A former WCW World Champion will be the guest on this month’s episode of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions.
Peacock has announced that a new Broken Skull Sessions episode with Diamond Dallas Page appearing as Steve Austin’s guest will premiere later this month. It will debut on Peacock/WWE Network on Sunday, December 19.
DDP was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017. He last wrestled in January 2020, teaming with Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall in a loss to MJF, The Butcher & The Blade at AEW Dynamite Bash at the Beach.
The most recent Broken Skull Sessions episode prior to this premiered on Thanksgiving and featured Austin interviewing Jeff Hardy. The Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, The Godfather, Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, Bobby Lashley, and Seth Rollins have also appeared on the show previously.
A new episode of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions will be premiering this Thanksgiving.
On WWE’s The Bump this morning, it was announced that Jeff Hardy will be Steve Austin’s guest on this month’s edition of Broken Skull Sessions. The episode will be uploaded to Peacock/WWE Network on Thursday, November 25.
Hardy changed brands in the WWE Draft last month, joining the SmackDown roster. He was involved in a feud with Austin Theory on Raw before officially moving to SmackDown.
Seth Rollins was interviewed by Austin on the most recent Broken Skull Sessions episode prior to this. The Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, The Godfather, Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, and Bobby Lashley have also appeared on the show previously.
Peacock also lists that WWE’s Ruthless Aggression docuseries will return with new episodes on Sunday, November 21 and Monday, November 22. That has yet to be officially announced by WWE. The first season of the docuseries debuted in 2020.
A documentary focused on the post-9/11 episode of SmackDown will premiere this week.
WWE has announced that “Never Forget: WWE Returns After 9/11” will premiere this Friday, one day before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The documentary will be available on Peacock/WWE Network, WWE’s YouTube channel, and WWE’s Facebook page.
“WWE commemorates the 20-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, with an all-new documentary, Never Forget: WWE Returns After 9/11,” WWE wrote. “Hear from Superstars like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Edge and many more as they remember being involved in one of the most emotional and patriotic SmackDown episodes in WWE history just two days after the attacks.”
Vince McMahon was also interviewed for the documentary.
The post-9/11 SmackDown was held at the Compaq Center in Houston, Texas on September 13, 2001. Stephanie McMahon has received criticism for comments she made on the episode where she compared how the U.S. became more united after the attacks to how Vince McMahon’s steroid trial made her family stronger.
WWE will be in New York City as this Friday’s SmackDown takes place at Madison Square Garden. The show will feature an appearance by Brock Lesnar, Edge vs. Seth Rollins, and a contract signing for Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair’s SmackDown Women’s Championship match at Extreme Rules.
The trailer for the documentary is available to watch below:
Steve Austin will interview John Cena on the next episode of Broken Skull Sessions.
A new Broken Skull Sessions episode with Cena appearing as Austin’s guest is listed among Peacock’s additions for September. The episode is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, September 26. It will be available on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else.
This will be Cena’s first Broken Skull Sessions appearance. The Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, The Godfather, Mick Foley, Kevin Nash, and Bobby Lashley have previously been guests on the show.
Cena was involved in the main event of SummerSlam last Saturday, unsuccessfully challenging for Roman Reigns’ Universal Championship.
Following SummerSlam, Cena posted a tweet thanking the WWE fans for allowing him to return and perform this summer. Cena said his journey takes him away from WWE for now, but he’ll be seeing them soon.
Cena is set to appear when SmackDown comes to Madison Square Garden on Friday, September 10. Whether he’ll be appearing on TV or just for the live crowd remains to be seen.
A new premiere date is set for WWE’s Broken Skull Sessions episode with Kevin Nash.
The Broken Skull Sessions episode with Steve Austin interviewing Nash is now listed among this week’s Peacock/WWE Network additions. It will premiere on Sunday, July 18, which is the day of WWE’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view.
The Broken Skull Sessions episode was originally scheduled to premiere on July 11 but was pulled from the schedule before it aired. It was going to be part of “nWo Week,” with content on Peacock/WWE Network and across WWE’s social media platforms celebrating the 25th anniversary of the nWo’s formation.
This was the second time this month that new Peacock/WWE Network content was pulled from the schedule. A WWE Icons documentary on Lex Luger was set to debut on July 4 before it was pulled. A new premiere date for the documentary has yet to be announced.
The most recent Broken Skull Sessions episode prior to this premiered last month and featured Mick Foley as the guest. The Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, and The Godfather have also been guests on the show in the past.
