Backstage News On Jeff Hardy’s AEW Status And Potential Return

Contrary to recent reports, it seems Jeff Hardy may not be back in the ring as soon as previously thought. According to PWInsider, Hardy is preparing for a pre-trial hearing set to take place later this month regarding his DUI arrest back in June. The report also claims that Hardy is not expected back with AEW until his legal issues are handled and the company feels confident that Hardy has a handle on his sobriety.

Last month, Jeff’s brother Matt Hardy teased on his podcast that we would soon be getting a look at a brand new Jeff. Matt shared his confidence in his brother’s new outlook on life and his ability to stay sober. Prior to his DUI arrest, Jeff was reportedly set for a major run with his brother in AEW, with the pair even being “strongly considered” for an AEW Tag Team Championship victory. However, Hardy’s arrest and subsequent suspension derailed those plans.

Hardy was released by WWE last December after a strange incident that saw him leave a match during a live event and enter the crowd. Many speculated that Hardy was somehow inebriated at the time, but nothing was ever conclusively proven, and it was later denied by both Hardy brothers. Following his release, WWE reportedly attempted to convince Hardy to return to the company, even offering him a spot in the company’s Hall of Fame. However, Hardy turned down the offer and instead decided to join his brother in AEW. Though their initial run in the company would wind up being short-lived, it seems likely that Hardy will be given another chance once he has straightened things out in his personal life.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Jimmy Smith Announces He Is Leaving WWE

Jimmy Smith announced on Twitter that he is leaving WWE. The news comes on the heels of a major shakeup for the commentary teams across all of their shows.

Smith tweeted, “Just wanted to say, now that the story is officially out, that my time with the WWE is officially done. Had a lot of fun and met some great people. Really and truly blown away by the acceptance from the WWE fans! You folks make it work every week and your enthusiasm was amazing!”

As was noted earlier, the Friday Night SmackDown commentary team will consist of Michael Cole and Wade Barrett with Samanta Irvin continuing her ring announcing duties. Kayla Braxton and Megan Morant will conduct backstage interviews.

Over on Raw, Corey Graves and Kevin Partick will provide play-by-play and Mike Rome will continue as the ring announcer while Byron Saxton will do backstage interviews. Also, Cathy Kelley is returning to do backstage interviews.

On NXT, Vic Joseph and Booker T will provide the play-by-play and Alicia Taylor will continue as the ring announcer. McKenzie Mitchell will continue in her role as a backstage interviewer.

For Premium Live Events (pay-per-views), Michael Cole and Corey Graves will handle the play-by-play and Pat McAfee is expected to return after he wraps up his ESPN College GameDay commitments.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

IMPACT Preview 10/6/2022

Tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling on AXS TV is the last one before Friday night’s Bound For Glory PPV. Here are the matches that have been announced for the show:

-Moose vs. Steve Maclin with Sami Callihan as special referee

-Mia Yim vs. Gisele Shaw

-Frankie Kazarian vs. Kenny King

-Matt Taven vs. Alex Shelley

WWE Announces Changes To Commentary Teams For NXT, RAW & SmackDown

WWE has officially announced changes to the commentary teams for all three brands – RAW, NXT, and SmackDown. 

Kevin Patrick & Corey Graves will be the commentators for Raw while Cathy Kelley is back and will work as an interviewer and Byron Saxton. For SmackDown, the team is Michael Cole & Wade Barrett, while NXT’s team will be Vic Joseph & Booker T.

Pat McAfee will return to the WWE announce booth following his commitments to ESPN’s College GameDay.

WWE issued the following:

WWE announces updates to commentary teams

Today WWE announced that Raw, SmackDown, NXT and Premium Live Events will all have updated announce booths starting with this week’s season premieres. The news was first reported by Variety on Thursday afternoon.

On Friday Night SmackDown, the commentary table will be headed by Michael Cole with Wade Barrett doing color commentary. Samantha Irvin will be the ring announcer, and interviews will be conducted by Kayla Braxton and Megan Morant.

On Monday Night Raw, Corey Graves will still be providing his colorful insights and will be joined by Kevin Patrick on play-by-play. Mike Rome will continue to announce from the ring, and Byron Saxton will transition from the commentary booth to backstage interviews. Also joining Saxton in backstage interviews is none other than Cathy Kelley in her return to WWE.

Over on NXT, Vic Joseph will be assisted by six-time World Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. Alicia Taylor will still provide her exceptional voice to ring announcing, and McKenzie Mitchell will once again be conducting interviews.

On the Premium Live Event side, Michael Cole and Corey Graves will come together again to announce from the booth.

Pat McAfee will return to the WWE announce booth following his commitments to ESPN’s College GameDay.

AEW Dynamite Preview 10/5/2022

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS, and emanate from the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, DC.

