WWE Releases Eight More Superstars, Including John Morrison, Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick & Hit Row

WWE has released eight more superstars, including Hit Row, John Morrison and Drake Maverick.

WWE has performed another round of budget cuts.

On Thursday evening, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported that WWE has released eight more superstars: Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, Isaiah Swerve Scott, John Morrison, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne, Tegan Nox and Jaxson Ryker. According to Sapp, WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis informed the eight talents that they were being released due to budget cuts.

Maverick posted the following Twitter video following the news of his release:

https://twitter.com/WWEMaverick/status/1461520342539816961

Since his tag team partnership with The Miz ended, Morrison has rarely been seen on television. The former Intercontinental Champion returned to the WWE in Jan. 2020, and he spent most of his latest WWE tenure working with The Miz. Morrison’ s wife Taya Valkyrie (Franky Monet) was recently released.

Less than two years ago, WWE was keen on stockpiling superstars, presumably so that the rival AEW promotion wouldn’t be able to land them. But WWE has made the controversial decision to release dozens of talented wrestlers who provided great value to the company, including major fan favorites who never really got a chance on the main roster.

Source: TheSportster

Impact Wrestling Preview 11/18/21

It’s the last stop before IMPACT’s first LIVE special in almost two years, Turning Point! Don’t miss an all-new IMPACT! this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

* “The King of Pro-Wrestling” Minoru Suzuki vs. “The Walking Weapon” Josh Alexander

* The IInspiration vs. The Undead Bridesmaids

* Doc Gallows w/Karl Anderson vs. Hikuleo w/Bullet Club

* Steve Maclin vs. Laredo Kid (If Maclin wins, he’ll be added to the X-Division Match at Turning Point)

* Deonna Purrazzo will make her first post-Bound For Glory appearance in a sit-down interview with Gia Miller.

* Sam Beale vs. Brian Myers – Before the IMPACT, 7/6c on AXS TV.

* Johnny Swinger, Hernandez & Fallah Bahh vs. The Demon, Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus

Kenny Omega Reportedly Will Undergo Multiple Surgeries

On the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite, Kenny Omega revealed that he is taking some time away from the company. He also teased some tension with Adam Cole in the segment.

The former AEW World Champion has had a lot of issues lately. On the latest episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Omega has suffered problems with his knee, shoulder, abdominal, and hernia, as well as others, and has worked through them all. Omega recently revealed that he has been suffering from vertigo since 2018, stating that the room would start spinning for him while he was wrestling.

Meltzer noted that Kenny Omega is most likely set for multiple surgeries. The dates of those surgeries are still to be determined. He is taking time away from the ring in order to get healthy, for the first time in a while. But Meltzer stated that there is a lot of rehabilitation involved if he does multiple surgeries at once.

When it comes to a return date, there is nothing set in stone, but February was mentioned. However, Meltzer noted that it could be premature as he hasn’t even had any surgeries yet. It was also mentioned that Omega’s status for the upcoming AAA show is unclear at this time.

Kenny Omega had a 346 day run as AEW World Champion, which is the longest in company history to this point. He dropped the title to Hangman Page at Full Gear on Saturday.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

New Japan’s Tomohiro Ishii Debuts On AEW Dynamite, Leads CHAOS To Victory

Veteran Japanese wrestler Tomohiro Ishii made his AEW debut during this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite, on which he teamed up with Orange Cassidy.

Veteran Japanese wrestler Tomohiro Ishii walked away from his AEW debut with a victory under his belt when he and Orange Cassidy defeated The Butcher and The Blade on the latest episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT.

It all went down in Norfolk, Virginia on the first episode of AEW Dynamite to air since Saturday’s Full Gear pay-per-view. Ishii and OC were accompanied to the ring by their CHAOS stablemates Rocky Romero, Chuck Taylor, Wheeler YUTA, and Kris Statlander, while The Butcher and The Blade had The Bunny, Matt Hardy, and a few other Hardy Family Office members in their corner … needless to say, chaos ensued.

Hardy and The Bunny did their best to sabotage Ishii’s AEW debut, but ultimately the experience and brute strength of New Japan’s NEVER Openweight Champion was too much for the HFO to overcome. The finish came when Orange Cassidy took out the HFO with a dive outside, allowing Ishii to land a massive lariat on The Blade followed by a brainbuster. Ishii then covered Blade for the 1-2-3, delivering a huge win to CHAOS and adding a W next to his name in the AEW record books.

