POST NEWS UPDATE: Britt McHenry Files Lawsuit Against Tyrus
** FOX Nation commentator and former ESPN employee Britt McHenry is filing a lawsuit against FOX and her former “Un-PC” host Tyrus, formerly known as “Brodus Clay” in WWE. TMZ is reporting that McHenry has claimed that she has reported four sexual harassment incidents to the network. According to documents obtained by TMZ, McHenry’s claims were ignored and FOX kept her out of company events and did not allow her to appear as a guest on other FOX News shows. Tyrus reportedly made comments about Britt’s body, sent her pictures of his genitalia and made other comments through text messages. FOX and Tyrus were reached out to by The Wrap and a FOX spokesperson told the publication that McHenry’s claims recycle the same allegations.
“As we have previously stated, Ms. McHenry’s allegations have been fully investigated and we are confident our actions will be deemed entirely appropriate in litigation. We expect all of her claims to be dismissed,” the spokesperson said.
Tom Clare, who is an attorney representing Tyrus said that his client is denying the claims and will be filing defamation counterclaims and added that Tyrus is looking forward to having a public forum in the court system to clear his name. Britt McHenry is seeking up to $75,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.
This past June, The Daily Beast reported that Tyrus was pulled from he and Britt McHenry’s show after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against him. The article from June backs McHenry’s claim that FOX ignored her complaints and are aware of the situation. Sources told The Daily Beast that Tyrus has a history of making “off-color” and/or “politically incorrect” remarks and just has a wild sense of humor overall.
** Santana and Ortiz sat down with Chris Van Vliet for an interview. During the conversation, Ortiz talked about he and Santana switching up their in-ring style[s] to avoid getting some of the cheers that they receive so that they can work as heels.
“Which is why we’re trying to change up our wrestling style, because I don’t know if you’ve seen our older stuff to what we’re trying to do now. Yeah, we still do our cool combos and sequences but we’re trying to change it up a little bit. We’re trying to be more meticulous, really more methodical, working a body part and we’re just trying to — we want to show people that we can do it all, because if you wanna throw us in there with Lucha Bros., we can have that insane tit-for-tat match all day. We’ve wrestled them like 20 times at this point and we can do it, but, we also want to challenge ourselves and really implement more of an old school style of wrestling with sprinkles of the new school, rather than the reverse.”
Also, Ortiz recalled when he and Santana were about to turn down a deal from WWE. He said part of the agreement was that it was guaranteed that after NXT, they were headed to either RAW or SmackDown with the incentive that instead of moving to Florida, the two could continue residing in New York.
“We were about to turn down WWE, and we sat down and we were like, ‘Alright man, we don’t want to burn a bridge.’ We never want to burn any bridge anywhere we go, because that’s not how you do business. You should keep every avenue open. So he [Santana] had this whole spiel. He was like, ‘Alright, this is what we’re gonna say so we don’t burn a bridge’ and then we go, and then we get cut off and they were like, ‘Listen, just really think about your decision’ and then we stopped and we hang up the phone and we were about to turn them down and then we sit there and we’re like, ‘Damn, they’re making this really hard for us…’ Yes, it was for NXT with the guarantee to eventually go to the main roster. So we were just like alright man, dang. But honestly, what the ultimate decision was, we were like, ‘Do we wanna just be a part of something that’s already established? Or do we wanna be a part of something new and make history?’ Because no matter what happens with AEW… again, we’re here to make it successful but no matter what happens, we will always be a part of the first-ever main event on the first-ever television of AEW. We were like, ‘Do we want to be a part of history, or fade into black?’ And even best case scenario, we’re just gonna be small fish in an ocean. There’s so many people there, it would be an uphill battle. Not saying that we wouldn’t be able to do it because we’re confident in our abilities, but, we could be a part of history. We could be a part of change and we could be a part of change that literally, you’re seeing the change. We were just talking about this before the camera went on and it’s changing wrestling for the better. No matter what happens with this company, wrestling has changed for the better and it’s continually changing for the better and we were like, ‘Man, we want to be a part of history.’”
** There is an International Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame being established in New York. Tony Vellano told MyTwinTiers that New York state is behind this new venture. Vellano was the original President for the Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame when it was based in Amsterdam, New York before it was moved to Texas.
** Us Weekly conducted an interview with former RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. Ronda said that she would like to be a part of another season of Total Divas if E! Network and WWE are willing to have her back.
“I would like to be part of it if they would like to have me back. I actually had a really good time. It forced me to make time available to hang out with my girlfriends and that is I think, my favorite part. I feel like if I was able to do another season of Total Divas, it would be a really great way to stay connected with all those girls and not just through text messages but actually be able to continue to share experiences with them.”
As far as a return to WWE, Ronda stated that she is not in a rush to return as it was difficult being away from her family so often during her recent run and now she is completely focused on her family.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to be back in the same capacity that I was before. I think it was really rough for my family to be gone for 200 days out of the year. No one ever really retires from the business. I’m just trying to find that way to balance both. I think that it is possible to find that happy medium, but this time last year I was just 100 percent in on wrestling and I just want to be 100 percent in on my family right now. I’m going to try to find a way to balance the two in the future.”
** During the 12/10/19 episode of WWE Backstage on FS1, it was announced that The Viking Raiders (Ivar & Erik) will have an open challenge for the RAW Tag Team Championships at TLC on December 15th.
** Matt Hardy took to Twitter and shared the following message:
“I needed to return to @WWE to finish in the right way. I didn’t want 2010 to be my finale. I returned in the most EPIC way & repaid my debt. I waved the #WWE flag with pride & worked hard to be a model employee. My conscience is clear & I am at peace.”
Hardy was defeated by Drew McIntyre this past Monday on RAW. Reby Hardy quote tweeted Matt Hardy’s comment and noted that Hardy has repaid his debt and WWE rubs it in his face every chance they get.
** Tokyo-Sports announced that Kazuchika Okada is receiving the Most Valuable Player award in the 2019 Pro-Wrestling Grand Prix awards. Okada versus SANADA from NJPW’s King Of Pro Wrestling event in October is taking the match of the year award. Taking the Tag Team of the year award is Suwama and Shuji Ishikawa of All Japan Pro Wrestling. The Special Medal award is going to AJPW’s Kento Miyahara and Kaito Kiyomiya is taking the Fighting Spirit Award. The honor of best skill is going to Kota Ibushi, Rookie of the Year is going to Strong Machine J of Dragon Gate and taking the Women’s Wrestling award is World Of STARDOM Champion Mayu Iwatani.
** During an interview with PEOPLE, Ronda Rousey expressed that the female athletes on WWE’s roster are doing amazing right now and she doesn’t think she’s necessary for what’s going on at the moment.
“The girls are doing amazing right now. I really don’t think that I’m that necessary in what’s going on. I think they’re crushing it and I really did want to bring a spotlight to what they’re doing and let them stand in it, and I think it’s kind of better. They’re better off with me taking a step away right now, and kind of finding their stride without me, and I would love to add to what they’re doing. I don’t want to ever be a hindrance or take away from what they’re doing or steal the spotlight from some up and coming girls that deserve it more than me.”
** After a back and forth exchange with ACH on Twitter, Shad Gaspard released a statement and noted that he’s no longer going to respond to ACH. He noted that mental health is a serious condition and it’s something he battles with himself. He added that bettering mental health is a daily exercise of accountability with support and not pointing the finger at others or “photoshopping racist images”, which is he referring to ACH putting the Jordan Myles t-shirt logo over his face after their first back-and-forth on Twitter. Gaspard concluded his statement by noting that either one can seek help and make amends with those who they’ve hurt or go down a path that will spiral and no one will be hurt but the person that is spiraling.
** Former WWE Tag Team Champion Darren Young wrote a piece for Sportskeeda in-which he talked about Bray Wyatt. Young shared that Wyatt embraced him when he got back on the road from Tommy John surgery and Wyatt nearly tackled Young to the locker room floor because he was excited to have Darren back on the road.
** JTG launched an app titled ‘Earsaye’ which allows users to send audio memes to those in their contact lists or share the memes on social media.
