The Shield debuted at the Survivor Series in 2012, and all three members of the group went to become massive stars in WWE. While Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns remain with the company, Jon Moxley, who wrestled as Dean Ambrose, decided against re-signing, citing mental and emotional exhaustion from working with Vince McMahon and WWE creative. Leaving WWE worked out for him as he is now one the biggest stars in AEW and is United States champion in New Japan, plus in his personal life is set to become a father later this year. Now during an “Ask Me Anything” with BleacherReport.com, he was asked whether he’d ever consider returning to Vince McMahon’s company, and if he has kept in touch with his former Shield stablemates.
It’s nice to hear he does keep in touch with his old colleagues. However, it sounds like he hasn’t spoken to Rollins recently, as he actually became a father to a daughter named Roux at the start of December. Regarding working again for WWE, it certainly would come as a shock if he did ever return for anything more than a Hall of Fame induction. Although when you consider Bret Hart returned to work for Vince McMahon after the Montreal Screwjob, you realize absolutely anything can happen in wrestling.
Would you come back to WWE on the right terms?
You gotta say never say never, because you don’t want to run back what you said years later because you don’t know what’ll happen. Just the creation of AEW was so vital to the wrestling industry, and that’s part of the reason why I’m so proud to be a part of it. I wouldn’t rule out ever doing business with them again, we had a mutually beneficial relationship for a long time. If they called I would listen, but I highly doubt we would ever be on the same page. I’d be open to an idea. I don’t not like money. I got a kid on the way and gotta put it through college so ya know. I would take a phone call, but I highly doubt anything would materialize.
Do you still talk to Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns?
Very occasionally. Seth’s about to have a kid, so that’s cool. You just get in this world and you get really busy, especially in a pandemic world, everyone is in their own little bubbles. That’s the good thing about wrestling: it’s never goodbye, it’s just see you along the way. When you go through certain things with people, you’re always bonded.Jon Moxley
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AEW has announced that Ryan Nemeth, the younger brother of WWE star Dolph Ziggler, will debut for them on the January 27, 2021 episode of Dynamite. He is scheduled to face Hangman Page, which will be the most high-profile match of his career. The announcement came as quite a surprise as Nemeth, who competes as Hot Young Briley on the independents, hasn’t wrestled since 2018. His career began a decade ago when he started wrestling for OVW. This led to him signing with WWE in 2011 and wrestling for their developmental territory FCW. During this time, he competed under the name Briley Pierce and won their tag team championships with Brad Maddox. However, less than a year after FCW merged with NXT, he was released by WWE in 2013.
Nemeth initially took a break from wrestling following his release but began working the Californian indie scene in 2016. He didn’t let his time away from wrestling go to waste, and he got into acting and writing, most notably making appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live, playing multiple characters such as Cowboy Andy and Karate Kidney Bean. He currently has a short film in post-production called Heel, which he wrote and stars in, and includes his brother.
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The third season of Dark Side of the Ring is coming later this year, and over recent months tidbits have come out revealing the topics. Eric Bischoff told listeners of his podcast that he was interviewed about Brian Pillman and the Collision In Korea show. David Arquette let slip in an interview that he’d been spoken to about a Nick Gage episode. PWInsider reported that Jake “The Snake” Roberts has been interviewed about his father Grizzly Smith, who he holds responsible for his substance abuse issues. Super Genie, the parter of Sabu, shared photos of the former ECW star being filmed for interviews about Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and Xtreme Pro Wrestling. Additionally, various news sites just reported that there would be an episode on Bruiser Bedlam, who competed in the 80s and 90s and was accused of murder.
Now, PWinsider.com has reported another subject for the upcoming 14 episode season will be Chris Kanyon. He competed in SMW, ECW, and USWA in the early days of his career but became known to the wrestling masses as part of WCW. He was always considered a talented worker but never received a sustained push and his final few years with WWE saw him predominantly putting other talents over, often on Velocity. After Vince McMahon’s company released him, he claimed it was because he was a closeted gay man and would later be involved in a lawsuit against WWE challenging his previous independent contractor status. Tragically at the age of 40, he would take his own life by taking a bottle of antidepressants he had been prescribed for his bipolar disorder.
No air dates for any of the upcoming episodes have yet been confirmed, and the series is still being filmed. However, it is known season 3 will premiere with the Brian Pillman episode and include “Stone Cold” Steve Austin being interviewed as the pair were close friends and teamed in WCW and feuded in WWE. This was quite a coup by the producers as talents still affiliated with WWE don’t usually participate.
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Sting wrestled what was believed to have been his final match at Night of Champions in 2015. During the match against Seth Rollins, a buckle bomb injured his already damaged neck, and he had to retire. However, after appearing on the December 2 episode of Dynamite, fans speculated whether the WCW legend would wrestle for the promotion. Speaking on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, he stated he’d told Tony Khan he was open to cinematic matches as he wanted to go out in a positive light.
Now AEW has announced that Sting will be competing at their upcoming Revolution pay-per-view on Saturday, February 27. The match will be a street fight, and he will team with TNT Champion Darby Allin against Team Taz members Brian Cage and Ricky Starks.
The match itself makes perfect sense. Not only does it allow Sting to help shine a light on three other wrestlers, but he also is teaming with someone who will happily take all the bumps. Being a cinematic match also allows extra opportunity to protect Sting’s limitations with multiple takes, camera cuts, and even crash pads if needed.
While Matt Hardy helped bring cinematic to prominence, they became an accepted part of wrestling once WWE featured two of them at WrestleMania 36. The Boneyard Match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles headlined the first night of the event and was very well-received, and it’s possible this convinced Sting to get physically involved again.
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Val Venis has been highly critical of Joe Biden and called out The Rock, Mick Foley, and Batista for supporting him on Twitter. Many of his comments were libelous, and he was even suspended from the social media platform earlier this month. However, it seems that Joe Biden’s inauguration sent him off the deep end, and he has now deleted his Twitter account.
While it isn’t confirmed Biden officially becoming president is why he quit, his last tweets contained voting fraud allegations, accusations that the new president was a child abuser, and a statement that it was sad and sick to see him place his hand on the bible. Numerous other Twitter users would respond to his tweets unfavorably, and shortly after, his account was gone. It should be noted that the “This account doesn’t exist” message means the user disabled or deleted the account, as when Twitter does this is reads “Account suspended.”
Most fans remember Venis for his decade-plus run with WWE, which twice saw him hold the Intercontinental Championship and the Tag Team Championship with Lance Storm. After his WWE career petered out, he toured with New Japan in 2009 and briefly joined TNA. From then, he competed on the independent scene and now appears to be in semi-retirement, having just wrestled five times since 2017. Away from wrestling, he has become a big proponent of cryptocurrency and has invested in Health For Life (healthforlifearizona.com), which has two medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona.
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The Undertaker protected his character virtually his entire career. So it was weird when he opened a Twitter account and even more bizarre when he confirmed it was actually him tweeting. Things would change during the promotion of his WWE Network documentary series, The Last Ride, as he would do interviews out of character. Now he has participated in perhaps what will be his most listened to interview ever, as he was today’s guest on The Joe Rogan Experience. It was an interesting listen, and many topics were covered, one of which was steroids in wrestling, and The Undertaker confirmed he has used them and what the talents mindset was like back in the day. He’d also reveal that current wrestlers have four mandatory urine tests and two blood tests every year.
There was a time when you had to be jacked. Especially with the big guys, there was a stigma. You had to be 300 pounds, it’s in our head. Nobody gives a sh*t. They’re interested in the characters we are on TV, but in our heads, it was like, “f*ck I gotta be 350 pounds.”
