not that, under any circumstances, what I said was awful.”
Hogan then apologized for what he said, and did mention that he didn’t know he was being recorded. It appeared to most, that the majority of the talent accepted what he said. Much of the talent seemed to react favorably, with many shaking his hands and hugging him. H..

New Day Was Supposed To Be A Lot Bigger

It’s a new member….maybe it is? There aren’t many trios as successful in WWE history as the New Day. They came into WWE back in 2014 and four years (on Saturday at least) later, the team is still around and succeeding. The three man team works both in the ring and on the microphone, but what would happen if the lineup was changed? It turns out that might have been the case, at least in the earlier days.
In a new interview with the State Journal Register (Springfield, Illinois), Big E. discussed a few topics, including the possibility of adding new members to the New Day. Big E. talked about how some people might have been added to the team, which was originally considered to be a faction instead of a trio. While the team never expanded, there was a serious consideration of adding more members. Here are his comments:
The thing is when we first decided to do this (New Day) thing, we honestly saw ourselves as a faction. We had ideas of adding people along of way. But honestly I’m very g..

Rich Swann Injured, What Is His Slammiversary Status?

Dang it. In today’s wrestling world, wrestlers often move from one company to another from night to night, partially due to how many companies can offer a lucrative one night deal. Some of these promotions are bigger than others and that means that one televised show can impact another. An injury can cause that as well, which seems to be the case again here.
According to PWInsider.com, Rich Swann was injured at Thursday’s Major League Wrestling Battle Riot event. Swann received what seems to be a bad concussion during a tag team match when he teamed with ACH against Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr. This presents a problem as Swann is scheduled to participate in a four way match at this Sunday’s Impact Wrestling Slammiversary pay per view. At the moment, Impact Wrestling is looking for a replacement in case Swann is not cleared to wrestle.
This is what a healthy Swann is capable of doing.
[This post contains video, click to play]

Opinion: Hopefully this isn’t too bad and Swann is..

WWE May Have Spoiled A World Title Match At Summerslam

I guess they don’t want us to be surprised. Every once in awhile, WWE knows how to set up something to make us want to watch next week. That’s the case for this coming Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, where we’ll be finding out a major match for next month’s Summerslam pay per view. However, it seems that WWE has gotten ahead of itself and has let us know the match in advance.
According to Ringsidenews.com, WWE has spoiled Tuesday’s announcement of AJ Styles’ Summerslam challenger for the WWE Title. While the announcement is set to be officially made this coming Tuesday, WWE has posted a large ad campaign for Summerslam, which includes a shot showing Styles vs. Samoa Joe. This isn’t a major surprise as Samoa Joe has been rumored as Styles’ opponent for the pay per view.
Samoa Joe has certainly seemed ready as of late.
[This post contains video, click to play]

#WWE has this advertisement in rotation on websites for #SummerSlam
A post shared by Ringside News (@ringsidenewscom) ..

Video: A Top UFC Star Is Training At The WWE Performance Center

Well now, that’s interesting. Mixed martial arts and wrestling seem to go hand in hand at times. Some wrestlers have gone on to UFC for a successful career and now it’s starting to come back the other way, with names like Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler moving towards a four sided ring instead of the eight sided version. While nothing is confirmed, it seems that we may be seeing another big name sticking his toe into the WWE waters.
You can hear Brock Lesnar squirming.
[This post contains video, click to play]

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez recently trained at the WWE Performance Center. Velasquez, who turns 36 later this month, hasn’t been mentioned as possibly coming to WWE full time, but he hasn’t had a fight in the UFC in two years and has only fought twice since 2013 due to a variety of injuries, nor does he have a fight scheduled at any point in the near future.
Opinion: I don’t know if Velasquez is coming to WWE or not but the idea is rather appealing. He’s ..

Ronda Rousey Has A Run In With NBA Star At San Diego Comic Con

When worlds collide. In case you somehow didn’t know, Ronda Rousey is a former UFC champion and was one of the most dominant fighters of all time. That kind of crossover star power doesn’t happen in wrestling very often but WWE knows how to capitalize on it when they’re given the chance. With the San Diego Comic Con taking place during this week, there was a good chance of having Rousey get some more attention.
Rousey was at the Comic Con this year and interacted with various mainstream athletes. One such athlete was Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, who Rousey stared down with for a photo. The issue with this is the fact that Rousey stands about 5’7 and Embiid is nearly a foot and a half taller at 7’0. Therefore, Rousey needed a little help. Here’s a picture of the staredown from Embiid’s Instagram:
WrestleMania 35 @rondarousey
A post shared by Joel “The Process” Embiid (@joelembiid) on Jul 18, 2018 at 6:30pm PDT
This is a little more on Rousey’s standard size.
[This post cont..

Impact Wrestling Live Coverage And Results – July 19, 2018

Impact Wrestling
Date: July 19, 2018
Location: St. Clair College, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Don Callis
It’s the go home show for Slammiversary and for once I’m actually interested in where we’re going. The build for the show has been rather good so far and that could make for a solid pay per view. They can still hammer in a few more things tonight but really, Sunday is all that matters at this point. Let’s get to it.
We open with a rapid fire recap of the big stories.
Petey Williams vs. Killer Kross The Canadian fans are behind Petey, who gets driven into the corner early on. Petey tries to strike away but gets tossed with a t-bone suplex as Kross laughs. Another t-bone drops Williams but he avoids a charge to send Kross shoulder first into the post. A Codebreaker and a tornado DDT have Kross rocked so he comes right back with a hard Saito suplex.
The Krossjacket (a choke) has Petey in trouble but Kross lets him go. Kross bends over and puts Petey in pos..

Eric Bischoff Discusses Hulk Hogan’s Return To WWE

Eric Bischoff was recently interviewed by Sports Illustrated, where he discussed Hulk Hogan’s return to WWE, and any potential backlash that may come from it.
Below are some highlights from the interview:
On Hulk Hogan’s return to WWE:
“I was really happy when I got the news because I know how much it means to him,” said Bischoff, who spoke in-person with Sports Illustrated after his appearance at the XWA “Wrestlution ‘18” show on Sunday in West Warwick, Rhode Island. “We’ve discussed the potential of this scenario for a long time.”
“Professional wrestling, the WWE, and being in the Hall of Fame represent such a large part of Hulk’s life, as does his connection to the audience,” said Bischoff. “For that to not be there for him, it hurt. So I think the news is great for Hulk as a person and for wrestling fans. To many generations of fans, Hulk Hogan really represents the beginning of what became this amazing industry that we have.”
On potential backlash for his return:
“You’re goi..

Who Else Is Confirmed For The Mae Young Classic?

The brackets keep filling up. Earlier this summer, the WWE announced the second annual Mae Young Classic Tournament, which will be taking place next month. The announcement immediately brought up the discussion of who would be participating in this year’s tournament. Several names have already been announced but with thirty two names in total, the tournament has several spots left. As of today though, four more of them are filled up.
In a new article on WWE.com, four more names have been confirmed for the tournament. Added to the field today are Tegan Nox, Deonna Purrazzo, Jessica Elaban and Reina Gonzalez. Nox signed with WWE last year after wrestling in Europe under the name Nixon Newell. Purrazzo has wrestled around the world, including in Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor and NXT. Elaban has been in NXT since last October but hasn’t appeared on television. Gonzalez participated in last year’s tournament, losing to Nicole Savoy in the first round.
Who else might you be seeing this y..

Live Fan Report From Smackdown Live, July 17, 2018

One of our readers, William Moore (aka “the man with two words for a name”) attended the July 17, 2018 Smackdown Live show from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Below is his review from the event and some of things you didn’t see on TV:
TO confirm a previous post from Wrestling Rumors the show did start off with a pre live dark match of the USOS vs The BAR. This match was about 10 minutes in length. It was a typical back and forth match with the USOS winning the match with about 5 minutes to spare before going live. The arena was only about 75% full with a good majority of the 2nd level covered. Which is a shame that the arena could not sell out with it only being about a 8.500 seat arena. After the match the ring crew hurried and put a fresh cover on the ring. They played a replay of the drop the mic episode that featured the Bellas, Alicia Fox, and Carmella. As you saw Hardy opened the show to a nice ovation. First match AJ Styles vs Cien Almas. AJ did his usual..

Spoiler: Major Title Change Takes Place At Recent NXT Tapings

If you don’t like spoilers, you need to stop reading now.
At the most recent set of NXT tapings, a major angle took place, as Tommaso Ciampa defeated Aleister Black to win the NXT Championship. This is Ciampa’s first run as NXT Champion.
According to reports from the show, the finish came after the referee took a bump and Johnny Gargano ran out. Gargano attacked both Ciampa and Black, but Ciampa recovered first and pinned Black to capture the championship.
[This post contains video, click to play]

The match is scheduled to air next week, on the July 25, 2018 episode of NXT.
Editor’s Opinion:
This is awesome. What Tommaso Ciampa has done recently in NXT has been incredible, and his feud with Johnny Gargano has been nothing but amazing. I don’t know if this means that Aleister Black is coming up to the main roster after Summerslam or not, but either way, this title run is long overdue, and I believe that he will be terrific champion.
What do you think of the spoiler from tonight’..

KB’s Review: Just Wait For April

I’m a big baseball fan. I’ve watched and followed the game pretty closely for most of my life and we’re coming up on one of my favorite times of the season: the trade deadline. This is one of the last chances to change your team and gear up for the postseason by adding players and fixing some of the big holes in your roster. Some teams go big and some teams like to stick with what they have, but almost every contender likes to make some kind of a move.
Looking at the WWE, how many people on the Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live rosters could use a change of scenery? How many new and fresh stories could be told with just the simplest of a roster move? Someone isn’t working out on Monday? Send them to Tuesday and get a team that can bolster your roster a bit. Need a new challenger to the Women’s Title? Well we’ve got the former #1 contender to the Intercontinental Title right here to even things out a bit.
These things can happen.
[This post contains video, click to play]

But, ala..