NJPW Reveals New English Commentary Team

According to Pwinsider.com, ROH’s Kevin Kelly and former WWF and ECW personality Don “Cyrus” Callis will be the English Language announcing team for New Japan events streaming on New Japan World. Callis replaces Steve Corino, who is now working for WWE. The following events will air on New Japan World with English commentary…

2/4 – New Beginning in Sapporo
2/11 – New Beginning in Osaka
3/6- 45th Anniversary
3/20 – New Japan Cup 2017
4/9 – Sakura Genesis 2017
5/3 – Wrestling Dontaku
6/3 – Best of Super Junior 24 Finals
6/11 – Dominion 2017
7/1 – G1 Climax Special in US
7/2 – G1 Climax Special in USA
7/17- G1 Climax Opening
8/11 -G1 Climax Finals
8/12 -G1 Climax Finals
8/13 – G1 Climax Finals

Source: 411Mania

ICW Coming To The WWE Network, Deal To Be Announced Soon

Word going around the UK scene is that WWE officials are close to finalizing a deal that will see top UK indie promotion Insane Championship Wrestling air on the WWE Network, according to PWInsider Elite.  No word yet on if this will be on-demand content or live content.

The deal with ICW, who recently drew several thousand fans to the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, is said to be a multi-year deal, perhaps for 2-3 years. There is said to be an agreement in place and the deal could be announced some time in the next week.

ICW is closer to the original ECW or WWE’s Attitude Era but it was noted that there content will not be toned down for the WWE Network, at least for the most part.

WWE recently polled fans on which indie companies they would be interested in seeing on the WWE Network. It will be interesting to see if they bring more promotions to the Network in 2017 as they are currently in talks with several North American promotions.

Source: WrestlingINC

Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka Passed Away

WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka passed away yesterday at the age of 73 after battling stomach cancer.

The news was confirmed on Twitter by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Snuka’s daughter, WWE star Tamina, asked that Johnson share the sad news.

Tamina posted this photo on Instagram where she’s holding her father’s hand in a hospital room. The caption reads, “I LOVE YOU DAD #FOREVERMYDAD #RestWell #FamiliesAreForever #BestDad #SnukaLegacy.”

 

WWE issued the following statement on his passing:

WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka passes away

WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka has passed away.

Snuka is regarded by many as the pioneer of high-flying offense because of his Superfly Splash from the top turnbuckle. His dive off the top of the steel cage onto Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden as hundreds of flash bulbs went off will forever live as one of the most memorable moments in WWE history.

WWE extends its condolences to Snuka’s family, friends and fans.

Other stars commented on his passing:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPTO_8hhNPh/

Near 1000 Pound Man Eyeing WWE Career (Video)

Image result for pakistani hulk

Maxim has a story here about 25 year-old Arbab Khizer Hayat, a 960-pound Pakistani weightlifter who is eyeing a WWE career. Known as the Pakistani Hulk, Hayat consumes 10,000 calories a day with a diet including 36 eggs, seven pounds of meat and five liters of milk, as seen in the video above.

“I want to represent Pakistan at WWE,” Hayat said. “God willing I’ll appear in 2017.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Ryback On John Cena Being ‘Poison’ To Wrestling, Cena Treating Him Badly, Cena – Alex Riley Incident

Recently on Conversation With The Big Guy, former WWE Superstar Ryback talked about John Cena and the 15-time world champion’s alleged negative impact on the professional wrestling industry.

According to Ryback, Cena was always “a piece of s–t” to ‘The Big Guy’ and people will “lose their s–t” when former WWE Superstar Alex Riley comes forward about his issues with Cena, as ‘The Face That Runs The Place’ would “bury” Riley to everyone in the backstage area.

“John’s blocked on my Twitter. I blocked him, he’s legit [blocked], I blocked him a long time [ago]. He [has] been a piece of s–t to me since Day One. And people, the guy, I was nothing but nice and respectful to him and I know Alex Riley just came out and [admitted he had issues with Cena] and when people hear what really happened with that, they’re going to lose their s–t. Like, and I know, I have a pretty good idea of what happened with that and the guys in WWE. And, one, it’s f–king hilarious. And, two, it’s hilarious what people will find out about John. So he used to s–t talk me when I was in the ring. I remember I was in there against Mark Henry. You’ve got to remember, I came up with all these guys in developmental and I know everyone who’s sitting backstage. No, John [used to talk trash], I used to be back there for John when Riley was in the ring, when the company was f–king with him because John was hot at him because of what happened and all this.”

Ryback added, “but John would sit back there and bury Riley in front of everybody for no reason and Alex Riley is f–king money and he was money from Day One. Busted his ass, had awesome theme music, worked his ass off, went out there and got a reaction from the people, but because of John Cena and I swear to God, I swear to f–king God, because of John Cena, his career is over in the WWE for no f–king reason outside of John and his personal issues. Unbelievable.”

In Ryback’s view, Cena has been “poison” to the professional wrestling industry insofar as he would hold others back. Ryback theorized that Triple H’s promotion of NXT may be a way to prevent Cena from interfering in the careers of up-and-coming stars.

“John comes from that [mentality of], ‘well, we’re going to push one guy down your f–king throats.’ No, you push who the crowd is behind.” Ryback added, “he has been poison to the [professional] wrestling industry. I told [podcast co-host Pat Buck] this before. We talked about this before. And again, this is my opinion, but I think I’m pretty accurate on this is I think he [has] done so much harm for so long to new talent to getting [over], breaking out, over there.

“I had my experiences, and other talents up there have their experiences, that I think Hunter finally had to say, ‘what the f–k do I need to do?’ And I think he started with the NXT thing and bring up all these NXT guys and protecting the f–k out of them. There [are] so many guys now that John just can’t f–king pick his battle with one guy because there are nine other guys that are hot on his [heels]. Do you know what I mean? And he [has] been surpassed now and so Hunter’s brilliant if that’s what he did to get rid of the f–king Cena problem.”

Click here to check out the show.

Sources: WrestlingINC – Conversation With The Big Guy

Why The Young Bucks Have Changed Wrestling

Below is a very interesting video posted by WhatCulture Wrestling about how The Young Bucks have changed professional wrestling and became so successful without going through WWE.

Former WWE & WCW Star Rex King/Timothy Well Passes Away

Image result for Rex King/Timothy Well

Former WWE and WCW star Timothy Smith, known by the ring names Rex King and Timothy Well, passed on Monday due to complications from kidney failure. He was 55 years old.

Smith is known to WWE fans for his Well Dunn tag team with Steve Doll. He last worked for WWE in 1995. Smith was named as one of the wrestlers in the class-action lawsuit filed by lawyer Konstantine Kyros back in July of 2016, alleging that WWE concealed the risks of traumatic brain injuries.

Source: WrestlingINC

Below are some videos from Smith’s career:

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11 On AXS TV Schedule

AXS TV sent WrestlingINC the final broadcast schedule for AXS TV’s four-part Wrestle Kingdom 11 television event, which is below. The matches in each hour-long episode will be shown in their entirety with limited commercial interruption when possible.

In anticipation of this Friday’s premiere of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Wrestle Kingdom 11 on AXS TV, below is a preview video featuring IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and challenger Kenny Omega discussing their headlining match.

Jan. 13

IWGP Heavyweight Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega

Jan. 20

IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Tag Championship Match: Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Chaos vs. G.B.H.

Jan. 27

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: David Finlay, Ricochet & Satoshi Kojima vs. Los Ingobernable de Japon vs. Bullet Club vs. Chaos
NEVER Openweight Championship: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto

Feb. 3

Special Match: Cody vs. Juice Robinson
IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi

Source: WrestlingINC

Backstage News On Kenny Omega’s NJPW Contract, WWE Speculation

Following Kenny Omega’s loss to IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 11 last week, Omega posted a tweet stating that he was stepping away from Japan to reassess his future.

While many felt that Omega’s tweet was storyline-related, speculation of Omega possibly signing with WWE picked up steam after John Cena posted a pair of Instagram photos over the past couple of days relating to Omega.

Dave Meltzer noted on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that Omega’s deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling expires on January 31st, so he would not be able to appear at The Royal Rumble on January 29th. Meltzer said that there are people with NJPW who believe that Omega had already re-signed with them and will be returning in March for the New Japan Cup, and that the tweet he sent out was just him “messing with people.” Meltzer noted that it is not 100% that he has re-signed with NJPW, but it is confirmed that his old deal expires at the end of this month.

Source: WrestlingINC

NJPW Announce G-1 Special In Los Angeles

njpw g-1 special los angeles new japan wrestling wrestlekingdom 11

Get hyped NJPW fans … the company announced during Wrestle Kingdom 11 that they’re coming to Los Angeles later this year.

The announcement was made after Kyle O’Reilly defended the ROH World Championship against Adam Cole, with the above graphic touting that a G-1 special will be held in the United States.

Steve Corino and Kevin Kelly followed up by saying the shows would take place in Los Angeles.

Rumors had been swirling for weeks that New Japan was planning to hold G-1 shows in America and reports have stated that they intend to hold the event in Long Beach.

The shows are scheduled for July 1st and July 2nd.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet