According to PWInsider, NXT Champion Sasha Banks, as well as NXT diva Charlotte are both backstage at Raw from Atlanta. The two have both been rumored to debut for on the main roster soon.
Dolph Ziggler, who’s had conflicting news regarding his contract status over the past month, is not backstage at Raw. He was injured “indefinitely” during a story line last week with Rusev.
As noted earlier, Tyson Kidd noted on Twitter that only 5% of people survive the type of injury that he suffered in his match with Samoa Joe in early June. Kidd required 16 staples, 4 screws and a rod to be inserted.
Dave Meltzer noted on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that while only 5% of people survive that injury, the vast majority of those who do survive end up as quadriplegics. Meltzer said that the odds that he is not in a wheelchair “are astronomical,” and his injury – while it may not be exactly the same – is similar to Christopher Reeve, who became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse in 1995.
“It is unbelievable that Tyson Kidd came through as well as he did,” Meltzer stated.
You can listen to the full episode at F4WOnline.com (subscription required) by clicking here.
What good is a recovery if I fumble it?-@Eminem
Got my bandages off, long road to recovery begins
— TJ Wilson (@KiddWWE) June 30, 2015
Roddy Piper addressed his recent issues with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin on his latest podcast that dropped today, which you can check out at iTunes. As noted, Piper recently suggested that “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was upset with a recent episode of his podcast and caused it to be pulled.
After WrestleMania in April, Piper had comedian Will Sasso on his podcast, who impersonated Austin. Piper’s podcast returned last week after a month long hiatus, albeit not on Podcast One. Piper stated that the Sasso podcast was pulled after six hours, and claimed to have been threatened to be fired by Podcast One.
On his podcast today, Piper talked about having Will Sasso on the show on April 3rd, and said that Sasso was doing great impersonations of Austin, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Piper asked Sasso to do the Austin impersonation when “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan called in and have him rip into him. While impersonating Austin on the podcast, Sasso and Piper joked about Austin’s heat with Vince McMahon, as well as Austin having one friend [his dog, Hershey], Austin quitting WWE a lot and more. Piper also joked that Austin “based his whole career on three damn words.” (“What?” and “Hell Yeah!”).
“There was a lot of love in it [the podcast], but I guess not for you,” Piper said while addressing Austin. “That’s my mistake then. Come Monday, when the episode aired, the company had taken down not only the podcast, but all of my podcasts and took me off the air because Steve, you were upset and you went and talked to them. OK, got it.”
On Austin’s podcast last week, Austin admitted that he didn’t like the Sasso episode, noting that it “had some business of a personal nature that I didn’t care to have floating around there being downloaded in cyberspace, so I had it removed from rotation.” He said that following that podcast they both went on to continue podcasting and that rumors of him getting Piper fired “couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
Piper said that he talked to the head of Podcast One, who told Piper that his podcasts were taken down and that Piper couldn’t talk about Austin. He also said that he was going to fire him, but changed his mind. Piper said that after thinking about it, he felt like he was being censored and couldn’t work under those conditions. Piper continued to record some shows until he found a new home, noting that he needed the fan base to stay because “regular is what makes these things work.” He said that there was a three week period where there were no new shows.
“I needed the audience to find me, so I put up the one [the Sasso episode] that you took down,” Piper stated.
“I didn’t mean to offend you in any way, and I still don’t see it,” Piper said to Austin. “However, I don’t need to. If you got offended by it, then I am sorry for whatever… I didn’t get it I guess, so I got out. It’s that simple. So for you, I’ve got all the respect in the world for what you’ve done. I hope you do all the things that you want to, and Hershey the Wonder Dog [laughs]. I don’t want to deal with it anymore. So I’m done with it, I didn’t lie about anything, and my heart’s in the right place in my life, and I’ve got my family on my side.”
Piper finished his comments by saying that he was “done with it,” and wouldn’t be speaking about the situation anymore.
Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling has announced four divisions going into their July 24th TV tapings in Las Vegas. They issued the following:
Global Force Wrestling unveils name of TV show, divisions
NASHVILLE – Global Force Wrestling’s TV tapings on July 24 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas will carry the name “Amped.”
“Amped will be the show that unites promotions and showcases the very best men and women professional wrestlers on the planet,” GFW founder and CEO Jeff Jarrett said.
GFW also is excited to announce four unique divisions: GFW Global Championship, GFW Tag Team Championship, GFW Women’s Championship and GFW NEX*GEN Championship. These titles will be up for grabs in four separate tournaments that kick off on July 24 at the Orleans Arena.
“There is no doubt in my mind that I will be the first GFW Global Champion, and I will raise that title in Las Vegas,” former TNA Heavyweight champion Bobby Roode said.
When asked about the NEX*GEN division, Jarrett stated, “It’s about the up-and-comers, the fearless new faces in this industry from around the globe. You will be talking about these guys for years to come.”
GFW co-founder Karen Jarrett is excited about the women’s division.
“We want to unite women’s divisions around the globe and give the fans never-before-seen matchups with the best female wrestlers in the industry,” she said.
More Global Force Wrestling “Amped” tapings are set for the Orleans, on Aug. 21 and Oct. 23.
Tonight’s WWE RAW takes place from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia with the final hype for Battleground and more. Superstars advertised for tonight include Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Big Show and Bray Wyatt.
No matches have been announced for tonight but advertised locally is Cena, Reigns and Ambrose vs. Rollins, Rusev and Big Show. WWE is focusing on the following points for tonight:
* Does Lesnar want more destruction?
* Is Roman Reigns more afraid of Bray Wyatt than he’s willing to admit?
* How will Sheamus respond to The Viper?
* Can anyone stop Team Bella?
* Is Owens rethinking his Cena strategy?
And a reminder, out own BJack returns from vacation this week to do the live coverage of tonight’s Raw so hceck back tonight for all the latest on WWE Raw!
Global Force Wrestling star PJ Black/Justin Gabriel spoke with Cult of Whatever recently about his WWE career, and several other topics. You can check out the highlights below, or the full interview at this link.
Why he quit WWE:
“I see myself as more of an artist, I don’t really care about how much money I make, for me it’s more about the art of professional wrestling. There are a lot of guys that will just hang around because Vince will give everyone a shot and some guys will just hang around thinking that tomorrow will be their shot and then the next thing you know three years have gone by. One year went by and I realized it wasn’t going to happen and I couldn’t wait any longer and that is the reason I quit. There are guys there that will just hang around waiting for their shots, who knows if it’s going to happen, it’s all a timing thing.”
Being the Bunny:
“I wasn’t too keen at the beginning but I wasn’t doing anything so I thought oh cool it could be fun. The first few times I went out there it was fine and I was taking bumps in the suit, then it stopped becoming fun and they wanted a bunny reveal.
“I had so many ideas for this and they had a lot of ideas as well, but none of their ideas made much sense. My ideas were cooler and funnier and everyone liked it but they just never went in that direction.”
If he’d return to WWE:
“Quite possibly, in two or three years who knows, I don’t plan that far ahead. Vince actually called me and said he knew I wanted to do my own thing and have more wrestling time so he told me go away for two or three years and go do my thing and possibly comeback. Hunter on the other hand didn’t like the way I did it because I quit over the phone and told me he’s going to make me wait ages before I’m allowed to come back to WWE.”
It is going to be hard to find a tougher lineup then what The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling has on today’s show. First, and in anticipation of his huge fight at UFC 189 vs. Dennis Bermudez we welcome Jeremy Stephens to the podcast. But it doesn’t stop there because we sure find a way to make room for the very out-spoken and one of a kind, “Predator” Don Frye. The Predator goes into great detail to break down his time in professional wrestling and competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling, his matches with and retiring Antonio Inoki, facing Scott Notron, winning the G-1 and trying to get out of the country of Japan alive after Antonio Inokis final match.
Full Episode Download Link:
http://tmptow.podoma…T21_00_00-07_00
Jeremy Stephens on facing Dennis Bermudez at UFC 189:
“The Predator” Don Frye
Don Frye on retiring Antonio Inoki & safely leaving Japan:
Brock Lesnar re-signing with WWE and staying in pro wrestling over MMA:
I think it was a tease. He played everybody just like the media did with the whole Baltimore (Riots) thing. Congratulations, I am glad he chose to stay in the Pro Wrestling world. I think Randy (Couture) got a nice pay-off for his contributions to the UFC and to Lesnar’s winning record. They (Frank Mir and Randy Couture) both got a couple of new houses and new cars out of the situation, all of their bills paid for.
