Here's more wrestling news for August 18th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Ilja Dragunov’s Status For TakeOver: 36 After Bloody Injury On WWE NXT!
Indi Hartwell Proposes Marriage To Dexter Lumis On WWE NXT! Yet Another Televised WWE Wedding Next Week?
Stephanie McMahon Recalls Vince McMahon Saying She ‘Failed Him’!
Released WWE Wrestler Rooting For CM Punk In AEW!
Jim Ross Talks WWE Releasing Bray Wyatt!
Former WWE Star Tests Positive For COVID-19 After Working As A Nurse During The Pandemic!
Sheamus Breaks Character And Accuses WWE RAW Star Of Stealing His Finisher!
Released WWE Wrestler’s MAJOR Transformation!
''He Was Thinking Off Getting Out Of The Business And Working For Coca-Cola''- Bruce Prichard Convinced 'Retired' Superstar
to Make A Return!
"I'm Gonna Give A Piece Of My Mind" - Released WWE Star On Her Final Meeting With Vince McMahon! And More
We’re starting today with last night’s NXT, where Ilja Dragunov took Roderick Strong up on his open challenge, and was left a
bloody mess after the match. Busted open the hard way during their match, Dragunov required eight stitches backstage at
the Capitol Wrestling Center, following a deep laceration over his right eye. In a statement by WWE, it’s been confirmed
that Dragunov is medically cleared to compete this Sunday, where he’ll challenge NXT UK Champion WALTER in a highly anticipated bout
Today marks day 866 of the Austrian’s incredible reign as NXT UK Champion, and given that their match has already been
postponed once because of a severe injury in WALTER’s left hand, we’re pleased that the match will still go ahead this Sunday, despite
Dragunov’s injury this week.
Last night’s NXT also saw Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis win in mixed-tag-team action, but they took their relationship to the next
level after the bell. After defeating Jessie Kamea and Robert Stone, Indi grabbed a small box from Beth Phoenix
and getting down on one knee, proposed to Lumis, who gladly accepted and put on the ring. Now, InDex are set to be married, and we i
imagine the venue for this happy occasion will be the Capitol Wrestling Center in the near future.
This will be the first NXT wedding since the brand’s reinvention in June 2012, and third NXT wedding overall, as Goldust and
Askana married in 2010, and Johnny Curtis and Machine nearly tied the knot in January 2012.
With this being a wrestling wedding, it’s almost guaranteed that something will go wrong, but proposing to her future
on-screen husband was a unique way for Hartwell to celebrate her 25th birthday.
Now, Stephanie McMahon’s first job in the company was modelling merchandise in the old shop catalogues, but it was only
until she earned her degree in Communication from Boston University in 1998 that she started working for WWE full-time.
Nowadays, Stephanie has a great spot on the corporate ladder, and will inherit the company one day, but she wasn’t always
success in her father’s eyes. Speaking to SBJ I Factor, the Billion Dollar Princess revealed a time where she
disappointed Vince, saying: “One key lesson that my father taught me — I was micromanaging. I was doing what
I thought was right, I mean, all the best of intentions, but I really was absolutely micromanaging this particular team.
My dad told me that I had failed him and it was a very, very hard, painful lesson, especially because he’s my father,
not just my boss, right? To think that I had failed him was something I took on so emotionally and it was painful for me and
I think for a lot of people, making mistakes and doing things that you wish you didn’t do are painful. But you grow from them
if you’re able to, and it is worth it. It’s why I don’t have regrets in life. I’ve made mistakes, don’t get me wrong. I’ve definitely
made mistakes. But I think I wouldn’t be who I am today if I hadn’t made those mistakes and had the opportunity to
learn from them. I think that’s just so important.” It's never fun to fail at work, and it’s
especially tough when you let a family member down, and Stephanie had to experience both of those at the same time.
Fortunately, Steph bounced back, and is now the company’s Chief Branding Officer, and despite her father’s desire to fire as
as many people as he can in the name of budget cuts, we imagine that the Chairman would never fire his own daughter,
even if she had to be micromanaged long ago.
AEW news now, as CM Punk is expected to debut for the company on this Friday’s Rampage, working a contract which’ll see
him wrestle 10-12 times a year. In 2011, Alberto Del Rio won his first WWE Title by dethroning Punk, cashing-in the
RAW Money in the Bank contract on a battered Punk at Summerslam, but now Del Rio is excited for his former adversary.
Speaking to Pro Wrestling Defined, Del Rio said he was given great joy when he heard about Punk’s impending comeback, calling
him a fantastic guy, that became his friend since day one in WWE. Del Rio added that the entire wrestling world
will win if Punk does indeed return to the ring as a member of the AEW roster, and we’ll finally know if that’s the case on this
Friday’s edition of AEW Rampage.
CM Punk isn’t the only big name circulating right now, as Bray Wyatt remains a favourite of countless fans, especially after his surprising
release from WWE. Since his release, it’s been speculated that the former Fiend could become the latest WWE
name to join AEW, and on his Grillin’ JR Podcast, Jim Ross spoke about WWE’s decision to let the massively popular Superstar go. He said:
There’s politics nowadays because of the immense salaries. Bray Wyatt gets cut, he’s got to be making north of a million on a
downside guarantee and he’s been sitting home. That’s not good management. “I’m not saying the guy should’ve been cut,
he should’ve been used if you’re going to pay him that kind of cash. How that happened is a story for another day because I don’t know
the details. I do know they got rid of a very talented kid and I’m sure he won’t have any issues finding work, speaking of Bray Wyatt.”
Right now, Wyatt is waiting on his non-compete clause to expire, which will expire on October 29th, just one week before AEW Full
Gear, and time will tell where the former Universal Champion appears next.
We’ve got some concerning news regarding former WWE Superstar Dawn Marie, who’s publicly announced that she’s tested positive
Marie, who now works on the frontlines as a nurse, tweeted about working consistently over the past 18 months, saying that it’s
finally caught up” with her. Hopefully, Dawn will be able to rest up and recover from this disease, and it goes to
show that everyone still needs to be careful as we continue on the fight back to normal life.
Back to WWE, and in 2007, both Drew McIntyre and Sheamus joined WWE, and in the years since, the two long-time friend have never
shied away from taking light-hearted shots at each other in interviews. This tradition continued this week when
they both sat down for BT Sport’s What Went Down, as during the show, Sheamus said that McIntyre doesn’t need to bring back his
former finisher the Scot Drop, joking that he already has the Claymore, and Sheamus accused McIntyre of stealing his Brogue Kick.
Calling the Claymore a ‘Brogue-lite’ this was some gentle joshing by Sheamus, who despite their recent blood feud on screen, remain the
best of friends with McIntyre after over a decade in WWE.
Earlier this year, Heavy Machinery’s Tucker was released by WWE, months after he turned heel on Otis in a story that didn’t go anywhere.
The former 24/7 Champion may no longer be a WWE Superstar, but he is in much better shape now, according to the man himself.
Speaking on the Two-Man Power trip of Wrestling, Tucker revealed his impressive weight loss since leaving, saying:
I’m probably 240lbs right now. The biggest I’ve been with Heavy Machinery, I was 325. I was probably 315 when we moved up from NXT to
RAW and SmackDown. Losing weight is never easy, especially nowadays when gyms have been closed for
so long, but that hasn’t stopped Tucker from changing his health for the better, which’ll no doubt help his booking prospects and
his quality of life in the long-run
In 1992, Ron Simmons made history when he became the first African American to become WCW World Champion, but the future Farooq’s
career nearly ended just three years later. That’s according to Bruce Prichard, who discussed Simmons on his something to
wrestle with Podcast this week, and recalled a conversation they had in 1995, at a time when Simmons was ready to quit the industry. He said:
One day, I think Ron had already retired and hung up his boots in WCW," said Prichard. "He was thinking of getting out of the business
and working at Coca-Cola. So I stayed on him and said 'Hey, you've got at least one last run up here before you hang up the boots for good
Prichard added that he used to call Simmons every year to let him know that the doors were open for him in WWE, and on July 22nd,
, 1996, Simmons would eventually come to t he company. From there, Ron would have success in the
Nation of Domination and the APA, but that never would’ve happened had Prichard not convinced him to keep wrestling instead
of working for Coca-Cola. And we’re ending today with Sarah Logan, who was released from WWE in April 2020
after three-and-a-half years with the company. Logan worked for just 13 months in NXT, before making her main-roster debut alongside Liv
Morgan and Ruby Riott, and speaking on Renee Paquette’s Oral Sessions podcast, the former Superstar said she was ready to be mean to
Vince McMahon before leaving the company, but took a different approach: “My final days in WWE, I actually went into
Vince’s office. I had it in my brain, ‘I’m gonna go in there and be mean and give a piece of my mind, and blah blah blah,’ and I went in there
and was the most professional P.O.S. [piece of s***] that I have ever been in my life."
Wrestling doesn’t owe me anything at all. It’s given me more than I ever could have hoped for, and I went in there and I was like, ‘This
is obviously my dream job. I lived it. It’s given me my best friend [Ruby Riott] and my husband [Erik], and now my child.’ I was like,
Just thank you, and I hope we meet again some day,’ and I shook his hand and left.’”
Logan hasn’t wrestled since her WWE departure, as she gave birth to her and Viking Raider Erik’s first child in February
this year, and we’ll have to see if she and McMahon do meet again one day down the line.