Tag: WWE

Taya Valkyrie Urges Fans To Stop Supporting WWE Following Latest Wave Of Releases

Following the latest wave of WWE releases (which included her husband, John Morrison) Taya Valkyrie has stated that supporting WWE is ethically wrong.

WWE just released another batch of talent, and one former Superstar thinks it’s time for fans to start sending a message.

One of the wrestlers released today was John Morrison, the husband of Taya Valkyrie (Franky Monet), who herself was laid off by WWE just a few weeks ago. In the aftermath of her husband’s release, Valkyrie took to social media to encourage wrestling fans to stop supporting WWE.

“Stop supporting a company that has ZERO respect for their talent,” tweeted Valkyrie. “You love pro wrestling, spend your money on the hundreds of other alternatives. This is wrong. Ethically, as employers they don’t care about us. Talent or fans,” she added.

https://twitter.com/FrankyMonetWWE/status/1461522622546644992

Later, Valkyrie tweeted a message of support for Morrison alongside an image of the happy couple together in Impact Wrestling. “We always have each other, and that’s all that matters. I love you,” she wrote.

https://twitter.com/FrankyMonetWWE/status/1461531186715664384

In case you missed it, WWE released Drave Maverick, Top Dolla, Shane Thorne, Ashante Adonis, Isaiah Swerve Scott, Tegan Nox, Jaxson Ryker, and the aforementioned John Morrison on Thursday, November 18. According to Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis informed the eight talents that they were being released due to budget cuts (although as we reported, WWE generated $256 Million in revenue this quarter).

In the aftermath of her WWE release, Valkyrie issued a statement and expressed disappointment with unnamed acquaintances who lied to her during her tenure with the company.

“I’ll say the hardest thing for me to process after being released, is realizing the amount of ppl that lied to me. Some of ya’ll should be ashamed,” Valkyrie tweeted on November 2, two days after her release.

Taya signed with WWE in February. She and several of her now-former co-workers were released by WWE on Thursday, November 4.

https://twitter.com/FrankyMonetWWE/status/1457014996966285320

Source: TheSportster

WWE Releases Eight More Superstars, Including John Morrison, Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick & Hit Row

WWE has released eight more superstars, including Hit Row, John Morrison and Drake Maverick.

WWE has performed another round of budget cuts.

On Thursday evening, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported that WWE has released eight more superstars: Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, Isaiah Swerve Scott, John Morrison, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne, Tegan Nox and Jaxson Ryker. According to Sapp, WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis informed the eight talents that they were being released due to budget cuts.

Maverick posted the following Twitter video following the news of his release:

https://twitter.com/WWEMaverick/status/1461520342539816961

Since his tag team partnership with The Miz ended, Morrison has rarely been seen on television. The former Intercontinental Champion returned to the WWE in Jan. 2020, and he spent most of his latest WWE tenure working with The Miz. Morrison’ s wife Taya Valkyrie (Franky Monet) was recently released.

Less than two years ago, WWE was keen on stockpiling superstars, presumably so that the rival AEW promotion wouldn’t be able to land them. But WWE has made the controversial decision to release dozens of talented wrestlers who provided great value to the company, including major fan favorites who never really got a chance on the main roster.

Source: TheSportster

Jeff Hardy Reveals His Idea To Bring Back The Willow Character

Jeff Hardy hasn’t gone to creative to ask yet, but he’s hoping WWE lets him create a universe that includes his Willow character.

If Jeff Hardy gets what he wants, he’ll have an entire universe wrapped around his Willow character as a part of the SmackDown brand. Unfortunately, in order for him to get to that point, he needs to ask or pitch the idea first.

Speaking to Alistair McGeorge of Metro, Hardy stated that with Bray Wyatt gone, there’s potentially a lane opened up in WWE that would allow for a Superstar to create an entire world around their character. He noted, “I think there’s something special about Willow.” Hardy did admit that he’s not had the courage to go to WWE and pitch what he wants to do yet. “I’ve written down some ideas, I don’t know if they really make sense,” Jeff Hardy said. Perhaps concerned that the idea will get shot down, either because he doesn’t know how to make sense of his ideas or because WWE doesn’t want to go there, he noted, “I’ve yet to pitch any to anybody creatively in WWE, so I just need to go in and do that, not hesitate. They might shut it down, but it might be cool.”

Saying he used to think The Fiend and the Wyatt character blend was so cool, he wants to do something similar now that Wyatt isn’t in WWE any longer. “It wouldn’t be exactly like that, but I’ve even had ideas like a Jeff Ross character – like I was a painter, a really silly painter Jeffery Ross, and then Willow would be my Fiend.” Knowing that might be too much like The Firefly Funhouse, he needs to be a bit more creative.

“But that’s what’s cool about pro wrestling, anything’s possible and anything can make sense if it’s thought out correctly and really believed in.” he said.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 11/16/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode on the USA Network will feature more build to the upcoming WarGames event on December 5.

