MLW goes LIVE coast to coast nationwide on beIN SPORTS tonight at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Spread the word about MLW Fusion LIVE.
The live network special will feature the undefeated and reigning World Heavyweight Champion Low Ki, Konnan, Pentagón Jr., “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and the return of Tony Schiavone calling live pro wrestling on cable television for the first time in 17 years!
The card features:
Main Event: Rush vs. Rich Swann
CMLL World Lightweight Champion Dragón Lee vs. DJZ
Ladder match for the vacant World Middleweight Champion: Dezmond Xavier vs. Kotto Brazil vs. Andrew Everett
Plus a ton more!
Set a reminder and be sure to watch live on beIN SPORTS tonight at 8pm ET / 5pm PT.
IWGP US Champion Cody Rhodes is currently in the UK and during his time there he appeared on Fight Forever Wrestling’s production of Bruce Prichard’s Something To Wrestle podcast.
Responding to a fan question about returning to WWE, Rhodes noted he had “passed on the WWE offer a few weeks ago” and felt there is a market for non-PG wrestling after the success of “All In”back in September. The Young Bucks and Rhodes’ self-financed show in Chicago sold-out in a flash, and ever since there has been talk of not only an “All In 2” but a whole new All Elite Wrestling promotion.
Speaking of a follow-up to “All In,” Rhodes teased, “Hypothetically, would it necessarily be ‘All In 2’… or ‘All In: International?” Rhodes continued about the potential of having an international show.
“There are two major territories outside of the US in terms of wrestling: the UK and Australia,” Rhodes said. “If you put up a ring, they will come.”
The group has already moved away from the NJPW owned, Bullet Club, now going as The Elite. Rhodes (along with Adam Page and the Young Bucks) have repeatedly reminded fans they will be free agents on January 1. For Rhodes, his contract with ROH has already finished up, but he will be wrestling in his final match this Friday at ROH Final Battle against ROH World Champion Jay Lethal.
ROH COO Joe Koff spoke to Wrestling Inc last month and commented on if he thought The Elite would return to ROH.
“I don’t think so, and I don’t think that’s new news either,” Koff said. “They definitely have something in mind … and I’m very thankful for Cody and The Young Bucks and Page and their contributions to ROH. They were part of our great year. They’ll always be a part of the ROH family and I’m always excited when people choose to take a different direction or go in a different direction because it’s exciting for them as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.”
Saturday night, former WWE star Big Cass suffered a seizure at a House of Hardcore event during the show’s intermission. Big Cass was scheduled to appear on the second half of the show in a segment with Joey Ryan, but was replaced by the Blue Meanie. House of Hardcore took place at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
According to PWInsider, by the time the EMTs arrived to treat Cass he was coherent and speaking with HOH management.
Tommy Dreamer also gave an update on Twitter that he spoke to Cass today and he was doing well.
Scary moment going down at the #HouseofHardcore event in Philly right now as former WWE Star Big Cass collapses in the lobby. Doctor attending to him now.
Cass’ former WWE tag-team partner, Enzo Amore, commented on Twitter about the incident with some words of support, “If I had a dime for every time one of us got knocked down and didn’t get back up…I would have zero dimes!”
Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that former ECW World Heavyweight Champion PJ Polaco, f.k.a. Justin Credible, has once again been arrested — this time for misdemeanor assault, violating a protection order and breach of peace.
The former ECW star was taken into custody on Tuesday and there are multiple charges listed, including criminal mischief and three instances of violating a protection order.
We’re told Credible lives with his family, but most in the house have protection orders against him in case an incident occurs … which might explain the multiple violations.
We’ve reached out to police for additional information on the arrest.
Sources tell Pro Wrestling Sheet that the 45-year-old has had multiple run-ins with the law since he was last arrested in September. He’s also allegedly walked away from going to WWE sponsored rehab.
During all of this, Credible has been filming a documentary about his struggle.
