Today's News

Hardy blasts Jarrett:

Matt  Hardy has angrily reacted to Jeff Jarrett's tweet of congratulations to Christopher Daniels for winning the ROH Championship. He said that if he cared about ROH he would not have sent them legal threats over use of his broken gimmick.

ROH respond to buyout talk:

The owners of ROH have released a brief statement on their talks with WWE...

"Sinclair's corporate policy is never to comment on speculative rumors and unsubstantiated stories."

CBS claim to have exclusive news that the story is dead, and that the deal has fallen through.

Del Rio no show:

Alberto Del Rio has withdrawn from wrestlecon. He says Paige is struggling mentally, and she needs him more than the fans do right now.

HHH says he does not make people stay in NXT:

''I would be very hesitant to say for anybody, 'I don't want them to go to the main roster because it's better for NXT if he or she is here.' That wouldn't be the right thing to do for anyone. People stay in NXT because it's not the right time or the right fit to bring them in. People being impatient that there's somebody they want to see, 'Oh this guy would be great on Raw or this girl would be great here, I want to see them there.' I understand that feeling, but if we have a plan that six months from now we have an idea to do this that's going to debut this person in a bigger way … that six months might seem like forever to a fan who doesn't know what the plan is. To us, it's just around the corner. Some of these guys come in the door and it's not a question of 'I'm just waiting to get to the main roster, I just want to move up.' When Joe came in, Joe came in because he wanted to be a part of NXT, and that was the conversation we had. Is there an opportunity on the main roster maybe down the line? Yeah, but that wasn't his intent walking in the door. It's all kind of a work in progress of where it can go and what it can be. I think everybody in their mind at the end of the day wants to compete at WrestleMania and be on Raw or SmackDown, but there's a lot of people right now clamoring to get in the door and just be on NXT. If you want to look at it as something different from Raw and SmackDown, it's the second-hottest promotion there is. A lot of people want to just get there. And the money you can make and the living you can make here on NXT doing well is very, very, very good."'

He also revealed what he looks for in talent...

"Look, I mean there are other factors as well. I don't want to make it sound like 'Oh, look at this guy he has a big personality and forget all of the rest of it.' Obviously athleticism, the willingness to do this, the desire to work hard, but then there's leadership qualities that we really look for. When guys go to a camp, sometimes people watch them and go, 'You're just making these people throw-up in garbage can because you're working them so hard.' I want to push them to where they're really outside of their comfort range and then see what they do with it. It's really easy to be nice and be the perfect professional when you feel great, but when you're on the verge of puking in barrel and you're exhausted and there's someone barking at you to do more and the guy next to you just fell on you because he's at the same place you are, do you help pick him up or do you curse at him and go about your own business? There are differences in how people react to things. I'm looking for leaders. I'm looking for someone that can be a professional. I'm looking for the consummate athlete on all aspects. It's not just one thing, but if you ask me the one thing I look for, charisma is king. So, I'm a big believer in talent is talent. It comes in all shapes, sizes, looks, feels, everything. I think sometimes there's been a bad rap of like take this as the thing that's most successful, so that's what we're going to give. I think that's happen here in the past. People can say whatever about WWE and look, is there a particular style of athlete [we look for]? Sure, it's like that in anything. If you're shown steak all of the time, it's no surprise that you're going to eat steak. So when everybody coming to you with the same look and feel, a certain pattern begins to develop because that's what being put in front of you and that's what you have to select from. My selection process is different. Yes, I understand what Vince likes and what Vince sees in an ideal archetype performer, but I also know him well enough to know that he likes a lot of different archetypes, so I'm not going to give him one; I'm going to give him a little bit of everything. He's going to see a Bray Wyatt and go (Vince voice) 'That's great!' He's going to see a Braun Strowman and go 'Ah yeah, that's my wheelhouse right there. I love that.' He's going to see Finn Balor and hear the girls going nuts and then see the paint and go 'Geez look at that, I love that!' That's something that I don't think would have been put in front of him eight years ago. I sometimes wonder if Bray Wyatt would have been put in front of him 10 years ago. I don't know that he would've. That doesn't mean that Vince wouldn't have loved him back then. I want there to be so much diversity on every level. I want it to be international diversity. I want there to be something for everybody within WWE so you can gravitate towards characters that you can relate to. That's still a work in progress. It's a work in progress when you look at the Performance Center and you look at the talent there and see that 40 percent of the talent is international now, there's 17 countries represented. A quarter of the talent there is women. The diversity level is at an all-time high and that's on purpose. We've done that for desired effect. Is it showing right now on the main roster? Nah, not necessarily because it's going to take a little bit of time to percolate up, but it's there. I want that diversity. When you talk about the women, I want there to be a Sasha Banks; the smaller, run her mouth, cocky, arrogant, little athlete. I want there to be a bigger, dominant athlete like a Charlotte. I want there to be a Nia Jax that brings a whole different danger component. I want there to be a Bayley that is this naïve, fan-friendly, little girl centric character that everybody loves. Then you still want there to be the Bellas, who are like the Kardashians of the women's division. You want that variety. It's the same with the guys. I want there to be a Cena, I want there to be a Randy Orton. But I also want there to be a Bray Wyatt. I want there to be a Braun Strowman. I want there to be a Finn Balor. I want there to be a Samoa Joe or a Kevin Owens. Big Cass and then a little guy like Enzo that can run his mouth nonstop. I want that diversity."

