Month: April 2019

Report: Luke Harper’s WWE Contract Is Up In November, Expected To Sign With AEW

According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Luke Harper’s contract is expected to be up around the November time frame, but WWE has an option of keeping his deal rolling for another six months beyond that due to verbiage in the contract giving the company the ability to extend his agreement based on the amount of time he was sidelined due to injury.

While it is unlikely WWE will give him his immediate release, the speculation is that he will likely and ultimately end up with All Elite Wrestling by 2020.

We reported earlier this week that Harper had asked WWE for his release.

Source: EWrestling.com

AEW Announces First “Fight For The Fallen” Matches

All Elite Wrestling has announced the first two matches for their “Fight for the Fallen” event – Kenny Omega vs. Cima and Brandi Rhodes vs. Allie.

Fight for the Fallen will take place on Saturday, June 13 from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. A portion of proceeds from the event will be donated to victims of gun violence. This will be the third event from AEW.

Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Chris Jericho, PAC and Adam Page are also advertised to be in action at Fight for the Fallen.

The pre-sale for Fight for the Fallen tickets began today at 9am through the link below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Desi Hit Squad Member, Gursinder Singh Asked For Release From Impact Wrestling, KM Clarifies Status With Impact

One half of the Desi Hit Squad, Gursinder Singh, announced in a statement he has asked Impact Wrestling for his release. On Twitter, Singh wrote:

“I can finally announce that I requested my release from Impact Wrestling. A lot of people may not have chose to do this if they were in my position because I’m in a comfortable spot, but I have a mindset of never settling and always focusing on working towards my future.

“I would like to thank Scott D’Amore for believe in me and for noticing me at the Impact tryout I did just before I signed in 2017. Also like to thank Ed Nordholm, Don Callis, Gama Singh, Sonjay Dutt, Abyss, Tommy Dreamer and everyone else that helped me during my time there.

“It’s time to work harder than I ever have before and to continue to evolve as I reach towards the next step. Keep an eye out because nothing is going to stand in my way until I get to where I belong.”

In other Impact Wrestling news, KM clarified his status with the promotion after he was moved to the “Alumni” part of the promotion’s website. KM noted his knees are banged up and is looking to focus more on his health.

“My body is so beat up and my knees are completely shot. It wasn’t fun for me anymore. I enjoy what we have WrestlePro. I’m more than good with that at this stage in my life. We’ll see what the future holds.”

KM then shot down rumors of him not being re-signed by Impact, saying it was his decision and his performances were “pay per appearance.”

“Untrue. Impact had me booked of their last set of tapings in Canada. I pulled off. My body is shot. There’s nothing left in my left knee. It’s done. Each taping it’s worse. We worked together last weekend. The contract were pay per appearance, it wasn’t exclusive. It didn’t matter.”

https://twitter.com/Superstar_KM/status/1117303277698408450

https://twitter.com/Superstar_KM/status/1117320308606763008

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Sheamus Reportedly Out With A Concussion, Update On Daniel Bryan’s Status After WrestleMania Loss

Sheamus is currently dealing with a concussion, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It’s believed to have happened during The New Day vs. Sheamus, Cesaro, and Drew McIntyre on the post-WrestleMania 35 SmackDown Live last week. He also wrestled on RAW the night before, teaming with Cesaro for a loss to Kofi and WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins.

If that’s the case, both he and Big E were injured during the same match. For Big E, he suffered a torn meniscus that required surgery.

Sheamus did not appear on either of this week’s Superstar Shake-Up editions of RAW and SmackDown. The concussion would explain his absence from the SmackDown main event where Cesaro teamed up with Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura in a losing effort against Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Kevin Owens.

Sheamus did tweet the following earlier today, his weekly fitness check in for the campaign he’s currently doing:

https://twitter.com/WWESheamus/status/1118529099977371649

 

There’s no official update on Daniel Bryan’s status but word is that he is dealing with an injury coming out of the WrestleMania 35 loss to WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and the nature of his situation is being closely guarded, according to PWInsider. Bryan was not at RAW or SmackDown this week, and reportedly returned home last week after WrestleMania. He was not at SmackDown in Brooklyn last week and it was reported that he was to be examined by doctors, but there’s no news on what they found.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Shane Strickland And Garza Jr. Have Officially Signed With WWE, KUSHIDA At Performance Center

WWE has officially confirmed the signings of Shane Strickland and Garza Jr.

