With WWE not having TV tapings in 10 years at Madison Square Garden it would have been safe to assume a sellout was inevitable.
Ticket sales though are not where they should be for the back-to-back RAW and Smackdown Live shows. So WWE has gone back to the past and is bringing in another legend.
Having already announced The Undertaker for the MSG SmackDown Live show, it has now been announced “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will be returning to the famous arena for the first time in almost 20 years.
Steve Austin has some great matches/moments at MSG including his match against Bret Hart at Survivor Series, his main event of SummerSlam and also the first time he ever stunned Vince McMahon. Hopefully, he can add to those with a memorable appearance on September 9th.🗣 JUST ANNOUNCED: 🗣 For the first time in almost two decades, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (@steveaustinBSR) returns to The World’s Most Famous Arena for WWE Monday Night RAW on September 9. You don’t want to miss this! https://t.co/HaOonbsZbq #WWEMSG pic.twitter.com/HuhPuLlXXR
— MSG (@TheGarden) August 26, 2019
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Following on from the news of Finn Balor’s marriage it seems that wedding season is in full flight, as Shawn Spears (Tye Dillinger) Peyton Royce tied the knot over the weekend according to WWE.com.
The couple first met during their time together in NXT and announced their engagement in August of last year.
Congratulations to the newlyweds.
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DDT has announced that Kenny Omega will be returning to the promotion in November to team with Riho against Antonio Honda & Miyu Yamashita at the promotions Ultimate Party 2019 event. It will be Omega’s first match for them since 2014.
Omega would later send out a tweet where he called DDT “my home before most knew or cared about Kenny Omega.”
DDT。復活。
ようやくですね。みんな、元気かな？
どれくらい成長したかな？
見てみたい。@ddtpro -My home before most knew or cared about Kenny Omega@riho_gtmv -my first partner.Even before him@romacittaaperta -one of my greatest rivals@miyu_tjp -let’s see what you’ve got https://t.co/1rBxaJ0nf7— Kenny Omega (@KennyOmegamanX) August 25, 2019
A return to the promotion had been teased back in March where Omega made an appearance via video at a DDT show.
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On the latest episode of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s podcast, the Rattlesnake commented on what current Universal Champion Seth Rollins needs to do to sell tickets and become a bigger draw.
“Seth’s a tremendous worker and I just think, man, when he turns up that entertainment factor, because he’s pretty reserved on the horn. And, man, if you go back and watch my promos, I mean, I never know what I’m going to say. I mean, I have things because of storylines and that and angles, so I know where I’m going, but I’ll stutter or I’ll miss a word, but it’s all emotion.”
“I think that emotions sell tickets, but also being larger than life sells tickets, so if he could just learn to amp it up a little bit, because every time I had a stick in my hands, I was trying to channel and emit energy and people feed off that.”
When someone with the astuteness of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin speaks, Seth Rollins would be wise to listen.
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55-year old Ken Shamrock last wrestled for IMPACT Wrestling, then known as TNA back in in 2004. Since then he has mostly competed in MMA with some sporadic wrestling appearances here and there.
Over the last few days, Shamrock would begin working an angle over Twitter with Moose, with the pair arguing. This soon lead to the Shamrock announcing on his Twitter that he is returning for IMPACT’s September TV tapings taking place on the 5th and 6th.
.@moosenation69 #noballs huh? Well according to your #bosses I’ll see you in Vegas! @impactwrestling it’s #moose #hunting season and The Worlds Most Dangerous Man has his next #victim #godfatherofmma #legend #prowrestling #valorbk #bareknuckle pic.twitter.com/xY1SwBfbmr
— KEN SHAMROCK (@ShamrockKen) August 24, 2019
IMPACT Wrestling would begin building up the return of Shamrock by having Moose address the Twitter feud on this weeks TV episode.
It isn’t yet known whether Moose and Shamrock will wrestle at these tapings or it will build perhaps to a match at IMPACT’s next PPV, Bound for Glory in October.
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Reigning IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley has been wrestling all over the world these last few months. Unfortunately though while competing in Japan, he picked up a severe elbow injury. That has now been diagnosed as MRSA.
Moxley’s next high profile match was scheduled to be at All Elite Wrestling’s All Out PPV event, against Kenny Omega on the 31st August. Following the diagnosis though he has had to pull out of the show so he can have surgery to remove the bursa sac.
He would tweet the below to explain to the fans.
