ROH Star Rush Undergoes Emergency Surgery, Condition Described As “Serious”

Top ROH star Rush of La Facción Ingobernable underwent surgery in Mexico on Tuesday and his condition was said to be serious.

The operation was described locally in Mexico City, Mexico as “emergency surgery.” Rush’s family is scheduled to hold a press conference later today, Thursday, to address the surgery and his future.

Below is a photo of Rush in the hospital after surgery, which was released to media by his family. Also below is a photo of Rush being pushed in a wheelchair by his wife earlier in the week, which was released to local media on Monday. It was noted then that his pre-surgery condition was serious.

Rush’s official Twitter account posted a message from his wife, Martha Morales, on Tuesday night. Translated by Google, the message reads like this:

“This short message is to thank my husband Rush for showing affection and good wishes after his operation. Next Thursday, in the press conference that we are going to offer, we will give you more details about his state of health and we will reveal some news.”

Rush competed at ROH Glory By Honor XVIII Night 1 and Night 2 earlier this month in Philadelphia. Night 1 on Friday, August 20 saw La Facción Ingobernable (Rush, ROH World Television Champion Dragon Lee, Kenny King, Bestia del Ring) team up for a Philadelphia Street Fight loss to Violence Unlimited (Brody King, Homicide, ROH World Tag Team Champions Tony Deppen and Chris Dickinson). Night 2 on August 21 saw Rush and Lee defeat Rey Horus and ROH World Champion Bandido of MexiSquad.

ROH then announced that Rush suffered a knee injury during the tag team bout on Night 2. It was noted as of last week that the exact nature of the injury was unknown, and Rush’s recovery time was to be determined.

At the time of the knee injury announcement, Rush, Lee and King were still scheduled to challenge Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Moses Maddox, Jasper Kaun) for their ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Titles at the Death Before Dishonor XVIII pay-per-view on Sunday, September 12. However, it was announced on ROH TV this week that Bestia del Ring will be replacing Rush at Death Before Dishonor.

There is no word on why Rush was hospitalized or when he will be back in action.

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Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tommaso Ciampa Says NXT’s Imminent Revamp Is ‘Exciting’

Former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa is ready to say goodbye to the black and gold by embracing the upcoming changes to WWE’s developmental brand.

Former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa is looking forward to the upcoming changes to WWE’s developmental brand and thinks the whole thing is ‘exciting’.

Ciampa was chatting to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp when he revealed that he’s looking forward to seeing what the revamped NXT looks like.

“It’s exciting, man,” Ciampa said. “Change sometimes is for the best, and I don’t know, everyone’s been kind of keeping a tight lid on it, so I really just don’t know what to expect,” he added. The NXT stalwart then provided some details regarding when fans can expect to see the changes take effect. “I think the first live show is gonna be the 14th, I believe, if I’m not incorrect, with whatever this new look and image is,” he revealed.

Ciampa confessed that while he and his colleagues are excited, they’re not necessarily expecting the changes to be too drastic at first because the roster will be the same.

“The overall feeling seems to just be excitement, you know, it’s new, it’s different, it’s fresh. And at the same time, it’s the same. Because NXT is NXT, man, and it’s the same roster, same group of guys and girls in the back, they’re just gonna go out there and give their best,” he said. “It’s the same people behind the scenes, so it’s like, I don’t know. It’s hard to say right now, if it’s just a new paint job or what it is, but it’s exciting at the very least.”

As we previously reported, WWE’s president Nick Khan recently confirmed that revamp of WWE’s developmental system was imminent. Last Friday, the new logo and theme song for the revamped NXT were revealed by rapper Wale on social media.

Source: TheSportster

Unexpected Raw Changes A Result Of Vince McMahon Losing Cool Backstage [Rumor]

The somewhat unique episode of Raw, one that didn’t feature most of the advertised matches, was rumored to be a result of Vince McMahon flipping out.

According to PWInsider.com, the reason Monday Night Raw seemed like a bit of an odd show was because it was writter, re-written and the re-written again. A three-hour program that featured a lot of talents fans haven’t seen in a while, but also wins by unexpected talents and what appeared to be a shoot fight during the Nia Jax and Charlotte match was just the start of a show that felt different from many of the Raw’s that preceded it.

Mike Johnson of PWInsider writes, “Yesterday was one of the ‘longest’ days in a long time for the WWE Creative team, according to several sources who reached out to PWInsider.com today.” They add that McMahon was extremely unhappy with the original plans for the show, “ripped up the script” several times and even tossed out the initial rewrite. They note that in that rewrite, some of the ideas were actually pretty good but Vince ditched most of them, before finally writing the show himself. They add, “Until 6 PM EST, there was no official direction or plan for the episode” and added, “One source who went through the process described it as “the loudest and angriest” they’d ever seen McMahon on a show day.”

Reports like this should be taken with a bit of skepticsim. At the same time, it was clear Monday’s Raw was unique. It’s fair to assume there were last-minute changes and that either stars weren’t available or Vince just decided to scrap everything the company had promoted the week prior, including two advertised matches.

While the idea that Vince has all these writers and doesn’t listen to any of them is troubling, but also that the talent likely had little idea what was expected of them prior to going out and performing isn’t wonderful news. That said, the show was rather interesting and at times, quite entertaining.

Sure, some of that might have been akin to watching a car crash live, but good portions of the show were well done.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 8/31/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will be a taped show, filmed last week from the Capitol Wrestling Center at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

Tag Teams To Reunite For Upcoming Dream Match

Two big tag teams will reunite on Saturday, October 30 for The Wrestling Revolver’s “Tales From The Ring” event in Clive, Iowa.

Jon Moxley and Sami Callihan will reunite as The Switchblades to face Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards of The Wolves. This is being billed as a Dream Tag Team Match.

The event will be hosted by Sami’s Wrestling Revolver promotion, on Saturday, October 30 at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, IA. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 8pm ET. The show will air live on FITE.TV.

Moxley filed to trademark “The Switchblades” and “The Switchblade Conspiracy” earlier this month.

This looks to be the first time Moxley and Callihan have teamed since the CZW Tournament of Death IX event in June 2010. This will be the first time The Wolves have teamed since a Beyond Wrestling event in March 2017. They split in February of that year on Impact Wrestling TV. Richards returned to the ring earlier this year after being away since July 2017. The Wolves are former two-time ROH World Tag Team Champions and former five-time TNA World Tag Team Champions.

Moxley and Callihan, then-wXw World Tag Team Champions, defeated The Wolves back on March 13, 2010 at the former ECW Arena.

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Ruby Soho Reveals Latest Teaser Vignette: “The Riot Is Over”

Ruby Soho has arrived in New York City, according to her latest teaser vignette.

The former Ruby Riott began releasing her own vignettes on Twitter a few weeks back. The first vignette had Soho apparently traveling from Orlando to Penn Station in New York City. The second video had Soho stealing a car and going for a joyride while listening to a few songs. She had some sort of breakdown when her former Riott Squad WWE theme song started playing.

In an update, Soho released a new vignette last night that shows her arriving in The Big Apple. She gets caught by police while tagging “[heart] Less” on a wall with spray paint, and then walks by a man who is tagging “The Riot Is Over” on another wall. There may or may not be an intentional Omega symbol above the last line.

The vignette then shows Soho showing her old “Heidi Lovelace” ID to get into a bar, only to then reveal a new “Ruby Soho” ID card that gets her admitted. She has a few adult beverages and is shown walking around the city some more before the vignette ends. It was revealed by fans on Twitter that she bar is actually in Jersey City, not New York City. The name of the establishment is The Pet Shop Bar & Restaurant.

It looks like the former Ruby Riott will now be known as “The Runaway” Ruby Soho.

The vignette also features a “Destination: ——-” graphic, which is leading to speculation on where she might be headed. Some fans are speculating that the 7 blank spaces could stand for Chicago, which is near where AEW’s All Out pay-per-view and TV tapings are being held this week.

Rancid’s “Ruby Soho” single plays during this latest vignette. Lars Frederiksen, singer for the band, had Ruby on his Wrestling Perspective podcast back in June and agreed to help secure the rights to the song for her new post-WWE entrance theme. The “Ruby” name was originally inspired by Rancid’s “Ruby Soho” single from their 1995 “…And Out Come The Wolves” album, and she noted that she holds that name very dear to her heart.

There is still no word on where Soho will end up. It was reported earlier this month that there were plans for Ruby to eventually debut for AEW, but it was also said that multiple companies were interested in working with her, and that some were being told that she was not taking any bookings. There was speculation at one point that these new vignettes were leading up to her big debut at the Grand Slam edition of AEW Dynamite in New York City on September 22.

Ruby was released from her WWE contract back on June 2, along with other budget cuts. She becomes a free agent today as her 90-day non-compete clause with WWE is expiring.

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Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tajiri To Debut For MLW

Former ECW World Television Champion, WCW United States Champion and WWE Cruiserweight Champion Yoshihiro Tajiri is headed to Major League Wrestling.

MLW released a new video on Monday night to announce that The Japanese Buzzsaw will make his debut for the company at their Fightland TV tapings on Sunday, October 2 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.

Tajiri, who turns 51 next month, most recently worked for AJPW in Japan. He worked the WWE Cruiserweight Classic in 2016, and was eliminated in the second round by Gran Metalik. In December 2016 he signed a WWE contract to work 205 Live in early 2017, but left the company in April. He noted in an interview that WWE decided against using him due to his age. He had suffered from a knee injury but was cleared to compete.

Tajiri also held the WWE Light Heavyweight Title, the WWE Tag Team Titles, the WWE World Tag Team Titles, and the ECW World Tag Team Titles.

There is no word yet on who Tajiri will be facing at the MLW tapings, but we will keep you updated. The Fightland tapings will also feature the opening round and semi-finals of the 2021 Opera Cup tournament, the MLW debut if Nicole Savoy, and more.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Unveils Six New Performance Center Recruits, Including Rikishi’s Son Joseph Fatu

WWE has unveiled its most recent batch of Performance Center recruits — including Rikishi’s son Joseph Fatu!

WWE has officially revealed its six most recent developmental recruits, and it’s certainly an interesting bunch of prospects!

Here’s who’s been signed, and what you need to know about them

  • Joseph Fatu is the son of WWE Hall Of Fame Rikishi, his brothers are current WWE Superstars Jimmy and Jey Uso
  • Ben Buchanan is a former amateur wrestler whose father Bull Buchanon is a former WWE Tag Team Champion
  • Bobby Steveson is a former University Of Minnesota wrestler whose brother Gable just won an Olympic gold medal
  • Brady Booker is a 21-year-old former college linebacker
  • Joshua Dawkins is a 23-year-old hopeful who was trained by WWE Hall Of Famer D-Von Dudley
  • Jessica Woynilko is a 21-year-old gymnast/bodybuilder/CrossFit queen who was trained by the legendary Greg Gagne

This is the first batch of recruits to be signed since it was revealed that WWE was changing its recruitment strategy by hiring younger, physically imposing hopefuls and fewer experienced independent wrestlers.

As we previously reported, WWE’s president Nick Khan recently confirmed that revamp of WWE’s developmental system was imminent.

“We’re doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, who is really one of the architects of the original NXT,” Khan said during a recent interview with BT Sport’s Ariel Helwani. “In terms of an NXT rebrand, look for it. In the next couple of weeks, it’s going to have a whole new look, a whole new feel, and we believe because a lot of the ‘Indie wrestlers,’ if you will, have come through our system and are in our system with SmackDown and Raw, we don’t want to just keep doing that same thing,” he continued. “We want to look elsewhere for great young talent.”

Most of the new recruits have very little — if any — experience on the independent scene, and they’re all impressive physical specimens, which lends credence to recent reports that the company is no longer interested in shorter talent. By signing youngsters with little-to-no experience, WWE will be able to claim full credit for the end results.

Source: The Sportster

WWE RAW Preview 8/30/21

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Paycom Center (recently re-named from the Chesapeake Energy Arena) in Oklahoma City, OK with more build for the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

Ric Flair Thanks WWE, Vince McMahon, Tony Khan In NWA 73 Promo

Two-time WWE Hall of Famer showed up at last night’s NWA 73 pay-per-view event in St. Louis and cut a promo in which he thanked Vince McMahon, Triple H, Tony Khan, Billy Corgan, Randy Orton, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho and every major wrestling promotion in the world.

An emotional Nature Boy began his promo by thanking his wife Wendy.

“Every time I fell down, she picked me up,” Flair said. “Just like Triple H picked me up, just like Shawn, Taker,  Austin, and everybody else. Vince McMahon, I love you. Thank you. That’s why I’m here. You know what…Vince McMahon isn’t going to watch this, but he’s going to hear about it.

“He’s going to say, ‘Ric Flair is back where he belongs, with anybody he wants to be on any given night.’ I deserve that right. And Hunter, thank you for reminding me everytime that I’m Ric Flair, because I let myself down night after night. He would not give up [on me]. Hunter didn’t care about my WCW run, he grew up as an NWA guy.”

Flair then thanked Shawn Michaels for “carrying him” to a great retirement match at WrestleMania XXIV.

Later in the promo, Flair said he wanted 14-time World Champion Randy Orton to break his record of 16 World Titles, but expects his daughter, Charlotte Flair, to eventually capture the record.

After thanking NWA Chairman Billy Corgan for inviting him to NWA 73, Flair also gave a shoutout to AEW President Tony Khan for improving the landscape of the pro wrestling business.

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Source: Wrestling Inc.