Author: John Bass

WWE Reportedly Did Not Give Warning Before Releasing Unvaccinated Stars

Earlier this week WWE released 18 talents: Karrion Kross, Scarlett Bordeaux, “B-Fab” Briana Brandy, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Eva Marie, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Nia Jax, Harry Smith, Oney Lorcan, Franky Monet, Ember Moon, Trey Baxter, Jessi Kamea, Jeet Rama, Zayda Ramier, and Katrina Cortez.

The company line was that the latest cuts were for budgetary reasons, although it was also reported that a handful of stars had refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine and were not big enough stars to get away with that.

It was noted that main roster talents cannot tour foreign countries without being vaccinated, which creates potential issues for the company. Age was also said to play a part in some of the releases as the company looks to get younger talent on TV.

On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, it was reported that at least a half dozen or more didn’t get the vaccine, which was a big reason for their exit. Apparently, no warning was given by WWE that if they were against getting vaccinated, they would be cut.

As previously reported, the New York Post reported that Nia Jax was released because she was unvaccinated. Jax stated on her Instagram that the company never mentioned her vaccination status when cutting her.

“I recently took a short leave of absence from WWE for a mental health break,” Jax wrote. “I’ve been working through so much — more than I can share — and so I took some time, the full support of the company, to take care of myself. Earlier this week, after WWE sent me my schedule to return to the ring for the November 15 show, I asked for an extension to my mental health break, feeling that I needed more time and hoping I would have the ongoing support of the company I have given my all to for the past 7 years. I did not receive a response. The next I heard, I was being released. My vaccination status was never mentioned. I wasn’t given any choices or options.

“It breaks my heart to be so abruptly let go, without consultation, while dealing with so much privately. I loved my career at WWE, I love the men and women I worked with, and I am going to need time to process this huge loss. I appreciate those people who have shown understanding and compassion during an incredibly difficult time.”

Older NXT talent were reportedly on the bubble for being released this week.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Star Tetsuya Naito Announces Return To The Ring

Tetsuya Naito went down with a knee injury in September that cost him being involved in this year’s NJPW G1 Climax tournament. The injury was sustained on September 18 against Zack Sabre Jr. and Naito had to forfeit the remaining matches — ending with a 0-9 record.

At today’s Wrestle Kingdom 16 Press Conference, Naito announced he would not need surgery and is returning to the ring for the World Tag League on November 14. His tag partner is fellow LIJ member, SANADA.

“I’ve torn ligaments in my knee twice before, and I know that with severe ligament damage, you tend to need surgery that can put you on the shelf for a year,” Naito said to the media. “That’s what I was preparing myself mentally for as I went to the hospital, but thankfully there was no ligament damage, and no need for surgery.

“It was a painful injury, and I needed time to heal, but on November 14, in Korakuen Hall on the first night of World Tag League, I will be back. My partner? Of course, SANADA. I messaged SANADA yesterday, and all I got in response was a thumbs up emoji. That’s pretty on brand, right?”

The rest of the World Tag League field has yet to be announced. Typically, the winners receive a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship in January. The current title holders are Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan Already Appears To Be Eyeing Up WWE’s Latest Releases

Tony Khan has said if WWE keeps releasing people, he can keep offering up shock debuts in AEW.

Tony Khan has said if WWE keeps releasing talent, he will have no shortage of new stars to bring in and get big crowd reactions.

Just when the WWE locker room thought it could breathe a sigh of relief, the company swung its axe and released even more of its talents. 18 more Superstars were shown the door last week including Ember Moon, Scarlett, and Keith Lee. After 30 or 90 days, depending on their contracts, those 18 stars will be allowed to work elsewhere in wrestling should they want to.

You might think Tony Khan would be easing off new signings considering how many of WWE’s released wrestlers he has signed for AEW already. However, comments he made to PWTorch’s Wade Keller suggest quite the opposite. “At the rate they [WWE] are letting big stars go and firing people, I will not have a shortage of people to debut in the months ahead,” Khan said to Keller.

