Category: WWE

Dominik Dijakovic Undergoes Knee Surgery

NXT wrestler Dominik Dijakovic went under the knife this week to have his knee repaired.

Dijakovic shared a video on Wednesday in which he says his knee was surgically repaired this week in Orlando. “I know that many of you, you’d consider this a burden or a setback, but not me,” he explained in the video.

“I consider this a gift. I’m happy that I had a tear in my meniscus. Because this represents sacrifice, this represents discipline, I had to rip away the weakness to rebuild it to be stronger than ever using my blood,” Dijakovic said while focusing the camera on his knee.

No word at this time on when the injury was suffered or how long he’s expected out of action.

Watch the video below.

https://twitter.com/DijakovicWWE/status/1126230636744859651

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Mayor ‘Kane’ Chokeslams Man Through Table During Symposium

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs busted out the iconic mask and signature move of his WWE character, Kane, during an event this week.

Jacobs, a Republican who was elected as mayor of the Tennessee county in 2018, delivered the opening remarks at the National Association of Sports Commissions Symposium at the Knoxville Convention Center Tuesday, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

As Jacobs welcomed the crowd and spoke about Knox County, he was interrupted by a man dressed as an event staffer.

“You know who I am, right?” Jacobs said as the man tried to get him off the stage. “Yeah, I’m mayor, but that’s not all.”

Suddenly, the lights turned red and Kane’s WWE theme music began playing.

Jacobs donned his Kane mask and proceeded to chokeslam the man through a nearby table.

“So, as I was saying,” Jacobs said to conclude the humorous skit. “Welcome to Knox County. I hope you have a wonderful time, and I expect to see you back here very soon…or else.”

Jacobs made his last appearance in WWE in November 2018, losing a tag team match alongside his storyline brother, The Undertaker, to D-Generation X. In a video published by WWE in April, Jacobs said he would not rule out a return to the squared circle.

Source: FoxNews

Mauro Ranallo Reportedly Signs New WWE Contract

Mauro Ranallo recently signed a new deal with WWE.

The contract will keep Mauro as the lead announcer on the WWE NXT brand, according to PWInsider. The terms of the deal were agreed on about a month ago.

The deal will also allow Ranallo to continue working non-WWE gigs in the world of MMA.

Mauro first signed with WWE to work SmackDown in December 2015. He briefly left in April 2017, but returned in June to become the voice of NXT. It was reported then that Ranallo had signed a multi-year deal with the company.

Ranallo has also called the Cruiserweight Classic, and 205 Live for WWE. He does commentary work for Bellator MMA and the Showtime Networks.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Angelico Reportedly Signs With AEW

Former Lucha Underground star, Angelico, has reportedly signed with All Elite Wrestling, according to Pro Wrestling Sheet. An announcement is expected soon for the 32-year old South African wrestler.

The report noted WWE had interest for Angelico to be part of the NXT brand, but didn’t want to get into a bidding war with AEW over him. WWE’s interest has been there for quite some time with reports of their interest surfacing last year.

It actually went back even further with Angelico noting to Metro in 2017 that WWE had made an offer before he signed with Lucha Underground in 2014.

“I can’t really talk about the details, but there was contact made by WWE before we signed with Lucha Underground in 2014 to both me and Jack,” Angelico said. “We talked it over and decided at that time that Lucha Underground were going to take the risk with it because we really believed in the project. We also had the mentality that if WWE were interested in us in 2014 and if every year we’re still getting better as individuals and as a tag-team, why wouldn’t they still want us a few years later a few years on.

“With a few years to play with we went with the Lucha Underground project, which was fun and new. I can’t speak for Jack, but we don’t regret not going, I think he’s happy with the decision he made as am I. Who’s to say we won’t turn up there one day, but with how wrestling is in this day and age it’s great to be a free agent and travel the world.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jonathan Good (Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley) Signs On For New MMA – Wrestling Movie Produced By Former WWE Star Christian

Former WWE Superstar Dean Ambrose (who is now using his former moniker – Jon Moxley) has signed on to star in a MMA-themed action movie, according to Deadline.

Billed under his real name, Jonathan Good, Ambrose has joined the cast of Cagefighter, which is currently in pre-production. The movie tells the story of a lauded MMA champion who unexpectedly loses a heavily promoted fight to a pro wrestling star making his crossover debut in the world of MMA. Humiliated by the loss, the fighter must fight his way back to the top and earn a rematch.

The movie also stars real-life MMA fighter and actor Josh Herdman, Michael Jai White, Gina Gershon, Michelle Ryan and Jason Maza. MMA legends Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva and Alexander Gustafsson will also appear.

Former WWE star Christian is the Executive Producer of the movie. There’s no word yet on when it will be released.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT UK Preview 5/8/19

NXT UK, today at 3 ET/ 8 GMT on the WWE Network.

The Grizzled Young Veterans battle Williams & Jordan in a NXT UK Title Match today

Weeks after a retreat by Zack Gibson & James Drake gave Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan a count-out victory over the NXT UK Tag Team Champions, The Grizzled Young Veterans maintain that their opposition doesn’t deserve to be in the same locker room with them. Johnny Saint clearly disagrees, as the esteemed General Manager has now awarded Williams & Jordan the opportunity to capture the gold in Glasgow, Scotland.

In addition to the highly-anticipated title showdown, there are currently rumblings about a major announcement coming during this week’s show.

Update On Vince McMahon’s New WWE Wild Card Rule And A Potential Issue For The Company

Vince McMahon’s new WWE Wild Card Rule could end up leading to issues for the company, as described on Wrestling Observer Radio today.

As noted, the rule will see four RAW Superstars appear on SmackDown each week while four SmackDown Superstars appear on RAW each week. The gimmick was created as a response to ratings pressure from NBCUniversal (USA Network) and Fox. Vince did not want to give up the idea of separate brands, but the networks want star power on both shows and there has been a feeling that the brands don’t have enough star power individually. Furthermore, it was also reported that Fox wants RAW and SmackDown storylines on the blue brand show when it goes to their network on Friday nights in October. There has been pressure from both networks to have the top WWE Superstars work both shows.

The Wild Card Rule will potentially cause issues for WWE live events, such as false advertising. Due to the way WWE creative operates these days, WWE likely won’t plan out these weekly Wild Card Rule appearances in advance, which could lead to incidents where Superstars have been advertised for live events, for weeks or even months, but they’re pulled from those live events to appear on TV at the last minute.

While WWE likely won’t plan out the Wild Card Rule appearances in advance, it was noted that Roman Reigns is expected to appear on both RAW and SmackDown often. We noted before how NBCU recently asked questions about why WWE gave up a star like Reigns to SmackDown in the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up.

We’ve reported on how WWE has made recent hires to help bring live event business back up, and they noted during the Q1 2019 earnings call that they are focused on bringing that part of the business back to where it should be. The WWE Wild Card Rule could create more of a decline in live event business, at a time where they’re focused on getting it back up. There’s no word yet on if the Wild Card Rule really will help with the TV ratings, but we should know within the next few weeks. It’s believed that the gimmick could bring a small increase in the numbers, but likely not a huge turn around.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Daniel Bryan And Rowan Are New SmackDown Tag Team Champs

Last night on WWE SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan and Rowan defeat The Usos to capture the vacant SmackDown Tag Team Titles.

As noted, the SmackDown Tag Team Titles have been vacant since The Hardy Boys relinquished them last week due to Jeff Hardy’s right leg injury. Hardy will be out of action for 6-9 months.

Shane McMahon originally announce Bryan and Rowan as the new champions. The Usos took of advantage of the new Wild Card Rule coming to SmackDown from RAW and took issue with Bryan and Rowan being crowned champions without earning the titles. This led to Shane making The Usos vs. Bryan and Rowan for the titles. Bryan and Rowan won that match to begin their first title run together.

 

Bryan noted that they will be switching out the leather straps on the title belts because they disgust him. It looks like Bryan and Rowan will be using eco-friendly straps like he used on the WWE Title before losing it to Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35.

 

WWE Made Change On Uploading Video Content From RAW & SmackDown On YouTube Reportedly To Help With Drop In Ratings

You may have noticed how WWE did not upload any YouTube videos from this week’s RAW and SmackDown episodes until late in the show. This was done as a way to potentially help combat the drop in ratings, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

The current plan is to cut back on the amount of uploads to YouTube during the RAW and SmackDown episodes. The feeling is that uploading videos as matches and segments happen on TV is potentially hurting the ratings.

WWE usually uploads clips from RAW and SmackDown matches shortly after they happen on TV, but that was not the case this week. WWE started uploading the first clips from Monday night’s show late into the third hour. All clips from RAW were uploaded within an hour of the show going off the air, which isn’t far from how they usually do it.

The big difference was that there were no YouTube clips from RAW while it was still airing on the USA Network, until the final hour. While WWE is changing their policy on YouTube uploads, at least for now, it looks like things will not change on Twitter. WWE uploaded photos and videos as usual on Twitter with content going up as it aired on TV.

As noted, WWE is currently facing pressure to bring the ratings back up from NBCUniversal (USA Network) and Fox. This is part of the reason why Vince McMahon introduced the Wild Card Rule.

Source: Wrestling Inc.