Category: WWE

ICW Coming To The WWE Network, Deal To Be Announced Soon

Word going around the UK scene is that WWE officials are close to finalizing a deal that will see top UK indie promotion Insane Championship Wrestling air on the WWE Network, according to PWInsider Elite.  No word yet on if this will be on-demand content or live content.

The deal with ICW, who recently drew several thousand fans to the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, is said to be a multi-year deal, perhaps for 2-3 years. There is said to be an agreement in place and the deal could be announced some time in the next week.

ICW is closer to the original ECW or WWE’s Attitude Era but it was noted that there content will not be toned down for the WWE Network, at least for the most part.

WWE recently polled fans on which indie companies they would be interested in seeing on the WWE Network. It will be interesting to see if they bring more promotions to the Network in 2017 as they are currently in talks with several North American promotions.

Source: WrestlingINC

Kurt Angle Comments On WWE HOF Induction

Angle spoke with ESPN after being informed of the news on Monday. He said:

“I was shocked. I’ve been out of WWE for a long time and out of touch with them so I didn’t really expect this. It’s a huge honor. This is the only Hall of Fame that I’m not in and probably [the one] I want to be in the most. This is the one that means the most for me. I had a lot of fun entertaining the fans for seven years with WWE, and I’m glad that my hard work paid off.”

Angle revealed that he received a phone call from Triple H on Monday with the news.

“I figured they either decided they didn’t want to do anything with me or they forgot. Hunter said they never forgot and he called and told me this is the first thing they want to do. And whether I wrestle or not after this — which is irrelevant right now — I’m just really proud to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. I gave a lot of energy and time to WWE those first seven years, and I’m grateful that they recognized it.”

Angle also told ESPN that his current deal runs through the Hall of Fame ceremony but does not include a WrestleMania 33 match.

“We have not talked about any wrestling. Whether we do or not, that remains to be seen… There are no guarantees. I think right now the most important thing is the Hall of Fame — and I think both sides feel that way.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Kurt Angle Headlining WWE Hall Of Fame Class Of 2017

It’s true, it’s true! Kurt Angle will be taking his rightful place in the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2017 just two days before WrestleMania 33, as first reported by ESPN.com.

Visit Angle’s Hall of Fame bio | View legendary photos | Watch career highlights

“Kurt Angle’s accomplishments both in the Olympics and WWE were extraordinary,” said WWE’s Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative Paul Levesque. “He was one of the most gifted athletes to ever enter the ring, and we are honored to welcome him into the WWE Hall of Fame.”

Before becoming a legend of the squared circle, the proud Pittsburgh native was a world-class amateur competitor, becoming a two-time All-American and a two-time NCAA Champion while wrestling for Clarion University in his home state of Pennsylvania. His incredible amateur career culminated at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, where he fought off the incredible pain of a “broken freakin’ neck” to win the gold medal for the United States of America.

In 1998, Angle made the jump from amateur to professional wrestling by signing with WWE. One year later, the gold medal grappler made his debut at Survivor Series 1999, picking up the first win of an undefeated streak that saw Angle capture the European and Intercontinental Championships. His unbelievable rookie campaign culminated at WWE No Mercy in October 2000, where he defeated The Rock to capture his first WWE Championship.

Though his wrestling ability was unparalleled, Angle adapted to the entertainment side of sports-entertainment better than anyone could have expected. Whether it was preaching his “three Is” – intensity, integrity and intelligence – taking part in a five-second pose with Edge & Christian or joining “Stone Cold” Steve Austin for a backstage sing-along, The Olympic Hero was able to make the WWE Universe laugh when he wasn’t wowing them with his athleticism.

By the time he left WWE in 2006, Angle had become one of the company’s most decorated stars in a short period of time. His resume includes four reigns as WWE Champion, a World Heavyweight Championship, the WCW, United States, Hardcore, Intercontinental and World Tag Team Championships. In addition, Angle was the 2000 King of the Ring and even served as General Manager of SmackDown.

