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Impact Wrestling’s channel on Pluto TV expands to 17 new countries in Latin America

By
Colin Vassallo
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Impact Wrestling announced today the expansion of their channel on Pluto TV, furthering the channel’s reach throughout Latin America. The move comes as a continuation of Impact Wrestling’s partnership with Pluto TV, which kicked off in April 2018 with the U.S. launch of the Impact Wrestling Channel on the country’s top free ad-supported streaming television service.

“This announcement represents a continuation of IMPACT Wrestling’s successful partnership with Pluto TV, as we launch the IMPACT Wrestling Channel in Latin America for the first time,” said Ed Nordholm, President of IMPACT Wrestling. “Professional wrestling is incredibly popular around the world and we are committed to delivering more of the high-quality content viewers crave to all corners of the globe. Joining forces with Pluto TV gives us the perfect opportunity to do this, effectively enabling IMPACT Wrestling to broaden our reach to an even wider audience.”

Now, viewers in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, El Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela will be able to enjoy the Impact Wrestling Channel’s programming lineup on Pluto TV, providing them with new and exclusive Spanish-language content made specifically for the channel, and giving them unprecedented access to Impact’s library.

The Impact Wrestling channel on Pluto TV has over 1,000 hours of original content from Impact and it can be easily accessed through Pluto TV on the web, and on Android and Apple devices.

Bret Hart launches new weekly video series

By
Colin Vassallo
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Two-time WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hitman” Hart has launched a new video series on his website titled Confessions of The Hitman.

Season one is available for $35 Canadian and includes a total of 35 episodes with new episodes uploaded weekly. In Confessions of The Hitman, Bret will talk about aspects of his childhood, career, life after wrestling, and current events.

Bret was last seen on TV on WWE Backstage on FS1 when he joined Renee Young, CM Punk, and Booker T to talk about his Survivor Series 1996 match against Stone Cold Steve Austin and his WCW run.

You can subscribe to Confessions of The Hitman at BretHart.com.

One more match added to NXT’s Great American Bash night one

By
Colin Vassallo
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Night one of NXT’s Great American Bash is shaping up to be a Takeover-like broadcast with some solid matches announced.

The fifth match to be added to the card is one between two individuals who know each other very well from the independent days as Timothy Thatcher will take on Oney Lorcan. Thatcher has not wrestled since his cage fight against Matt Riddle a couple of weeks ago.

Also, the fatal four-way match between Mia Yim, Dakota Kai, Candice LaRae, and Tegan Nox is now an elimination match. The winner of this match will be taking on Io Shirai for the NXT Women’s title at a later date.

Shirai is expected to headline the broadcast in a dream match against Sasha Banks.

Renee Young to make “big fat announcement” on Wednesday

By
Colin Vassallo
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Renee Young, who is currently locked up at home isolating herself as she continues to recover from coronavirus, said she has a “big fat announcement” coming for everyone on Wednesday.

Young did not indicate what kind of announcement this would be, however after a fan speculated that she is either recovered, pregnant, or moving back to Canada, Young replied and said “sadly none of the above.”

Her show WWE Backstage was canceled by FS1 last week amid cost-cutting measures by the sports network, leaving Young, Booker T, Paige, Christian, and CM Punk high and dry as well.

Young also thanked everyone who reached out since she has tested positive for COVID-19 and said she can’t wait to “smooch and hug” her husband again.

More details on what led to Tessa Blanchard getting fired from Impact Wrestling

By
Colin Vassallo
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Tessa Blanchard’s Impact Wrestling deal was set to be expiring tomorrow, a couple of weeks prior to her scheduled title defense at Slammiversary.

Negotiations between the two parties fell apart and the company was unable to convince her to drop the title before her time was up. After refusing to send in any taped promos to run during Impact on AXS TV, it was pretty evident that Blanchard – and the Impact World title – were not returning to the company and this week the decision was taken to fire her and declare the title vacant.

Blanchard has pretty much refused to participate in any of the television tapings ever since the coronavirus pandemic started. She’s currently living in Mexico and there was some fears that if she traveled, she wouldn’t be allowed back in the country.

The 24-year-old, who made history by becoming the first women to hold the men’s world title, also made it in the history books by becoming to only person to remain champion for six months without even one title defense. Her last match with Impact Wrestling was on March 7, a tag team match where she teamed up with Eddie Edwards to take on The North for the Impact World Tag Team titles.

Tessa was accused months ago by fellow female wrestlers of backstage bullying, accusations that Impact did not address…and not only did they not address them, but actually put the World title on her a few days later.

Blanchard, who is the daughter of AEW’s Tully Blanchard, has worked for NXT in the past and also competed in the Mae Young Classic tournament but the company always passed when it came to signing her to a proper deal.

WWE to tape 12 shows in three days next week at Performance Center

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE logo

WWE hopes to film a whopping 12 shows in three days next week as the coronavirus pandemic continues in Florida. The company will be conducting further swab tests over the next few days on those who will be part of the broadcasts and only those who receiving a negative test result in time will be allowed in the Performance Center.

In a story posted by John Pollock of POST Wrestling, he revealed that on Wednesday, WWE will be taping two episodes of NXT’s Great American Bash, one of which will be airing later in the day and the other on July 8.

The next day, Smackdown tapings will be held along with two episodes of 205 Live. These will air on July 3 and July 10 respectively. And on Friday, there will be two episodes of Raw, two episodes of Main Event, and two episodes of Raw Talk which would be airing on July 6 and July 13.

Tomorrow’s Monday Night Raw was taped yesterday. The original schedule called for June 29 tapings for Raw, June 30 tapings for Smackdown, and July 1 tapings for NXT.

Banks vs Shirai set for NXT Great American Bash night one

By
Colin Vassallo
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NXT’s Great American Bash night one got a mega match announced as NXT champion Io Shirai will wrestle Sasha Banks in a non-title match. This is the first-ever encounter between Shirai and Banks.

The match comes on the heels of Shirai attacking the WWE Women’s Tag Team champions last week after they successfully defended against Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart.

Earlier this week, Banks said that she made NXT and Io is “just paying the rent” at the moment. Challenging Io for the match on Wednesday via video, Banks said that “rent’s due and it’s time to collect.” Bayley, who was in the video with Banks, also announced that she would be in Banks’ corner on Wednesday.

This will be Sasha’s first singles match in NXT since October 2015. Her last one was against Bayley in the first women’s 30-minute iron (wo)man match in WWE history at NXT Takeover: Respect.

Canceled Raw tapings from yesterday rescheduled for today

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE canceled the planned Raw tapings yesterday and moved them to today as more complications from COVID-19 testing pushed things back.

Swab test results are not always coming quick and WWE is not letting anyone in unless they get a negative test result to try and keep the Performance Center as clean as it can be. Those who are supposed to be part of the shows are being told to come to town earlier so they can undergo testing and then wait while they are isolated in the hotel.

Last night’s Smackdown was taped with a thin roster as many were unavailable to participate which is why the decision was made to do The Undertaker tribute instead, a tribute which pretty much occupied a full hour of the show.

Some developmental talent who are standing in for fans at the shows were also wearing a mask yesterday. Others did not wear one and it’s a personal decision if you want to wear one or not.

Smackdown rating for 06/26/2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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This week’s Smackdown on FOX pulled in 2,173,000 viewers, up 84,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The number was fueled by hour one which did 2,271,000 viewers and was essentially the boneyard match from WrestleMania and then dropped to 2,076,000 viewers for the second hour. Smackdown topped the 18-34 demo and tied first for the 18-49 demo among the networks and beat NBC in total viewers as well. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

Michael Elgin issues statement after Impact Wrestling termination

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former Impact Wrestling star Michael Elgin issued a statement after Impact announced that he would not be appearing on their programming anymore.

