SEScoops

Author: Anutosh Bajpai

  • Finn Balor Is Ready For Main Roster Return

    Finn Balor has spent the last year and a half rebuilding himself in NXT. After dropping the NXT title to Karrian Kross last month, the former universal champion now feels he is ready for his return to the main roster.

    The NXT star recently spoke to Ryan Satin of Fox Sports where he opened up about the ups and downs of his run with the company so far.

    Balor admitted that he feels like he wasn\’t doing justice to himself in his last run in the main roster. He explained that returning to NXT has helped him figure out who he was and he is now hopeful for a main roster return:

    “I grew up as a wrestling fan watching WWE, and that’s, essentially, where I want to be performing, I feel like in my last run there, I wasn’t doing myself justice. I needed to change something, and the change came with NXT to kinda figure out who I was again.

    I’ve managed to do that to some level,\” claimed Finn Balor, \”And I’m definitely hopeful that a return to RAW or SmackDown will happen in the future.”

    The former NJPW star was called up to main roster back in July 2016. While his run started with a big universal title win, an injury forced him to relinquish the title. Many believe that he got lost in the shuffle after that.

    Finn Balor returned to NXT in October 2019 and turned heel. He has rebuilt himself since then and has had another successful run with the NXT championship.

  • Alexander Wolfe On Who Made The Call For Sanity\’s Break Up

    Sanity had a lackluster main roster run and the team was split up not long after their debut on SmackDown. Its members were then sent to different places such as Alexander Wolfe who returned to NXT UK in 2019.

    The recently released WWE star had an interview with The Angle Podcast where he talked about the group\’s run in the company among other things.

    Wolfe interestingly revealed during the talk that it was Triple H who made the decision to split them up because he didn\’t want its members to just sit around:

    “[Triple H] said, ‘I don’t want you guys to sit around on the main roster and do nothing, I want to use your potential. So, I split you off and you’re going to NXT UK to go back with your old group and start building NXT UK.\”

    Alexander Wolfe later mentioned how Sanity was Triple H\’s creation. The former WWE star admitted that it was a bitter pill to swallow when the main roster creative dropped the ball with them.

    During the interview, Wolfe also revealed that there were plans for him to leave Imperium and bring Sanity back together at one point in 2020 but Eric Young\’s release and the COVID-19 restrictions foiled those plans.

  • The Godfather On Forgetting To Mention His Wife In HOF Induction Speech

    The Godfather was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame back in 2016 but the wrestling veteran made a big mistake during his induction speech when he forgot to mention his wife in it.

    The WWE legend will be the next guest on Stone Cold Steve Austin\’s Broken Skull Sessions and the company recently released a promo clip for the episode.

    The Godfather recalled his induction in the clip released by the company. He talked about the mistake he made and explained how it all happened:

    “So, I get up there and I started having fun, and I’m doing my thing. My grandson was there, and it was his birthday. So there was a part where I wanted the whole audience to say happy birthday to him,

    And then after that I was going to hit my wife, and how she was the creator and everything, and put her over.\” said The Godfather, \”Well, the thing with my grandson went so well that I skipped the part with my wife somehow, and I went on to the finish.\”

    After walking off the stage, the former intercontinental champion asked someone if he had mentioned his wife. He realised the mistake he had made after receiving a negative answer.

    The Godfather went on to apologize to his wife mentioning how it\’s something he can\’t fix. The Broken Skull Sessions episode featuring the WWE legend will be premiering on WWE Network this Sunday.

  • Eric Bischoff Returning To AEW TV This Week

    Former WCW President Eric Bischoff will be returning to AEW TV to host a segment at this Friday\’s episode of their weekly show Dynamite.

    The news of his appearance was revealed by Chris Jericho on Busted Open Radio. The former AEW champion announced that they will be having a celebration for Inner Circle on this week\’s episode of the show.

