Matt Hardy has assured ROH that he will still work this weekend's PPV for them, despite re-signing for TNA for their New York shows.
Raw:
John Cena and Roman Reigns qualified for MITB.
TNA vs HOH:
Dixie Carter has challenged Tommy Dreamer and his House Of Hardcore promotion to come to Impact on Thursday to deal with the issues between the two groups.
WWE cuts:
Vince McMahon personally fired a creative head last week as part of the office cuts within WWE, but the slashing is not done, NXT will be hit next in the WWE re-structuring, the developmental group have had their budget slashed, and will need to cut back on production (Meaning no change to Fortnightly taping's), and sadly also to their roster, no word as yet on those to be cut, but the talent will all be evaluated over the next month, and decisions will be made in the weeks following. Tough time for all involved within WWE right now.
WWE will also be saving $20 Million on production costs at PPV Specials, they will scale back on special entrances, cut back drastically on Pyro and stop creating elaborate and distinctive sets, some are already critical that the events will become glorified episodes of Raw.
Chris Jericho one man show highlights:
He revealed that Brodus Clay and Christian broke his light up jacket right before he was about to enter for Mania 28, and had to improvise by only showing one side of the $15,000 garment to the camera's.
He discussed an incident in 2010 where The Undertaker was burned during his entrance for a match at Elimination Chamber, three Pyro's exploded into his face and Chris could smell Taker's skin burning, but the dead man refused to cut the match short.
He revealed he did not watch Taker vs HBK at WrestleMania 26, he snuck out of the building to watch Paul McCartney performing across the road.
He listed his top four matches as Savage vs Steamboat (Mania 3) Bret vs Owen and Razor vs HBK (Mania 10) and HBK vs Taker (Mania 25) which he says is his all time favourite match.
He revealed he was treated like an enemy when he debuted in 1999, and it took an age to win people's trust.
3MB:
3MB will continue, Heath Slater will audition new members in the coming weeks.
D'Von Dudley:
TNA have added D'Von back to their active roster, speculation is he will return soon, and will stay around until he is inducted into their Hall Of Fame at Bound For Glory.
Big Show:
Big Show has started filming his new movie this past weekend.
Cody Rhodes:
Cody is teasing keeping his StarDust gimmick going for a while.
Vickie Guerrero:
Vickie Guerrero is reportedly working her last angle for WWE, she has been ready to leave since WrestleMania, and has been talked into staying until now, but the story with the Authority will be her last, at least for now. She is expected to leave WWE within the next few weeks.
Hall Of Fame 2015:
PWI are reporting that Sting will headline next years HOF class for WWE, as the ceremony will be in his home state of California.
Shawn Michaels:
HBK has started writing the second part of his biography, it will be released next year.
Heat on Naomi:
Naomi had to delete a picture from her social media last night after she accidentally caught Kane and John Cena together backstage, shortly before they were set to wrestle against each other (Photo).
Chris Jericho:
Chris Jericho has invited Drew McIntyre onto his podcast to ''Clear the air'' following his WWE departure, and has drawn a line under his latest spat with Goldberg.
Alum hurt:
Ex WWE man Adam Bomb suffered a torn ACL and MCL in a freak training accident, and now requires surgery to repair the damage.
Sanada bt Manik, Tigre Uno, Crazzy Steve, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards to retain the X title.
Bobby Lashley bt Samoa Joe.
Magnus bt Willow.
Austin Aries bt Kenny King.
The Von Erich's bt BroMans.
Angelina Love bt Gail Kim to retain the Knockouts title.
Ethan Carter III bt Bully Ray.
Mr. Anderson bt James Storm.
Eric Young bt Bobby Lashley & Austin Aries to retain the TNA title.
Notes...
The Dudley Boys were named as the third TNA Hall Of Famers.
Jim Ross criticised the decision to have the Von Erich's win by DQ.
TNA were embarrassed on social media, they said they would reveal the opening match when a tweet got to 500 retweets, it only got 263 when the show went live, so they deleted the comment.
Another fail on the show saw the Menagrie's stilt walkers fall during their X title match entrance, at least one of the performers was hurt.
2500 fans were in attendance, half that of two years ago.
