The tournament final to determine the number one contender for the Impact World title will be taking place on next week’s episode of Impact Wrestling.
The two finalists – Trey Miguel and Ace Austin – will wrestle to get their first shot at the title currently held by Tessa Blanchard. Blanchard has not appeared on Impact Wrestling in quite a while as she did not travel to Nashville to participate in the tapings last month and was also absent from the two-night Rebellion special.
Ace Austin beat Hernandez to advance while Trey Miguel beat Michael Elgin to earn his spot in the final match.
Blanchard has been champion since January when she beat Sami Callihan at the Hard to Kill pay-per-view, becoming the first woman in Impact history to hold the men’s World title.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Wrestling, through his Fightful Select premium service, reported that Kairi Sane suffered a nasty head injury yesterday during the Monday Night Raw tapings which were being held for next week’s broadcast.
Sane was wrestling Nia Jax and the injury occurred when Jax threw Sane towards the steps and the Japanese star hit the corner of the stairs, busting it up and suffering a big laceration.
The match was temporarily halted as WWE medical personnel attended to the former NXT champion, applying pressure to the wound and throwing a bandage around it because Sane wanted to continue and finish the match.
With Sane wanting to continue, cameras resumed rolling and the two went to a quick finish to end the match.
This is not the first time that Sane was injured but continued. At the TLC pay-per-view last year, she was pretty banged up after some nasty shots from Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and the two praised her as a warrior after the match was over.
This incident will also certainly not help things with Jax and her reputation of injuring her opponents in the ring.
Former NXT star Deonna Purrazzo has joined Impact Wrestling and a video promoting her arrival aired during last night’s episode of Impact on AXS TV.
Purrazzo was one of the many who was cut in April due to the cost-cutting measures WWE introduced because of the coronavirus situation, resulting in over 50 WWE, NXT, and Performance Center cuts as well as many other office employees.
“I’ll see you soon @IMPACTWRESTLING… #Virtuosa,” Purrazzo tweeted after the video aired on Impact.
This will be her second stint with the promotion after having previously wrestled sporadically for TNA between 2014 and 2017. Following a year with Stardom in Japan, Purrazzo joined WWE in May 2018 and competed in the second Mae Young Classic tournament, making it to the quarter finals.
Despite her potential, Purrazzo was not used much on NXT either and only had a dozen of appearances on television.
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid his respects to Shad Gaspard today and posted a photo on Twitter on his bike stopping by a memorial in front of Advanced Athletics gym in Venice, California.
“On my bike ride today I stopped to pay respects to Shad Gaspard. He was such a positive force in the gym and the world. He was a hero in bodybuilding, a hero in wrestling, and the moment he told lifeguards to save his son first, the ultimate hero. My thoughts are with his family,” Schwarzenegger wrote in a tweet to his 4.6 million followers.
In related news, Gaspard’s GoFundMe campaign reached over $140,000 in donations from 1,300 donors, well over the $100,000 original goal. A ton of wrestling personalities helped reaching that goal, spearheaded by a $40,000 donation from a suspected John Cena. Chris Jericho, Tony Khan, Shelton Benjamin, Nikki Bella, Rusev, Mick Foley, Santino Marella, Natalya, Cody and Brandi Rhodes, Frankie Kazarian, and many others all donated large sums and so did the Cameo business and entrepreneur Jas Marthur who along with Tony Khan donated $10,000 each.
On my bike ride today I stopped to pay respects to Shad Gaspard. He was such a positive force in the gym and the world. He was a hero in bodybuilding, a hero in wrestling, and the moment he told lifeguards to save his son first, the ultimate hero. My thoughts are with his family. pic.twitter.com/Z5PBDSrGOT
Stardom issued another statement on the passing of Hana Kimura, who died of an apparent suicide on May 23.
The company wrote that according to a police report, there does not appear to be any foul play and they would not publish anything else regarding the cause of death because the family wishes to keep it private.
Stardom also urged members of the media to refrain from trying to interview the family or those who work with Stardom and also to refrain from visiting Kimura’s family at their home, the offices and dojo of Stardom, and any of the homes of the stars who wrestle for the promotion.
