Author: John Bass

WWE RAW Preview 8/22/2022, Trish Stratus Returns

WWE will take over the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, tonight with the latest installment of “WWE Raw.” The episode, which will be the first episode of “Raw” to take place at the venue since August 2019, will have an added Canadian flavor, with two Ontario-born WWE Hall of Famers advertised to be in the house. Edge and Trish Stratus

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1561442011990958082

Tenille Dashwood Seems To Confirm She’s Done With Impact Wrestling, Possible WWE Return

Following recent speculation that Tenille Dashwood had parted ways with Impact Wrestling due to her profile being removed from the promotion’s official roster page, she seems to have all but officially confirmed it herself. Dashwood tweeted the definition of “free agent” earlier today to seemingly signal her departure. Mike Johnson of PW Insider has confirmed that the Australian wrestler’s contract expired and wasn’t renewed shortly after a loss to Masha Slamovich on AXS TV last month. 

After her time in WWE as Emma, Dashwood arrived in Impact in 2019 to challenge the Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie. While she didn’t capture gold as a singles competitor, she did find success in the women’s tag division when she formed The Influence alongside personal photographer Kaleb with a K and Impact legend Madison Rayne. At “Sacrifice” on March 5, Dashwood and Rayne defeated The Inspiration to become the Knockouts Tag Team Champions. They would reign atop the division until “Slammiversary,” when they lost the titles to the newly reunited Ragnarok, the team of Rosemary and Valkyrie.

While The Influence would add Gisele Shaw to the group, Dashwood’s exits marks the end of the original members’ time in Impact. Marking the end of his second run, Konley announced in April that he was leaving after two years. Then, after spending the better part of 14 years in the former TNA, Rayne joined All Elite Wrestling earlier this month as a coach in the women’s division. As for Dashwood, she has Wrestlefest appearances in the UK scheduled for September. Beyond that, it’s possible that she could follow her former partner to AEW, as she appeared in the inaugural AEW Women’s Casino Battle Royale. She could also head to Ring of Honor, as she did compete in the Women of Honor division in 2018-2019.

 There is growing speculation over Tenille Dashwood returning to WWE for the first time since 2017.

The former Emma confirmed her departure from Impact Wrestling over the weekend, tweeting the definition of “free agent” on her social media. The tweet came shortly after the promotion removed Dashwood from Impact Wrestling’s official roster page.

WWE Superstar Madcap Moss responded to the tweet with several rolling eyes emojis, hinting at Dashwood’s potential comeback to WWE. Earlier this month, Dashwood got the wrestling world buzzing by posting a photo of herself and Moss, confirming that they are seeing each other.

Ahead of her potential WWE return, Dashwood will be seen at several indie events in the United Kingdom next month for WrestleFest.  

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jeff Jarrett And WWE Have Parted Ways Again After Just Three Months

Jeff Jarrett has been a very busy man as of late. At the end of July, the Hall of Famer was the special guest referee in a Tag Title match at SummerSlam and then competed in Ric Flair’s last match 24 hours later. Jarrett may well have a lot more free time moving forward as he and WWE have reportedly parted ways yet again.

The news comes courtesy of PWInsider which reports Jarrett is no longer under WWE’s employ. This comes just three months after the former Intercontinental Champion was brought back into the fold. Jarrett was hired to be the senior vice president of live events. WWE also rolled a few TV appearances and the aforementioned referee spot into that since SummerSlam emanated from Jarrett’s hometown of Nashville this year.

The finer details of Jarrett’s departure from the company currently remain unclear. It might well be a case of him having a short-term deal with WWE and that deal has simply come to an end. PWI hammers home the use of the word “departed” by sources who revealed the news. No evidence as of right now that Jarrett was released, and it sounds as if this might have been a mutual decision.

What’s worth noting is the ongoing reshuffle backstage in WWE following on from the retirement of Vince McMahon. Jarrett was brought back into the fold under the old regime, meaning Vince was likely the one who made the call. Now Stephanie McMahon and Triple H are in charge, they may have decided Jarrett doesn’t have a place on the team. Or, the couple, plus Nick Khan, might have another name in mind for the role Jarrett occupied.

As already touched upon, Jarrett is a pretty busy man right now, even without WWE on the docket. A large chunk of his time is taken up by his My World podcast each week, the platform on which he might well officially address his WWE departure. New episodes of My World drop on Tuesdays, so expect some sort of explanation from Jarrett later this week.

Source: TheSportster

The Good Brothers’ Contract With Impact Wrestling Is Almost Up

The Good Brothers, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, have had an eventful run with Impact Wrestling, but it appears to be coming to an end.

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson currently hold the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship but Fightful Select has reported (via Jeremy Thomas at 411mania) their contracts with the company may be just about up, set to expire at the end of this week.

The Good Brothers started their Impact Wrestling run in July 2020. They’ve had prominent placement in the tag team division that includes holding the Tag Team Championship, cumulatively, for about half their tenure, spread across three reigns. They found themselves in an especially featured spot during the period when Kenny Omega stepped through the Forbidden Door to simultaneously reign as AEW and Impact World Champion.

Omega revived his old partnership with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson across both brands during this time. Of late, The Good Brothers factored into an issue between Honor No More and The Bullet Club, including a wild No Disqualification Match at the recent Emergence PPV.

The Good Brothers are presently two months into their third reign as Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions. They have reportedly signed a contract extension to finish up with Impact for their August 26 and 27 TV taping dates in Dallas, where they will presumably drop the titles and tie up remaining loose ends with the company.

Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows established themselves as a top tier tag team in New Japan Pro Wrestling and are due to work dates there next month. After that, though, the pair will be free agents, and it will be interesting to see where they land next. There are some natural stories for Gallows and Anderson to continue in AEW with The Elite. Meanwhile, though their previous WWE run together was underwhelming, under Triple H’s creative and in a relatively thin tag team division, there’s reason to believe they’d enjoy better success if they were to return there. Time will tell what’s next for the talented tandem.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Rampage Preview 8/19/22

Tonight’s AEW Rampage continues at the West Virginia Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, airing on TNT at 10/9C.

  • We Hear From ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli
  • Penelope Ford vs. Athena
  • AEW World Trios Championship Quarterfinal: Trustbusters (Parker Bordeaux, Slim J, and Ari Daivari) w/Sonny Kiss vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy)
  • FTW Championship: Hook (c) vs. Zack Clayton
  • AEW World Tag Team Championship: Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland) (c) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen)
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1560676718565904384

WWE SmackDown Preview 8/19/22, Zoey Stark Injured?

Tonight’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,

Roman Reigns and Drew McIntyre to go head-to-head

The Viking Raiders will hold a Viking Funeral for The New Day

The WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament is also set to continue tonight, as “NXT 2.0” stars Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark will make their “SmackDown” debuts against Natalya and Sonya Deville

There are reports that Zoey Stark is injured and that she and Nikkita Lyons is out of the tournament and may be replaced by Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne).

Update On MJF’S AEW Status

The future of AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman — or MJF as he’s better known — has been up in the air for quite some time. The 26-year-old has been open about the possibility of jumping ship to WWE when his AEW contract expires in 2024, and his backstage issues in recent months have been well-documented.

MJF has been absent from AEW television since the episode of “Dynamite” that aired on June 1. His last appearance saw him take to the mic and air his grievances with Tony Khan for spending millions on ex-WWE superstars while leaving him in the lurch. The promo culminated with MJF begging Khan to fire him before calling him a “f***ing mark.” It’s been radio silence ever since.

However, it appears that MJF could be heading back to television in the near future, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. No specific date has been reported as of this writing, though it’s speculated that he could return in the coming weeks as AEW will soon be negotiating a new television deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, and the September TV ratings could be crucial in securing acceptable terms.