The company made the announcement via social media and on their website.

Strickland — who performed for Lucha Underground under the name Killshot and for MLW — announced last month that his time on the independent wrestling scene was coming to an end. His final indie match went down at WrestleCon’s Pancakes and Piledrivers event on April 6.

Strickland and Garza will report for duty at the Performance Center in Orlando.

KUSHIDA, whose signing was already announced, has also begun training at the WWE PC.

Check out NXT’s announcement below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

John Cena Reportedly In Talks To Join James Gunn’s “Suicide Squad” Sequel

Sources tell Variety that Cena is in talks to join Idris Elba and Margot Robbie in Warner Bros.’ follow-up to 2016’s “Suicide Squad.”

Robbie is returning as Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney is back as Captain Boomerang. Variety first reported that the studio decided to have Elba play a brand-new character instead of taking on Deadshot, a character portrayed by Will Smith in the first film. It’s currently unknown who Cena and Elba will be playing.

Warner Bros. had no comment.

James Gunn will write and direct the movie, which is expected to go into production this fall. The tentpole hits theaters on Aug. 6, 2021.

The original “Suicide Squad” — starring Smith, Robbie and Jared Leto — became a massive box office sensation when it hit theaters in 2016, grossing $746.8 million worldwide.

The film will mark Cena’s first comic-book role. Cena made his foray into acting after years as one of the top WWE stars. Cena’s most recent big-screen roles include Universal’s “Blockers,” alongside Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz. He followed that up with the “Transformers” spinoff “Bumblebee” with Hailee Steinfeld.

Cena was recently tapped by fellow WWE alum Dwayne Johnson to star in “The Janson Directive” and is also on board to topline the Paramount Players comedy “Playing With Fire.”

Cena will also voice a character in Universal’s fantasy-adventure “The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle,” co-starring Robert Downey Jr. and Selena Gomez.

Source: Variety

Wrestling News Blog Podcast Episode 7 – WWE Superstar Shake-Up, Impact Wrestling/UCW: Critical Transformation & More

Wrestling News Blog Podcast Episode 7

Wrestling News Blog Podcast is available on all major podcast apps such as Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts and Stitcher.

Segment One – Wrestling News

Segment Two – WWE Superstar Shake-Up

Segment Three – Wrestling News Blog lead editor John Bass joins the show to share his thoughts on Impact Wrestling/UCW: Critical Transformation event in Owensboro, KY this past Saturday night.

WWE NXT Preview 4/17/19

NXT, streaming tonight at 8pm ET on WWE Network

* All or nothing for Kairi Sane – NXT Women’s Championship: (C) Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane

* NXT North American Championship: (C) The Velveteen Dream vs. Buddy Murphy

* New NXT Champion Johnny Gargano will be in the house

WWE NXT UK Preview 4/17/19

NXT UK, streaming today at 3 ET/8 GMT on WWE Network

*  Kenny Williams and Amir Jordan vs. NXT UK Tag Tag Team Champions Zack Gibson and James Drake.

* Rhea Ripley vs. Kacy Catanzaro

* Gallus’ Joe & Mark Coffey set out to reclaim their kingdom

* “Bomber” Dave Mastiff makes his return

More On Why Sasha Banks Is Upset With WWE

Sasha Banks has not appeared on WWE television since she reportedly tried to quit WWE over WrestleMania weekend last week.

As we previously reported, Banks was apparently unhappy that she and Bayley would be losing the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles at WrestleMania 35. The team apparently thought that they would have a chance to make the titles mean something, and a storyline had been started where the duo would have a a run of defending the titles on WWE NXT, RAW and SmackDown.

Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Banks was also upset because they were told that the company would be splitting up the team. The plan is for Banks to stay on RAW while Bayley is on SmackDown.

Banks and Bayley ended up losing the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship to the IIConics at WrestleMania. This past Monday on RAW, Bayley teamed with Naomi to defeat The IIConics. Bayley moved to SmackDown on Tuesday as part of the Superstar Shakeup and said that she is now a singles competitor.

WWE has given Banks a few weeks off so that she can decide what she wants to do next. It was noted that she is booked for the Money In The Bank pay-per-view on May 19th at the XL Center in Hartford.

Source: Wrestling Inc.