In what is becoming a trend regarding previously announced WWE Network programming, the Steve Austin Broken Skull Sessions episode with Kevin Nash that was set to debut Sunday is no longer on the schedule for either Peacock or the Network.
The change was first reported by WWE Network News. As of now, no reason has been given why it was pulled and neither Austin or Nash have commented on what is going on.
WWE Network News noted this is the third time in recent weeks that a previously advertised show has been pulled with virtually no notice. It began in June with WWE Untold: The Nexus and then WWE Icons: Lex Luger which was set to air last weekend.
The Nash episode was set to wrap up nWo Week on the Network commemorating the creation of the WCW faction 25 years ago. The week has featured a Best of the nWo show and X-Pac appearing on The Bump.
Steve Austin will interview Kevin Nash on the next episode of Broken Skull Sessions.
WWE Network News reported on Friday that a new Broken Skull Sessions episode with Nash as the guest will premiere on Sunday, July 11. It will be available on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else.
Here’s the description for the episode:
Steve Austin and two-time WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash discuss everything from ‘Big Daddy Cool’ and The Kliq to The nWo and the Monday Night War, as well as never-before-heard road stories.
The most recent episode of Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions prior to this premiered last month and featured Mick Foley as the guest.
The Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, The Godfather, and Foley have been interviewed by Austin on past Broken Skull Sessions episodes. The Undertaker is the only guest who has been on the show twice.
Nash was also featured on Peacock/WWE Network programming when “WWE Untold: Two Dudes with Attitudes” debuted this May. It focused on Nash and Shawn Michaels’ team from the 1990s.
The next installment of the acclaimed docuseries takes you inside the life and career of The Total Package as he reaches the height of sports-entertainment success and overcomes deep, personal tragedy. From winning the World Heavyweight Title to traveling the country aboard The Lex Express, Luger reveals never-before-heard stories from his legendary career.
A new edition of WWE Icons: Revisited will also premiere alongside the WWE Icons episode. WWE wrote: “There will be even more Luger stories to hear afterward on Icons Revisited, hosted by Matt Camp and Ryan Pappolla and featuring interviews with the likes of Ric Flair and Bret ‘Hit Man’ Hart.”
WWE Icons premiered this January with an episode focused on Yokozuna. There have since been episodes on Beth Phoenix and Rob Van Dam. There will also be a future episode on British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith.
This Fourth of July will be the 28th anniversary of Luger slamming Yokozuna on the USS Intrepid.
– A pair of matches have been announced for the NXT UK episode that will air two weeks from today.
The Thursday, June 3 edition of NXT UK will feature Ilja Dragunov vs. Noam Dar and Rampage Brown vs. Joe Coffey. Brown vs. Coffey is a rematch from when Brown defeated Coffey this February.
On this week’s NXT UK, Dragunov appeared as the guest on Dar’s Supernova Sessions talk show. Dar mocked the anger issues that Dragunov has dealt with since losing to NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER last October. Dragunov said he’s not that person anymore but can still hurt Dar very, very badly. Dar claimed that Dragunov was scared of WALTER and is scared of him.
Brown defeated Coffey’s Gallus stablemate Wolfgang on this week’s NXT UK.
Nathan Frazer (formerly known as Ben Carter) vs. Sha Samuels has been set up for next Thursday’s NXT UK episode but hasn’t been officially announced.
– Two matches have also been announced for this Friday’s episode of 205 Live. Ikemen Jiro & August Grey will face The Bollywood Boyz in a tag team match, while Ari Sterling will take on Asher Hale in singles action.
Jiro (formerly known as Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio), Sterling (Alex Zayne), and Hale (Anthony Henry) are all recent additions to the 205 Live roster. Jiro made his 205 Live debut by teaming with Grey to defeat Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari two weeks ago. Sterling also debuted on that show, defeating Samir Singh of The Bollywood Boyz. Sterling lost to Nese on last week’s 205 Live.
Hale made his 205 Live debut by defeating Daivari last week.
– WWE has announced that a new limited-series event titled “The 50 Greatest Tag Teams” will premiere on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else on Wednesday, June 2. It will be hosted by Breezango and will be narrated by WWE’s The Bump’s Matt Camp.
New episodes of The 50 Greatest Tag Teams will premiere every Wednesday leading into the final episode on Wednesday, June 30. The series “will count down WWE’s top tandems over the course of five episodes.”
“The series launch coincides with Tag Team Week, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the World Tag Team Championship taking place across WWE social channels May 31-June 6,” WWE wrote.
