Wrestling News & Rumors

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Originally Posted by Observer Impact Wrestling has revealed when Ken Shamrock's Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be taking place. It was announced today that Shamrock will be inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame on Countdown to Glory this Saturday. Countdown to Glory is the pre-show for Impact's Bound for Glory pay-per-view. The pre-show will air live on AXS TV and Impact's digital channels at 7 p.m. Eastern time, with Bound for Glory then beginning on PPV at 8 p.m. Eastern. Shamrock being inducted into the Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame over Bound for Glory weekend was first announced this March. Last month, Shamrock reached out to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Twitter and asked him to film an introduction greeting for Shamrock's Hall of Fame ceremony. Johnson responded by congratulating Shamrock and agreeing to film the video. Shamrock won the NWA World Championship on the first-ever TNA show in 2002. He returned to Impact last year and will be facing Eddie Edwards at Bound for Glory this Saturday.

Originally Posted by Observer The United Wrestling Network has revealed the bracket for their tournament to crown a UWN World Champion. The openweight, multi-week tournament features eight participants. Here are the first round matches: Left side of the bracket -- Erick Redbeard (formerly known as Erick Rowan in WWE) vs. Watts Chris Dickinson vs. Peter Avalon Right side of the bracket -- Karl Fredericks vs. Fred Rosser (formerly known as Darren Young in WWE) Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Mike Bennett The tournament will kick off with Dickinson vs. Avalon taking place on next Tuesday's edition of UWN Primetime Live. The Primetime Live weekly pay-per-view series launched last month and is a partnership between the UWN, the NWA, and Thunder Studios. The UWN's David Marquez tweeted about the World title tournament: "#Primetimelive is truly the epicenter of pro wrestling. My thx to NWA AEW NJPW MLW for their cooperation! Join us next week for The Librarian Peter Avalon Vs @DirtyDickinson! BE THERE!"

Originally Posted by PWI Impact Wrestling has signed Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo to an official contract, it was announced today during a media event held this afternoon.

Originally Posted by PWI PWInsider.com is sad to pass on the news that Johnnny Meadows, who wrestled for WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling in enhancement talent roles as well as lots of different Southern independent wrestling promotions over the years, passed away earlier yesterdat after battling COVID-19 for the last two months. He was only 59 years old. A Tennessee native, Meadows, real name Johnny Condrone, broke into the business in Southeastern Championship Wrestling in the early 1970s after training with Rick Conners and had a journeyman's career, working undercard and enhancement matches for just about every promotion you could think of, including Mid-Atlantic, the WWF, Continental Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling, sometimes as Johnny Meadows and other times under an assortment of ring names or masked personas. He last wrestled in the mid-1990s.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling The Baltimore Sun has a story on Ring of Honor’s most recent set of television tapings with a look at how extensive their protocols are. ROH has been at the forefront of promotions that have gone to great lengths during the pandemic regarding talent safety while also paying their performers during this entire year. In the article it noted: * One performer was sent home after testing positive for COVID-19, three others were sent home after working on events where someone tested positive (Danhausen revealed he was one of them last week after being on The Collective the previous weekend where several wrestlers announced positive tests after being part of the weekend’s events) * Joe Koff said that “it took months” to set up protocols with the Maryland State Athletic Commission * Those participating at the television tapings needed to take a COVID-19 test 14 before they went to Baltimore, took another test after they checked into the hotel and were isolated in their rooms until the results came in and could still only leave their rooms for a jog or short workout in a social-distanced gym * At the tapings, the ring mats were cleaned after each match and masks would only be removed for their matches * A final COVID-19 test was taken after the tapings for contact tracing purposes * There are tentative plans for another taping in December with Koff noting they are considering going to other states

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang was on Talk is Jericho to Wednesday to share his thoughts on the process of running a campaign, the issues of automation jobs that are replacing ones, and his specific interest in professional wrestling and some of the changes he wants to see for the talent. "If we win, I’m going to be in a position where I can call up the Secretary of Labor or in this case, it’s the National Labor Relations Board and then, bring suit against WWE and say, “Hey, I think you’re misclassifying your employees here” (laughs) and the damages would be really significant. So, that is more or less the plan. We may need to have some brave performer or ex-performer come forward and say “Look, here are the practices”, and I have been contacted by folks who are like “Look, I believe in this and I’m at a point in my career where they can’t really do anything to me anyway, so let’s have at this” because customarily for a National Labor Relations Board action it typically has to be an employee that initiates, so that is one of the trickier elements of this, Chris. But I’m very confident we can get there because there are a lot of people that recognize this is wrong and it’s been going on for far too long." Chris Jericho brought up one major difference in AEW is that the talent doesn’t have to pay for their expenses on the road such as rental cars and hotels, which is not the case in WWE.