TNA no longer allow recording of their events, one fan complaining to his TV company that he worked late and set his device to record the show, only to get a message when he returned home to watch that he could not tape the event, was told that TNA had changed their position on the recording of their events.
WWE 2K15:
Producers of the new video game have suggested that CM Punk will NOT be one of the characters involved this year.
WWE vs Twitter:
The ''Cranky Vince'' Twitter account has been closed, it was famous for revealing backstage stories from within WWE.
Raw tease:
* Who will fill the final 2 Money In the Bank spots?
* What will Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose have in store for Seth Rollins & Randy Orton?
* Will Cody Rhodes bring a new Superstar to RAW?
* Who's next for Bo Dallas?
* Can The Usos overcome The Wyatt Family?
Ric Flair and The Miz's returns are also teased.
NXT promotion:
Kalisto is teaming with Sin Cara on the live circuit, possibly a clue to an impending promotion to the full roster. His former partner El Local (Ricardo Rodriguez) is working with the Diva's at the PC.
Daniel Bryan:
WWE have again insisted that Daniel Bryan will have to work a slower, less risky, and toned down ring style when he comes back from his neck injury.
Dolph Ziggler:
Do not expect Dolph Ziggler to be pushed back to the top of WWE. Officials have given up on him as a top star due to his proneness to injury, particulary concussions, and the amount of time he misses. They feel they could not rely on him to carry the company as a leader, and prefer to get solid mid card matches out of him instead. He is not the only one, a number of stars, including Christian and Rey Mysterio, have been described as ''Snake Bit'', and untrustworthy when it comes to the big money matches.
New job for ex WWE star:
Shaul Guerrero has started training to become a vet today.
Matt Hardy:
TNA have announced that Matt Hardy has re-signed for them, and will return at the New York tapings.
Dedicating today's news to Casey Kasem, the voice of Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo cartoon who died today... RIP...
WWE wedding:
PWI and FW4 have confirmed that CM Punk and AJ Lee married this weekend, this is still not confirmed by either of those involved, who reportedly wanted to keep the wedding a private matter. Rumours that AJ Lee is pregnant have been denied by sources close to the former Diva's champ.
WWE cuts:
WWE did everything they could to avoid the cuts from earlier this week, the change in strategy, allowing contracts to expire, rather than release people is something they wanted to stick to, but they felt they needed to show investors they were cost cutting in the wake of the financial crash, and had to backtrack on their promises to the roster regarding their job security. Referee Marc Harris may be an exception to that, WWE have not been happy with him since he had an online spat with Jim Korderas a few months ago. A reminder of what happened, Harris, in one of his first events on the main roster botched a call, Korderas, a former, long term WWE official, who now tweets during PPV events for followers of his podcast, made light of the issue, and teased the rookie. Marc did not take the banter in the way it was intended from the former star and arrogantly attacked Korderas as washed up and bitter that he was still at the top, while Korderas was not. Korderas responded only once, saying that he was trying to pick him up from his mistake, and that everyone had been in the same situation at some point in their career, also that he was very disappointed in his response, and that he would not last in the business very long if he did not know how to take a rib, or how to laugh off his mistakes, and move on. Harris continued to tweet negatively about the former ref, without actually naming him, which was something else Korderas questioned him on. WWE it seems were very unhappy with his behaviour, not just for letting the company down, but because Jim Korderas is still very well liked and respected in WWE, after being employed for over a decade by them, and were embarrassed by the newer man's disrespectful outburst, and lack of professional etiquette. It has been suggested that he has been in the dog house with some in WWE ever since, and was a very easy decision when it came to picking a ref to drop.
Brodus Clay talks WWE departure... ''I was driving to go train at Hard Knox. I got a phone call and they were like, "I think you know why we are calling." I am like, "ok." We discussed a few things and I thanked them for their time. We parted ways and that was it.Visit Wrestling Inc. Then I looked online and on Twitter and it started blowing up. So I made a statement and as far as I was concerned, I was going to finish my day. I did not want people to be all negative and all like, "I am so sorry." There is people that had really bad mornings and I wasn't one of them. I had one of the greatest jobs in the world, but that is not the end of the world. There's people out that don't know if their child is going to make it out of the hospital or not. Also may not know where their next meal is coming from. There is people that had some bad days. Like nobody wants to lose their job. They way I look at it. You can break bread or play dead. Only you can close doors or burn bridges. I don't think I have done anything to do that.''
