Tag: WWE

Matt Hardy Comments On His Future In Pro Wrestling

Matt Hardy’s WWE contract ends around March of next year and the 44 year old WWE Superstar has previously noted he has some “hard decisions” to make in the coming months.

Last year, Hardy took a break to heal up back/hip/pelvis injuries and recharge his batteries. During that time, he got into incredible shape and made a return in February, alongside his brother, Jeff Hardy.

Yesterday on Twitter, Matt replied to an individual who believed the internet had ruined pro wrestling.

“I disagree,” Hardy wrote. “The internet hasn’t ruined wrestling, but it’s def changing it. In my opinion, the industry has to be more creative & shrewd in the way stories are told, while blurring the lines of reality & fantasy between athletic matches & entertaining content. The ‘net forces evolution.”

A fan responded to Matt by saying he always felt like Hardy could be on the creative side of wrestling, “I’ve always felt that your true calling was as a promoter or in creative—and that’s saying something because you’re a very talented wrestler.”

Matt appreciated the compliment, but felt the years he still has left to wrestle are exactly how he plans to spend them, rather than behind the curtain, or on the bench. Since Jeff Hardy went down with a knee injury in late April, Matt has been pretty much left off WWE TV, although he’s kept busy on social media with his new “You don’t understand how hard it is to be Matt Hardy” gimmick, and doing a parody of the AEW World Title getting stolen.

“Thanks, Sam. Appreciate that,” Hardy wrote back. “I can’t say I disagree with you. For the few years I have left as an in-ring performer, I wanna kick ass & contribute to the industry-not sit on the bench.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Renee Young To Become Exclusive To WWE SmackDown?

Fox officials are said to be very high on Renee Young, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Renee is set to host the weekly WWE studio show on FS1, which will air each Tuesday night. The Observer described the studio show as the weekly WWE version of UFC Tonight.

We noted before that even the announce teams will be exclusive to RAW and SmackDown after the big fall changes are made. It was reported that Fox being high up on Renee could lead to her being exclusive to SmackDown, but that is still up in the air. Renee currently calls RAW action with Michael Cole and Corey Graves.

There’s no word yet on what brand Graves will end up on, but it’s believed that he won’t be calling both shows.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Signs Jorge Bolly (El Hijo del Fantasma/King Cuerno) And Former Mexico Soccer Player Edgar Lopez

WWE announced today that two new talents have reported to the Performance Center in Orlando, FL to begin working for WWE NXT – Jorge Bolly and Edgar Lopez.

Bolly is known to pro wrestling fans as El Hijo del Fantasma or King Cuerno of Lucha Underground fame. He is a second generation talent. Lopez is a former soccer player from the Monterrey Institute of Technology’s Borregos Salvajes team. He worked the December 2018 WWE tryouts in Santiago, Chile.

Below is WWE’s full announcement on Bolly and Lopez signing:

Acclaimed luchador Jorge Bolly, former football player Edgar Lopez join WWE Performance Center

Second-generation luchador Jorge Bolly — better known to ring fans by the aliases El Hijo del Fantasma and King Cuerno — has arrived at the WWE Performance Center.

The 198-pounder from Mexico City boasts two decades of in-ring experience. A veteran of Mexico’s CMLL and AAA promotions, Bolly has held singles and trios titles during his career, and he won AAA’s Antonio Peña Cup in 2017. The son of legendary luchador El Fantasma, Bolly is proficient in classic lucha libre techniques, combining speed and aerial maneuvers, including arguably sports-entertainment’s most daring tope suicida.

Bolly isn’t the only new signee to be announced. Also joining the WWE Performance Center is Edgar Lopez, also of Mexico. Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 250 pounds, Lopez played football on the Monterrey Institute of Technology’s Borregos Salvajes squad, where he served as the offensive captain. WWE talent scouts discovered Lopez during last December’s tryout in Santiago, Chile.

Last month, the WWE Performance Center welcomed nine new signees, including EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory and former Mae Young Classic competitor Santana Garrett.

Below is photos of Jorge Bolly as King Cuerno and El Hijo del Fantasma:

Image result for Jorge Bolly (El Hijo del Fantasma/King Cuerno)

NXT TV Will Be Split On USA And WWE Network For First Two Live Episodes

The first two live episodes of NXT TV will be split, with the first half airing on USA and the second airing on WWE Network.

WWE announced the following:

The historic debut of WWE NXT on USA Network is fast approaching, and WWE.com has you covered with important details on how to catch all the action of the first two live episodes.

The episodes on Wednesday, Sept. 18 and Sept. 25, will air as follows:

  • The first hour will air live on USA Network starting at 8/7 C
  • The second hour will stream live on the award-winning WWE Network at 9/8 C. The second hour will then be immediately available for on-demand viewing on WWE Network.

Already announced for the Sept. 18 episode is a huge NXT North American Title bout between champion Velveteen Dream and challenger Roderick Strong of The Undisputed ERA, as well as a Triple Threat Match featuring Bianca Belair, Io Shirai and Mia Yim to determine the next challenger to NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler.

The first live episode of NXT will feature Mia Yim vs. Bianca Belair vs. Io Shirai in a three-way match to determine the #1 contender to the NXT Woman’s Championship, as well as Roderick Strong vs. Velveteen Dream in a North American title match.

According to PWInsider, the full two-hour live show will begin airing on USA starting October 2. This is the same day and time AEW’s show premieres on TNT.

There’s no word yet on why the first two weeks are being split between the USA Network and the WWE Network, but we will keep you updated. This appears to be a recent change in plans as the original press release on NXT moving to USA stated that the two hour show would begin airing on USA with the September 18 episode.

Carmella Says She Was Forced To Slow Down Due To Recent Health Scare

Earlier on Wednesday Carmella took to her Instagram, discussing why she has not been as active recently in WWE. In her post, the former SmackDown Women’s Champion spoke about recently have a health scare, and how she was forced to slow down because of it.

“I recently had a health scare that shook my world. I was super apprehensive (still am) to post about it because I’m not looking for any sort of sympathy,” Carmella begins. “Instead, I wanted to share what this past month has taught me. You might find my perception to be trivial and unimportant, but these are my thoughts.

“For the first time in six years, I was forced to slow down. I’ve never had an injury with time off or anything of the sort since I started with WWE. I was able to slow down for a few weeks and just be. It opened my mind and my eyes to the world I didn’t notice for six years and allowed me to be present instead of worrying about the next thing on my to-do list.”

She adds that having time off has opened her mind to all the things she has been missing out on such has having downtime in real life and spending time with her loved ones. Additionally, she comments about how she is learning to stay away from social media, due to the increased negative backlash she and other wrestlers have been receiving online.

“I took a break from social media and it really allowed me to live in the moment and see what was right in front of me,” Carmella said. “I had conversations with people I would have normally never seen because my head would be buried in my phone. More importantly, social media is not real. The fact that I at one point or another would get bothered by a few crass comments made by presumptuous ill-mannered trolls makes me laugh now. It’s all so insignificant at the end of the day. Do these trolls care about my health and well being? Are they the ones who will be there for me when s–t hits the fan? Hell no. So why would I care what people on an app in my phone have to say about me?

“I spent time with the most important people in my life. In a world where I’m constantly on the road, I rarely get more than a few hours with those who matter most to me. I’m grateful I was able to spend so much time with my sister and my parents who are my world. I was also constantly laughing with my boyfriend who is the most supportive man on the planet. I truly don’t know what I would do without him.”

At the end of her post, she encourages others to try and be nicer to everyone they encounter, as well as to not second guess things they want to do or pursue in life.

“Things can and will go wrong, regardless of how healthy your lifestyle is,” Carmella states. “It’s important to feed our bodies with happy thoughts, clean and healthy foods and all of the positive vibes.

“Let’s all try to be a little better as humans. Everyone we meet is going through SOMETHING. Be nice. Life is short. Hug your family, laugh more, let the little things go, buy the shoes and drink the wine.”

You can read Carmella’s full Instagram post from earlier Wednesday down below.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Undergoes Creative Team Shakeup

WWE’s creative team has undergone a big shakeup.

Longtime Raw lead writer Ed Koskey has been moved to SmackDown to be the blue brand’s new lead writer. Ryan Ward will be taking time away for a short period of time due to unspecified reasons. Ward had been working as the lead writer for SmackDown.