** TJP hosted an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit and opened up about his experience trying to pitch himself to Vince McMahon and how that unfolded:
“Not that I know of. I didn’t leave over disciplinary stuff, it was a creative thing. I said I was unhappy about a year prior. I went to vince in London before raw and said I don’t feel like I’m a commodity to him, I’ve been kind of detached from repping my community since coming off the cwc, I’m not having fun anymore, and that I was just a good wrestler in a company full of good wrestlers so I’m not of any value to him. I don’t believe in quitting, so I told him I wanted to do better. He asked me how he could use me better, and I said I would show him. That was in February 2018. Then I spent the year organizing my own appearances for Filipino events, doing red carpet interviews and participating in charities and community activities. Worked with groups that do stuff like Filipino heritage nights for nba and nfl teams and wanted to work with WWE to do the same centered around me. Around survivor series I presented it all to Vince, I told him he asked me to show him how I can be used differently and this was it. He was on board and wanted to find a spot on RAW for me to kind of change gears, so he said to pitch some creative and we could meet again and figure something out. So I wrote stuff for everyone I could think of, but it just became apprentices that there’s just too many main characters they already are invested in and none of it stuck. I expressed I do wanna go back to japan and Mexico and eventually Vince decided to let me go do what I want. He said he didn’t know how to use me but didn’t want me to be an unhappy player in the same spot I was in. He said he has a lot of respect for what I wanna do and the balls to tell him and that I should go out and spread my wings. But no bad blood as far as I know, in fact they were gracious enough to let me start working way before my 90 days was up. I still keep in contact with many of the producers and such.”
** WHAM-TV, which is a news station based out of Rochester, New York ran a story about Luke Harper being released from WWE. Harper hails from the city of Rochester.
** Asuka appeared on the latest edition of Complex’s ‘Gochi Gang’ series with Reina Scully. Scully and her guests tackle Japanese comfort cooking.
** Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey made their way onto Twitter’s top ten female athletes worldwide list.
** Phoenix New Times conducted an interview with Mega Ran and the two parties talked about Mega Ran’s appearances on WWE programming and the time he ran into John Cena at a WWE event.
** Ric Flair was a guest on WrestlingINC’s WINCLY podcast and was asked for his thoughts about Corey Graves’ comments concerning Charlotte Flair that were made on WWE’s After The Bell podcast. Flair said he is not too pleased with how Charlotte is being booked but does agree with the sentiments that she is the best that the company has to offer in multiple categories.
“I am not happy with the way they’re doing it, but then again, I have nothing to say about it and I guess what I don’t like is she’s been put in that role where number one, I hate… and this is important that people [are] finally getting this through their head. They never will. Number one, I need to be left out of the equation. She has surpassed me in talent, and she’s never gonna be around for 40 years which is one of the reasons that I’m still — if I’m a household name or whatever you call me. It’s because I was in the business for so long, you don’t walk away from 40 years of TV, and I think if they look at it as she — well say she’s like her dad. Number one, she’ll do anything they want her to do because she’s a pro just like I did. She won’t drag her feet. She’s so damn good. So damn good, and much better than anybody else that they could do it if they want, because the next day she’ll rise up and be who she is, and I don’t think she’ll ever be bored with a storyline. Does that make sense? And not participate at its fullest. So that part is wrong on Corey [Graves’] part, but as far as her being the best athlete in the company, he’s spot on. As far as her being in the Hall Of Fame already, he’s spot on, and as far as her being the biggest star, she’s the face of the women’s division.”
** Tito Santana is releasing an autobiography titled ‘Don’t Call Me Chico’ and those who pre-order the book will receive a personal phone call from Tito.
** Big Japan Pro-Wrestling/Pro Wrestling Zero1 ‘Clash III’ Results (12/10/19) Tokyo, Japan
– Hide Kubota, Ikuto Hidaka & Takuya Sugawara def. Kazuki Hashimoto, Shoki Kitamura & Yuya Aoki
– Abdullah Kobayashi & Toshiyuki Sakuda vs. Chris Vice & Yoshikazu Yokoyama goes to a no-contest.
– Masato Tanaka & Ryuichi Kawakami def. Takuho Kato & Yuki Ishikawa
– Hideyoshi Kamitani def. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
– Akira Hyodo & Yuji Okabayashi def. Yasu Kubota & Yuji Hino
– Daichi Hashimoto, Takuya Nomura & Towa Iwasaki vs. Daisuke Sekimoto, Kohei Sato & Shinjiro Otani results in a time limit draw.
