Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will feature fallout from last Sunday’s Hell In a Cell pay-per-view.
WWE SmackDown Superstar Montez Ford reportedly underwent surgery this week.
Ford took to Twitter this week and posted a photo from a hospital room, which you can see below. This came after WWE did an injury angle with he and Otis on the June 11 SmackDown episode. WWE issued a storyline injury update after that show, noting that Ford suffered a partial rib fracture and torn intercostal cartilage. Ford’s wife, SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, then appeared on The Bump a few days later and noted that Ford was recovering from the broken rib at home, but he did not suffer any additional storyline injuries in the attack from Otis.
In an update, it looks like the injury angle with Otis was done as a cover story as Ford underwent surgery this week. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Ford underwent a voluntary surgery this week, one that was not related to any kind of injury, and not something that should keep him out of action for any significant length of time.
Ford reportedly underwent the surgery on Thursday of this week, which was the day after his 3rd wedding anniversary with Belair.
There is no word yet on when Ford will be back in action.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced NJPW Strong will have its first matches ever in front of a live audience on Monday, August 16.
NJPW announced the Fighting Spirits Unleashed 2021 series will see fans welcomed to the Thunder Studio in Long Beach, California.
Nine matches are planned to take place at the event. Limited tickets will be on sale, Wednesday, June 30 at 10 AM PDT.
Wrestlers that are scheduled for the event include NEVER Openweight Champion Jay White, STRONG Openweight Champion ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor, Juice Robinson, Lio Rush, Shota Umino, Ren Narita, Fred Rosser, and Karl Fredericks.
NJPW Strong premiered in August 2020 on NJPW World and FITE.
Below is NJPW’s full announcement:
After announcing the return of US fans to matches for the ‘Resurgence’ event, New Japan Pro-Wrestling today announced the ‘Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2021’ series. The series will see fans welcomed to Thunder Studio in Long Beach for the ‘NJPW STRONG’ brand’s first matches ever in front of a live audience on Monday, August 16.
Premiering in August 2020 on NJPW World and FITE, NJPW STRONG began without a live crowd, but has quickly become critically acclaimed and a favorite of fans around the world. The Friday broadcast has seen the introduction to NJPW fans of STRONG Openweight Champion ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor, ‘Mr. No Days Off’ Fred Rosser and ‘The Man of the Hour’ Lio Rush, as well as the appearance of popular stars active in Japan like ‘The Flamboyant’ Juice Robinson and NEVER Openweight Champion ‘Switchblade’ Jay White, all of whom will be in action at Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2021.
Nine matches are planned to take place at ‘Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2021’ for future broadcast on STRONG, with extremely limited tickets on sale on Wednesday June 30 at 10AM PDT. New Japan Pro-Wrestling have been staging events with fans in attendance in Japan since July 11 2020, all with the safety of fans, staff and wrestlers taken as top priority. As a result and to prevent the spread of COVID-19, masks will be required during the event when not eating or drinking.
Fans not in attendance can watch NJPW STRONG every Friday night at 10e/7p on NJPW World and FITE.
NJPW STRONG: FIGHTING SPIRIT UNLEASHED 2021
Monday August 16, 2021 Doors: 6:30PM Start: 7:30PM
Thunder Studio
20434 South Santa Fe Avenue, Long Beach CA 90810
Ticket on sale: Wednesday June 30, 10am PDT
General Admission (standing): $60
Ringside C: $80
Ringside B: $100
Ringside A: $120
Tickets on sale Wednesday June 30:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fighting-spirit-unleashed-2021-in-los-angeles-tickets-160161644791
*Attendees will be asked to wear a mask during the event when not eating or drinking.
* Sales price includes tax* Other fees such as service/processing fees will be charged* Please be advised that event-day tickets may sell out early. Thank you for your understanding.
*Thunder Studio is a *closed studio set*. There is *no* entry to or exit from the venue after the event starts even if you hold a valid ticket. Thank you for your understanding.
