Francine is synonymous with The original ECW, where she was known as the “Queen of Extreme” and worked as a manager for multiple wrestlers between 1994 and 2001. Once ECW went out of business, she’d appear in TNA before working the independent circuit. Then WWE had the One Night Stand pay-per-view, and she’d make an appearance during the main event, kicking Tommy Dreamer in the groin, and fighting with Beulah. The event’s success resulted in WWE bringing ECW back as a new brand, and Francine was offered a contract. Now, in an interview with The Ryback Show, she discussed being unhappy during her brief run with WWE and a conversation she had with Vince McMahon, where he told her he’d never seen her perform. WWE would give Francine an opportunity by putting her in an angle with fellow ECW original Balls Mahoney, who was feuding with Kevin Thorn and Ariel. Francine would wrestle Ariel in an “Extreme Catfight” on the September 26, 2006 episode of ECW on Sci-Fi. However, Balls failed a drug test, and she was released on October 12, 2006, despite Balls himself staying employed for another 18 months. Francine bounced back from her WWE rejection and got married in 2008 and is now a mother to an 11 and 8-year-old.

The Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, with the WWE ThunderDome set, has been the promotions television home since the August 21st edition of SmackDown. There have been some issues along the way, mainly relating to fans abusing the opportunity to appear on TV virtually. Still, it has been a massive upgrade on the Performance Center.

At present, WWE has only agreed to rent the Amway Center until October 31st, paying circa $450,000 for this period. It’s believed WWE could extend the arrangement, but that appeared not to be WWE’s plan when they rescheduled their Hell in A Cell pay-per-view to October 25th, rather than holding it in November as originally planned.

Now WWE is informing talent that they are making tentative plans to resume touring and to make themselves available. No possible destinations have been revealed, but WWE has been looking into the possibility of outdoor venues.

With AEW proving it’s possible to have fans in attendance under the right circumstances, it is understandable that WWE wants to resume some form of normality. Add that Florida is moving into Phase 3 of its reopening plan, WWE will now have more possibilities than they did in August.

The names of the three primary male members of RETRIBUTION were named on this week’s Raw episode. Dio Maddin is Mace, Donovan Dijakovic is T-Bar, and Shane Thorne is Slapjack. When Raw went off the air, neither Mercedes Martinez nor Mia Yim had their new monikers confirmed, but following a WWE trademark application, we have a good idea of what they will be going by in the future.

WWE filed the trademark applications on Monday under entertainment services used by a professional wrestler for the names “Mace,” “T-Bar,” “Slapjack,” “Reckoning,” and “Retaliation.” While unlikely, it is possible the two other trademarks are not related to RETRIBUTION members; however, on Tuesday, the Twitter account @ReckoningRTRBTN was created. This account features a photo of Mia Yim with her mask on and follows Mace, T-Bar, and Slajack’s accounts. This indicates Mia Yim will now be known as Reckoning, which leaves the name Retaliation for Mercedes Martinez.

Naomi has been off WWE television for the last month, and today she explained why on her Instagram account. She has had myomectomy surgery to have a fibroid removed that has been causing severe anemia, fatigue, and abdominal pain. A fibroid is a non-cancerous growth made up of muscle and fibrous tissue that grows around the womb. They aren’t considered that dangerous but are well-known to cause a drop in red blood cells (anemia) and can grow to 20-40 pounds, causing significant discomfort.

Thankfully Naomi has confirmed she feels much better and will be fine, following the six-hour operation. Recovery typically takes between 4-6 weeks, so hopefully, she can return to the ring soon. You can read her Instagram story below.

The wrestling world lost a true legend on Tuesday evening when Road Warrior Animal passed away. News broke the following morning, and since then, both wrestlers and fans alike have been mourning his passing.

On last night’s episode of Dynamite, Thunder Rosa paid tribute to the WWE Hall of Famer by wearing a variation of his face paint instead of her usual Day of the Dead style she wears to honor her deceased grandfather. You can see this in the featured photo above.

Thunder Rosa, who is the NWA Women’s Champion would team with AEW Women’s Champions Hikaru Shida, defeating the team of Ivelisse and Diamante. The finish saw Shida pinning Diamante following a Falcon Arrow and Shining Wizard.

Cody Rhodes was injured in storyline on the August 13th episode of Dynamite by Brodie Lee, who defeated him for the TNT Championship. He was written off television due to his filming “Go-Big Show,” an upcoming extreme talent show he is judging.

Six weeks after the angle aired, Cody has returned to Dynamite, dressed prominently in black, with dyed black hair, and showing a much more aggressive attitude. He’d hit the ring from Brodie Lee’s successful title defense against Brodie Lee and laid out Dark Order members John Silver and Alan Angels, putting Angels in the figure-four leglock. Lee would do a backstage promo on Cody, challenging him to a dog collar match, and giving him one week to answer.

You can watch this for yourself below.

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To mark his return ShowAEW.com is selling a new t-shirt named “Death Of Cody,” that you can view here. Note it will only be available for 24 hours so act quickly if you want to add it to your collection as it is sure to become a collectors item.

Ryback has not wrestled since 2018 following a severe back injury which required over a dozen stem cell procedures. However, his time away from the ring looks to be coming to an end after he confirmed on his Shooting Blanks Wrestling Report podcast that he is back in training.

