Lucha Underground Preview: 3/16/16

Tonight on Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network:

Fenix exchanges his Gift of the Gods Championship for a Lucha Underground Championship match against Mil Muertes.

Plus there will be a Trios Championship Match.

Mr. Anderson Announces TNA Departure

Source: WrestlingINC

As seen in the video below, former two-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion Mr. Anderson announced that he is no longer with TNA.

“I don’t work for TNA anymore, so I agree with you, f–k TNA!,” Anderson exclaimed.

Anderson has been working on and off for TNA since January of 2010.

As of this writing, Anderson remains in the Roster section of TNA’s official website, however so does Austin Aries, who wrestled on last night’s episode of WWE NXT.

 

RVD To Donate Brain For CTE Research

Source: Bleacher Report

Former WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam is joining the list of athletes who will donate their brains to research for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after their deaths.

Van Dam made the announcement during an appearance onThe Taz Show podcast (h/t Greg Beck of WrestlingNews.co). “I’ve donated my brain and spine to the [CTE] study,” he said. “I used to tell Chris Nowinski that I thought there was a correlation between THC and brains being protected from concussion damage.”

Van Dam addressed the concussions he suffered throughout his career, though he doesn’t believe he suffered any permanent damage:

I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of concussions but I don’t think that I have any permanent damage. A lot of my peers do. A lot of my friends say ‘oh yeah, I space out’ or ‘see lights’ or this and that. … Chris [Nowinski] said ‘you know what, you’re probably on to something, but it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars before even start the study.’ … So anyway, now NFL is all over it.

Van Dam seemed to credit marijuana use for his ability to avoid any long-term effects from his concussions. On Feb. 27, retired Harvard professor Dr. Lester Grinspoon wrote an open letter to the NFL on Vice.com, urging the league to help fund a study to determine whether marijuana can help treat or prevent CTE.

“Given the severity of the problem, however, I think you, and the NFL, must go beyond simply following the medicine, and help lead the way by directly funding research to determine if cannabis…can indeed provide significant protection against the damage of repetitive concussions,” he wrote.

Van Dam became the second major wrestling star this week to announce he would donate his brain to CTE research. On Wednesday, WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash told ESPN.com’s Michael Rothstein he would be joining the cause after his death.

Nowinski, another former WWE wrestler, has done extensive work to find causes and solutions for head-related injuries in sports. He even set up the Concussion Legacy Foundation to research the problem.

The 45-year-old Van Dam became a wrestling superstar during his time in ECW, routinely taking direct shots to his head with chairs and other weapons. He has been in the sport for 26 years and is now wrestling on various independent circuits.

As noted last week, WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash also announced that he will donate his brain to CTE research.

Candace Cameron Bure On Getting In The Ring For Wrestling Segment On Her Show ‘Fuller House’

WWE recently spoke with actress Candace Cameron Bure about her recent wrestling segment on Netflix’s “Fuller House” show. She commented on getting into the wrestling ring and said she did her own stunts:

“Well, no one expected me to actually get in the ring. They had told me about this wrestling episode with the [Fuller] kids and it would be really fun and I said, ‘Oh, that’s so great!’ My real kids love watching it; they think it’s awesome. The first day in, they brought the stunt doubles and they said we’re just going to watch the stunt doubles. They’re going to work out the wrestling routine, and then they’ll do everything and we’ll just come in and do close-up face shots of me and edit it all together. Well, I watched the stuntwoman do the routine and I just said, ‘She’s not doing it! I’m doing it. I can do that!'”

 

Bill Dundee Talks Meeting With Vince McMahon After WrestleMania I & Much More

Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling recently interviewed Bill Dundee. You can download and listen to the full interview by clicking here, they sent WrestlingINC these highlights:

Working the Bill Watts Mid South Territory & bringing Memphis talent with him:

“I was there two years and it’s a hard ass territory. Bill worked seven days a week and in the Spring time and the Fall you worked two shows on a Saturday. You did a Saturday afternoon show and then again that night. You were working a lot of wrestling matches and doing a lot of miles in a car and a lot of miles in an airplane and it was a hard territory. The two years that I was there The Midnight Express left and first went to Dallas and then over to Charlotte, Ricky (Morton) and Robert (Gibson) followed them and Magnum TA went over there as well so all of the guys that I brought down to Mid South to begin with just wanted to go over to the Crockets. So I thought, well they are leaving, so I’m leaving and I went to Charlotte and did not like it and just went back to Tennessee.”

