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.
During a segment on Friday’s WWE SmackDown, a new look to the WWE Intercontinental belt was unveiled.
Sami Zayn was doing a promo alongside champion Shinsuke Nakamura when he said he got him something. Zayn then pulled the new black and gold belt out of a bag and presented it to him.
It’s the second new design of a WWE title in the last eight days as they unveiled the new-look Universal title with a blue strap on last Friday’s SmackDown.
This is the latest update of the title that was created back in September 1979. The first champion was Pat Patterson who “won” the title in a fictional match in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Nakamura will face U.S. Champion AJ Styles and NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong in a non-title triple threat match at Sunday’s Survivor Series. He won the title in at July’s Extreme Rules by defeating Finn Balor to begin his first I-C title reign.
While it has yet to be officially announced by the company, UFC president Dana White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that light heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes will headline their February 8th pay-per-view in Houston, Texas.
The 32-year-old Jones (25-1-0-1) will be looking for both the third successful defense of the title he reclaimed in December 2018 and to put the first blemish on Reyes’ career.
Reyes, who will turn 30 in December, will go into the fight with a 12-0 record and is coming off a quick first round knockout of Chris Weidman in October. Other potential challengers to Jones like Daniel Cormier, Jan Blachowicz, and Corey Anderson didn’t materialize and following Cormier’s August loss to Stipe Miocic and the Reyes win over Weidman, he was the clear top contender.
Women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian will be the co-main event.
The PPV doesn’t have a number as the UFC hasn’t officially announced a January PPV event yet. Initially, Conor McGregor said he was returning in January but there has been no official announcement for a fight yet. The February show will either be UFC 246 or 247 depending on what happens there.
MLW announced the news Friday morning that the former UFC light heavyweight has signed an “exclusive, multi-year” deal with the promotion. Per usual, financial terms and specifics were not disclosed.
The deal is not like last week’s Jacob Fatu signing where MLW will have control over his creative when he works indies. Despite Lawlor tweeting recently that he isn’t taking bookings for next year, it’s confirmed that he is.
The announcement comes nearly two weeks after MLW founder Court Bauer tweeted, “I want to thank “Filthy” Tom Lawlor for his two years with MLW. Tom was a day zero guy that helped relaunch the league in October 2017. I wish him continued success with the next chapter of his career. First class dude who despite being filthy is somehow all class at the same time.”
Lawlor, a podcast co-host on this website, is a former world champion for the company and will be part of their upcoming Opera Cup event in New York City.
According to an email released by a former producer, Ring of Honor will not re-sign current women’s world champion Kelly Klein when her deal is up due to what they are saying is a breach of contract.
According to Dave Meltzer, that deal is up on December 31st.
The email was posted to Twitter by Joey Mercury, a former producer, creative team member, and trainer for ROH, as part of a recent string of tweets airing his displeasure and frustration with his former employers.
Klein and her husband, former ROH wrestler and producer B.J. Whitmer, both confirmed the news on Twitter and have also aired their displeasure with the situation and how it was handled, especially in which the news was delivered.
The 33-year-old Klein has been with ROH since 2015 and has won their women’s title three times. She has been fighting through post-concussion syndrome and said that while she is improving, she is still experiencing symptoms.
In the email sent this past Tuesday, ROH COO Joe Koff showed frustration with Klein for not showing remorse for “past actions that had hurt the company,” specifically “sharing confidential documents and emails with another contractor who used the material to defame and slander the company and one of its key officers, Greg Gilleland.”
He then said Klein used her social media presence to help further the contractor’s Twitter account gain traction and validate his claims. The contractor in question is Mercury and this tweet is assumed to be part of what Koff is referencing.
Koff then said that despite that, he appreciated Klein’s time with ROH and rather than pursue the breach of contract which would put a six-month non-compete into action, ROH would simply let the contract expire at the end of the term.
PW Insider’s Mike Johnson got a statement from the company which said, “We don’t generally discuss personal issues, but they seem to have made it public. We didn’t fire [Kelly Klein], we just notified her that we would not be renewing her contract.”
Ring of Honor is holding a summit for all of its talent Friday in Baltimore, Maryland, something Mercury has been vocal about.
ACH announced several indie dates Thursday as WWE confirmed he is no longer under contract.
The former Jordan Myles will face Chandler Hopkins this Friday night for San Antonio, TX, based Heavy Metal Wrestling, and has dates for Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment on December 1st and Pro Wrestling Revolver on December 27th. He tweeted an email address for bookings.
Thursday morning, he tweeted an image of him signing a legal document:
It’s unclear whether the document was the WWE release, but he later tweeted at Vince McMahon “Can’t hold me down no more. This is FOR THE WRESTLING CULTURE.”
The saga between Albert Hardie Jr. and WWE began in late-October following a t-shirt design that was compared to blackface imagery. WWE pulled the t-shirt and released a statement that said Hardie had approved the design, but the damage was already done. Since that time, Hardie has been vocal against WWE on social media, but the company has never responded publicly to any of the claims.
