As noted, WWE did the injury angle with Team Hell No at Extreme Rules because Kane had been suffering from a legitimate injury to his left foot. WWE later announced that Kane suffered a broken ankle in the attack from SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers.
In an update on Kane’s status, PWInsider reports that he suffered an injury to his Achille’s tendon on the Extreme Rules go-home edition of SmackDown this past Tuesday. This is why Kane was wearing the walking boot earlier in the day before Extreme Rules.
No word on exactly when Kane suffered the injury during the show but the go-home SmackDown show featured he and Daniel Bryan brawling with Rowan, Harper and SAnitY, which set up a 10-man main event – Team Hell No teaming with The New Day to defeat SAnitY and The Bludgeon Brothers.
Kane is not expected to be back on WWE TV anytime soon as he’s preparing for the final push of his campaign to become the Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee this fall.
Former two-time TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champion Ayako Hamada has been sentenced to 18 months in prison over drug charges, according to Yahoo Japan.
Hamada, the 37 year old daughter of the legendary Gran Hamada, was arrested at home in Tokyo back on May 13th. This led to her Pro Wrestling Wave departure and Sendai Girls Pro Wrestling stripping her of their world title.
Police were called to Hamada’s home back in May after she told a promoter that she would miss their event because she was being held at knifepoint by someone. Police found Hamada acting strange and that led to her testing positive for drugs. She admitted taking drugs through her nose.
Ronda Rousey’s husband, Travis Browne, was recently at Extreme Rules with Rousey, and was shown on television when Rousey was walking to her seat and when she jumped over the barrier to attack Mickie James. The 6’7″, 243-pound UFC fighter was recently interviewed by TMZ, and showed interest of teaming up with his wife. Although he is still under contract with UFC at the moment, a WWE career could be on the horizon.
“I’ll never say no, but we’ll have to see, really,” Browne said. “This is Ronda’s time in the WWE. She’s killing it, she’s taking over the world. She took over the UFC, she’s taking over the WWE, she’s gonna continue to do whatever she wants to do.
“I’ll never say no to the possibility of going out there and wrestling. I’d love to go out there and work with my wife. That’d be so much fun. A mixed match? Oh yeah. That was her at the WrestleMania. It’d be fun. I wouldn’t say no.”
Regarding whether Browne would like to see his wife return to the Octagon, he responded, “I love seeing her happy, and I’ve never seen her more happy than right now. So, she’s really enjoying what she does, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.”
Based on the events that occurred on Raw, Rousey will be competing for the Raw Women’s Championship once again, against Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam. This will be Rousey’s second singles match and third match overall. Both of her singles matches have been for the Raw Women’s Championship, with her first one being against Nia Jax at Money in the Bank.
CM Punk and wife AJ Mendez (AJ Lee) have been announced for Rabid, a new horror movie that is a remake of the 1977 David Cronenberg movie of the same name.
The movie is being written & directed by The Soska Twins, who directed WWE Studios’ Vendetta and See No Evil 2 movies. The movie will star Laura Vandervoort and Ben Hollingsworth with Punk and AJ in supporting roles. Punk will star as “Billy” while AJ plays a character named “Kira.”
No word yet on the release date for the movie but below is the official press release:
Production Begins on the Feature Film RABID -FeaturingCM Punk and AJ Mendez-
– Written and Directed by The Soska Sisters (WWE Studios’ See No Evil 2 and Vendetta) –
– Remake of the Classic David Cronenberg 1977 Horror Feature Film –
– Starring Laura Vandervoort and Ben Hollingsworth –
– Body Horror Meets the World of High Fashion –
Toronto, Canada – July 17, 2018 – Canadian production company Back 40 Pictures announced today that production has begun in the Greater Toronto Area on the feature film Rabid. Written and Directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska (Dead Hooker in A Trunk, American Mary) and John Serge. Rabid stars Laura Vandervoort (Jigsaw, BITTEN) as “Rose” a demure seamstress who goes through a radical transformation after electing for plastic surgery following a disfiguring accident. Ben Hollingsworth (CODE BLACK) is “Brad” a fashion photographer. Rabid is a remake of the classic David Cronenberg 1977 horror feature film which was executive produced by Ivan Reitman. Rabid also stars Hanneke Talbot (PLAYING DEAD) who portrays Rose’s best friend Chelsea and Mackenzie Gray (LEGION, RIVERDALE) as arrogant fashion designer “Gunter”. Rabid will also feature WWE superstars CM Punk as “Billy” and his wife New York Times best-selling author AJ Mendez as “Kira”.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be re-imagining David’s 1977 body horror classic, Rabid, with such incredible support behind us. We are not fans of the current trend of soulless remakes as they disrespect the fans and the original body of work. Our Rabid is a continuation of the thoughts and conversation David started, but modernized through a female perspective. The film will not only honour his original Rabid but also Cronenberg’s entire body of work. This would not have been possible without a team behind us that cares about the artist as well as the fans,” said Writer-Directors Jen and Sylvia Soska.
