WWE is featuring footage of the Hardy Boyz in Impact Wrestling on their upcoming DVD and details have surfaced on how it was used.
The 3-disc set is called “Twist of Fate: The Best of the Hardy Boyz”and WrestlingDVDNetwork got an exclusive sneak peak before it hits stores.
According to the site, various clips play as Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy discuss the highlights of their time working at Impact … with particular attention on the Broken Hardys gimmick and Final Deletion match. A Global Wrestling Network logo is also plastered over the footage.
A teaser for the DVD can be found below.
CLICK HERE to see some photos of the footage being used.
TMZ.com is reporting that Davey Boy Smith Jr. (former WWE star DH Smith), the son of WWE legend the British Bulldog, is now wanted for battery by New Orleans police following an incident with WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts over WrestleMania 34 weekend.
According to the TMZ report, Smith reportedly threw coffee in the face of Roberts and the New Orleans Police Department is now investigating the allegations.
Pro Wrestling Sheet is reporting that Smith is now “wanted for battery in connection with this incident”, an incident Smith reportedly admitted to openly.
A rep for the New Orleans Police Department told Pro Wrestling Sheet:
The NOPD is investigating a simple battery incident that occurred on April 7, 2018 in the 500 block of Canal Street. The victim told police that at about 11 a.m., he was signing autographs at the location when he was approached by a known subject, later identified as Harry Smith (DOB: 08-02-1985). The victim told police he attempted to shake hands with Smith, at which time a verbal argument ensued. Smith then allegedly threw a cup of coffee at the victim’s face and fled the scene. No major injuries were reported by the victim.
Roberts informed police Smith threw coffee at him, with Smith saying that Roberts refused to apologize for negative comments he had made about his father, the British Bulldog (who passed away in May of 2002) and refused to step outside to settle their differences in a fight. Smith says Jake told him to “f*ck off” at that point, so he threw coffee in his face.
The penalty for a simple battery in Louisiana can be up to 6 months in jail and/or a fine of up to $1000.
Impact Wrestling Hall of Famer Gail Kim is the special guest on “Women’s Pro Wrestling Weekly”, which you can watch in the video below or download on iTunes. They sent us these highlights:
Why she retired:
“My back was starting to deteriorate and basically what happened was I just couldn’t walk after a couple of matches here and there. I never had an MRI and I never knew what was going on in my body for so long, and then it was coming to point where I was always wrestling and not being able to walk after. And I was like ‘ It’s time, I need to know what is going on. It’s a scary thought, but you have to know so you can help it’.So, I got an MRI done and I guess, I’m grateful it wasn’t worst. My L4 and my L5, pretty much the discs, was just basically all gone and there was just a thin layer left to the point, it could be bone on bone soon. Basically, I made the decision that I didn’t want to keep on going, where I had to have that major surgery because that minor surgery; he (the doctor) told me I can get back in the ring in 7 weeks and that 7 weeks turned into 7 months.”
Ivory mentioning her during her WWE Hall of Fame acceptance speech:
“It was unexpected because Ivory and I worked together for a short period of time. But, I had such great memories and experiences with her. She was always so nice, you never know how girls are going to be. But, she was always so nice and very helpful and I really looked up to girls like her and Molly; because they were veterans back then and they were very polished and Ivory was such a great speaker. She was already a good wrestler but her talking ability was on another level.”
Being a producer for Impact:
“I think a lot of people think I’m apart of the creative team and I’m not part of the creative. I’m a producer agent for the girls. So, when we are at TV’s, I’m the one that helps them put together their matches, tell them the business of the match and tweak whatever I think… for myself I’m more about the psychology of the match, that is where I’m very nitpicky. And that is something I tried to focus on when I was wrestling. I always wanted to make the matches, in some way different unique and interesting. I never wanted to have that basic match. I just wanted us to stand out in some way or another, whether it was storytelling or interesting wrestling moves. So, I tried to incorporate that and the girls know my personality too. I’m very direct and I don’t sugar coat anything… I went from working with these girls and I’ve always kind of felt like a motherly, older sister type and I was already transitioning in that role anyways for years, so it felt like a very natural thing to happen.”
Stephanie McMahon:
“WWE always thinks in a business mindset. For them, they are thinking, ‘ok this woman’s revolution is becoming hot, Ronda Rousey, this ‘Me Too’ movement’; so of course to be honest I’m going to say this, because I’ve said it on Twitter, Stephanie (McMahon) could have been fighting for us a long time ago. She was there every single time I worked there and she had zero interest in fighting for the women back then. So, for them, everything is business motivated. So, them having this women’s revolution, and it’s from the fans as well… the fans did demand it through social media and Vince heard it and made it happen. And I think finally the girls are getting treated the way they want to get treated.”
Pay for women wrestlers:
“They put their bodies through the same thing the guys go through. These girls should be getting paid equally. Everyone is an independent contractor, so everyone gets paid differently. So, we don’t really discuss those things amongst ourselves because money is kind of a taboo subject to this day. But, I think if there are two girls that are going to main event a pay-per-view, they should be getting paid the same amount as two guys main-eventing. I mean, they are obviously important enough to main event and they are good enough to main event… so they should be getting paid.”
