ESPN Reveals The Concussion Tests Daniel Bryan Has To Undergo After Each Match

ESPN Reveals The Concussion Tests Daniel Bryan Has To Undergo After Each Match
WWE Champion Daniel Bryan recently spoke with ESPN to promote Sunday's WWE Royal Rumble match with AJ Styles. The piece reveals the concussion tests that Bryan undergoes after each match.

Bryan returns to the backstage area after each match and has to go through a series of tests, ending with a math problem. According to ESPN, Bryan must multiply 8 by 3, then multiply that number by 3, and dive it all by 4. If Bryan can't come up with the correct answer, he's not cleared to continue wrestling.

WWE doctors perform these tests on Bryan following any physical activity in the ring. The tests begin with Bryan getting his eyes checked. He then goes through several balance tests, then ends with the math equation. Doctors use the simple tests to make sure Bryan's brain is functioning properly. These show how WWE is not taking any chances with Bryan, who has suffered 10 documented concussions.

"The big concern with concussions is that, this has happened to me in the past, you don't know you had a concussion and your instinct as an athlete is to say, 'Hey, I'm fine, What we do now ensures that doesn't happen."

ESPN notes that WWE put this very specific concussion protocol in place after Bryan was cleared to return to the ring by an independent group of concussion experts, neurologists and neurosurgeons, and WWE medical director Joseph Maroon.

WWE Announces Project With Reality TV Producers To Find The Next Top Female Superstar

WWE is partnering with reality TV veterans Bunim-Murray Productions to find the next female Superstar. Casting is underway now at Bunim-Murray.com.

It's been reported for more than a year that WWE was interested in bringing back a variation of the Divas Search, and this could be that project finally launching.

Stay tuned for more updates on the project. Below is WWE's announcement:

WWE is teaming up with Bunim-Murray Productions – the company behind Total Bellas, Total Divas and "Keeping up With The Kardashians" – to find the next female Superstar who has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Ronda Rousey, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch.

Casting is underway for a forthcoming reality show that will document the search for the next great female competitor.

Triple H Gives His Thoughts On All Elite Wrestling

During a conference call earlier today, Triple H addressed the formation of All Elite Wrestling. He dealt with the question pretty well, stating that it’s something WWE are going to “keep an eye on”. He said that they’re doing their business and WWE will conduct their own, in a manner that will cater to the WWE audience.

Rumor Mill - XFL In Talks With Both ESPN And FOX For TV Deal

XFL could have an official television deal as early as next week, and they’re talking to some big names according to John Ourand and Terry Lefton of the Sports Business Journal (subscription required). The report states that the company is in talks with both ESPN and FOX at the moment. Both deals would have the games airing on two stations as the ESPN deal would have matches on ABC and ESPN, while the FOX deal would be on FS1 and the titular network. While a deal hasn’t been made, both talks are described as being ongoing and interest is strong for both.

Interestingly, the XFL’s main competitor, the Alliance of American Football, will start its debut season on Feb. 9 of this year. The XFL won’t launch until next year. Debut teams will be featured in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Tampa Bay. The 10-game season will be capped off with two weeks of playoffs.

Robby Brookside And Matt Bloom On The Evolution Of Wrestling

WWE trainers Robby Brookside and Matt Bloom sat with Vulture Hound‘s Lee Hazell & talked about WWE’s new NXT UK Performance Center. The two also talked about how their own training differed from that of today’s WWE Superstars.

Brookside reminisced about what he learned from legendary UK star Johnny Saint, “‘I remember when I was 16/17, a great thing for me is doing a TV match with Johnny Saint and to travel around with him, and he was one of the many that used to go, ‘Slow down!’ Because when you’re young you’re like, ‘Oh I’ve learnt this new move, I want to try and do it.’ Once you get older and you figure it out, you realize it’s just like pouring another pint of water into a pint of beer. You just don’t need it.” Brookside also stressed the importance of being trained the correct way, “It’s hard sometimes when you get someone from the indies who have been trained the wrong way. Their footwork and their balance and their facial expressions aren’t up to it and to try and get them to change that, at times it’s harder to teach them. We got eight Chinese Nationals who couldn’t speak any English, and it was easier in some ways to train them from scratch than getting someone from the indies who’s been working for 12 years. Well, obviously they’ve been going to the wrong places because that’s not how we do things here.”

