fightful

WWE Official's Thoughts On Repeated Mass Cuts

NXT released over a dozen wrestlers Friday in a regular, yet shocking move. Fightful has inquired about the releases to high level WWE officials, of which one spoke under the condition of anonymity.

The official noted to us that in 2018, the company entered a "talent stashing" mode with what everyone assumed were honest intentions. Fightful was told that many pitches involved collecting talent, developing Performance Centers worldwide, and supplementing each Performance Center with nat...

News on non competes

For those asking, the majority of the twelve WWE NXT releases have non-compete clauses that run 30 days in duration, making them available in early September. We can't confirm this is the case across the board, and are working on getting more information on an individual basis.

Notes on tonight's Smackdown

Fightful has learned some plans for tonight's Smackdown.

- The aforementioned Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin, and Dominik vs. Jey Uso matches.

- Tamina vs. Tegan Nox

- Bianca Belair vs. Zelina

- We're told two "Championship Contenders" matches are set for tonight, but considering WWE calls all their non-title matches with champions this, it's hard to determine what that really means. One involves Shinsuke Nakamura

- Edge and Roman Reigns are each scheduled for ...

Adam Cole slated to be at the site of Smackdown

It seems as if Adam Cole is the belle of the ball after his WWE contract expired in July, leading to a short term contract extension.

Wrestling Observer corrected an earlier report after Tony Khan clarified that AEW hadn't made a contract offer to Cole. Fightful has even heard the two sides have yet to have a formal conversation.

Beyond that, WWE sources have indicated that Cole is scheduled to be backstage at tonight's episode of WWE Smackdown for what is being called a "high...

Figure Haul: A Hilarious Bootleg Figure!

SRS takes a look at a couple of Jakks BCAs.....and an amazing bootleg piece

IMPACT star said they both they and the company originally passed on each other

Matt Cardona spoke with Wrestling Perspective Podcast for a talk that will go live Friday evening. Check out their Twitch at https://m.twitch.tv/wrestlingperspectivepod. Please credit them when aggregating.

Matt Cardona said that he was expecting a crazy reaction during his Nick Gage feud. He got some death threats, and noted that some fans threw pizza cutters at him. He didn't expect to bleed nearly as...

Update on Adam Cole working with WWE through Summerslam weekend

Adam Cole still doesn't have a long-term contract with WWE, and hasn't been offered one yet as Fightful revealed recently. However, we've learned more about the situation that led to where the two sides are now. Upon learning that Cole's deal was up, WWE gained a verbal agreement with Cole. We're told shortly after that he actually did sign a short-term extension to through Summerslam weekend. Until this, we'd not had confirmation he'd put pen to paper on the extension.

The sources we'v...

Mike Bennett on John Cena, who got him into ROH, worst advice

Mike Bennett spoke to me about some of the extra work he did in WWE, and remembered doing a hand gesture that was a little too similar to that of John Cena's "you can't see me" motion. He said that Cena came up to him and told him to never do it again. He tried to explain things before he realized he was best off just saying "yes sir." He thought he'd never work for WWE again after that. Bennett said he would have reacted the same way, and he likes John Cena. He was brought back for extra wor...

Another Top NXT Star's Deal Is Up Soon

Adam Cole isn't the only person with their NXT deal coming up soon. Fightful Select has learned that Pete Dunne's NXT contract is also up soon, with one source also pointing to "after Summerslam weekend," though we haven't confirmed that date with Dunne or WWE as of yet.

Fightful has heard that the situation was "similar to that of Adam Cole's" but haven't been given any additional details besides that his contract is in fact coming up soon. We haven't been told if Dunne's contract act...

Vince McMahon originally rejected an act's WrestleMania gear and title win pitch before approving them

Matt Cardona spoke with Wrestling Perspective Podcast for a talk that will go live Friday evening. Check out their Twitch at https://m.twitch.tv/wrestlingperspectivepod. Please credit Wrestling Perspective when aggregating this story

Cardona noted that Vince McMahon originally rejected Curt Hawkins' New York Jets themed-WrestleMania 35 gear, as wrestlers had to submit their gear ahead of time for approv...

