fightful

Plans for tonight's Smackdown

Fightful has learned of the following plans for tonight's Smackdown.

- Roman Reigns will kick off the show, and Xavier Woods is to be involved. Plans also called for Roman Reigns to close the show, with WWE Champion and Raw star Big E slated to be there.

- Toni Storm is planned for an interview.

- Sasha Banks vs. Shotzi, as well as a Fatal four way for the last Survivor Series men's team spots were previously announced

- Mansoor vs. Sami Zayn is planned as well.

...

Backstage News On Hit Row, Their WWE Release, Interest Outside of WWE

We haven't heard anything specifically about Hit Row as a unit, outside of that AJ Francis' polarizing reaction on Twitter did carry over to some within the company. A couple of internal WWE sources compared it to Greg Hamilton "getting a little too comfortable." We were told this was not the specific factor leading to his release or that of the group, but was an internal observation. There were others that enjoyed his approach within the company.

At the same time, one of the sources sa...

Figure Haul: Kentucky Wrestling Figures

Before Jakks BCA, SRS collected figures from his home area

SOUR GRAPS SOUR SPECIAL--Sorry Kid, Budget Cuts 4: Now It's Getting Ridiculous

John Morrison, Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, Isaiah Swerve Scott, Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick, Shane Thorne, and Jaxson Ryker.

All of them, released.

For budget cuts.

Everything sucks. Alex and Kate will talk about it. SRS joins at the end

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/VWX8EncNIZw

Drew McIntyre Notes: Royal Rumble, Saturday PPVs, Ricochet, More

Fightful spoke with Drew McIntyre, who agreed that WWE Survivor Series should have some additional stakes to it, even agreeing that Xavier Woods' pitch for Royal Rumble elements could work out. He also spoke highly of WWE running PPV events on Saturdays, which jives with Fightful Select's previous reports about members of the roster being happy about the move. He's also excited about Summerslam in Nashville, considering it's a short drive for him since he lives there now. The area has become ...

SRS Q&A Show (11/18)

- NJPW contracts

- Bray Wyatt, Walter, Triple H

- Jon Gresham, YUTA, Jericho Cruise

- TERMINUS, TBS Title, New XPW

- Next first time champion

WWE Raw producers for this week

Fightful has learned the following producers from this week's WWE Raw:

- Big E's promo and the matches that emerged from it were produced by Jamie Noble & Shawn Daivari.

- Bianca Belair vs. Tamina was produced by Pat Buck & Molly Holly.

- The Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan segment was produced by TJ Wilson, aka Tyson Kidd.

- Alpha Academy vs. Street Profits was produce...

WWE 2K22 Screenshots

A look at some screenshots of the upcoming WWE 2K22 game!

Top names slated to be backstage at AEW

Dem Boyz could be at AEW.

Fightful Select has learned that legendary Ring of Honor tag team are slated to be backstage at tonight's episode of AEW Dynamite in Norfolk, Virignia. We can't confirm that they'll be on the show or even come into AEW, and one source claimed that they were to be there visiting. The brothers live less than three hours away in Delaware, and the trip is about 150 miles with a shot through the Chesepeake Bay bridge tunnel. Other talent we've spoken to say they hav...

Drew McIntyre discusses his contributions towards WWE 2K22

We asked Drew McIntyre about his participation in the WWE 2K22 game that releases next year. McIntyre says it feels like he's been contributing to the game "for a while" at this point and said that 2K recognizes that the last effort was not a good one and want to make good on. He put over what he's seen of the game thus far, and said the process has involved him contributing voiceovers, scans, liners and there's a lot of effort being put on the game.

WWE 2K had scanned numerous released...

The List Goes On LIVE 11/17

- Camels and HUMPS

- Brock Lesnar

- Terminus and Gresham

- Fightful

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/zIVE2XyOCrY

Clarification on rumors that Warner wanted one women's match per show in AEW

Over the last year or so, Fightful has had several inquiries regarding a rumor of TNT only wanting one women's match per show, limiting the level of women's action seen on Dynamite.

