Author: John Bass

‘Hot Stuff’ Eddie Gilbert Joins Indie Hall Of Fame Class Of 2024 – Jay Briscoe, Sabu, Steve Corino, Mercedes Martinez, Trent Acid, Kevin Hogan

“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.

https://twitter.com/GCWrestling_/status/1775729895513219426

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.

https://twitter.com/missyhyatt/status/1775803547314970844

Former WWE Star Ronda Rousey Goes Off About Incident With NXT’s Drew Gulak

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 Preview 4/3/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the DCU Center in Worcester, MA.

  • Will Ospreay vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
  • AEW Women’s Title Eliminator: Thunder Rosa vs. Mariah May
  • AEW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinal: Young Bucks vs. Best Friends
  • Billy Gunn vs. Jay White
  • Contract Signing for AEW World Title Match at Dynasty with Samoa Joe and Swerve Strickland
  • Chris Jericho calls out Hook

Motor City Machine Guns To Sign With AEW

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

AEW’s Matt Hardy Offers Health Update For Brother Jeff

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 Preview 4/1/2024

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.

  • The Rock and Roman Reigns to appear
  • Eight-man tag match: DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) and The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) vs. The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh
  • Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri vs. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell
  • Sami Zayn vs. Bronson Reed

AEW’s Ortiz Slated To Undergo Surgery

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

Update On Bo Dallas’ WWE Status

Bo Dallas is making his way back to WWE television. He was brought back to the company and paired with his brother, Bray Wyatt, after Wyatt’s return at the 2022 Extreme Rules PLE, where Dallas took on the role of the Uncle Howdy character. However, both Dallas and Wyatt were taken off television in March due to Wyatt’s health issues. Tragically, Wyatt passed away in August from a heart attack.

Today, Peacock released the documentary “Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal.” Towards the end of the documentary, a video that seems to hint at Dallas’s future. A lantern pans out with a voice urging the audience to “run,” a phrase often used by Wyatt on WWE television. A silhouette of a figure was also shown.

According to Fightful Select, this is a teaser for Dallas’s eventual return to WWE TV. However, the exact timing and plans for his return remain unclear.

A representative from WWE stated that they didn’t want to rush Dallas back following the tragic passing of his brother.

Source: eWn

Ricky Starks Provides Health Update Following AEW Collision Injury Scare

The March 30 episode of “AEW Collision” featured a reported change to Ricky Starks and Big Bill’s tag team match after the former appeared to suffer an injury. However, “Absolute” has since taken to his Instagram stories and revealed that it’s nothing to worry about. “I’m all good; everything checked out fine. Was being precautions,” he wrote.

The moment occurred when Starks didn’t kick out of a pinfall attempt that wasn’t supposed to be a three-count. This prompted the referee to stop counting, and the star was subsequently DDT’d and pinned by Darius Martin to finish the match. Worse yet, Starks and Bill were reportedly scheduled to win the match, and this loss means that they are now out of the AEW World Tag Team Tournament.

The match in question was Starks and Bill’s first on-screen appearance since they lost the AEW World Tag Titles to Darby Allin and Sting in February. Now that Starks is okay, however, it remains to be seen how he and Bill will be booked moving forward. New champs will be crowned at the upcoming AEW Dynasty pay-per-view, and Top Flight and FTR have already cemented their places in the semi-finals.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler Reportedly Recovering From Surgery

WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler recently underwent knee replacement surgery, according to PWInsider. Lawler’s health has been touch and go for years, suffering a second stroke in February last year — the effects of which required their own series of surgeries — but he has been recovering well since. He suffered his first stroke in 2018, six years after having cardiac arrest live on WWE TV. 

Surprisingly enough, “The King” has remained active in wrestling despite his long-standing health issues, wrestling as recently as January 2023. He even had a title run in Arkansas after putting his career on the line at 70-years-old, lasting 121 days. But the Hall of Famer was last seen in WWE in November 2023, announcing competitors for the “WWE NXT” Iron Survivor Challenge at Deadline, the latest of his sporadic appearances following his last full-time run as a commentator in 2020. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.