Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri with the final hype for WWE Crown Jewel.
Slamforce Africa took place earlier today at the University of Pretoria in Pretoria, South Africa where former WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn (aka Celeste Bonin) became the first Slamforce Africa Women’s Champion. This was the promotion’s first event, which streamed on FITE.
Kaitlyn faced off against newly signed Impact Knockout Katie Forbes and South African wrestler Black Widow.
Kaitlyn retired from wrestling in 2014, then returned to the indies in 2017.
After being away from WWE for over four years, she returned at the 2018 Mae Young Classic where she defeated Kavita Devi in the first round, then lost to Mia Yim in the second round.
On Twitter, she wrote, “First ever #SlamForceAfrica Women’s champion. What a night.”
https://twitter.com/TheKatieForbes/status/1188400913163149312
https://twitter.com/wf66/status/1188458900363726848
https://twitter.com/CelesteBonin/status/1188510857640267781
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WWE star Matt Hardy is not broken at the moment, but in episode 1 of “Free the Delete” he teases the return of his popular persona.
The video begins with Señor Benjamin digging a grave and burying Matt in his Hardy Boyz gear. The wrestler then crawls out of the grave moments later as Broken Matt.
While getting out of the grave, Matt says via voiceover that he’s unburiable.
The whole thing ends up being a dream, however, and Matt is woken up by his two children. “Sorry guys, I was having a problem getting woken, I mean having a hard time waking up,” he says to Maxel and Wolfgang.
The video ends with Neric of the Seven Deities saying to him: “You have been led astray from your destined path, my child. Find it and seize it. Free the delete.”
Watch the video below.
WWE has released a statement on Jordan Myles saying he’s unhappy about the shirt they designed for him, claiming the wrestler collaborated with them on the design and gave them approval to sell it.
Myles tweeted a photo of the shirt on Sunday saying, “I will keep posting this till my voice is heard. I’m not sorry for anything I say or do. Representation is important. If this is [Vince McMahon] & [Triple H]’s “vision” of me then this is a slap in the face to EVERY African American performer, fan, and supporter.”
The NXT wrestler’s frustration is due to the combination of a black shirt, red lips and white teeth looking similar to racist blackface and “Sambo” imagery used to put down African Americans.
WWE released the following statement on the matter:
“Albert Hardie Jr. (aka Jordan Myles) approved this t-shirt for sale. As always, we work collaboratively with all of our performers to develop logos and merchandise designs and get their input and approval before proceeding. This was the same process with Albert, and we responded swiftly once he later requested that the logo/t-shirt be redesigned. No t-shirts were sold.”
The new shirt currently for sale on WWE’s custom site now resembles the Space Jam logo.
Jordan Myles has responded to WWE’s statement about his controversial t-shirt, claiming he was uncomfortable with it from the beginning but was told Triple H wanted the design.
“When I originally saw the design I was uncomfortable,” Myles tweeted. “Rather than addressing the issue I decided to counter offer with another. Baker Landon lied to my face! He said HHH wanted this design so my hands were tied. I spoke with [Triple H] in person and his impression was I approved.”
The 31-year-old wrestler tweeted a screen shot of an email correspondence on the matter with Landon, who is Creative Services Talent Coordinator at NXT, seen below.
Hey Albert,
Triple H attended a meeting and had a revision for your logo, but loved it for your character. He wanted to the letter to be more “teethy” and what I have attached is what he liked.
Also have basic t-shirts on there that he approved as well. Road Dogg preferred the gray, but let us know what you think!
Thanks, Baker
Myles also shared a video of himself saying, “WWE doesn’t care about black people” while throwing up a middle finger at the camera.
In addition, he wrote the following: “THE WHOLE WWE SYSTEM IS FRAUD! THEY CREATED THIS SYSTEM WHERE YOU CANT TRUST ANYONE, YOU GROW COLD, AND YOU GROW APART FROM WHAT YOU LOVE THE MOST! The fact that [Hulk Hogan] is still employed after giving the locker room an apology for being caught says enough. #ForTheCulture.”
UPDATE: Myles deleted the video, seen below, not long after posting it on Twitter. He also says the initial design showed to him was on a white background, not black.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that Impact Wrestling recently gave pay raises to a portion of the roster.
According to sources, a handful of wrestlers in the middle and lower parts of the card learned they’d be getting raises before today’s TV taping in Windsor. Some were also told before Bound for Glory.
Sources say management wanted to give back to the men and women who’ve sacrificed their bodies to help the company as of late now that they’ll be airing on AXS TV.
While it’s unclear how significant the raises were, one source told us everyone in the locker room seems to be very happy about the bump. Another source tells us one wrestler was almost brought to tears after management delivered the good news backstage.
Some of the wrestlers who reportedly received pay increases include Ethan Page, Josh Alexander, The Rascalz, Ace Austin and Jessicka Havoc.
