It was announced tonight that the team of FinnJuice-- David Finlay and Juice Robinson would be coming to IMPACT. This further bridges the gap between NJPW and IMPACT Wrestling. Robinson has at least been in the states since around New Year's, and Fightful had heard that they could be coming in as of two weeks ago, but were unable to get a second confirmation. We have heard that the two were at the most recent IMPACT tapings this past week, however.
2021-02-14 04:52:47 +0000 UTC
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Dominic Garrini indicated to us that the "multi-year deal" he's under with Major League Wrestling is actually a three-year contract, which would put him under contract through September 2022. Garrini told us that MSL actually reached out to him first, and when he was weighing his options about his future in late 2019, he reached out to All Elite Wrestling's BJ Whitmer. Whitmer advised him to go to Major League Wrestling and assess where his career was in three years, which is what he ended up...
2021-02-13 21:00:00 +0000 UTC
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The following is an excerpt from our upcoming Pro Wrestling Youtube roundup for 2020 that takes a look at top videos from each company's 2020 year. Only original content that came from the year 2020, typically on first-run programming is considered.
***
New Japan still doesn't quite have the Youtube profile of most American companies, but it was good enough to land right around the number three spot as far as consistent, high profile content goes. It landed right around the consi...
2021-02-13 19:00:00 +0000 UTC
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In addition to Christian Casanova, Fightful has learned that WWE signed another independent wrestling standout in Blake Christian. Speculation of the signing was fueled recently when Christian lost a career vs. title match in Game Changer Wrestling. In addition to a surging indie career, Christian has been working for IMPACT Wrestling of late, including an impressive Super X Cup run. He also working NJPW Strong tapings. Fightful reached out to Blake Christian for confirmation, but have not he...
2021-02-13 18:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Fightful has learned that there were major meetings within WWE today, with several employees ending up upset. Many were told by the company that they wouldn't be provided promotions, raises or bonuses. This left low morale for those in the meeting -- which involved members of production, the office and other departments. WWE has reported increasing revenue despite the pandemic.
We're told that this was done for the employees, not a talent or wrestler meeting.
2021-02-12 22:14:57 +0000 UTC
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Fightful has learned that independent wrestling standout Christian Casanova has signed a WWE deal, and will be a part of an upcoming Performance Center class. Casanova is a seven-year pro, who WWE has had their eye on for quite a while. Based out of the northeast, Casanova is the current Limitless Wrestling Champion and has worked for Beyond, GCW and EVOLVE. We're told that WWE has resumed signings as usual after laying off for a few months during the pandemic, and having some smaller c...
2021-02-12 19:05:56 +0000 UTC
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We've heard some more about the recent WWE Men's Royal Rumble match. There were several pitches that didn't end up happening, and changes to the match. Originally, the match was laid out to have Ricochet come out late in the match, before that was changed. Another pitch featured the members of Retribution at ringside, with one on three different sides causing mayhem. That obviously didn't end up happening, but a similar spot with Omos did.
2021-02-12 18:00:00 +0000 UTC
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- Heat on wrestlers over COVID?
- NJPW/AEW FORBIDDEN DOOR
- NXT classes
- AEW Women's tourney
- WrestleMania
- Women's tag belts
- MORE!
2021-02-11 21:28:43 +0000 UTC
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Fightful has learned that there were "numerous" names planned for the WWE Royal Rumble that ended up having to be pulled from the match. Jey Uso was advertised for the match before being pulled, and wasn't at last week's episode of Smackdown. Fightful was told that Keith Lee and Robert Roode were supposed to be in the match as of several weeks ago, but also ended up being pulled and unable to compete.
2021-02-11 19:00:00 +0000 UTC
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The following is an excerpt from our upcoming Pro Wrestling Youtube roundup for 2020 that takes a look at top videos from each company's 2020 year. Only original content that came from the year 2020, typically on first-run programming is considered.
***
MLW was another company that saw their 2020 year derailed due to the pandemic. Unfortunately, the company was shelved for much of the year before returning in the autumn months. MLW and NWA have similar approaches on Youtube in tha...
2021-02-11 17:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Limit 3 per subscriber!
2021-02-11 07:35:59 +0000 UTC
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- Cesaro re-signing
- Buddy Murphy
- LINEAR EYEBALLS
- WWE investor calls
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/v-a6u0WTipo
2021-02-10 21:30:28 +0000 UTC
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For those wondering where Buddy Murphy is, he was slated as a Royal Rumble alternate for the show. In addition, we're told that Cedric Alexander was set for that role, as well. Montez Ford was at the venue for the Royal Rumble, but wasn't listed internally as an alternate. We've heard nothing about whether or not Andrade being at the building, but we can confirm he wasn't listed as an alternate, either.
Murphy has not returned to Smackdown since the Mysterio Family were sidelined with C...
2021-02-10 17:10:59 +0000 UTC
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The following is an excerpt from our upcoming Pro Wrestling Youtube roundup for 2020 that takes a look at top videos from each company's 2020 year. Only original content that came from the year 2020, typically on first-run programming is considered.
***
Although it wasn't a big year for original videos for ROH's Youtube, it was a big year for their Youtube. Last year's review of their output read as abysmal, which couldn't be further from the truth. They have dipped into their rob...
2021-02-10 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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We've learned a few details about the upcoming Filthy Island show from MLW, based off of UFC's Fight Island. Dom Garrini tells Fightful that he felt like UFC sold fans a bill of goods by implying that fights would be on a beach, only to not have anything resembling that. In conversations with MLW, this was communicated to them, and they didn't want to make the same mistake in that regard, as the thematic element to the show is an important one. Garrini also noted that the matches will take pl...
2021-02-10 15:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Last night's Raw was so terrible, not just for last night, but for the near future, and for the future of the business as a whole.
Or is that "hole."
Taking the title off of Asuka to put it on Lacey to put it on Babyface Charlotte at Mania, booking the most boring Elimination Chamber match in history, and deciding not to follow up on the reveal that Alexa Bliss is a teleportation vampire.
Raw is buried. In a hole.
Everything sucks. Let...
2021-02-10 03:05:08 +0000 UTC
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We spoke to Matt Cardona for a new interview, as many of you have seen. He confirmed to us that his original WWE contract was actually going to be up in August of 2020. He'd told us before that he'd passed on signing a new deal in 2019. However, the nature of his contract means that WWE cutting him in April 2020 put his no-compete clause through mid-July. This means WWE effectively only missed out on paying him roughly a month of his originally agreed contract by releasing him. Several of the...
2021-02-09 21:57:47 +0000 UTC
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Fightful has learned that there were "numerous" names planned for the WWE Royal Rumble that ended up having to be pulled from the match. Jey Uso was advertised for the match before being pulled, and wasn't at last week's episode of Smackdown. Fightful was told that Keith Lee and Robert Roode were supposed to be in the match as of several weeks ago, but also ended up being pulled and unable to compete. Montez Ford was also in attendance at the Royal Rumble, but was not an alternate
2021-02-09 20:00:00 +0000 UTC
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Bad Bunny was a gigantic merchandise hit, too. At one point last week, Bad Bunny held all four of the top merch selling spots, with his popularly received t-shirt taking spots 1, 3 (women's) and 4 (youth), and the pullover hoodie at number 2. This drove over $500,000 in sales to WWE and Bad Bunny as a result. At the time we got the information, the only other person in the top five was Roman Reigns. Even then, the #5 spot did about 65 percent of the sales of the number four seller, and less t...
2021-02-09 19:00:08 +0000 UTC
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We're told that as of this weekend, Keith Lee had figured into WWE's plans for tonight's episode of Monday Night Raw. Lee was not at the WWE Royal Rumble, and has not wrestled since the January 11 episode of the show, missing three episodes of Raw. We can't confirm that he'll be on the show, but as of this weekend WWE were hopeful he'd be back for a match in the middle of the card.
2021-02-08 21:30:23 +0000 UTC
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Game Changer Wrestling is bringing the Collective back.
Fightful Select reported this afternoon that the WrestleMania weekend staple will be heading to Tampa in just two months.
The Collective will run April 8-10 from the Cuban Club at YBor City in Tampa, Florida. The event will stream live on Fite, and all action will be taking place at the Cuban Club Courtyard, which is outdoors with attendance capped at 20% capacity.
We've confirmed that the following event.
- Jimmy...
2021-02-08 21:10:32 +0000 UTC
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The former Zelina, Thea Trinidad will be free to sign elsewhere late this week as her 90-day non-compete expires. We have not heard of any companies specifically expressing interest in signing her, which doesn't mean it won't happen as often times the promotions don't tip their hands before they can even make a move.
Trinidad was fired in late 2020 after violating the company's third-party policy. Her husband Aleister Black has not appeared on the show since.
2021-02-08 18:00:05 +0000 UTC
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The following is an excerpt from our upcoming Pro Wrestling Youtube roundup for 2020 that takes a look at top videos from each company's 2020 year. Only original content that came from the year 2020, typically on first-run programming is considered.
***
Many wrestling companies had a down year, but IMPACT Wrestling didn't have a lot of first-run content that ended up cracking their "most viewed videos" ever. This means much different things than it would for a Ring of Honor, which...
2021-02-08 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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We're in a new busy age for wrestling video games with WWE Battlegrounds, plus the return of 2K this year, in addition to The Wrestling Code, several AEW titles and RetroMania Arcade in development. However, the Wrestling Empire title released last year. Creator MDickie told Fightful's Robert DeFelice he wants to do a better job of allowing people to edit the official game, and is going to release a booking mode for the game in the future, and is hoping for a 2021 PC release.
2021-02-08 04:36:11 +0000 UTC
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STEPHEN JENSEN is back with a new edition of the WEEKENDER!
Topics:
- Show to watch on IWTV - NEW SOUTH: "Action Clash Episode 21"
- IMPACT (2/2) results & "No Surrender" predictions
- 205 LIVE (2/5) results
- NXT UK (2/4) results
- MLW: "Fusion" (2/3) results
- ROH (1/29) results
- BTE: "The Betrayal Is Real" recap
2021-02-07 21:29:06 +0000 UTC
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- We spoke to Lars Sullivan about his release
- Original Lars plans
- Steve Cutler release, heat with Vince McMahon
- Matt Riddle contract
- GCW Collective
- IMPACT tapings
- Matt Cardona news
- Injuries, Contract updates
2021-02-07 19:29:06 +0000 UTC
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We haven't seen Kip Sabian in the ring for quite some time, and All Elite Wrestling sources have indicated it's because he's been sidelined from active competition with an injury. Sabian hasn't wrestled since early December, but has been figured into the television program and storyline plans with the Best Friends feud. With his on-screen wedding coming up, many didn't notice he'd been out of the ring as he's still prominently featured on television. We reached out to Sabian for confirmation ...
2021-02-07 18:00:00 +0000 UTC
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SmackDown is in a really good place, somehow, and yet, there's an air of dreadful apprehension. How are they going to screw this up?
Well the answer is "maybe they won't" and yet, WWE has earned the Detriment of the Doubt. We can't believe it's going to turn out for the best until we've seen it happen with our own eyes. And even then, we'll be giving the side-eye. They always make the wrong decision, eventually.
Case in point, Hulk Hogan For No Reason.
Everything sucks...
2021-02-07 03:27:41 +0000 UTC
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IMPACT Wrestling has a quicker turnaround this time, as we've been told they plan to film between February 9 and 11 of next week. We've already heard of at least one name not on the roster who will be at the tapings, but as Matt Cardona had pointed out to us, he didn't even know he was coming in to IMPACT until the Friday prior himself.
We'll look to gain some more news as the tapings get closer
2021-02-06 17:59:11 +0000 UTC
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After several shows away, Fightful has learned that Vince McMahon is back in-person at Smackdown tonight. McMahon had missed several shows around the passing of his brother Rod, but had still been integral in running the shows. He was also not heavily involved in the Thursday investor call.
2021-02-06 01:15:34 +0000 UTC
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