Category: Industry News

Billy Corgan On The ‘Backstabbing And Lies’ In TNA, Attempting To Work With Anthem, NWA Purchase

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Billy Corgan spoke with Sports Illustrated‘s “Extra Mustard” section on a number of wrestling topics surrounding his purchase of NWA and his time with TNA. Here are some of the highlights:

Purchasing NWA and taking the long approach with it:

“We want to be part of a new revolution of how wrestling can be consumed by fans and matches can be presented. This NWA brand dates back to 1948. The past few years have not been as kind as we would have liked, but we plan on building this into a powerhouse over time. Our focus is on the NWA plan, and we have a 20-year plan. We’re not going to just come in and throw money around for two years. We’ve learned from the past mistakes of TNA, which we have intimate knowledge of. We’re armed with this knowledge, and we’re setting out to rebuild the brand so a fan that currently doesn’t know anything about the NWA will respect the tradition and also respect what we’re trying to accomplish, like a Ring of Honor or a New Japan. That’s where we are starting, and we’re building from there.”

Trying to work out a deal that would benefit both Anthem and the NWA:

“We’ve made various overtures to Anthem along the way and they’ve made various overtures to me. We haven’t found anything that is ideal, and I’m a firm believer that if a deal doesn’t go both ways, then it’s not a good deal to make. If the NWA was going to be involved in some level with Anthem, we’d want it to be a good way all the way around. We made a very aggressive offer in the last month to go in and help reboot the company. We’d have helped Impact stay more in the lane of the traditional Impact brand, and then set up the NWA as a natural rival, a la Raw versus SmackDown. Unfortunately, we didn’t get where we wanted with that offer.”

Frustration during his time with TNA:

“I was very, very frustrated by the obstacles I faced internally, both culturally and fiscally, at TNA. I dealt with a lot of backstabbing and lies. I was able to push through some things that ended up being successful at TNA, and I was very frustrated because you would think the success would have led to more leverage and further opportunities. But it was exactly the opposite. People were out to get me because I had power. At least now, in this situation, I am my own boss. You have to build your own infrastructure from the bottom up and work with people you really trust. The traditional ‘carny’ aspect of the wrestling business that plagues a lot of companies, and has plagued a company like TNA, are problems that hold the business back. You can’t run an effective business if it’s like Game of Thrones every week.”

You can read the full interview by clicking here.

Source: WrestlingINC

Former WWE Star To Debut As General Manager For WCPW

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WCPW (which will soon be rebranding as Defiant Wrestling) announced that Stu Bennett (formerly known as Wade Barrett) is their new General Manager going forward and will open their Refuse to Lose iPPV on October 2. Barrett was with WWE from 2007 until his release in May of 2016.

Source: WrestlingINC

Backstage Notes On Another Re-Branding For Impact Wrestling, The GFW Name, Bound For Glory Issues

Company officials have confirmed to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the GFW name is being phased out of the Impact Wrestling brand. The recent Bound For Glory press release listed the company as Impact Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corporation.

While the company announced the GFW – Impact merger months ago, the deal had not been completed and with Jeff Jarrett on an indefinite leave, the name that Jarrett owns is no longer being used. Regarding Jeff’s status, the company may say publicly that Jarrett will be back but privately, no one is certain of anything.

One of Anthem’s long-term goals is to make Impact a Canadian company, because Anthem is based in Toronto and because of some potential economic advantages. There had been some sentiment against another re-branding and continuing to use the GFW name but it appears that is no longer an issue moving forward. There’s a feeling that the company wants to re-brand itself and get away from the negativity associated with the TNA says but they will always be seen as TNA as long as they are based in Orlando.

It will be interesting to see how they pull off the November 5th Bound For Glory pay-per-view in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada as the Aberdeen Pavilion isn’t really an arena – it’s normally used to host wine shows, senior citizen breakfasts, trade fairs and other small-time events. The company will have to do some minor construction as there are no dressing rooms and just a few bathrooms in the building. There are also no bleachers, just a flat floor with room for 2,800 seats. The current internal goal is for them to sell around 500 tickets per night, for Bound For Glory and then the TV tapings that week.

Source: WrestlingINC

Former AWA World Champion Otto Wanz Passes Away

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Former AWA World Champion Otto Wanz has passed away at the age of 74. Slam Wrestling has an article on Wanz and his career at this link. Wanz was one of the few wrestlers to bodyslam both Yokozuna and Andre the Giant.

Wanz was also a legendary promoter in Germany and Austria, continuing to be a well-known name in retirement with commercial and movie appearances. Wanz and his son Michael promoted strongmen competitions in Austria during his later years. WWE Hall of Famer Arnold Schwarzenegger has previously called Wanz an influence on his fitness and bodybuilding career.

Wanz passed away earlier today, September 14th, but details on his death have not been released. Austrian media reported that it was a “short, serious illness.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Below are some clips from Otto’s career:

GFW Executive Rips Sale Report, Update On If Anthem Has Been Discussing Selling GFW

Global Force Wrestling Vice President of Production Kevin Sullivan took to Twitter to blast the Sports Illustrated report from earlier this week that stated that Anthem Sports was looking to sell GFW. According to the SI article, “GFW is hemorrhaging funds, and sources close to the situation have confirmed that Anthem is ready to withdraw itself from the wrestling industry and sell GFW.”

Sullivan called the story “BS” and tweeted the following:

PWInsider reported that the discussion at this week’s GFW meetings centered around the company’s plans going forward. It was noted that there “was no inkling of plans to shut down or sell off the video library.” The report added that that there has been no indication from the WWE front that there have been discussions to purchase the tape library.

Source: WrestlingINC

Sexy Star Pulled From Upcoming Booking Over Rosemary Incident

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Sexy Star is starting to feel the backlash for reportedly purposely injuring Rosemary’s shoulder at this past Saturday night’s AAA TripleMania XXV event.

Many wrestlers have spoken out over Star’s actions, and now promotions are starting to take action.

WrestleCade announced that they have pulled Sexy Star from their WrestleCade Weekend event in late November. Below is the official statement from WrestleCade:

The WrestleCade Team has read the online reports, watched the video, and saw both deleted & still posted tweets regarding the incident between Sexy Star & Rosemary at this weekends AAA’s TripleMania Event. We now have heard from Rosemary who said it was obvious to her that Sexy Star tried to intentionally injure her after their match ended.There is no place for this in professional wrestling. Therefore we have made the decision NOT to bring Sexy Star to WrestleCade Weekend. We’re sorry for the fans who were looking forward to meeting her but we encourage you to read the reports and we hope you’ll agree with our decision.

Anyone who ordered meet and greet tickets in advance will be receiving refunds ASAP.

Source: WrestlingINC

Tommy Dreamer On House Of Hardcore’s HUGE Weekend, Talent Used Signing With WWE, His Diverse Roster

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Today The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling welcomes back the one and only “Innovator Of Violence” and ECW Original, Tommy Dreamer. Promoting the upcoming HUGE weekend for his House of Hardcore promotion (tonight in Freehold, NJ at iPlay America and Saturday night at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia) Dreamer opens up on how his shows have helped Independent pro wrestling and how his vision for a “NO POLITICS, NO BS” environment has proven to be a great destination for all kinds of wrestling talent. The full episode can be downloaded at this link.

What he has in store for his HOH shows Friday night in NJ and Saturday in Philly:

“Booking is easy. Availability is a different thing and with these shows at first I was like what am I going to do with this? All of a sudden I have a lot of and when I tell you this it is that I have too many people for these two shows. The fans are going to see two great things and the only way they are going to see these shows (because) it is not going to be on any streaming device and you are going to have to attend it to see it. I have not advertised one match for The Arena and my advance is huge and I did that purposely. I wanted to see what I had and I also want to see how much my fans trust what I am doing.”

“If you look at everybody on the poster they will all be there and I’ve got a bunch of surprises for you and if that doesn’t wet you whistle than the Rock N’ Roll Express will be there and they’ve never wrestled in The Arena as a tag team and you can say goodbye to Bobby Fish. He’s not a huge House of Hardcore guy but he was a huge Ring of Honor guy and he wrestled in that building a million times. I love to be able to offer people a goodbye and let them say goodbye to the audience that has watched them grow and I am as happy as can be for Bobby Fish, I wish I had Kyle O’ Reilly (I do not) but with Bobby Fish I am happy he is finally able to go to NXT.”

Does he get frustrated when talent he uses regularly depart for WWE:

“House of Hardcore 34 and 35 are coming up and I was doing something to lead to something else and my friend went through all of the guys (we’ve had) and he said that thirty nine people that have wrestled for you are all working for WWE and I thought that was cool. At first when that would happen I would get mad and thought I would find more stars and use this as a different platform because until I am able to sign guys to contracts than I am okay with it. They will remember for some guys that they had some breaks and got to hang out and work The Arena and work in a lot of cool places.”

Ideas on how to put a House of Hardcore card together:

“I am always excited for myself the performer because this main event we’ve got I wrestled it in Australia and it was myself, MVP and Jack Swagger and when I want guys to bring it to me, they brought it to me and I loved it. The match was so good that I wanted to showcase it another on one of my shows and I get the opportunity when guys are free and I am able to do that. I had assisted them in both of their WWE careers and I am blessed to do that with guys. MY “MVP” is usually Sami Callihan for the amount of great wrestling that he does and for the first time ever (vs. Bully Ray) at iPlay. Bobby Fish who is now no more and he’ll be in NXT now will wrestle Rhett Titus and I am the biggest Rhett Titus fan. When I see someone of his talent and what he does and see how hungry he still is I will take ten Rhett Titus’ over anybody else. When you put these things together even thought it is my money, you do what the fans want to see and I am happy.”