Originally Posted by Fightful Chris Jericho isn't seeing any money from the WWE Network. On the latest episode of his Talk Is Jericho podcast, Jericho was joined by former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang to discuss Yang's ongoing battle against WWE and how they treat talent. During the conversation, Yang once again brought up the Screen Actors Guild and how actors and actresses are treated as part of the group. This led to Jericho wondering why he's not seeing any money from WWE Network airing his old matches. "This has to change and it's no ill will towards WWE. The fact that they can show all of my matches on their Network that people pay for and I don't get a dime of royalty, it makes no sense. That's not how normal business, normal entertainment, and the normal world works," said Jericho. "I did 'MacGruber' ten years ago and was in it for two minutes. I still get residual checks. It's not a lot, $20, $15, $50, but I'm still getting residuals from being on that movie. Here I am with probably 100 matches on the Network and getting nothing. I don't see the fairness in that." Jericho said he and Yang would have to talk off-air about correcting something like that.

This was actually something CM Punk had a big issue with prior and after the launch of the WWE Network since WWE was being very stubborn and secretive on informing talent how it would affect their royalties checks. Helped play a role in his eventual departure from the company.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Scott Fishman at TV Insider wrote a piece on his experience attending last week’s AEW Dynamite taping at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Fishman arrived at the arena minutes before the show went on the air and went through two temperature checks and answered a digital questionnaire before going to his pod where he sat with his group. Fishman noted that the exit process could be handled better with a staggered exit rather than everyone leaving the arena at once. He also added the mask enforcement was very strong.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling A Go Fund Me campaign has been launched for Tracy Smothers, who was diagnosed with Stage III Lymphoma last year and was recently hospitalized due to the growth of a tumor on the left side of his stomach that has spread into his lungs. They are seeking $5,000 for medical assistance and will also be running two benefit shows for Smothers on Sunday, November 15th in Jeffersonville, Tennessee with all proceeds going to Smothers.

Link for those interested in donating: https://www.gofundme.com/f/tracy-smo...enefit-round-2

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Today marks the 48th anniversary of All Japan Pro Wrestling’s debut show on October 21, 1972, after Giant Baba left the JWA and launched the company months after Antonio Inoki started New Japan Pro Wrestling and would become the dominant two promotions in the country. The two sides worked together for one show in 1979 where the two leaders teamed together for a show that was hosted by Tokyo Sports. Aside from that show, they didn’t work together again until 1990 when New Japan was in a bind booking the Tokyo Dome and relations with WCW broke down and led to several inter-promotional matches between the two. Baba ran All Japan until his death in January 1999 at the age of 61.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling In the main event of the 10/20 episode of United Wrestling Network’s ‘Prime Time Live’, Da Pope defeated Zicky Dice to become the new NWA World Television Champion. Zicky Dice had been reigning as Television Champion since January when he won the title on the NWA Powerrr series. In regards to NWA Powerrr, NWA owner Billy Corgan and the organization’s world champion Nick Aldis have both clarified that the show is not done and they’re in discussions about bringing the show back.

Originally Posted by Post Wrestling Independent wrestler AJ Gray has revealed that he has tested positive for COVID-19 after several negative tests following The Collective shows. Gray added that following The Collective, he tested negative three times but the most recent test came back positive. Gray said he doesn’t believe he contracted the virus at The Collective, where he wrestled seven matches and said he can “pinpoint the exact person who passed it to me.” He also said he is not experiencing any symptoms. Gray also wrestled this past Saturday at GCW’s The Last Resort show in Silverado, California against Joey Janela.

Considering the outbreak from their recent Collective shows, GCW really shouldn't have held another event this soon regardless if it was far away or involving different groups of talent since they still opened themselves to more risk with the coronavirus.