Pairing the legendary personality of Jim Cornette with the Midnight Express and Cornette’s present day perception:

“Well I don’t know about the legend part but he has been around a long time and I got along good with Jimmy and I do like Cornette. He wrote all my finishes down that he learned in Louisiana and when he went and did his own thing and I don’t blame him because that is how you learn and that is what you did. To say did he ever have an original thought of his own? I really don’t know. There used to be a formula with this business that if you stick to it, it still works. We can all cuss and we can all swear and we can all call people names and that don’t make you tough that makes you look more ignorant then tough and anyone can do that. I think Jimmy gets mixed up with what tough is and what cussing is, because that don’t make you tough.”

In comparison the reception his son Jamie Dundee gets for his very controversial comments and persona:

“There is definitely some Cornette in him. He wanted to be a white/black guy and when him and Wolfie D started and called themselves PG-13 they had the same gimmick as Cena and wore the sneakers and wore the shorts and they thought they were from the hood. Now he signs everything “white trash” and he’s got tattoos all over him and he’s back to being a redneck. He’ll say silly stuff and he’ll call people names and say stuff on the internet and write sh*t and it’s just more stupid then it is anything else. The only bad thing is people know you didn’t come into this world by yourself so when you say stupid stuff like that they think your mother and your father are like that and we ain’t nothing like that. He says well you know I’m nothing like that and it’s just a gimmick. But they don’t, the marks that listen to you on the radio shows and the podcasts hear all the things you say and they get you drunk and hear you saying silly words you and the (Iron) Sheik, they think that is you. When you do it on the internet it goes to Australia so your Aunts, Uncles and all the people that still live in Australia say look at Jamie. I think he has calmed down a little bit on that and he had a hell of a talent for this business but he got it all screwed up. I told him the drugs and alcohol are gonna kill you if you don’t get away from it and most of the ones that didn’t are not here.”

Thoughts on Jeff Jarrett and seeing him come up through the business:

“You kind of have to feel sorry for the promoters son. Greg Gagne got it with his Dad, Mike Graham got it with his Dad in Florida and when you are the promoters son people either like you or they don’t like you because well he only got to do that because his Dad is the boss and you have that cross to bear. It’s hard not to be Dad and not put your son in that position. Jerry said well I’m not going to push Jeff, well bull-sh*t you are going to push Jeff because that is your boy and that is what you are doing and that is how it is. Did he push him too fast? Maybe, who knows it took awhile for him to get his act together and I never thought he was one of the better talkers in this business because babyface wise his father was a very good talker. I got a long good with Jeff and drove up and down the road with him but were we big buddies? No, but when we were on the road we like to drink a beer and go to the bar so we had somethings in common on that part but we weren’t like the best of friends but we weren’t enemies either. I got a long good with the kid and tried to get along with helping him.”

Continuing with sons in the wrestling business, thoughts on Brian Christopher:

“I got a long good with Brian. Brian has a few demons that he has to get rid of. Jamie, Brian and Wolfie were all kind of painted with the same brush it was like what they did away from the ring was just goofy. Like I said, I’d have a few beers after the match but it ended there, I never wanted to stay up all night and party but the three of them were like that. They all ended up on the mountain and all ended up with Vince McMahon and all ended up with a job and all ended up getting fired for the same reason. Stupidity.:

Meeting with Vince McMahon after WrestleMania 1:

“I went up to Vince’s house after his first WrestleMania. He’s got that big friggin house up there in Connecticut, it’s like a damn castle. I asked him why did he have Liberace and the Rockets on his show and he said ‘Bill my father was in this wrestling business all his life and like you he thought just wrestling. When he went to the big arena in the sky he left a few dollars but I made more in the first WrestleMania then he left being in the business all his life and show business works’. He just got worse on the show business. How much can you do with the smoke and mirrors and his show now is all smoke and mirrors. I watched Raw (last night) and some of the stuff he’s doing on Raw is absolutely terrible in my opinion. Vince is a brilliant man for Vince and he’s made a lot of money and he turned his father’s business around, so obviously he’s not a dumb guy. There are more millionaires in the wrestling business today then there ever was back in the good old days.

