Legends Of Memphis Wrestling Reunion At Pop!Con Comic Convention In Evansville, In

Legends of Memphis Wrestling Reunion this weekend April 17 & 18 at the Pop!Con Comic Convention in Evansville, Indiana at the Evansville National Guard Armory. Legends in attendance will be – Jerry “The King” Lawler, “Superstar” Bill Dundee, “The Voice of Memphis” Lance Russell, “Boogie Woogie Man” “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant & “Dangerous” Doug Gilbert

Friday -April 17 4PM-8PM and Saturday – April 18 10AM-5PM

For tickets and information visit http://www.popconevansville.com

 

Pop!Con posted the following on their facebook page:

POP!CON is proud to announce the FAN’S Hall of Fame induction of Bill “Superstar” Dundee and the Gilbert Family (Tommy, Eddie and Doug).

Jimmy Valiant and Jerry Lawler are WWE Hall of Famers and they will be helping us honor Lance Russell, Superstar and the Gilbert’s.

FRIDAY 4PM to 8PM is PREVIEW NIGHT – The Legends of Memphis Wrestling will be LIVE and in person at Pop!Con meeting and greeting everyone! PLUS a sitdown interview with The Voice of Wrestling, Lance Russell.

SATURDAY 10AM to 5PM – Jerry “The King” Lawler joins the other legends for a full day of awards and presentations and a VIP EXCLUSIVE Memphis Wrestling Q&A. All the legends will be on hand to answer any questions that you’ve been wanting the answers to for years.

MEET AND GREET ALL THE LEGENDS! THE ONLY PRICE YOU PAY IS ADMISSION, $10 Fri, $15 Sat or the ALL WEEKEND PASS for $20.

http://www.POPCONEVANSVILLE.COM

There are only a few VIP POWERSLAM PACKAGES AVAILABLE at https://eventgrid.com/Events/15835/popcon-2015-evansville-indiana/Dates/15994

The legends will be available for photo ops on Saturday only at an additional cost – info at the link above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So You Want To Be in the WWE? 

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During WrestleMania, a commercial aired promoting new series that were going to be on the WWE Network. There’s Swerved, a comedy from the mind of “Jackass” producer Jeff Tremaine, Jerry Springer Presents WWE Too Hot For TV, focusing on outrageous WWE moments, and Camp WWE, an adult animated comedy from the mind of Seth Green. While all of the new shows look exciting, the ones that caught my eye were the revival of two classics—Tough Enough and the Diva Search.

Tough Enough has had many incarnations and in the past has given us such stars as The Miz and Cameron and alum such as  John Morrison, Miss Jackie, and Josh Mathews. With weekly eliminations, it was the ultimate search for the next Superstar or Diva.

It’s all female equivalent was the Diva Search, which introduced the WWE world to such Divas as Christy Hemme, Ashley Massaro, Layla, and Eve Torres. The Bella Twins, Rosa Mendes, Maryse, Maria, Rosa Mendes, Michelle McCool, Kristal Marshall and Taryn Terrell, along with Eva Marie, JoJo and Lana in the unofficial 2013 search all came from the Diva Search.

Tough Enough and the Diva Search were excellent showcases for people looking to achieve their dream of stardom as a member of the WWE roster. It can be seen as the American Idolor Saturday Night Live even of the WWE—a group of people chasing the dream of making it, not-ready-for-primetime, and reaching that goal through perseverance, resiliency, dedication, and handwork. It shows the side not seen on WWE TV about the hardships, trials, and tribulations of making it to the big leagues and just how competitive it really is out there. It’s exciting to see both shows are coming back and it’ll be interesting to see the next big star get discovered before they make it big.

-Celine

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#ThankYouAJ: A Reflection

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The wrestling world lost one of its brightest young stars from in-ring competition when AJ Lee retired. Whether you loved her or not, there is no denying the powerful and lasting impact that AJ made during her time in the WWE, especially for the Divas Division alone. From that spunky fan who waited hours in line to see WrestleMania 20 to the underdog who finished 3rd on the divas season of NXT. From the self proclaimed geek to the manipulative lover and eventual RAW GM, Then finally, a multi-time Divas Champion, redefining what it means to be beautiful and tough as a WWE Diva.

On the August 26th, 2013 edition of Monday Night RAW, AJ Lee dropped a pipe bomb against the cast of Total Divas in a promo that can define her impact in the WWE:

Quotes such as,  “I have done more in one year than all of you have done in your entire collective careers. I have saved your divas division, I have shattered glass ceilings, I have broken down doors…I didn’t get here because I was cute, or because I came from some famous wrestling family, or because I sucked up to the right people. I got here because I am good. I earned this championship. No matter how many red carpets you guys want to walk, in your four-thousand dollar ridiculous heels, you will never be able to lace up my Chuck Taylor’s.”

While heel elements were added to the promo, AJ Lee was able to be in the ending segment of RAW during the summer of 2012 when she was in a love triangle with Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, her eventual real-life husband. That was only the beginning as she soon became the General Manager of Monday Night RAW and won the Divas Championship multiple times. After AJ’s rise in 2012, there became more focus on the Divas, including the hit E! reality show, Total Divas. Since then, The Bella Twins, Paige, Naomi, Alicia Fox, Natalya, and a majority of the Divas roster have made a name for themselves, receiving mercy, louder cheers from the audience, mainstream attention, and longer matches. In light of the #GiveDivasAChance campaign on social media, there is even more love given to the amazingly beautiful, talented, and tough ladies of the squared circle. In the not so far past of 2010 and 2011, NXT’s all divas third season was interrupted by Michael Cole’s rants and RAWs and SmackDowns were decorated with divas matches that would never go longer than two minutes.

