It looks like former WCW Hardcore Champion Shannon Moore could be going back to work for WWE.
The CWE (Canadian Wrestling Elite) promotion announced this weekend that Moore was forced to back out of their January 24 – January 26 shows due to “an unexpected WWE obligation.” Another Facebook post from CWE noted that Moore had a “contractual obligation to WWE that will now require his presence” later this month. Moore was replaced by wrestling veteran Pat Tanaka on the CWE shows.
It’s interesting to note that WWE needs Moore during Royal Rumble Weekend. There’s no word yet on if he will be in Houston for Worlds Collide and The Rumble, but it sounds likely.
WWE SmackDown Superstar Jeff Hardy is scheduled to return to court on Monday, April 6, according to North Carolina court records and PWInsider. This is the day after WWE’s WrestleMania 36.
Hardy is scheduled to be in a Moore County, NC court room that day to face charges from his arrest back in October. As we’ve noted, Hardy was pulled over and charged with DWI that night, and indicated that he had been in a fight with his wife. Jeff’s first court date for this arrest was on Thursday, November 7, but it has been continued once again, until April.
Hardy has been arrested twice since being put on the shelf for WWE following knee surgery back in May. You can read details on Jeff’s October 3 arrest at this link and you can read details on his July arrest at this link.
There’s no word yet on when Jeff will be medically cleared to compete, but it was reported last year that he would be out of in-ring action for 6-9 months following the knee surgery. It was recently reported at this link that WWE was pushing Hardy to take care of his personal issues before he was brought back, and it was noted that he has been working hard to do just that.
Former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese and 205 Live star Mike Kanellis worked as a tag-team during this weekend’s NXT live events as a test for a potential run on NXT television.
The two won Friday night’s NXT Melbourne live event match against Mohamed and Nick Ogarelli, which was Kanellis’ first bout since he asked for his release last October. They worked as a team again at the NXT Largo house show the following night, losing to the team of Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Kushida.
Check out several photos from the NXT Largo show on Saturday night that includes their ring entrance and posing in the ring before the match, as well as video footage from their match against “Swerve” Scott and Kushida of what could be Nese and Kanellis’ double-team finishing move below.
The Rock took to Instagram and Twitter today to pay tribute to his father, WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson.
“I love you,” The Rock wrote. “You broke color barriers, became a ring legend and trail blazed your way thru this world. I was the boy sitting in the seats, watching and adoring you, my hero from afar. The boy you raised to always be proud of our cultures and proud of who and what I am. The boy you raised with the toughest of love. The intense work. The hard hand. The adoring boy who wanted to know only your best qualities. Who then grew to become a man realizing you had other deep complex sides that needed to be held and understood. Son to father. Man to man. That’s when my adoration turned to respect. And my empathy turned to gratitude. Grateful that you gave me life. Grateful you gave me life’s invaluable lessons.
“Dad, I wish I had one more shot to tell you, I love you, before you crossed over to the other side. But you were ripped away from me so fast without warning. Gone in an instant and no coming back. Im in pain. But we both know it’s just pain and it’ll pass. Now I’ll carry your mana and work ethic with me, as it’s time to move on because I have my family to feed and work to accomplish. Finally, I want you to rest your trailblazing soul, Soulman. Pain free, regret free, satisfied and at ease. You lived a very full, very hard, barrier breaking life and left it all in the ring. I love you dad and I’ll always be your proud and grateful son. Go rest high. #ripsoulman #rockyjohnson [Goat emoji]”
As noted, the former WWE Tag Team Champion passed away at the age of 75 on Wednesday.
It was reported earlier today, via the Wrestling Observer, that Johnson had been sick in the weeks leading up to his passing. Brian Blair, head of the Cauliflower Alley Club who first announced the passing, told the Observer that Johnson had been sick for a few weeks and thought he h ad the flu. Blair advised Johnson to go to the doctor or hospital after he had been sick for a week, but he did not go to the doctor, and passed away at his home in Lutz, Florida on Wednesday. The cause of death has not been ruled as the autopsy was not completed as of Thursday.
Tessa Blanchard made Impact Wrestling history at Hard to Kill this past Sunday by becoming the first woman to win the Impact World Championship by defeating Sami Callihan. Booker T gave his thoughts on Blanchard’s title win on The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore.
“Those guys look like they’re just trying to find their spot,” Booker said. “They’re still trying to find a niche.”
“I’m not holding my judgement on it. Big ups to Tessa Blanchard because she’s good. She’s really good at what she does, but this is the worst idea for Impact Wrestling in the history of the company,” Booker T said. “It really is that bad. It’s worse than paying me 10 grand for six-hour power commercial that never aired.”
Booker T gave his reason for why he thought the decision was bad. Gilmore also made a comment about having separation within the men’s and women’s divisions.
“Because now all the men in the company, if they wrestle her and she beats them it diminishes every guy in the company. I mean who’s the top guy in the company now? I cannot see ‘The Man’ Becky Lynch wrestling Samoa Joe or Brock Lesnar,” Booker T said. “I mean this is the worst idea in the history of wrestling. It really is. It makes me question and wonder if somebody tried to blow this thing up on purpose like somebody said, ‘let’s see how bad we can mess this up.’
