Wrestling News & Rumors

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI Over the last several weeks, there have been a number of stories and rumors about WWE talents asking for releases and/or departing in the wake of the announcement of All Elite Wrestling. While we normally shy away from rumors, we've received so many emails and questions about this, I figured it was best to address what we know in one place. So, in no particular order: *Dolph Ziggler - There has been a lot of talk in the last week that Ziggler is done with WWE after turning down an offer to become a producer. His last TV appearance was the beat-down he took in a steel cage on Raw against Drew McIntyre last month. He has removed the Dolph Ziggler name from his social media and is embarking on a comedy tour soon. He has not been on the road for WWE in recent weeks after the completion of the Holiday house show tour. As of today, sources claim he remains under a WWE deal (and some there have denied he is exiting at all) but others have been pointing to 1/31 as an exit date ... *Goldust - While his name obviously would be attached to his brother Cody's due to their relationship, PWInsider.com has not been able to substantiate any rumors that Dustin Runnells has asked for a WWE release. *Mike Kanellis - We have heard from several sources that Mike Kanellis requested a release from WWE but was denied three weeks ago ... The belief among some WWE wrestlers is that Kanellis was hoping to return to Ring of Honor, but as of today, he has not been released from the company. *Maria Kanellis - Her name has floated around in the last few days as also having asked for a WWE release, but PWInsider.com has not been able to substantiate that story. *The Revival - Yesterday, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported that there was "fear" within WWE that The Revival, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, were trying to get out of their deals with the company ... As of this morning, they are still slated for this weekend's Raw live events. Obviously, if they were able to get out of their deals, in a perfect world, they would be the perfect foil All Elite Wrestling could use against The Young Bucks, which is exactly why WWE wouldn't release them. PWInsider.com can confirm, however, that WWE officials have started approaching talents whose deals are coming up in the next year, seeking to lock them up to longer form deals now. Whether there is a cause and effect there is debatable, since WWE has been locking talents (including Kevin Owens and The Miz) to new five-year deals for some time, but the timing is interesting, to say the least.

Originally Posted by Observer Ronda Rousey was announced as voicing the role of Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat 11.

Originally Posted by PWI WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh is reporting that WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle's sixteen-year-old niece has been recovered by authorities in a McKeesport, PA home after being kidnapped. The report states that Angle's niece was forced into a car by 19-year old Jermaine Rodgers, of East Pittsburgh, who was arrested on charges that include felony counts of kidnapping of a minor, burglary and unlawful restraint of a minor. Angle's niece was found by authorities in the living room of the same home that Rodgers was later found to be hiding in. She had bruising on her face. WTAE-TV reported that Rodgers had forced his way into her home in order to get her to leave with him. Angle's niece's location was discovered by authorities after she and Rodgers were spotted on a Facebook live video by someone, who then tipped the local police off. Rodgers had hidden himself in a coal cellar, forcing authorities to go in and retrieve him after a SWAT team was called. Another missing girl was found in the home. Angle had taken to social media asking for help in finding his niece and after she was rescued, wrote, "My niece has been found. Just wanted to say thank you to all those who have prayed and have shared posts to help locate her. My family is truly appreciative. Love you all.”

Originally Posted by PWI Major League Wrestling has signed California star Jacob Fatu, PWInsider.com has learned. Fatu, the son of former WWE star The Tonga Kid aka Tama of the Islanders, has been wrestling for several years using the "Samoan Werewolf" nickname. I've always been impressed with his work when I've covered shows he's worked. The plan is for Fatu to get a big push out of the gate as a heel with the company. There have already been comparisons internally between Fatu's work and the late Umaga, which is obviously high praise.

