News! News! Get your news! Read all about it right here! Welcome one and all to your weekly irrelevant round-up of the week’s hottest stories in pro wrestling. Pro Wrestling Post Week In Review 8/18/19. 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! –
LAX Confirm They’re Done With IMPACT
Santana and Ortiz aka LAX released a statement yesterday saying that their match at the last IMPACT Wrestling TV tapings was indeed their last for the promotion. They took on Rich Swann and Willie Mack at the tapings that were held in Mexico.
Here is the statement in full along with the Twitter post that accompanied it –
“Last night we wrestled our final match with Impact Wrestling. Our appreciation and gratitude for every single person there who had a hand in helping us get to this point is absolutely endless. Thank you for the opportunity to show the world our passion and commitment for this business. And most of all, for the opportunity to represent our people and culture on a big stage. We are forever grateful.”
https://twitter.com/SantanaLAX/status/1162888672896802817
After the match had ended, members of the IMPACT locker room came out to the stage and ringside to publicly say goodbye to the pair.
It’s worth noting that in recent months both AEW and WWE have made overtures to LAX in regards to signing them.
New WWE Performance Center Coach
Along with the new influx of talent at the WWE Performance Center, WWE also hired a new coach. Respected Japanese wrestler Kendo Kashin had a guest coach role this past February and seems to have impressed WWE officials to give him a full-time role. Here is the official press statement:
The WWE Performance Center has added one of Japan’s most decorated junior heavyweight wrestlers to its coaching ranks.
Tokimitsu Ishizawa, who made his name in the squared circle as masked grappler Kendo Kashin, is the newest coach to join WWE’s training facility in Orlando, Fla.
An accomplished freestyle wrestler in his youth, Ishizawa turned pro in the early 1990s and went on to hold junior heavyweight titles in New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling. A feared submission specialist, Ishizawa also fought in professional mixed martial arts, including for the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships league.
Ishizawa also competed in Europe and the United States during his in-ring career. In 2002, “Pro Wrestling Illustrated” named him the 22nd best wrestler in the world in its annual PWI 500 rankings.
Ishizawa was invited to be a guest coach at the WWE Performance Center last February. At the time, Finn Bálor posted a photo of himself alongside Ishizawa and noted that the Japanese legend was his first trainer upon arriving to the Land of the Rising Sun.
More WWE House Shows Cancelled
It seems that business is really down for the biggest player in town. PWInsider wrote this week that WWE canceled another five house shows taking place next week. At the time of writing, no reason has been given. The house shows affected are as follows:
Friday, August 23 – Bossier City, LA
Saturday, August 24 – Lafayette, LA
Sunday, August 25 – Mobile, AL
Friday, August 30 – Bangor, ME
Saturday, August 31 – Portland, ME
It’s worrying that no reason has been given so far. When canceling shows before officials mentioned various reasons such as conflicting schedules. I hope for the sake of the business in general that things pick up for WWE soon.
Pentagon Jr Unmasked By Jon Moxley
The main event at this week’s Northeast Wrestling in Poughkeepsie, NY, pitted AEW’s very own Pentagon Jr vs Jon Moxley.
In keeping with Moxley’s “win at any costs” attitude, he ripped the mask from Pentagon’s face to hit his Paradigm Shift DDT finisher for the win. Video of the incident can be seen below –
https://twitter.com/BalorClubGuy/status/1162564055439216641
https://twitter.com/BalorClubGuy/status/1162729484627468289
It’ll be interesting to see if this incident has any fall out on AEW programming. In the world of the Luchadores, the mask is very sacred. Moxley’s act is more than a cheap way to win a match or a slap in the face of the culture.
At All Out Pentagon Jr and Fenix will defend their AAA Tag Team Championships against The Young Bucks in a Ladder Match. While Jon Moxley will take on Kenny Omega.
That’s it for today’s Pro Wrestling Post Week In Review for 8/18/19. 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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