Seth Rollins:
WWE are working on new theme music for Seth Rollins, but are at pains to say he has not joined Evolution, as was first thought when he broke away from The Shield.
Goldberg vs Y2J:
When made aware of Chris Jericho's comments about him (See yesterday), Goldberg denied the account of a backstage fight between the two, and say's of Y2J... "He's on crack."
NXT star reveals past illness:
Alexa Bliss has revealed that she suffered a near fatal eating disorder during his gymnastics career, but is now using some of the skills she learned to improve her ring style.
3MB rise like a phoenix:
3MB may not be dead after all, Heath Slater and Hornswoggle continued to work as 3MB at this weekend's lives. Also at the lives Damien Sandow was squashed three times in a row vs three different opponents, Titus O'Neill, Bo Dallas, then Adam Rose. Remember when he was #1 contender???.
WWE 2K15:
Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Naomi, Cameron and AJ Lee have all been confirmed for the next WWE game, joining John Cena, Hulk Hogan, Bray Wyatt and Cesaro. Also announced for the game...
* 2K Sports is promising a much more polished game. One area that will be improved is motion captures. WWE actually sends an "official ring setter-upper" to make sure everything is by the book when motion captures are being filmed.
* WWE 2K15 will feature at least five times the animations of any previous WWE game.
* Visual Concepts is working on the game in a major role and one of their new goals is for gameplay to have a pacing similar to that of a real WWE event with matches having less of a free-for-all tone.
* Yukes is also working on the game but Visual Concepts is doing most of the work.
* Superstars will seem a lot more life-like in their movements and facial expressions.
* Visual currently has 90% of the WWE roster scanned in.
* Visual Concepts is also improving the commentary. Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler have already recorded about 35 hours of new lines, most of them recorded together.
And Sting will be heavily featured, as Warrior was this year, as an extra pre order character, and in the promotion of the game.
Macho Man Randy Savage:
Lanny Poffo is reportedly set to take part in the new Randy Savage DVD from WWE, that is rumoured to be coming out as part of his HOF announcement for next year. Speaking of which...
Hall Of Fame 2015:
This is the likely class of 2015...
The Rock.
Macho Man Randy Savage.
Kevin Nash (As Diesel).
Rikishi.
Victoria or Mickie James.
An as yet un-named celebrity inductee, but as they are in California, it will probably be a big name, to cash in on their profile to promote Mania.
WWE Alum causes huge offence:
Matt Striker learn your crowd... The WWE Alum worked a match in a tough part of San FranCisco this weekend, and cut a really strong heel promo, Striker was bashing gays, marijuana advocates, black people and Mexicans. He said that the white man rules the world and that Obama is Hitler. At this point an extremely angry man, charged to the front of the crowd trying to get to Striker, he was held back by some fans initially, as the security were very slow to respond to the situation, some parents worried about the safety of their kids asked him to calm down and go back, eventually security did restore control and the match went ahead. Afterwards Striker stayed in the ring and apologized for his promo, to the crowd, and personally went to the aggressive fan and apologized to him, with a handshake. He later admitted to being very scared for his safety. He did however stay until the end and signed autographs for fans, as well as running the merch stand.
WCW star arrested:
This story is just breaking, so there are not many details, but Buff Bagwell was arrested in Georgia this week, one charge is an old one of reckless driving, other offences are TBA.
Samoa Joe vs Bobby Lashley and Austin Aries vs Kenny King in number one contenders matches will decide who challenges Eric Young for the TNA title at Slammiversary, it means the winner would have to win two matches on the same night to take the gold.
WWE wedding:
Rumours have been flying that CM Punk and AJ Lee were married yesterday, neither have yet confirmed the news.
WWE lives:
John Cena and Randy Orton have been given this weekend off, both have suffered injuries in the past couple of weeks, and are being nursed back, to be fit for Money In The Bank.
WWE roster cuts:
Tommy Dreamer on giving Brodus Clay his WWE job... "I hired Brodus Clay into the WWE, he is phenomenal. I remember I met him at a bar where he was a bouncer. There was a fight and I helped him out in the fight. That's how we met. He wanted to be a wrestler I told him to go to wrestling school. There's life after WWE... you're not going to have a job forever. It's the nature of the beast. Some guys have a long run, and yes they could have gotten a lot more out of them, but it's based on someone else's opinion."