Originally Posted by PWI One of the most talked about stories over the last several days has been CMLL star Rush signing an exclusive deal with Ring of Honor, pulling out of Major League Wrestling and his slot in the main event of their 4/4 event on Wrestlemania week in New York City. The backstory here is that Major League Wrestling had planned a massive push for Rush in the new year, including a potential MLW Championship run. He had been offered what sources have told PWInsider.com was a $200,000 a year contract that would have seen MLW also assist him and his family financially in becoming United States citizens. The deal also would have been a conduit to Rush doing broadcast work for BeIN Sports. MLW saw him as the centerpiece going forward and was going to bend over backwards to give him all sorts of contract points that to date, they had not offered anyone else, including his father, lucha legend Bestia del Ring, being brought in to be honored at a MLW event. We are told that CMLL, which has Rush under contract exclusively in Mexico and owns the rights to book him out, was aware of the MLW deal and had given Rush approval for him to sign the deal ... Before pen was put to paper, however, Ring of Honor stepped into the picture, wanting to use Rush as part of an internal push to have more Latin stars on their programming, which is why Bandido was also signed. We are told that their deal was exclusive to the United States and Canada and actually paid Rush less financially, but with their relationship to CMLL, the decision was made that ROH was an official partner and that it was better for Rush to sign there

Observer reporting Rush's contract with ROH is for 1 year and around $155k.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Ironically, with this new deal, he’ll be working far more dates for ROH than he would have for MLW, and ROH, and not CMLL, has priority on dates, although CMLL is supposed to have the ability to book him on all their major Friday shows. But both Rush and Bandido signed one-year deals with ROH, giving them good money for limited dates in ROH. The deal opens New Japan up for Bandido (Rush already had New Japan opened up but he’s not really a Japanese style wrestler and it wasn’t high on his priority list) and still allows them to work Mexico on their off dates. And then, if AEW is stable at the end of this year, they will both become free agents after being pushed as top guys in ROH, meaning at least three different companies will be after them. In the case of Rush, he’s very close with Andrade, who pretty much warned him and Dragon Lee about going to WWE. There is the belief Dragon Lee will be making a move similarly, with the same idea of signing a one-year deal if possible, to take advantage of free agency early next year. It still could be ROH because ROH offers the line to New Japan which, at least this week, AEW doesn’t. But who knows what happens by the end of this year. MLW had also offered him their world title as part of the deal to get him to sign and multiple sources said had beaten the ROH financial deal, surprisingly enough, for what would have been far fewer dates, which shows how much the market has changed quickly when it comes to marketable free agents.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Kay Lee Ray is still booked for the World of Sport tour that starts this weekend, but she and Viper (who was in Japan and had a major match on 1/14 so coming in would be difficult) are both expected in WWE when those contracts expire. Viper reportedly got a much better offer, since AEW had interest and the market has changed, than the women in the NXT U.K. brand. Gabert would have also likely had AEW interest, and got over huge in the 2017 Mae Young Classic and was offered a contract, only to have it rescinded because of the state of her neck after being examined. She since underwent surgery.

Supposedly Viper will be making more money than any other woman wrestler in NXT UK solely because AEW was also interested in her and WWE broke their pay scale for women in order to ensure AEW couldn't have her.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter One of the things with Kushida which led to his leaving for WWE is that early last year he wanted to go heel and join the Bullet Club, but Gedo wanted him to stay in his place. The deal was that New Japan needed the solid junior heavyweight guy, with Will Ospreay in Chaos, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Desperado and Taka Michinoku in Suzuki-gun, Taiji Ishimori in Bullet Club and Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi in LIJ. The home team side had Ryusuke Taguchi, but he’s more comedy now and only turning it on as a serious guy for a few matches a year like Super Juniors, and Tiger Mask and Jushin Liger are legends, but they are no longer in the singles title picture. That probably isn’t the only reason but it was part of it. He handled it professionally, working until 1/29, doing his clean jobs at the Dome and Dash, and because he handled it so professionally he’s getting his first career singles match with Hiroshi Tanahashi on his last night at Korakuen Hall

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter There has been a lot of talk regarding who owns the All In footage. Based on the contracts signed at the time, ROH owns all of the broadcast rights to that show

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter There’s really nothing new on the Lars Sullivan story. The company is handling it about as well as could be possible and to the best of our knowledge he has been told he has the option to return when he is ready and the company is very supportive of him. He was not mentioned once on television this week. It’s probably for the best he didn’t come back this week given the way they debuted most of the newcomers