** Big Show was interviewed inside MetLife Stadium prior to the New York Jets’ game against the Miami Dolphins.
** NJPW1972.com has columns up about Jushin Thunder Liger’s 1993 and 1994 in professional wrestling.
** Following the December 9th edition of Monday Night RAW, Randy Orton did an interview with WWE.com and it was mentioned that three-fourths of Evolution (Triple H, Batista & Ric Flair) are Hall Of Famers and he was asked will he soon be heading into the WWE Hall Of Fame:
“Sooner or later? I’d say later. I still got a few more bumps to take in a WWE ring before I’m ready to step into the Hall Of Fame, but sh*t, I don’t even know how that works. Like, I gotta be nominated or something? People say I’m a future first-ballot Hall Of Famer but I don’t know. There’s a lot of time between now and then so who knows what could happen. One day if I’m fortunate enough to be in the Hall Of Fame, it’ll be one hell of an honor but I’m in no hurry to be in the Hall Of Fame right now.”
** While being interviewed by MMAJunkie, Daniel Cormier said that a rematch between himself and UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic won’t happen until June of 2020. He said there’s no time for the fight with the way that the UFC quarterly schedule has mapped out and with the Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov fight being announced for April, there’s no time for his bout with Stipe.
** CareerBuilder is hosting a sweepstakes. Contestants have to download the CareerBuilder app, upload their resume and they’ll be slotted for an opportunity to win four tickets to WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, Florida.
** MJF did an out-of-character interview with News12 as he and reporter Andrew Rappaport returned to MJF’s high school in Plainview, New York.
** David Arquette joined Access Daily with Mario Lopez and briefly talked about his career in professional wrestling.
** WWE United States Champion Rey Mysterio turned 45-years old on December 11th.
** The Cauliflower Alley Club announced the passing of former WWWF World Tag Team Champion Rene Goulet. Goulet passed away on May 25th of this year but his passing was not made public until this morning.
** On the most recent edition of Eric Bischoff’s ’83 Weeks’ podcast, he revealed that he and House Of Glory Wrestling owner Master P met up in New York and had breakfast together. Bischoff praised Master P’s business skills and thinks he’ll find success in his newest venture.
“No I wasn’t [surprised Master P got back into wrestling], and I don’t know if we’ve ever talked about it on this show but I had breakfast with Master P about a month-and-a-half ago or two months ago. Whenever it was, I was still in Connecticut. I had some other business in New York and P was going to be in New York at the same time, so he had given me a call and wanted to know if we should get together so I went up and had breakfast with him and met with a couple of his guys on his team and yeah… listen, Master P is a brilliant guy. This isn’t a show about Master P but here’s a guy you talk about, you know, Louisiana and where it fit within the East coast, West coast kind of Hip-Hop wars at the time. Nobody was from Louisiana. There was no representation in the Hip-Hop community in Louisiana at the time and Master P had an offer for like a million dollars. This is a guy that was hustling on the streets and had no money, grew up poor, rough part of town in New Orleans. Not an unusual story at that time, and was offered a million dollars to sign with a West coast label, and he walked away from it to start his own. He’s an amazing story and a really intelligent guy, and yeah I did have breakfast with him a couple of weeks ago whenever it was and he’s got his own vision for what he’s doing. I think he’s right on the money if he puts his mind to it and really commits to it. I think he’s got a good shot at being successful. He’s not gonna become a threat to WWE or AEW or anything like that, but he’s gonna carve out a very, very nice piece of business for himself because he’s got an intense fan base to this day. He’s promoting music and he’s promoting artists right now all over the country so I’m not surprised because he is a smart businessman and he liked wrestling. He loves it. He had a great time doing it.”
** Here’s episode 10 of AEW Dark from Champaign, Illinois featuring a three-way match between Peter Avalon, Jimmy Havoc and AEW World Tag Team Champion Scorpio Sky. Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt) took on Alex Reynolds and John Silver. Also, Kenny Omega took on Kip Sabian while Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor guest appeared on commentary. Also on this edition of AEW Dark, Kenny Omega offered Big Swole a contract with the company.
** MySanAntonio conducted an interview with WWE Hall Of Famer Sgt. Slaughter.
** Sean “X-Pac” Waltman who is going into the WWE Hall Of Fame for the second year in a row, did an interview with Afterbuzz TV and spoke about his forthcoming induction. Waltman said he got the call from Mark Carano and initially thought he was getting a call about something negative but he’s glad he picked up the phone.
“About three weeks ago I got a call from Mark Carano. He’s the Head of Talent Relations at WWE. Just out of default, when you see that number come up, in the past it’s always been usually not for a good cause. A lot of times it’s because you did something. He’s like, ‘Hey pal, you’re going in the Hall of Fame again,’” shared Waltman. “That’s a lot. Just one, just being inducted in the Hall of Fame in general. Twice is huge. Back to back years is ridiculous.”
Waltman also addressed the support from fans that want him to go into the Hall Of Fame as a solo act. Waltman said he has no desire to accept that honor as a singles competitor and he doesn’t need a moment like that to be all about him.
“I have no desire whatsoever to stand up on that stage by myself and be inducted as a single. To be apart of something bigger and greater than yourself is just an amazing feeling to me, and I don’t need that. I don’t need the me, me, me, what about me? I got plenty of me. I’m just happy to be apart of something greater than me.”
** Here’s the latest upload to Sammy Guevara’s YouTube channel:
** UFC B.M.F. Champion Jorge Masivdal chatted with MMAMania and told the publication that he’s got about three years left in the sport of MMA before he hangs up his gloves. He made it clear that it is his decision and he’s comfortable in life and he’ll have all he needs within the next three years.
** Former 4-time ECW World Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio has been announced for GCW ‘For The Culture’ during WrestleMania weekend.
** All Elite Wrestling uploaded a video to their YouTube channel of Cody and Brandi Rhodes along with AEW President Tony Khan picking an AEW fan up from work to bring him to the Dynamite show in Champaign, Illinois. Justin Regnier was able to meet various stars on the AEW roster including Britt Baker, Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, Scorpio Sky and The Young Bucks.
** Charlotte Flair, Paige and The Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) are going to be guests on the next edition of WWE After The Bell with Corey Graves which comes out on Thursday.
** Jimmy Jacobs did an interview with Hannibal TV and during the discussion, he talked about Vince McMahon wanting to fire a fellow creative writer because said individual did not knock on his door:
“A month after I was there, he wanted to fire one of the writers for not knocking on his door — his office door before he came in. Vince was like, ‘Hey, come back with this promo’ and he came back with the promo without knocking on the door and Vince is like, ‘What the hell!’ And wanted to fire him. I was like, ‘Oh wow, that’s all it takes?’ You’re always reminded you’re one weird interaction away with Vince from being fired. So that becomes your mentality there is like, ‘How am I not gonna get fired today? How can I go on today and not make the crazy man angry? How am I not gonna get yelled at today?’ And it’s no fun living like that.”
While on the topic of letting wrestlers cut promos freely without guidelines, Jimmy Jacobs feels that there is a misconception with that and states that most wrestlers would end up saying the same thing. He said there is a handful of guys like Kevin Owens, John Cena, Jon Moxley, Eli Drake and several others who can go out there and deliver a promo and hit every point without being told to do so.
“So, I think just like anything in life, the answer lies in the balance, right? I think there’s this big misconception that if you let these WWE wrestlers cut promos on their own, they would be great and man, let me tell you buddy, when I got there — you know, I’ve been around long enough and I thought I knew… whatever. I guess for some reason I assumed everyone knew what they were doing, and then I got there and was like, ‘Oh! Nobody knows what they’re doing.’ Like all these guys. I don’t wanna bury them all because that’s not… the ability to just pick up a microphone and just cut this amazing promo, it’s a slim ability. There’s a small group of guys. The guys I’ve worked with over the last handful of years that could pick up a microphone and talk and it’s good. You’re talking about Kevin Owens and Austin Aries and Eli Drake and John Cena. It’s a handful of people. Jon Moxley, guys like that. But for the most part, and look man, let’s say you’re Seth Rollins, and you’re champion. He was the champion around the time I got there, and you’re starting RAW every week, segment one with a promo and it’s like a 15 minute long promo. You start and Stephanie comes out and Triple H comes out and then Randy Orton comes out and it’s like, what are you gonna do? You talk? You call down the fight? No, [you] at least need some guidelines, and you do that this week, the next week and the next week and the next week. It’s like, it’s good to have somebody there to help you out with that. I would love to have somebody help me out if I had to cut a 15 minute promo every week. It’s great to have somebody there and the smart guys know that man. John Cena, he knows that. John Cena will listen to anybody there. I mean ultimately, he helps craft his own stuff but he will listen to anybody because he understands that. So I think there’s this misconception that, ‘Just let the guys talk and it’ll be great.’ It’s like, yeah, every single week? Here’s the thing man: You let everybody say whatever they want to say. You know what 95 percent of people are gonna say? ‘And later tonight, I’m gonna kick you ass’, and that’s what they’ll say, because that’s what they’ll fall back on. I’m gonna kick your ass, I’m gonna kick your ass, I’m gonna kick your ass. So three hours of that can be a little eh and two hours the next day on SmackDown and it’s like alright. People already just say that in NXT. It’s in the balance and I wish Vince gave some of the guys a little more leeway. It was hard, I think for the guys and detrimental to the product to have these guys, not all of them, recite these things word-for-word.”
“It’s like, or even close to word-for-word. Give some bullet points. Have the writers there as resources to help them come up with words. That’s how it’s at IMPACT. I’ll go to whoever and say, ‘Hey, you’re cutting a promo on so-and-so tonight. Just letting you know,’ and I’ll leave, and hopefully by the time we’re gonna shoot this promo, they’ve come up with something. Hopefully they have. That’s not because I’m lazy. It’s because I could never be a character better than that person. I can never be you better than you can be you. So if you can come up with your stuff, and you know your character and you got it, it’s great. When that happens with people it’s awesome. That happened to Taya Valkyrie recently. Like Taya, this past year as a heel it’s like, she’s got her character. It happened with Matt Sydal a couple of years ago when he was doing the guru thing. He got his character. I mean sometimes they have it, sometimes they don’t and then I’m there to be like, ‘Here’s how we’ll craft it. Maybe a little bit of this’ and we craft it together and then the good is you don’t have to go to running up the chain for a crazy billionaire to approve or not, so that’s nice. So we get sort of that balance at IMPACT Wrestling and here’s the thing man, sometimes WWE is overproduced and sometimes, I’ve only seen a little bit of AEW but some of it’s under produced and sometimes IMPACT’s under produced. Sometimes you go, ‘Oh geez.’ I watched one of the things that AEW — the first week with Jack Evans and Jay and Silent Bob, and I watched this and it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is why you need writers guys.’ You need somebody there to go, ‘Hey, let’s clean this up a little bit. Let’s make this a little nicer. Let’s make this a little tighter.’ So it’s good to have those people but also, having guys memorize scripts word-for-word a lot of times doesn’t have enough soul.”
** On next Tuesday’s edition of IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV, Tenille Dashwood will take on Jordynne Grace, Daga is facing TJP, Rich Swann is slated to take on Ethan Page, and Acey Romero will clash with Joey Ryan. At IMPACT’s ‘Hard To Kill’ pay-per-view, Rich Swann and Willie Mack are teaming up to challenge The North (Ethan Page & Josh Alexander) for the IMPACT World Tag Team Championships. Also scheduled for ‘Hard To Kill’ is Michael Elgin versus Eddie Edwards.
** On the final episode of season nine of Total Divas, Nikki and Brie Bella flew Liv Morgan’s mother out to Hawaii so she could be with Liv and the rest of the Total Divas cast. Liv had opened up to Nikki and Brie about never being on vacation due to circumstances out of her control during her childhood.
** New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that floor seats have been sold out for both days of Wrestle Kingdom 14 inside the Tokyo Dome.
** Pro Wrestling NOAH ‘Starting Over’ Results (12/10/19) Morioka, Japan
– Junta Miyawaki def. Kinya Okada
– Hajime Ohara & Takashi Sugiura def. Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue
– El Hijo de Canis Lupus & Tadasuke def. Dragon Bane & Tadasuke
– Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hitoshi Kumano def. 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm) & Shuhei Taniguchi
– Stinger (Atsushi Kotoge, Kotaro Suzuki & Yoshinari Ogawa) def. RATEL’S (Daisuke Harada, HAYATA & YO-HEY)
– Kenou, Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura def. Hi69, Kaito Kiyomiya & Naomichi Marufuji
** Former NXT, now SmackDown official Jessika Carr’s last night as an NXT referee was documented via the WWEPC YouTube channel:
** Glenn “Kane” Jacobs appeared on Jim Norton and Sam Roberts’ show on SiriusXM.
** Dakota Kai chatted with Bleacher Report ahead of her match against Mia Yim on the 12/11 edition of NXT. She talked about being out of action with a torn ACL and dwelling on what she would need to change upon her return to the black-and-yellow brand:
“Oh, 100 percent. When my injury happened, I was kind of on the verge of getting bigger opportunities. But the injury halted all of that. When it happened, there was a lot of time spent thinking about what I had done in NXT, which is still good. But at the same time, I don’t think that I really got to show everyone who Dakota Kai really was. So, there was a lot of time dwelling on that, and I made a promise to myself and to everyone. I tweeted about it too: When I came back, I would hit the ground running. I also made a promise to myself that I would show everyone what they hadn’t seen yet. The start of my NXT career up until I got injured was OK. But it wasn’t really what I wanted to show people. I’m going to start taking my opportunities and showing everyone what I’m capable of.”
