AEW-bound Mercedes Mone was a presenter at the 2024 Crunchyroll Anime Awards which were held today in Tokyo, Japan.
Crunchyroll marketed Mercedes under her real name of Mercedes Varnado and listed her as a “WWE World champion, actress, and entrepreneur.”
She presented the Best Slice of Life Award along with NFL player DeMarcus Lawrence and was introduced as “from Star Wars Mandalorian and global pro wrestling superstar.”
Mone is a big anime fan and this trip has been booked for a while. She is now just two weeks away from her AEW debut at the Dynamite: Big Business event from the TD Garden in her hometown of Boston.
Sting’s son Steven wrote a touching tribute to his father in a post on Instagram ahead of his final match tomorrow at Revolution.
Steven said that his father was Sting before he was born and doesn’t know a life where the possibility of him rappelling from the rafters, diving off high objects, and Scorpion death dropping people doesn’t exist.
“But now that day has nearly come, and I’ve never had more respect and admiration for you than I do today,” Steven wrote. “There’s too many things I could say – I don’t know how to encapsulate it all.”
He wrote that for now, he’ll just say, “You did it, Dad,” and for nearly four decades, he found a way to lay it all on the line while staying electric the whole way.
“You did that while also teaching me what it means to be a man of character, integrity, and grit. More importantly, you showed me – and you’re showing me now,” he continued.
He said that he and his siblings have to tank him for more good than he’ll ever know.
“I know you remember what my answer was that day as a kid in Central Park when I was asked who my hero was. The answer is still the same. I’m still convinced you’re the coolest dude to walk the planet. Now it’s time for one last ride. I’m not ready for it to be over, but I’m ready for you to enjoy the sunset. Until then, I can’t wait to watch you go do Sting things one last time. I love you Dad,” he wrote, concluding with, “Icon Forever.”
Replying to the post, Sting wrote, “Steven James Borden – you’ve always had a way with words. Teary eyed…”
The Sting and Darby Allin vs The Young Bucks tornado tag team match at tomorrow’s Revolution pay-per-view will be the main event of the show, marking the first time that a tag team match will be headlining an AEW pay-per-view.
What’s more important though is that this is Sting’s last ever wrestling match and the Hall of Famer will get the send off he deserves in the main event.
Over 16,000 fans will jam pack the Greensboro Coliseum tomorrow to witness Sting’s last match as he brings down the curtain on a four-decade career which started in 1985 with the Continental Wrestling Association.
Sting and Allin are still undefeated as a tag team in AEW and they are the reigning AEW World Tag Team champions. It creates an interesting scenario to see if he retires undefeated in AEW or else if he follows the long-standing tradition of “doing the job” on the way out.
Bayley’s road to WrestleMania got even more complicated after her last remaining ally – Dakota Kai – turned on her last night on Smackdown.
Bayley teamed up with Kai in their match against the Kabuki Warriors and as she was going for the hot tag during the match, Kai dropped from the ring, preventing her from making the tag.
Bayley took out the Kabuki Warriors and then ran after Kai but the numbers were too big for Bayley, who was beaten senseless by the Japanese trio and Kai.
It’s now four on one for Bayley and not good news going into WrestleMania and her quest to beat IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s title…unless she can get some backup of her own!
The tension between The Rock and Roman Reigns has already started and seeds are being slowly planted again for an eventual collision between the two.
On Smackdown last night, Roman Reigns was visibly annoyed with The Rock around despite the two running the show but obviously, The Rock coming back overshadowed everything that Reigns has been doing.
Before the end of their very long in-ring segment last night, Roman Reigns said he’d do anything for family but wanted one thing from The Rock: to acknowledge him!
“Roman Reigns, my family, I acknowledge you as my Tribal Chief,” The Rock said slowly. He then stuck his arm out and the two shook hands and hugged as Roman looked relieved.
Fans chanted “you sold out” to The Rock before he went on to explain something to all the “idiots” in the stands.
“This is family. And we will do anything for family. Now go home and smoke some more crack,” he said, before going into his “if ya smell….” routine, stopping mid way to let Roman finish with “what the Bloodline is cooking.”
The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase talked about the passing of his former colleague Virgil on the latest episode of his Everybody’s Got A Pod podcast.
Dedicating some time to discuss Mike Jones, the man behind the Virgil gimmick, DiBiase recounted how he met him in a WWE office when they were going to start the whole Million Dollar Man gimmick.
