Author: John Bass

Memphis Wrestling Legend Eddie Marlin Passed Away

Memphis wrestling legend and promoter Eddie Marlin passed away yesterday morning at the age of 89.

Former Memphis wrestling personality Randy Hales, who helped take care of him, posted on Twitter about the news. Hales wrote, “I’m said to say Eddie Marlin passed away at 5 am this morning. I waited to all the family were told until I made this post. I will do a FB Live Tonight 8:30 Central.”

Marlin is the grandfather of WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett.

Eddie Marlin started wresting in the 60s and he was a big part of Memphis Wrestling. Marlin wrestled in NWA Mid-America, where he teamed with Tommy Gilbert. He later joined his son-in-law Jerry Jarrett’s promotion, Continental Wrestling Association, where he was the on-screen General Manager throughout the 1980s. During his career, he won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship, NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, and NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship.

Below is a Facebook post from Memphis Wrestling News on Marlins passing:

Two days before his passing, Jerry Jarrett posted, “Eddie is being moved to hospice.” Days before that on August 8, Jarrett updated that all of his father-in-law’s organs had failed.

https://twitter.com/JerryWJarrett/status/1161351740178030603

https://twitter.com/JerryWJarrett/status/1159592503580008449

MLW Hires Tom Prichard, MLW Partners With The Crash

MLW hired Dr. Tom Prichard as a senior agent within the wrestling operations division of the league. The former WWE star will join MLW starting in Dallas on September 7 at the MLW WAR CHAMBER event. Prichard will work as a coach and coordinator as some of his many duties for the league. Prichard played a key role in developing the likes of future legends like The Rock, Edge, Kurt Angle and many other of today’s stars. For several years, Prichard was a senior trainer for WWE’s developmental system.

Tom is brother to Bruce Prichard.

Image result for MLW Hires Tom Prichard

 

MLW also announced this week that they have formed a strategic partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre promotion, which is based out of Tijuana, Baja California in Mexico.

“This deal represents the dawn of a new era for lucha as the fastest growing promotion in Mexico teams with MLW to take lucha libre to America and beyond,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer. “The opportunities are endless and include a talent exchange, content collaboration and some interesting projects you’ll learn about soon.”

“The Crash Lucha Libre extends its thanks to MLW for entering into this partnership,” said The Crash President Ignacio De La O. “With the main objective of promoting and preserving culture in sports, as well as promoting new values, this alliance certainty gives fans a lot to savor. With effort, dedication and teamwork we will get a favorable result, MLW and The Crash working hand in hand.”

Image result for MLW Partners With The Crash

Source: Wrestling Inc.

First AEW World Title Defense Announced For TNT Episode

AEW has announced that the first-ever AEW World Title defense will take place during the third TNT episode, which airs live on Wednesday, October 16 from Philadelphia.

The inaugural AEW World Champion will be crowned on Saturday, August 31 as Chris Jericho faces “Hangman” Adam Page in the main event of the AEW All Out pay-per-view. There’s no word yet on who will challenge Page or Jericho in Philadelphia.

Below are the updated line-ups for the first three AEW on TNT episodes:

Wednesday, October 2 Premiere Episode
Capital One Arena, Washington, DC
* Jon Moxley appears live
* Cody Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara
* The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho and two mystery partners
* The first-ever AEW Women’s Champion will be crowned

Wednesday, October 9
Agganis Arena, Boston
* Jon Moxley vs. Shawn Spears
* The Young Bucks vs. Private Party in an AEW Tag Team Titles tournament match

Wednesday, October 16
Liacouras Center, Philadelphia
* First-ever AEW World Title defense, Chris Jericho or Adam Page vs. TBA

https://twitter.com/AEWrestling/status/1161714207559180290

https://twitter.com/MattJackson13/status/1161095845288140802

https://twitter.com/AEWrestling/status/1161336707570159616

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Austin Theory And Santana Garrett Report For Duty At WWE Performance Center

WWE announced the latest batch of Performance Center trainees on Wednesday, which includes EVOLVE wrestler Austin Theory and Women of Wrestling star Santana Garrett.

As you may recall … Theory made his WWE Network debut on the recent EVOLVE 10th Anniversary Celebration and Garrett was a competitor in the first Mae Young Classic tournament.

The additional new signees, announced by WWE.com, are as follows:

  • Tehuti Miles: U.S. Army vet and Division I football player
  • EJ Nduka: Former professional football player who played in the CFL, IFL and AFL
  • Aleksandar Jaksic: Trained by Santino Marella and Alex Wright
  • Briana Brandy: Aspiring hip hop artist who has years of ninjutso/extreme CrossFit experience
  • Rita Reis: Jiu-Jitsu world champ and multi-time medalist in Jiu-Jitsu and judo.
  • Marcos Gomes: 260-pound trainer in Jiu Jitsu, boxing and Muay Thai
  • Catalina Garcia aka Chilean wrestler “La Diva del Ring”

CLICK HERE for photos and more information on each new signee.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Savio Vega Suffers Injury During MLW Match

Former WWE star Savio Vega suffered an injury on the latest episode of MLW’s TV show — and the company has released an update on his current status.