Matt Bloom didn’t even train in a wrestling ring, “I trained in a boxing ring with one air conditioner in the wall, up four flights of stairs to get there. It was tough, man. It was a lot different than it is now. Actually, Triple H and I trained in the same facility with Killer Kowalski. The training game has evolved a lot.”

Robby Brookside opened up about an early experience has had after he was accused of labeling wrestling as ‘fixed.’  The incident led to a successful career for Brookside, “I got invited, in inverted commas, to a wrestling club on the outskirts of Liverpool – a big factory called English Electric. My mother and father hated wrestling, everyone thought I was a weirdo because I packed in football to watch wrestling. So anyway, my mate went to this amateur wrestler and said ‘That kid down there thinks it’s all fixed.’ He was only a little fella. Then my mate comes back, says we’re invited to a show on Sunday.” Brookside continued, “So, I go up and its strange because people are still working in the factory. So I get to the utility room and there’s a big, old sugar matt with all these old fellas all around. The little fella sees me and gets all excited. I’m 14, he’s 32/33. He says, ‘Right lads, this kid thinks it’s all fixed.’ He tells me to get on the matt. I get on the matt and to this day I have never felt pain like it. I remember I hit the matt as he took me down and I didn’t know where I was. I remember all the dust going in my face. That could probably get a factory closed down now. I could probably get them all charged with abusing a 14-year-old. He ripped my head off my shoulders. My ear was bleeding and it wasn’t very nice. There was just a sink to smother your face and that was it.”

Brookside remained undeterred, “I went, ‘I’m not having it. I’ll go back the next week.’ And they did it again. I went back the third time they decided I had a bit of bottle. But that’s what it was. The facilities were disgraceful. They’d be condemned now. Just being at the Performance Center now and seeing that evolve and the way it grows and grows and grows. Just the facilities that the talent have. The way WWE treats their talent is light years ahead of what we’ve gone through. "

WWE Women's Tag Team Title Belts Revealed, Champions To Be Crowned At Elimination Chamber

Alexa Bliss revealed on tonight's WWE RAW that the first WWE Women's Tag Team Champions will be decided at the upcoming WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.

There will be a Chamber match with 3 teams from RAW and 3 teams from SmackDown. The winning team will be crowned the champions, indicating the titles will be defended on both brands.

There's no word yet on the 6 teams.

Triple H Says Some Talent Might Stay In NXT Without Going To WWE Main Roster

As reported here earlier today, Triple H was in London celebrating the grand opening of the new WWE Performance Center UK. As seen above, Inside The Ropes attended the event and caught an in-depth interview with Triple H where they asked him about his future aspirations concerning the NXT and NXT UK talent. Triple H confirmed that certain NXT UK stars will indeed make the eventual transition to RAW or SmackDown, but along with that, certain stars will begin to rotate back through the various developmental territories they continue to establish.

"There are some talent here, that you might see come from the UK, that might move straight to RAW or SmackDown," Triple H explained. "I think right now there's sort of this perceived system of where it's kinda - 1. RAW, 2. SmackDown, 3. NXT, 4. NXT UK. I don't believe that, I believe that talent are talent and I believe they will sit where they sit, and I believe you'll see talent over the next few years start coming up to Raw and SmackDown. And I think you'll see them move back over in to NXT, or come back in to the NXT UK system. I think talent will begin to evolve and rotate through territories, so to speak."

Triple H believes that some performers have reached their plateau of success rotating through the NXT developmental territories, and hopes to give those individuals successful, meaningful careers without them ever having to transition to the cable network programs.

"I think there will be some talent that will be incredibly successful, will be global names, will be global, household names," Triple H said, "that will probably never leave that NXT system because that's their home base and that's where they fit, and they'll have incredibly successful, meaningful careers. And probably over those careers they'll gravitate through different locations within the globe, maybe without never being on RAW or SmackDown, but that not being any lesser to their careers."

Triple H also discussed the importance of reinventing a character when the performer feels it's the necessary action to take, saying that it's no different than decades ago, when wrestlers would travel to a new territory and present their revamped character to an audience.

"I think it depends on the talent and the moment and I think it's no different than it was if you go back, 30 - 40 years, into the territory system in the US. No different," Triple H said. "You left one place, you went someplace else, sometimes you reinvented because you thought, 'What I'm doing is good, but here, I want to do something different, I want to make it something more.' And you reinvent, and you become something different."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Inside The Ropes with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

WWE To Launch New Performance Center In The UK

WWE has talked about opening international Performance Centers for some time and it looks like the UK Performance Center is finally about to launch.

WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne, Trent Seven and Tyler Bate just appeared on Good Morning Britain to promote Saturday's WWE NXT UK "Takeover: Blackpool" event and Seven said WWE has launched a new Performance Center in a "secret location" in the UK.

One of the GMB hosts mentioned how Saturday's first-ever NXT UK Takeover special is the set-up for a new "training camp" for WWE in the UK. Seven responded, "We're going to be able to go straight from here to our secret location, our new NXT UK Performance Center, right after this. So fantastic news coming out all the way through the day. The fact that we get to go back, the fact that we've had this investment... for the other wrestlers and the British wrestling fanbase, it's pretty exciting."

Update On Chris Jericho Signing With AEW, Removed From WWE Intro, Still Working NJPW?

Chris Jericho signing with All Elite Wrestling looked to be right down to the wire as he had been in talks with WWE in the last few weeks, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Jericho noted yesterday that he is staying with AEW for the "long haul" and that he was looking forward to "changing the universe" with the new promotion. Some are viewing the "changing the universe" as a slight dig at WWE. 

WWE have reacted to Jericho's signing by moving him to the alumni section of their website and also removing him from the opening "THEN NOW FOREVER" intro which airs before the beginning of all WWE programming.  

His contract with AEW is not believed to be an exclusive one and will be free to work NJPW dates should they be able to come to an agreement.

CM Punk Wants Colt Cabana's Lawsuit Dismissed

CM Punk has filed a motion to have the lawsuit filed against him by Colt Cabana dismissed. 

Cabana filed a lawsuit back in the summer of 2018 which claimed Punk promised he would be covered fully in terms of legal fees in the lawsuit filed by WWE's Chris Amann. Punk, however, demanded payment from Cabana for legal fees and resulted in Cabana ultimately having to hire his own attorney and suffered $200,000 in legal fees that Punk refused to pay.

Punk's legal team are claiming that Cabana has failed to use factual allegations in his lawsuit and "conclusory allegations" will not stand up legally in the state of Illinois.

Cabana’s lawyers have until January 25th to respond to the motion to dismiss, and Punk’s team would then have until February 9th to respond. A status conference is set for February 20th.

All Elite Wrestling To Offer Wrestlers Lighter Schedules And Healthcare Packages

AEW President Tony Khan was interviewed during the Double Or Nothing Rally yesterday by WrestlingInc. and revealed how All Elite Wrestling will be different from other promotion in that they want their talent to work lighter scheduled and offer a healthcare package. 

“And also favorable schedules, and I don’t wanna run down guys with too many dates or too much time on the road, I feel really positive about what we’re doing in terms of taking care of the guys. We have great management and the guys we’re focusing it on, Cody and the Bucks, they are very, very hands on with the talent. And I’m sure, for us, the kind of people we’re bringing in, they’re gonna contribute to the company in a number of ways. And I think that, yeah, there is a package, a competition package and healthcare package that could be available.”

WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund passes away

From WWE.com:

WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Gene Okerlund, the most recognizable interviewer in sports-entertainment history, has passed away at age 76.

“Mean Gene,” as he was named by fellow Minnesotan, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, first came to prominence as an interviewer in the American Wrestling Association. In 1984, Okerlund made the move to WWE where he became as recognizable as the Superstars he asked the tough questions to, including “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior and, perhaps Okerlund's greatest guest, Hulk Hogan. Countless Hulkster interviews included the indelible phrase, "Well you know something 'Mean' Gene!" 

As the respected and reliable man behind the microphone in WWE, Okerlund branched out from interviewing and provided ringside commentary and hosted several shows, including All-American Wrestling, Tuesday Night Titans, Wrestling Challenge and Prime Time Wrestling.

Announcing wasn't all that Okerlund could do with a microphone, as he performed the National Anthem at the first WrestleMania in 1985. Later that year, Okerlund would sing “Tutti Frutti” on WWE’s The Wrestling Album.

In 1993, Okerlund joined WCW where he continued to interview many of the legends he had worked with in the AWA and WWE, as well as WCW stalwarts like Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg and others.

Okerlund returned to WWE in 2001 to call the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania 17 along with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and continued to appear on WWE television programming, including as a cast member on WWE Network’s Legends’ House.

WWE extends its condolences to Okerlund’s family, friends and fans.