“Mike had this tremendous body and kept himself in shape and eventually that was his role,” DiBiase said. “He was the bodyguard. I would run my mouth and if somebody wanted to say something, I would back up and say, ‘Virgil, take over'”
DiBiase went to explain how they split on WWE TV and ended up having a match where Virgil eventually won the title.
“Mike was a great guy, a nice guy. To keep your body in that kind of shape takes a lot of discipline and he was very good at that. He was much better at doing that than I obviously was in terms of keeping his body in great shape,” DiBiase continued. “I just wish that he had more wrestling savvy. I don’t know how to put it any other way because if he could have really wrestled, we could have had a good run, but basically it was on and it was over pretty quick.”
DiBiase said that after it was over, they remained friends and as time went by, he used to see him at comic cons and always invited him to sit beside him if he was there, but after he heard Virgil talking bad about him with fans, he stopped doing that.
“The reason that I stopped doing it was things that Virgil had said to some fans that just wasn’t right. I’m looking back at it from where I am now. He never would say that to me, but he didn’t want anyone to know that he was struggling,” DiBiase said.
After he found out later through his caretaker, DiBiase said that it was mind-boggling to him that Virgil was living in those conditions and it’s really just a sad story.
WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio returned to Smackdown last night after almost four months out due to a torn meniscus which required surgery.
The former World Heavyweight champion came out on crutches during the street fight between Carlito and Santos Escobar but as soon as Humberto and Angel went to “greet him” in the aisle, Mysterio removed the crutches and beat them up with one of them to a big pop from the Glendale crowd.
Mysterio then faced Escobar in the ring and Carlito spit an apple in his face as Wilde and Del Toro simultaneously took out Angel and Humberto. Mysterio hit a 619 and Carlito drove Escobar through a table for the pinfall victory.
After the match, the LWO, back in full force, celebrated in the middle of the ring.
Mysterio was originally written off television after an attack by Escobar who turned on the LWO.
The U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) responded to a FOIA request which Wrestling-Online.com submitted three weeks ago for the full investigative report into Ashley Massaro’s rape allegations at a military base in Kuwait in 2006.
NCIS partially upheld our request for the report but redacted the names of those involved and the Special Agent who conducted the investigation as well as other PII.
The investigation was opened on June 28, 2019 following a report from the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) regarding Massaro’s sexual abuse allegations at the Naval Clinic aboard Camp Life Support Area in Kuwait.
AFOSI and US Army Criminal Investigation Division (USACID) conducted the initial investigation into the allegations and then handed off the case to NCIS after unsuccessfully trying to locate the alleged crime scene and all logical investigative leads have been exhausted.
AFOSI’s report stated that Massaro was treated at Camp LSA on July 2, 2006 by a former US Navy Lt Physician Assistant.
“To date, no subject, scene, or witnesses have been identified. The reported victim is deceased, and no prosecutorial venue exists within the NCISRU Corpus Christi, TX area of responsibly. This case is closed,” the report states.
A review of Ashley Massaro’s medical record was conducted by a US Navy OB/GYN Speciality Leader, whose name was redacted, and the record did not indicate anything indicative of the allegations of sexual assault provided in the affidavit by Massaro.
Many of those interviewed who were deployed to Kuwait at the time claimed no knowledge of Naval Clinic aboard Camp Life Support Area and no recollection of Ashley Massaro. The investigation noted several inconsistencies in stories given by Massaro in her affidavit as well as by others who were on the trip and a meeting in August 2019 with WWE’s attorneys at K&L Gates LLP failed to unearth additional documentation relevant to the case.
A servicewoman who was with Patient Administration at the U.S. Navy in Kuwait during the time frame of the alleged crime said that she was not familiar with the Camp Life Support Area name or the facility and she was stationed at the Expeditionary Medical Facility. She could not recall the WWE armed forces tour and no civilians were treated at her facility.
“In addition, [redacted] did not recall any service providers by the name of [redacted] nor could she believe any of the service providers she served with capable of sexually assaulting a patient,” the NCIS report states. “Further, [redacted] did not see how it could be possible seeing how the clinic was physically set up. [redacted] advised the clinic was an open bay with no doors, except for the pharmacy. [redacted] indicated even the tent-like curtains provided for privacy for the exams barely stayed closed, leaving the exam areas exposed.”
The US Navy Lt Physician Assistant who was located by AFOSI was interviewed by NCIS and recalled seeing and treating Ashley Massaro.
