SMOSH has teamed up with WWE for Every [Wrestler] Ever, the newest episode of their “Every [Blank] Ever” series that satirizes pop culture.
In this video, WWE Superstars Seth Rollins, Xavier Woods, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, WWE Diva Paige, and Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan appear along others from SMOSH who try to imitate WWE Superstars. Rollins, Woods, Bryan, and Paige even try to to some impersonations of their own.
“We apologize in advance to all wrestling fans we’re about to offend,” the video says at the start. You can see it below.
Every [Blank] Ever’s first three episodes, Every [Instagram] Ever, Every [Party] Ever, and Every [Game of Thrones] Ever have reached over 10 million views total since debuting.
The UFC and Reebok today released UFC Fight Kits during a press conference in New York City. These apparel will be worn by all UFC fighters and are mandatory during UFC events.
CM Punk also got his Reebok jersey despite not even making his UFC debut. It was a smart move from both UFC and Reebok considering the large fanbase Punk has and a lot of money can be made from such apparel.
However the name CM Punk is not being used on these jerseys as the company opted to use his real name Philip Brooks. The front of the black jersey has the UFC logo in blue and the Reebok red logo over a white section. One of the sleeves is also white which has a red Octagon. The back has the UFC logo on the neck and Philip Brooks written on the side. It will set you back $95 if you want to order one.
Roman Reigns will be making a special appearance on tonight’s Tough Enough as the competition enters its second week with 12 hopefuls remaining.
The first episode of the season did little to show viewers what it takes to be a wrestler with the second show hopefully tackling some in-ring training. Several WWE Superstars and Divas will appear throughout the series to help the Tough Enough hopefuls in the competition.
This week’s episode was taped throughout the past week – as will be the case going forward – with the live portion of the show taking on the elimination part.
USA Network added a two hour Raw replay as the lead-in to Tough Enough after the disappointing ratings the show pulled in last week.
WWE Superstars and Divas will be traveling to the Far East today for three events – one in Singapore and two in Japan.
The tour starts on July 2 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium and then it continues on July 3 and 4 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo for two back to back shows. The July 4 show will be broadcast live on the WWE Network and will feature Brock Lesnar’s return to the ring since WrestleMania and the NXT title will be on the line as Kevin Owens defends the championship against Finn Balor.
Those going on tour include John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, King Barrett, Kane, The New Day, Cesaro, Lucha Dragons, Neville, Paige, Bella Twins, and others.
With The Authority back in full-force, it appears as Brock Lesnar has to watch his back. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Joey Mercury, and Director Of Operations Kane all laid a beat-down on the #1 Contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion last week on Raw; how will “The Beast Incarnate” and his advocate, Paul Heyman, respond tonight?
Speaking of responses, no Diva has stepped up to help out Paige in her battle against Divas Champion Nikki Bella and her sister Brie. Will this change tonight and/or will Paige even be in attendance? As, Intercontinental Champion Ryback is embroiled with The Big Show and The Miz over said title; they will square off in a triple threat match at Battleground. Who antagonizes who tonight?
Lastly, Bray Wyatt has been playing very creepy mind-games with Roman Reigns, even involving his family. Will Reigns retaliate tonight and how, or does Wyatt escape him again and further intimidate his Battleground opponent?
All this and much more, so read on!
Monday Night Raw TV Report for June 29th, 2015 – “Rollin(s)’ On”
Introduction Segment: Video Promo
Recap of last week’s Raw featuring The Authority’s swerve and attack on Brock Lesnar is shown.
Segment #2: Arena Promo
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins’ music hits to kick off Raw and he walks to the ring with Director Of Operations Kane, Jamie Noble, and Joey Mercury in tow; he boasts about their strike on Lesnar. Rollins moves on to Noble, who he calls his “mentor and hero,” as he still showed up tonight despite suffering broken ribs from Lesnar chucking him into the barricade last week.
For their efforts, Seth rewards the trio with new Apple Watches and a Cadillac car for J & J; Kane also receives a vacation to Hawaii, but first, he and Rollins will tag together to face Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in tonight’s main-event.
They are all celebrating by the car at the side of the stage when The Big Show makes his entrance; he will take on Mark Henry, next!