I'm absolutely gutted to have to deliver this news but I'd rather it come directly from me. In a nightmare scenario, a serious case of MRSA has returned in my elbow. The timing couldn't be worse. In this circumstance I am forced to pull out of the fight 8/31 vs Omega at All Out .
— Jon Moxley (@JonMoxley) August 23, 2019
I apologize to all involved, most importantly the fans. I am incredibly frustrated and pissed off. I'll have surgery this week to remove the bursa sac in my elbow and be done with it for good. Should be a quick recovery so I will be 100% for AEW Wednesday nights on TNT.
— Jon Moxley (@JonMoxley) August 23, 2019
Still, I expect All out to be an amazing ppv and hope all the fans out there looking for an alternative tune in. You will be blown away by AEW and be excited to be a wrestling fan. I'm looking forward to watching as a fan myself
— Jon Moxley (@JonMoxley) August 23, 2019
This fucking sucks.
— Jon Moxley (@JonMoxley) August 23, 2019
This is actually the second time Moxley has had an MRSA staph infection. The first time was during his time in WWE as Dean Ambrose where he complications following tearing his triceps.
We understand he will miss 4/5 weeks from the ring following surgery so should be available to wrestle by the time AEW debuts on TNT.
Cody Rhodes would shortly after take to Twitter to say a replacement would be named soon. AEW would then quickly follow up with news the replacement would be PAC (formally Neville in WWE).
Very heartbreaking news. Jon’s health and safety is paramount to all of us. We will actively try and reschedule this match down the road. A replacement match for All Out will be announced soon. Our thoughts are with Jon. https://t.co/EHoNpNrHwP
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) August 23, 2019
#AEWAllOut
Saturday, August 31st, 2019 – @Sears_Centre – Chicago, IL
PAC vs KENNY OMEGA
LIVE on Pay Per View pic.twitter.com/4NxCmK2KQJ— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) August 23, 2019
This will be PAC’s AEW debut for All Elite Wrestling.
He was previously scheduled to wrestle Hangman Page at Double or Nothing, but the match instead to place at an indie show in Nottingham, England due to creative difference caused by PAC being the Open The Dream Gate Championship in Dragon Gate. Specifically, Dragon Gate wasn’t happy with their champion losing on another promotions show.
PAC was also supposed to team with Pentagon Jr. and Fenix against Omega and The Young Bucks at the Fyter Fest show but was replaced by Laredo Kid.
Since PAC has now lost his Open The Dream Gate Championship to Ben-K in July at the Kobe Puroresu Festival 2019 it has freed him up creatively for wrestle with AEW.
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The famous movie character Hellboy is going to make his debut in the world of professional wrestling.
Hellboy will be wrestling for All Japan Pro Wrestling on September 3, teaming up with Jake Lee and Koji Iwamoto to face Takao Omori, Black Menso~Re and Hokuto Omori.
It will be a one-off appearance in partnership with the Hellboy movie ahead of its release in Japan next month.
Training videos for Hellboy that have been released and you can view them below.
https://twitter.com/HellboyMovieJP/status/1163386013357506561
#ボトルキャップチャレンジ
— 映画『ヘルボーイ』大ヒット公開中🔥 (@HellboyMovieJP) August 19, 2019
今更だがやってみたぜ👊その①
⚠️点滅注意#ajpw #ヘルボーイ君
映画『#ヘルボーイ』9/27公開🔥https://t.co/QNcBIoERXS pic.twitter.com/vS5yuQuSCA
All Japan would officially confirm the match themselves on their Twitter account.
Hellboy will make his debut in All Japan on 9/3, teaming with Jake Lee and Koji Iwamoto against Takao Omori, Black Menso~Re and Hokuto Omori.
Biography
Name: Hellboy
Height: 213cm
Weight: 227kg
Hometown: Hell
Date of birth: 23/12/1944
Affiliation: BPRD#ajpw #ajpwtv pic.twitter.com/HxL0Komudc— 全日本プロレス (English) (@alljapan_eng) August 19, 2019
It isn’t known at present who will play the character in the ring, but it’s safe to say it won’t be the movies actor, Stranger Things’ David Harbour.
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In what is the greatest news in the history of our sport, AEW has signed Tony Schiavone.
The former WCW announcer had vanished from the wrestling business following the demise of WCW has become much in demand following his What Happened When podcast with Conrad Thompson.
WWE had shown serious interest in hiring him, but Schiavone opted to sign with AEW. A big part of him choosing to sign with AEW is likely because he can remain with Major League Wrestling as an announcer under his AEW deal
Schiavone currently has a deal with MLW which means they have had to approve him signing with AEW also.
It is unknown what role Schiavone will play in AEW. The main possibility is that he may have a role backstage with Alicia Atout and Chris Van Vliet, who are the backstage interviewers. AEW seems to have a settled broadcast team at present with Jim Ross, Excalibur and Alex Marvez although that is an option.
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Chris Jericho was a recent guest on Busted Open Radio and discussed the reports of NXT moving to the USA Network on Wednesday nights to go head-to-head with AEW.
Jericho noted that he believes that there is already too much WWE programming as it is. Jericho said:
“I think WWE is great but there’s too much WWE as it is. By adding another two hours, that really dilutes the product, it dilutes their mindset, it dilutes the focus. It’s a reactionary move that’s done by a guy who wants to start a war. We don’t care if you want to start a war, that was never our intention. There’s no war for us, we’re just doing what we’re doing. People there don’t like that and they’re reacting to it, and it just dilutes their own product.
You remember in the 90s, Nitro would start at 7:57 and RAW started at 8:00, and the reason that we started early is because we wanted our pyro to be before theirs. Who gives a crap? What’s the show like? Don’t worry about what the other guys are doing, worry about your own stuff.
I don’t care about any other wrestling company in the world. I want everyone to do good, everyone be the best that you can be, whether it’s WWE, Ring Of Honor, Impact, New Japan, AAA or friggin’ George Swanson’s show at the Armory on a Friday night. Do your thing. We don’t care, and I think that’s one of the things that makes us cool. It’s a typical thing, the more other people will do, the more it makes us look revolutionary and cool, and we haven’t even started yet. Just wait until we start.”
Jericho also felt that having NXT air on Wednesday nights probably won’t affect them as he feels a large percentage of their audience already don’t watch WWE.
“We still don’t know who our fan base is,” Jericho admitted. “I don’t think that there’s a lot of crossover between WWE fans and AEW fans. I think a lot of people that are into AEW are people that maybe haven’t watched wrestling in a while, or maybe are looking for something different. Maybe they don’t like WWE, I don’t know.”
You can hear the audio for yourself below:
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨 In the wake of #NXT's potential move to a live Wednesday night show on the USA Network, @IAmJericho tells @davidlagreca1 & @bullyray5150 that @AEWrestling is just doing their thing and not trying to start a war 👇 pic.twitter.com/OsR8lYMnC3
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) August 19, 2019
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Starting on August 27th “The Franchise” Shane Douglas will be launching his all new show “Franchised With Shane Douglas and Brian Reznor”.
The first episode titled “The Birth Of Extreme” is a can’t miss for historians, as both men will sit down and discuss everything surrounding Shane Douglas becoming NWA World Champion, cutting that promo and declaring himself the ECW Heavyweight Champion.
In a press release provided to WIJ, Brian Reznor says:
“I honestly can’t wait to get started and there is no better place to start the birth of extreme! Franchised with Shane Douglas is the ECW Docupod you have been waiting for. In the weeks to come we will be covering ECW, WWE, WCW, XPW and more. If you a are Shane Douglas fan like I am or just a wrestling fan in general then you are going to love this show because no one tells a story like The Franchise!”
All episodes of “Franchised With Shane Douglas” will be available every Tuesday on www.shanedouglas.com, www.superiorradionetwork.com and all other podcast outlets.
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Starting September 18th, NXT will be airing from 8-10 p.m. ET on the USA Network. Going from 1 hour to 2 hours the show will be going head-to-head with All Elite Wrestling once their weekly show starts October 2nd on TNT.
This news is expected to be announced officially tonight during RAW. Since news of this story began breaking earlier today, WWE stock has increased $2.79 per share up to $72.45 as of writing.
The Wednesday Night Wars are coming, and fans should be excited.
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Santana and Ortiz of the Latin American Xchange (LAX) appear to have wrapped things up with IMPACT Wrestling following their TV tapings in Mexico.
An Instagram post from Santana on Friday, shows the team saying goodbye and thanking the company that they’ve been working for since 2017.
IMPACT Wrestling had attempted to resign the team but couldn’t come to terms despite offering money equivalent to IMPACT’s top singles stars. With LAX’s contract officially expiring on August 31, it is expected both the WWE and All Elite Wrestling will make attempts to sign them.
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