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.

Sin Cara asks for his WWE release

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

Sin Cara has become the latest WWE wrestler to take to social media asking for his release.

On Monday morning, Sin Cara (Jorge Arias) tweeted a statement in Spanish that said after praying Sunday night and thinking about his children, he had to make the “most difficult but sensible” decision to ask for his WWE release.

In the statement (seen below), Arias reflected on his 20-year career before giving the reason why he wants out (h/t to Mike Killam for the translation):

“I am so grateful for the opportunity they gave me. However, I realized that I am stuck in a place where I am not valued as an athlete or talent. I have worked hard and honestly for many years to polish my trade. I have been loyal and respectful, a team player, supportive, and I have waited patiently for the opportunity to show the world everything I can do. Unfortunately, after all these years, that opportunity never came or I feel that it will ever come while I remain where I am.”

He then went on to say that his best years are yet to come and thanked both WWE and the WWE fans for their support. He recently returned to Raw in an angle with Andrade and Zelina Vega.

Several other WWE wrestlers have publicly asked for their release in the past with Shawn Spears (the former Tye Dillinger) as the only successful one. Luke Harper and Mike Kanellis still remain with the company after pleading their case on social media.

After working in Mexican indies and AAA for years, the man eventually known as Incognito made his move on the U.S. stage with appearances in TNA and Chikara. He signed with WWE developmental in 2009 and changed his name to Hunico, making it to the main roster in 2011 as a fill-in for Sin Cara as the original was serving a 30-day wellness suspension. A Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara angle ensued and he eventually revived the Hunico name, teaming with Camacho. In 2013, Arias took back the Sin Cara character and formed the Lucha Dragons with Kalisto in both NXT and eventually, WWE.

Outside the ring, he was on the shelf for parts of the last few years with knee injuries. He also famously got into separate 2016 backstage altercations with both Chris Jericho and Simon Gotch.

King Mo to make MLW debut at Saturday TV taping

Posted on by Josh Nason

The morning after he wore their logo on his t-shirt and fight shorts, MLW announced that “King Mo” Lawal will make his debut for the company at their “Blood & Thunder” titled TV tapings Saturday afternoon at Orlando, Florida’s GILT Nightclub.

The 38-year-old Muhammed Lawal retired after an 11-year career Friday at a Bellator MMA show in Thackerville, OK, where he was knocked out in the first round. He’s also a member of American Top Team, owned by famed wrestling belt collector and former Impact Wrestling character Dan Lambert.

Lawal and pro wrestling have long been intertwined. He was offered a WWE developmental contract out of college but the amateur wrestling standout chose the MMA path instead. In 2012, he got involved with Impact Wrestling and wanted to pursue a career in both fighting and wrestling. He did some training at Ohio Valley Wrestling, but he and Impact parted ways in 2015 after a small amount of appearances. He has done a few appearance on indie shows since then.

Lawal joins former UFC fighter and former MLW world champion “Filthy” Tom Lawlor on the roster which also features several wrestlers with grappling and BJJ backgrounds in Timothy Thatcher, Simon Grimm, Davey Boy Smith, and Dominic Garrini.

AEW media call: Cody on Full Gear, rankings, new titles, more shows

Posted on by Josh Nason

Prior to AEW Full Gear Saturday in Baltimore, MD, Cody Rhodes spoke to the media on a conference call Friday afternoon. To listen to the call, just click the red button that says ‘Right Click Save’ below.

A few of the topics the AEW World title challenger and executive vice president spoke about:

– He revealed the plans for the company’s weekly power rankings

– AEW’s schedule and the benefits of working less in the ring leading up to big shows like this

– He discussed his well-received promo from Wednesday and how it was sensory overload for him

– He talked about what he’s learned as an executive vice president thus far

– He talked about Keith Mitchell’s approach to producing AEW while giving a nod toward WWE’s Kevin Dunn

– He said there might be another singles title or “prize” introduced over the next month and that he dislikes the term “mid-card”

– He put over Turner as a partner and their role in Dynamite’s production, adding that there is an opportunity for more live events as B/R Live gets more integrated into the Bleacher Report app.

Hear the 45-minute call below:

Right click save

JNPO: UFC 244 leftovers, DAZN controversy, Moscow preview

Posted on by Josh Nason

Following a great and controversial UFC 244, Josh Nason’s Punch-Out is back to sift through the remaining talking points while looking ahead to UFC Moscow this weekend.

Joining us on our journey is first-time guest Michael Fiedel of The Body Lock and FloCombat. His name has started to get out there more and more with shoutouts from Luke Thomas and Ariel Helwani in recent months, so it was the perfect time to get him on before his asking fee gets too high for me.

To listen, just click the red ‘Right Click Save’ button below.

A few of things we jumped into:

– His background and what the Thomas and Helwani shoutouts meant to him and the website

– Who we hope are next for both Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz, and whether the rematch will actually happen

– Our hopes for Darren Till going forward

– Michael gets into some of the fighters he’s excited to see this Saturday at UFC Moscow

– We talked a bit about Greg Hardy and his last-second stepup against Alexander Volkov

– The whole DAZN controversy in delaying one of their biggest fights to wait for a UFC main event

After the interview, I essentially workshopped a column I might write about the AEW vs. WWE war happening on Twitter among the fans and how I got a taste of it this week.

Right click save

AEW notes: Cody announcement, Jericho, Countdown to Full Gear

Posted on by Josh Nason

On Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite from Charlotte, NC, Cody was finally able to make his big announcement and how it relates directly to this Saturday’s AEW Full Gear.

In an emotional in-ring promo with Tony Schiavone, the challenger to AEW Champion Chris Jericho said that if he doesn’t win the title at the pay-per-view, he will never challenge for the championship again in his career.

https://twitter.com/AEWonTNT/status/1192254321049526272

To further build to the match, Jericho, members of The Inner Circle, and even Virgil appeared in a video done in the same style of one done on Cody several weeks ago, but in more of a mocking tone. The show ended with a big brawl featuring all of the key players for this weekend’s show.

– Jericho was announced as being an in-studio guest on TNT’s Inside The NBA Thursday night.

– Countdown to Full Gear debuted on YouTube Wednesday night:

Randy Orton signs new WWE contract

Posted on by Josh Nason

This story was updated at 11:45 PM Eastern.

Despite a tease otherwise, Randy Orton isn’t leaving WWE anytime soon.

First reported by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, Orton has signed a new multi-year contract with WWE. Our Dave Meltzer confirmed Orton’s signing, but couldn’t confirm the total amount of years. Recent re-signings like Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Mike and Maria Kanellis were all believed to be five year contracts.

Orton confirmed the news on Twitter:

The 3 most dangerous letters in sports entertainment- #RKO
just re-signed with the 3 most dominant letters in sports entertainment- #WWE
Looking forward to pi$$ing off the #WWEUNIVERSE for at least 5 more years #WWEBACKSTAGE@FS1@WWE

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) November 6, 2019

The 39-year-old Orton posted an Instagram photo several weeks ago next to a sign that said ‘Elite Level’ in which he tagged Cody Rhodes, Chris Jericho, and a few other. It was speculated to be a nod toward him talking to AEW when his contract was up. 

Outside his training and a few matches his rookie year in St. Louis, MO, Orton has been a WWE lifer, signing his first deal back in 2001 and beginning in Ohio Valley Wrestling. It didn’t take the third generation wrestler long to be called up to the main roster as he made his TV debut in the spring of 2002. 

He is a “Grand Slam” champion, having won WWE’s world titles 13 times, the tag team championship twice, the Intercontinental championship once, and the U.S. championship once.

Lance Storm returning to WWE as a producer

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

Former WWE, WCW and ECW wrestler Lance Storm will be returning to WWE as a producer, he announced Saturday on Twitter.

For those wondering: After SWA closes I will be returning to the #WWE to work as a Producer. I’m really looking forward to working with such a high level of talent again.

— Lance Storm (@LanceStorm) November 2, 2019

The 50-year-old got a taste of the producing role while with Impact Wrestling earlier this year and has been a guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center in the past. He announced in late-August on his podcast with Bryan Alvarez that he was closing his Storm Wrestling Academy in anticipation of starting a new project. 