That was the wrestler’s mindset then, but now we’re tested for everything which I don’t understand because there are some big motherf*ckers out there, and they’re cut, and I don’t know how they did it. Like, I couldn’t get that way when I was on steroids.
Before I switched my contract, now I’m not a talent, I’m a legend — I only worked two or three times a year, but I was under a regular contract. Under a regular contract, and this is if you tested clean, you had to have four mandatory p*ss tests and two blood tests every year. They’d get to the end of the year, and I’d get a call, ‘Go to the lab and do a piss test.’ I hadn’t been in the ring in six or seven months, but they’d look at the book and say, “oh, we forgot about him.'”So you get the piss test done, but that was only three. Sure enough, next day, another phone call, “go back to the lab.” They’re totally random; they just show up. I was home. That’s why I didn’t get tested until the end. I know what the protocol is, and if anyone could get out of it, it would be me, and I couldn’t get out of it.The Undertaker
Steroids in wrestling were a big problem in the 80s, and WWE started testing in the 90s after a doctor from Pennsylvania was arrested for providing steroids to WWE wrestlers. His conviction subsequently led to Vince McMahon going to trial in 1994, but he was acquitted, and WWE stopped testing in 1996. Sadly it would take the tragic death of Eddie Guerrero for WWE to take the next step and introduce a Wellness Program in 2006, which tests for both recreational prescription drugs. However, Ryback had previously alleged that some referees would warn the wrestlers about upcoming tests when he was with the company, so they had time to take the necessary measures not to fail.
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The women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic kicks off tonight on NXT, and WWE has published the bracket online. While the tournament is filled with established names like Ember Moon, Mercedes Martinez, and Candice LeRae, the names Zoey Stark, Cora Jade, and Gigi Dolin stand out due to the unfamiliarity. These names are unknown because all were previously indie wrestlers who WWE have just announced on Twitter have signed with the company and will be part of the tournament under their new names. The three were formerly known as Lacey Ryan, Elayna Black, and Priscilla Kelly, respectively.
Lacey Ryan began wrestling in 2013 and competed for Impact Wrestling in 2019 against Taya Valkyrie, and then made two further in-ring appearances in 2020. Elayna Black debuted in 2018 and competed for Impact in 2019, and has twice wrestled on AEW Dark. One was as short singles defeat to Red Velvet, and the other came as part of a tag match when she teamed with Leyla Hirsch. The biggest name of the three is Priscilla Kelly, the ex-wife of AEW star Darby Allin. She began wrestling in 2015, and her most high-profile match took place on the episode of Dynamite taped on Chris Jericho’s cruise, losing to Dr. Britt Baker. AEW had wanted to bring her into work alongside Allin before they divorced, but she didn’t want to play second fiddle to him and preferred to make her own name. Previously she wrestled for WWE as part of the Mae Young Classic in 2018 in a losing effort to Deonna Purrazzo.
Looking at the draw for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, it appears none of the three will advance beyond the first round as Stark (Lacey Ryan) is teaming with Roderick Strong’s wife Marina Shafir against Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon. With Dolin (Priscilla Kelly) and Jade (Elayna Black) taking on LeRae and Indi Hartwell. However, this is just the beginning of their WWE adventure.
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Taya Valkyrie holds the record for the longest Impact Knockouts Championship reign at 377 days but failed to recapture the title at Impact Wrestling’s pay-per-view this past Saturday. It has now been confirmed that her appearance on last night’s Impact Wrestling on AXS was her final one for the company.
Her contract recently expired, and Impact has written her off television by revealing she was behind the long-running angle on who shot John E. Bravo. The segment was played for comedy, and when Tommy Dreamer was discussing what will happen to Valkyrie following her arrest, he says if she’s lucky, she’ll go to Jacksonville State Prison in reference to AEW, and if she is unlucky, she’ll go to Stamford Maximum Penitentiary alluding to WWE. Acey Romero then adds he hopes it isn’t Baltimore, which is where ROH is based. You can watch this for yourself below.