Who she would like to have dream matches with:
“I would have loved to have a proper feud with some of the girls now, Allie, Rosemary, Taya, there are so many great girls. But, of course, you know Charlotte is an amazing athlete, I love her work. Now Asuka’s there. There are so many girls that are really talented right now. There is such a huge generation now that want to be wrestlers and workers. And now Ember Moon, I just heard debuted last night. She’s a great athlete too. There are so many girls. Charlotte, Sasha, Asuka those are probably my top three if you look at WWE.”
Major League Wrestling will debut its MLW: Fusion one-hour TV series on Friday on BeIN Sports at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. The first episode is titled “Worlds Collide,” while the April 27th episode is titled “Havoc in Swerve City.” No match listings have been revealed at this time. Tony Schiavone and former WWE announcer Rich Bocchini are the hosts and announcers for the series.
Over the past several months, there have been discussions of WWE potentially ending their relationship with USA in order to commence a partnership with FOX. WWE’s deal with NBC Universal expires on September 30, 2019, and CFO George Barrios said that the company hopes to announce their U.S. distribution plans between May and September of this year. In late 2017, Triple H had a meeting with executives of FOX Sports to potentially rekindle a partnership. WWE worked with the company in the past, airing a couple of episodes of Saturday Night’s Main Event, as well as a WrestleMania 11 special in 1995.
To make the bidding war more competitive, Variety reports that ESPN has partnered up with rival FOX Sports to bid for television rights for UFC. The two companies have recently proposed to split the UFC TV package, which would bring as many as 15 fight events to the new subscription streaming service, ESPN+. As a company, ESPN has agreed that it would be willing to pay $120-180 million per year to add UFC to the collection of live-event rights. In addition, FOX is willing to increase their contribution from $120 million to $200 million.
The effort in ESPN partnering with FOX aims to turn around the decline in UFC interest, as ratings dropped 22% in average total viewers from last year, falling to just under 2 million. The UFC Fight Night specials on FS1 also fell 17%, averaging 795,000 viewers.
In 2011, FOX signed a seven-year deal with UFC, which expires this year. A partnership with ESPN would keep the relationship with FOX and UFC alive, particularly since FOX is in the transition of selling the bulk of its entertainment divisions to Disney. In addition, this partnership would be a stronger presentation in the potential bidding war with WWE. The $200 million dollar bid from FOX to secure the UFC TV rights is far lower than the asking price of Endeavor, UFC’s parent company.
In the same week as one of the biggest babyfaces of the 70s passed away, Bruno Sammartino, one of the biggest heels of the 70s has passed away as well.
Popularly known for his villainous faction that terrorized the NWA Mid-Atlantic territory, Paul Jones has died at the age of 75.
Trained by legendary promoter Paul Boesch, Paul Frederik debuted as Paul Jones in the early 1960s, and competed in promotions all over the country, as well as toured other countries such as Japan, Canada, and Australia.
In the 1970s, Jones began to grow popularity while competing for Mid-Atlantic Championship wrestling, commencing singles and tag-team feuds with names such as Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, and Jay Youngblood, among many others.
In 1982, Jones transitioned into being a heel manager, leading the Paul Jones’ Army stable to continue his heated feud with Jimmy Valiant. This stable was instrumental in developing names such as Rick Rude, The Barbarian, The Warlord, and superstar Billy Graham, and Manny Fernandez, as well as promote established names such as Ivan Koloff, Baron von Raschke and Abdullah the Butcher.
Jones retired from wrestling in 1991 after 30 years in the business. Jones will be fondly remembered as being a contribution to the success of many wrestlers over his 30-year career.
It is with great sadness that we learned this afternoon of the passing of Paul Jones. He was part of our childhood growing up watching Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and had become our friend. We send condolences to his son Paul Jr. and all of Paul's friends and family. Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/limS7qVQzW
“Ric Flair Drip” is one of the most popular songs in the country right now and the wrestling legend made a Tonight Show appearance this evening to promote the track.
Wearing a Flair-like robe, Offset performed his hit track on the show Tuesday night and “The Nature Boy” strutted around the Migos rapper for most of the song.
Ric also got some promo time at the end before Jimmy Fallon hit the stage to pay respect to the WWE Hall of Famer who recently cheated death.
Tyrus announced on his Instagram that he was done working with Impact Wrestling due to creative differences.
Back in August, Tyrus left the company saying he was “handcuffed and treated like a second-class citizen creatively.” Once new management took over the company, he return during the January tapings to give it another shot.
He teamed up with EC3 for a very short time and the two had a match that Tyrus won. More recently, he’s involved in a body-shamming storyline along with Richard Justice and Fallah Bahh. On Instagram, Tyrus announced his exit:
“2014-2018 – I have been a part Impact Wrestling worked with a lot good people and for the most part enjoyed my time. Having said that… as I’ve grown … they well…. ummm. Change is good and there definitely have been a lot of changes and today after much contemplation it time for me to move on from Impact. Creatively we just don’t see eye to eye on anything and I beat EC3, so I’m good… I wish them well in there future endeavors… #nuffsaid”
