Category: WWE

The Undertaker To Undergo Multiple Upcoming Surgeries

WWE Legend The Undertaker is set to undergo various operations in the near future.

Taker appeared on The Norm & D Invasion on Sportsradio 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas on Wednesday and revealed that he needs a right knee replacement. The Undertaker said he has surgeries lined up, but is waiting until hunting season ends before he goes under the knife.

“Both my hips are partial hip replacements already. I need… I need a right knee, so I have surgeries lined up. I just… I gotta wait until hunting season is over for [them],” Taker said when asked how he feels physically these days.

The Undertaker was also asked if he misses performing in the ring.

“I miss performing in front of our live audiences, especially around WrestleMania time,” he said. “It’s just, you know, it’s the game. I was very blessed to have a very long career where I was active for so many years, but the body can only take so much and deliver so much, and for me that time. I realized at the last WrestleMania that I had, that I did [WrestleMania 36] that my time had come.”

The Undertaker announced his retirement in 2020, and had his “Final Farewell” ceremony at the 2020 WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.

Taker’s last bout was the Boneyard Match win over AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, which was a cinematic-style contest. His last in-ring match came at WWE Super ShowDown in February 2020, when he made a surprise appearance to win the Gauntlet Match for the Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy, last eliminating Styles for the victory. Before that he teamed with current WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns to defeat Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon at Extreme Rules 2019, and prior to that his last standard singles match came at Super ShowDown 2019, when he defeated WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Update On “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan Following Recent Prostate Cancer Surgery

WWE Hall of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan took to Twitter this week with an update on how he’s doing after his recent prostate cancer surgery.

As noted, Jim Duggan announced in late October that he was going in for prostate cancer surgery, which came after an emergency surgery earlier in the month. He had known about the cancer diagnosis for about a year. Hacksaw underwent successful surgery on October 29 at the MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina) Hospital in Charleston, SC, and planned to take a break from social media but he’s already back online with this update.

In this new video, Jim Duggan noted how he’s at home and doing much better. He thanked everyone for their support, and announced that he’s had to cancel the rest of his 2021 bookings. Duggan hopes to get back on the road in 2022, but nothing has been announced as of this writing.

“Hi everybody, I’d just like to give everybody a quick update after my back-to-back surgeries,” Jim Duggan said. “Obviously I’m home, doing well, feeling much, much better, and I wanted to say thank you to everyone for the thoughts, the prayers, the good wishes. You know, it’s humbling to have so many people all over the world care. I’ll tell you, it means a lot. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you so much to so many folks for checking in on me. I’d also like to say I’m sorry and I hope you all understand that I’m going to have to cancel the rest of the shows for this year, but we’re looking forward to traveling the world next year, God willing, and so hopefully we’ll see you down the road. Again, thank you very much for all the good wishes and prayers. God bless, and hopefully see you soon.”

The 67 year old Jim Duggan has dealt with multiple health issues in recent years, and underwent a heart procedure in March 2019. He was also hospitalized in September 2019. Hacksaw appeared on The Wrestling Inc. Daily in January 2020 and said he was doing great after health issues the previous year, and dropped around 40 pounds after listening to his doctor. He also said at that time that he had wrestled his last match, but he’s continued to take bookings for various appearances.

https://twitter.com/OfficialHacksaw/status/1458568092066492422

Source: Wrestling Inc.

TakeOver Branding Dropped For Upcoming NXT 2.0 WarGames Event

WWE has confirmed that NXT 2.0 will run a WarGames event in 2021. Interestingly, the TakeOver branding is absent from all promotional artwork.

WarGames is officially coming back! On December 5, NXT will play host to the carnage that is WarGames in what will be the brand’s first pay-per-view since TakeOver 36 back in August. It will also be the first pay-per-view of the 2.0 era, which may explain why the TakeOver is branding is nowhere to be seen.

The 2021 WarGames event was announced during this week’s edition of NXT 2.0. The word “TakeOver” is absent from the promotional artwork that has been shared so far, and was not mentioned in any of WWE’s social media posts regarding the upcoming event.

