Wrestling News & Rumors

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dave Meltzer has always exaggerated money. He used to talk about how much The Young Bucks made and suggested it was mid-seven figures or something ridiculous. I crunched the numbers and worked out they would have to be getting paid about 10x what AJ Styles was getting (ironic exaggeration). That’s more than what Tony Khan’s estimated net worth is, by the way.

[Emperor Smeat]

Bunch of stuff from the sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI WWE Network News is reporting that WWE will be adding the following Hidden Gems to the streaming service: * AWA 09/13/1981 – Billy Robinson vs. Ray Stevens. * Championship Wrestling from Florida 09/13/1981 – Les Thornton vs. Jerry Brisco for World Junior Championship. * Stampede Wrestling 10/09/1981 – The Hart Brothers & Davey Boy Smith vs. J.R. Foley’s Army. * NXT Live Event 06/08/2017 – Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews for WWE UK Championship.

Link: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/...work-tomorrow/

Originally Posted by PWI Lana tweeted the following: Today is a life changing day for @RusevBUL and I. We are welcoming a new family member into the Rusev Day & Lana Day family ! — Lana Day (@LanaWWE) January 9, 2019

Link: https://twitter.com/LanaWWE/status/1083105938725314561

Originally Posted by PWI Former WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham, 75 years old, was taken to the emergency room yesterday and was hospitalized as he is battling pneumonia. The hope was that he would be released and sent home, but we have not confirmed that to yet be the case. Graham, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004, has dealt with a number of health issues in recent years.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Brandi Rhodes clarified her statement regarding equal pay for the female competitors at All Elite Wrestling with a statement posted on Wednesday: Equal pay means equal opportunity regardless of sex. It does not mean that everyone will be paid the exact same salary regardless of their position. It means the gender pay gap does not apply. An entry level woman won’t make less than an entry level man because of her gender.

For some reference, WWE used to pay women more in NXT as part of covering for makeup and other expenses but supposedly swung the balance back to men recently who now get paid a lot more for entry level and standard contracts.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestlng Lars Sullivan was originally slated to work a dark match at Monday’s Raw and was replaced by EC3, who defeated Curt Hawkins on the show. Then, Sullivan was scheduled for a dark match at Tuesday’s SmackDown taping and didn’t wrestle the match on that show either. We cannot confirm what the reason was, but Mike Johnson of PWinsider.com did report that Sullivan was backstage in Orlando on Monday during the day.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling New Japan president Harold Meij posted a lengthy statement on the health of New Japan Pro Wrestling considering the recent departures. The following portions of the statement were translated on Twitter by New Japan announcer Chris Charlton: Talent will come & go. That’s life. Half of Japanese people have had more than one occupation. More overseas. There are different life stages, priorities change. What counts is that while here, ppl shine as bright as possible & produce the best product possible for us. Our job as a business in New Japan is to make sure our wrestlers are not spending their life worrying about ticket sales, living expense, feeding their family, or injury. They need to be able to focus on the ring. I often see talk along the lines of “since Meij came in, they’re only looking at international, they don’t care about Japan.” That couldn’t be more wrong. New Japan has gotten to the stage that the world has taken notice of it and we can do these things abroad. I’m not pushing the company international; if anything it’s the other way round. I’m doing my job as a professional to fulfill very strong demand. I didn’t get this job because I’m foreign. International business is one string to my bow. There’s a lot more I can do, and a lot more I have to do in Japan. I have done, and am doing a lot, more than you can see, to increase revenue. This is a Japanese company. I want to bring that Japanese excellence, that New Japan ism, as is, unchanged, to fans in Japan and all over the world. For now, don’t worry. Enjoy the ride. Enjoy Fantasticamania.

Link: https://sp.njpw.jp/freediary/harold-george-meij36


According to Dave Meltzer, this week's Observer Newsletter will be delayed by about a day due to scheduling issues.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Even if what he meant to say was The Young Bucks were making $1.4-$1.6 million, that would still mean that New Japan/ROH would have had them on $200,000 a piece for them to still need to be making $1 million on merchandise and that be 70% of their income, which is ridiculous.

