Tonight’s episode of TNA Impact on AXS TV is all-new. Here are the matches that have been announced for the show:
ROH will air a new episode of its weekly television show tonight at 7 pm ET on HonorClub.
You can sign up for the streaming service here. Below is the lineup for the show:
It’s only Wednesday, but the saga of Ric Flair and his not-so-excellent adventure at a Gainesville, Florida Piesanos Stove Oven Pizza restaurant has continued to generate headlines. The story first came to light on Monday when Flair took to social media to complain about the establishment throwing him out. This was followed by accusations from a neighboring Piesanos manager that Flair was “drunk and disorderly,” and the release of video footage on Tuesday showing Flair angrily confronting Piesanos staff.
The story continued to evolve on Wednesday, when Flair gave his account to “The Gainesville Sun,” and even suggested he could pursue legal action against Piesanos. Flair’s tone was a little softer later on Wednesday, however, when he was contacted by the “MJ Morning Show” for his account of the situation. Flair provided additional details he hadn’t included earlier, claiming his stepdaughter left the place due to feeling “scared,” because of how strong the Piesanons staff came across. He again confirmed that an altercation with a kitchen worker escalated his behavior.
“When I’m put in an area where I’m uncomfortable…I got upset,” Flair said. “It caught me off guard because we were having a wonderful time.”
Despite that, Flair did admit that he should’ve departed from the restaurant before losing his cool. Flair also noted that, even after everything that happened, he would later order food from Piesanos that night, which he said was delivered to him by Uber Eats at around 6 p.m. In a stark contrast from his tone earlier in the day, Flair praised the restaurant, noting that they have “great food.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
For the first time in the show’s history, “WWE Raw” will air exclusively online from the beginning of 2025. WWE struck a deal with streaming giant Netflix at the beginning of 2024 worth $5 billion that will see “WWE Raw” air live each week on the platform from January 2025, with the rest of WWE’s programming following over time. However, there was one lingering question: WWE’s current deal with USA Network expires in October 2024, meaning that there was a possibility “Raw” might not have a home for three months.
Fortunately for WWE, that won’t be the case. In the TKO Earnings Report for the first quarter of 2024, it was revealed that WWE has agreed to a deal worth $25 million with NBCUniversal to continue airing “Raw” on USA Network until the end of 2024. This means that for the fourth quarter of the year, USA Network will have both “WWE Raw” and “WWE SmackDown” on their network, as “SmackDown” is set to join the network when the show’s current deal with Fox expires in October. Analysis by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics suggests the deal represents something of a bargain for USA, as their current “Raw” contract amounts to about $66 million per quarter.
While the United States will only experience “WWE Raw” on Netflix, various other locations across the world will be able to experience virtually everything that WWE produces as places like the United Kingdom, Canada, and Latin America are set to get all of WWE’s weekly programming on Netflix, as well as the company’s Premium Live Events, and potentially the company’s extensive tape library which includes other promotions WWE has bought out like WCW and ECW, though that last has yet to be confirmed by WWE.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Performance Center on the USA Network:
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair recently took to Twitter to claim that he was asked to leave Piesonas, a major restaurant chain in Florida, after spending $1500 on a meal.
The WWE Hall of Famer explained that he had an issue with the kitchen manager taking too long in the bathroom, which led to the incident.
In response to the claim, Piesonas co-owner Jerry Roberts provided a statement to The Gainesville Sun, clarifying the circumstances that led to the Flair’s unceremonious departure from the restaurant. He noted that he reviewed the security footage and was proud of the way his staff handled the situation.
Word often spreads quickly among restaurant chains that are in close prominently to each other, and the manager of a sister location of the Piesanos Stone Fired Pizza a few miles down the road has taken to Twitter to provide additional context on why Flair was kicked out of the restaurant.
According to the manager, Flair was “being drunk and disorderly” and at one point “woo’d directly into a blind grandmothers face.”
The manager went on to add that Flair “picked up furniture and swung it menacingly” after being confronted by the staff. He wrote,
“I’m the manager of @PiesanosSFP sister location off Archer. Mr Flair was being drunk and disorderly. He woo’d directly into a blind grandmothers face. After being confronted he picked up furniture and swung it menacingly. We love Ric. But he was booger’d”
Source: eWn
We saw another QR code air on this week’s episode of WWE RAW.
