It was reported earlier today that Becky Lynch was most likely going to pull double duty at WWE Money In The Bank. Tonight on SmackDown Live it was made official, The Man will indeed be doing double duty at MITB. Becky will defend her RAW Women’s Championship against Lacey Evans and defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair, who earned the title shot by defeating Bayley tonight on SmackDown.
Month: April 2019
The Undertaker And Kurt Angle Pulled From Starrcast II
WWE is reportedly “exercising its right to withhold talent from any events deemed not in the company’s best interests” by pulling The Undertaker and Kurt Angle from Starrcast II.
Event organizer Conrad Thompson told Sports Illustrated a deposit was made to Undertaker before announcing his inclusion in the event back in February. Shortly after, however, he was contacted by The Dead Man’s management team who told him WWE said he couldn’t appear at the event.
Taker’s deposit was returned after the two sides spoke.
“I had a friend discuss the situation with Vince McMahon, and I was assured the ‘heat’ wasn’t on me or my event but rather that The Undertaker shouldn’t be doing personal appearances outside of WWE,” Thompson told Sports Illustrated. “I was assured that damages would be covered, a suitable replacement offered, or some sort of compromise to make everyone happy.”
Adding, “I suggested Vince McMahon, Hunter, or Stephanie McMahon … and I said I would donate 100 percent of the proceeds to Conor’s Cure and match the donation personally, which would turn a negative into a positive for everyone involved.”
Unfortunately, Thompson was told he couldn’t book main roster Superstars. He then tried to book Shawn Michaels, but HBK reportedly backed out due to “the close proximity of Starrcast and AEW.”
“I asked to keep Kurt Angle and announce Shawn Michaels as the replacement for The Undertaker,” Conrad explained. “I offered to book everyone ‘through the office.’ I wanted to play by the rules but I felt like I already had, since each of these guys were actively marketing themselves for outside appearances via booking agents or their own social media. I have checked in daily for a week now and nothing is changing.”
According to SI, Kurt Angle and Undertaker both signed new WWE deals after taking the booking which allowed their employers to keep them from appearing at Starrcast II.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
WWE SmackDown Live Preview 4/23/19
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska with Superstar Shakeup fallout.
* Will Roman Reigns be fired?
* WWE Champion Kofi Kingston to battle Shinsuke Nakamura
* Becky Lynch to come face-to-face with Charlotte Flair for the first-time since WrestleMania
WWE 205 Live Preview 4/23/19
Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Step into Gulak’s classroom
Two weeks ago, a match between Gentleman Jack Gallagher and Humberto Carrillo ended with an irate Drew Gulak attacking Carrillo for using high-flying maneuvers, but Gallagher came to the defense of the Mexican Superstar by leveling his longtime ally with a resounding headbutt. Gulak was sent careening out of the ring and was left reeling following Gallagher’s strike – which The Philadelphia Stretcher called “treason” – but Gulak is still determined to continue teaching Carrillo a lesson.
Tonight, Gulak will aim to show Carrillo the path to a better WWE 205 Live, as the two Superstars will clash. But which side is Gallagher on?
Don’t miss the most exciting hour of television at 10/9 C, streaming live on the award-winning WWE Network!
Sasha Banks Reportedly Wants To Sit Out The Rest Of Her WWE Contract
Sasha Banks is reportedly at a stalemate with WWE, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.
Regarding the situation between the two sides, we’ve noted how Banks reportedly tried to quit the company during WrestleMania 35 weekend as she was unhappy about her team with Bayley being split up, and the decision to put the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles on The IIconics. Banks and Bayley believed they would be given a lengthy run with the titles to make them mean something.
Word from within WWE is that Banks wants to sit out the rest of her contract, according to Meltzer.
There’s no word yet on when Banks would be eligible to leave the company but Meltzer noted that WWE could add time to the contract for the time she spends not working, similar to the situation with Neville. She could be out of action for a significant amount of time if WWE adds time to the contract.
It was noted that WWE does want Banks back in the mix, but she wants things to be different. Those differences are unclear and not agreed on because the two sides have not made up yet.
Banks has been scheduled for the May 19 WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view, but her status for the show is up in the air right now.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Becky Lynch Pulling Double Duty At WWE Money In The Bank?
The current plan is for RAW and SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch to pull double duty at the May 19 WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view from Hartford, CT.
As noted, Lacey Evans vs. Lynch for the RAW Women’s Title was confirmed for Money In the Bank on last night’s RAW. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the plan as of Monday was for Lynch to defend both titles in two different matches at the pay-per-view.
There’s no word yet on who Lynch’s second opponent will be, for the SmackDown Women’s Title, but it could be Charlotte Flair. A face-off segment between Flair and Lynch is scheduled to take place on tonight’s SmackDown episode.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE Reportedly Drops Ban On The Word “Belt”
WWE has reportedly dropped the ban on the word “belt”, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. It’s not known if the ban was lifted due to Becky Lynch referring to herself as “Becky 2 Belts”, but WWE is now using the term in advertising for products involving championship belts.