Aksana has hinted at retirement, she tweeted that Raw was her last match, (It was actually a SmackDown match vs Alicia Fox).
The roster are all on 90 day no compete clauses, meaning they will not be able to work TV or PPV dates for any one else until September 12. That is apart from Teddy Long, who has already done his 90 days since his deal expired, and is now free to move on.
The remaining roster have also been told to expect more cuts if the WWE financial crisis does not recover soon.
Money In The Bank:
Bray Wyatt has joined the title ladder match, and The Uso's vs The other members of his clan, Harper and Rowan, for the Tag Titles is now official for the next WWE special.
WWE suffer more issues:
French channel NT1 have revealed they will not renew their WWE TV deals. WWE studio's exec Michael Luisi has sold his 5000 shares for $11.20 each, not a good PR move for WWE's own officials to be selling up their stock, especially in light of their recent financial issues.
New DVD:
WWE have announced they will release a DVD on the ''Top giants in WWE history'', a countdown collection of the 20 best big men in history... (Big Boss Man hands down for me)...
WWE top 10:
Fails.
WWE injury:
NXT Title #1 contender Tyler Breeze is working with 3 broken fingers.
Chris Jericho one man show highlights:
Jericho revealed that Goldberg refused to work with him because he wanted to go hunting, and that he, and Eric Bischoff (For letting him) were idiots.
He talked about the reason he fought with Goldberg backstage in WWE, saying Goldberg had trashed him whilst he was working a match, and when he heard he confronted the bigger man, got him into a headlock, and kept him there, with Goldberg unable to do anything about it. He also added that Vince texted him to ask what happened, and then chastised him for not sending him a message to tell him about it, in a friendly, joking way. Vince apparently found it very funny.
He did not like working in Japan.
WCW once sent him a cheque for the amount of $0.00 by Fedex.
The reason for yesterday's WWE cuts is now known. Interestingly the decision to cut, and the decision on most if not all of those that were cut came from Mark Carrano who works under Triple H in talent relations, he also made all of the phone calls to break the news. He may be known to some, as he has appeared on Total Diva's. The reason is the poor subscription rate of the Network, WWE feeling they have to tighten their belts to regain some of the outlay they spent on the Network, as it is not making the money back as quickly as they had hoped. Also the cuts are not over, WWE are lining up a new series of releases, but this will be on the office and admin side of the company.
Some of the releases were expected, Teddy Long, had been off screen for some time, Yoshi Tatsu, who WWE feel is poor in the ring, and Brodus Clay who is not popular with the creative team, however Camacho and Curt Hawkins have raised some eyebrows, Camacho is very popular with the NXT team, and Curt had a long term contract with several years still to run. Curt Hawkins has already scored his first booking since, he will work this weekend for JCW, under the name ''The Prince Of Queens Brian Myers''. As well as that his personal feud with Mark Henry continues, Mark claims he did not know about the roster cuts at the time he made the offending tweet, and has demanded an apology from Hawkins, also menacingly adding that he knows where Curt lives and will handle the situation if he does not receive one.
Evan Bourne has apologised to his fans for not recovering from his broken foot.
Brodus Clay is on his way to Japan, not to wrestle, although he says he will look into his options whilst in the country, he is going to join a protest aganist dolphin poaching in the nation, something he has felt strongly about for a long time.
NXT fans were un-impressed with the releases, chanting for those fired during last night's show. The Hurricane has offered some words of advice to those released...
"To newly released talents, embrace your freedom. The Indy scene is on FIRE and is in fact home to the best wrestling in the world. The WWE is the biggest "stage" for pro wrestling but the "best" wrestling I've seen in the last years has been on the Indy's. Good luck!! My point being, I know some of the guys might be a little scared and depressed but rest assured there's life after WWE, I promise you. And that's NOT a knock on WWE at all. But WWE is just one wrestling company, there's plenty of other great wrestling out there. Don't forget that WWE just had a stock market nightmare recently. These releases don't necessarily reflect anyone's level of talent."
