Author: John Bass

Karl Anderson Describes AJ Styles Reaction To Drinking Beer

The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) joined SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio for an hour-long discussion.

Karl Anderson reflected on the night they were the headline dark match at Madison Square Garden with WWE in September 2019. After the bout, there was an in-ring segment involving “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and AJ Styles, which resulted in Styles asking Anderson if he should drink the beer handed to him.

“When we got to do The Garden and the dark main event — this is a good story,” Anderson said. “We’re in there with ‘Stone Cold; Steve Austin, me, Gallows, and AJ [Styles]. ‘Stone Cold’ hands AJ a beer. AJ doesn’t drink, and AJ looks at us and AJ goes, ‘shall I drink this?’ and I go, ‘yeah, just have a sip.’ He takes the sip, he takes the Stunner, and people react. We get to the back and he looks at us and he goes, ‘you guys lied to me. That is the worst thing I’ve ever tasted in my life! How do y’all drink those things?’”

Luke Gallows discussed the Boneyard Match between AJ Styles and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36. Gallows noted The Deadman cut open his arm when smashing the window of the hearse. It resulted in filming being stopped every few minutes to attend to the wound.

“I remember at the time, I remember us saying – because AJ was our best buddy, like, it’s hard not to be in a stadium with a match like that,” Gallows said. “They wanted that. They deserved 80,000 people and they didn’t have it. So everyone made the best of a rotten situation and the match was cool as sh*t, I thought.

“You talk about an old-school badass dude too at the very beginning of that, because it took all night to shoot it. He punches the window out of the hearse, right? And his arm is bleeding profusely. You can see tendons. A lot of people – Karl would have quit. I mean every fifteen minutes we would stop, ice, towel, hold it on to get the bleeding to stop. Alright, let’s start going. For 8-9 hours just bleeding.”

Source: Wrestling Inc – credit SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio 

Tony Khan To Make “Major Announcement” On Next Week’s AEW Dynamite

The card for next week’s AEW Dynamite was revealed last night and it is filled to the brim with action and announcements. It was promised that Tony Khan, the Founder and President of AEW, will be appearing to reveal a major announcement for All Elite Wrestling.

When it comes to the matches, the ongoing feud between Andrade El Idolo and Darby Allin looks to be coming to a head when they face each other in a coffin match. This will only be the second coffin match ever in AEW and Darby’s second time competing with such a stipulation.

Rising AEW star Hook will also be making his way to Dynamite to compete for the first time. On the show Rampage and on pay-per-view buy-in shows, Hook remains undefeated, so it will be interesting to see if he can keep up the winning streak with a new wave of challengers.

You can see the full card for next week’s AEW Dynamite below:

Wardlow vs. The Butcher

Hook makes AEW Dynamite in-ring debut

* Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier
Britt Baker vs. Danielle Camella

* Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier
Jungle Boy vs. Kyle O’Reilly

* Coffin Match
Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo

Tony Khan to make a major announcement

MLW Fusion Preview 4/14/22

Major League Wrestling FUSION tonight at 8pm ET features a 4-way for the National Openweight Championship, streaming worldwide for free on MLW’s YouTube channel and Saturday nationwide on cable and dish on beIN SPORTS. 

  • National Openweight Championship: Alex Kane (champion) vs. ACH vs. Myron Reed vs. Puma King
  • Shazza McKenzie vs. Holidead
  • TJP vs. Matt Cross

Approaching the half year milestone for his reign as the National Openweight Champion, Alex Kane has demanded challengers with a variety of fighting styles step up and challenge him for the championship. Tonight Kane gets exactly that as grapplers with diverse fighting styles step up to knock off the champ and take his belt.

The high risk, high reward high-flying Myron Reed looks to become a double champion and add gold to his World Middleweight Championship reign. 

But what about the unpredictable and unorthodox lucha libre fighting style? Puma King looks to pounce the champ and bring gold back to Mexico as the first Mexican to hold the National Openweight Championship.

Last but not least, the technical finesse of ACH could overwhelm Kane’s explosive suplexes if ACH dictate the speed of the title fight.

Shockingly, “The Suplex Assassin” is not happy. He has demanded even MORE competitors step up for tonight’s title bout. Not only does he want to prove his hybrid wrestling technique is beyond all on the roster, but he wants fighters from different weight classes to make their move… but will a fourth challenger enter the fray? Tune in to find out.

After the shocking news that Cesar Duran was under investigation, what is the latest on the fate of the ruthless proprietor of Azteca Underground?

The road to crowning the inaugural women’s world featherweight champion heats up as Australia’s top ranked Shazza McKenzie makes her MLW debut against Strange Sangre’s Holidead.

Fatu rages against his former CONTRA co-conspirator Mads Krugger and sets the stage for a monumental showdown at Intimidation Games.

