Lars Sullivan, who has been out of action since June 2019, made his return on Friday Night Smackdown on FOX and his name was added to the pool that will be available to get drafted on night two of the draft on Raw.
Sullivan attacked Jeff Hardy, Matt Riddle, and The Miz after all three were part of a tag team match which also involved John Morrison.
Sullivan suffered a knee injury on the June 10 episode of Monday Night Raw during his 3-on-1 handicap match against Lucha House Party.
But his injury came at a great time for him after fans unearthed old racist and homophobic posts that he did on the old Bodybuilding.com forum. He eventually apologized for the remarks and WWE sent him to sensitivity training and fined him $100,000 as well.
Then, earlier this year in March, fans discovered that Sullivan was performing in homosexual adult videos under the name of Mitch Bennett! The old photos and videos discovered show a tattoo of “DM” – the initials of his real name Dylan Miley – on his right arm, a tattoo which was later covered up with another design.
WWE is splitting the names available to be drafted on Smackdown and Raw like last year, with only a certain number of names available for each show.
25 are available to be drafted tonight, including six teams which count as one pick unless it is decided to split them up. Those teams who are counting as one pick are Heavy Machinery, Lucha House Party, Rey and Dominik Mysterio, Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax, The Hurt Business, and The New Day.
Those available to be drafted tonight are Asuka, AJ Styles, Angel Garza, Bianca Belair, Dana Brooke, Drew Gulak, Drew McIntyre, Elias, Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker), Humberto Carrillo, Jey Uso, Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado), Mandy Rose, Mickie James, Murphy, Naomi, Rey & Dominik Mysterio, Ricochet, Roman Reigns, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax, Shorty G, The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander and MVP), and The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods).
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon will be the host of the draft, announcing all draft picks for both brands.
Three huge matches have been announced for tonight’s Draft edition of Friday Night Smackdown on FOX.
Perhaps the biggest match of the night – if it happens -is a Smackdown Women’s title match between Bayley and Sasha Banks. But don’t be surprised if they pull a bait and switch on this one and it does not happen.
Also announced are Kevin Owens vs The Fiend and Big E will take on Sheamus in a falls count anywhere match.
Stephanie McMahon will be in the house as she will be hosting the two-night draft announcing the picks for each brand.
It’s WWE draft time once again as Raw and Smackdown look to “spice things up” by moving around certain WWE Superstars for fresh storylines.
This will be the 15th draft that WWE has held since 2002 although in 2017, 2018, and 2019 there were Superstar Shake-Ups rather than a full draft. When Smackdown moved to FOX, a proper draft was held in October 2019. WWE did not hold any drafts on 2003, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 while anything from 2017 onward were done over the course of two nights.
As expected, there are rumors already on who will be moving to which brand with Superstars such as AJ Styles and Braun Strowman heavily tipped to be switching brands. You can check out PA online gambling for sports books and casinos covering these rumors.
The original draft in 2002 was held after WWE introduced the brand extension, effectively deciding to split the roster in two halves, with one roster touring for Raw, and one roster touring for Smackdown. The WWE champion and the Women’s champion were allowed to defend the titles on both brands. Later that year, WWE reintroduced the Big Gold Belt, the former WCW title which was now named the World Heavyweight title and was exclusive to Raw as the WWE champion was on Smackdown. The Women’s title also became exclusive to Raw.
Last year during the 2019 WWE Draft, a total of 50 WWE Superstars were part of the two-night televised show which took place on the October 11 Smackdown on FOX and on the October 14 Raw on USA Network. Apart from those 50, eight supplementary drafts were done after Smackdown and an additional 10 were done after Raw. An extra eight were moved post-draft and 21 were “free agents” due to injury or inactivity and were not part of the draft.
On night one, six – including teams as one pick – moved from Raw to Smackdown, including Bray Wyatt, Sasha Banks, Braun Strowman, Lacey Evans, The Revival, Lucha House Party. Two moved from Raw to Smackdown including Randy Orton and Kevin Owens, while The Street Profits were drafted from NXT to Raw.