Austin Aries:
TNA have forgiven and forgotten Austin Aries, he had been in the dog house for some time, but his willingness to step in as a late replacement for Samoa Joe, who has been dealing with some family problems has won the support back from the office, and he is now back full time.
TNA poaching ROH stars:
Davey Richards is contacting friends from ROH with the offer of TNA deals, a number of ROH talent are interesting TNA, but one former TNA man has reportedly turned them down, Black Machismo Jay Lethal did not want to be a part of Destination X.
Mark Henry:
Mark Henry has confessed to struggling for some time with health and injury issues... "I've not been healthy in sometime just gutting it out. No pund intended. I will be back an all will be right."
WWE to repeat controversy:
WWE are contemplating redoing to CM Punk what they recently did to Rey Mysterio. Vince McMahon decided to re-sign Rey despite the Mexican refusing a deal, they may do this with CM Punk to maintain his services for themselves, even if he refuses to work. This will stop him working for any other promotions, but as noted earlier this week, Rey is seeking legal advice about WWE's actions re his deal, so WWE may see how that plays out before making the decision on Punk's future with the company. The main issue with that is they would have to keep paying him his generous wages, without getting anything for their money. Punk is free in July, so they will have to move on this soon, if they plan to keep him, whether he is willing or not.
MVP:
TNA have confirmed MVP is out of Slammiversary due to the knee injury he suffered in the UK. Bobby Lashley is expected to step in as a sub.
Pat Patterson:
Pat Patterson has revealed himself to be gay publicly for the first time. He did so on the last episode of Legends House, as well as revealing his partner of 40 years died of a heart attack. This is not new news to wrestling fans, it has been an open secret for many years, but he still found it emotionally difficult to talk to his fellow legends about the issue, some of whom also became emotional as he spoke.
Some main stream media outlets have picked up on the story today.
WWE have taken another shot at CM Punk, with a video playlist on his WWE run Facebook page, this one entitled... "SUPERSTARS WHO SOLD OUT and broke our hearts in the process!!!!"
TNA Slammiversary:
Sanada will defend the X Title in a ladder match against Manik, Tigre Uno, Crazzy Steve, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards.
Vince McMahon vs Triple H:
There is a split in the WWE office over the future of a physical WWE Hall Of Fame museum. Vince has never been a supporter of the idea, but it is something Triple H is adamant must go ahead to add credibility to their Hall.
Randy Orton:
Orton missed Raw this week due to an injury. It is not serious, and he was given the time off as a precaution. The knock happened in a match vs Big Show, when he hurt his collarbone. He will be back next week.
TNA star branching out:
Magnus is having meetings in Hollywood this week, looking to further his ambitions away from the wrestling world.
Tyson Kidd:
WWE are now in two minds about changing Tyson Kidd's gimmick, they think he is doing well as a heel.
NXT star to benefit from Rey Mysterio's departure?:
If Rey Mysterio goes through with it, and quits WWE, expect Kalisto to be promoted from NXT, as WWE want a Latino baby face to lead their Spanish market as it's figurehead, and have already given up on Sin Cara.
WWE Cull roster:
WWE have today axed 11 stars, they are...
Theodore Long.
Yoshi Tatsu.
Brodus Clay.
Aksana.
Evan Bourne.
Camacho.
Curt Hawkins.
Drew McIntyre.
Jinder Mahal.
Marc Harris.
JTG
The 10 wrestlers have already been transferred to the Alumni section.
A number of those released have commented since the news broke, one, Curt Hawkins, was left furious by what he saw as a swipe at those dropped from Mark Henry on his Twitter. The former champ said ''Here we stand 18 years in August. Still here!!!''
Hawkins re-tweeted the comment, with an additional note...
''Your colleagues lose their jobs & you tweet that? You're an idiot Mark.''
Jeff Jarrett wasted no time in declaring interest in the released for his GFW promotion.
This comes on the day it is reported that Vince McMahon has also given up on 3 recent NXT promotions, Bo Dallas, Paige, and Adam Rose, who was ''Totally buried'' by senior exec Kevin Dunn backstage at this weeks Raw. However another staffer has played the reports down, saying Vince is not fond of stars being pushed too far too soon.
