It is being reported by multiple insiders that Sammy Guevara was supposed to be part of the Impact Wrestling TV tapings this week but Guevara was pulled after he complained about the creative direction.
Fightful Select and Wrestling Observer both revealed how Guevara traveled to Nashville, Tennessee but was vocal about what he was supposed to do on the show. Impact decided not to deal with him and did not use him at all. The website Slam Wrestling was the first one to shed light on the story, saying it was Jericho’s idea to have Guevara show up on Impact and the angle was green lit after Tony Khan signed off on it and Impact agreed to play along.
While details are not 100% confirmed at this point, Guevara never made it to the Skyway Studios and was told not to report to the building after his complaints were registered and reported to AEW.
Guevara quit The Inner Circle on last week’s Dynamite.
The 2021 Elimination Chamber is a World Wrestling Entertainment event due to take place on the 21st of February. The event will be held at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida but there will be no fans in attendance due to COVID-19 protocols. However, millions of fans in the United States and around the world will be able to follow the action live on television. Interestingly, this will be the penultimate event to air on the American version of the WWE Network before it merges with Peacock.
This will be the eleventh event under the Elimination Chamber chronology and it will feature some of the big name wrestlers from both Raw and SmackDown. RAW and SmackDown brands have one Elimination Chamber match each taking place at the 2021 Elimination Chamber and Drew McIntyre will be defending his Raw title inside the chamber.
McIntyre will face off against AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Sheamus, and The Miz for the WWE Championship. This is without doubt the toughest challenge McIntyre has faced since becoming WWE champion. He will have to fight five other WWE stars at the same time and each the other five competitors has proven they have what it takes to succeed, meaning the defending champion has a tough night in store. However, there could be some help on hand and many people believe we will see The Fiend return at the Elimination Chamber to put an end to Randy Orton’s chance of winning the title and that would fall nicely into the hands of McIntyre.
We believe McIntyre will come out on top and defend his WWE Championship belt and if you want to have a wager on the night, sites like sportsbetting24.ca are a good place to begin. Here you will find a full breakdown of all the leading online sportsbooks plus details of the current bonuses and promotions. You will find plenty of welcome offers and free bets, some of which you may be able to use on the 2021 Elimination Chamber.
Moving on to the WWE RAW Women’s Championship Match and we have an exciting contest between Asuka, who will be defending her title, and Lacey Evans. The latter of which will be accompanied by Ric Flair. This is a massive opportunity for Evans and she has certainly raised her game since teaming up with Flair. There are sure to be plenty of tricks up his sleeve as Flair aims to help Evans land the title but Asuka may still have too much for the challenger.
Some of the other matches to look forward to include the WWE United States Championship Match between Bobby Lashley, Keith Lee, and Riddle. Lashley is the defending champion but many others believe his reign is about to come to an end and Lee could be the man to lift the belt come the end of the match.
In terms of WWE Smackdown, Roman Reigns wanted nothing to do with the opportunity of defending his WWE Universal Championship against several opponents at the 2021 Elimination Chamber. So, we now have a No 1. contenders match between Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan, King Corbin, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, and Cesaro to enjoy. The winner will then meet Reigns on the same night with the WWE Universal Championship at stake.
It looks like Adam Cole has had enough of Kyle O’Reilly being buddies with NXT champion Finn Balor and the leader of The Undisputed Era showed his displeasure last night at the end of Takeover: Vengeance Day.
Following a hard-fought victory against Pete Dunne, Balor was attacked by the NXT Tag Team champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. The Undisputed Era, minus Bobby Fish, came out to rescue Balor but the trio of heels escaped before they were on the receiving end of anything from the former champions.
With Strong, Balor, O’Reilly, and Cole all lined up ready for their usual hand sign to close off the show, Cole super kicked Balor out of nowhere. O’Reilly wasn’t happy with what he did and also ate a super kick for his complaining. Cole exited the ring, leaving Strong not knowing what to do as he stayed in the ring looking at the carnage.
Is this the beginning of the end of The Undisputed Era? Yesterday it was the first Takeover without any member of The Undisputed Era having a match ever since the faction made its NXT debut.
PWInsider.com is reporting that Taya Valkyrie, the former Impact Knockouts champion, has signed with WWE.
The 37-year-old British Columbia native departed Impact Wrestling last month after she was revealed as the person who shot John E. Bravo, bringing an end to the angle and also effectively writing her off television following her arrest. Tommy Dreamer, who was part of her final segment, took a dig at both AEW and WWE, wondering if she was going to be taken to the Jacksonville Penitentiary or to the Stamford Prison, where she would be jailed for two years with an option to extend for a third year!
Valkyrie is the longest-reigning Impact Knockouts champion in the history of the promotion, keeping it for 377 days. Apart from Impact, she also wrestled in Mexico and for Lucha Underground. In 2011, she signed a WWE developmental deal but never made her debut for the company and left that same year to continue her indie dates.
Valkyrie is married to WWE Superstar John Morrison.
NXT Takeover had a new arrival yesterday in the form of LA Knight, portrayed by the man formerly known as Eli Drake.
Drake first made his presence felt during the pre-show when he interrupted Wade Barrett, Sam Roberts, and Brandon Walker of Barstool Sports. He announced that he is joining the black and gold brand and unveiled his new ring name. He cut a promo about how he is the rolling dice in a game of playing cards and warned those with the titles to stay alert because he is coming for them.
During the Takeover show, LA Knight was shown signing his NXT contract and a clip from his earlier promo was shown.
The 38-year-old wrestled for WWE between 2013 and 2014 but was mostly used as an enhancement talent and was let go after he said he had run-ins with then-head coach Bill DeMott. His career then took off when he joined Impact Wrestling where he won the Impact World title, the Tag Team titles, and also the King of the Mountain. After he left Impact following a four-year stint, he joined the NWA where he also won the NWA Tag Team titles with James Storm.
Here are the results from last night’s NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day which took place live from the Capitol Wrestling Center inside the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez defeated Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon to win the women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament; Johnny Gargano defeated Kushida to retain the NXT North American title; MSK defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans to win the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament; Io Shirai defeated Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez in a triple threat to retain the NXT Women’s title; Finn Balor defeated Pete Dunne to retain the NXT title.
NXT is back with another Takeover tonight live from the Capitol Wrestling Center. The five-match card looks solid on paper and usually Takeovers never disappoint.
With just a few hours to go for the show, we take a look at the betting odds for all the matches. Remember, odds might change by the time the show starts so be careful if you’re betting with real money.
Finn Balor solidified his position as a favorite for the main event, with his odds now at 1/6 to retain the NXT title while Pete Dunne is at 7/2 in his bid to become the first person to win both NXT and UK titles.
Io Shirai is 1/3 favorite to retain her NXT Women’s title in the triple threat match with challengers Toni Storm having 4/1 odds and Mercedes Martinez further down with 6/1 odds.
The third NXT title on the line is the North American one and Johnny Gargano, the champion, has 4/11 odds to win and keep his title while challenger Kushida is 2/1 for his first NXT gold.
The other two matches are the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. In the men’s final, MSK remain favorites with odds of 8/11 while Grizzled Young Veterans are 1/1 to win. In the women’s final, Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart have 8/15 odds and favorite to win while Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez have 11/8 odds.
Live tonight from the Capitol Wrestling Center inside the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, WWE presents NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day exclusively on the WWE Network. The full card is as follows:
Finn Balor vs Pete Dunne for the NXT title; Io Shirai vs Toni Storm vs Mercedes Martinez in a triple threat match for the NXT Women’s title; Johnny Gargano vs Kushida for the NXT North American title; MSK vs The Grizzled Young Veterans in the men’s Dusty Classic tournament final; and Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon vs Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez in the women’s Dusty Classic tournament final.
A 30-minute pre-show will air on all WWE social media properties and on the free version of the WWE Network starting at 6:30PM ET with Takeover going live at 7PM ET.
Young Rock, the newest NBC series featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in his early days, has enlisted the services of Kevin Makely and Adam Ray to play the roles of Macho Man Randy Savage and Vince McMahon respectively.
The two join a cast of wrestlers featuring Andre The Giant, Afa and Sika, The Iron Sheik, The Junkyard Dog, and many others who will be part of the highly-anticipated series.
“I am BEYOND excited and humbled to officially announce that I have the honor of portraying my wrestling hero, the larger than life, the Tower of Power, The one, the only MACHO MAN Randy Savage in the upcoming series @nbcyoungrock,” Makely wrote in a post on Instagram. “The experience was a childhood fantasy come to life!! Thank you @therock @nbc @sevenbucksprod for the amazing opportunity to portray this Iconic man!”
Fellow cast mate Adam Ray was also excited about his role playing Vince. “As my dude DJ just announced on his Instagram, I can now proudly say what part I’m portraying on NBC’s YOUNG ROCK, premiering Feb 16th! I’ll be playing WWE Chairman & CEO – VINCE MCMAHON. The show is incredible,” he wrote.
