Kennadi Brink debuted as a referee for the NXT Live Event Thursday night. Kennadi previously worked as an independent wrestler on the indie circuit.
#NXTOrlando Our first ever full time women’s referee, Jessica! @LadyKBrink pic.twitter.com/HyoLq2YHRP
— JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) June 1, 2017
Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews, AllWrestlingNews, and Wrestling dot News. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it’s highest quality.
Jinder Mahal recently spoke with GQ. Here are highlights from the interview:
His go-to fast food restaurant: “You can actually eat very clean at Chipotle. They have white rice, they have brown rice, and they have chicken. I stay away from the guac and the sour cream. I just get lettuce, double-meat chicken, and a white or brown rice. Sometimes you don’t realize how bad you feel from just eating out all the time at fast food places. I haven’t eaten McDonald’s or any other fast food in I don’t know how long. Not even pizza.”
Which supplements he takes: “I actually take quite a few supplements. I have protein with me all the time. I always have branched-chain amino acids. I take those with water before my morning cardio. They prevent muscle breakdown. I take a magnesium supplement before my workout because it prevents cramping. You know, I have to wrestle every night and I have to train so hard—sometimes I’ll work out and then later on I feel my back starting to cramp up. So magnesium helps a lot with that. I take multivitamin packs. There’s like 10 different multivitamins and digestive enzymes all in one little packet. I take one packet of those every morning. I take creatine and a pre-workout before I work out. And I always switch my pre-workout. Every bottle I finish, I get a different one so my body never gets used to it.”
Instagram post responding to fans thinking he’s on PEDs: “I don’t think people realize the hard work that goes into it. Nobody sees the work I’m putting in the gym. Nobody sees me doing cardio first thing in the morning. Nobody sees me lugging around that suitcase. And just generally, people don’t have that much knowledge about diet and the effects that diet alone can have on your body. If you see a bodybuilder before they’re in competition shape to when they get into competition shape, that’s all dieting, carb cutting, and macronutrients. I mean, you can totally transform yourself just by cutting carbs and even something as simple as drinking a gallon of water a day. The average person—like, 90 percent of the average population—is dehydrated. That’s another thing that I do now, which has been a huge key.”
205 Live Superstar Ariya Daivari posted the following on remarks on Twitter in response to a “certain wrestling critic” who had some unflattering words about 205 Live:
Love my job. pic.twitter.com/AWwMlCocOG
— Ariya Daivari (@AriyaDaivariWWE) June 1, 2017
Jinder Mahal recently spoke with nishant.jayaram of sportskeeda.com for an interview. Here are some highlights:
WWE’s Plans to Expand The India Market: Yes, definitely, WWE is looking to expand in India. It already has a huge presence in India. So I believe, alongside other Indian Superstars like the Singh Brothers, Akam in NXT, Lovepreet (Kishan Raftar), I think the more Indian wrestlers come, the bigger the Indian audience becomes, the bigger the WWE Universe in India becomes, which I think would be a great thing because our Indian fans are very passionate.I would love to do more live shows in India – because I know the last two shows in Delhi last year were a huge success, they were both sold out. I would love to see WWE all across India, in Punjab, Mumbai and Delhi.
How US Fans Treat Him: Actually, it’s a very unique dynamic because the American fans boo me – and sometimes in my promos, I say that America doesn’t accept diversity, which is all character stuff. But I like this unique dynamic of how Indians really like me, even American Indian fans like me. In shows here in the USA, a lot of the crowd has Indian fans who are cheering for me, but the American fans are booing for me.I think it’s very unique. It reminds me of the time of Bret Hart, who was a huge and successful star in Canada – Canadian fans would cheer him, but when he was wrestling in the USA, they would (fans) boo him out of the building. I think it is a very similar situation.
New Finishing Move The Khallas: To be a WWE Superstar you’ve to constantly be evolving and improving. I study a lot of tapes, I watch a lot of old wrestling matches and see moves that work and moves that don’t work. I watch guys that are similar to my size, frame and body shape and the moves they do. Because it’s pointless for me to watch high-flying moves or guys that weigh 300+ pound power moves. I’m a unique blend of speed, size and light – I’m only 230 pounds but I’m very strong. I watch guys who are similar to my body type and see what kind of moves they do, and see what works and doesn’t, and based of that I try new stuff on live events. So, if they’re not successful I can scrap it and take it out of my repertoire.
The Success of 3MB: We’re proof – me, Heath and Drew (former members of 3MB) – are proof that anything is possible, it doesn’t matter where you are on the card. You could be the opening match, it is possible to get to the top of the card, through hard work. WWE is great, it gives people opportunities who deserve opportunities, Vince rewards hard work, WWE rewards hard work, so it motivates the rest of the locker room – they’ve seen me go from the bottom of the card to the top.
Dream Opponent: I think my dream opponent is Brock Lesnar. Imagine that match – Champion vs Champion, WWE Champion vs Universal Champion. He is my dream opponent because if I can knock off Brock Lesnar that would truly solidify me… I’m the best and let the world know that the WWE Champion is better than Universal Champion.
Russo comments on the recent criticism he has received from Eric Bischoff and Jim Cornette. He says that there’s an open invitation to both of them to come on this show and discuss their issues, but he knows that neither of them are man enough to accept that offer.
Bischoff sent out a tweet this week calling Russo a con man, and Russo says if he conned anyone it must have been the 8 million people who were watching RAW every Monday night. That comment doesn’t even bother him because it’s an asinine comment.
Russo says the biggest con of all time is when Bischoff weaseled his way into TNA on the coattails of Hulk Hogan. Dixie Carter wanted to bring in Hogan but Bischoff wasn’t going to allow that to happen without finding a way to get himself involved as well. Russo says if he was Dixie Carter he would have told both of them to go ‘scratch their ass’.
He says that Bischoff had one good idea during his entire career (NWO), and somehow he even managed to ruin that and drive it into the ground until he got fired.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that according to the WWE, when one includes all forms of WWE Product related consumption, India comes out as the number one market surpassing even the United States of America. According to them, on the basis of product consumption, India is at the first position followed by the USA and South Africa.
However, since consumption and income are two different things, there arises an issue when it comes to India. WWE doesn’t really earn much from the Indian market. Therefore to tackle this obstacle, WWE has opened a brand new office in India in order to garner more revenue from the Indian market.
This sudden increase in attention towards India comes at a time when the Impact Wrestling’s tour of India ended. Both the companies are allegedly looking to widen their markets in India as the sub-continent has a colossal wrestling fandom.
It is also being reported that because of this very reason, Jinder Mahal’s title reign will not be short lived. Plans can always change because WWE doesn’t have any tour plans for India anytime soon.
Uproxx recently interviewed the Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rolla, Chris Jericho himself. Jericho talked about a number of things, including how he balances his music career with his wrestling schedule.
When the interviewer, Brandan Stroud, asked Y2J if he would ever wrestle as a part-timer in the WWE, the self-proclaimed “G.O.A.T” had a great response and I quote: (quote credits to iwnerd.com)
“No, I won’t do it because that’s not the way it should be. When you’re there, you should go on the road. That’s how you help guys to learn. That’s how I got better. This whole year I got way better because of working with the younger guys, who then were learning from me as well. They need that. And it was a great year with just an awesome locker room, great people, lots of fun. I had as much fun out of the ring as I did in the ring. And in 2015, all I did was live events. I didn’t do TV at all. It’s like the anti-type Brock Lesnar. I wouldn’t have a problem doing that either. Maybe I’ll never go back on TV again. Maybe I’ll just do live events”
This response alone proves why Jericho is so widely respected by the wrestlers, bookers and fans alike. A legitimate legend indeed.
Taz opens today’s show speaking about the dangers of taking backdrops. A listener calls into the show and says that he’s a wrestler and actually broke his tailbone taking a backdrop at one point. He tried to take the backdrop by landing on his ass, which would have set up another spot right after. Unfortunately, this broke his tailbone and he was out of action for a while.
Taz says that a backdrop is one of the most dangerous moves that you can execute in a wrestling ring. After he had his neck injuries he would never take backdrops during his matches because it was simply too risky. He also suggests that taking a backdrop on your ass is a terrible idea and he wouldn’t recommend that anyone try that.
A listener calls into the show and asks Taz about the role of managers in wrestling, and what it means when they take a bump. Taz says that it’s rare for managers to take bumps and those spots are often saved for special moments, to enhance a certain feud or to finalize a program. He says that if Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar are in a program together, Balor dropkicking Paul Heyman would be a massive moment.
Former WWE Diva, Cameron has expressed her wish to return to the promotion in the future and also called it “definite”. Cameron was the former tag partner of current SmackDown Women’s Champion, Naomi. However, her last run didn’t work out and she was released by the company last year.
Regardless Cameron told Extra, that she is still on good terms with the WWE and would not chalk out a future return. Here’s what she said in the interview: (quotes by stillrealtous.com)
“As far as I am concerned WWE and I parted on good terms. I have no ill will towards anybody there. I am grateful for my time as a WWE talent. I appreciate all of the love and the hate I have received over the years from the WWE Universe. No matter what was said about me I appreciate their candour and their passion for the business. I would definitely love to come back in the future to show the WWE Universe my full potential. I like to say this isn’t goodbye but more like see you later. There will forever be a chip on my shoulder. Maybe one day I will be able to prove myself to the WWE Universe.”
Would you like to see Cameron back in action in a WWE ring once again?
As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Dolph Ziggler defeated AJ Styles cleanly in the main event of the show.
Bryan Alvarez speculated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that the finish appeared to be botched. It’s believed that the finish was supposed to see a three-count with Styles having his foot on the rope, however Ziggler screwed it up when he grabbed Styles foot as he went for the pin. The announcers even played into this finish by making mention of his foot being on the rope but quickly re-worded as they processed what had happen.
Dave Meltzer also mentioned on Observer Radio that with Ziggler defeating Styles clean on the show, he expects the two to have another match on either next week’s show or the week after so that Styles can get his win back. The company would have used the foot on the rope as an excuse for the rematch, but because it was botched that won’t be the case.
As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon announced the first-ever Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match that will see 5-women fighting for a chance to win a briefcase that allows them the opportunity for a shot at the Women’s Championship anytime they want. Those names include Carmella, Tamina, Becky Lynch, Natalya and Charlotte.
Dave Meltzer indicated prior to the announcement that the match would see only four competitors because there was expected to be two women matches at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event. With the announcement of five competitors, it is very unlikely now that two matches will take place on the card.
Bryan Alvarez suggested on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE may have changed it to five competitors because the winner of the MITB ladder match may cash it in later in the night. This could be the reason why the Women’s championship match isn’t being defend on the card now and the number of competitors was switch from four to five.