On night two, 11 moved from Smackdown to Raw. These were Charlotte Flair, Andrade with Zelina Vega, The Kabuki Warriors, Rusev, Aleister Black, Erick Rowan, Murphy, Jinder Mahal, R-Truth, Shelton Benjamin, and Liv Morgan. Heading the other way from Raw to Smackdown were five and these were Brock Lesnar, Sami Zayn, Robert Roode, The Miz, King Corbin.
All the titles, apart from the 24/7 one, remained on their respective brands, with the Universal title and the United States title staying on Raw and the WWE title and Intercontinental title staying on Smackdown. None of the other champions – Raw and Smackdown Tag Team and Women’s champions – were moved, so there was no major shakeup. R-Truth was the only champion who moved from Smackdown to Raw.
A press release from the Bear County District Attorney‘s office says that Jose Rodriguez Chucuan, better known to wrestling fans as Alberto Del Rio and Alberto el Patron, was charged in a multi-count indictment.
The indictment alleges that on May 3, 2020, Chucuan committed one count of aggravated kidnapping and four counts of sexual assault. The case is being prosecuted by the Family Violence Division in the 226th District Court. No further comments were made by the DA office because the case is pending trial.
The former WWE and Impact Wrestling champion was originally arrested after a woman filed a police report claiming that he assaulted her on more than one occasion and gave graphic details of the incidents. Rodriguez accused the alleged victim of being unfaithful and became aggressive when she did not admit her infidelity.
The documents state that he slapped her across the head, slapper her again, took her to his downstairs bedroom and slapped her eight more times. She was forced to put on a dress and dance for him, but she refused, prompting him to warn her not to cry or he’d take her son and “drop him off in the middle of the road somewhere.”
The arrest report then says that Rodriguez tied the woman’s hands with boxing straps, put a sock in her mouth and sexually assaulted her for several hours, using various objects. According to investigators, he also punched her in the back during the assault, causing visible injuries. The victim told detectives she does not remember much after he placed his hand around her throat.
Ridge Holland, who suffered a leg injury on Wednesday during NXT after catching Oney Lorcan in mid air, underwent surgery yesterday.
Holland had four different injuries in the freak accident, with his left ankle getting dislocated and fractured, dislocation in his right knee patellar, and as well as a patellar tendon rupture.
In an NXT injury report video by Matt Camp, he revealed that EMTs managed to correct the knee dislocation by putting it back into place at ringside and his ankle dislocation was corrected in the emergency room in what surely was a very painful procedure.
Holland is looking at a lengthy spell on the sidelines as he recovers from his injuries.
Samantha Tavel, the indie wrestler who uses the name Candi Cartwright and who accused Matt Riddle of sexually abusing her, has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Riddle, WWE, and Gabe Sapolsky who co-founded EVOLVE.
Tavel and her attorney held a press conference at the Union League Club in Chicago, Illinois to announce the lawsuit which was filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges that Riddle committed a series of assaults against Tavel that began in 2017 and lasted through January 2020.
Attorney John Chwarzynski will give a copy of the lawsuit to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and the Summit Police Department in hopes of an investigation against Matt Riddle.
“The WWE has painted a picture over the course of the years that female performers are to comply with certain rules,” Chwarzynski said. “The WWE, since its inception, has hyper-sexualized female performers and they’ve profited from male aggression against these female performers.”
The Chicago Sun Times, which covered the press conference, said that they reached out to WWE to get comments on the lawsuit but a WWE spokesman said that they had not been served yet and when they will, the company will will vigorously defend themselves and contest it.
WWE kicks off a two-night draft on Friday Night Smackdown tonight and it will continue on Monday on Raw.
There are over 60 WWE Superstars eligible to be drafted, with NXT left out of the equation. For every two picks for Smackdown, Raw will get three picks due to the difference in length of the show.
Tag teams will count as one pick unless each brand wants to pick one Superstar from the team and any undrafted Superstars will be able to appear and “sign” on any show that they want.
Just like in 2019, NXT was left out and will not be part of the draft episodes. When speaking to the wrestling media last week, Triple H was still unsure himself if NXT was going to be part of it and said that the creative team were still discussing it.
Last year, Becky Lynch was the #1 pick for the Raw brand while Roman Reigns was the #1 pick for Smackdown on night one. Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar were #1 picks for Raw and Smackdown respectively on night two of the draft.
The post-Takeover NXT suffered a similar drop like AEW this week, with just 639,000 viewers tuning in, down 107,000 viewers from the previous week. With a 0.16 rating in the 18-49 demo, NXT placed outside the top 50 cable chart and was in #56. The difference between Dynamite was of 114,000 viewers, down 20,000 from last week. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Dynamite’s 30 Years of Jericho celebration did 753,000 viewers on Wednesday night, down 113,000 viewers from the previous week. The show did 0.31 in the 18-49 demo, good enough for #19 for the night in the top 50 cable chart. Dynamite comfortably won the ratings war with NXT this week as well. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Ridge Holland was stretchered out of the Capitol Wrestling Center yesterday during NXT after he suffered a leg injury during the show.
Holland wrestled Danny Burch on NXT on USA Network and then took out Oney Lorcan as well after the match was over. The injury took place when Lorcan leaped over the top rope and on to Holland, who caught him in mid air, but something happened and his leg buckled under the weight. Holland immediately clutched his leg and the referee did the dreaded X hand sign to alert those backstage of the real injury.
There were two replays of the nasty injury and EMTs took their time to carefully place the British star on the stretcher, working their way through a commercial break and two video segments.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson hit a huge milestone by surpassing 200 million followers on his Instagram.
Toasting the impressive feat with his own Teremana tequila, Johnson said, “Always speak your truth. And when you do speak your truth – do your best to speak with dignity, compassion, respect, poise and empathy.”
Johnson thanked his fans for giving him the space to speak the truth. “You have my word, I’ll always do my best to speak my truth with dignity, respect, empathy and GRATITUDE.”
With 300 million followers across all his social media platforms, The Rock became the #1 most followed man in America and the #1 most followed American in the entire world. “And most importantly, the #1 daddy at home,” he continued.
Despite the 200 million follow mark, he’s not the most-followed individual on Instagram. That title goes to soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo with 238 million followers while Ariana Grande has the biggest worldwide female Instagram following with 203 million.
The tournament to determine the new number one contender for the AEW World title had three more participants added to it yesterday, with now six of the eight contenders revealed.
Hangman Page, Colt Cabana, and Wardlow join Kenny Omega, Jungle Boy, and Ray Fenix in the tournament with two more still to be announced.
There is no start date yet for this eight-man tournament but the matches will be taking place on Dynamite with the winner taking on whoever is the AEW World champion at the upcoming November pay-per-view Full Gear.
The current champ Jon Moxley will defend his title against Lance Archer next week on the Dynamite first year anniversary show on TNT.
Wrestling has been a huge cultural phenomenon. Its entertainment value is without bound, and even though not everyone is a sworn fan of the sport, you cannot deny its impact on society and culture. Today, we take a look at the gaming aspect of WWE, and specifically the best wrestling video games you can find out there. In doing so, we ought to mention Blueprint gaming bingo sites, too, as Blueprint Gaming has already come up with some pretty awesome online wrestling-themed games, such as El Jackpotto. In any event, we will right now take a look at the best video game reincarnations there are.
1. Saturday Night Slam Masters
Saturday Night Slam Masters is one of the oldest games featuring wrestling. Capcom developed it, and it was ahead of its time. The game’s graphics were excellent, part of Capcom’s desire to make a lasting impression on American audiences – and it did. Even though the gameplay is a little repetitive, the cool graphics, and awesome mechanics are worthwhile.
2. WWE 2K14
Fast-forward to 2014, and you have good old Hulk Hogan featuring in one of the most ambitious reiterations of the game. Now, there is no doubt about it – WWE 2K14 has been created with all the love fans of the time deserved. Adapted for PS3 and Xbox 360, this title was to put simply – rich. It was rich in colour, design and authenticity. Each wrestler had a fantastic skill set of moves and phrases, taunts, and many other features to enjoy. The WrestleMania mode was a smart and worthwhile addition making it all very valuable.
3. WWE All Stars
For some reason, WWE All Stars didn’t stick at first. Perhaps the game arrived in a slightly too stylised wrapping for the tastes of the average WWE fan. Well, whatever it was at the time, we are very sure that this title is a gem that you ought to dust off the Steam or Epic Games’ store shelves and give a shot to.
THQ San Diego developed the game and the team behind the product features many talented developers who spend a good amount of time not only watching wrestling but also working on various game development projects related to wrestling in the first place. The mechanics were another great thing about this game – you needed the skill to win.
4. WWF No Mercy
They call it the best video game in wrestling. Well, despite the lack of flashy graphics, the great entrance of characters, and the general ambience being a little underwhelming, WWF No Mercy gives wrestling fans the uncut sort of entertainment they want to see. WWF No Mercy puts the player out on the ring with chairs flying, and all kinds of cool fighting moves to unfold at the whim of one’s controller. The title definitely could have used a major overhaul of graphics, but for true WWE fans, WWF No Mercy is the title to swear by.
NXT champion Finn Balor is suffering from a broken jaw, thanks to the hard-hitting match at Takeover 31 against Kyle O’Reilly.
Balor uploaded an x-ray of his jaw, which is broken in two places, on his social media and wrote that he’s still the champion and there are no intentions of surrendering the belt.
The injury occurred when O’Reilly rocked Balor with a knee to the face towards the end of their main event match. Balor then started bleeding from his mouth as well and after the match he was transported to a local medical facility to get checked.
A broken jaw usually takes up to two months to heal if it’s a small fracture and no surgery is required.
NXT resumes its live broadcasts starting tonight with the post-Takeover 31 show from the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE has only announced one match for the show so far and that’s Kushida taking on Tommaso Ciampa. Ember Moon, who returned to the brand at Takeover on Sunday, will be kicking off the show.
The Takeover look will be ported to the weekly NXT on USA Network shows starting today, with the ThunderDome part of the broadcast as well as a select number of fans being allowed inside the building.
FOX today announced that to celebrate the start of the second season of Friday Night Smackdown, a Kickoff show will be held on Friday, October 16 starting at 7:30PM ET.
The 30-minute show will be hosted by WWE Hall of Famer Booker T and former WWE announcer Renee Paquette, who returns to host her first show for the company since she quit WWE. Paquette still has a working contract with FOX Sports, allowing her to be part of WWE-related broadcasts for FOX.
FOX also announced its expansion of WWE coverage on the FS website with the addition of its newest multimedia contributor, Ryan Satin. The former editor-in-chief of Pro Wrestling Sheet joins the network’s digital team just in time for the WWE Draft, which he discusses in his first FOX Sports column.
Stadiums and arenas in the state of Florida have been given the green light to operate at full capacity after Governor Ron DeSantis moved the state to phase 3 of reopening.
This is certainly interesting news for both WWE and AEW who continue to run their respective shows live from Orlando and Jacksonville every week.
A spokesman for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told radio host Andy Slater that after the governor lifted restrictions, all Florida stadiums are free to go to full capacity for games and events. Another official told Jon Alba from Spectrum Sports 360 that “sports franchises can do as they please and they don’t need clearance from the state.”
WWE currently holds Raw and Smackdown television tapings from the Amway Center while NXT tapings are held at the Capitol Wrestling Center. Limited fans are allowed inside the CWC for NXT and that started this past Sunday and will continue with tonight’s live broadcast. WWE’s deal with the Amway prohibits them from having any fans but that deal runs out at the end of this month.
AEW runs Dynamite from the Daily’s Place in Jacksonville and the promotion has been allowing around a couple of hundred fans at every taping for the past several weeks.
There’s also rumors that WWE will be moving WrestleMania from Los Angeles to Tampa next year and with the news that stadiums can operate at 100% capacity, WWE will surely be looking at making up for this year’s show which was held inside the Performance Center.
Tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite will be a special one for Le Champion Chris Jericho as the promotion will celebrate his 30 year anniversary in the business.
