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Former WWE Superstar Shelly Martinez Blames Depression on Batista

Former WWE Superstar Shelly Martinez announced on YouTube that she will be retiring from professional wrestling after this year.

“I’ve slowed down a lot but I haven’t retired yet but based on me just keep trying to make freaking wrestling work..”

She continued, “The time has definitely come and one of the signs that I know that wrestling is done for me is a couple. I’ve been having a real hard time these last couple of months and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ has been promoted and now is out. For those of you that know that me and Dave Bautista got in a fight backstage, that’s how I got fired – so it’s been interesting for me to drive around town and I see Dave Batista’s face everywhere.”

“There’s a lot of healing that I did through all of that but I was finding myself getting depressed. I would wonder why am I depressed and I would backtrack my day and a lot of times it was triggered by Batista.”

She then said that if she didn’t get fired then she probably wouldn’t live where she lives now and she probably wouldn’t have met her boyfriend if she had stayed with WWE. She said she is thankful for what she has now but she is “tired of the BS and I’m tired of the fake and phoniness” from the wrestling business.

Charlotte Appearing on the Next Season of Total Divas?

With Eva Marie not returning for the 7th season of Total Divas, WWE is interviewing other active female Superstars for the role on the show.

According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, Charlotte is one of the females have have been interviewed to join the cast of the upcoming season. A handful of other females have been interviewed as well however we are unable to confirm those names at this time.

In regards to Paige appearing on the next season, her status is unknown at this time. Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Natalya and Naomi are a lock for the upcoming season.

Reason Rusev Didn’t Appear on SmackDown Live Tonight

WWE announced on last week’s episode of SmackDown Live that Rusev would be returning on tonight’s show. For those who watched the show tonight would have noticed that he never appeared despite being advertised in their 5-point preview on WWE.com earlier today.

Rusev revealed on Twitter that he was at the Nashville Predators’ NHL game instead.

It’s very possible that he is using that excuse as part of storyline. We will keep you updated.

The Taz Show Recap – Raw Analysis, Rollins’ Set For A Big Year, Presentation of Finn Balor, More!

Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show by discussing Braun Strowman’s elbow injury. Taz says that he believes WWE made a mistake by showing Strowman in the hospital bed on RAW last night, as he thought it made Strowman look too ‘human’. He also doesn’t think that Strowman will be out for 6 months like WWE has announced.

He doesn’t think that Roman Reigns will win the Fatal 5-way match at Extreme Rules, because he believes Reigns will go right back into another match with Strowman when he returns from his injury. Taz thinks Strowman’s recovery time will be closer to 2 months than the 6 that WWE announced.

A listener calls into the show and says he enjoyed Goldust turning on R-Truth on last night’s show. Taz says that this is a ‘C’ angle, and WWE needs to have those angles in order to keep everyone relevant. He says that having captivating angles throughout the entire roster is what made the attitude era so successful in his opinion.

Another listener calls into the show and says that both Alexa Bliss and A.J. Styles had good years last year as rookies, and he wonders if that gives WWE the confidence to push talent quicker. Taz says that wrestling  is a work, and Bliss and Styles had good years last year because the company pushed them. If WWE has faith in a performer, they’re going to book them to win more matches than they lose.

Singles Match Added to Sunday’s WWE Backlash Event

Shane McMahon announced on tonight’s episode of Talking Smack that Erick Rowan would face Luke Harper at Sunday’s WWE Backlash event. Here is the updated card:

WWE Title Match
Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton

SmackDown Tag Team Title Match
Tyler Breeze and Fandango vs. The Usos

WWE United States Title Match
AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens

Naomi, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch vs. Tamina Snuka, Carmella and Natalya

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler

Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin

Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper

Kickoff Pre-show
Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger

Dinner with the King Recap – Thoughts on Rip Rogers/Randy Orton Tweets, Stiff Punches, Why Does Lawler Still Work the Indies? More!

Lawler opens today’s show speaking about this past weekend’s tweets from Rip Rogers and Randy Orton. First off, he says that he’s obviously a fan of Randy Orton and his work, and he’s been a fan of Rip Rogers for years. He thinks both of those men have a point in their concerns regarding the state of indie wrestling.

He believes that the issues lie in the fact that a lot of young indie performers are trying to get their foot in the door in the wrestling business. When they have an opportunity at an indie show, they try to do whatever they can to show the promoter that they’re worth hiring again for a future show.

Lawler agrees with Rogers in the sense that there’s no ‘kayfabe’ anymore. Performers work their match, shake each other’s hands and then go on social media and thank each other for the match. Lawler’s not sure that the performers are even to blame, because it’s the way the business has developed over the last number of years.

He also points out that competitors in all other sports often shake each other’s hand after their match or game, so perhaps it’s not the most ridiculous concept for wrestlers to congratulate each other and put each other over at the end of a match or a feud.

Scott Hall Hospitalized Sunday Night

WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall was hospitalized Sunday night in London following an appearance with WAW promotion.

Hall was taken to the hospital after he was experiencing chest paints. He was released shortly after being checked out. The promotion is ran by Paige’s family and her father Ricky Knight confirmed the news on Facebook:

Conversation with the Big Guy Recap – Jinder Mahal’s Run, Wrestling in India, Top 10 Fat Men of all Time, More!

Ryback is joined on today’s show by his co-host Pat Buck.

Ryback informs that he spoke with his good friend Wade Barrett recently, and Barrett believes he still has some gas left in the tank for an in-ring return. Barrett is currently during commentary work right now, but Ryback feels it’s only a matter of time before Barrett returns to in-ring action.

Buck informs that on occasion he receives emails from people wanting to attend his wrestling school who suffer from physical disabilities. He then has to break the bad news to them that they probably don’t have a chance at having an in-ring career. Ryback says that if you’re in that situation and you love the business that much, you can try to get into the business another way.

He says that these individuals can also benefit from attending wrestling school regardless of whether they can actually compete in the ring or not. For example, if they have aspirations of becoming a Manager or a commentator in the business, going through the motions in a wrestling school will help them earn respect from their peers and they will gain a better understanding of the business.

SmackDown to Feature Picture-In-Picture Commercials

NBC Universal will be implementing picture-in-picture commercials on their television programming and that includes SmackDown Live.

USA Network tested this feature out last summer after the WWE draft and according to Broadcasting and Cable, the picture-in-picture commercial breaks raised the retention of viewers 13% with the overall rating of the episode by 2%. This will be the one of the first of many NBC Universal show concepts like this to keep the audience engaged during commercials.

NBCU Executive Vice President of Network Partnerships Josh Feldman made the following remarks regarding the change:

“We want to improve the viewing experience for fans with marketing and advertising, versus just having marketing advertising be part of the viewing experience,” Feldman said. “Picture-in-picture improves the viewing experience. That’s the mission of what we’re trying to do here.”

Matt Hardy Says Impact Still Has A Chance To Do The Right Thing

Matt Hardy took to his Twitter account to let Impact Wrestling know that they still has a chance to “do the right thing” when it comes to working out a deal with The Hardy Boyz to use the “Broken” gimmick in WWE.

Braun Strowman Reacts to Getting Elbow Surgery

Braun Strowman took to his Instagram account and made the following remarks about under going elbow surgery for his injury:

“Sometimes life throws you unexpected obstacles. Things will get in the way of your dreams they always do. How you handle your set backs is what makes the difference. I could sit around and think what could I have done to avoid this what did I do to deserve this. Y? Y? Y? I say to hell with that. There’s no time for excuses and pity party’s!!!! Every day Is a day I get the opportunity to grow stronger everyday I push myself further cause I refuse to let this slow me down. Nothing can stop me from being the best. I’ll blow through this like I have every set back life has ever throw at me and continue to own my destiny!!!! This is my life and I tell what and when I’m gonna do things. #nothingcanstopme #unstoppable #braunstrowman #monsteramongmen”

Sometimes life throws you unexpected obstacles. Things will get in the way of your dreams they always do. How you handle your set backs is what makes the difference. I could sit around and think what could I have done to avoid this what did I do to deserve this. Y? Y? Y? I say to hell with that. There’s no time for excuses and pity party’s!!!! Every day Is a day I get the opportunity to grow stronger everyday I push myself further cause I refuse to let this slow me down. Nothing can stop me from being the best. I’ll blow through this like I have every set back life has ever throw at me and continue to own my destiny!!!! This is my life and I tell what and when I’m gonna do things. #nothingcanstopme #unstoppable #braunstrowman #monsteramongmen

A post shared by Adam Scherr (@adamscherr99) on May 16, 2017 at 8:59am PDT

While WWE announced that Strowman is expected to miss up to six months of television, he is still expected to return before SummerSlam.