“The day I went up there Shane was about 14 maybe and Stephanie was just a little girl and they were just young kids then. We talked and we just never quite saw eye to eye on anything and he fed me lunch and I got on the plane and had to wrestle in Jackson, Tennessee that Sunday night. It was fun and I can always say that I’ve been to God’s house and that was it.”

Tonight’s TNA ‘One Night Only: Joker’s Wild’ PPV Matches

TNA’s “One Night Only: Joker’s Wild” pay-per-view will debut tonight Below is the card:

The Wolves vs. The Decay

Eric Young and Bram vs. DJ Z and Trevor Lee

Tigre Uno and Mandrews vs. The BroMans

Rockstar Spud and Mahabali Shera vs. Aiden O’Shea and Grado

Gail Kim and Bobby Lashley vs. Jade and Tyrus

Drew Galloway and Mike Bennett vs. Jimmy Havoc and Big Damo

Matt Hardy and Will Ospreay vs. James Storm and Eli Drake

$100,000 Gauntlet Battle Royal with the winners

Japanese Wrestling Legend Hayabusa Dies At Age 47

Source: WrestlingINC

The pro wrestling world has suffered a great loss, as Eiji Ezaki, known to wrestling fans as Hayabusa has died at 47 years old.

Reports emerged early Friday of the Japanese legend’s passing due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Tokyo Sports said that Ezaki was found dead on Thursday afternoon.

Ezaki had been confined to a wheelchair for the last 14 years after suffering a career-ending injury inside the ring. During a match against Mammoth Sasaki, Ezaki lost his footing on a springboard moonsault attempt which caused him to land awkwardly, cracking two of his vertebrae, and leading to him being paralyzed.

Ezaki had a fantastic moment in 2014 where he rose from his wheelchair and took steps. He was later able to stand and walk on his own with the aid of a cane.

American pro wrestling fans perhaps best remember Ezaki from the classic ECW match where he teamed with Jensei Shinzaki (Hakushi) to take on Rob Van Dam and Sabu. The match was one of several in a talent exchange and co-promotion between ECW and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, known as FMW.

Hayabusa was one of the key cogs in FMW, and after his injury, the company withered away. In 2015, it was announced that the company would be revived, with Hayabusa/Ezaki serving as the Executive Producer.

Hayabusa also helped popularize several moves such as the Falcon Arrow and 450 Splash, while also inventing the Phoenix Splash. American fans may also know him as the motivation for the character “Han Zo Mon” in WCW/NWO Revenge video game and “Habanero” in WCW vs. The World.

WWE issued this statement on his passing:

WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of Eiji Ezaki, better known to fans around the world as Hayabusa, at the age of 47.

An innovative high-flyer who helped inspire a generation of Superstars, the mysterious, masked Hayabusa was known for throwing caution to the wind. Ezaki created daring moves like the Phoenix Splash, which to this day can be seen in the repertoire of daredevil competitors, including former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. A major star in Japan in the mid to late ’90s, Hayabusa competed in one major American match, teaming with Jinsei Shinzaki (known as Hakushi in WWE) in a losing effort against Sabu & Rob Van Dam at ECW’s Heat Wave 1998 event. Although his career was cut short by injury in 2001, Ezaki never strayed far from the industry, where he continued to impart his knowledge.

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

Kevin Nash To Donate Brain For CTE Research

Source: ESPN

Concussion and head trauma has been a hot topic in sports and entertainment recently. Just weeks ago we saw the untimely retirement of fan favorite Daniel Bryan due to concussions. At least one wrestler has vowed to do something about it.

WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash has pledged to donate his brain to help research chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE.

“Chris Nowinski started the program, and I’ve had several concussions throughout my life and had scans done and stuff and knew that somewhere down the line, I’ve already had short-term memory problems,” Nash told ESPN.com’s Michael Rothstein. “I decided to go ahead. The only way you can diagnose this is after you’re dead.”

Nowinski’s own professional wrestling career was ended well over a decade ago due to concussions, which he’s said he still deals with to this day.

Nowinski issued the following statement to Rothstein:

“It’s so powerful when icons like Kevin Nash are willing to pledge their brain for research and talk about it publicly. Brain donation is really driving our growing knowledge of CTE and the long-term effects of brain trauma. And so I’m hoping that we solve this problem before Kevin’s time comes, but Kevin announcing this means that other families are aware that this research is important and that if they lose somebody, they may think of the concussion Legacy Foundation.”

Lucha Underground Preview: 3/2/16

In the all new mind-blowing episode of “Lucha Underground,” King Cuerno is on a mission to defend his title as the Gift of the Gods Champion against Fenix in a dramatic Ladder Match. Will King Cuerno fight hard enough to hold onto his title? Find out on Wednesday, March 2nd at 8:00PM ET/PT on El Rey Network.

Lucha Underground On iTunes

The El Rey Network issued the following today:

EL REY NETWORK AND MARK BURNETT’S HIGH-FLYING WRESTLING SERIES ‘LUCHA UNDERGROUND’ RELEASED EXCLUSIVELY ON ITUNES

The Complete First Season and Season 2 Season Pass (Episodes Available Next Day After Air) Are Now Available on iTunes (U.S.)

Los Angeles – March 1, 2016 – FactoryMade Ventures has announced the addicting original “Lucha Underground” is available exclusively on iTunes starting today. Coined by Slate as “one of the most riveting shows on TV” and “the best-kept secret in pro wrestling” by RollingStone.com, the action-packed, high-flying lucha libre wrestling series from Emmy Award®-winning producer Mark Burnett, MGM, Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures and Skip Film is now available at itunes.com/LuchaUndergroundfor $1.99 SD / $2.99 HD per episode, $34.99 SD / $44.99 HD for Season 1, and $29.99 SD / $39.99 HD for a Season 2 Season Pass.

“Lucha Underground” content on iTunes includes all 39 episodes from Season 1, the first five episodes of Season 2, and additional new episodes the day after they air on El Rey Network (Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT). Starting today through March 28th, fans can get the Season 2 premiere of “Lucha Underground” for free, and the Season 2 trailer will be available for free indefinitely.

Ancient tradition, extraordinary athleticism, and a flare for theatrics combine in El Rey Network’s wrestling series, “Lucha Underground,” currently in season two premiering every Wednesday at 8PM ET/PT. The riveting original introduces American audiences to the high-flying aerial maneuvers, slingshot moves, dramatic masks, intricate, rapid-fire combinations and distinctive wrestling techniques of lucha libre, one of Mexico’s most popular sports. Fans have a ringside seat as masked villains and heroes face off to battle for wrestling supremacy. The weekly series provides enthusiastic viewers with an incredibly visceral and explosive experience with a focus on the artistry, originality, intense action and over-the-top characters that have come to define this phenomenal fan-favorite. A celebration of lucha libre’s long-standing Mesoamerican heritage and culture dating back to 1863, this is programming that must be seen to be believed.

“Lucha Underground” is produced by MGM Television in association with FactoryMade Ventures for El Rey Network. Executive producers are Mark Burnett and Eric Van Wagenen (also showrunner); Dorian Roldán from Lucha Libre AAA; Alejandro Garcia and Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro; El Rey Network co-founder Robert Rodriguez; FactoryMade Ventures and El Rey Network co-founders John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa and Skip Chaisson of Skip Films and El Rey Network. The series airs on El Rey Network and is distributed internationally by MGM Television.

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