Author: John Bass

Ivelisse Says She’s Being Legally Held Hostage By Lucha Underground

ivelissa lucha underground contract held hostage

Lucha Underground wrestler Ivelisse says she’s been fighting to get out of her contract for over a year and now feels like she’s being “legally held hostage.”

Ivelisse released a statement via social media saying:

l’ve done everything in my power to avoid having to do this but.. at this point I literally have no other choice.. For a bit over 1 1/2 [years] now l’ve been battling LU to grant me my release. They convinced me to do S4 under the promise that I’d be released after the season concluded and was still unhappy. They currently are still refusing to do so despite having been told numerous times that they would. This has caused me an unbearable amount of grief for so long now, I really have no words to describe and don’t know what else to do.. being legally held hostage while Pro Wrestling is booming is a matter not to be taken lightly, especially coming from someone who has dedicated their life to their work, its everything to me. I am at my wits end, so at this point, regardless what happens from here on out, at the very least my story is told.

Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that there hasn’t been a lot communication between MGM and Lucha Underground execs in regards to an additional season. We’re told things are currently in a stalemate because both sides are standing firm on what the budget needs to be.

The show’s Executive Producer Eric Van Wagenen tells Pro Wrestling Sheet, “None of the producers, executives, or lawyers at MGM make those decisions. All contracts are controlled by the LLC – currently run by Dorian Roldan and John Fogelman.”

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE SmackDown Live Preview 1/15/19

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama as the road to Royal Rumble continues.

* Rey Mysterio and Andrade “Cien” Almas to continue their epic series

* The Miz to throw Shane McMahon “The Best Birthday Bash in the World”

* Carmella and Sonya Deville to square up

* What’s next for Becky Lynch and Asuka?

* Will AJ Styles find out how vicious Daniel Bryan can be?

WWE 205 Live Preview 1/15/19

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.

* Tonight’s 205 Live episode will return to the Tuesday 10pm ET timeslot on WWE Network.

* WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy issuing a non-title open challenge.

Kevin Owens Has Dropped Weight

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Kevin Owens has dropped a significant amount of weight as he prepares to return to the ring from double knee surgery. As seen below, Owens appeared at the Cavalcade of Customs event in Cincinnati this past Friday and signed autographs for fans.

WWE recently aired a “coming soon” promo for Owens’ ring return but there’s no word yet on when he will be back. There’s speculation on Owens returning in the 30-man Royal Rumble match later this month.

https://twitter.com/DominicDeAngelo/status/1084802882233344000

Source: WrestlingINC

Nikki Cross Debuts On Raw In Tag Match, Heavy Machinery, EC3 and Lacey Evans Appeared

The Riott Squad challenged Bayley and Natalya to find a partner this week for a six woman tag — and it led to Nikki Cross wrestling her first match on RAW!

After weeks of vignettes teasing Nikki’s move to the main roster, the Scottish born Superstar finally made her presence known to join Bayley/Natalya. She then helped her team earn a victory.

Heavy Machinery appeared during the “A Moment of Bliss” segment. EC3, Lacey Evans made brief backstage appearances as well, but neither spoke on camera.

Michael Cole mentioned that before any of the arriving Superstars are assigned to a brand, they’ll be appearing on both shows so the WWE Universe can “see what they got”.

Watch video of Nikki Cross’ RAW debut below.

Watch Otis Dozovic of Heavy Machinery disrupts Alexa Bliss’ interview with Paul Heyman during  “A Moment of Bliss” and his partner Tucker Knight coming out to get him below.

And below you can see the appearances of EC3 and Lacey Evans.

Jerry”The King” Lawler Signs New Two-Year WWE Contract

jerry lawler wwe contract two year deal

Jerry “The King” Lawler says he recently signed a new two-year agreement with WWE and will soon be calling the action during the men’s Royal Rumble.

On the latest episode of Dinner With the King, Lawler revealed his contract was due to expire on January 10th. After informing Kevin Dunn that the deal was about to be up, WWE sent a new offer.

King explained that his new deal is for two years and came with a raise.

In addition to the new contract, Lawler also announced he’ll be on commentary for the men’s Royal Rumble match later this month alongside Michael Cole and JBL.

Listen to the full episode below (this portion begins around 29 minutes in).

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Women’s Tag Team Championship Belts Unveiled, Championship At Elimination Chamber

raw women's tag team belts championships championship

Last night on RAW during “A Moment Of Bliss” – Alexa Bliss unveiled the long-awaited Women’s Tag Team Championship belts.

Alexa also announced that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions will be decided next month at the Elimination Chamber with a match inside the Chamber. There will be 3 teams from RAW and 3 Teams from SmackDown Live.

Backstage News On Why Braun Strowman Was Removed From WWE Royal Rumble Main Event

Image result for Backstage News On Why Braun Strowman Was Removed From WWE Royal Rumble Main Event

Finn Balor facing WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at The Royal Rumble in under two weeks has reportedly been the plan for awhile now, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

As noted, Braun Strowman was removed from his scheduled title match against Lesnar at The Rumble on Monday’s RAW after an angle with Vince McMahon. The segment saw Strowman searching for Baron Corbin, who was hiding in a limousine. Not realizing it was McMahon’s limo, Strowman pulled a door off of the vehicle. Vince appeared and fined Strowman $100,000. McMahon proceeded to remove him from the Lesnar match after Strowman argued with him. Strowman then dumped the limo over onto its side.

McMahon had been planning on Lesnar vs. Strowman at the Rumble since Crown Jewel, where Lesnar defeated Strowman in a five minute squash match after Strowman took a belt shot from Baron Corbin before the match started. However, after that event, McMahon saw that Strowman was cooling off and he didn’t want to beat him again. Strowman also got injured, which hurt him and the build to the Lesnar rematch. The plan was for Lesnar to go over Strowman at The Rumble. Instead of going with a bad finish, McMahon decided to change the match and get a new opponent for Lesnar.

