Author: John Bass

Cody Rhodes To Release New Book For Kids

AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes will be releasing a new children’s book on Monday, July 15 via Amazon and bookstores nationwide.

This will be the second book in “The Elite Team” series from Trism Books, and will retail for $16.95. Titled “Cody Heart of the Mountain,” the book comes eight months after “Young Bucks Stand Tall” was released, written by The Young Bucks.

Below is the full announcement on the book along with comments from Cody and book signing dates:

CODY RHODES INSPIRES NEXT GENERATION WITH CHILDREN’S BOOK THAT CHAMPIONS TEAMWORK— “Cody Heart of the Mountain” is Second Book in The Elite Team Series, Available July 15 on Amazon & Bookstores Nationwide —

CHICAGO, IL (July 10, 2019) – Within seven months of successfully launching All Elite Wrestling, EVP Cody Rhodes today added a new title to his impressive repertoire – Children’s Author. Cody Heart of the Mountain, the second book in “The Elite Team” series, will be available on Monday, July 15, on Amazon and anywhere books are sold including Barnes & Noble, Target and Indiebound.

Cody Heart of the Mountain teaches children that everyone has unique abilities, even their perceived enemies. By working together, readers learn they can overcome obstacles to unite the world. The engaging tale takes young readers on a sci-fi journey where nothing is as it seems. While camping in the wilderness, Cody and the Elite Team (Matt & Nick Jackson, Brandi Rhodes, Hangman Adam Page, Kenny Omega), fall under Claw Mountain’s powerful spell. The friends take on bear and wolf qualities as two rival groups form. Divided by mistrust and jealousy, Cody must find a way to lead the team back together. Will the friends be able to work together and embrace their differences in order to break the spell?

“When I was eight years old, I went camping with my family, and my Dad told me that if I woke up early enough he would take me to see the bears who lived on the adjacent mountain,” said Cody Rhodes. “According to him, I never woke up early enough (wink wink). But, I never really needed to see the bears because he would tell me a version of the story in this book as a bedtime story many times. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend, right? Bringing this story to life was a labor of love. It was truly special watching Dylan Coburn masterfully bring the words to life as well as working with Trism Books to provide a positive message to children and adults alike. I hope you enjoy.”

Published by Trism Books, Cody Heart of the Mountain will retail for $16.95. The book comes eight months after Young Bucks Stand Tall, which follows brothers Nick and Matt Jacksonthrough an inspiring story that encourages young readers to follow their dreams.

Cody will be signing his book in-person at the following locations over the upcoming weeks:

• July 14: 12pm-1pm @ Barnes & Noble in Jacksonville, FL

• St. Johns Town Center, 10280 Midtown Parkway, Jacksonville

• July 19: 6pm-7pm @ Dave and Buster’s in Marietta, GA o 2215 D and B Dr SE, Marietta Click here for more.

• August 29: 12pm-2pm @ Pro Wrestling Tees in Chicago, IL

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 7/10/19

NXT, streaming tonight at 8 ET on WWE Network.

* NXT Tag Team Championship: (C) The Street Profits vs. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch

* Adam Cole’s Bay Bay Championship Celebration Tour carries on

* Damian Priest continues his quest

* NXT Breakout Tournament carries on: Boa takes on high-flying sensation Jordan Myles.

* Io Shirai and Candice LeRae fallout

WWE NXT UK Preview 7/10/19

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

“Bomber” joins The Hunt against Gallus

After multiple attacks at the hand of Gallus brought them together, the monstrous combination of Dave Mastiff, Primate & Wild Boar are roaring back to go head-to-head with Wolfgang & The Coffey Brothers today on NXT UK. Plus, what will be the aftermath of Imperium’s vicious assault on Moustache Mountain last week?

The Young Bucks Say They’ve Had A Lot Of Talks With CM Punk, Provide Update On PAC’s Status With AEW

AEW’s All Out, has been speculated as the night that former muti-time WWE Champion CM Punk will return to professional wrestling and debut with AEW. All Out takes place at the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago, the city where Punk is from.

“We’ll be honest, of course we would love [Punk] to come to our company,” Nick Jackson told Chris Van Vliet. “At this time, I just don’t think he wants to. Matt talks to him all the time about it but the timing is not right, I guess.”

“When he wants to come back to wrestling, it’ll be his decision,” Matt explained. “Professional wrestling is the most demanding thing in the world. You can’t just find yourself back in it one day and be like, ‘Okay, I guess I’m doing this again.’ You really have to want to do it and that’s up to him.”

With or without Punk in AEW, the company has been a hot topic of conversation in the pro wrestling industry. The Bucks took some time to note the improvements that AEW has brought to performers and the overall competitive nature of the sport.

“We’ve changed the whole pay scale for everyone in wrestling, which is awesome,” Nick said. “A lot of our friends are getting paid and they’re finally making money for the first time in their careers. It feels good, it feels awesome.”

“The pressure has been put on everybody in the professional wrestling business,” Matt added. “… Everybody is trying harder now. It’s very competitive again. We need competition again; the industry needs it to survive.”

At Double Or Nothing this past May, “Hangman” Adam Page and PAC were supposed to have a one-on-one bout that was ultimately cancelled due to creative differences. The Bucks mentioned that they still have every intention of bringing on PAC as a part of their future AEW productions.

