Author: John Bass

A Recovering Jerry Lawler Helps Jimmy Hart Induct Andy Kaufman Into The WWE Hall Of Fame

Andy Kaufman’s momentous stint in wrestling was undoubtedly enough to warrant a position in the WWE Hall of Fame, and the comedian’s time has finally arrived. The late Kaufman was inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame last night as a part of the 2023 class and, though a recent stroke prevented him from appearing in person, the moment would not have been complete without involvement from Kaufman’s notorious in-ring rival, Jerry “The King” Lawler. Lawler has long been campaigning for Kaufman to be inducted, and he was finally able to see it through this year.

“One of [the] most memorable moments in my career certainly involved Andy Kaufman,” Lawler said, speaking from his home. Lawler was likely referring to the onscreen tussle that took place on an episode of “Late Night with David Letterman” in 1982 during the pair’s ongoing wrestling feud. In a pre-recorded video, Lawler stated that tonight would have been the biggest night of Kaufman’s life, and then introduced fellow Memphis veteran Jimmy Hart to induct the legendary comedian.

Kaufman and Lawler engaged in a heated rivalry during Kaufman’s time in the Memphis territory in 1982 and 1983, with Kaufman acting as a despised heel who preferred to wrestle women, and Lawler stepping in as a hero who aimed to take Kaufman down a peg or two. At the time, many viewers were fully convinced of the feud’s reality, though Kaufman and Lawler were actually close friends who were working together to put on as entertaining of a performance as possible. Devastatingly, Kaufman passed away from cancer just a short time later in 1984. However, his brief foray into the world of professional wrestling spawned a lasting legacy that’s influential to this day.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

ROH Supercard Of Honor 3/31/2023 (Results), Dante Martin Appeared to Have Suffered Horrific Injury

ROH Supercard Of Honor: Zero Hour Pre-Show:

  • – Jeff Cobb def. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams in a Singles Match. After the match, the commentary team noted that they were not alone for the night, with Bobby Cruise announcing that former ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness had returned to the company as a commentator.
  • – Konosuke Takeshita def. Willie Mack in a Singles Match.
  • – Willow Nightingale def. Miranda Alize in a Singles Match.
  • – Stu Grayson def. Slim J in a Singles Match. After the match, The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch) made an appearance as the ROH Supercard Of Honor: Zero Hour Pre-Show came to an end.

ROH Supercard Of Honor 2023 PPV:

  • – El Hijo del Vikingo (c) def. Komander to retain his AAA Mega Championship.
  • – The Embassy (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona) (c) def. AR Fox, Blake Christian and Metalik to retain their ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championships.
  • – Athena (c) def. Yuka Sakazaki to retain her ROH Women’s World Championship.
  • – Samoa Joe (c) def. Mark Briscoe via referee stoppage to retain his ROH World Television Championship.
  • – Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Daniel Garcia in a Singles Match.
  • – The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) def. Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin), Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher), La Faccion Ingobernable (RUSH and Dralistico) and The Kingdom (Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) in a Reach For The Sky Ladder Match to become the new ROH World Tag Team Champions.
  • – Katsuyori Shibata def. Wheeler Yuta (c) in a Pure Rules Match to become the new ROH Pure Champion.
  • – Claudio Castagnoli (c) def. Eddie Kingston to retain his ROH World Championship.

Dante Martin suffered what appears to be a very serious injury at Friday night’s ROH Supercard of Honor pay-per-view event.

During the Reach for the Sky Ladder Match, Martin and Penta were battling it out on the top of a latter. After an insane spot that featured Penta hitting Dante with a Canadian Destroyer off the ladder and through several tables, Martin came down hard on the floor and his lower leg snapped in half.

You can check out the video below. **We’ll warn you ahead of time – it’s extremely graphic!**

As of this writing, there is no word on his status but it’s very likely he’s been taken to a local hospital.

WWE WrestleMania 39 Night One 5/1/2023 – Night Two 5/2/2023 (Card)

WWE WrestleMania 39 will take place Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. On Peacock and PPV at 8 pm E.

CARDS

Host: The Miz

Live DJ: DJ Valentino Khan (Night 1 and Night 2)

America The Beautiful singer for Night 1: Becky G

America The Beautiful singer for Night 2: Jimmie Allen

CONFIRMED MATCHES FOR NIGHT 1:

WWE United States Title Match
John Cena vs. Austin Theory (c)

SmackDown Women’s Title Match
Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair (c)

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles Match
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs. The Usos (c)

Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, IYO SKY) vs. WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Becky Lynch & WWE Hall of Famer Lita

Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins

Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio

Men’s Tag Team Fatal 4 Way
The Viking Raiders vs. Braun Strowman and Ricochet vs. Alpha Academy vs. The Street Profits

CONFIRMED MATCHES FOR NIGHT 2:

Undisputed WWE Universal Title Match
Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns (c)
Night 2 Main Event.