SRS Text Q&A

Hey guys! Q&A time. I'm finally at the tail end of my vocal cord recovery and will be back fully in the swing of things after no shows this weekend. I'm going to do a text based q&a this week and it'll be back to normal next week.

Guidelines

- 1 question per subscriber

- No "are you a fan of?" "fantasy book this" "top 5" or "favorite" questions please! We try to keep these as newsworthy as possible

If you're a new subscriber, comment your question be...

SRS AEW Homecoming live discussion

It's gonna be a hoot

The List Goes On 8/4

SRS and Denise talk:

- New AEW Name

- iiconics

Video: https://youtu.be/p3SsOI02GGw

Another top free agent expected to head to AEW

AEW looks like they're adding another name

AEW's women's division looks to be getting a shot in the arm in the form of a respected WWE alumni. Fightful has been told that plans call for Ruby Soho, the former Ruby Riott to make her way into the company, according to talent and industry insiders.. As far as we know, Ruby's non-compete clause is up shortly before AEW All Out. Since Soho has been released she's kept a very low profile, barely doing any interviews, and no appearances or sign...

News on upcoming GCW show

Fightful has learned that Game Changer Wrestling is set for a New York City return on September 23. We're working to find out more information on a venue and planned card for the show, but we've been told that it is a themed show that has been hinted at recently. 

Alex's SOUR GRAPS: Raw 8/2--An Episode of Wrestling Television

Last night on Raw, things occurred. Whether they were important or meaningful is up to you.  But there was definitely An Episode of Wrestling Television.

Big Bill and Little Bill were there, and Lilly pulled a Taker, and the hometown guy lost, and so did Karrion Kross, and the current Raw Women's Champion was able to pull out a miracle victory in an entirely pointless non-title match.

Everything sucks. Let's talk about it.

video: 2021-08-03 19:41:23 +0000 UTC View Post

WWE hasn't offered Adam Cole long-term extension yet

Much has been made of Adam Cole's contract situation with the company. Most, including Cole we're told, had hoped to keep the situation quiet and it seemed there was an understanding that it'd be kept close to the vest. Others, when finding out the situation, argued that the possible expiry of the deal should be publicized, considering the competitive nature of the wrestling world. By the end of July, word had spread that Adam Cole's new "agreement" was set to run through Summerslam. WWE sour...

More on Raw audio snafu

In regards to last night's audio snafu during Drew McIntyre's entrance, we were told that it was a production error and part of a Roman Reigns/ John Cena promo package was accidentally played over the spot. It was said that Drew McIntyre personally inquired about it upon hearing the reaction online. Initially, production employees we spoke to were confused as Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal got some of the best reactions of the evening. 

SPOILERS: Tentative match scheduled for tonight's Raw

Fightful has learned some of the planned matches for tonight's episode of WWE Raw as of this afternoon, which are subject to change

- Drew McIntyre vs. Veer & Shanky

- Karrion Kross vs. Keith Lee

- Rhea Ripley vs. Nia Jax

- 24/7 Segment

- Damian Priest vs. John Morrison

- Tamina vs. Doudrop

- Riddle vs. Omos

- Charlotte Flair vs. Nikki ASH

Roderick Strong Notes: Diamond Mine, MMA, Molly Holly

- He was very proud of his son for his performance in a skit with Malcolm Bivens a couple of years back, and said Bivens pitched the skit.

- Strong started training MMA in 2012 with Josh Rafferty, who has worked with Sheamus, Batista, Chris Jericho, Jake Hager and others.

- He said about eight months after Marina Shafir gave birth to their child, she defeated a 300 pound woman in a grappling competition.

- When he "quit" NXT in storyline, he had to make himself believe it to...

SRS Backstage Report Podcast (8/2:) Cole, Wyatt, Flair, Punk

- Adam Cole contract

- Bray Wyatt released, reaction

- Ric Flair leaves WWE

- CM Punk/AEW update

- Karrion Kross booking

- AEW and IMPACT make offer to Kurt Angle?

More on Ric Flair's WWE release, reached out to Vince McMahon directly

Fightful and Wrestling Inc jointly reported today that Ric Flair has requested his WWE release and it was granted by the company.
WWE sources have indicated that Flair grew frustrated with certain booking decisions on the show, and contacted Vince McMahon directly about it to voice his issues.

Flair hadn't been on WWE programming in quite some time, but we're told the booking issues he didn't like were fairly recent. Flair had been outspoken about his disdain of the Lacey Evans stor...

Major Update On Adam Cole's Contract

A major WWE contract was expiring recently in that of former NXT Champion Adam Cole. 

Wrestling Inc reported that Cole's deal is up after Summerslam, and that it had been an extension following Great American Bash. There was an assumption internally that Cole's WWE contract expired in December, but WWE sources have reached out and noted that they became aware that the deal was actually up in early July, which came as a surprise to many at the top of the company as they only realize...

Fightful Weekender (8/1): GCW HOMECOMING, 205 LIVE, NXT UK, ROH, NWA, BTE, IWTV 100 PREDICTIONS

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

Topics:

- "IWTV 100" predictions

- GCW: "Homecoming" Part 2 results

- 205 LIVE (7/30) results 

- NXT UK (7/29) results 

- ROH (7/23) results

- NWA: "Powerrr" (7/27) results

- BTE: "Your Bloody Hands" recap

Bray Wyatt's WWE release a hit to morale for several, talent reaction

Talent was told that Wyatt's release was a "budget cut," thought we don't know if that was specifically cited to Wyatt himself. This created a gigantic amount of frustration with the roster, staff, and employees alike, with nearly 20 reaching out to Fightful directly, saying there had to be more to it than that considering that he's a known money-maker.

A consensus was that almost nobody in the company truly believed this was a budget cut, citing Wyatt's popularity, merchandise sales am...

Alex's SOUR GRAPS: SmackDown 7/30--Contractual Obligations

Sasha Banks came back, and was Bianca's bestie for like an hour, and then people were surprised when she turned heel. Morons.

Also there was some other stuff that literally nobody cares about, and then John Cena signed his name to another man's contract,and stole a title match, because Vince thinks we're all too stupid to know THAT'S NOT HOW CONTRACTS WORK.

And then, today, WWE released Bray Wyatt.

I have some things to say.

Everything sucks. Let's talk about it.

Questions about Bray Wyatt? Ask them here.

Hey guys, SRS here. To make up for my lack of Q&A this week, I thought I'd post this. If you have a question about Bray Wyatt and his WWE release, I'll answer them if I have one -- in the replies


A couple of ground rules. Please do not speculate about mental health, personal life, and please no "he got released but this person didn't" stuff. We try not to get down like that here. 

UPDATE: let's not make this opinion based. Thanks!

A lot more on Bray Wyatt's WWE release

Bray Wyatt was released by WWE in what he was told was a "budget cut" on July 31.

Fightful was told that Johnny Ace made the call, and also sent a notification out to shocked WWE talent moments before the news broke online that Wyatt had been released. The message that WWE talent received from talent relations also indicated it was a budget cut. 

The notion of a budget cut immediately surprised those within WWE, as Wyatt is known as being a great merch seller whenever he's ac...

WWE Wrestler Had No Idea They'd Been Moved To Smackdown

Shane Thorne, also known as Slapjack, hasn't wrestled since the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, a Smackdown match that was filmed in March, and as it turned out he's been quietly moved to the Smackdown side after. It was reported by POST Wrestling Slapjack was moved to the Smackdown roster in April. Since then Fightful learned that the move was done even without his knowledge, and he started to appear on the internal roster sheets and depth charts, where wrestlers then informed him. Sl...

Figure Haul: A Surprisingly Rare Attitude Era Figure

SRS obtains a figure that you wouldn't expect to be too rare, but is!