Information regarding the funeral will be kept private as well in according to the wishes of the family and no date, time, or place will be announced, although there will be a memorial service open for fans.
“The bereaving family expresses their deep gratitude to the fans who supported Hana Kimura, and although the date and time of the event is currently undecided due to the Coronavirus situation, a memorial service for Hana Kimura will be held,” the statement concluded.
WWE Backstage will return at Midnight tonight as FS1 will be airing three hours of NASCAR leading up to the WWE block.
Serving as a lead-in to Backstage will be the excellent documentary A Future WWE: The FCW Story starting at 10PM ET. WWE Backstage will then start airing at Midnight with WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett appearing as a special guest.
Jarrett will be on the show to discuss the night Hulk Hogan beat him at Bash at the Beach 2000 when Vince Russo ordered Jarrett to lie down for the Hulkster. Russo then fired Hogan from WCW and declared that Jarrett was still the champion and Jarrett then lost the title to Booker T in the main event of the show that same night.
Meanwhile, last week’s Ruthless Aggression episodes that aired prior to Backstage did 214,000 and 177,000 viewers at 10PM and 11PM respectively but Backstage did not chart at Midnight. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The fourth match on the Backlash card was made official last night with the Raw Women’s title on the line as Asuka defends against number one contender Nia Jax.
Jax defeated NXT champion Charlotte Flair and Natalya in a triple threat match to earn the shot. Jax pinned Natalya following a Samoan Drop in a 15-minute match.
This will be Asuka’s first title defense since winning the title at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view. The title was handed over to her the next day by Becky Lynch who announced she was pregnant and was going away.
Other matches on the card so far include Randy Orton vs Edge, Drew McIntyre vs Bobby Lashley for the WWE title, and Braun Strowman vs The Miz and John Morrison in a handicap match for the Universal title.
PWInsider.com is reporting that Drew Gulak has signed a new WWE deal and is expected to be part of Smackdown this coming Friday.
Gulak surprisingly found himself out of a deal a few weeks ago after he wrestled Daniel Bryan and was then swiftly moved to the Alumni section of WWE.COM. Gulak apparently wanted an increase in his deal and WWE refused the pay rise. With negotiations going until the very last minute, his contract eventually lapsed. The former Cruiserweight champion is now back on the active roster for Smackdown on WWE.COM.
The 33-year-old Gulak has stepped up lately and his program with Daniel Bryan received a lot of praise from fans. He has been working with WWE since 2016.
WWE stole an idea from AEW’s playbook and put members from NXT and the WWE Performance Center as fans in the crowd last night on Raw, something that will be used on Smackdown as well.
The difference from Dynamite is that WWE put up a plexiglass barrier at ringside as well along the entrance ramp which adds another layer of protection. This was the first time that some background noise was added to the show since WWE went to empty arena shows in March.
Those assigned to be part of the show were standing feet away from each other, keeping social distancing rules in place. Raw commentator Tom Phillips also said that everyone was tested as well.
It will be interesting to see if the same concept will be used for NXT tomorrow. NXT is taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park rather than the WWE Performance Center.
Apollo Crews won his first title in WWE last night on Monday Night Raw, defeating Andrade for the United States title.
It took the 32-year-old six years to finally get some gold aground his waist, having spent two years in NXT and then the subsequent years on the main roster. While on NXT Crews was considered one of the main guys, the main roster hasn’t been that kind to him yet.
Crews was supposed to be part of the Money In The Bank ladder match this year but was taken out due to a knee injury he suffered while wrestling Andrade in late April.
JTG, one-half of the tag team Cryme Tyme, posted a touching tribute to his former partner Shad Gaspard who passed away last week after drowning while swimming with his son in Venice Beach, California.
The 35-year-old thanked friends, family, and fans who reached out both to him and the Gaspard family over the past week and the outpour of love and support helped him get through the whole ordeal.
“I have my moments where I’m in disbelief and feeling a tremendous amount of hurt but as soon as I start to reminisce about Shad and our relationship I begin to smile. I have tons of memories of Shad and I just us chilling for no reason and having a great time, enjoying each other’s energy, working out together, traveling the world together,” JTG wrote.
