Author: John Bass

News On Cain Velasquez – WWE Deal

After Brock Lesnar squashed Kofi Kingston to become the new WWE Champion on Friday’s SmackDown, Cain Velasquez made his debut with WWE as he came down to the ring with Rey Mysterio.

On this past Monday’s RAW, Lesnar crushed Mysterio and his son, Dominick, so the story from that is Mysterio has brought Velasquez in to take on Lesnar. Their match is reportedly set for WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on October 31.

The latest Wrestling Observer Radio gave some more insight into the deal between WWE and Velasquez. In AAA, Cain made his debut under a mask and performed a number of high flying moves, WWE wasn’t looking for that type of persona as that was all removed as WWE looked to have Cain go back to more of his MMA roots.

Reportedly, the deal between the two sides had some “snags,” including WWE pulling the deal off the table after being unhappy that word of Cain signing with WWE came out early. Apparently, the deal was initially pulled on Monday before RAW started.

Dave Meltzer noted that in Cain’s ESPN interview that he said he wasn’t signed with WWE yet. Meltzer was told from WWE that Cain was indeed signed, and said it made sense as WWE wouldn’t run an angle to this magnitude if they didn’t already have the former UFC Champion locked up. Velasquez had also reportedly been in talks with AEW and NJPW.

Velasquez, who previously defeated Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Title back in 2010, is making a transition from MMA to pro wrestling. He reportedly has notified UFC officials of withdrawing from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool, retiring him from active competition.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Hell In A Cell 10/6/19

October 6, 2019 at 7:00 PM ET (Preshow at 6:00 PM ET) Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California.

Only four matches have been announced for the event after SmackDown aired on Friday which is the most incomplete card for a major WWE event with 24 hours to go. It’s unclear as to why so few matches have been announced for the show aside from making the assumption that creative has spent all its time on the season premieres of its TV programming this week.

Universal Championship – Hell in a Cell: (C) Seth Rollins vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt

RAW Women’s championship – Hell in a Cell: (C) Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks

SmackDown Women’s Championship: (C) Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair

WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles Match: Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross

Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan vs. Erick Rowan & Luke Harper

Baron Corbin vs. Chad Gable

The OC vs. The Viking Raiders and a mystery partner

(Kickoff) Natalya vs. Lacey Evans

MLW Fusion Preview 10/5/19

The rogue rookie of the Hart Foundation Brian Pillman Jr. steps foot in the ring to avenge Teddy Hart as he takes on his attacker Austin Aries in the main event of FUSION.  Will the undefeated #1 ranked middleweight continue to dominate?  Or will Brian Pillman deny Aries and send the hopeful challenger for Hart’s Middleweight belt packing?

In a Lucha de Parejas Match, Los Parks (presented by Salina de la Renta) clash with newcomers Magnus & Septimo Dragon. With the Destroyer readying for war against CONTRA’s Jacob Fatu at SuperFight this November, expect the brawling father and son duo to send a message in what promise to be a high-flying, hard-hitting tag team encounter.

Following the children’s hospital kerfuffle with the Von Erichs, the Dynasty promise to play hardball with the league and the Von Erichs as the Ross & Marshall pursue a title shot against the elitists MJF and Richard Holliday.

We can also confirm we will receive an update on Teddy Hart’s condition. Will the ace of the Hart Foundation be cleared for a showdown with Aries?

Gold medalist Dominic Garrini makes his debut against decorated amateur wrestler Ariel Dominguez.

Don’t miss the Saturday Night SuperFight control center as a new match has been signed for MLW’s historic first pay-per-view on November 2!

What’s up with Tom Lawlor following the former champ no-showing a media event last week? Fusion will have the latest on Tom Lawlor’s status.

Jimmy Havoc’s savage attack on Mance Warner landed the Southern Psychopath in bad shape. How bad is Warner injured? You may be shocked to hear.

Is Injustice in hot water after the altercation with referees following the controversial tag team bout last week? Tune in to Fusion to find out this and more!

Join Rich Bocchini and Tony Schiavone from a sold out NYTEX Sports Centre in Dallas for a night of top ranked wrestling.

Matches:

  • Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Austin Aries
  • Los Parks vs. Magnus and Septimo Dragon
  • Dominic Garrini vs. Ariel Dominguez

WWE Mae Young Classic Tournament Returning

WWE’s NXT ticket website is advertising the Mae Young Classic will be returning for tapings on November 2 and 3 at Full Sail Live in Winter Park, Florida. As of this writing, tickets have not yet gone on sale. No word yet on when the episodes will stream.

This will be the third year for the all-women’s tournament as WWE has held two previous in 2018 and 2017.

Kairi Sane defeated Shayna Bazler in the finals of the first tournament. Toni Storm won the second after beating Io Shirai.

Back in August, Triple H confirmed the Mae Young Classic would be returning this year, just a bit later than usual.

“The bandwidth of sometime things happening, when you talk about just around the corner as we are coming into the middle of August, just around the corner, you’re talking about massive shifts to Fox and massive shifts with RAW with USA Network, and all of that, trying to ramp up for all of it, and how that all works,” Triple H said. “You know, you’ve heard it said, I’ve said it here before, that when one piece shifts, it’s like dominoes, right? It moves everything and in our business it’s absolutely that way. So, when we shift to Fox it changes everything about SmackDown as a brand, and where it goes and how it routes, and everything. It shifts RAW a little bit, it moves all the pieces so there’s a lot of prep that happens to that.

“So, a little bit of some stuff got pushed to a little bit later in the year this year, and the planning stages, just because of bandwidth of trying to get it all done, all in the right period of time … There’s tons of things happening all at once and then right after that you’re shifting into the Fox and USA shifts, which are epic events in and of themselves. There’s so much planning that’s going around it, so some of it just got delayed until a little bit later in the year, but there will be announcements around Mae Young Classic and everything coming up soon.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Cody Rhodes Announces “AEW Dark” Series

Cody Rhodes announced “AEW Dark” will begin this Tuesday, featuring dark matches that didn’t air on AEW Dynamite.

The show will be on AEW’s YouTube channel and hosted by Tony Schiavone.

Four dark matches took place this past Wednesday (full results of those matches here) at the Dynamite TV tapings.

Darby Allin faced CIMA before Dynamite got started. Afterwards, three matches took place, the first was Lucha Brothers, Jack Evans, and Angelico vs. Private Party and Best Friends. Next up was Britt Baker & Allie vs. Penelope Ford and Bea Priestley, followed by SCU vs. Luchasaurus, Marko Stunt, and Jungle Boy.

In numerous interviews it’s been made clear that wins-loss will matter in AEW. A fan on Twitter asked Matt Jackson if these dark matches will count towards wins-losses, and Jackson responded, “Yes. Everything counts.”

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/1180519865607544832

Next Wednesday, AEW is headed to the Agganis Arena in Boston, Massachusetts.

https://twitter.com/CodyRhodes/status/1180513846471073795

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown FOX Premiere Viewership Draws Big Numbers

This week’s WWE SmackDown FOX premiere and 20th Anniversary episode drew 3.869 million viewers, according to Showbuzz Daily.

This is up 84% from last week’s 2.099 million viewers for the final USA Network episode. To compare, Monday’s RAW season premiere drew an average of 2.571 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.210 million viewers.

SmackDown won the night in the coveted 18-49 demo, averaging a 1.35 rating over the two hours. The closest number to SmackDown for the demo was Hawaii Five-O from 8-9pm, which scored a 0.7 rating for Adults 18-49.

For the night in terms of overall viewership, SmackDown was #4 behind Blue Bloods on CBS (7.387 million viewers), Hawaii Five-O (6.393 million), Magnum P.I. (6.024 million) and The Blacklist (3.965 million).

Below is 2019 SmackDown Viewership Tracker:

January 1 Episode: 2.091 million viewers (New Year’s episode, taped)
January 8 Episode: 2.032 million viewers
January 15 Episode: 2.143 million viewers
January 22 Episode: 2.142 million viewers
January 29 Episode: 2.137 million viewers (post-Royal Rumble episode)
February 5 Episode: 1.841 million viewers (State of the Union competition)
February 12 Episode: 2.034 million viewers
February 19 Episode: 2.269 million viewers (post-Elimination Chamber episode)
February 26 Episode: 2.150 million viewers
March 5 Episode: 2.155 million viewers
March 12 Episode: 2.198 million viewers (post-Fastlane episode)
March 19 Episode: 2.208 million viewers
March 26 Episode: 2.393 million viewers
April 2 Episode: 2.141 million viewers
April 9 Episode: 2.199 million viewers (post-WrestleMania 35 episode)
April 16 Episode: 2.219 million viewers (Superstar Shakeup episode)
April 23 Episode: 2.072 million viewers
April 30 Episode: 1.833 million viewers
May 7 Episode: 1.931 million viewers
May 14 Episode: 1.827 million viewers (taped episode from London)
May 21 Episode: 1.983 million viewers (post-Money In the Bank episode)
May 28 Episode: 2.072 million viewers
June 4 Episode: 2.016 million viewers
June 11 Episode: 1.930 million viewers (post-Super ShowDown episode)
June 18 Episode: 1.859 million viewers
June 25 Episode: 1.921 million viewers (post-Stomping Grounds episode)
July 2 Episode: 1.890 million viewers
July 9 Episode: 1.853 million viewers
July 16 Episode: 2.122 million viewers (post-Extreme Rules episode)
July 23 Episode: 2.162 million viewers
July 30 Episode: 1.911 million viewers
August 6 Episode: 2.088 million viewers
August 13 Episode: 2.164 million viewers (post-SummerSlam episode)
August 20 Episode: 2.142 million viewers
August 27 Episode: 2.088 million viewers
September 3 Episode: 2.130 million viewers
September 10 Episode: 2.061 million viewers
September 17 Episode: 2.064 million viewers (post-Clash of Champions episode)
September 24 Episode: 2.099 million viewers (final USA Network episode)
October 4 Episode: 3.869 million viewers (FOX premiere episode)

2018 Total: 122.304 million viewers
2018 Average: 2.352 million viewers per episode

2017 Total: 132.401 million viewers
2017 Average: 2.546 million viewers per episode

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jeff Hardy Arrested Again On Thursday Night For DWI, Matt Hardy Comments

WWE SmackDown Superstar Jeff Hardy was arrested on Thursday evening in Moore County, North Carolina, according to PWInsider. Hardy was charged with Driving While Impaired.