That’s all changed now and it’s one of the best times for the Divas Division as all of the women are receiving positive love and support and are finally receiving the respect they all rightfully deserve. The diva who brought the division to light with the push of a lifetime during the Summer of 2012 was none other than AJ. With her “crazy chick” gimmick, fans were focusing more on here and her unpredictable antics as opposed to her male counterparts. It had been one of the most popular diva-related story lines arguably since the Trish Stratus/Mickie James feud of 2006 (LayCool and Maryse had popular story lines but failed to gain the momentum as AJ Lee’s).

AJ Lee’s time in the WWE will not only be remembered for her incredible talents, but for what she brought to the Divas Division—excitement, intrigue, and the light that helped to reignite interest in the Divas. While there are exciting things for the future (looking at you, Bayley, Sasha, and Charlotte) AJ Lee will be missed from the WWE. Her passion remained and it’s always a plus to see a Superstar or Diva who grew up as a passionate wrestling fan and were able to achieve their dreams and inspire others to be like them. The Divas Division has been the best it has been in years, and possibly ever. In the end, AJ Lee may not have single handedly started this trend, as credit should also be given to the Bella Twins combination of strength and beauty and the Anti-Diva allure of Paige, she was definitely instrumental in getting the ball rolling and giving the push the Divas Division has desperately been needing. Whether her retirement was due to being worn out from the business, a career ending injury, complications with the WWE as a result of her relationship with CM Punk, or just the idea that it was time to move on a pursue other interests, AJ Lee was able to leave on top and get that final WrestleMania moment. I’ll miss AJ Lee but I’m thankful for the impact that she left and I wish her only the best with her future as the next generation of WWE divas make their mark in the company. Let’s light it up!

-Celine

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Issues Between Taz & TNA

We noted before that Taz missed a recent TV taping but it was a TV taping he missed but a voice-over session in Nashville to record commentary for the Impact episodes that have been taped.

PWInsider reports that there are issues between Taz and TNA. Taz has removed all references to TNA from his Twitter page. The reported TNA pay issues apparently led to Taz refusing to fly to Nashville from New York for the voice-over session.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

 

 

News On Daniel Bryan’s Health

Daniel Bryan is reportedly not doing well as far as his health goes. Bryan continues to deal with issues from the injuries that took him out of action last year. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Bryan is in rough shape, which is why WWE has been protecting him in 6-Man matches as of late and why he hasn’t been on RAW in two weeks.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

The Briscoe’s Not Signing With WWE

The Briscoe brothers (Jay and Mark) will not be signing with WWE. They are expected to stay with Ring of Honor. F4WOnline reports that ROH recently made another offer to them and it was better than WWE’s offer. The Briscoe’s went back to WWE officials but they wouldn’t budge on their offer.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

More TNA News: Paycheck Problems, Announcer Misses Tapings, Low Morale

There was reports that TNA was behind on paying talents. PWInsider reports that talents now have started receiving their checks. F4WOnline reports that the checks started arriving this past Friday and continued arriving Saturday and Monday. One source told PWInsider that talents would be receiving their March checks earlier than scheduled to try and make up for the previous delays.

Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter says that Taz missed the recent Impact Wrestling tapings and repercussions could be coming.

Meltzer says things in TNA are a lot worse than they were at the end of the Spike TV run. While talents have started receiving paychecks, there’s still a lot of unhappiness across the company with the feeling that there is no momentum and they’re not going anywhere.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

Destination America Becoming A Problem Within TNA

Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Destination America is becoming a significant problem within TNA. The network is reportedly calling a lot of the shots in TNA these days with the idea that they are paying TNA and running so many hours of TNA programming.

Destination America reportedly doesn’t like Impact Wrestling being taped from the U.K. They don’t know the pro wrestling business at all but they didn’t like the idea of TV taped outside America airing on their Destination America channel. Destination America may not have a problem with TNA running a yearly tour overseas but they made it clear they want Impact taped in the US most of the time.

Destination America officials wanted Kurt Angle to be the World Champion because they liked the idea of the champion on their network being an American gold medalist. They are also high on Taryn Terrell as the Knockouts Champion because of her looks.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

 

John Cena Teases U.S. Title Spinner Belt?

There have been reports of WWE re-designing the United States Championship belt. John Cena posted this photo on Instagram, teasing bringing back the spinner belt look:

RAW Preview: 4/13/15, Finn Balor on RAW Tonight?

How will The Viper get even with Seth Rollins?

Could John Cena lose the U.S. Title in the U.K.?

Which Diva will get the ultimate chance against Nikki Bella?

Will Sheamus be cut down to size?

Has The Miz’s spotlight been stolen?

Source: WWE.com

 

#1 Contender Divas Battle Royal – Winner faces Divas Champion Nikki Bella at Extreme Rules.

John Cena will defend his United States Title in his US Open Challenge.

WWE is also teasing that we may find out Bray Wyatt’s next feud on tonight’s show.

Source: WrestlingINC.com

There is speculation that Finn Balor could be moving up to the main roster from NXT. Balor is on the current tour of Europe and will be backstage at tonight’s RAW in London. Balor posted this teaser on Twitter: