"That's why they hated me for the most part because I acted that character, the Human Suplex Machine, I would show up to the arena three hours before the show and I was the Human Suplex Machine. I couldn't break that in my mind. I wasn't trying to work anyone, but to portray that character, I had to live that gimmick. No one could ever say to me that I was playing wrestler. I believed I was Taz. I believed I was the Human Suplex Machine. I was the Tazmaniac. That's who I was and that's important to succeed as a wrestler even to this day today, in 2018, it don't matter."
Mike Knox talks heat with AA:
Mike Knox has recalled Arn Anderson telling him his work didn't matter during his biggest WWE angle... "We were was sitting there and I was taking over the match, and Arn came up and was like, 'listen, it doesn't matter what you guys do. Nobody's gonna be watching you. You gotta make sure the girls know what they need to do, and it really doesn't matter what you guys do out there, nobody is even gonna remember it.' So I was like, oh geez, thanks Arn. Like, one of my childhood heroes. So I looked at Kevin Thorn, he's looking at me, and I'm like, dude, let's show these guys. Let's get in there and really beat the crap out of each other. We were like, let's bring it. So, even if nobody else remembers it, we will. So we went out there and we just beat the living crap out of each other."
WWE star in movie:
Braun Strowman is to appear in 'Holmes & Watson' his first movie role. He had to keep it secret until the trailer was released today. The film is in cinema's on Christmas week.
D Bry spoils Rumble spot:
Daniel Bryan says entrants in next years Royal Rumble will enter via the dugout of Chase Field baseball stadium... "It's an incredible stadium. We were actually just talking about what the metamorphosis would look like. Right now, the thought is that we'd come out of the dugout. We've never had a Royal Rumble in a baseball stadium before. I'm super-psyched. I've never come out of a dugout to go into a wrestling show before."
Impact debut:
Former TNA star Mia Yim wrestled her first NXT match this weekend.
Emma hurt:
Emma has been working with a shoulder injury for 6 months and has now gotten to the point where only surgery will repair the damage done. Despite this ROH have offered her a contract, which she is expected to sign soon.
Riddle's UK sign off:
Matt Riddle has completed his last indie date, for Progress, in London this weekend.
WWE sign ROH title holder:
ROH have taped a title change to cover the impending departure of Punishment Martinez, who is reportedly WWE bound. **Geoffrey Hayes**
Cesaro made a surprise appearance on the NXT live tour last night. He teamed with his old indie partner Kassius Ohno.
Alum attacks SD GM:
Alberto Del Rio took aim at Paige on social media this week... "Yes and this one doesn't have more than 9 police reports against her, or 3 arrests in different states or committed in 2 mental hospitals like the one you mentioned did. And with real evidence not just lies from her LOSER BROTHER."
Retirement to resurgence:
Madison Rayne has discussed how the year she planned to retire has led to her wrestling resurgence, highlighted by a WWE run in the MYC... "It was roughly a year ago that I sat down on my couch in my living room with my husband and had a really tough conversation, where we tried to discuss if maybe my career was coming to a close and what that was going to look like, or if I was going to take any frustrations I had and any bit of second-guessing myself that I was doing and I was going to flip that on its head, make it a positive, totally change who I was and make a drastic turn in my career path. I think in moments like that, where you're questioning what's next, is where you really dig deep to find yourself and figure out what you want and what you're still able to provide to the business. I am so glad that I was able to do that, that I got to that point mentally where I thought for a second that maybe I was to look towards retirement, because I very quickly realized that I wanted to do the complete opposite. I think that's been probably the most contributing factor in my insanely successful 2018, because then I made that decision to change myself and elevate my game, that's when opportunities started coming left and right. I'm not just saying this because of the position that I'm in now, but I knew early on when I was being given all of these opportunities, I was going to take them all and be grateful for all of them and do everything I could with them ... but for the better part of a year in my heart, I kinda knew where I was going to end up was in Ring of Honor."
Eric Bischoff talks plans to buy WCW:
"The intention really when we were going to acquire the company was going to shut it down for a period of 3-6 months thinking that absence makes the heart grow fonder. We needed to build some anticipation. We had to make people anxious to see what the new, rebranded WCW was going to look like. You couldn't do that by taking it off of television for a couple of weeks and then coming back. You had to be gone a long enough period of time to really build up anticipation and to market it properly. We were focused more on where we wanted to produce the show. How could we help reduce the cost of producing the show? What talent were we able to afford? Who did we want to keep? Rebuilding relationships with sponsors. That was where I really was focused on, not on what we were going to do with a certain talent."
WWE have released a press statement promoting this weekends Progress event at Wembley. A number of their British and NXT stars will be involved.
Coolest dad:
Kofi Kingston placed #17 on this years 100 coolest dads list.
Wrestler banned from USA:
MYC star Nicole Matthews has been barred from entering the United States for 5 years. She was stopped at the border a few weeks ago, travelling from her Canada home, for an indie show, but was found not to be in possession of the correct visa.
Lita talks wrestling future:
"If you follow WWE at all, I think the one thing that is consistent is: you never know. As a fan and as a performer, each time I go in I look at it as a mom as I'm happy with my chapter outside of wrestling. But at the same time, every time I do go back, it feels like home and you just jump right back in. You go in with it being the idea of a one-time thing, but it's likely and potentially that the excitement of it or the crowd's response to it could turn it into something more than a one-off. Like my life in general, I just take it all as it comes. So, we'll see."
HBK vs Undertaker:
A creative leak from WWE has Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels penciled in for this years Survivor Series, although it may be pushed back until Royal Rumble 2019.
Hardy compound:
WWE are filming a Halloween special for their Network at the Hardy compound this weekend.
WWE star advised to leave company:
Renee Young says JR told her she would be better off away from WWE: "Yeah, I do remember that! I think some of my skills and assets can be used in other roles... it's such a finicky thing... it can be used in other roles and that has happened to me throughout my career with WWE let alone what I've done outside of WWE, but, yeah, I'm just trying to roll with the punches, and sort of land in the right spot, and sort of navigate my career in the best way that I can. And when stuff falls in your lap, and when ideas come up, and things kind of change, I just sort of roll with things the best way I can, and keep my head above water and keep looking out for what the next best move is for me."
Abyss talks Undertaker snub:
Abyss still says he has no regrets in turning down a WrestleMania match vs Undertaker in 2006... "No, I'm not going to say I wish it would have happened. If it would have happened, obviously it would have been a career highlight, no doubt. But it wasn't in the cards. I chose to stay with TNA and I've said it before and will say it again. TNA was and is my home. Impact is my home. This company has done great things for me, personally and professionally, over the last 16 years. This company gave me a home. This company took a chance on me when I was a relative nobody. They gave me an opportunity to build my name. They gave me the platform to show the wrestling world and the fans what I can do. This coming April I'll be in this business for half of my life and the majority of my adult life has been with TNA and Impact. There's nothing I'm more proud of. Sure, there's other opportunities but they just weren't for me. This is home. I was part of the ground floor of this place. I was one of the original members of this place. I was one of the guys who laid the initial foundation of this company and that's always been more important to me than anything else."
Alum coming home:
Batista will be on SmackDown 1000. WWE are reuniting Evolution for the 1000th episode party next month.
JoMo offers advice:
John Morrison has offered wrestlers who want to switch to acting some advice... "Wrestling takes a long time and acting takes a long time. Both are very competitive. My advice is don't take yourself out of the game, which basically means to be patient."
Joey Janela is out for 6-10 months with a laundry list of leg injuries suffered in a single incident on the indies last weekend.
Neville:
Neville is refusing to answer the calls of promoters, leading to some speculation that he is trying to repair his broken relationship with WWE.
WWE official helping out:
Charles Robinson is helping with the relief fund for victims of hurricane Florence.
WWE star robbed:
Kayla Braxton says she was mugged by an employee of a 7/11 store this week. She called on the company to recompense her for the money that was stolen from her purse. She called the police, who managed to get the employee to admit to taking the purse and to return it, but her money was gone.
''He ended up having to go back in and having another surgery on his arm. He tore his tricep and went for surgery in December. And then, I remember him calling me New Year's Day, we had a show in Miami. RAW was in Miami and his arm was bleeding everywhere. He woke up and there was blood all over the bed and he was so confused by what happened, not being able to fully get a look at what happened to his arm. He kept bandaging it up to get it to reseal as quickly as possible this opening that happened in his arm. So he eventually had to go back to Birmingham, which is where he had his surgery initially, just for a check in, and that's when they realized his infection had escalated a lot. They had to go back in and clean it out. He was on antibiotics for months! It was really scary, just knowing the severity, it was really tough to see somebody that you love go through something like that, especially somebody like Dean who is this indestructible force and to see him down and out with something like that, it was... yeah, it was tough to go through."
UK based wrestler not interested in WWE:
Walter has responded to rumours of WWE interest, and is not keen on the idea... "I don't know if I mentioned this, but being a part of the Raw or SmackDown roster is nothing I am interested in. I don't want to live in the US. I really like NXT though, I think it's a great product, filled with the best talent in the world and is focused on competition in the ring, which is something I enjoy. I don't want to say it will never happen because in wrestling things change so quick."
Wade Barrett reveals why he rejected generous 3 year WWE offer:
"While I was working for the WWE in 2013 and 2014, TV deals had come to me, movie deals had come to me, sponsorship deals had come to me and they were all turned down by WWE because they would involve me being taken away from their shows. Their steam train is running all over the world and I would have to step out of that steam train and go film for four weeks, or go shoot a film for two weeks or even two days to go film a series of commercials or something like that. But they couldn't afford to take me away from that time so I knew that if I wanted to go and do something else, the only way for me to do that is to first step away from WWE and figure out how I make contacts and how do I start speaking to people in the film world and finding agents and that sort of thing. So one had to come first, and that was to come first to get the curtain off of WWE."
You will love him:
WWE had security remove any anti Roman Reigns signs from fans before they were allowed into the venues for TV tapings this week.
Darren Young talks WWE departure:
"I didn't leave on bad terms. I was doing media at a Clippers game on a Saturday, and Sunday at 11 a.m. I get a phone call from Mark Carrano and I raised up out the bed like The Undertaker. And I kind of knew, man. I kind of knew what the deal was going, because I had already moved out to LA in August and the release happened in October. So, I kind of felt like my time was coming, so I moved out to LA to take care of some business with the clothing brand that I'm associated with. When the release happened, I wasn't upset, I just said hey, it is what it is. I'm not Michael Jordan, but Michael Jordan can't play forever, everyone always comes back. Like, it's the revolving door. So, when I was released, I wasn't upset. Life goes on, and I'm happy with what I'm doing now."
WWE on TV:
Sasha Banks will be a guest contestant on Wild 'N' Out this week.
Good and bad of TNA:
AJ Styles reveals how much TNA wanted to cut from his pay, causing him to leave the company... "I think saying 60 percent is being generous. It's kind of crazy when that's the first offer, you're like 'wait, what? That doesn't make any sense. I've worked here for 11 years, hard for 11 years. I've gotten more popular over the last year, so I don't know what's going on. This doesn't make much sense to me.'" Abyss talks loyalty to TNA... ''Impact is and was home. It's where I started. I spent practically my entire adult life there. Impact took a gamble on me when I was a nobody. I was coming out of Puerto Rico with a decent name but nothing to where nobody knew who I was stateside. TNA gave me that chance when nobody else was biting at the time. To see that growth, and be part of that growth, I always tell people, that meant the most. That's one of the reasons I never wanted to leave because I was there since the beginning. I was part of the original ground floor of the company."
Robert Conway is guest coaching at the WWE PC this week.
Injuries:
Liv Morgan suffered a suspected concussion after being kicked in the face by Brie Bella on Raw last night. Britt Baker had her shoulder dislocated by Shayna Baszler on NXT.
John Cena movie:
Here is the trailer for 'Bumblebee'...
Hulk Hogan to KSA?:
A senior government official in Saudi Arabia tweeted a picture of Hulk Hogan today, leading to speculation that he will be on the plane to the kingdom in November.
SD teaser:
WWE Champion AJ Styles and Samoa Joe to make their WWE Super Show-Down match official
Big E clashes with Sheamus
Rusev wants answers from Aiden English
Kofi Kingston:
Kofi Kingston has just surpassed Billy Gunn as the longest reigning Tag champ in WWE history.
Legend retiring:
Goldust says he is at the end of his career. He cited the lost art of story-telling as his biggest bug bear with modern wrestling before adding... "I've wrestled just about everybody there is to wrestle, done just about every character reincarnation that I can come up with. What's next? I'm at the end of my career here and about to be 50 in April. What else is there to do? I don't know. My body's getting older, they're getting younger and faster. It takes a toll on an old man's body like myself or Kane or Mark Henry or 'Taker. You gotta do it a little bit less. You can't go balls to the wall like we used to."
Sheamus accused:
Big E. has accused Sheamus of bullying him during his developmental days with WWE... ''I met Sheamus in 2009. I was 23 & he was significantly older. Although he was on the main roster, he used to come down to FCW to bully the new kids & hear the boys tell him how great he is. In those days, it violated wrestling etiquette to swing on him. Etiquette be damned.''
Legend on TV:
Big Show has landed a regular role on 'Happy' on the SyFy channel.
Worst Raw ever:
This weeks Raw scored the lowest viewing figures in the shows long history.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman was in conversation with Stone Cold Steve Austin... "It is the only bad road story I have. I was at House Of Hardcore for Tommy Dreamer. Good guy, great guy, great eye for talent - that's why he booked me. I'm at the show, right, and I get there, and we are in Upstate New York. And God, bumble crap, 100 people population. People have less braincells than they do teeth. It's bad. It's real bad, Steve. And, out of nowhere, there's this huge biker gang and they're just hanging around. Some of them are in the locker room. Some of them are out of the locker room. And I go up and I go, 'hey, Tommy! What's going on? Why are these guys here.' He says, 'Oh, they're cool. They're chill. They're just doing security.' And I go, 'okay.' The night proceeds. I have an amazing match, obviously. I get to the back. We're done. We all go to this bar and I went out just because it was the respectful thing to do. There were a lot of great guys there. And it was guys the likes of me, Pepper Parks, Alex Reynolds… I'm trying to think who else was there… The Spirit Squad was there, Mike Mondo and Kenny, and then, Robbie E. Now, Robbie buddied-up with one of the guys in the biker gang and they were really getting along. They were having a great time. And I was like, 'oh, I guess these bikers aren't so bad.' We go back to the hotel. It's me and all these guys and we're all shooting the s--t. We're all hanging out. And then, Robbie goes, 'do you know what? Let's go to the biker gang's clubhouse.' And I guess I'm the only one who's sane, I go, 'I don't think that's a good idea at all! I'm not trying to die!' And everyone else in the room, because they're all crazy professional wrestlers, go, 'yeah, that's cool. That sounds like a great idea.' Wisely, the two other guys who knew it wasn't a good idea, Pepper Parks and Alex Reynolds, they tiptoed out of the room. Just as I was about to tiptoe out of the room, one-half of The Spirit Squad, Kenny Dykstra, he looks at me and he goes, 'hey kid, where are you going?' 'I say, 'Well, you know, it has been a long night. I think I'm just going to hit the hay.' 'Uh uh.' He throws the keys at me, 'you're driving.' 'Great.' We drive to this secluded area at this biker clubhouse, we pulled up. I'm not going to lie to you, Steve. As you can see, I'm jacked. I'm a very large individual, but a biker gang's a biker gang, okay? I pull up. Oh yeah! I mean, I can probably beat up most of them, but not all of them. We open the door and we're greeted by two gigantic guys with huge straggly beards and they're patting us all down. I'm having a panic attack and they stop and they go, 'the wrestlers are here!' They give us big hugs, bring us upstairs. We're having a good time. We're having a blast. We're drinking. We're talking. We're having a great time. Me and Willie Mack are in the corner talking to the barkeep of the clubhouse. We're shooting the s--t, and, honestly, I'm starting to calm down. I'm, like, fine. I look over to my left and there is a gigantic Nazi symbol. At that point, I cover my right arm because there is a Star Of David on it and I just pretend just have my arms crossed - I've got to look tough. I realize, it takes me a couple of seconds, all the information that's going on and I go, 'they may not know I'm Jewish, but they definitely know that Willie Mack is black.' I'd imagine they know. So now I'm freaking out and I start jabbing Willie, 'Willie, Willie'. I'm Jerry Lawlering it. I'm trying to