Thursday, November 30, 2017

Impact Wrestling Preview

Impact returns to Pop TV tonight on November 30, 2017.
Scheduled for tonight is Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Impact in a grudge match, James Storm vs. Texano, Laurel Van Ness vs. Madison Rayne vs. KC Spinelli in a qualifying match for the Knockouts Championship, Hakim Zane vs. Ishimori and Matt Sydal vs. Tyson Dux.

SPOILERS: 11/29 WWE NXT TV taping results from Full Sail University

The following WWE NXT TV taping results took place on Wednesday night in Winter Park, Florida from Full Sail University to air on the WWE Network.

11/29 WWE NXT TV taping results:

* Dark match: Wolfgang def. Kona Reeves.
* William Regal appears on screen announcing four matches with the winners facing off in a fatal four way to determine the new No. 1 Contender for the NXT Championship.
* New NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega open the taping gloating about Almas becoming champion.
* Killian Dain def. Trent Seven in a qualifying match.
* Sonya Deville def. Ruby Riott in a No DQ match.
* Johnny Gargano def. Kassius Ohno in a qualifying match.
* Lars Sullivan def. Roderick Strong in a qualifying match.
* NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon def. Peyton Royce.
* NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas def. Fabian Aichner.
* Aleister Black def. Adam Cole in a qualifying match.
* The Authors of Pain def. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.
* Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly def. Sanity (Eric Young and Killian Dain) to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions.
* Ember Moon def. Sonya Deville to retain the NXT Women’s Championship. Shayna Baszler attacked Kairi Sane on stage.
* Pete Dunne def. Tyler Bate to retain the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
* The Street Profits def. two local talent.
* Johnny Gargano def. Aleister Black, Killian Dain and Lars Sullivan in a fatal four way match to become the No. 1 Contender for the NXT Championship.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks want to book 10,000 seat venue


Former WWE star and current ROH Champion Cody Rhodes has confirmed plans with The Young Bucks to book a 10,000 seat venue for a big wrestling event in 2018.
Rhodes confirmed a story by Pro Wrestling Sheet on Monday noting that while they couldn’t officially comment, plans were underway to book a venue for next year.
Rhodes seemed to indicate some sort of partnership with ROH when he tweeted earlier in the month about scoping out possible venue locations.
Chicago, London, San Francisco and Ontario, California are all possible candidates.
The story by Pro Wrestling Sheet indicated that this would be a self-financed project by Rhodes and The Young Bucks. It stems from a Twitter exchange between Rhodes and Dave Meltzer back in May when Meltzer was asked if ROH could sell over 10,000 tickets to an event.
Meltzer didn’t think it was possible, citing WCW as the last promotion to sell over 10,000 tickets to a live event in the United States outside of WWE. Rhodes took that statement as a challenge in a venture that would likely require ROH’s approval.
Opinionated View- On the one hand I wish them luck and I really do like the fact Cody has taken the approach of "Fuck it I'm my own boss now I will work with guys but I'm calling my shots." That said is this just going to be a another ROH/New Japan show? As much as the loud minority likes to claim Bullet Club isn't that big a deal in the US.

Updated Smackdown Preview

Added to tonight’s Smackdown Live in Lexington is a six woman tag team match featuring Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Natalya and Naomi vs. Ruby Riot, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan tonight on the USA Network.
Already announced for the show tonight is Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens, WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. The Singh Brothers in a handicap match and The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable in a tag team match.
Opinoiated View- This show is going to suck.


WWE Smackdown Preview

WE Smackdown Live takes place tonight in Lexington, Kentucky.
Already announced for the show tonight is Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens in the main event, plus WWE Champion AJ Styles vs. The Singh Brothers in a Handicap Match and The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable in a tag team match.
https://www.facebook.com/RealWrestlingNewsAndOpinionatedViews/

Monday, November 27, 2017

Update on Drew McIntyre

According to PWinsider.com, Drew McIntyre is already rehabbing the biceps injury that he suffered at NXT Takeover: WarGames. The hope is that he will be back for early April for WrestleMania weekend.
https://www.facebook.com/RealWrestlingNewsAndOpinionatedViews/

WWE Raw Preview

WWE RAW is live tonight from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Nothing has been officially advertised for tonight as of this writing, however WWE is teasing the beginning of a Roman Reigns open challenges after winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship last week from The Miz.
https://www.facebook.com/RealWrestlingNewsAndOpinionatedViews/

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Paige Behind NXT Invasion?