Regarding Ward’s personal leave, Casey of Squared Circle Sirens noted on Twitter that he recently got married. That could have something to do with his leave.

The shakeup was first reported by F4WOnline.com.

Koskey, the longest-running lead writer on Raw, will now be working under Eric Bischoff.

SmackDown’s former lead writer Steve Guerreri was let go from the company back in July. The company has also had many last minute script re-writes on SmackDown over the past few weeks.

The new lead writer of Raw under Paul Heyman will be Jonathan Baeckstrom, who has been with the company for six years in various writing positions. He’s also the former lead writer of 205 Live.

In addition to this, it’s being reported that the writing team has officially been split and people were assigned to specific brands ahead of the company debuting on FOX.

The new WWE 205 Live lead writer is Chad Barbash, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Barbash has been unofficially working as the main 205 Live writer ever since RAW Executive Director Paul Heyman brought Jonathan Baeckstrom to the red brand a month or so ago, but now the role is official.

The idea come October is that the writers, the announce teams and the wrestlers will all be exclusive to their own brands. The WWE Draft, which is scheduled to begin on the October 11 SmackDown from Las Vegas and then end on the October 14 RAW from Denver, will be the biggest of a series of changes that are being done to “freshen up” everything. Meltzer noted that the rosters that were created in the 2019 Superstar Shake-up, the current rosters, will likely be the talent line-ups coming out of the Draft, but there will be some notable roster moves and some of those moves could see WWE NXT Superstars get sent to RAW or SmackDown.

It was also noted that there has always been somewhat separate crews for RAW and SmackDown, but the writers have been interchangeable because the talents are. It’s hard to have exclusive writing teams when the wrestlers are appearing on both shows. There will always be exceptions, but the idea is that there will be more brand exclusivity beginning in the fall. In regards to the “freshening up” of the rosters, it was noted that Bischoff and Heyman will likely be able to get certain guys that they want assigned to their rosters. Meltzer added that there has been a running backstage joke on Bischoff not even knowing who the talents are yet.

Sources: Pro Wrestling Sheet and Wrestling Inc.

Scarlett Bordeaux Attending Private Tryout At WWE Performance Center

Former Impact Wrestling star Scarlett Bordeaux is at the WWE Performance Center this week to privately tryout for a role in the company.

Squared Circle Sirens first reported on Bordeaux’s PC tryout and sources have confirmed their report to be accurate.

Scarlett joined Impact in July of last year and quickly became one of the company’s more popular acts. She was regularly featured on TV until requesting her release, which was granted in June.

Before being released, Scarlett and her boyfriend Killer Kross attended AEW’s Double or Nothing event in Las Vegas. They both sat near the front row, but we’re never seen on TV.

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE Draft Reportedly Being Planned For October

The next WWE Draft is set to take place in October.

The two-night Draft is scheduled to begin on the Friday, October 11 SmackDown episode from Las Vegas, which will be the second SmackDown Fox episode. The Draft will then wrap on the October 14 RAW from Denver, according to Dave Meltzer of F4Wonline.com and John Pollock of POST Wrestling.

The 2019 Draft is part of a series of moves that will be done to freshen up the RAW and SmackDown rosters. There will be other changes made in October to help freshen up the shows.

As noted a few weeks back, via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE officials have been working on a new Draft concept to build to permanent red and blue brand rosters. It was previously reported that there would be no major changes to the rosters ahead of the SmackDown Fox premiere on October 4, just some minor changes. This new directive was made by Vince McMahon. It was also reported that plans are being kept quiet as USA Network and Fox representatives will be the first ones to know when the new concept is decided on.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Nominated For People’s Choice Award

WWE RAW has been nominated for an E! People’s Choice Award.

RAW was nominated for “The Show of 2019” award. They are going up against Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, Riverdale, Stranger Things, The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead and This Is Us.

Fans can vote for RAW at this link. Voting ends on Friday, October 18, and fans can vote up to 25 times.

The E! People’s Choice Awards will air on Sunday, November 10 on the E! network.

WWE NXT Preview 9/4/19

NXT, tonight at 8 ET on the WWE Network.

* Jordan Myles receives the opportunity of a lifetime

* Velveteen Dream battles The Finest

* The EST of NXT takes on The Real Black Belt of NXT

* Can Breezango keep their momentum going?