Rumor Mill - WWE Officials Meet With Impact Officials At WWE HQ

Several high-ranking WWE officials met with Impact Wrestling officials at WWE HQ in Stamford, CT last week, according to PWInsider.

Impact was represented by Scott D'Amore and Ed Nordholm. Vince McMahon was not at the meeting but members of Triple H's team were there. The meeting took place during the middle of last week as Impact officials were returning from UK, headed to Mexico City for TV tapings.

A WWE source described the meeting to PWInsider as a general discussion about the two companies and a chance to get everyone in the same room, not a specific negotiation of any kind. It's no secret that WWE has worked with Impact since Anthem purchased them, paying to license footage on WWE Champion AJ Styles and The Hardys' Broken Universe storyline. An Impact source stressed that the meeting had nothing to do with the sale of Impact as a company or its video library as neither are for sale.

WWE Cleared In Concussion-Related Lawsuit

WWE is a multi-million dollar business and, like other businesses, it is susceptible to being sued by former employees (or contractors in the case of WWE Superstars).

Some of the biggest lawsuits that WWE has faced in recent years are those related to concussions. On Monday WWE finally received resolution of those suits as Judge Vanessa L. Bryant of the United States District Court of Connecticut officially dismissed all concussion-related lawsuits against WWE.

Dozens of former WWE Superstars had sued the company regarding a lack of transparency and protection in regards to their health. These suits specifically brought up concussions, CTE and other head trauma injuries that can suffer from competing in the ring. But Judge Bryant has ruled that WWE is not liable for those head and brain injuries.

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Triple H Says WWE Will Keep Close Watch Over Daniel Bryan's Health

This isn't the first time that Bryant has ruled in favor of WWE regarding a federal concussion lawsuit. In April she cleared WWE from a suit filed by two former Superstars, Vito LoGrasso (aka Big Vito) and Evan Singleton, who never competed on the main roster.

"The evidence does not support a finding that WWE knew of a risk that repeated head injuries incurred while performing as a professional wrestler could cause permanent degenerative neurological conditions," Judge Bryant said in regards to that case.

Source: PWInsider

The Undertaker Talks Nearly Crashing Through Hell In A Cell, Wrestling Mick Foley With An Injury

With this year being the 20th anniversary of The Undertaker and Mankind's (Mick Foley) epic Hell in a Cell match, WWE spoke with those who played a part in that match including: The Undertaker, Mick Foley, Tim White (referee), Sgt. Slaughter, and others. 

"Honestly, I did not expect him to get up from that," Undertaker said. "He hit and finally started moving around, and I was like, 'Man, that's one tough son of a gun right there.'"

Foley commented after seeing Shawn Michaelsand Undertaker's Hell in a Cell match, he knew they had to do something different to make theirs special. Undertaker noted at that time he had a fractured ankle, which hampered what he would be able to do in the ring.

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WWE Confirms 205 Live Change

WWE has confirmed that starting this week 205 Live will be moving to Wednesdays at 7pm ET before NXT and the Mae Young Classic.

Dean Ambrose Reveals That He Nearly Died During His Time Off For Injury

Dean Ambrose was interviewed by The Monitorto promote tonight's WWE live event at the Bert Ogden Arena in in Edinburg, Texas. Below are a couple of highlights:

Returning to WWE, nearly dying after his first surgery earlier this year:

"It's good to get back out in front of people. I had a lot of frustration I needed to really get out that built up over the last eight months. It was a long, long period of time. Much longer than would have been anticipated.

"It was just one nightmare after another. It was a pretty challenging period of time to go through. I ended up having two different surgeries. I had this MRSA, Staph infection. I nearly died. I was in the hospital for a week plugged up to this antibiotic drip thing, and I was on all these antibiotics for months that make you puke and crap your pants.

"So it was a pretty rough time. My arm wasn't healing correctly, and my triceps. It's kind of an indeterminate period where I initially hurt it. I thought it was, we call it Dusty elbows. It's a pretty typical wrestler thing. You just get this bursa sac of fluid on your elbow from banging it on the mat or whatever. I've had that dozens of times on both elbows. It usually just goes away. It was kind of disguised. By the time I finally went and got the first surgery, my triceps was already starting to atrophy and look weird. I wasn't able to flex my triceps for a really long time. And then the first surgery didn't really, something went wrong in the process. Probably due to that infection. It's kind of hard to say when that really even got in my body. This is a long answer to your question. But for a minute there, it was getting scary. By the time I got that second surgery, it was March, I think. My arm was so shrunken and skeletal that it was weird. I hadn't been able to move it or flex it in so long that I was starting to get scared I wasn't ever going to get it back. To go from not being able to eat my Froot Loops, to being able to get back in the ring and throw people around and throw punches and do everything back to normal, it was a very gratifying feeling."

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Steve Austin Comments On Why NXT Is Better Than Raw and SmackDown Live

Stone Cold Steve Austin has never been one to shy away from giving his opinion on WWE and has often been vocal about how the company could improve its product.

He was recently joined by former WWE Superstar Sean Waltman, better known as X-Pac on his Steve Austin Show. During the show both discussed NXT and why they feel it is better than Raw and SmackDown Live. Austin felt the show was a throwback to a more classic pro-wrestling product and felt the main shows tend to get very complicated with regards to story telling.

“The thing I like about the NXT thing is it’s almost like [Waltman] said, the main roster is almost trying to cover or cater to everybody. And to me, the NXT thing is more… they are both under the same umbrella, it’s WWE, it’s sports entertainment. It ain’t pro wrestling anymore. Now, it’s sports entertainment officially, but in my mind, it’s still pro wrestling. And to me, NXT, yeah, it’s kind of like a throwback. And it’s all modern stuff, great lighting, great production values, everything else, but the storylines are very easy to understand and very simple. And, I mean, the announcers aren’t trying to go overboard trying to explain whatever’s going on.” Austin added, “sometimes when I watch the main roster stuff, it’s like they’re trying to play to so many people that the storylines get kind of convoluted.”

Renee Young joins Raw announce team full-time

Starting tonight, Renee Young will be the first woman to join the Raw broadcast booth full-time. 

She will now bring her unique voice and perspective to the longest-running weekly episodic program in the U.S. as she joins Michael Cole and Corey Gravesat the commentary desk. Renee joined WWE in 2012 and has served as a backstage interviewer and commentator on Raw, SmackDown LIVE and NXT. She is currently part of the Mae Young Classic commentary team on WWE Network.

In turn, Jonathan Coachman will take over as the new host of WWE’s pay-per-view kickoff shows. A veteran broadcaster with more than 20 years of experience hosting shows for WWE, ESPN, MSG Network and the Golf Channel, Coachman will bring his unique style to millions of viewers around the world on WWE Network, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and WWE.com, as the host of WWE’s pay-per-view kickoff shows. Coachman will begin his new role this Sunday, Sept. 16 alongside WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, David Otunga, Sam Roberts and Peter Rosenberg prior to WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.

Jerry Lawler Talks ‘PC’ WWE, ‘Puppies,’ & The Reason He Probably Isn’t On WWE TV Anymore

The latest Dinner with the King features WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler addressing a live crowd at Starrcast during All In weekend.

A fan commented on how he associates Lawler with the word ‘puppies’ and Lawler then directly addressed that:

“The thing with the puppies, I did not coin the phrase. I was not the first one to say the phrase on WWE TV; but, because like you said I am so associated with that word puppies, most people think that way. That is probably the reason I’m not on TV anymore and I mean that seriously because they [WWE] went so politically correct. It’s not necessarily PG because they’re not PG. They’re further south than PG. They’re PC. They’re so politically correct to a fault and especially like they got so right now into – starting with the Revolution – now it’s all about empowering women and that’s a big political correct thing these days and everything, so WWE jumped right on that, so it’s about empowering women. They actually came to us and said, ‘Do not ever say that women are sexy or that they’re good looking or that they’re beautiful. You must treat them exactly like you would a male athlete. You could say that they are powerful, they’re strong, they’re athletic, all this stuff; but, nothing that would be considered sexist at all.”

Lawler then talks about the RAW 25th Anniversary Show when he let the word ‘puppies’ slip early on during the historic live broadcast,

“This is like early on the show and I said, ‘JR [Jim Ross], it’s so nice to be here tonight and we’re gonna go back in time or something and I might even say puppies tonight.’ Immediately I hear [Vince McMahon] in my earphone (grunts), ‘Let’s stay away from that tonight.’ That was the last time it was ever said on there.”

Dave Lagana Praises Vince Mcmahon; Talks Time In TNA Being "Water Torture"

Dave Lagana recently appeared on The Taz Show and spoke on his experiences working with Vince McMahon in WWE and his time in Impact Wrestling. Below are interview highlights 

Transcript courtesy of Michael McClead and Wrestlezone.com

Working Under Vince McMahon:

“I have nothing bad to say about him [Vince McMahon]. He took the company from three billion to nine billion dollars in one year. He’s pretty good, so for everyone that hates him for the Roman Reigns booking, show me what you’ve tripled in one year with your business. I learned more from him than anybody.”

Education Received From Vince McMahon:

“It was like a master class…I would have paid to have worked there at that time. I paid $100,000 to go to college and I didn’t get 1/100th of the education I got working for him. I read a lot of people say a lot of negative stuff about him, like he’s out of touch. Ok, show me your business. Show me what you’ve built. He’s insane; but, everybody’s insane…He’s been fighting a world that has told him he couldn’t do it and I think the end of this story – by the way I have no insider information – is him selling the company to a giant media conglomerate for $10 billion. I think that’s the end of the story.”

Impact Wrestling:

“It was bad there. It was real bad. Every year you think it couldn’t get any worse. Oh, we lost Spike. Oh, we lost DA [Destination America]. Samoa Joe just showed up at NXT. They found new ways to water torture us working there.”

Justin Credible Arrested For The Second Time In A Month

Former ECW Champion Justin Credible has been arrested for the second time in a month, for violating a restraining order.

Credible was arrested on Wednesday, with his bond set at $50,000.

This is considerably higher than the $7,500 bond after being arrested last month, for violating a different protective order.

In a statement after his August arrest, Credible promised to do better: 

"I promise to my fans, my friends and my family that the man Peter Polaco will never be a negative headline again, and the character Justin Credible still has many great moments left.”

Source: ProWrestlingSheet

There's a WWE oral history coming -- and Vince McMahon is involved

The stories of Vince McMahon and the WWE have been told from a variety of different perspectives over the years, but there hasn't been a singular, unfiltered, comprehensive look at the origins of the man or the company he built that included Vince's voice -- until now.

Journalists Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, the authors of "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution," are set to write the definitive oral history of the WWE and the man who took professional wrestling into the mainstream and created an empire that continues to grow to this day.

The involvement and commitment of Vince McMahon and his entire family was the final push that made this long-discussed project into a reality.

"I think that that was one of the negotiating points where the WWE knew that we were serious about writing a no-holds-barred book," said Tannenbaum, in an interview with ESPN.com. "Sometimes when you're trying to sell someone on an idea they're reticent about, you underplay what you're asking for. Craig and I, I think if anything, overplayed what we were asking for.

"We made it clear that we wanted access to Vince and to the entire McMahon family," Tannenbaum continued. "And that what we wanted was not a 15-minute phoner. We were going to need an ample amount of his time which in some ways is a dumb thing to ask for, because he's got a lot better things to do than talk to two geeks about the history of the WWE."

Though Vince McMahon rarely does interviews these days, his blessing and willing involvement separate this project from everything that's come before it.

"This will be an unapologetic look at the good, the bad and the ugly, and the journey that made WWE into the global phenomenon it is today," said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman and CEO, said via a news release Thursday.

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The Undertaker And WWE Legends Announced For "Wrastlin'" Sermon Series At Texas Megachurch

Texas megachurch pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine will be interviewing top wrestling stars for his new "Wrastlin'" sermon series. WWE Hall of Famers Sting, Ric Flair and Ted DiBiase have been announced, along with The Undertaker.

The four-week series kicks off on Sunday, September 9. The main stage at Fellowship Church will have a wrestling ring constructed on it with one side opened up so the congregation can see the pastor and the wrestler being interviewed.

Below is the announcement from the church:

Wrastlin'
A Series by Ed Young
Beginning September 9, 2018

Over four weeks this September, Ed Young and Fellowship Church welcome four legendary guests from the world of professional wrestling – Ric Flair, The Undertaker, The Million Dollar Man, and Sting!

The Bible often compares the Christian life to that of a warrior, a wrestler. Wrestling is a metaphor commonly used in the Christian life and one that will remind us that no matter what, God is ready and able to step in between the ropes and help us overcome any challenge we face!