Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air on a tape delay from the WWE Performance Center in Orland, Florida with more build for the “Extreme Rules: Horror Show” pay-per-view.
Kairi Sane is reportedly returning to Japan to be with her husband.
While Sane is returning to Japan soon, she is scheduled to return to RAW soon as she is listed for the tapings being held today at the WWE Performance Center, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. These would be for the episodes that air on July 6 or July 13.
WWE has known about Sane returning to Japan since May, if not earlier. The move has been in the works for a while.
Sane has been out of action since suffering the cut on her head during the RAW match with Nia Jax, which aired on June 1 and was taped on May 26. This is why Sane has been off WWE TV but she has been cleared to compete since then. WWE made the decision at the time to not harp on the injury on TV, and pretty much ignore it publicly, which is why it was never played up and Sane hasn’t been talked about since.
The idea before that last Sane vs. Jax match was to do a career-ending injury angle with Sane at a later time, before it was time for her to return to Japan. That angle would have set up a SummerSlam match between RAW Women’s Champion Asuka and whoever they went with to put Sane out of action. The Observer noted that this has likely changed since Paul Heyman was dismissed from his role as RAW Executive Director. It’s believed that this spot would have went to either Charlotte Flair, who may or may not be back in time for the SummerSlam build, or Shayna Baszler. Original plans did not call for Jax to be the one who ended Sane’s WWE in-ring career.
There’s no word yet on what WWE has planned for Sane after she returns to Japan, but the Observer reports that there had been talk that once her contract was up, she would wrestle for one more year in Japan and then retire from action.
The 31 year old Sane was married to her longtime partner back in February of this year.
Sane signed a three year WWE deal back in March 2017. She worked the Mae Young Classic in 2017, and won the tournament by defeating Baszler in the finals. She would go on to become a one-time NXT Women’s Champion before debuting on WWE’s main roster in April 2019 after WrestleMania 35. She has held the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles with Asuka on the main roster.
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter via Wrestling Inc.
WWE has officially purchased EVOLVE Wrestling, PWInsider reports.
The deal was recently finalized after several months of negotiations. WWE now has the complete right to use the EVOLVE brand name and produce EVOLVE events.
WWE has also acquired the EVOLVE video library.
EVOLVE had been going through some financial issues and the COVID-19 pandemic made it worse. The cancellation of WrestleMania 36 Week in Tampa was catastrophic for the promotion.
EVOLVE was founded in 2010 by Gabe Sapolsky. Since 2015, the promotion has had a working relationship with WWE. When they signed that deal, EVOLVE created a new LLC, which is the company WWE has acquired. WWE has not purchased WWNLive, which will still reportedly go on.
As for talent, PWInsider reports that the existing EVOLVE/WWN talent contracts are not part of the sale. Though there is an expectation of at least four talents that will be signed and go to WWE NXT.
Apollo Crews, Austin Theory, Drew Gulak, Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano, Matt Riddle, Ricochet, and Oney Lorcan are just a few who used the promotion as a stepping stone to get to WWE.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Former Impact Wrestling star Michael Elgin has released a video denying claims made against him in the #SpeakingOut movement.
The nearly ten-minute video is titled “Hopefully you’ll listen” and begins with Elgin saying he hasn’t enjoyed thinking about wrestling the past two weeks.
He then addresses the #SpeakingOut movement and says it’s truly terrible that a lot of serious offenses were committed towards wrestlers/fans.
“A lot of things have been said about me,” he said next in the video. “And even though everything is drastically different, a lot of the things that were going on in wrestling were people using their power, using their position, or even taking advantage of younger people, and that sucks. But it was brought to my attention that some girl made claims about a hotel room in 2011.”
“Now, I don’t know if anything had ever happened to this young lady, I hope that it hasn’t and I hope that if it has she’s found some peace and some resolve. And I’m sure that’s impossible, because I can’t speak on anything like that. But what I can say, is that in 2011, I did share a hotel room with the girl and I did share a bed with the girl,” Elgin added. “But what has been left out is there was four other people in the room and I laid down in the bed next to the girl, asked her to come closer, or to have sex, I don’t know the exact verbiage. All I remember is her saying no and me going to sleep and the next morning the four wrestlers asking if we slept together. When I said no, they said, ‘Oh, we know. We heard her turn you down.’ And joked with me for months after about getting turned down.”
“I’m many things and I’ve made many mistakes in my life, but never, ever would I do anything to try and force anybody to do anything. Because, one, it’s not good for either one of us. The act. And, two, I mean, there’s legal consequences behind that,” he continued.
As for allegations made regarding him sending unwanted explicit photos to a female wrestler, Elgin claims to have reached out to the woman saying he didn’t recall doing that. She then told him that it was done as a dare while he was out drinking with wrestlers, as he explained while apologizing after it initially happened. Because of this, he apologized once again, though he says the photo may have been a picture he found online and not his own.
He also says a fan claiming he called her fat wasn’t true, as he grew up obese and knows what it feels like to be picked on for size, therefore he wouldn’t do that to someone.
Lastly, Elgin addressed the infamous video of him claiming to have urinated on a woman in a hotel room who was asking him to stop. Here’s what he had to say in full:
“Yes, I said that story. I said that story in 2013, because at that time those overly sexual stories or overly wild stories were getting massive downloads and massive buys because people wanted to hear them. So a story that happened in Timmins. Myself and two other wrestlers met three girls, and this was like maybe 2007, and we went back to the hotel. And there was joking about peeing on someone consensually on the ride up, and we did definitely joke about it, and somebody pee’ed on a girl in the shower when they were showering together, and joked about it after.
We went out with the girls the next day for breakfast. We saw them the next two times we went to town. It was an over-exaggerated story that I should have never told because now I realize, as I’ve matured, as I’ve growed, that … one, the story is outlandish and paints everybody in a bad light. But at that time, I was trying to sell DVDs. That’s not an excuse, that’s not anything. Because I take full blame for people bringing it up because it was me that said it. But I’ve tried to correct that story a million times, even the person that pee’ed on the girl in the shower corrected the story two years ago. And it just still floats out there. Again, that’s on me. One-hundred percent. I take ownership of that. I’m taking ownership of everything.
As we previously reported, Impact Wrestling says Elgin will not appear in future programming.
Watch his comments in the video below.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
We haven’t seen Mickie James in a WWE ring for over a year, but it turns out she was just weeks away from returning before COVID-19 struck.
James, who tore her ACL during a house show last year, had apparently been medically cleared and was close to making a comeback. “The doc had already cleared me, so I was literally just getting that last two weeks to get cleared to come back to in-ring action and everything got shut down,” she told Chris Van Vliet in a new interview. “So, I went home and I just haven’t been back since.”
For the time being, James is fine with staying away from the Performance Center. “Theres no need to take that risk of going there if I’m not doing anything,” she explained. “I would rather bide my time and wait for the perfect opportunity.”
When she does return, James has some (mostly tongue-in-cheek) goals in mind. “I’m going to go in and take all the championships,” she said. “I’m going to be my own tag team partner and I’m going to go in there and take those championships first, and then I’m going to take both of the women’s championships at the same time.”
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
After teasing a big announcement for this week, WWE on-air talent Renee Young revealed today that has written a cookbook.
Renee posted a video to Instagram and noted in the caption that she handed over her manuscript today. She has been writing and booking for over three months while working on the book.
She wrote, “Announcement time!!!!! Finally it’s here and i can share it with you guys!! I wrote a cookbook! I finally handed over my manuscript today. Been writing and cooking my butt off for 3 months, and i couldn’t be more excited for the rest of the process to get this book to you lovely people!!”
Renee noted in her Instagram video that the cookbook will feature more than 70 recipes, including breakfast items, sandwiches, cocktails, and more. The recipes will also include a music playlist to set the mood. She also said she will announce the name, release date and more details at later dates. She’s leaning towards “Holy Bleep That’s Good” for the title.
As reported back in April, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley appeared on The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast and mentioned how his wife had been cooking meals for him everyday. He also told Wrestling Observer Live that she had “some cooking projects she’s experimenting with” while at home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest (Night 1) episode airs on TNT from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
* MJF and Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus
* Private Party (with Matt Hardy) vs. Santana and Ortiz – Chris Jericho on commentary
* Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Penelope Ford (AEW Women’s World Championship)
* Cody (c) vs. Jake Hager (AEW TNT Championship)
* Hangman Page and Kenny Omega (c) vs. Best Friends (AEW World Tag Team Championship)
Night One of the Great American Bash edition of WWE NXT will air tonight on a slight tape delay from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University.
It looks like the WWE NXT UK brand will be returning with new content soon.
There has been a lot of speculation on the future of the brand as of late. They haven’t filmed new content in months due to the coronavirus pandemic, and several talents were recently hit with accusations in the “#SpeakingOut” movement. It was reported on Monday that a mandatory conference call was planned for today with staff and talent told to participate.
That conference call happened this afternoon and PWInsider reports that it was more or less a chance for WWE officials to touch base with the roster. It was also said that officials told the talents to be ready to get back to work when the time was right. Several NXT UK talents have taken to social media this afternoon and indicated that they would be working TV tapings soon.
F4Wonline.cm adds that Triple H addressed talents during the call and told them explicitly what the protocol is regarding sexual abuse allegations. Triple H said there would be zero tolerance on any charges, provided there was irrefutable evidence against them. It was taken as more of a warning going forward than anything else. Their report also noted that there was no talk of any other changes with the brand.
There has been talk of taping new material for NXT UK soon, but nothing is official as far as dates go, according to PWInsider. NXT UK episodes on the WWE Network have been special editions for a few months now, featuring older matches or compilations, but last week’s “Superstar Picks” episode featured the return of talent vignettes and promos for feuds.
While WWE has not announced new NXT UK dates as of this writing, it’s worth noting that the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland still has tickets up for sale for the NXT UK “Takeover: Dublin” event. That show was originally scheduled for Sunday, April 26 but was re-scheduled to Sunday, October 25 due to COVID-19.
In other NXT UK news, PWInsider reports that referee Joel Allen was released over the weekend. Referee Chris Roberts was also released, according to F4Wonline.com, and Joe Coffey was suspended. The releases and the suspension follow the recent departures of Ligero, Jack Gallagher and Travis Banks. All faced allegations from the “#SpeakingOut” movement.
It’s interesting to note that NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray took to Twitter this afternoon and posted a graphic of the other WWE women’s champions – WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks & Bayley, who is also the SmackDown Women’s Champion, RAW Women’s Champion Asuka, and NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai.
She wrote, “Doesn’t matter if you like it or not but fact is, I am your longest reigning women’s champion across all @WWE brands right now. I AM YOUR FOREVER CHAMPION!!! Fight me….”
Bayley responded and wrote, “Don’t mind if I do.”
This exchange has fans hoping for a potential match between Bayley and Ray.
The NXT UK brand currently has the following champions – Ray, NXT UK Champion WALTER, and NXT UK Tag Team Champions Wolfgang and Mark Coffey of Gallus.
The following is scheduled for tonight’s Impact on AXS TV:
* TJP and Fallah Bahh vs.Reno Scum
* Kiera Hogan w/Tasha Steelz vs. Havok w/Nevaeh
* Moose vs. Crazzy Steve
