Category: TNA

Last Rodeo For Mickie James

Mickie James returned to the Impact Zone on Thursday night for an announcement regarding her future. Signs pointed toward retirement, but that wasn’t the case. James announced she’s saddling up for one last rodeo to chase the Knockouts Championship, however, there is a catch.

James took center stage for her announcement. November will be 24 years since first stepping into a wrestling ring with a prayer and a dream. Over half her life has been living, breathing, bleeding, and crying for this business that she loves so much.

The last few years were a whirlwind journey. When she was released from WWE to feel like being thrown out with garbage, negative criticism flooded her mind. It was the fans that brought her back to be empowered for the greatest run of her career returning to Impact. James won the Knockouts Championship for the fourth time and was in a PPV main event for a Texas Deathmatch.

Then, James lost the title to Tasha Steelz. Protege and friend Chelsea Green betrayed her and beat her twice in the ring. That sent James back to negative thoughts that she couldn’t hang anymore with the new crop of talent.

James went home to do some soul searching. What more does she need to prove? James only wanted to make the business a better place for women, where they could be seen as equals.

James never wanted to hang on too long to be a shell of her former self. She doesn’t know if she can compete with the best anymore, but she has to find out. James will not be retiring. She is going to test herself in a quest to be the best. James isn’t asking for a title shot. She wants to earn it the same way she earned everything in life, with dirt in her eyes and grit in her teeth.

James issued an open challenge to anyone and everyone in the Knockouts division. She will build her way back to the top. James is coming for the Knockouts Championship.

Even though James is not retiring at this time, there is a catch. If she loses on this journey, then that’s it. This is James’ last rodeo. She’ll either end as champion or go home for good. James can’t promise it will be a long ride, but she can promise it will be a hell of a ride. Hardcore country!

https://twitter.com/IMPACTWRESTLING/status/1565507556809887754

Source: SB Nation

IMPACT Preview 9/1/2022

The road to Bound For Glory heats up as an all-new IMPACT! emanates from Dallas, TX this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

  • OGK (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) will finally receive their long-awaited IMPACT World Tag Team Title opportunity when they challenge reigning champions The Good Brothers
  • Knockouts Championship #1 Contenders Match: Deonna Purrazzo  vs. the undefeated Masha Slamovich
  • Last month, Knockouts legend Mickie James “went home” following a loss to Chelsea Green on IMPACT. As rumors regarding her retirement from professional wrestling continue to circulate, we can now confirm that James will return to the IMPACT Zone and make a major announcement this Thursday. What does “Hardcore Country” have in store for the wrestling world?
  • Alex Zayne vs. Mascara Dorada
  • X-Division Championship: “Speedball” Mike Bailey (c) vs. Kenny King

The action begins Before the IMPACT, streaming this Thursday at 7:30pm ET exclusively on IMPACT Plus, YouTube and Facebook. The young guns of Bullet Club, Ace Austin and Chris Bey, team up to battle IMPACT newcomers JD Griffey and Exodus who will be looking to make a name for themselves in the IMPACT Zone!

Bobby Fish’s AEW Contract Will Not Be Renewed (REPORT)

One-half of ReDRagon, Bobby Fish, might be on his way out of AEW.

AEW has been struggling with several instances of backstage drama and disputes. For example, Eddie Kingston and Sammy Guevara got into a physical altercation backstage that led to Kingston being briefly suspended from the company. There are also several rumors that AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa is facing genuine resentment from Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter.

Now it seems that contract news is joining the fray of stories coming out of the AEW locker room. The latest subject of speculation is the Undisputed Bobby Fish.

A report posted from Fightful Select writes that AEW will not be renewing Bobby Fish’s contract with the company. Though it’s unclear exactly when his contract is up, it will likely be within the next month. Fish has been absent from AEW programming for the last few weeks due to injury; it’s now unclear whether Bobby Fish will return to TV before his contract expires.

Bobby Fish made his AEW debut on October 6 2021 in a match against Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship. He then aligned with his former teammate in NXT, Adam Cole, and the Young Bucks. When Kyle O’Reilly jumped ship to AEW, he and Bobby Fish immediately reunited as a tag team. When the Undisputed Elite split up, Fish predictably stayed on the side of Cole and O’Reilly.

Fans speculated that the Undisputed three would have a trios feud against the Elite now that Kenny Omega has returned from injury. However, all three have been on the shelf with injuries for the last few weeks. At the moment, there’s a strong possibility that fans have already seen O’Reilly, Cole and Fish in the ring together for the last time.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Dynamite Preview 8/31/2022

The final episode of “AEW Dynamite” before the All Out pay-per-view will take place tonight at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. (Chicago area)

-Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida vs Britt Baker, D.M.D. & Jamie Hayter

-Jake Hager vs. Bryan Danielson 

-World Trios Tournament Dynamite Final: Will Ospreay & Aussie Open vs. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega to determine who moves on the tournament finals at All Out

-Jon Moxley will speak

Samoa Joe Could Be Returning To AEW Soon

Samoa Joe could be returning to the AEW ring sooner than later, according to PWInsider.

PWInsider reports that the Peacock series “Twisted Metal” has now wrapped shooting, which means Joe could be returning to the ring soon. Based on the PlayStation video games, the series will see Joe in a dual role with Will Arnett as the character Sweet Tooth. Arnett is the voice, while Joe will be the physical appearance of the clown. The series also stars Stephanie Beatriz, Neve Campbell, Thomas Haden Church, and Anthony Mackie.

