The Worlds Collide Tournament that will be taped during the Royal Rumble Axxess will be airing on the WWE Network on Saturday, February 2 at 8PM EST.
The opening round matches will air for free on WWE.COM, YouTube, and WWE’s other social network accounts starting at Noon EST. The Network special will include the battle royal with all 15 competitors and the matches from the later rounds, including the tournament final.
The tournament will feature five wrestlers each from NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live. Representing NXT are Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, Dominik Dijakovic, Keith Lee and Shane Thorne. NXT UK representatives include Mark Andrews, Tyler Bate, Travis Banks, Jordan Devlin and Zack Gibson. Cruiserweights from 205 Live include Cedric Alexander, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, TJP and Humberto Carrillo.
All Elite Wrestling will hold a ticket announcement party in Las Vegas for their upcoming Double or Nothing pay-per-view.
The party will be held on Thursday, February 7 at 6PM PST at The Talent Pool at the MGM Grand Hotel. The hotel and its MGM Grand Garden Arena will be the host of Double or Nothing on May 25.
A live stream of the party will air on the company’s social network accounts and will kick off at 9PM EST for those on the East Coast.
Brandi Rhodes, AEW’s Chief Brand Officer, wrote on Twitter that maybe she’ll bring a couple of newly-signed female talent to the party as well.
Both Abyss and Sonjay Dutt, who were confirmed to be gone from Impact Wrestling, were working in the creative department and their departure left a hole that needed to be filled.
Ed Nordholm, President of Impact Wrestling, has announced that their replacements will be Konnan and Tommy Dreamer, who together have over 50 years of experience in the wrestling business.
Both individuals were working for Impact Wrestling both in front and behind the cameras lately but their role behind the scenes is now also a full-time gig for the two.
In response to Dave Meltzer’s report on Ronda Rousey departing WWE after WrestleMania in April, WWE issued a short statement to TMZ to address the rumors.
“Ronda Rousey is under contract with WWE until April 10, 2021,” a WWE spokesman said. “Whether she wants to start a family is a private matter.”
This is the first time that her contract length was publicly disclosed as in previous press releases and stories it was always written that she’s under a multi-year deal without specific timeframe. As things stand, Rousey has two years and three months left on her current deal which was signed last year.
Whatever the case may be, you will be seeing Ronda Rousey in some way, shape, or form either inside the ring or representing WWE in some other capacity at least until the stipulated date.
NJPW released a statement today regarding the visa issues their talent are encountering due to the ongoing United States government shutdown which will affect their New Beginning USA shows.
“It is with great disappointment that we must announce that due to the ongoing 2018–19 United States federal government shutdown, we were unable to obtain visas for our Japanese talent who were looking forward to seeing our US fans at the New Beginning in USA,” the statement said.
NJPW said that their IWGP United States champion Juice Robinson will be defending his title against Barretta and The Great O-Kharn who is flying in from England for his NJPW debut. “What’s more, this show will highlight the talent and potential of our Young Lions, who have been working hard in the NJPW LA dojo. We are looking forward to being able to celebrate the abilities of the exciting new generation of young NJPW wrestlers,” the statement concluded.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that Ronda Rousey is probably leaving WWE after WrestleMania in a few months, bringing to a close a 15-month journey that led her to the Raw Women’s title.
Rousey always insisted on starting a family with her husband and UFC fighter Travis Browne and working a near full-time schedule with WWE does not allow her that luxury…plus being pregnant and taking bumps don’t really go together. When Rousey joined WWE back in January of last year, it was touted that she signed a multi-year deal although it looks like that multi-year deal is getting cut short.
Meltzer adds that the plan, if she does end up decide to call it a day, is for her to drop the title at WrestleMania and the likeliest of challengers right now is Becky Lynch. The match between the two is also rumored to be headlining WrestleMania this year although usually such decisions are taken a few days before the show takes place. No women have ever main evented WrestleMania over the past 35 years.
The news of her probable departure also found its way on the front page of CNN with Bleacher Report covering the story. Nia Jax, who retweeted B/R’s story, added “Buh Bye” to the tweet.
The second episode of season four of Total Bellas, titled Bellas And The City, drew 460,000 viewers, down 45,000 viewers from last week’s season premiere. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
PWInsider.com is reporting that both Abyss and Sonjay Dutt have departed Impact Wrestling and are believed to be on the way to WWE.
The departure was later confirmed by Impact Wrestling President Ed Nordholm, who in a statement issued to WrestlingInc.com said, “We reached an amicable agreement with Sonjay and Abyss to allow them to pursue this opportunity. They have been tremendous contributors to Impact Wrestling and we wish them every success.”
Abyss was the longest-serving employee at Impact, having been involved with the company since the very first TNA show in 2002. He was inducted into the Impact Hall of Fame this past October.
Dutt also had a long career at Impact with multiple stints with the company, working both as a wrestler and in production. In 2017, he was a guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center before returning to Impact.
The Rumble go-home episode of Raw this week did an average of 2,462,000 viewers, down 260,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
Hour one did 2,840,000 viewers, followed by 2,403,000 in the second hour, and then a drop to 2,143,000 viewers in the third and final hour.
Raw suffered a drop of 700,000 from hour one to hour three, which is a record that obviously the company didn’t want.
The show was #2, #3, and #5 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demographic and #6 in overall viewership for the night. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Speaking to the Internet wrestling press during his regularly-scheduled pre-Takeover conference call, Triple H admitted that All Elite Wrestling is “clearly something” that they will keep an eye on as things progress.
“We’ll do what is right for our business, what is right for WWE, what we feel is right for the WWE Universe,” he said, becoming the first WWE official to publicly acknowledge AEW as a potential competitor. “We compete against everything,” he continued, an often-repeated remark that the company competes not just against other wrestling promotions, but anything on television which is either sports and or entertainment.
On a somewhat related topic, Triple H was also asked why NXT Takeover: New York was changed to Friday from Saturday, going back to the old schedule of having NXT on Friday and Hall of Fame on Saturday during WrestleMania weekend.
HHH said that it was mainly “not wanting to make fans choose where they want to go,” referring to the ROH/NJPW Supercard show which has already sold out Madison Square Garden on that Saturday as well. NXT Takeover: New York is still not sold out from the Barclays Center. Around 400 tickets remain available on Ticketmaster.com plus on other secondary market websites.
Over the past few weeks, Raw ring announcer JoJo was absent from her WWE duties and replaced by Mike Rome.
Mike Johnson over at PWInsider.com is reporting that the 24-year-old has been given time off to deal with a personal situation and she remains employed by the company. What that personal situation is was not disclosed.
Back in October 2017, JoJo was taken off television along with her boyfriend Bray Wyatt as a precaution because of Bo Dallas’ suspected viral meningitis illness.
JoJo will also be missing the Royal Rumble and Mike Rome will take over her role during the show.
Today, January 23, is the 35th anniversary of the birth of Hulkamania, a date that changed the face of professional wrestling forever.
In November 1983, The Iron Sheik defeated Bob Backlund to win the WWF title after Backlund’s manager Arnold Skaaland threw in the towel when Backlund was locked into the camel clutch. Sheik ended Backlund’s reign of 783 days as champion but nobody predicted what was coming next.
On January 7, Hogan saved Backlund from an attack by The Wild Samoans, leading the way to becoming one of the biggest fan favorites of the company at the time. And then, on January 23 at Madison Square Garden, the wrestling world was in for a big change and the arrival of Hulkamania.
Hogan, who came out to the Eye of the Tiger song, became the first one to escape The Iron Sheik’s camel clutch, and a leg drop later there was a new sheriff in town. The match lasted just over five minutes. “History made at Madison Square Garden and the fans are on their feet,” screamed the late Gorilla Monsoon on commentary. “Hulkamania is here!”
In a post-match backstage segment, Hogan celebrated with Mean Gene Okerlund and Andre The Giant, who brought champagne with him. Ivan Putski and Rocky Johnson also joined in on the fun and showered both Hogan and Okerlund with champagne.
Hogan went on to carry the WWF title for 1,474 consecutive days. You can see the full match and post-match segment below.
Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (OWE), one of China’s premier wrestling promotions, have today announced they will be broadcasting their shows outside China via the UK based, Nothing Else On .TV
After a meteoric rise since it began in 2017 the Shanghai based promotion are now ready to go global. Unlike any wrestling seen before, OWE combine the incredible athleticism and skills of kung-fu Shaolin monks and training from the legendary CIMA, of Japan’s Dragon Gate promotion, with the entertainment and glamour of idol culture to bring a totally new look to wrestling. Expect perfectly choreographed manoeuvres, high-flying, acrobatic wrestling and larger than life characters and costumes. OWE play homage to traditional Chinese mythology whilst also showcasing contemporary Chinese urban dance culture to create a truly authentic feel.
After recently announcing a working partnership with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), OWE are intending to showcase their unique, thrilling take on wrestling to an international audience.
Michael Nee, the Vice President of OWE said: “We are based in China, they’re in the US, but working together we can be huge in the future, that’s the intention.” “Both parties have the intention to work with each other, and the management know each other very well, so the possibility is big.” “OWE will do everything to support AEW to bring the best wrestling to the world and this is the reason why we have chosen to air with NothingElseOn.TV, being on-demand and accessible to all countries outside China means we are now opening the doors to wrestling fans the world over to experience Oriental Wrestling Entertainment. There are no broadcast times, meaning fans in London or New York, Berlin or St Petersburg will now be able to enjoy in their own timezones.”