Drawing influence from the original movie, the remake is set in the seductive and glamorous world of high fashion and will follow Rose (Laura Vandervoort), a young woman whose disfigurement after an accident leads to a radical and untested stem-cell treatment. While turning Rose into the belle of the ball, the experimental transformation comes at a price.
“I don’t think there’s any bigger fans of David Cronenberg than the sisters, so it was really exciting when they agreed to helm this project. They will put their own stamp on the movie of course, but with nothing but the utmost respect to David, and that’s important when you’re remaking a classic horror film like Rabid, says producer Paul Lalonde. The Soska twins are the hottest young directors in the horror space right now, and our talented cast headed by Laura (Vandervoort) and Ben (Hollingsworth) will give horror fans a rich and chilling character-driven story with plenty of body horror. We’ve got a fantastic cast, a great crew, top notch special effects and industry leading stunt coordinators. And having the whole story set against the backdrop of high fashion, that’s not only a great chance for some important social commentary, it’s also a really fun twist on horror. A peek inside the world of haute torture if you will.”
A71 Entertainment will distribute Rabid in Canada with 101 Films handling the United Kingdom, Back 40 Pictures orchestrating theatrical distribution duties in the United States, and Shout! Studios’ Scream Factory imprint distributing the film across multiple platforms in the U.S. Rabid is produced by Back 40 Pictures in conjunction with Telefilm Canada, Ontario Media Development Corporation and London based, Media Finance Capital. Michael Walker, Paul Lalonde and John Vidette are serving as producers.
Kofi Kingston released a lengthy statement on behalf of The New Day in regards to how they feel about Hulk Hogan‘s apology to the WWE locker room — stating they won’t associate with the wrestling legend until “genuine effort to change” is made.
Mark Henry has said there’s currently a divide amongst black wrestlers over the backstage apology … describing it as a 50-50 split.
Now, the most prominent black tag team in wrestling have responded by writing a statement in which they admit to being indifferent towards Hogan’s apology.
Their statement can be read in full below:
To the WWE Universe and whoever else it may concern:
This will be the only statement we will make regarding Hogan’s reinstatement into WWE’s Hall of Fame. We do not wish to spend the energy debating the point, because between our kids, our external ventures, and this job, our energy is spread thin enough already, lol.
We are only writing this simply to provide an answer to the many who have bombarded us with questions on where we stand on the issue.
We preface this statement by emphasizing that this is our own opinion and may not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone else affected.
How do we feel? Indifferent. We are not happy, or sad, angry or resentful. Who WWE puts into the HOF is totally and completely up to the company and from a career standpoint, there is no argument on whether or not Hogan should have his place. We have no problem with his re-induction in the slightest degree. It is impossible to even begin to mention the history and evolution of the business without mentioning his name and accolades.
On a personal level, when someone makes racist and hateful comments about any race or group of people, especially to the degree that Hogan made about our people, we find it difficult to simply forget, regardless of how long ago it was, or the situation in which those comments were made. But we also do not respond with more feelings of hate. Instead, we just do not associate with the people who convey or have conveyed this negative and hurtful mindset. This instance will be no different. Perhaps if we see him make a genuine effort to change, then maybe our opinion will change with him. Time will tell.
Through the course of our lives, people have used racist comments towards us and it doesn’t feel good. But if we stopped moving forward every time we were met with prejudicial hatred, then we would have never achieved our current accomplishments.
We know we are worth it, we know our kids are worth it, and most importantly, we know that
people that look like us are worth it and always have been. There isn’t a person on this planet who will be ever be able to say anything to make us think otherwise because we believe in ourselves as a people and don’t need anyones approval on that, regardless of who they are.
Having said that, his reinstatement won’t change anything for us. It will have zero effect on our ability to perform or the level of effort we will put into doing what we love to do, and that is: To deliver an entertaining product each week for our fan base.
Charlotte Flair is currently out of action after needing corrective surgery when she suffered two ruptured breast implants. She was very open while speaking to SiriusXM Stars’ Conversations With Maria Menounos about her history with cosmetic surgery.
Flair’s first implants ruptured when she started wrestling so she had them fixed. She continued to describe the pain she felt as the amount of silicone built up to cause her issues outside of the ring. She finally saw a specialist who was able to reveal the true severity of the issue for her and she needed to do something about it.