Storm (Lance Evers) will work with the main roster, but it’s unclear what brand he will work with and what his official start date is. The final session with his school wraps up on November 29th.

He moved to WWE in 2001 when the company acquired WCW and became the first WCW wrestler to appear on Raw, doing a run-in. He remained with the company full time through 2005 when he left to open up his wrestling school. He was semi-retired in the decade that followed, but was active in working featured matches for select indie promotions, Ring of Honor, and House of Hardcore.

Storm, trained in the same class as AEW Champion Chris Jericho, has been in the wrestling business since 1990. After making a name for himself in ECW from 1997-2000, he signed with WCW and wrestled there for two years before the WWE acquisition.

Brock Lesnar moving to WWE Raw, World titles to switch brands

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: WWE

According to our Dave Meltzer, Brock Lesnar and the WWE Championship are officially moving to Raw starting this Monday while the Universal title will move to SmackDown.

That would answer a question posed after Thursday’s Crown Jewel show where The Fiend Bray Wyatt won the Universal title from Seth Rollins. Wyatt is a SmackDown wrestler, putting both top singles titles on the blue brand.

However, on Friday’s SmackDown, Paul Heyman, flanked by Lesnar, did a promo and announced that the WWE Champion was quitting the show so he could go to Raw Monday to get revenge on Rey Mysterio for attacking him after his win over Cain Velasquez at Crown Jewel. Heyman noted since Mysterio was on Raw, he couldn’t go to SmackDown, hence the “quitting” angle.

The moves come just weeks after the aforementioned draft and SmackDown’s debut on Fox. It’s unclear how Lesnar’s inclusion on the Raw roster will be explained as he was Fox’s top pick on the draft’s second day.

The Rock announces plans for movie on former MMA star Mark Kerr

Posted on by Josh Nason

Image: Sherdog

At a Friday press conference in New York City, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced he and his Seven Bucks Productions company are going to create a movie about former UFC star Mark Kerr.

Kerr, a former NCAA Division 1 championship wrestler, was one of the early pioneers of the sport and competed in the UFC four times (all in 1997) before moving onto PRIDE and other organizations. He retired in 2009.

Kerr’s story was told in the well-recieved 2002 HBO documentary “The Smashing Machine: The Life & Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr” that covered his career and struggles fighting painkillers.

The movie will be a scripted one and the 50-year-old Kerr will be involved, giving the project his blessing. Johnson didn’t announce any details about the anticipated release date of the movie. Seven Bucks Productions released this year’s “Fighting With My Family”, a biopic of now-retired WWE women’s star Paige.

Johnson is in town for Saturday’s UFC 244, presenting the BMF title to the winner of Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz.

Dana White unveils BMF belt for Diaz-Masvidal UFC 244 winner

Posted on by Josh Nason

What started as a throwaway comment by Nate Diaz has evolved into a physical championship that will be contested over Saturday night at UFC 244.

On Friday afternoon, UFC president Dana White unveiled the BMF belt, short for “bad motherf*cker”, to the media, the ceremonial title that will be given to the winner of Saturday’s Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal main event at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Only a BMF can earn this belt! #UFC244pic.twitter.com/VqOiQ0vlKk

— UFC (@ufc) November 1, 2019

White told the media that the title cost $50,000 to create, their most expensive ever. It was also done with the quickest turnaround time. He added that “it’s not a bright, flashy, frilly belt” and that “dark and ominous” looks reminds him of the Oakland Raiders.

After a three-year absence from the sport, Diaz returned in August at UFC 241 with a unanimous decision win over Anthony Pettis. In his post-fight promo, he called out Jorge Masvidal and mentioned defending “his belt” which he called “the baddest motherf*cker in the game belt” at a post-fight press conference.

On Twitter, Masvidal played it up and campaigned for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to present it to the winner. Johnson eventually accepted and will indeed do that Saturday night. White said this will not be a regularly defended title and that this is a one-off.

However, Conor McGregor chimed in after the belt was defended, tweeting “Tell them I want it spit shined” and “Now make me a coolest motherf*cker belt also.”

Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez opens WWE Crown Jewel main show

Posted on by Josh Nason

In the opening match of the WWE Crown Jewel main card Thursday in Saudi Arabia, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar submitted Cain Velasquez in just a few minutes to retain the title.

Worked like an MMA fight and resembling more of a sparring session, Velasquez threw a few kicks to Lesnar before the two got into the corner and grappled like you would see in an MMA cage. Action moved over to another corner where Velasquez hit a knee to Lesnar’s midsection that dropped him, following up with some ground and pound. However, Velasquez erred and got caught in a kimura, tapping quickly after briefly trying to escape.

Lesnar kept the hold on which prompted Rey Mysterio to enter the ring with a chair. Lesnar dispatched him to the outside of the ring and went back to work on Velasquez, hitting him with chair shots and eventually giving his rival an F5 on the chair. Mysterio re-entered and went to work on Lesnar with wild chair shots before the champion left the ring with Paul Heyman, seemingly setting something up for the future.

After a pair of matches for AAA this year, Velasquez was making his WWE debut and showed none of the lucha style or moves he displayed in those first two matches. He recently signed a multi-year deal with WWE, but it’s unknown if the wrestling rookie will head to NXT or remain on the main roster.

The match was built as a rematch of Lesnar and Velasquez’s 2010 UFC fight where Velasquez defeated Lesnar to win the UFC heavyweight title.

WWE Q3 financials: Revenue, Network subs & attendance decrease

Posted on by Josh Nason

This story was updated at noon Eastern on Thursday.

Prior to their investors’ call Thursday morning, WWE released their 2019 Q3 numbers, showing a small year-over-year decrease in revenue to $186.3 million and 1.51 million average paid WWE Network subscribers.

As of this writing, WWE stock was down nearly 16%, trading at $55.91 a share. 

Notes and audio from today’s call can be found below. 

WWE attributed the decrease from $188.4 million a year ago to declines in live event ticket sales and merchandise offset by increase in their Media segment.

They highlighted the following quarterly highlights in their release:

  • $6.4 million operating income, down from $18.1 million in last year’s Q2 due to a decline in revenue and “increases in fixed costs including the impact of certain strategic investments”.
  • $25.4 million adjusted OBIDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization) as compared to $35.8 million the year prior.
  • They adjusted their full year guidance of a record $180-$190 million OBIDA, down from their $200 million OBIDA forecast from last quarter. The downturn was attributed to a TV deal in the Middle East being delayed and an increased investment in content creation.
  • The Network subscriber drop (9%) was in line with their Q2 prediction of 1.53 million. They predicted a further drop to 1.43 million in Q4 and a year over year decline of 10%.
  • They said that that through the end of September, “digital video views increased 12% on a year-over-year basis to 25.6 billion and hours consumed increased 14% to 957 million hours across digital and social platforms.”

Other notes:

  • Live event revenue declined to $23.2 million due to “weakened performance” and fewer North American shows. Excluding NXT, there were 74 total events in Q3 (67/7 domestic to international split) compared to 90 in Q3 last year (86/4).
  • Their average ticket price increased by 6% to $56.64 while overall North American sales declined by $4.1 million with 19 fewer shows and lower attendance. International revenue was virtually identical.
  • Consumer products decreased to $17 million, down from $19.6 million last year.

Call Notes

  • Vince McMahon was not on the call as he’s in Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel. George Barrios did the majority of the talking.
  • He acknowledged reviews for WWE2K20 were mixed.
  • He was asked about NXT’s move from the Network to USA and the continued drive toward live rights. A question about leaving Full Sail University didn’t get answered.
  • They expect their India TV deal to be done by end of ’19 and gives no timeline for the Middle East deal.
  • Barrios believes 70% of total growth in years ahead will come outside the U.S. and both India and China are a big part of that growth.
  • They said investors couldn’t be guaranteed two Saudi Arabia shows per year going forward.
  • Network tiers were again brought up, but no timeline was announced. They see their value prop as different than HBO Max and Disney+ so there’s a not a drive to reduce the monthly cost to keep up.
  • They brought up “accelerated investments” in their in-ring product when asked if this year’s Crown Jewel was more expensive due to Tyson Fury and Cain Velasquez. The creation of the storyline, the in-ring talent, and producing the actual content are all part of the process and all saw increases.
  • Asked about AEW, Barrios said there is a lot of competition for eyeballs through all media and sports entities. Their expectation is that they win.