This excitement has been reiterated by Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks and Executive Vice President of AEW, tweeting form the Young Bucks official page that “We’re extremely excited to work with @ORIENTALWRESTL1!”
Cody Rhodes, another AEW executive VP and one of their top wrestlers also claimed that: “I’m really excited about seeing the OWE guys in America!” on his twitter.
There has been much hype about OWE going international and now you will be able to watch Oriental Wrestling Entertainment every week exclusively on Nothing Else On . TV during their prime-time slot on a Saturday evening, along with WAW from the UK (Fighting with My Family” and the Texas based Dwarfanators. Sean McMahon, Founder and CEO of Nothing Else On .TV said “Since launching the channel in July 2018 we’ve attracted some of the best indy wrestling promotions and with our relaunch on 1st February we have tripled the number of promotions that were working with but it doesn’t get any more exciting than Oriental Wrestling Entertainment”. Watch the full announcement video via NothingElseOn.TV or our Facebook page for free.
Access to NothingElseOn.TV is available online globally and subscriptions cost just $4.99 per month for full channel access. The link to subscribe is https://www.nothingelseon.tv/?via=owe
Despite the fact that professional wrestling is an entertaining sports show, it can be dangerous and even deadly. Athletes might get serious injuries and traumas. There are always several paramedics near the fight-stage, but sometimes they are not able to help.
You can often hear that such wrestlers are just adults who play the children’s game. However, professional wrestling requires incredible dedication and skills. People like different things — some are gamblers who pick the best casinos such as NativeCasinos.ca to try their luck while others are entertained by watching professional wrestling. However, the latter has hidden dangers. Let’s see 3 popular wrestlers who died on the ring, namely:
Perro Aguayo;
Jesús Silva known as Oro;
Owen Hart.
Perro Aguayo
Perro was a Mexican professional wrestler that was accidentally killed by Rey Mysterio during the tag team match in 2015. Mysterio did his signature 619, a tiger feint kick, which rendered Perro unconscious. Manik, who was Perro’s teammate, fell beside Perro and tried to communicate with him by shaking him. However, all attempts remained fruitless. The match continued with some people still trying to help Perro regain consciousness. After the match ended, the paramedics arrived and took Perro to the hospital. The 35-year old wrestler was has pronounced around on March 21, 2015, due to the broken cervical vertebrae.
Oro
Oro was also a Mexican professional wrestler whose career was cut short due to his impulsive decison. Before the 3×3 match, Oro asked his teammate to do an impressive trick called Kobashi bump to impress the viewers. It entailed him being spinned and thrown on his head. Everything went according to the plot — Oro landed on the head, then rolled down from the ring to the floor and stayed there for about 5 minutes while the fight went on. Other wrestlers and spectators thought that he was just playing his role — however, Oro died before he was placed in an ambulance, with the brain aneurysm acknowledged as the official cause of death. After his death, Oro’s brother continued to engage in wrestling, in Oro’s mask, the family claimed for wrongful deaths with the Wrongful death attorney in Miami since they said the people in charged should noticed that there was something wrong from the beginning.
Owen Hart
Owen James Hart was a Canadian–American professional wrestler who died in 1999, in the age of 34, and it didn’t happen because of any bumps or tremors. According to the plot of the match, he had to make a dramatic entrance, being lowered to the ring through the cable. At the start of the show, during the lowering, Hart fell from a height of 24 meters, landing on the top rope. There was a deadly silence when it happened, but as the recording of the battle was going on with a delay, the operators managed to cut the video off, so everything was seen only by the spectators sitting in the arena.
Even in such a seemingly entertaining sport, there is a risk of a deadly injury. Still, fatalities are rare because usually, everything is rehearsed to the last movement. Professional wrestling remains one of the most interesting kinds of sport.
Two matches from the Royal Rumble pay-per-view were moved to the Kickoff show, leaving seven matches on the main card including the two over-the-top rope Rumble matches.
The United States title match between Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura and the fatal 4-way match for the Cruiserweight title between Buddy Murphy, Hideo Itami, Kalisto, and Akira Tozawa were the two unlucky ones which got “relegated” to the pre-show segments.
In the case of the Cruiserweights, most often than not they always end up as part of the Kickoff shows although an exception was made at the Survivor Series this past November where the match was part of the main card and lasted just over 12 minutes.
The long Royal Rumble broadcast this Sunday will require the work of quite a few men and women to call the show.
Starting at 5PM EST for the two-hour Kickoff show, it will be a very long night for those announcers bringing commentary to viewers at home. Thankfully, WWE has several teams in place who will be tackling different segments throughout the show.
The Kickoff panel will be anchored by Jonathan Coachman. In the first hour, he will be joined by Beth Phoenix, Booker T, and Jerry Lawler. In the second hour, Shawn Michaels and David Otunga will replace Booker T and Lawler. A second panel will also consist of John “Bradshaw” Layfield and Charly Caruso. The trio of Kayla Braxton, Dasha Fuentes, and Sarah Schreiber will handle backstage interviews.
Greg Hamilton and Mike Rome will be the two ring announcers for the entire night.
For the two Royal Rumble matches, the team of Michael Cole, Corey Graves, JBL, and Jerry Lawler will call the men’s match while Tom Phillips, Renee Young, Beth Phoenix, and Corey Graves will call the women’s match.
The Cruiserweight title match commentary will be handled by Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson.
The usual Raw and Smackdown commentary teams – Cole, Graves, and Young for Raw and Phillips, Graves, and Saxton – will handle all the other matches of their respective brands.
The only constant during the whole broadcast will be Corey Graves, who will be calling every single match apart from the Cruiserweight title.
UFC champion Henry Cejudo was a guest on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show yesterday on ESPN and talked about flying first class sitting next to The Bella Twins. “What happened there?” Helwani asked. “Nothing, I hoped something would happen,” a smiling Cejudo replies.
Cejudo reveals that he has a big crush on Nikki Bella and she sitting next to him didn’t help things. He said he was going crazy on how to approach the situation and then used his nine-year-old niece, who is a big Bella fan, to break the ice! Helwani told the champ that he was gonna put this clip online, tag Nikki, and tell her that he’s ready, willing, and available.
And Helwani kept his word, uploading the video and adding, “Dear Nikki Bella of the @BellaTwins. My friend @HenryCejudo, Olympic Gold Medalist and UFC flyweight savior, would like to get to know you, like, more than a friend,” he wrote, followed by three heart emojis.
To her credit, Nikki replied back, first with the blushing emoji and then writing, “Guess for your next fight @HenryCejudo I’ll have to sit next to you again on the flight… Must have been a good luck charm! And bring your niece! Love to hug her! Congrats Champ! Celebratory wine soon!”
Raw Women’s champion Ronda Rousey is the guest on this week’s episode of Cold As Balls which airs on Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud network.
During the episode, Kevin tries not to let Ronda intimidate him as she hilariously challenges him mentally and physically, while also opening up about her life story. Ronda also goes in details about her life story from how she dealt with her speech impediment, losing her father as a child, winning her first Olympic medal at her second Olympics because the refs screwed her over at her first Olympic debut at 16 years old, to transitioning into MMA, important lesson that Rowdy Roddy Piper’s son taught her, and more.
The 13-minute episode can be seen in full below. New episodes can be found each week on Laugh Out Loud’s YouTube page.
WWE scored a new licensing agreement with international sports and lifestyle brand New Era Cap Co. Inc., which will see the brand becoming the official headwear partner of WWE. As part of this new agreement, New Era Cap will produce select hats for marquee WWE events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series, as well as select headwear featuring logos, names and catch phrases of WWE Superstars and Legends.
“We’re excited to become an official headwear partner of WWE,” said Todd Sokolowski, Director of Core Sports at New Era Cap. “New Era Cap has a history of creating premium headwear with unique designs that excites fans and we look forward to bringing that to the WWE fanbase.”
“New Era is an iconic brand with a long track record of successfully working with the biggest sports and entertainment properties in the world,” said Brian Flinn, WWE Chief Marketing & Communications Officer. “This partnership will give our fans another opportunity to represent their favorite WWE Superstars and Legends with best-in-class products.”
As an official headwear partner of the WWE, New Era Cap will create select products across all styles for men, women and kids. Beginning in April, merchandise will be available at www.neweracap.com, WWEShop.com and at select headwear retailers.
Impact Wrestling today announced a renewed broadcast deal for Mexico with Mexico City-based MVS Comunicaciones MVStv.
The show launched on MVStv in 2018 and, after a successful start, has now reached a more comprehensive agreement, covering more than 300 hours of programming, including the flagship weekly show Impact, monthly One Night Only specials and tentpole pay-per-view events such as Slammiversary and Bound For Glory.
“Hot off the heels of a pair of successful events in Mexico City, we are thrilled to extend our partnership with MVStv to broadcast our premier content across Mexico,” said Ed Nordholm, president of IMPACT Wrestling. “We had more than 30 million social media engagements in Latin America across our YouTube, Facebook and Twitter platforms in 2018. We are very pleased that our fans in Mexico will now have an opportunity to see our full lineup of original content.”
Alejandro Vazquez Vela, General Director of Content for MVStv and DISH México, commented: “The weekly IMPACT! show has been very well accepted by our audience and having local wrestling events recorded in Mexico has been a great support for both the channel and the brand. We are happy to continue and expand our collaboration with IMPACT Wrestling.”