WWE SmackDown Superstar Xavier Woods reportedly underwent surgery to repair an Achilles tear earlier today, according to PWInsider.
There’s no official word yet on the timetable for Woods’ return, but PWInsider reports that it’s believed he will be out of action for 6 months to 1 year.
As noted, Woods suffered the Achilles injury at last Sunday’s WWE live event in Sydney, Australia. WWE confirmed the injury and pulled him from the rest of the tour, and word from within WWE was that the injury was really bad.
Woods suffered the injury, while teaming with Big E against SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Revival, after being Irish-whipped into the ropes. Fans in attendance noted that Woods came back off the ropes and just collapsed, clutching his ankle. Big E finished the match by himself as Woods was taken to the back.
Stay tuned for updates on Woods’ recovery and WWE status. For those who missed it, below is his tweet from earlier this week:
Source: Wrestling Inc.
It’s the final stop on the road to Saturday Night SuperFight! November 2 LIVE on PPV from the Cicero Stadium in Chicago!
Promociones Dorado goes to war with CONTRA Unit in the main event. Following the savage attack on LA Park’s son last week, the destroyer is out for blood as he along with Promociones Dorado takes on CONTRA Unit in trios action.
The Hart Foundation clash with Dragon Lee and Extreme Tiger in a fast and thunderous tag team encounter.
Plus! A new H2tv featuring the Hart Foundation taking in the sights and sounds of Tijuana.
Do the Von Erich boys have the Dynasty’s number?
Salina de la Renta joins us from Sinaloa, Mexico as the Empresaria craves power, respect and more.
A shocking new addition to a SuperFight match is revealed in the control center.
What’s Low Ki’s reaction to Pillman’s poolside trash talking? The Lone Wolf of Brooklyn breaks his silence.
Join AJ Kirsch and Rich Bocchini bring us to Mexico for a night of Major League Wrestling just days out from MLW’s historic first Pay-Per-View, Saturday Night SuperFight!
Matches:
•Promociones Dorado vs. CONTRA Unit
•Hart Foundation vs. Dragon Lee and Extreme Tiger
•Torito and Toto vs. Terror Azteca and Proximo
Saturday Night SuperFight is now available to pre-order at FITE.tv [Pre-Order]
Available worldwide to stream on FITE for just $19.95 and featuring 4 title fights, dream matches, grudge matches and more, you won’t want to miss MLW’s first Pay-Per-View on November 2
Cut the line! Use this link and pre-order now: https://www.fite.tv/watch/mlw-saturday-night-superfight/2p1vk/
Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown -and WWE 205 Live will air live from the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri with the final blue brand hype for WWE Crown Jewel.
WWE 205 Live will feature appearances by WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush, Raul Mendoza and Angel Garza, but no matches have been announced.
There has been talk of taking the weekly WWE NXT TV show out of Full Sail Live in early 2020. Now it looks like NXT will continue to run Full Sail Live at times, just not every week.
The current talk going around is that NXT will continue to run Full Sail Live in 2020, just not weekly, with the idea of doing the other shows in arenas outside of Florida, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Full Sail is a lot more cost-effective for the show, but the location and the look is believed to be part of the reason for the drop in viewership, especially with head-to-head competition with AEW Dynamite, according to the Observer.
WWE officials have reportedly had discussions with arenas for NXT TV starting in January 2020. The Observer adds that the main reason for doing the weekly USA Network NXT TV show from Full Sail Live was because they rushed to get the show on the air so they could get the jump on AEW, and didn’t have time to book arenas.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
TMZ Sports has released video from Jimmy Uso’s July 25 DUI arrest in Escambia County, Florida.
The footage shows Uso swerving while speeding before police pulled him over in his Cadillac Escalade. Police caught up with Uso and found him going from side to side in his lane, crossing over the double yellow line at one point. The officer clocked Uso going 86 MPH in a 45 MPH zone at one point.
Uso is visibly intoxicated as the officer tried to take him to a nearby parking lot for field sobriety tests. Uso kept asking what was happening and aggressively asked why he couldn’t have his lawyer present. The officer eventually arrested Uso for DUI.
TMZ notes that the police report said Uso reeked so much of alcohol that he had to roll down his cruiser window on the ride to the county jail.
Jimmy has been fighting his misdemeanor DUI charges in court over the past few months and has another hearing scheduled for next week.
As noted back in July, Uso was booked into jail at 3:04am ET that night and bonded out at 10:15am on a $1,000 bond. He was also hit with a speeding charge.
This was Jimmy’s second arrest in 2019 as he was hit with charges after being pulled over with wife Naomi in Detroit back in February. Bodycam footage from that night can been seen at this link.
Below is the video released by TMZ of Jimmy’s July 25 DUI arrest in Escambia County, Florida.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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