Personal favorite matches of his in HOH:

“Me and Matt Hardy had something special. Me and Ethan Carter had something special, me and Eric Young, me and Bobby Roode and I’ve been blessed to piggy back off of a lot of stuff when I was doing stuff with TNA. Some of my favorite matches from House of Hardcore are me versus Cody Rhodes for the emotional aspect of his father being my hero and I hired Cody into WWE and I love Cody’s work and what he has become post WWE. Me and Billy Gunn in Australia took on The Young Bucks and it was the main event in Australia and billed its as The Young Bucks versus The Old Bucks that don’t give a f*ck. I do a lot of joking on my Facebook and when I saw advertisements for it and told them I was kidding, I was just happy that they put a star “F”.”

Comparing the growth of HOH to the evolution of ECW:

“It’s funny because when the original ECW started we were just an indy and it was a company that was running once a month or once every other month. The beauty of ECW and you can watch it on the WWE Network but you can watch the company grow and if you watch those TV tapings and watch the dates you can watch the audience grow and grow.”

“I’ve had that and I try to give that back and if I can’t I’ve had so many people (like) Matt Hardy. He would sit at the curtain and watch guys matches and when me and Matt got ready to wrestle that night than Bubba would watch the matches and even Christian did. Christian had not attended an Independent event in forever but he wanted to hang out and chill in the back and watch it. I asked him to be my eyes and if you see something you like than tell me and if you see something that you don’t tell me or better yet tell them. I love that.”

Source: WrestlingINC  with credit to The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling FOR THIS TRANSCRIPTION

Terry Funk On Wrestling Again At 73-Years Old, His Father Passing Away After Wrestling, Jerry Lawler

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Terry Funk spoke with Sports Illustrated‘s “Extra Mustard” section on a number of wrestling topics. Here are some of the highlights:

Wrestling again at 73-years old:

“I’m back doing what I love. I’m really honest about this, I don’t need the money. …I don’t know if I can kick some ass or not, I don’t know if I can get my foot up that high. [Laughs] I’ll bet I can. I’ve been working out hard at it, and one more time is all I want.”

His Dad (Dory Funk) wrestling and passing away shortly after:

“My pop was in the business and he loved it very much. He actually went ahead and passed away while wrestling. We used to have a few parties out at the house and invite the wrestlers. There was one by the name of Lance Thornton, and he thought he could take my father. My father went ahead and said, ‘Dah gumit, I don’t think you can do that.’ So everybody pushed by the tables and chairs in the house, and they went at it. My father, who was 54 at the time, beat him. He sat down beside me and said, ‘Wasn’t bad for an old man, was it?’ Then he got up and left the room and went out the front door. About 15 minutes later, my wife came to me and said, ‘Your father is out on the front porch and thinks he’s having a heart attack.’ Sure enough, he was, and he passed away. He passed away doing what he loved. I certainly don’t want to pass away, but I’m doing what I love. And so what if I’m doing it in my 70s? I know this is hard for some people to understand, but I still think I can kick ass. This love of wrestling has been in my family with my dad, my brother, and myself. To this day, it’s what I love.”

Jerry Lawler (who will be one of his opponents in September):

“Lawler sure is different. I love sharing my moments with people that I made money with. I used to love to wrestle on the same card as him, and I’m back to doing what I love.”

You can read the full interview by clicking here.

Source: WrestlingINC

Funk is advertised to wrestle on Sept. 23 for Big Time Wrestling in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Japanese Star Yoshihiro Takayama Reportedly Paralyzed From Wrestling Accident

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According to MMA website, Middle Easy, MMA Fighter and former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Yoshihiro Takayama is reportedly paralyzed from the neck down after a failed spot during a wrestling match back on May 6 for the DDT pro wrestling promotion. During the match, Takayama attempted a Sunset Flip on his opponent, but fell on his head performing the move.

MMA fans will remember Takayama in his incredible battle against Don Frye at Pride 21 in 2001. Takayama also worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah, winning multiple titles at each promotion, including the GHC Heavyweight Championship in Noah.

While his injuries were known at the time, representatives have just now brought the severity of the news to the public. The article also indicates medical costs could be a concern for the family, but a way to help out has yet to come to light.

Samoa Joe and William Regal on the news:

Source: WrestlingINC

Jessamyn Duke Wrestling Training Photos

As reported yesterday MMA 4 Horsewomen Jessamyn Duke has begun wrestling training at Santino Bros Wrestling Academy in Southern California earlier this week during a seminar taught by NJPW’s Rocky Romero.

Jessamyn’s move is interesting, since last month she and her fellow Four Horsewomen had an on-camera encounter with the Four Horsewomen of NXT during a Mae Young Classic match featuring Shayna Baszler.  Furthermore, TMZ reported in 2014 that Rousey was only interested in a WrestleMania match if her crew were also involved.

Let the speculation continue.

Here are some photos:

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet