Author: Josh Nason

Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.

AEW rounds out Dynamite winter finale with three new matches

Posted on by Josh Nason

AEW tag team champions SCU will defend against the Young Bucks on next Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite “winter finale”, their final broadcast of 2019.

It was announced on tonight’s Dynamite that the winner of the Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz Texas street fight would earn a title shot on next week’s show. The Bucks won when the duo hit the Meltzer Driver on Ortiz for the pin.

Also announced for the Corpus Christi, TX, event:

– A bout to determine the number one contender to AEW women’s champion Riho as Britt Baker will face Kris Statlander. Statlander recently signed a deal with AEW and pinned Hikaru Shida in her singles debut while Baker goes into the match with a 3-2 record.

– The Lucha Bros vs. Hangman Page and Kenny Omega. Omega and Page teamed up to defeat Shawn Spears and Kip Sabian on this week’s show.

The matches join the previously announced AEW Champion Chris Jericho vs. Jungle Boy non-title 10-minute time limit main event.

Longtime WWE wrestler, road agent Rene Goulet passes away at 86

Posted on by Josh Nason

The Cauliflower Alley Club announced Wednesday that longtime WWF wrestler and road agent Rene Goulet died this past May at 86 years old. His family kept the news quiet until today, even from WWE.

A native of Quebec City, Quebec, the man born Robert Bedard began his professional wrestling career in 1957 and eventually found his way to the then-WWWF where he would stay from the 1970s through the 1980s. He also spent time in various NWA territories and the AWA.

In 1971, Goulet and partner Karl Gotch won the WWWF tag team titles by defeating Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler, holding the gold for just 57 days. He stayed active until 1986 and worked as a road agent until 1997, one of the men seen regularly when officials came out to break up brawls.

Goulet was the first ever wrestler to defeat Ric Flair and and competed against Tito Santana in the very first WWF match aired on USA. He and Andre The Giant also won what is now known as the New Japan World Tag League in 1981.

He was inducted into the Tragos/Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010.

Despite CM Punk, WWE Backstage declines in viewership

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Even with an appearance by CM Punk, Tuesday’s episode of WWE Backstage on FS1 fell in viewership.

The show averaged 127,000 viewers, drawing a .06 rating in the 18-49 demo, down from last week’s .08. That marked a drop of 11,000 from last week’s 138,000 viewers which was the second highest in the history of the show thus far.

The episode featured an interview with Baron Corbin where he discussed last Friday’s dog food segment on SmackDown. Punk also gave his thoughts on Seth Rollins’ heel turn.

This was Punk’s second appearance on the show. His first on November 19th remains Backstage’s most-viewed airing at 180,000 viewers and a .10 in the key 18-49 demo.

Here’s a look at Backstage viewership since debuting in its normal time slot:

  • November 5 — 49,000 viewers 
  • November 12 — 100,000 viewers
  • November 19 — 180,000 viewers
  • November 26 — 121,000 viewers
  • December 3 –138,000 viewers
  • December 10 — 127,000 viewers

WWE suspends Robert Roode, Primo Colon for wellness policy violations

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Image: WWE

In the first wellness policy violations since 2016, WWE announced that Robert Roode and Primo Colon have been each suspended for 30 days effective immediately.

The reason for the violations, the first for either man, weren’t announced.

The 42-year-old Roode (seen above) adopted Robert as his in-ring first name earlier this year with a slightly new look and heel persona earlier. He had been teaming with Dolph Ziggler and the duo held the Raw tag titles for several months before losing them to the Viking Raiders. They were drafted to SmackDown and won an interbrand tag team battle royal at Survivor Series.

The 36-year-old Colon (real first name Eddie) and cousin Epico have been virtually absent from WWE for the last 18 months with their last appearance in a February dark match. The two have been working in the revived World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico where Epico holds their top title.

The last announced wellness policy violation was Paige back in October 2016, her second in just three months. The program was revived by WWE in February 2006 in the wake of Eddie Guerrero’s death.

The Ascension get released from WWE

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On a day when Luke Harper and Sin Cara were granted their contractual freedom, The Ascension were also given their WWE release.

Made up of Viktor (Ryan Parmeter) and Konnor (Eric Thompson), the duo had been on the shelf TV-wise for some time and had been mainly relegated to WWE Main Event prior to that.

The two were a big part of the early days of NXT’s tag team division, holding the titles for just under a year from 2013-14 before losing to Kalisto and Sin Cara. They were called up to the main roster after three years in FCW/NXT and were presented as a similar team to Demolition and the Road Warriors due to their painted faces and overall look.

However, It didn’t take long for The Ascension to be pushed to the side creatively as less a month into their run, they were beaten up by the APA and New Age Outlaws in an angle on Raw. They eventually got a win over the Outlaws at the Royal Rumble, but the promise they showed in NXT never carried over to the main roster. The team’s main roster run totaled nearly five years in both Raw and SmackDown and they never held either brand’s tag titles once.

Outside a three-year break from wrestling and work on the indies, the 39-year-old Parmeter had been in the WWE system since 2005, dating back to the Deep South Wrestling days. The 39-year-old Thompson is a Stampede Wrestling/Hart Dungeon alumni that had been in the WWE system since 2011 and actually defeated Seth Rollins for the FCW heavyweight title back in 2012.

Tito Ortiz submits Alberto Del Rio in Combate Americas main event

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Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz submitted former WWE champion Alberto Del Rio via first round submission in the Saturday main event of Combate Americas’ debut pay-per-view in Hidalgo, TX. 

The submission came at 3:10 in a fight that was so in the lightest sense of the word.

Del Rio posed no semblence of offense as Ortiz got the fight to the ground quickly and after working for a guillotine, Ortiz started landing some ground and pound. Ortiz eventually got a rear naked choke and Del Rio tapped quickly.

With the victory, Ortiz won Del Rio’s WWE title belt. Had Del Rio won, he would have taken home Ortiz’s UFC light heavyweight title.

Wearing a t-shirt that had a similar style to the classic Saturday Night’s Main Event logo, Ortiz walked out to “Real American” by Rick Derringer, the iconic walkout song for Hulk Hogan during his 80s WWF run. The promotion carried a “What side are you on?” tag line designed to play off the U.S. vs. Mexico border war narrative. This was despite the fact Ortiz is Mexican-American and Del Rio is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

This was both the promotional debut for both men and the first MMA fight for Del Rio since February 2010. Ortiz came out of retirement again for this fight after defeating Chuck Liddell last November for Oscar De La Hoya’s one-and-only MMA event.

ACH back with MLW, announced for January Dallas show

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On the same day MLW said farewell to a longtime roster member, they welcomed another one back as they announced ACH has made a return to the organization.

While not calling it a signing, he will be part of their January 11th Zero Hour TV taping in Dallas, Texas. The former Jordan Myles has been working several indie shows and has others booked after his WWE release last month, so it’s assumed the deal is not an exclusive one.

On Thursday, ACH made a surprise appearance at their Opera Cup TV taping in New York City, teaming with former MMA fighter “King” Mo Lawal to face Kotto Brazil and Jordan Oliver of the Injustice faction in a match taped for MLW Fusion.

The 32-year-old was last with the promotion in October 2018 before signing with WWE in early-2019. W

MLW has had a busy last few months, announcing the re-signings of Jacob Fatu, Tom Lawlor, and Josef Samael along with the signing of Logan Creed and broadcaster Alicia Atout. They alaos announced the release of Teddy Hart Friday.

Teddy Hart released by MLW

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Without any other details or information, Major League Wrestling announced Friday they have “come to terms on the release of Teddy Hart.”

After being part of the company in its first iteration, the 39-year-old returned to MLW as part of their relaunch in 2017 alongside Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Brian Pillman Jr.. He held their tag team titles once and was also their middleweight champion for nearly a year before losing the title to Myron Reed in November.

Hart came under scrutiny in November after he and wrestler Chasyn Rance were mentioned in a now deleted but widely circulated Facebook post regarding the disappearance of Hart’s ex-girlfriend Samantha Fiddler. The former wrestling trainee has been missing since the fall of 2016. Hart denied the allegations on Twitter, saying he and Fiddler had gone their separate ways before she moved to Florida where she was last seen.

A Maine indie promotion severed ties with Hart shortly after the allegations were raised. While MLW kept him on the roster, the middleweight title loss to Reed came less than a week after the Facebook post went viral. He did not appear at MLW’s Opera Cup TV taping Thursday night.

Two tag matches signed for next week’s AEW Dynamite

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Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite set up two tag team matches for next week including a street fight between two of the company’s top teams.

In Garland, TX, the Young Bucks will face Proud and Powerful (Santana and Ortiz) in a street fight, first announced via AEW’s Twitter account. The two teams were part of a six-man tag to open Wednesday’s show as the Bucks and Dustin Rhodes defeated Santana, Ortiz, and Sammy Guevara. 

This will be a rematch of their Full Gear clash which Santana and Ortiz won.

Also set for Garland is Cody and QT Marshall vs. The Butcher & The Blade, making their official AEW in-ring debut. During a promo segment, Cody addressed last week’s attack by Andy Williams and Pepper Parks and said if they wanted an opportunity against him, they could pick his partner. The long-time indie team didn’t appear on the show outside a brief vignette with The Bunny.

WWE rehires former writer Chris DeJoseph

Posted on by Josh Nason

This story was updated at 5:30 PM Eastern.

According to PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, former WWE creative team member Chris DeJoseph is returning to the company.

The return was also confirmed by our Dave Meltzer. It’s also confirmed that DeJoseph left Major League Wrestling in an amicable split after roughly a month as a co-executive producer. Johnson reported that DeJoseph’s WWE talks predated his MLW job.

He has yet to confirm the news on Twitter or elsewhere.

DeJoseph was a member of WWE creative from 2004-10 and even had an occasional on-air role as a wacky character known as Big Dick Johnson. He was part of the founding team and an executive producer for Lucha Underground which went on indefinite hiatus in 2018 after four years.

