WWE SmackDown, tonight at 8/7 C on FOX.
As of Friday morning, here is the lineup announced for tonight’s show:
Marko Stunt wants to form a new wrestling company this year.
Former AEW performer Marko Stunt has revealed plans to start up his own promotion.
The 25-year-old left AEW this year as a result of not having his contract extended and is now wrestling on the independent scene, mostly performing for GCW. His exit from AEW hasn’t slowed him down any and he remains very active as an in-ring competitor. However, he has plans to begin working on the periphery and is looking to launch his own promotion before the end of 2022.
“I’m actually, I have my own promotion coming up around where I live in Memphis,” Stunt said during an interview with NBC Sports Boston recently. “I think we’re starting here in September. We’re still trying to come up with everything and do everything.
“We haven’t released any posters or anything. That is coming soon. I am going to be starting up a promotion here. I also help out a lot with a show in Missouri, with the booker there. I’ve been getting into that role and trying to learn that type of stuff.”
Stunt has been appointed EVP and co-booker of Cape Wrestling in Missouri since his departure from AEW.
Source: TheSportster
Chris Jericho has told the full story behind why he wound up in hospital last year.
Chris Jericho got wrestling fans worried at the end of 2021 when it was revealed The Wizard had been hospitalized during a UK tour with his band, Fozzy. The exact reason Jericho wound up in hospital wasn’t revealed. At least not until recently when Tony Khan let the cat out of the bag revealing Jericho had suffered from blood clots.
Since Khan had revealed half the story, Jericho decided to use Friday’s episode of Talk Is Jericho to tell the story in full. Turns out the first AEW Champion didn’t have just one blood clot, he had a lot of them. In fact, Jericho had something called a pulmonary embolism. The medical name for some of those bloodclots being in Jericho’s lungs, so an incredibly serious situation.
Jericho first realized something was up when it became difficult to breathe during a Fozzy show in Newcastle. The former WWE Superstar soldiered on, performing shows in Chester and Bournemouth, but suffering the same problem on both nights. Upon arrival in London for a media day, Jericho was finally hospitalized at which point he was diagnosed and doctors went to work on clearing the clots and increasing his blood oxygen level.
“I got to the hospital and I can barely walk. I mean walking across the lobby to get to the car to go to the hospital was a real task. It was terrifying,” Jericho revealed. “They did an ultrasound and found that there was evidence of a clot in my throat. Now if a clot gets in your throat, that’s getting into stroke territory.” Jericho was given blood thinners which cleared the clots, but if one had dislodged it could have been a very serious situation, perhaps one that had resulted in his death in a worst-case scenario.
Jericho had to stay in London for an extended period as he was unable to fly back to the US until his oxygen level was back to normal. It was also recommended that he lose some visceral fat, which is why he is in notably better shape now than he was six months ago. The leader of the Jericho Appreciation Society bulked up intentionally for his work in Japan but has lost 32 lbs since the incident in the UK. He’s all good now, as has been proved by the multiple matches he has had in AEW since.
Source: TheSportster
A new report has revealed Vince McMahon may have paid off multiple former employees to stay quiet.
Last month, allegations that Vince McMahon paid a former WWE paralegal $3 million in hush money after the two had an affair surfaced via the Wall Street Journal. That report led to McMahon stepping down as WWE’s CEO pending the result of an investigation by the company’s board. Today, those allegations have become far more serious as new reports that McMahon has paid off multiple women have emerged.
The report once again comes from the Wall Street Journal which has now revealed McMahon allegedly paid off as many as four women going back 16 years. Those payments apparently total $12 million, with one of the four unnamed women included in the report being paid $7.5 million by McMahon. The report claims that amount was paid to a former wrestler who McMahon allegedly coerced into oral sex before demoting her and then eventually neglecting to renew her contract in 2005.
The wrestler wasn’t paid off at the time, but reportedly met with McMahon and negotiated a deal for her silence along with her attorney. The second of the two women mentioned in the report apparently approached the company with unsolicited nude photos of their boss, presumably threatening to leak them should she not get paid. WSJ reports the former WWE contractor was paid $1 million in return for not sharing the photos online.
