Tag: GFW

DeAngelo Williams Says He’s Retiring From Wrestling Following Impressive Slammiversary Debut

deangelo williams slammiversary retiring wrestling audio

NFL free agent DeAngelo Williams may have impressed the wrestling world during his debut match at Slammiversary, but don’t expect him to do it again — because the football player says he’s retired.

Williams told Adam Schefter on his show that he took part in the match for free in honor of his late uncle and revealed that GFW wanted him to do more, but he’s officially hanging up his boots.

The 34-year-old explains, “It was my debut and my retirement all at the same time.”

DeAngelo also says that he went full-force with the match because he respect wrestling too much to just phone it in like other celebrities have done in the past, even though he overshot the table spot.

The audio can be HEARD HERE.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

New GFW Impact Wrestling Belts

Dave Meltzer reported on Wednesday night’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that the new GFW belts will be unveiled at next month’s Impact Wrestling tapings on August 17th.

Source: WrestlingINC

Gail Kim Announces Retirement Plans

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At last night’s Impact Wrestling tapings, Gail Kim announced her plans to retire at the end of this year. This is not a storyline, as she has thought about retirement in the past and legitimately plans to retire at the end of the year.

Source: WrestlingINC

Paige Appears To Have Sat Ringside At Slammiversary For Alberto El Patron’s Match … Wearing A Lucha Mask

lucha mask paige slammiversary ringside

WWE superstar Paige appears to have been in attendance to support her fiancé Alberto El Patron at Slammiversary XV… even if she had to wear a lucha mask to do it.

Paige was spotted in the front row during the  Slammiversary main event last night sporting the mask of lucha libre star Dos Caras — El Patron’s dad — to avoid being seen on camera.

El Patron went on to win the unified Impact and GFW Heavyweight Championship, then reportedly cut a promo against his former employer, aka Paige’s current employer, for the live audience.

For those who aren’t convinced that’s her, another Twitter pic (which has now been deleted) showed a visitor badge appearing to say Saraya Bevis … her real name. While Paige’s contract might stop her from being seen at competing wrestling events, it looks like she may have found a loophole.

Or she just doesn’t care about the consequences.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

Impact Wrestling Set To Re-Brand As GFW

We noted earlier in the week that Impact Wrestling has officially acquired Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling promotion. The Tennessean reported on Friday that Impact is re-branding as GFW.

The Tennessean reports that the acquisition is designed to distance the company from the financial struggles and legal drama that has followed the brand. The story is that Impact parent company Anthem Sports will re-brand as GFW and Jarrett will take over the creative aspects of the promotion. The Thursday night show on POP TV will continue to be called Impact.

Sunday’s Slammiversary event is being seen as the re-launch of the company’s pay-per-view business. GFW will be headquartered at Skyway Studios in Nashville, where they currently do pre and post-production work.

“We’re a global brand,” Jarrett said of the re-branding. “We have partnerships in Mexico, Japan, other places. Collectively coming together, we’ve combined forces and basically the rebrand final touches happen (on Sunday) at ‘Slammiversary.'”

Anthem’s Ed Nordholm told The Tennessean that the company is developing an on-demand streaming service to tap into the valuable tape library they have. Nordholm also said the re-branding was done for two reasons – the double meaning of “TNA” was a turnoff for some potential marketing partners and the name was tainted because of negative media coverage.

“When Anthem got involved we saw a rare opportunity to get involved with an asset that already had global distribution,” Nordholm said. “It’s a 3,500-hour library, broadcast in 120 countries, existing distribution contracts in India, Africa and now the United Kingdom. The timeline to take a ground zero promotion to that kind of penetration was 15 years. The work now is to fix some things.”

Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XV Results

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Impact/GFW Tag Team Championship Unification Match – 4-Way: (C) LAX vs. El Hijo del Fantasma & Drago vs. Laredo Kid & Garza Jr. vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimuri – Winners: LAX via Pinfall to retain the GWF/Impact World Tag Team Championship

– Post-match, Konnan says they will be adding a new member to LAX.

