Speculation On Why Daniel Bryan Was Out Of Action

It was reported last week that  Daniel Bryan was cleared to return to the ring and could possibly get a storyline as soon as next week. Bryan has been absent from all WWE live events after his WrestleMania 35 match where he lost the WWE Championship to Kofi Kingston.

Bryan was initially scheduled to take on Kingston at WWE Money in the Bank on May 19, but his closely guarded injury forced WWE to call an audible and move Owens into that match.

Although it wasn’t confirmed, the speculation on this morning’s Wrestling Observer Radio was Bryan did sustain a concussion as that seems to be the assumption within the company. With Bryan’s past history with concussions and WWE not having a reason to hide a different injury, signs are pointing to that.

Dave Meltzer noted while getting a concussion is concerning going forward, it’s a positive it took this long for Bryan to get one since his return in early 2018, as opposed to getting one the week after returning. Another plus was Bryan getting clearance in a matter of weeks.

Bryan has previously mentioned wanting more of a part-time schedule in WWE, which will obviously cut down on the wear and tear from the ring. Last July, Bryan spoke to Gorilla Position about this topic.

“I’ve been talking to WWE about maybe doing a lighter schedule because when we first starting talking about this, when I sent that, when Vince [McMahon] told me to send the letter to Dr. Maroon, he said for me to say, ‘for a limited schedule’, like ‘revised concussion protocol for a limited schedule’, so then, they clear me and I’m just on everything!” Bryan said. “I was just like, ‘I wasn’t expecting this!’

“Anywhere between 50 and 100 matches a year, to me, [is ideal] because one of the doctors that cleared me at Barrow Neurological [Institute], Dr. Javier Cárdenas talked to me. He said, I think when he cleared me before in 2015, he said, ‘With all the stuff that [Bryan] had done on top of that, like, before I thought we dotted our Is and crossed our Ts, but the stuff you’ve done on your own, you’ve really scratched a big hole over the I and ripped, marked, through the T.’ And so, he said, ‘just so you know going forward, the less exposure you have, and this is for anybody whether you have a history of it or not, the healthier you’re going to be.

“So I was thinking, ‘Oh, I’ll do 75 to 100 matches a year or whatever it is.’ And now it looks to be way more than that, so if I were to change something, it’d be like I’d kind of like to do less, be away from home [less]. Like, for me, it’s not about wrestling less. It’s like I don’t want to be away from home this much.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Stan Lane On Upcoming Midnight Express And Jim Cornette Reunion, Breaking In Under Ric Flair

Two weeks away from the Two Man Power Trip’s HUGE TMPT Con 3 in Richmond, VA they welcome in a member of the legendary Midnight Express tag team, “Sweet” Stan Lane. Stan Lane will be appearing at the TMPT Con 3 extravaganza on May 18th alongside Dennis Condrey, Bobby Eaton and Jim Cornette as part of a very special 35th Anniversary celebration of The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette. Tickets for this show snd the VIP Jim Cornette Experience are available at this link. In this excerpt from the very rare podcast interview, Lane looks back at memories of the Richmond, VA territory as well as breaking into the business under the eye of Ric Flair. Full episode download link.

CREDIT TO CHAD & JP OF THE TWO MAN POWER TRIP OF WRESTLING FOR THIS TRANSCRIPTION

Upcoming Midnight Express reunion in Richmond, VA:

“We are certainly looking forward to it. Any time you get the Jim Cornette Experience that in itself is worth buying a ticket but the fact that you are going to have myself, Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey for a change along with Jim Cornette makes it the complete four course meal and we are all looking forward to it and can’t wait to get to Richmond on May the 18th.”

The rare opportunity to meet two versions of The Midnights together:

“It is very rare. I was trying to think about it earlier and I can’t even recall at all when Dennis, myself and Bobby did one of these kind of shows. Dennis for many years sort of like disappeared and nobody saw him but now he’s back and I’m looking forward to seeing him and hanging out with him and I’m sure all of the fans are going to have a great time seeing us and talking to us as well. Even though the Midnight Express were heels for most of our career, I think we are also in kind of a strange and twisted way kind of fan favorites too and we love meeting the fans and certainly looking forward to May 18th.”

Any standout memories of the Richmond stops on the booking sheet:

“I sure do but I am married now so I can’t talk about them on air. All of those Virginia towns were great because we loved Richmond, we loved Norfolk, Virginia, Virginia Beach is where we used to go to all of these clubs with the “Nature Boy” Ric Flair but I can’t think of any one particular instance because we just had so much fun back in the day in Jim Crockett Promotions. We were flying around in the Falcon nine passenger jet, the G-18 (the big 30 seater) and we were living large and it was just a great time and I miss it but times goes on and you can’t be young forever.”

Breaking into the wrestling business under Ric Flair:

“Ric and I just hit it off. I was living in Myrtle Beach and bouncing at one of the hottest clubs on the beach at a club called Mother Fletchers and I also worked part time at the Myrtle Beach Hilton doing room service and he and I just happened to bump into each other. I was sort of living Ric Flair’s gimmick on the beach and I was all jacked up and tanned, had long hair and I knew all of the prettiest local girls so I invited Ric, Greg Valentine and Blackjack Mulligan to a pool party at the Landmark Hotel. When they showed up there with about three of my female friends they all loved that kind of stuff. I was putting them over and we were all buying drinks so I invited them over to Mother Fletchers as the guest judges for the wet t-shirt contests so I kind of worked it and got myself over with them and got his (Flair) phone number and stuff and the rest is history.”

“We had a great time. I used to travel to the matches riding with Ric from Charleston and we’d go up to Richmond or wherever and he had me doing these hindu squats where on the first day it just about killed me but I worked up to where I could do about 500 without even breaking a sweat. So he and I would do the hindu squats before matches and all the old timers were loving that and would say that he’s getting me trained right. They’d also go over holds and I remember Johnny Weaver giving me a seminar on how to crank the arm and also Swede Hansen was great to me and I remember working with him in the dressing room a lot. I didn’t have a whole lot of ring workouts, maybe three of four but it was a great experience with Ric and Ric was like my idol and I idolized him.”

For this and every other episode of The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling and The Triple Threat Podcast featuring “The Franchise” Shane Douglas subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Podomatic, and Player FM. Also follow on Twitter @TwoManPowerTrip

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Chris Jericho Attacked By Kenny Omega At An Indie Event (VIDEO), Jericho Comments

AEW’s Chris Jericho made a rare appearance at an indie show on Friday … and his “Double or Nothing” opponent made him pay for it.

It all went down at Southern Honor Wrestling’s Event in Canton, Georgia when Jericho interfered in a match by attacking two wrestlers with a chair.

Much to the surprise of Y2J … Kenny Omega’s music interrupted the beatdown and he attacked Jericho by hitting him in the ring with a Dragon Suplex.

Omega then gave his signature taunt to the crowd for a big pop, but he was attacked from behind by one of the local wrestlers. After he fought back, Jericho got involved again before more wrestlers hit the ring and a brawl broke out.

Watch how it all unfolded, as well as the post-match promo from Kenny, below.

Chris Jericho commented about Friday night’s brawl with Kenny Oemga at the above mentioned Southern Honor Wrestling event. On Instagram, Jericho said he wanted to remind everyone what the hottest match in wrestling is right now. He also “apologized” to Sunny Daze, who he attacked before Omega made the save.

“So, Kenny Omega & I made a little pit stop at the Southern Honor Wrestling show in Canton, Georgia last night in front of 1,000 CRAZY fans, to remind the world that the HOTTEST match in the entire wrestling biz is only 3 weeks away at the MGM Grand! Oh, and sorry about that metal chair to your enlarged melon, Sunny Daze.”

Sources: Pro Wrestling Sheet and Wrestling Inc.

MLW Fusion Preview 5/4/19

The following description was provided by the office of Salina de la Renta. (*MLW in no way, shape or form endorses the below)

From the visionary mind of executive producer Salina de la Renta comes the greatest hour of professional wrestling in the history of the sport.

Powered by Promociones Dorado, this week’s MLW FUSION features a double main event that only the genius empresaria Salina de la Renta could broker featuring four of the top Latin athletes in the sport.

Pentagón Jr. dares to compete with the destroyer, hall of fame luchador LA Park in one of two main events.  Will Pentagón Jr. be able to last more than a minute against the face of death? LOL, nah but still… tune in for a public execution!

The most dominant World Champion in the history of Major League Wrestling, Low Ki, will have the distinction of headlining the second main event.  After humiliating Dumbo err Daga by nearly ripping off one of his enormous ears, Low Ki eagerly awaits giving Mr. Peepers a matching disfigured ear.

The greatest next generation luchador in the sport will grace fans with his presence as Hijo de LA Park competes against the husky, filthy Gringo Loco.  Can wrestling’s Kenny Powers jiggle his way to a win? ¿Estás bromeando? Jajajajajajaja!!!!

In an exclusive only a true Latin media maven such as the gorgeous pioneer Salina de la Renta could deliver, you will be in awe of the revealing of the National Openweight Championship brackets.  Yes, you aren’t worthy but the empresaria isn’t doing this for you campesinos. She’s doing it for the ratings. After all, Promociones Dorado does have several shows in the works based on the success of this broadcast.