On this week’s show, a QR code led fans to a new video and puzzle. The video had a crow at the bottom of it that led to a puzzle, which reads:
“YOU KNOW NOTHING
HELL IS ONLY A WORD
REALITY IS MUCH
MUCH WORSE”
Source: eWn
Olympic Gold Medallist Gable Steveson was one of many performers to be released by WWE in April 2024. Steveson signed a contract with WWE in 2021 following his successful run to Olympic Gold at the Tokyo games, and was immediately positioned as a potential successor to someone like Kurt Angle. He appeared at WrestleMania 38, was officially drafted to “WWE Raw,” and even had a brief run in “WWE NXT” in 2023. However, his career in WWE never reached the heights of his freestyle career.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Steveson was released by the company for a very simple reason; he wasn’t that good. “His contract was a very big money contract, and he wasn’t cutting it.” Steveson arrived in WWE already having allegations of sexual abuse to his name, something that WWE fans were not high on, but according to Meltzer, it was Steveson’s ability in the ring that cost him his spot, as the company had full knowledge of the allegations against him.
“He did have the sexual assault claim from his freshman year in college, WWE signed him with full knowledge of that and it was not an issue in amateur wrestling, wasn’t an issue in college wrestling, like once he was cleared, he was good to go … it was an issue with wrestling fans. However, it probably had to do in a great degree with him getting booed with Baron Corbin, in the one match that people saw that he had at that one ‘NXT’ show.” Meltzer went on to say that he watched a number of his dark matches, some of which were against recently released star Cameron Grimes, and said he wasn’t impressive, had no charisma, and got little to no reaction from the fans.
Source: Wrestling Inc. credit to Wrestling Observer Radio
WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
Fallout from Backlash
2024 Draft roster changes take effect
Over the last few weeks, WWE has guided fans on a cryptic treasure hunt, with the final prize rumored to be a new faction led by Uncle Howdy (fka Bo Dallas), the real-life brother of the late Windham Rotunda (aka Bray Wyatt). WWE’s latest clue revealed a QR code at WWE Backlash that linked to a phone number and an audio file indicating that several “missing” people have come together to form a new family in WWE.
QR code hit the screen that sent viewers to the WWE-hosted landing page www.wwe.com/porte_ouverte. (That slug, “port ouverte,” is French for “open door.”)
On the page, an audio file is hosted, along with what appears to be a phone number, 888-280-3999 — the same number that, in 2022, revealed an audio clip of Bray Wyatt’s doctor revealing his (in character) mental health diagnosis, ending with a tease of his return. When playing the audio on the page, a distorted female voice says, “You think you’re so close to finding him but you don’t even know what you’re looking for. He’s not what you think. He just wants to help. That’s all he ever wanted. He opens up his arms and makes you feel like you matter; like you belong. He doesn’t change you. He, he reminds you. He wants to know, ‘Why did you forget about them?’ He says he opened the door and the time of secrets has come to an end.”
The familiar phone number now hosts a different message, mentioning “the ones that had gone missing,” and going on to say, in part, “None of you cared. Their families didn’t care. Their friends didn’t care, but I set them free. They are my family now and we will do anything to protect our family. I can’t wait for you to see what we’ve become. It’s beautiful.”
In the wake of this massive Easter egg, PWInsider is now reporting that this new group will soon present themselves on WWE television as a spinoff of sorts of the Wyatt Family. Moreover, this Bray Wyatt-themed faction will feature a few former associates of Wyatt’s, in addition to some new names, who have been subject to absences from WWE programming. The five names currently penciled into this reported group are Bo Dallas, Nikki Cross, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Erick Rowan.
Like the aforementioned audio file alluded to, all members of this new faction have previous experience in other factions, or families, in WWE. Cross formerly served as a member of Sanity up until her stablemates Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain were called up to WWE’s main roster, while she remained in “WWE NXT” in 2018. Similarly, Dexter Lumis was once a member of The Way alongside the likes of Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, and Indi Hartwell. While the latter three stayed in close proximity to each other on WWE’s main roster, Lumis abruptly disappeared from television last year, last wrestling on the June 1 episode of “WWE Main Event.” Erick Rowan, of course, was a member of the original Wyatt Family before the group disbanded in 2017.
For Gacy, his status as the leader of The Schism took a turn when Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler (Grizzled Young Veterans) departed from WWE in September 2023. As a result, Gacy later declared that Schism was “dead.”
As of now, there is no word on whether Alexa Bliss, who notably aligned with Wyatt’s alter-ego The Fiend from 2020 until 2021, will be part of this offshoot unit as well.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Wrestling News Blog 