“The show is the second installment of The 50 Greatest series that premiered earlier this year. The first installment focused on WWE’s best female Superstars, a list topped by WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus.”
WWE has announced the premiere date for the next episode of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions.
This month’s Broken Skull Sessions episode will premiere on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else on Sunday, May 30. It will feature The Godfather (real name Charles Wright) appearing as Austin’s guest.
The Godfather had revealed earlier this month that he was interviewed by Austin for an upcoming Broken Skull Sessions episode.
This will be the first Broken Skull Sessions since AEW’s Chris Jericho appeared on the episode that premiered over WrestleMania 37 weekend last month.
The Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton, and Jericho have previously been interviewed by Austin on Broken Skull Sessions, with The Undertaker appearing on the show twice.
The Godfather was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016. In addition to being The Godfather, Wright also played Papa Shango and Kama Mustafa during his WWE career.
A documentary on one of WWE’s most recognizable superfans is coming later this year.
WWE has announced that “Superfan: The Story of Vladimir” will premiere on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else this summer. The documentary is focused on professional wrestling superfan Vladimir Abouzeide.
“The Story of Vladimir tells the life story of Vladimir Abouzeide, one of the most devoted and recognizable fans in WWE history, who came to Manhattan from Haiti as a child and quickly found his passion for living through the lens of sports-entertainment,” WWE wrote.
It was also announced tonight that WWE has named Vladimir as the company’s first-ever officially certified superfan. Vladimir was presented with the award by Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Stephanie McMahon while at WrestleMania 37 night one tonight. Levesque tweeted: “What better way to welcome back the @WWE Universe at #WrestleMania than naming Vladimir our first-ever officially-certified superfan!!!! @StephMcMahon”
The trailer for the Vladimir documentary is available to watch below:
AEW star Chris Jericho is set to make his first appearance on WWE-produced programming since 2018.
WWE announced today that Jericho will be the next guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions. The episode will premiere on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else on Sunday, April 11. It will air on the live stream following the second night of WrestleMania 37.
The WWE Network’s Twitter account had teased the announcement yesterday by posting a 24-hour Austin-themed countdown clock with audio from the countdown clock that was featured in Jericho’s WWE entrance music.
“I was having a beer one night after my Broken Skull Sessions interview with The Undertaker aired, and out of the blue, Chris Jericho reached out and said, ‘Man, that was a great interview,’” Austin said. “I sent him back a couple of those emojis, one of a beer mug and the other of an eagle, and then he called me right then and there.
“We got to talking. I’ve always respected the hell out of his career, and I’m glad they’re around — it gives the guys and girls in professional wrestling more places to work. I said, ‘I’d love to have you on the show.’ And he said he’d love to do it, so I checked with Vince about it.”
Austin told Sports Illustrated about Vince McMahon approving the interview with Jericho: “I texted Vince and said we had this badass idea about Jericho coming on the show. Vince goes, ‘It’s cool. Go ahead.’ But me and Vince don’t always do well with phones and texts and all that, so I texted one more time, ‘Are you sure it’s OK to have Chris Jericho on the show?’ Vince gave me the thumbs up, and Chris came out to do the show.”
Sports Illustrated noted that AEW’s Tony Khan also gave his approval for Jericho to appear on Broken Skull Sessions.
Austin has interviewed Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Randy Orton on past Broken Skull Sessions episodes, with The Undertaker appearing on the show twice.
Jericho had his final match for WWE at the Greatest Royal Rumble in 2018. He joined AEW when the promotion launched in 2019.
On this coming Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite, The Inner Circle (Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager) will appear live for the first time since MJF turned against them three weeks ago and formed his Pinnacle stable with Wardlow, FTR, Shawn Spears, and Tully Blanchard. The Inner Circle laid out The Pinnacle in a backstage angle on the most recent episode of Dynamite.
WWE is now two weeks away from WrestleMania, and there is at least a semblance of a lineup of what will take place on what night.
The idea is for three-and-a-half to four hours shows on both 4/10 and 4/11 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. It will be the first WWE show with more than a few hundred fans in more than one year, and with the exception of 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome, the first pro wrestling shows of any kind with more than 10,000 fans in attendance.
Announced for the Saturday night show is a main event of Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE title, plus Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair for the Smackdown women’s title and The Miz vs. Bad Bunny.
The Sunday main event will be Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Edge for the Universal title (at this point it is announced as Reigns vs. Edge but that has been changed, and the change is expected to be announced after an angle on the 3/26 Smackdown show), Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley for the Raw women’s title and The Fiend vs. Randy Orton, likely in a stipulation match.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Scheduled for 205 Live tonight is Bollywood Boyz vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari and Ashante Thee Adonis vs. August Grey.