Oh and please note if that sweaty baby warthog Sami Callihan or that goat lover Mance Warner even dare come near my show, Promociones Dorado can’t be held responsible if they are beaten, arrested or robbed (in no particular order).

CONTRA Unit promises to share something exclusively on this marvelous episode produced by your empresaria, Salina de la Renta. What is it? Watch and find out, gringos!

Rich “Pool Boy” Bocchini and Jim Cornette will call the action in English on beIN SPORTS (US, Canada and Puerto Rico), FreeSports (UK/Ireland) and Total EGO (Israel).

Salina de la Renta and Andres Bermudez provide commentary in Spanish on beIN SPORTS en Espanol.

Impact Wrestling Preview 5/3/19

Scheduled for tonight’s Impact airing on Pursuit, Twitch and FightNet.

* Michael Elgin Kicks off tonight’s Impact

* RVD on Impact Tonight

* Ace Austin vs. Petey Williams

* Fenix vs. Eddie Edwards

* Rosemary vs. Kiera Hogan

Tyler Breeze Moved Back To WWE NXT?

Tyler Breeze has apparently moved back to the WWE NXT brand.

While still listed under the RAW roster on the official WWE website, Breeze has worked nothing but NXT shows since WrestleMania 35. Going into WrestleMania, Breeze would often work WWE Main Event tapings and some non-televised live events, but he had not appeared on RAW this year.

Breeze has worked several NXT live events since WrestleMania, picking up wins over Kona Reeves and Shane Thorne. The win over Thorne came at last night’s live event in Melbourne, FL. Breeze also teamed with NXT North American Champion The Velveteen Dream last month, for a win over The Forgotten Sons, and lost a singles match to Dream.

Breeze worked Wednesday’s NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University and began a new TV feud with Dream. It looks like Breeze may challenge Dream for his title at the next NXT Takeover event on Saturday, June 1. That match has not been confirmed.

Breeze had been teaming with Fandango on the main roster until Fandango suffered a shoulder injury in July 2018. Fandango is expected to be back in action soon and has been back training since March.

The Breeze vs. Dream title feud is very interesting because WWE recently began a TV feud between Dream and Dominik Dijakovic. It was believed that Dijakovic would be the next one to challenge Dream for the title. Dijakovic’s status is currently up in the air as he did not work Wednesday’s TV tapings and there was no mention of the feud with Dream. We will keep you updated on any news about Dijakovic’s status. We know he worked the April 18 NXT live event, defeating Kona Reeves, and the April 19 live event, losing to Dream.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Mick Foley Says He’d Wrestle In Saudi Arabia For The Right Price

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley appeared on The Pro Wrestling Show podcast earlier this week and said he would be open to wrestling a WWE match in Saudi Arabia, if the price was right.

Foley said a friend asked him how he would handle a potential return to the ring in Saudi Arabia, considering some of the controversy surrounding the Kingdom. Foley said he’s glad he doesn’t have to make that choice.

“I’m lucky I don’t have to make that choice,” Foley said. “I have to be honest, I can be had for a certain price.”

Foley also said he would be open to doing a Hell In a Cell rematch with The Undertaker, if the Saudi officials wanted it.

“If they wanted a rematch of the Cell badly enough and willing to pay for it, they’d probably get it. Working slower than I did 21 years ago, but I’d be out there,” he said.

The Saudi shows have ended up being very lucrative paydays for the WWE talents who get booked. Some of the top names are earning as high as seven figures for the events.

It will be interesting to see what kind of criticism WWE faces over their controversial working relationship with the Kingdom as we get closer to the event. WWE will return to the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday, June 7 for the third WWE Network special under the 10 year big money deal with The Saudi General Sports Authority. WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and AJ Styles have been announced.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Sasha Banks’ WWE Status, Who Is Getting Banks’ Spot AT WWE Money In The Bank?

Sasha Banks was set to compete in the upcoming women’s Money In the Bank Ladder Match, but she was pulled from the show due to her ongoing issues with WWE.

Banks was replaced in the match by Dana Brooke, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The match at the May 19 WWE Money In the Bank pay-per-view will feature Brooke, Natalya, Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Mandy Rose, Bayley, Carmella and Ember Moon.

Banks was originally earmarked for the match but she has not agreed to return to work for the company after recently requesting her release.

There’s no word yet on if WWE will grant the release, but it doesn’t look like. The Observer noted that no talents will be granted their release if WWE officials feel like they would be able to help All Elite Wrestling. WWE also continues to try and re-sign everyone with big offers if they have contracts coming up, months before those contracts actually expire, due to concern over AEW.

