Author: John Bass

Impact Wrestling/OVW Sacrifice 2/22/20 – Outbreak 2/21/22

IMPACT Wrestling comes to you LIVE on IMPACT Plus will be this Saturday, February 22 with Sacrifice. What are the stars of IMPACT Wrestling and OVW willing to sacrifice to be victorious on this night? There’s only one way to find out. Start your 30-Day Free Trial today and catch all the action.

Impact Wrestling Sacrifice – Davis Arena in Louisville, Ky – Available on Impact Plus

Impact World Champion Tessa Blanchard vs. Impact X-Division Champion Ace Austin

Impact Knockouts Championship: Jordynne Grace (c) vs. Havok

Impact World Tag Team Championship: The North (c) vs. The Rascalz

Rhino vs Moose

Johnny Swinger vs. Joey Ryan

Daga vs. Jake Crist

Madman Fulton and Dave Crist vs. Larry D and Acey Romero

Willie Mack vs. Jay Bradley

 

Tonight, IMPACT Wrestling and OVW kick off a weekend of action from Kentucky. Who will survive the Outbreak? Watch LIVE & FREE on Twitch to find out.

Tessa Blanchard and Daga vs. Ace Austin and Jake Crist

Rhino vs. Madman Fulton

Joey Ryan vs. Dave Crist

Moose vs. Jay Bradley

The North vs. Larry D and Acey Romero

5-Way Knockouts Challenge: Kiera Hogan vs. Havok vs. Jordynne Grace vs. ? vs. ?

Willie Mack vs. Johnny Swinger

 

MLW Fusion Preview 2/22/20

Since the closing moments of the 2019 Fusion on Thanksgiving special Ross Von Erich has had one objective: get “Filthy” Tom Lawlor in the ring. This week it finally happens as the elder Von Erich brother battles the captain of Team Filthy in a Grudge Match!

Can Ross continue his momentum following last week’s World Tag Team title defense against the Dynasty? Or does the filthiest fighter in the sport have something up his sleeve? Never one to play by the rules, the traitor will take on one of Texas’ own in the heart of Von Erich Country in tonight’s main event.

Knocking out 62% of his opponents in MMA, one of the sport’s most dangerous finishers, King Mo promises to add another victim to his list of wins in Major League Wrestling. Who will step up against the self-proclaimed “Knockout King”?

After weeks heralding total annihilation, Erick Stevens touches down in MLW as he faces off with Douglas James.

James answered the call after league officials made an open challenge for the dangerous Stevens, who had potential opponents decline the challenge due to the potential harm he brings to the ring. Will the kickboxer turned pro wrestler have what it takes to derail Stevens’ entry into MLW? Or will the bigmouth mohawked mauler make a statement in his debut?

PLUS! The Dynasty will be in the house and they’re not happy.  What will the elitists have to say? What will they do? Tune in to find out!

Join Rich Bocchini, AJ Kirsch and Alicia from Dallas/Ft. Worth for a night of top ranked action.

Matches:
•Ross Von Erich vs. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
•Erick Stevens vs. Douglas James
•King Mo in action

WWE SmackDown Preview 2/21/20

Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown will take place from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona with the final blue brand build for WWE Super ShowDown.

The Bella Twins are teasing a big announcement for tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX episode.

  • Goldberg returns to SmackDown ahead of Universal Title Match
  • The Bella Twins return this Friday night for “A Moment of Bliss”
  • Naomi and Carmella collide for the right to challenge Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Title at WWE Super ShowDown
  • The New Day & The Usos set to collide with The Miz, John Morrison, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode in Eight-Man Tag Team Action
  • Lacey Evans to sit down with Renee Young for exclusive interview this Friday night on SmackDown

WWE 205 Live Preview 2/21/20

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona

WWE has announced a battle of WWE NXT Superstars for tonight’s 205 Live episode with Joaquin Wilde taking on Raul Mendoza.

205 Live will also feature a No DQ match with The Brian Kendrick and Ariya Daivari vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch of NXT.

WWE Reportedly Negotiating With ESPN For Content Streaming On ESPN+

WWE is reportedly having talks with ESPN.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the talks would be in regards to WWE content airing on the ESPN+ service. The deal that WWE is likely trying to broker would be similar to the deal UFC has with ESPN, where WWE would sell their rights to air pay-per-views, which would pay more money for the content than WWE could make on its own by selling the content directly to viewers with the WWE Network. The ESPN+ model with UFC is reportedly what opened WWE’s eyes to the idea.

The ESPN+ deal could potentially bring more mainstream exposure to WWE’s big events and their biggest Superstars. ESPN has proved that when they own rights to a product, they use their various shows to heavily market that product. There’s no word yet on how far the talks with ESPN are, but The Observer noted that it looks like the deal has not been agreed on as of this week.

Wrestling Inc. earlier this month at this link, there was no truth to the rumors on WWE possibly talking to Amazon about selling content rights to them. While Amazon might not be interested in WWE, the company has been talking with other potential partners, which would include DAZN, and NBC’s Peacock service. ESPN+ was also included in the original report on potential content partners.

The belief was that NBC’s Peacock service, which is set to launch later this year, would be the best bet for WWE. TV industry sources recently reported to The Observer that Peacock would look at WWE to be its key initial programming to draw subscribers from the launch moving forward, which would be very similar to how ESPN+ did with UFC. With such a deal with one of these larger streaming services, WWE would be able to get significantly guaranteed money for their big money events, instead of being forced to rely on declining subscription money from the WWE Network. You can read Wrestling Inc.’s original report on the possible content changes by clicking here.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Superstars Offer Support To Boy Who Was Bullied For Dwarfism, Possible Trip To WrestleMania 36

It looks like 9 year old Quaden Bayles could be going to WrestleMania 36.

The story of the 9 year old from Australia surfaced this week after his mother posted an emotional video about how he is bullied because he has Dwarfism. In response, several celebrities and brands have sent tweets and other messages in support of the boy and his mother.

Comedian Brad Williams, who also has Dwarfism, launched a GoFundMe campaign to help send Quaden and his mother from Australia to Disney in the United States. The campaign is currently trending and has raised $288,839 of a $10,000 goal, with more than 13,000 donors. The numbers are climbing as the story continues to go viral this morning.

Several WWE Superstars and other wrestlers, as seen in the tweets below, are also supporting Quaden. The MMA community has also reached out and the Bayles family has accepted an offer from ONE MMA CEO Chatri Sityodtong for free MMA lessons.

Williams, who kicked off the campaign of support for the boy, noted in one tweet that “multiple WWE Superstars” want to bring Quaden to WrestleMania 36 in Tampa this April.

“We are now over 35k. Multiple @WWE superstars want to bring him to WrestleMania. I’m one man trying to organize this. Can someone who works for a charity help me organize this? @WWE people? @Disneyland people? @TheEllenShow people?,” he wrote yesterday in one of many tweets trying to organize more gifts for Quaden.

Paige tweeted support for the boy and WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry responded with an offer to help. Paige has offered to pay for flights to Tampa and other WWE Superstars such as Natalya have offered to spoil the boy while he’s in town for a vacation. Below are related tweets from Henry, Paige, Natalya, The Bella Twins, Nia Jax, Kayla Braxton, Naomi, Matt Hardy, Big Show, Alexa Bliss, Naomi, and Dana Brooke.

Below are some of the tweets:

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1230616750246359040

https://twitter.com/NiaJaxWWE/status/1230592325015003136

https://twitter.com/KaylaBraxtonWWE/status/1230595150147182610

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Cody Rhodes’ Amazing Off Air Promo From Wednesday

Cody Rhodes gives an emotional off air promo after the end of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite following his steel cage match win over Wardlow in Atlanta, Georgia.  He tells a touching story of how, where and when he fell in love with wrestling.

Plus, he announced that Turner and Warner Media has extended AEW Dynamite for 3 more years.

WWE To Launch A Performance Center In Japan Soon

WWE is expected to launch their Japan Performance Center soon.

The announcement of the new WWE Performance Center in Japan is expected to come in the next few months, possibly around the summer time if everything goes as expected, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. WWE returns to Osaka and Yokohama in July for three live events, so it’s possible the announcement coincides with that tour.

WWE has reportedly reached out to WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki and Hiroshi Hase about the political situation surrounding the new PC in Japan. Hase, a semi-retired pro wrestler who once held the WCW International World Heavyweight Title, was named the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2015.

It was believed that WWE would be working with Pro Wrestling NOAH for the new expansion in Japan, but NOAH was sold to the CyberAgent media company earlier this year.

The new report did not mention if there will be a WWE NXT Japan brand to go with the new Japan Performance Center, but that has been rumored for some time now.

The WWE Japan Performance Center will be the third PC for the company. The main Performance Center in Orlando, Florida was launched in July 2013 and the UK Performance Center in London, England was launched in January 2019.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW PPV Events To Replace WWE PPVs In Germany

AEW pay-per-view events will soon replace WWE pay-per-view events on Sky Germany.

Sky Deutschland announced this week that they are parting ways with WWE, and that this was a WWE decision. The current contract between the two sides expires at the end of March. Sky told customers that while WWE will no longer be offered, they will begin offering another wrestling league to fans beginning in April – AEW.

AEW Dynamite runs weekly on Sky each Friday at 9:50pm on TNT. Sky will begin offering AEW pay-per-view events “shortly” via the Sky Select service.

ProSieben Maxx continues to air RAW and SmackDown on free TV in Germany.

WWE and Sky Germany originally announced their multi-year deal to air WWE pay-per-views back beginning with Survivor Series 2016 back on November 16, 2016, and to start airing RAW and SmackDown on Sky Sports the following April.

You can see the announcement below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Vickie Guerrero Claims She Can No Longer Interview WWE Stars Due To AEW Appearance

Vickie Guerrero claims her recent appearance on AEW Dark has made it so WWE stars can no longer be interviewed on her podcast.

Guerrero explained during last week’s episode of her show that she had asked to interview a few WWE Superstars, but when the company found out about her AEW appearances they stopped answering.

“They didn’t call me for two years,” she added. “What did they expect me to do? Just to sit here and wait for them to call so I could do some work? I love wrestling. I love to work in the ring. And if someone is giving me an opportunity to go and show up and have some fun, then I should be able to because I’m not obligated to anybody.”

In case you missed it, Vickie did guest commentary on the December 11 edition of Dark in Texas.

“To be part of a promotion, or anyone, you should encourage the people that are in the other promotions because it’s about everyone showing their talent and their craft,” the former WWE star continued. “I think there’s enough jobs out there, and promotions, to let everybody work and to let everyone contribute to what they want to do in the industry. So when someone told me I couldn’t interview the Superstars because I went to AEW, I was just like, ‘Wow. They’re gonna be like that.” So you just quietly move on and you see how they are and you just have to take care of your own business.”

CLICK HERE for the full podcast episode or listen to her comments about WWE below.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet