Author: John Bass

Backstage Notes On Plans For Impact Wrestling Tapings

After running the last set of Impact Wrestling tapings in Canada, the next set of tapings will take place from Universal Studios in Orlando, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The tapings are currently scheduled for January 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th. This will tape Impact Wrestling through March 2018. There are plans for the March tapings to take place somewhere in Canada but not in Ottawa as it was hard to draw a crowd there. The Observer notes that it’s believed Impact will hold more tapings in Canada because they are less expensive to hold there and the company is trying to do everything they can right now to trim the budget and not lose money.

Source: WrestlingINC

John Cena Reportedly Sued By Ford

According to TMZ Sports, Ford is reportedly suing John Cena for selling his $500,000 2017 Ford GT, which violated a contract with the car company. Cena was picked from thousands of applicants to be able to purchase the vehicle, but also agreed to keep the car for at least two years, before being allowed to sell it. Initially, only 500 of these were made by Ford. In a statement, Ford claimed:

“Mr. Cena has unfairly made a large profit from the unauthorized resale flip of the vehicle, and Ford has suffered additional damages and losses, including, but not limited to, loss of brand value, ambassador activity, and customer goodwill due to the improper sale.”

According to the suit, Cena did tell the company he sold the car – along with other property – for financial reasons. Ford is looking for Cena to return profits from the sale along with other damages. The WWE Superstar is currently promoting the animated movie, Ferdinand, in Dubai after doing promotional work in Australia, earlier this week.

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling Preview 11/30/17

* The Knockouts Title Tournament Begins (Sienna, Rosemary, Madison Rayne, Allie, KC Spinelli, and Laurel Van Ness will compete)

* Ishimori vs. Hakim Zane

* Matt Sydal vs. Tyson Dux

* James Storm vs. Texano

* Johnny Impact vs. Alberto El Patron

Speculation On Lio Rush Departing From WWE NXT

Image result for Lio Rush NXT

There’s been speculation on WWE NXT Superstar Lio Rush being gone from the company but PWInsider reports that he’s still under contract as of this morning. Fans started speculating on his status after he apparently removed all WWE references from his Twitter account some time this week and changed his location from Orlando back to Washington, DC.

Rush has been out of the ring since late October after the tweet he made poking fun at Emma’s WWE release. Rush received Twitter heat from various WWE talents and it was noted that there was immediate talk of firing Rush but his quick apology posted to Twitter saved him. It was also noted that Rush would have to put in serious work before the heat was off him.

Rush has made a few tweets in the past few days that are fueling the speculation on his status. One tweet simply says “REFLECTION” and the other is the hourglass emoji. It should be noted that he often tweets references to time and clocks so the hourglass may not be anything cryptic. You can see some of his recent tweets below:

Source: WrestlingINC

Anthem/Impact Wrestling Executive Releases Statement On Matt Hardy’s “Breakdown”

breakdown matt hardy ed nordholm statement anthen executive

Matt Hardy‘s “breakdown” on Raw this week seemed to indicate that a version of his “Broken Matt” persona is on the way and Impact Wrestling exec Ed Nordholm has released a statement about it.

Nordholm told Sports Illustrated, “We have seen the character development and will be interested to see where they take the concept.”

Ed continued, “Our new talent agreements all incorporate language that allow talent to continue to use their IMPACT persona after they leave the company. We are working with our legal team to amend our existing agreements to extend this to all of our current and former talent.”

Despite the public trademark battle with Matt this year, it seems like they’ve changed their stance.

SI also claims that the recent tease for a Broken Matt-like character isn’t false hope. The publication reports that WWE is creating a character that will not be labeled as Broken, but similar.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

NXT Preview 11/29/17

* Pirate Princess looks to go 2-0 against Iconic Duo

* Will Pete Dunne respond to Tyler Bate & Trent Seven’s tag team challenge?

* Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli aren’t through with The Street Profits yet

Jinder Mahal Visited Children At Kentucky Children’s Hospital

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT)- Patients at Kentucky Children’s Hospital got a special visitor on Tuesday.

With WWE in town preparing for Smackdown Live at Rupp Arena, WWE Superstar Jinder Mahal stopped at Kentucky Children’s Hospital.

Kids were able to ask the superstar questions and snag some pictures with the professional wrestler.

Mahal says his job isn’t just in the ring.

“The most important thing that we do is that we put smiles on children’s faces, we make people happy, we’re here to entertain people, and a lot of these kids are huge fans, and we come here to see them in person and cheer them up and make their day. As simple as it is for us to just come here and taking pictures with kids or saying hello or talking to them, it makes their day.”

Source: http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/WWE-Superstar-makes-stop-at-Kentucky-Childrens-Hospital-460590233.html

Matt Hardy Makes More ‘Broken’ Comments

Matt Hardy continues to tweet about the “Broken” chants he did after last night’s loss to Bray Wyatt on RAW. As noted, Hardy started a “Delete!” chant and appeared to snap while sitting in the corner after his latest loss. He tweeted the following yesterday:

Source: WrestlingINC

Cody Rhodes Reveals Dream Main Event For Self-Financed 10K Seat Event (Audio)

dream main event cody rhodes self financed finance 10k seat show daniel bryan

The 10,000 seat event Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks are planning to self-finance in 2018 has now been confirmed by all parties and the ROH champ has an ideal main event in mind.

Cody appeared on Sirius XM‘s Busted Open today and revealed that his dream opponent for the main event is Daniel Bryan, whose WWE contract will expire next summer.

Rhodes said he can’t reveal too much until the location is locked down, but reiterated that they are “swinging for the damn fences.”

As we previously reported, the trio are in talks with multiple venues to put on a 10K seat event with Chicago, London, San Francisco and Ontario (CA) being the location front-runners.

When host Bully Ray asked why they’re doing this, Cody said it’s because they want to leave the wrestling business better than when they found it.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE 205 Live Preview 11/28/17

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.

* Hideo Itami is coming to WWE 205 Live

* Swann is determined to reclaim the WWE Cruiserweight Championship