talk through my teeth. Willie turns around and asks, 'what do you want, fool? Like, stop touching me! What do you want?' And I'm like, 'look over there,' the old head nod, trying to point to the swastika. And Willie's like, 'leave me alone! I'm having fun!' And I was like, 'Oh, great! Awesome!' And, the best part, out of the corner of my right eye, there is a large individual behind Willie Mack, he points at the barkeep and mouths, 'what the eff is he doing here?' Now there is poop dripping down my leg. I'm having a full-blown panic attack. This is it. This is the end. And the barkeep looks at him and goes, 'don't worry about it.' Like, give him the old, 'it's cool. Don't worry about it.' At this point, I get up from my chair, I excuse myself from the conversation with the barkeep, I walk right up to Kenny Dykstra, and say 'hey, Kenny! I had a great time, bud. Thanks for making me come out here. Maybe we should go back to the hotel!' Dykstra replies 'Man, stop being such a party-pooper! What are you talking about, MJF? We're going to chill right here!' MJF says 'Hahaha! Kenny, we should go right now.' Mike Mondo then goes, 'yeah, I'm pretty tired. Let's go to the hotel.' My inner monologue, 'thank God!' We start leaving and we get into the car, I turn the car on. We're out of here. One of the fine Nazi bikers knocks on my window. More s--t dribbles down my leg. I roll the window down. He grabs my leg and gets very close to me, and he goes, 'drive safe. Don't text and drive. The last time somebody did that, they got pulled over by a cop, and they found our warehouse, and we had to change locations.' 'I say, Hahaha! You've got it, man! Absolutely! Love you, buddy. You're the best!' I start the car up, get the hell out of there, get to the hotel, kick the door in, fall to the ground, 'yes!', I'm kissing the ground, 'thank God!' I look over to my right. Willie, Willie's doing the same thing. I go, 'Willie! What's wrong with you?' He goes, 'man, did you see that Nazi symbol?' And that was my night. He was trying to play it cool, which is not something a Jewish kid from Long Island is very good at doing!"
Mella is different:
Carmella debuted a new hair colour on the live tour this weekend.
Better attitude:
WWE have decided the current era of WWE is better than the attitude era. They say the roster is better, the matches are better and the product overall is superior. They said of the attitude are that it had a rabidly passionate fanbase, but the matches and product have not aged well and the roster was not as strong then as it is now.
Goldust says WWE stopped him from going to All-In... "Man, what an awesome night that was. I mean it was incredible. Me and Cody talked a couple of weeks before it and he wanted me to be there so, so bad and I wanted to be there more than anything. I was told by my office that I couldn't go. It sucks. I wanted to be there more than anything. But to actually be on patrol in Williamson County and watching FITE TV on my phone and then on my iPad, and seeing the reactions and talking back and forth, because we had kind of a lackadaisical night. To watch the build up and the matches and to finally get to that match and see my family there, my sisters, my mom. For him to win and to see the emotion on his face, it was real."
Debut:
Matt Riddle worked his first match for WWE last night, on the NXT live tour.
Paige talks career ending injury:
"Nothing was ever Sasha's fault. She got so much backlash and even in the ring, when we were in there, people are chanting 'Sasha sucks' and it really upset me to hear that because it wasn't her fault. The thing is with me, right, that move where she kicks me in the back, I had taken that so many times previously that I was so stubborn and I thought 'I can still do these kind of things' and I thought my neck was just as strong as it was before, but, unfortunately, it's not. So I called this move and I told her to do it and so she did it, and unfortunately, my neck wasn't strong enough and it snapped all the way back and it was essentially the same as having a really bad car crash - the whiplash was. My arms start losing the feeling and then I'm like 'oh my gosh, I can't feel my arms!' and I'm trying to grab her legs and she's like 'you need to stop' and I'm like 'no, no, no. Wait, I can stand up, let me do this' and so I stand up, but then I fall straight back down and I'm like 'oh my gosh, I can't feel my body right now, this is crazy' and I was so petrified I was like 'I think I'm paralysed'. The girls at the side of the ring were crying, Bayley was really upset and Sasha is sitting in the corner just devastated and I couldn't cry at first; I wasn't in any pain I was just in so much shock and I'm just looking at these girls like 'oh my gosh'. And I knew it, I felt it - my career was done. I remember them bringing out the stretcher and stuff like that and I was like 'please don't make me go out on a stretcher, that's all I'm asking. I don't wanna go out on a stretcher'. I wanted to walk out gracefully and I just knew I was going to get told I wasn't going to be able to do this anymore. So I'm finally up and walking and the crowd are cheering - they were so sweet - so I get backstage and Jamie Noble and all the trainers and doctors that we had were checking my reflexes and my body felt fine after that, it was just achey. But Sasha was there the whole entire time. She did not want to leave my side - like literally did not want to leave my side - and she was crying her eyes out. She said 'I'm so sorry' and I'm like 'It's not your fault, none of this is your fault'. So then literally the next day I get flown out to Orlando to see a doctor. The next day after that I got flown out to Dr. Maroon. He felt my neck and he was like 'You can have another surgery if you want, but you still have to retire, either way'. He was like 'if you get hit again you'll be paralysed' kind of the same as Edge and I already knew that, I was just hoping he would tell me something different. So getting back to work, I didn't wanna tell anyone just yet. I was like 'I'm fine, I just need a couple of weeks'. But, I remember just telling Sasha 'I can't wrestle anymore' and she was devastated, she started crying, crying her eyes out. I was like 'I'm so sorry', I think it's just a British thing to apologise! But I was like 'I'm sorry, it's not your fault' and she's just been so, so supportive. She always texts me like 'hey, how are you doing, how things going?' you know, and she's just always been really great."
Bullet Club invasion:
Two members of the Bullet Club were at an NXT live last night to scout for talent to join their faction.
Injury:
Joey Janela ''Messed up'' his knee at an indie show this week. He is being evaluated, but says he knew from the second it happened that it was bad.
Kurt to blame for famous Mania botch:
"Well, it was my idea to do the shooting star...Brock misjudged the flip and landed on his head. It was a scary moment. But nothing was said between us about it. The match spoke for itself regardless of the failed flip. If anything, it became one of the most popular WrestleMania moments."
Rusev accidentally caught Sheamus trashing 'Total Divas' during a live stream last night. He said when Rusev put the show on... "We're not watching that s--te!"
Alum hints at being retired:
Wade Barrett says he could not see himself returning to the ring... "I shouldn't say never, but at this time a full-time wrestler with nothing else going on just doesn't appeal to me. I like having the balance in my life. I like being outside doing other things like hosting a show on Netflix, or shooting a movie, and then I am going to go do a little wrestling commentary or this sort of thing, and then I am going to go spend a week in Greece with my girlfriend, which I had just come back from. These things were not available for me while I was working for WWE on a full-time schedule and would never be available as you work full-time with WWE. So, the older I got the more I started to appreciate balance and variety in my life and once you get a taste of that returning and realize how happy it can make you it is very difficult to conceive giving that up again."
Evolution:
Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women's is booked.
Impact HOF:
Abyss is this years Imapct HOF'er.
WWE / Impact:
The Meltzer has contradicted reports that Impact approached WWE for a meeting last week, and claims that it was WWE that instigated talks. He does not know what was discussed.
I'm a loser, baby:
Curt Hawkins says he fought to preserve his long losing streak recently... "There's been times where I was having matches; in particular I had a match on Main Event against Heath Slater that I was supposed to win, but I thought, wait, hold it, no, please, no. This could be something. There's no sense of ending this story on Main Event. Who begs to lose matches? I literally did that though where I said that I can't win matches, and they were cool about it in the first place where they were telling me that I did a good job and that I am going to win a match. But I was like, no, you don't understand."
LU drop ref:
Lucha Underground have released their senior official, Marty Elias, at his request.
Injury:
Sasha Banks has lost her spot in MM2 to Mickie James. She is injured.
Rey Jr:
Rey Mysterio's son has joined Lance Storm's wrestling school.
Bryan critical of fans:
Daniel Bryan says fans do not show the Bella Twins the respect they deserve... "Obviously I'm very close to the situation and I know that a lot of hardcore wrestling fans look at them and their era as a negative on women's wrestling. Brie was in the ring when the ring when the hashtag 'give divas a chance' because they were only in like a 30-second match. I think people were frustrated with this idea that the women weren't being given more opportunities. They worked very hard for that kind of thing and there were part of this transition into divas to women's wrestling.''
Jeff Cobb says he would think twice before signing for WWE: "If you asked me this 10 years ago I would have said I want to go there now. But with this giant resurgence and boom in wrestling... I mean don't get me wrong, if WWE called and all the stars aligned I'd definitely go, but as of right now I am having a blast. I am working 3 days a week and making a nice living. I'll be honest with you, like I said, as I kid WWE / WWF was all I watched, that's all we had. WWE is the NBA, it's Major League Baseball, it's where you go to be seen by billions of people. Like I said, if the stars aligned, price is right and everything else like that I would definitely take it into consideration. WWE is what brought me to be a wrestling fan as a kid."
Hardcore interview:
Hardcore Holly has discussed the toughest guy in wrestling and the infamous Brawl For All tournament, in conversation with Stone Cold Steve Austin... On Steve Blackman... "Let me tell you something. That whole thing with Blackman, was dead serious about hurting people. I mean, this guy, I kid you not, Steve, he isn't anybody to mess with. I pushed his buttons on purpose, but I knew my boundaries. I knew my limitations. I knew how far I could go with him because I knew Steve. I wasn't about to push him over that edge where I was going to come up missing because I'm serious - Steve is no joke. I'd put him in the same class as Meng, basically. Like, I put those two right there. Yeah, yeah. Steve's dangerous. He's dangerous. I talked to him actually probably about five six weeks ago for the first time in years. Yeah, he's one of those kinds of guys where if you're messing with him, just joking around, he questions, 'okay, is this guy really messing with me or is he wanting to start something?' He's always that serious!, "Blackman's a good dude, funny, one of the nicest people you'd ever meet, but he's just somebody that's dangerous. He's flat dangerous. He owns a bail bondsman business, so he's doing that, he has a martial arts school, an MMA school. He runs that, but that's what he's doing now. Yeah, he sounds like he's happy. He doesn't really have any desire to put himself back out there as far as wrestling, or appearances, or things like that. He's content doing what he's doing. I know he's married. He has two kids now and he seems happy, so he seems perfectly content with what he's doing." On Brawl For All... "Brawl For All was set up for 'Dr. Death' Steve Williams. WWE assumed he was going to take this whole thing and I guess that was going to be after that he was going to be an opponent for you.'' SCSA... ''I was on the inside, but I was looking in from the outside, thinking, 'okay, well, maybe I'm going to fight 'Dr. Death'' or 'I'm going to work with 'Dr. Death' after this,' and then, boy, all-of-a-sudden, it didn't go as planned." HH... "WWE decided on this Brawl For All. I can't remember who came up with this crazy concept, but I wasn't even supposed to be in it. I wasn't even on their radar to be in it. Tiger Ali Singh backed out of it, he said he was going to beat everybody, but when it came down to it, he backed out of it and so Prichard called me and asked if I wanted to be in it. I was, so I got in it. When Steve Blackman heard about it, he wanted in, so they put Steve in it. And, actually, Blackman probably would've won the whole thing. He was taking this thing so seriously, and this is the mindset of Steve Blackman, he was taking it so seriously he was actually working out with guys, preparing for this Brawl For All, shooting in, taking guys down, like, obviously, boxing was included. He was practicing, doing that, and the guy that he was practicing, training with was a lot heavier than Steve and ended up rolling on his knee and it messed his knee up, so he had to back out if it. Obviously, Bart Gunn was in it. I was riding with Bart Gunn at the time and he had called Bruce Prichard and told Bruce that he was going to win the whole thing and Bruce was like, 'I have no doubt you will; good for you; I think you'll do well in it; blah, blah, blah.' And Bart was like, 'no, Bruce.' See, I actually think he thought Bruce was patronizing him and he's like, 'no, Bruce. I'm going to win this whole thing.' Long story short, Bart ended up winning it, but one the way there, when Bart did fight Steve Williams, he knocked Steve out, it actually screwed up their whole plan for Steve Williams to work with you because they had no idea that Bart was going to knock him out. Like Bart said, if they would have just told him what the deal was, he would've had no problem putting Steve over basically, and so, Bart just went out there and did what Bart does. Bart knocked him out and ended up screwing up their whole thing and that's how Bart ended up moving on and obviously knocking out The Godfather, and knocking out Bradshaw, and making his way to the end. It screwed up their whole storyline as far as Steve Williams working with you when Bart knocked Steve out because their whole plan was for Steve Williams to win the whole thing and they thought he would. And, actually, the sad part about this whole thing is seeing somebody like Steve Williams get knocked out because of who he used to be, how big of a deal he was, and what a stud he was. And it was just really tough seeing it happen, but the boys all popped when it happened because Jim Ross was going around telling everybody how Steve Williams was just going to walk through everybody and people were tired of hearing it. The boys were tired of hearing that. And when Bart knocked him out, it just blew the roof off the back. The boys popped because everybody was sold out at the monitor watching the thing and when Bart knocked him out, the boys popped, you cannot plan for something like that to work out in your favor because it's not. When you dangle $100,000 carrot in front of somebody, especially a bunch of hungry boys, it's not going to work out like you think it is and it didn't. And unfortunately it didn't. And when you really stop and think about it, because of who Steve was, 1987 All American, he's a big deal in Japan, and then, all that gets wiped clean from getting knocked out. It's like, almost all of his credibility went out the window, in a sense. It didn't, but it did. Do you know what I'm saying? It's like, here is this guy who is supposed to be one of the baddest men on the planet and then Bart knocks him out? It almost wipes out his whole credibility even though anybody can get knocked out at any given second. And that's why you don't pit the boys against each other like that. It was a bad idea to start with. And it's like, if they wanted Williams to work with you, there are a whole bunch of different ways to get him there instead of having him come in and try to do a shoot fight for $100,000. It's just not going to work out. I had no idea how bad Gunn was I knew he was a big freaking country boy. Obviously, there's a lot of toughness there, but I didn't realize to what extent until I started watching him drop everybody. I was like, 'holy hell!' I guess I survived that son of a b---h! I don't know how I did because I know he hit me… Steve, I was on one side of the ring, he hit me, and I was on the other side of the ring. I stood there and I was like, 'how in the f--k did I get over here?' I did! I was like, 'how in the hell, did I get over here?' And all I know is I got hit and then the next thing, I was on the other side of the ring standing there. I was like, 'how in the hell did I get over here?' But I know he hits like a mule. I do know that, but it did surprise me that he walked through everybody like he did. It shocked me. Me and Bart, we agreed not to shoot in on each other, that's one thing because we watched the past fights, and, to me, they were kind of boring because guys shooting in on each other and going down to the mat. And we wanted to fight and that's what we agreed to do, 'okay, you don't shoot in on me, and I won't shoot in on you, and we'll just stand there and fight.' And that's what we did. And, obviously, he ended up moving on, which I'm happy for him, but it would have been nice to win. I mean, I still got $5,000 for getting in the thing."
HBK return leaks:
Shawn Michaels and Triple H are scheduled to reform DX for a Tag match vs Brothers Of Destruction in Saudi Arabia in November. It will be Shawn's first match since his 2010 retirement.
Bliss worries:
Alexa Bliss may have a neck issue. She is suffering numbness down her arm. The injury did not happen at HIAC, that was just to sell her taking time out for evaluation and treatment.
Y2J:
Chris Jericho has gotten a new tattoo, this time a tribute to the band Queen.
Impact's top star blasts modern wrestling:
Eli Drake says there is a plague in wrestling right now... "Like you have to be able to tell a good story. I didn't care about a Dean Malenko; I'm sorry, Dean, I actually like you, you're a nice guy personally, amazing worker in the ring, but it's just boring if you can't tell me a story… But if you can say something memorable and give me memorable moments, that's something. So my favorite part of the industry was always the drama, the trash-talk, all that kind of stuff. And if you can throw in hard-hitting action on the back end of that, that's amazing. But to rely only on that action and to not be able to bring it with any kind of character or anything like that, which I think is a plague in this business right now, sorry just speaking the truth, I think we're doing the business a disservice and I think we're doing the fans a disservice."
WWE / Impact:
Impact asked for the meeting with WWE last week. They sent out feelers to the company and are said to be offering their tapes archive to WWE for their Network.
WWE have agreed to pay $100,000 to a charity in Kane's jurisdiction as compensation for them taking their mayor on tour to Australia in a couple of months. Both Kane and Vince McMahon have emphasised the benefit Kane's continuing of his WWE career can do for good causes in the local area, by raising the profile of the town on their shows.
WWE games:
WWE have named this years purchasable characters for their game...
Bobby Lashley
Lio Rush
Dakota Kaii
Ricochet
Lacey Evans
EC3
Candice LeRae
Hanson
Rowe
Mike Kanellis
Maria Kanellis
They are facing heat from fans though, Tomasso Ciampa and Nikki Cross have apparently been dropped from this years game.
Team split:
Rusev Day broke up on SmackDown last night.
MMC2 botch:
After their match for MMC season 2 last night, which scored pitiful viewing figures, AJ Styles was tripped by a cameraman, he then fell into Charlotte Flair and knocked her to the floor too.
Randy in a bubble:
AC Bob Orton has revealed WWE have spent big $ on a personal tour bus for Randy Orton, to keep him out of any situations... "Randy has his bus, so he never really goes anywhere except, you know, the bus. I think few guys have that. Randy got the bus so he wouldn't get in any situations that weren't safe. He's got his bus, he's got a little kitchen, and you know, he's got his food. If he wants to have a beer or something, he does it on the bus. It's just a safe way to travel."
Impact HOF:
Impact will name a new Hall Of Famer this week.
Lashley angry with WWE return:
Bobby Lashley says he is p!ssed off that WWE have not given him the match he returned for, Brock Lesnar... "I wasn't so much bummed, I was more pissed off. Ever since I came into WWE, there's always been that comparison, and our paths have never crossed."
Ryback angry at WWE snub:
Ryback is unhappy that Kenny Omega was named PWI wrestler of the year, because he feels WWE should always have the top spot... "My opinion, and only my opinion is that they should always have a WWE guy at the top of their list. I say that because of the schedule. A guy like AJ Styles is going out there 4 nights a week, week after week, big time TV matches and pay per view matches, which is an entire different ballgame than anything else," he said. "Not to discredit anyone else but they are the most notable professional wrestling company in the world and the schedule, there is no other schedule like, so that has to be factored in, which it probably is to a certain degree, but again, all great names on the list, but if you take a group of 20 people they can have 20 different choices for who is number one, as I told you my reasons why I think it should be WWE guys at the top of the list because of the schedule and the demands."
Nia awarded:
Nia has been named style hero of 2018 by a fashion magazine in the States.
CM Punk:
CM Punk has completed taping his first feature film.
Alum re-signs:
Rey Mysterio has reportedly signed a 2 year deal to return to WWE, and is waiting for a creative angle to be written to bring him back to TV.
Paige:
Paige says TD will cover her sex tape, drugs issues, domestic violence issues with Alberto Del Rio and health problems on their next series.
Female main at Mania:
WWE are talking about Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair for WrestleMania 35, and it being the main event match is not out of the question. They are also impressed with the other 4 horsewomen's progress in NXT and at the PC, and the chances of the battle of the 4 Horsewomen at Survivor Series is said to be looking very good.
Alum on TV:
Brodus Clay has a role in this weeks episode of 'The Purge.'
Impact and MYC star to ROH:
Madison Rayne has signed for ROH.
Further complications:
WWE have lost out the Lucha brothers for a further year. Lucha Underground have an exclusive deal until the end of 2020.
WWE have asked their talent to select the soundtrack for this years game. The tracklist is, as follows...
Champion - Fall Out Boy (chosen by Alexa Bliss)
Devil - Shinedown (chosen by Baron Corbin)
Override - Slipknot (chosen by Seth Rollins)
Passion - Awolnation (chosen by Daniel Bryan)
Ric Flair Drop by Offset & Metro Boomin (chosen by Charlotte & Ric Flair)
Rockstar - Post Malone (chosen by Elias)
Skin - Bullet For My Valentine (chosen by The Miz)
Spit Out The Bone - Metallica (chosen by Triple H)
Survival - Eminem (chosen by AJ Styles)
The 11th Hour - Rancid (chosen by Sami Zayn)
Ungrateful - Wale (chosen by The New Day)
Work Hard - Migos (chosen by Samoa Joe)
WWE KSA:
Brock Lesnar will earn a 7 figure sum for a WWE trip to Saudi Arabia in November. The WWE World Cup will also be debuted, with the winning nation getting the Crown Jewel trophy.
WWE in Oz:
Shawn Michaels and Kane will be corner men for Taker vs HHH in Australia.
Impact drop former champ:
Andrew Everett has ended his three year career with Impact.
Hurricane working at PC:
Shane Helms is working as a guest host at the PC in Florida this week.
Fight still on:
The lawyer leading the fight against WWE over concussions is refusing to be deterred by his huge loss in court this week, when a judge threw all files out in one fell swoop. He says his fight will continue... "I stand for professional wrestlers who face the prospect of losing their identity and consciousness to the effects of a latent occupational disease that robs them of their sanity, comfort of their families and memories of everything they achieved entertaining the millions of people who love them. The lawsuits include some of the world's most famous athletes including those diagnosed with CTE by the world's foremost expert in CTE, including Jimmy Snuka and Mr. Fuji, whose brains were studied because of our advocacy and dedication to getting help for former WWE performers. The opinions expressed in today's decision about my strong advocacy are inaccurate, bizarre and unworthy of the court. The reasoning of the opinion itself is flimsy as the court finds, in ignorance of the facts, that there is no reasonable basis for the assertions, despite a substantial body of medical peer reviewed literature going back almost a hundred years. In any event these are Jury issues as the plaintiffs demonstrated that the WWE knew about the risks of head injuries long before the 2007 date the court invents. Additionally the WWE misclassified, exploited, injured these people in violation of labor laws and continues to ignore that CTE even exists in professional wrestling. It is a sad ruling, and we trust the wrestlers claims will be better received in the appeals courts. I will continue to fight and advocate for wrestlers legal rights despite this tragic opinion that attempts to cast down my clients hopes for better lives." WWE's attorney has fired back in the strongest terms possible, saying he should be disbarred as an attorney.
Injury:
Alexa Bliss is out injured. She has been replaced in MMC2 by Ember Moon, but will take the spot back when she is cleared from an arm injury.
SD tease:
WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas
Shinsuke Nakamura to battle Rusev in a United States Title Match
Will The Queen ruin The Irish Lass Kicker's triumphant return?
What will happen when Orton and Hardy return from hell?
Who will be the mystery guest on tonight's Miz TV?
Old boy talks WWE suicide threat:
Jason Sensation has discussed his threat to shoot himself in the head during a live WWE TV last month... "I suffer from depression and some mental issues,. It's hard to dive into this whole thing but I don't want to sugar coat it either. I have some issues with wrestling and I have some issues with how my career went. I'm very hurt about how my career went in WWE and the way it ended… They were in town and I was just in an emotional state. I was visiting my dad at my sister's place. I had a few drinks with my sister. I passed out and I woke up, and oh great Raw is fixing to come on. My dad loves wrestling and he was getting ready to watch Raw from Toronto. I say something stupid every now and then because I'm hurting and I'm just trying to get a reaction out of them. Do you even notice me? Why can't you see me? It's from a place of being hurt and never even getting a mention back. I can never get a mention back. Triple H will sign the wellness program letter to me. He'll sign it personally and send it to me but I can never get a tweet back or a message back online. I feel like I've been so blacked out from them I can never get their attention. When my oldest sister came home she came running downstairs and said, 'Jason, you don't understand what you've done. I said it's OK don't worry about it. I'll just deactivate my Twitter and I did without even realizing what I said. The next person to come down the stairs was a police officer. And I was like oh my God! This is real. After they detained me, they were showing me that I was on TMZ. It came from a sad place but I wasn't trying to get that attention this time. It was just me saying WTF ever and going back to sleep. I really did not put any thought into what I said in that tweet. When I reread it, I was like yeah that's a f---ing awful tweet. I've been getting nothing but very negative feedback from a lot of people and I get it. I'm not even gonna try to fight anyone on it. I get it. It was wrong. People were saying 'I was scared I was going to have to cover my children.' Oh my gosh! I didn't realize the magnitude of what I had even said. I sent out something from a hurt place without even thinking. I deal with mental illness. I do have suffering feelings and suffering pains. I do suffer from time to time. There's times I wish I didn't even have to be here to deal with my own pain. I don't want to die. I don't want to kill myself. When I had a heart attack I realized I didn't want to die…When push came to shove I don't really want to die. So, I regret sending that tweet out."
Bad start to retired life:
Matt Hardy said he was going home earlier this week, after a 25 year WWE career. Sadly, when he got there his house was flooded, damaged by a hurricane in the state of Florida. Scott Dawson has also stated his house in underwater because of the storm.
WWE / Impact meeting:
WWE and Impact officials met at WWE HQ last week, it has been revealed. HHH led the talks from the WWE side and Scott D'Amore and Ed Nordholm himself represented Impact. No word on what was discussed, but Impact have said today that it was not about the sale of their company to WWE.
WWE release ex TNA star:
Mahabali Shera has been released from his PC deal.
