Source: WrestlingINC.com
According to PWInsider Jeff Jarrett is reportedly preparing to make Global Force Wrestling announcements next month during WrestleMania week, that’s the same time he made GFW announcement last year. Word is that the announcement will have to do with GFW talents and live events.
PWInsider also reports that there has been discussions of doing another live pay-per-view with New Japan Pro-Wrestling this spring and bringing a AAA live pay-per-view to the United States.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson revealed on Twitter that he will be a presenter at The Oscars this Sunday. WrestlingINC.com reports that WWE Diva Eva Marie will also be there.
Former ECW, WWE and TNA star Kid Kash announced on Twitter that he is planning to retire by the end of the year.
Even though I had heard the news earlier in the month, I was ecstatic to see the debut of Alberto El Patron in Lucha Underground. A big name in the world of professional wrestling it is wonderful to see more and more stars like this join the company. With a cinematography style that seems to be right from the handbook of any motion picture, to names like Mark Burnett (producer of hit shows such as Survivor and The Apprentice) and Robert Rodriguez (acclaimed film director known for Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, and Sin City among others) producing it, Lucha Underground has the resources to become the next big company in professional wrestling.
Giving Alberto El Patron the mic to tie some loose ends shows well on the part of Lucha Underground in that storylines are written with a proper conclusion in mind and the fans are never left hanging. The El Rey Network, the channel that Lucha Underground airs on every Wednesday night at 8pm, airs back-to-back episodes of Lucha Underground leading up to the new one. If you missed an episode, story line, or are confused with a storyline’s direction due to missing an episode, it’s very easy to get caught up and not lost in the shuffle.
The more big names, the more viewers, and the more comfortable the show gets as time goes by, the greater the chance there will be for more serious competition to the likes of TNA and WWE and, like in anything, competition and multiple options for fans can never be seen as a bad thing.
-Celine
On the February 6th edition TNA Impact, Jeff Hardy was perched at the top of a cage when he took a dangerous fall, slamming on the steel steps below before crashing on the hard ground. He remained motionless for some time before regaining his composure from being knocked out cold.
As much as we all love professional wrestling, it is times like this when we need to remember that things like this can happen at any time with such a dangerous profession. They put their bodies on the line every night for our entertainment and it’s moments like this that remind us just how much they give every time they perform. Even TMZ, a mainstream site, published a story on the Hardy incident. While thankfully he is all right, it shows that while wrestling is gaining popularity by being featured in mainstream media, and has increasingly so in the past few years, safety is always the number one priority and serious injuries are never overlooked. No injury should ever be overlooked but it’s nice to see those outside of the wrestling universe express and show concern.
Here’s to many more years of exciting professional wrestling while being safe in the process.
-Celine
With Brock Lesnar’s contract coming to an end after WrestleMania there is speculation that the beast in carnet will return to the Octagon. After all Dana White has went on record saying that he would welcome Lesnar back.
With the rumors of Lesnar’s return comes the potential of another return. That return could be none other then “the Warmaster” Josh Barnett. The last time we saw Barnett in the octagon was at UFC 168 in December of 2013. He was finished early by Travis Browne which came as a surprise especially after making quick work of Frank Mir with a deviating Knee months prior. Following the lost to Browne Josh underwent successful knee surgery in April of last year.
Since Josh has been MIA from the MMA scene he has went on to capture the Metemoris Heavyweight title by defeating Dean Lister; someone who hasn’t been submitted in 19 years!, He was picked up by NJPW to do English commentary and started his own podcast (which since then has been put on a hiatus.) Before all that though Josh gained a collective number of wins in the UFC, strike force and PRIDE.
Barnett was recently a guest on the MMA hour and he expressed interest in returning to the octagon as soon as possible. His opponent in mind? None other then the current WWE world Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. Barnett had this to say about the potential match up.
“For me I think of it as the business side of things. Not the business side of oh, I’m going to make so much money, but the business side of two pro wrestlers, the styles, seeing the two of us go out it is because people will find interest in it and the fight will be interesting itself. Not just in ‘Hey, I’m some guy who’s going to bully some other guy who’s got less experience, and then I act like I’m king shit of turd mountain.’”
One thing is Forsure if this bout does indeed happen it is sure to be a good wrestling match up of sorts between two former heavyweight champions. It should be noted the even if Barnett vs Lesnar doesn’t happen Barnett still wants to make a return sometime soon.
Are you excited about the possible match up of the beast vs the Warmaster? If not Lesnar who else would you want to see Barnett face? Further more do you think the 37 year old catch wrestler still has one more ufc world Heavyweight title run in him? If the match up between Lesnar and Barnett happens will the Warmaster be the one to defeat the 1 in 21-1? Or will Lesnar conquer Barnett just like everything else?
All these questions and more will soon be answered. Stay tuned.
-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)
How could anybody in their right mind be upset with the booking of NXT? After all it’s the highest rated weekly wrestling show. According to an online source at “wrestling inc” many of the superstars and divas on the main roster are upset and frustrated with the fact that the superstars and divas down at NXT get more time.
NXT is a weekly show with a running time of an hour. That’s two less hours then the flagship show “Monday night Raw” and one less hour to the runner up show known as “Smackdown”.
The frustration within comes from the fact that the guys and girls in developmental actually have a chance to develop a story line and let it season. On the main roster however we have story lines that lack any real direction and the ones that do have direction seem to be recycled from years ago.
Then there’s the wrestling in general, now I’m not saying this as a dis to the wrestlers on Raw or Smackdown but the wrestlers down at NXT seem to be head and shoulders above them. I mean NXT Rival this past week was better then anything I’ve seen on the main roster in a LONG TIME.
This screams ONE thing to me. The problem isn’t NXT. The problem is Vince McMahon. Vince has built an empire and for that he deserves to be respected but the guy needs to step down. He is stuck in the times. In the day and age of social media wrestling isn’t what it use to be in the 90’s or even 80’s. The fans will root for who THEY want not who Vince tells us too.
The owner of this site (Trevor) and myself have both agreed that a call up to the main roster almost seems like a demotion these days. For example I’m a huge Bayley fan but I’m scared to death of what the main roster would do to her career. Anybody remember how awesome Emma was on NXT? The main roster did NOTHING for her career. Who’s to say the same thing won’t happen to anyone that’s called up to the main roster from this point forward? I mean hello The Ascension is a prime example.
So can we blame the main roster stars for their frustration? They bust their asses off and sacrifice so much to be on the road nearly 365 days a year and for what? To get sloppy matches, hardly any promo time, and silly gimmicks?
It all boils down to this, the sooner Vince steps down and Hunter takes over the better. Not just for the fans but for the wrestling business as a whole. There’s nothing wrong with using the word entertainment because after all that’s what the characters are for, but it’s about time we get back to good o’l fashion wrestling.
As we wait for a greater day for professional wrestling in regards to Raw and Smackdown I advise you watch NXT if you don’t already. NXT alone is worth the $9.99 we pay for the WWE Network, and aside from that I can’t think of a better way to spend a Wednesday night.
-Vanessa (@GreatLove91)
Discovery Communications issued the following press release praising viewership for TNA Impact Wrestling on Destination America during the month of January.
DESTINATION AMERICA SCORES BIG WITH FIRST MONTH OF PREMIERES FOR IMPACT WRESTLING
More than four million viewers tune in during first four weeks of premieres
(Silver Spring, MD) – Destination America recorded its best January ever in Prime HH delivery with premieres of Impact Wrestling. The all-new season kicked off on Wednesday, January 7th, with Impact Wrestling LIVE, ranking as Destination America’s best Wednesday evening in network history delivery of M25-54. The show also ranked as the 6th most social television program for the evening with #Destination IMPACT reaching a collective 73M impressions on Twitter.
Premieres of Impact Wrestling settled into their regular Destination America timeslot on Friday, January 16th. For the month of January, Impact Wrestling ranked as the #9 series in ad-supported cable for delivery of M25-54 on Friday nights. On Friday, January 23rd, the network garnered its highest rated and most watched Friday evening in network history for delivery of P25-54 and M25-54, ranking as the #3 sports telecast in cable (behind only NBA Basketball and the X Games on ESPN) and out-delivering networks including A&E, NGC, ESPN2, TNT and FXX among M25-54.
Throughout January, Impact Wrestling posted record-breaking numbers, delivering an average of 276K viewers among P25-54.
Continuing to build momentum, Destination America’s Impact Wrestling recorded its best premiere to date on Friday, February 6th, delivering an average of 345K P25-54, while earning a 0.85 rating among M25-54. Since premiering on the network in January 2015, 4.2M viewers have watched Impact Wrestling on Destination America.
Sho Tanaka def. Yohei Komatsu
Tiger Mask & Mascara Dorada def. Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan
Rob Conway & Chase Owens def. Jushin Liger & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Kota Ibushi def. Tomoaki Honma
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Young Bucks def. (c) ReDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) and The Timespitters (Alex Shelley & Kushida) – Young Bucks are new Champs.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship: (C) Kenny Omega def. Ryuske Taguchi
Kazuchika Okada, Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano def. The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga)
Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Tetsuya Naito def. Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi
IWGP Tag Team Championship: The Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) def. (C) Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata) – The Bullet Club are the new Champs
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: AJ Styles def. (C) Hiroshi Tanahashi – Styles is the new Champ
PWInsider reports that WWE is planning to induct former AWA World Champion and WCW announcer “The Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015.
Zbyszko is a regular at NXT tapings in Orlando and has appeared at WrestleMania Axxess in recent years.
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