TNA has announced the signing of two new members to their roster, Allysin Kay and Caleb Konley.
Kay, who wrestles as Sienna, joins the Knockouts division and already was part of the Impact television tapings held last week. The Detroit native wrestled at several indy promotions and even traveled to Japan and Europe.
Konley, from North Carolina, wrestled for Premiere Wrestling Xperience although he had matches at Ring of Honor and EVOLVE as well. Like Sienna, he has performed at the Impact tapings held on April 21.
TNA also announced that Robbie E has signed a new deal with the promotion.
Thursday Night Smackdown! TV Report for April 28th, 2016
Introduction Segment: Video Promo and Welcoming
A recap of Raw with Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, A.J. Styles, and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns airs. The regular Smackdown! video plays and the pyro blows in the arena of Manchester, Connecticut.
Segment #2: Arena Promo
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns is welcomed by Eden Stiles, the ring announcer. He tells us that he, like us, knows of A.J. Styles’ reputation around the world, and that he doesn’t think that Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Styles aren’t working together.
Reigns is interrupted by Intercontinental Champion The Miz and his wife, Maryse. They talk about the situation that Roman is in and then kiss, until the WWE World Heavyweight Champion has had enough.
Later tonight, Dean Ambrose will host an “Ambrose Asylum” featuring Natalya and Divas Champion Charlotte. Up next, the League of Nations will take on three mystery wrestlers in a Six-Man Tag!
Commercials.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns going against Intercontinental Champion The Miz in “Champion VS. Champion” (non-title) is made for tonight’s main-event!
Segment #3: Backstage Promo
Rene Young invites The League of Nations – Rusev, Sheamus, and Alberto Del Rio. She tells them they have been “stronger” since getting rid Wade Barrett; Sheamus agrees and they all “unite” as one for their upcoming challengers.
Match #1: Six-Man Tag-Team – The League of Nations (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and Rusev) VS. United States Champion Kalisto, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro
The League starts off strong, dominating over Kalisto and triple-teaming him in the corner. Sami is tagged and hits a few kicks on Rusev, but is taken over quickly.
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Sheamus is now governing Zayn, along with Del Rio, who throws him into the corner and gives him a smacking kick. Sami tries to punch back, but Alberto turns him around into a Backstabber! He poses then winds up, however, Rusev tags himself in and he and Alberto suddenly get into a shoving match, along with Sheamus! Alberto rolls from the ring and walks away.
Sami moves from a double-team effort, and Sheamus hits Rusev by mistake; they now argue and Rusev marches off! Sheamus is left alone in the ring, where Kalisto springboard-hurricanranas him. He switches with Cesaro, who runs at Sheamus with an uppercut on the outside into the corner of the barrier. In the ring, Cesaro soars off the top turnbuckle with a crossbody for two, then delivers multiple corner uppercuts and a couple of running ones, then a dropkick!
He signals for the Swing, but Sheamus manages to wiggles to the bottom rope to break and goes to the back, getting counted-out!
Winners via Count-Out: United States Champion Kalisto, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro
Commercials.
Segment #4: Video Promo
A montage of WWE’s partnership with Make-A-Wish is shown.
Segment #5: Backstage Promo
Rusev, Del Rio, and Sheamus continue to verbally joust, then fight again before Sheamus walks away, declaring the League of Nations “finished!”
Baron Corbin makes his entrance and will face Damien Sandow, next!
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Match #2: Single – Baron Corbin VS. Damien Sandow
(Note: we get a quick clip of Dolph Ziggler attacking Baron on Raw, which is why this bout is happening tonight.)
Corbin completely directs this, finishing Sandow with End of Days (swinging-flatliner)!
Winner via Pinfall: Baron Corbin
Up next, “The Ambrose Asylum!”
Commercials.
Segment #6: Arena Promo
Dean Ambrose first talks about Chris Jericho and what happened on Monday, then what he will do to “Y2J” this Sunday at Payback!
He switches personas now, going into talk-show host. He brings Natalya out first and shows everyone how Natalya got her title shot. (Raw, three weeks ago, when Charlotte taps to the Sharpshooter, but Ric Flair pulled the referee out, causing a dq and Charlotte retaining.)
Women’s Champion Charlotte, and her father Ric Flair, are out next and they get into a verbal confrontation with Nattie about family.
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Tag-Team Champions The New Day strut out and promote the Tag-Team Championship Tournament Finals this Sunday at Payback, which is sponsored by their “Booty-O’s” cereal! Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E. then ask Mauro Ranallo, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Byron Saxton to move, and they take over on commentary!!