Elgin, who was supposed to be part of the Slammiversary main event, was accused of inappropriate behavior and was initially suspended before being shown the door a week later.

“I appreciate the time and opportunities given to me with Impact. That locker room, the film crew and all the company officials were a pleasure to be associated with,” Elgin wrote. “I hope that in time things get sorted. For now I have to look at the bright side, I have more time to spend with my son and reclaim time that has been missed.”

Elgin was the third Impact star removed due to the #SpeakingOut movement following Joey Ryan and Dave Crist.

NXT main event pulls in 300,000 more viewers than Dynamite main event

By
Colin Vassallo
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This week’s NXT main event featuring a triple threat match for the North American title between Keith Lee, Finn Balor, and Johnny Gargano was a big hit in terms of viewership as Dave Meltzer reports it reached a high of 852,000 on Wednesday night.

The opposing segment over at Dynamite on TNT which had Matt Hardy in action and the Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy confrontation did only 552,000 against NXT’s main event, a huge difference of 300,000 viewers.

Meltzer notes that AEW only won one quarter in head-to-head battle out of eight this past Wednesday, with NXT winning seven. AEW won six out of eight in the 18-49 demographic as both were down in their 18-49, with NXT down 5% and AEW down a whopping 21.4%.

This was the best audience for NXT behind the February 19 episode which did 794,000 viewers and by far the biggest gap for an NXT win.

Wyatt swamp fight and Smackdown Women’s title match added to Extreme Rules

By
Colin Vassallo
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The 2020 Extreme Rules pay-per-view which is now using the tag line The Horror Show, has two new matches added to the card.

Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley will be taking on Nikki Cross for the title as Bayley just crossed the 250 day mark as champ. Cross became the number one contender after she beat Dana Brooke, Alexa Bliss, and Lacey Evans in a fatal four-way match last night on Smackdown.

Meanwhile, Braun Strowman will be taking on Bray Wyatt in what is being billed as a Wyatt swamp fight. This will not be for the Universal title and will be just two Wyatt Family former members battling it out in what could be another cinematic encounter.

This will be their second match on pay-per-view this year as they already went head-to-head at Money In The Bank with Strowman winning. With no fans in audience, The Fiend is taking a bit of a backseat and Wyatt brought back his Wyatt Family version of himself to continue this feud.

Extreme Rules takes place on July 19 from the WWE Performance Center and will air on pay-per-view and WWE Network.

NXT UK’s Travis Banks and Ligero fired from WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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Two NXT UK Superstars – Travis Banks and Ligero – have both been released by WWE according to John Pollock of POST Wrestling. The two were part of the many wrestlers in the United Kingdom who were accused for sexual abuse and inappropriate behavior.

While not commenting much publicly, WWE has been investigating all the stories concerning their talent and had already fired Jack Gallagher last week.

Apart from the sexual abuse, both Banks and Ligero committed the acts on 17-year-olds at the time and when both were serving as their trainers.

Banks and Ligero “apologized” for their actions but Ligero’s reply sparked outrage from fellow NXT UK stars Kay Lee Ray and Amir Jordan, who spilled the beans on what kind of a man he really is, calling him a manipulative liar.

Michael Elgin gone from Impact Wrestling

By
Colin Vassallo
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In a very short statement, Impact Wrestling announced that Michael Elgin will not be appearing in any further Impact programming.

Elgin was accused of sending nude photos of himself under a fake name and other sexual abuse allegations. Impact suspended Elgin last week pending further investigations and it seems that the company has enough evidence to corroborate the victim’s story.

The 33-year-old Ontario native has been wrestling for Impact Wrestling since last year and was supposed to be part of a five-way match for the Impact World title at Slammiversary. That five-way match has so far turned into a triple threat as champion Tessa Blanchard was also fired, leaving the Impact World title vacant.

