With Rebellion quickly approaching later this month, the action continues from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia! Don’t miss an all-new TNA iMPACT! this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for Insiders!
Despite playing a convincing villain on WWE TV in recent months, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is still as charitable as ever. Responding to a picture of a fan’s tattoo on social media platform X, Johnson invited the man and his daughter to this weekend’s WWE WrestleMania 40.
After seeing The Rock live last month, the fan had Johnson sign his arm. Before the marker washed away, the fan had the signature made permanent, with Johnson now rewarding his dedication. In addition to covering tickets to the show, transportation, and a hotel, Johnson even offered to cover the cost of food for the pair during their trip.
WrestleMania 40 will be a two-night affair once again, and the lineup for both shows has been announced. The Rock will team with his cousin, Roman Reigns, against Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins on night one. Should Johnson and Reigns win, Sunday’s main event between Reigns and Rhodes will have the Bloodline Rules stipulation. If Rhodes and Rollins win, then The Bloodline will be banned from ringside.
Including the drama involving The Bloodline, WrestleMania 40 is set to feature 13 matches. Rhea Ripley will defend the Women’s World Championship against Becky Lynch, a Six-Pack Ladder Match is scheduled with the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship on the line, and Logan Paul will attempt to hang onto the WWE United States Championship in a Triple Threat with Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. Brothers Jimmy and Jey Uso will face each other in singles action for the first time, and Sami Zayn will attempt to topple GUNTHER to capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship, along with several other matches.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
As the lawsuit against Vince McMahon alleging sex trafficking and abuse continues to move forward, stories of WWE’s backstage culture over the years have continued to emerge. Among the most outspoken about WWE’s culture is former WWE star Ronda Rousey, who has called out McMahon, Bruce Prichard, and several others for their previous behavior.
Rousey saved her most explosive revelation for a Tuesday appearance on “Banfield,” where she claimed WWE star Drew Gulak grabbed the strings of her sweatpants and attempted to pull them as he walked by. The incident, which occurred in front of Bruce Prichard and a WWE writer, who showed no reaction, left Rousey taken aback by Gulak’s actions, and she would later confront him over the incident, leading to Gulak apologizing.
One day after Rousey’s “Banfield” appearance, Gulak responded, taking to X to give his version of events.
“Backstage at a WWE event in 2022, I saw Ronda talking with a group in the hallway,” Gulak tweeted. “I stopped to say hi and shake all their hands, and in an attempt to shake her hand, I accidentally touched her drawstring. Complete accident, and one that I had apologized to her for the mishap.”
Rousey has yet to comment regarding Gulak’s version of events, while WWE has yet to acknowledge either Rousey or Gulak’s statement. Signed by WWE following the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016, Gulak currently works on WWE’s “NXT” brand as the leader of the No Quarter Catch Crew stable. He most recently competed on “NXT” TV two weeks ago, defeating Riley Osborne in a Heritage Cup match.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
“Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert will be inducted into Game Changer Wrestling & Orange Crush magazine’s Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame this Sunday (April 7). The induction ceremony is streaming live for free on YouTube starting at noon Eastern time.
Trent Acid, The Briscoes, indie superfan Kevin “Whack Packer” Hogan, Steve Corino, Sabu, and Mercedes Martinez are also part of the Hall of Fame class. Acid, Jay Briscoe, Hogan, and Gilbert are being inducted posthumously.
The son of Tommy Gilbert, Eddie began his in-ring career as a teenager. He worked as both a wrestler and a booker before passing away at 33 years old in February of 1995.
Gilbert is best known for his time wrestling in Memphis. He also has a connection to Philadelphia through the work he did for ECW.
Gilbert spent time in the NWA, USWA, AWA, ECW, and more. Along with being an in-ring performer, Gilbert was a booker for Global Wrestling Federation and Eastern Championship Wrestling.
The Sheraton hotel in downtown Philly is hosting Sunday’s Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony. The ceremony is held annually during WrestleMania weekend.
The Indie Hall of Fame ceremony takes place on April 7.
Gilbert will be inducted by Missy Hyatt.
With the recent release of her book, “Our Fight: A Memoir,” Ronda Rousey has been discussing the years she spent in WWE, and not always in the most positive manner. Appearing last night on NewsNation’s “Banfield,” Rousey discussed an uncomfortable incident involving WWE star Drew Gulak.
“One time, I was waiting to go talk to Triple H in the writers’ room or something,” Rousey said. “I was standing there with Bruce Prichard and another one of the writers and — God, I forgot his name. … This guy that I was barely an acquaintance with grabs the string of my sweatpants as I’m walking by.”
Rousey later recalled the individual as Gulak, who currently appears on “WWE NXT” as a member of the No Quarter Catch Crew. The former WWE star remembers Gulak holding onto the string of her sweatpants and walking in another direction while other WWE officials stood nearby and had no strong reaction.
“I’m just like, ‘What the f*** was that?'” Rousey continued. “Why are you grabbing the string of my sweatpants? If my husband was standing here next to me, would you feel comfortable walking up to me and grabbing the string of my sweatpants? And nobody around me acted like … it was abnormal.”
Being shocked that something like that would happen to her, a high-profile star, in plain view of other people, Rousey remembered wondering what kind of things were happening to other women in the company behind closed doors. To Rousey, it seemed as though the issue was so prevalent in WWE that it was seen as an everyday part of the company’s culture. Rather than letting things go, Rousey said that she went to speak to Gulak about what had happened.
“I went and confronted him later and I was like, ‘If I ever hear about you putting your hands on any other woman like this or doing anything like this to me ever again, … we’re gonna have a problem,'” Rousey said. “He was like, ‘No, no, no. I’m glad you said something.’ He really backpedaled … but it just put a really sour taste in my mouth about the culture there and what’s considered acceptable.”
Rousey signed with WWE in 2017 after wrapping up her MMA career and made her debut in 2018. She wrestled 142 matches in WWE before departing the company in 2023, stating that she was going to retire. Rousey later performed at several independent shows and on an episode of Ring of Honor but has otherwise stayed away from wrestling.
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to NewsNation’s “Banfield,”
AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the DCU Center in Worcester, MA.
Pwinsider has shared an update on former TNA tag team champions the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin).
While Shelley and Sabin are now free agents, they will still be appearing on TNA Impact through the upcoming episode on Thursday, April 18 after working the latest set of tapings.
Their final match is reportedly against Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers.
Additionally, there is more of a realization backstage in TNA that the Motor City Machine Guns have permanently left.
Previously, there was some hope that they might return to work additional dates, but the current belief in TNA is that Shelley and Sabin will sign with AEW.
Source: eWn
The beginning of 2024 seemed like a clean slate for former WWE Champion Jeff Hardy in AEW. After a stop/start career up until the end of 2023, matches with the likes of Darby Allin, Swerve Strickland, and Jon Moxley might not have gotten “The Charismatic Enigma” out of the loss column, but he seemed to be hitting on something of a career resurgence. Then he faced Sammy Guevara on an episode of “AEW Rampage,” which resulted in Hardy sustaining a broken nose, keeping him out of action for a number of weeks.
Speaking with WrestleZone, Jeff’s brother Matt Hardy was asked about Jeff’s health, and when AEW fans could expect to see him back in the ring, to which Matt said that he’s not far from a return. “His vision issues are good,” Hardy said. “He had to have surgery on his nose, he had some issues with his sinuses so he had surgery. I got three or four more weeks before he will be cleared to return.” Guevara was suspended from AEW following the match, as he did not follow concussion protocol, with doctors wanting him to go to the finish of his match with Hardy to check if Hardy had a serious head injury. Instead, Guevara hit his GTH finishing move (a knee to the head), resulting in his suspension.
Jeff joined his brother in AEW in March 2022 after walking out of a WWE house show in late 2021, but after a promising start that included a victory over The Young Bucks at Double or Nothing 2022, Jeff was suspended from AEW indefinitely following his DUI arrest in June 2022. He returned in March 2023, and will be hoping to keep his run of momentum going when he returns from injury in the near future.
Sources: Wrestling Inc. and WrestleZone
WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Last RAW before WrestleMania 40.
Tonight’s first hour of WWE Raw will air commercial free.
During his appearance on Isiah Kassidy’s vlog, Ortiz disclosed that he is currently dealing with a torn pec.
At the time of filming, he mentioned that he is scheduled to undergo surgery in two weeks and anticipates being sidelined for four months.
Ortiz last wrestled on the January 20th episode of AEW Collision.
Source: eWn
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