Austin Aries Released By WWE

WWE announced that they have released Austin Aries. No other details were made available. Below is their full statement:

“WWE has come to terms on the release of WWE Superstar Austin Aries. WWE wishes Aries the best in all of his future endeavors”

Aries officially signed with WWE in January of 2016 and debuted on NXT on the March 2nd episode. He suffered a large orbital socket injury at the hands of Shinsuke Nakamura during a NXT live event last October which put him out of action for nearly five months. He re-surfaced on the main roster as a commentator for Cruiserweight matches, before making his main roster debut as a Cruiserweight this past March.

Aries went on to challenge Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania 33 in a pre-show match, which Neville won. Aries’ last WWE match was a losing effort against Neville at WWE Extreme Rules on June 4th, 2017. Aries appeared on 205 Live the following week and said that he had been dealing with knee and neck injuries, and has not appeared on WWE television since.

“I’ve got some stuff going on, but just to be fair you could probably say that for a lot of the locker room,” Aries said on Busted Open Radio last month. “It’s kind of part of what we do, I don’t think anyone is ever 100%. So I got a couple things going on and obviously at this point it might be a good time to take a little break which really could consist of two days to just adjust some of those things, try and get my mind and my body right and then come back and figure out what’s gonna be next and what the direction’s gonna be.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Shortly after WWE announced Aries’ release, Aries posted the following tweets:

WWE Great Balls of Fire (RAW) 7/9/17

WWE RAW exclusive pay-per-view Great Balls of Fire takes place this Sunday night at American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas.

CARD:

WWE Universal Championship: (C) Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman vs. Samoa Joe

Ambulance Match: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

RAW Women’s Championship: (C) Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks

Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt

RAW Tag Team Championship (30-Minute Iron Man Match): (C) Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Hardy Boyz

Intercontinental Championship: (C) The Miz w/Maryse & Miztourage (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) vs. Dean Ambrose

Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass

(Kickoff) WWE Cruiserweight Championship: (C) Neville vs. Akira Tozawa w/Titus O’Neil

UFC 213: Nunes vs. Shevchenko 2 (7/8/17)

Image result for ufc 213

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Champ Amanda Nunes (135) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (134.5) – for women’s bantamweight title
  • Yoel Romero () vs. Robert Whittaker (184.5) – for interim middleweight title
  • Curtis Blaydes (257.5) vs. Daniel Omielanczuk ()
  • Alistair Overeem () vs. Fabricio Werdum ()
  • Jim Miller () vs. Anthony Pettis (156)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Travis Browne () vs. Aleksei Oleinik ()
  • Brian Camozzi (170.5) vs. Chad Laprise (170)
  • Gerald Meerschaert (184.5) vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos ()
  • Jordan Mein (170) vs. Belal Muhammad (170)

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)

  • Rob Font () vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (134)
  • Cody Stamann (145) vs. Terrion Ware ()
  • James Bochnovic () vs. Trevin Giles (204)

WWE Responds To Report Of Massive Data Leak Exposing Personal Information Of Over 3 Million Users

Forbes published a story today stating that Bob Dyachenko, from security firm Kromtech, uncovered a WWE database that was unprotected that contained the personal information of over 3 million users. Anyone who had the URL would have been able to search the data, which included birth-dates, ages, email addresses, ethnicity, educational background, earnings and even customers’ children’s age ranges and genders. The data was stored in plain text.

Another WWE database was also leaking on Amazon’s hosting service that contained addresses, telephone numbers and names of European fans. It was noted that this database may have been from an online WWE store as “the network doesn’t require a mobile number.”

WWE was alerted about the leak by Dyachenko on July 4th, and they moved the database so it is no longer accessible.

WWE issued the following statement regarding the report:

“Although no credit card or password information was included, and therefore not at risk, WWE is investigating a vulnerability of a database housed on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which has now been secured. WWE utilizes leading cybersecurity firms Smartronix and Praetorian to manage data infrastructure and cybersecurity and to conduct regular security audits on AWS. We are currently working with Amazon Web Services, Smartronix and Praetorian to ensure the ongoing security of our customer information.”

Source: WrestlingINC

WWE Confirms 2 More Names For Mae Young Classic

WWE has confirmed 2 more names for the upcoming Mae Young Classic.

20-year-old Australian phenom, Team 3-D Academy alumna added to Mae Young Classic

WWE’s inaugural Mae Young Classic just added two more names to its impressive list of competitors. Australian phenom Rhea Ripley and fierce veteran Sage Beckett have been announced as part of the 32-woman tournament that will stream exclusively on the award-winning WWE Network, beginning Monday, Aug. 28.

Ripley and Beckett join an impressive group of entrants that already includes Kairi Sane, Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti, Jazzy Gabert, Kavita Devi, Toni Storm, Princesa Sugehit, Lacey Evans, Sarah Logan, Bianca Blair, Piper Niven and Dakota Kai.

Just 20 years old and already sporting a resume full of in-ring accolades, Rhea Ripley is a wrestling prodigy. The hard-hitting Australian was a standout soccer player in her youth, making her uniquely prepared for a career of throwing hard kicks.

In addition to having competed in her home country of Australia and Japan, Ripley is also a two-time Riot City Women’s Wrestling Champion.

Sage Beckett is as tough as they come. The in-ring veteran of 10 years not only trained under ECW Originals Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley at their Team 3-D Academy, but she has taken the hardcore philosophy to heart while revitalizing her squared-circle career.

Beckett found considerable success competing in various promotions like WXW Elite and Shine before deciding to retire in 2012. Still yearning to do battle between the ropes and unleash pain on her opponents, she made her return in 2014, coming back 130 pounds lighter. Behind her new lean and mean appearance, Beckett is making the most of her second squared circle go-around that she hopes will crown her the inaugural Mae Young Classic winner.

 

GFW Reportedly Stopped Alberto El Patron From Shooting On WWE

Image result for Alberto El patron GFW Impact

Alberto El Patron ripped WWE after last Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view. He was seemingly ready to shoot on WWE again after last night’s Impact Wrestling tapings, however GFW reportedly turned his music up so loud that it stopped him. Here are details from Wrestling Inc. reader Lyne, who was at the show:

El Patron grabs a mic for a shoot. He says it’s “that time of the night” when he talks about “that company in Stamford.” His attorney, however, called him last night and asked him “what the f–k are you thinking” as he recently “lost enough money from his divorce.” At that point, production cut the mic and played his music. El Patron shouted over the music saying he “has enough voice to scream.” His music played louder. El Patron tried to continue before giving up.

Source: WrestlingINC

Jeff Jarrett Explains Decision To Re-Brand Impact Wrestling As GFW

Jeff Jarrett was a guest on Wednesday’s episode of Busted Open with Dave Lagreca and Larry Dallas where he discussed the rebranding of Global Force Wrestling.

“Obviously we’ve had our ups and downs and in-betweens between myself — not just professionally — but personally with Impact,” said Jarrett. “And then, you know, I launched Global Force Wrestling and it’s so ironic how things have come together.”

Jeff Jarrett co-founded Total Nonstop Action Wrestling with his father Jerry in 2002. They ended up selling the company to Panda Energy later that year, with Jeff staying on as a minority owner.

“In the early days it was TNA and the name of the television show was Impact,” Jarrett continued. “And then it got into early 2010-2011 it was called Impact Wrestling and where does TNA stand? So I’ll be the first one to say it was a bit of confusion as far as the brand. And as an older promoter once said, ‘If you confuse them, you lose them.’ That old saying goes a long way.”

Earlier this year, TNA was purchased by Anthem Sports & Entertainment and Dixie Carter resigned as Chairwoman after 14 years at the helm. Jarrett later returned and has now merged the company he founded with his 2015 upstart Global Force Wrestling.

“In one essence we’re back to the way it was originally branded,” said Jarrett. “The name of the television show that comes on Thursday nights on Pop TV and Friday nights on Spike TV in the United Kingdom, Friday nights on Sony 6 on India. The name of the television show is Impact and now the name of the brand, as you stated, is GFW. So we’re really excited. We realize it’s not going to happen overnight. You know, the confusion didn’t happen overnight so the re-brand is not going to happen overnight but we’re heading in that direction.”

Jarrett stated the buzz at this past Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view was one of excitement, comparing it to the company’s glory days.

“I can’t state enough just the buzz in the building Sunday night almost felt — I hate to, I’m not one to look back in the rearview mirror — but in essence, you know, we’ll call it the glory days of TNA, it really, really felt good on Sunday night,” said Jarrett. “The Impact Zone so to speak was rocking, it was off the charts; they seemed to really enjoy the show that went down the 15th anniversary show of Slammiversary on Sunday night.”

Source: Busted Open via WrestlingINC

Hardys Not Close To Acquiring Broken Gimmick?

Matt Hardy has been continuing his “Broken” teases online, and wrote earlier this week that they “are days away from winning.” While there were reports that Anthem Media and the Hardys are getting close to a settlement that would result in the Hardys getting the gimmick back, PWInsider reports that the word backstage at the Impact tapings this week is that “it’s actually much closer to the opposite with the two sides remaining very much at odds.”

Source: WrestlingINC

GFW Impact Wrestling Preview 7/6/17

Tonight on GFW Impact Wrestling on POP TV:

* Fallout from Slammiversary

* Unified Impact World & GFW Global Champion Alberto El Patron and Unified Knockouts & GFW Women’s Champion Sienna

* Gail Kim returns

* Super X Cup tournament

Velvet Sky Announces Her Retirement

Former TNA Knockout, Velvet Sky, spoke with WNPR and revealed that she has stepped away from pro wrestling to focus on going back to college at Post University. About her decision, Sky said:

“Wrestling has a shelf life. College doesn’t. You can be 50 years old and go to college for your degree. You can’t be 50 years old and train to be a pro wrestler.”

Sky started her career in 2003, eventually debuting with TNA in 2007. There she spent nearly ten years with the company, winning the TNA Women’s Knockout Championship on two occasions. About her current health and wrestling career, Sky continued:

“I’m in really, really good physical condition, still, and my health is great. And I want to keep it that way. I had a really satisfying 15-year wrestling career, so I went back to school because I got to live out my wrestling dream.”

Velvet Sky is currently looking to become a personal trainer and continues to help train future wrestlers at the Team 3D Academy (owned by Bully Ray and D-Von Dudley) in Danbury, Connecticut.

Source: WrestlingINC