Originally Posted by Fightful All is well in Eddie Kingston's family. Weeks after Kingston told The Blade to get his house in order, alluding to his real-life wife Allie (formerly The Bunny) joining up with QT Marshall and the Nightmare Family, The Bunny has come home. On AEW Dark, The Bunny joined Kingston, The Butcher & The Blade, and The Lucha Bros for a family reunion. No other explanation was given for Allie transforming back into The Bunny and re-joining The Blade.

Link: https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1318717615091650561

Originally Posted by Fightful Mance Warner is looking to get out of his MLW contract. Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net reports that Mance Warner asked for his release from MLW, but MLW denied his request. According to Haynes, Warner is still trying to get out of his MLW deal and lawyers are now involved. When asked by Haynes for a comment on the situation, MLW told him, "all we’re saying is he [Mance Warner] remains under a deal.” It is unknown when Warner's deal with MLW expires and the company did not comment when asked. MLW is preparing for its restart as they return to running events, though an official date for the restart has not been announced. It is unknown if Warner will be part of the tapings. It was previously reported that AEW had interest in Warner. Warner recently filed for trademarks on his in-ring name and 'Southern Stomper.'

Originally Posted by Fightful On the July 12, 2010 episode of WWE Raw, Randy Orton pulled off arguably his most RKO ever. Matt Sydal (Evan Bourne in WWE) went to the top rope, looking for his trademark shooting star press. Coming down from the move, Orton was able to catch Sydal in mid-air to deliver the RKO. Fans can watch the spot in the video above. Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Sydal detailed how the move came about. "The first time I saw it get nailed was [Matt Cross], him and B-Boy did it on an IWA Mid-South show I was on. I was talking to him about it and I told him, 'If I ever have a feud with Randy Orton, I want to do the shooting star into the cutter.' The next day, turns out me and Randy have a segment. I said, 'Anybody want to do the shooting star RKO?' There were some doubts from management that it was humanly possible, but it was this perfect merging of two guys' finishers. It's something we can do confidently. I jump, and there's no control, so I'm jumping and thinking that if he's there, I'm going to land on him. If he jumps up to give me the cutter, I'm taking it. I basically do the same leap and when I'm able to see the ground, it's just getting caught." When discussing how to and for the move, Sydal said the toughest landings are one he basically belly flops onto the ring, which is what he ended up doing on the RKO. "This one was the highest level of pain degree because I have the extra downward gravity of it. I landed the best way to land, which is just belly out and eating it. I basically just laid there after. Sometimes I have energy and I'm selling, on that one, I just ate it and there was no wind left in me," he said. Sydal praised Orton for his timing and athleticism on the move, noting that they didn't practice it beforehand. He also praised the camera work for zooming in on him on the top rope and not tipping the counter until it was happening.

Originally Posted by WrestlingNews.co On today’s Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez read the statement that was sent out by WWE in response to a report about local officials looking to investigate venues in the Orlando area that could be COVID-19 hotspots. The WWE Performance Center and the Amway Center (WWE ThunderDome) were among the places listed as potential hotspots. WWE’s statement: “WWE is not open to the public, but rather operating on a closed set with only essential personnel in attendance. As part of on-going weekly testing protocols, Aventus Labs have administered more than 10,000 PCR tests to WWE performers, employees, production staff and crew resulting in only 1.5 percent positive cases as compared to the current national average of more than 5%. Additionally, extensive contact tracing takes place and impacted individuals are placed in 14-day quarantine and then only cleared after they test negative.” Alvarez said the following after reading WWE’s statement: “There are no official numbers because WWE never released official numbers but we’d heard around 38 for the big [outbreak] and then there was another [outbreak] and we didn’t hear any numbers for the other one but I heard double digits for that one and granted it was low double digits but that was the number that I heard. Then a lot of people disappeared and to be fair, some of the people that disappeared that was contract tracing disappearances. They actually didn’t have it but they had been around people who did have it. But the fact of the matter is WWE in their own statement is essentially saying 150 positive tests. That is insane and by the way, I know for sure that there have been individuals that tested positive and people that they lived with or their families, they ended up getting coronavirus and that would not even be counted in WWE’s testing. That is a crazy number of people that have contracted coronavirus directly as a result from WWE.” While some people in the company have gotten the message, the fact is that there are still people in WWE who are COVID deniers and are not treating the virus as seriously as others.

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