During Wednesday night’s episode of Dynamite, Malakai Black was on the receiving end of a three-on-one attack by Penta, Griff Garrison, and Brian Pillman Jr. Yet, rather than looking fearful, Black would begin ominously laughing as the lights went off. When they came back on, former ROH wrestler Brody King was in the ring, and together the pair would take out all three of the faces.
For those unaware, King and Black are tag team champions in Pro Wrestling Guerilla under the name Kings of the Black Throne, which is also the name the duo look set to use in AEW based on commentary. King had previously appeared in a vignette with Black where he had mist spat into his face. However, it wasn’t revealed to the audience at the time he was the man mystery man under a hood joining The House of Black.
The 34-year-old King began wrestling in 2015 and wrestled on the independents in California before working for MLW, Evolve, and PWG. Subsequently, he would sign for ROH in 2018, which led him to wrestle on New Japan shows. He’d then become a free agent once ROH announced their hiatus last year, and it’s understood AEW secured his signature during Thanksgiving weekend.
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WWE commentator Corey Graves has previously tweeted about wanting to wrestle again. Yet, it seemed unlikely due to him having to retire from the ring in 2014 due to concussion issues. Now though, Fightful Select has reported that Graves was actually cleared to return to the ring in 2020. Whether this occurs remains to be seen, but the option appears to be available for Graves.
Graves won the WWE 24/7 Championship on the November 8th edition of Raw before quickly losing it to fellow Raw commentator Byron Saxton. While it was typical 24/7 nonsense that has seen the likes of Marshmello, Bad Bunny, and The Gobbledy Gooker become champion, it appears that it could have been the beginning of a comeback.
Before he moved behind the announce desk, Graves wrestled for 14 years across the US, sharing a ring with the likes of CM Punk, Cesaro, and AJ Styles on the indies. Eventually, he would impress WWE enough to be offered a developmental contract in 2011 and wrestle for Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT. During this time, his career highlight would come when he, along with Adrian Neville (PAC), won the NXT Tag Team Championship in 2013 by defeating Erick Rowan and Luke Harper.
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In October 2021, news broke that a potential streaming deal between Major League Wrestling and FOX’s Tubi streaming service had been prevented by WWE expressing their disproval. Apparently, FOX intended to have MLW air on Tuesday nights against NXT, so it’s understandable why WWE was against this. Obviously, this was a massive blow to MLW, and seemingly they believe they have evidence of WWE’s involvement in canceling the deal as they have filed an antitrust lawsuit against WWE.
Additional MLW alleges that a WWE executive attempted to stop Vice from working with them by informing them that Vince McMahon would be unhappy if they did. Despite this, Vice did continue their association with MLW and aired a special on October 7, which drew just 40,000 viewers. This came as a big surprise to everyone at the time, as Dark Side of the Ring, which aired before the special, had 137,000 viewers.
MLW was started by former WWE writer Court Bauer in 2002 and, after a thirteen-year hiatus, relaunched in 2017. While the majority of their roster is signed to contracts, they are allowed to work for some other promotions. However, their low-paying deals have been controversial, with some wrestlers being guaranteed as little as $250 a match.
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Hulk Hogan exited the ring in January 2012 following two six-man tag matches in the UK while touring with TNA. Due to that, over the years, fans had hoped to see him return to wrestle one last time to get a proper send-off. Unfortunately, though, years of slamming giants and performing leg drops have left his back, knees, and hips in a bad way, and there have been reports of him struggling to get around.
Now though, Hogan’s longtime friend and business associate Jimmy Hart has provided an update on his mobility during an interview with the Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw podcast. He would confirm that 68-year-old Hogan is undergoing physiotherapy and can get around pretty well nowadays. He’d also indicate that fans still love him and can still cut his famous promos.
After 12 back surgeries, hips, and knees, he’s doing so much better. He’s been taking this therapy every week, and it’s been really improving him more and more so he can get up and get about pretty good now. He still looks good. He always has the hair and has the tan. His upper body is unbelievable. He always looks the part. He can still do an interview at the drop of a hat. He knows what to say and when to say it. He is such a magnet. People love him no matter where we go. It’s crazy.
Given Hogan’s age, it isn’t realistic to think he could compete again. However, even in a non-wrestling role, he has shown he can still draw for WWE, as along with Ric Flair, he helped deliver 2.13 million viewers and a 0.68 in the 18-49 demo back for Raw Legends Night in January 2021. Proving nostalgia is a big deal in wrestling, and past stars will always have a place in the current product.
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WWE released Scarlett Bordeaux along with her fiancé Karrion Kross last November, and since then, she has been building up her own brand, which includes an OnlyFans account. While it certainly won’t surprise anyone that her account is popular, she has now shared precisely how popular it is, confirming she is in the top 0.04% of all content creators. Of course, the amount someone charges is a significant factor in their income; however, anecdotal evidence suggests she is likely making more than $20,000 a month.
The combination of Bordeaux and Kross looked like it couldn’t miss on WWE’s main roster. Yet, WWE separated the duo, which baffled fans as she was seen as an essential part of his presentation. Bordeaux would later reveal that WWE actually wanted her to wrestle, and she was having dark matches until a ruptured breast implant prevented this. Thankfully though, it appears that all is well with Scarlett now, and WWE didn’t release her while still recuperating, which would have been very controversial.
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Photo Credit: twitter.com/KTankZamora
This past Sunday, Impact Wrestling held their latest television tapings following their latest pay-per-view. Among the news coming out of the tapings was the debut of former WWE star Charlie Haas. However, after Haas wrestled Josh Alexander, he would be involved in a post-match brawl that featured a group of ROH wrestlers invading the promotion and was left injured.
Precisely what occurred is unclear, but apparently, Rich Swann noticed Haas was hurt and ran to the back to get help, resulting in the 49-year-old being carried out of the ring on a stretcher. Later Tommy Dreamer would confirm to fans in attendance that Hass was legitimately hurt but didn’t provide more info. However, PWInsider.com has thankfully followed up and reported that Haas was seen back on his feet backstage.
Haas is best known to wrestling fans for his WWE run as part of The Worlds Greatest Tag Team with Shelton Benjamin. During that time, he would meet and marry Jackie Gayda, the co-winner of the second Tough Enough series, and the couple had four children. Sadly, though, he’d reveal in an interview with The Hannibal TV that he had gone through a rough patch due to getting divorced but was now running a Texas youth amateur wrestling program and working local independents.
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Ric Flair is no longer on good terms with WWE, and despite reports, he agreed for the company to trademark “The Man” for Becky Lynch, he is still very vocal about it being his nickname. Now, the 16-time world champion has tweeted out his desire for both parties to apologize to him and then send him $20 million. He would, though, go on to delete the tweet, although, with it being the internet, multiple people had already screenshotted it, as you can see below.
Some believe that WWE has been moving Becky Lynch’s nickname towards “Big Time Becks” because of the issues with Flair. However, as of writing, there appears to be no notice of oppositions filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office against WWE’s application for “The Man.” Nevertheless, it is regrettable that Flair’s relationship with WWE has broken down so severely since his recent departure, especially considering Charlotte is one of their biggest stars.
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Samuray Del Sol, who is best known to fans as Kalisto, returned to the ring this past November after a seven-month absence following his WWE release. During that time period, he would be advertised for matches, but none occurred, and now the former WWE United States Champion has revealed why. He would explain in an interview, which he has uploaded to Instagram, that he was hospitalized for the whole month of August and almost suffered two heart attacks.
Thankfully, Kalisto appears to be fully recovered, and last month he was part of the Five Way Match at TripleMania Regia for the vacant AAA Mega Championship. What his long-term plans are next aren’t yet known, but given his talent and eight-year run in WWE, it’s likely he’d be in high demand both in the United States and Mexico.