In case you missed it, Ishii’s New Japan colleague Rocky Romero made his in-ring AEW debut against Bryan Danielson on last week’s Dynamite. Before the show kicked off, Romero approached The Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Kris Statlander, Chuck Taylor, and Wheeler YUTA) with a tantalizing proposition. Romero informed the group that Kazuchika Okada had invited them to join his stable CHAOS. Taylor, who was a member of CHAOS from 20017-2019 accepted Romero and Okada’s offer on behalf of his teammates. The best friends then accompanied Romero to the ring for his match with Danielson on Dynamite as official CHAOS members.

Not much has come of the partnership between AEW and NJPW, but with several members of CHAOS infiltrating the AEW roster, it seems inevitable that CHAOS leader Okada will soon join them.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Wastes No Time In Turning Bryan Danielson Heel During Dynamite

Bryan Danielson got the AEW audience to turn on him in a matter of minutes and will play the heel role while he feuds with Adam Page.

Only a few days after “Hangman” Adam Page was crowned the new AEW World Champion and shortly after Bryan Danielson won the right to be the No.1 contender, Danielson came out on the post-PPV episode of Dynamite and played the heel role while challenging Page.

It was National Cowboy Sh-t Day in Virginia and Page opened the show with the Dark Order to celebrate his win. It didn’t take long for Danielson to interrupt. While The American Dragon congratulated the new champion, he also said he was a bit surprised and disappointed that Kenny Omega wasn’t standing across from him as the titleholder. Page responded that he’s right, Omega isn’t the champion, and that if he wasn’t mistaken, Page was able to beat Omega in under 30 minutes. This of course, was in reference to Danielson and Omega fighting to a time-limit draw a few weeks back.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1461140024771203083

Danielson suggested Page be careful and said he wasn’t the kind of competitor to just talk about his wins, he actually wrestles every week. He mentioned that he wrestled one night after WrestleMania and that obviously earned him a chorus of boos from the crowd. Danielson said, “of course Virginia boos hard work.” Danielson said that Page had a reputation for having a long list of excuses and said he wanted to fight Page with no excuses. He had a match with Evil Uno after the commercial break and essentially destroyed him, playing the heel role throughout the match. He even posed while applying his submission sleeper.

After his win over Uno, Danielson addressed the crowd and said he was going to kick the heads in of every member of Dark Order and challenged Colt Cabana for next week in Cabana’s hometown of Chicago.

If there was any question about how AEW was going to sell Danielson and Page as a babyface versus babyface feud, those questions were answered on Wednesday. Danielson will play the heel role and he’s incredibly good at it. Within a matter of 25 minutes, he turned an entire audience against him and cemented himself as the brand’s biggest bad guy with Omega announcing he was taking some time off.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1461144279716409353

Source: TheSportster

MLW War Chamber Preview 11/17/21

Major League Wrestling returns tonight at 7pm ET with WAR CHAMBER, streaming worldwide for free on MLW’s YouTube channel, Fite.TV and Saturdays on beIN Sports. 

  • WAR CHAMBER: Hammerheads vs. CONTRA Unit: Hammerstone, Richard Holliday, EJ Nduka, Savio Vega and Cesar Duran’s mystery partner vs. Jacob Fatu, Mads Krugger, Ikuro Kwon and The SENTAI Death Squad

Major League Wrestling’s two and half year war with CONTRA reaches its final battle as World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone and his team meet the global dealers in violence inside the WAR CHAMBER, presented by newlawoffice.com.

Hammerstone leads a team joined by Dynastic teammate Richard Holliday, 6’8 IFBB Bodybuilding and football standout “The Judge” EJ Nduka, legendary brawler Savio Vega and a mystery partner handpicked by one “El Jefe” Cesar Duran. 

Standing in their path to victory however is the best within CONTRA’s ranks in the form of CONTRA’s kingpin Jacob Fatu, the “ Black Hand of CONTRA” Mads Krugger, pit fighter Ikuro Kwon, and the SENTAI Death Squad.

Can Hammer and his team take out CONTRA inside the WAR CHAMBER and purge MLW of the international cabla once and for all, or will CONTRA conquer MLW?

5150 speak on the introduction of “The Notorious 187” Homicide to the crew and re-up on their calls for a World Tag Team title shot following the chaotic ending to their trios match with Los Parks last week.

PLUS: While rumors swirl regarding Cesar Duran’s handpicked 5th man on Hammerstone’s WAR CHAMBER team, “El Jefe” has already sent more shockwaves through the league by promising to unveil yet another surprise. What could Azteca Underground’s proprietor have in store for his loyal believers? 

Join Rich Bocchini, Joe Debrowski, and broadcast journalist Alicia Atout as MLW presents WAR CHAMBER! 

AEW Dynamite Preview 11/17/21

AEW Dynamite episode airs on TNT at the Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. Fallout from Full Gear.

* Bryan Danielson vs. Evil Uno
* Jay Lethal debuts vs. AEW TNT Champion Sammy Guevara with the title on the line
* Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose in a quarterfinals match for the AEW TBS Title Tournament
* The Butcher and The Blade vs. Orange Cassidy and Tomohiro Ishii in his AEW debut
* The Acclaimed vs. Lio Rush and Dante Martin
* AEW World Champion Hangman Page to celebrate on “National Cowboy S*** Day”

Jeff Hardy Reveals His Idea To Bring Back The Willow Character

Jeff Hardy hasn’t gone to creative to ask yet, but he’s hoping WWE lets him create a universe that includes his Willow character.

If Jeff Hardy gets what he wants, he’ll have an entire universe wrapped around his Willow character as a part of the SmackDown brand. Unfortunately, in order for him to get to that point, he needs to ask or pitch the idea first.

Speaking to Alistair McGeorge of Metro, Hardy stated that with Bray Wyatt gone, there’s potentially a lane opened up in WWE that would allow for a Superstar to create an entire world around their character. He noted, “I think there’s something special about Willow.” Hardy did admit that he’s not had the courage to go to WWE and pitch what he wants to do yet. “I’ve written down some ideas, I don’t know if they really make sense,” Jeff Hardy said. Perhaps concerned that the idea will get shot down, either because he doesn’t know how to make sense of his ideas or because WWE doesn’t want to go there, he noted, “I’ve yet to pitch any to anybody creatively in WWE, so I just need to go in and do that, not hesitate. They might shut it down, but it might be cool.”

Saying he used to think The Fiend and the Wyatt character blend was so cool, he wants to do something similar now that Wyatt isn’t in WWE any longer. “It wouldn’t be exactly like that, but I’ve even had ideas like a Jeff Ross character – like I was a painter, a really silly painter Jeffery Ross, and then Willow would be my Fiend.” Knowing that might be too much like The Firefly Funhouse, he needs to be a bit more creative.

“But that’s what’s cool about pro wrestling, anything’s possible and anything can make sense if it’s thought out correctly and really believed in.” he said.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 11/16/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode on the USA Network will feature more build to the upcoming WarGames event on December 5.

Top ROH Star Jonathan Gresham Announces New Promotion, Seth Rollins Comments

Jonathan Gresham announced he is starting up a new wrestling promotion called Terminus.

“Terminus. Modern age grappling. 1/16/22 Atlanta, GA,” Gresham wrote on social media.

In the video promo, it also teased “all roads lead to Terminus.”

Jonathan Gresham defeated Brody King over the weekend at ROH Honor For All to become the new number one contender.

The ROH World Champion is currently Bandido and he will meet Gresham for the title at ROH Final Battle on December 17.

Ring of Honor is set to go on hiatus after the PPV until April 2022. The company is reportedly going to operate more as an independent promotion in the future as it is not renewing contracts.

“Throughout the pandemic, our top priority was to keep everyone healthy and safe, and despite not producing any live events over 18 months, we were able to keep everyone fully contracted,” ROH wrote in a statement last month. “We now find ourselves at a time where we need to make changes to our business operations and are planning a pivot for Ring of Honor, with a new mission and strategy.”

WWE Superstar Seth Rollins retweeted Gresham’s video and recalled a story:

“One time a young JG paid my booking fee — when the promoter couldn’t come up with the cash — so I would stay and work. We ended up tearing it up in front of about 6 people, & had a couple more bangers months later. He never looked back. Invest in yourself, friends.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.