WWE has considered the possibility of having Paige be the mastermind of the NXT Women’s call-ups and invasion of both main roster brands. The Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez said on the Bryan and Vinnie Show that WWE has been considering having Paige behind Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan’s appearance on Smackdown along with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville’s appearances on Raw.
Rose and Deville appeared alongside Paige when she returned on last Monday’s Raw, so that one is pretty self-evident. How Paige would interact with Riot, Morgan and Logan on Smackdown is less clear; while cross-brand appearances have happened, they’ve generally been in service of the cross-brand PPVs like Survivor Series.
Opinionated View- I could give it a chance. But yeah not sure how that would work and well if you are going to do brands than keep them separate. Also it won't fix the main issues of all these new girls make you go "Who is that again?" And they seem cookie cutter. 


Friday, November 24, 2017

Pop TV back on Dish Network

Deadline.com is reporting that CBS and Dish Network reached a new multi-year agreement that includes Pop TV, CBS Sports Network and the Smithsonian Channel.

The deal prevented yesterday’s NFL came on CBS from showing during Thanksgiving.
As reported earlier, Pop TV is the home for Impact Wrestling every Thursday night.


Thursday, November 23, 2017

Pop TV Pulled From Dish Network

Dish Network subscribers have lost their access to Impact for the time being. Pop TV was pulled from the network along with other as part of a carriage dispute between Dish and CBS. Impact airs on Pop TV on Thursday nights.
Among the other channels that went dark were CBS’ broadcast network, CBS Sports Network, and the Smithsonian Channel. CBS said in a statement (via Deadline) that they and Dish remain “far apart on terms,” perhaps signalling a protracted dark period.


Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Full WWE PPV schedule for 2018, company cuts down to 14 shows

The full WWE PPV schedule for 2018 has been released.
The schedule is listing 14 shows total for next year, down from 16 overall this year. This will include five RAW events, four Smackdown events and five combined events.
One change this year is that the annual Money in the Bank PPV will now be a combined event featuring stars from RAW and Smackdown Live.
Here is how the schedule sits as of now including dates and locations.
* Royal Rumble (January 28, Philadelphia)
* Elimination Chamber (RAW, February 25, Las Vegas)
* Fast Lane (Smackdown, March 11, Columbus)
* WrestleMania 34 (April 8, New Orleans)
* Backlash (RAW, May 6, Newark)
* Payback (Smackdown, May 27, Baltimore)
* Money in the Bank (June 17, Chicago)
* Battleground (RAW, July 15, Pittsburgh)
* SummerSlam (August 19, Brooklyn)
* Extreme Rules (RAW, September 16, San Antonio)
* Hell in a Cell (Smackdown, September 30, Nashville)
* TLC (RAW, October 21, Boston)
* Survivor Series (November 18, Los Angeles)
* Clash of Champions (Smackdown, December 16, San Jose)
Opinionated View- Fewer is the way to go as they just do way to damn many right now. 14 is still to much but at least this way it's not a PPV every other week. Don't think MITB should be a cross over because I worry WWE will do 2 of them again and that kills the gimmick. Instead move it to Mania and just have guys from both shows be in it. 


WWE Legend Kamala on life support following emergency surgery

WWE.com is reporting that WWE Legend, Kamala, real name James Harris is currently on life support. Kamala underwent an emergency surgery this past weekend.
Kamalas’ step daughter, Juanita James issued the following statement on her Facebook page:
“Please [pray] for my stepfather aka “Kamala” James Harris. [He] had emergency surgery this morning around 3 a.m. They didn’t think he would make it out of surgery, but God. He’s on life support. His buddy Koko B. Ware is here.”
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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Title Match Set For Smackdown

WWE just announced a championship match for tonight’s Smackdown Live in Houston.
Announced exclusively on Facebook, Charlotte Flair will defend the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship against Natalya tonight in a rematch from last week.

Lucha Underground To Reportedly Accept Talent Release Requests

While the good news is that Lucha Underground is returning, it may be very, very different when it does. Lucha Underground is relaxing the previously strict exclusivity policy on contracts, so for example, Johnny Impact, Taya, Sami Callihan, Texano, & Fantasma can stick around if Impact still wants to use them in the future.

Most of the Lucha Underground talent was signed for seven season deals; this was fine at the time since most signed were either not planning on going anywhere else on television, or were people who had no name in the US market to begin with. But with talent not being paid since the summer of 2016, some may take their contracts to court because there is a question of being able to hold somebody to a contract from summer 2016 until spring 2018 without paying them.

According to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio (via sportskeeda.com), Lucha Underground is willing to grant release requests to the wrestlers who no longer want to be a part of their roster.

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WWE Clash of Champions Main Event Revealed (SPOILERS)

According to Pwinsider.com, the December 17th WWE Clash of Champions PPV will be headlined by WWE champion AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal.


WWE 205 Live

WWE 205 Live airs tonight in Houston, Texas at 10:00 PM ET on WWE Network.
Set for tonight is Akira Tozawa vs. Drew Gulak in a Street Fight.


WWE Smackdown Preview

WWE Smackdown Live takes place tonight in Houston, Texas.
Tonight will be the fallout from the Survivor Series PPV on Sunday night.
WWE.com is advertising that Shane McMahon will kick off the show tonight in Houston addressing Team Smackdown losing in the main event on Sunday.
Opinionated View- Just what we don't need the sad old man in the club coming out to yell at Owens and Zayn. 


Monday, November 20, 2017

Update on Drew McIntyre Injury

– According to Dave Meltzer and Wrestling Observer Radio (via wrestlinginc.com), Drew McIntyre’s injury happened during the finish of his match with Andrade “Cien” Almas at NXT Takeover: WarGames. There was speculation that it happened earlier in the match, but it happened when McIntyre was holding on to the top rope as Almas hit him with a DDT, which was the planned finish.


Sunday, November 19, 2017

Drew McIntyre suffers possible torn bicep at NXT TakeOver: WarGames

Some potential bad news for Drew McIntyre coming off Saturday night’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames special in Houston that aired live on the WWE Network.
McIntyre may have suffered a torn bicep during his match against Andrade “Cien” Almas, losing the NXT Championship. Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated in an interview after the show went off the air that McIntyre would undergo an MRI on Sunday for further tests.
If it is indeed a torn bicep, it would result in surgery for McIntyre.

Opinionated View- Haven't had a chance to watch the match. But from I saw on Twitter  guys like Tazz and Gran Akuma could tell right away he was hurt and what is was. Its a shame given Drew is one of the best in the world. And a bigger shame it happened on an NXT given to good to be stuck in NXT 


Thursday, November 16, 2017

11/16 Impact Wrestling Report

Earlier today, Gail Kim entered the building, as did Bobby Lashley and his group.



- Eli Drake and Petey Williams hype tonight's Global Championship match.
Taiji Ishimori, Caleb Konley, and Trevor Lee vs. Sonjay Dutt, Dezmond Xavier, and Garza Jr.
Quick back and forth work between Dutt and Ishimori with a stalemate for the crowd pop. Konley tags himself in to get a chance at Dutt, but gets dropkicked shortly after. Dutt tries to go up to the top, but gets his feet kicked out from under him. Lee and Konley stomp away as Lee goes to work on Dutt. Konley in now and continues to hammer away, big splash, pin, two. Dutt really needs to tag out and tries to fight off the entire team. Dutt throws Lee and Konley into each other and manages to tag in Garza Jr.



His shoulder is still taped up and he's basically wrestling with one arm, yet again. Garza does the usual pants spot, hits a hurricanrana and brings Xavier in who hits a nice flip over the top rope to the floor taking out Lee and Konley. Ishimori takes Xavier down, he heads to the top rope and looks to finish off his opponent, but Konley wants in and says he's got this. He ends up getting bounced into the ropes and Ishimori gets dropped on them. Konley looks for a dive, but Xavier catches him. Xavier up top, corkscrew senton and that will do it.



Winners: Garza Jr., Dezmond Xavier, and Sonjay Dutt via Pinfall
- Using a super shaky camera, Sami Callihan and oVe hype their upcoming 6-man tag match against LAX.
Fallah Bahh vs. EC3 (Grand Championship Match)
Bahh gets a "Bahh!" chant going as EC3 treats this like a sumo match. EC3 tries for a suplex, but gets bounced back and Bahh yells "No! No! No!" EC3 avoids getting stomped on and rolls all the way out to the floor. EC3 with a kick to the gut, goes for a body slam and instead gets body slammed himself. Bahh then literally rolls across EC3's body, followed by a bunch of shoulder tackles. Both on the floor and Bahh hits a body splash, tosses EC3 into the ring as round 1 ends.



Bahh up 1-0
Bahh charges in twice on EC3, landing the first, but slamming his shoulder into the ring post on the second attempt. EC3 start punching away on a grounded Bahh. Crowd is enjoying this one with a "Let's go Fallah! EC3!" chant. EC3 with some chops in the corner. EC3 with a jawbreaker and splash into the corner, Bahh crashes down to the mat.
Tied at 1-1
Bahh with a number of strikes to kick off the final round. EC3 with some clotheslines, but Bahh hits a Samoan drop, both men down on the mat. Both up, Bahh with a couple chops, big splash in the corner, belly-to-belly suplex, pin, two. Down to one minute, Bahh hits a crossbody block, and he heads up to drop down on EC3, nope! EC3 yanks him down and pins him with feet on the ropes to pick up the cheap win.



Winner: EC3 via Pinfall to retain the Impact Grand Championship
oVe and Sami Callihan vs. LAX (Santana, Ortiz, and Homicide)
Action all over the place with Callihan and Santana initially in the ring. Jake Crist quickly in, dropping Santana. Ortiz jumps in and hits a backbreaker as Callihan comes into the ring and takes care of Ortiz. Ortiz on the floor, Callihan with a suicide dive to the floor. Everyone is on the floor as Homicide his a cannonball like dive. Callihan and Homicide in the ring, Callihan pops him in the face, they gets tangled up near the ref and Homicide gets lowblowed. Santana and Ortiz complain to the ref as we head to break.



Homicide really getting worked over by his opponents and he just can't seem to get the tag. In comes Dave Crist, momentarily taking down both Ortiz and Santana on the apron. Jake in now, belly-to-back suplex. Callihan back in and trades shot with Homicide. He goes for a suplex, but flips out and tags out of the match. Ortiz and Dave in the match. Cutter by Dave as he's draped on the top rope. Santana jumps off Dave's back to clear out Jake. Callihan flips off Santana (which gets blurred out) Jake has Santana in piledriver position, Callihan kicks him in the head, Jake drops him down, pin, two. "This is awesome" chant from the crowd. All seeing eye gets broken up by a sloppy attack. Powerbomb/blockbuster combo by Santana and Ortiz, pin, 1-2-3. It sure felt like LAX played as faces in this match, we'll see if that continues going forward.



Winners: Ortiz, Santana, and Homicide via Pinfall



- Post-match, LAX throws some chairs at their opponents, one of them hits Callihan right in the mug!
- Dan Lambert to the ring - alone - to talk some more trash about Moose and pro wrestling. Out comes Moose, who decides to beat up on Lambert for his words. In runs Lashley and the rest of American Top Team to flatten Moose. In comes James Storm to help out and ends up smashing a beer bottle over one of the ATT members. Storm says wrestling has been around before Lambert and will be around long after Lambert is gone. Storm says people have tried to bring him down, but his Mom told him to work his ass off and make the haters beg you to come to their company.



Storm recaps his time with Impact, America's Most Wanted, Beer Money, and says that was professional wrestling. He says wrestlers live for the moment to come down the ramp and he takes pride in being a pro wrestler. He then says ATT knows nothing about that stuff, but they do know about respect. Continuing that he is James "Mother F'n" Storm and he is pro wrestling. Very passionate promo by "The Cowboy."
- Random throwback clip of Chris Rock saying NWA/TNA was the best wrestling in the world.
- Backstage, KM wants a chance at being in with American Top Team. Lashley says he needs to prove himself and KM agrees.
- Backstage, McKenzie Mitchell is with Eli Drake and Chris Adonis. Drake says he's trying to relax and "here comes this cross-eyed half wit" trying to challenge him. Drake says if Williams can last three minutes in a match then he will be a Canadian Hero, but he doesn't have enough to ever become champion.
- Petey Williams recaps his time with Impact and how it's always felt like home to him.
- Backstage, Allie stops Gail Kim and wanted to let her know how honored she was to be in a match with Kim. Kim thanks her and says she hopes Allie will like what she has to say tonight.
- We see a number of highlights from Gail Kim's career as we head to the ring with Jeremy Borash. Kim out to the ring with the title. Before she can say anything, out comes Allie. "Thank you Gail" chant from the crowd. "Almost 18 years ago, I was a young woman growing up in Canada, and I loved wrestling. I saw these women wrestling and that's what I wanted to do." Kim holding back tears and talks about how hard work and sacrifice that dreams can come true. "You deserve it" chant from the crowd. Kim thanks Trish Stratus, Lita, Molly Holly, Awesome Kong, and Taryn Terrell for helping her along the way. Kim says she's fully confident in decision, but she's relinquishing the title. She is fully confident in the women's division and is excited for her future. She thanks Impact Wrestling and the fans. Kim holds up the title and gives hugs to Borash and Allie.



- Catering, Grado is hanging with a group of guys and Joseph Park tries to sit with them, everyone (minus Grado) gets up and leaves. Park says he will never let Abyss back, and he gives Grado his visa so he can stay in the U.S. A Mountie shows up and says Grado has to leave the country, Park has no power in Canada, so off goes Grado.



- Jimmy Jacobs joins commentary, Josh Mathews takes a selfie with him.
Eli Drake (c) vs. Petey Williams (Impact Global Championship)
Drake goes to work on the challenger right from the start. Williams gets some momentum and Drake bails to the outside to slow things down and converse with Adonis. Williams drops Drake, crowd chants "Petey! Petey!" as we head to break. Facebuster on Williams, cover, only a two-count. Williams' neck over the bottom rope as Drake stands on him. Drake distracts the ref while Adonis chokes Williams on the bottom rope. Drake with a couple elbows, pin, two. Williams trying to get back in this one, but Drake drops him, goes for another pin, two. Adonis yet again gets in some cheap shots, Jacobs says Williams needs to be more away of where he is in the ring.
Drake goes for a knee drop, misses, Williams with multiple punches as Drake gives him a thumb to the eye. Williams recovers, drops Drake, yet another pin attempt, two. Williams calls for the Canadian destroyer, Drake counters a kick, tosses Williams up high and he lands flat on his back. Elbow to Williams sends him out of the ring. Back on the apron, springboards in with a codebreaker, release german suplex, goes for the Canadian destroyer, nope. Drake with a nice catch and slam on the challenger. Drake up to the second rope, misses. Drake goes for a shaky moonsault off the ropes, misses it. Drake flips out of a Canadian destroyer, but gets put right into a Sharpshooter. Drake trying to get the ropes, Williams holds back his arm, but Drake is able to make it.



The champ drives Williams into the corner, nice DDT by Williams, random suicide dive to Adonis. Williams on the apron, tries to jump over, but gets caught. Canadian destroyer hits! Drake kicks out! Josh Mathews says that was the first time on Impact that anyone has kicked out of that move. He goes for it again, Drake with a package piledriver. Gravy train is countered, Drake rolled up. Williams went for his finisher for a fifth or sixth time, but Drake is able to hit the gravy train for the win.
Winner: Eli Drake via Pinfall to retain the Impact Global Championship
- Post-match, Drake and Adonis celebrate a bit as they head to the back.