Category: WWE

WWE Announces Dubai Tryouts

WWE announced the following:

WWE® TO HOLD TRYOUTS IN DUBAI

DUBAI, UAE and STAMFORD, Conn., APRIL 24, 2017 – WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced that it will visit the United Arab Emirates this week in search of the next generation of WWE Superstars by holding a four-day talent tryout in Dubai from April 26-29.

The event, which will be hosted at the newly constructed Dubai Opera House, will give 40 men and women from the Middle East and India the opportunity to showcase their abilities in the hopes of being recruited to begin training at the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in the United States. The talent pool will comprise elite performers with a diverse background in sports and athletics, including power lifters, body builders, martial artists and fitness experts.

“WWE is dedicated to finding the most talented athletes and entertainers from around the world,” said Paul “Triple H®” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events and Creative. “Not only are the Middle East and India important markets to grow our business and reach new fans, but they are also key regions from which to recruit premier athletes who want to pursue the dream of becoming a WWE Superstar.”

The Dubai tryout is the latest example of WWE’s global talent recruiting efforts. In recent years, WWE has scouted rugby and soccer players from Europe, Kabaddi and Kushti athletes from India, and martial artists and boxers from China. In 2016, WWE held a talent tryout in Shanghai, which resulted in the signing of eight Chinese recruits, including Tian Bing, the company’s first-ever Chinese Superstar.

Roderick Strong Reveals His Fiancé Marina Shafir Gave Birth To Their Baby

marina shafir roderick strong baby born

NXT Superstar Roderick Strong is officially a dad now, proudly announcing Monday night that his fiancé Marina Shafir gave birth to a baby boy.

Strong posted a picture of his new family with the caption, “Tonight April 24th at 8:36pm we welcomed a beautiful 20inches 7lb 11oz baby boy Troy Veniamin Lindsey into this world!”

He also included the hashtags “our little viking boy” and “life will never be the same.”

Marina posted an update last week saying the baby was due on 4/20, but it sounds like he was just trying to hang in the nest for a few more days.

Congrats to the happy couple!

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

RAW Preview 4/24/17

Tonight’s WWE RAW takes place from the Sprint Center Arena with the final build for Sunday’s WWE Payback pay-per-view.

* Braun Strowman to battle Kalisto in a Dumpster Match on Raw

* Alexa Bliss closes in on the Raw Women’s Title

* Will The Miz retaliate against Dean Ambrose?

* Bray Wyatt brings true “Horror” to Raw

* Business gets “personal” between Seth Rollins and Samoa Joe

Crazzy Steve Headed To WWE

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As noted, former TNA Tag Team Champion Crazzy Steve of The Decay finished up with Impact Wrestling at Friday’s tapings.

Dave Meltzer stated on Wrestling Observer Radio this past weekend that Steve got a job offer from WWE, which he accepted. Steve’s final Impact Wrestling appearance will be on next week’s episode.

As noted, Steve, who made his Impact Wrestling debut in April of 2014 as part of The Menagerie, thanked Impact on his Twitter after Friday’s taping.

Source: WrestlingINC

Tajiri Says He’s No Longer With WWE

Back in January it was announced Tajiri would be out of action with a knee injury when he teamed up with Shinsuke Nakamura against Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe at an NXT taping. Tajiri took to Twitter to give an update an his situation. Please note, this is roughly translated from Japanese.

Tajiri said he did have a knee injury, which wasn’t too big of an issue, but at his age (46) the company considered it risky to put him back in the ring. While he was waiting for clearance from the doctor, he did some coaching in NXT. After being in the WWE for about four months, he’s returning to Japan with no regrets. He thanked Triple H, William Regal, and the WWE for giving him another chance in the company.

Tajiri was initially brought back to the WWE for their 32-man Cruiserweight Classic tournament that took place last June. He was eliminated from the tournament by Gran Metalik in the Round of 16.

Source: WrestlingINC

Mauro Ranallo Parts Ways With WWE, JBL Comments, WWE Investigated JBL?

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Mauro Ranallo and WWE have mutually agreed to part ways, Ranallo revealed to Newsweek in a new story posted today by Tufayel Ahmed. He will still remain under WWE contract through August 12th.

“WWE and I have mutually agreed to part ways. It has nothing to do with JBL,” Ranallo stated in an email to Newsweek.

As noted, Ranallo was rumored to have had issues with JBL, which reportedly escalated after Ranallo tweeted out results of him winning the “Wrestling Observer Announcer of the Year” award for 2016. JBL was visibly frustrated with Ranallo and went on a public rant on Bring It To The Table in March, stating that Ranallo “has a hundred and 80 something thousand tweets, and by the time this show airs, maybe 2 hundred something thousand.”

“That is a problem, okay? And he [Ranallo] retweets some Internet poll,” JBL said on Bring It To The Table. “We have, what, two million people who watch SmackDown in the United States alone, and you have some Internet poll with 12 people on it?”