Participating wrestlers
NEVER Openweight Champion: ‘Switchblade’ Jay White
STRONG Openweight Champion ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor
‘Flamboyant’ Juice Robinson
‘The Man of the Hour’ Lio Rush
Shota Umino
Ren Narita
‘Mr. No Days Off’ Fred Rosser
‘The Alpha Wolf’ Karl Fredericks
‘Wild Rhino’ Clark Connors
‘Young Gun’ Hikuleo
More names and match card TBA.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Talk about WWE potentially being sold has come and gone in waves. At one point, it was believed there was real potential Vince McMahon was gearing up to sell the company, emphasized by the fact big contracts were cut from the talent payroll. In other weeks, the talk has quieted. What’s really going on?
According to one financial expert, all signs point to WWE gearing up for a sale, eventually. Laura Martin of Needham says that, yes, the extremely popular sports entertainment brand looks like it is going to be sold and Vince is making shrewd business moves to prepare for that sale.
Martin insists that WWE is lining their ducks up in a row, citing the WWE licensing deal of the WWE Network to Peacock as the biggest indicator a sale is coming. Martin explains: “The US OTT rights fees alone generated over 100% of 2020’s total OTT Network’s revs, so international fees are just gravy, and cutting out all OTT Network costs implies that this new strategy has much higher ROICs than running a direct-to-consumer business.”
For those that don’t understand what that means, the fact WWE got out of the business of running the business of streaming it’s product to consumers, then let another company have the rights to do so was a smart financial move — if the objective is to be sold. US OTT refers to over-the-top media service. (WWE Network). “ROICs”, refers to Return on Invested Capital. Essentially, WWE has cut out the costs of running the network and made a huge chunk of money by selling the rights to the content. The decision looks good to outside potential buyers.
The article goes on to say that three-quarters of WWE’s revenue will come from their Peacock deal for WWE’s OTT Network rights. It makes them a much lower risk for whomever buys the company because those deals are in place and guaranteed.
When WWE might sell was not part of the article, but it sure sounds like WWE might be thinking about doing something sooner than later. As of now, it seems to more of a “some day” situation than an “imminent” one.
For fans, it probably won’t change all that much, at least not right away. It would be hard to imagine whoever bought the company moving out the people in charge as their first order of business.
Source: The Sportster
The 2021 WWE Draft will reportedly be held after SummerSlam. The previous two drafts were held in October
The dates for the upcoming 2021 WWE Draft are reportedly set.
According to a report from Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast, the WWE Draft will be held on the Aug. 30 and Sept. 1 episodes of Monday Night Raw (in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and Friday Night SmackDown (in Jacksonville, Florida), respectively. These are the final two dates for WWE’s 25-city tour that will commence with the July 16 episode of SmackDown at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Earlier this month, Zarian reported that the draft would be held after SummerSlam, set for Aug. 21 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The last two drafts have been held in October. Previously, the WWE Draft was usually held in April after WrestleMania weekend.
Instead of the draft format, WWE ran a Superstar Shake-Up every year from 2017 to 2019, with a handful of wrestlers switching brands. But instead of simply moving a small number of superstars around, the format changed in 2019 after SmackDown moved to Friday nights on FOX. All of the main roster talents enter the draft and are either selected by Raw or SmackDown. Those who aren’t drafted become “free agents” and can sign with any promotion.
It has been reported that major changes will be coming to WWE after they return to performing in live crowds. On top of the WWE Draft, it sounds like we’ll see Hall of Famer Edge and John Cena return for SummerSlam season.
Post-SummerSlam is the ideal time to run this year’s WWE Draft. As noted above, the draft usually took place following WrestleMania, so why not run it after another marquee pay-per-view like SummerSlam? It will lead to more more excitement and anticipation towards the end of the summer holidays. The draft is exactly what WWE needs to shake up the product, and they have no reason to wait until October this year.