The report noted that AEW’s ratings have been down in recent times and the wrestling world has undergone significant changes following the retirement of Vince McMahon. WWE has a lot of momentum right now, so AEW needs “all hands on deck” as soon as possible.

Elsewhere, the report noted that MJF versus CM Punk could be on the cards when the former returns to action. Punk tried to confront MJF following the aforementioned shoot promo on June 1, potentially setting up another angle between them. However, given that CM Punk is reportedly unhappy in AEW at the moment, there is no telling what will happen.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Shawn Michaels promoted to WWE Vice President of Talent Development Creative

Shawn Michaels has been given a promotion in WWE.

Following his retirement in 2010 after losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26, “HBK” took time away from wrestling to be with his family and do other things while occasionally making appearances on WWE television.

Michaels started helping at the Performance Center in late 2016 before becoming a trainer for the finishing class alongside Terry Taylor the following year. In 2018, he started working as a writer and producer for the NXT brand alongside Triple H, who oversaw the creative of the brand.

Michaels stepped up in September 2021 when his good friend was sidelined due to health issues and started running the day-to-day operations of NXT and being in charge of creative.

As previously reported, WWE announced that NXT UK will be rebranded as NXT Europe starting in 2023. NXT UK will go on hiatus before the relaunch. NXT UK will be part of the premium live event, Worlds Collide, with NXT next month. 

Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics pointed out that Michaels has been given a new title of WWE Vice President of Talent Development Creative.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

REPORT: There is “a ton of backstage drama” involving many top AEW stars

AEW World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk made headlines this week after he went off script and called out Hangman Adam Page on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. Page was never planned for the segment to answer Punk’s challenge to a rematch.

As previously reported, there was a concern that Punk wouldn’t show up for the event. After his promo about Page, he shifted his focus to calling out Interim World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that right now, there is “a ton of backstage drama involving many of the top guys that has gotten much worse in recent weeks.”

Meltzer suggested that AEW President Tony Khan have a meeting with the top stars to address the issues before things get worse. 

Punk will take on Moxley in a title unification bout on next week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, a match that many believed would be the main event of All Out next month in Chicago.

Meltzer also reported that Colt Cabana’s AEW status is an issue between Page and Punk.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

There Was Reportedly Internal Concern That CM Punk May Quit AEW

Some people within AEW reportedly grew worried that CM Punk would quit the promotion. Here’s the latest.

There’s reportedly concern within the company that AEW World Champion CM Punk may want to quit the company.

CM Punk called out “Hangman” Adam Page during his intense promo on yesterday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. But as previously noted, Punk’s comments caught folks in AEW by surprise. Apparently, this wasn’t supposed to be part of the script, as CM Punk was to focus on building up his world title unification match against Jon Moxley that will take place next week.

It’s not all that uncommon for a wrestler to go off-script, but there may be a lot more to this story that’s worth monitoring.

According to a report from Fightful Select (h/t WrestlingNews.co), Page and Punk didn’t agree on some of the promo stuff ahead of their match at Double or Nothing (which CM Punk won via pinfall). Apparently, Punk even decided to speak to AEW higher-ups about Page’s promos.

Fightful also heard from sources that the 43-year-old wrestler “has often verbally expressed his displeasure”, to the point where “they thought he might end up quitting the company.”

CM Punk isn’t the only notable star that is seemingly frustrated with AEW. It’s been more than two months now since 26-year-old superstar MJF cut his own pipe bomb promo and dared AEW President and CEO Tony Khan to fire him.

That was on the June 1 episode of Dynamite, and MJF hasn’t been on company programming ever since. Before his promo, there was reportedly concern within the company that he wouldn’t show up for his match with Wardlow at Double or Nothing. MJF did show up, losing to his opponent by pinfall.

As of now, the highly-anticipated match between Punk and Moxley is on for next week. But this is certainly something to keep an eye on, especially considering that it’s a major star like Punk. Of course, the former WWE Champion grew very frustrated with Vince McMahon’s promotion to the point where he walked out and never returned in 2014.

Source: TheSportster