In honor of these accomplishments, along with his incredible contributions to the WWE Universe during his storied career, Angle will be enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame.

Tickets for the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony will be available starting this Friday, Jan. 20, at 10 a.m. ET. For complete information on how you can see Kurt Angle take his place in sports-entertainment history, visit Ticketmaster.com.

Click here for complete WWE Hall of Fame ticket information

Source: WWE.com

 

Angle told ESPN.com, “I was shocked. I’ve been out of WWE for a long time and out of touch with them so I didn’t really expect this.”

Angle posted on Twitter that he is coming home:

RAW Preview 1/16/17

Brock Lesnar returns

Meet the new “faces of Raw” – Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens

Can Bayley and Sasha Banks attain retribution against Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax?

Neville aims to claim his crown at Royal Rumble

Who’s in the Royal Rumble Match?

Source: WWE.com

WWE UK Championship Tournament Results

Quarter-final round match-ups:

Pete Dunne vs. Sam Gradwell – Winner Pete Dunne

Mark Andrews vs. Joseph Conners – Winner: Mark Andrews

Trent Seven vs. Wolfgang – Winner: Wolfgang

Tyler Bate vs. Jordan Devlin – Winner: Tyler Bate

 

Semi-Finals:

Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews – Winner: Pete Dunne

Wolfgang vs. Tyler Bate – Winner: Tyler Bate

 

Neville vs. Tommy End (Non-Tournament Match) – Winner: Neville

 

WWE UK Championship:

Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate – Winner and first-ever WWE UK Champion: Tyler Bate

Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka Passed Away

WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka passed away yesterday at the age of 73 after battling stomach cancer.

The news was confirmed on Twitter by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Snuka’s daughter, WWE star Tamina, asked that Johnson share the sad news.

Tamina posted this photo on Instagram where she’s holding her father’s hand in a hospital room. The caption reads, “I LOVE YOU DAD #FOREVERMYDAD #RestWell #FamiliesAreForever #BestDad #SnukaLegacy.”

 

WWE issued the following statement on his passing:

WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka passes away

WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka has passed away.

Snuka is regarded by many as the pioneer of high-flying offense because of his Superfly Splash from the top turnbuckle. His dive off the top of the steel cage onto Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden as hundreds of flash bulbs went off will forever live as one of the most memorable moments in WWE history.

WWE extends its condolences to Snuka’s family, friends and fans.

Other stars commented on his passing:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPTO_8hhNPh/

WWE UK Title Tournament Preview 1/14/17 & 1/15/17

WWE will crown the first-ever WWE United Kingdom Champion live on WWE Network during a special, two-night tournament on Saturday, January 14 and Sunday, January 15, 2017 beginning at 8:00 PM GMT.

Below is the full 16-man roster for the two-night tournament:

* Danny Burch
* Mark Andrews
* Roy Johnson
* Dan Moloney
* Joseph Conners
* Tyson T-Bone
* James Drake
* Tyler Bate
* Sam Gradwell
* Jordan Devlin
* Wolfgang
* Pete Dunne
* HC Dyer
* Trent Seven
* Saxon Huxley
* Tucker

Below is the full WWE United Kingdom Title tournament preview show from the WWE Network.

Near 1000 Pound Man Eyeing WWE Career (Video)

Image result for pakistani hulk

Maxim has a story here about 25 year-old Arbab Khizer Hayat, a 960-pound Pakistani weightlifter who is eyeing a WWE career. Known as the Pakistani Hulk, Hayat consumes 10,000 calories a day with a diet including 36 eggs, seven pounds of meat and five liters of milk, as seen in the video above.

“I want to represent Pakistan at WWE,” Hayat said. “God willing I’ll appear in 2017.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Ryback On John Cena Being ‘Poison’ To Wrestling, Cena Treating Him Badly, Cena – Alex Riley Incident

Recently on Conversation With The Big Guy, former WWE Superstar Ryback talked about John Cena and the 15-time world champion’s alleged negative impact on the professional wrestling industry.

According to Ryback, Cena was always “a piece of s–t” to ‘The Big Guy’ and people will “lose their s–t” when former WWE Superstar Alex Riley comes forward about his issues with Cena, as ‘The Face That Runs The Place’ would “bury” Riley to everyone in the backstage area.

“John’s blocked on my Twitter. I blocked him, he’s legit [blocked], I blocked him a long time [ago]. He [has] been a piece of s–t to me since Day One. And people, the guy, I was nothing but nice and respectful to him and I know Alex Riley just came out and [admitted he had issues with Cena] and when people hear what really happened with that, they’re going to lose their s–t. Like, and I know, I have a pretty good idea of what happened with that and the guys in WWE. And, one, it’s f–king hilarious. And, two, it’s hilarious what people will find out about John. So he used to s–t talk me when I was in the ring. I remember I was in there against Mark Henry. You’ve got to remember, I came up with all these guys in developmental and I know everyone who’s sitting backstage. No, John [used to talk trash], I used to be back there for John when Riley was in the ring, when the company was f–king with him because John was hot at him because of what happened and all this.”

Ryback added, “but John would sit back there and bury Riley in front of everybody for no reason and Alex Riley is f–king money and he was money from Day One. Busted his ass, had awesome theme music, worked his ass off, went out there and got a reaction from the people, but because of John Cena and I swear to God, I swear to f–king God, because of John Cena, his career is over in the WWE for no f–king reason outside of John and his personal issues. Unbelievable.”

In Ryback’s view, Cena has been “poison” to the professional wrestling industry insofar as he would hold others back. Ryback theorized that Triple H’s promotion of NXT may be a way to prevent Cena from interfering in the careers of up-and-coming stars.

“John comes from that [mentality of], ‘well, we’re going to push one guy down your f–king throats.’ No, you push who the crowd is behind.” Ryback added, “he has been poison to the [professional] wrestling industry. I told [podcast co-host Pat Buck] this before. We talked about this before. And again, this is my opinion, but I think I’m pretty accurate on this is I think he [has] done so much harm for so long to new talent to getting [over], breaking out, over there.

“I had my experiences, and other talents up there have their experiences, that I think Hunter finally had to say, ‘what the f–k do I need to do?’ And I think he started with the NXT thing and bring up all these NXT guys and protecting the f–k out of them. There [are] so many guys now that John just can’t f–king pick his battle with one guy because there are nine other guys that are hot on his [heels]. Do you know what I mean? And he [has] been surpassed now and so Hunter’s brilliant if that’s what he did to get rid of the f–king Cena problem.”

Click here to check out the show.

Sources: WrestlingINC – Conversation With The Big Guy

Major WrestleMania 33 Match No Longer In The Works, Possible Plans For The RAW Women’s Title, More

John Cena vs. The Undertaker is no longer in the works for WrestleMania 33, according to a new report by Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The match was nixed after Vince McMahon changed his mind.

There’s been speculation on The Undertaker challenging for a title at WrestleMania but as of this week, he is not scheduled to challenge for the WWE Title or the WWE Universal Title. There’s also been speculation on Taker vs. Braun Strowman but that match is not in the works, at least as of this week.

It was also noted by The Observer that there will be six or seven major main event level singles matches on the show this year, not including the women’s or cruiserweight matches. Kevin Owens vs. WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho looks like it’s happening but top Superstars without singles matches include Cena, current WWE Champion AJ Styles, Roman Reigns, current WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose and the returning Finn Balor. No word yet on plans for Ambrose and the Intercontinental Title but he could end up defending in another multi-man match, perhaps a ladder match.

Regarding the RAW Women’s Title, the match has not been decided on but Charlotte defending against Nia Jax, Sasha Banks and Bayley in a Fatal 4 Way is in the works. Bayley vs. Charlotte in a singles match has been expected but the Fatal 4 Way is the current proposed match.

The WrestleMania 33 card is not finalized but the key locked-in matches remain – Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal, Triple H vs. Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg, which The Observer speculates will be the main event.

Source: WrestlingINC