    Jericho then revealed that Bischoff will be making a return to the AEW programming this week to host the segment, claiming that he has made amends with the former WCW official:

    \”This is exclusive, we haven’t told anybody this, but it’s going to be a returning Eric Bischoff to host and MC the whole segment. First time that Bischoff and I have ever been on the same side!

    Much like when I called Mike Tyson, when we had our change of heart a few months ago, another guy I called was Eric Bischoff.  We have made amends and Eric agreed to come down and MC the celebration of the Inner Circle.”

    This will be the fourth AEW appearance for the former SmackDown general manager. He made his debut for the promotion back in August 2020 when he hosted the debate between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy.

    He then made an appearance during the town hall meeting between Y2J and MJF in October. Bischoff was last seen on March 3 Dynamite where he was a part of the press conference between the Inner Circle and The Young Bucks.

  • Stephanie McMahon On The Positive And Negatives Of Their Deal With Peacock

    WWE Network\’s move to Peacock in a deal that\’s reportedly worth more than a billion has a lot of positives but some negatives for the company as well and Stephanie McMahon recently discussed both.

    As part of the Leaders Week, the company\’s chief brand officer appeared as a speaker at the Leaders business event, where she opened up about the massive transition of their content library.

    Stephanie discussed both the up and downsides of the deal. She explained that it allows the company to focus on what they do best, though it means they are getting less data to analyze:

    “From a benefit perspective, it really allows us to focus on what we do best, which really is the content production and the story telling, It’s consistent that we’re still getting our data.

    Not as much data so maybe that’s a little bit of a downside there, but when you think about the economics scale and reach and of course,\” said Stephanie McMahon, \”the added value for our fans,\”

    The WWE executive continued by mentioning how the people who want to continue with the $9.99 deal for WWE Network can do so or they can choose from the many other plans.

    Per Stephanie McMahon, the deal between the two companies adds value for the fans. It allows the company to extend its reach to bring more people into the fold.

  • Former WWE Broadcaster On How New Commentators Are Trained

    WWE\’s development system for a new wrestler is always a topic of discussion and they also have an interesting set-up to train new broadcast personalities, according to Rich Bocchini.

    The former NXT and SmackDown commentator recently had an interview with WrestlingInc where he revealed how the company trains new broadcasters.

    Bocchini explained that there is no coach or trainer in the promotion for this kind of job. The company instead relies on a voiceover room where you can practice your skills by calling old matches:

    “It was interesting. There is a voiceover room where I spent hours, honestly, calling the same matches over and over and over and over and over and over again, Me, Corey Graves, a lot of times, Matt Bloom and Byron [Saxton] would come in. We’d have the talent come in and call a couple matches just to kind of get a feel for it.

    Something as simple as ‘oh, wow, I can slow down because now you have to explain something here.’ It gives you a different perspective of it,\” said Bocchini, \”but to say that there’s somebody there coaching you all day, it’s not like that.\”

    • Jimmy Smith To Replace Adnan Virk At WWE RAW Commentary Booth

    The former WWE star also revealed that the setup is configured in a way that the company\’s most senior announcer Michael Cole is able to join the trainees in a video call and work with them.

    Rich Bocchini had a stint with Reality Of Wrestling before joining WWE. He joined Major League Wrestling in 2017 after the end of his run with WWE.

  • Will Ospreay Provides Update On His Neck Injury

    Will Ospreay has had a rough month. It started with an injury that ended up forcing him to relinquish the IWGP heavyweight title. Now it appears that the damage may be more serious than first thought.

    NJPW had not revealed a lot of details about his condition when they announced that the title is being vacated. They only confirmed that the former champion is dealing with a neck injury.

    The high-flying star has now provided an update on his condition himself. Ospreay made a tweet earlier today revealing that the doctors fear that his back may have similar issues as to his neck:

    Though the good news for fans is that the former ROH star seems determined to make a wrestling return before the end of the current year. So it appears that his issues are not career-threatening.

    Will Ospreay had reached the peak of his NJPW journey recently when he formed a new United Empire stable. He then went on to defeat Kota Ibushi at Sakura Genesis to become the new IWGP heavyweight champion.

