Impact Wrestling executive Bob Ryder has passed away, according to PWInsider.
Ryder, the founder of 1wrestling.com, fought a long battle with cancer for a number of years, living well beyond the 3-6 months he was initially told he had left. The cancer went into remission at one point, but it came back and Ryder had been undergoing weekly chemotherapy.
Ryder continued his work for Impact Wrestling from his home in Nashville, while doing chemotherapy. He worked as the Director of Travel Operations in recent years, but held other roles with the company. Ryder was found at home this morning, but had last been in contact with Impact last night, according to PWInsider.
Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline.com adds that Ryder was found at home by police this morning in Nashville. He noted that Impact officials were unable to reach Ryder after he fell at home on Tuesday.
“Bob Ryder was found dead at his home in Nashville by police today. We don’t know more but he had fallen yesterday and was on advanced chemo. Impact officials couldn’t get in touch with him and went to his home and he never answered, police were called and found him dead,” Meltzer tweeted.
Ryder was one of the longest-running employees for the company, if not the longest. He was also a pioneer of the Internet Wrestling Community, hosting the first-ever online WWE chat at WrestleMania 11, running Prodigy Wrestling for the internet service provider, and later founding 1wrestling.com with ECW Original Joey Styles. He would go on to work for WCW, helping with their website and hosting WCW Live with Jeremy Borash. Ryder and Borash were actually the last voices heard on any WCW broadcast on the show they hosted following the final WCW Nitro episode in March 2001.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Former WWE and NWA Women’s Champion JAZZ will participant in the Impact’s Knockouts Tag Team Title Tournament as Jordynne Grace’s partner.
Last week, Grace made a phone call to an unknown wrestler at the time to see if they would like to team with her during the Knockouts Tag Team Title Tournament. Tonight she informed backstage interviewer Gia Miller that Jazz will now be her partner in the tournament.
Jazz originally announced her in-ring retirement just last month on The Chris Van Vliet Show, citing that she wanted to focus on her health and personal issues, which caused her to vacate the NWA Women’s Championship just last year. She held that title for nearly 948 days.
You can see her return on last night’s show in the images below:
IMPACT! tonight at 8/7c on AXS TV and Twitch!
* Fallout from Turning Point
* The Rascals last week on Impact after being evicted from the tree houise for not paying rent for two years.
* Dez and Wentz vs. Trey and Rich Swann
* Search continues for who shot John E. Bravo
* Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament begins
Turning Point will air this Saturday, November 14, from Nashville, TN. The event will air exclusively on IMPACT Plus
Below is the current card for tomorrow:
Impact World Title Match
Sami Callihan vs. Rich Swann (c)
No DQ Match for the Impact Knockouts Title
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Su Yung (c)
Impact World Tag Team Titles Match
The Good Brothers vs. The North (c)
The Defeat Rohit Challenge for the X Division Title
TBA vs. Rohit Raju (c)
Eddie Edwards vs. Daivari
Moose vs. Willie Mack
Swoggle vs. Brian Myers
Tenille Dashwood and Jordynne Grace vs. Rosemary and Taya Valkyrie
James Storm and Chris Sabin vs. XXXL (Acey Romero and Larry D)
IMPACT! tonight at 8/7c on AXS TV and Twitch!
* X-Division Championship: Rohit Raju (c) vs. TJP (If TJP loses he never gets another title shot as long as Rohit is champion)
* Chris Sabin vs. Acey Romero
* Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood vs. Havok and Nevaeh
* Karl Anderson vs. Josh Alexander
* Chris Bey vs. Eddie Edwards
* Tommy Dreamer continues his search for who shot John E. Bravo
Pre-show
The Rascalz vs. The Deaners
Winners: The Deaners
Matt Striker introduces The Rock who will induct Ken Shamrock. Rock, via video, spoke about Ken Shamerock. Rock has said when he thinks back on big moments in his career, especially early on, is Ken Shamrock. Rock says he was cutting his teeth as a heel and in order for him to be the best bad guy he could be, he needed the best good guy (and badass) who could up his street credit — that was Shamrock. Rock noted Shamrock could have said no to working with a newer wrestler, but he didn’t (when others did). Rock said he had tremendous matches with Shamrock around the world. Talks about Ken going from MMA to pro wrestling. Talks about Ken being a big part of the Attitude Era. Calls him his brother, an awesome dude when he really needed it, and to enjoy his induction into the Impact Hall of Fame.
Back to Striker, who introduces Ken Shamrock and welcomes him to the hall of fame. Shamrock says it hits his heart to see the videos sent in to him tonight. Shamrock says it was a long journey and there was a lot of people who helped him along the way. Shamrock talked about getting started with fighting, he thanks Vince McMahon about getting a shot in WWE, which helped mold the wrestler he is today. He said Bret Hart helped him with his character and told him just to be himself and “The World’s Most Dangerous Man.” Shamrock spoke about The Rock and how they sharpened their skills ets together. He thanked Rock for his induction speech. He also gave thanks to his family, and his wife’s patience with how much he was away. Shamrock says without the fans, athletes couldn’t do what they do, so big thanks to them.
IMPACT X-DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP
Rohit Raju (c) vs. Chris Bey vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Trey vs. TJP vs. Willie Mack
Winner: Rohit Raju
“CALL YOUR SHOT” GAUNTLET MATCH (Heath or Rhino must win for Heath to get Impact contract, If they don’t Rhino is gone from Impact)
Rhino, Shawn Daivari, Larry D, Crazzy Steve, Acey Romero, Tenille Dashwood, Kaleb with a K, Havok, Brian Myers, Swoggle, Tommy Dreamer (Road Warrior Animal paint and haircut as a tribute), Alisha Edwards, Kiera Hogan, Taya Valkyrie, Fallah Bahh, James Storm, Adam Thornstowe, Luster the Legend, Heath, Sami Callihan, Hernandez
Winner: Rhino wins and receives a future title shot. Heath gets his Impact contract
Moose vs. EC3
Winner: Moose (?) via knockout
Ken Shamrock with Sami Callihan vs. Eddie Edwards
Winner: Ken Shamrock
IMPACT WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
The Motor City Machine Guns (c) vs. The Good Brothers vs. Madman Fulton and Ace Austin vs. The North
Winners and new Impact World Tag Team Champions: The North
IMPACT KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Kylie Rae
Kylie Rae’s music plays, but nobody comes out. Purrazzo laughs and says she’s been telling this tale for awhile about Rae, and isn’t surprised. Purrazzo says she’ll face anyone, man or woman. Su Yung’s music then hits and she’s back! Commentary says nobody knows what happened to Kylie Rae.
IMPACT KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Su Yung
Winner: Su Yung via pinfall to win the Impact Knockouts Championship
The Knockouts Tag Titles are returning! The first champions will be decided at the next PPV, Hard to Kill, on January 16.
IMPACT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Eric Young (c) vs. Rich Swann
Winner: Rich Swann via pinfall to win the Impact World Championship
Transcript via Wresting Inc.
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