Plus: two of the league’s top Middleweights go toe to toe as TJP goes one on one with Matt Cross!

Richard Holliday and Alicia Atout dish on The Dynasty, Hammerstone and more. Could The Clout Couple be laying the groundwork for their next move against the World Heavyweight Champion?

Join Rich Bocchini and Joe Dombrowski as MLW presents Fusion!

IMPACT Preview 4/14/22

Less than two weeks away from Rebellion, buckle up for an all-new IMPACT! tonight at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders!

* Jonah vs. PCO

*  Steve Maclin vs. Alex Shelley 

* Deonna Purrazzo Champ Champ Challenge

* Jonathan Gresham vs.  Rocky Romero

* The action begins Before the IMPACT, streaming this Thursday at 7:30pm ET exclusively on IMPACT Plus, YouTube and Facebook. The struggle for dominance between Knockouts World Tag Team Champions The Influence and The IInspiration rolls on as Madison Rayne battles Jessie McKay in singles action! Plus, Gia Miller, Josh Mathews and George Iceman get you ready for all things IMPACT on the road to Rebellion.

AEW Console Video Game Notes And Possible Release Date

The AEW console video game may be released much earlier than originally expected.

AEW first announced their video game back in, but no timeframe was provided. Now Fightful Select reports that there has been internal talk of the game being released in September, but that is tentative and not official.

It was noted that there is plenty of work to be done on the game, but the plan for some time has been to release this year, and that September is widely regarded as the target timeframe as of this week.

An AEW source stressed that this is a tentative release date, and there’s a publisher involved. It was also said that fans can expect the game fairly soon if all goes well, but a lot of things can change between now and September.

It was revealed back in mid-March that there will be a story mode for the game, and that some of the AEW wrestlers were giving input into the storylines. It was also noted that several members of the Yuke’s team that helped create popular RAW vs. SmackDown video games are also a part of this story mode process.

While Yuke’s is known to be the developer of the AEW video game, no publisher has been announced, but this new report notes that a publisher is working with the AEW video game team. It’s believed that once the publisher is confirmed, there will be more information released, such as a release date and other details.

Kenny Omega is said to be determined for the AEW video game to be a success, and word is that he understands how integral a great showing could be.

The official AEW video game is scheduled to be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Preview 4/13/22

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite on TBS will air live from the UNO Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Tony Khan on Busted Open Radio says TNT/TBS is very happy with AEW ratings and that’s why they are getting an overrun tonight. Tony says he’s not saying they will go “super long” tonight. It could be just an extra couple of minutes.

AEW has announced the following line-up for tonight:

* CM Punk vs. Penta Oscuro

* Marina Shafir makes TV debut vs. Skye Blue

* MJF vs. Shawn Dean

* Santana, Ortiz and Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Jericho, Jake Hager and Daniel Garcia of The Jericho Appreciation Society

* Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland vs. Powerhouse Hobbs and FTW Champion Ricky Starks

* AEW World Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express defend against reDRagon

* ROH World Television Champion Minoru Suzuki defends against Samoa Joe

* Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt have a “big surprise” for Samoa Joe

Natalya Returns To NXT, Attacks Cora Jade

Veteran WWE Superstar Natalya appeared in an NXT ring for the first time in a long time during this week’s edition of NXT 2.0.

Natalya returned to her old stomping ground at WWE’s Orlando Performance Center when she made a surprise appearance on the April 12 edition of NXT 2.0 on USA Network … which did not end well for rising star Cora Jade.

The segment in question kicked off with Cora Jade making her way to the ring, where she preceded to address the NXT Universe. Jade lamented her failed attempt to capture the NXT Women’s Championship at Stand & Deliver, but assured fans that her goal is the same now as it was when she was a child of eight journaling about how she would one day become a champion in WWE. The 21-year-old vowed to one day be considered as successful as the likes of AJ Lee, Paige, Sasha Banks, and more … and then Natalya’s music hit, and the main roster Superstar made her way to the ring — much to the joy of the fans in attendance, who cheered and chanted her name.

Nattie got on the mic and said that the Performance Center brought back a lot of memories for her. The emotional veteran introduced herself to the upstart standing opposite, but she needn’t have bothered as Jade had been familiar with Natalya for a while. Jade shared an anecdote in which Natalya pointed at her during a WWE house show the 11-year-old Cora attended. As a child, Jade sent Natalya a message on Instagram, but Natalya didn’t see the message until years later when she sent Jade a message of congratulations regarding her NXT debut.

Jade continued to express her admiration for Natalya, and Natalya said Jade was the future of NXT … but added that the future was bleak before blindsiding Jade with a huge open-palmed strike to the side of the face. Jade fell to the mat and Natalya slapped a Sharpshooter on the youngster, forcing her to tap out as the segment drew to a close and officials tried to quell the carnage.

Later in the episode, Natalya was confronted in the locker room by Tatum Paxley, who challenged her to a match on NXT week’s NXT 2.0. That match will be Natalya’s first in an NXT ring since 2016.

https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1514072398584328193

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 4/12/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode on the USA Network is being billed as a “colossal edition” of the show as three titles will be on the line.

NXT 2.0 will feature the vacant NXT Tag Team Titles on the line in a Five-Team Gauntlet Match. The titles were declared vacant last week after it was reported that MSK’s Nash Carter was released over abuse allegations by his wife, Kimber Lee, who is still under contract to Impact Wrestling, and due to photos of Carter a photo of Carter performing a Nazi salute in which he appears to have modeled his mustache after Adolf Hitler’s.

It’s believed that tonight’s NXT show will also feature a follow-up on the abduction of 2022 WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner. Last week’s show ended with NXT Champion Bron Breakker looking on as it was revealed that Joe Gacy and Harland were holding his father hostage, tied up in a cage.

Cody Rhodes’ Banned Word Slips On Raw Were No Accident

More than a week later, it’s still sort of hard to believe Cody Rhodes is back in WWE. This week on Raw, Rhodes wrestled his first match on the red brand since 2015. A clash with The Miz from which Rhodes emerged victorious. Prior to their clash, Rhodes and Miz opened Raw with a talk show segment during which The American Nightmare dropped a couple of supposedly banned words.

The first faux pas came when Rhodes referred to the Universal Championship as a belt. The Miz quickly cut in, informing him it’s a title as belts are for holding your pants up. A line Vince McMahon has likely said to wrestlers a thousand times as he doesn’t like WWE’s championships being referred to as belts. Speaking of wrestlers, the second slip-up came when Rhodes used that word instead of Superstars, at which point Miz corrected him again.

The American Nightmare is allowed to say belts and wrestlers.

Rhodes making these mistakes would make sense as he has been working in a company that lets you say them for the past three years. The thing is, according to Wrestling Observer Radio, Rhodes’ use of these banned words wasn’t a mistake at all. It’s all part of his gimmick in WWE. That he isn’t a WWE guy at all and he uses these words because he is a different Cody Rhodes who has returned from somewhere else.

There was another subtle nod to that during the very same segment. Rhodes went to tell The Miz that he’s full of shit, only to stop short at the curse word and look around at the fans. The word shit is thrown around a lot in AEW, but it is seldom said on WWE television. Only people like Brock Lesnar tend to be allowed to say it, probably because they don’t ask for permission first.

Rhodes’ gimmick in WWE is basically the AEW guy. It’s why he has the same look, the same music, and why he almost says curse words and utters banned terms on live TV. It all fits in with the framing of Rhodes being a completely different person to the one that left WWE six years ago without having to give credit or even make mention of the company he helped create while he was away.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Confirms First Major PPV In The UK Since 1992

WWE is returning to the UK for its biggest show since SummerSlam 1992.

Vince McMahon has taken WWE from a New York territory to a globally recognized brand over the course of the past three decades. The wheel never stops turning, and WWE constantly tours, mostly around North America but also further afield from time to time, including two major shows per year in Saudi Arabia. It also ventures to the UK, likely the company’s second-biggest market after the US and Canada, a couple of times a year, but rarely for a big show.

So rarely, in fact, that 2022 marks 30 years since the last major WWE PPV was staged across the pond. There were a handful of UK exclusive PPVs during the late ’90s/early ’00s (Insurrextion and Rebellion) but the last big show to emanate from the UK was SummerSlam ’92. There had been rumors that would change to mark the 30th anniversary of that show, and those rumors have now been confirmed by WWE.

WWE has revealed via a press release that Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will play host to an unnamed PPV, or premium live event, on Saturday, September 3, 2022. “The weekend will be filled with a variety of WWE experiences that we believe will leave a lasting memory, on par with SummerSlam at Wembley Stadium in 1992,” WWE’s senior vice president of live events John Porco said.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1513789273375449095

For those unfamiliar with SummerSlam ’92, the main event of the show saw British Bulldog beat Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. An iconic match in an unforgettable setting, Wembley Stadium. Wembley is still there, but the stadium in which SummerSlam ’92 took place has since been demolished and was replaced with a new venue almost 20 years ago.

The location and the date are the only things that have been revealed about the show so far. There’s no information regarding ticket prices or availability, though the Principality Stadium has a capacity of almost 75,000 people. The show will likely take place on the same weekend as AEW’s All Out. The time difference may allow for both shows to happen back to back, but AEW might want to opt for Sunday should it stick to that weekend.

Source: TheSportster