Andrade confirmed in a tweet that he does not have a 90-day no compete clause, writing on Twitter: “Start my new goals and we are in talks, no waiting for 90 days. A empezar mis nuevas metas y empezamos pláticas, nada de esperar 90 días!”
PWInsider is reporting that in addition to content being removed from Peacock’s version of WWE shows, the same edits are being applied to the shows on the WWE Network.
Sportskeeda spoke to Robert Roode. He told them that it was Paul Heyman that came up with the idea of putting him and Dolph Ziggler together as a tag team. “Well actually it was a Paul Heyman idea, to be honest with you that… I can speak for myself, that during that time period, I wasn’t really doing much,” he said. “You know? I was on the live events and I was coming to TV, but sometimes I’d do Main Event. You know, the Main Event tapings. Sometimes I get sprinkled in on RAW doing something, but a lot of times I wasn’t doing much. At the time, Paul had an idea to put Dolph and I together and he thought we’d be a great tag team.”
Daniel Bryan expressed interest in wrestling William Regal’s son Bailey Matthews, who has recently started in NXT UK. “If I could do a match ten years from now, and this is assuming that I’m still capable of doing it and that he progresses to a level like that, one of the things that I think would be really cool… William Regal’s son, Bailey Matthews,” he told Talksport when asked who he would like to wrestle in the future. “He just recently started on NXT UK. For his experience level, he’s doing really well.I loved being able to wrestle William Regal the times that I did in WWE, but I’m not sure people know how much he has affected my career. He has affected it so much. What he’s given to me and he’s never asked for anything from me.”
Big E spoke to Uproxx about the creation of his project Our Heroes Rock, as well as evolving his WWE character.
ROH World Champion Rush spoke to Sports Illustrated ahead of tonight’s 19th Anniversary show. Speaking about Andrade, Rush said “Andrade is one of the greatest in all of the world. People know we are friends, and everyone wants to know about our recent conversations. La Facción Ingobernable is full of surprises. In the future, in the next few months, people will see that.”
Chris Bey wrote on Twitter that he isn’t cleared to compete currently: “Struggle is only a minor setback. Not cleared to compete. Cleared to rebuild.”
Impact announced that their ‘Wrestle Week’ block will return to AXS TV starting on April 20, with:
Impact in 60: Title vs. Title on April 20 at 8 pm ET, followed by This Is Rebellion, a look at the build for the show, at 9:00 pm
The final Impact prior to Rebellion will be on April 22. Following Impact, the Good Brothers will host an episode of Bad A$$ Movies With The Good Brothers at 8 pm ET, where they will screen the 1979 movie Meatballs.
April 25 will close out the week with the broadcast premiere of this year’s Hard to Kill at 3 pm ET.
Peacock is reviewing the entire WWE Network video library and removing content that does not align with its standards and practices. That information comes via a report from The Hollywood Reporter.
THR cites sources that say that Peacock is reviewing all WWE content in its archive and making WWE aware of any editing.
THR specifically states that Peacock has removed “Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. Bad News Brown from WrestleMania VI, where Piper appeared in half-blackface, as PW Insider first reported. The other specific segment mentioned in the article as being edited out comes from Survivor Series 2005, where Vince McMahon used the n-word in a backstage segment with John Cena and Booker T.
News broke on Monday, January 25 that WWE and NBCUniversal had reached a deal where WWE would license the WWE Network to Peacock in the United States for five years and a reported $1 billion.
Last Sunday’s Fastlane PPV was the first of the Peacock era, but was still simulcast on WWE Network, which will remain a standalone service in the United States until April 4.
We have an update on what the technical capabilities are expected to be for WWE content on Peacock, particularly when it comes to live events.
The line in the current issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter about features like rewind/fast forward or the ability to start live programming at the beginning if you log in after the show starts not being available right now, and possibly never being available, is correct about right now, but the part about them possibly never being available is not the case according to sources at Peacock.
The features mentioned are not in play right now, but changes are expected to be made as time goes by.
Those at Peacock say that they anticipate making live pause, restart controls, and scrub bar previews available before SummerSlam.
Regarding search, entity-based discovery is on the product roadmap, and they are anticipating offering searching by the name of the performer by September.
The WWE Network launched on Peacock yesterday. Peacock will become the exclusive home of the WWE Network in the United States when the standalone WWE Network service ends for US viewers on Sunday, April 4.