Impact has also fired Joey Ryan and Dave Crist, two individuals who were accused by multiple women of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other acts.

Another WWE producer, Jamie Noble, positive for coronavirus

By
Colin Vassallo
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Another WWE producer, this time Jamie Noble, has tested positive for coronavirus, the fourth WWE employee who came out public with his positive result.

The former WWE Cruiserweight champion wrote on Instagram, “Not how we expect this month to go! Covid-19 has hit home. Prayers for me and my family will be greatly appreciated!”

Noble joins Renee Young, Kayla Braxton, and fellow producer Adam Pearce as COVID-19 patients and who will have to isolate and recover at home.

WWE conducted further testing after last week one developmental talent who was part of the audience for TV tapings tested positive. WWE has promised to continue doing swab tests moving forward prior to every taping.

There are rumors that quite a few more individuals, both backstage and in-ring personnel, tested positive for the coronavirus.

Boneyard match to air in full as part of tribute to The Undertaker on Smackdown on FOX tonight

By
Colin Vassallo
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WWE will be airing the boneyard match from WrestleMania in full tonight on Smackdown as part of a Tribute to The Undertaker broadcast.

With The Undertaker’s in-ring career seemingly over and done with, it’s only appropriate to air what could end up being his final match ever against AJ Styles from this year’s WrestleMania. The boneyard match, shot more like a movie rather than a wrestling match, received rave reviews from fans and critics and was regarded as the best thing during the whole two-night WrestleMania broadcast.

There are no other matches announced for the broadcast on FOX at time of this writing.

Cody reacts to NXT’s use of The Great American Bash name

By
Colin Vassallo
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Reacting to a Twitter comment regarding NXT’s use of The Great American Bash name, AEW Executive Vice President Cody said that while this particular event means a lot to his sister and himself, he does not own the intellectual property rights for the name and he’s not holding much of a grudge on it.

The Great American Bash name is closely associated with the NWA and WCW and was one of the company’s biggest pay-per-view of the year. The name was created by Dusty Rhodes, Cody’s father and one of NXT’s biggest influential figures.

“My focus has to be on our show and talent. Making it fun, making it violent, making it memorable,” Cody wrote.

WWE announced on Wednesday that the July 1 and 8 episodes of NXT would be themed with The Great American Bash name to counter Dynamite’s Fyter Fest.

AEW and WWE operations could be affected after NY, NJ, and CT impose travel bans on Florida

By
Colin Vassallo
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The Governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut have announced travel restrictions for those individuals flying into their states from other states which are currently suffering from another wave of coronavirus outbreak.

Florida, which in the last week has seen record number of new cases, is one of those states which is on that list and anyone coming in from Florida in those three states will require to quarantine for 14 days before they are allowed to go out.

This will pose a problem to both All Elite Wrestling and even more so to WWE as several talent from both promotions live in those three states. Apart from that, many WWE employees including their top people live in either Connecticut or New York, making them unable to make it to every television taping if they return home after each set of tapings. WWE is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

The only alternative at the moment is for all the talent who live in those three states to stay in Florida until the travel ban is lifted or else go home and miss tapings.

Dynamite rating for 06/24/2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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Dynamite suffered its biggest defeat against NXT on Wednesday with a total of 633,000 viewers, down a whopping 139,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show did a 0.22 in the 18-49 demo and finished in #17. The difference between the two shows this week was of 153,000 viewers in favor of NXT, the biggest swing in a week registered so far since the competition between the two started. Last week Dynamite held a 26,000 viewer advantage. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

NXT rating for 06/24/2020

By
Colin Vassallo
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NXT had a big win on Wednesday, getting a total of 786,000 viewers, up 40,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast. The show had a 0.19 in the 18-49 demo, landing the show in #26. This was the most-watched NXT since February 19. NXT last beat AEW in viewership on April 15. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)

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