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WWE has announced on social media that Sasha Banks was injured at a live event last weekend and will be out for 6-8 weeks. If this timeline is accurate, it means she will be unable to compete at the Royal Rumble, which will be a massive blow to the company. It’s understood that WWE actually knew Banks would be unable to wrestle this past Monday. Still, they decided to delay the announcement for reasons only known by themselves until this weekend.
Over the past few years, Banks’ WWE career has been very stop-start for various reasons, including filming The Mandalorian. She would even miss SummerSlam last for reasons that were never publicly revealed. However, in his instance, WWE has decided to be transparent, resulting in some speculating that it could end up being part of an angle. Regardless though of the circumstances, hopefully, Banks only ends up missing a minimal amount of time and can compete at WrestleMania.
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With ROH on hiatus and all their contracted wrestlers now free agents, many talents are looking for a new home. Now, following Hard To Kill, it appears four of them, plus Maria Kanellis, may have joined Impact Wrestling or are at least are working for them until ROH returns. The invading faction, which was portrayed as coming directly from ROH, contained PCO, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, and Vincent, and after initially attacking Rhino and Heath Slater, would also layout Willie Mack along with Rich Swann, who had attempted to make the save. You can view a video of this play out below.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”Y6hiLEwk” upload-date=”2022-01-09T14:56:17.000Z” name=”ROH Wrestlers Invade Impact Wrestling.mp4″ description=”” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]Given that ROH Champion Jonathan Gresham successfully defended his title over Chris Sabin on the show, it would certainly seem that there is a working relationship between the promotions ensuring ROH’s name remain in fans’ minds. Additionally, the ROH Women’s Champion, Rok-C, was ringside for the pay-per-view’s main event between Mickie James and Deonna Purrazzo.
A few years ago, the idea of wrestling promotions working so closely, sharing talents, and promoting each other would have seemed unfavorable. However, things have totally changed since AEW’s launch, and companies have realized it is possible to cross-promote for the benefit of everyone, which is seemingly what is happening in this instance.
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Tom Phillips, real name Thomas Hannifan was part of Raw’s commentary team until the episode after WrestleMania. After that, he would lose his seat to Adnan Virk, who had been hired on the recommendation of Nick Khan. However, with Virk not working out and departing the company, instead of Hannifan returning to Raw, WWE gave the role to MMA commentator Jimmy Smith and subsequently released Hannifan.
Now though, Hannifan is returning to the announce desk for another pro wrestling promotion. As according to a tweet by Renee Paquette, he will be performing play-by-play for Impact Wrestling on this Saturday night’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view.
Impact Wrestling recently let go of Matt Striker, who had been carrying out this role, and Hannifan will likely be seen as a popular alternate. Hopefully, though, everything goes well for Hannifan, who certainly has a tough job ahead of him calling a show for a product he likely isn’t overly familiar with.
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Photo Credit: twitter.com/KingToto927
It appears WWE is considering what to do with Tommaso Ciampa and Pete Dunne as the duo worked a dark match before Friday night’s SmackDown. While both are experienced competitors, WWE management often likes to see talents perform up close before determining whether to call them up to the main roster or, in cases like Bronson Reed, release them from the company. Reports are the match between the NXT stars went well; however, crowd reactions, working a specifically requested style, and perceived star quality all come into play when being assessed.
While Pete Dunne’s long-term future with the company seems relatively secure since he only recently signed a new deal and is 28, this could have been a pivotal match in the WWE career of Ciampa. The former NXT Champion dropped the title to Bron Breakker this past week, and with NXT now focusing on youth, it would seem that 36-year-old Ciampa has potentially aged out of NXT 2.0. It will now be intriguing to see whether he receives a call up to the main roster and continues his WWE career on Raw or SmackDown, or management deem him surplus to requirements.
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