Here is your news for May 9 2020
We’re kicking off today with news from WWE’s corporate side, as Stephanie
McMahon has sold over $1million in company stock.
According to an SEC filing, Stephanie sold over 23,000 shares valued at $44.29
each, totally $1,029,963.95.
That leaves her with close to 145,000 shares left, and this transaction comes
shortly after her husband Triple H, and Kevin Dunn both sold over a million dollars
in shares.
Though people buy and sell stock all the time, the timing of this is especially
interesting, given the ongoing global situation.
Now, if you’ve been a wrestling fan long enough, you’ll know that there are some
folks who don’t get wrestling, and will mock you for liking it.
This week, quote-unquote ‘comedians’, Tom Segura and Christina P shared their
two cents on wrestling, as Segura used an ableist term that targets the mentally
*********. He said:
I think wrestling is for f**king r*tards but so many people like it. It is the f**king
stupidest sh*t and I think you're a f**king tool if you're like, 'hey man, it's not fake
it's f**king fake and you're a f**king idiot. It's pathetic. It's pathetic. You're a pathetic person.”
Responding, Christina went on to say she had fun at a WWE event a date once
made her attend, though Tom wasn’t finished, saying:
“[The Special Olympics are fun to go to also] but it's not real, it's not a real
competition… that's how the ads for wrestling should be. It should be like WWE.
This is for diminished capacity. That should be their tag for the f**king wrestling.”
Unsurprisingly, these comments didn’t go over well in the wrestling community, as
Dolph Ziggler, who has worked with the Special Olympics as part of WWE, said
that he was a fan of the pair, but also proud to be a wrestler.
Both Abyss and Baron Corbin both called out the Comedians for their comments,
whilst independent star Gregory Iron rightly called out the pair for taking shots at
people with developmental disabilities.
On Twitter, Segura is now saying that that he loves wrestling, and given that he’s
worked on movies for the past decade, we wonder if he’s aware that they’re not real either.
We’re looking at VICE’s Dark Side of the Ring next, as the next episode will focus
on the life and tragic death of Owen Hart.
The Rocket, who died due to an accident during the Over the Edge 1999 pay per
view, will be the focus of the episode set to air on May 19th, and the episode will
also include never before seen footage.
On Twitter, the Owen Hart Foundation, which is founded by Owen’s widow
Martha, said that the episode will feature footage from the Canadian’s final days,
that fans have never seen before.
The tweet also noted that Vice has the full support of Dr Hart and the Owen Hart
Foundation, which is much different to Martha’s relationship with WWE.
The episode will also feature interviews with Martha in Calgary, as well as their
son Oje, and his daughter Athena.
Over 20 years after his tragic passing, Owen continues to be one of the most
praised wrestlers ever, and now fans will get to enjoy a never-before-seen look at
the self-proclaimed King of Harts.
Back to the ring now and this week’s NXT Injury report has noted that Leon Ruff
suffered a neck sprain during his match with the debuting Karrion Kross, that may
keep him out of action.
Ruff wasn’t the only one feeling sore though, as Io Shirai is reported to have
suffered a back contusion thanks to a kendo stick shot by Charlotte Flair, whilst
Jake Atlas suffered a strained forearm in his interim Cruiserweight title
tournament where he lost to KUSHIDA.
We’re going back in time to WrestleMania 36 now, and although the Firefly Fun
House match was praised by fans, it was originally supposed to be much different.
Whilst the scheduled match was always John Cena vs Bray Wyatt, the match
wasn’t supposed to be the cinematic event fans got to experience, and according
to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Code Orange, the band behind Bray Wyatt’s
music, was set to perform.
Of course, those plans were changed, and Code Orange wasn’t the only musical
act to be snubbed, as Bowling for Soup were meant to peform their song titled
‘Alexa Bliss’, for the entrance of Bliss and Nikki Cross, who won the Women’s Tag
Titles from the Kabuki Warriors.
With guidelines limiting how many people can gather in one place, it’s not
surprising why these musical acts were canned, and perhaps the Fiend or the
Goddess will get a live performance when things get back to normal.
Speaking of WrestleMania, one man who impressed at this year’s show was the
Undertaker, who returned to bury AJ Styles in the Boneyard match.
With a new documentary series coming, the Deadman recently sat down with
ESPN, and spoke about his WrestleMania match from three years earlier, where
he lost to Roman Reigns.
Being handed his second Mania defeat ever by the Big Dog, the Phenom was very
honest about not liking the match, as he said:
That was one of those times it was tough having the cameras there. That was the
first time that I watched that match back. I was so disgusted with it that I didn’t
want to watch it back.”
Undertaker went on to say that during catering before RAW the next night,
wrestlers would watch replays of their Mania 33 matches, but he couldn’t bare to
watch it with other people.
The Deadman also spoke about how he knows that he isn’t competing at the same
speed he was once at, but added that even after Brock Lesnar broke the streak,
the Reigns match was still a huge deal. He said:
“It was important for his career. Especially because he was going over. For me, in
that role, I wanted to do the very best that I could do for Roman. I think the world
of him. You want to be able to do the best you can for him, and you know you have
no business being in the ring.”
In the interview, The legend admitted that he could have just played it safe, but
said that wouldn’t have been fair to Reigns, but also said that no matter how hard
he tried, the match still wasn’t great. He added:
“You could just tell from the expression on my face that I wasn’t really pleased with it.”
Fortunately, this year’s match was much better, with many considering it the best
Undertaker match in years, but given that Reigns is absent from Television, and
the Undertaker is a part-time performer, who knows when either man will be back in the ring?
From WrestleMania to Summerslam now, as it looks like WWE will have to make
some major changes to this August’s SummerSlam Pay Per View.
This week, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced that the city is planning a quote
“healthy re-opening” when it’s safe, but added that all parades and festivals in
Boston won’t take place until after September 7th.
Though Walsh added that Beantown would consider smaller events on a case-by-
case basis, he warned that promoters should look for alternatives if their events
bring in large crowds, like WWE.
As of right now, Summerslam is still scheduled to take place at the TD Garden in
Boston on August 23rd, but it looks likely that they’ll have to move.
The biggest party of the Summer wouldn’t be the only WWE event, as the
schedule also includes NXT TakeOver: Boston on August 22nd, and the post-
Summerslam RAW on the 24th.
Though WWE could move Summerslam to the Performance Centre like they did
with WrestleMania, it’s obvious that they’d rather have a crowd, but unless they
can find another host city or the ongoing global situation improves, WWE may not have a choice.
We’ve got more Pay Per View news next, as fans will remember the much-botched
Super Showdown match between The Undertaker and Goldberg last year and one
person who especially didn’t like it was Michelle McCool.
Speaking to the New York Post, McCool said she was scared for her husband, and
didn’t know if the Deadman was going to be okay, saying:
“That was really scary for me. Obviously knowing the business, as soon as I saw
that I texted our doctors. I was like, ‘Is he OK?’ Because it looked bad. You’re
centimeters away from doing some real damage. So I knew it was bad.”
McCool went on to talk about how after most matches, the Deadman will respond
with an “I’m good babe” that wasn’t the case after the Goldberg match, as he told
her “my back is jacked up, my neck is jacked up.” She added:
“I was like for him to put that into words and verbally tell me truly how
he’s feeling, it was just I couldn’t imagine the pain. So that was scary,
knowing now he’s got to fly so many hours across the world and he had an
appearance the next morning when he landed in the States in Boston or
somewhere that he’s not gonna say no to.”
McCool added that it was only when he watched the match and the documentary,
did the Phenom see how close he came to serious damage.
The Deadman went through a lot in that short match with Goldberg, and hopefully
the former Women’s Champion won’t have to watch another one of her
husband’s matches in fear.
From one former World Champion to another now, as WWE haven’t mentioned
Roman Reigns since he stopped wrestling due to the ongoing global situation, but
the Big Dog can’t wait to return.
Whilst speaking to TMZ, Reigns said that his doctors told him that his immune
system is fine, but he doesn’t want to risk catching anything, for his children’s sake. He said:
“We just had twin boys, they’re eight weeks old, so I did it for them.”
Reigns added that he misses competing, and that led him to hurry back to WWE
during his bout with leukemia, but this time, it’s all about his family.
The former Universal Champion added that he finds it strange watching WWE
shows without a crowd, and said that whilst he hopes he can return to his yard
soon, he doesn’t know when that’ll be.
Though he said it’ll hopefully be soon, Roman said that right now he is in dad
mode, as he feels he has an obligation to set an example to his family and community.
It’s clear that Reigns wants to be competing right now, but with his own health,
and the health of his children, the Big Dog has plenty of reasons to take a break
from the ring.
Speaking of the ongoing global situation, WWE hasn’t had fans at their shows
since the March 13th Smack Down, though there is hope that crowds could be
coming back very soon.
Recently, the NFL started selling tickets for games in August and September, which
is interesting as there is no firm date on when shows like these will re-open.
During Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alverez said that WWE is monitoring the
NFL closely, saying:
““WWE is closely monitoring the NFL because the NFL has apparently put
some tickets on sale, but the NFL made it clear that tickets may be cancelled. It’s very interesting.”
We’ll have to see what WWE’s plans are, as the state of Florida have said that if
the ongoing situation levels out, events could have 25% capacity, and in the
Performance Center, that’d bring 50-75 fans, and some much needed crowd
noise, back to WWE TV.
We’ve got more news from the Undertaker next, as though he is a true legend, he
may not be able to end his career how he wants to.
Speaking to ESPN about his Last Ride docuseries, the Deadman said he knows he
doesn’t have many matches left, and addressed his final match, saying:
It just may not happen the way you want it to. I think that’s part of the
intrigue of this. Do I have the opportunity to have that match? Are my
skills still at a level that will allow me to have that match? That’s me being
as open and honest as I can be right there. I’ve got some pretty good
matches that I have to grade things against
Time will tell what kind of match the Deadman will have in his last outing
in the ring, and hopefully the legendary Phenom will have a send-off
worthy of his incredible career.