Source: WrestlingINC
It looks like another veteran TNA Knockout is done with the company as Velvet Sky may be finishing up this week.
Word from last night’s Impact Wrestling tapings in Orlando is that Velvet is done with the company, according to PWInsider. It’s possible she works the rest of this week’s tapings but it’s believed she’s not staying.
With Samoa Joe defeating Fin Balor last night for the NXT Championship, Joe becomes the first and only person to hold the WWE NXT, ROH and TNA Titles.
WWE has reported that Samoe Joe has dethroned the demon Finn Balór end at an NXT live event in Lowell Mass ending his record setting reign of 292 days.
The Now that we have a new NXT champion there’s two main questions. What’s next for the monster in his path of distruction now that he has gold around his waist? And what is next for the former champion Balór?
Our best bet is that the Demon is heading to the main roster. It would definitely keep the momentum Raw has had in the last few weeks going. Perhaps the most obvious scenario would be the inception of the Bullet Club and or Balór club (which ever they decide to call it)
All the pieces are already aligned. Styles is number 1 contender for the WWE world heavyweight title, Gallows and Anderson have made their presence known in the last two weeks, the only thing missing is Finn.
What do you guys think? Will we see a new formation of the Bullet club? Will Balór debut on Raw? Or perhaps Payback? Let us know in the comments below.
http://time.com/4300091/ronda-rousey-time-100-video/
In an interview with TIME (that you can view above) the former UFC Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey talks about how she’s still grieving the person that thought she could win it all. She says that she has to accept that she’s not her, it’s just who she’d like to be, instead she’s who she needs to be for herself and everyone else.
It used to be that I would get out of bed with the conviction that I had to be better than I was yesterday. I guess these days its hope that gets me out of bed.
-Ronda Rousey
She compares herself to a cartoon and says that on some days not everyone is going to like what that cartoon does. She mentions that in her home she has a wall of encouraging letters from fans talking about how much she’s helped them, Rousey says now they’re helping her.
Rousey says she imagines touching her stomach one day and feeling the metal there again. She says she’s coming back to win the title for people who believed in her.
Rousey fan are not the interview is an emotional one filled with positivity and in the mist of all the sad things happening lately this one made our day.
Source: WWE.com
Miz TV with guest AJ Styles
Dean Ambrose & Sami Zayn VS Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens
Ryback VS Kalisto
Dolph Ziggler VS Baron Corbin
Natalya & Paige VS Naomi & Tamina
Source: WrestlingINC
As noted, TMZ reported that police are investigating Chyna’s death as a possible overdose. Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio today that friends of Chyna’s had been discussing a possible intervention recently. The former WWE Intercontinental Champion was found dead at home on Wednesday. She was 45.
Source: WrestlingINC
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there were two incidents at the WrestleCon indie convention in Dallas during WrestleMania 32 weekend – one involving Karen Jarrett and Lucha Underground’s Melissa Santos, the other involving former WWE talent Stacy “The Kat” Carter and Tessa Blanchard, daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Tully Blanchard.
No word on what caused the incident between Tessa, who recently appeared on WWE NXT TV against Nia Jax, and Carter, Jerry Lawler’s ex-wife but it had something to do with Carter telling Tessa she wasn’t showing respect. Word is that the argument would’ve ended in a fight but Tessa’s boyfriend Ricochet stepped in as the peacemaker.
Santos was complaining about not having a chair to sit in and somehow Karen, who was criticized by many in attendance, spat on her, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This led to an argument and observers thought they were about to come to blows but things calmed down.
There was also a minor incident with Jeff Jarrett and Brian Knobbs. It was said to be a half-hearted incident where Jarrett shoved Knobbs but his balance was so bad that he fell. This led to the hotel putting a security officer in the lobby for the rest of the weekend and a sign about no horseplay.
Source: WrestlingINC
As noted, Bray Wyatt suffered a calf injury in the main event of the April 14th WWE live event in Milan, Italy against WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.
WWE has kept everything quiet but word going around the current European tour is that Wyatt actually suffered a pulled muscle and he will be out of action for 4-6 weeks, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. This indicates that the severity of the injury isn’t as bad as originally thought, and Wyatt could be back in time for the May 22nd WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view.
We knew it wouldn’t be long before the notorious Conor McGregor spoke up about all the retirement news, I mean after all he’s known for talking right?
The featherweight champion took to his official Facebook this morning saying:
I am just trying to do my job and fight here.
I am paid to fight. I am not yet paid to promote.
I have become lost in the game of promotion and forgot about the art of fighting.
There comes a time when you need to stop handing out flyers and get back to the damn shop.
50 world tours, 200 press conferences, 1 million interviews, 2 million photo shoots, and at the end of it all I’m left looking down the barrel of a lens, staring defeat in the face, thinking of nothing but my incorrect fight preparation. And the many distractions that led to this.
Nothing else was going through my mind.
It is time to go back and live the life that got me this life.
Sitting in a car on the way to some dump in Connecticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Suzie on the nobody gives a fuck morning show did not get me this life.
Talking to some lady that deep down doesn’t give a fuck about what I’m doing, but just wants some sound bites so she can maybe get her little tight ass a nice raise, and I’m cool with that too, I’ve been giving you all raises. But I need to focus on me now.
I’m coming for my revenge here.
I flew an entire team to Portugal and to Iceland to make my adjustments in preparation and fix my errors I made with the weight and the cardio prep.
With the right adjustments and the right focus, I will finish what I started in that last fight.
I will not do this if I am back on the road handing out flyers again.
I will always play the game and play it better than anybody, but just for this one, where I am coming off a loss, I asked for some leeway where I can just train and focus. I did not shut down all media requests. I simply wanted a slight adjustment.
But it was denied.
There had been 10 million dollars allocated for the promotion of this event is what they told me.
So as a gesture of good will, I went and not only saved that 10 million dollars in promotion money, I then went and tripled it for them.
And all with one tweet.
Keep that 10 mill to promote the other bums that need it. My shows are good.
I must isolate myself now.
I am facing a taller, longer and heavier man. I need to prepare correctly this time.
I can not dance for you this time.
It is time for the other monkeys to dance. I’ve danced us all the way here.
Nate’s little mush head looks good up on that stage these days. Stuff him in front of the camera for it.
He came in with no shit to do that last one. I’d already done press conferences, interviews and shot the ads before RDA pulled out.
Maybe I’ll hit Cabo this time and skull some shots pre-fight with no obligation.
I’m doing what I need for me now.
It is time to be selfish with my training again. It is the only way.
I feel the $400 million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway.
I am still ready to go for UFC 200.
I will offer, like I already did, to fly to New York for the big press conference that was scheduled, and then I will go back into training. With no distractions.
If this is not enough or they feel I have not deserved to sit this promotion run out this one time, well then I don’t know what to say.
For the record also –
For USADA and for the UFC and my contract stipulations –
I AM NOT RETIRED.
There you have it folks! Straight from the champs mouth, he’s not going anywhere. It’s interesting that this statement comes off the heels of Dana White saying that Conor’s chances of fighting at UFC 200 were very slim. He also went on to say that because of the retirement claims it can at least take up to four months before McGregor is allowed to fight again.
We still have a lot of unanswered questions here. Will we see the McGregor vs Diaz rematch in July? Or perhaps at a later date? If Diaz isn’t fighting McGregor who will be his dance partner? Or will Diaz be pulled from the card entirely? What match up can save UFC 200 when many are under the impression that both Aldo vs Edgar and Tate vs Nunes aren’t big enough to do so.
Perhaps the most important question is what does all of this mean for the featherweight division? Only time will tell.
Regardless of what your personal opinions may be on Chyna there is no denying she changed the game for not only women of professional wrestling but men as well.
She was in a league of her own. Last night moving into the early morning of today is a tough one for the wrestling world. It almost doesn’t feel real. Maybe it’s just because being such big Chyna fans we don’t want to accept it.
Right now the number one trend on Twitter is #RIPChyna as it should be. We here at WNB have took it upon ourselves to compile some of those tweets but really each one is a beautiful tribute and we encourage you to look through them:
Perhaps though the most heartbreaking tribute comes from Mick Foley as he took to his Facebook account this morning to pay tribute to his friend saying:
GOODBYE JOANIE
My heart is aching. My eyes are swollen from crying, having just talked to Joan Laurer’s manager Anthony Anzaldo on the phone and been told that Chyna, the 9th Wonder of the World was no longer with us; gone at only 45.
I will always be grateful for the friendship I shared with her, but particularly so for the kindness she showed my children, especially Noelle when she was younger. I will never forget those moments where Joanie would take Noelle by the hand at WWE events in the late 90’s – off to have her makeup done, her fingernails painted; bonding time between big, strong Joanie, and her tiny sidekick. A father doesn’t forget that type of kindness.
I didn’t know whether to post a classic photo of Chyna in her WWE prime or of Joanie from the last time I saw her – about 10 months ago at a convention on Long Island. I went with the photo from the convention because of the emotion; because it was taken at the exact moment I saw her for the first time in many years. I was told later that Joanie wasn’t sure how I would react to her, and that it meant a great deal to her to be accepted. Like I said, a father doesn’t forget. I called home on my way back from the convention – only about 40 minutes from my house. “I’m bringing a friend over to watch the pay-per-view” I said to my wife.
“Who’s that?”, my wife asked.
“Chyna”
“Chyna?”
“Yeah, Chyna!”
And that was pretty much that. A mother, you see, doesn’t forget the kindness shown to her child, either.
I am so glad we had that night with Joanie. A night to let her know how much we cared about her, whether it was politically correct or not. A night to let her know we loved her – and always would. RIP my dear friend. I pray that somehow in death, you can find the peace that eluded you so frequently during the latter years of your remarkable life.
As you can see the general consensus is that Joanie (Chyna) was a remarkable person, and she touched the hearts of everyone she knew. No longer hurting and finally at peace. Long live the 9th wonder of the world