[Mr. Nerfect]

That comes off like a very weird statement from Meij. Sounds “desperate”. Like, why even the need to respond?

[RP]

Why would any of the NXT people need to work a dark match? What's the difference between a dark match and a NXT match?

[Mr. Nerfect]

Bigger crowd.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Noid That comes off like a very weird statement from Meij. Sounds “desperate”. Like, why even the need to respond?

Probably just simply reassuring fans that the company will quickly rebound like was the case a couple years ago after WWE raided them.

Most of the debate from fans revolves around Omega and how much of a hit its going to be for the main event scene and NJPW's US expansion plans for the short term. Pretty much a split of people downplaying how important Omega was to NJPW the past couple years and others thinking NJPW is going to suffer a "doom and gloom" type period.

Then you have another split of people blaming AEW for NJPW's current woes and others blaming ROH for making things harder on NJPW's end.

And then you just have a sizeable portion of fans that just hate Meij in general since he took power.

[Fignuts]

See now would be a good time to reestablish a connection with Noah. Back when they were first partnered they were still developing their talent, but now they’ve got an impressive batch of talented workers. Guys like Kenoh, Hajime O’Hara, and Masa Kitamaya would fit in well in NJPW.

That said, while I don’t remember why they stopped working together, I do remember it wasn’t pretty. Some egos would have to be set aside.

[Fignuts]

God knows their junior division needs help with Kushida, and Hiromu gone, and Scurll likely being around less.

Now is the time to give SHO a singles push, methinks.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They’ve got a bunch of guys they can push. Like, they have their “Three Kings.” Omega was a really good fit, but it also felt like he was kind of in this eye of the needle phase and could have used some time away so people would miss him. It’s probably somewhere in between — I think western audiences overvalue him, but that also says something about what western audiences are into.

I’m personally not hooked on New Japan. I gave WK a go, and the stuff I saw didn’t do it for me. I don’t think that’s hurt by the All Elite guys going though. I feel like they need something “hot.” One new star or one major angle. Personally, I’d push Sanada and make 2019 his meteoric rise. It seems equal parts shocking but acceptable.

Either that or I’d just have Suzuki eat everyone. The whole ZSJ angle seems like it’s designed to push him, but imagine if it led to a Hank Shrader moment for Suzuki where he anticipates it destroys ZSJ like he was two assassins. Thanks, kid, now I’ve remembered how dangerous I really am.

Naito also seems to have international cred. Refocusing on him could be cool. If the belt went from Tanahashi to Suzuki to Naito (it takes a bastard to beat a bastard), I would be fine.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Ring of Honor has confirmed another one of Bandido's matches for this month. It was announced on Thursday that Bandido vs. Flip Gordon will headline ROH's Road to G1 Supercard show in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, January 24. ROH also has Road to G1 Supercard shows in Houston on Friday, January 25 and San Antonio on Saturday, January 26. The shows will air live on HonorClub.

Originally Posted by PWI Taz commented on today being the 20 year anniversary of the night he won the ECW World Championship from Shane Douglas at the 1999 Guilty as Charged PPV: 20 years ago today I won my first major world championship. I would like to thank @TheFranchiseSD for the match and his creativity. Thank you to @HeymanHustle for the special opportunity. Lastly, thank you to all of the ECW fans worldwide. #SURVIVE — TAZ (@OfficialTAZ) January 10, 2019

Originally Posted by Observer Pete Dunne has now reached 600 days as WWE United Kingdom champion

Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsdd0VNF...=1qudpxt5rk2fc

Originally Posted by PWI Former WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham, 75 years old, has been released from the hospital and is back home in Arizona. He has pneumonia and is battling it with antibiotics.

Originally Posted by Observer Humberto Carrillo was originally announced as representing 205 Live in the WWE Worlds Collide tournament, but he’s now been removed and “A Superstar to be named” is listed in his place. Carrillo, who was known as Ultimo Ninja before signing with WWE, has been wrestling at NXT house shows and on some episodes of NXT TV since joining the company. WWE has been hyping that fresh faces will be added to the cruiserweight division in 2019.