Eli Drake & Chris Adonis vs. Moose & DeAngelo Williams w/ Gary Barnidge – Winners: Moose and DeAngelo Williams via Pinfall

Strap Match: James Storm vs. EC3 – Winner: EC3 via Pinfall

No DQ: Jeremy Borash & Joseph Park vs. Josh Mathews & Scott Steiner – (During the match, Shark Boy appeared in a pool, plus Park sees his old manage James Mitchell, who has an Abyss mask – Mitchell came to the ring to Abyss’ music, already in the ring is Abyss who lays out both Josh and Scott. Abyss gets a bag of tacks and Mathews tries to push Abyss into them. Black hole slam, Mathews right on the tacks. Borash goes to the top rope and does rough frog splash on Mathews and also gets a handful of tacks in his hands, ouch. Abyss gets the pin) – Winners: Joseph Park/Abyss and Jeremy Borash via Pinfall

Full Metal Mayhem Mixed Tag Team Match: Eddie Edwards & Alisha Edwards vs. Davey Richards & Angelina Love – Winners Eddie and Alisha Edwards via Pinfall

X-Division Championship – 2 out of 3 Falls: (C) Sonjay Dutt vs. Low Ki – Winner: Sonjay Dutt retains the X-Division Championship via Pinfall (2-1)

Gail Kim comes to ringside for the next match

Impact Knockouts/GFW Women’s Championship Unification Match: Rosemary (Impact) vs. Sienna (GFW) – Winner: Sienna is the Unified GFW/Impact Women’s Champion via Submission

Impact World/GFW Global Championship Unification Match: Lashley (Impact) w/ King Mo vs. Alberto El Patrón (GFW) w/Dos Caras- Winner: Alberto El Patron unifies the GFW/Impact World Championships via Pinfall

Impact Wrestling Slammiversary XV 7/2/17

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Impact World/GFW Global Championship Unification Match: Lashley (Impact) vs. Alberto El Patrón (GFW)

Impact Knockouts/GFW Women’s Championship Unification Match: Rosemary (Impact) vs. Sienna (GFW)

X-Division Championship – 2 out of 3 Falls: (C) Sonjay Dutt vs. Low Ki

Impact Tag Team Championship – 4-Way: (C) LAX vs. El Hijo del Fantasma & Drago vs. Laredo Kid & Garza Jr. vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimuri

Strap Match: James Storm vs. EC3

Full Metal Mayhem Mixed Tag Team Match: Eddie Edwards & Alisha Edwards vs. Davey Richards & Angelina Love

Jeremy Borash & Joseph Park vs. Josh Mathews & Scott Steiner

Eli Drake & Chris Adonis vs. Moose & DeAngelo Williams

Impact Wrestling Preview 6/29/17

* The final hype for Slammiversary

* Slammiversary contract signings

* Mumbai Street Fight: Rockstar Spud vs. Swoggle

* Massive 8-Man tag main event

* X-Division Champion Sonjay Dutt and Low Ki collide in a tag team match

* Eli Drake & Chris Adonis vs. The Mumbai Cats

Impact Wrestling Acquires Global Force Wrestling

Impact Wrestling issued the following:

IMPACT Wrestling Acquires Global Force WrestlingNASHVILLE | TORONTO – Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions LLC, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. and parent company of IMPACT Wrestling, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Global Force Entertainment, LLC d/b/a Global Force Wrestling.

Jeff Jarrett, the founder of both IMPACT Wrestling and Global Force Entertainment, will join Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions as a member of its board of managers, equity owner and Chief Creative Officer.

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with Anthem as a partner to build the business,” said Karen Jarrett. “This partnership will be complementary of our strengths and bolster our capabilities to grow the IMPACT Wrestling brand. Ed Nordholm as President and Jeff Jarrett as Chief Creative Officer make a great tag team”

“We are excited by the progress we have made with IMPACT Wrestling since acquiring the business in January,” said Ed Nordholm, president of Anthem Wrestling Exhibitions. “Jeff and his team have been instrumental in this success and we are pleased that we have reached an agreement on the basis of which we can combine our businesses to continue to grow. Slammiversary XV will be a fitting occasion to bring the promotions together and merge the titles under the new IMPACT combined belts. By combining our resources and talent, we can produce the best product for our global audience.”

For more information, visit http://www.impactwrestling.com.

About IMPACT Wrestling

IMPACT Wrestling is one of the world’s largest wrestling entertainment properties, creating more than 200 hours of original content annually across television and other digital platforms. IMPACT Wrestling specializes in events, products, merchandise and music, as well as the management and promotion of professional wrestlers. The roster features such greats as Bobby Lashley, Alberto El Patron, EC3, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, James Storm, Low-Ki and the high-flying X-Division, plus the lovely and lethal Knockouts, including Gail Kim. Its highly successful flagship, IMPACT WRESTLING, broadcasts in more than 120 countries around the world, including Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Pop (a joint venture of CBS Corporation and Lionsgate) in the United States, Fight Network and GameTV in Canada, Sony Six in India, Spike UK in the United Kingdom and SuperSport in Africa.

About Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp.

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp. is a global sports media company with offices and studios in New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Anthem’s portfolio includes Fight Network, the world’s premier combat sports channel now broadcasting in the U.S., Canada and over 30 other countries, GameTV, featuring game shows, reality series, movies and sports available in over 9 million homes, IMPACT Wrestling, a professional wrestling promotion seen in 120 countries specializing in television programs, events, products, merchandise, music, as well as the management and promotion of professional wrestlers, and Edge Sport, an extreme and action sports network recently launched in Canada in partnership with IMG. Anthem also has a significant ownership interest in Pursuit Channel, one of the top outdoor channels in the U.S. available in 45 million homes.

Anthem also owns the Fantasy Sports Entertainment Group (FSEG), which includes Fantasy Sports Network(FNTSY), the world’s first and only channel dedicated to fantasy sports, FNTSY Sports Radio Network, a 24/7 audio channel, RotoExperts.com, a leader in season-long fantasy sports news and analysis,DailyRoto.com, the most comprehensive and far-reaching daily fantasy sports website, and SportsGrid.com, a leader in general sports entertainment commentary.

Jeff Jarrett Reveals Special Guest For Slammiversary XV, Orlando Honors Impact Wrestling

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We reported this past weekend that Jeff Jarrett was teasing a very special guest for this Sunday’s Impact Wrestling Slammiversary pay-per-view. Jarrett revealed today that the special guest will be Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

Jarrett tweeted the following:

Impact Wrestling issued the following announcement:

City of Orlando, Florida Honors IMPACT Wrestling as the Company Celebrates 15 Years

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer Bringing Proclamation to The Impact Zone – And He’s Also Going to Work During Taping forIMPACT on Pop TV

Nashville / Orlando (June 27, 2017) – To honor the 15-year anniversary of IMPACT Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., the City of Orlando has declared Wednesday, July 5, 2017, as “IMPACT WRESTLING DAY IN ORLANDO.”

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer will present a proclamation honoring IMPACT Wrestling before taping begins July 5 for a future episode of IMPACT on Pop TV.  IMPACT has filmed most of its weekly, two-hour TV show over the past 15 years on the backlot at Universal Studios Florida, dubbed The Impact Zone.

This is the first time Mayor Dyer has attended an IMPACT Wrestling show – and he’s not just attending in a mayoral role.  Mayor Dyer also will serve as the “Special Ring Announcer” for two matches.

“Orlando is already known worldwide as an epicenter for entertainment, and as we have worked to diversify our economy, growing our sports-based industries has been a strong focus,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.  “Blending both entertainment and sports, IMPACT Wrestling is the exact type of event we’d like to continue hosting in Orlando. We are grateful to IMPACT Wresting for its commitment to, and investment in, the City of Orlando and look forward to IMPACT’s next 15 years of growth in our community.”

Jeff Jarrett is the founder of IMPACT Wrestling and now serves as the company’s Chief Creative Officer.  He said IMPACT has been a “labor of love” since day one, and now to be honored by Mayor Dyer and the City of Orlando, “is one of the biggest accomplishments in IMPACT Wrestling history.”

IMPACT Wrestling presents Slammiversary 15 on July 2 at The Impact Zone, a pay-per-view extravaganza that will bring a standing room-only crowd to Orlando. IMPACT on Pop TV will then be filmed July 3-6 for episodes to air over the next month or so.

Bobby Lashley, the reigning IMPACT Wrestling World Champion, is one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling and also has ventured into mixed martial-arts.  His opponent at Slammiversary is second-generation wrestling favorite Alberto El Patron, who has achieved crossover popularity in the U.S. and his native Mexico.

IMPACT Wrestling will return to Orlando through the end of the year as its primary production home.  IMPACT’s budget in Orlando, which includes lodging, local vendors, and all other aspects of production, exceeds $7.5 million annually.

“We are so honored to be recognized by Mayor Dyer and the City of Orlando,” said Ed Nordholm, President of IMPACT Wrestling.  “The City of Orlando is like a second home to many of our team.  We’ve spent so many nights in Orlando over the years, most of us have our favorite restaurants – and the staff at those venues know our orders once we arrive.”

Photo-52-150x200_c City of Orlando, Florida Honors IMPACT Wrestling as the Company Celebrates 15 Years Orlando Photo-52-150x200_c City of Orlando, Florida Honors IMPACT Wrestling as the Company Celebrates 15 Years Orlando DSC_8053-150x200_c City of Orlando, Florida Honors IMPACT Wrestling as the Company Celebrates 15 Years Orlando