“So I’m thirty-two and when I turned twenty-one I always wanted boobs. I never had boobs. I had an athletic body my whole life.” Charlotte Flair said as she continued saying, “when I started wrestling I had saline and I popped them in the ring. When I woke up the next morning and they were gone.
“Then I had them re-done so I didn’t think anything of it. Well, a couple months ago I kept having this pain behind my shoulder blade. I was like, ‘this is not normal.’ I mean I did all my stretching. I did my shoulder stability exercises that my trainer told me to do — our trainers on the road.
“I finally went to have a mammogram and an ultrasound and the doctor said I had free-floating silicone all in my chest from both implants. So I ruptured both implants is exactly what they’d call it.”
Charlotte needed to get this issue taken care of. A big problem was her busy calendar as a WWE Superstar. She had some very important dates coming up that she didn’t want to miss. Flair continued through the pain and delayed surgery in order to get to a more convenient pausing point for her.
“I said, ‘I’ve got a lot of big things coming up.’ Like I knew I had WrestleMania, I knew I had the Body Issue. I just wasn’t going to say anything I could just wait. I finally got to have them re-done a little over four weeks ago.
“I just wanted that long, but the pain just got worse. I got sick a few times like that might have been from it like the silicone had gone all the way to my armpit.”
Flair went on to reveal her expected return date of July 31st. She expressed some guilt for being sidelined for this issue although it needed to be taken care of. Flair said she will be back in the ring as soon as she can, but she needed this break.
“He said I’d be cleared July 31st,” Charlotte said concerning her expected return to the ring. “I am definitely going to work on July 31st. It’s so hard because watching the pay-per-view last night. It’s like I’m out for a not legitimate injury — I mean it’s legitimate because the silicone was [making me sick] I mean it’s dangerous but I kept thinking to myself, ‘you did this to yourself at twenty-one.’
“I know my body needed a break and it’s like ‘let the fans miss you’ or whatever. But it’s just like I’m sitting out because of my ta-tas.”
WWE has announced that they will return to Shanghai, China on Saturday, September 1st for a live event at the Mercedes Benz Arena.
This live event will be Ronda Rousey’s in-ring debut for China. Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Nia Jax, Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Jinder Mahal, Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt are also advertised.
Below is WWE’s full announcement on their return to China:
SHANGHAI, China and STAMFORD, Conn. — WWE will return to China for the third straight year when WWE Live Shanghai comes to the Mercedes Benz Arena on Saturday, Sept. 1. Tickets for WWE Live Shanghai are available at 10 a.m. local time Thursday, and can be purchased at www.damai.cn.
Fans attending WWE Live Shanghai will see WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey make her in-ring debut in the country, In addition to Ronda Rousey, as well as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman, Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Finn Bálor, Jinder Mahal, Matt Hardy, Bray Wyatt and many more.*
WWE Live Shanghai is presented in partnership with AEG Presents, a global player in live entertainment.
“We are thrilled that WWE Live Shanghai will be presented in partnership with AEG, the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company,” said Robb Spitzer, Senior Vice President, Asia – AEG Presents. “AEG Presents is proud to be partnering with WWE for the first time in China and entertain people of all ages.”
“We are excited to return to Shanghai, demonstrating WWE’s commitment to our passionate and growing fan base in China,” said Jay Li, Vice President & General Manager, WWE Greater China. “Fans can look forward to seeing an action-packed night of family-friendly entertainment that will create lifelong memories.”
WWE programming, including Raw and SmackDown LIVE, airs live on PP Sports every Tuesday and Wednesday. Fans can also subscribe to WWE Network on PP Sports, which showcases WWE’s monthly live events and groundbreaking original series, including NXT and 205 Live; reality shows, such as Total Divas; documentaries; and classic matches from WWE’s storied history.
Former WWE Tag Team Champion Masa Saito passed away at the age of 76 on Saturday. Saito passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s Disease.
Below is WWE’s announcement on Saito passing along with some videos from his career:
Masa Saito passes awayWWE is saddened to learn that Masa Saito, a former World Tag Team Champion and AWA Champion, passed away on Saturday at the age of 76.
Saito’s career in grappling began in freestyle amateur wrestling, and he represented his home country of Japan in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Turning pro in 1965, he utilized a punishing style in the ring that made him a feared competitor in both Japan and the U.S. Saito spent time competing in California, Florida and Alabama, racking up championships before heading to WWE in 1981.
Upon his arrival, Saito joined forces with Mr. Fuji, and under the tutelage of Captain Lou Albano, the two captured the World Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions. Saito later joined Verne Gagne’s AWA, where he defeated Larry Zbyszko to become AWA World Champion in his home country at the Tokyo Dome.
Saito continued to compete, mainly in Japan, with several appearances for WCW, before retiring in 1999.
WWE extends its condolences to Saito’s family, friends and fans.
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