Originally Posted by PWI Carrillo, who's 205 Live debut was spoiled by the announcement, is the former Ultimo Ninja in Mexico. There is an open challenge with Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy on next week's episode of 205 Live, so it could be that's where Carrillo will debut.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc In a close vote, Becky Lynch topped Ronda Rousey for 2018's "Woman of the Year", as voted by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Lynch received 40 percent of the vote, four percent better than Rousey. Asuka and Tessa Blanchard were distant runners-up. Rousey being selected number one in PWI's "Woman's 100" led to Lynch posting some disparaging tweets about PWI - and Publisher Stu Saks in particular. Even though Lynch appeared happy while posing for the PWI cover of the awards issue with the Woman of the Year plaque, she complained about her #11 placement in the "100" throughout much of the photo shoot. Rousey achieved a near-record 87 percent of the vote in being named "Rookie of the Year". The widest margin of victory in the 46-year history of the PWI awards was enjoyed by The Giant (Big Show), who garnered 88 percent of the vote for "Rookie of the Year" in 1996. AJ Styles was named "Wrestler of the Year" for the third straight year. Styles now has earned a total of seven Achievement Awards. Styles earned 46 percent of the votes in the "Wrestler of the Year" category, followed by Kenny Omega (17 percent), Cody (8 percent), and Seth Rollins (7 percent). He also was voted "Most Popular" for the second straight year. The only other wrestler to receive WOTY honors for three straight years is Ric Flair (1984-1986).

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Lana and WWE United States Champion Rusev trolled the internet on Wednesday, teasing their first child. It ended up being a new puppy for the happy couple. You can see their tweets below:

Link: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/20...family-649671/

[Bad News Gertner]

1999 ECW is fucking horrendous

[Fignuts]

Fuck yeah, Lana and Rusev made the right choice. Puppies are awesome, unlike those boring, ugly flesh blob babies!

[slik]

Big update on my post in this thread from 12.11.18 where Brad Shepard reported Cena vs Lars was penciled in for WM35:

Sullivan, real name Dylan Miley, 30, was scheduled to debut on the main roster, probably in a dark match, on the 1/7 Raw in Orlando. He either didn’t show up at the arena, or did and left the building, believed to be due to an anxiety attack. The office, which is a lot more understanding of mental health issues to do its experience with Mauro Ranallo, talked with him and smoothed things out and everything was fine. He was then supposed to do a dark match at the 1/8 Smackdown tapings in Jacksonville. Not only did he not show up in Jacksonville, but he apparently flew back home to Colorado. Nothing else is known, whether they will change plans or how it will be handled. Sullivan was scheduled for a monster push. The Cena match was confirmed and logic would say if he was facing Cena in his first big match, with Cena working limited dates and Sullivan being groomed to be one of the top guys in the company, that Sullivan would have won that match. But we were also told that would be premature and that while the match was on the books, there has been no discussion this far in advance regarding the finish. While this was not told to us directly, all hints and signs pointed to the angle getting started at the Royal Rumble. So the Rumble show will likely tell the story as to whether they will go with this program or not. They may feel it’s just something they can work through or they may feel that it’s a risk giving that much of a push to him. - Wrestling Observer

[Jordan]

Well that is a sad report. Lars is really cool so I wish him the best. And I can empathize. Years ago he'd be swept away by management for this but hopefully they are more considerate. I could still see this being the end though.

[Jordan]

Originally Posted by The Midnight Gertner 1999 ECW is fucking horrendous

Anything ECW not in clip format is the worst. Except Dean, Eddie, Rey, Psicosis, and RVD's matches with Jerry Lynn. You can keep the rest. Except the TV title 4 way with Jericho, Scorpio, Douglas and Pitbull.

[slik]

Whenever I tried to watch ECW's tv show I couldn't get into it. I enjoyed their ppvs but the weekly tv shows were pretty awful.

[slik]

IIRC Meltz or Alvarez hinted at a Balor push heading into WM and casually segued that into mentioning Taker on a recent Wrestling Observer Radio.