Commercials.
Match #1: Single – The Big Show VS. “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry
(Note: The Miz is on commentary.) Show boots Henry right away, then rapidly punches him in the corner. He attempts a chokeslam, but Mark shoves him off and head butts him to the mat. He splashes Show for a two-count, but Big makes a comeback and hits the Knockout Punch for the surprisingly quick victory!
Winner via Pinfall: The Big Show
Post-match, Intercontinental Champion Ryback marches down and brawls with Show until The Miz sneak-attacks Ryback with a boot. As Miz is on the stage, Ryback takes the microphone and demands to wrestle Miz now!
Ads.
Match #2: Single – The Miz VS. Intercontinental Champion “The Big Guy” Ryback (Non-Title)
Miz runs around but gets caught in a Lou Thesz Press and slam. Ryback slugs away on Miz , then carries him to the corner. Miz jawbreaks Ryback using the ropes, but is grabbed off a run and dropped after a long, long, stalling-marching-suplex!
Miz tries to escape, but goads Ryback in the ring and DDT’s him for a near-fall! He continues to work over Ryback and drops him with a neckbreaker for two! He kicks Ryback hard twice, but “The Big Guy” turns it around and gains momentum with a spinebuster. He winds up for the Meathook Clothesline, but Miz backs away and high-tails it up the ramp. The referee stops the count at four, as he presumes Miz is not finishing the bout.
Winner via Count-Out: Intercontinental Champion “The Big Guy” Ryback
Commercials.
Match #3: Single – Paige VS. Alicia Fox (with Divas Champion Nikki Bella and Brie Bella)
They lock up, with Paige snapmaring Alicia and trapping her in an armlock. Fox hits back with a fierce forearm, but is put to the mat with a Lou Thesz Press by Paige. Nikki and Brie yell at Paige, which allows Alicia to take control.
Ads.
Fox is still dominating, almost taking this one with a Northern-Lights suplex pin. She runs at Paige in the corner, but misses, however hits back hard and wears Paige down with a grounding side headlock. Fox plants Paige with a tilt-a-whirl move, and just about wins! She drags Paige to the middle of the ring and elbows her off a short Irish Whip. Paige reverses another headlock with another snapmare, then knees her in the corner. She clotheslines her a couple times, and takes a slug at Nikki who hopped the apron. Alicia rolls Paige from behind, but Paige reverses for the 1 – 2 – 3!
Winner via Pinfall: Paige
John Cena’s music plays and the United States Champion comes out for his U.S. Open Challenge, which will be next!
Commercials.
Match #4: Single for the United States Championship – John Cena (Champion) VS. ???
The man to answer Cena’s challenge is….
NXT Champion Kevin Owens! His recent rival walks out and it appears it will actually happen. Lillian Garcia makes formal introductions, but then Kevin walks out to the timekeeper’s area and takes a microphone. “On second thought, I’ll just wait for Battleground.” Owens then introduces Cena’s other opponent, Cesaro!
Cesaro makes his entrance and they actually lock up, making this match official. Cesaro works Cena with a waistlock, which John breaks out and turns into a standing side headlock. Cesaro whips him off the ropes, and Cena turns a hip-toss into a monkey-flip!
Cena runs off the ropes but is powerslammed for two! Cesaro clamps on a front-facelock, then gives John a gutwrench suplex. He rips at Cena with a face-stretch, but Cena rolls over into a pin for a near-fall! Cesaro continues to dominate by pounding away and diving off the middle turnbuckle with a fistdrop!
Ads.
Cesaro tries for a Sharpshooter, but Cena shoves him off and begins a comeback. The U.S. Champ plants Cesaro with a spin-out backdrop and signals for the 5-Knuckle Shuffle Fistdrop, but Cesaro hits a hard clothesline instead. Cena manages a sloppy Springboard Stunner, but only gets two! He goes for the Attitude Adjustment, but Cesaro lands on his feet and knocks Cena town with a Flapjack-Uppercut! 1 – 2 – Cena raises his shoulder! John gets Cesaro into the S.T.F, but Cesaro reverses directly into The Sharpshooter! Cena crawls and clutches the ropes for a break!