The comment was born from a discussion about the multiple debuts at All Out. CM Punk and Ruby Soho wrestled their first AEW matches on the show, and Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson made surprise appearances within minutes of each other to close the PPV. Khan reveals it was his decision to load All Out the way that he did and explained why he still believes it was the right call.

“Since it was the biggest pay-per-view audience we’ve ever had, I wanted to give them the best pay-per-view we’ve ever done.”Khan goes on to say that the feedback from All Out was incredibly positive, cementing his belief that loading it up with debuts and surprises was the right thing to do.

Source: TheSportster

NJPW Power Struggle Results 11/6/2021

DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa

Jado, Gedo, and Tanga Loa defeated Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, and Togi Makabe

BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, and SANADA defeated Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Yuji Nagata

NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, and EVIL defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto (c) to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship

PROVISIONAL KOPW 2021 (AMATEUR WRESTLING MATCH)
Toru Yano (c) defeated Great-O-Khan

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
El Desperado defeated Robbie Eagles (c) to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship

IWGP US CHAMPIONSHIP
KENTA defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) to win the IWGP US Championship

RIGHTS TO TOKYO DOME CONTRACT
Kazuchika Okada (holder) defeated Tama Tonga

IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Shingo Takagi (c) defeated Zack Sabre Jr.

AEW Rampage Preview 11/5/21

Tonight’s AEW Rampage will air live on TNT from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri.

* Adam Cole vs. John Silver

* Final Opening-Round Match of the TBS Women’s Championship Tournament: The Bunny vs. Red Velvet

* CM Punk and Eddie Kingston stand face-to-face

WWE SmackDown Preview 11/5/21

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

WWE has not announced any matches for tonight’s SmackDown, but a teaser for the show asks if The Bloodline can maintain control over the new era of the blue brand.

“In the wake of King Woods & Sir Kofi’s victory over SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in a Champion Contender Match, can Universal Champion Roman Reigns and The Bloodline maintain their stronghold on the blue brand? Find out this Friday at 8/7 C on USA,” WWE wrote.

WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns did not appear on last week’s SmackDown broadcast, but he did work the dark main event. It’s likely that he will be back on TV this week.

Sheamus is rumored to return to action on tonight’s SmackDown. He recently underwent another surgery for his broken nose, and is scheduled to be back to work this week. The Celtic Warrior was recently drafted back to the blue brand, and was featured in a recent backstage vignette.

Sabu Retiring From In-Ring Competition?

ECW Original Sabu says he has likely wrestled his last match.

The former ECW Champion recently spoke with the Wrestling Shoot Interviews YouTube channel and said he’s not doing very good these days. Sabu noted how he wrestled a few weeks back, but probably should’ve passed on that booking.

“I’m not doing real good,” he said. “I hurt my back about a year ago and it’s still been hurting. I wrestled a couple of weeks ago but I shouldn’t have. I’ve only wrestled like twice in the last year [and] I only went to the gym a couple of times the last year ’cause I hurt my back. I’m probably not gonna wrestle no more… I’m probably just gonna do autograph signings and personal appearance-type stuff.”

When asked if there is any wrestler who would inspire him to get back into the ring for one more match, Sabu named Brock Lesnar.

“I’d definitely get back in the ring for Brock Lesnar, I’d love to wrestle him,” Sabu said. “Especially if it was my final match, I’d love to wrestle him… He’s the best, he’s a shooter, he;s a good worker, he’s my kind of opponent. I like big guys, I like wrestling big guys. I don’t like wrestling guys like me because it’s not that interesting. It’s more interesting wrestling a guy like me against a guy like Brock Lesnar.”

Sabu has dealt with multiple health issues in the past few years and has wrestled a brutal style since debuting back in 1984. It will be interesting to see if he really is done with in-ring action, or if he will follow in the footsteps of WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk, who has retired several times over the years.