It seems unlikely we’ll see Ryback in a WWE ring as he has been very outspoken about the company and is currently involved in a trademark dispute over the Ryback name. In the past, Ryback has teased going to All Elite Wrestling, but they have a full roster at present and only just found a spot for Miro. Impact Wrestling could be a possible destination as they regularly bring in former WWE talent, and with Anthem behind them are now financially secure. Alternatively, a return to the indies, where he completed as The Big Guy between August 2016 and August 2018, could happen when promotions can hold shows with larger crowds to justify his booking fee.

Cody is on a mission to take ownership of several trademarks that WWE allowed to lapse, which were created by his late father, Dusty Rhodes. Two of these were “Slamboree,” which was the name of a pay-per-view, and “The Match Beyond,” an alternative name for WarGames. However, WWE filed an opposition for these trademarks on 21st September.

WWE claims that despite not using these names for new content, they become their intellectual properties when purchasing WCW in 2001 and are now linked to WWE in the publics’ mind. Stating that allowing Cody to use them would confuse wrestling fans.

Not associated with WWE, but Cody is also having difficulty securing the trademark of “The American Dream,” which was his father’s nickname. He was recently rejected for the third time as the United States Patent & Trademark Office says he did not provide appropriate documents showing how “The American Dream” was used in entertainment services, specifically live appearances and appearances by a pro wrestler. Cody and his lawyer now have until late January 2021 to provide further documentation.

John Cena is playing Christopher Smith, whose alter ego is Peacemaker, a superhero who tries to attain peace-through-violence in next years, “The Suicide Squad” movie. The character initially appeared in the “Fightin’ 5” comic book series in November 1966, published by Charlton Comics. However, in 1983 DC Comics purchased him to use him in the Watchmen series before changing their mind.

It has now been announced that the streaming service HBO Max has ordered an eight-episode spinoff series about the character, simply titled “Peacemaker.” It will delve into Christopher Smith’s past, and Cena will again star in addition to being a co-executive producer. James Gunn, who is the director and writer of “The Suicide Squad,” movie is onboard to write and direct some of the episodes, including the pilot. Filming is scheduled for early 2021.

Earlier this morning, Hulk Hogan tweeted out the sad news that Joseph Laurinaitis, known to wrestling fans as Road Warrior Animal of the legendary Road Warriors/The Legion of Doom tag-team, has passed away at the age of 60. His cause of death has not yet been confirmed.

Animal broke into the pro wrestling business in 1982, and his career skyrocketed when Ole Anderson paired him up with Mike Hegstrand, to form the Road Warriors in 1983. They’d go on to win tag titles in the NWA, AWA, WWE, and All Japan. Following the death of Hawk in 2003, he’d have a singles career but did team with Heidenreich and Matt Hardy on SmackDown. He also teamed with Rick Steiner at TNA’s Slammiversary pay-per-view in 2007, losing to Team 3D.

In 2011 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame along with Hawk and manager Paul Ellering by Dusty Rhodes. His final match took place on the July 20th, 2012, episode of SmackDown when he defeated Heath Slater in a squash match.

In a move that many feel is long overdue, Roman Reigns plans to ditch his SWAT tactical vest, which he has worn since debuting as part of The Shield in 2012. He would reveal this while talking to members of the Mania Club Facebook group, during a Zoom call to raise money for Connors Cure.

Reigns would also confirm he will also be getting new entrance music, having taken over The Shield’s theme when the trio disbanded in 2014. However, the change isn’t coming immediately, as he is waiting for the right time.

Reigns is set to defend the Universal Championship against his real-life cousin Jey Uso at this Sunday’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view. The tag team specialist won a fatal four-way match to become the #1 contender on a recent SmackDown, and it’s expected Reigns ruthlessly beating down his family member will be used to help further establish him as a heel.

Jim Cornette versus AEW is one of the longest-running feuds in the wrestling business, but unlike what we see every week on television, the hatred is genuine, at least on Cornette’s part. While Cornette has grievances with seemingly half the AEW roster, one of the wrestlers he particularly goes after is Joey Janela, who he calls “Jelly Nutella” on his podcast.

With Janela’s tag team with Sonny Kiss recently being more prominently featured on Dynamite, Cornette encouraged his podcast listeners to give the team a name. While some suggestions were witty, the vast majority were extremely vulgar and homophobic.

Now, in an attempt to troll Cornette, Janela revealed on Twitter with the below image Kiss and himself had picked a name for themselves and would be going by “Midnight Express.” For those unaware, that was the tag team Jim Cornette famously managed, leading to him becoming a star in the business.

However, soon after the image was shared, Jim Cornette’s lawyer would take to Twitter himself. He would inform Janela that a cease and desist letter had been sent to AEW’s Megha Parekh, the Jackson Jaguars’ senior vice president and chief legal officer. It turns out that Jim Cornette, Dennis Condrey, Bobby Eaton, and Stan Lane applied for the trademark just a month ago and are not about to let the promotion use their intellectual property.

It isn’t known if AEW was genuinely going to let Janela and Kiss use the well-known name, but Cornette and his lawyer are not taking any chances.