Cesaro sets up John and suplexes him from the apron to the ring! 1 – 2 – Cena still kicks out! Cesaro runs at Cena in the corner with an uppercut, but is booted and Tornado-DDT out of the other corner! 1 – 2 – Cesaro also gets his shoulder up!
They both punch away, then Cena whips Cesaro into the ropes, only for Cesaro to flip over and land on his feet on the apron! Cesaro climbs the turnbuckle and rockets off with a crossbody, but Cena rolls through into a tilt-a-whirl sideslam! As Cena is perched on the top turnbuckle, Owens gets up and faces the announce table. This distracted Cena enough for Cesaro to dropkick him off. He hits Cena with a running uppercut against the corner barricade, and gets a near-fall back in the ring.
Cena plants Cesaro with a sunset-flip powerbomb, then Cesaro rushes Cena with uppercuts. He locks on another Sharpshooter, but this time Kevin Owens jumps in the ring and attacks, causing a dq.
Winner via Disqualification and STILL United States Champion: John Cena
Post-match, Owens delivers Pop-Up powerbombs to both Cesaro and Cena, then declares that it will only be him to take away the U.S. Championship at Battleground.
Commercials.
Segment #3: Video Promo
Bray Wyatt is holding a picture of Roman Reigns, who has his eyes and mouth cut out. “Roman Reigns, Roman Reigns. You know, life ain’t always fair man. For instance, I always thought I should’ve been my father’s favorite. Instead, he just through me away like a piece of trash. But now, it’s different. I’m away, and look daddy, I got my wings back! And who is it that deserves all that you have? Anyone but you, anyone but you. you know what I stand for and you know all the horrible things that I am capable of. This is about you and me, and the insects that watch us every week are inconsequential. I am the yang to your yang; I am the darkness to your light. You’ll never succeed, I’ll never let you. Anyone but you, anyone but you. RUN!”
The Lucha Dragons make their entrance, and will be paired with Tag-Team Champions The Primetime Players to face The New Day and Bo Dallas, next!
Ads.
Match #5: Eight-Man Tag-Team – The Lucha Dragons (Calisto and Sin Cara) and Tag-Team Champions The Primetime Players (“The Big Deal” Titus O’Neil and “Mr. No Days Off” Darren Young) VS. The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E.) and “The Inspirational” Bo Dallas
Woods and Calisto begin, with Calisto getting the better along with his partner Cara. Dallas is now in, as is Young, who also gets the better of Bo. Calisto back in, but Dallas capitalizes and works him over with repeated knees and a grounding headlock. This bout breaks down a little, with the teams facing each other on the outside.
Commercials.
Big E. and Sin Cara are now wrestling, with Cara flipping all over E. New Day and Dallas regain control, all mudhole-stomping Young in their corner. Dallas back in and grounds Young with a chinlock. They knock into each other, with allows Young to get the hot-tag to his champion partner, Titus! He is all over Kingston and then the match breaks down again. The Luchas and O’Neil clean house, and O’Neil takes this one for his teams after caching and planting Kofi with a sit-down spinebuster!
Winners via Pinfall: The Lucha Dragons (Calisto and Sin Cara) and Tag-Team Champions The Primetime Players (“The Big Deal” Titus O’Neil and “Mr. No Days Off” Darren Young)
Up next, Dolph Ziggler and Lana will be “going public.”
Ads.
Segment #4: Arena Promo
“The Show-Off” Dolph Ziggler and Lana walk to the ring; they then inform us about their romantic relationship. Rusev interrupts and has Summer Rae join him. They both berate Lana for her choice to side with Zggler when Rusev got injured; then Summer slaps Lana, who responds with a full-on takedown and a catfight ensues.
Segment #5: Backstage Promo
Dean Ambrose is talking to two Terminator statues (a subtle plug for the upcoming Terminator movie) when Roman Reigns walks in.
Commercials.
Match #6: Single – Neville/Sheamus
Neville has a wristlock on Sheamus, which he turns into a hammerlock, using the corner for leverage. Sheamus takes Neville down with a side headlock, but Neville flips from corner-to-corner and gives Sheamus a hurricanrana. He tries a second, but Sheamus tries to counter, however he is dumped to the outside. Neville goes to follow with a dive, but Sheamus moves to the commentator’s area for a break.
