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 from PWInsider wrote that Punk himself has filed a counter-suit. He is seeking $600k in general damages and other fees due to Cabana’s ongoing lawsuit. Punk claims that he spent over $1.2 million on legal fees while Colt didn’t contribute any money whatsoever.
Also claimed is that Cabana had violated the agreement that they had in regards to the legal fees. The agreement was Punk would pay for the fees upfront quietly, while Colt would reimburse him for his share once the trial had finished.
It’s got very messy for the once former friends. It’s a shame that it’s got this far. I always liked their camaraderie, even more so on Cabana’s Art Of Wrestling podcast. Money, as always, is the root of the end of this friendship.
Lio Rush WWE Status
Lio Rush hasn’t appeared on WWE TV since WrestleMania, this past April. He hasn’t been involved in any houseshow since the month before that. The reason? Are too vast and many to mention. But the main reason is that creative really do have nothing for him.
The Wrestling Observer was quoted as saying that “the response on the creative end is that nobody talks about him and he’s not someone being used”.
After WrestleMania, there was talk that Rush would be sent back to NXT, but that was before he gave an un-sanctioned interview where he spoke about the backstage heat in the locker room against him. It didn’t help matters when Rush turned down a new $300k 5-year deal with the company, saying he wanted more than double that offer.
A few weeks back, Lio posted a video titled “Day 64 @WWE” (quite possibly the number of days since he was last on WWE TV) where he spoke about “getting out of the mess that I’m in”.
It could mean getting his head down and redeeming himself, or it could mean waiting things out until his contract ends. Rumored to be summer next year. Either way, don’t expect to see Rush on TV anytime soon.
NWA Sign Eli Drake To An Exclusive Deal
As the Twitter post below shows, the National Wrestling Alliance announced that they had signed former Impact Wrestling star Eli Drake to an exclusive deal:
We are proud to announce the signing of this man to the National Wrestling Alliance… ELI DRAKE! pic.twitter.com/HwyLgN6vxb
— NWA (@nwa) June 29, 2019
He also made the announcement himself at Ring Of Honor’s “Best In The World” PPV when he was revealed as being current NWA Worlds Champion Nick Aldis mystery partner against The Briscoes.
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_wrestling) June 29, 2019
Eli left Impact under a cloud. It still hasn’t come to light whether he left the company under his own volition, or his contract was indeed terminated. Either way, he has become a big fish in the NWA, and I’m sure he will be gunning for Aldis’s Worlds Heavyweight Championship in the near future.
FOX Ringing The Changes When SmackDown Airs This Fall
Dave Meltzer reported this week that FOX officials are looking to invite several high profile celebrities to appear on the debut of SmackDown on the network on October 4th.
Apparently, the network wants the show to look like a major boxing or MMA event and to be a “place for real stars to be”. It’s also a possible reason as to why the debut show will be emanating from the Staple Centre, Los Angeles.
With All Elite Wrestling also possibly debuting that very same week on TNT, WWE and FOX want SmackDown to appear as a “major league” show.
Being in Tinseltown, celebrities won’t be hard to find. Will they carry on down C list stars that have appeared on RAW in recent years, or will they pull the stops to bring in the best that Los Angeles has to offer?
That’s it for today’s Pro Wrestling Post Week In Review for 6/30/19. 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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