Last week, Hardie said he quit WWE, saying he hated the company and everything they stand for. According to Dave Meltzer, he hasn’t been at the Performance Center since the end of September when he did his last match for the company.
Next Wednesday’s Thanksgiving Eve edition of AEW Dynamite is shaping up to be a big one in Chicago, IL.
The final two entrants from Wednesday’s Dynamite Dozen battle royal — MJF and Hangman Page — will face off in the finals for the Dynamite diamond ring. MJF eliminated Jungle Boy by pulling him off the apron as Page remained in the ring. Page and MJG got into a brawl after the match and had to be pulled apart.
Cody Rhodes will return for the first time since being attacked by MJF and Wardlow on Dynamite two weeks ago. It’s unclear whether he will be wrestling or doing a promo.
Also announced for the show is the aforementioned Jericho facing off against Scorpio Sky in an AEW title match coming off Sky’s pin of Jericho last week in a tag team match, and Kenny Omega vs. Pac in a rematch from All Out.
Dynamite will air live from the Sears Centre, home of both the All In and All Out pay-per-views.
Coming to you on Friday of WrestleMania 2020 weekend, it’s a special live edition of Wrestling Observer Radio featuring Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez and tickets are now available.
As we’ve done in the past, the guys will be recording a Q&A session on Friday, April 3rd at 11 AM local time featuring your questions about anything to do with wrestling, MMA, or anything in between.
Along with a one-hour pre-WOR VIP meet and greet with Dave and Bryan at 10 AM Eastern, we will also be selling a limited number of WrestleMania group tickets so you can sit with fellow subscribers.
Ticket Package Info —
– Platinum VIP: Includes one (1) VIP Meet and Greet ticket, 1 (one) Q&A ticket with priority seating and one (1) WrestleMania ticket in our block (Section 125)
– Silver VIP: Includes one (1) VIP Meet and Greet and and 1 (one) Q&A ticket with priority seating
– Q&A General Admission: Includes one (1) general admission attendance ticket to the Q&A
WWE COO Paul “Triple H” Levesque held his traditional pre-NXT TakeOver conference call Wednesday morning and answered several interesting questions including one about talents asking for releases.
When asked by Jason Powell about wrestlers going to social media, Levesque said he hoped talent would talk to management instead of going to the media and social media to air their issues. He said that people get frustrated in the moment and say things they later would like to take back. “It’s a maturity issue and not how you handle it. You handle your business like a professional.”
He also answered questions about whether Adam Cole was considered for a three-way title match against Brock Lesnar and The Fiend for Survivor Series, how the creative teams are working together through this three-way brand storyline, an update on Johnny Gargano’s health, and whether he had any interest in being the fourth man on Tommaso Ciampa’s team at War Games.
“Effective immediately: Jim Cornette has resigned from the National Wrestling Alliance. As an announcer on the November 19th edition of NWA Power, Jim made remarks during a singles match between Nick Aldis and Trevor Murdoch that were both offensive and do not meet the high standards of decency and good faith of the National Wrestling Alliance.
To ensure that such an error can never happen again, we’ve established new procedures of review for all NWA programming going forward.
We sincerely regret our failure in this regard.”
During the Aldis-Murdoch match, Cornette said Murdoch was the only man he has ever known that “could strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and drive a motor scooter across Ethiopia.” David Lagana released an apology and took down the episode temporarily before uploading a new version with the comment edited out.
After silence last night, Cornette tweeted Wednesday morning:
Morning everybody! Heard any good jokes lately?
This coming Friday’s Jim Cornette Experience (wherever you find your favorite podcasts) is liable to be a good one if you like hearing stupid people told what they can do with their stupidity.
During a non-title match between NWA World Champion Nick Aldis and Trevor Murdoch, Cornette said of Murdoch that he was the only man he has ever known that “could strap a bucket of fried chicken on his back and drive a motor scooter across Ethiopia.”
Lagana issued a brief statement on Twitter that read, “On tonight’s episode of NWA Powerr airing on November 19th 2019, one of our talents made comments which some viewers found offensive. We deeply regret the error and apologize. We have temporarily taken the program down while we correct this error.”
The NWA re-uploaded a new version of their seventh episode without the comment shortly thereafter. As of this writing, Cornette has not addressed any of this on social media.
On Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show Monday, former Bellator and ONE champion Ben Askren announced his second retirement from MMA and from combat sports in general.
The 35-year-old said he needs his left hip replaced after having suffered with pain and mobility issues over the last three-to-five years. After consulting with doctors, the decision was to call it quits and have the surgery which isn’t scheduled at this point.
Askren (19-2-0-1) rose to prominence on the wrestling mats at the University of Missouri and the U.S. Olympic team before transitioning into MMA a decade ago. After a handful of fights, he signed with Bellator for their season two welterweight tournament. Over a three-year run, he was dominant in nine fights, winning the welterweight title and defending it four times.
He also got a reputation as a trash talker who would go after anyone and everyone including UFC president Dana White who was more than happy to trade barbs with Askren in the media.