In recent years, he has been focused on traditional TV work as a producer for reality shows like Big Brother and Hotel Paradise. In 2017, he was a senior consultant on John Cena’s short-lived American Grit TV show.

New AEW deal guarantees quarterly PPVs through June 2021

Posted on by Josh Nason

This story was updated at 5:30 PM Eastern.

All Elite Wrestling and In Demand announced the finalization of a deal Tuesday that guarantees the brand will have a pay-per-view presence through the early summer of 2021.

In Demand, the North American-based PPV and on demand distributor co-owned by traditional cable providers Comcast, Charter, and Cox, will be guaranteed a minimum of one AEW event per quarter through June 2021. In Demand has a reach of 60 million homes and distribution deals with 200 companies.

While not mentioned in the release, it is assumed B/R Live will remain AEW’s primary digital streaming option for PPV as long as Dynamite remains on TNT. 

Since formally becoming AEW earlier this year, the company has run three times on PPV. May’s Double or Nothing brought in approximately 110,000 buys, August’s All Out reportedly did 101,000 buys and November’s Full Gear was around the 100,000 buy mark.

AEW has yet to announce the next date, location, and name for their next PPV event.

Mauro Ranallo scheduled to return to NXT Wednesday

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After more than a week on the sidelines, Mauro Ranallo is scheduled to return to the NXT broadcast booth this Wednesday night.

Ranallo’s return was first reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet and confirmed independently by Dave Meltzer.

The 49-year-old was set to call some of the action at Survivor Series, but following a critical tweet by WWE color commentator Corey Graves, Ranallo did not work the event and deactivated his social media accounts. WWE said on the SS broadcast that Ranallo had blown out his voice at TakeOver and would be back that following Wednesday for NXT. Tom Phillips filled in for him instead.

Graves apologized on his WWE-produced podcast, claiming the now-deleted tweet was designed to play into the brand supremacy element of SS and that he was going to bring it up during the pay-per-view broadcast while the two were calling a match.

Ranallo, who has publicly battled bipolar disorder, missed time with WWE in 2017 and the two sides eventually parted ways. He re-signed with WWE a few months later, agreeing to call NXT TV and TakeOver events.

Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela official for AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

In a rematch from this summer’s Fyter Fest, Joey Janela and Jon Moxley will square off this Wednesday on AEW Dynamite.

Moxley laid out an open challenge last week and also came out at the end of the show to stare down AEW Champion Chris Jericho after Jericho’s win over Scorpio Sky. Janela accepted while making an appearance at Wednesday’s GCW Chopper City In The Ghetto event.

Moxley defeated Janela in an unsanctioned match in June after hitting a Paradigm Shift onto thumbtacks in Moxley’s first match for the company. He moved up to no. 1 in Friday’s power rankings with a 3-0-1 singles record while Janela will go into Wednesday unranked.

Also announced for this Wednesday in Champaign, IL, Fenix will face Trent in a continuation of the Best Friends vs. Lucha Bros rivalry, and the Young Bucks and Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara and Santana & Ortiz will go at it in six-man tag action.

Conor McGregor-Donald Cerrone booked for January’s UFC 246

Posted on by Josh Nason

The long-awaited return of former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is finally in sight.

According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto via UFC president Dana White, McGregor has signed his contract to face former title contender and fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 246 on Saturday, January 18th in Las Vegas, NV. The fight will be at welterweight and not lightweight where the two have spent time during their careers.

White said McGregor has signed and Cerrone “is set to go”.

The 31-year-old McGregor (21-4) hasn’t been in action since losing via submission to rival and UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. Due to his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather and other outside-the-cage factors, he has fought just once in the Octagon since August 2016.

The 36-year-old Cerrone (36-13-0-1) is coming off a two-fight losing streak with finishes at the hands of top contenders Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje, respectively. This will be his first fight at welterweight since a first round submission win over Mike Perry in November 2018. He fought 10 times in the UFC at 170 pounds with a 6-4 record.

The two have been angling for this fight for quite some time and had a verbal skirmish back in September 2015 at a UFC press conference that will get played quite a bit in the promotion for this fight.

Dana White targeting Khabib-Ferguson for April UFC PPV

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According to Dana White, the UFC is hoping the fifth time is the charm for a long anticipated fight between UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.

White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto Monday they are looking to book the fight for an April 18th pay-per-view at Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Center, two years and in the same location where they tried to make the fight for the fourth time.

Nurmagomedov’s manager tweeted a photo of a signed deal from the champion and that they are waiting for Ferguson.

Nurmagomedov (28-0) returned after nearly a year’s absence to successfully the title against Dustin Poirier in September. The 35-year-old Ferguson (25-3) has won his last 12 dating back to October 2013. Due to injuries, he has only fought once a year dating back to 2017 but returned in June to defeat Donald Cerrone by TKO due to a doctor’s stoppage.

Conor McGregor had been petitioning to face Nurmagomedov ever since he was defeated by him, but he claims he is going to fight for the UFC this January with Cerrone or Justin Gaethje as the rumored opponents. However, the UFC hasn’t announced any January PPV as of yet.