Full audio from the call:

Right click save

The Rock to make UFC-related announcement Friday

Posted on by Josh Nason

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said Tuesday that he will make an announcement Friday that he wanted to “tell UFC fans and MMA community first.” 

Johnson was on an Instagram chat with UFC president Dana White talking about this Saturday’s UFC 244 pay-per-view in which he will present the winner of Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal with the “BMF” belt, a ceremonial championship created for this fight only. 

At the end of the talk, he said he will make the announcement Friday at a UFC press conference. The company has yet to formally announce a time or location.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Ha5aDxIqU

Johnson is an Endeavor client, the company that owns UFC. A longtime UFC fan, the idea for Johnson to present the belt to the winner of Saturday’s main event came up from Masvidal on social media.

The announcement could be associated with Athleticon, a three-day event next October in Atlanta, GA, that will focus on athletics, fitness, and entertainment. In this CNN article, it mentions “competitive athletic events” which could mean a UFC event considering Athleticon is held over a weekend.

It is not expected the 47-year-old will announce he is going to fight in the UFC.

Jordan Myles calls previous tweets disrespectful and unprofessional

Posted on by Josh Nason

While not apologizing for his recent tweets toward WWE, Jay Lethal, and Ring of Honor, NXT wrestler Jordan Myles took to another social media platform Tuesday to continue the discussion about his displeasure with his current situation.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4M0wPeJxlh

Myles (Albert Hardie Jr. and the former ACH) took to Twitter Sunday and Monday to complain about a recent t-shirt design, saying in a now-deleted tweet that “WWE hates black people” while also calling out Ring of Honor and Jay Lethal in another deleted tweet. He specifically mentioned Vince McMahon, Paul Levesque, and a WWE creative services employee in tweets and a screenshot of an email that remain up. Myles has been quiet on Twitter Tuesday but did post another picture of himself in NXT without any caption.

As of this writing, Myles is still a WWE employee and has yet to publicly ask for his release. While Lethal and ROH have yet to comment on Myles’ comments, fellow WWE talents Booker T discussed it on his podcast while Titus O’Neil took to Twitter to add his insight:

Jordan Myles responds to WWE statement on Twitter

Posted on by Josh Nason

NXT wrestler Jordan Myles continued to air his displeasure at WWE and other wrestling promotions via social media Monday morning, saying among other things that “WWE doesn’t care about black people” in a now deleted tweet.

Myles (real name Albert Hardie Jr.) also called out Ring of Honor for racism and referred to Jay Lethal using a derogatory term in a tweet that was also deleted.

The 31-year-old Myles took umbrage with a t-shirt design Saturday that was compared to blackface imagery, saying that if that was Vince McMahon and Paul Levesque’s vision for him, it was a slap in the face to all African-American wrestlers, fans, and supporters, He remained active on Twitter throughout Sunday, prompting supporters to change their profile pictures to black and white in protest among other retweets of support for his position.

WWE released a statement late Sunday night, saying Myles had approved the design but that the design had been pulled, adding they collaborate with their talents on input and approval before moving forward. 

After the aforementioned deleted tweets, Myles tweeted that he had approved it, but only saw the design on a white background and that when put against a black background, “you can see the racist intentions“. In another tweet seen below, he shared a WWE employee’s email address and exchange with him, and said in another tweet that employee, a WWE creative services talent coordinator, claimed Levesque wanted the design even though Myles had issues with it from the start:

https://twitter.com/GoGoMyles/status/1188830062570823680

Myles then went on to call out WWE for being fraudulent and creating a system where you can’t trust anyone, specifically calling out Hulk Hogan’s locker room apology for being caught on video using racist terms:

https://twitter.com/GoGoMyles/status/1188830667238457345