Author: John Bass

Hulk Hogan & WWE Pay Tribute To “Mean” Gene Okerlund

hulk hogan mean gene okerlund raw tribute video

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan returned to TV on tonight’s RAW in Orlando, his first appearance since the Crown Jewel event from Saudi Arabia back in November and first time on RAW since his release in 2015. The Hulkster led a tribute to his good friend, WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund.

The RAW segment began with a 10-bell salute for Okerlund led by Mike Rome, followed by Hogan’s entrance. Hulk then got serious and said he only came out in character because it’s what Gene would’ve wanted.

Hulkster then setup a video package on “Mean” Gene’s career.

After the video was over, Hogan said he thinks he can speak for everyone in saying “we loved you, brother.” Fans chanted “thank you Gene” and Hulk randomly asked a fan wearing one of his shirts in the crowd if he should “do it one more time.”

Hogan then talked about what Okerlund is doing in heaven and name-dropped “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, Mr. Perfect, Ultimate Warrior, Mae Young and Fabulous Moolah.

You can check out the videos below:

WWE RAW Preview 1/7/19

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.

The first RAW of 2019 will be a loaded show with John Cena’s red brand return, WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan returning to honor “Mean” Gene Okerlund, and Braun Strowman returning with WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar to promote their Royal Rumble match. It’s also being reported that WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair will join Hogan to honor Okerlund. Alexa Bliss’ new “Moment of Bliss” talk show with RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey as the first guest

* Hulk Hogan returns to RAW to celebrate the life of longtime friend “Mean” Gene Okerlund

* The Beast and The Monster under the same roof

* John Cena is back

* Elias takes on Baron Corbin

* The Revival vie for Raw Tag Team Titles in a Lumberjack Match

* “A Moment of Bliss” debuts

* Is the “old” Seth Rollins back?

NJPW Chooses To Work With ROH Over AEW

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The landscape of pro wrestling continues to change as 2019 just gets underway, and one of the biggest questions is who would NJPW decide to align with stateside to help bolster their position internationally. Dating back to 2014, they’ve had a partnership with Ring of Honor while the newly formed All Elite Wrestling could potentially have a pool of talent that could service NJPW just as well.

On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said NJPW has decided to work with ROH going forward. As for right now, NJPW won’t be working with AEW.

The report continued that even just a few days ago AEW thought Kenny Omega could continue to work for NJPW and would bounce between the two promotions, but that doesn’t look to be the case at the moment with Omega announcing his exit from NJPW. Co-promotional events are obviously out the window for the time being.

NJPW is teaming up with ROH for the sold-out G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden on April 6.

For NJPW, they just finished up a big weekend with Wrestle Kingdom 13 featuring eight title matches, all of which changed hands. ROH’s next PPV is the 17th Anniversary Show on March 13 in Las Vegas, NV. This Tuesday, AEW is holding a Double or Nothing rally in Jacksonville, Florida. Wrestling Inc. will be there for any breaking news.

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Announces Weekly Show Will Air On A Second Platform

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During last night’s Impact Homecoming PPV it was announced their weekly Impact show will also air on its Twitch channel beginning January 11 at 10 pm ET.

As noted, the promotion will also be moving to the Pursuit Channel on that same day and time. You can check out their new promo in the videos above or below.

Last month, WrestlingINC spoke with Impact Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore about the move to Pursuit and had hinted that it may not be the only place their flagship show would end up on.

“We’ve been looking at moving on, doing some other things, as we looked at the options it seemed like the best time to make a move to Pursuit, which is a sister company to Impact Wrestling,” D’Amore said. “There’s an ownership stake that [Impact parent company] Anthem Sports & Entertainment has in them and Pursuit is a male dominated demographic. They’re excited to have us, it gives us a nice home base and it doesn’t mean that we don’t have long term plans that we hope for Impact to be as a television show and a wrestling company. We’re excited to have a partner that is excited to have us.