Recounting laughing about the inside jokes that the two shared together, JTG said that the relationship the two shared together comes along once in a life time and urged fans that if they have a friend or a loved one that they’re close to, to make an effort to let them know how much they appreciate them because tomorrow is never promised.
“Shad and I always expressed how much we appreciated each other in each other’s lives and then follow it up with a good ole fashion roast……just to balance things out. Shad, Thank you for always being there for me. You were more than my tag team partner, more than a friend you were the big brother I always wanted growing up. The world will remember you for what you are. A HERO. CRYMETYME4LIFE,” he concluded.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is back on TV screens starting tonight on NBC with the second season of the hit athletic competition The Titan Games.
A two-hour premiere episode kicks off at 8PM ET, with other episodes running for an hour every week. Season two contains 13 episodes of everyday people with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete in epic head-to-head challenges designed to test the mind, body and heart.
This season, the competition breaks down into three regional brackets: West, Central and East. Within each region, Dwayne Johnson has selected one male and one female professional athlete to serve as Titans.
The preselected Titans are two-time Olympic gold medal-winning and current undisputed boxing world champion Claressa Shields, NFL Iron Man Legend and 10x Pro-Bowler Joe Thomas, Super Bowl champion Victor Cruz, Olympic gold medal-winning snowboarder Hannah Teter, professional stuntwoman and star American Ninja Warrior Jessie Graff and five-time UFC champion Tyron Woodley. All have all accepted the challenge to join the competition.
During regional competition, we will see two contenders of each gender battle in a best-of-three competition on epic new and fan-favorite obstacles. They are fighting for the chance to compete on Mount Olympus, Johnson’s all-encompassing final obstacle that tests strength, speed, stamina and heart. In order to become a Titan, the competitors will need to defeat one of Johnson’s professional Titans and then maintain that position on top of Mount Olympus.
Those who lose on Mount Olympus will have a shot at redemption during the Regional Finals and one last chance to take on the reigning Titan. Ultimately, one male and one female will earn the title of Regional Champion and move on to the finale.
In the finale, the reigning Titans will return to battle against one another, with one man and one woman emerging as Titan Champion and each winning a grand prize of $100,000. If one of the professional athletes wins, their prize money will go to a charity of their choosing.
Dr. Britt Baker is expected to be out of action for up to eight weeks after her knee injury was revealed to be not as bad as it was originally thought.
Baker will be addressing her injury and how long she will be out for this week on Dynamite. During Double or Nothing, AEW’s own doc Dr. Samson said that Baker has a fracture in her leg as well as a ligament and tendon tear.
Baker suffered the injury on Wednesday’s Dynamite when in a tag team match, her opponents slammed her partner Nyla Rose onto her while she was sitting in the corner. The injury kept her off the Double or Nothing pay-per-view where she was supposed to wrestle Kris Statlander. Statlander instead took on Penelope Ford.
While Sting is no longer under a WWE contract, the WWE Network will be putting a Sting special on Sunday, May 31.
The website WWENetworkNews.com is reporting that Sting: The Lost Tape will feature never-before-seen and unreleased footage of Sting including interviews and other backstage highlights from the day of WCW Slamboree 95 where he wrestled Big Bubba Rogers, the man also known as the Big Boss Man.
The short preview of Sting’s special reads, “Featuring never-before-seen footage and interviews, cameras follow Sting backstage before his big match at WCW Slamboree 1995.”
On that night, the former WCW champion beat Rogers in a 10-minute match, a match which was followed by the main event of Hogan and Savage vs Flair and Vader.
Multiple industry insiders reported last week that Sting is no longer under a WWE deal and he is free to appear anywhere.
Two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair said during an interview with WrestlingInc.com that his new WWE contract is not “for life” but said he hoped WWE kept renewing it as long as he’s around.
During the interview, Flair also openly discussed his friendship with AEW President Tony Khan and said that Khan told him that he wouldn’t even ask him to go work for AEW because he knows how tight he is with WWE. “You never know but I’m obviously not gonna go anywhere else if they didn’t renew me,” Flair said.