WWE RAW Preview 11/15/21

Tonight’s WWE Survivor Series go-home edition of RAW will take place from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

What A Top WWE Star Was Reportedly Told About Not Getting The COVID-19 Vaccine

WWE released 18 wrestlers last Thursday night and it was later reported that between 4 and 5, or perhaps more, were released due to the talents not having the COVID-19 vaccine. The New York Post reported that Nia Jax was released due to her vaccination status, but Jax later issued a statement and said her vaccination status was never brought up.https://6930f116441d4f103bc81903a9c5ad31.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

It was later reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that that some of the wrestlers were released due to a refusal to get vaccinated, and not being big enough stars to get away with that. It was also said that main roster talents cannot tour foreign countries without being vaccinated, which creates potential issues for the company. The Observer also noted how talents who were reportedly cut due to their vaccination status were reportedly told they were being let go due to budget cuts, not the vaccine.

In an update, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter now reports that while no one was told that if they didn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine their jobs would be on the line, there were people who were very much encouraged to get the vaccine. Multiple sources indicated that nobody told the wrestlers they had to get the vaccine, or warned them that their jobs would be in danger if they didn’t.

One top WWE wrestler who was not vaccinated was reportedly told that if they didn’t get vaccinated, they would be less valuable to the company due to not being able to go on overseas tours.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 11/12/21

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.

WWE has announced just one match for tonight’s show and that’s a non-title bout between King Xavier Woods and WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. This will be for the control of the blue brand.

It’s believed that tonight’s SmackDown will also feature the in-ring TV return of Sheamus, but that has not been announced as of this writing.

TakeOver Branding Dropped For Upcoming NXT 2.0 WarGames Event

WWE has confirmed that NXT 2.0 will run a WarGames event in 2021. Interestingly, the TakeOver branding is absent from all promotional artwork.

WarGames is officially coming back! On December 5, NXT will play host to the carnage that is WarGames in what will be the brand’s first pay-per-view since TakeOver 36 back in August. It will also be the first pay-per-view of the 2.0 era, which may explain why the TakeOver is branding is nowhere to be seen.

The 2021 WarGames event was announced during this week’s edition of NXT 2.0. The word “TakeOver” is absent from the promotional artwork that has been shared so far, and was not mentioned in any of WWE’s social media posts regarding the upcoming event.

NXT pay-per-views have used the TakeOver branding since 2014’s inaugural TakeOver event, which went down at Full Sail University on May 29 of that year and was the second-ever pay-per-view of WWE’s then-fledgling developmental brand. The brand’s first pay-per-view was called Arrival, but after TakeOver, every subsequent NXT pay-per-view was called TakeOver followed by a subheading (typically the name of the city in which the event was taking place, or a number denoting the number of TakeOvers that have occurred up to that point).

The WarGames match concept was dreamt up by the legendary Dusty Rhodes and originally held in the National Wrestling Alliance. It later became an annual event in WCW.

Source: TheSportster

NXT’s Zoey Stark Opens Up About The Extent Of Her Legitimate Injury

Former NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion Zoey Stark has revealed the extent of the injury she sustained at the hands of Toxic Attraction.

NXT star Zoey Stark recently underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL … but she’s already on the mend and is expecting to be back stronger than ever.

In case you missed it, Stark was the victim of a brutal backstage assault at the and of Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne on the November 2 edition of NXT 2.0. Stark and her tag partner Io Shirai lost the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship to Dolin and Jayne in the Scareway To Hell Ladder Match at Halloween Havoc the previous week, but the title win clearly wasn’t enough for Toxic Attraction — they wanted to completely incapacitate their rivals, and the attack on Stark got them halfway there.

In Stark’s absence, Shirai has joined forces with Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro in order to do battle with Dolin, Jayne, and Mandy Rose of Toxic Attraction.

Of course, the backstage attack is just the storyline reason for Stark’s injury. The real cause of the injury is yet to be revealed, but Stark to Twitter to provide an update on her recovery.

“Sadly, I tore my ACL/Meniscus due to Toxic’s attack,” tweeted Stark. “Here’s the bad news for the ‘champs.’ Surgery went great and I’m already rehabbing. I’ll be back BETTER & STRONGER with three targets in mind! Until then [Io Shirai] [Kacy Catanzaro] [Kayden Carter] kick their ass tonight!” she added.

Zoey Stark (real name Theresa Serrano) made her debut as a professional wrestler in 2013. In January of this year, she signed for WWE and reported for duty at the WWE Performance Center. Stark and Io Shirai joined forces to defeat The Way (Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae) for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship at The Great American Bash. Shirai and Stark’s reign lasted for 112 days until they were dethroned by Toxic Attraction at Halloween Havoc.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 11/9/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will focus on Toxic Attraction as they look to continue their dominance, as seen in the teaser promo below.

WWE has announced a six-woman match for tonight’s show with NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne going up against Io Shirai, Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter.

Dolin and Jayne have invited NXT Tag Team Champions Imperium to watch the match from ringside.

Kay Lee Ray has also been announced for tonight’s show in her return to action. KLR noted in her latest teaser vignette that she is “ready to rage” this week.

Another tag team match announced for tonight is The Creed Brothers vs. Kushida and Ikemen Jiro of Jacket Time.

It’s likely that NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker will not be on tonight’s NXT as they were still working the WWE UK tour as of Monday. The show in Leeds on Monday saw Ciampa retain his title over Breakker and Sami Zayn in a Triple Threat.

Source: Wrestling Inc.