Tension had reportedly been building between both men up until that point. Ranallo missed the following SmackDown tapings on March 14th, and has not appeared on WWE television since. Several past stories of JBL’s behavior resurfaced. JBL issued a statement to Newsweek, noting that he would take place in locker room pranks in the past, but WWE addressed his behavior.

“Admittedly, I took part in locker room pranks that existed within the industry years ago,” JBL said. “WWE addressed my behavior and I responded accordingly, yet my past is being brought up because of recent unfounded rumors. I apologize if anything I said playing ‘the bad guy’ on a TV show was misconstrued.”

WWE also issued a statement to Newsweek stating that they “fully investigate any allegations of inappropriate behavior,” including the JBL situation, however it was not clear if the investigation was ongoing. Below is their statement:

“As part of our commitment to creating an inclusive environment, in April 2011, WWE launched our anti-bullying campaign, Be a STAR, which encourages young people to treat each other with tolerance and respect.”As a publicly traded company, that mantra carries forward in our corporate culture. As such, we fully investigate any allegations of inappropriate behavior including the recent alleged situation with John Layfield (aka JBL), despite no formal complaint having been submitted.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Chris Jericho Appearing Tonight On ‘Tanked’

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Chris Jericho will be appearing tonight on the season premiere of ‘Tanked’ on Animal Planet 10/9c.

‘Tanked’ is a reality TV series airing on Animal Planet. It follows the operations of Las Vegas based Acrylic Tank Manufacturing, owned by brothers-in-law Brett Raymer and Wayde King. ATM bills itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of customized aquarium installations.

Tank of Jericho – WWE superstar Chris Jericho wants to get a tank for his family that has a replica championship belt and his List of Jericho in the tank; if Wayde and Brett fail, they will be put on “the list.”

Backstage News On Paige’s WWE Status After She Recovers From Neck Surgery

Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Newsletter that unless things change, WWE has no plans to use Paige going forward after she is recovered from her neck surgery that she had last October. It was noted that the reason for WWE not using her again is “everything that’s happened.”

Paige has been out of action since suffering the neck injury in June of 2016. Since then she has had two Wellness violations. She has been filmed with boyfriend Alberto Del Rio on social media as he bashed the company and Triple H. Explicit sex tapes were also leaked featuring her.

Last February, Del Rio and Paige were on Busted Open and noted that she was undergoing physical therapy. Del Rio said that Paige was hoping to return to action by May.

“I’m 100% sure that she’ll be the most successful female wrestler of all time,” Del Rio said in February. “She just needs to get well and she’ll be back in the ring around April or May, I don’t know, when the doctor’s have their final decision.”

Meltzer noted that the only thing that might save her job with WWE is the upcoming movie produced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on Paige’s family, Fighting with My Family, which wrapped filming earlier this month.

Source: WrestlingINC

Vader Passes Out After Match In Japan, Reveals What Happened

Vader briefly collapsed after a match at Korakuen Hall in Japan on Thursday.

Vader was teaming with Keiji Muto & AKIRA in a six-man tag team match against Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu & Shiro Koshinaka. After the match there was a ceremony honoring Fujinami and Vader fainted in the ring. Vader was able to eventually come to and leave the ring on his own.

Vader took to Twitter and said that he collapsed because he was dropped on his head during the match, and that it didn’t have anything to do with his recent heart issues.

As noted, Vader had tweeted out last November that he had two years to live due to congestive heart failure. He later said that he regretted making the tweets.

“I really kind of regret tweeting it out,” Vader told The Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling last month. “In other words when I got diagnosed and was told, ‘Leon, you have a bad heart and you have congestive heart failure and we feel your time is limited and you have maybe a couple of years left… two years or less to live.’ I remember getting very angry and said this has gotta be bulls–t because I don’t feel bad and I remember getting extremely angry. Since that time and when I got the news I left the hospital and went right to the gym and rode the bike for a half hour. Hard. As hard as I could and when I got off the bike and got on the treadmill and walked for another 15 minutes pretty hard and I was exhausted but my heart felt fine so how can I do that if my heart is going to give out? The doctor in some of the ongoing appointments that I had with him explained to me that when you are tipping the scales at 400 and 420-25 pounds that a man that size and that heavy isn’t supposed to be able to push himself in a cardiovascular endeavor no matter what it is much past 2 or 3 minutes.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Maria Kanellis & Mike Bennett Headed To WWE?

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Maria Kanellis is set for a WWE return and her husband Mike Bennett is coming with her, according to a report on Monday by SportsKeeda.com

Mike and Maria are reportedly headed to WWE’s SmackDown brand. PWTorch reported that a return to Impact Wrestling was a possibility but WWE’s offer was more appealing to the couple.

Source: WrestlingINC