The third person mentioned in the new report doesn’t include as many details as the previous two. Just that a former manager with the company was paid $1 million in 2006 in return for their silence regarding an alleged sexual relationship between her and McMahon. The three new instances combined with the previous reports of a $3 million payment mean McMahon is now being accused of paying more than $12 million across almost two decades in return for the silence of former employees with who he has allegedly had sexual encounters.
WWE’s next move in all this remains unclear. The first report resulted in McMahon stepping back as CEO, but then appearing on SmackDown that week seemingly just to prove that he could. The new report also includes a $1.5 million payout to someone for allegations made against John Laurinaitis. The head of talent relations has been absent since the first report, replaced by Bruce Prichard pending the results of the investigation.
Source: TheSportster
MLW issued the following:
beIN to broadcast MLW on streaming and over-the-air channel in major markets, including LA, Chicago, Dallas
beIN SPORTS and Major League Wrestling have announced an agreement for MLW content to broadcast on its free streaming and over-the-air channel beIN SPORTS XTRA. MLW will air on beIN SPORTS XTRA on Fridays at 10 p.m. beginning on July 8, with its linear premiere 24 hours later on beIN SPORTS.
A free, 24/7 English language LIVE sports, news, analysis and highlights channel, beIN SPORTS XTRA brings everyone closer to the game.
beIN SPORTS XTRA is available on major streaming platforms such as Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, Samsung TV Plus, Redbox, KlowdTV, TiVo, Vizio, XUMO TV, and more as well as on over-the-air television stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, Atlanta, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Hartford, Columbus, Las Vegas, and Austin, among others. For a full list of providers and markets, visit beINSPORTSXTRA.com.
“This partnership builds on our four-year relationship with beIN and will help drive awareness and give our fans the ability to access MLW content on multiple platforms,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer. “MLW on beIN SPORTS XTRA gives viewers access to MLW for free via streaming services as well as on over-the-air television in major markets, like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas.”
MLW events showcase the full spectrum of professional wrestling, with world-class athletes representing countries around the world with fighting styles including: technical, Japanese strong style, lucha libre, King’s Road brawling, MMA, catch wrestling, hybrid wrestling, submission grappling and other disciplines.
Major League Wrestling FUSION tonight at 8pm ET features THE THRILLA IN PHILA presented by The Bomaye Fight Club, streaming worldwide for free on MLW’s YouTube channel and Saturday nationwide on cable and dish on beIN SPORTS.
National Openweight Champion Alex Kane and The Bomaye Fight Club invite any of MLW’s finest fighting athletes to step in the ring and have their date with destiny as they get the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the champ for 20 minutes in THE THRILLA IN PHILA!
The rules for this once in a lifetime exhibition bout are simple, but the stakes couldn’t be higher! 20 minutes with the champ! $20,000 of Bomaye Fight Club’s cold, hard cash up for grabs. The icing on the cake? Alex Kane’s National Openweight Championship is at stake!
Who on the MLW roster has what it takes to try to etch their name in Philadelphia’s robust prizefight history as they attempt to shock the world and dethrone The Suplex Assassin in under 20 minutes? Tune in and don’t miss THE THRILLA IN PHILA.
After blindsiding Fatu, Cesar Duran has shocked league officials and REWARDED Real 1 with a singles bout on Fusion! This week, the controversial street fighter from Jersey goes one on one with Lince Dorado!
MLW cameras catch up with 1/2 of the Clout Couple Alicia Atout as she dishes on the upcoming World title mega-bout between Hammerstone and her man Richard Holliday in just seven days at Kings Of Colosseum.
New Women’s World Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie willingly accepts the new target on her back and calls out the best from around the globe! Who will be the first to step up and challenge the decorated luchadora?
A battered and vengeful Mads Krugger rises from ruin.
The fallout from Against All Odds begins on an all-new IMPACT! this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.