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Regarding the debuts, Vince is of the mentality right now he just wants people to see their faces on television. So the writers have to write stuff where they are in the background. They haven’t decided how to use them or on what show, but he wants people seeing them and feels what matters is when they come up with the plan how to use them and people will forget this, but they’ll know who they are, with the idea the majority of his fans don’t know who they are. Thus far EC 3 has come across as a minor league Lex Luger, Dozovic as a stocky Eugene, Cross as kind of wacky but charismatic woman with no direction and Evans likes wearing hats and is somebody’s idea of a Southern Belle from the 50s

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Although the USA Network constantly pushes the idea they were No. 1 in prime time in 2018, technically that’s far from the case. USA was actually No. 5 on basic cable averaging a 1.07 rating and 1,291,000 viewers. That number is greatly boosted by Raw and Smackdown. And it will decline significantly after Smackdown leaves and will likely fall several notches. With no Smackdown this year the average would have fallen to 1,164,000 and move it to eighth place. Fox News, ESPN, MSNBC and Home & Garden TV were the top four. TBS and TNT have a strong shot of beating USA next year and even more so in 2020 without Smackdown

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Even though Kevin Owens is expected to be cleared fairly soon, right now the decision is not to bring him back to television until after Mania

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter After the Bandido situation, WWE has made it clear, at least for certain people, that they will beat anyone’s offer for talent, although they did not do so in the case of Chris Jericho. WWE has told people if you can show on paper an offer from another company, they’ll beat it, even double it on the spot provided you sign immediately

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Vince McMahon is the one behind the decision to air WWE 205 Live each week as a live show. The show was moved back to airing live each week mainly because Vince reportedly wants there to be live programming on the WWE Network, according to PWInsider. There was some talk online this week about how airing the show live after SmackDown killed the crowd reactions that some of the cruiserweights were getting when the show was taped before SmackDown to air on Wednesday nights. PWInsider touched on this and noted that the crowd reactions from this week's live show vs. the recent taped episodes were "night and day."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc We've mentioned how WWE's more risque segments this week involving Alexa Bliss on RAW and the Mandy Rose - Naomi hotel room brawl on SmackDown have been garnering huge views on YouTube (5.1 million and 2.1 million as of this writing, respectively). Bliss' segment is actually now the most viewed RAW clip on YouTube since Roman Reigns announced his leukemia diagnosis last October. The same applies for Impact Wrestling this week. The segment above on the latest episode of Impact Wrestling featuring Scarlett Bordeaux in her lingerie teasing giving Scott Steiner a lapdance is at 853,000 views on YouTube. It is the most viewed clip from an episode of Impact in recent memory. As a comparison, the most viewers for a first-run episode of Impact since the show left Spike TV was 410,000 for the Final Deletion episode on July 5th.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A Dakota Kai said on Twitter that she suffered a torn ACL last month and was going in for surgery today. She suffered the injury at an NXT house show on December 7. After a running kick spot, she had trouble getting up and the referee threw up the “X” and she was taken out of the match.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Man, the Angle family has some crazy stuff happen to it. Wasn’t one of Kurt’s brothers a murderer or armed robber or victim thereof or something? And now his niece gets kidnapped. The dude has a tumultuous life.

Ha @ WWE doubling offers on the spot. That shows some nerves. I hope talent is smart enough to hear that and think “Hmm...maybe I’ll see what the others can do?”.

[Emperor Smeat]

Might be thinking of Ziggler. His brother got arrested two years ago for robbery and murder.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat Might be thinking of Ziggler. His brother got arrested two years ago for robbery and murder.

Oh shit, I’m conflating stories. Dolph has a brother, Donald, who killed someone in a drug deal/robbery, while Kurt has a brother, David, who killed his wife in an argument.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Tamina’s dad is probably a murderer. The Colons’ dad probably helped cover up a murder. Surprisingly quite a few WWE roster members with a familial relationship to a murderer.

[GD]

*Dolph Ziggler - There has been a lot of talk in the last week that Ziggler is done with WWE after turning down an offer to become a producer. His last TV appearance was the beat-down he took in a steel cage on Raw against Drew McIntyre last month. He has removed the Dolph Ziggler name from his social media and is embarking on a comedy tour soon. He has not been on the road for WWE in recent weeks after the completion of the Holiday house show tour. As of today, sources claim he remains under a WWE deal (and some there have denied he is exiting at all) but others have been pointing to 1/31 as an exit date ...

I genuinely worry for Ziggler. His comedy act isn't that good.

[slik]

Only took us 10 and a half years but when it's right, its right. I love you @NikkiCrossWWE pic.twitter.com/933kzvB3Md

— Killian Dain (@KillianDain) January 17, 2019

First photo and most recent, 2008 and 2019 :-) pic.twitter.com/rGQclryjkq

— Nikki Cross (@NikkiCrossWWE) January 17, 2019

[GD]

Petty.

[Fignuts]

Slik seems like the kind of person who would be mean to dogs.

[Mr. Nerfect]

#TeamSlik

[RP]

what the fuck happened to Killian Dane in that 10 years?

[Simple Fan]

Originally Posted by RP what the fuck happened to Killian Dane in that 10 years?

Nikki might be a great cook.

[erickman]

well he looked chubby 10 years ago, he is one harry man

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Despite reports to the contrary, Harper has not been medically cleared as of press time. He’s pretty much healed and shouldn’t be far off, but it hasn’t happened yet. Rowan has been training for his return. Guys who are on the injured list and not cleared are having the Mysterio/Bryan thing with their contracts so each day they are out of action their contract extends for another day, so in the case of guys like this out for months, the contracts are being extended for months

Originally Posted by PWI WWE have a job posting for a temporary position of Logger. The posting reads "WWE is looking for passionate WWE fans to be part of a logging project. The logger will be responsible for watching WWE content and recognizing key attributes that should be tagged within WWE programming on WWE Network." Key Responsibilities: Watch and log hours of WWE footage daily Utilizing strong product knowledge from the last 30 years of WWE, WCW, ECW and other professional wrestling libraries, create catalog of content. Data entry of key moments in WWE programming Provide consistent updates to manager and key stakeholders

Link: https://wwecorp.wd5.myworkdayjobs.co...-TEMP_R0002290

Originally Posted by Observer The demand for tonight's PWG show in Los Angeles is the lowest in recent memory. It's the byproduct of changes in the industry that will keep companies like that from having the same length of time to use the upcoming talent since everyone good is being signed. The last I heard the show wasn't sold out. Some of it also is because a lot of regulars went to the Tokyo Dome show and weren't up for another trip so quickly.

British indies scene had a similar issue happen regarding declining interest after ITV and WWE locked down as many notable stars as possible for their own shows.

Originally Posted by PWI Rush will begin with Ring of Honor as soon as his work visa is approved.

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan spoke with People about his recent return to Monday Night Raw to honor Gene Okerlund and where he is in life compared to when the infamous tape featuring Hogan dropping some horribly racist language was filmed ... On potentially returning to the ring as a wrestler, Hogan admitted, "I’m too old to wrestle. I embarrassed myself enough out there by moving too slow, so I don’t want to get back in there again. I don’t think I could. I could probably wrestle somebody like John Cena or Vince McMahon, but as soon as I’d be done they’d be taking me straight to the hospital to fix something … the body’s too worn out for that.” The article states that Vince McMahon was the one who reached out and asked Hogan to make an appearance on Raw to pay tribute to the late Gene Okerlund, who passed away on 1/2.