MLW Fusion this week featured the 55-year-old wrestler in the main event against National Openweight Champion Alexander Hammerstone.

During the final moments of the match, Savio hit his head on an exposed turnbuckle before Hammerstone hit his finisher called “The Nightmare Pendulum” to win the match.

As you can see in the video below, however, Vega’s legs clearly didn’t make a full rotation while taking the move and they crush underneath him on the mat. MLW says Vega lost movement in his legs and “barely avoided a compound fracture” of his right lower leg in the moment.

The rest of the update from MLW reads as follows:

The league’s medical team moved in quickly to stabilize Vega as FUSION went off the air. Soon thereafter Vega would be en route to New York Hospital for Special Surgery. An orthopedic surgeon as well as the chief of spine surgery at the hospital diagnosed Vega with a severe stinger.

While the league expects Vega to fully recover, a return to the ring is unknown. As such, Vega remains on the injured reserved list.

Watch the moment it occurred below in the video below at the 48 minute mark:

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE NXT Preview 8/14/19

NXT streaming tonight at 8 ET on WWE Network.

* NXT Breakout Tournament Finals: Jordan Myles vs. Cameron Grimes

* “Reimagined” Breezango take on The Forgotten Sons

* Catch all the fallout from TakeOver: Toronto

WWE NXT UK Preview 8/14/19

NXT UK, streaming today at 3 ET/8 GMT on WWE Network.

Kassius Ohno to battle the undefeated Ilja Dragunov

Just less than three weeks before NXT UK TakeOver descends on Cardiff, the outspoken Kassius Ohno will lock horns with the full fury of Ilja Dragunov.

Plus, Flash Morgan Webster will take on Gallus’ Mark Coffey in the first of two possible contests to prove to NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint that he and Mark Andrews are worthy of an NXT UK Tag Team Title Match at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, Travis Banks will battle Kenny Williams, and Isla Dawn will go one-on-one with Nina Samuels.

Paige Undergoing Surgery Today

Paige posted on Twitter this morning that it was surgery time.

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1161625567684251648

As noted, Paige revealed over the weekend that she missed her SummerSlam Meet & Greet because she had to visit her doctor, where it was determined that she needs to undergo neck surgery to fix a new hernia, which is related to the original career-ending neck injury that she suffered during the December 2017 WWE live event in Uniondale, NY. Dr. Uribe has also worked on the necks of Tyson Kidd and Nikki Bella.

WWE Signs Santana Garrett

WWE has reportedly signed top indie women’s wrestler Santana Garrett, according to Squared Circle Sirens.

There’s no word yet on when Garrett will begin working with WWE at the Performance Center in Orlando, but the deal will see her become a member of the WWE NXT roster.

It’s been reported that several top indie wrestlers were expected to begin with WWE in the September Performance Center class, and it’s possible that Garrett’s signing will be confirmed then.

Garrett, formerly known as Brittany in Impact Wrestling, has held titles in several promotions, including the NWA World Women’s Title, the Shine Title and Shine Tag Team Titles, the Wonder of Stardom Title, the WOW World Title and WOW Tag Team Titles, among others. She has been wrestling professionally since 2009.

The 31 year old from Florida has made several appearances for WWE since 2013, working as an enhancement talent in NXT. She also participated in the 2017 Mae Young Classic, losing to Piper Niven in the first round.

Garrett is a second-generation wrestler as her father, Kenny Garrett, worked as “TNT” Kenny G during the territory days.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

UPDATE: 

Santana Garrett confirmed on Twitter that she has signed with WWE.

https://twitter.com/SantanaGarrett_/status/1161764539970609154

WWE Possibly Keeping The Fiend’s Bray Wyatt Head Lantern

As noted, WWE deleted the original video of Bray Wyatt’s entrance for “The Fiend” at SummerSlam and re-uploaded it after taking out the visuals of the head lantern that he brought to the ring.

In an update on the head lantern, it looks like the piece wasn’t totally nixed from The Fiend’s gimmick. Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live yesterday that he reached out to multiple sources on the matter and none of them had heard anything about the lantern being dropped. Furthermore, the head lantern is going to be a part of Wyatt’s upcoming Mattel action figure for The Fiend. It was also said that WWE is producing more of the lanterns, apparently for other merchandise items.

It will be interesting to see if The Fiend is still carrying the Wyatt head lantern the next time he appears on WWE TV. Wyatt defeated Finn Balor at Sunday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view, but he did not appear on last night’s RAW.

For those who missed it, below is a screenshot of the lantern from Sunday’s match:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

UPDATE: 

WWE seemingly confirmed that the head lantern is here to stay, at least for now. WWE tweeted the photo below on Wednesday of Wyatt with the lantern intact, as seen below.