WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin has been announced for a new “Straight Up Steve Austin” reality show that will air for seven episodes on the USA Network.
The series will premiere on Monday, August 12 after RAW goes off the air.
In each episode, Austin and a celebrity guest swap stories about their lives and careers during one-of-a-kind custom-tailored adventures in different cities across America.
Guests on the show include RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr and actor & retired United States Marine Corps Reserve officer Rob Riggle.
Below is the full announcement on the new series:
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s New Reality Show Is Coming to USA This Summer!Today, USA Network announced the pickup of Straight Up Steve Austin, a unique interview-based series hosted by retired WWE legend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. The series of seven half-hour episodes will air on USA on Mondays at 11/10c following WWE Monday Night Raw, beginning August 12!
In each episode, Austin and a celebrity guest swap stories about their lives and careers during one-of-a-kind custom-tailored adventures in different cities across America. In this unique interview format, there’s no studio, no couch and no cue cards — just a straight-up good time and some good old-fashioned American fun.
Guests include country singer and actor Trace Adkins, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr., comedian Gabriel Iglesias, WWE Superstar Becky Lynch, NFL Quarterback Baker Mayfield, actor and retired United States Marine Corps Reserve officer Rob Riggle, and Impractical Jokers star Sal Volcano.
Straight Up Steve Austin joins USA’s growing unscripted lineup, which includes family docu-comedies Chrisley Knows Best, Growing Up Chrisley and The Radkes, WWE-related series Miz & Mrs, and buzzy reboots Temptation Island and The Biggest Loser.
In the latest Being the Elite, Adam Page is shown at home with his knee bandaged up from the attack by PAC in England. The two met last weekend at a Wrestle Gate Pro event in Nottingham where Page won by DQ. As noted, their Double or Nothing match was reportedly pulled due to creative differences between PAC and AEW.
In the video above, Page informed the fans he would not be “allowed” to wrestle on this Saturday’s PPV.
“Hey guy, I’m checking in, because apparently it is my responsibility to tell you that due to recent events I will not be allowed to compete at Double or Nothing,” Page said. “I am sure that none of you are as disappointed or pissed off about the situation as I am. But I will still be at Starrcast on Friday, doing a meet & greet. And I’m sure that the entire show in itself will be great.”
A saddened Page then goes to flip off the camera as it cuts away.
Below are the rest of the highlights from the latest Being the Elite:
* Young Bucks are talking outside and David Arquette comes up to them. Nick is playing with a deck of cards and Arquette asks if he could have one, Nick says no and they’re all booked up. Arquette asks if they know who he is and The Young Bucks don’t recognize him at first, but then Matt realizes he was a former WCW Champion. Nick says they are still booked though, but he could come to the party: a superkick party. They double superkick Arquette who then tells the duo, “That was awesome, guys!” Johnny Impact is in the background and asks if Arquette wants some ice.
* MJF taunts Cody and Brandi’s dog, Pharaoh, and tries to give him some chocolate. Brandi catches MJF and wonders what he’s doing. MJF says he was just going to have a brownie, she tells him to eat it then, and he initially puts up a fight. He eats some and then spits it up, “I don’t like gluten.”
* Joey Ryan talks with Peter Avalon who doesn’t get why there are two Librarians. He’s worried they aren’t going to gel as a team, unlike Ryan and that blonde girl. Avalon says AEW just wants to send him home and pay him, but he doesn’t know what do to. Ryan says not to ask him, he doesn’t work in AEW.
* Brandon Cutler tells MJF the Bucks sent him so MJF could pick a card for the Casino Battle Royale. MJF taunts Cutler, makes fun of his wife’s designs for wrestling gear, and his kids. MJF goes to leave and Cutler stops him so he can just pick a card. MJF says he has an issue with Cutler thinking his mentors (Young Bucks) are better than his (Cody). An angered Cutler shoves MJF up against the wall, yells at him, and tells him to pick a card, MJF does so.
* BTE Mailbag: Frankie Kazarian is asked if he and Christopher Daniels are the voices for Arthur and Trevor. He says they get asked this a lot especially because they once had other alter-egos, Curry Man and Suicide. But says Arthur and Trevor are just jerks who have terrorized the roster. Kazarian says it kind of hurts that people think he and Daniel would do voices for those disgusting human beings. Matt Jackson is asked if Being the Elite will be around when AEW is on weekly television. He says that’s a tough question, he and Nick have talked about if it will be possible once things really get rolling with the company. Matt says he just doesn’t know right now.
