It was bound to happen, we just didn’t know when. WWE released at least eight performers today: Wade Barrett, Hornswoggle, Cameron, Alex Riley, Zeb Colter, El Torito, Santino Marella, and Damien Sandow. As per usual, most of these performers had not been used on TV much lately, except in a few cases. Wade Barrett had already made it known that he was not going to re-sign in June when his current contract expired. Hornswoggle had not been used at all in many months after his wellness policy failure and suspension.
Cameron was one of the Funkadactyls and then a prominent character on the first few seasons of Total Divas, but had not been used on TV and was taken off the cast of Total Divas as well. Alex Riley was being used sparingly in NXT, usually in an announcer role, but does have a previously taped match with Nakamura in the can to be aired next week. Zeb Colter’s most recent alignment was with Jack Swagger and Alberto Del Rio upon Del Rio’s return to the company, but that angle was dropped as quickly as it began.
Torito had not been seen since being put through a table by the Dudleys a few months back. Santino was being used primarily in an ambassador role, as he recently underwent neck surgery which pretty much ended his in-ring career. Finally, Sandow was last seen playing the Macho Man character with Curtis Axel playing the Hulk Hogan character in the doomed “Mega Powers” angle. That act was immediately ended when the racial comments from the actual Hulk Hogan surfaced.
We have much more on the situation and each individual’s release on the front page. Part one can be read here, and part two is here.
THE ROUNDUP
Bobby Roode and Eric Young updates
More WWE departures; Wade Barrett, Torito, Damian Sandow, Santino and Cameron
WWE releases Alex Riley, Hornswoggle and Zeb Colter
UFC Fight Night 87 DFS Playbook: value picks, who to avoid
TUF 23 recap: The strawweights battle in their first fight of the season
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Figure Four Weekly 5/2/2016: Hulk Hogan suing Gawker – Hulk Hogan is suing Gawker a second time, this time for leaking the contents of sealed documents to the tabloids. Find out all the details in this weeks issue of Figure Four Weekly.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
READ IT HERE: May 9, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Payback review, Hulk Hogan suing Gawker, tons more
The claimed new era with Shane and Stephanie McMahon on Raw, fallout of Payback, lineup for Extreme Rules and current WWE situation is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. There is also a detailed story on Hulk Hogan’s latest lawsuit and his claims of how the sex tape went from Bubba the Love Sponge to the National Enquirer, including details of Hogan being blackmailed by people with the tape and the FBI sting operation regarding the tape and why it didn’t end there.
Next there is a detailed look at Ryback’s situation with WWE, New Japan’s Dontaku show and the Super Juniors tournament, the economic value of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor to a show, and plans for a new PPV show next month.
The lead story updates the status of Shane McMahon, the story behind Payback and how it leads to Extreme rules, the injury to Enzo Amore, the booking that gets almost nobody over and the match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
As it regards the Hogan story, this issue examines all the players involved, his latest lawsuit and more details on the FBI sting operation regarding the sex tape.
Ryback’s complaints about WWE, how things went down in his meeting with Vince McMahon, notes about WWE contracts, how wrestlers are paid in WWE and why that isn’t the case anywhere else, his philosophy about everyone being paid the same and more, all in the latest Observer issue.
Finally, more on the Adam Rose situation, changes to the WWE Network, notes on a WWE network survey, notes on Camp WWE, how the show changed and why, notes on some WWE firings this past week, as well as new hirings, update on WrestleMania 2018, Paul Heyman reality show update, Bruno Sammartino honored, notes on contract situation with different talent, DVD plans for the next 18 months, injury updates and returns, fallout of Ric Flair TMZ as well as notes regarding his podcast and other future Flair projects, notes on the next Takeover lineup, update on Bryan Danielson, More on the cruiserweight tournament, lots of WWE business updates and a former giant Olympian talks about his WWE offer and plans of eventually going there. All this and much more in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
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All the news from the ESPN coverage of the drug deaths in professional wrestling, and more will be in the latest back issue. Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: March 29, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ESPN program on drug deaths in the pro wrestling industry, ECW Living Dangerously review, more. There is also a full break down of ECW’s Living Dangerously PPV, plus tons of news and notes.
FRIDAY UPDATE
Details on all of the recently-released WWE talent is available here and here. Most who want to continue wrestling will probably make good money for at least a period of time on the indy scene, but once that dries up it is a very different wrestling business than even a few years ago with TNA in very rough shape, ROH having a full roster, and overall less places to make big money than ever before. It’s basically why WWE wrestlers after being released (or, in the case of Ryback, when still under contract but disgruntled) talk about how the wrestlers are scared to rock the boat. Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive spent an hour discussing the releases and the other big stories of the day on the new Wrestling Observer Live which is up commercial-free for subscribers right now.
Adam Rose and Ryback are still under contract despite their very public issues with the company this past week. The Adam Rose story is interesting because he posted a tweet over a week ago claiming that he was going to release a note from his doctor regarding his Wellness suspension, and then nothing happened for days. Finally, he posted it, and then a day later he pulled it. Well, today it’s back up again and he’s not running from it. His Twitter is up here. He notes that he’s OK with any decision WWE makes and he just wants to support his family, whether within wrestling or not.
Bobby Roode and Eric Young appear to be heading to NXT full time. WWE’s twitter briefly spilled the beans earlier today and advertised Roode on the NXT tour of the UK, but the tweet was later deleted.
The planned deal for AAA to return to PPV in North America looks like it’s not happening. Court Bauer, who brokered both that deal and AAA’s deal with The Fight Network, is cutting his ties with both AAA and Lucha Underground at the end of the month. With his being gone, the PPV deal for the World Cup and TripleMania this year is off. The belief is the 6/5 show from Los Palacios del Deportes in Mexico City will air on iPPV.
The UK Sun posted a story today claiming that a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor was set to be announced any day now. Multiple sources including Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting and the MMA Hour have stated there is absolutely no truth to this story, and of course it makes no sense with Conor being a UFC-contracted fighter. It claimed Conor would take home US $10 million for the fight. Even Conor hasn’t tweeted about it. Dana White calls it nothing but a tabloid story in an interview with Kevin Iole.
WWE and Pro Wrestling
The WWE Global Cruiserweight Series has officially been renamed the Cruiserweight Classic.
TMZ found Stephanie McMahon and asked her if Chyna was going to go into the WWE Hall of Fame. Triple H, when asked about this on the Stone Cold Podcast last year, basically shot the idea down, saying it was a double-edged sword because she had contributed so much to the business, but at the same time if some 8-year-old heard she went into the Hall of Fame and didn’t know who she was, they might Google her and come across all sorts of unsavory material. Well, Steph, on the spot with a TMZ camera in her face, said there was no denying the contributions she had made to the business and of course she was going to be inducted. Hunter has also softened his stance since her passing so it appears a lock she will be going in.
Hornswaggle posted a really nice goodbye on his Twitter account.
Regarding Randy Orton’s superstar page leading to nowhere today, which a bunch of people have been tweeting and emailing about, unless something changed very recently he was still scheduled to return in a wrestling capacity this summer.
Naomi, aka Trinity Fatu, posted on her Twitter that she is OK, just out rehabbing a torn tendon in her ankle, and that she will be back soon.
Baron Von Raschke throwing out first pitch at a Minnesota Twins game.
National Wrestling Hall of Fame Board of Governors votes to remove Hastert
The National Wrestling Hall of Fame announced that its Board of Governors has unanimously passed a resolution to revoke all honors bestowed upon Dennis Hastert by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
The Board of Governors decision comes after a complete and thorough review by the NWHOF Ethics Committee that concluded Hastert acted in a manner considered detrimental to the ideals and objectives and contrary to the mission statement of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and his actions were grounds for removal in accordance with the NWHOF Ethics Policy.
“In the 40 years since it was founded, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame has never had to remove an individual who had received one of its highest awards,” said Lee Roy Smith, Executive Director. “When the NWHOF learned of the charges against Dennis Hastert, the ethics committee decided that the United States court system should determine the veracity of the charges. The NWHOF wanted to ensure that Mr. Hastert received due process and his day in court before a course of action was recommended to the Board of Governors.”
The awards that have been removed are the Order of Merit and the Outstanding American awards presented by the NWHOF in 1995 and 2000, the Outstanding American award presented by the Illinois Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003, and the Sport of Lincoln Award presented by the Dan Gable Museum in 2009.
UFC and Pro Fighting
There is a UFC show this Sunday from Rotterdam, Netherlands, featuring a heavyweight title contender eliminator match between Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski. Overeem is coming off a KO win of Junior Dos Santos and was briefly considered for the next heavyweight title shot until it was decided Stipe Miocic would get the shot. Arlovski was also briefly considered, as he’s having a late career surge in UFC and was on a six fight win streak, until derailed by Miocic who TKO’d Arlovski this past January. The winner of this fight could be in line for the next shot depending on how it plays out.
#2 ranked light heavyweight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will take on #3 ranked light heavyweight Glover Teixeira on July 23 in the evening’s co-main event. The winner of this fight will most likely be challenging the winner of the Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier light heavyweight title fight which takes place at UFC 200. Teixeira asked for this match after easily dispatching of Rashad Evans last month.
Dada 5000 talks about the Kimbo Slice failed drug test in an amazing interview. A must-read.
Miesha Tate was on Joe Rogan’s podcast and told a story about how Paige Van Zant wanted to get an autograph from Ronda Rousey at a function and Ronda totally ripped her a new one, angry that Paige had tweeted a congratulations to Holly Holm. You can listen to Miesha tell the story here.
Blas Avena, who fought twice for Bellator in 2013 including a KO loss to War Machine, was found dead in his apartment in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Police are suspecting suicide. The 32 year old had an 8-7 record in MMA and also fought 5 times for WEC earlier in his career.
Invicta FC runs tomorrow night on UFC Fight Pass. Tonya Evinger defends her bantamweight title against Colleen Schneider in the Main Event and Livia Renata Souza puts her Strawweight title up against former UFC fighter Angela Hill.
Angela Lee, the 19 year old Canadian born fighter, won the inaugural ONE Atomweight title earlier today in what some are calling the fight of the year. She won a decision over veteran Mei Yamaguchi in the first-ever ONE show headlined by a female fight.
Rumored to be added to UFC 199 is a lightweight fight between James Vick (9-0) and Beneil Dariush (12-2). Vick is coming off a win over Glaico Franca earlier this month and Dariush just had his first UFC loss a couple weeks ago at the hands of Mike Chiesa.
MISC
Chaotic Wrestling tonight in Lawrence, MA with the Chaotic Countdown, which is a new name for a Royal Rumble with 30 men.
Sean Waltman and Michael Elgin headline for NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling tomorrow night at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium.
IWA Mid South on 5/13 at the Colgate Gym in Clarksville, IN with Reed Bentley vs. John Wayne Murdoch for the IWA title, Michael Elgin vs. Chris Hero, Matt Cage vs. Jonathan Gresham, plus Tracy Smothers and Colin Delaney appear.
ECCW on 5/14 in Vancouver at the Russian Community Centre.
CWF on 6/18 in St Catherines, ONT at the Haig Bowl Arena headlined by Rene Dupree vs. Ethan Page, plus Cody Deaner vs Rex Atkins.
Steel City Wrestling on 6/19 in Hamilton, ONT at the Knights of Columbus.
Today in professional wrestling history: Stanisluas Zbyzsko Strangler Lewis for World Title; Crusher and Baron win AWA Tag Team Titles
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