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If you follow wrestling, you’ve probably heard the buzz: TNA Wrestling has struck a fresh media deal — and its flagship show, Thursday Night iMPACT!, is shiftin...
The more the merrier. AEW has shaken up the wrestling world in a variety of ways, including offering all kinds of fresh content to wrestling fans. As a result, there is a lot more big budget wrestling to be seen in the United States, but that is far from the only place wrestling can be enjoyed. Now AEW is getting to move into a new market with a big international deal. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: One More: 51 Year Old Former World Champion Announces Planned Return To The Ring AEW has announced that it has reached a deal with ESPN to broadcast its events in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. The content will begin airing on February 16, with Dynamite on Thursdays and Rampage on Saturdays. The company’s pay per views will also be available on a delayed basis. There is nothing to suggest that AEW and ESPN will be working together anywhere else at the moment. There is a lot of great stuff to be seen. Check out some of what AEW has to offer: [This post contains video, click to p..
As people outside of the big promotions like AEW, we often forget that we see these performers for maybe 30 mins of television time per week, which could be much less for underutilized talents. If you compare this to the standard 40 hour work week, we’re seeing so little of what actually goes into becoming a star in the wrestling business. For instance, Fuego Del Sol has been training extensively despite limited appearances on AEW programming over the course of 2022. He took to Twitter on Thursday to share his progress and goals into improving his craft as well as being prepared for any future opportunities. I bought a wrestling ring to take my in ring training to another level. Developed a new gym discipline. Working out 6 days a week and already see a difference in my body! Wrestling on the indies more so I stay ring ready and prepared for bigger AEW matches. Confidence way up! https://t.co/3rt9qzaiMn — Fuego Del Sol (@FuegoDelSol) November 17, 2022 During an exchange on Twit..
That’s a good sign. Wrestling is in a weird place when compared to mainstream sports. While wrestling is certainly an athletic endeavor, it is closer to a performance than a competition. At the same time, wrestling has quite the audience and that is something that can bring in quite a bit of money. Now the two biggest wrestling companies in the United States might be ready to use their audience to bring in a lot more money. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: WATCH: WWE Star Teases Taking Going In A New Direction According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Thursday Night Football on Amazon is drawing in the same numbers in the 18-49 demographic as Monday Night Football on ESPN. This suggests that a core audience will watch a show on streaming, which could lead to online platforms such as Amazon Prime or Netflix could be interested in acquiring WWE or AEW programming when the new broadcasting deals are available. WWE’s current TV deals expire in September 2024, with the negotiations for a new ..
He’ll have another. Wrestlers often have to rely on their talking abilities to make the fans care about what they are doing. If a wrestler is good enough with a microphone, it can open quite a few doors for their careers. This is the case for other industries outside of wrestling, and that was the case again for another legend who achieved quite the success outside of the ring. WWE Hall Of Famer Glenn Jacobs, better known as Kane, has announced that he has been re-elected as Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee on Thursday. This marks Jacobs’ second term in office with another four year term. Jacobs has still made occasional wrestling appearances while in office, most recently at Summerslam. He also wrestled in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel 2018. THANK YOU Knox County for electing me to serve a second term as your mayor. I am so grateful for the support you have shown me and my family throughout my campaign for re-election, and will continue to do all I can to serve you to the best of my ..
Even more evidence. One of the biggest wrestling stories of the year has been Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out on WWE and leaving the company back in May. The two were the reigning WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions at the time and the titles were vacated in the process. There have been rumblings that the two may be returning to WWE, and now we have a bit more evidence. According to Wrestlingnews.co, Banks, under her real name of Mercedes Varnado, is no longer being advertised for the Los Angeles Rams celebrity flag football game, scheduled for this Friday. Banks had been advertised as of Wednesday evening but an updated roster from Reddit does not include her. While there is no guarantee of what the change means, there is a chance that WWE pulled her from the event if she is returning to the company. Here are Wednesday and Thursday’s advertisements: Who ya got?! Celebrity Flag Football rosters are set for Team Ramsey + Team Donald! » https://t.co/YqQkpKw4Qa pic.twitter.com/boDqCLysLl..
Call it a leftover? The biggest wrestling story in quite a log time took place last week as Vince McMahon retired from WWE after forty plus years running the company. That is going to be one of those shakeups that will have repercussions for years to come and the question now is to find out where things are going from here. There are some things that still needed to be updated and that was the case this week. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw was mostly written before McMahon retired and was not a reflection of the new direction of the show. Most of the show was written by Thursday, with McMahon leaving on Friday. There were a few minor changes made, though it is not clear what they were. It is likely that this week’s SmackDown was written following McMahon’s departure. Opinion: I don’t think this is much of a surprise as there was little room to make a bunch of changes after McMahon left the company. Let them have the time to set things u..