Sabu has had runs with ECW, WWE, FMW, WCW, NJPW, AJPW, Big Japan, TNA/Impact Wrestling, XPW, and numerous indie promotions, among others. He is a two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time ECW World Television Champion, a three-time ECW World Tag Team Champion, and has held titles with many other promotions.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NJPW Power Struggle 11/6/2021

DATE: November 6, 2021 4:00 am
LOCATION: Osaka Prefectural Gym, Osaka, Japan
AVAILABLE ON:NJPW World

CARD

IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

RIGHTS TO TOKYO DOME CONTRACT
Kazuchika Okada (holder) vs. Tama Tonga

IWGP US CHAMPIONSHIP
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. KENTA

IWGP JR. HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Robbie Eagles (c) vs. El Desperado

PROVISIONAL KOPW 2021 (AMATEUR WRESTLING MATCH)
Toru Yano (c) vs. Great-O-Khan

NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, and Hirooki Goto (c) vs. SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, and EVIL

Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, Yuji Nagata vs. BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, and SANADA

Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma, Togi Makabe vs. Jado, Gedo, and Tanga Loa

Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa vs. DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Nia Jax Among Four WWE Stars Released Reportedly Because They Were Unvaccinated

Nia Jax was reportedly released by WWE because she’d refused to be vaccinated. She might not have been the only one.

According to a report following the numerous talent releases by WWE on Thursday, some of the cuts were not made for budgetary reasons. Instead, as many as four different WWE Superstars, including Nia Jax, were released because they were unvaccinated.

Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast is reporting that possibly four wrestlers were released by WWE because they were not vaccinated. This comes following a report by the New York Post: “A source with knowledge of WWE’s operations told The Post that one of the reasons Nia Jax, a former WWE Raw Women’s Champion, was released is that she is unvaccinated.” The names of the other three superstars have not been released and at this point, any mention of stars beyond Jax would be pure speculation.

If Jax was refusing to get vaccinated, it may explain why she was off of WWE programming. She was written out of storylines after being attacked by Shayna Baszler in September. She’s not returned since. At the time, WWE wrote, “Nia Jax suffered an elbow posterior fracture and dislocation to her left elbow which will require surgery, and she will be out for an undisclosed amount of time.” The assumption was that this was storyline related and she’d pick up her feud with Baszler at a later date. Her release on Thursday obviously means that won’t be happening.

If the New York Post report is accurate and if Zarian’s follow-up that as many as four wrestlers were let go for this reason is true, one has to wonder if and when others will be released for the same reason. WWE is likely looking to limit potential outbreaks among the roster and this could be a policy that was not made public. If so, will this change the opinions of some who were not being vaccinated but will now have to be to save their jobs?

Source: TheSportster

WWE Announces $256 Million Revenue As It Blames Releases On Budget Cuts

The financial call took place right before news of Thursday’s releases started to filter through.

WWE announced it generated almost $256 million in revenue in one quarter on the same day it released multiple Superstars due to budget cuts.

The phrase too big to fail is often thrown around in the business world. Some fans might say WWE now falls into that bracket. It is a massive and well-oiled machine that has turned Vince McMahon from a millionaire into a billionaire. During the last quarter alone WWE generated $256 million, as was revealed during the company’s latest financial report.

The report was published on Thursday of this week and then dissected by a number of WWE higher-ups during a quarterly financial call. The $255.8 million of revenue is $34.2 million more than the promotion generated during the same three-month period in 2020.

Since that period took place during lockdown last year, WWE has attributed the uptick in revenue to ticket sales, for the most part. Fans were allowed to return to buildings, and WWE returned to touring, in late July, meaning almost the entire quarter included ticket sales for the first time since spring of 2020.

What won’t sit well with fans is the timing of this reveal. The financial call took place directly before news of WWE’s latest batch of releases started to filter through on social media. That likely means the talent being let go was called and informed they were losing their jobs while the financial call was in process. It has also been reported that those released were given little more than “budget cuts” as the reason for being shown the door.

The wrestling world is still trying to digest who WWE released on Thursday and figure out where the company went so wrong with some of the soon-to-be free agents. Karrion Kross and Keith Lee are at the top of the list when it comes to head-scratchers. Scarlett falls into that bracket too, as does Hit Row’s B-Fab who was only called up with the rest of the former NXT faction during last month’s draft.

Source: TheSportster