    Since an exact timeframe for his return is not known at the time, it\’s hard to say if the young star will continue his NJPW run when he returns to the ring. We will keep you posted on his status.

  • Kofi Kingston On Objections Over Randy Orton Being Called The Best Wrestler Of Current Time

    The topic of who is the current best wrestler in the world has sparked a debate among fans and Kofi Kingston recently revealed his thoughts on it.

    The debate was sparked by a comment from Jim Ross who called Randy Orton the best wrestler in the world right now and he picked the viper over the current AEW champion Kenny Omega.

    Kingston discussed the objections of some fans over the remarks during an interview with Daily Star. He said that the whole premise is really subjective and explained that the industry is about connecting with the crowd:

    “The whole premise of ‘who is the best’ [is] really subjective, as far as Randy is concerned, I think he has the ability to do so many things so well. A lot of people think that because he doesn’t do a lot of moves, he’s not good, but that’s simply not true. The industry is not about the moves;

    It is about being able to connect with the crowd and express what you’re thinking without saying things a lot – to make people watch you.\”

    Kofi Kingston On The Longevity Of Randy Orton

    Kofi Kingston then praised Randy saying that every step he takes has a purpose. You can\’t take your eyes off him, and being able to do so is an absolute talent.

    Per the New Day member, this makes you great and not just good. He said that because of his longevity alone, you can\’t have the conversation about the greatest without Randy Orton in it:

    “To be able to last so long… he’s even more compelling now in a lot of different ways. So as a performer, you can’t have the conversation [about the greatest] without having Randy be in there, from the longevity alone. That doesn’t happen by accident.”

    Randy Orton signed with WWE in 2001. He became one of the marquee WWE stars when he joined Evolution in 2002. With 14 world titles and over half a dozen other accomplishments, Orton has never looked back since then.

    What are your thoughts in the debate about Randy Orton\’s place in the conversation about the greatest and Kofi Kingston\’s comments about it? Let us know your views in the comment section below.

  • Chelsea Green Reveals She Has Been Cleared For In-Ring Return

    Former WWE star Chelsea Green has confirmed that she has been cleared for action which means she will be able to return to the ring once her non-compete clause with the company expires.

    The former WWE star revealed the news on Twitter. She took on the Twitter account of her podcast Green With Envy and confirmed that she has officially been cleared to get back in the ring:

    \”Today is a good day! After 3 surgeries on my arm, I am officially cleared to get back in the ring.\” wrote Green, \”Oh, how I’ve missed wrestling!!!”

    Chelsea Green first suffered a broken wrist while competing in NXT back in March 2019. It was the former Impact star\’s first match for the Black and Yellow brand.

    She unfortunately injured the wrist once again during her main roster debut on the SmackDown brand back in November 2020.

    Green never wrestled for the promotion again after this. She was released from the company last month while she was still in rehabilitation but the former champion has now confirmed that she is good to go.

    Her non-compete clause with WWE expires in mid-July. If reports are to be believed then we may see the former Knockout making a return to Impact wrestling once she is free of her contractual obligations.

  • Renee Paquette Confirms She Has Plans For Full Time TV Return

    Renee Paquette has taken a break from the limelight since her departure from WWE last year, but the female star has confirmed that she does plan to return to TV in future.

    In light of her absence from TV in the recent time, a fan asked the former WWE star on Twitter if she has any plans to make a full-time TV return. Replying to the question on the social site, Paquette confirmed that she has plans for a comeback after giving birth:

    The former broadcast personality left WWE after SummerSlam back in August 2020. She had an 8-year long career in the company. It saw her starting as a backstage NXT interviewer and ascending all the way to being the first woman to become a full-time commentator on Raw.

    Renee Paquette had opened up about her departure in later interviews explaining that she had reached her ceiling in the company and achieved everything she could. At the time it was also revealed that Young has a very strong non-compete clause lasting for almost a year.

    Her husband Jon Moxley then revealed in November 2020 that Paquette was pregnant and later updates point to the female star giving birth sometimes within the next couple of months.

    Her non-compete clause should also expire sometime around August and it would be interesting to see if Renee Paquette makes any appearances for WWE\’s rival promotion in AEW after that.

  • Backstage Notes On WWE\’s Return To Road With 25 City Tour

    WWE recently confirmed their return to touring with the announcement about a 25 city tour beginning with the July 16 episode of SmackDown. PWinsider provides some backstage update on the company\’s decision and the site reveals that the talents were not given a heads up to the announcement.

    Though the WWE stars were not completely in dark. They were told that plans for their return to road would be forthcoming and just didn\’t know the exact details. The company kept the plans close to their vest not only to avoid the leaks but because of the possibility of plans changing at any moment due to the pandemic.

    WWE has only confirmed three locations for their tour so far. The expectation is that most of the events, if not all, will take place in markets that have started relaxing COVID-19 protocols. The Southwest and Florida are two of the most likely areas for events and the site notes that Iowa and Pennsylvania have been discussed as potential locations as well.

    There is no update on if the company will be bringing back any of their live event staff or those who were furloughed or let go would return in any capacity. One would think that the officials would keep a conservative approach until they are back to touring in a major capacity.

    WWE will hit the road again after more than a year of being confined in a single space without a live audience beginning with the July 16 episode of SmackDown in Houston. It will be followed by the Money In The Bank PPV on July 18 from Fort Worth and July 19 Raw from Dallas.

  • Rey Mysterio On Daughter Aalyah Possibly Pursuing Career In Wrestling

    Dominik Mysterio recently won his first title in WWE when he won the tag team championship with Rey Mysterio. These events naturally raise the question about Rey\’s daughter Aalyah possibly joining the wrestling business in future as well.

    During a recent interview with Talk Sport, the master of 619 talked about a number of things and also revealed what would be his reaction if his daughter also expresses the desire to join the wrestling business full time.

    Mysterio first discussed Aalyah\’s recent appearances on WWE TV. Rey then claimed that he would back her up if she decides to pursue a career in wrestling:

    \”She hasn’t asked the question, but it’s funny you asked me that because my wife, she asked me a couple of days ago, she goes, ‘What would you say if your daughter came at you and said, Dad, I want to become a wrestler?’ I said, ‘I would be the first one to train her, just like I did with Dom!’ She said ‘No you wouldn’t’.

    I would! I would back her up 100 percent.\” said Rey Mysterio, \”She would still have to continue with her school because she wants to be a part of the medical field so she’s working really hard at that right now.”

    Aalyah Mysterio made several WWE appearances when she was a kid and she also got involved in a recent feud between the Mysterio family and Seth Rollins.

    WWE did a romantic angle between the 20-year-old and Murphy towards the end of 2020 but the company dropped it abruptly. Aalyah has not been seen on TV since.

  • Tyson Kidd On How WWE Took Care Of Him After Career-Ending Injury

    Tyson Kidd\’s wrestling career ended abruptly after he suffered a neck injury. The injury took place in a dark match back in June 2015 before a WWE show.

    However, the company has since helped him in finding new opportunities within the business. While he can\’t wrestle anymore, he now helps put together matches behind the scene as a producer.

    During a recent interview with WrestlingInc, Kidd opened up about how the promotion also helped him after his nasty injuries. According to him; the company took care of everything:

    \”With my injuries, my neck and my knee, the [WWE] took care of absolutely everything. I have had, luckily, the best surgeons in the world work on me, and that is through the WWE.

    Obviously, I wouldn’t have hurt my knee if I wasn’t wrestling that day in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for the WWE. But they didn’t hurt my knee, it was just a thing. But they took care of every single aspect of my knee, and the same with my neck.”

    Tyson Kidd also mentioned that he was under contract with the company the entire time he was rehabilitating. The former tag champion claimed that he can\’t say enough good things about them:

    “With my neck, I was obviously not out of the company, I was under contract the entire time, I was just at home. But I was at home for almost two years.

    They made sure I had a great surgeon, I had to get airlifted out of Texas, and yeah, they covered a lot of things. I can’t say enough good things about the medical in terms of just what I have experienced with them.”

    When asked if he ever sits back and reflects on his career accomplishments, Kidd said that he is not bad at living in the moment and he is not too worried about looking too far ahead.

    Tyson Kidd made his wrestling debut back in 1995 at a young age of 15. He signed with WWE in 2006 and wrestled for the promotion until his injury in June 2015.

  • Dominik Mysterio On Scraped Plans For His Debut With Mask

    A lot of people believe that Dominik Mysterio should continue his family legacy and wrestle with a mask like his father and wrestling legend Rey Mysterio.

    The father son duo recently appeared on the After the Bell podcast where it was revealed that the original plans for the young star\’s debut actually called for him to don the legendary mask.

    Dominik first discussed how his debut match with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam came together very quickly and revealed that he had originally planned to adopt his father\’s signature look during his debut which had to be nixed:

    “When he first told me too that they wanted me to have a match with Seth [Rollins] at SummerSlam, I thought he was kidding, never in a million years would I have thought that I’d debut at one of the biggest pay per views against the biggest names.

    It was kind of just like, we had no idea who Dominik Mysterio was and whether I was going to wear the mask. We had this whole plan set up on how I was going to debut, mask, everything but everything happened so fast we just ran with it.”

    Now that the young star has made his debut without the mask, many wonder if he will ever wear it in his career. Discussing it, Rey Mysterio claimed that it\’s not too late yet but Dom will have to earn it:

    \”It’s still not late to make things happen like we had it planned out. I think Dom is going to have to earn the mask now. He’s on his way, eventually one day, maybe the mask will be on.”

    Dominik Mysterio also revealed that the company had already prepared music and graphics for his entrance before he knew and he was left surprised with it.

    Rey and Dominik Mysterio made history this past Sunday at WrestleMania: Backlash when they defeated Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler and became the first father son duo to hold the tag team titles in WWE.

  • Jim Ross On Picking Randy Orton As The Best Wrestler In The World Over Kenny Omega

    Jim Ross had recently called Randy Orton \’the best wrestler in the world\’ right now. However, some fans took exception to his comments, giving the title to Kenny Omega from Ross\’ current promotion.

    The former WWE commentator talked about the objection of fans on the latest episode of his Grilling JR podcast and explained his remarks.

    Ross first reiterated his comments saying that he doesn\’t think anybody is better than Orton in the business currently. He mentioned how the viper does not disappoint despite bad packaging from creative:

    “I don’t think anybody is any better than Randy Orton in the wrestling business. Of course that’s so subjective. I love Randy’s work, although I don’t watch it regularly enough to make a great evaluation,

    In the last several months that I have tuned in to watch some of Randy’s segments, he doesn’t disappoint. No matter how the creative is packaged to him, he doesn’t disappoint.\”

    However, while talking about how many fans pick the current AEW champion over the legend killer for the mantle; Jim Ross said that he is not going to argue that opinion:

    “I’m sure there’s Kenny Omega fans out there that would say Omega is the best wrestler in the world. Some will, and they got the right to their opinion and I’m not going to argue it.\”

    Ross also explained how the pick of the best wrestler is subjective to one\’s opinion and there are a lot of good wrestlers out there in the business currently.

    Who would be your pick for the best wrestler in the world currently? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

  • Kurt Angle On Brock Lesnar\’s \’Money First\’ Attitude

    Kurt Angle has had a storied history with Brock Lesnar. The two stars have challenged each other numerous times in the past and they have had matches in more than one promotion.

    The Olympic Gold Medalist talked about the Beast\’s early days in the wrestling business during the latest episode of his podcast. He discussed things from Brock\’s time in WWE to his controversial NJPW run and more.