I'm not feeling Balor vs Taker since Taker is a 'lil rusty these days, but if they do it we'll see what they cook up. Could give Finn a nice rub being in the ring w/ Taker as long as it's not a 15 second bout.

[owenbrown]

Originally Posted by The Midnight Gertner 1999 ECW is fucking horrendous

Wasn't this the year the Dudleys had that infamous promo where they were basically trolling the crowd before they dropped the tag titles and soon after that they jumped to the WWF?

[Helmsphere]

Originally Posted by owenbrown Wasn't this the year the Dudleys had that infamous promo where they were basically trolling the crowd before they dropped the tag titles and soon after that they jumped to the WWF?

Yeah it did happen in 99.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by Slik Big update on my post in this thread from 12.11.18 where Brad Shepard reported Cena vs Lars was penciled in for WM35:

Depending on how severe Lars' anxiety issues are, could be looking at a similar situation that occurred several years ago in the NBA. A player out of college with known anxiety issues pretty much had his NBA career end before it started due to him suffering anxiety attacks from planes and long road trips.

Going from NXT to WWE would be a similar situation since its a lot more traveling and events to deal with while getting a lot less rest in return.

[erickman]

I guess that is good that they all started in dark matches, good thing lars did not have an attack on live raw

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer Based on the Oxford dictionary of the English language, the word "jabroni" is now an official word for loser

Originally Posted by Observer There will be a special on Mean Gene Okerlund called “Let Me Tell You Something Gene” that will air following Raw this Monday on the WWE Network.

Link: https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/...und-next-week/

Originally Posted by PWI 1/11 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE FIRST EPISODE OF MONDAY NIGHT RAW 1993 - The premiere edition of WWF Monday Night RAW came live from the Manhattan Center in New York City, New York. Vince McMahon, Randy Savage and Don Imus radio sidekick Rob Bartlett were on commentary, with Sean Mooney reporting from outside on West 34th Street. Segments throughout the show featured Bobby Heenan, who had been replaced with Bartlett, trying to get in the building. Heenan posed as Bartlett's aunt, and as his uncle, both times being busted by Mooney. Heenan was finally let in at the end of the show.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling WWE co-president George Barrios recent spoke at Citi’s 2019 Global TMT West Conference in Las Vegas. Barrios went over the business strategy and goals for the company in 2019 and beyond. There was a lot of emphasis on the distinction between their advertiser and subscription-supported content. He noted that 70% of the revenue is domestic but 60% of their paid television content is being viewed internationally with a belief that the money will follow the viewing patterns internationally. They expect 2018 to produce $869 million in revenue and $88 million in operating income. He stated that growing their numbers for 2020 is a big priority to display year-over-year growth for the next time their domestic television package is due, with the upcoming USA Network and Fox deals lasting until 2024.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Barrios listed the top “heroes” on WWE programming as John Cena, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, and Roman Reigns.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The WWE has announced the opening of its UK Performance Center at a 17,000 square foot venue. A press conference was held with Paul Levesque, Charlotte Flair, and Finn Balor among those speaking. In the press release, they do not list where the PC is located but noted that over 30 of their European performers will train out of the Performance Center.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Ryan Barkan, who created and is the President of Pro Wrestling Tees, will also be part of the merchandise arm of the company [AEW]. Chris Harrington, a stats whiz who has extensive knowledge of pro wrestling finances and business, has been hired as the head of business development. A number of other positions are in the process of being filled. There is expected to be at least one more Executive Vice President added to senior management.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Women wrestlers from Stardom and other promotions have been contacted. One of the key ones was Mayu Iwatani, who is unlikely to come. ROH, which also has an affiliation with Stardom, paid for Iwatani’s three-year U.S. visa so unless ROH and AWE make a deal, which will be difficult because they are competitors, Stardom feels it would be wrong to have her work against ROH, which also has booked Iwatani for its Madison Square Garden show. Several Japanese women have been talked about for at least certain dates, including Hall of Famer Aja Kong, but that deal is not believed to be completed. But the Japanese women are being heavily scouted.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter The other underlying story from AEW and the past week revolves around New Japan Pro Wrestling. Every AEW wrestler, Jericho, The Young Bucks, Cody and Page lost at WrestleKingdom ... The problem was the success of All In changed the value structure. Paul Levesque worked hard at getting all four into WWE. Page was offered main roster money to work NXT, where he’d have been pushed as one of its top stars. The Bucks & Cody were offered strong deals. The Bucks deal was for money roughly the same as WWE champion A.J. Styles, which would have also included BTE being made a regular weekly show on the WWE Network, as well as something I’ve never heard WWE concede on, which was a six-month window where they could have left their three-year contract if they wanted and weren’t happy with their push. Of course, WWE was fully aware of the Khan deal as this was going down, which was one of the reasons they went so hard in locking up talent of late. The great offer with the six-month window was with knowledge that Khan was not doing the promotion without The Bucks & Cody and signing them would keep them from being opposition. Without them, Khan wouldn’t have the star power and stars of All In, meaning he’d likely not have the openings to everything from television to top talent that was necessary. Those who work in WWE with knowledge of the deal were certain they wouldn’t turn it down, and outright told me that they would be debuting at the Rumble, and had a Rumble-to-Mania significant storyline. When they made the decision to go to AEW, they remarked that it was mind-boggling that they would ever get an offer at that level, and even more that they were turning it down ... A lot of WWE and NXT talent have been aware of this and have adopted a wait-and-see aspect.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Kushida is going from New Japan to WWE, expected to be for NXT, which combined with other departures is a strong loss for the NJPW junior division, particularly since Hiromu Takahashi’s injury was so serious. It was known Kushida was in talks with WWE, but while he’ll do well in NXT, that’s a big step down from NJPW, and 205 Live is purgatory, and the plight of Hideo Itami and Akira Tozawa makes a guy of his size, regardless of talent, questionable in the world Vince McMahon controls. But he’s also at the age of either do it now or don’t do it, and he was heavily recruited. Viper, who is under contract with WOS, which will expire soon, is expected to sign with WWE, for NXT, rather than AEW, which both made offers. Kay Lee Ray, also under contract with WOS, is also expected to sign with WWE. Bea Priestly, also with WOS, and currently with Stardom, has gotten a WWE offer. At last word, her future was undecided but she and Will Ospreay have talked about getting a place and moving full-time to Japan.