We noted in late April that Banks was at a stalemate with WWE. She reportedly tried to quit the company during WrestleMania 35 weekend because she and Bayley were upset about being split up, and over the decision to put the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles on The IIconics as they believed they would be given a lengthy title run to make them mean something. Word from within WWE was that Banks wanted to sit out the rest of her contract, and she still hasn’t agreed to return to action as of this week. There’s still no word yet on when Banks would be eligible to leave the company, but the Observer previously reported that that the company could add time to Banks’ contract for the time she spends not working, similar to the recent situation with Neville. Banks could end up being out of action for a significant amount of time if WWE adds time to the contract.

WWE did want Banks back in action and involved in the storylines, at last word, but Banks wants a lot of things to be different with how she’s booked. Banks was still scheduled for Money In the Bank when the news of her request release came out, but now she’s no longer factored into the plans for that pay-per-view.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage News On Bill Goldberg’s WWE Return, WWE Reportedly Concerned About Goldberg And AEW

WWE may have signed WWE Hall of Famer Bill Goldberg for the June 7 Saudi Arabia show to keep him from All Elite Wrestling.

It was noted in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE reportedly approached Goldberg for the show, figuring he was the one star left who could potentially bring back lapsed fans if he were to work with AEW. The situation was compared to how Vince McMahon, without the benefit of hindsight, left the door open in the 1990s for WCW to sign names like WWE Hall of Famers Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Roddy Piper.

WWE officials did have a concern that Goldberg would eventually sign with AEW, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

There’s no word yet on who Goldberg will face in Saudi Arabia, but a Lesnar vs. Goldberg match has been rumored.

Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker had been expected for the Saudi show, but Goldberg came out of the blue. Goldberg is believed to be making major money from the new contract with WWE. The Saudi shows usually bring a big payday to the wrestlers, as high as seven figures for some, but the fact that Goldberg rarely wrestles says a lot. There’s no word yet on if Goldberg’s deal is just for the Saudi show, or for more dates, but WWE could have made a strong offer to Goldberg if they are serious about keeping him away from AEW.

Randy Orton joked about Goldberg’s pay for the Saudi Arabia show this week, as seen below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

New Impact Wrestling World Champion Brian Cage Pulled From Impact TV Tapings

Wrestling Inc. has confirmed that new Impact Wrestling World Champion “The Machine” Brian Cage has been pulled from this weekend’s Impact TV tapings due to injury. Cage is currently at his home resting and recovering from an injury sustained at Impact’s Rebellion pay-per-view last Sunday. This weekend’s tapings will be took place last night and tonihgt from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.

We can also confirm that Cage may miss tapings beyond this weekend. Cage was also not at last Monday’s tapings in Toronto.

There is currently no word about the status of the Impact Wrestling championship. Cage may hold the title for the time being until he returns, or Impact could produce an angle at the tapings this weekend to strip him of it.

Cage won the Impact Wrestling World Championship by defeating Johnny Impact this past Sunday night at Impact’s Rebellion PPV. During the bout, Cage appeared to suffer a back injury while taking a Spanish Fly from the entrance ramp to the floor. Following the match, and subsequent powerbomb from Michael Elgin, Cage was rushed to a local emergency facility in Toronto.

“Right when we hit, I’m rolling and the pain shoots down through my leg,” Cage told Busted Open Radio the following afternoon. “It’s a feeling I’ve never had before in my life. I’m instantly thinking, ‘ruptured disc or whatever. My back is f—ed, I’m going to have to have surgery or something.’ Then I’m thinking, ‘Maybe it’ll go away,’ and just trying to enter the ring after that moment, I’m bleeding and what not.

“Rolling into the ring, turning my hip over hip and trying to get up, I felt like there was no strength there and the pain shot down my leg again, and I’m like ‘crap.’ But it felt almost a little bit better, so maybe it will subside here in a second, like a flash thing. Then I think was in the corner and I evaded Johnny, and there was no movement, like, I couldn’t. I felt so slow and robotic in my mannerisms and movement because of the pain.”

At the time, Cage thought that he would not have to miss any action, however that is not the case.

“[The Doctor] goes, ‘I think you’re going to be fine, you have severe inflammation and a bone bruise, there could be a small fracture there,” Cage said. “I would like to rule that out, however, if there is a fracture, I don’t seeing it being any major fracture. Even then, you can’t do much more for that, just err on the side of caution.”

Wrestling Inc. will be revealing another exclusive Impact Wrestling story today on our Friday video installment of the WINCLY. It will air at 2 pm CST via the Ringside Wrestling app. The app is free to download and is available to download on iPhones and Android devices.

Source: Wrestling Inc.