Yoshihiro Tajiri took to his Twitter account to announce that he is officially done with WWE. He wrote, “It ended a contract with WWE. Free to move from tomorrow.”
Tajiri was brought back to the company for last year’s Cruiserweight Classic. There were plans for him to feud with Brian Kendrick on 205 Live but he was sidelined with an injury and hasn’t been used since. Here is footage from his last appearance:
WWE is advertising Jinder Mahal defending the WWE Title against Shinsuke Nakamura for upcoming WWE Live Events for the SmackDown Live brand in July.
Randy Orton is not scheduled for these events, so it’s very possible that Nakamura could be filling in for Orton. We will keep you updated.
Hulk Hogan recently told fans at an autograph signing that he is in negotiations with Vince McMahon to return to WWE.
“Hulk Hogan did an autograph signing over the weekend in Los Angeles and when asked about the obvious question, just said he and Vince are talking,” Dave Meltzer said in the May 8, 2017, issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“Then again, it is Hogan. The answer to the question of his returning is always about when the feeling it is a time when the company feels there will be no potential sponsor backlash.”
As noted earlier today, The Hulkster was featured on a double-sided poster in the WWE Kids magazine that was being handed out during WWE’s recent tour overseas. This is another indication of his return to the company.
Former WWE Superstar Cameron took to her YouTube Channel to discuss her release from WWE and the time leading up to it:
“For the people who don’t know, I wasn’t happy with my position in WWE. I was coming to ‘TVs’ and I just wasn’t doing anything. I know that I didn’t have the best in-ring skills, because I was brought up early. I’m really honest about that, I can keep it one-thousand percent. I wanted to go back down to NXT. I’m like ‘I know this may mean I might lose my spot. I know this may get me fired,’ but I rather walk away knowing that I did everything I possibly can, than nothing at all and I walk away with regret.”
Cameron then talked about how she found out she was getting released:
“I get this ‘ding’ [on my phone] and Mark [Carrano, WWE Senior Director of Talent Relations] says ‘Can you call me?’ And I just knew, so I called him and he told me. It was shocking, but at the same time, that’s just where we were. I’d given my all and things just weren’t progress, so, it hit me, and I thanked him for my time. This is one experience I’m never ever going to forget, unfortunately, it’s not a fairy tale ending.”
She also commented on if the release correlated with her going after fans on social media:
“To this day, I still don’t know if it’s partially because when I stirred up all the stuff with [the] IWC. That was one of my tactics, to try and get stuff stirring to potentially have a storyline and I never asked, I never asked. I didn’t want to know, because at that point what was done, was done. I never know to this day if it was that, mixed with everything that was already going on and my position with the company.”
For those of you who may not know, Rusev was set for a big match at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view. After being traded to Smackdown Live in the Superstar Shakeup, Rusev declined to show up on the brand unless he received a WWE Championship match. It looked like this was the direction WWE was going in. It would have been perfect too. Randy Orton vs. Rusev.
Orton could win in his hometown and Rusev becomes a member of Smackdown Live. However, plans changed and Jinder Mahal is the current WWE Champion. Orton gets his rematch for the belt at Money In The Bank, which leaves Rusev as the odd man out.
So where does he go from here?
There’s the obvious choice of coming out during the championship match and costing Orton the match. This would in turn set up a feud between Rusev and Orton. Rusev would look strong if he came out of this feud on top, but WWE would probably not have Orton lose two feuds in a row.
The next option would be interfering in the Money In The Bank ladder match, costing a superstar their chance at winning. It could work, but I have a better idea. Rusev should attack AJ Styles before the match, take his place in the ladder match, and capture the briefcase.
You may be questioning yourself, wondering how on earth is this a good idea? Well, let me explain. Styles is the one guy in this ladder match (besides Nakamura possibly) who really doesn’t need to be in this match. They can get a shot at the gold any day. They are both pretty expendable at this point. Styles will more than likely get a shot within the upcoming year, so having him miss out on this opportunity won’t hurt him.
If Smackdown Live wants to capitalize on the return of Rusev, then he needs to return in a big way. Keep him off of television until the night of Money in the Bank. Rusev shows up and destroys Styles, making him unable to compete in the ladder match. Shane McMahon declares Rusev as the replacement since he is the one that caused all this mess. Rusev goes on to shock the world and win the Money in the Bank contract. It’s an outcome few, if any, would expect to happen going into the event. Seeing as how Smackdown Live has been booking on the shock value as of late, this would be right up their alley.
Not only would we see Rusev return in grand force, but we would also see him thrown into a rivalry with the hottest guy in the WWE. It’s a win-win for Rusev, who hasn’t been utilized the way he should’ve been throughout his short career. Rusev has all the tools to be a mega heel, and him going against Styles would only add to it.
Booker T’s podcast co-host Brad Gilmore mentioned that Booker T will be doing commentary on RAW for the rest of the summer.
Booker T was originally scheduled to do commentary for only six weeks while David Otunga was away filming a movie. Otunga is returning to WWE as part of the Extreme Rules Kickoff panel with Renee Young and Peter Rosenberg.
Independent wrestlers Shane Strickland, Sammy Guevara, and Mr. 450 decided to do a spoof of Randy Orton at Saturday’s Wrestle Circus event. When they went to the top rope to do dives, they called it off. They then all proceeded to hit RKO’s simultaneously on their opponents followed by doing Orton’s signature pose.
While speaking to The AV Club, Jim Ross talked about his book that will cover his past drug addiction and made the following remarks:
“You’re going to hear about my addiction to drugs. I was addicted to Ambien and Xanax, together, with Crown Royal. I was on Uranus, and Pluto, and Neptune, and everywhere else late at night. [Because] I had severe sleep apnea – and still do – I stopped breathing 99 times in an hour in a sleep test. So I wasn’t in real great shape with that deal.”
“Ambien is a temporary medication for insomnia. Temporary. Not ten years. …It’s not a [revolutionary] story, it’s eye-opening, and shows it can happen to anybody. It was like smoking, I just decided one day to quit smoking, and stopped. Done, I’m done.”
Here is the latest edition of my Q&A video series. You can submit questions for future videos on my Twitter page and make sure to use the hashtag #RoadToNoDQ1000.
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Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt recently teased a possible match on Twitter. They had the following exchange:
At #ExtremeRules, in a week’s time..
We finish off Sheamus & Cesaro in a #SteelCage.
For you two…. It’s OVAH! pic.twitter.com/IBQLINQTpW
— REBORN by FATE (@MATTHARDYBRAND) May 26, 2017
@WWECesaro @MATTHARDYBRAND @WWEUniverse I call winner…..after Brock of course
— Bray Wyatt (@WWEBrayWyatt) May 27, 2017
@WWEBrayWyatt @WWECesaro @WWEUniverse pic.twitter.com/7nOr7ZzQhF
— REBORN by FATE (@MATTHARDYBRAND) May 27, 2017
WWE was handing out sample editions of the latest WWE Kids Magazine during the recent European tour. What was most noticeable about the magazines was the inclusion of Hulk Hogan on a double-sided poster with other WWE Legends.
The other side of the posted featured Hogan by himself:
With WWE using Hogan on these posters, it could be an indication that he is headed back to the company. It’s been speculated that once the Gawker sex tape news simmered down, he would be brought back to the company in some capacity. It appears that the company appears to be slowly bringing him back, as he has been featured in advertisements on the WWE Network and they re-added content that features him.
Good Ol’ JR listed out a number of dream matches that he’d like to see today. While talking about it, he revealed who he thinks is going to be the best opponent for Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar is scheduled to face the winner of the Fatal 5-way match between Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns and Finn Balor. However, J.R didn’t have any of the aforementioned superstars in his mind as the ideal opponent for the Beast Incarnate.
Ross said the following (quoted by Inquistr.com):
“I’m a different cat though, man. I’d like to see Braun Strowman – in a big build-up – against [Brock] Lesnar. I think that’d be a nice car crash.”
The good news is that rumours of Strowman vs Lesnar going down at SummerSlam have surfaced recently. This means that Ross and the fans are in for a treat.
You can listen to the entire interview here.