Category: Wrestling News

Former WWE And Impact Star Ken Anderson Accused Of Unprofessionalism By Students At Wrestling School

Former WWE and Impact Wrestling star Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy) has been accused of unprofessional business practices by students at his wrestling school in Minneapolis, MN.

On Sunday, a Reddit user, claiming to be a student enrolled in Anderson’s “The Academy: School of Professional Wrestling,” stated that the school has been closed for “quite some time now,” and hasn’t resumed activities unlike other gyms in the area. The post claimed that students enrolled in the school for nearly two years have yet to receive any semblance of training, “not even remote homework like tape study, character development or promos.” Furthermore, the user pointed out that the school’s website was deactivated a while ago.

The user noted that Anderson has “gone silent and his only update every 2-3 months is that they’re in talks with a realtor for a new facility but no real progress comes out of it.”

The post led to another Reddit user commenting on his experiences with Anderson’s school. They claimed to have signed up for a 30-minute free consultation, only to show up to an empty warehouse at the time of the scheduled appointment. The Reddit thread can be found here.

According to Bodyslam.net, while some students are still hopeful that the school will eventually reopen, one particular student has given up hope. The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, pointed out how the reopening of the school has been postponed several times in the last 18 months since they paid for the program. He also corroborated claims by users in the Reddit thread that Anderson’s school has yet to issue refunds.

The student revealed the reasons he’s been given – for not receiving training – range from the outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant to the lack of a building to train in. This specific student came to a conclusion about six months ago that the situation seemed “super sketchy based on the lack of communication.” They also noted their communication with Anderson himself to be very minimal, citing brief conversations via text messages.

The student issued the following statement via BodySlam:

In no way am I making any claims on Ken’s personal character as I’ve had minimal contact with the man, but I believe his business practices and professionalism speaks for themselves. I’m personally not out to ruin anyone’s career but simply trying to hold others accountable for their actions as well as preventing others from making the same mistakes I did.

The money I’m out may not seem like a lot to some but it was my entire savings as well as my dreams, and at the end of the day, that’s all I really want back. My dream is crushed but hopefully I can get my money back.

Mr. Kennedy’s wrestling school has trained talents such as Dante & Darius Martin of AEW, and once had trainers such as Molly Holly, Shawn Daivari and Arik Cannon.

Anderson has yet to respond to the allegations. As seen in the screengrabs below, the school has reached out to the students at regular intervals, but hasn’t provided any training in two years.

Anderson was last seen in a match at the NWA Powerrr tapings in December 2019. He was scheduled to compete at the NWA Hard Times pay-per-view in January 2020, but was pulled from match versus Tim Storm due to an injury.

UPDATE: Through their Facebook page, Anderson’s wrestling school reached out to their students on December 18, 2021. As seen in the screengrabs below, the school also previously expected to reopen on November 1.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Matt Hardy Comments On Jeff Hardy’s Renewed Pro Wrestling Passion

AEW star Matt Hardy recently spoke with the Wrestling Perspective Podcast about how easy it is to get back into the groove with Jeff Hardy. For him, when it comes to teaming up, it is just like riding a bike. He also revealed that Jeff is excited about his future within the wrestling business following his WWE release.

“I’ll be honest, when it comes to myself and Jeff teaming up and being The Hardy Boyz, it’s like riding a bike,” he said. “You just get back on and you just start pedaling and it’s business as usual. That’s one thing that’s really cool, knowing that I have literally been there since this guy was born, you know, his whole life.

“So we really know each other inside and out and it’s going to be fun. You know Jeff’s excitement and passion for wrestling have been so renewed now that he has this new horizon in front of him. I’m very excited about that.”

Matt Hardy also provided a tease about the future of The Hardy Boyz as a tag team. Without giving away any official details, he did claim that 2022 will be good for both him and his brother.

“Without going too much into detail, I am very excited to where 2022 is going to take The Hardy Boyz,” he said. “I feel like it’s going to be a great year for both Matt and Jeff.”

While there have been rumors of Jeff joining Matt in AEW, their first official match has already been announced. The Hardy Boyz will be getting back into the ring on March 12, 2022, for Big Time Wrestling. Additional dates are set to be announced soon, but that has yet to happen.

Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to Wrestling Perspective Podcast 

The Wrld On GCW Results 1/23/2022

Kickoff Show

– Big Vin wins the Pabst Blue Ribbon Battle Royal – Thunder Rosa and Lufisto also entered as surprises

– The Grim Reefer def. Shane Mercer vs. Alex Zayne vs. Jack Cartwheel vs. Ninja Mack vs. Dante Leon in a Scramble match

Main Show

Grab The Brass Ring Ladder Match
AJ Gray defeated Jordan Oliver vs. Jimmy Lloyd vs. Alex Colon vs. G-Raver vs. PCO vs Tony Deppen
Winner can choose any match at any time.

Team Gringo (Gringo Loco, Demonic Flamita, Arez) defeated Team Bandido (Bandido, Laredo Kid, ASF)

Blake Christian defeated Lio Rush

Matt Cardona with Chelsea Green defeated Joey Janela

WWE Hall of Famer X-Pac didn’t wrestle, but he did rush the ring with his DX music blaring in an attempt to help out Joey Janela. The Bad Boy was battling deathmatch legend Matt Cardona and ultimately failed to beat the former GCW Champion despite X-Pac’s best efforts. Marko Stunt, Hornswoggle, Brian Myers, and Virgil also got involved in the match.

Ruby Soho defeated Allie Katch

Jeff Jarrett defeated Effy

GCW World Title Match
Jon Moxley (c) defeated Homicide

Open Challenge for the GCW World Tag Team Titles
Matt Tremont & Nick Gage w/ Dewey Donovan defeated The Briscoes (c) to become the new GCW World Tag Team Champions

GCW Confirms Jeff Jarrett vs. Effy For The Wrld On GCW PPV

WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett vs. Effy is now official for The Wrld On GCW.

The feud between Double J and Double F began at GCW’s Die 4 This event a few weeks back, where Jarrett made his GCW debut to interrupt a “State of Effy” speech, attacking Effy with his guitar. After a few words on social media between the two, Jarrett then appeared at GCW’s Say What You Will event this past weekend, and attacked Effy’s partner, Allie Katch, with a guitar.

Effy challenged Jarrett to a match earlier this afternoon, as seen in the Twitter video below, and now the challenge has been accepted as GCW confirmed the match this evening.

https://twitter.com/EFFYlives/status/1483142558515666944
https://twitter.com/GCWrestling_/status/1483206723263414272

GCW’s The Wrld On GCW pay-per-view will be held this Sunday, January 23 from a sold out Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Below is the updated card, along with related tweets:

GCW World Title Match
Homicide vs. Jon Moxley (c)

Open Challenge for the GCW World Tag Team Titles
TBA vs. The Briscoes (c)

Grab The Brass Ring Ladder Match
Participants TBA
Winner can choose any match at any time.

ROH World Title Match
Blake Christian vs. Jonathan Gresham (c)

Jeff Jarrett vs. Effy

Matt Cardona with Chelsea Green vs. Joey Janela

Ruby Soho vs. Allie Katch

Team Bandido (Bandido, Laredo Kid, ASF) vs. Team Gringo (Gringo Loco, Demonic Flamita, Arez)

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jeff Jarrett Comments On Potential Launch Of Another Major Promotion

WWE Hall Of Famer Jeff Jarrett recently spoke with The Business of the Business podcast. During the interview, he discussed Game Changer Wrestling. He revealed that GCW has been on his radar long before 2021.

“I was well aware of GCW through the lens of FITE, long before I’ll say diplomatically, 2021. They have been on my radar for quite some time,” Jarrett claimed. “A lot of folks know them as, ‘oh, the deathmatch,’ and in a lot of ways I think, maybe positively and negatively, they’ve been branded that way.”

Jeff Jarrett then went on to praise the content that GCW has been putting out as of late. Jarrett also spoke about how the promotion has built up a loyal audience that continues to grow.

“But Brett and the team have put out consistent episodic content,” he stated. “All of their programming, they have a very loyal audience, and it continues to grow and grow.”

Jeff Jarrett then looked ahead to the future of professional wrestling. He believes that there is room for another major promotion alongside what already exists. However, for him, it could be about having a home-based promotion that exists around the world, such as in South America.

“Now language is an issue, a barrier,” he admitted. “That goes without saying. But there is room for a — I’ll call it a home-based promotion around the world. It could be South America, Mexico City. Look at the amount of Hispanics in the United States. They absolutely could thrive. So I think there could be a Hispanic promotion, there could be a European promotion.

“The days of it being just looked at from a US lens, in my opinion, they’re long gone. It is a global promotion. It’s just where is the home base going to be. Because I think there’s room for, and I don’t want to get too far down the road, but three, four, five, six, seven of those.”

Source: Wresting Inc. with credit to The Business of the Business podcast

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express To Begin Farewell Retirement Tour Against Top AEW Tag Team

WWE Hall of Famers The Rock & Roll Express are retiring from tag team competition.

Ricky Morton took to Twitter this week to announce that he and Robert Gibson will begin their farewell tour on Saturday, January 22 when they wrestle AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR at a Big Time Wrestling event in Spartanburg, SC.

Morton noted that he and Gibson will continue to make appearances together, but they are retiring from wrestling as a tag team. Morton wants to spend more time teaming with his son, Kerry Morton, and work with other up & coming talent.

“Rock & Roll Express Farewell tour begins January 22nd, 2022. I want to focus more with Kerry and behind the scenes in the wrestling business. #onelastride,” he wrote. “Specify, Robert and I are retiring from tag team wrestling together. Not appearances/signings. I would like to continue to tag team with my son and work with the younger generation in this glorious business.”

After the match against FTR, Morton will then wrestle Matt Cardona at GCW’s The Wrld On GCW the next night from Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Morton is also scheduled to team with 2 Cold Scorpio to wrestle Effy and Allie Katch at this Friday’s GCW Notorious event in Detroit. Morton is then scheduled to compete in the 26th annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament on Saturday, March 26 in Morganville, NJ.

Morton and Gibson began teaming together in the early 1980s. The legendary tag team has held gold in more than a dozen promotions. They were inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2006, the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2021.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Taya Valkyrie Wants A Spot In The AEW Owen Hart Tournament 

Former Impact and NXT star Taya Valkyrie (Franky Monet) says she’s interested in working at AEW and thinks she deserves a spot in the Owen Hart tournament.

AEW’s inaugural Owen Hart Cup tournaments are set to kick off in a few months, and some wrestlers are starting to lobby for places … including former Impact and NXT star Taya Valkyrie (Franky Monet).

During a recent East Coast Autograph Auctions appearance, Valkyrie implied that she would jump at the opportunity to join AEW if offered.

“Of course, I would go to AEW. I mean, they are doing something different,” she said. “A lot of my peers and my best friends, my brothers Fenix and Pentagon are over there. So why not? Let’s wait and see what happens,” Taya teased.

La Wera Loca then commented on the possibility of her participating in the Owen Cup, saying that she deserves a spot as she shares a nationality with the man to whom the tournament is dedicated.

“I mean, as a Canadian, I think that I should definitely be in the Owen tournament,” Taya said. “I was trying to think what Canadian girls are part of AEW. I want to say Allie is probably the only one? So I think there needs to be more Canadians in that scenario. So, I would absolutely love to.”

AEW’s partnership with The Owen Hart Foundation was announced last September. Both the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup tournaments will be taking place in May 2022 with each final happening at this year’s Double Or Nothing. No competitors have been announced, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted with new developments.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1439967601854226434

Taya Valkyrie signed with WWE in February of last year and was soon repackaged as Franky Monet. She and several of her now-former co-workers were released by WWE on Thursday, November 4 allegedly due to budget cuts necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic (although as we reported, WWE generated $256 Million in revenue in that quarter).

Source: TheSportster

Nick Aldis Re-Signs With NWA, NWA Powerrr Returning To YouTube

Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis revealed on Busted Open that he has re-signed with the promotion. Aldis has been with the company since 2017, and during a recent interview with Wrestling Inc., he discussed what he enjoys about the promotion.

“One of the things I’ve enjoyed in my time with the NWA was the ability to breathe new life into things which have a tremendous amount of history and tradition attached to them, but haven’t always been celebrated in that respect,” Aldis told us. “They were always things people talked about in the past tense.”

NWA President William Corgan also announced today the addition of two more pay-per-views, bringing the 2022 schedule up to six events. The company will be including all PPV events in a brand new annual “All Access” plan, which launches today. A new Saturday morning show, NWA USA, will air free on YouTube before becoming available as replays via the NWA “All Access” plan on FITE. The NWA USA season starts this Saturday, January 8th and will revive the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship as an extended tournament and a title.

“With the NWA coming off our biggest and most successful year of this modern era, I can’t express just how thrilled I am to make this newest offering to fans via NWA All Access,” NWA President William Corgan said. “And to that, we will work that much more to exceed expectations. Which is what makes the inherent savings in this annual package so exciting. Because we as an organization really believe this new model will change the game for us; all whilst rewarding our most loyal and ardent fans with more shows and more PPV events.”

The “All Access” Pass–Annual Plan will cost $49.99 and will get fans all six of NWA’s live and scheduled PPV events for 2022. All Access Pass holders, whether monthly or annual, will continue to watch NWA POWERRR first, each Tuesday at 6:05 ET. Exclusive specials such as the docu-series Ten Pounds of Gold will be available only with “All Access” plans.

NWA and FITE have also partnered to put NWA POWERRR shows on YouTube free on Friday nights at 6:05 PM ET. NWA USA will debut on YouTube on Saturday mornings at 12:05 AM ET, before moving to FITE for NWA “All Access” members on Sunday nights.

“Most wrestlers and wrestling fans grew up watching Saturday morning matches with classic promotions like NWA,” said Nick Aldis. “We wanted to bring back that joyful state of being and indoctrinate impressionable young minds into the National Wrestling Alliance.”
We guarantee that this fresh and exciting addition to the brand’s quickly growing slate of programming will be can’t miss.

You can get more details and subscribe at FITE TV by clicking here.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Booker T Comments On His Impending Return To In-Ring Action

It was confirmed this week that Booker T will be returning to the ring for his Reality Of Wrestling promotion. During his latest Hall Of Fame podcast, Booker himself discussed the situation, likening his current role when he returns to the ring as that of a player-coach.

“Player-coach baby. I’ll coach it from the outside and, hey, I’m putting myself in the game. Go in and score 30,” he added. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s about letting these young guys get a ‘rub.’ Get a rub and let them see exactly what it takes from an inside perspective.”

Booker T will be teaming with Gaspar Hernandez  and the match will be taking place on January 22 in Canton, Texas. He believes it is all about on-the-job training and also spoke about the future of his tag team partner.

“I mean, on-the-job training, baby,” Booker T said about the situation. “It’s about learning this thing the proper way. A straight line is the direction that Gaspar Hernandez is going. Do you feel me?”

Booker T is taking his return to wrestling seriously. He has not been in the ring since February of 2020, where he competed for Reality Of Wrestling as well. However, the Hall Of Famer has been getting ready to get back, by spending time inside of the gym in order to get ready.

“I just finished working out in the gym. I am getting prepared, I am getting ready,” the Hall Of Famer claimed. “To go out there and do something special, the first time that it has never been done. Player-coach, Booker T, Gaspar Hernandez, Canton, Texas. It’s going to be good.”

Source: Wrestling Inc. credit to Hall Of Fame podcast

Alexa Bliss Returning To WWE RAW Soon

Alexa Bliss is set to return to WWE RAW soon.

WWE announced this week that we will begin to see Bliss’ journey back to RAW next Monday night. It sounds like a series of vignettes will be released, leading up to Bliss making her return to the storylines.

Bliss has been away from WWE since losing to then-RAW Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on September 26. It was reported after the pay-per-view that Bliss would be taking “a few months” off due to sinus surgery. She noted on Twitter in late November that she needed “time to heal” when a fan asked about her return.

There’s been speculation on Bliss possibly returning with a new gimmick, or her old character. She was wrapping up the Lilly storyline the last time we saw her. There’s also speculation on Bliss possibly making her return in the 30-Woman Royal Rumble Match later this month.

Source: Wrestling Inc.