Here is your news for July 1st 2020 WWE Star SUSPENDED! More Former WWE Stars Tease IMPACT Debuts! Major Changes In WWE! Wrestling News! 3 00:00:03,253 --> 00:00:05,255 Your headlines for today include:
Why WWE Suspended TWO Referees And A Wrestler?
WWE Undergoing Major Changes Thanks To The Current Global Situation!
AEW Wrestler Returns To Twitter Explains Why He Deleted Profile!
Impact Wrestling Making Major Changes to Slammiversary Main Event!
Two MORE Former Released WWE Stars Teases Appearances At Impact’s Slammiversary!
New Details OF Velveteen Dream’s Car Accident Revealed AND MORE!
We’re kicking off today with news from NXT UK, as following several claims of
wrongdoing by several members of the Black and Gold brand, the company
hosted a mandatory conference call this week as a reminder of company policy.
The company also confirmed that referees Joel Allen and Chris Roberts had been
released, whilst Joe Coffey has been suspended as well, and these actions follow
on from last week’s releases of El Ligero and Travis Banks.
WWE COO Triple H made it clear in the call that there is a zero tolerance policy in
effect, providing there was irrefutable evidence to back up any claims.
There was no discussion about any other changes to the UK brand, despite
rumours of WWE closing it down, as it seems NXT UK will continue to tape TV as
soon as it’s once again feasible to do so.
There’s been trouble for the WWE back over in the States too, as the proposed
live events outside of the Performance Center are officially off.
Recently, it was reported that the WWE had live shows for paying fans set up in
Lakeland Florida on July 24th and 27th, but according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling
Observer Radio, that won’t be happening. He said:
“So the dates July 24th and 27th were cancelled officially by WWE. The people who
were gonna work those shows got the word later in the afternoon. If they get
delayed — nobody knows that’s going on. Everything’s spiked again, it’s quite sad,
it’s quite sad. That’s all I can say.”
Given that the number of cases in the U.S. continues to rise, especially in Florida,
it’s not surprising that the WWE cancelled these shows, and now once again
there’s no sign of when things in wrestling will go back to normal.
For now, the WWE will have to continue with it’s makeshift crowd in the
Performance Center, but even this has caused issues for the company.
Recently, the company faced backlash after it was revealed that the crowd
weren’t allowed to wear protective masks, and that Kevin Dunn used a loud
speaker to yell at those who were wearing masks.
As this incident with Dunn took place prior to a positive test within the PC, as well
as prior to the reported two-dozen positive cases in the company, the WWE has
apparently changed it’s attitude.
An internal email obtained by Fightful sent to the NXT Superstars had made the
new rules clear, as it reads:
“As a reminder, wearing masks, sanitizing and social distancing will be required at
the Performance Center this week and going forward. You’ll be required to wear a
mask upon entering and we ask that you adhere to these requirements in order to
minimize risks.”
This is clearly a far cry from the company’s previous no-mask stance, and it’s also
been reported that NXT Superstars showed up early yesterday for a drive-thru test.
Though these tests are very important, especially after so many WWE employees
have tested positive, there’s been concerns that the results of these tests won’t
come back until after the Great American Bash has been taped.
As of right now, WWE Superstars are being instructered not to reveal the results
of any of their tests, and we’ll make sure to provide updates as this
unprecedented situation develops.
WWE is clearly facing a dilemma as a lot of their Superstars and staff need to fly
home to see their families, and whilst WWE figured out a solution to the fact that
some places aren’t taking people coming from Florida, it’s now created a bigger mess.
New Jersey, Connecticut and New York have all said anyone coming from Florida
needs to face a two-week quarantine, and given that the WWE can’t wait two
weeks, they’re now sending their staff to Philadelphia, and the employee has to
figure out how to get to their own destinations from there.
One anonymous long-time WWE staff member ironically pointed out that this is
how a publicly traded company is operating, and described everyone and
everything as a complete mess.
It was reported that the WWE didn’t do proper tests until a developmental
wrestler in the Performance Center tested positive, and that after the company
tested every Superstar, staff member and executive, several positive tests were discovered.
Recently, WWE planned to record two weeks of Television for RAW and
SmackDown but that didn’t work out, as with tests not arriving back in time, the
situation was described as a mess by those backstage.
With all these worries about safety, it’s being reported that some in WWE are
trying to establish a biodome, which would allow WWE to have greater control
over the environment they’re putting their staff in.
When one anonymous, long-time WWE employee was asked about whether WWE
should invest in a Bio-dome, they didn’t mince their words, saying:
“No sh*t! That would be great, I wish they would do that!”
Whilst a biodome does not have to be a physical dome, it would allow WWE to
eliminate travel, remove fans and establish measures that’d make sure that the
Superstars and staff could operate in a safe environment, all whilst under the
advice of Doctors
Some Biodomes even allow people and their families to live in them, and although
WWE hasn’t hinted at constructing one yet, the fact that Vince McMahon’s net
worth grew 10% over the past 3 months means the Boss certainly has the bank to
make it happen.
Over to AEW now, and Hangman Page recently returned to Twitter after a brief absence.
On Twitter, Page joked that the reason he deleted his account was he forgot his
password, though it should be noted that Page deleted his account during the
claims of wrongdoing made at several wrestlers.
Whilst Page didn’t receive any claims, many people he knew did, including Marty
Scrull, Jimmy Havoc, Sammy Guevara and Joey Ryan.
Hopefully this break from the social-media site did Page some good, and we
advise him to write his password down in a secure location next time.
Back to WWE, and it’s no secret that Monday Night RAW has undergone a lot of
changes following Paul Heyman’s removal as Executive Director, and now another
shift has come to light.
Following Heyman’s dismissal, it was reported that Andrade and Angel Garza were
favourites of the ECW Magnate, and according to Meltzer, the duo should’ve
already reached the top of the red brand’s tag team division. He said:
“Andrade and Angel Garza are being groomed, obviously they’re going for a tag
team title match against the Street Profits. I don’t know if they’re going to win it,
at one point they were, but they’re being groomed for sure.”
Before Heyman’s firing, Andrade, Garza and Zelena Vega were positioned to be a
top-tier stable on RAW, whilst they’re now in a place lower down the card.
This doesn’t automatically mean they won’t be used now that Heyman isn’t
around to vouch for them, but time will tell what becomes of the former United
States Champion and his tag team partner with Bruce Prichard running both of
WWE’s main roster shows.
Over to Impact next, and after the release of their World Champion Tessa
Blanchard, the Slammiversary main event must now be changed.
Whilst the majority of those involved in the Fatal-Four- Way will stay the same,
Blanchard is being replaced by a mystery opponent, who’ll take on Ace Austin,
Eddie Edwards and Trey Miguel.
Michael Elgin was originally booked for the match but has since been Suspended,
and the company reportedly also plans on adding a match for the Impact Tag
Titles, which’ll see the North facing Sami Callihan and Ken Shamrock.
Slammiversary 2020 is clearly not the show the company had planned just a few
weeks ago, but with all released WWE Superstars out of their non-compete clause
by the day of the show, Slammiversary could have some huge surprises.
Speaking of returns to Impact, the company has been teasing several big names
who were released and this continued this week.
On the show, Scott D’Amore said he was speaking on the phone to what he
described as a couple of Good Brothers, a nickname for Luke Gallows and Karl
Anderson who have reportedly already signed with the company, though that
hasn’t been confirmed by Impact, or the former RAW Tag Team Champions
That wasn’t the only tease, as earlier in the night, footage was shown of Eric
Young’s TNA Championship win over Magnus, and by the end of the night, fans
say the classic ‘Super Eric’ costume, hinting that he too will be returning at
Slammiversary.
Whilst it seems that EY could return under the Super Eric gimmick, older fans will
remember him being in Team Canada, alongside Scott D’Amore.
These teases come after EC3’s music was recently played on a past episode, and
we’ll just have to wait until July 18th to see who does show up to Slammiversary.
We’re sticking with Impact wrestling next, as another former WWE Superstar has
teased joining the company this month.
Fans will recall that Heath Slater was released from WWE after over a decade on
April 15th, this week, the one-man Southern Rock Band posted a video of himself,
training on an exercise bike.
The most interesting part of the short video is the message “July 18th, Coming
Soon”, which just so happens to be the date of Impact’s Slammiversary Pay Per
View, as well as mere days after his non-compete contract expires with WWE.
Slater’s former tag team partner Rhyno has also gotten involved in this, as he said
on Impact that his future tag partner in the company has got kids, a reference to
Slater’s catchphrase in WWE.
Impact themselves have been teasing plenty of WWE stars for their Pay Per View,
as a recent advert for Slammiversary hinted at EC3, Eric Young, Kurt Angle and
many other recent releases.
Time will tell whether the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champion will join
Rhyno in Impact, but Slater certainly looks to be in phenomenal shape, despite his
recent release.
Back to WWE now, and after it was reported that Velveteen Dream was in a car
accident, more details have emerged on what happened.
According to Wrestling Inc, the former NXT North American Champion failed to
stop at a red light and hit another car around 4PM Eastern on Friday, and Dream
was hospitalised, but later released.
The driver of the other vehicle also sustained some injuries, but it’s not currently
known just how bad they were.
2020 hasn’t been a great year for Dream, who faced claims of sending explicit
photos to minors earlier this year, and given that he’s not been on TV since the
recent movement to remove predatory individuals from wrestling, it’ll be
interesting to see what kind of future the 24-year-old has in WWE.
Back to Impact now, as the company is being sued by its own founder/WWE Hall
of Famer, Jeff Jarrett.
This lawsuit is over claims that Impact owes Double J money, and now the two
parties have met in the courtroom in Nashville.
Whilst this lawsuit is about Impact Wrestling, it’s actually targeted at Anthem,
Impact’s parent company.
Jarrett has complained about Anthem using 16 one-hour episodes of Global Force
Wrestling that he produced, and that the master tapes that Jarrett is after have
already been deleted by the company.
In the past, Jarrett has claimed that each hour of lost GFW Programming is worth
$300,000 each, meaning that Anthem deleted supposedly $4.8 million worth in content.
This is a big figure for Jarrett to claim his show was worth, but it’s worth taking
with a grain of salt, as WWE didn’t pay close to that for the entirety of WCW and
it’s video library.
Due to legal restrictions, we can’t reveal much more about the case, but it’s been
reported that jurors were selected on Monday, in a process that took three hours
to complete.
The trial is expected to last around a week, and it’ll be interesting to see how the
former WCW World Heavyweight Champion works in the courtroom.
And finally today we’ve got an update from Renee Young, as she recently teased a
big fat announcement on Twitter.
Now, Young has given an update to what her announcement will be, as she took
to social media to say she’s sent a very important email, and seemed very happy to do so.
Young’s announcement is set to be made today, and whilst we don’t know what
the beloved Canadian has to say, Young has already denied that she’s pregnant, so
fans shouldn’t expect a Mini-Moxley, at least not yet.