Xavier Woods suffered a hole in his tongue during the loss to Cesaro on this week’s SmackDown. Woods posted the following on Instagram and revealed that he had 1 hole and 2 partial holes:
Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir On A Potential Showdown Between MMA & WWE Four Horsewomen
As noted, WWE recently signed Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke, putting all four of MMA’s Horsewomen in the company as they already have Ronda Rousey and WWE NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler signed. Below is new backstage video of Cathy Kelley talking to Duke and Shafir. Shafir brought Troy along for the interview, who is her son with NXT Tag Team Champion Roderick Strong.
Shafir says it’s been brutal since signing with WWE but they are elite athletes and they get right back up. They hope to have similar success as Rousey and Baszler but as elite athletes this is just another place to conquer. Duke says the other Horsewomen have set good examples and they hope to accomplish similar things. Regarding the Mae Young Classic confrontation with WWE’s Horsewomen, Shafir hopes the training will lead to something between the two groups. Duke calls them the “Faux” Horsewomen and believes that something will happen in the future.
Source: WrestlingINC
WWE Is Expected To Announce A Tag Team MITB Ladder Match Soon
It looks like WWE may be adding a third Money In the Bank Ladder Match for the June 17th pay-per-view from Chicago.
There had been speculation on three MITB matches this year but RAW General Manager Kurt Angle only announced the men’s and the women’s matches at Monday’s RAW. Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live that Angle was set to announce the third match for tag teams but plans were changed before RAW hit the air. Word is that officials figured they have 6 weeks until the pay-per-view and they didn’t have to announce all three matches right away.
The MITB Ladder Match for tag teams is expected to be announce soon. This match explains why WWE has had tag teams tweet videos about possibly qualifying or winning a briefcase and why there were three briefcases featured on the MITB promotional poster. No word yet on how many tag teams will be featured in the match.
Source: WrestlingINC
Impact Wrestling Preview 5/10/18
* Will Sami Callihan get fired for what he did to Don Callis in Toronto?
* Moose vs. Kongo Kong w/Jimmy Jacobs from House of Hardcore
* X-Division #1 Contenders Match: Aerostar vs. Fantasma vs. Ishimori vs. Drago
* LAX vs. Z & E
* Brian Cage world tour continues.
* Impact World Championship: (C) Pentagon Jr. Vs. Eli Drake
* A look at Tessa Blanchard
John Cena & Nikki Bella Still ‘Spending Nights’ Together
Us Weekly reports that Nikki may be living with Brie and Daniel Bryan but she is still “spending nights” with Cena at his apartment.
“Nikki hasn’t moved out of John’s apartment, even though she very much wanted to after the wedding was called off,” a source told the magazine, adding that Cena “doesn’t want her to have to deal with moving after everything they have been through as a couple.”
People close to Cena and Nikki have noted to Us Weekly that the two “could get back together in a year” and that Nikki is very supportive of Cena but starting a family and having kids is “at odds” with Cena’s attention to his career.
As noted, the breakup and the fallout will be covered on the upcoming Total Bellas & Total Divas seasons.
Source: WrestlingINC
Paige Thought She Would End Up In A Wheelchair After Accident That Ended Her In-Ring Career
SmackDown Live general manager Paige was recently a guest on E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness. During her conversation with Edge and Christian, she discussed what led to her career-ending neck injury.
Paige officially announced her retirement from in-ring competition in April on Monday Night Raw the night after WrestleMania 34. She was forced to stop performing after suffering a neck injury at a live event in January, just a couple months after making her return following multiple neck surgeries. Paige said she thinks she pushed her body too far and it eventually caught up with her.
“I honestly felt really confident about it, but that’s the inner-wrestler stubbornness. You know how we are; we can be fine, and all believe we are unbreakable. Just coming back and it kind of humbled me a little bit,” Paige said. “I thought I was fine, and perhaps earn a championship match, but I did come back with the confidence that this was going to be fine, but I kind of felt that in a single’s match where something didn’t feel right as it was before. I had to go down to the Performance Center and take bumps by moving my neck somewhere and kicking out of a finish and moving my head to the side because it couldn’t be the same. I had to adjust in a lot of ways.”
Paige recalled the moment she suffered her career-ending injury, calling it the scariest moment of her life. She began her career as a teenager wrestling with her family in England and she said she now realizes that her body can no longer handle the grueling nature of in-ring performing.
“I felt it in a single’s match where I realized that something didn’t feel too good, but I thought that it was fine, I’m just rusty. I’m doing a 25 minute match, and I thought, ‘Okay, this is going to be fine,’ but then when the accident happened and I lost all feeling in my legs and arms, it was the most terrifying experience in my life, and I never wish that upon anyone. It was so scary,” Paige said. “I literally was done, and I thought I was going to be in a wheelchair. I had pushed myself too much. I really did. Every time I was in a match I was like, okay, I will take the bumps, I pushed myself too hard where my body was literally done. I have been doing this since I was 17, it’s like, I need to let my body grow a little bit.”
Paige was a two-time Divas Champion and also was the inaugural NXT Women’s Champion. As one of the most skilled in-ring performers of her generation, she is considered a pioneer of the Women’s Revolution as she helped show the world that female wrestlers are capable of putting on great matches. Paige said she is satisfied with her career and how much she was able to accomplish in her short time with the WWE.
“I am really, really proud. I definitely filled in a lot of stuff after my small career in WWE. I have been with WWE for over 6 years now, and I had that year and a half out which wasn’t the best year of my life, but missions were accomplished after I came back,” she said. “I even had a couple months to accomplish a little bit more, and getting to commentate the all-female Royal Rumble, it was great. It’s not ending like I haven’t done anything with my career. I actually have a couple of trophies that I have to display under my belt as well.”
Source: E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness via WrestlingINC
WWE Hall Of Famer Lita Calls Greatest Royal Rumble A ‘Direct Conflict Of Interest’ (Audio)
Lita is the first female WWE Hall of Famer to criticize the company for putting on a show in Saudi Arabia where women weren’t allowed to wrestle … calling it a “direct conflict of interest.”
WrestleZone‘s Nick Hausman interviewed Lita, aka Amy Dumas, ahead of her upcoming UFO show debuting online tonight and when asked for her opinion on Greatest Royal Rumble said:
“I understand that they are a business, a global business, and always looking to expand their global presence. However, I do feel it’s a direct conflict of interest with them maintaining any integrity or truth to the fact that they say they would like to push forward women and their roles and their representation in the industry as anything remotely resembling an equal to a male.”
Lita added:
“Make the money, that’s fine, but don’t try to cover it up and be like, “No, we are doing this because we would like to in the future be able to help progress their culture forward!” No, you wanted the money and that’s fine. You’re a business and businesses make money. That’s okay. From your perspective over there, I don’t own your business, so that’s ok. But, from a PR perspective, don’t try to be like “We’re doing it because we want to help progress that culture forward.” No, it’s a direct conflict of interest, in my opinion.”
Listen to the interview below (GRR talk begins at 21:00).
Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet
Charlotte Flair To Undergo Surgery After European Tour
WWE star Charlotte Flair is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair a ruptured breast implant according to a new report by PWInsider.com this week.
The belief is that Flair will undergo surgery shortly after the WWE European tour concludes, which officially kicked off this week in England and Germany.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the implant was ruptured before WrestleMania 34 but Flair didn’t want to miss the match with Asuka. WWE officials wanted her to work with Carmella at Backlash and then she wanted to work the European tour that kicked off this week because of what the tour pays.
Flair is looking to undergo the operation after the two-week tour so she doesn’t miss SummerSlam. The Observer adds that she will be out of action for a few weeks after the surgery. Flair is currently scheduled to compete in the women’s Money In the Bank ladder match on June 18th but they could shoot an angle to remove her from the match.
Flair has tried to keep the accident hidden and even had photographers shoot around it during a photo shoot for ESPN’s “The Body” issue.
Flair will also be forced to miss a scheduled appearance at the AEG Comic Con in Seattle shortly after the European tour as a result of the surgery as well.
The comic convention announced Carmella as Charlotte’s replacement and later deleted the tweet announcing she was missing the event due to surgery.
It’s clear she won’t be missing the tour as she tweeted out dates of all her appearances.
The story was also picked up by The Daily Star in the UK this week.
Flair, along with Ember Moon, have now qualified for the women’s “Money in the Bank” ladder match taking place in six weeks from Chicago. The surgery isn’t expected to keep her out of the ring long, nor is she expected to miss the PPV at this point.
Sources: WrestleView, WrestlingINC and Pro Wrestling Sheet
NXT Preview 5/9/18
WWE Files Lawsuit Against Foreign TV Distributor
Pro Wrestling Sheet reports that WWE has filed suit against a foreign television distributor who is allegedly withholding money from the company.
According to the docs filed in court today … WWE entered into an agreement with Transworld Television in which TWT had the right to solicit TV license agreements for WWE within certain geographical areas, but required the company to collect the money and pay a portion to WWE.
Transworld then made an agreement like this in 2014 with a company licensing WWE programming for television in Africa and the Middle East, but TWT failed to pay WWE any of the money following three payments received in 2017 for the content.
The wrestling company claims they sent multiple invoices and emails attempting to recoup the money — which totals $337,142.98 — but they’ve yet to hear back or receive payment.
WWE is now asking a judge to help them get the money back, plus interest, as well as legal fees.