* Kazarian and Daniels approach Pentagon Jr. and Fenix to say they will be watching their match against The Young Bucks. Daniels says maybe them and the Lucha Brothers can do it again one more time in AEW down the road. Both Pentagon and Fenix say “of course,” and the teams shake hands. They walk away, Pentagon asks Fenix who those guys were.
* Text to Matt Jackson asking if he’s going to really do his new move. Matt writes back, “Si.” We see clips of The Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr. / Fenix at PWG Battle of Los Angeles where things started between the two teams. Clips are shown of Matt and Nick getting attacked by the Lucha Brothers at an AEW Press Conference, the teams fighting at an AAW event, and The Young Bucks defeating them for the AAA World Tag Team Titles in Mexico. The match is being billed as “Who’s the best tag team in the world?”
USA Network officials have reportedly been complaining for some time about the drop in ratings for RAW, in particular the third hour. The network has continually pushed Vince McMahon to try and fix the third hour as the 10-11pm hour of the show was always the highest rated, until recent years.
The third hour dropped so bad in recent weeks that WWE officials recognized they had to do something.
The move goes back to the idea of allowing top SmackDown Superstars to appear on RAW, and to make sure the blue brand show doesn’t become a secondary show while it’s preparing for the move to Fox in October.
USA officials have reportedly been sending WWE all sorts of ideas as of late, in an attempt to bring up the third hour numbers. One source close to the situation described the ideas as all terrible, but their best ideas was the 24/7 Title and Vince knew he had to take one of them.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Black’s absence was a company decision due to some of his tattoos having a religious connotation. Black has generally kept quiet regarding the meaning behind his body art, although he did reveal the meaning of his back tattoo in an interview with The Daily Star in 2017.
“I don’t really talk about the meaning of my tattoos, but I will give you that one,” Black said. “The being on my back is Lilith, in some folklore she is the first woman to ever rebel against paradise. The reason she is there for equality, equality for every man and woman – which is the most important thing there is.”
Bryan is likely not appearing at the event for the same reasons that he skipped last November’s Crown Jewel show in Riyadh. While he wrestled at WWE’s first big show in Saudi Arabia, The Greatest Royal Rumble, last April, he had since learned more of the country’s treatment of homosexuals. Bryan was also upset that Sami Zayn was not being allowed on those shows because of his Syrian ancestry, which he felt was racist. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Syria in 2012, and Zayn had started a #SamiForSyria mobile clinic in Syria in 2017.
WWE issued the following statement at the time regarding Zayn’s absence from the event:
“WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world.”
According to The Observer, company sources stated that Owens is declining to work the show because his family asked him not to go. It was noted that there may have been other reasons, including Zayn not being allowed to work the show. Owens had been in a program with WWE Champion Kofi Kingston. Dolph Ziggler was pulled out of an appearance in Australia the weekend of Super Showdown and will now face Kingston for the title.
The only other star that refused to work Crown Jewel was John Cena, who is not scheduled for WWE Super ShowDown.
WWE Super ShowDown takes place on Friday, June 7th, at the King Abdullah Sports City’s King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
WWE has issued a statement in response to allegations made by lawyer Konstantine Kyros, who has represented several former WWE Superstars in concussion lawsuits against the company, including the late Ashley Massaro. Kyros has published an affidavit by Massaro that includes her allegations on how she was treated while with the company. Massaro alleged that she was sexually assaulted while visiting troops with WWE in Kuwait back in 2006.
Massaro alleged that she was drugged and raped by a man posing as a US Army doctor while in Kuwait on a tour of a US military base. She said she was examined by a WWE doctor after returning from the trip, and that the doctor reported the incident to WWE officials. Massaro alleged that WWE officials called her into a meeting, to apologize, and to persuade “her that it would be best not to report it to appropriate authorities.” You can read all of her claims in the full affidavit via PDF by clicking here.
WWE’s statement to the media in response to the allegations reads:
WWE is saddened by the death of Ashley Massaro, and we reiterate our condolences to her family. However, we regret that her attorney Konstantine Kyros, who filed multiple cases against WWE, lost all of them, and was sanctioned multiple times by the Court for repeated misconduct and false allegations, is using Ashley’s death to further his malicious campaign against WWE by releasing an affidavit that she submitted to the Court and later apologized to WWE for being involved with, so we wish to make certain things crystal clear.At no time was Vince McMahon or the management of WWE ever informed by Ashley Massaro or anybody else that she had been sexually assaulted, drugged, raped or sodomized by a military doctor with a nurse standing guard while on a goodwill tour in 2007 to U.S. military bases in Kuwait. In fact, if she ever articulated such a claim to WWE, we would have reported it immediately to the Base Commander.