Here are the results from last night’s No Surrender Impact Plus event which took place from the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
Decay defeated XXXL and Tenille Daswhood in a six-person tag team match; Brian Myers and Hernandez defeated Eddie Edwards and Matt Cardona; Jake Something defeated Deaner; Josh Alexander defeated Ace Austin, Blake Christian, Daivari, Trey Miguel, Suicide, Chris Bey, and Willie Mack in a triple threat revolver match to become the #1 contender for the Impact X Division title; Fire ‘N Flava defeated Havok and Neveah in Texas Tornado no disqualification match to retain the Impact Knockouts Tag Team titles; TJP defeated Rohit Raju to retain the Impact X Division title; Jordynne Grace, ODB, and Jazz defeated Deonna Purrazzo, Kimber Lee and Susan in a six-Knockouts tag team match; The Good Brothers defeated Private Party and Chris Sabin and James Storm to retain the Impact World Tag Team titles; Rich Swann defeated Tommy Dreamer to retain the Impact World title.
PWInsider.com is reporting that WWE has halted promotions and pay raises among corporate employees due to the Q4 2020 earnings results which were not seen as good by Wall Street.
With promotions and raises gone, at least for the time being, PWInsider adds that performance bonuses will still be paid out as expected but the decision to slash the other two were met very negative by WWE employees.
WWE stocks went from $56 to trading at $46 after the company published its Q4 2020 financial results despite having a record-breaking year in terms of revenue. But the lack of a Saudi event in Q4, the year-over-year results for Q4 dipped down big time especially when adding the ThunderDome move cost and bringing everyone back from furlough.
We are just over 24 hours away from the NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day WWE Network event and with just five matches on the card, we will bring you all the early odds today and provide you with an update tomorrow a few hours before the show.
In the NXT title match, Finn Balor is the favorite right now with 1/4 odds to keep the title while Pete Dunne is at 11/4 for the upset.
The NXT Women’s title will be decided in a triple threat match with champion Io Shirai defending against Toni Storm and Mercedes Martinez. Shirai is favorite with 2/5 odds while Storm is 10/3 and Martinez is a long shot with odds of 11/2.
Kushida finally gets his shot at a singles title in NXT but his odds of beating Johnny Gargano for the NXT North American title are not in his favor. Champion Gargano is 2/5 to retain and Kushida is 7/4.
The other two matches are both the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. MSK are favorites to win the men’s tournament with odds of 8/15 while the Grizzled Young Veterans are 11/8. Over in the women’s tournament, Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart are the slight favorites over Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. Moon and Blackheart have 4/5 odds while Kai and Gonzalez are very close with 10/11.
Smackdown had a huge drop in the overnight ratings this week with the show doing only 1,883,000 viewers, down 243,000 viewers from last week’s overnight numbers. Last Friday’s show did 2,257,000 viewers after the final number came in on Monday. Apart from the two nights on FS1, this was the least-watched Smackdown since July 3, 2020.
Smackdown had 1,905,000 viewers in the first hour and 1,862,000 viewers in the second. The show tied first in 18-34, tied third in 18-49, and tied fourth in 25-54 with 0.3, 0.5, and 0.6 ratings respectively. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Impact Wrestling will be presenting No Surrender tonight exclusively on the Impact Plus streaming service. The show will be held from the Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The full card is as follows:
Rich Swann vs Tommy Dreamer for the Impact World title; The Good Brothers vs Chris Sabin and James Storm vs Private Party in a three-way match for the Impact World Tag Team titles; TJP vs Rohit Raju for the Impact X Division title; Fire N Flava vs Havok and Nevaeh in a Texas Tornado no disqualification match for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team titles; Eddie Edwards and Matt Cardona vs Brian Myers and Hernandez; Ace Austin vs Blake Christian vs Chris Bey vs Daivari vs Josh Alexander vs Suicide vs Trey Miguel vs Willie Mack in a triple threat revolver to determine the number one contender for the Impact X Division title; Jake Something vs Deaner; Jordynne Grace, Jazz, and ODB vs Deonna Purrazzo, Kimber Lee, and Susan in a six-Knockout tag team match; Decay vs Tenille Dashwood and XXXL in a six-person tag team match.
Tom Cole, a former WWE ring boy in the early 90s who claimed that he was sexually abused by WWE officials, committed suicide yesterday according to his brother Lee.
In a post on social media, Lee wrote, “My brother Tom committed suicide a couple of hours ago. Vince McMahon and his wife Linda let child molesters into their companies years ago and did everything possible to cover up what they did to my brother. I hope you can sleep good at night Vince. Our family suffers.”
