As Slammiversary draws near, tune in to an all-new IMPACT! this Tuesday at a special time of 9/8c on AXS TV and Twitch.
* Sami Callihan vs. Josh Alexander
* Jordynne Grace vs. Kimber Lee
* Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie w/ John E Bravo vs. Kylie Rae and Susie
* TJP and Fallah Bahh vs. XXXL vs. Reno Scum vs. The Deaners
* Madison Rayne will host a very special edition of Locker Room Talk this Tuesday night when she is joined by the most iconic Knockout in history. Fans around the world have been debating who exactly her guest will be.
AEW announced eight matches for this Tuesday’s AEW Dark, streaming on AEW’s YouTube channel at 7 pm ET.
Among the matches, Brian Pillman Jr. will be making his Dark debut against Shawn Spears.
He was in the crowd during last Wednesday night’s Dynamite: Fyter Fest. Pillman has appeared for AEW once before at last year’s Double or Nothing in the Casino Battle Royale Match that Hangman Page won by lastly eliminating MJF.
“Months of preparation behind me and I will finally make my debut for All Elite Wrestling!” Pillman Jr. wrote on Twitter. “This is quite literally the BIGGEST opportunity of my life and I hope that everyone tunes in to see what I’ve been cooking up.”
Below is the full lineup:
* Joe Alonzo, Brady Pierce, Tony Donati, Faboo Andre vs. Lucha Brothers, The Blade, and The Butcher
* Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon (with Leva Bates) vs. Dark Order (Grayson and Evil Uno)
* Big Swole vs. Rache Chanel
* Will Hobbs vs. Orange Cassidy
* Frankie Kazarian vs. Luther
* Michael Nakazawa vs. Shawn Dean
* Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Shawn Spears (with Tully Blanchard)
* Scorpio Sky vs. Serpentico
Months of preparation behind me and I will finally make my debut for All Elite Wrestling! This is quite literally the BIGGEST opportunity of my life and I hope that everyone tunes in to see what I've been cooking up 🔥🔥🔥 #AEWDark#PillmanDebuthttps://t.co/CN9sXTevT3
Former Impact Wrestling star Michael Elgin has released a video denying claims made against him in the #SpeakingOut movement.
The nearly ten-minute video is titled “Hopefully you’ll listen” and begins with Elgin saying he hasn’t enjoyed thinking about wrestling the past two weeks.
He then addresses the #SpeakingOut movement and says it’s truly terrible that a lot of serious offenses were committed towards wrestlers/fans.
“A lot of things have been said about me,” he said next in the video. “And even though everything is drastically different, a lot of the things that were going on in wrestling were people using their power, using their position, or even taking advantage of younger people, and that sucks. But it was brought to my attention that some girl made claims about a hotel room in 2011.”
“Now, I don’t know if anything had ever happened to this young lady, I hope that it hasn’t and I hope that if it has she’s found some peace and some resolve. And I’m sure that’s impossible, because I can’t speak on anything like that. But what I can say, is that in 2011, I did share a hotel room with the girl and I did share a bed with the girl,” Elgin added. “But what has been left out is there was four other people in the room and I laid down in the bed next to the girl, asked her to come closer, or to have sex, I don’t know the exact verbiage. All I remember is her saying no and me going to sleep and the next morning the four wrestlers asking if we slept together. When I said no, they said, ‘Oh, we know. We heard her turn you down.’ And joked with me for months after about getting turned down.”
“I’m many things and I’ve made many mistakes in my life, but never, ever would I do anything to try and force anybody to do anything. Because, one, it’s not good for either one of us. The act. And, two, I mean, there’s legal consequences behind that,” he continued.
As for allegations made regarding him sending unwanted explicit photos to a female wrestler, Elgin claims to have reached out to the woman saying he didn’t recall doing that. She then told him that it was done as a dare while he was out drinking with wrestlers, as he explained while apologizing after it initially happened. Because of this, he apologized once again, though he says the photo may have been a picture he found online and not his own.
He also says a fan claiming he called her fat wasn’t true, as he grew up obese and knows what it feels like to be picked on for size, therefore he wouldn’t do that to someone.
Lastly, Elgin addressed the infamous video of him claiming to have urinated on a woman in a hotel room who was asking him to stop. Here’s what he had to say in full:
“Yes, I said that story. I said that story in 2013, because at that time those overly sexual stories or overly wild stories were getting massive downloads and massive buys because people wanted to hear them. So a story that happened in Timmins. Myself and two other wrestlers met three girls, and this was like maybe 2007, and we went back to the hotel. And there was joking about peeing on someone consensually on the ride up, and we did definitely joke about it, and somebody pee’ed on a girl in the shower when they were showering together, and joked about it after.
We went out with the girls the next day for breakfast. We saw them the next two times we went to town. It was an over-exaggerated story that I should have never told because now I realize, as I’ve matured, as I’ve growed, that … one, the story is outlandish and paints everybody in a bad light. But at that time, I was trying to sell DVDs. That’s not an excuse, that’s not anything. Because I take full blame for people bringing it up because it was me that said it. But I’ve tried to correct that story a million times, even the person that pee’ed on the girl in the shower corrected the story two years ago. And it just still floats out there. Again, that’s on me. One-hundred percent. I take ownership of that. I’m taking ownership of everything.
As we previously reported, Impact Wrestling says Elgin will not appear in future programming.
“Impact Wrestling announced that Michael Elgin will not be appearing in any further Impact Wrestling programming.”
The report notes that Elgin has been removed from the roster page, as well as the merch store, but he has not been announced as officially released yet.
Elgin was suspended from Impact this week pending further review after being accused in the #SpeakingOut movement of sending unwanted nude photos to women, among other old incidents. The company also fired Joey Ryan and Dave Crist due to allegations made.
As we previously reported, Impact additionally terminated Tessa Blanchard’s contract last night. Blanchard, whose contract was set to expire next month, had reportedly landed in hot water after not filming content requested for a promo segment while quarantining in Mexico.
Blanchard was originally scheduled to defend the Impact title in the main event of Slammiversary next month against Elgin, Trey Miguel, Eddie Edwards and Ace Austin.
Impact Wrestling has terminated Tessa Blanchard’s contract and stripped her of the Impact World Championship, according to PWInsider.
Tessa was originally going to defend the Impact World title at Slammiversary on July 18 against Eddie Edwards, Ace Austin, and Trey. The match was going to be her first match since COVID-19. She has been stuck in Mexico due to the pandemic and missed several empty arena TV tapings.
PWInsider also reports that Tessa was supposed to send promos from Mexico for a June episode of Impact, but she never sent them. Reportedly there were even attempts made to get her to return and drop the Impact World Championship, but neither side would come to terms.
Tessa Blanchard won the Impact World Championship earlier in January at the Hard to Kill PPV after defeating then-champion Sami Callihan. She became the first woman to win the title.
Below is Impact’s statement that was originally sent to PWInsider:
Impact Wrestling confirmed that it has terminated its relationship with Tessa Blanchard and stripped her of the Impact Wrestling World Championship.
“IMPACT Wrestling confirms that it has terminated its contracts with Dave Crist and Joey Ryan, effective immediately. In addition, it has suspended Michael Elgin pending further review of allegations of misconduct.”
As we previously reported, Ryan has been accused of numerous acts of sexual abuse and harassment since the #SpeakingOut movement began. An anonymous female wrestler said he once sexually assaulted her after a show. A former girlfriend alleged Ryan choked her and was verbally abusive. Wrestler Rok-C says Ryan began a flirting with her when she was just 17 years old. And more stories have since come to light.
Crist has been accused of multiple accounts of sexual assault and misconduct. This includes a claim from an ex-girlfriend who claimed he had been abusive and sexually assaulted her more than once.
Elgin has been accused of sending unwanted nude photos to women, among other old incidents.
Sammy Guevara has been suspended without pay until further notice by AEW over a rape comment he made about Sasha Banks in 2016 that resurfaced on social media.
AEW insists on doing our part to create a world of understanding and respect for humankind. We therefore strongly condemn the extremely offensive and hurtful words of Sammy Guevara. As such, effective immediately, Sammy is suspended without pay until further notice. Sammy has agreed to undergo extensive sensitivity training and, upon completion, his future status within the company will be re-evaluated.
During his suspension, his salary will be donated to the Women’s Center of Jacksonville.
The audio in question comes from an appearance on The Whole F’n Show’s Raw’s 4th Hour where Guevara talked about a tryout he had taken part in at the Performance Center. In the clip, he says, “Bro, Sasha Banks. Oh my god. When I was at the WWE the other week, I wanted to just go f*ckin’ rape that woman.”
Sammy Guevara has released an apology video after being suspended by AEW for resurfaced audio in which he said he wanted to “rape” Sasha Banks.
In the video released on Tuesday, Guevara attempts to explain that he’s grown in the four years since he made the comment. “It just sucks because 2016 me is not me today,” he states. “2020 me would never say those kind of hurtful things that I did in 2016. I used to think it was funny to do some kind of shock humor to pop the room I’m in.”
He goes on to talk about how traveling the world has changed him. “A lot has happened in four years of my life. I know a lot of people think four years is not that much time, but if you look at how much has happened to me in my life, from wrestling in the middle of nowhere in Texas, to wrestling all around the world, to wrestling in different countries, to wresting on TV for AEW. So much has happened to me in four years,” he contends. “One of the things that’s happened is me growing, man, as a person.”
Guevara also confirms he will be attending sensitivity training – per his AEW suspension – and going on a hiatus from social media, as well as his vlog.
AEW says his status with the company will be re-evaluated after completion of his training.
Guevara himself plans on returning to AEW, saying “when I do come back, I will be better.”
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