Tag: WWE

Kushida Reportedly Parts Ways With WWE

According to a recent report, Japanese wrestler Kushida is no longer with WWE.

Former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida is reportedly no longer a member of the WWE roster.

According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, Kushida parted ways with WWE after his contract expired.

Kushida signed for WWE in 2019. His signing was announced by Triple H at a press conference in New York City just a few days prior to that year’s WrestleMania. In a video on the WWE Performance Center channel at the time of his in-ring WWE debut, Kushida was shown talking about how excited he was to debut in NXT. After defeating Kassius Ohno on his debut, Kushida told an interviewer he felt “reborn” and happy.

The 38-year-old cut his teeth in his native Japan and made a name for himself in New Japan Pro Wrestling — the country’s most prestigious professional wrestling promotion. During his NJPW tenure, Kushida became a six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and a two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion (with Time Splitters teammate Alex Shelley). He also won the 2015 and 2017 Best of the Super Juniors tournaments, and the 2016 Super J-Cup.

While his WWE tenure was largely uneventful, Kushida did have a few standout moments. In 2020, he reunited with Time Splitters partner Alex Shelley in order to compete in that year’s Dusty Classic. The team was eliminated by The Grizzled Young Veterans in the first round, but the moment was special as it was the first time Shelley and Kushida had teamed up since 2015. It was also Shelley’s first appearance in a WWE ring since 2005.

Last April, Kushida won his first and only title in WWE when he defeated Santos Escobar for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Kushida lost the title to Roderick Strong on the September 21 episode of NXT 2.0. More recently, Kushida performed as one half of a comedy duo tag team called Jacket Time with his countryman Ikemen Jiro.

Source: TheSportster

UPDATE:

The belief within WWE is that Kushida is going to be returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling at some stage in June, following his WWE departure, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.

WWE RAW Preview 4/18/22

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY with more build for the upcoming WrestleMania Backlash event.

It looks like Becky Lynch may return to RAW on tonight’s show, her first appearance since dropping the RAW Women’s Title to Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 38.

Two WWE NXT Superstars Given New Ring Names

NXT 2.0 Superstars Kacy Catanzaro and Kay Lee Ray have new ring names, according to PWInsider. 

Kacy Catanzaro’s ring name is now Katana Chance.

The former American Ninja Warrior star signed with WWE in January of 2018 and then worked the Mae Young Classic tournament that year. She also participated in the Women’s Royal Rumble Match in 2019.

Kacy Catanzaro is currently teaming with Kayden Carter and last wrestled at Roadblock.

Kay Lee Ray’s new ring name is Alba Fyre.

The former NXT UK Women’s Champion made her NXT 2.0 debut at TakeOver 36. She also won this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament with Io Shirai.

KLR last competed at Stand & Deliver in a fatal four-way for the NXT Women’s Championship.

WWE filed trademarks for both “Alba Fyre” and “Katana Chance” on April 12.

As noted this past week, Raul Mendoza has changed to Cruz Del Toro, Austin Theory is now just Theory, and Raquel Gonzalez was re-named to Raquel Rodriguez.

WWE SmackDown Preview 4/15/22

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will take place from the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts.

* Ricochet will defend the WWE Intercontinental Title against Jinder Mahal

* Drew McIntyre will face Sami Zayn in a rematch from last week’s bout that ended in a count out win for McIntyre

The WWE Events website has RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro advertised for tonight’s SmackDown. There’s no word on if they will be there to continue the feud with SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos, or if they’re just working a dark main event.

RAW Superstars Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins are also advertised by the WWE Events website. The arena website has Rhodes vs. Rollins advertised, which is likely a dark main event.

It’s interesting to note that The Usos and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns are not being advertised to appear, by the WWE Events website or the arena. Ronda Rousey is also not listed by either website, but SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair is.

The Bloodline ended last week’s show by taking out Shinsuke Nakamura, so it will be interesting to see if they miss this week’s SmackDown for whatever reason.