Match #3: Tag-Team – The Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) (with Social Outcasts member Heath Slater) VS. Enzo Amore and Big Cass
Enzo and Bo begin with a lockup, which Dallas gets out of by an armdrag. Enzo and Bo go back-and-forth a little, then Axel and Dallas gain a small advantage. It doesn’t last long, as Amore moves and Bo sails through the ropes to the floor!
Enzo hot-tags Cass, and they both end this with a big splash from the top turnbuckle by Enzo!
Winners via Pinfall: Enzo Amore and Big Cass
Segment #7: Locker Room Promo
R-Truth is looking at himself with a homemade phone-camera/stick combo (his cell-phone on a branch!) when Goldust walks in. “The Bizarre One” was fine with dancing with Truth last week on Smackdown, but before he can explain more, Truth says he’s got a new partner – Tyler Breeze. They will be known as Gorgeous Truth. Goldust is disappointed, but kind of comforted by Fandango afterward.
Apollo Crews enters and will be wrestling after the break!
Commercials.
Match #4: Single – Apollo Crews VS. Stardust
Despite a valiant effort from Stardust, Crews continues his roll after the spin-out sit-down powerbomb!
Winner via Pinfall: Apollo Crews
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Segment #8: Video Promo
Another Raw replay airs, this time with Stephanie and Shane McMahon bickering about controlling Raw.
A.J. Styles walks out and sits at ringside for the main-event!
Commercials.
Match #5: Single – Intercontinental Champion The Miz (with Maryse) VS. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns (Non-Title)
Miz backs away at first, but Reigns controls quickly with a shoulder-block then a Drive-By running front-dropkick. Roman and A.J. glare at each other, allowing Miz to take advantage by pushing Reigns into the ring post and getting a two in the ring!
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Miz has Roman clamped in a grounding chinlock. Reigns strong-holds out of it, but Miz hits back with a clothesline in the corner then a double-axe-handle off the top turnbuckle! The I.C. Champ chokes the WWE Champ on the middle rope, then yanks at his hair and knees him in the back. He punches away, then rips at Roman’s chin again.
Reigns powers out, but is kneed in the gut. He reverses a neckbreaker attempt into a Samoan Drop to regain himself. He has the momentum now and is all over Miz with punches, kicks, and clotheslines. He signals for the Superman Punch, but Maryse pulls Miz out of the ring.
Miz dropkicks the steel steps into Roman’s legs, and goes for the Figure-4 in the ring, but Roman kicks him off. Miz plants a DDT and almost a Skull-Krushing Finale, but Roman counters into his Spear; he covers for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns
Post-match, Reigns and Styles face-off until Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson march out. They assault Roman while A.J. looks on from the ring. The Usos run out and save Roman, then Jimmy Uso hits Styles. “The Phenomenal One” hits back, and gets in Gallows’ face after he clotheslines Jimmy to the floor.
Roman Spears Luke, then he and Styles fight! He tosses A.J. over the top rope, but Styles hangs on and Reigns goes for the Superman Punch, but “The Phenomenal One” hops off the ring. A.J. and Roman stare at each other to close the show.
This week’s Smackdown drew just 2,109,000 viewers, capping off a bad week for WWE in terms of number of viewers. The show did a whooping 322,000 viewers less than last week and it’s currently the least viewed Smackdown ever since the show moved to USA Network in the first week of January. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Rich Brennan was not the only WWE announcer to be released from his WWE deal as Arda Ocal, the man who used the name Kyle Edwards, has also been let go.
“I have parted ways with the WWE! No hard feelings what so ever. Time to move on to a new chapter,” Ocal wrote on his Twitter today.
The 34 year old Turkish Canadian broadcaster joined the WWE in late 2014 and hosted Bottom Line and Experience for International broadcasts. He later started the This Week in WWE History series on the WWE Network and then hosted the 5 Things series on YouTube.
He is a longtime WWE fan and hosted the Aftermath TV weekly show after Raw on The Score in Canada before moving to WWE.
WWE seems to be cracking down on those who share their WWE Network credentials and streaming more than one feed at the same time.
Error messages of “steam limit exceeded” and “too many usage attempts” are popping for these users who share their passwords although it looks like multiple streams behind the same network IP address are not effected.
While according to their terms of service the WWE Network was always “limited” to one device and prohibiting concurrent streams from different IPs, it was only recently that they started enforcing the rule. The password-sharing problem is always tackled during the WWE financial conference calls and the company has always been lenient towards enforcing the rule.
Sharing passwords with different users costs WWE money as they are missing out on revenues on those who are getting the service for free from their friends or relatives.
Other streaming services such as Netflix and CBS All Access allow multiple streaming, with Netflix offering two streams for their standard subscription and four streams for their more expensive premium package.
In a tribute to Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, the WWE has added the Chyna Collection on the WWE Network, consisting 17 of her best moments in her WWE career.
Titled Chyna: Ninth Wonder Of The World, this collection features her debut on February 19, 1997, her interactions with Mark Henry during his Sexual Chocolate gimmick, the fight with The Corporation, her Royal Rumble entry, winning the Intercontinental champion, the awesome program with Eddie Guerrero, winning the Women’s title at WrestleMania X7 and more.
This is the 14th WWE Network Collection so far. New subscribers can get the WWE Network for free for the first month which will also include the Payback pay-per-view. You can subscribe at http://w-o.it/wwentwrk.
WWE won a Webby Award for the WWE Network in the Online Video – Channels & Networks: Sports category, beating NFL Now and Vice Sports to get the win.
The Webby Awards are the Internet’s most respected symbol of success and are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 1,000-plus member judging body. WWE will receive the award on May 17 at the 20th Annual Webby Awards ceremony.
WWE was also named Honoree in two additional categories including in the Best Overall Social Presence category and UpUpDownDown was an Honoree in Online Video – Channels & Networks: Gaming category.
WWE has been a fixture at the Webby Awards for the past several years, winning several awards in different categories. WWE’s rising popularity has even caught the attention of super betting sites which are providing odds for most WWE shows throughout the year.
NXT continues to be the destination of former TNA stars as the latest arrival, Eric Young, made his NXT debut during last night’s television tapings at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida.
The former TNA World, Tag Team and X-Division champion, left the Nashville-based company in mid March after 12 years with the company. He left TNA on the same day that Bobby Roode did, and Roode is expected to be the next one in line to show up at NXT with his ring gear. Roode appeared at NXT Takeover: Dallas and was acknowledged on camera however the last interview he did he said he had not signed a deal yet although it’s very close.
The 36 year old interrupted the new NXT champion Samoa Joe in his debut and was welcomed with “Holy sh*t” chants from the Full Sail crowd.
DK Publishing announced that it will be releasing WWE: 100 Greatest Matches, a new book featuring more than 200 pages of striking imagery and in-depth analysis that celebrates the epic matches that have left a lasting mark on WWE history.
DK and WWE tapped some of the most masterful minds in sports entertainment – including the WWE Superstars themselves – to figure out these top 100 matches and coverage includes foreword by Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, a break down of the action as well as the drama surrounding each match, and full color photos on every page including never-before-seen pictures.
The hardcover book retails for $25 and is available to pre-order on DK.COM with a publication date set for May 10. You can check out the artwork of the book below.
Vivid Loves Chyna…and always will, and so do we! As a tribute to a true superstar, Vivid Entertainment and Wrestling-Online.com are giving away DVDs of her title, “Chyna is Queen of the Ring” to five lucky fans. Chyna made four movies with Vivid and you can check out all of them on www.vivid.com.
Just “LIKE” our Facebook post below and we’ll select a winner at random every day for five days starting TODAY. Winners will be notified on Facebook. (Entrants need to be 18 years of age or over.)
Cleveland.com is reporting that Donald Nemeth, the brother of WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler, is being charged with aggravated murder and a warrant for his arrest was issued on Tuesday.
Police say that 29 year old Nemeth tried to rob a man, a Marine veteran, before shooting him on January 23 at University Hotel and Suites in Cleveland.
Public records show the same address for Donald and Nick Nemeth, who portrays the character of Dolph Ziggler, in years past, and the same address was used for the warrant of his arrest.
Chyna’s manager Antony Anzaldo is claiming that the former WWE Women’s and Intercontinental champion died from a cocktail of prescription pills.
In comments given to the New York Daily News, he said his client unintentionally overdosed on a deadly combination of Valium and Ambien, although the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Office has not released the cause of death yet and earlier this week said that it is putting off the final cause pending more investigations.
“She was inappropriately taking her legally prescribed medication over the course of two to three weeks,” Anzaldo said. He added that she’s been taking the combo of pills for years but kept upping the intake lately. “Her normal amount was one thing, but over the course of time she was increasing, and not properly.”
Anzaldo also said that, “on Sunday night her body had enough,” suggesting that she passed away on Sunday, April 16, when her body was found four days later on April 20. The exact day of her passing has not been revealed anywhere else and not even by the Medical Examnier’s Office.
Anzaldo did a welfare check on Chyna after she did not answer the phone for a few days.
Rich Brennan, the WWE broadcaster who was brought in to do commentary for NXT and also had a stint on Smackdown, has been released from the company.
Brennan – real name Rich Bocchini – joined the WWE in 2014, calling it his dream job as he is a big wrestling fan. Prior to joining WWE he did commentary for hockey, arena football, and MLS.
