Pro Wrestling Post Week In Review 7/7/19

By
Mark Blake

News! News! Get your news! Read all about it right here! Welcome one and all to your weekly irrelevant round-up of the weeks hottest stories in pro wrestling. Pro Wrestling Post Week In Review 7/7/19. As always, I, “Smart” Mark Blake, have scoured the internet to find the biggest and most interesting stories. Enough of me lets get into this week’s Week In Review! –

Gallows And Anderson Sign Long Term WWE Deal

Photo/@wwe

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, aka The Club, have signed a new deal with WWE. On Wrestling Observer Radio yesterday, Dave Meltzer reported that the duo have “absolutely signed” with WWE and the deal is big. The company has been giving larger deals as of late to keep talent from other companies.

Reports were that Gallows and Anderson turned down an offer in the $500k range a few months back.

With The Club re-aligning with AJ Styles recently on RAW and beating down United States Champion Ricochet, could that be seen as a reward for signing the contracts?

Georgia Hart Added To MLW Announce Team

Week In Review

Major League Wrestling announced yesterday that Georgia Hart, daughter of “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, will join their broadcast correspondent team. She actually began last night at the Kings Of Colosseum from Cicero, Illinois.

As well as being the daughter of one of the most legendary wrestlers of all time, Georgia is also the sister of MLW talents Davey Boy Smith Jr and the cousin of Teddy Hart.

MLW CEO Court Bauer stated –

“Georgia has a keen sense for a good story and those instincts will serve her well as she gives viewers an inside look in real-time at the athletes, rivalries and the unexpected as it unfolds. MLW is excited to have Georgia join our team starting this weekend in Chicago.”

It’s worth noting that Georgia wasn’t just signed on her name value alone. She has broadcast experience, working with iHeartMedia among others.

KENTA Interview: WWE, NJPW, G1 Climax

 

Week In Review
Photo/@NJPW1972

In readiness for the beginning of the G1 Climax tournament, KENTA spoke to New Japan Pro Wrestling about his time in WWE, why he came to NJPW and his thoughts on this years G1. Below are a few highlights –

Joining NJPW:
“Well, I explained this in my backstage comments, but I went to America, I went to WWE, and I didn’t really achieve what I set out to do there. I didn’t get the results I wanted. While all this was going on, I was still in contact with Katsuyori Shibata, and we talked about this and that. In the end, it boiled down to ‘OK, what do I want to do with myself’? What I concluded was that I didn’t want things to end this way, I wanted to try once more to bring my vision of pro wrestling to the world.

So that said, business is booming for NJPW, and if there’s anywhere that I can bring that vision worldwide, it’s in New Japan.”

WWE career:
“It’s hard to put into words but… it was a very tough five years. I got hurt, and beyond that, I was really grasping for something during that whole time. It’s like, I came into the company to bring my style of wrestling worldwide, but what that actually became was bending and adapting to what the company wanted. That’s important in a sense, but the strength and aggression that I bring to the table got lost. That’s a real shame.

One person there might tell you ‘do it this way’, and then another would be ‘no, no, do it like this’. That meant my own personal vision just crumbled away. There are people who can do very well in that environment, but I just couldn’t. So when that ‘what next?’ question came up, I didn’t ask anybody else what they thought. I just decided to focus on what I wanted to do. Otherwise, there’s no point.”

Lessons learned in WWE:
“If I didn’t, the whole thing would have been meaningless. Of course, you want to succeed in everything first time and keep moving forward, but life isn’t like that. You take your knocks, and then have to learn from that, otherwise, your experience is pointless. In the end, I have zero regrets about any of my decisions.

My style isn’t really like the WWE style. There’s aggression there that’s closer to Strong Style, my matches evolve in a more thrilling way. I think if I can fit in here, I’ll be able to awaken something that’s been dormant for a long time.”

His feelings on the G1 this year:
“Absolutely. I’m really excited.”

Nice to see KENTA go all out on what he expects from the G1! 🙂 Seriously, it’s great that he isn’t downhearted from his time in WWE. He accepts that it didn’t go to plan and he’s learned from that and will use it in his NJPW.

Jack Sexsmith Forced To Retire

Week In Review
Photo/@RIPTIDEWres

My non-UK readers might not know who Jack Sexsmith is, so for you all is a brief rundown on who Jack is and why he has been a huge part of BritWres –

Jack trained at the now legendary PROGRESS Wrestling ProJo training school under the tutelage of Darrell Allen, Eddie Dennis, and Jimmy Havoc. He debuted in April of 2015 after showing promise at the school. Jack wrestled mainly in PROGRESS for the early part of his career but soon spread his wings to other companies such as IPW:UK, Fight Club Pro, and Riptide Wrestling.

He really made a name for himself at Riptide Wrestling, where his white-hot feud with Spike Trivet took center stage from the very first show of the company.

Jack is openly pansexual, hence his nickname of the Pansexual Phenomenon, but he never let his sexuality take center stage of his career. The man could GO!. He held his own against Travis Banks when he battled for the PROGRESS Wrestling World Championship, versus David Starr where he defended the IPW:UK Z Force championship, Jimmy Havoc, Eddie Dennis, and many more staples of the UK wrestling scene.

And it was at his spiritual home of Riptide Wrestling in Brighton on Friday night where he announced his untimely retirement.

At the company’s annual Point Break event, Jack spoke candidly and openly about the heartbreaking decision he had come to. In a match for Defiant Wrestling in May, Jack tore his ACL. He awaited his MRI results before determining his future. In the middle of the Riptide ring he told the crowd that along with his torn ACL, there were multiple other damaged ligaments in an already reconstructed knee. It was in the doctor’s best interest to tell Jack to retire from wrestling at the earliest opportunity.

Not long after he made his announcement, many began to thank Jack for what impact he had made on the scene in such a small amount of time.

I’ll finish with this tweet from Riptide which pretty much says it all. Thank you Jack.

That’s it for today’s Pro Wrestling Post Week In Review for 7/7/19. Some great little nuggets of news if I do say so myself. As always I thank you all for reading not only my work but all the work here at PWP each and every week. It doesn’t go unnoticed. We’ll see you back next week for another edition of Week in Review!

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To read our past editions of the Pro Wrestling Post Week in Review with Mark Blake click here.

 

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