Moore County police confirmed that Hardy was released from custody at around 11:30pm ET on Thursday night. They declined to give additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.

This arrest comes after Hardy was arrested for public intoxication and impairment in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina back in mid-July.

Jeff is currently out of action for WWE, recovering from knee surgery that he underwent in May. It was reported that he would be out of action for 6-9 months.

Matt Hardy has taken to social media to offer a statement regarding the incident.

“Since so many have asked me about my brother,” Matt said on Twitter. “I love my brother & want him to be happy & healthy. I’ve expressed that to him as much as I can. Jeff has to make his decisions about his life.

“I have to focus on my 2 boys & soon to arrive son. I can only control MY actions.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Edge Reportedly Cleared For A WWE Ring Return, Edge Apparently Responds To The Reports

WWE Hall of Famer Edge is now expected to make his WWE ring return soon.

The Rated R Superstar reportedly been cleared to return to in-ring competition for WWE, according to a new report from @fightoracle, who has broken several pro wrestling scoops over the years.

There’s no word yet on when Edge will wrestle again, but he is medically cleared and under contract once again.

As noted earlier today, via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Edge recently signed a new WWE contract after negotiating with both WWE and AEW. This led to Edge receiving a significant offer from WWE to stay.

It was also reported earlier that the idea of having Edge wrestle has been discussed very privately within WWE. Edge recently performed a Spear on Elias at SummerSlam and was cleared for the move after years of not being cleared for anything. Edge, who turns 46 later this month, recently left his podcast with Christian, but Christian will keep it going. He noted on a recent show that he could do a WWE match, but likely would be blown up. He added that he believes WWE doctors wouldn’t allow it though.

 

WWE Hall of Famer Edge took to Twitter and apparently addressed the reports on his WWE future.

“No I’m not and no I’m not,” he wrote.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

 

Cain Velasquez Says He’s Not Officially Signed To WWE, Has Had Talks With AEW

UFC legend Cain Velasquez shocked the WWE Universe when he debuted on SmackDown earlier tonight … but apparently he’s still a free agent.

Velasquez debuted on Friday Night SmackDown’s FOX premiere last night and attacked his former UFC rival Brock Lesnar, who had just defeated Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship.

The former two-time UFC heavyweight champion told ESPN that he is yet to put pen to paper at this time, though the publication claims he’s currently in advanced talks with WWE.

“We’ve talked a little bit back and forth and nothing happened,” Velasquez told the publication in regards to his talks with WWE. “They wanted to see my development. I think they’re pleased with what I’m doing now.” ESPN reports WWE came back to the table after his impressive matches in AAA.

Velasquez said he’s also had discussions with other wrestling promotions, including All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Velasquez trained at the WWE Performance Center in July of last year. Pro Wrestling Sheet Editor-in-Chief Ryan Satin spoke with Triple H earlier this week and he talked about Cain’s current involvement in wrestling, noting there’s a lot Velasquez could do in WWE if his full focus is on professional wrestling.

“This is definitely my focus,” Velasquez told ESPN after tonight’s SmackDown. “My family is into it, they love it. They’re super excited. I haven’t seen them excited over something like this in a while. It’s

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

It was noted on MMAFighting.com by Dave Meltzer that Velasquez vs. Lesnar would likely take place at WWE Crown Jewel on October 31 in Saudi Arabia, or at WrestleMania 36 on April 5, 2020 in Tampa, Florida.

Brock Lesnar Defeats Kofi Kingston For WWE Championship, Confronted By Cain Velasquez

A ghost from Brock Lesnar’s past came back to haunt him before he could celebrate winning the WWE Championship on WWE Friday Night SmackDown’s debut on FOX last night.

Lesnar made short work of Kofi Kingston with one move, a F5, to capture the gold in the main event, but his smiles were short lived. Before The Beast could begin his celebrations, Rey Mysterio made his way to ring … alongside former UFC fighter Cain Velasquez.

Lesnar and Heyman looked on from the ring, shocked. Cain entered the ring and ducked a shot from Lesnar, then tackled him. Cain pounded on Lesnar on the mat as Lesnar resisted and tried to retreat. He finally escaped the ring and stared Cain down from the ramp. Lesnar teased going back in but finally walked back to the stage as fans booed him. SmackDown went off the air with Cain standing tall in the ring with Mysterio while Lesnar and Heyman watched from the stage.

In case you’re not aware, the last time these two men came to blows was in UFC back in 2010. Velasquez won that battle easily, so Brock will most certainly be looking for some payback.

Velasquez had been in talks with WWE, but was also interested in AEW.