Here is your news for May 17th 2020 WWE Star Breaks Silence About Their Firing WWE Released A New Smackdown Live Wrestler WWE News! 2 00:00:16,366 --> 00:00:19,002 and headlines for today include
Former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Released By WWE
Reason Behind Former WWE Star’s Release Revealed
Rules Defined For WWE’s ‘ Brand to Brand Invitations’
Indie Wrestling Returns Today With First Public Event
Roman Reigns Making a LOT of Money outside of WWE!
WWE is in no RUSH to call Roman Reigns and MORE!
We’re focussing on the recent release of Rachel Ellering as more details have
emerged on the departure of the former NXT Superstar.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Ellering was having issues with
the company’s medical team, after having medical procedures a few months back.
At the time, Ellering was doing rehab after reconstructive knee surgery and this
came after the second- generation Superstar suffered a torn ACL in July 2019,
which kept her on the shelf until her release last month.
It was also noted that Ellering’s complaints about the medical team and some of
the procedures was not received well, and that she was given two undisclosed
options a few weeks back, both of which would end with her getting released.
This is certainly an interesting ultimatum allegedly made by the company, as
whilst there was a time when Ellering was seemingly interested in leaving WWE on
her own, it seems the company made the decision for her.
We have some MORE NEWS on WWE Releases today as it’s has been confirmed
that Drew Gulak is no longer with WWE.
We’ve earlier that Gulak’s profile was moved from the active roster page on
WWE.com and to the Alumni section, which usually indicates that a wrestler was let go.
This comes just one day after WWE aired the excellent match he had with Daniel
Bryan on SmackDown. The match was widely praised on social media and Daniel
Bryan took time on Twitter to thank Gulak after the match.
However, it doesn’t look like Gulak’s exit is part of the recent budget cuts that
were made last month. Instead, Gulak’s contract expired and both sides were not
able to come to terms.
Gulak was signed by WWE after wrestling in the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic.
The 33-year old spent most of his time on 205 Live and while many people praised
his work, it was only in the last few months that he got to show how great he is on
a national stage when he was featured in a storyline with Daniel Bryan.
Gulak will become a free agent and it would be hard to imagine that a company
like All Elite Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring Of Honor and others
wouldn’t be interested in signing him.
We’ve got news from D-Von Dudley, as the former Tag Team Champion has
officially retired from wrestling.
Speaking to Mo Lightning on the Table Talk podcast, D-von spoke about his time as
a WWE producer, and confirmed the end of his career, saying:
“I’m extremely happy now being a producer and not wrestling. I have officially
announced that I’ve hung it up and I’m done, you know, except for different
appearances that they may want me to do on the show, but no more wrestling. No
more fighting for the titles. None of that anymore. I’m done. I’m officially done.”
D-Von, who is one of a handful of stars to be inducted into both the WWE and
Impact Wrestling Halls of fame, also said he was happy with his career, claiming
he’s pleased that when fans talk about the greatest tag teams, the Dudley’s are a contender.
As former WWE, ECW, ROH, TNA, WCW, and IWGP Tag Team Champions, it’s hard
to argue with the idea of D-Von and Bubba being one of, if not the greatest tag
team ever, and it’s clear that D-Von has more than earned his retirement from the ring
We have some NEWS on the Big DOG next !
He showed up to wrestle Goldberg at WrestleMania 36, but he didn’t work the
event. He hasn’t been mentioned on WWE television since, but there’s apparently
no rush for him to return.
Fightful Select reports that Roman Reigns isn’t in any rush to make a return and
nobody in WWE blames him. It’s currently not known when he might return either.
Fightful spoke to a source high up in WWE who told us that Roman Reigns “does
not seem in any rush to return, and nobody here faults him for it.” The person
would note that right now no indication if or when a return could happen has been
given, saying he could head back in two weeks, two months, or be out indefinitely.
Reigns is not figured into plans creatively at this point.”
Reigns is well off financially and In fact, one project he is currently involved with
keeps sending him loads of money every day.
It was also stated to Fightful that “Roman is going to make over a thousand dollars
on Cameo every day, so even if they stopped paying him, it wouldn’t matter.” He
does do a lot of Cameo videos for fans at $350 a pop.
Roman Reigns doesn’t seem to be in any rush to make it back to WWE. The
company is currently carrying on without him as well. Hopefully, the ******* will
level off and allow for him to return to work very soon.
Up next is we have some news on WWE making some rules for ‘Brand-to-Brand Invitations’
Now, When Drew McIntyre introduced the idea of “Brand-to-Brand Invitations” on
Raw this past Monday the concept was largely indefinite
Last night on SmackDown, Michael Cole defined it. At least in a couple ways. He said
Superstars can only appear on the opposite brand four times per year.
