Author: John Bass

Jeff Jarrett Comments On Potential Launch Of Another Major Promotion

WWE Hall Of Famer Jeff Jarrett recently spoke with The Business of the Business podcast. During the interview, he discussed Game Changer Wrestling. He revealed that GCW has been on his radar long before 2021.

“I was well aware of GCW through the lens of FITE, long before I’ll say diplomatically, 2021. They have been on my radar for quite some time,” Jarrett claimed. “A lot of folks know them as, ‘oh, the deathmatch,’ and in a lot of ways I think, maybe positively and negatively, they’ve been branded that way.”

Jeff Jarrett then went on to praise the content that GCW has been putting out as of late. Jarrett also spoke about how the promotion has built up a loyal audience that continues to grow.

“But Brett and the team have put out consistent episodic content,” he stated. “All of their programming, they have a very loyal audience, and it continues to grow and grow.”

Jeff Jarrett then looked ahead to the future of professional wrestling. He believes that there is room for another major promotion alongside what already exists. However, for him, it could be about having a home-based promotion that exists around the world, such as in South America.

“Now language is an issue, a barrier,” he admitted. “That goes without saying. But there is room for a — I’ll call it a home-based promotion around the world. It could be South America, Mexico City. Look at the amount of Hispanics in the United States. They absolutely could thrive. So I think there could be a Hispanic promotion, there could be a European promotion.

“The days of it being just looked at from a US lens, in my opinion, they’re long gone. It is a global promotion. It’s just where is the home base going to be. Because I think there’s room for, and I don’t want to get too far down the road, but three, four, five, six, seven of those.”

Source: Wresting Inc. with credit to The Business of the Business podcast

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express To Begin Farewell Retirement Tour Against Top AEW Tag Team

WWE Hall of Famers The Rock & Roll Express are retiring from tag team competition.

Ricky Morton took to Twitter this week to announce that he and Robert Gibson will begin their farewell tour on Saturday, January 22 when they wrestle AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR at a Big Time Wrestling event in Spartanburg, SC.

Morton noted that he and Gibson will continue to make appearances together, but they are retiring from wrestling as a tag team. Morton wants to spend more time teaming with his son, Kerry Morton, and work with other up & coming talent.

“Rock & Roll Express Farewell tour begins January 22nd, 2022. I want to focus more with Kerry and behind the scenes in the wrestling business. #onelastride,” he wrote. “Specify, Robert and I are retiring from tag team wrestling together. Not appearances/signings. I would like to continue to tag team with my son and work with the younger generation in this glorious business.”

After the match against FTR, Morton will then wrestle Matt Cardona at GCW’s The Wrld On GCW the next night from Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Morton is also scheduled to team with 2 Cold Scorpio to wrestle Effy and Allie Katch at this Friday’s GCW Notorious event in Detroit. Morton is then scheduled to compete in the 26th annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament on Saturday, March 26 in Morganville, NJ.

Morton and Gibson began teaming together in the early 1980s. The legendary tag team has held gold in more than a dozen promotions. They were inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2006, the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2021.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Corey Graves Cleared For An In-Ring Return

Corey Graves was reportedly cleared to return to in-ring action at some point in 2020.

A new report from Fightful Select notes that sources close to Graves claim he was actually cleared by WWE doctors at some point in the last year or so. WWE would not confirm the report, so it’s largely based on behind-the-scenes discussions.

Graves briefly won the WWE 24/7 Title on the November 8, 2021 RAW, despite previously being on a strict internal “no contact” list. It’s now been confirmed that Graves was no longer on that list when he won the 24/7 Title.

There have been several internal pitches made for Graves, but it remains to be seen if those were from WWE creative or just Graves himself. It was noted that none of the pitches for Graves have made it through creative. One source close to the WWE creative team said they were not aware of Graves being cleared, and confirmed that he is off the “no contact” list.

After a run on the indies, Graves signed a WWE developmental deal in August 2011. He suffered two concussions between late 2013 and early 2014, and then announced his in-ring retirement in December 2014. Graves has been a member of the WWE NXT and main roster announce teams since then.

Graves spoke about wanting to come out of retirement during an April 2020 podcast, after being inspired by the WWE 24 documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Edge. In May 2020 he then stepped in the ring to train for the first time since retiring, with his brother Sam Adonis, which you can see in a tweet below. Graves fueled the rumor mill again back in July 2021 when he tweeted, “I was put on this earth to do something. What I’m doing is not it.” He then tweeted about wanting to wrestle again in late November 2021.

Graves stated earlier this month that he wants to declare his spot for the 2022 Men’s Royal Rumble Match.

There’s no word yet on if WWE will allow Graves to return to the ring.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Brody King Revealed As House Of Black Member During AEW Dynamite Debut

Malakai Black’s tag team partner Brody King has finally debuted on AEW after parting ways with Ring Of Honor.

Former Ring Of Honor star Brody King was revealed as a member of Malakai Black’s ‘House Of Black’ during the former’s AEW debut, which occurred on this week’s edition of Dynamite on TBS.

It all went down at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday, January 12. Penta El Zero Miedo had just scored a pinfall victory over Matt Hardy when he got on the mic to call out Malakai Black. The lights went out, and when they came back on, Black was standing in the ring. Black attacked both Penta and Penta’s hype man Alex Abrahantes but Varsity Blondes (Griff Garrison, Bryan Pillman Jr., and Julia Hart ) made the save and prevented Black from doing any more damage … for a few seconds at least.

Black laughed in the face of his three assailants, and then the lights went off for a second time. When they came back on, Brody King was standing in the ring. Black and King beat everyone up and stood tall as the segment drew to a close.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1481452869626826752

Brody King is a 34-year-old professional wrestler who cut his teeth in the Southern California independent scene while training at the prestigious Santinos Bros Academy in Los Angeles. Something of a late bloomer, King wrestled his very first match in 2015, but his rise to indie stardom was swift. In 2018, he made his Ring Of Honor as a member of Marty Scurll’s heel faction Villain enterprises.

The following year, King and his Villain Enterprises teammate PCO captured the ROH World Tag Team Championship when they defeated The Briscoes (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) at ROH’s 17th Aniversary Show. The very next evening, King became a double champ when he and PCO teamed up with Scurll to win the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Title from The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia).

Earlier this year, King reunited with his old friend Malakai Black when Black made his shocking return to PWG after a five-year absence at the promotion’s Mystery Vortex VII event. Known collectively as The Kings Of The Black Throne, Brody King and Malakai Black defeated Black Taurus & Demonic Flamita PWG Threemendous VI to win the vacant PWG World Tag Team Championship.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Dynamite Preview 1/12/22

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite on TBS will take place from the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. This will be the Raleigh debut for the company.

* CM Punk vs. Wardlow

* Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Dante Martin

* Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb

* Interim TNT Champion Sammy Guevara defends against Daniel Garcia

MLW Has Filed An Anti-Trust Lawsuit Against The WWE

Court Bauer’s Major League Wrestling promotion has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the WWE.

The WWE legal team is working overtime this week … and probably for the next few months.

MLW (Major League Wrestling), the New York-based professional wrestling promotion founded by former WWE writer Court Bauer, has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. MLW is alleging that WWE interfered in some of its business deals and even pressured some third parties to pull the plug on their existing arrangements with MLW.

“WWE’s pattern of predatory and exclusionary conduct has hampered competition in the U.S. wrestling market by deprivingMLW and other competitors of distribution channels, and its conduct has harmed consumers by depriving them of content and keeping prices high,” MLW’s lawsuit states.

MLW claims that WWE sabotaged a “lucrative” agreement between MLW and streaming platform Tubi, which is owned by Fox. According to the lawsuit, a WWE executive contacted Fox and asked Fox to terminate the MLW deal.

As you might recall, WWE and Fox signed a $1 billion broadcast deal in 2018 that facilitated SmackDown’s move from USA Network to Fox. WWE signed another big-money deal with Fox in 2020.

WWE allegedly implied that they would cease doing business with Fox if their demands were not met. Soon thereafter, Fox informed MLW that it had canceled the company’s Tubi contract, which ultimately led to a downturn in MLW’s profits and ticket sales.

MLW also claims that WWE interfered in its deal with VICE TV when WWE senior vice president Susan Levison called VICE to inform the network that Vince McMahon was unhappy that VICE had agreed to air MLW programming As a result, VICE only aired one MLW show.

“WWE has been wrongfully depriving its competitors of critical opportunities for many years, but its latest conduct has been even more unconscionable,” Bauer said in a statement. “I think we speak for the rest of the professional wrestling world when we say that this anti-competitive behavior has to stop.”

In a statement of its own, WWE disputed MLW’s claims.

“WWE believes these claims have no merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against them,” the WWE statement read.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 1/11/22, AJ Styles

Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature fallout from last week’s New Year’s Evil special.