Link: https://people.com/sports/hulk-hogan...ive-interview/

Originally Posted by PWI Joey Janela announced that at his Spring Break event over Wrestlemania 35 weekend, former WWE star Mantaur will be appearing, in that gimmick: We had to travel to the island of Crete, to find our first participant Many islanders there believed he was killed by big game hunters. Until we entered a cave to find him feasting on raw Gazelle and we realized it was time for to reintroduce you to THE MANTAUR! #JJSB3 pic.twitter.com/OBdcbqemvl — Bad Boy Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) January 17, 2019

Link: https://twitter.com/JANELABABY/statu...18362804637696

Originally Posted by PWI For those of you attempting to DVR Impact Wrestling now that it has migrated to The Pursuit Channel, be aware of the following: * If you are a Verizon Fios subscriber, the series is NOT listed in the cable guide as airing tonight at 10 PM EST, so you'll need to manually go in and record that time period. * If you are a DirecTV subscriber, Impact is listed as four different 30 minute episodes, so make sure you are covered. * Cox Cable does carry Pursuit, so look for the channel if you want to watch Impact. * The Pursuit Channel is not currently carried by Spectrum/fka Time-Warner Cable. * The series will also stream live at 10 PM Eastern on Impact's Twitch.tv channel at Twitch.tv/ImpactWrestling.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Impact is trying something new for Twitch users, where you can take the Impact Wrestling feed and provide your own commentary on your Twitch channel. The promotion requests that you delete the VOD version after Impact airs but can take the audio and post wherever you would like.

They did something similar last year for their Impact vs Lucha Underground super-show held during Mania 34 weekend.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A Maria Kanellis Maria Kanellis made the following post on Instagram, denying that she asked for her release from WWE. The report was that she and Mike Kanellis requested their release three weeks ago, but the release was denied by WWE. For what it’s worth, PWInsider reported that Mike Kanellis asked for his release, but said that they weren’t able to substantiate the rumors of Maria also asking for her release. In Maria’s post, she doesn’t deny that Mike asked for his release. Pro Wrestling Sheet, which first reported the story, said that they’ve had multiple sources confirm it to them. The Revival As mentioned, The Revival also reportedly requested their release on Monday. Dash Wilder has changed his name on Twitter to his real name, Daniel Wheeler. It was previously “Dash.” He also has this tweet pinned:

Maria: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsyjI8fBaQI , Wilder: https://twitter.com/DashWilderWWE/st...92017528557568

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Scott Stanford revealed on Twitter that he and Charly Caruso were filming an episode of WWE Vintage today. The show was hosted by Okerlund for years but later became an international program, at times hosted by Renee Young. We're not sure if the show is still airing internationally but it looks like this could be a reboot, perhaps for the WWE Network. We will keep you posted on updates. Below is Sanford's tweet: An honor to keep the legacy of Mean Gene alive by co hosting a show that he hosted for many years! #vintage @CharlyCarusoWWE @WWE pic.twitter.com/VDYCs2XFdC — Scott Stanford (@scottstanford1) January 18, 2019

Link: https://twitter.com/scottstanford1/s...32316690116619

[rez]

Can you do a video? That's too much reading

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by rez Can you do a video? That's too much reading

Too lazy to do something like that and never really liked hearing my own voice when recorded. Also would probably get interrupted a lot with other stuff going around in the house.

[Mr. Nerfect]

No it's not. Thanks for the updates, Smeat.

[slik]

I like the way Smeat does things now and appreciate all the hard work he puts into it.

[Fignuts]

Smeat, can you shine my shoes as well?

Don't miss a spot or no tip, fella!

[Sting Fan]

I watched that Steiner Impact segment on Youtube... What a disaster. I know hes getting on but he looked terrible and the chick looked so uncomfortable dancing. I would like a few Attitude era segments coming through again but that was just an uncomfortable watch.

[xrodmuc316]

Originally Posted by Sting Fan I watched that Steiner Impact segment on Youtube... What a disaster. I know hes getting on but he looked terrible and the chick looked so uncomfortable dancing. I would like a few Attitude era segments coming through again but that was just an uncomfortable watch.

I know he was wearing a sweatshirt, but it looked like his "largest arms in the world" were gone.

[Heisenberg]

Originally Posted by Sting Fan I watched that Steiner Impact segment on Youtube... What a disaster. I know hes getting on but he looked terrible and the chick looked so uncomfortable dancing. I would like a few Attitude era segments coming through again but that was just an uncomfortable watch.

Wouldn’t have gotten that many views if Eli Drake had his crotch grinded on.