The various incidents date back to 1992 when Cole accused WWE ring announcer Mel Phillips and another official, Terry Joyal, of molesting younger ring boys. At the time, Cole said that Joyal made sexual advances on him when he was just 16 years old, and also three years later. He also revealed that Phillips had a foot fetish with him and after turning down their advances, he was fired from his job.
WWE always denied being in on the details even though the company did fire Mel Phillips. WWE later sued The New York Post and columnist Phil Mushnick for a story they wrote about the scandal. A few years ago when Business Insider tackled the story, a former high-level WWE employee said that both Vince and Linda McMahon “clearly knew what was going on, but really did nothing to stop it.” Mushnick also wrote that McMahon confessed that he suspected Phillips had an “unnatural” interest in young boys.
Cole was hired back by WWE and as part of an agreement, they paid for his education with the clause that if he drops out or failed to show up at any class, he’d be fired. Cole, who was fired by Linda McMahon for failing in college, later said that the only reason that WWE brought him back at the time was to extract information from him regarding an investigation that the U.S. government opened on WWE.
Joyal, who was brought in the company by Pat Patterson, resigned from his Vice President of Talent position and Patterson resigned with him after he was also mentioned in sexual misconduct allegations. During a Larry King Live interview which featured Vince McMahon discussing the allegations, Barry Orton, the brother of Cowboy Bob Orton and uncle to Randy Orton, called in and accused Joyal of sexually assaulting him in 1978 when he was 19 years old. Joyal died of cancer in 1998.
Impact Wrestling on AXS TV this week drew 153,000 viewers, down 20,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. It had a 0.04 in the 18-49 demographic and placed #129 on the cable chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament final tomorrow at NXT Takeover: Vengeance Day has higher stakes and winning the trophy is not the only thing on the table.
Whoever wins the tournament tomorrow – either Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzales or Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon – will also be receiving a WWE Women’s Tag Team title shot in the future. The WWE Women’s Tag Team titles are defended across Raw, Smackdown, and NXT, although NXT always gets the short end of the stick for obvious reasons.
The belts have been defended against NXT tag teams before, most recently when Sasha Banks and Bayley were champions and they were defended on NXT on USA.
The Universal title will be on the line at the Elimination Chamber but Reigns managed to get himself out of actually being a match inside the steel structure.
However, Reigns will be defending the title against the winner of the second Elimination Chamber match on that same night with the six Superstars being Jey Uso, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Cesaro, and Daniel Bryan.
While Uso and Owens were added to the match automatically, the other four had to win qualifying matches with Zayn and Corbin beating Rey and Dominik Mysterio for their spot and Cesaro and Bryan beating Ziggler and Roode for the last two remaining spots.
The WWE title match over at Raw will be defended inside the steel structure with McIntyre defending against Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Sheamus, AJ Styles, and Money In The Bank briefcase holder The Miz.
Online casinos have become the new face of gambling. They have spiked in popularity in the past couple of years thanks to the numerous great advantages that they have over their land-based partners. Some of these advantages are hundreds of HD games, many payment methods, player anonymity, tons of bonuses and promotions, etc. All of the best online casinos for 2021 feature these advantages and that is why players are so fond of the idea of registering and playing their favourite casino games online.
These days, there are plenty of online casinos on the market, which is why it may be hard to choose your favourite. We decided to weigh in on this topic and name our list of best online casinos for this year. Even though our full list contains the 100 best gambling sites in the world, we are going to name our three best sites. Let’s check them out.
Black Diamond
Coming at number 3 on the list of the best online casinos for 2021 is Black Diamond. This online casino supports numerous languages and offers tons of daily rewards for its registered players. The process of registration lasts just a minute and all you have to do is provide the online casino with some basic information about yourself. To make things even better, Black Diamond has an exclusive no deposit bonus, which allows players to win rewards without depositing money.
CryptoSlots
The second place on our list of best online casinos of 2021 goes to CryptoSlots. As the name of the site suggests, this online casino revolves around cryptocurrencies and they are the main accepted payment method. Considering the fact that the infrastructure for currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum is growing, CryptoSlots have managed to overcome the competition and optimize their site crypto use. Cryptocurrencies mean instant payouts and that is what this site is all about. Although there are no live dealer games featured here, one of the best things about this site is that players from all countries are accepted.
Pokie Place
Pokie Place edges the competition and managed to top our list of the best online casinos for 2021. This site has 900 games by some of the world’s best and most reputable game providers. That means that players are in for a treat and a unique gaming experience. Additionally, this site has fast payouts and accepts many payment methods.
WrestleCon announced that it will be returning to WrestleMania 37 weekend in Tampa Bay, Florida with sessions on April 9 and 10. However, the popular convention, attended by thousands every year during Mania weekend, will be different this time around due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite still being in the red for around $60,000 stemming from last year’s fiasco with various venues that still refuse to give WrestleCon refunds, the main man behind the convention, Michael Bochicchio, is upbeat about this year’s event, even though it won’t be a financially rewarding experience for the company.
“Thankfully, nothing will be as financially devastating as last year. We are still owed nearly $60,000 from various venues that refuse to give us our refunds and its probably going to be something we have to take to court in the very near future,” Bochicchio said. “However, we are interested in moving forward and using Tampa as a launch towards Dallas and Los Angeles. One of the great things is with a much smaller audience, we’ll be able to implement some new concepts that we haven’t done in the past (volunteers) that might be a part of future events.”
The plan for WrestleCon at WrestleMania 37 wasn’t entirely an in-person event, but rather a virtual one from the same Mania location. But after exercises of due diligence, Bochicchio told us that they came to the conclusion that they could offer more than just a virtual experience. “For us, having the small ‘in-person’ convention was nearly to help bring better/more talent to the virtual side. Not every talent is comfortable doing in person meet and greets, but surprisingly many are doing these on a weekly basis now,” he said.
The announcement of this year’s WrestleCon was met with mixed emotions online. Some welcomed the somewhat-normality, but many came hard on the company for the future contributing of the infections count in the free-reigning state of Florida. And with the requirement of mandatory masks throughout the event, the debate will get even hotter.
“My office park includes an abortion clinic, so every day I drive into work, I have one group of people lobbying against the clinic and an entirely different group lobbying for ‘pro-choice’ rights,” Bochicchio said. “I think in some ways, the coronavirus has sparked similar polarizing opinions that will never meet in the middle. I respect everybody’s opinion and I hope they respect ours.”
Bochicchio explained how he traveled to Florida multiple times during the pandemic and saw how people in the state moved forward while trying to keep safe while acknowledging how out-of-state individuals think that people in Florida are “crazy.” Bochicchio is sure that with the help of the Marriott staff and their experience, WrestleCon can be a very safe experience for everyone involved. He also added that his staff is also very divided over the decision and no one is required to work. “We will have about half of the staff not participating this year because of their own concerns.”
By holding WrestleCon this year, Bochicchio hopes that those who don’t agree with the decision don’t assume that he doesn’t think coronavirus is very real. “I just really believe that by using the protocols we have in place, we can conduct this just as safely as going to a grocery store,” he added.
WrestleCon will be held indoors across multiple areas inside The Westin Tampa Waterside hotel with a 20% capacity in the areas at any one time. Social distancing rules will be observed and masks are mandatory inside the hotel and that includes all talent who will be posing for photos with paying customers. Some talent will also be seated behind plexiglass depending on their personal choice.
“Anybody that thinks they are going to be able to do whatever they want like in past years should stay away,” Bochicchio warns. “Our mask mandate is very real. We mean a mask and not merely a face covering. We’re going to actually encourage everybody to double mask and we’ll be providing a Wrestlecon logo mask to everybody that attends so it can easily be worn on top of whatever mask they find to be more comfortable.”
One thing that will be missing from the scaled-down event is in-ring action. Over the past several years, WrestleCon was a hotspot for indie action but you can chalk that up to being a casualty of COVID-19. Bochicchio said that they can’t hold live events safely with their staff limitations but you can bet that live events will be back in Dallas and Los Angeles in 2022 and 2023.
WrestleCon sessions will run from 9AM to 11AM, 12PM to 2PM, 3PM to 5PM on Friday and Saturday will have 9AM to 11AM and 12PM to 2PM, with the possibility of adding extra sessions on Sunday. Temperature checks will be held before you enter and the hour break in between sessions will allow the Marriott staff to sanitize the area before the next session starts.
For those who cannot make it to the show, you won’t be left out. WrestleCon plans to hold virtual events throughout the weekend but Bochicchio is keeping his cards close to his chest. “We have a framework of what we’d like to accomplish, but we also have two months to listen to ideas. We have been doing virtual meet and greets with guests twice per week now for the last 10 months. I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot of those on location, but we will also have some other ‘programming’ for fans that are just looking for some entertainment.”
If you are attending WrestleCon, you can also take advantage of the cheaper room rates at the beautiful Westin Tampa Waterside which sits on Harbor Island across from downtown Tampa. Rates are $169 per night for stays of one to four nights while stays of five nights or more are reduced to $139 per night.
For more information about the convention and to book your tickets and/or hotel, check out WrestleCon.com.