Not so fast. WWE has been around for a very long time and the company’s history can be broken up into various sections. Some of these are a lot more well defined than others, but there are some that are among the most popular and successful times the company has ever had. This week, a story broke suggesting that we might be moving a bit back towards one of those eras, but that may have been jumping the gun. On Thursday, Andrew Zarian reported that a USA Network memo announced that Monday Night Raw would be rated TV-14 again starting on July 18. However, Zarian has since updated the story, saying that while the memo was correct, it was sent out early, meaning that the date of the TV-14 rating is currently up in the air. Fightful Select is reporting that Zarian’s update is accurate. There is no word on what kind of content a TV-14 show would contain. There was a memo within USA Network that went out this morning regarding WWE Raw changing to TV-14 on July 18th.Apparently that was sent ..
That’s a long time off. Cody Rhodes made his surprise return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 and has since taken WWE by storm. Rhodes has become one of the biggest stars in WWE and even headlined last weekend’s Hell In A Cell event. However, Rhodes has suffered a major injury and that is the kind of thing that could slow him down for awhile. Now we know just how long that might be. Before Hell In A Cell, Rhodes suffered a torn pectoral muscle while training, though he did manage to wrestle his scheduled match anyway. This week on SmackDown, Michael Cole announced that as a result of the injury, Rhodes will be out of action for about nine months. Rhodes underwent successful surgery to repair the injury on Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama. Update: After successful surgery, @CodyRhodes will be out of action for nine months. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/5ITIvRzPcL — WWE (@WWE) June 11, 2022 Opinion: This is the bad news that you probably knew was coming but that doesn’t make it any better. Ther..
Wait…who? There are a lot of different aspects that come together to make a wrestling star feel important but one of the biggest is their name. You can only get so far with a bad name and that has been shown on more than one occasion over the years. WWE has a hit and miss record with naming its wrestlers, but this time around even what they had isn’t quite right. WWE has a live event scheduled for the Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey on August 14. There have been a few matches announced, but the arena’s website had listed incorrect names for the show. This includes “Seth “Franklin” Rollins” and “Ashule” instead of Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Asuka. The incorrect names were still listed as of Thursday morning but had been corrected later in the day. Had to see for myself that this is real. WWE is back. pic.twitter.com/OYYYUVal1c — Nationally Published Troll (@mongo_ebooks) June 9, 2022 Opinion: That’s the kind of error that might not mean anything in the sho..
Never mind. We are less than a month away from one of the most unique shows on the wrestling calendar as AEW presents Forbidden Door. The show will feature a series of matches between AEW and New Japan Pro Wrestling stars, with the first match being announced this week. While CM Punk vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi is set, another match that was rumored will not be taking place. On Thursday, a story reported by Dave Meltzer began circulating that IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will be defending his title against Hangman Page. However, according to Meltzer, the match is not going to be happening as the lineup that he saw for the show was not accurate. The rest of the card other than Punk vs. Tanahashi is being kept secret, with the June 26 card still to be announced. Per @davemeltzerWON, his WOR note last night that Hangman Page vs. Okada was tabbed for Forbidden Door based on a lineup he had seen was incorrect. That match is not planned for the PPV as the lineup is being kept a secr..
So much for them? We are just over a week away from WWE’s Hell In A Cell event but that doesn’t mean it is too early to start on the next show. In this case, that would be Money In The Bank, which is taking place on July 2, albeit in a different venue than previously planned. As a result of the change of location, WWE has made another change in the form of the lineup appearing. On Thursday, WWE officially announced that Money In The Bank will be heading to the MGM Grand Garden Arena rather than the previously announced Allegiant Stadium. This also comes with a new promotional poster for the event, which features several new stars. The previous poster featured: AJ Styles Sasha Banks Bianca Belair Drew McIntyre Becky Lynch Charlotte Bobby Lashley Ronda Rousey Brock Lesnar Roman Reigns The new poster features: Drew McIntyre The Street Profits Rhea Ripley Miz Cody Rhodes Bianca Belair Riddle There is no guarantee that any of the wrestlers listed will or will not appear on the show. Ho..
That’s a shakeup. WWE presents a lot of wrestling events at any given time of the year. This can make for some very big events, as the company has the budget and the status to pull something like that off. It doesn’t mean that they are guaranteed successes though, and that might be the case again soon. If it is the case, WWE is going to be making a very big change. According to Brad Shepherd, WWE will be moving July 2nd’s Money in the Bank pay per view event from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada to the MGM Grand Garden Arena, also in Las Vegas, due to poor ticket sales. WWE has yet to announce any such change and as of Thursday morning, still has Allegiant Stadium listed as the show’s venue. In addition, Allegiant Stadium’s Twitter account advertised the show taking place in the venue this week. There is no word on when the announcement will be made. On May 19th, I broke the news on the Brad Shepard UNLEASHED Patreon that #WWE was considering moving to a different venue for Mon..
That’s a big one. While there are several fans who are not thrilled with the way he does business, there is no one in wrestling more powerful than Vince McMahon. As the owner of WWE, McMahon is the most influential person in all of the industry, but McMahon is also one of the most unique people you will ever see. He even has a history of getting in the ring himself, and that might be the case again. This week on SmackDown, Pat McAfee announced that McMahon will be a guest on his show next week. According to Post Wrestling, the appearance will be used as the start of a feud between the two, which will most likely culminate in a match at WrestleMania 38. McMahon, 76 years old, last wrestled at WrestleMania 26 in 2010 but he has gotten physical on occasion since then. McAfee wrestled two matches during his time in NXT. BREAKING: @VinceMcMahon will join Pat McAfee next Thursday on the @PatMcAfeeShow! pic.twitter.com/g2X5CFsCM0 — WWE (@WWE) February 26, 2022 Opinion: This one comes out ..
