Tony Khan proclaimed on Twitter that Taz had an announcement to make during Fyter Fest night 2 that would “send shockwaves through the world of professional wrestling.” it ended up being the reintroduction of the FTW (F*ck The World) Championship last seen in Extreme Championship Wrestling back in 1999. Taz would award the championship, Brian Cage, because Cage was unable to wrestle AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley due to Moxley self-quarantining. Taz would decare Cage the baddest son-of-a-bitch in wrestling, and state he is no longer uncrowned. Moxley and Cage are booked to wrestle next Wednesday on the Fight of the Fallen themed episode of Dynamite. The FTW Championship dates back to 1998 when Taz introduced it to ECW after being unable to wrestle ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas due to Douglas being injured. In doing so, he proclaimed himself the real world champion, although the belt was unsanctioned by ECW. Sabu would also go on to hold the title, before Taz regained it and then unifying it with the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, at the time making the FTW title defunct.

Following the debacle that was WWE 2K20, WWE and 2K decided to drop WWE2k21 and are instead replacing it with an arcade-style game called WWE 2K Battlegrounds. Thankfully the people behind making WWE 2K20 aren’t connected; instead, Saber Interactive has developed the game, who are known for World War Z, Vampyr, and NBA 2K Playgrounds.

Fans would first hear about WWE 2K Battlegrounds in April when a teaser trailer was released, and now you can view the final trailer below.

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”nv5GFQRP” upload-date=”2020-07-08T13:28:34.000Z” name=”WWE 2K Battlegrounds Trailer” description=”null” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]

As you can see from the trailer, the game features Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Steve Austin, The Rock, The Fiend, Becky Lynch, Sgt Slaughter, Sasha Banks, The Bella Twins, Roman Reigns, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Braun Strowman, Kofi Kingston, Charlotte Flair, Andre the Giant, Ronda Rousey, Yokozuna, and Edge as pre-order exclusive. The deluxe edition also has additional versions of Steve Austin, The Rock, and Ronda Rousey.

WWE 2K Battlegrounds is set to be released on September 18th on Xbox One, PS4, Switch, and PC. As of yet, no Google Stadia announcement has been made.

WWE tweeted a reminder that fans could watch a replay of the 2017 Royal Rumble on FS1 last night, and Roman Reigns took it as an excuse to boast about his Royal Rumble record, claiming he might be the most important Royal Rumble match wrestler in history.

I might be the most important Royal Rumble competitor of all time. Before you start complaining, just think about the last 5 years…. https://t.co/tIfyv3bMyw

— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) July 8, 2020

When you consider the names, who have competed in the Royal Rumble match, such as Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Steve Austin, it seems doubtful that Reigns has a realistic claim of the Royal Rumble MVP. But a look into his record does make a compelling case. Over the six Royal Rumble matches he has competed in, he has won once, been runner-up four times, and third-placed once.

2014 – Runner-up, lasted 33:51 and eliminated 12 people.
2015 – Winner, lasted 27:29 and eliminated 6 people.
2016 – Last three, lasted 59:48 and eliminated 5 people.
2017 – Runner-up, lasted 5:05 and eliminated 3 people.
2018 – Runner-Up, lasted 21:52 and limited 4 people.
2019 – N/A – Was receiving treatment for leukemia.
2020 – Runner-up, lasted 16:01 and eliminated 2 people.

If the pandemic is over in time for Reigns to compete in the 2021 Royal Rumble match, it will take a brave man to bet against him going close again, and perhaps he is due another win after being runner-up so often.

Last night’s Raw saw Rey Mysterio and Kevin Owens defeat Seth Rollins and Murphy in a tag team match, meaning Mysterio could choose the stipulation for his match against Rollins at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. Mysterio decided on an “Eye For An Eye” match, as he is after retribution for Rollins previously trying to blind him. At the time, the rules weren’t clear, but WWE.com has cleared that up by posting the below.

It’s unknown how WWE plans on delivering on this, but considering they recently had Mysterio along with Aleister Black seemingly killed by being thrown off the roof of WWE’s headquarters, anything is possible.

Orange Cassidy has been one of the breakout stars of AEW and deservedly earned himself a main event spot, wresting Chris Jericho on the second night of the Fyter Fest special edition of Dynamite. The much-anticipated match was actually taped last week, and Jericho has taken to Instagram to declare he ranks it with the best of his career.

When you consider Chris Jericho’s has tremendous matches against Shawn Michaels, Kenny Omega, Tetsuya Naito, Chris Benoit, and Rey Mysterio on his resume, this type of statement puts Orange Cassidy in select company.

Shad Gaspard tragically died on May 17th, and in recognition of his life, Scout Comics has released two tribute editions of “Assassin and Son,” the comic book written by Gaspard and Marc Copani (WWE’s Muhammad Hassan). The series is set to be delivered to comic book stores in November, but you can get the variant covers through scoutcomics.com now. Only 1,000 physical copies of each are available, each costing $20. There is also a digital version costing $5.