“He’s coming. I mean, eventually,” Matt stated.

“It’s a work in progress. It’s obvious that Matt and I are big fans of his,” Nick said. “We met him like 10 years ago over in Japan, so we’ll always have ties with him and we wanna work things out with him. I think it’s just a matter of trying to fit his schedule with ours and hopefully, things will work out.”

“It’s a priority for us and I think we’re gonna make this thing work,” Matt added.

You can watch the full interview in the video below.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Returning To MSG For First TV Tapings Since 2009, Days Before AAA Event At The Arena

WWE will be returning to Madison Square Garden in New York City for TV tapings on Monday, September 9 and Tuesday, September 10.

The back-to-back RAW and SmackDown TV events will be the first WWE MSG TV tapings since a RAW taping on November 16, 2009. WWE last ran MSG for their annual post-Christmas show this past December.

SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley announces the MSG TV tapings in the video below, and encourages fans to register for the pre-sale. The Ticketmaster pre-sale will be announced soon and we will have the passcode when it’s available.

WWE will run MSG just just a few days before AAA’s debut at the arena on Sunday, September 15, and a week before New Japan Pro Wrestling runs a show at the nearby Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday, September 28.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Enzo Amore And Joey Janela Got Into A Fight At A Blink 182 Concert

Former WWE star Enzo Amore apparently got into a fight with Joey Janela at a Blink 182 concert in New Jersey on Tuesday … and they took to Twitter afterward to continue beefing.

It all went down at the PNC Bank Arts Center after last night’s show.

Enzo first tweeted about the incident and wrote:

“I’m glad you introduced yourself cause I couldn’t pick you out of a line up. You don’t want no smoke.”

“Where was that energy at? We aint friends [Joey Janela]. Dont introduce urself to me f*ckboy I thought u were a fan hahaha the second I realized it was u I slapped ya bitchass hands down & walked @ u w/ MY HANDS UP YA F*CKIN RAN BACKWARDS & told my homey to film it”

“Clout chasing in public to ultimately look like a p*ssy, must feel terrible,” he added. “Ya not a good human, people are out to enjoy there night and you cause a scene and run while I’m engaging with friends & fans, ya mother should be proud.”

Janela gave more context with his telling of what happened. “Not a work,” he tweeted. “So I saw the dude and walked up and said “Hi I’m Joey Janela” at the blink 182 show and we proceeded to have (I’m not lennox lewis) to have the sh*ttiest fist fight of the year, I’m not a p*ssy but we had fun!”

This never would’ve happened if Tom DeLonge was still in Blink 182.

Enzo released some footage of the incident, but no punches are thrown in the clip.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzvV24KBR_g/?utm_source=ig_embed

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE SmackDown Live Preview 7/9/19

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire, featuring the final hype for Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

* Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler’s shortly tenured partnership implodes

* Finn Bálor and Shinsuke Nakamura battle on the blue brand

* Aleister Black’s opponent for WWE Extreme Rules to be revealed

* SmackDown Tag Team Championship Summit to take place

WWE 205 Live Preview 7/9/19

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

* Anything Goes Match: Oney Lorcan vs Ariya Daivari

* Gentleman Jack Gallagher will be in action

* Humberto Carrillo will be featured in an exclusive sit-down interview

Becky Lynch Becomes First WWE Star To Land ESPN The Magazine Cover (Photo)

RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch just became the first WWE Superstar to appear on the cover of ESPN The Magazine.

As seen below, Lynch and actress Alison Brie of Netflix’s GLOW series are gracing the cover of the “Blockbuster Issue” from ESPN The Magazine. The issue hits newsstands this Friday.

Below is WWE’s announcement on the cover, along with the cover photo:

Becky Lynch and Alison Brie to be featured on cover of ESPN The Magazine’s “Blockbuster” issueBecky Lynch has taken over the sports-entertainment scene in the last year, and this Friday, you can find the Raw Women’s Champion with actress Alison Brie on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s “Blockbuster” issue.

The new issue focuses on the intersection between Hollywood and sports. Lynch and Brie, who is the star of Netflix’s hit comedy show “GLOW” on the 1980s Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion, got together for an interview about the obstacles they face in their respective industries, the toughness of women, and much more.

The Man is the first WWE Superstar to ever appear on the cover of ESPN The Magazine. Get your hands on the issue when it hits newsstands this Friday.

https://twitter.com/espnW/status/1148603606385463296

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Johnny Impact’s (John Hennigan) Impact Wrestling Contract Expired

Johnny Impact (John Hennigan) has finished up with Impact Wrestling.

Johnny lost to X Division Champion Rich Swann at Sunday night’s Impact Slammiversary XVII pay-per-view and that was the end of his current run, according to PWInsider.

Johnny’s contract with Impact Wrestling reportedly expired several weeks ago, and the two sides agreed that he would work through Slammiversary to finish the storyline with Swann.

While the 39 year old is currently a free agent, he is still in talks with Impact Wrestling about continuing their working relationship. He is still free to negotiate with or sign with any other promotion.

Impact had been with the company since 2017. He is married to current Impact Knockouts Champion Taya Valkyrie, who is believed to be signed through the end of this year.

There’s no word yet on if WWE or AEW would be interested in signing Johnny, who made his name with WWE.

Source: Wrestling Inc.