Fightful has spoken to sources within AEW and Turner who have indicated that was never a decree made, and a request for more or less women's matches wasn't something that was outlined or passed along to others within the company. Instead, we're told that WarnerMedia is more focused on good content, and parti...

WWE Survivor Series Betting Odds

Sent to Select by our friends at BetOnline

WWE - Survivor Series

WWE Champion vs Universal Champion

Roman Reigns              -500     (1/5)

Big E                            +300     (3/1)

2021-11-17 19:07:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Finish to AEW Full Gear match didn't go as planned, and some talent was frustrated over one star

AEW's Full Gear show was full of great moments, but one match went a bit awry.

At the post-show media scrum, Tony Khan mentioned that Dax Harwood was rocked during the match and Cash Wheeler finished it up for him. We've learned that there's actually some truth to that beyond the storyline aspect of it.

Fightful Select was told by AEW sources that Dax Harwood was either knocked out or nearly knocked out about ten minutes into the match by Rey Fenix, and was sidelined for a good po...

WWE stars set for big mainstream appearance

Fightful Select has learned that several WWE Superstars are filming a sketch for Stephen Colbert's show, which is set to air this week. WWE is heavily promoting Survivor Series in the New York market, including Roman Reigns appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, as well. Some of the talent involved with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert sketch include Big E, The Miz, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins and Randy Orton.

Alex's SOUR GRAPS: Raw 11/15--Homeward Bound (I Wish I Was)

Survivor Series is this Sunday, and Raw is all out of ideas. One on one, nope, two on two, nope three on three. Surprised they didn't keep going.

The big heel turn angle still makes no sense. God bless Kevin Owens for trying, though. What a mensch.

The US Champ hasn't been on TV in several weeks, but he's got a match at the pape.

Everything sucks. Let's talk about it.

Video: https://youtu.be/vjnf3DyGsdM 2021-11-16 05:41:00 +0000 UTC View Post

SRS AEW Full Gear Review!

- Hangman Page's moment!

- MJF and Darby Allin's incredible match

- AEW Full Gear show length

- What could be on Rampage

- Street Fight

- Britt Baker vs. Conti

- Punk and Kingston

- Backstage notes!

- Danielson and Miro!

WWE Raw plans for tonight

Fightful has learned the following plans for tonight's Raw

- Big E is set to kick off the show.

- Big & Riddle vs. The Usos, as well as Big E & RKBro vs. Seth Rollins and the Usos are planned for tonight.

- Bianca Belair vs. Tamina is slated.

- Alpha Academy vs. Street Profits

- Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor is planned for the show.

- Bobby Lashley vs. Rey Mysterio was planned as the last match of the night as of 7 PM EST

WWE staff told indie star she was "too old" years before reported age edict

Fightful spoke to Lady Frost, who we reported had contract offers from NWA and IMPACT Wrestling. However, she actually had a WWE tryout in 2018 after having her first match ever live on TV with Asuka. She told us that originally her promo was supposed to be a pretape but when she showed she could handle it well, it was moved to live. She talked about the match briefly with Asuka, everything went well and she was offered a WWE tryout. When she performed at the tryout she believed things went s...

SRS Backstage Report Podcast (11/15)

- MLW wrestler returning, another leaving

- MLW push

- Jay White, Ethan Page, more

- Xavier Woods, UpUpDownDown

- ROH/GCW

- AEW news

- IMPACT signing

- Addressing the Jay Lethal situation and allegations, coverage

Fightful Weekender (11/14): GCW, 205 LIVE, NXT UK, MLW, IMPACT, NWA, BTE, NEW TEXAS

STEPHEN JENSEN is back with a new edition of the WEEKENDER!