“Belt” is one of many terms that has been banned from the company. A leaked document from 2008 revealed that there were nearly two dozen banned terms, including belt, strap, title changing hands, the title is on the line, backstage, feud, fans, pro wrestling, pro wrestler and war.
During an episode of Talk Is Jericho earlier this year, Chris Jericho discussed Vince McMahon banning certain terms.
“‘Hey Vince, I don’t know if I should lose the belt.’ [Imitating McMahon] ‘The what?’ ‘Sorry, the title,'” Jericho said. “You couldn’t say ‘belt’ because a belt is what you use to hold up your pants.
“You couldn’t say ‘fans’ because it’s the ‘WWE Universe’,” Jericho added. “And never say ‘marks’ because [imitating McMahon] ‘they’re not marks – they’re our fans!'”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Kota Ibushi Says He’s Staying With NJPW “Until The Day I Die” With New Contract
Back in February, Kota Ibushi announced he had signed a new deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling, keeping him with the promotion until 2021. The current IWGP Intercontinental Champion had previously worked more as a freelance wrestler in recent years until that deal.
In a press conference, Ibushi announced he had a new contract with NJPW and would stay “until the day I die.” Obviously, the two sides decided it would be best to keep him for a longer period of time than originally announced.
“To me, this is the last place I’ll be,” Ibushi said. “Until the day I die. Until the end. That’s my contract period. ”
Aside from his current title reign, Ibushi is also a three-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, one-time NEVER Openweight Champion, and one-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion.
In a February interview with ShuPro, Ibushi commented on why he decided to chose NJPW over AEW.
“The second I went, that would be the end of my wrestling career, I thought,” Ibushi began. “What I realized [talking to AEW] was I really don’t care about money. … AEW said they just want me in their ring in some form. The ideal for them was for me to move to America and be there full-time. I turned them down just after Wrestle Kingdom. … If I went it would be the end of my career. There wouldn’t be anywhere else to go after that. No step up, nothing left to do. That would be the last step to make, and after that things would just go down. Great money, but I want to keep developing.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Jeff Hardy Reportedly Injured At Weekend WWE Live Event
WWE Tag Team Champion Jeff Hardy suffered an injury at Saturday’s night’s SmackDown live event in Madison, Wisconsin, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. The Hardyz had teamed up at that event to defeat The Usos.
Meltzer reported that Hardy appeared to have suffered some sort of leg injury. At Sunday’s SmackDown live event in Rochester, Minnesota, Jeff was in Matt’s corner and was said to be “limping significantly.” At the show, Matt defeated Jimmy Uso.
At Monday’s live event in Sioux City, Iowa, Matt Hardy teamed with R-Truth to defeat Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
The Hardy Boyz had just defeated The Usos to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on the April 9th edition of SmackDown Live. They are the first team to win the WWE World Tag Team Championship, the RAW Tag Team Championship and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
No other details are known about Jeff’s injury.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Possible Reason Why CM Punk Did Run In At Indie Wrestling Event
MKE founder Silas Young appeared on Busted Open Radio today. During the interview, Young discussed MKE’s event last Friday at the Knights of Columbus in West Allis, Wisconsin, which featured a masked man doing a run in to help Ace Steele defeat Daryck St Holmes.
Wrestling Inc. confirmed that it was in fact CM Punk who did the run in at the show. Punk and Dave Prazak, who was involved with the show, were both trained by Steele and Prazak managed Punk early in his career.
Young discussed Punk’s appearance during the interview. While he wouldn’t 100% state that it was Punk, he discussed why Punk might have made the appearance. He noted that Punk wrestled in the building, which is being torn down early next month, during the start of his career.
“That’s the building where [Punk] kinda got his start at,” Young said. “Shortly before that match happened, my wife came up to me because she was one of the managers in the match. She was like, ‘I heard Punk’s going to do a run in.
“It made sense with the match being with Ace Steele and having Dave Prazak involved, those guys are longtime friends and they broke in the business [together]. Punk had maybe his first match in that building. That building has had wrestling for years, a lot of guys got their start there. Unfortunately it’s going to be torn down early next month so we were the last event there. I think it’s just one of those things where he wanted to pay a little respect or a little homage to it.”
As we exclusively reported on Sunday, Punk was never backstage at the show. He had waited in his car outside of the venue before doing the run in and then left immediately afterwards.
“[Punk] was never at the building beforehand, he wasn’t at the building after,” Young said. “He came, did the run-in in a mask and then left in a mask. I can’t even 100% say it was CM Punk, but from what I was told [it was], and I don’t know why anyone would lie to me.
“That’s what I was told and I’d like to believe it, if for nothing more than the publicity it got MKE Wrestling.”
You can listen to the interview with Young below.
https://twitter.com/BustedOpenRadio/status/1120383395543101442
Sources: Wrestling Inc. and Busted Open Radio
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