Flair added that while the two share a big friendship, Khan respects Flair’s loyalty to WWE which he said “speaks volumes to what kind of guy Tony is.”
Just like NXT is loading up Wednesday’s show, AEW is doing the same for the post-Double or Nothing episode, announcing that former boxing champ Mike Tyson will be appearing live.
Tyson was involved during Double or Nothing, preventing Jake “The Snake” Roberts from unleashing his snake, creating enough distraction for Cody to beat Archer and win the TNT title.
The WWE Hall of Famer is a huge wrestling fan and has several WWE live appearances under his belt, including a big one at WrestleMania 14. In 2010, Tyson knocked out Chris Jericho on Raw so it will be interesting to see if the two will cross paths again on Wednesday.
The Shad Gaspard GoFundMe campaign shot up $30,000 from yesterday afternoon with the campaign now at a total of just over $133,000 from 1,100 donors.
Started two days ago by the friends of Shad Gaspard on behalf of his family, the money collected will be used to pay for expenses, bills, and Aryeh’s college fund.
The campaign got a massive shot in the arm yesterday by an anonymous donor who gave $40,000 and signed the donation with CTC RIP. The donation even got headlines on TMZ which also speculated it might be a donation from John Cena who teamed up with Cryme Tyme in 2008 to shortly form the Cryme Tyme Cenation. Cena also posted a photo on Instagram with all three of them spray-painting JBL’s limo from that year with CTC sprayed on the side.
Several posters of Shad, candles, and wreaths were put up along a stretch of Venice Beach where he went missing and fans were able to go and pay their respects there.
You can still donate, even as small as $5, to the GoFundMe campaign at https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-shad-gaspard-family-fund.
AEW President Tony Khan revealed in the post-Double or Nothing media event with the wrestling press that the upcoming Fyter Fest event was scheduled to take place in London, England.
But coronavirus has messed up with all future plans and now the show will take place Stateside, although Khan did not reveal a location yet and the United Kingdom will have to wait for the promotion’s debut in the country.
The first official match for Fyter Fest will feature AEW World champion Jon Moxley against the new number one contender and the winner of the casino ladder match Brian Cage.
More details on Fyter Fest will be revealed next week on Dynamite on TNT. Last year, Fyter Fest was made available for free on B/R Live and it’s expected to be something similar this year.
Former Raw Women’s champion Ronda Rousey posted a tribute to Hana Kimura, the 22-year-old Japanese star who was found dead yesterday after a suspected suicide stemming from cyber bullying.
“To Hana Kimura and her family, I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. .. There are no words that could possibly heal this wound… Rest In Peace Hana Kimura,” Rousey wrote in a post on her social media.
Rousey continued to tackle the unfortunate subject of cyber bullying and posted numbers that people suffering could call to get help. “Cyber bullying is a very real and growing threat to us all as a society. Succumbing isn’t weakness, it’s human,” Rousey continued. “We have evolved to feel as if our lives depend on social acceptance because the majority of human history our survival has depended on our social groups and standing within them.”
The former UFC champion wrote that she knows those trolls who spend their days harassing others online are battling their own mental demons but suggested they should find another way “to release your venom in a way that won’t poison others.”
Several other wrestling personalities also discussed bullying in their tweets after addressing the Kimura story.
“Be the kindness you wish you received instead of malice and neglect you’re trying to pay back. Don’t pass it on, protect the world from what you’ve had to endure instead of spreading it,” Rousey concluded.
Two new champions were crowned at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view yesterday in Jacksonville.
The first was Cody who became the inaugural TNT champion after he defeated Lance Archer. Both their managers, Arn Anderson and Jake Roberts, got involved, with Anderson getting ejected from ringside. Roberts was also about to introduce his snake, but former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson prevented that from happening.
The title presented to Cody was incomplete with AEW saying that due to the pandemic, the title could not be finished in time.
Also, Hikaru Shida became the new AEW Women’s champion, becoming the second Japanese star to hold the title after the inaugural winner Riho. It was a short stint for champ Nyla Rose who won the title in February on Dynamite and defended it only once since then. Shida had some assist from a kendo stick to win the title.