RAW Women’s Title Match
Asuka vs. Bianca Belair (c)

Triple Threat for the WWE Intercontinental Title
Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre vs. GUNTHER (c)

Hell In a Cell
“The Demon” Finn Balor vs. WWE Hall of Famer Edge
Rumored to be Brood Edge.

Brock Lesnar vs. Omos

Women’s Tag Team Fatal 4 Way
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Natalya and Shotzi vs. Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler vs. Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville

WWE NXT Stand & Deliver 5/1/2023 (Card)

The 2023 NXT Stand & Deliver event will take place this Saturday, April 1, 2023, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California as part of WrestleMania Weekend, being held the same day as WrestleMania 39 (Night One).

CARD

NXT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Bron Breakker (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes

NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP LADDER MATCH:
Roxanne Perez (c) vs. Gigi Dolin vs. Indi Hartwell vs. Lyra Valkyria vs. Tiffany Stratton vs. Zoey Stark

UNSANCTIONED MATCH:
Grayson Waller vs. Johnny Gargano

NXT WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Fallon Henley and Kiana James (c) vs. Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn

NXT NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP FATAL 5-WAY MATCH:
Wes Lee (c) vs. Axiom vs. Dragon Lee vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh

MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH:
Chase University (Andre Chase, Duke Hudson, Thea Hail and Tyler Bate) vs. Schism (Joe Gacy, Ava Raine, Jagger Reid, Rip Fowler)
* Stipulation: If Schism wins, they get control over Chase University *

NXT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP TRIPLE THREAT MATCH:
Gallus (c) vs. The Creed Brothers vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo and Tony D’Angelo

ROH Supercard Of Honor 3/31/2023 (Card)

Ring of Honor returns to pay-per-view for the first time in 2023 with Supercard of Honor 2023. On FITE TV and Bleacher Report Live with a bell time of 8 pm Eastern /4 pm Pacific time on Friday, March 31st.

Card

ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Claudio Castagnoli (c) vs. Eddie Kingston

ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Mark Briscoe

ROH WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Athena (c) vs. Yuka Sakazaki

ROH PURE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata

REACH FOR THE SKY LADDER MATCH FOR THE VACATED ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP:
The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix) vs. Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin) vs. The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) vs. La Facción Ingobernable (Rush and Dralístico)

AAA MEGA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
El Hijo del Vikingo (c) vs. Komander

ROH WORLD SIX-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
The Embassy (c) vs. AR Fox, Blake Christian and Gran Metalik

SINGLES MATCH:
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Daniel Garcia

AEW Rampage Preview 3/31/2023

Tonight’s AEW Rampage on TNT at 10/9C.

  • Sammy Guevara vs. Konosuke Takeshita
  • Kings of the Black Throne vs. Best Friends
  • Taya Valkyrie vs. Marina Shafir
  • Juice Robinson vs. Action Andretti

WWE SmackDown Preview 3/31/2023

WWE SmackDown airs live tonight on FOX and emanate from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. Tonight’s SmackDown is the go-home show for this weekend’s huge two-night WrestleMania 39 event.

Tony Khan Refuses Comment Once Again On CM Punk’s AEW Status

After what seemed like a long silence, the situation between AEW and CM Punk returned to the news cycle in full force over the last week, after a message board post led to a since-deleted Instagram story by Punk that may have likely hurt his chances of returning to AEW. However, with Punk still recovering from injury, there is still time before AEW owner Tony Khan will have to make a decision on whether to bring Punk back, let him go, or find an alternate solution.

Till that time comes, the future of Punk in AEW will continue to be a topic Khan gets asked about, much like he has ever since the media scrum incident following All Out in September that began this whole situation. And Khan was indeed asked about Punk while speaking with talkSPORT, and for those who have followed Khan throughout this, the song remained the same regarding his answer. “I cannot comment on that,” Khan said.

Khan was a good sport about the question, however, realizing that these questions won’t stop until something regarding Punk’s future is decided. So he followed up the question with a joke that many will likely see as a shot at one of Khan’s nemeses, journalist and sometimes WWE correspondent Ariel Helwani, who repeatedly asked Khan about Punk, to no avail, in an interview between the two last October. “Well better to ask once than seven times in a row after I ‘no comment,'” Khan said. “Who would do that?”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Vince McMahon Enters Employment Agreement With WWE

Vince McMahon is officially a WWE employee again as the Executive Chairman of the Board entered into an employment agreement with the company, effective as of March 29, 2023, according to a new SEC filing.

The agreement is retroactive to January 9, 2023 as that is the date he was appointed Executive Chairman.

McMahon previously resigned as WWE CEO and Chairman last July amid sexual misconduct and hush money allegations. He returned to the Board of Directors in January.

You can check out the SEC filing below:

“Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On March 28, 2023, in connection with Nick Khan’s transition to being the sole Chief Executive Officer of the Company following the departure of Stephanie McMahon, and the appointment of Vincent McMahon as the Company’s Executive Chairman, the Compensation & Human Capital Committee (the “Committee”) of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (the “Company”) approved an amendment to Mr. Khan’s employment agreement with the Company and a new employment agreement with Mr. McMahon following a review of market data with the input of its independent compensation consultant and legal counsel.

Mr. Khan entered into an employment agreement amendment with the Company, effective as of March 29, 2023 (the “Khan Amendment”), pursuant to which, retroactive to January 10, 2023 (the date Mr. Khan was appointed the sole Chief Executive Officer of the Company), Mr. Khan’s (i) annual base salary increased from $1.35 million to $1.5 million; (ii) annual target bonus opportunity (as a percentage of annual base salary) increased from 160% to 175%; and (iii) annual equity grant date target value increased from $3.575 million to $5.375 million, subject to performance metrics and vesting periods (as determined by the Committee). These changes are being made in connection with certain changes to narrow the definition of “change of control” and “good reason” in Mr. Khan’s employment agreement.

Mr. McMahon entered into an employment agreement with the Company, effective as of March 29, 2023 (the “McMahon Employment Agreement”), pursuant to which, retroactive to January 9, 2023 (the date Mr. McMahon was appointed Executive Chairman of the Company), he will continue to serve as Executive Chairman for a term of two years from his start date of January 9, 2023, subject to automatic extension for additional one-year terms thereafter unless either the Company or Mr. McMahon provides at least 180 days’ notice of non-renewal. The McMahon Employment Agreement provides that Mr. McMahon will receive (i) an annual base salary of $1.2 million, (ii) an annual target bonus opportunity (as a percentage of annual base salary) of 175% and (iii) an annual equity grant date target value set at $4.3 million, subject to performance metrics and vesting periods (as determined by the Committee). In the event the Company terminates his employment without “cause” (as defined in McMahon Employment Agreement) or he terminates his employment for “good reason” (as defined in the McMahon Employment Agreement), Mr. McMahon will be eligible to receive as severance (a) base salary continuation through the end of the term (or, if longer, for one year), (b) a prorated portion of the annual bonus based on target performance for the year in which the termination occurs and (c) health and welfare continuation through the end of the term in accordance with the Company’s severance policy. In the event such a termination occurs within the two-year period following a “change in control” (as defined in the McMahon Employment Agreement), Mr. McMahon will instead be eligible to receive (1) a lump sum cash payment equal to two times Mr. McMahon’s then-current base salary, (2) a lump sum cash payment equal to two times Mr. McMahon’s annual bonus based on target performance, (3) a prorated portion of the annual bonus based on target performance for the year in which the termination occurs, (4) full accelerated vesting of Mr. McMahon’s unvested equity awards (with the payout of performance-based awards determined based on target-level achievement) and (5) health and welfare continuation for the twenty-four month period following the termination.

As disclosed in our annual proxy statements, the annual target bonus opportunity is a target opportunity only and the actual bonus paid may be above or below such amount based on, among other factors, the Company’s performance taking into account performance metrics established by the Committee. For annual equity grants, the Company’s current practice is to value grants at an average of the closing price of the Company’s Class A Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange over the thirty trading days immediately preceding the grant date; however, the 2023 grants for Messrs. Khan and McMahon are instead valued over the thirty trading days immediately preceding February 7, 2023 (the date on which 2023 annual equity awards were granted to our other named executive officers).

The foregoing descriptions of the Khan Amendment and the McMahon Employment Agreement are qualified in its entirety by reference to the complete text of the Khan Amendment and the McMahon Employment Agreement, as applicable, copies of which are attached as Exhibits 10.1 and 10.2 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and incorporated herein by reference. Further information about the Company’s executive compensation plans and programs, including the incentive plan, is included in the Company’s proxy statements.”

Source: eWrestlingNews

Randy Orton Has Arrived In Los Angeles For WWE WrestleMania 39 Weekend

As expected, Randy Orton has traveled to Los Angeles, California for WWE WrestleMania 39 weekend.

Due to a back injury, The Viper has not been on WWE television since The Usos defeated RK-Bro in a unification title match on the May 20th episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Orton was attacked by The Bloodline to be written off television following the match.

Orton later had a fusion surgery done on his lower back that would keep him out of action for an extended period of time.

Pwinsider is reporting that Orton has arrived in Los Angeles for WrestleMania 39 weekend. It’s still unclear whether he will appear at WrestleMania or on the post-WrestleMania editions of RAW and SmackDown.

Source: eWrestlingNews