Hello and welcome to the WrestleTalk News, I am Luke Owen.
Following on from their fantastic Dominion show this past Saturday, New Japan and Revolution
Pro Wrestling have announced several matches for their two nights of Strong Style Evolved
United Kingdom.
On the first night in Milton Keynes fans will see Bullet Club take on Aussie Open, Tiger
Mask against your favourite wrestler’s favourite wrestler David Starr, Walter vs. Yuji Nagata
and British Tag Team Champions Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. defend their titles against
Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii.
Night two in Manchester will see Walter vs. Yujiro Takahashi, IWGP United States Champion
Jay White vs. Chris Brookes, a Sakura Genesis rematch of Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Okada, and a
main event of Ishii vs. Suzuki for the Undisputed British Championship.
Back in January it was revealed that former Diva’s Champion Alicia Fox broke her tailbone
while rehearsing the Women’s Royal Rumble and would be out of action for some time.
While there is no word on when she will be returning to the ring, PWInsider are reporting
that Fox was backstage at Raw last night in Little Rock.
This is the third time Fox has been backstage with WWE since her injury - the first being
at WrestleMania weekend where she got into an argument with Ronda Rousey’s husband
Travis Browne.
Since then there has been speculation about her position in the company, and PWInisder
added in their report that Fox’s deal expires later this year.
She was also backstage at the Raw taping in New York last month but was not used.
And Fox might not be the only WWE star returning to in-ring competition soon, as Mike Johnson
of PWInsider is also reporting that there have been several creative pitches in WWE
about bringing back James Ellsworth into the company.
Johnson adds, “PWInsider.com has confirmed he is slated to be at the WWE Money in the
Bank PPV in Chicago.”
Ellsworth made a big splash at the Money in the Bank PPV last year when he unhooked the
briefcase and handed it to Carmella.
The finish drew a lot of backlash from fans to the point that WWE redid the match on Smackdown
Live and have since edited Ellsworth from the original finish in recaps and documentaries.
Could we see Ellsworth return to the corner of Carmella to help her retain over Asuka,
or interfere in the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match for the second year in a
row?
Well sadly it seems that the man with two hands and a fighting chance is tied up elsewhere,
as James Ellsworth is still being advertised for a match in China by Middle Kingdom Wrestling,
where he will defend his Intergender Championship in a Fatal Four Way - which takes place on
the same day as Money in the Bank.
Someone else who is unlikely to be part of Money in the Bank is the new IWGP Intercontinental
Champion, Chris Jericho.
Y2J made his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling at Dominion last Saturday, where he successfully
defeated Tetsuya Naito to win his 10th Intercontinental Championship - if you count the other nine
he won in WWE.
Jericho has had quite the 2018 already, competing at Dominion and WrestleKingdom 12 back in
January as well as WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble.
But will Jericho be a part of Bullet Club’s All In show in September?
Well Inside The Ropes and WrestleTalk’s resident traffic reporter Kenny McIntosh sat
down with the man himself to ask.
Not only did Jericho reveal why he didn’t work New Japan’s Long Beach show and why
he won’t be at the Cow Palace show either, he also revealed why he’s not
All In.
Watch the full Inside the Ropes interview with Chris Jericho by clicking the video on
screen right now.
I’ve been Luke Owen and that was wrestling.