The rule only applies to Raw & SmackDown. NXT is not included.
There are so many unanswered questions from the rules , to begin with?
When does the year start? Was it on Monday, when the rule was announced?
Or is from Jan. 1, 2020 until Dec 31, 2020 ?
Or is it from WrestleMania-to- WrestleMania? And would it reset if there’s another
Draft/Shakeup this fall?
Charlotte Flair is a member of the Raw roster who is an NXT champion. She was
appearing on both those shows before the invitation system was introduced. Do
her SmackDown appearances last night and next Friday count against her four? Or
will her counter reset whenever she drops the black-and-gold brand’s belt?
Raw’s AJ Styles is working the Intercontinental title tournament. Does that count
as one appearance, regardless of how far he advances? What if he wins?
Of course, the answer to all those questions is “whatever WWE decides to do”.
They’ll bend or break their new rule when they feel they need to, just like the Wild
Card its supposed to be a simplified version of.
Back to the ring now, and if you’ve noticed that Superstars like Robert Roode and
the Singh brothers haven’t been On Tv lately, there’s a reason why.
Due to the ongoing global situation Superstars who live north of the border in
Canada have been unable to come down to Florida to wrestle, though one notable
exception is Brock Lesnar.
Despite the Beast living in Canada, Lesnar has been able to appear on WWE TV,
including losing the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36,
and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter said that the company was able to pull
some strings to allow him to compete at the show.
AEW has also been hit by these border restrictions, as both Stu Grayson and Evil
Uno of the Dark Order haven’t been able to get from Canada to the U.S., and their
absences were addressed this week on Dynamite, as they remain the number-one
contenders for the AEW World Tag Team titles.
There’s currently no word on when wrestlers who are based in Canada will be able
to get back to the U.S. and hopefully this situation will be sorted out sooner rather than later.
We’ve got some huge news from the independent wrestling scene next, as whilst
the larger televised companies have been able to create content, the indie scene
has completely halted due to the ongoing situation.
Yesterday though, wrestling fans caught the start of the return of indie wrestling,
as Tennesse All-Pro Wrestling ran an event in Morrison, though had to receive
special permission from the U.S. government to do so.
In order to protect both the wrestlers and fans, there were limited seats available,
and masks were worn during the show, with HS available at the door
for anyone who wanted to use it.
Hopefully, this will be the start of the return of the independent wrestling scene,
as we all know that someone had to go first, and on this occasion, Tennesee All-
Pro Wrestling beat everyone else to it.
Back to WWE now, and after Asuka celebrated with Becky Lynch after The Man
announced her pregnancy to the world, fans have been wondering what this
means for the Kabuki Warriors.
Despite turning heel in late 2019, Asuka’s reaction was certainly more akin to a
babyface, and it seems like she isn’t the only star to mend their evil ways.
According to Paul Davis of WrestlingNews.co, Kairi Sane is also a face now, as she
was seen celebrating with Becky and other face stars shortly after the former RAW
Women’s Champions huge announcement. His WWE source said:
““Yeah, Kairi is a face now until Vince changes his mind.”
The source also stated that Asuka and Sane turning face wasn’t in the plans, but it
was necessary, as the red brand requires a face Women’s Champion to face
Shayna Bazler and Nia Jax in the coming months.
When asked about Asuka not knowing what Lynch was going to reveal until the
pair shared the ring, the WWE source said that the Empress was fine capturing the
RAW Women’s title this way, saying:
“She was really happy back stage. That belt means a lot to her.”
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how Asuka fares as the new RAW Women’s
Champion, but at least now we know that her Kabuki Warriors partner will still be
at her side.
Now, we previously reported about the issues between Lio Rush and Mark Henry,
and now the World’s Strongest Man has revealed more behind- the-scenes details
about their beef.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Henry certainly started confident, describing
himself as wrestling royalty, and added that his name is very highly spoken of,
which to be fair, it is.
Saying that there’s a reason he’s been around for 24 years and never been fired,
the former World Heavyweight Champion then spoke about a secret group of
African American wrestlers, in response to Rush’s claim that Henry has pulled
Black wrestlers down. Henry said
“I have founded a group called The Delegation. It is all of the elite African
American wrestlers around the world. The conversation last night was about you,
Lio. They were like, ‘do you want us to come for him?’ What did I say? ‘No, don’t
come for him.'”
It certainly sounds like Henry could’ve made Rush’s life more difficult if he hadn’t
called off his Delegation, and advised the Man of the hour to drop the attitude,
saying their issues aren’t about race, it’s about being a man.
Henry concluded his comments about Rush by describing himself as
“untouchable” and arrogant to an extent, as we don’t think these comments will
go down well with the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion.