Impact Wrestling Plans Tribute For Pulse Nightclub Victims
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Renee Young Not Returning for Next Season of Total Divas
<p>Renee Young revealed on Twitter that she would not be returning for the next season of Total Divas.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nope I am not, but the new cast will crush it!! <a href="https://t.co/nSJu5tX7cO" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://t.co/nSJu5tX7cO</a></p> <p>— Renee Young (@ReneeYoungWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReneeYoungWWE/status/873710037218213888" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">June 11, 2017</a></p> </blockquote><p>As previously noted, <a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/2017/06/09/alexa-bliss-joining-cast-total-divas/">Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax</a> has been <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/added/" title="added">added</a></strong> to the upcoming season. Filming is expected to start soon.</p>
Pete Dunne Attacks Mark Andrews at the 2017 Download Festival
<p>Ahead of tonight’s NXT Live Event at the Download Festival in England, Pete Dunne attacked <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/mark-andrews" title="Mark Andrews">Mark Andrews</a></strong> at a concert. Andrews was able to recover and flipped off the stage, taking Dunne out. The two are scheduled to face later today for the WWE UK Championship.</p><p>Here is footage from the flip:</p>
John Cena on How Many Title Runs He Has Left
<p><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/johncena" title="John Cena">John Cena</a></strong> spoke with WSVN-TV promoting the upcoming second season of <em>American Grit</em>. Highlights are below:</p><p><strong>If he wrestled the entire match at </strong><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/event/wwe-wrestlemania-33/" title="WrestleMania 33">WrestleMania 33</a></strong> with the engagement ring in his pocket: “There are some secrets that should be kept secret my friend. That one’s for me to know. I like the fact that a lot of folks ask me where I kept the ring. I know where I kept it and I think that’s a secret I’ll keep with me.”</p><p><strong>What to expect from his WWE return:</strong> “I just want to get back in the fray. I think it’s a wonderful time to be a fan, to be a member of our WWE Universe. The rosters on both sides, SmackDown Live and Monday Night Raw, is packed with very capable, unbelievable superstars and I’m just waiting to get back into the mix and try to prove my worth once again.”</p><p><strong>His interaction with Ric Flair immediately after tying his record at the </strong><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/event/royal-rumble" title="Royal Rumble">Royal Rumble</a></strong>: “I have a longstanding friendship with Ric Flair. He’s been a mentor to me over the years. It was very important to me that he was there for me that night. He was nothing but encouraging, so honorable and so inspirational. He’s a wonderful guy and a lot of fun and I’m really happy that he was there. It was a great moment for all of us.”</p><p><strong>How many more title runs he thinks he has left:</strong> “I truly don’t look at it like that. I just want to be able to be able to perform at an elite level. I know that at 40 years old and 15 years in the WWE now it’s been a long journey, longer than most. I have to find my grit every day to keep working hard to keep up with all of these young, strong guys. It truly is a young man’s game but I feel really good. I look forward to July 4th and I think everybody will see that I haven’t lost a step yet.”</p><p><strong>Who he thinks he should pass the torch to:</strong> “I think it’s been passed without me. There’s a lot of folks who are currently doing a lot of damage on the roster. The show is thriving in my absence. I think it’s extremely competitive. I did win the 16th Championship at the Rumble but I was unfortunate in my first defense at Elimination Chamber and before that I hadn’t really been in the Championship picture for a while. I think the company is moving on quite well. I don’t know if there needs to be a formal anointment but they’re really doing well without me.”</p>
Title Match Announced for Monday’s RAW
<p>WWE announced that <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/sheamus" title="Sheamus">Sheamus</a></strong> and Cesaro will defend their RAW tag team championships against The Hardy Boyz on Monday’s episode of RAW. WWE wrote the following regarding the match:</p><p><em>Just one week after losing the Raw Tag Team Championship in a brutal Steel Cage Match at WWE Extreme Rules, The Hardy Boyz invoke their rematch clause against new titleholders Cesaro & Sheamus this Monday night, live on Raw.</em></p><p><em>Last Monday, The Celtic Warrior boasted that Matt & Jeff were “sitting at home, licking their wounds — Jeff gluing in his false tooth — just dreaming about their rematch.” This Monday night, the dream becomes a reality much sooner than the champions likely anticipated.</em></p><p><em>Can The Hardy Boyz reclaim the titles they won during their triumphant return at WrestleMania, or will Cesaro & Sheamus continue to raise the figurative bar in Team Red’s tandem division?</em></p><p><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/brock-lesnar" title="Brock Lesnar">Brock Lesnar</a></strong> has also been announced to return to the show to address <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/samoa-joe" title="Samoa Joe">Samoa Joe</a></strong>’s attack on Paul Heyman.</p>
Finn Balor Trolls Fans at Promotional Event
<p>While doing promotional work for WWE, <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/finn-balor" title="Finn Balor">Finn Balor</a></strong> trolled the fans in attendance by mentioning Roman Reigns.</p><p>When responding to a question by one of the interviewers, Balor stated that fans had plenty of reasons to be excited, he was then quoted as saying:</p><p><em>“Obviously they’ll get to see <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/seth-rollins" title="Seth Rollins">Seth Rollins</a></strong>, they’ll get to see <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/bray-wyatt" title="Bray Wyatt">Bray Wyatt</a></strong>, they’ll get to see Finn Balor, but most importantly they’ll get to see Roman Reigns.”</em></p><p>As soon as Balor mentioned Reigns, a resounding chorus of boos emanated from the fans in attendance followed by “Roman Sucks” chants.</p><p>Here is footage of the incident:</p>
Brock Lesnar to Appear for Every RAW Heading Into Great Balls of Fire
<p><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/brock-lesnar" title="Brock Lesnar">Brock Lesnar</a></strong> will be appearing at every RAW show from now until the Great Balls of Fire event to help <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/build/" title="build">build</a></strong> for his feud against <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/samoa-joe" title="Samoa Joe">Samoa Joe</a></strong>. Those dates include the June 12th RAW in Lafayette, LA, June 26th RAW in Los Angeles, and the July 3rd RAW in Phoenix. He is also confirmed for the show after the Great Balls of Fire event in Houston.</p><p>It’s unclear if he will actually be participating in any matches on these shows or appearing on television for that matter. In the past he would be advertised for the event, but sometimes not appear on television. He would often work the dark match main event instead. Let’s hope that isn’t the case this time around.</p>
Edge Says Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe Should Have Been Saved for WrestleMania
<p>During the recent installment of the E&C Podcast of Awesomeness, Edge talked about the upcoming match between <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/brock-lesnar" title="Brock Lesnar">Brock Lesnar</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/samoa-joe" title="Samoa Joe">Samoa Joe</a></strong> and mentioned that WWE should have saved the match for <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/go/wrestlemania" target="_blank" title="WrestleMania">WrestleMania</a></strong> next year.</p><p><em>“You want my take? Here’s my take, ok, I’m assuming that they wanna go Reigns and Brock at WrestleMania. I personally would have gone Brock and Joe at WrestleMania because it’s different, it is fresh, it is believable. You have this 300 pound Samoan you know, beast and then The Beast Incarnate. So I don’t know, I think that to me it would have been a fun match to get at WrestleMania and I think people would have been excited to see that too.”</em></p><p>You can listen to the complete podcast <a href="https://art19.com/shows/ecs-pod-of-awesomeness" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
Jim Ross Reacts to Lana’s Title Shot
<p>Jim Ross published a new blog entry on JrsBarBq.com. Here are a couple of highlights:</p><p><strong>WWE’s booking of Jinder </strong><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/mahal/" title="Mahal">Mahal</a></strong>: “I’m a fan of the decision to make Jinder Mahal the WWE Champ, but I feel that his random utilization of his Singh sidekicks might be overdone. Nonetheless, the former Bollywood Boys take a helluva, ass whipping. Enjoying the villains getting success, which generally adds to the build of most storylines within the genre. If I were to err in booking, and I have plenty of times, I’d suggest erring on the side of antagonist angst more often than not. ‘Heat’ is good.”</p><p><strong></strong><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/lana" title="Lana">Lana</a></strong>’s SmackDown Women’s Title shot: “Lana ‘earning’ a Women’s Tile match? Hmm….the pressure is on for her to deliver in <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/front/" title="front">front</a></strong> of a somewhat unforgiving and discerning fan base.”</p><p><strong>Upcoming female MITB Ladder Match:</strong> “Arguably, today I’m more excited to see the women’s [MITB] bout than the men’s in a few weeks, essentially because of the unique nature of this match being the first ever Women’s MITB match ever. I see these athletic women perceiving this booking as very personal and one can only hope that they are discerning about whey they want to do in this match and remember that their safety should never be compromised, which is largely up to the talents in the match. The Gents in the their TLC bout better lace them up tight or they could be outperformed by the women here.”</p><p>You check out the full entry at <a href="https://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/51791" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this link here</a>.</p>
Vince McMahon Says Chris Jericho Is The Only Person Who Could Get “Stupid Idiot” Over with Fans
<p><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/chris-jericho" title="Chris Jericho">Chris Jericho</a></strong> recently spoke with <a href="http://baileyandsouthside.com/interview-with-chris-jericho/" rel="nofollow" target="new">Rock 100.5 ATL’s Bailey and Southside</a>. Here are some highlights:</p><p><strong>The Creation of The List</strong>: “Working with this guys who’s a writer in the WWE named Jimmy Jacobs. He used to be a [pro] wrestler. He came up to me one day and said, ‘what if we do something where you put somebody on this list?’ I’m like, ‘I knew this guy once who had a list of people he didn’t like.’ I’m like, ‘oh, that sounds funny.’ So I said it and it kind of got a reaction.” Jericho said, “the <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/whole/" title="whole">whole</a></strong> concept of The List went through the roof. The List is more popular than 85% of the guys on the show. The List is more popular than I am! And you just never know what’s <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/going/" title="going">going</a></strong> to make an impression with fans.”</p><p><strong>Getting Stupid Idiot Over</strong>: “They’re chanting it now, ‘stupid idiot’ and I remember when I started saying that, Vince was like, ‘nobody could say this, nobody can get away with this, but you can. You’re the only guy in the world who could do this’ because when I started using ‘stupid idiot,’ it got heat. I would call the fans, ‘you’re a stupid idiots’ and they’d be like, ‘boo!’ and then, like everything else, suddenly people loved it.”</p>
Sheamus Going After the Intercontinental Championship?
<p><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/sheamus" title="Sheamus">Sheamus</a></strong> indicated on Twitter that he <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/wants/" title="wants">wants</a></strong> to hold the Intercontinental Championship, the one title that has eluded him to date. Here is his twitter, which sparked a response <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/the-miz" title="The Miz">The Miz</a></strong>:</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Only one WWE title missing for the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GrandSlam?src=hash" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">#GrandSlam</a> goal I set myself many years ago… it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine. <a href="https://t.co/pSQ0AhphvS" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/pSQ0AhphvS</a></p> <p>— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWESheamus/status/872813023894921217" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">June 8, 2017</a></p> </blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">No it won't <a href="https://t.co/XWr0atHIb7" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://t.co/XWr0atHIb7</a></p> <p>— The Miz (@mikethemiz) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikethemiz/status/872876931863244801" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">June 8, 2017</a></p> </blockquote><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wanna bet? <a href="https://t.co/sh95L7uO4O" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://t.co/sh95L7uO4O</a></p> <p>— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWESheamus/status/872881374797205504" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">June 8, 2017</a></p> </blockquote>
Austin Aries Taking Time Off from WWE
<p>While appearing on Busted Open Radio, <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/wrestler/austin-aries" title="Austin Aries">Austin Aries</a></strong> mentioned that he will be taking time off from WWE to heal some nagging injuries.</p><p><em>“I’ve got some stuff <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/going/" title="going">going</a></strong> on, but just to be fair you could probably say that for a lot of the locker room. It’s kind of part of what we do, I don’t think anyone is ever 100%. So I got a couple things going on and obviously at this point it might be a good time to take a little break which really could consist of two days to just adjust some of those things, try and get my mind and my body right and then come back and figure out what’s <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/gonna/" title="gonna">gonna</a></strong> be next and what the direction’s gonna be.”</em></p><p>You can listen to the full interview <a href="https://soundcloud.com/siriusxmrush/austin-aries-speaks-on-how-the-wwe-is-presenting-205-live-and-the-cruiserweights-to-the-wwe-universe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
Lilian Garcia Makes Surprise Appearance At NXT Event
<p>Former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia made a special appearance at Wednesday’s NXT event in England as she sang “God Save The Queen” to help kick off the show.</p><p>The event took place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds and began with a moment of silence for victims of the Manchester bombing and attack at the London Bridge.</p><p>Garcia then surprised the crowd with an appearance and sang the British national anthem.</p><p>NXT’s event at the Manchester Arena that was scheduled for Tuesday was canceled due to the bombing and WWE instead sent Superstars to visit with victims/help <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/raise/" title="raise">raise</a></strong> money. Those with tickets to the initial event were <strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/given/" title="given">given</a></strong> free admission tonight to the show in Leeds.</p><p><strong><a href="http://www.ringsidenews.com/tag/watch/" title="Watch">Watch</a></strong> the video of Garcia’s performance below.</p>