WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA.
Former WCW and WWE star Marcus ‘Buff’ Bagwell was arrested earlier this month, it has been confirmed.
Bagwell was arrested on July 13, according to Cobb County records in Marietta, GA, and was pulled over for speeding, which is a misdemeanor.
Bagwell was also charged with Driving Under the Influence of Drugs, also a misdemeanor, and was released from jail on July 15.
This is the latest setback for Bagwell, who has a history of prior legal issues, many stemming from substance abuse-related reasons.
Earlier this year, Bagwell revealed that he was seven months clean after a lengthy battle with addiction.
Source: eWn
WWE NXT tonight from the Capitol Wrestling Center inside the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on the USA Network at 8/7c.
The Rock has donated to help those currently striking in Hollywood.
According to report from Variety, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson contributed a “seven-figure donation” for the SAG-AFTRA Emergency Financial Assistance Program, which will go to help the actors that are currently on strike.
The SAG-AFTRA union has been on strike since July 13, after they joined the Writer’s Guild of America, which has been on strike since May 2.
The report also notes that SAG-AFTRA Foundation President Courtney B. Vance and the Foundations Executive Director Cyd Wilson drafted a letter to 2,700 of the union’s highest-earning actors, detailing the financial need for actors while they continue to strike.
According to Vance, shortly after the letter was sent, Johnson’s team reached out saying they wanted to help. Variety did not have any specifics on the total amount that Johnson actually donated.
Wilson told Variety – “It was a love fest. It’s like, ‘Man, you’re stepping up in a way that is allowing others to know the dire necessity of it,’” Vance told Variety. “This is him saying, ‘In such a time as this, I’m here and I’m not going anywhere, whatever you need me to do.’ And that sends a huge message to other folks to do the same thing.”
Wilson also stated that there are 160,000 SAG-AFTRA performers that are going to need help.” He further added that the donation is the kickstart needed in the first week of what he thinks will be a “long haul.”
It has been previously reported that Dwayne Johnson is set to make $50 million with his new Christmas movie “Red One” from Amazon Studios, which will release exclusively on Prime Video later this year.
Source: WrestleView
Monday’s episode of “WWE Raw” saw WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley viciously attack Liv Morgan before their advertised singles bout. Morgan recently returned from being sidelined with a shoulder injury, and now it seems she is dealing with yet another one.
During the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed how the injury angle was done because Morgan is legitimately hurt again.
“Liv Morgan does have a shoulder injury, and this was an angle to put her out of action for a while and maybe a long while. I guess that is to be determined,” Alvarez said (h/t to WrestlingNews.co).
Meltzer responded, “It was pretty clear. I mean, they don’t do an angle like that. I mean, they did that. That was a real hardcore angle. And obviously, it’s, you know, she’s had the shoulder injury.”
Alvarez added, “My understanding is it’s the other shoulder. Okay. So this is the left one’s the one that they hurt? They injured the left one in the storyline, but whichever one she hurt last time, I think she hurt the other one this time.”
Morgan initially hurt her shoulder during a WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match on the May 12 “WWE SmackDown.” Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez retained against Dakota Kai and Bayley, but both Morgan and Kai walked out of the bout injured. Morgan vacated the tag team titles as a result, which led to Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler winning the gold.
Morgan then returned at the end of June to reunite with Rodriguez. The duo ended up defeating Rousey and Baszler to regain the tag titles at WWE Money in the Bank. Their second reign together didn’t last long as Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville dethroned them on July 17.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
The hard knocks for Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Kevin Owens during Monday night’s “Raw” are reportedly more than just a storyline.
Owens was in the corner of his tag team partner Sami Zayn as Zayn challenged Dominik Mysterio for the “NXT” North American Championship. Various shenanigans eventually led to Owens being ejected from ringside by the referee. Moments later, Mysterio’s Judgment Day cohorts Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest were also ordered backstage. However, all three reappeared at the end of the match as Owens was taken out by Ripley and Priest on the entrance stage. That was the distraction that led to Mysterio’s pinfall victory over Zayn.
Later in the show, Owens was seen backstage being tended to by medical personnel. It appeared to be nothing more than another chapter in the story leading to a future tag title defense for Owens and Zayn against some combination of The Judgment Day. However, there’s reportedly more at play.
Later in the night, Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that Owens is legitimately injured. Sapp added that he did not have any details on the severity of the injury or when Owens will be able to return to action.
Owen’s most recent match took place on the July 17 episode of “Raw,” where he and Zayn retained the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against The Judgment Day’s Priest and Mysterio.
UPDATE:
Dave Meltzer provided further details about the setback while speaking on the “Wrestling Observer Radio” show.
“It’s a fractured rib,” Meltzer said. “So the story, he’s actually been working on it for a while and it was just one of those things where they were waiting for a time to finish up with everything he’d finish up….He’s gonna get rest. I don’t know how long, and I don’t know what the status of the Tag Team Titles are. I’m sure that that will probably all be addressed in the next couple of days, but it was legit, he’s been working on a legit injury. So that’s the basic gist of the story there.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s episode of WWE Raw airs live on the USA Network from the Amalie Arena Tampa, Florida.
Alicia Fox departed WWE back in May of this year and is now going by the name “Vix Crow” on the independent scene.
Speaking during a recent interview with “MuscleManMalcom,” the former WWE Divas Champion revealed that her new ring name is inspired by her real name of Victoria Elizabeth Michelle Crawford. In only a way she can attempt to explain, Fox stated:
“It’s a weird transition just because of — I think it’s in my innermost self that’s strangely transitioning because in my mind I’m like, ‘What was the last match I had? Was I good? Did I look like I could perform?’ All these things. But in that particular chapter in my life [with WWE], it wasn’t really expected to get much feedback. So, in this chance, I feel so inspired for many, many reasons.”
She continued, “I feel so inspired that this is an independent sphere. I can create here, and it’s okay. So it makes me, in my innermost self, wonder, ‘Well, what was my problem before and how am I going to fix it going forward?’ Because regardless if it’s the business, … am I going to perform to the best of my ability? I’m going to do my best. So, I need to just get it out of it.”
Source: eWn
The Cody Rhodes documentary that is airing on the Peacock network features some footage of The American Nightmare’s involvement in All In. Of course, that show led to the debut of All Elite Wrestling.
Speaking to Denise Salcedo of “Instinct Culture,” Rhodes revealed that he pushed hard for All In to be featured. He said,
“I had really minimal requests. Here’s why I had minimal requests. I’ve done enough reality TV where you think, ‘Oh, you’re a producer. Please, ask for this and you’ll get it.’ Then you’ll find out they’re not interested in what you have to say. They’re gonna run their show and that’s their job. So now my expectations are really low.”
He continued, “So I have, ‘Hey, these are two things I’d like to see in there.’ They were really small. I wanted to see if they found any footage of me wrestling when I was in high school or younger. Found it. I was adamant that All In be covered. You cannot tell the story unless you cover All In, and All In is not mine, it’s someone else’s. That’s a troublesome but also beautiful thing, in the spirit of it. So for it to be covered here, I was really happy, and for WWE to allow it to be covered kind of goes along with how WWE has treated me since I’ve come back. The song says, ‘Wrestling has more than one royal family.’ It doesn’t say sports entertainment has more than one royal family. There hasn’t been a revision to me. Kevin Dunn and Vince (McMahon) and Bruce (Prichard) and Stephanie (McMahon) and Hunter [Triple H] have just tried to make me bigger, and I thank them greatly for doing that because they haven’t changed me in the process.”
Source: eWn
It was recently reported that Eric Young left WWE in April because he didn’t want to work with Vince McMahon. The longtime wrestling promoter returned to the Stamford-based promotion as executive chairman earlier this year after retiring last summer due to allegations of sexual misconduct. Young, who returned to Impact Wrestling at the promotion’s Slammiversary event this past weekend, addressed his WWE exit in a recent interview with Denise Salcedo.
“I can say that I signed up for one thing and then was presented with a completely different thing,” Young said. “Personally, professionally, and for me, more importantly, morally, I can’t take instruction and work for a person like that.
“And if you would have said that nine months ago, six months ago, I would probably would have said, ‘No. I wouldn’t be back at Impact.’ Fates got a funny way of doing things.
“Like I said, I didn’t really wanna leave [Impact] in the first place, but business is business, and an opportunity had presented itself that I just couldn’t say no to. I made the move, and I don’t regret it at all. Nine-month vacation, there’s worse things that can happen to a person, for sure.”
Young went on to say that he was “very lucky” to be in a position where he had a choice to leave WWE, acknowledging that not many people within the promotion would have that same ability. The former Impact World Champion believes it was the right option for him to walk away from a “massive opportunity” and “life-changing money.” Young said that he doesn’t regret the decision he made.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