“[redacted] recalled the day MASSARO was treated was a Sunday, and he was off duty, but was called in when he was alerted there was an issue with a civilian,” the report states.
The Physician Assistant recalled Massaro wearing street clothes in the exam room and her hair was “done up like she was just finished performing” and complained of abdominal and pelvic pain. He said that Massaro was accompanied by a male civilian who he did not recognize but “seemed to be acting skittish and strange.” He was described as in his thirties, mustache, and well built.
When he saw Massaro, she was drowsy but not falling asleep or slurring her words and someone suggested that “she was high” but he could not come to that conclusion for sure.
The Physician Assistant said that Massaro agreed to a pelvic exam with a female Corpsman also in the room and at one point there was banging on the door and asking if she was okay. She responded that everything was fine and the exam continued. The PA couldn’t recall the name of the female Corpsman and couldn’t recall anyone wearing an orange shirt and cargo shorts, something that Massaro said in her affidavit.
“[redacted] stated he did not see MASSARO leave the facility, but MASSARO could have been resting in one of the urgent care bays and he did not witness it. [redacted] stated he did not see MASSARO crying or upset during the exam, incapacitated, or anything that would have made him think that she had been sexually assaulted. [redacted] stated he did not observe any disturbances at the facility other than the manager banging on the door,” the NCIS report continues.
The report involves further interrogation of other military members who were stationed in Kuwait at the time but no good leads came in.
“NCISRA Bahrain contacted MCIO agents from US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and US Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) to locate and document a crime scene at the medical treatment area of Camp Life Support Area in Kuwait. AFOSI agents at Ali AL Salem have conducted extensive research on finding the scene, and have not been able to locate it. Due to the inability to locate the crime scene, this lead tasking has been completed,” the report concludes.
The Bloodline has issued a challenge to Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins for night one of WrestleMania 40 that comes with some important stipulations.
The Rock refused Cody’s one-on-one challenge and said he had something better: the biggest tag team match in WrestleMania history with The Rock and Roman Reigns vs Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins.
If Cody and Seth win, then the Bloodline will be barred from ringside for night two of WrestleMania main event between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes but if Rock and Roman win, then it’s a Bloodline rules match, where anything goes and Jimmy could be the referee and Solo could be singing the national anthem!
The Rock gave Cody and Seth one week to think about it and meet them in the ring next Friday at Smackdown in Memphis, Tennessee with their answer.
Rock added if they do not accept their challenge, he will do everything in his power to prevent Cody from winning the title and there’s nobody in the back who can stop him, including Triple H.
The Bloodline came to the ring to open this week’s episode of Smackdown.
As Roman does the acknowledge me, he said it used to be louder and he gave the crowd three times and said if they don’t get on his page, he fulfilled his contractual obligation and is leaving.
Roman then tells Heyman to fire up the jet we are done here. Heyman stopped him and said we are not done yet. Just give me a moment. Heyman then announces The Rock will be out after the commercial break.
The Rock said he is not going to go one on one with Cody Rhodes. The Rock gives Cody a counteroffer. One night one of WrestleMania, the biggest tag team match in history, will be The Rock & Roman Reigns VS. Cody Rhodes & Seth Rollins. If Cody & Seth win, night two Cody’s match will be free of the Bloodline but if the Rock and Roman win, it is Bloodline rules anything goes. The Rock then challenges Cody and Seth to come to Smackdown to answer the challenge next week.
As the Rock went for if you smell…. Reigns stops him. He gets a microphone off Heyman. Roman tells Rock he needs something from him. He will do anything for family, but he needs one thing. He tells the Rock to acknowledge him. The Rock said Roman Reigns, my family, I acknowledge you as my Tribal Chief. They then shook hands and hugged.
As the crowd chanted, you sold out, The Rock said let me explain something to you idiots this is family, and we do anything for family.
Grayson Waller and Austin Theory are shown playing on Grayson’s phone and LA Knight comes in looking for AJ Styles with a bent chair and said he has a souvenir for him. Randy Orton walks in on Theory and Waller. Orton then challenged one of them and Grayson quickly said Austin will face you. Orton smacks him in the back and said great I will see you later. Austin then asked Grayson what he is doing, first Australia and now this? Waller said it will be great for you, a match with Randy Orton.
Tiffany Stratton VS. Naomi
Tiffany hit her prettiest moonsault ever and pinned Naomi.