He has enough to do already. For some reason, wrestlers and wrestling personalities have a bit of a history when it comes to politics. WWE Hall of Famer Jesse Ventura went on to become the Governor of Minnesota while his fellow Hall of Famer Kane became the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. It is something that has had some surprising results, but rumors of another wrestling personality trying his hand in the field do not seem to be true. On Thursday afternoon, a story from ProFootballTalk began circulating that AEW President Tony Khan was running for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in Florida. However, Khan himself has responded to and denied the reports, saying that the story is untrue and saying that ProFootballTalk’s sources are as trustworthy as Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The fact checking standard for @ProFootballTalk reporting is far lower than that of @AEW’s roving reporter @tonyschiavone24. I’m definitely not running for Congress; this filing is faker than E..
The 2022 Royal Rumble has come and gone, and with it, a number of people who are unhappy about how the event transpired. While some are complaining about the in-ring competition, the majority of the griping has to do with the booking of the show and how things didn’t go down as they thought that they should. This is where I come in. This article is the first of what I guarantee will be many in a series during my time at Wrestling Rumors. This new segment is called: Everyone, Just Relax. Side note, you can find the audio version of this article on The Hoots Podcast, of which new episodes are released every Thursday. [This post contains video, click to play] After this year’s Royal Rumble, naturally, Twitter exploded with messaging saying that “this was the worst show ever” and that “AEW is going to buy WWE in a few years”. However, if you just take a step back and think about things for a minute, you will realize that there is some long-term storytelling going on here that will pl..
Here we go again. According to a report from TMZ, former WWE superstar Tammy Sytch, also known as Sunny, was arrested on Thursday morning on charges of possessing a weapon and making terroristic threats. The report states that there are a total of 3 charges pending against Sunny: 2 for illegally possessing a weapon and 1 for terroristic threats. The nature of the alleged threats is not currently known at this time. The weapons charges are classified as third degree, while the threats charge is fourth degree. If convicted, the weapons charges each carry a possible 3-5 year prison term, while the threats charge carries up to a 1-year sentence. This is not the first time that Sunny has had legal problems in recent memory; in 2019, she was arrested for a DUI and then went on to violate her parole. Check out Sunny during her happier days: [This post contains video, click to play] We will continue to monitor this story and provide any updates as they become available to us. Editor’s ..
History has been made! Titles are the main storytelling device in all of wrestling because they are a simple concept. Give someone a shiny championship belt and have other wrestlers try to take it. That is one of those ideas that any fan can understand in a hurry and it makes title changes mean that much more. That was on display this week as some titles changed hands. This week on NXT UK, Moustache Mountain defeated Pretty Deadly to become the new NXT UK Tag Team Champions. The win marks the first title reign for Moustache Mountain and makes them the only team to win both the NXT Tag Team Titles and NXT UK Tag Team Titles. Pretty Deadly had held the titles for 288 days, winning them on the February 25 edition of NXT UK. This is a big deal. Check out the title match, the post win comments and some of the champs’ time stateside: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: This is a title ..
They might want to work on that. There are a lot of criticisms to modern WWE and one of the most common is that they do not seem to know what they are doing from one day to the next. You will often hear stories of plans being changed at the drop of a hat, and often at the last minute. It turns out that was the case with some recently released wrestlers on their last day in the company. Last Thursday, WWE released the entire Hit Row faction from the company in a surprise move. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, this was part of a very busy day for the team. On Thursday, Hit Row had been told they would be on SmackDown, Survivor Series and Monday Night Raw. Later in the day, they were told they would not be on any of the shows, before being told they would indeed be on them. Then the three of them were released from their contracts. The team was worth a longer look. Check out what they could do when given the chance: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains ..
It’s a bonus. Wrestlers are a lot of things, but to outsiders, they are often called actors who are pretending to do a lot of things on any given show. Somehow that rarely turns into success in the acting world, though every now and then you see someone getting a chance to show what they can do in Hollywood. Now it seems that we will be seeing that again with a prominent WWE star. Former WWE Champion and current SmackDown star Jinder Mahal has announced that he will be appearing as a regular character on ABC’s series Big Sky. The show airs every Thursday night at 10pm EST, with Mahal playing a character named Dhruv. Mahal’s first appearance will be on November 18 and he says he will be appearing on the show every week. The Maharaja has joined the cast of @BigSkyABC season 2 as Dhruv. Starting Tomorrow and every Thurs at 10/9C PM on @ABCNetwork and @hulu. #bigskyabc pic.twitter.com/ptarZWqkXm — The Maharaja (@JinderMahal) November 17, 2021 Mahal is certainly a star in WWE. Check out..