Joe last wrestled at the ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, where he defeated Jay Lethal. Joe is the current ROH World Television Champion. He has held the title since defeating then-champion NJPW star Minoru Suzuki on the April 13 episode of “AEW Dynamite.”

After his WWE release on January 6, Joe signed with both AEW and ROH. He made his AEW in-ring debut on the April 7 episode of “Dynamite.” He won his debut match against The Acclaimed’s Max Caster and qualified for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Joe made it finals of the tournament but lost against Adam Cole at Double Or Nothing.

Before his AEW debut, he had made his return to ROH on April 1 at Supercard XV, where he saved Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty from Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Supercard XV was ROH’s first event since being acquired by AEW CEO Tony Khan on March 2.

Along with his “Twisted Metal” role, Joe voiced King Shark for the upcoming DC video game, “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

[Report] FTR removed from AEW video game

Fightful Select reported that FTR won’t be part of the first version of the AEW: Fight Forever video game.

The former AEW Tag Team Champions originally made it to the “model phase” of the game but were pulled this past Spring. FTR was told of the decision and wasn’t too happy about it because wrestlers being part of video games usually also comes with a significant bonus.

All Elite Wrestling and THQ Nordic announced the game earlier this month.

No official release date is still confirmed, but it is listed as December 31, 2022, on Amazon. The game is available for pre-order on Amazon for PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch with a price tag of $59.99.

FTR will team up with Wardlow vs. Jay Lethal & Motor City Machine Guns in a trios match at next Sunday’s AEW All Out.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

AEW Rampage Preview 8/26/2022

Tonight’s AEW Rampage episode on TNT was taped earlier this week from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

AEW President, CEO, General Manager & Head of Creative Tony Khan took to Twitter last night and announced that exclusive backstage footage of CM Punk will air on tonight’s Rampage. The footage will show the aftermath of Punk’s loss to new Undisputed AEW World Champion Jon Moxley on Wednesday’s Dynamite.

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1562982229554315267

AEW has announced the following line-up for tonight’s Rampage:

* Exclusive backstage footage of CM Punk will air, showing aftermath of his loss to AEW World Champion Jon Moxley on Dynamite

* AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill will speak

* AEW TNT Champion Wardlow defends against Ryan Nemeth

* Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo vs. Ruby Soho and Ortiz

* House of Black vs. The Dark Order in a match for the tournament to crown the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions. The winners will face the Best Friends in the next round

* ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli defends against Dustin Rhodes

Backstage News On How AEW Dynamite World Title Match Came About

It’s now been two days since Jon Moxley defeated CM Punk to become Undisputed AEW World Champion in one of the more dominating World Championship matches in recent memory, and as the shock wears off, fans are wondering just how this whole thing came together and what’s happening next. Luckily a new report is here to confirm some details and provide an update on what fans can expect. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer seemed to confirm that another Punk-Moxley match will be happening soon, while also backing up previous reports that revealed a Moxley-Punk TV match wasn’t originally in the cards.

“A rematch between the two will headline All Out on September 4 in Chicago,” Meltzer said. “The announcers gave Punk a backstory of perhaps coming back too soon. He limped out of the ring, and no doubt the story of the Chicago match is that he goes in injured. This was not the original plan as far as doing the television match and this type of match. 

“It wasn’t a ratings ploy, although the timing was such that they definitely wanted to boost ratings, as much as Moxley becoming the real champion as he personally hated the interim thing, and it being a way to tell a different story. Some didn’t like the short match. Others did. Some felt it would hurt doing a PPV rematch just 11 days later, and others felt the nature of how the match was done, being kept short and having an injury, puts more doubt and helps the PPV. Anyway, that answer to at least an extent will be determined shortly after the show.” It’s unknown when the Punk-Moxley rematch will be announced. Exclusive backstage footage of Punk following his loss is scheduled to be shown tonight on “AEW Rampage.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW told to down the language by Warner Bros Discovery

Warner Brothers Discovery has given a new directive to All Elite Wrestling.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that “word has gotten to the promotion from WBD that they’d like the language toned down. As best we can tell, they have said nothing about the blood.”

Unlike WWE, AEW does not script its promos but gives bullet points to its wrestlers. Many wrestlers use the words “sh**” and “bi**h during their promos and other curse words.

During his memorable promo on the August 17 episode of AEW Dynamite where he called out Hangman Adam Page, which wasn’t planned, before setting up his match with Jon Moxley, Punk said “sh**” multiple times.

WarnerMedia and Discovery completed a multi-billion dollar merger between the two companies this past April. AEW President Tony Khan previously stated that he felt very good about the future of the promotion and their working relationship with Warner Bros Discovery following a meeting in May.

AEW reportedly takes in just under $45 million annually for its television rights. They will be going into contract talks before their deal expires in 2024.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

IMPACT Preview 8/25/22

The road to Bound For Glory continues on an all-new IMPACT! this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

  • Violent By Design vs. Time Machine (Motor City Machine Guns and KUSHIDA)
  •  Knockouts World Tag Team Championship: VXT (Deonna Purrazzo and Chelsea Green) (c) vs. Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace and Mia Yim
  • Vincent vs. IMPACT World Champion Josh Alexander
  • Mike Bennett vs. Karl Anderson
  • Jessicka (formerly known as Havok) makes her in-ring debut
  • Bhupinder Gujjar vs. Jason Hotch

The action begins Before the IMPACT, streaming this Thursday at 7:30pm ET exclusively on IMPACT Plus, YouTube and Facebook. Bullet Club’s Ace Austin and Hikuleo team up to battle Johnny Swinger and Zicky Dice in an exclusive match you won’t see anywhere else!