    Angle discussed Brock Lesnar winning the IWGP world title in his debut match and keeping the belt for over a year. According to him, Lesnar didn\’t want to lose the title to just anybody so he told NJPW officials to bring him over:

    \”He wouldn’t do it with just anybody, so he told New Japan if you bring Kurt Angle over, I’ll do the job for him. They brought me over, he did the job for me and then he wanted to have a rematch so he can make more money.\”

    Kurt Angle then talked about how Brock Lesnar is a very stern businessman and according to the former Raw general manager, for Brock it\’s \’money first\’ and passion second:

    “Brock is all about money. He’s a very stern businessman. Everything revolved around money for him. It’s money first, passion second.”

    The former TNA star also mentioned how the former universal champion was making a ton of money for his NJPW matches and he was remaining the champion as long as he could.

    Brock Lesnar won the IWGP heavyweight championship in his debut match for the promotion in October 2005. Despite his disputes with NJPW, Lesnar kept the title for a while and he dropped it to Angle in June 2007.

  • Paul Heyman Teases Next Roman Reigns Challenger On Talking Smack

    \’King\’ Shinsuke Nakamura has gained some momentum on SmackDown in the past couple of weeks and now Paul Heyman is teasing a very interesting destination for his current journey.

    The former champion appeared on the latest episode of Talking Smack where he discussed his new attitude and where he wants to take his newfound fame.

    The Universal champion Roman Reigns, who recently defeated Cesaro now seems to be lacking in challengers for his title and so during the interview, Heyman presented an interesting proposition:

    “Nakamura, does it [excite you] just to think that one day, we may actually do King Nakamura against ‘The Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns,”

    The king seemed intrigued by this offer as well. When Shinsuke Nakamura asked Paul to give his word about this bout, he said “[I] promise, my king. Your kingdom is in good hands, sir. I shall send your regards to our Tribal Chief.”

    Shinsuke Nakamura was defeated by King Corbin in a match during the May 17 episode of SmackDown. However, Nakamura then attacked Corbin from behind and stole his crown.

    On this week\’s episode of the show, Nakamura introduced a new ally in Rik Bugez, aka Eric Bugenhagen who performed his entrance. Shinsuke then went on to defeat Corbin in a rematch from last week.

    Roman Reigns, on the other hand, defeated Cesaro at WrestleMania: Backlash. Now it would be interesting to see if the Paul Heyman teases come to fruition and we see a feud between these two stars in near future.

  • Rey Fenix To Miss Double Or Nothing Due To Injury

    Rey Fenix hasn\’t wrestled on AEW programming in recent while and new reports reveal that the high flying star has been on the shelf due to some injuries.

    Dave Meltzer talked about the Mexican star in the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Newsletter and revealed that he is out of action with injuries.

    Meltzer also mentioned that the injuries will force Fenix to miss the Double Or Nothing PPV on May 30. Though he did not elaborate further on his condition.

    The belief is that the AEW star suffered the damage during a recent match in Mexico, although which match it could have been is also unknown.

    Rey Fenix alongside Penta El Zero Miedo are the current AAA tag team champions but the brothers have not defended the titles in recent months.

    He has not wrestled for All Elite Wrestling this month either. Fenix\’s last match for the promotion was a singles bout against Chuck Taylor on the April 29 episode of AEW Dark: Elevation.

    While the former Lucha Underground star will be missing the upcoming PPV of the company, both of his Death Triangle teammates will be competing on the show in different matches.

    Penta is currently scheduled to wrestle in the Casino Battle Royale while Pac, alongside Orange Cassidy and the AEW champion Kenny Omega will be competing in a triple threat match for the title.

  • Moose Has Signed New Contract With Impact Wrestling

    After many rumors and teases from the heavyweight star himself, Moose has finally signed a new contract with Impact Wrestling to stay with the company for the foreseeable future.

    The former Impact grand champion was set to become a free agent when his previous contract with the company expired next month.

    The Impact star had been teasing fans about his future moves recently and Moose went as far as suggesting that he might be signing with NXT once his current contract expires.

    However, Dave Meltzer of F4wonline is now reporting that the former football player has made the decision to stay with his current promotion and already inked a new deal to make it official.

    Though the site was not able to reveal the length of his new contract. So it\’s unknown for how long we can expect Moose\’s current run to continue

    The former ROH star has been with Impact Wrestling for 5 years now. He has achieved numerous accolades during his time with the promotion including two reigns with the now defunct Impact Grand championship.

    Though he has failed to win the Impact world title so far. He will get an opportunity at the title when he faces \’The Belt Collector\’ Kenny Omega at the upcoming Against All Odds event taking place on June 12.

    In light of his newly signed contract with the company, it would be interesting to see if Moose if finally able to capture the title at the upcoming show.

  • Backstage News On Last Minute WrestleMania: Backlash Changes

    It’s not uncommon nowadays for WWE to have not decided on the match order and finalized scripts hours before Raw and SmackDown. Now latest reports reveal that it was the case with WrestleMania: Backlash as well.

    According to the reports from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original idea for the main event of the night was different. The company had not made a final call on it until 5:30 PM on the day of the show.

    Per the report, the original Backlash plan was for the triple threat WWE championship match among Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, and Drew McIntyre to close the show.

    However, a push was made on the day of the PPV to have Roman Reigns\’ match close the event. The idea was that he was the only franchise player on the roster.

    The belief was that he should either go first or last. Since the triple threat match for the Raw women\’s championship opened Backlash, the decision was made to let the universal championship match close the show.

    The call was helped by the feeling that since Reigns and Cesaro were going to put on a long match, it might have left the audience exhausted for the WWE title match that would have followed.

  • John Cena\’s WWE Return Reportedly In Works

    John Cena might be returning to WWE in near future.

    After more than a year without fans and being restricted to one location, WWE recently announced their return to touring with a big 25 city tour in July.

    In an update to the touring plans, F4wonline is reporting that the company is discussing John Cena\’s return for their first show back on the road on July 16.

    The Cenation leader has been away from WWE programming since his Firefly Fun House match with Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 36 last April.

    Though John Cena had expressed interest in a comeback during a recent interview saying that he \’really, really\’ wants to get back to WWE and he wants the audience to return as well.

    The company\’s 25 city tour will begin with the July 16 episode of SmackDown in Houston. It\’s expected to be followed by the Money In The Bank PPV from Fort Worth on July 18 and Raw from Dallas on July 19.

    There is no word yet on if Cena\’s return is going to be a one off thing or if he is gonna make more than one appearances but the possibility of him wrestling for the promotion is thin.

    Stay tuned for more updates on the story.

  • Alexander Wolfe On What He Was Told About His WWE Release

    Former Sanity member Alexander Wolfe was one of the reported names in the list of NXT talents which were released from their contracts earlier this week, alongside half a dozen other talents.

    The now-former WWE star had his first interview after the news broke out recently. He spoke to German publication Sport1 and opened up about his release.

    Wolfe first detailed his situation with WWE and explained that it\’s more of an end of his run with the promotion than an abrupt firing like some others:

    “Well, I got a call from WWE on Wednesday and was told that my contract was not extended, it wasn’t officially a dismissal because my contract expires on June 15th. From then on I am no longer a wrestler for World Wrestling Entertainment.”

    Alexander Wolfe then revealed the reason he was given for his release, confirming the previous reports that talents were told it was for budgetary reasons:

    “The reason I was given was the pandemic time that savings are still necessary due to the global event restrictions,

    Well, that’s better than no reason at all, but ultimately you know WWE makes so much money that no firing is really mandatory. But it is what it is.\”

    Alexander Wolfe was also asked what was next for him after the end of his time with WWE. He said that he hasn\’t decided if he wants to sign with a different promotion or have a run in the independent circuit.

    The former Sanity member discussed how you can never be completely carefree in the wrestling business and explained that he has prepared for a career outside of the industry just in case as well.

  • The Gunn Club On Advice They Got About Going To WWE

    Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn of The Gunn Club have been impressing people with their performance in AEW. However, due to their heritage, a lot of people wonder why the duo did not start their career in WWE instead.

    The two AEW stars recently appeared on Talk Is Jericho podcast where they talked about a number of things and explained why they did not try to get a job with WWE before joining AEW.

    Talking about their decision to not join the WWE PC, Austin Gunn revealed the advice they got from their father and WWE Hall Of Famer Billy Gunn about it:

    \”This came up, and I was like, ‘What do you think about the Performance Center?’ He goes, ‘I don’t want you to lose your love for wrestling that you have right now by going there and then them having you turn into that Performance Center, follow directions. you need to be this

    Instead of me being just free spoken and just express myself naturally.’ So it was a discussion that we had, but we tried everything to not go there.\”

    Colten expanded on his brothers\’ comments recalling how their father\’s advice to them was to find themselves and develop a character first:

    “I think the discussion was, if I remember it correctly, more of like, you can go there, but you need to go do your own thing for two to three years,\” recalled The Gunn Club member, \”And find out who you are and try to develop a character yourself or feel out the landscape

    Before you just go straight to the Performance Center and they tell you what to be, as opposed to you know kind of what you are when you go in there and you have a little more confidence.\”

    Chris Jericho then recalled similar advice he gave to Davey Boy Smith Jr. in past. Jericho told him that WWE would still be there in a few years but he would gain a lot of life experience competing for different promotions.

    Apart from this, The Gunn Club also talked about Billy Gunn\’s Hall Of Fame induction alongside DX, the freedom they get in AEW and more.

  • Watch Aleister Black Make His Return To WWE TV

    Aleister Black has finally returned to WWE TV.

    This week\’s episode of SmackDown featured another vignette of the former NXT champion which saw him reading from his “Tales From The Dark Father” book. The main event of the show then saw Apollo Crews defending his Intercontinental Championship in a fatal four-way match, before Black made his return.

    Crews was defending the title against Big E, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. At a time it felt like E would take out the current champion to win the title back. However, the lights went low in the Thunderdome before the new day member could capitalize on his momentum and fog started filling the entrance ramp.

    Black then made his return to WWE programming. He was seen wearing a hooded robe. He removed the hood before entering the ring and stared down Big E. The distraction allowed Crews to crawl close to E and hold his leg, and Aleister Black then took out the former champion with his signature Black Mass kick.

    The former NXT champion then went back to the ramp. He stared back at the ring as Apollo Crews pinned the former tag champion to retain his title. The show ended with Black standing tall.

    Aleister Black has not been seen on WWE TV since being drafted to SmackDwon in October last year. While they had been teasing his return for a while with promos, a date for his return had not been announced. After tonight\’s events it appears that Big E is going to be his first feud after returning from his hiatus.

  • Two NJPW Stars Announced For AEW Dark: Elevation

    AEW has announced a number of interesting matches for the upcoming episode of AEW Dark: Elevation and it includes the addition of two NJPW stars in Rocky Romero and Ren Narita.

    The company announced that the main event of the upcoming show will see NJPW\’s Rocky Romero going one on one against former NXT star JD Drake.

    Though this wasn\’t all as they also confirmed the debut of NJPW young lion Ren Narita who will be facing Royce Isaacs in his first match for the promotion:

    Rocky Romero is a Cuban American professional wrestler who has had a couple of stints with ROH. He has also competed for a number of well-known promotions in Mexico including CMLL and others.

    He was originally trained by Antonio Inoki at the NJPW Dojo in Los Angeles. He has been a regular for the promotion ever since his return to the company in 2010.

    Ren Narita on the other hand has been training under the company\’s young lion program since 2017. The 23-year-old has received some praise for his work so far.

    Other matches announced for the show include Thunder Rosa vs. Ashley D\’Amboise and OT Marshall vs. Robo. AEW Dark Elevation airs on the company\’s YouTube channel every Monday at 7pm ET.