You know it

The IMPACT fans know it

Lastly, PISS CLUb tonight

[Sting Fan]

Originally Posted by Heisenberg Wouldn’t have gotten that many views if Eli Drake had his crotch grinded on. You know it The IMPACT fans know it Lastly, PISS CLUb tonight

I only clicked on it because of Steiner, thats true. The thought of seeing a nice crisp suplex to someone got me plus a little nostalgia. I marked out a little for his music then it all went down hill because it's been almost 20 years since he was worth watching.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Steiner is more than double her age. I like the way that when trying to get more fans in, the model they use is 2003 Raw.

[Evil Vito]

Velveteen Dream is teasing a match with John Cena. If the rumored Lars Sullivan match is off the table, this should happen. Dream vs. Cena at Wrestlemania would be fucking awesome.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Conspiracy Victim Vito Velveteen Dream is teasing a match with John Cena. If the rumored Lars Sullivan match is off the table, this should happen. Dream vs. Cena at Wrestlemania would be fucking awesome.

I was thinking of heels that I would like to have seen Cena go against. I'm just assuming that Bryan vs. Cena is off limits and was never the plan. Drew McIntyre, Shinsuke Nakamura and Andrade are the three that come to mind. I'm also not opposed to a babyface Rusev getting a chance for redemption against Cena at Mania. But I do have to say...Cena vs. Dream is mighty appealing.

Dream has got that legitimate star potential. He's oozes charisma. Him doing his "obsessed fan" kind of thing with Cena, attacking him at the Rumble and then following him right through until Mania where "be careful what you wish for, kid," he gets Big Match John. That could be fucking ace. Lars can win the Andre Battle Royal or eventually become Dream's bodyguard. Give the Dream his starring moment.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I think having unhappy soldiers in the back is just going to be counterproductive right now. That Revival asked for their release 3 months back and promises to them have been broken, I just think it's better for morale to call the big dog shot and just let them go to AEW.

[Evil Vito]

Dream/Cena reminds me a bit of Fandango/Jericho, except with a more prominent position on the card. And I imagine they'll get more than a three-week build.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Conspiracy Victim Vito Dream/Cena reminds me a bit of Fandango/Jericho, except with a more prominent position on the card. And I imagine they'll get more than a three-week build.

That match did go through my head, haha. I'm not sure if I would use this as an opportunity to repackage Fandango and give him a serious singles push, or if I would put him back with Breeze but with a slightly modified gimmick where they can be real challengers to the Raw Tag Titles. Roode & Gable vs. Johnny Curtis & Breeze could be a damn fine feud.

Man, I'm getting way more excited at the prospect of a Cena/Dream feud than I really should.

[xrodmuc316]

Originally Posted by Conspiracy Victim Vito Dream/Cena reminds me a bit of Fandango/Jericho, except with a more prominent position on the card. And I imagine they'll get more than a three-week build.

The best is that Jerichos pitch was a squash match with Ryback, which would have kept Rybacks momentum.

Instead they jobbed Jericho to Fandango, jobbed Ryback to Mark Henry, and Vince did the Fandango dance all the way to the top of the iTunes charts for a few days...WORTH IT PAL!

[Evil Vito]

Speaking of Fandango, he should definitely win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal to get another unexpected win in MetLife Stadium

Failing that, it's not like they're gonna do anything with the fucking thing so just have Curt Hawkins win it to give him some semblance of payoff to his losing streak

[Mr. Nerfect]

This might be going too much down a Goldust/Marlena route, but with Andrade apparently unhappy, you have to believe they would consider reassigning Zelina Vega somewhere. Imagine if she became the manager to Dream. Eventually they can become "involved" which can bring out Aleister Black and add another tier to their feud.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It seems naive to believe that they would matter as a team, but I wonder what Triple H told them, or what Vince said to their faces?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I'd take Jericho/Fandango.

[slik]

Akam of AOP has undergone knee surgery and that is why they haven't been used - Bryan Alvarez on WOR

[Evil Vito]

Aiden English has been added to the 205 Live commentary team.

