Author: 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 6/23/19. As always, I, “Smart” Mark Blake, have scoured the internet to find the biggest and most interesting stories – CM Punk/Colt Cabana Legal Latest It’s common knowledge that Colt Cabana is suing his (ex) friend CM Punk over the whole Dr. Chris Amann/WWE situation. Basically, Colt is suing because Punk didn’t reimburse him all of his legal fees in the defamation lawsuit. This week, Mike Johnson…

A few weeks ago I wrote that Alberto Del Patron (Del Rio) had announced a new promotion he was heading up, Nacion Lucha Libre. Today he spoke with the Miami Herald to talk about the promotion and the fact that Nacion Lucha Libre will be offering health and life insurance to all its performers. El Patron heads this promotion with a legendary name in the wrestling world, Chavo Guerrero Jr. Both men are pushing the fact that Nacion Lucha Libre will offer health insurance, life insurance, and retirement to all their workers. Below are some of the comments he made…

Earlier this year, new WWE Executive Director for SmackDown Live Eric Bischoff, spoke to the people of Glasgow, Scotland for a special Inside The Ropes talking event. At the event, seen in the video below, Eric spoke in length about what he would do in regards to the brand extension/split: https://youtu.be/HzsTP4D2iJ4 “First of all, this is the third attempt at a major promotion brand extension. The first one was mine, it was kind of short-lived and it really wasn’t a pretty sight. WCW Thunder The whole idea was to create a show for the nWo, which is why we grew…

A few hours ago, WWE announced that they had hired Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman as Executive Directors. Heyman will become the Executive Director of RAW while Bischoff has been made Executive Director of SmackDown Live. Both men will report directly to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. https://youtu.be/pPQnffjwNd8 This huge move will make sure that it provides “two distinct creative processes for its flagship shows”. Sports Illustrated reported that when SmackDown Live moves to FOX, Bischoff will liaise with FOX executives. They also went on to say that there are no plans for both men to be introduced as an on-screen…

A few hours ago, Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (OWE) announced that the company will be expanding into the UK. From September they will launch a sister brand – OWE United Kingdom. Many will know OWE and their stars from their working relationship with All Elite Wrestling. Through their Instagram account, they announced that there would be an OWE United Kingdom Champion and OWE United Kingdom Tag Team Champions too. https://www.instagram.com/p/BzKmwVwgW8B/?utm_source=ig_web_options_share_sheet OWE issued a press release to accompany this announcement. Here are some highlights: SHANGHAI (June 26, 2019) – Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (OWE), the China-based wrestling promotion headlined by members of the…

The past two days have seen Twitter blow up, as WWE’s Seth Rollins and New Japan Pro Wresting’s Will Ospreay have been shooting verbally at each other. It all started when Seth, as his role as company flag bearer, proudly proclaimed that WWE was the best wrestling on the planet. This drew the ire of many fans who were eager to tell him the error of his statement. Rollins then went on to “double down” his statement by saying that there is no one in the world right now who can do what he does, as well as he does.…

It was widely reported overnight that last night’s WWE Stomping Grounds PPV drew a very small crowd to the Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA. More news has come out regarding the event, along with some picture evidence. DEFY Wrestling’s Matt Farmer tweeted to Dave Meltzer that there were around 6,000 fans in the arena. The Tacoma Dome can hold up to 18,000. Others had tweeted that the arena had half of it’s seating curtained off. Farmer also said that there were “tons” of complimentary tickets and quite a few 2-for-1 ticket deals. https://twitter.com/mattfarmer93/status/1142930910070767618 Dave Meltzer spoke on Wrestling Observer Radio that…

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 6/23/19. As always, I, “Smart” Mark Blake, have scoured the internet to find the biggest and most interesting stories – R-Truth Regains 24/7 Championship At Drake Maverick’s Wedding The greatest 24/7 champion in WWE history re-captured the title this past weekend. R-Truth pinned former champion Drake Maverick at Drake’s own wedding. Watch the video below to fully understand what happened: https://youtu.be/EQ6jsdrAZWA In claiming this title win,…

All Elite Wrestling’s UK TV partner, ITV, announced a few hours ago that both Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen will be shown in the United Kingdom and Ireland through FITE TV AEW in collaboration with ITV Box Office. Both shows will be available for £8.99 in the United Kingdom and 9.99 euros in Ireland. All details can be found at www.fite.tv Ben Halabi, Head of ITV Box Office Business Development commented – “We’re ( AEW ) thrilled to be partnering with FITE TV to bring this epic event to even more wrestling fans across the UK & Ireland…

As I reported last month, BT Sport will be the new home of WWE programming in the United Kingdom. The deal begins next January. Sky TV has been broadcasting WWE programming into homes of the UK for the last 30 years. Both parties announced that Raw and SmackDown Live will air on BT Sport while BT Sport Box Office will air all of WWE’s pay-per-view events. Below is the official press release – WWE® AND BT SPORT ANNOUNCE NEW PARTNERSHIP LONDON, ENGLAND, June 20, 2019 – WWE® (NYSE: WWE) and BT Sport today announced a new multi-year exclusive pay TV…