Boynton Beach police have confirmed that former WCW wrestler Van Hammer, real name Mark Hildreth has been arrested for hit-and-run after driving 58 miles per hour in a 35-zone while drunk and hitting a 5-year old who was riding his bike. The boy is currently in a stable condition after suffering from internal injuries.
The terrible incident happened Sunday afternoon, and Van Hammer’s bail was set at $125,000 with the option for house arrest. During his court appearance earlier today, it was revealed Van Hammer has two previous DUI arrests.
Van Hammer has been retired from wrestling since 2009 and works for a home improvement business.
Our thoughts are with the young child and his family at this time.
XYZ
Despite constant denials by Edge, it had been revealed that Edge had signed a new contract with WWE and was planning on returning to the ring.
The Rated R Superstar was forced to retire in 2011 due to cervical spinal stenosis but has since made enough of a recovery he can wrestle again on a part-time basis.
Tonight was the night he made his triumphant return to the ring as the 21st entry in the Royal Rumble. While he lasted 25 minutes and made it to the final 3, he would ultimately be eliminated by Roman Reigns. Who was then himself eliminated by Drew McIntyre.
While it would be easy to be disappointed that Edge didn’t win on his return, we should consider ourselves lucky to have him back.
XYZ
Jay and Mark Briscoe are the latest wrestlers to re-sign with Ring Of Honor, following on from Bandido and Marty Scrull. The announcement came through Ring Of Honor’s below tweet.
A message from @SussexCoChicken and @jaybriscoe84… pic.twitter.com/ghfnPhlu1Y
— ROH Wrestling (@ringofhonor) January 26, 2020
The brothers were on ROH’s first-ever show in 2002, and apart from being gone between August 2004 to February 2006, they have remained with the company throughout its existence. As a tag-team, they are 11-time ROH World Tag Team Champions, and Jay is a two-time ROH World Champion.
With this re-signing, it would seem that one of the top tag teams of the last decade will never wrestle at the highest level (outside of a few New Japan appearances).
The brothers famously revealed in a promo that they were turned down by WWE for not being “cosmetically pleasing.”
XYZ
Yesterday saw the much anticipated NBA debut of Zion Williamson for the New Orleans Pelicans in a 121–117 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on ESPN. The game had 2,357,000 average viewers and peaked at 2,777,000. This was up 88% versus last year’s comparable game and undoubtedly affected the ratings for both Dynamite and NXT.
Dynamite was taped in advance on Chris Jericho’s cruise and featured Hangman Page and Kenny Omega winning the tag titles from SCU, and Jon Moxley defeating PAC to become the #1 contender for Chris Jericho’s AEW Championship.
NXT had the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic semifinals, Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai in a no contest, Finn Balor defeating Joaquin Wilder, and Keith Lee winning the NXT North American Title from Roderick Strong.
The final ratings saw Dynamite having 871,000 average viewers down 7.3% from last week, with NXT having 769,000 average viewers, which was up 9.9%.
So while it was another victory for AEW and took the score to 14-3-1 in AEW’s favor, they will be disappointed to have decreased, although being taped and with spoilers readily available in was perhaps to be expected.
XYZ
Going forward, the WWE NXT Women’s Championship will only be called the NXT Championship. At this time, neither the Raw or Smackdown women’s championships have been renamed, but it would seem an inevitability.
The change was foretold by Becky Lynch on WWE Backstage this past Tuesday when she said that WWE shouldn’t use gender-specific language when referring to the Men’s and Women’s division. You can watch this below.
XYZ
On last night’s AEW Dynamite there was a #1 contenders match between Jon Moxley and PAC that was won by Moxley following a double-arm DDT and then the Paradigm Shift. The current AEW Champion Chris Jericho who was a special guest on commentary, would say after the match:
I’m gonna finish what I started at Revolution. Moxley, you should’ve given up when you had the chance.Chris Jericho
The show would go off the air with Jericho staring at Moxley, which you can watch below.
Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship will now officially take place at AEW’s next PPV “Revolution” on February 29th from Chicago, Illinois.
XYZ
We posted the video of Psicosis II slapping Konnan yesterday, and in an interview transcribed by Pasala.com.mx, Psicosis II has explained why the public argument occurred.