Rock grieving:

Rock's girlfriends father died whilst performing on a cruise ship this week, after suffering a heart attack. He was famously a member of Boston.

Mauro Ranallo:

Mauro Ranallo has admitted being ill. He says his doctor has asked him not to use social media, but broke his advice to take the time to thank people for their well wishes.

Diva reunion:

Mickie James reunited with Melina and Jillian this week.

Kane:

Kane has filed his paperwork to officially confirm his interest in running for political office in Tennessee.

Vince Russo blasts current WWE roster:

"Today's roster, these guys look like my next door neighbor. You wouldn't recognize them in an airport. They look like regular fricken guys... I'm watching Wrestlemania X today and bro all these fricken guys, every guy on the show looks tremendous. The body on Hennig, the body on Piper, you know what I mean… Shawn, Scott, the list goes on and on. Bro, this is what I do know... when I was in the wrestling business, steroids or no steroids, these guys were in the gym every single day. It was a religion to them, their bodies were part of the presentation and whether they were on steroids or not, they were fricken working out at a gym, on the road, never missed a beat. I look at this roster today and you can't tell me these guys go to a gym. They don't look the fricking part and to me, if you don't look the part I'm not going to believe it. It's unbelievable to me."

He singled out Kevin Owens for most criticism...

"Everything I've said about Kevin Owens, the guy doesn't like to workout, maybe he's a little lazy. I'm just saying that, but my point is bro, the guy visually being a little bit overweight, if I were writing for him that would be part of the character and part of the gimmick and then it would work for him. But the fact that it's not addressed, it's not part of the gimmick, it's never discussed. That's where ask a writer the disconnect comes for me. If they looked at Kevin Owens and they worked his look into his character, in my opinion bro, it would be a thousand times better and I would have no issue with it. But when they call a guy like that a Prize Fighter, and he looks the way he does, that's where the disconnect is for me."

Kenny Omega:

Kenny Omega has confessed to working hurt recently (Shoulder).

JR to Mania:

Jim Ross says he will be attending WrestleMania week to honour his wife, who was looking forward to going this year.

Goldust threatens legal action:

Goldust is threatening to take action against people selling fake Dusty Rhodes autographs.

Alum on TV:

John Morrison has a cameo on an upcoming episode of 'Baby Daddy.'

WWE HOF:

FW4 have gotten hold of the names that will comprise this years WWE HOF Legacy class...

• Rikidozan
• Haystacks Calhoun
• Dr. Jerry Graham
• Judy Grable
• Farmer Burns
• Luther Lindsay
• Toots Mondt
• June Byers.