Backstage News On Recent WWE Superstar Name Changes

WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon reportedly issued a recent decree on Superstar ring names.

There have been recent changes to WWE Superstar ring names, and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the roster recently received a memo that included a decree from Vince, who doesn’t want anyone new using their real names anymore, or names they’ve used before on the indies.

The former WALTER became Gunther because WALTER was his real name and a name he used on the indies. Marcel Barthel’s name change to Ludwig Kaiser is interesting as this was a WWE-owned name that he never used before WWE.

Raul Mendoza was changed to Cruz Del Toro this past week, but there’s no word on if he is being called up from WWE NXT. Pete Dunne was re-named to Butch. Raquel Gonzalez was re-named to Raquel Rodriguez this past week when she was brought to SmackDown, but she kept her real first name.

There are obvious exceptions to this rule, like every rule. It was noted that the decree applies mostly to people just coming to the main roster, but obviously does not apply to Cody Rhodes, or Gable Steveson.

It was announced this past week that Austin Theory is now going by just Theory. There was speculation on this name change being related to WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin, but that’s not the case. The Observer notes that Theory’s name was changed because his real name is Austin White.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Natalya Returns To NXT, Attacks Cora Jade

Veteran WWE Superstar Natalya appeared in an NXT ring for the first time in a long time during this week’s edition of NXT 2.0.

Natalya returned to her old stomping ground at WWE’s Orlando Performance Center when she made a surprise appearance on the April 12 edition of NXT 2.0 on USA Network … which did not end well for rising star Cora Jade.

The segment in question kicked off with Cora Jade making her way to the ring, where she preceded to address the NXT Universe. Jade lamented her failed attempt to capture the NXT Women’s Championship at Stand & Deliver, but assured fans that her goal is the same now as it was when she was a child of eight journaling about how she would one day become a champion in WWE. The 21-year-old vowed to one day be considered as successful as the likes of AJ Lee, Paige, Sasha Banks, and more … and then Natalya’s music hit, and the main roster Superstar made her way to the ring — much to the joy of the fans in attendance, who cheered and chanted her name.

Nattie got on the mic and said that the Performance Center brought back a lot of memories for her. The emotional veteran introduced herself to the upstart standing opposite, but she needn’t have bothered as Jade had been familiar with Natalya for a while. Jade shared an anecdote in which Natalya pointed at her during a WWE house show the 11-year-old Cora attended. As a child, Jade sent Natalya a message on Instagram, but Natalya didn’t see the message until years later when she sent Jade a message of congratulations regarding her NXT debut.

Jade continued to express her admiration for Natalya, and Natalya said Jade was the future of NXT … but added that the future was bleak before blindsiding Jade with a huge open-palmed strike to the side of the face. Jade fell to the mat and Natalya slapped a Sharpshooter on the youngster, forcing her to tap out as the segment drew to a close and officials tried to quell the carnage.

Later in the episode, Natalya was confronted in the locker room by Tatum Paxley, who challenged her to a match on NXT week’s NXT 2.0. That match will be Natalya’s first in an NXT ring since 2016.

https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1514072398584328193

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 4/12/22

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode on the USA Network is being billed as a “colossal edition” of the show as three titles will be on the line.

NXT 2.0 will feature the vacant NXT Tag Team Titles on the line in a Five-Team Gauntlet Match. The titles were declared vacant last week after it was reported that MSK’s Nash Carter was released over abuse allegations by his wife, Kimber Lee, who is still under contract to Impact Wrestling, and due to photos of Carter a photo of Carter performing a Nazi salute in which he appears to have modeled his mustache after Adolf Hitler’s.

It’s believed that tonight’s NXT show will also feature a follow-up on the abduction of 2022 WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner. Last week’s show ended with NXT Champion Bron Breakker looking on as it was revealed that Joe Gacy and Harland were holding his father hostage, tied up in a cage.

Cody Rhodes’ Banned Word Slips On Raw Were No Accident

More than a week later, it’s still sort of hard to believe Cody Rhodes is back in WWE. This week on Raw, Rhodes wrestled his first match on the red brand since 2015. A clash with The Miz from which Rhodes emerged victorious. Prior to their clash, Rhodes and Miz opened Raw with a talk show segment during which The American Nightmare dropped a couple of supposedly banned words.

The first faux pas came when Rhodes referred to the Universal Championship as a belt. The Miz quickly cut in, informing him it’s a title as belts are for holding your pants up. A line Vince McMahon has likely said to wrestlers a thousand times as he doesn’t like WWE’s championships being referred to as belts. Speaking of wrestlers, the second slip-up came when Rhodes used that word instead of Superstars, at which point Miz corrected him again.

The American Nightmare is allowed to say belts and wrestlers.

Rhodes making these mistakes would make sense as he has been working in a company that lets you say them for the past three years. The thing is, according to Wrestling Observer Radio, Rhodes’ use of these banned words wasn’t a mistake at all. It’s all part of his gimmick in WWE. That he isn’t a WWE guy at all and he uses these words because he is a different Cody Rhodes who has returned from somewhere else.

There was another subtle nod to that during the very same segment. Rhodes went to tell The Miz that he’s full of shit, only to stop short at the curse word and look around at the fans. The word shit is thrown around a lot in AEW, but it is seldom said on WWE television. Only people like Brock Lesnar tend to be allowed to say it, probably because they don’t ask for permission first.

Rhodes’ gimmick in WWE is basically the AEW guy. It’s why he has the same look, the same music, and why he almost says curse words and utters banned terms on live TV. It all fits in with the framing of Rhodes being a completely different person to the one that left WWE six years ago without having to give credit or even make mention of the company he helped create while he was away.

Source: TheSportster

WWE Confirms First Major PPV In The UK Since 1992

WWE is returning to the UK for its biggest show since SummerSlam 1992.

Vince McMahon has taken WWE from a New York territory to a globally recognized brand over the course of the past three decades. The wheel never stops turning, and WWE constantly tours, mostly around North America but also further afield from time to time, including two major shows per year in Saudi Arabia. It also ventures to the UK, likely the company’s second-biggest market after the US and Canada, a couple of times a year, but rarely for a big show.

So rarely, in fact, that 2022 marks 30 years since the last major WWE PPV was staged across the pond. There were a handful of UK exclusive PPVs during the late ’90s/early ’00s (Insurrextion and Rebellion) but the last big show to emanate from the UK was SummerSlam ’92. There had been rumors that would change to mark the 30th anniversary of that show, and those rumors have now been confirmed by WWE.

WWE has revealed via a press release that Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will play host to an unnamed PPV, or premium live event, on Saturday, September 3, 2022. “The weekend will be filled with a variety of WWE experiences that we believe will leave a lasting memory, on par with SummerSlam at Wembley Stadium in 1992,” WWE’s senior vice president of live events John Porco said.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1513789273375449095

For those unfamiliar with SummerSlam ’92, the main event of the show saw British Bulldog beat Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. An iconic match in an unforgettable setting, Wembley Stadium. Wembley is still there, but the stadium in which SummerSlam ’92 took place has since been demolished and was replaced with a new venue almost 20 years ago.

The location and the date are the only things that have been revealed about the show so far. There’s no information regarding ticket prices or availability, though the Principality Stadium has a capacity of almost 75,000 people. The show will likely take place on the same weekend as AEW’s All Out. The time difference may allow for both shows to happen back to back, but AEW might want to opt for Sunday should it stick to that weekend.

Source: TheSportster

WWE RAW Preview 4/11/22

Tonight’s WWE RAW will air live from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan with the latest build for WrestleMania Backlash.

RAW will be headlined by Cody Rhodes’ first RAW TV match in six years as he faces The Miz.

Tommaso Ciampa is reportedly an official member of the WWE RAW roster.