Please note the quotes have been translated from Spanish, so do not read flawlessly in English.
This situation was personal. It has nothing to do with AAA. I warned him not to mess with my work, with the character, and not cause me any problems in my economy.
He always boasted that the only Psicosis is Nicho el Millonario, and that is why he works in the United States and hires him for different companies in Mexico.
Ask me how many AAA fighter’s and former AAA spoke to me yesterday to thank me and tell me that I was the only one who had the courage to put him in its place. He already deserved it because everyone knows the kind of person he is, how he humiliates his classmates.
It’s bullshit, any fighter can tell you, even if they don’t want his name revealed because they are afraid of him. As a person, it is crap. The heart is not tempted to harm people, the fighter who lives from this. He tramples, humiliates people.
Konnan is playing the incident down and saying it wasn’t a big deal.
XYZ
Last month Psicosis II (not the wrestler who wrestled for ECW, WCW, and WWE) had been asked by a fan why he hadn’t been on AAA television for over a year, and he blamed it on Konnan who works in creative. Konnan would reply saying that if Psicosis II was so talented, why aren’t any other promotions trying to book him. This lead to Psicosis II saying he would see Konnan January.
If you read Spanish, you can translate the tweets for yourself below.
Te veo en Enero ya paso mi evento de Leon AAA eso se arregla en persona
— Psicosis Invasor (@PsicosisViper) December 20, 2019
With Konnan and Impact Wrestling being in Mexico, Psicosis II took it upon himself to visit the tapings and confront Konnan. Following an argument, Psicosis II viciously slapped Konnan, and you can watch the altercation below.
From those who have spoken to Konnan, he is playing the incident down and saying it wasn’t a big deal. His next podcast will likely be an intriguing listen.
XYZ
Mike Kanellis hasn’t been on any WWE TV show or live event since requesting his release in October. However, he made his return to the ring on Friday night at an NXT live event in Melbourne, Florida, where he teamed with Tony Nese.
WWE is testing the team out, and if they work well together, they intend to make them a regular part of NXT.
Mike’s last appearance on WWE TV was back in September. The following month he posted a statement on his social media saying he had requested his release, just a few months into a new five-year deal.
Kanellis’s desire to leave WWE stemmed from wanting to work more regularly, as he stated on Twitter when he announced he had requested his release. It now seems he will get this opportunity.
XYZ
In September, we reported that Kacy Catanzaro had quit WWE. She was dealing with a back injury and wanted to leave wrestling, going so far as to remove all WWE mentions from her social media bios. Despite her request, WWE never released her from her contract and eventually talked her into staying with the company.
At this Wednesday’s NXT episode, she returned to the ring as a surprise entrant in the battle royal to get an NXT Women’s title shot. Io Shirai would eliminate Catanzaro after a dropkick, but it was great to see her wrestling again, and she seems happy to be back based on the below tweet.
I definitely missed the NXT Universe. https://t.co/AO5Vuq5080
— Kacy Catanzaro (@KacyCatanzaro) January 16, 2020
WWE sees a lot of potential in Catanzaro and tried numerous times to sign her based on her American Ninja Warrior success, where she took the mostly male viewership of the show to 55% female.
XYZ
At WWE’s December TLC PPV event, in the Tables, Ladders, and Chair’s main event for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship between The Kabuki Warriors and Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, Kairi Sane was injured, and clearly out on her feet.
Speaking with talkSPORT, Charlotte Flair commented on the match saying:
It didn’t [affect the match] in the moment. I guess, everyone, how they felt afterward is what made them feel different. In the moment, it was more it’s a tough spot. It’s the main event of a brutal pay-per-view and everyone has already seen Tables, Ladders and Chairs.
Obviously, Kairi was hurt, but in the match, I’m just thinking, ‘how do we keep people invested?’ with them already seeing so many different TLC, brutal matches.
It’s troubling that Charlotte acknowledges she knew Sane was hurt but was more concerned in keeping fans invested, so the match continued regardless.
XYZ
Rocky Johnson sadly died on Wednesday, and his son The Rock has publicly commented on his passing for the first time earlier today.
He posted the below tribute on Instagram that includes a clip of Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas in the ring, with a shot of The Rock as a youngster in the crowd.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7bC7pGFiPc/
XYZ