Ads.
Sheamus slaps Neville a couple times, and catches him off a springboard from the top rope, into a fireman’s carry rolling senton. He works over Neville with a grounding rear chinlock, then pounds away in the corner with punches and kicks. Neville hits a kick-to-the-chin to counter, but is driven into Sheamus’ knee three times with the Irish Curse Backbreaker.
Sheamus tries a backdrop, but Neville flips out of it. He hits a few forearm smashes and kicks, then jumps over him and pulls down the ropes which sends Sheamus tumbling to the floor. Neville follows up with a springboard-moonsault to the outside! Neville hits a springboard-front-dropkick from the top rope into the ring and gets a two-count!
Sheamus runs at Neville in the corner, but misses and is kicked hard. Neville ascends the top turnbuckle, but is dropped when Sheamus kicks the ropes. “The Celtic Warrior” goes for a Brogue Kick, but Neville reverses into a roll-up, which Neville used his back, but only for two! Sheamus goes for another Brogue Kick and nails it this time to take this one!
Winner via Pinfall: “Mr. Money In The Bank,” “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus
Commercials.
Match #7: Single – “The Real American” Jack Swagger VS. King Barrett
Barrett finishes this sub-par match rather quickly with The Bullhammer after tripping Swagger into the middle turnbuckle.
Winner via Pinfall: King Barrett
Ads.
Match #8: Tag-Team (No Disqualification Rules) – Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose VS. Director Of Operations Kane and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins (with J & J Security) (Non-Title)
All four begin punching at each other, then Ambrose and Reigns double-suplex Kane. Ambrose is pushed off the top turnbuckle by Seth, then Kane boots Reigns down. Rollins throws Dean into the corner barricade prior to the break.
Commercials.
Kane is now punishing Roman until Reigns counters and puts Kane on the canvas. He makes the hot-tag to Dean, who takes out both Kane and Rollins. He dives off the top turnbuckle to the outside on Kane and Rollins, then has to dispose of Mercury. He eyes Noble, but Jamie backs away and Seth interjects. Ambrose looks under the ring and pulls out a table to the delight of the Washington fans.
Noble and Mercury yank the table from the ring, allowing Rollins to roll-up Dean for a two-count. Reigns is back in and powerbombs Rollins, then hits a flying forearm on Kane. Mercury tries to hurt Roman by hitting him with a kendo stick, but it has no effect and just fires up Reigns, who hits everyone with Superman Punches. As he gears up for a Spear, Bray Wyatt shows up and demolishes Roman. This leaves Ambrose, who falls to four-on-one and a Pedigree by Rollins for the victory!
Winners via Pinfall: Director Of Operations Kane and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins (with J & J Security)
Post-match, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion orders Noble and Mercury to setup the table against the corner. They and Kane then go to put Dean in a powerbomb position, but Reigns breaks it up. Kane eventually Chokeslams Roman, then Rollins and Kane yell at him. Reigns regains and fights back. The four then surround the ring and maul Reigns again, constantly brawling. Kane Chokeslams him again, then Seth barks to “get his ass up.” He manages to powerbomb Roman through the table, and then sets up for a Pedigree. He drives him face-first into the mat, then stands over with his WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Kane, Mercury, Noble, and Rollins walk away as Bray Wyatt comes back. He spins Reigns around with Sister Abigail and laughs to close the show.
End Of Raw.
Reporter’s Rumblings – By Moe Tapp
Another really well-done Raw! This was action-packed and moved along nicely; only a few duds. Onto the particulars:
Excellence: Ryback/Miz, Paige/Fox, Cena/Cesaro, Neville/Sheamus, and Kane/Rollins/Ambrose/Reigns – these were very well-wrestled matches (especially Cesaro/Cena) and kept my thorough attention. Further, that was a very impressive suplex by Ryback and he continues to step it up every week.
Loving the feuds of Owens/Cena and Reigns/Wyatt for their mind-games; as well, Seth Rollins is at the top of his game right now as WWE World Heavyweight Champion and is carrying this new-born feud with Lesnar very well.
Bogus: Show/Henry, the Eight-Man Tag, and Barrett/Swagger – these could’ve been more (Show/Henry) or not at all (Eight-Man and Swagger/Barrett) and did nothing for me. I would’ve liked to see Dragons/New Day square off instead of the repeat Smackdown! match.
It was nice to see Paige back, but I think she should’ve lost to build up Fox’s recent turn, and to continue to put in question anyone willing to stand with her against The Bellas.
After last week’s pretty-good heel promo, I was surprised and disappointed that Adam Rose was not used. I think he can be a good baddy for a while with Rosa. Also, I am liking the Lana/Ziggler and Summer/Rusev feud, but felt that their verbals were a little too predictable and kind of bland.
Overall, I really enjoyed this Raw and am looking forward to another great edition next week! Until then, Be Excellent Wrestling-Online Readers and Wrestling Fans!
Current U.S. title holder John Cena has been nominated for the inaugural Sports Humanitarian of the Year Awards, presented by ESPN and PlayStation.
The awards will celebrate and honor athletes, teams, nonprofits and members of the sports industry for using sport to serve communities and make a positive impact on society. The event, which will take place Tuesday, July 14 at the Conga Room at L.A. Live, will be the first of its kind, bringing together the leagues and sporting community to pay tribute to the collective good of sports. Laila Ali will be hosting the ceremony.
The Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award is given to an athlete whose continuous, demonstrated leadership has created a positive impact on their community through sports. The honoree will receive a $75,000 grant (and $25,000 grant for each of the three finalists) from ESPN’s Corporate Citizenship department to advance the impact of the charity related to the award-winning humanitarian efforts.
John Cena is nominated with Anquan Boldin from the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, Tamika Catchings of WNBA’s Indiana Fever, and Henrik Lundqvist from NHL’s New York Rangers. An independent panel of judges selected the finalists.
Meanwhile WWE’s community relations department is also nominated for the Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year. The winner will receive a $75,000 grant (and $25,000 grant for each of the three finalists) from ESPN to the qualified charity related to the award-winning humanitarian efforts.
WWE is nominated along with the Chicago Bulls, Portland Timbers, and San Francisco 49ers.
As of today, James Storm, Magnus, and Austin Aries are no longer under a TNA contract and are free to pursue other promotions.
PWInsider.com is reporting that TNA is somewhat changing the way they are operating, keeping only their big stars under exclusive deals while letting others work with them on short term deals. With TNA not doing live events but only television tapings, many under contract are not getting as much money so that is why TNA is allowing them to wrestle for other promotions and use them when needed.
The three will probably be asked to perform in the upcoming set of tapings in July although now they are in a position to turn down the offer if they have a better deal from someone else on the same dates. TNA has already taped a month and a half worth of Impact shows over the last week so you will still be seeing them on television.
On Thursday, July 2, WWE Network will air a Finn Balor special in anticipation for his NXT title match against Kevin Owens in Japan on July 4.
Titled Finn Balor: The Demon Revealed, the synopsis for the show reads, “An in depth look inside the life, career and future of NXT Superstar Finn Balor.” It will start at 10:30PM EST and will run for 30 minutes.
Balor vs Owens for the NXT title will be one of the matches featured on the special WWE Network presentation of the WWE live event in Tokyo, Japan. It will air live around the world and in the United States it will be in the early hours of the morning on Independence Day.
In an interview with the Boston Herald, Dolph Ziggler said that he wants to finish his career in WWE.
Ziggler recently re-signed with the WWE penning a multi-year deal following months of speculation that he was going to leave the company as he was unhappy with the way things were going for him.
”I mean, it feels like I started here, I should end my career in the WWE,” he said. “I feel like they like having me around and I love working here, so it would be really hard to walk away.”
Maybe making out with Lana every week did eventually change his mind!
Ziggler has been one of the most consistent wrestlers over the past years however he hasn’t had much luck when it comes with the big title. Several concussion issues cut his last title reign short.
Here are the results from last night’s Slammiversary pay-per-view which took place from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Tigre Uno defeated Manik and DJ X in a three way elimination match to retain the X Division title; Robbie E defeated Jessie Godderz; Bram defeated Matt Morgan in a street fight; Austin Aries defeated Davey Richards; Awesome Kong and Brooke defeated The Dollhouse in a 3 on 2 handicap match; James Storm defeated Magnus in a non-sanctioned match; Ethan Carter III and Tyrus defeated Lashley and Mr. Anderson; Jeff Jarrett defeated Matt Hardy, Eric Young, Drew Galloway, and Bobby Roode to win the King of the Mountain championship.
Awesome Kong and Taryn Terrell, the two TNA Knockouts who have been reported that they will be departing the company after tonight’s Slammiversary, are saying otherwise in separate posts on their Twitter accounts.
“Contrary to rumors, @IMPACTWRESTLING and I will ring in the new year together & I’ll ‘deck the halls’ of anyone who says otherwise,” wrote Awesome Kong, adding the hashtag #staying at the end.
Three minutes after that tweet, Taryn Terrell also posted her thoughts on the news. “Stop making up rumors Internet! I just started playing!! I’m not going ANYWHERE,” she wrote.
The two already taped weeks worth of Impact that will air over the next month and a half.
Meanwhile, TNA’s Bob Ryder also disputed the news which were initially reported by the Wrestling Observer, saying neither of their contracts are up “for several months.”
The mass exodus from TNA Wrestling continues as James Storm, Austin Aries, Awesome Kong and Taryn Terrell are the latest individuals whose contracts have expired and are leaving TNA after tonight’s show according to a story on the Wrestling Observer.
Some of them will be appearing on Impact in the weeks to come as TNA has already taped a month and a half worth of shows over the past four days at Universal Studios.
James Storm is one of the TNA originals and started with TNA in June 2002. He is one of the most successful wrestlers in the company having won the TNA World Heavyweight title, the World Tag Team titles on six different occasions, and the NWA World Tag Team titles seven different times. He is one of the longest serving TNA wrestlers.
Austin Aries made his TNA debut in 2005 but left two years later, only to return in 2011 again. He is also a former TNA World Heavyweight champion and won the World Tag Team and X Division titles as well, with six different reigns with the X Division championship.
Awesome Kong arrived in TNA in 2007 and left in 2009 for a very short WWE stint. She returned to TNA earlier this year when Impact made its debut on Destination America. She won the TNA Knockouts title twice and is also a former Knockouts Tag Team champion.
Taryn Terrell joined TNA in 2012 after a three year WWE career wrestling under the name Tiffany. She was introduced as the official referee for the Knockouts division but later transitioned into wrestling as well. She is also a former TNA Knockouts champion.
Live tonight from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, TNA presents Slammiversary XIII on pay-per-view. The full card is as follows:
Jeff Jarrett vs Matt Hardy vs Eric Young vs Drew Galloway vs Bobby Roode in a King of the Mountain match to determine the first TNA King of the Mountain champion; James Storm vs Magnus; Jessie Godderz vs Robbie E; Ethan Carter III and Tyrus vs Lashley and Mr. Anderson; Bram vs Matt Morgan; The Dollhouse vs Awesome Kong and Brooke in a 3 on 2 handicap match; and Davey Richards vs Austin Aries.
This is TNA’s first pay-per-view live event of 2015.
Chris Jericho was part of the Boston non-televised live WWE event yesterday and obviously knew what was going to happen with The Rock.
The Tough Enough host started his Periscope and was broadcasting live the part where Bo Dallas was running down the audience, with the title of his live feed reading, “Gotta little surprise for u…”
The comments from those watching Jericho’s broadcast suggested they were not impressed considering that he wrote he has a surprise for them…until The Rock’s music hit and they all went bananas.
At the end Jericho turned his cell phone around and said that that is why you should always go to house shows because you never know what is going to happen! You can see Jericho’s Periscope feed of this particular segment at https://t.co/0YKtHJpmh8.
Meanwhile The Rock wrote on his Instagram that there’s no greater feeling than completely surprising his WWE Universe family by showing up unannounced at a live event.
Jeff Jarrett was announced as the newest inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame during one of the Impact tapings held over the weekend in Orlando, Florida.
Originally, AJ Styles was contacted about being this year’s inductee but he refused due to other commitments in Japan. This left TNA scrambling to find a suitable name to be inducted this year.
Jeff Jarrett co-founded TNA with his father in June 2002, a year after WCW closed up shop. Later that year, Panda Energy, owned by Dixie’s father, acquired a majority interest in TNA and Jarrett remained a minority owner to this day.
Jarrett was involved with TNA from the very first day until he announced his resignation in December 2013. His resignation came in effect on January 6, 2014.
Dixie Carter and Mike Tenay did the honors for Jarrett.
Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made a surprise appearance at a non-televised live event in Boston last night.
The Rock is currently in the city filming his latest movie Central Intelligence with Kevin Hart and took some time off his busy schedule to visit his old friends and electrify the thousands….and thousands inside the TD Garden.
Johnson came out filming his entrance on his cell phone and then saluted the fans from the top of the entrance before walking down the ramp to confront Bo Dallas.
The whole 18 minute hilarious segment between Rock and Dallas was filmed by WWE and uploaded online. It obviously ended with a Rock Bottom and a People’s Elbow. You can see it below.
The 28 year old former TNA World Heavyweight champion Magnus is leaving TNA after opting not to sign a new contract which expires in a matter of days.
Magnus, who is from England, started his TNA career in late 2008 and has been part of the company ever since, being part of the British Invasion, New Main Event Mafia, and eventually shining as a solo winning the TNA World title in 2013.
He will be participating in the upcoming Global Force Wrestling television tapings although he will be taking indy bookings as well. He will be wrestling at tomorrow’s Slammiversary pay-per-view against James Storm.
Magnus, real name Nick Aldis, is engaged with Mickie James and the two have a son together.
The USA Network website is listing a two hour version of Monday Night Raw airing on Tuesday at 6PM to serve as the lead in for the new episode of Tough Enough.
Ratings for the first episode of the new season of Tough Enough were very disappointing, getting just over 1.2 million viewers and a 0.4 rating in the much sought-after 18-49 demographic.
The last season of Tough Enough in 2011 with Steve Austin as the host used to draw around 2.5 million viewers per episode when it served as the lead in to Monday Night Raw.
The USA Network schedule on the website only lists programs for a week in advance so it’s not known if this will be a recurring thing or just a one time deal.
PWInsider.com is reporting that Dolph Ziggler has signed a new multi-year deal with WWE, keeping him there for the next couple of years.
Ziggler’s contract was up in a few months and there were rumors that he was not going to pen a new deal as he was unhappy with how things are evolving.
Ziggler has been part of WWE since 2004, first starting at Ohio Valley Wrestling before moving up to the main roster with the rest of The Spirit Squad a year later.
He was sent back to developmental for nearly two years after The Spirit Squad disbanded and returned on WWE television under his present name in September 2008.
Considered to be one of the best workers in the company, Ziggler held numerous titles including the World Heavyweight title although his run with the big belt wasn’t as successful.
The Dallas Morning News has a story about the family of Matt Osborne – better known as Doink The Clown – suing WWE for the brain injuries he suffered over the years.
The lawsuit alleges that Osborne suffered “traumatic brain injuries” that resulted in “depression and drug abuse, which ultimately resulted in his untimely death.”
The suit was filed by Shezad Malik, one of Wyoming injury lawyers. He’s also being helped by attorneys who filed similar lawsuits against WWE on behalf of other deceased wrestlers. It does not specify how much the family wants. Visit https://www.fieldinglaw.com/ for more information.
WWE’s leading attorney, Jerry McDevitt, said that this lawsuit is no different than the others and families are being told there are hundreds of thousands of dollars to be won from concussion-related lawsuits, all looking “for NFL money.”
“And they don’t have any merit. They’re all different from the NFL. We never had anyone claim they had these kinds of injuries until [these attorneys] did it,” McDevitt said. “They find the destitute, people who have no money, and told them there’s money to be made. That’s what is going on. And I feel bad for these families, because they think they’ll make money off of this, and they’re not.”
Osborne died on June 28, 2013. His cause of death was determined to be an accidental overdose. He spent a couple of years with WWE playing the Doink gimmick until others took over.