According the Meltzer, WWE continued to advertise Lesnar vs. Strowman to move tickets, because this year’s Rumble is taking place at a baseball stadium. It’s similar to WWE advertising Alexa Bliss vs. Trish Stratus for last October’s Evolution pay-per-view, when that was never actually the plan. The match ended up being changed to Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Mickie James & Alicia Fox, although Bliss was scheduled to be in Fox’s spot, but had to withdraw due to a legitimate injury.

There weren’t a lot of choices to work with Lesnar, so McMahon went with Balor. Lesnar’s matches with talent like AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan have drawn praise, and Lesnar reportedly likes working with opponents like that. Balor, the first-ever Universal Champion, was actually scheduled to face Lesnar at last year’s Royal Rumble, however that plan was nixed due to McMahon feeling that Balor was not over enough. Meltzer noted that Lesnar wants to work with Balor, and wanted to do the match with him at last year’s event.

As for Strowman, he has not been cleared yet and it’s not known if he will be cleared by the Rumble.

Balor has been wanting to face Lesnar for awhile, and has often named Lesnar and The Undertaker as his two dream opponents. During an interview with Metro Sport in October of 2017, Balor discussed why he felt a match between himself and Lesnar would be the most interesting for fans.

“For me as a fan growing up I loved David vs Goliath style matches,” Balor said. “Right now, there’s a lot of interesting matches that could happen in WWE right now, but for me personally I think that Finn Balor vs. Brock Lesnar is the most interesting match from a fan’s perspective that can happen right now. It’s something that has never happened before, with completely different styles inside and out of the ring. This could be a really big spectacle.”

Source: WrestlingINC

WWE RAW Preview 1/14/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee as the road to Royal Rumble continues.

* Rivalries converge in Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat Match – (C) Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley

* The Boss and The Rowdy One face common enemies – Sasha Banks & Ronda Rousey vs. Nia Jax & Tamina

* Is Braun Strowman truly ready for Brock Lesnar?

* The Revival “conspiracy” continues

* Royal Rumble Matches take shape

Jim Ross On If AEW Will Get A TV Deal

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently weighed in on the formation of All Elite Wrestling on The Jim Ross Report. Specifically, Ross speculated that a TV deal is more or less in place for AEW come Fall 2019. Ross suggested that AEW will most likely be most comparable to New Japan Pro-Wrestling in terms of roster size and an athletic presentation. Also, Ross talked about the advice he imparted on AEW President Tony Khan.

According to Ross, the AEW rally most likely would not have happened if a television deal was not basically done already.

“I don’t think you go on and do a big presentation like those folks, the Khans, AEW, did on Tuesday if you’re not pretty damn set on your television outlet. So I think the television outlet is more set than people probably know and maybe they’re not ready to know or need to know right now.” Ross added, “maybe there’s an I not dotted, or T crossed or whatever, but getting on a basic cable channel to me is imperative.”

In Ross’s learned view, a TV deal is essential for AEW’s success. ‘Good Ol’ J.R.’ went on to say that he thinks AEW will be on a major network come Fall 2019.

“The issue is television is king. That’s your heartbeat. That’s your heartbeat and I’m of the belief, maybe I’m wrong, that a television deal is, I guess the politically correct term is ‘imminent’. I think a TV deal is basically done. Why would you do all of this celebration and this thing on Tuesday and all that without having more? You’ve got your [ducks in a row]. You’re showing us that you have your ducks in order or getting there on talent. And so I’m believing they’re not going in half-cocked here. Why would you have this major announcement, this huge event, or huge company, all that’s going to happen, if you didn’t have TV pretty much locked up? So I’m sure the paperwork, the ink’s not dry, and all those good things. Could be possibilities or they’re still negotiating some finer points, whatever, but I believe, come this Fall, that AEW is going to have a very prominent television partner that’s going to give this team the opportunity to be successful.” Ross noted, “I do think that the TV’s more in place than they are ready to announce right now and I understand that too.”

Also during the podcast, Ross stated that NJPW is probably the closest thing to what AEW will be as a promotion with an emphasis on athleticism and a real sports presentation.

“New Japan does a real nice job of having a small roster in number that remains special,” Ross said. “They do a real nice job of keeping their guys separate, keeping some exclusivity to the rivalries. That is [an] athletically oriented presentation. If there is anything I would suggest and I don’t know because I have not discussed it with anybody. Probably New Japan is going to be the closest analogy to what I perceive AEW might be, and I stress ‘might be’ because I don’t know. You can do more things, develop more talent, and do it in a reality based manner that people don’t roll their eyes every 30 seconds because they’re watching that damn wrasslin’ again. There’s credibility to it and at least the presentation bell-to-bell is going to feel like you’re watching kind of a perverse legitimate sporting event.”

Additionally, Ross shared that he met up with Khan for drinks and told the young billionaire that pro wrestling promotions require talent and a television deal to be successful.

“Alex [Marvez] and I have been friends for years, since the WCW days. And he introduced me to Tony and we had a [pro] wrestling fan chat and had a few drinks. But I said, ‘if somebody was ever going to do a pro wrestling company, the foundation is not a mystery. It’s all about television and talent.” Ross explained, “you can’t have one without the other.”

Check out this edition of ‘Slobberknocker Audio’ here https://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/the-jim-ross-report/ or via the audio player below at the link below.

https://omny.fm/shows/the-ross-report/aew-breakdown-with-pro-wrestling-sheet-s-ryan-sati/embed

Source: WrestlingINC with credit to The Jim Ross Report