Source: F4WOnline
It was reported earlier that Kurt Angle announced during last night’s TNA Impact Wrestling tapings that he has a tumor in his neck and will be taking time off to have surgery soon.
F4Wonline.com reports that Angle will be having surgery to remove the tumor but it’s not a major operation and he’s expected to be able to wrestle in around three weeks. It’s possible that Angle will be ready to perform at the Impact tapings in late July.
Source: The Boston Herald
As noted earlier, Dolph Ziggler performed standup in Boston this weekend. The Boston Herald spoke to Ziggler about the show, and asked him about why he re-signed with WWE.
“I mean, it feels like I started here, I should end my career in the WWE,” he said. “I feel like they like having me around and I love working here, so it would be really hard to walk away.”
Ziggler also discusse
As noted, F4WOnline reported earlier today that the contracts for Taryn Terrell and Awesome Kong expired this weekend, and that tonight’s Slammiversary pay-per-view “is expected to be their last show.”
TNA Executive Bob Ryder blasted the report on Twitter, writing:
Terrell and Kong also denied the report:
Neither of their contracts are up for several months. Amazed you would report something so totally wrong.
— Bob Ryder (@brydertna) June 28, 2015
Terrell and Kong also denied the report:
Stop making up rumors Internet! I just started playing!! I’m not going ANYWHERE!! #thedollhouse
— Taryn Terrell (@TheTarynTerrell) June 28, 2015
Contrary to rumors, @IMPACTWRESTLING and I will ring in the new year together & I’ll ‘deck the halls’ of anyone who says otherwise #staying
— Awesome Kong (@MeanQueenK) June 28, 2015
– UFC fighter Yoel Romero caused quite a stir last night at UFC Fight Night 70 as he seemed to cut an anti-gay marriage promo after his TKO win over Lyoto Machida, which you can watch above. Due to his thick Cuban accent and poor English, many were confused at what he said, with some thinking he said “forget Jesus” while most others thinking he said “gay Jesus.”
“What happened to you, USA?,” Romero said in the interview. “What happened to you? What’s going on? You forget the best of the best of the world, the name of Jesus Christ! What happened to you? Wake up, USA! Go, go back where you gone. Go for Jesus! No [forget Jesus or gay Jesus] people!”
Romero himself tried to clarify his words at the post-fight press conference.
“I would like to apologize if there was a misunderstanding, First of all, I am a man of God. And God is love. My expressions are always going to be about love. What I was trying to say in the Octagon was, live for the American Dream. God made man to be free. Anybody can do whatever they want. I wouldn’t be the type of person to critique anybody. I have to look at myself first, and be a better person, to love people. What I was trying to say was, to the United States, thank you, for giving me the American Dream.”
Former WWE Champion CM Punk weighed in on the speech as well, posting the following:
Can’t recall any instances in the bible of Jesus having sex of any kind. So maybe he is gay? #gayjesus @RyanLoco
— Coach (@CMPunk) June 28, 2015
I may in fact, be gay Jesus. pic.twitter.com/56OdOw4kAc
— Coach (@CMPunk) June 28, 2015
There WAS that time @WWEDanielBryan wore a bunch of jelly bracelets on TV. pic.twitter.com/p3mA70xT8B
— Coach (@CMPunk) June 28, 2015
A moment to praise freedom of speech. We all have things we believe. We can all say them publicly, everyone has the right to make fun of us.
— Coach (@CMPunk) June 28, 2015
– Speaking of last night’s UFC Fight Night 70, Romero earned an extra $50,000 for a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his TKO win over Lyoto Machida. Thiago Santos’ headkick earned the other performance bonus, while Lorenz Larkin vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio won “Fight of the Night” honors.
Credit: Sean Ross Sapp
UFC Fight Night 70 was never going to be a huge draw or attention grabber. By the end of the night, it was an attention grabber, for better or for worse.
#6 Middleweight Yoel Romero upset #4 Lyoto Machida after a slow first round. Machida was as Machida is, keeping out of Romero’s range, sticking and running with a bevy of kicks. By the end of Round 1, it appeared as if Romero had started to time Machida’s movements, and it paid off dividends for the middleweight contender.
In round 2, Romero began landing heavy shots and appeared to win the round. In the third, Romero scored a takedown, in what has proven to be a weak area for Machida of late. A few big strikes later, Romero walked out with a TKO victory, and will probably make a big leap to #3 in the Middleweight rankings on Monday. Following the fight, Romero went on an anti-same sex marriage rant in broken English, something that will certainly draw the ire of UFC brass.
Lorenz Larkin was another big winner on the show, as he improved to 2-0 at welterweight, after dropping 4 of 5 fights at middleweight. Thiago Santos also scored a major knockout of the year candidate win, with a monster head kick knockout over former hockey enforcer Steve Bosse. You can check out full results of UFC Fight Night 70 below.
Main Card
Yoel Romero (#6) def. Lyoto Machida (#4) via knockout (elbows) – Round 3, 1:38
Lorenz Larkin def. Santiago Ponzinibbio via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:07
Antonio Carlos Junior def. Eddie Gordon via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 4:37
Thiago “Marreta” Santos def. Steve Bosse via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 0:29
Hacran Dias def. Levan Makashvili via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Prelim Card
Alex Oliveira def. Joe Merritt via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Leandro Silva def. Lewis Gonzalez via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Tony Sims def. Steve Montgomery via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:43
Sirwan Kakai def. Danny Martinez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
The Rock made a surprise appearance at tonight’s WWE live event in Boston. Rock is in town to film Central Intelligence with Kevin Hart. The Rock came out and cut a promo before having words with Bo Dallas. According to our correspondent in attendance, Rock ended up making Bo run a “victory lap” around the ring and made him come back in for a Rock Bottom. Rock was said to be over huge and his entrance blew the roof off the arena.
WWE’s Facebook page has posted the full, 18 minute video of The Rock’s surprise WWE return from Saturday night in Boston. The WWE legend appeared and confronted Bo Dallas, who had been running down Boston, and the fans at the TD Garden. You can see the full video below.
Source: PWInsider
Regarding James Storm and Magnus leaving TNA, PWInsider reports that both men went to TNA officials and requested their releases due to the fact that TNA is barely running events these days and talents are making a lot less money. Both Storm and Magnus have work waiting for them elsewhere and both wanted to be able to make more money for obvious reasons.
TNA officials understood the situation and let both out of their deals. TNA’s plan is to have both wrestlers come back in the future and work TV events. TNA realizes that WWE can sign either man if they want but officials decided to take that risk due to the respect they have for the talents.
On a related note, PWInsider adds that TNA is very open to working with Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling going forward. TNA is more of a TV promotion these days and are adjusting how they do business to fit the model that they use now. It’s expected that more talent situations like these will be happening this year. TNA will likely keep some top talents locked in but they don’t have the revenue they once had to be in a position to guarantee contracts.
There’s been a lot of speculation about Austin Aries leaving TNA as his contract reportedly expires with Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view and now we know he is on his way out.
At tonight’s Impact Wrestling tapings in Orlando, Aries wrestled his final match with the company, at least for now, against Rockstar Spud and lost. The stipulation was that if Aries won, he got to take the “Rockstar” from Spud’s name but if Spud won, Aries had to leave TNA.
The match was said to be very exciting and should air on the July 29th or August 5th episode.
According to PWInsider, WWE superstar Dolph Ziggler has opted to re-sign with the WWE. This comes after weeks of speculation regarding his contract status, and rumors that he may leave when it expires. Ziggler has vocally expressed his frustration in the past over his position in the company.
The two-time former World Heavyweight champion has been paired with Lana for the past month, working a program with the injured Rusev. Ziggler was also one of the primary characters on WWE’s new show, Swerved, which premiered this week on the WWE Network. In addition to this, Dolph Ziggler has been heavily featured in the new ads promoting WWE’s relationship with Tapout, which is set to kick off next year.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted this week that New Japan Pro Wrestling, TNA Wrestling, as well as numerous other promotions would likely be interested in his services, and he could probably make between $350,000-400,000 per year working a reduced schedule.
Dolph Ziggler actually joked about retiring during a stand-up comedy set at The Laugh Factory this week. The Observer also noted that many close to Ziggler said he was considering life without WWE recently, as well.
We’ll provide more details as they become available.