At no time was there ever a meeting with Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, John Laurinaitis or other company executives in which she told them of such a claim and was instructed to keep it quiet.
WWE recently revealed that Massaro e-mailed them back in October, a month after the lawsuit was dismissed, to apologize for joining the lawsuit. Below is WWE’s full statement with excerpts from Massaro’s e-mail:
Long after Ashley Massaro filed an affidavit, which WWE only learned of the contents after she passed away, Ashley sent an email to WWE on Oct. 20, 2018 – approximately one month after the Court dismissed all claims against WWE and sanctioned the lawyer who brought the suit against WWE, Konstantine Kyros, for repeated misconduct including pursuing false allegations. Below are a number of excerpts from her letter to WWE:”I love WWE, you all were my family the whole time I was there…”
“The lawsuit got out of control very fast-I had been roped in by the lawyer representing the others…”
“I apologize that I was part of this class action suit and knew it was a bad idea but was convinced by the lawyer and I want to acknowledge that I should’ve contacted you guys before agreeing to be involved-i was basically poached. But I accept my part of the responsibility and just want to formerly apologize and express my regret.”
“You all changed my life and I couldn’t be more grateful…”
“Can you express my sincerest regret to Vince, Stephanie, Hunter and Kevin Dunn.”
It was reported earlier this year that Cody Rhodes has filed to trademark the “Bash at the Beach” name. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has given an initial refusal to the application because of the likely confusion with WWE’s registered trademark for “The Bash” for an old pay-per-view.
Cody’s trademark application for “Dusty Rhodes” was also given an initial refusal by the USPTO because of the likely confusion to the “Dustin Rhodes” trademark that’s registered to his brother, Dustin Runnels.
The USPTO did approve Cody’s other trademark applications for Bunkhouse Stampede, BattleBowl, The American Nightmare, The American Dream, and The Prince of Wrestling. They will be published for opposition at a later date.
AEW has announced some details on how their first champion will be crowned.
On the latest episode of Road to Double or Nothing, comedian Jack Whitehall announced that the winner of the Casino Battle Royale will face the winner of Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega at a later date … with the winner becoming All Elite Wrestling’s first World champ.
Participants confirmed for the Battle Royale include: Shawn Spears aka Tye Dillinger, Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy, Michael Nakazawa, Jimmy Havoc, Billy Gunn, Sonny Kiss, MJF, Joey Janela, Glacier, Brian Pillman Jr. and more.
Daniel Bryan is once again not going to Saudi Arabia for the WWE Super ShowDown event on Friday, June 7th in Jeddah. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Bryan has once again declined going to the show.
Bryan had wrestled at WWE’s first big show in Saudi Arabia, The Greatest Royal Rumble, last April. He had turned down working last November’s Crown Jewel event in Riyadh. It was reported in The Wrestling Observer at the time that Bryan turned it down because he had learnt about Saudi Arabia’s treatment of homosexuals, as well as about Sami Zayn not being allowed in the country. Zayn was not allowed to work The Greatest Royal Rumble event because of his Syrian ancestry, which Bryan felt was racist. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Syria in 2012, and Zayn had started a #SamiForSyria mobile clinic in Syria in 2017.
At the time, WWE issued the following statement regarding Zayn’s absence from the event:
“WWE is committed to embracing individuals from all backgrounds while respecting local customs and cultural differences around the world.”
Kevin Owens is also skipping Super ShowDown in two weeks, which was first reported by Fightful. WWE Champion Kofi Kingston will now be facing Dolph Ziggler at the show. Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that Ziggler being booked for the match was a last minute decision, as Ziggler was booked to be in Australia that weekend for the Oz Comic-Con. It was announced right before SmackDown went on the air that Ziggler would not be appearing at the Comic-Con, as seen below. His replacement has yet to be announced.
It is not known why Owens is skipping the Saudi Arabia event, although he is best friends with Zayn. Owens was at the Greatest Royal Rumble event last April, however was injured when Crown Jewel took place last November.
The only other star that refused to work Crown Jewel was John Cena, who is not scheduled for WWE Super ShowDown.
WWE Super ShowDown takes place on Friday, June 7th, at the King Abdullah Sports City’s King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
