WWE ID
The WWE ID program has begun rolling out announcements of talents linked to the program. The first names announced are Zayda Steel, Bryce Donovan, Cappuccino Jones, Jack Cartwheel, Zara Zakher, and Sean Legacy.
Brandon Thurston and I have been doing a lot of reporting on this and speaking with various parties on details surrounding the program. We have heard numerous estimates of talents under these deals but do not have a concrete figure yet.
The ID program has been in development for quite some time with a person familiar with the initiative telling us how Paul Levesque is obviously a larger proponent of the independent scene than Vince McMahon was and that a program like this was unlikely under the former regime.
A name mentioned to us as being heavily involved is WWE’s Gabe Sapolsky, who would have among the deepest ties to the independent scene and hosts seminars/consultations with independent talent.
What Thurston and I can confirm is that at this juncture there are no restrictions when it comes to talent under WWE ID deals doing jobs on shows or taking bookings. When asked about AEW extra work, we were informed that WWE would not prevent its talent from taking those bookings. When it comes to talent losing on outside shows, that was greatly relaxed over this new regime including recent losses by Brinley Reece and Wendy Choo on TNA shows.
We have not been able to confirm if talents under WWE ID deals will have any medical expenses covered by the company if they are injured or the value of the contracts.
WRESTLING NEWS
**Scorpio Jr. died on Thursday at the age of 58. The Luchador, real name Rafael Núñez, followed his father into the industry when he debuted in August 1985. His father, Scorpio, gained fame in the UWA with his son working for the promotion during his infancy and went on to have significant runs in CMLL, AAA & IWRG.
With long-time partner Bestita Salvaje, the pair won the vacant CMLL tag titles in November 1998 beating El Satanico & Dr. Wagner Jr. in the finals of a tournament and feuding with Negro Casas & El Hijo del Santos. The team traded the belts with Scorpio Jr. & Salvaje losing them for the second and final time on April 2, 1999.
In early 1999, he wrestled five matches for the WWF’s Super Astros series, which was the company’s short-lived attempt to promote a Lucha Libre program. Scorpio Jr. wrestled as “El Bandido” during the handful of matches where he was booked for the program.
He wrestled under a mask for over a decade before engaging in a major angle in CMLL, which led to El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas teaming and building toward a Hair vs. Mask match against Scorpio Jr. & Bestia Salvaje on March 19, 1999. Santo & Casas prevailed with Salvaje forced to shave his head and Scorpio Jr. unmasking. Months later, Shocker was unmasked by Mr. Niebla in the main event of that year’s Aniversario card. It led to a popularity spike for Shocker, who proclaimed himself, “1000% Guapo” and formed Los Guapos with Scorpio Jr. as part of the memorable group along with Salvaje.
His next group came just months after 9/11 where Scorpio Jr., Emilio Charles Jr. & Salvaje formed “Los Talibanes” (The Taliban) while it was portrayed as a comedic act and being “too over the top”, it is hard to imagine that CMLL would not have been eviscerated in a modern context for the promotional tactic. In 2006, Scorpio Jr moved to AAA and formed a unit with Alan Stone & Zumbido as Guapos VIP.
Scorpio Jr. had multiple stays at IWRG where he won its heavyweight championship four times between November 1999 and December 2005. He also held the promotion’s tag titles on two occasions with Ricky Cruz and one run with the Intercontinental Trios belts with Cerebro Negro & Veneno in 2006.
While stepping away from competition from 2020-2022, Scorpio Jr. returned to the ring and wrestled for multiple independent groups and worked as recently as August for AAA when he participated at Verano De Escandalo.
The Record news outlet reports that he died from a bursting of an ulcer and leaves behind two sons.
Several notes and additional information courtesy of The Cubs Fan at Luchablog.com
**NJPW STRONG runs in Lowell, Massachusetts tonight with Fighting Spirit Unleashed and streams on New Japan World as a regular event as opposed to a pay-per-view. The pre-show begins at 6:30 p.m. ET with the following matches:
*NJPW STRONG Championship: Gabe Kidd © vs. Kosei Fujita
*AEW International Championship: Konosuke Takeshita © vs. TJP
*Zack Sabre Jr. & Bad Dude Tito vs. Shota Umino & Tomohiro Ishii
*KENTA vs. Ryohei Oiwa
*Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji vs. Mike Bennett & Matt Taven
*NJPW STRONG Women’s Title – #1 Contenders Match: Hazuki vs. Anna Jay vs. Koguma vs. Trish Adora
*Two-of-Three-Falls: Tom Lawlor & Fred Rosser vs. Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
*Mustafa Ali vs. Lio Rush
*NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Titles: Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste © vs. GYV
*Non-Title Match: David Finlay vs. Kevin Knight
*Matt Vandagriff vs. Seabass Finn (pre-show)
**Friday Night SmackDown is at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York featuring a big segment around the original Bloodline of Roman Reigns, The Usos & Sami Zayn. The show will include Motor City Machine Guns appearing on The Grayson Waller Effect and an appearance by Cody Rhodes.
**AEW Rampage at 10 p.m. ET on TNT features a rematch between Lio Rush and Komander, Hikaru Shida vs. Viva Van, Top Flight vs. JD Drake & Beef, and The Infantry vs. Undisputed Kingdom vs. Dark Order. The recorded its lowest viewership and 18-49 audience of all-time last Friday and that occurred without any appreciable competition that would explain such a dramatic decline.
**TNA is hosting TV tapings in Fayetteville, North Carolina on Friday & Saturday leading into their next special “Turning Point” on November 29.
**MLW’s Lucha Apocalypto event is Saturday at 9 p.m. ET and streams for free on its YouTube channel. The show includes a plethora of top talent from CMLL and the promotion has announced a sellout at Cicero Stadium in Illinois in advance:
*MLW World Middleweight Championship: Mistico © vs. Averno vs. Titan
*Ultimo Guerrero & Hechicero vs. Esfine & Kevin Knight
*Atlantis, Atlantis Jr. & Star Jr. vs. Barbaro Cavernario, Magnus & Felino
*MLW Women’s Featherweight Championship: Janai Kai © vs. Lluvia vs. Persephone
*MLW National Openweight Title – Falls Count Anywhere: Bad Dude Tito © vs. Matthew Justice
*Alex Kane vs. BRG
**The MLW event at Cicero Stadium is coupled with tapings for beIN Sport including Satoshi Kojima vs. Bobby Fish for the MLW World Heavyweight title, AKIRA vs. Mads Krule Krugger for in a Weapons of Mass Destruction Match, KENTA vs. Paul London, Minoru Suzuki vs. Matt Riddle, Gigi Rey vs. Delmi Exo, Kevin Knight vs. Donovan Dijak, and Ikuro Kwon vs. Okumura.
**This Monday, WWE will hold a double taping of Raw in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the November 11 & November 18 episodes.
**The TKO stock increased by 2% on Friday and closed at $120.18 after this past week’s Q3 earnings.
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POLLOCK & THURSTON
John Pollock and Brandon Thurston go through TKO’s Q3 earnings report, a breakdown of the Crown Jewel show, and chat about the WON Hall of Fame.
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upNXT – NXT at 2300 Arena
Braden Herrington and Davie Portman review the November 6th, 2024 edition of WWE NXT taking place from the historic 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
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REWIND-A-DYNAMITE
John Pollock and Wai Ting review AEW Dynamite with Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin teaming against Claudio Castagnoli & PAC.
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NJPW Power Struggle 2024
Karen Peterson and Bruce Lord review NJPW Power Struggle featuring Zack Sabre Jr.’s second defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Shingo Takagi.
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REWIND-A-RAW
John Pollock and Nate Milton review WWE Raw with a Fatal Four-Way to determine the next challenger for Gunther.
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