MJF vs. Wheeler Yuta

Bryan Danielson & Daniel Garcia vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara

TNT Championship Match: Wardlow (c) vs. ROH star Brian Cage

Hangman Page vs. Rush

Toni Storm, Athena & Willow Nightingale vs. Jamie Hayter, Serena Deeb & Penelope Ford

Darby Allin vs. Jay Lethal

Luchasaurus in action

National Scissoring Day” with The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn

Tales From The Territories Episode Could Have Been A Dark Side Of The Ring One

The creators of Vice TV’s popular “Dark Side of the Ring” series have another show on the way with “Tales from the Territories.” While speaking to Chris Jericho on the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisener spoke about the process of selecting topics for the series, including what separates a “Tales from the Territories” entry from “Dark Side of the Ring.” One episode that could have found a place on either show was the installment detailing the famous feud between legendary Memphis wrestler Jerry Lawler and comedian Andy Kaufman.

“[Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler] could have been a ‘Dark Side of the Ring’ episode,” Husney said. He explained that the process for putting the show together consists of researching books, interviews, and podcasts of wrestlers from the era to find the best potential topics for episodes. “Obviously, when we’re getting into Memphis, it’s hard to ignore … the Kaufman-Lawler thing. … The Kaufman versus Lawler angle we actually built out into an entire episode.”

Hunsey would go on to explain that the people involved in the Lawler-Kaufman story made it an easy decision to base an episode around. “When we got there, we were filming with the guys, the chemistry was so good. It was like. ‘All right, let’s tell the Kaufman story,’ and they just went, and they went for hours,” Husney said. “It was cool because I had never really heard Lawler’s … top-to-bottom perspective on the whole angle.”

“Tales from the Territories” is produced by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and debuts tonight on Vice TV. Tonight’s episode is on Memphis wrestling. The episode on the Lawler-Kaufman feud premieres on Tuesday, October 11. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

“Tales From The Territories” Debuts Tonight On Vice TV

“Tales from the Territories” is produced by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and debuts tonight on Vice TV at 10 PM EST. Tonight’s episode is on Memphis wrestling.

The premiere episode is titled Memphis: Where Wrestling Was Real. 

The episode will feature a round table discussion with Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Jarrett, Jimmy Hart and more.

Promotional material for tonight’s premiere notes, “In Memphis, the Mid-South Coliseum’s unique blend of slow-burn, story-driven matches and pre-MTV music video vignettes captivated audiences every week.”

Vice TV will air a Dark Side of the Ring marathon in advance of the premiere.  The marathon schedule:

7 AM – Chris Kanyon.

8 AM – The Fabulous Moolah.

9 AM – The Plane Ride from Hell.

10 AM – Herb Abrams.

11 AM – Collission in Korea.

12 PM – Randy Savage & Elizabeth.

1 PM – XPW

2 PM – Dr. D David Schultz.

3 PM – Owen Hart.

4 PM – Bruiser Brody.

5 PM – Von Erichs.

6 PM – Chris Benoit

8 PM – Ultimate Warrior.

Montez Ford Sidelined With An Injury

WWE Superstar Montez Ford is presently sidelined with an injury.

During last night’s (10/3) episode of “WWE Raw,” The Bloodline was confronted by Street Profits in a backstage segment, as “The Honorary Uce” Sami Zayn warned Angelo Dawkins & Ford to be prepared to acknowledge Roman Reigns next week at the “Raw” Season Premiere special episode. This led to Ford saying The Bloodline “don’t own the arena” and that they need to acknowledge two things – deez [nuts]. Just then, Jey Uso warned Ford not to disrespect the Bloodline, or he’ll “get another boot.” The cameras then zoomed in on Ford wearing a walking boot on his right foot. The segment ended with Solo Sikoa challenging Dawkins to a singles bout.

Later, during the Sikoa vs. Dawkins match, the announcers confirmed that Ford is dealing with an injury. However, there was no mention of the nature of the injury or the timeframe of his recovery. 

Street Profits were last seen in action against Alpha Academy at a WWE live event on September 24. It’s likely that Ford suffered the injury during that match.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 10/4/2022

Tonight’s episode of WWE NXT will be a live broadcast at 8:00 pm EST on USA Network. NXT returns to the live broadcast format tonight after several weeks of taped shows.

Latest White Rabbit QR Code References Joe Gacy, Extreme Rules Venue

The “White Rabbit” QR Code teases continued on Raw, referencing Joe Gacy and the site of Extreme Rules. The latest QR Code let to a URL that features an image of Samson & Delilah, specifically the painting of that name by Jose Salome Pina which was completed in 1851. Samson was the Biblical strongman who was betrayed by Delilah, his lover who cut his hair and thus robbed him of his strength.

The URL for the QR Code is 01000111 01000001 01000011 01011001, which spells out “Gacy” in binary. In addition, the coordinates 751720W appear on the right side of the page if moused over, which is the location of the Wells Fargo Center where Extreme Rules takes place on Saturday.

In further addition, below the image is a mouseover message written in the written language of the Yautja — aka the titular aliens from the Predator franchise. The message translates to “Before me things created were none, save things. Eternal, and eternal I endure.” The quote is from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, which precedes the more famous line “All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”

As noted by Fightful, Bray Wyatt posted a similar photo of Samson & Delilah the day before he was betrayed by Alexa Bliss at WrestleMania 37 last year.

Source: 411Mania