CM Punk and his chances at a successful UFC career:
There is absolutely none. They are going to feed him fish. They are going to hand pick an opponent for him so perfect that it will have all of the authenticity of a reality TV show. I think this shit cheapens the sport. Back when I did it, it was a fight and then it was a sport, now its becoming sports entertainment. This cheapens everything that people who came before him did for twenty years.
Who recruited him and helped him sign with New Japan Pro Wrestling:
Brad Rhengans. They (NJPW) had hired Ken Shamrock or at least were trying to and Ken had gone and signed with WWE so Brad who took 4th in the ’76 Olympics in Montreal (he should have at least a silver) was the recruiter for New Japan and they needed an American guy who was an all-around fighter, wrestler and bad-ass who can think and has some manners and he recommended me. He brought me out to Minnesota to meet Antonio Inoki, Masa Saito, Fujita and Ogawa and we just hit it off. I worked for them for two years on a handshake.
Traveling with Curt Hennig:
Curt was a real good friend of Brad’s, so Curt would pop in and he was just the funniest guy in the world. I don’t know if you saw it but the video of The Life and Times of Mr. Perfect showed everything he did was just awesome. He could hit the ball out of the park, hit a hole in one, if you go to the bar with him he would win at darts hitting bulls-eyes. He was bullet-proof. One time we went over there to Japan and we hooked up in Minneapolis or L.A. and he ended up H bombing me and put a little something in my beer and I don’t remember anything about the flight, getting from the flight to the hotel, don’t remember checking in and I woke up and was wondering how the hell did I wake up here. He got me good and he was the king.
Is training Pro Wrestling harder than MMA?:
It is. You really have to handle these guys with kids gloves. Goddamn, you squeeze them too hard and they scream. They are performers, they aren’t fighters, they are athletes I have to give them that and you can’t blame them for getting mad at you when you hurt them because they have to do this thing 27 times a month and you have to stay healthy. I was real heavy handed so I didn’t make a lot of friends in the pro wrestling business.
Wrestling Tatsumi Fujinami and Antonio Inoki:
That was just a great dance. That guy (Fujinami) is not only a great performer but just a really great guy. He knows what he is doing and is a true professional and it was a privilege to work with him. I only wrestled Inoki once and that was for his retirement. When you have a retirement match in Japan it is supposed to be a long thing, give the people their memory and give the guy a chance give a hell of a performance on his way out and I went in there and a minute and half in I broke three of his ribs. So he called the match and we went three minutes. I took a thirty year career, the biggest wrestler in the Nation of Japan and I ruined the retirement match and made him go three and a half minutes. I’m sure he wished he picked somebody else.
Don Frye also gives his very candid thoughts on his acting career, Scott Norton, Not being a fan of The Great Muta, Ken Shamrock, Kimbo Slice, Rhonda Rousey, his stiffest fights and if he can still compete.
Please Subscribe to The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling on iTunes and via YouTube by searching the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling or visit the OFFICIAL Website of the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling: www.tmptofwrestling.com & www.twitter.com/twomanpowertrip
Source: F4WOnline
– With Paige currently embroiled in a feud with The Bella Twins where none of her fellow Divas appear to want to offer her assistance, this has led to speculation that NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and Charlotte will be promoted to the main roster to come to the aid of the two-time Divas Champion. To add fuel to this rumor, Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio on Sunday that WWE executives recently issued a memo to NXT staff listing talent they have no intention on utilizing for a storyline in the immediate future and Charlotte and Banks were not included.
– As noted, WWE Hall of Famer “Rowdy” Roddy Piper said that he’d respond on his latest podcast to Steve Austin’s recent comments regarding Piper’s departure from Podcast One. The podcast will drop this Monday.
Roddy also Tweeted the following…
“On Monday the facts will be aired. There will be NO doubt! After that, i want Steve and myself to get on with life!”
“I have a ton of respect for Steve and what he’s done! Were Pro Wrestlers! A THICK SKIN BIZ! I don’t know why?”
“Last 2 weeks a lot of ugly BS gong on! Thank all of you for always backing me up! Love you all! I hope Steve and Hershey rock the day too!”