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
The latest trailer posted by WrestlingINC can be seen below:
HBO is reportedly working on a documentary about New Japan Pro Wrestling star Kenny Omega, who is the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Musician Joseph Shabason recently appeared on the Kreative Kontrol podcast and revealed that he had completed the musical score for the documentary. Shabason indicated that the documentary will air in earlt 2019.
“I just finished a documentary about a wrestler, that’s going to be coming out on HBO in the New Year, which is going to be really exciting,” he said. “It’s a wrestler named Kenny Omega, he’s a wrestler from Winnipeg, but he went to Japan and formed this tag team called The Golden Lovers, which was sort of the first-ever queer storyline in wrestling. … He’s a pretty incredible dude. I was really happy with scoring it.”
HBO found major success with their documentary on WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant that was released earlier this year along with WWE. Stay tuned for updates on when their Omega documentary will air.
Omega is set to defend his IWGP Heavyweight Title against Hiroshi Tanahashi at the NJPW WrestleKingdom 13 event from the Tokyo Dome on January 4.
One of wrestling’s most innovative performers, Thomas “Dynamite Kid” Billington, died Wednesday on his 60th birthday, according to family friends.
Billington’s health struggles over the last decade have been well-publicized. His cause of death wasn’t immediately released.
Dynamite Kid’s wrestling career spanned two decades competing in the World Wrestling Federation, Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and All Japan Pro Wrestling. He found mainstream success alongside Davey Boy Smith in the British Bulldogs tag team during the 1980s in WWF.
Smith’s son confirmed the news this morning on Twitter.
“It deeply saddens me to announce the passing of Tom Billington the ‘Dynamite Kid.’ I was really happy and glad I got to see Dynamite one last time last June in the UK. Dynamite was certainly an inspiration to myself and many others and really revolutionized professional wrestling as we know it today,” Harry Smith wrote.
The former WWF tag champ has been pointed to as an childhood inspiration to many of wrestling’s top performers because of his high-flying, intense, and explosive in-ring style. Naturally, the tributes started rolling in on social media at the news of his passing.
“Gutted to hear about the passing of one of my heroes and biggest inspirations,” wrote former WWE UK champ Tyler Bate on Twitter. “RIP Dynamite Kid, Tommy Billington.”
“Thank you for all the work you’ve done for our country and inspiring so many wrestling to take a chance on themselves,” Will Ospreay wrote. “RIP Dynamite Kid.”
Billington competed in his final match in 1996. Due to leg and spinal injuries, he’s largely been confined to a wheelchair for the last two decades.
Chris Jericho was reportedly involved in an altercation with a fan following the Fozzy concert at The Exchange in Regina, Saskatchewan on Sunday night.
The incident reportedly started when a drunk man, described as being “all messed up” when the trouble began, tried getting on the Fozzy tour bus, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Apparently there was a younger man who helped perform with the band that night, and he wanted to get on the tour bus to get autographs. Another man, the intoxicated guy who later ended up in police custody, reportedly tried to help the autograph-seeker get on the bus. The band did not want the inebriated man on the bus, but he tried sneaking on anyway. A crew member saw this and ended up in a fight with the guy, coming out of it with a broken collarbone.
Jericho reportedly came off the bus and started yelling at the drunk man as he was being kicked out. Jericho hit the man with a Spear and mounted him with punches, according to Meltzer. Jericho returned to the bus, came back out and yelled at the guy, and hit him with more punches.
People were watching the incident unfold and tried to hold the man until police arrived. He got away and was later chased by police, then apprehended. There’s no word yet on what the man was charged with or if anyone else is facing charges.
It’s been over one year since Jack Swagger signed a deal with Bellator MMA … and now his first fight has finally been made official!
Swagger made the announcement Monday on Ariel Helwani’s MMA show and confirmed his debut will happen January 26th during the Heavyweight Grand Prix Finals at The Forum in Inglewood, CA.
His opponent will be 41-year-old JW Kiser, who has only fought (and lost) one professional fight.
“I think my career will be a lot longer than most people imagine, in mixed martial arts,” Swagger — aka Jake Hager — told Helwani. “I have nothing to prove. I’m doing this for me and my family. I know I belong and you will see that I do when I step in the cage.”
Below is the official second trailer for the upcoming CREDIBLE documentary. The film documents former ECW World Heavyweight Champion PJ Polaco, f.k.a. Justin Credible, as he tries to get his life back in order.
The new trailer includes footage from Polaco’s September lockup. The producers of the documentary bailed Pete out of a correctional facility in New Haven, CT, which was captured on film. The production will continue to shoot through the winter, which will include new interviews with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. A January 5th show at Battlefront Pro Wrestling’s ‘To Hell And Back’ will feature a match between Justin Credible and Ryan Fraust as the main event. The documentary crew will be chronicling the day leading up to the event and the match itself, including Justin Credible being featured in the music video shooting the same day by the band Crossing Rubicon. The band’s music will be featured in the documentary.
Production for the documentary was halted earlier this fall over after an eruption from Polaco towards the director, Eric Nyenhuis. Plans have been recalibrated to shoot the final months of the documentary based around Polaco’s court proceedings.
“We continue to outline a man who has deep and painful layers unraveling all at once, and only one of them is about pro wrestling,” producer David Gere said. “At one point I asked Pete to tell us who Justin Credible is and who Peter Polaco is. You will see the response in the new trailer and it’s heartbreaking, but it opens the door for redemption.”
In addition to being an accomplished Hollywood producer, Gere also moonlights as professional wrestling manager ‘DG Haven’ in promotions like Tommy Dreamer’s House Of Hardcore, first met Credible when paired with him on an indy show in 2015 at PWA’s ‘Rise Of Injustice’ show.
“I worked this show years back as Pete’s manager and it was the first time I had met him,” Gere said. “Things were cool in the back at first, but by the end of the match against Bull Dredd, Pete legitimately snapped over the finish, left the ring area, came back, broke his kendo stick over my head, busting me open, which we hadn’t discussed, and walked out of the building. Despite all this, I felt for the guy, it was evident that he was in a very bad place emotionally. He had been a world champion, and a lot of my friends in the business like Dreamer and Kevin Nash had a long history with him. I wanted to help. Director Eric Nyenhuis came up with the idea for the documentary, and I knew it would be a gripping and important journey for everyone, especially those who are dealing with similar issues.”
Last spring, Gere connected Polaco to a small cameo role in a prison yard fight scene in the 1970’s era crime film, VAULT, that he executive produced, directed by Tom DeNucci. Polaco was being bars several months later.
Executive Producer Douglas Cartelli, a Connecticut and New York based businessman man, is seen in the documentary taking a very serious stance on Polaco’s choices upon getting him released from jail.
“The day we got Pete our was very tough,” Cartelli said. “He was broken, but motivated to take a forward step. This is a unique story. It’s about fame and success, then watching it all crumble. It is about family. It is about darkness. It is about the hope of making one move at a time to beat what has become Pete’s worst opponent.”
Producer Chelsea Vale handled Pete’s wife, Jill Jurecki’s involvement in the documentary.
“Working on interviewing Jill was very hard as I could see the anguish and pain pouring out of her,” Vale said. “This is evident in the trailer, as it is a very big part of the story – the despair cast on Pete’s family is probably the most difficult aspect to observe.”
Despite the difficult time earlier this fall and the extreme lows he has faced, Polaco himself is motivated to have the world see and hear his story.
“I’m filled with anticipation for people to see this because it’s a deep look into my life that’s marked with many dark degrees of struggle from addiction and alcoholism,” Polaco said. “But it’s also about what it means to survive as a professional wrestler at the age of forty-five, and about a man needing to take care of his family.”
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