John Cena Gives Update On His WWE Future And WrestleMania Status

John Cena says he will likely miss WrestleMania 38 in April.

Cena appeared on The Ellen Show this week to promote The Peacemaker on HBO Max, and was asked about his WWE future, and if he will be at WrestleMania 38 on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 in Texas.

“WrestleMania is usually in the cusp of late March, early April. I don’t know if I’m going to make it this year,” Cena said. “And that’s a good conundrum to have because there’s a lot of good opportunity coming up, which I would love to take and if all those things line up, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make WrestleMania.”

John Cena continued and said he is far from done with the squared circle.

“But I will tell you and everybody watching, I’m not done with WWE by a long shot,” he said. “That’s my home, I love it. I was able to go back during the summer for a few months and entertain audiences when they welcomed audiences back to arenas, so I’ve far from had my last performance.”

Cena, who turns 45 on April 23, has not worked a program since losing to WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at SummerSlam in late August. He returned on September 10 for a dark main event at the SmackDown at Madison Square Garden, teaming with The Mysterios for a six-man win over The Bloodline, but he has been away since then.

You can see footage from his Ellen interview below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Changes To WWE NXT’s Creative Team

WWE has reportedly made changes to the creative team setup in regards to NXT 2.0. According to PWInsider.com, things will be getting switched around internally with the third brand continuing to evolve. These alterations come following the recent releases.

WWE cut several long-term employees during the latest batch of cuts. The focus was more behind the scenes than in-ring talent, although Samoa Joe was released as well. The company let go of Gabe Sapolsky, William Regal, and Road Dogg during the re-shuffle.

Moving forward, the WWE NXT creative team will not operate independently, as it has done in the past. Previously, Paul Levesque oversaw things with his own team, which was separate from everything else in WWE. However, that is no longer the case.

Instead, the team will now work under Bruce Prichard and Christine Lubrano. Decisions will be reported to them, with WWE looking to streamline the operation to be consistent with how the Raw and SmackDown creative departments work.

Johnny Russo (no relation to Vince Russo) will be heading up WWE NXT’s writing team, working under Prichard and Lubrano. He originally joined WWE in the fall of 2011, and has been involved with the main roster from 2015-2018. However, he does also have experience with NXT, working within the creative department for the black and gold brand since August 2019.

Russo has also been working as the lead writer for the show since July 2020 and therefore knows how things work. Elsewhere on the creative team, Dewey Foley, who is the son of Hall Of Famer, Mick Foley, will remain on the team. He has been working on the 205 Live product as well.

Meanwhile, Anthony Golden Jr. will also still be on the NT creative team. He joined WWE in March 2020 and has a background in theatre, while he also boasts a Master’s in Film and Television production.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Hulk Hogan Facing Backlash For COVID-19 Vaccine Comment About Celebrities

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan is under fire for a now-deleted Facebook comment he made this week.

Comedian Josh Pray posted a Facebook video on the death of actor/comedian Bob Saget this week, and in the comments section one viewer speculated on Saget’s death being related to the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Wellll many directions we can go with this, but I will take jab for $500 Alex,” the user wrote.

Hogan’s official Facebook page then responded to that user, and indicated that he believes the deaths of Saget, actor Sidney Poitier, and actress Betty White were related to the vaccine.

“100% Betty and Sidney were also jabed their dropping like flies but they’ll never say it,” Hogan wrote.

According to NoDQ.com, Hulk Hogan later edited the Facebook post, although the comment could still be seen by clicking the edited link next to the comment. Hogan later deleted the comment altogether.

While the cause of death for both Bob Saget and Sidney Portier are currently unknown, it should be noted that Betty White suffered a stroke six days prior to her death at the age of 99, and no evidence exists that suggests White’s stroke was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.

Hulk Hogan’s comments serve as another setback for the wrestling legend as he looks to rebuild his reputation following a scandal several years ago where he was caught on tape making several racist remarks. Hogan was ostracized from WWE following his comments but ultimately returned to the promotion in 2018. He has made several appearances for WWE since to mixed responses, and Hogan was notably booed while serving as co-host of WrestleMania 37 with Titus O’Neal last year.

You can see Hulk Hogan’s now-deleted comments, as well as several fan tweets reacting to Hogan’s comments, below.

https://twitter.com/Hanzi83/status/1480681089349914626
https://twitter.com/KayfabeNews/status/1480701634116300800
https://twitter.com/Hanzi83/status/1480681089349914626

Source: Wrestling Inc.