Marketed as The 30 Years of Jericho, the show has four matches announced so far, including a dog collar match for the TNT title between Brodie Lee and Cody, Brian Cage vs Will Hobbs for the FTW title, Big Swole vs Serena Deeb, and Chris Jericho teams with Jake Hager to take on Luther and Serpentico.
Less than 100 tickets remain for tonight’s broadcast for those interested in attending, with tickets of groups of 1, 3, 4, and 6 left.
Professional wrestling is a sport that revolves around making bigger and bigger events with unforgettable moments. This can be a hard act to keep up with, but somehow organizations like the WWE have managed to blow our minds year after year. While it may seem like we’ve seen it all so far, rest assured the best days are still ahead for pro wrestling. Looking back, here are some of the most memorable moments in pro wrestling over the last decade.
25th Anniversary of RAW
The 25th anniversary of RAW in January 2018 was a star-studded affair that will not be forgotten anytime soon. One of the highlights of the event was the rambunctious poker game that took place in the back room featuring stars like JBL, Rob Simmons, The Million Dollar Man, Jeff Hardy, MVP and half a dozen others. The back and forth comments and insults were enjoyable for fans, and a memorable moment showed Heath Slater going toe-to-toe with Natalya.
With a big pot in the middle, Slater laid down his cards exclaiming “BOOM A STRAIGHT!” For a moment he thought he had won, right before Natalya came over the top with a flush, showing she had one of the strongest outcomes possible. The event fueled some in-ring feuds, but more than anything this moment showed us something that the organization had been missing. Backstage antics and showcasing the “lives” of the wrestlers when they aren’t in the ring had been absent from the pro-wrestling storylines for some time. This moment felt like something from the golden years of the sport.
WrestleMania 30
Every WrestleMania event is hyped up to be the greatest event in pro wrestling history. Some may miss the mark, but WrestleMania 30 did not disappoint by any means. The star-studded event showcased a wide range of wrestlers, new and old, going all-out. In one evening we saw John Cena defeat Bray Wyatt, as well as Daniel Bryan defeat Triple H, before he went on to beat Randy Orton and Batista in the main event, claiming the WWE Championship for himself.
There were so many great highlights that were forgotten in the mayhem of WrestleMania 30, like The Shield vs Kane. One moment that cannot be overlooked is when we got to see The Rock, Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan all share the ring together for the first time. The most stunning aspect of the entire event however, is coming up next.
The Undertaker’s Winning Streak is Broken
The Undertaker is one of the most popular and successful professional wrestlers of all time. He helped define a generation and shape the WWE into what it is today. Most fans assumed that his 21-year undefeated WrestleMania streak would remain unbroken until his eventual retirement. CEO Vince McMahon is an insatiable man however, and he eventually sensed an opportunity to generate some buzz that he could use to launch other stars.
WrestleMania 30 would see the big man defeated by rival wrestler and UFC star Brock Lesnar, which in turn helped launch Lesnar in the WWE. This was certainly one of the most shocking moments in recent history and fans are still arguing about this event to date.
NXT Officially Takes Off
2019 was the official year that the NXT brand took off. Instead of being a pre-recorded show, it is now broadcast live on USA network. As the third WWE brand behind SmackDown and RAW, we were unsure what to make of NXT at first. Now we can see how much the organization is putting into its side project and NXT has begun to pick up steam. As time goes on, look for bigger events from NXT and more recognizable stars heading down to help bolster NXT’s reputation. Recently, wrestling legend Triple H has suggested that NXT will be used to bring in a new wave of female talent.
All-Female Main Event at WrestleMania 35
One of the biggest changes in the WWE over the last decade has been the clear push of female wrestling talent. These athletes have always been few and far between and, in an effort to appeal to a wider fanbase, this trend was always on the horizon for the organization.
WrestleMania 35 finally signaled that female wrestling has fully arrived, with the first all-female main event going down a storm. This evening saw Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and newcomer Ronda Rousey face off. With Flair as the SmackDown Women’s champion and Rousey as the RAW Women’s Champion, Lynch defeated both in a winner-takes-all scenario to become a two-division champion. This was a big moment for the promotion and fans have been invested in this new element ever since.