[erickman]

Originally Posted by Conspiracy Victim Vito Aiden English has been added to the 205 Live commentary team.

he should do good at that

[Big Vic]

really cool of WWE to give Ziggler the win over an undefeated guy before leaving the company.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer WWE has confirmed the announce teams for Sunday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The men's Royal Rumble match will be called by Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Jerry Lawler, and JBL. Lawler had noted on his podcast that he'd be calling the match with Cole and JBL. Renee Young, Beth Phoenix, Tom Phillips, and Graves will be the announce team for the women's Royal Rumble match. The other Raw and SmackDown matches will be called by the usual announce teams for each brand (Cole, Graves, and Young for Raw and Phillips, Graves, and Byron Saxton for SmackDown). Vic Joseph, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson are calling Buddy Murphy's Cruiserweight Championship defense against Kalisto, Akira Tozawa, and Hideo Itami. Mike Rome and Greg Hamilton have been announced as the ring announcers for the event.

Originally Posted by PWI Dolph Ziggler was not backstage at last night's Monday Night Raw and was only scheduled for this past weekend's live events. Ziggler lives in Phoenix so if WWE wants to place him in the Royal Rumble match, they could do so rather easily at the last second.

If they don't use in the Rumble, another possible sign that Ziggy isn't staying in the WWE since his contract expires soon.

Originally Posted by PWI The International Wrestling Syndicate tweeted the following, announcing that tag team 3.0, who have been seen in the past in CHIKARA, have been signed to WWE NXT deals: Well the cats out of the bag! IWS pro wrestling would like to congratulate former IWS tag team, canadian and world champions and IWS dojo trainers Big Magic and Scott Parker on signing with NXT . Tear the house down boys !!! Were so proud of you !!! pic.twitter.com/BAXqnVJAjO — IWS (@IWSHardcore) January 22, 2019

Originally Posted by Observer WWE put out a press release saying they are now partnering with New Era Cap, who will make hats and other headwear for WWE going forward.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Lavie Margolin at Wrestling Inc looks at the streaming numbers for Impact Wrestling and AAA from Twitch this past week. He notes that Impact peaked with 7,866 live viewers for this past Friday’s episode, compared to a high of 10,422 for the debut on Twitch the week prior. Impact was the most-watched program among wrestling programming on the service with AAA in second place.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Otis Dozovic has been removed from the WWE NXT team for the Worlds Collide tournament that will take place during the Royal Rumble Axxess sessions this coming weekend, likely due to his main roster call-up. Otis has been replaced by Shane Thorne.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc The WWE RAW and SmackDown viewership will be delayed this week due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc As we previously reported, former Impact X-Division Champion Trevor Lee recently announced that he has signed with WWE. He will be starting at the WWE Performance Center in early February with several other recognizable names. Former TNA Gut Check winner Sam Shaw will also be reporting to the Performance Center in February. Shaw worked for TNA from 2010 through June of 2015. Rachael Ellering and Karen Q will also be a part of the February class. Both women competed in the 2018 Mae Young Classic tournament. Ellering also worked the 2017 Mae Young Classic, as well as several matches in NXT. ACH will also be a part of the February class. ACH had recently been working for NJPW. Other names for the February class include Canadian tag team 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews), Jonah Rock, Elliot Sexton and former Monster Factory Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Champion Nick Comoroto, who is 6 ft. 3 inches and weighs 275 lbs.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A John Cena’s injury is not legit, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. WWE announced last night that Cena was “questionable” for the Royal Rumble after suffering an ankle injury from a Drew McIntyre ankle lock last week, then re-aggravating the injury while he was working out. Meltzer speculated that WWE originally wanted to have Lars Sullivan attack Cena and “injure” him to take him out of the Royal Rumble, but Sullivan’s debut hasn’t happened yet, reportedly because of anxiety issues.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A Luke Harper was training for his return at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando yesterday. Both he and Harper have been cleared to return and could be back as early as this week. Rowan has been out since August with a torn right bicep and while he was out, Harper underwent surgery on his left arm.

[Fignuts]

WWE signing so many people. What the fuck are they going to even do with them all?