“The first part of this deal is what we’re doing now, the flagship Impact broadcast, airing on Friday nights at 10 pm E. And I know people look at that and go, ‘Oh my God, it’s the death spot.’ Well, if you look back, when we debuted on Spike TV, it’s a different era and network, but wrestling fans find good wrestling. When we went on Spike TV at 11 o’clock on Saturday, we went out there and did probably about 850k viewers when we debuted. We’re excited to work with Pursuit on building it as a platform. We have some ideas and things in the work for other properties on Pursuit. Also, looking to expanding our domestic and international distributions.”

Source: WrestlingINC

KUSHIDA Leaving NJPW

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NJPW held a post-Wrestle Kingdom 13 Press Conference yesterday and it was announced that KUSHIDA will be leaving the company at the end of the month and will be heading overseas.

NJPW Announcer Chris Charlton translated some of KUSHIDA’s comments about “heading overseas.”

WWE had reportedly shown interest in the former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, potentially bringing him into NXT.

During his time with NJPW, KUSHIDA was a six-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion, two-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and two-time winner of Best of the Super Juniors.

Source: WrestlingINC

Kenny Omega Says He’s Leaving NJPW

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Kenny Omega spoke with Tokyo Sports and says he’s leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling.

Omega lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi at this week’s Wrestle Kingdom 13 and didn’t make an appearance the next night at NJPW New Year Dash. His contract was reportedly over later this month.

The article noted it’s likely his choices are narrowed down to WWE or All Elite Wrestling. NJPW Announcer Chris Charlton translated some of Omega’s comments about why he’s looking to leave the company.

“I take full responsibility for the loss,” Omega said of his loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom. “There is no real place for me to fit, so it’s best for me not to be in (NJPW). I can’t be there working under Tanahashi. I don’t think he’s surpassed me, don’t think he’s better. If we can, I want to face him again. But I need time away, and not just from New Japan.”

Omega has strong ties to Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks of AEW, which is holding a Double or Nothing rally this Tuesday in Jacksonville, Florida. It was also reported this week that Omega was made a “fantastic offer” by WWE as they look to bring his talent to the WWE Universe.

Source: WrestlingINC

Former WWE Star (Victoria) Lisa Marie Varon Says She’s Retiring From The Ring In 2019

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Lisa Marie Varon, probably best known for her character, Victoria in WWE, Tara in TNA/Impact has announced via social media that 2019 is her last year competing in a wrestling ring.

Varon is an accomplished performer in numerous promotions around the globe. She won her first WWE Women’s Championship in November 2002 at WWE Survivor Series and would carry it twice in her WWE career, she’s a five-time TNA / Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion, and she even had a reign as the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions with Brooke Tessmacher.

She also won the honor of being the 2004 Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Woman of the Year.

On social media, Varon wrote, “Hey Gang! Year 2019 will be my last year wrestling in the Squared Circle. An exciting new adventure is to come.” You can read her full retirement messages below:

Source: WrestlingINC

Impact Wrestling Homecoming Results 1/6/19

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X-Division Championship (Vacant) – Ultimate X Match: Jake Crist vs. Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann vs. Trey Miguel – Winner and new X-Division Champion: Rich Swann

Allie & Su Yung vs. Kiera Hogan & Jordynne Grace – Winners: Dark Allie & Su Yung

After the match, Yung and Allie continued assaulting Hogan until Yung’s undead bridesmaids brought out a coffin. Rosemary appeared out of the coffin! Rosemary took out the bridesmaids and tossed Yung in to the group of them. Rosemary met Allie in the center of the ring and Rosemary tried to touch Allie, seemingly trying to help her, but Allie screamed and escaped the ring. Rosemary posed in the ring.

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Moose vs. Eddie Edwards – Winner: Eddie Edwards

Eddie got help from his wife Alisha

Grudge Match: Sami Callihan w/Dave Crist vs. Willie Mack – Winner: Sami Callihan

Monster’s Ball Match: Eli Drake vs. Abyss – Winner: Eli Drake

Impact World Tag Team Championship: (C) LAX vs. Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix) – Winners: LAX

After the match, Konnan came out and says that he was wrong and they were able to separate the personal from the professional for an exceptional match.

Impact Knockouts Champion (Gail Kim as Special Guest Referee): (C) Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie – Blanchard & Kim got into it which led to Blanchard choking Kim and then Kim hitting Blanchard with Eat Defeat. Valkyrie hit the Road to Valhalla on Blanchard for the 1-2-3!

Winner and new Impact Knockouts Champion: Taya Valkyrie

Impact World Championship: (C) Johnny Impact vs. Brian Cage – Cage had a confrontation with Impact’s friends, the Survivor contestants. Impact is laid out and Cage wants the ref to count the 3 after the Drill Claw, but he’s still distracted by the Survivor guys. He comes in and counts only 2. Cage attempts a superplex with Impact on the apron but Impact is able to reverse and turn it in to a pining predicament for a questionable 3 count.

Winner: Johnny Impact

After the match, Cage dropped the title in front of Impact and stormed out in frustration. Taya Valkyrie came out and Impact and Valkyrie celebrate in the ring. Killer Kross appeared on the ramp and attacked Impact. Valkyrie tried to fight Kross off but Kross grabbed her and powerbombed her in to a group of men in the crowd as the show ended.

NJPW New Year Dash Results 1/5/19

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Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Takayuki Iizuka vs. Yoh, Sho, and Rocky Romero – Winners: Yoh, Sho, Rocky Romero

Yujiro Takahashi and Chase Owens vs. Toa Henare and Tomoaki Honma – Winners: Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi

Beretta and Chuckie T vs. Juice Robinson and David Finlay – Winners: David Finlay and Juice Robinson via DQ

KUSHIDA, Yuji Nagata, Jeff Cobb vs. Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii – Winners: Will Ospreay, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: (C) Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Taiji Ishimori (with Jado) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe, and Toru Yano – Winners: Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Taiji Ishimori

Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi helped Bullet Club get the win. Bullet Club accepted Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi back into Bullet Club

Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., and El Desperado vs. EVIL, BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, and SANADA – Winners: Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., and El Desperado 

Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, and Gedo vs. YOSHI-HASHI, Kazuchika Okada, and Hiroshi Tanahashi – Winners: Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, and Gedo

 

Hulk Hogan Returning To Raw To Celebrate The Life Of Longtime Friend “Mean” Gene Okerlund

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The wrestling world was stunned when it was announced that Gene Okerlund passed away this past Wednesday.

One person who had a long friendship with “Mean Gene” was Hulk Hogan. He recently took to Twitter to honor the former backstage interviewer.

Now, he will be given a proper platform to honor the WWE Hall of Famer.

WWE announced that Hogan will return to RAW to talk about the life of Okerlund. This will be the first time Hogan has been on RAW since 2015 and his second public appearance with WWE since his scandal where he was caught making racist remarks. His first appearance was at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia back in November.

WWE issued the following announcement:

“Let me tell you something, ‘Mean’ Gene …”

So began many of Hulk Hogan’s most memorable proclamations, making interviewer and backstage personality “Mean” Gene Okerlund a cornerstone of Hulkamania in the 1980s. Now, in the wake of Okerlund’s recent passing, Hogan returns to WWE programming this Monday night on Raw to honor his longtime friend.

In a Twitter post Tuesday night, Hogan called “Mean” Gene “the best partner I ever had” while describing their incredible off-the-cuff chemistry during their backstage interviews. That synchronicity even led to an unusual tag team partnership when Hogan and Okerlund battled George “The Animal” Steele and Mr. Fuji in 1984. Their training sessions before that match, which can be seen below, were perhaps even more entertaining than the bout itself.

Hogan and Okerlund’s friendship spanned the decades, from WWE to WCW and back to WWE. On Monday night, Hogan honors his brother.

Don’t miss this milestone moment on Monday Night Raw, beginning at 8/7 C on USA Network.