Originally Posted by Observer Newsletter Two key matches planned for WrestleMania this year are part of the news this week. The first has to do with the Royal Rumble, and changes in plans. The Rumble card was revamped after Christmas, with the key change being plans for Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair getting changed to Rousey vs. Sasha Banks, a match that came out of nowhere on Raw. The back story is that as of right now, as noted a few weeks ago, the arguments to get Flair into the WrestleMania Rousey match were accepted by Vince McMahon. The current plan is a three-way for the title with Rousey vs. Flair vs. Becky Lynch. The feeling was also to not compromise that match, that Rousey shouldn’t face Flair at the Rumble. We were also told that while that is the plan right now, it is not locked in stone and there are still two PPVs between Rumble and WrestleMania (Elimination Chamber on 2/17 in Houston and Fast Lane on 3/10 in Cleveland) that Rousey vs. Flair could take place at if McMahon changes his mind. We pretty much ran down the key arguments made for adding Flair and making it a three-way, especially if it’s promoted as the first-ever women’s main event in Mania history. It will give both Flair and Lynch the distinction for the rest of their career as being part of the first, which should elevate both and eventually make them legends of the industry. It also should be a better match with Flair involved.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m still not convinced Becky even makes it in. Good for Harrington getting an AEW job.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Mental health issues are important to be sensitive to, but Lars Sullivan has proven to be a lot of fucking trouble already. Between the way he carried himself as an entity online to now just not being the sort of person who has the make-up to be a performer. I'm not saying this with prejudice, but it might be time to cut bait on the guy if this just isn't the environment and line of work for him.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by Observer WWE Network News is reporting that episodes of WWE Superstars from April of 1992 will be added to the network on January 21. The show has been entangled in legal issues, hence why they adding shows starting on that date.

https://www.wwenetworknews.com/2019/...show-to-debut/

Originally Posted by Observer Ivelisse is saying that she is “being legally held hostage” by Lucha Underground. She said that they convinced her to do season four of the show under the promise that she would be released after the season concluded but are still refusing to let her go. Eric Van Wagnen told Pro Wrestling Sheet that no producers, executives or lawyers at MGM make those kinds of decisions and that the LLC, which is ran by Dorian Roldan and John Fogelman, are in charge of that.

Originally Posted by Observer Showbuzz Daily noted that they don’t have any ratings for the Pursuit Channel: “CABLE NOTE: Because so many people have asked, note that we have no ratings at all for the Pursuit service, including for IMPACT WRESTLING.” Impact debuted on the channel last Friday and also simulcasts on Twitch.

Originally Posted by PWI For those who have asked, there has been zero confirmation on an overnight audience for the 1/11 debut edition of Impact Wrestling on The Pursuit Channel. That would mean not only was it not in the top 150 broadcasts that night but many of the outlets that cover such things in the entertainment world don't have access to those numbers. Within the company, if they have the numbers, they were not being openly shared. This may be the new reality going forward, that the number is so low that access to getting it may be extremely hard.

Originally Posted by Fightful.com Lars Sullivan reportedly had a panic attack before a planned match in Orlando last week. We were told he left the arena parking lot and has had virtual radio silence since then. Fightful.com was also told that Heavy Machinery had a showing that was said to have put their call-up in question initially, when a match with the Colons after Smackdown Live last week didn't go well at all.

Those two incidents apparently caused WWE to shelve all the plans they had for this group and just let them linger around both brands for the time being.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling New Japan World has announced there will be English commentary for all seven cards in February. The shows will be the New Beginning in Sapporo on February 2nd, New Beginning in Sapporo Night 2 on February 3rd, the Road to the New Beginning card in Osaka on February 9th, New Beginning in Osaka (Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White) on February 11th, New Japan Road (Takashi Iizuka’s retirement match) on February 21st at Korakuen Hall, and the Honor Rising cards on February 22nd and 23rd from Korakuen Hall.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc The Attitude Era-lite Alexa Bliss segment on last night's RAW featuring a stagehand walking into her dressing room while she was changing has been a big hit online. On YouTube, the segment is already nearing 2 million views. By comparison, Bliss announcing the Women's Tag Team Championship on the show is at 480,000 views. The segment from last night's RAW with Braun Strowman flipping over Vince McMahon's limousine is at over a little over 2 million views, but it was uploaded hours before the Bliss segment, and the Bliss segment has been climbing at a faster rate.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling In 2016, they did a similar angle where Eva Marie faked a wardrobe malfunction to get out of a match on SmackDown. Because of the thumbnail image they chose from the clip, they produced two separate videos with one doing 51 million views and the other 37 million.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc As previously reported, WWE has had plans to do Finn Balor vs. WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view going back to November, despite the build to Braun Strowman vs. Lesnar, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Vince McMahon reportedly started having second thoughts on Strowman vs. Lesnar coming out of Crown Jewel in November, according to Meltzer. The idea was to have Lesnar go over Strowman at the Rumble, building to Seth Rollins vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania 35. Vince felt at one point that Strowman vs. Lesnar was not a good idea because Strowman had started cooling off some. WWE had to do the injury angle with Strowman because he legitimately needed elbow surgery, but the feeling was that this hurt him some more. Vince also felt like they couldn't afford to beat Strowman again and their choices were to have Strowman win the title, which was not an option, have a bad finish in the match, but they didn't want to do that either, or not do the match at all, which is what they went with. WWE continued to advertise Lesnar vs. Strowman to help move tickets, because this year's Rumble pay-per-view is taking place at a baseball stadium - Chase Field in Phoenix.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A Ring of Honor announced that they have signed Mexican superstar Rush to a US-exclusive contract. Rush wrestles mainly in CMLL in Mexico, where he is one of their top stars. He also wrestles part time in NJPW, where he’s part of the Los Ingobernables de Japon stable.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A Shane Strickland announced that he is officially a free agent. It has been rumored that Strickland would be signing with WWE for months, but his signing was delayed because of an issue with his Lucha Underground contract. He wrestled in Lucha Underground as “Killshot.” That has now apparently been cleared up, so Strickland is free to sign with WWE, or elsewhere

[Sepholio]

Originally Posted by Slik The Khans own the NFL Stadium in Jacksonville. While that might sound if WM ended up there because of AEW, stranger things have happened.

No they don't own it at all. They literally have 0 stake in the stadium. It is owned by Jacksonville.

Edit: The only stake Khan ever had in it was putting up $20 million for renovations, but that was part of his deal to get the team and have them there or whatever.

[slik]

⬇️⬇️⬇️https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28

— Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) January 17, 2019

[erickman]

Originally Posted by Slik ⬇️⬇️⬇️https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28 — Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) January 17, 2019

boy did he fall when he went to wwe, they should have stayed in the indys

[ClockShot]

Originally Posted by Slik ⬇️⬇️⬇️https://t.co/WFzf8ggl28 — Ryan Satin (@ryansatin) January 17, 2019

I honestly believe I saw him in, like, 3 matches on TV. That's it. Another talent that got wasted.

With them and The Revival wanting out, and with AEW now out there, looks like everyone's making their decisions on jumping ship and making something out of their careers while they still can.

[erickman]

yeah anyone who has there contract coming up mid carders this is a good time to test the waters.

[Emperor Smeat]

The Sheets:

Originally Posted by PWI The official autobiography of WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino, Bruno Sammartino: An Autobiography Of Wrestling's Living Legend is in the final stages of having a new, expanded version released, PWInsider.com has confirmed. The book was being worked on prior to Sammartino's passing last year at the age of 82 and after his passing, was pushed back to incorporate his passing and legacy.

Originally Posted by PWI MLW's next live special on beIN Sports is set for next month. It was announced today that MLW Fusion Live will air on beIN Sports at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, February 2. The special is taking place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is part of the MLW Superfight event, with MLW also holding tapings that night in addition to the live show.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc This week's Attitude Era-esque segments on RAW and SmackDown have been huge hits on YouTube. As noted, Monday's random RAW segment of a stagehand walking into Alexa Bliss' dressing room is the most watched clip from the show by far. It now stands at a 4.2 million views, and is the most watched RAW clip since a match between Ronda Rousey & Ember Moon against Nia Jax & Tamina on December 3, 2018, which is at 4.3 million views. The Mandy Rose hotel room segment above with Naomi and Jimmy Uso from Tuesday's SmackDown is also a big hit on YouTube. The video is at 1.5 million views as of this writing, far surpassing anything else on that show.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc The Women of Wrestling (WOW) promotion has seen a resurgence in recent years thanks to the women's evolution sweeping through pro wrestling as well as the Netflix series, GLOW. The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion was founded by David McLane in the 1980s and McLane also co-owns WOW along with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. McLane was on a WOW media call in which Wrestling Inc.'s Nick Hausman asked him about offering health insurance for talent. "Each of our wrestlers has already and always been insured," stated McLane. "Unlike any other wrestling organization, we have full coverage for the talent if they get injured and many of the performers appreciate that and say thank you to Jeanie Buss for that." McLane then said the Buss demanded that performers are insured even though no other wrestling promotion does that. "We already do it and we've done it from day one due to Jeanie's concerns to make sure that the talent is protected," stated McLane.

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc But there hasn't been as much discussion about the behind-the-scenes personnel involved with AEW. Outside of Billy Gunn being a producer, we haven't heard much else about the agents, production staff or writers. There's a good reason for that as Cody Rhodes said that the promotion isn't looking to hire writers any time soon. Cody had an interview with sescoops.com where he said the "wrestlers are the writers" and talent doesn't need to be micro-managed. "We're talking bullet points, we're talking an overall knowledge of the business, and hey, let them go out and play," said Cody. "Take a look back at the wrestling you and I love. For the most part, they're all grown men and women doing what they were hired to do. They've cut their teeth, they've paid their dues and now they're going to go out there and play their music. I would very much like a presentation that mirrors that. We don't need to micro-manage and we certainly don't need to script a great deal of the product we're planning."