Winner: Tiffany Stratton
Kabuki Warriors VS. Bayley & Dakota Kai
As Bayley had both Kabuki Warriors down, she leaps to tag Dakota, but Dakota jumped off the apron. Kabuki Warriors and Dakota are soon joined by Iyo Sky in beating down Bayley.
Winners: No Contest
As Damage Control are walking in the back celebrating what they just did to Bayley, they ran into Jade Cargill and Cargill just stared down Iyo. Nick Aldis comes in and said I will deal with you four in a little bit and takes Jade into a room for a meeting.
Bron Breakker VS. Xyon Quinn
Bron immediately spears Quinn and pins him.
Winner: Bron Breakker
Carlito VS. Santos Escobar in a Street Fight
Angel and Humberto came in and helped Santos. Wilde and Del Toro come out to help Carlito. Rey Mysterio then comes out. Rey takes Angel and Humberto out with his crutches. Del Toro and Wilde got up and jumped on Angel and Humberto, on the outside. Rey hits 619 on Santos and Carlito power slams Santos through a table that was sat up in the ring and pins Santos.
Winner: Carlito
Nick Aldis was talking to Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate who are now called the New Catch Republic, and they want another tag team title shot. Aldis told them that he and Adam Pearce have been talking and they will have an announcement soon. Just then, screaming is heard and Nick goes to see who it is and it’s LA Knight still looking for AJ Styles. Nick tells LA that he told AJ not to be here tonight. LA told him he is going to get AJ one way or another and there isn’t anything he can do about it.
Kevin Owens comes out to do commentary for the next match.
Randy Orton VS. Austin Theory
While the action was on the outside, Randy threw Theory back in the ring and then gave Waller a back suplex on the announce table. The table did not break, and Randy pushed Grayson over the table at the feet of the announcers.
Back in the ring, Randy goes for RKO but Theory reverses sending Randy into the ring post, shoulder first. Theory went for his rolling move, but Randy catches him with an RKO and gets the pin.
Winner: Randy Orton
After the match Waller immediately runs in and knocks Randy out of the ring. Owens comes in and hits Theory with a stunner, Waller ducks the stunner and Randy hits him with an RKO. Orton and Owens fist bump and pose for the crowd as Smackdown goes off the air.
Smackdown is live and sold out tonight from Glendale, Arizona as The Rock and Roman Reigns continue their two-man power play on the road to WrestleMania.
This is the first of three Smackdown shows that The Rock is scheduled for this month so far and Cody Rhodes is also set to be in the building although it could be for a dark match and not appearing on the broadcast.
Three matches have been announced for tonight’s show as Naomi takes on Tiffany Stratton, Carlito vs Santos Escobar in a street fight, and Bayley teams up with Dakota Kai to take on their former tag team partners and WWE Women’s Tag Team champions The Kabuki Warriors.
AEW star Miro threw a dig at Tony Khan after Khan said that the Meat Madness match which was planned for Revolution had to be scrapped for now as some of the wrestlers he planned to book for the match were not available due to injury.
Khan specifically mentioned Keith Lee and Miro, who were both penned to be in the match but are unavailable.
In a message on X, Miro said that he has been injured since September and received medical attention in January.
“Sorry he wasn’t aware of it,” Miro said, obviously in a sarcastic way.
The Bulgarian star has not been used since his Worlds End match against Andrade El Idolo at the end of December.
In a 20-minute promo posted on his social media, a fired-up Rock went to town on Cody Rhodes and explained how they all came to an agreement for a Rock vs Reigns main event at WrestleMania after Cody won the Royal Rumble.
Rock said he called Cody after the Rumble and said that with all due respect, Cody could finish the story another time and they had the biggest WrestleMania main event of all time in front of them.
“You agreed,” Rock said before proceeding to say what Cody responded.
“‘Rock it stings, but I agree…It stings, but I’m a team player…It stings, but I want what’s best for business,'” he continued.
At the Smackdown in Alabama, The Rock then said that he hugged Cody and whispered something in his ear, telling him that they’re going to go and have the biggest WrestleMania of all time.
“Let’s do it for the American Dream. Let’s do it for the Soul Man,” Rock said he told Cody in his ear.
He said that after Cody left the ring, instead of doing the right thing, he proceeded to do something else.
“And you gave a look like The Rock ran on your goofy ass dog,” Rock said.
He admitted that everybody has a right to change their mind and The Rock accepts it but he can’t accept how Cody did it because in Las Vegas, before they all went out, they saw each other, they talked, but Cody said nothing.