One week after the news that he was leaving AEW, Alan Angels is making his debut in Impact Wrestling. The former Dark Order member will appear on tonight’s episode of “Impact on AXS TV”, in a title match against X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey.
Angels confirmed last week that his contract with AEW expired on June 30. He made it clear that he harbors no hard feelings toward the company or Tony Khan and said it was the best place he’s ever worked.
“I had a great time in AEW and would have loved to have stayed, but I am extremely excited for my future in pro wrestling,” Angels said in a post on social media. “I am 24 and I look at this as my wrestling career just beginning. Now I get to show everyone how good I really am.”
The following line-up is announced for tonight’s episode:
Tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite live from the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial in Rochester, New York.
The following line-up is announced for tonight:
There has been backstage news behind OVW’s (Ohio Valley Wrestling) deal with Netflix.
It was first announced in May that OVW had a deal with the popular streaming service Netflix.
According to a new report from Fightful Select, the streaming deal had been in the works for a while. The producers involved with the Netflix original series, “Last Chance U” are also involved with OVW’s new series.
It was also noted in the report, that filming started on May 27 in Georgetown, Kentucky.
Netflix retains the right of first refusal on the ability to gain OVW’s TV rights.
Fightful noted that Netflix could one day be a major player in the rights fees negotiations surrounding WWE or AEW since Netflix is interested in live streaming content.
Al Snow purchased the promotion from Danny Davis in April 2018. The ownership structure changed again in 2021 when Craig Greenberg and Matt Jones led an investor group to purchase a majority interest in the company.
The current OVW Heavyweight Champion is Omar Amir and the OVW National Heavyweight Champion is Mahabali Shera.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
A new report details several factors that suggest WWE is benefitting from an increase in fan interest.
Several factors suggest that things are looking up for WWE, at least as far as general fan interest is concerned.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t WrestleTalk), Dave Meltzer used several examples which indicate that WWE is benefitting from a jump in interest. Meltzer cited the success of recent shows even though Roman Reigns (the company’ s top star right now) hasn’t been used as much lately.
“Whatever it is, there’s definitely an upswing in interest in the product, for whatever reason,” Meltzer stated.
According to Meltzer, ticket sales have been soaring, and merchandise sales were through the roof at Money in the Bank. He also cited the recent increase in television ratings for WWE. The drop in ratings have been well-documented over the years, so WWE has to be pleased with this trend even if it’s a short sample size.
“Also at the Vegas show on Saturday (Money in the Bank), they did monster merchandise numbers in Vegas,” Meltzer explained. “They had a hot crowd as well, but they did monster merchandise numbers. It was blowing people away. It was like double per head what they did last year at SummerSlam in the same market, which is incredible because when you have those big shows like SummerSlam or WrestleMania, the merchandise sales are way up from a usual show, and this was just a regular pay-per-view compared to a SummerSlam.”
WWE just finished running the Money in the Bank 2022 pay-per-view in Las Vegas, Nevada. Though the company has been heavily criticized for several recent business and booking decisions, Money in the Bank was largely praised by the wrestling world. Now it’s on to SummerSlam 2022 season, which will be headlined by Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing bout for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
Meltzer noted before Money in the Bank, that the show had sold out, and that the “get-in price” on the secondary market was $84. So from a ticket sales standpoint, WWE made the right decision to relocate MITB from Allegiant Stadium (in Paradise, Nevada) to the smaller MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas.
Only time will tell if this is a temporary trend, or if merchandise/ticket sales and TV ratings will continue to increase for WWE. It’s a short sample size, sure, but Vince McMahon and officials won’t complain about the short-term improvement they’re seeing here. It’s now on the higher-ups and WWE creative to keep the product interesting and enticing for fans. That has been a challenge for a while now, but with so many different superstars to push, WWE has the chance to make this product far more enjoyable compared to previous years.
Source: TheSportster
![Details On WWE Enduring An “Upswing In Interest” [Report]](https://wrestlingnewsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/wwe-e1553827961593.jpg?w=712&h=1&crop=1){kind=small}
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