Throughout 2020 WWE has let go or furloughed hundreds of staff and dozens of talents despite still making huge profits. Fans and critics of the company have been vocal in their displeasure with WWE doing this, but it seems WWE doesn’t care, as they let between 10-15 staff go on Friday.
Among those fired was Derek Casselman, the Director of Venue Merchandise Remote Operations, who had been with WWE since 1993. However, the most surprising person let go was Tony Chimel, who worked in production and would oversee the ring crew. He had begun working for Vince McMahon in 1989, initially as part of the ring crew before becoming Howard Finkel’s backup ring announcer. In 1999 he’d get his big opportunity and become known to wrestling fans worldwide when he became the announcer for SmackDown.
The majority of those let go are believed to have worked in the live event and touring department. This would seemingly indicate WWE is not expecting to resume touring any time soon.
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Miro was recently a guest on Talk Is Jericho and the interview is a fascinating insight into how WWE operates. One of the most interesting topics covered was the contentious Jerry Springer-Esque storyline with Bobby Lashley that saw his real-life wife Lana leave him. At the time, many fans questioned why Miro and Lana went along with the angle, and now Miro has revealed that Paul Heyman, who was at the time the Executive Director of Raw, convinced them by telling Miro it would lead to the WrestleMania main event.
I left, and I stayed home for three or four months, and I think Paul Heyman called us with that story, and I was like, “Where is it leading?” Of course, because this is my first question. Cool, it’s not my favorite story, but where is it leading? “Main event of WrestleMania. One of the main events of WrestleMania.” When you hear that, what are you gonna say? There’s plans and this is September, October, whatever it was so it’s a few months planned, and it’s very realistic.Miro
Miro would obviously not go to main event WrestleMania against Lashley, and in fact, wasn’t on the show at all. By the time WrestleMania came around, the angle between Miro and Lashley was dead and buried as Miro had repeatedly lost to Lashley, and fan interest had waned. He’d end being released by WWE on April 15th; ten days after the event he was initially told he would main event aired.
Miro is now in the process of rebuilding his career in AEW, having debuted on the September 9th episode of Dynamite, where he is aligned with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford and working an angle with Trent, Chuck Taylor, and Orange Cassidy.
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Paige was a guest on the Grown Ass Women podcast earlier this week and would publicly discuss her past relationship with Alberto Del Rio for the first time. During this interview, she claimed that Del Rio would keep her confined for hours at a time and beat her.
Following those comments, Alberto Del Rio has spoken to TMZ and told them that he is considering taking legal action against Paige for her claims and insists the abuse came from her.
It was the other way around. I have the evidence. Not just words. I would say Raya, why? Why? Why are you doing this Raya? And, I’m not calling you Paige because you were never Paige to me, you were Raya. Why would you hurt me in a moment like this? Alberto Del Rio
Alberto Del Rio and Paige began seeing each other in 2016 but separated in 2017. Paige is now dating musician Ronnie Radke, while Alberto Del Rio made headlines earlier this year after being arrested for allegedly assaulting his then-girlfriend under horrific circumstances. The former two-time WWE Champion now faces possible life in prison when he goes to court in January 2021.
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Recently Cody Rhodes was on a mission to secure as many former WCW event names that his father Dusty created after WWE let them expire. WWE would oppose his applications, and a long, drawn-out process began. However, in the end, Cody would abandon his applications. Then it what appears to have been in exchange for Cody doing that, WWE gave up their trademark for “Cody Rhodes.”
WWE have now filed trademark applications to take ownership of trademarks for “Slamboree,” “The Match beyond,” “Bunkhouse Stampede,” “Battlebowl,” and “SuperBrawl.”
It isn’t known if WWE has any plans for the names, but obviously, they don’t want anyone else to apply for them. WWE has seen success in the Wednesday Night Wars when using former WCW Intellectual property like The Great American Bash and Halloween Havoc, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a SuperBrawl episode of NXT to coincide with the Super Bowl in February.
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Apart from being a professional wrestler, Cody Rhodes, he is one of AEW’s executive vice presidents, a judge on the upcoming TBS talent show Go-Big Show, and an actor. Now, in an interview with Bleacher Report, he has revealed that once he turns 40 and steps away from the ring, he is looking at getting into politics.
I’m 35, and I said I only wanted to wrestle for five more years. I have political aspirations. I would love to run for the Senate in the great state of Georgia. I want to help with the sphere of influence I have created. I always say if you do the work, it will pay off.Cody Rhodes
Seemingly the world of pro wrestling prepares people for politics as Jese Ventura, Antonio Inoki, Kane, Ludvig Borga, Matt Morgan, Rhino, Atsushi Onita, Nikolai Volkoff, Brian Blair, The Great Sasuke, and Jerry Lawler have all gotten involved with varying degrees of success. Cody, though, will at least hope he does better than Bob Backlund did when he tried to become a congressman for Connecticut and polled just 30% in a two-horse race.
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Zelina Vega began wrestling in 2010, and thanks to a recommendation from Tommy Dreamer, she got a shot in TNA in 2011. During her TNA run, she competed as Rosita and won the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship with her kayfabe cousin Sarita, but would return to the independents a few years later. During her time back on the indie scene, she would try out for WWE every year until finally getting signed in 2017.
Now speaking to Lillian Garcia on her Chasing Glory show on the WWE Network, she discussed being turned down by WWE after her trials. She’d also tell Garcia that she used her spell as one of Adam Rose’s Rosebud’s to show WWE how committed she was.
I was 18 or 19 when I had my first tryout. I got turned down every year since 2010, except for 2011 – 2012, but every year after that. And then, like, around 2017, I said, “ok, I’m out.” They had me as a Rosebud for, like, six months. So I was driving from New York to everywhere, just to prove to them how much this meant to me.
It’s funny. I feel like a lot of people, who are just coming up now, they have no idea what that process is. They have no idea what, you know, really paying your dues to get to that point means. You know, when you’re sacrificing when you don’t have money, when you don’t have anything. I did what I had to do ’cause I knew, something in me just knew, that this is what I was meant to do.
Vega would eventually get her opportunity to wrestle in a WWE ring in 2016. She would face then NXT Women’s Champion Asuka on the October 26th, 2016 episode of NXT in a match that went just over a minute. Nine months later, she would get offered a WWE deal and was quickly aligned with Andrade as his manager. Since then, she has established herself as a prominent character and a favorite of Vince McMahon. This past September, she would again face Asuka, this time for the RAW Women’s Title at WWE Clash of Champions. She did also lose this match, but this time in a much more competitive.
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At the conclusion of his WWE Network series Undertaker: The Last Ride, The Undertaker announced he was retiring from in-ring competition, ending a career that began in 1987. The final episode of the series focused on his cinematic Boneyard Match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36, and The Undertaker explained it was what he was looking for with his final match.
Now, WWE has issued a press release announcing this year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 22nd will be The Undertaker’s “Final Farewell,” seemingly making his retirement official. Coincidentally, the event is precisely 30 years to the day when The Undertaker made his on-camera debut at the fourth annual Survivor Series. While that appearance is often believed to have been his first WWE match, he had actually competed as Kane The Undertaker on the 19th against Mario Mancini and then on the 20th beating Rick Sampson.
While it is unfortunate that The Undertaker’s final WWE appearance (besides his inevitable Hall of Fame induction) will take place in front of no fans, it has the potential to be a special moment. Hopefully, The Undertaker can go out with one final memorable moment, and it’s likely the majority of the locker room will be hoping they can be the one to take the last tombstone of his legendary career.
To commemorate the occasion and anniversary, WWEShop.com is also selling a special Undertaker 30 Years Signature Series Championship title belt.
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Paige and Alberto Del Rio began dating in the spring of 2016 and would get engaged that October. Their tumultuous relationship would end the following year, not long after an incident at Orlando International Airport, which saw Del Rio suspended by Impact Wrestling and stripped of the Unified GFW World Heavyweight Championship. Now speaking to the Grown Ass Women podcast, Paige has opened up for the first time about her distressing time with Del Rio.
I’ve never spoken about it before, whether podcasts or interviews, I always stayed away, but now it’s completely out there. I’m like, “why am I shying away from this? Why am I not brave enough to talk about it?”
I’ll never say his name again because he’s Voldemort to me. But he needs whatever is happening to him. Karma is a real thing.
In the beginning, you’re fighting back with this person. But in the end, it becomes a cycle. Eventually, something is happening to you every day. You could be trapped in a room for 6-7 hours, getting your ass beat every couple of minutes. And he’s doing all these crazy things to you.Paige
Since then, Paige has moved on with her life and is now in a happy relationship with Falling in Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke. In contrast, Del Rio has continued to make headlines for all the wrong reasons and is currently facing possible life in prison for alleged second-degree sexual assault on another former girlfriend.
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Full Gear takes place this Saturday, and one of the biggest and most anticipated matches on the card is The Youngs Bucks challenging FTR for the AEW Tag Team Championships. The match has been built up for years despite the teams being in different promotions, and fans will finally get to see two of the best teams in the world compete in a dream match. With the added stipulation that is the Young Bucks lose, they can’t challenge for the titles again, you know it will be filled with drama.
However, rumors did begin to circulate this week following Matt Jackson selling his leg during the Bucks match against Private Party on Dynamite that the Young Buck was legitimately injured. Thankfully Matt has taken to Twitter to reassure fans that he has been medically cleared to compete.
Apparently, the injury is a partially torn MCL that occurred during the Young Bucks vs. The Butcher and The Blade match a few months back. While Matt didn’t go into detail about his injury in the tweet, it is also believed that he has a thinning ACL from years of use. This has made the injury worse, but the good news is his knee should be able to heal without the need for surgery.
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All Elite Wrestling’s “Full Gear” pay-per-view takes place this Saturday, and we have two FITE codes to give away to lucky fans so they can enjoy the event for free. The show features nine matches, with five of those being title matches. The full card is listed below.
Entries close on Saturday, 7th November, at 10:00 AM ET, and the winner will be sent the FITE code via email by 11:00 AM ET. By submitting your entry, you will also be subscribing to the WIJ Newsletter, which you can unsubscribe from with one-click. Only one entry per person. Please notethe code is only valid outside of the US.
So, for your chance to win, just answer the following question:
Who did Cody win the TNT Championship from for his second reign?
A) Mr. Brodie Lee
B) MJF
[contact-form to=”james@webisjericho.com” subject=”Full Gear Comp”][contact-field label=”Name” type=”name” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Email” type=”email” required=”1″][contact-field label=”Answer” type=”text” required=”1″ options=”Mr. Brodie Lee,MJF”][/contact-form]
If you’re not fortunate enough to win, you can order the PPV through FITE at this link.
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Today, WWE announced that their new PvP mobile game WWE Undefeated would be available to download on December 3rd for phones and tablets. The game features Roman Reigns, The Fiend, The Rock, Kofi Kingston, Drew McIntyre, The Undertaker, Seth Rollins from launch, and if you pre-register at WWEUndefeated.com, you can unlock AJ Styles during the first week.
The official trailer can be watched below.
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WWE Undefeated has been developed by San Francisco-based developer and publisher nWay, which are behind the successful Power Rangers: Legacy Wars and Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid games.
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Cody closed last night’s episode of Dynamite with a promo on Darby Allin building their upcoming match at Full Gear. Then when the show went off the air, he would continue addressing the fans in attendance. After ribbing Billy Gunn, he confirmed the news we reported yesterday, that he could now use his famous surname again. The fans at Daily’s Place would show their delight with the revelation and broke into a spontaneous “Cody Rhodes” chant. Cody would then finish by telling them that “it feels really good to be Cody Rhodes again.”
It was a cool moment and is still available to watch on the FITE stream of the episode as of writing. But for those of you without an AEW Plus subscription on FITE, you can watch it below, thanks to Twitter user @FLWrestlingFan, who was in attendance.
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Cody Rhodes lost his surname when he departed WWE in 2016, and from then he had to go just by Cody. On some occasions, he would try to get around this by being introduced with his wife Brandi as “Cody and Brandi Rhodes,” as she has no legal issues using the surname.
Once WWE allowed the trademark to expire earlier this year, Cody would apply for it. Unfortunately for Cody, WWE would file a late renewal and seemingly dashed his hopes of using his legendary surname again. However, while unconfirmed, it’s speculated that Cody and WWE managed to work out a mutually beneficial agreement that saw him drop his trademark applications for “The Match Beyond” and “Slamboree.” In return, WWE relinquished the “Cody Rhodes” trademark.
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