“The Rock embarrassed you in front of the whole world boy, slapped the shit outta you,” he continued in full heel mode, before telling him, “F*ck your story!”
The People’s Champ also ripped on Seth Rollins for involving himself in his business and reminded everyone that he’s the boss.
Tony Khan is sure that the next AEW TV media rights agreement will get a huge increase, an increase that will propel the company into profitability from 2025 onward.
Speaking at the Revolution press call with the wrestling media, Khan said that 2025 will be the year that AEW will go from a start-up to a proper challenger with profits for years to come.
AEW is currently in their option year with Warner Bros. Discovery and a new television deal for Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision has to be reached before the end of the year. All signs point to WBD retaining these rights and the AEW President is keen to continue the relationship with the media conglomerate as well.
Those negotiations will have to start – and wrap up – fairly soon and Khan did say that they will shop elsewhere eventually if things don’t progress with their current TV partner.
In comments given to Tokyo Sports, current NJPW Strong Women’s champion Giulia said that the title she carries was originally made for Mercedes Mone and she would like to beat Mone before she loses it.
Her comments come ahead of her title defense against Stephanie Vaquer on Sunday, March 10 at STARDOM’s show at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Giulia is expected to move to WWE once her contract ends later this month so her window to wrestle Mone is closing down fairly quickly.
Responding to her comments, Mone wrote on X, “You standing on big business or u just standing around? You know where to find me Julia.”
Mone took on Willow Nightingale for the inaugural title last year but broke her foot during the match, called an audible and changed the result of the match on the fly since she knew she was going to be out for a long time. Nightingale eventually beat her clean for the title but lost it in July to Guilia.
In the latest Form 10-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission it was revealed that WWE handed over many trademarks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as part of his new deal with the company.
Apart from getting full ownership of The Rock, WWE also gave Dwayne Johnson the intellectual property rights to Rocky Maivia, Team Corporate, Rock Nation, The Nation, Roody Poo, Candy Ass, Jabroni, If you smell what The Rock is cooking, The Samoan Sensation, The Blue Chipper, The Brahma Bull, The People’s Champion, The Great One, Know Your Role and Shut Your Mouth, Team Bring It, The Rock Just Bring It, The People’s Elbow, Rock Bottom, Finally, The Rock has come back to…, It doesn’t matter what…, Blue Hell, The millions… (and millions), Rockpocalypse, Project Rock and The most electrifying man in sports and entertainment.
That is in addition to the $30 million in stock, where he will receive 50% of it this year and the other 50% in 2025.
WWE can use those trademarks in merchandise after the two sides signed a 10-year agreement where WWE can continue using those terms.
Johnson was also made a board member of TKO Group Holdings, Inc.
Dynamite this week drew 821,000 viewers for Sting’s last episode on the show, down 7,000 viewers from the prior week. Dynamite had a 0.29 rating in 18-49, the same demo of last week and was #3 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: SpoilerTV)
AEW President Tony Khan revealed during yesterday’s conference call ahead of Revolution that the company will be expanding its pay-per-view offering this year, running either nine or ten shows.
Khan said he preferred nine because there are three other Ring of Honor pay-per-views, making it a total of 12 between the two.
There are rumors that the newest pay-per-view will be named Dynasty after the company filed a trademark for that name last month.
AEW currently has eight shows on its PPV calendar: Revolution, Double or Nothing, Forbidden Door, All In, All Out, WrestleDream, Full Gear, and Worlds End.
All In, WrestleDream, and Worlds End were added to the list of events last year, going from five to eight.
Alex Hammerstone, the former MLW Heavyweight champion, has signed a deal with TNA Wrestling.
Hammerstone will be facing Josh Alexander in his first match as a TNA star at the upcoming Sacrifice streaming event on Friday, March 8. This is not Hammerstone’s first time in TNA, in fact, he also wrestled Alexander at the Hard to Kill pay-per-view in January.
The 33-year-old had a long stint with Major League Wrestling where he held the title for 644 days. He requested his release from the promotion in October of last year but returned a month later where he wrestled until his deal expired in the beginning of this year.
NXT this week drew just 570,000 viewers, down 46,000 viewers from the prior week and the least-watched episode since July 4, 2023. NXT had a 0.16 rating in 18-48, down 0.02 from last week and also the lowest since Independence Day 2023. It was #7 on the top 50 cable chart for the night. (Ratings credit: SpoilerTV)