After Bellator chose to not re-sign him, Askren signed with the Asia-based ONE Fighting Championships and was a perfect 6-0-1. Similar to Bellator, he won their version of the welterweight title (185 pounds) and defended it three times before retiring in the fall of 2017.
A year later and after years of no interest from White, UFC and ONE orchestrated a “trade” of contracts which allowed former UFC flyweight great Demetrious Johnson to fight there and for Askren to finally get his long-awaited opportunity in the Octagon. He fought three times in 2019, kicking things off with a controversial submission win over Robbie Lawler followed up by his five-second viral knockout loss to Jorge Masvidal and finally a third round submission loss to Demian Maia in October.
In a list that continues to grow, Oney Lorcan reportedly requested his release at the end of October according to PW Insider.
We have been unable to independently confirm the news as of this writing. WWE has yet to comment as well.
A month away from turning 34, the Boston, MA, native signed with WWE in the fall of 2015 and has primarily been seen on both NXT and NXT UK and as of earlier this year, 205 Live. Lorcan (real name Chris Girard) has been teaming with former rival Danny Burch and the two are scheduled to wrestle for the PROGRESS tag team titles next weekend.
While he hasn’t publicly commented on the report, he recently changed his Twitter handle back to his previous ring name of Biff Busick and linked to his Pro Wrestling Tees page.
Lorcan would join several wrestlers who requested their WWE release more publicly like Sin Cara, Luke Harper, and Mike Kanellis.
Major League Wrestling announced Friday that current world champion Jacob Fatu has signed a multi-year deal to remain with the company. Terms weren’t disclosed, but the press release said the “next several years”.
First reported by PWInsider and confirmed independently, the deal is an exclusive one but MLW will retain control over Fatu’s independent bookings and how he’s used. Earlier this week, he tweeted that he and his tag team partner Josef Samael are looking for 2020 dates. He’s currently a tag team champion in several promotions and has stayed busy outside MLW.
A pro since 2012, Fatu signed with MLW earlier this year and won the company’s world title by beating Tom Lawlor this summer. He’s currently part of the CONTRA Unit faction.
Fatu’s Samoan lineage and wrestling are intertwined as his father is Sam Fatu, the former Tonga Kid in WWE. He was trained by his uncle Rikishi and his cousins are WWE tag team standouts The Usos.
MLW’s next show is the Opera Cup in New York City’s Melrose Ballroom on Thursday, December 5th.
Less than a month after he said WWE had racist intentions with a t-shirt design, the now former Jordan Myles announced via Twitter Wednesday night that he is quitting WWE.
Myles (real name Albert Hardie Jr.) said, among other things, that he “would like to announce that I quit f*cking WWE. I am no longer an employee. I refuse to work with racists. I f*cking hate that company and everything they stand for.”
He also said to never call him Jordan Myles again, referring to it as a slave name, adding that “it’s ACH and don’t forget the Super.”
As of this writing, WWE has not responded to a request for comment. Other than a brief statement about the t-shirt design in question, they haven’t said anything publicly about the conflict or Hardie’s status with the company.
The problems began with a t-shirt design Hardie publicly said had racist intentions, calling out Vince McMahon and Paul “HHH” Levesque by name. It later escalated as he shared some now deleted email conversations with a company creative worker that appeared to contradict statements Levesque was said to have made internally about the design.
Stopping short of apologizing, he later said his now-deleted comments toward Jay Lethal and Ring of Honor were disrespectful and that he wanted to talk with Booker T on his podcast about the situation after some comments he made regarding the WWE Hall-of-Famer.
On November 3rd, Hardie tweeted, “If wwe doesn’t reach out to me by tomorrow I’ll make sure my voice and my movement will be heard.”
In a recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote, “Hardie had disappeared from WWE in late September. He was on what has been labeled medical leave for something that was not an injury. One person with knowledge of what happened noted that Paul Levesque made the creative decision to go all the way with Jordan Myles, putting him over in the Breakout tournament which had the finals taped on 8/10 for television. This led to a match with NXT champion Adam Cole, taped on 8/15, where the booking concept was for him to come close in a championship match. His last match was 9/21 and he has not been at the Performance Center since his leave.”
For the first time in several years, Bloody Elbow writer and ‘Show Money’ podcaster John Nash returns to the Josh Nason’s Punch Out guest chair to talk about the bizarre Nick Diaz interview and what fans should understand about the current UFC antitrust lawsuit.
We open up talking about Diaz’s interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani and what exactly we were supposed to take away from it. We try to extract a few key talking points and whether we ever need to see him fight again.
We then transition to the end of Gilbert Melendez’s UFC run, how we graded his time there, and whether or not Bellator is a no-brainer for a return should he keep going.
We get into the meat of the conversation which is John’s work at BE with the ongoing antitrust lawsuit. Along with Paul Gift, the two continue to dissect through court documents to make sense of the happenings, the inside details we never knew, and what’s to come. If you’ve heard of the lawsuit but don’t have the time or interest in digging in too deep through legal mumbo jumbo, this will be a great primer for you to help understand what the hell is going on and why it matters so much.
Finally, we pull a Seinfeld and ask, “What’s the deal with DAZN?”