The outline of the comic book series can be read below.

100% of the profits from the tribute edition will be donated to the Gaspard family, and his family is also still accepting donations through GoFundMe.

As we reported yesterday, Heath Slater, who was released by WWE in April, was booked for last night’s episode of Raw. His return ended up being used to advance the feud between Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler. Slater would join his former 3MB teammate Drew McIntyre along with McIntyre’s upcoming PPV opponent Dolph Ziggler in the ring and said McIntyre wasn’t there for him when he was fired and slapped him. This led to a short squash match between Slater and McIntyre, with McIntyre winning with a Claymore Kick. After the match, Ziggler attacked Slater, but McIntyre made the save, and the pair hugged.

Following the match, Slater did a backstage interview with @WWENetwork, stating that McIntyre was his brother in and out of the ring, and this appearance was the closing of a chapter.

Following Slater’s comments, this did appear to have been a one-off appearance, and Slater is expected to shortly be joining Impact Wrestling alongside his former tag partner Rhino. Rhino recently declared he had a tag team partner who has kids. This was clearly referencing Slater’s past gimmick of a father with lots of children, who had the catchphrase “I got kids.”

Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com has reported that Heath Slater is booked for tonight’s episode of Raw. Slater had been with WWE for 14 years and was part of WWE’s mass cuts on April 15th due to budgetary reasons. During his time with WWE, Slater was a four-time tag team champion, three times with Justin Gabriel and once with Rhino.

It isn’t known if this is a one-off appearance or if WWE is contemplating resigning him. It has been rumored that Slater is set to join Rhino is Impact Wrestling, after Rhino teased he had a tag team partner who has kids. This was a reference to Slater’s previous gimmick of being a father with lots of kids to support, including the catchphrase “I got kids.”

The son of the late, great Brian Pillman and Storm Wrestling Academy graduate Brian Pillman Jr will appear on Tuesday night’s episode of AEW Dark wrestling against Shawn Spears. It will be Pillman Jr’s second match for All Elite Wrestling after he competed in the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing in 2019.

Pillman Jr. is still under contract with Major League Wrestling, despite recently asking for his release, which would seemingly suggest AEW would be interested in signing him full-time if he could get out of his existing deal. At present, his MLW contract allows him to wrestle for other promotions, including AEW, as long as the dates don’t clash, because they were drafted before AEW existed and only expressly prohibited WWE and Impact. This is how MJF was also able to work for AEW while being under contract for MLW.

You can watch Pillman’s return to AEW and seven other matches this Tuesday at 7e/6c via AEW’s YouTube channel.

Rey Mysterio appeared as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match in 2018, and this led to him signing a contract in September for his full-time return. Since then, he has been prominently featured and, at times, appearing with his son Dominick. He is currently feuding with Seth Rollins, with an “eye for an eye” match rumored for the upcoming The Horror Show at Extreme Rules PPV, so it is somewhat surprising to find out that Mysterio has actually been wrestling without a contract for months.

Having a non-contracted wrestler in a meaningful position is very unusual for WWE ever since Vince McMahon was burned in the ’90s by Lex Luger and Rick Rude, but Mysterio has likely built up a strong relationship with McMahon after having had a 13-year tenure previously. Besides, having his son Dominick featured on WWE television is likely to mean he would decline any offer from AEW, NJPW, or AAA at present anyhow.

Due to the global pandemic, Ring of Honor is not currently renewing contacts, and this had resulted in Bully Ray leaving the promotion when his deal expired a few days ago. He had been with the company since 2017, and for some of that time, he was in charge of the Women of Honor division.

The timing of his departure is fascinating because Bully Ray would have known ahead of time he was leaving the promotion, and Impact Wrestling just started teasing an Aces & Eights reunion. Bully Ray was both the President and main antagonist of the group, so without him, it wouldn’t feel authentic.

Also, with both Tessa Blanchard and Michael Elgin no longer with the promotion, Impact Wrestling has announced a mystery competitor will be added to the Slammiversary main event, and Bully Ray fits the bill.

As we reported previously, Cody filed a trademark application for the name “Cody Rhodes” in April after WWE let it expire. It seemed this would result in him having control of his legendary surname again that his father created back in 1968.

Unfortunately, for Cody, it turns out that WWE went on to file a late renewal on May 15th for the trademark, citing that issues surrounding the pandemic had delayed them. Cody’s application has now received an initial refusal, and he has six months to reply to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

WWE is technically within their legal rights to do this as they did create the Cody Rhodes character. Still, it makes them look bad, holding onto after a name with prior usage (Dusty and Dustin) that they have no plans to even use.