Rock Star:
Australian singer and actress Kylie Minogue has joined up with The Rock on set of his disaster movie ''San Andreas''. She has joined as a late addition to the cast. (Pic).
Dean Ambrose required 9 stitches to close a cut to his chin, after his match on Raw last night.
WWE romance:
Speaking of Mr Ambrose, strong rumours he is dating Renee Young have emerged online, after they were recorded getting out of the SAME CAR!!!.
TNA:
TNA have created an app for Windows phones.
Kurt Angle will announce the third TNA Hall Of Famer at Slammiversary. The promotion have worked out a back up plan should MVP be unable to wrestle at the event.
Hornswoggle talks pride at recent angle:
''Man, I still don't think they do. I get four, five tweets literally every day saying, "Why do you still have a job?" And I guess it's staying under the radar more than anything (laughs). I really think this whole storyline and these matches with (El) Torito has really made people look at me like, wow, he can do this. Before this, I really didn't have matches. I'd wrestle a little boogeyman or I'd juggle around or use squirt guns, but now I'm having legit wrestling matches. Our WeeLC match at Extreme Rules stole the show. I don't care what anyone says. It was a pre-show to the pay-per-view and I will go to bat for that match against any match that was on that night. That match stole the show because people didn't expect what we did and the crowd tore the roof off. New Jersey fans are the most ruthless fans in the country for booing and hating on whatever's in the ring if they don't like it. We had them chanting, "This is awesome" and "Holy (expletive)" the whole match. That's when I realized I can do this. It felt so good to finally have one of those moments after eight years. It was great and I really think people are starting to take me seriously and realize that I'm more than a circus act.''
WWE 2K15:
The poster, and first four names for the next WWE game have been revealed (Photo).
Raw SPOILERS!!!:
Ric Flair and The Miz will return next week, Flair as Miz's manager, and John Cena will be added to the Money In The Bank title match.
END OF SPOILERS!!!
UFC:
Huge wrestling fan, and UFC star Chael Sonnen has been banned from UFC 175 after failing a drugs test.
Daniel Bryan:
Dave Meltzer is reporting that WWE will give Daniel Bryan until SummerSlam to be fit to go, or their long held plans for a summer feud between Daniel and Brock Lesnar over the WWE title will be cancelled. At this time Bryan will still be returned to the title stories when he returns, but WWE are only prepared to wait so long.
SmackDown SPOILERS!!!:
Bad News Barrett vs Roman Reigns.
Erick Rowan vs Jey Uso.
Bo Dallas vs R-Truth.
Cesaro vs Sheamus.
Adam Rose vs Fandango.
Big E. vs Jack Swagger.
Aksana vs Alicia Fox.
Bray Wyatt vs Dean Ambrose (MITB Qualifier).
END OF SPOILERS!!!
Steve Austin reveals Mania 30 angle was re-worked:
"What was sold to me was Hulk Hogan goes to the ring, then The Rock goes to the ring, then Stone Cold goes to the ring. So what I was sold and what happened were two different things. Be that as it may, it turned out as it did, I had a hell of a lot more stuff that I wanted to say in regards to a promo, but they presented that on the day and I went with it because if you get to perform at WrestleMania, the time should go to the guys and the gals who are going to be working the matches in the ring, so that they can all tell their stories. So I went along for the ride. I have a lot of respect for Hulk Hogan. The Rock is a friend of mine and I have a ton of respect for him, and when you get three cats like us in the ring, it was truly a good time, and I think everyone there enjoyed it."
He went on to say he is open to another match, and defended CM Punk's WWE departure.
MITB potential SPOILER!!!:
There are rumours WWE are working on an angle with two different superstars grabbing one of the two title belts at the same time, creating a feud between the two to determine who is the real world champion. There are also rumours of Daniel Bryan appearing during the MITB match to get the belts back, but his condition is probably going to kill that angle.
Rey Mysterio talks pride at tribute:
Rey Mysterio has only just found out about the Mexican national football team using his mask design on their shirts for the upcoming football world cup, he has declared his pride and delight at the news... "Soccer runs in my blood. When you talk about Mexican culture, it's wrestling and soccer. I didn't know anything about it until my father told me. I didn't believe it. He showed me the video and I thought somebody had made it up. I felt incredibly honored when I realized it was true."