Topics:

- Show to watch on IWTV - NEW TEXAS: "Hocus Pocus"

- GCW: "Evil Deeds" + "NGI6" results

- 205 LIVE (11/12) results

- NXT UK (11/11) results

- MLW: "Fusion ALPHA" (11/10) results

- IMPACT (11/11) results

- NWA: "Powerrr" (11/9) results (By Any Means Necessary Part 2)

- BTE: "Hot Jelly Bean Challenge In The Midwest" recap

Returning MLW Talent Back Regularly

The talented former WWE and ROH star returned to Major League Wrestling after eight months away during the company's War Chamber tapings. He's been wrestling in the Illinois and Texas areas since March, but hasn't had a ton of bookings outside of it, but from what we heard from MLW sources, you can expect to see him around more. He's back with the company on a regular basis as of now, and participated in the ladder match for the vacant National Openweight Title. Formerly known as Jordan Myles...

AEW Full Gear Live Discussion and notes

Whats up you guys? We're live in Minneapolis!

- Tony Khan came to hype the crowd up for the PPV countdown

- during cleanup after the falls count anywhere, the ring was swept up and sprayed down

- Zelina Vega was in town for the event.

Alex's SOUR GRAPS: SmackDown 11/12--Whoopsie Daisy

They announced the Survivor Series teams on Twitter a week ago.  Since then, they've retconned a selection in three of the four teams.

Whoops. Their bad, I guess.

Also, Roman Reigns is a king now. A super serious king with a cardboard crown.

Everything sucks. Let's talk about it.
(FULL GEAR ISN'T GONNA SUCK THOUGH. LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT TOO.)

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/clRfimtTmy4

Smackdown Producers for November 12

Fightful has learned the following producers for WWE Smackdown

- The Sasha Banks promo and 6-woman tag was produced by TJ Wilson/Tyson Kidd and Molly Holly

- Nakamura & Rick Boogs and Los Lotharios were produced by Abyss and Jimmy Wang Yang

- Jeff Hardy vs. Sami Zayn was produced by Jamie Noble and Shawn Daivari

- Xavier Woods vs. Roman Reigns had Petey Williams listed as a producer. We're unsure if he shadowed anyone for this, as is tradition during tryouts

ROH And GCW Had Talent Exchange Meeting, More Details

Ring Of Honor has been making headlines for not so great reasons, releasing all of their wrestlers and announcing they're taking the first quarter of 2022 off. However, they still brought in some new talent to the tapings.

As reported last week, GCW stars Effy and AJ Gray were both at last week's set of ROH tapings. Fightful has learned that they were contacted shortly before the announcement that the company would be going on a break. ROH sources also indicated neither were put under a...

New title coming to MLW, more changing

MLW is continuing to grow in some areas, and shrink in others.

An MLW Women's Featherweight championship is coming to the company, as they've ramped up their women's wrestling. We're told MLW has started talking to various belt makers about designs for the title. 

Where they're shrinking? The physical MLW World Title itself. We're told that a more normal-sized title will be appearing soon, as MLW's Court Bauer didn't like the almost novelty-size of some of the championships i...

Figure Haul: Do you smell what the Rock is cookin?'

SRS busts open a bunch of Rocky Maivia figures. 

Ethan Page Notes: Karate Man, AEW Signing, More

Fightful spoke to Ethan Page for an interview ahead of AEW Full Gear on November 13.  Below are some notes

- Page became a free agent on January 1 and was contacted by AEW to start the process of coming in to the company within the week. 

- He says he doesn't always agree with the content in the Dan Lambert promos, but the reactions are always insanely loud and he can't hear himself.

- Tony Khan constantly puts over Ethan Page's two black belts. He credited Tom Law...

Tony Khan notes: Twitter, Nick Gage

Tony Khan spoke with our friends at the Pro Wrestling Perspective for an interview. 

A few points to note are that while he sometimes gets frustrated with false quotes and urban legends being purported as fact, he thinks Twitter has been good for wrestling. 

Khan said that there were even people on the TNT and marketing side of AEW that knew of Nick Gage and were excited about him coming in. 

You'll be able to see the interview at: 2021-11-11 23:19:34 +0000 UTC View Post