Originally Posted by WrestlingInc Fandango was at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on Tuesday, working towards his ring return, according to PWInsider. Fandango underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum back in July and it was believed that he would be back in action around January. As Robert noted earlier, Sami Zayn and Sin Cara have also been at the Performance Center in the last week, also working to get cleared for their ring returns. Sami has been out of action since June and underwent surgery on both shoulders. WWE recently started airing "returning soon" vignettes for his return. Cara has been out of action since August with a knee injury.

Originally Posted by Observer Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported today on The Revival’s status with WWE: “Fightful.com learned today that several within WWE were fearful that Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder were finishing up with the company. I'm careful to make sure not to say they outright asked for their releases, as I wasn't told explicitly that's what happened. Instead, I was told ‘has reason to be very fearful that The Revival are done or finishing up with the company’ after a situation unfolded at WWE Raw.”

Some details from Fightful.com's report from slik's earlier post.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A The Bludgeon Brothers, Harper and Rowan, have both been cleared to return from injury and could be back as early as next week’s SmackDown, according to PWInsider.

Originally Posted by TPWW Frontpage via Triple A On the latest episode of Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk Is Jericho, Jericho talks about how he ended up signing with All Elite Wrestling and his journey along the way, including being in negotiations with WWE until the final days. Interestingly, Jericho also mentioned that Impact was also in the mix and that they made him a big offer and he “really, really thought about going there” until Tony Khan came in with the biggest offer of Jericho’s career.

[Emperor Smeat]

Originally Posted by erickman boy did he fall when he went to wwe, they should have stayed in the indys

Originally Posted by ClockShot I honestly believe I saw him in, like, 3 matches on TV. That's it. Another talent that got wasted.

To be fair a bit, WWE supposedly was never that interested in signing him and only did it as a package deal since they were way more interested in signing Maria back.

Also didn't help that he was pretty much doomed at the start because of his gimmick and some other untimely things happening.

[Simple Fan]

Yeah wish he'd been able to keep the Miracle gimmick from TNA. Could probably get it now if they really wanted but he's a lost cause at this point. Might be saved if he was to join up with Undisputed Era once they're called up. Or put him with KO and Sami once they return.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat To be fair a bit, WWE supposedly was never that interested in signing him and only did it as a package deal since they were way more interested in signing Maria back. Also didn't help that he was pretty much doomed at the start because of his gimmick and some other untimely things happening.

There’s probably truth to that, but what have they even done with Maria? Like, isn’t she back from maternity leave? Bennett himself seems like nothing special, but it’s cool to hear talent want out.

Re: Jericho Impact: He did say he considered it. Don Callis is his buddy. But he also later in the podcast took a swipe at them when talking about TV deals and said this wouldn’t be on “the dirt bike channel” or anything like that. He followed that up with “no offense,” but it would be a bad career move for him.

[XL]

Originally Posted by Simple Fan Yeah wish he'd been able to keep the Miracle gimmick from TNA. Could probably get it now if they really wanted but he's a lost cause at this point. Might be saved if he was to join up with Undisputed Era once they're called up. Or put him with KO and Sami once they return.

Yeah I saw Bennett as part of Undisputed Era (ugh). Maybe they would have gone that route when Bobby Fish went out injured when Maria was off TV if not for his admission to rehab. (Not sure how the timeline maps out, Fish was injured in March, Strong joined them in April, and Maria was off TV from September 2017, so depending on when he went to rehab this may not have worked)

[slik]

Originally Posted by ClockShot I honestly believe I saw him in, like, 3 matches on TV. That's it. Another talent that got wasted. With them and The Revival wanting out, and with AEW now out there, looks like everyone's making their decisions on jumping ship and making something out of their careers while they still can.

They basically got paid to go to rehab and have a baby

[slik]

From today's Observer

With the move to the Pursuit Channel, Impact ratings look to no longer be available due to tracking so low.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Originally Posted by Slik From today's Observer

IT'S OVER!

[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.