NXT pay-per-views have used the TakeOver branding since 2014’s inaugural TakeOver event, which went down at Full Sail University on May 29 of that year and was the second-ever pay-per-view of WWE’s then-fledgling developmental brand. The brand’s first pay-per-view was called Arrival, but after TakeOver, every subsequent NXT pay-per-view was called TakeOver followed by a subheading (typically the name of the city in which the event was taking place, or a number denoting the number of TakeOvers that have occurred up to that point).

The WarGames match concept was dreamt up by the legendary Dusty Rhodes and originally held in the National Wrestling Alliance. It later became an annual event in WCW.

Source: TheSportster

NXT’s Zoey Stark Opens Up About The Extent Of Her Legitimate Injury

Former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion Zoey Stark has revealed the extent of the injury she sustained at the hands of Toxic Attraction.

NXT star Zoey Stark recently underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL … but she’s already on the mend and is expecting to be back stronger than ever.

In case you missed it, Stark was the victim of a brutal backstage assault at the and of Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne on the November 2 edition of NXT 2.0. Stark and her tag partner Io Shirai lost the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship to Dolin and Jayne in the Scareway To Hell Ladder Match at Halloween Havoc the previous week, but the title win clearly wasn’t enough for Toxic Attraction — they wanted to completely incapacitate their rivals, and the attack on Stark got them halfway there.

In Stark’s absence, Shirai has joined forces with Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro in order to do battle with Dolin, Jayne, and Mandy Rose of Toxic Attraction.

Of course, the backstage attack is just the storyline reason for Stark’s injury. The real cause of the injury is yet to be revealed, but Stark to Twitter to provide an update on her recovery.

“Sadly, I tore my ACL/Meniscus due to Toxic’s attack,” tweeted Stark. “Here’s the bad news for the ‘champs.’ Surgery went great and I’m already rehabbing. I’ll be back BETTER & STRONGER with three targets in mind! Until then [Io Shirai] [Kacy Catanzaro] [Kayden Carter] kick their ass tonight!” she added.

Zoey Stark (real name Theresa Serrano) made her debut as a professional wrestler in 2013. In January of this year, she signed for WWE and reported for duty at the WWE Performance Center. Stark and Io Shirai joined forces to defeat The Way (Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae) for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship at The Great American Bash. Shirai and Stark’s reign lasted for 112 days until they were dethroned by Toxic Attraction at Halloween Havoc.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 11/9/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will focus on Toxic Attraction as they look to continue their dominance, as seen in the teaser promo below.

WWE has announced a six-woman match for tonight’s show with NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne going up against Io Shirai, Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter.

Dolin and Jayne have invited NXT Tag Team Champions Imperium to watch the match from ringside.

Kay Lee Ray has also been announced for tonight’s show in her return to action. KLR noted in her latest teaser vignette that she is “ready to rage” this week.

Another tag team match announced for tonight is The Creed Brothers vs. Kushida and Ikemen Jiro of Jacket Time.

It’s likely that NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker will not be on tonight’s NXT as they were still working the WWE UK tour as of Monday. The show in Leeds on Monday saw Ciampa retain his title over Breakker and Sami Zayn in a Triple Threat.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 11/8/21

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky with build for the upcoming Survivor Series pay-per-view.

WWE has announced just one match for tonight’s show and that’s Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens.

It’s expected that Bobby Lashley will be back in the storylines with tonight’s show. He has not appeared on TV since losing to WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg at Crown Jewel, but he did return to action at the recent WWE live events in England, and just lost to WWE Champion Big E at Saturday’s show in London.

WWE RAW And SmackDown Survivor Series Teams Revealed

WWE revealed on Twitter both the Men’s and Women’s Survivor Series team for RAW and SmackDown.

This year’s PPV is on November 21 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

* Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio are members of Team RAW

* Drew McIntyre, Jeff Hardy, King Woods, Sami Zayn, and Baron Corbin (with Madcap Moss) are members of Team SmackDown

* Bianca Belair, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan, Carmella, and Queen Zelina are members of Team RAW

* Sasha Banks, Shayna Baszler, Shotzi, Natalya, and Aliyah are members of Team SmackDown

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1457084628393775108

WWE Reportedly Did Not Give Warning Before Releasing Unvaccinated Stars

Earlier this week WWE released 18 talents: Karrion Kross, Scarlett Bordeaux, “B-Fab” Briana Brandy, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Eva Marie, Keith Lee, Mia Yim, Nia Jax, Harry Smith, Oney Lorcan, Franky Monet, Ember Moon, Trey Baxter, Jessi Kamea, Jeet Rama, Zayda Ramier, and Katrina Cortez.

The company line was that the latest cuts were for budgetary reasons, although it was also reported that a handful of stars had refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine and were not big enough stars to get away with that.

It was noted that main roster talents cannot tour foreign countries without being vaccinated, which creates potential issues for the company. Age was also said to play a part in some of the releases as the company looks to get younger talent on TV.

On the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, it was reported that at least a half dozen or more didn’t get the vaccine, which was a big reason for their exit. Apparently, no warning was given by WWE that if they were against getting vaccinated, they would be cut.

As previously reported, the New York Post reported that Nia Jax was released because she was unvaccinated. Jax stated on her Instagram that the company never mentioned her vaccination status when cutting her.

“I recently took a short leave of absence from WWE for a mental health break,” Jax wrote. “I’ve been working through so much — more than I can share — and so I took some time, the full support of the company, to take care of myself. Earlier this week, after WWE sent me my schedule to return to the ring for the November 15 show, I asked for an extension to my mental health break, feeling that I needed more time and hoping I would have the ongoing support of the company I have given my all to for the past 7 years. I did not receive a response. The next I heard, I was being released. My vaccination status was never mentioned. I wasn’t given any choices or options.

“It breaks my heart to be so abruptly let go, without consultation, while dealing with so much privately. I loved my career at WWE, I love the men and women I worked with, and I am going to need time to process this huge loss. I appreciate those people who have shown understanding and compassion during an incredibly difficult time.”

Older NXT talent were reportedly on the bubble for being released this week.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 11/5/21

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

WWE has not announced any matches for tonight’s SmackDown, but a teaser for the show asks if The Bloodline can maintain control over the new era of the blue brand.

“In the wake of King Woods & Sir Kofi’s victory over SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in a Champion Contender Match, can Universal Champion Roman Reigns and The Bloodline maintain their stronghold on the blue brand? Find out this Friday at 8/7 C on USA,” WWE wrote.

WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns did not appear on last week’s SmackDown broadcast, but he did work the dark main event. It’s likely that he will be back on TV this week.

Sheamus is rumored to return to action on tonight’s SmackDown. He recently underwent another surgery for his broken nose, and is scheduled to be back to work this week. The Celtic Warrior was recently drafted back to the blue brand, and was featured in a recent backstage vignette.

Sabu Retiring From In-Ring Competition?

ECW Original Sabu says he has likely wrestled his last match.

The former ECW Champion recently spoke with the Wrestling Shoot Interviews YouTube channel and said he’s not doing very good these days. Sabu noted how he wrestled a few weeks back, but probably should’ve passed on that booking.

“I’m not doing real good,” he said. “I hurt my back about a year ago and it’s still been hurting. I wrestled a couple of weeks ago but I shouldn’t have. I’ve only wrestled like twice in the last year [and] I only went to the gym a couple of times the last year ’cause I hurt my back. I’m probably not gonna wrestle no more… I’m probably just gonna do autograph signings and personal appearance-type stuff.”

When asked if there is any wrestler who would inspire him to get back into the ring for one more match, Sabu named Brock Lesnar.

“I’d definitely get back in the ring for Brock Lesnar, I’d love to wrestle him,” Sabu said. “Especially if it was my final match, I’d love to wrestle him… He’s the best, he’s a shooter, he;s a good worker, he’s my kind of opponent. I like big guys, I like wrestling big guys. I don’t like wrestling guys like me because it’s not that interesting. It’s more interesting wrestling a guy like me against a guy like Brock Lesnar.”

Sabu has dealt with multiple health issues in the past few years and has wrestled a brutal style since debuting back in 1984. It will be interesting to see if he really is done with in-ring action, or if he will follow in the footsteps of WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk, who has retired several times over the years.

Sabu has had runs with ECW, WWE, FMW, WCW, NJPW, AJPW, Big Japan, TNA/Impact Wrestling, XPW, and numerous indie promotions, among others. He is a two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time ECW World Television Champion, a three-time ECW World Tag Team Champion, and has held titles with many other promotions.

Source: Wrestling Inc.