“My thing is this, if Tessa Blanchard went back and wrestled the women, she should be able to beat all of them. The woman that beats her should be able to go out and beat the men too. The crossover intergender wrestling is something for independent companies. If they want to be looked at as an indie group, keep doing stuff like this.”
Booker T continued to explain why he thought Impact’s move was a bad one by bringing up Ronda Rousey vs. Jon Jones. He also talked about real-life implications like domestic violence.
“I don’t think this is what empowering women is meant to be. I really don’t think so because I’m not saying Ronda Rousey is not a tough woman, but if you put Ronda Rousey in there with Jon Jones, watch what happens. You put her in there with the lower level men, watch what happens to her or Amanda Nunes with the top [guys],” Booker T said. “You don’t want to start blurring those types of lines when it comes to performance especially when it comes to men and women these days. Normally, when a man hits a woman, he goes to jail. I don’t want to see a man put their hands on my sisters. Even as tough as my sisters are, I’m not gonna have that, and to actually see it play and to see someone think this is a good idea for television, for a man and a woman to be fighting, it’s ridiculous.”
Booker T addressed potential backlash to his reaction. He clarifies that his reaction comes from his experience in the industry and what he sought after.
“People can look at it and say what they want to say about it, but for me, it’s not something that I would ever have on my Reality of Wrestling. And people can say, ‘aw man he’s outdated. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’ It’s not that at all,” Booker T said. “I look at it from what I’ve done in this business as a performance, but I try to make it as realistic as possible. I’ve never seen a female boxer fight a male boxer. I would take Roger Federer of Serena Williams. I’m serious. I’d take Novak Djokovic over Serena Williams just because the guy’s overpowering, and that’s what normally happens in a fight between a man and a woman.”
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to The Hall Of Fame With Booker T & Brad Gilmore
WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson has passed away yesterday at the age of 75.
WWE NXT tapings and AEW tapings opened up with ten-bell salutes to WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson, who has passed away at the age of 75.
Below is WWE’s full video of the ten-bell salute from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL, which was led by Alicia Taylor.
Below is the graphic that was shown on the USA Network as NXT hit the air, and AEW’s Twitter graphic on Johnson, which was shown on TNT as last night’s Dynamite episode hit the air. AEW announcer Jim Ross also mentioned Johnson’s passing as Dynamite hit the air.
WWE issued the following statement on Johnson’s passing:
WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson passes awayWWE is saddened to learn that Rocky “Soul Man” Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles), a WWE Hall of Famer, former World Tag Team Champion, and father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has passed away at age 75.
Johnson’s sports-entertainment career began in the mid-1960s when he made a memorable impression in the National Wrestling Alliance. However, Johnson found his highest levels of success when he began his WWE tenure in 1983.
The physically imposing and wildly charismatic Johnson had several memorable rivalries with the likes of Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Don Muraco and Adrian Adonis. He found his greatest success when he teamed up with Tony Atlas as The Soul Patrol. The two men became the first African-American World Tag Team Champions in WWE history when they defeated The Wild Samoans on Dec. 10, 1983.
The “Soul Man” retired from the ring in 1991, but his imprint continued to be felt on WWE for years to come. Post-retirement, Johnson had a hand in training his son, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The Rock would become one of the biggest stars in the history of sports-entertainment and carried on his father’s legacy with pride.
In 2008, Johnson achieved the highest honor in sports-entertainment when he was inducted by The Rock into the WWE Hall of Fame where he will be forever enshrined as one of sports-entertainment’s most influential performers.
WWE extends its condolences to Johnson’s family, friends and fans.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon took to Twitter today to pay tribute to WWE Hall of Famer Rocky Johnson.
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode will take place from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University with the end of the first round of the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne face Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
Kushida & Alex Shelley battle Grizzled Young Veterans in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
What will be the fallout of Undisputed ERA’s surprise NXT UK takeover?
Battle Royal to determine NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley’s challenger next Wednesday
The Battle Royal participants are Mercedes Martinez, Bianca Belair, Candice LeRae, Chelsea Green, Dakota Kai, Vanessa Borne, Kayden Carter, Mia Yim, Santana Garrett, Io Shirai, Shotzi Blackheart and Xia Li.
It looks like Rusev may be planning on leaving WWE soon.
Rusev recently changed his Twitter bio and indicated that he will become one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling soon.
The Bulgarian Brute’s Twitter bio now reads like this: “soon to be free agent”
There’s no word yet on if Rusev really is on his way out of WWE, but he is known to mess around with fans on Twitter at times.
It was confirmed back in November that Rusev’s wife Lana recently signed a new five-year deal with the company. It was reported then that Rusev was still in the middle of contract talks with WWE officials, but there’s no confirmation on when his current deal expires.
Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley is scheduled for tonight’s RAW as their feud continues. Liv Morgan is set to be in Rusev’s corner while Lana will be in Lashley’s corner.