His Twitter username @RichBrennanWWE has already been changed to @RichBocchini and in his first tweet since he got released he wrote, “Thank you. Come again. #NewAdventures.”
WWE Shop is running a promotion for today only where tons of WWE Superstars t-shirts are on sale for just $12 each.
Shirts on sale include those of Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, The New Day, Dudley Boyz, Paige, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Paul Heyman, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, and many many more.
There is no code required to benefit from this offer and the discount will be applied immediately when adding items to the card. The offer expires at 11:59PM today. You can shop now at http://w-o.it/wweshopcom.
This week’s Impact which had the old Sacrifice PPV theme drew a total of 332,000 viewers, up 20,000 viewers from the previous week. This is the third week in a row that TNA saw an increase in viewership. The number also represents the second most-watched Impact since the show moved to POP back in January. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Things got a little heated last night at the Smackdown tapings and Ric Flair got caught up in the moment during a segment where he told Nattie Neidhart to “kill herself.”
Flair, along with his daughter and WWE Women’s champion Charlotte, were guests on The Ambrose Asylum to further the storyline with Natalya. At one point, Nattie told the Nature Boy that if he sticks his nose in her business on Sunday, her uncle Bret will have no problem taking him out.
Naitch then told Nattie, “…kill yourself, you’re outta your mind!” In the quick video released you can see Charlotte turning serious when he said the words and Ambrose in the background started laughing. Thankfully, Nattie kept professional and continued along however it’s highly unlikely the statement will make it in the final edit for Thursday’s broadcast and that part of the segment will be cut.
Titus O’Neil returned to the ring last night during the Smackdown television tapings and wrestled Tyler Breeze in a dark match.
This was the first time Titus stepped foot in the ring since his suspension back in February following an incident with Vince McMahon at the end of the Daniel Bryan farewell segment which made it on the WWE Network live feed. O’Neil was suspended for 90 days the following day but after a huge backlash from the online community, WWE reduced the suspension to 60 days.
His suspension meant that he was absent from the important WrestleMania-week activities. O’Neil is one of the most liked people backstage and is always helping his community on his days off.
TMZ.COM is reporting that Ric Flair had to be treated at Logan International Airport in Boston this morning for a cut on his hand after eye witnesses said he was acting “bizarre.”
TMZ adds that the 16 time World Heavyweight champion was being very active at Lucky’s Lounge in the airport terminal before he was supposed to board his flight and seemed to be drunk. However airport police Sgt. Donlon told TMZ that Flair was not intoxicated and was treated for a cut on his hand by medical personnel who responded to a call from airport officials.
Flair’s agent Melinda Morris Zanoni issued a statement saying, “Ric has been working every day around the clock, including internationally, for a month straight and has injuries on his hand that were being looked into this morning. While it is true Ric Flair and his buddies have been keeping airport bars in business since the 70s that was not the case at all in Boston. I just hung up with Ric, he is already on the flight and all is good.”
The Hall of Famer was part of the long WrestleMania Revenge Tour and did look tired judging from the photos snapped at the airport by TMZ sources which you can see below.
Stone Cold Steve Austin dedicated part of his latest podcast talking about his friend Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, just days after she was found dead in her apartment in Redondo Beach.
Austin said that he found out about her death way before everyone else as a mutual friend called him to break the news, a news that Austin said he couldn’t believe. He compared finding out about her death to someone hitting him in the head with a baseball bat.
The WWE Hall of Famer then recalled some of the stories with Chyna during the Attitude Era and said that a few weeks ago he talked to her via messages to set up a date for her to be on his podcast and said that she was looking forward to speaking to him on the show. Austin said that to posthumously induct her in the WWE Hall of Fame is “not good enough” and there’s no way to “fix” that now although that seems like nothing in comparison to the fact that she’s no longer alive.
An emotional Austin then closed the segment by telling her that he’ll miss her. “I had so much fun with you, enjoyed all of our time we got to spend together and our stupid brand of sense of humor. I will remember all them good times and I remember you and wish you were still here,” Austin said.
Austin’s podcast is available now on PodcastOne.com.
Monday Night Raw this week drew a total of 3,128,000 viewers, the worst rating since November 30, 2015. Last week’s taped Raw from London drew 3,335,000 viewers so the show lost over 200,000 viewers compared to the taped show. Typically the week after a taped Raw the numbers rebound but this time the effect was opposite.
Hour one started with 3,263,000 viewers, followed by 3,184,000 viewers in the second hour, and then down to 2,938,000 viewers in the third and final hour.
Believe it or not WWE still managed to take the #1, #2, and #4 spot as the most watched shows on cable last night although they placed #4, #5, and #6 in the important 18-49 demographic. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