** On December 6th, WWE filed to trademark the following names: Fully Loaded, Living Dangerously, Heat Wave, Anarchy Rules, World War 3, Chi-Town Rumble, Sin, Souled Out, New Blood Rising, Hog Wild, Capitol Combat, Road Wild, Greed, Uncensored, Spring Stampede, The Day Of, Mayhem, Beach Blast, Massacre On 34th Street, Hardcore Heaven and Eat Sleep Conquer Repeat.
** On January 5th, Katey Harvey is defending her OTT Women’s Championship against Sammi Jayne at OTT’s ‘Stickin Out’ show.
** Tom Lawlor is taking on Marshall Von Erich at MLW’s show on January 11th in North Richland Hills, Texas.
** John Morrison appeared on the newest episode of WWE’s ‘The Bump’. He and The Miz shared a story about Morrison telling JBL that he respects him but does not like him after JBL began shouting at Miz and Morrison because they “buried” someone during the ‘Dirt Sheet’. Also, Miz revealed that a new season of Miz & Mrs. kicks off on January 29th immediately following NXT on the USA Network. NXT Cruiserweight Champion Lio Rush also joined the show.
** Former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas suggested that it might be time for WWE to induct a referee into their Hall Of Fame.
** Ronda Rousey did another interview with PEOPLE.com and further opened up about her aspirations to have a family of her own.
** Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to chat about Kevin Hart and the release of their Jumanji film.
** Here’s the latest upload on the UpUpDownDown YouTube gaming channel.
** The East Coast Wrestling Association promotion issued the following press release about the promotion being sold:
ECWA – The East Coast Wrestling Association, the longest running promotion in the United States, starting in 1967, has been sold. Jim Kettner started ECWA in the mid 60s when the territory system was still very much in place, and the promotion has managed to weather many storms over the years and has changed with the times.
The organization has had some of the most famous names in the wrestling world pass thru its doors, including Bryan Danielson, Tessa Blanchard, Low-Ki, Austin Aries, Jeff Hardy, Christian, Christopher Daniels, and so many more!
ECWA’s biggest claim to fame, perhaps, is the ECWA Super 8 tournament, with previous competitors and winners including Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa, Rich Swann, Bobby Fish, Xavier Woods, Jerry Lynn, Davey Richards, Paul London, Petey Williams, AJ Styles, Ricky Reyes, Jamie Noble and so many more. The Super 8 has been a hotbed for up and coming wrestlers. If you want to see the future of pro wrestling, the future is OUR Tradition here at the ECWA.
Jim Kettner would sell ECWA in 2009 to Mike Tartaglia who would run the promotion as “The Boss” sometimes putting himself first, instead of the talent. This is something that new owner Joe Zanolle plans to correct.
Zanolle, a staff member for ECWA since 1999 has a great report with current and past talent and is hoping to bring back some familiar fan favorites who may have had a falling out with former management. As discussed with Brady Hicks on the In The Room podcast last night, Joe is looking to bring back “positivity” back to ECWA and make it the most fun experience possible for both fans and wrestlers alike.
If you’ve never seen an ECWA, or you may have skipped the last few years we encourage you to check out our next event on January 18th in New Castle, DE to enjoy pro wrestling the way it used to be, with the newest and most exciting talent out there today.
For more information visit ECWAprowrestling.com.
** Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert interviewed Scott Norton and Norton had some positive things to say about All Elite Wrestling and GCW’s Joey Janela:
“I love Joey. I’ve had three matches with Joey, and that dude is a stud. He’s the toughest little son of a b*tch that’s come down the line. He’s not a little guy, but he’s not a big man. I banged on that little… that’s a tough son of a b*tch. I’m so happy for Joey. He’s one of the good guys and he’s doing really well in our business. He’s an outstanding professional wrestler and a hell of a guy.”
** According to Variety, AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes will deliver a keynote address at the annual National Association of Television Program Executives conference on January 22nd in Miami. On January 15th, All Elite Wrestling is hosting an episode of Dynamite from Miami, Florida that is being billed as “Bash At The Beach”.
** While speaking to TV Insider, Dakota Kai said that her turning on Tegan Nox has been something that has been discussed for quite some time and it was just a matter of executing it.
“It was always a thing that we were going to do. In terms of how it was executed, that wasn’t until we were really told about the WarGames match. I think there were thoughts if this could be a thing I could pull off, but there was a lot of fuel to the fire there personally and with the story as well. Being away from the wrestling ring for nine months really does give you a lot to think about.”
Dakota talked about the possibility of a match between herself and Tegan Nox. She says they’ve drawn comparisons to the Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa feud but she and Tegan are looking to put their own spin on it and make it their own.
“We are both prepared for that. Tegan has been out at the moment. We both know what is to come and will give it our all. A lot of people have been doing comparisons to Johnny and Tommaso. We want to put our own spin on it and make it as unique as possible. I think that’s going to be exciting. Giving the fans something that they haven’t seen before. There are a lot of emotions behind it too [that] they are going to see.”
** The latest edition of Sports Illustrated’s ‘This Week In Wrestling’ column features interviews with the likes of John Cena and Trevor Murdoch. During Trevor Murdoch’s interview, he talked about always having his former partner Lance Cade at ringside with him in spirit. Cade passed away in August of 2010.
“Lance comes to every match with me. When I’m in the ring, I can sometimes hear his voice yelling at me from the side. He was so talented, a 290-pound dude that wrestled like a cruiserweight. But the memories go beyond wrestling matches. It’s also what we created with our families. I miss him so much. He’s another angel that is watching over me when I step into the ring.”
** Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated conducted an interview with Dakota Kai.
** According to TheWrap, Naomi, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso and The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) are all guests appearing on season 14 of Wild ‘N Out. New episodes of the show will begin airing on MTV and VH1 on January 7th.
*****
REWIND-A-WAI #51: ECW on TNN (Patreon)
John Pollock and Wai Ting review ECW on TNN from December 31, 1999, headlined by Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome for the ECW Championship. Plus, unprotected chair shots, WWE Network-edited theme music, how we spent our Y2K and more in this review.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/11/rewind-a-wai-51-ecw-on-tnn-dec-31-1999/
*****
REWIND-A-RAW 12/9/19: Lana-Rusev Divorce, Rollins Gets in the Van
Wai Ting is joined by Nate Milton to review WWE Raw featuring Lana & Rusev’s divorce and Seth Rollins’ big reveal. We also discuss today’s news about the WWE Hall of Fame, Wrestle Kingdom 14 and more.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/10/rewind-a-raw-12-9-19-lana-rusev-divorce-rollins-gets-in-the-van/
*****
NJPW World Tag League 2019 POST Show
John Pollock & Wai Ting review NJPW World Tag League 2019 Final headlined by EVIL & Sanada vs. Juice Robinson & David Finlay and featuring a number of angles building towards Wrestle Kingdom 14. We also discuss WWE’s releases of Luke Harper, Sin Cara and The Ascension.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/09/njpw-world-tag-league-2019-final-post-show/
*****
THUNDERSTRUCK: Jushin Liger vs. Taichi (May 2017)
WH Park and Joel Abraham of the Super J-Cast discuss one of Jushin Liger’s more controversial matches as he takes on Taichi from May 31, 2017, as part of that year’s Best of the Super Juniors.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/08/thunderstruck-7-jushin-liger-vs-taichi-5-31-17-w-joel-abraham/
*****
REWIND-A-SMACKDOWN 12/6/19: It’s Reigning Cats and Dogs
John Pollock and Wai Ting review WWE SmackDown as King Corbin set out to HUMILIATE Roman Reigns after his main event match with Dolph Ziggler using Dog Food.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/07/rewind-a-smackdown-12-6-19-its-reigning-cats-and-dogs/
*****
Cafe Hangout
John Pollock and Wai Ting are joined by veteran wrestling writer Greg Oliver to discuss his latest book, The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Storytellers. We also discuss the closest week of AEW-NXT ratings yet.
https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/12/05/live-link-for-todays-cafe-hangout-3pm-et/
*****
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