Source: The Sportster
Tonight on Impact on AXS TV:
* Impact World Tag Team Championship: Violent By Design (Joe Doering & Deaner) (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima & Eddie Edwards
* Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo vs. Susan in a non-title match
* Knockouts Tag Champion Kiera Hogan vs. Rosemary
* Rohit Raju & Shera vs. Petey Williams & Trey Miguel
* Decay (Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus) vs. TJP & Fallah Bahh will kick things off on Before The Impact at 7 PM ET!
“Super Genie” Melissa Coates has passed away at age 50, according to the Cauliflower Alley Club.
Coates was trained at Killer Kowalski’s school in Massachusetts and also trained at Rick Bassman’s UPW Academy.
During her pro wrestling career, Coates wrestled in OVW and Deep South Wrestling. She appeared at the 2005 WWE Backlash PPV, where she attempted to break out of Chris Masters’ Masterlock Challenge.
It was in 2014 when Coates began managing Sabu as Super Genie. She appeared with him in Impact Wrestling as well as several promotions.
Before her professional wrestling career, she was in two seasons of GSN’s Extreme Dodgeball.
In late 2020, Coates was forced to undergo an amputation of her leg. A GoFundMe campaign was launched to help her with medical expenses.
Mickie James will return to the ring on the NWA 73rd Anniversary pay-per-view in August.
The NWA recently announced that James had joined the company and will be executive producing the all-women’s NWA Empower pay-per-view on Saturday, August 28 from the Chase Ballroom in St. Louis. She has said she will not wrestle that night. It was believed that Mickie would wrestle at the NWA 73rd Anniversary pay-per-view the next night, at the same venue, and now that has been confirmed.
James hosted an Instagram Live video this week to announce the return to the ring. She noted that she is looking for an opponent, and wants fans to share potential opponents with NWA owner Billy Corgan.
James also talked about the Empower pay-per-view, noting that she is still looking for unsigned women’s wrestlers to send in their tapes and promos to mickiejamesproject@gmail.com if they’d like to potentially work the show.
James was released from her WWE contract back in mid-April along with other budget cuts, and will become a free agent after Wednesday, July 14 when her 90-day non-compete expires. James has not wrestled since the 30-Woman Royal Rumble Match back in January. Before that, her last singles match was the loss to Zelina Vega on the September 1, 2020 RAW.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Roderick Strong returned to NXT for the first time in three months and revealed himself as the leader of the much-hyped Diamond Mine.
It all went down in the Capitol Wrestling Center on the most recent edition of NXT on USA Network. Strong’s former Undisputed Era colleague Kyle O’Reilly had just defeated NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida in a non-title main event when Adam Cole appeared. Cole and O’Reilly began to scuffle, his was the cue to NXT’s new enforcer Samoa Joe to intervene with his team of peacekeepers.
While Joe and his peacekeepers were distracted with Cole and O’Reilly, three mystery assailants entered the ring and began attacking Kushida. IT soon became clear that the chief assailant was the returning Roderick Strong who was flanked by NXT newcomer Tyler Rust, and Japanese veteran Hideki Suzuki.
Manager Malcolm Bivens then joined the three men and introduced them as the Diamond Mine.
As you might recall, Roderick Strong was last seen in NXT back in April when he appeared to resign from the brand after struggling to adapt to life as a solo performer in the wake of The Undisputed Era’s breakup.
Strong handed NXT General Manager William Regal his letter of resignation but was informed that he’d be welcome back anytime. It seems that Strong’s solution to no longer being a member of a stable was to start his own.
Source: The Sportster
A loaded line-up has been announced for tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network.
* Samoa Joe appears live after returning last week
* Million Dollar feud between Cameron Grimes and Million Dollar Champion LA Knight will continue after WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase was attacked by Knight last week
* NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida vs. Kyle O’Reilly in a non-title match
* Adam Cole will be in action
* The encore of Franky Monet’s recent World Premiere
* The Diamond Mind opens up
* Hit Row vs. Ever-Rise
* More build for Great American Bash
