Tag: WWE

Dakota Kai, Dexter Lumis And Malcolm Bivens Among 10 Released from NXT Contracts

WWE released 10 performers from their NXT contracts Friday, including Dakota Kai, Dexter Lumis and Malcolm Bivens, according to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp.

Persia Pirotta, Harland, Draco Anthony, Paige Prinzivalli, Sanjana George, Mila Malani and Raelyn Divine were the other performers who also reportedly received their releases.

Kai, who had been under contract with WWE since 2016, spent her entire tenure in NXT and was a two-time NXT women’s tag team champion.

The 33-year-old Kai is a native of New Zealand who went by the name Evie on the independent scene before signing with WWE, winning championships in popular women’s promotions Shimmer and Stardom.

Kai was popular as both a face and a heel during her NXT run, but she is perhaps best known for teaming with and later feuding with Raquel Rodriguez.

Raquel and Kai held the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships together twice, including as recently as earlier this month when they dropped them to Toxic Attraction.

Rodriguez seemingly reacted to the release of her friend on Twitter:

Bivens signed with WWE in 2019 and managed multiple acts. Most recently, he was the mouthpiece for Diamond Mine, which features Roderick Strong, The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile.

Sapp added that WWE had asked Bivens to re-sign with the company in February, but he “made it clear” he didn’t want to.

Bivens went by the name Stokely Hathaway before joining WWE and spent time in Ring of Honor, Evolve, MLW and other independent wrestling companies.

AEW star MJF and Impact Wrestling star Moose were among the wrestlers Bivens managed before he went to WWE.

Bivens managed the tag team Indus Sher and singles wrestler Tyler Rust in NXT before finding his greatest success as part of Diamond Mine.

After news of his release broke, Bivens tweeted the following video, utilizing his signature sense of humor:

Lumis, 38, signed with WWE in 2019 after previously competing in Impact Wrestling under the name Samuel Shaw.

He became a cult favorite in NXT thanks to his on-screen romance with Indi Hartwell, leading to a storyline wedding. Collectively, Lumis and Hartwell were known as InDex.

Given NXT’s renewed focus on younger and less experienced Superstars, Lumis may have been a victim of circumstance due to his age.

Pirotta, a 25-year-old native of Australia, signed with WWE last year and spent much of her time in WWE teaming with Hartwell, who is a fellow Aussie.

Persia and Indi had recently started a storyline where they were in relationships with Duke Hudson and Lumis, respectively, and forced them to compete together as a tag team.

Harland, whose real name is Parker Boudreaux, played college football as an offensive lineman at the University of Central Florida.

He signed with WWE last year amid comparisons to a young Brock Lesnar and served as Joe Gacy’s on-air disciple. Harland recently disappeared from WWE programming during Gacy’s feud with NXT champion Bron Breakker.

Anthony’s most high-profile angle in NXT saw Gacy and Harland trying to recruit him, only for Xyon Quinn to step in.

That led to a match between Anthony and Quinn on the April 12 episode of NXT, which Quinn won. That marked Anthony’s final NXT appearance.

Source: Bleacher Report

The full list of released NXT Superstars is as follows:

  • Malcoml Bivens
  • Dakota Kai
  • Dexter Lumis
  • Harland
  • Persia Pirotta
  • Draco Anthony
  • Sanjana George
  • Mila Malani
  • Raelyn Divine
  • Blair Baldwin (referee)

Dakota Kai signed with WW in December of 2016 following a successful stint on the indies as well as a well-received run in Japanese promotion Stardom. Kai competed in the 2020 Women’s Royal Rumble match. With Raquel Gonzalez, Kai won the first-ever Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and was an inaugural NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion.

Dakota Kai posted the following on Twitter:

Above everything, thank you all. I am so overwhelmed at all the love and support. The DMs, txts, tweets.. you all have my heart. I love you. I am thankful for being able to meet, work, and intertwine with so many beautiful people, people I looked up to, people I learned from.. I met some of my best friends over these last few years that will remain in my life forever. I don’t know what’s next for me. I chose ‘Evie’ at 17 years old. That chapter is shut.. just know this; I’m far from being done.

WWE SmackDown Preview 4/29/22

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will be a taped last Friday at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY, due to the roster being in the UK for the European tour.

The following matches and segments were taped for tonight’s episode:

* Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn in a Steel Cage match as the opener

* WWE Intercontinental Champion Ricochet will defend against Shanky

* Raquel Rodriguez will make her official SmackDown in-ring debut vs. enhancement talent

* Madcap Moss appears on Happy Talk with Happy Baron Corbin

* WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Naomi vs. Shayna Baszler

* Xavier Woods vs. Ridge Holland

* Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus

* Contract signing for RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in the Winners Take All Title Unification match at WrestleMania Backlash

* “I Quit” Beat The Clock Challenge: Ronda Rousey (vs. Shotzi) and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair (vs. Aliyah)

* Appearances by Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Jinder Mahal, and others

Backstage News On The WWE NXT Meetings Where Female Talents Were Reportedly Asked To Dress Sexier

New details have been revealed on the WWE NXT women’s division meetings that Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion Athena (fka Ember Moon) called “stupid” in a recent interview.

Athena spoke with Chris Van Vliet to discuss various topics in a new interview this week. At one point she talked about how hurtful her NXT situation was, and how she saw the downfall once WWE Executive Vice President of Global Talent Strategy & Development Paul “Triple H” Levesque was gone following his cardiac event. This is where Athena described meetings where she says female talents were told how to dress like NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose.

She said, “When you care about something, not just for yourself but for everyone involved, it hurts so much more because, for so many years, I’ve been not about myself. I’ve been for the match and other people. To be told that I’ve done nothing wrong and I was taken off TV for doing nothing wrong, it hurt so bad because I was so happy walking into work. I remember when Shotzi left, I remember going to my makeup artist and saying, ‘I am so unhappy.’ We would have to sit through stupid meetings about how we’d have to dress sexy. I remember looking at someone else (and laughing). I cater to children. I’m not about to wear fishnet booty butt-cheek shorts because we had a two-hour meeting about how to dress like Mandy Rose. That’s not fair. Mandy is absolutely phenomenal and an amazing person, but not everyone is Mandy Rose. I started seeing this downslope as soon as Hunter was gone. For the first bit, we didn’t know why, we just knew he wasn’t there. I got so angry. I was sitting there thinking, ‘I did nothing wrong. I didn’t piss off Vince.’ They take Shotzi away, Hunter is gone. ‘You guys promised me this wouldn’t happen. You promised I wouldn’t be lost in the shuffle. I went on this losing streak to help you guys out and build other talent so I could get a reward.”

Fightful Select has revealed new details on the “stupid meetings about how we’d have to dress sexy” that Moon mentioned. These talent meetings were held back in October of last year.

WWE brought in fashion expert Melanie Pace to conduct the meetings back in October 2021. Pace bills herself as an Orlando-based on-air style expert, a fashion stylist, and a virtual stylist. She also works out of other cities, and serves as a wardrobe stylist, and personal shopper.

Pace took to Instagram and posted a few photos from the WWE Performance Center on October 18 of last year, and captioned it with, “Quick trip back to Orlando! Fashion talks with the best at @wwenxt [heart emoji]”

The meetings were reportedly held under the guise of “fashion consulting” and “fashion aid” as a way to play up the fact that the women on the NXT brand were larger-than-life Superstars. It was noted by one NXT wrestler how this was a stark contrast from before as people on the NXT roster were originally encouraged to wear either just their ring gear, or an available merchandise shirt.

Another talent noted how they were encouraged to dress similarly backstage, and didn’t outright say that “dressing sexier” was spoken aloud, but it was implied.

Several members of the roster expressed displeasure with the meetings, and blamed them on WWE Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis as they started taking place when he regained power. The meetings were seen as one of the big changes following Triple H’s departure when he took time off for his health last fall. While talent put the blame on Laurinaitis, it has not been confirmed that he came up with the meetings.

It looks like the meetings were not mandatory as numerous women reportedly refused to attend. The photo below from Pace shows at least 15 chairs set out for the wrestlers.

Athena was with WWE from September 2015 until her release on November 4 of last year. She had stints on the main roster and in NXT, and left the company as a one-time NXT Women’s Champion, and a one-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion.

Athena returned to the ring at Warrior Wrestling #19 on February 12, wrestling a Time Limit Draw to then-Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion and current AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa. She also worked Warrior Wrestling #20 on March 12, in a Triple Threat with Rosa and Skye Blue. She took a loss to Mia Yim at the WrestleCon SuperShow, took another loss to Swerve Strickland at TWR Swerve’s House on April 16, and then returned to Warrior Wrestling for their WW 21 event on April 23, defeating Blue and Shazza McKenzie to capture the vacant Warrior Wrestling Women’s Title.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 4/26/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will air live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando with the go-home build for next Tuesday’s NXT Spring Breakin’ special episode.

WWE RAW Preview 4/25/22

WWE RAW will air live tonight from the Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Tonight’s RAW will be headlined by a 20th Anniversary Celebration for RAW Tag Team Champion Randy Orton. The WWE Legend made his official TV debut with a win over Hardcore Holly on the April 25, 2002 edition of SmackDown.

WWE has announced the following line-up for tonight:

* Becky Lynch makes her first RAW appearance since WrestleMania 38

* 20th Anniversary Celebration for RAW Tag Team Champion Randy Orton

* Hometown star and RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair defends against Sonya Deville

* Bobby Lashley vs. Omos in an Arm Wrestling Contest

WWE SmackDown Preview 4/22/22

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York with more build for WrestleMania Backlash.

Cody Rhodes Teases The Return Of The Winged Eagle If He Becomes WWE Champion

Two nights after re-debuting in WWE, Rhodes opened the Raw After WrestleMania and declared that the leading reason he returned is to do something his father never could. Win the WWE Championship. Two weeks on from that emotional promo, Rhodes has teased something else should he manage to achieve that goal. Bringing back the winged eagle version of the championship that was retired more than two decades ago.

Rhodes posted a close-up of the iconic WWE Title on his Instagram story, renewing the belief among fans that he will bring it back should he ever become WWE Champion. The winged eagle is one of, if not the most popular design WWE’s richest prize has ever had. Active for a full decade, the title was held by icons including, but not limited to, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold, and The Undertaker.

https://twitter.com/JudahSuper/status/1516600196217683981

Rhodes actually has a history of reviving old title designs in WWE. When he became Intercontinental Champion, the former AEW EVP brought back one of the old title designs, the one with a white strap. Much like the winged eagle, that particular IC Title design is regarded as one of the greatest in WWE history. Needless to say, a lot of people would be very happy if he did the same with the winged eagle at some point in the future.

There are obviously a lot of hoops for Rhodes to jump through before he can even think about rummaging through WWE’s storage facility to find the old title. He needs to become WWE Champion, for starters, which is easier said than done. Roman Reigns is currently the unified champion and who exactly will be the first person to beat him has never been less clear. Should Rhodes beat him, he will then need to convince Vince McMahon to let him change the title design, which might be equally as difficult as winning it in the first place.

Source: TheSportster

Alexa Bliss Reportedly Frustrated With WWE Creative

Alexa Bliss wanted to be involved in WrestleMania 38 but pitches were reportedly shot down.

WWE superstar Alexa Bliss is said to have gotten vocal with heads at the promotion following her match at Elimination Chamber in February.

Fightful Select (H/T Wrestling Inc.) is reporting that Bliss was displeased at WWE having nothing planned for her on the back of said PPV and let “talent, creative, and higher-ups” know. Bliss is also reported as having expressed her disappointment to WWE chairman Vince McMahon.

Bliss was expected to feature at WrestleMania 38 earlier this month. However, she was kept off television after Elimination Chamber and did not make the card. Fightful reports that she was willing to work at the event and there were pitches that involved her interfering in the Raw Women’s Championship match between Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch, but the suggestions were shot down.

As it turned out, Bliss missed WrestleMania weekend in its entirety and wasn’t in Dallas at all, though all WWE performers are usually around for the Show of Shows whether they have a match or not.

Her disgruntlement over a lack of activity may have had something to do with her absence, yet she was also recently wed, and her marriage to musician Ryan Cabrera likely had something to do with it. She remains away from the company for the time being.

It has since been reported that WWE will bring Bliss back as a babyface, and she is expected to be back soon, although there’s no word on when.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE surmised that the reaction she got at Elimination Chamber suggests she would do well as a face moving forward.

Bliss is still on her honeymoon, but it appears there are plans in the works for her.

Bliss is still on her honeymoon, but it appears there are plans in the works for her.

Source: TheSportster

Backstage News On The Future Of WWE’s Brand Split

WWE is not planning on ending the brand split anytime soon, despite the recent title merger, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Daily Update.

There have been some rumors about WWE doing that, but at the moment the company is not expected to be merging rosters. It was noted that Vince McMahon could change his mind, but right now that is not the direction he is heading.

At WrestleMania 38 Roman Reigns brought both the WWE and Universal Championships together by defeating Brock Lesnar. The company is now moving forward with unifying the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania Backlash when The Usos face RK-Bro.

When it comes to WrestleMania Backlash, the update notes the Tribal Chief is expected to headline the event, although he does not have any match announced at this point. Roman Reigns did attack Shinsuke Nakamura on the post-WrestleMania episode of SmackDown, which could potentially lead to a match.

Roman will be defending his titles against Drew McIntyre on WWE’s UK Tour, which takes place at the end of this month before the next premium event.

On Monday Night RAW this week WWE did add another match to the card as AJ Styles will be facing Edge in a rematch from WrestleMania 38.

The WrestleMania Backlash Premium Live Event is scheduled for Sunday, May 8 from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Below is the updated announced card:

Winners Take All Title Unification Match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro

I Quit Match for the SmackDown Women’s Title

Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (c)

Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

AJ Styles vs. Edge

WWE NXT Preview 4/19/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will air live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

Tonight’s NXT 2.0 episode should also feature an appearance by new NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly, who won a five-team Gauntlet last week to capture the vacant titles.