.@TheTayaValkyrie WANTED @JohnEBravo1st DEAD!
She FRAMED @legendoflarryd and is going to jail. #IMPACTonAXSTV pic.twitter.com/RK5YOTvTbM
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) January 20, 2021
What the future holds for Valkyrie remains to be seen. She is currently AAA’s Reina de Reinas Champion but hasn’t returned to Mexico in 2020 to defend the title, with her lone title defense in 2020 taking place in the UK on an independent show. Many people expect her to sign with WWE due to her husband John Morrison being with the promotion. However, it wouldn’t be a surprise if AEW reached out to her as they have a new show starting this year and don’t have a very experienced women’s roster.
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In October, it was confirmed that Mercedes Martinez was no longer part of WWE’s Retribution stable. At the time, no information was given why Retaliation, as she was named, had just quietly disappeared after being on the main roster for only a few weeks. She’d return to NXT on the December 23rd episode attacking NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai. Now in an interview with PWInsider, she has spoken about her brief time on the main roster and that being part of the faction didn’t fit with her career goals and what she wasn’t her legacy to be.
I was given an opportunity, and I took the opportunity not knowing what the outcome would be, you got to make the best of anything you can, but I think when that opportunity came, it just wasn’t for me. When you hit this pinnacle of your career, as I did, hitting 20 years, and you want to make the most of your career, but make it part of a legacy, what you want to be for your career. I just think being part of that group, it’s no hidden fact that it was me, I don’t hide the fact, but I don’t mention it, only because it was a very small part of what the bigger picture is. It’s kind of one of those things where it’s, you know what? “This is where Mercedes is, but maybe it doesn’t fit her mold, maybe doesn’t fit the career, the trajectory that I want my career, my legacy to be.” It was no hard feelings, I just think we had both two different plans, I wanted one thing to go one way, and they had a different outlook and maybe they were still working on their outlook. It’s just something that I just said, “Hey, I know where I want my career and this is probably not it.” I don’t give any hard feelings and I wish nothing but success to all those that are a part of the group and I wish them the best, I really, really, really do, but I just think it wasn’t meant for me, it was probably meant for somebody else and I wanna make me legacy a little different and that’s why I’m back on NXT and gonna put my mark on the women’s division there. Mercedes Martinez
Moving back to NXT after a main roster call-up does appear like a major carer setback, especially aged 40. Although with the Retribution faction being ridiculed from the outset due to their names, masks, and poor booking, Martinez may end up having made a wise decision. When WWE inevitably pulls the plug on the group, they will have quite a task rebuilding the individual members’ careers, and for some, it could be the end of their time with WWE, simply due to being saddled with a gimmick.
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The “Too Sweet” hand gesture symbolizes unity in pro wrestling and was initially used in WWE by The Kliq and spread to WCW when Nash, Hall, and Waltman switched promotions. Nash has stated he isn’t a fan of the name Too Sweet and refers to it himself as “Turkish Wolf.” In recent years, the Bullet Club has adopted it, and five days after a Bullet Club reunion of sorts on Dynamite, AEW has filed a trademark application for merchandise and entertainment services by a professional wrestler or wrestling group.
It remains to be seen whether AEW will secure the trademark, as WWE filed for the hand gesture in 2015 but would abandon it after encountering issues with a similar hand gesture. Pro Wrestling Tees also attempted to trademark the phrase themselves in 2017 but were denied by the USPTO.
Away from wrestling, the hand gesture is seen as troublesome as a Turkish far-right organization uses it. The group known as The Grey Wolves believes in an extreme form of nationalism and has been characterized by some as neo-fascists. The hand signal was banned in Austria in February 2019 because of them. Earlier this month, a Premier League soccer player caused controversy after using the hand gesture in goal celebration but claimed afterward to not knowing who the controversial group is.
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Over the weekend, we reported on the difference of opinion between Ryback and Mark Henry. It all started after Ryback tweeted that wrestling is fake and championships are props. Mark Henry replied on the Busted Open radio show he co-hosts calling him a “bitter ass,” and an “assh*le,” and said he owes the wrestling world an apology. Ryback would then spend his Sunday firing back at Henry, first defending himself by saying he was being sarcastic and loves the wrestling business. He’d then add Henry is a paid puppet of WWE, that John Cena refused to work with him and that before their match at WrestleMania XXIX, Mark Henry was sleeping, and an agent wished him luck “working that fat piece of sh*t.” In a now-deleted tweet, he also said, “I will break him apart like no other along with the sh*t company that doesn’t care about him that that put him up to this.”
Those were strong words by Ryback, and on today’s episode of Busted Open, Mark Henry has said he and Cena would ride together, that he wanted the agent’s name and that if anything physical ever goes down between them, it’ll be hospital time for Ryback.
WrestleMania, when supposedly some agent said it, yea, ok, I believe that sh*t. I believe that, that I’m the sh*ts? Oh, let me see. After you left, the guy you said John Cena, you put John Cena out on front street, and I’m sure John Cena would probably make a statement about how when he first got into wrestling, who did he ride in the car with? Me. Who’s the guy that went to the office and say, “Hey man, you all need to see John Cena rap. The dude is talented.” They said, “You know what, this is awesome.” John was mad at me because he didn’t want to be looked at as the rapper guy, but you got Thuganomics. You’re welcome. F*CK you Ryback. You’re trying to tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about? That I’m not great? That I was the sh*ts? You based it off, and you throw it off an unnamed agent? Name his name. You named John Cena. Name the agent. I’ll call him. I’ll get him on the show, and I’ll say, “Listen, I’m not saying that this happened, but at any point did you ever tell Ryback I was the sh*ts.” I was famous for taking naps. I take naps every day. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s great. Vince McMahon himself has ribbed me, poured water on me.
Until you walk up to me and punch me in my face, the world won’t know how violent I can be. So when you feel froggy like that, you let me know where I need to get a plane ticket to. I will show up for that because even at 50 years old, I’m more man than most men will ever want to be in their dreams. You start talking about cutting promos. I’m not cutting a promo. I’m saying this from my soul. I will tear your flesh off bro, and that’s a promise. I’m not threatening you. I’m just saying as a reactionary thing, if you hit me, there will be hospital time. I’ll make sure of it. That’s my response to Mr. Ryback, and I will never speak on it again because it’s a waste of my energy. I want to make this show, and this show should be more about peace because it’s Martin Luther King Day.Mark Henry
As Ryback now has Henry blocked on Twitter, and Henry says he will never speak about Ryback again, this issue may cease to escalate further. Ryback is currently away from the business but is looking to return, and hopefully, when he does, he doesn’t cross paths with Henry at an indie show or conventions. If he does, it sounds like it could be scary, and everyone needs to get out of the way.
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Alberto Del Rio was accused of terrible acts by an ex-girlfriend and was arrested in May 2020. Photographs were taken, and he was indicted in October, meaning a grand jury looked at the evidence and decided there was enough to charge the former WWE Champion with a crime. With the alleged crimes taking place in Texas, if found guilty, the punishment of life imprisonment is possible. Things, though, took a twist when Del Rio’s accuser took to Instagram and, in a now-deleted post, wrote, “An apology to the Rodriguez del Rio family for the damages caused by my mistakes.” This was followed up by Del Rio’s brother saying on Facebook that the accuser was a garbage person and that “the truth will set you.”
Initially, it seemed that based on her comments, she was recanting her accusations, and Del Rio would be in the clear. However, only the State can drop the case, and they appear to be proceeding as PWInsider has confirmed the trial date is still 25th January 2021. So it appears in one week, Del Rio will face one count of aggravated kidnapping and four counts of sexual assault with or without the alleged victims’ participation.
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