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.
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.”
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.
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:
@GoGoMyles I AM 100% in agreement that the shirt is very Distasteful. That being said, bringing others into this to vent your frustrations or Issues THAT HAVE NOTHING to do with @WWE or the shirt is also very Distasteful. If it’s #ForTheCulture Don’t attack those in it!! 👊🏿✊🏿
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:
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:
WWE has responded to controversy regarding a Jordan Myles t-shirt design.
On Sunday morning, Myles posted a tweet with a picture of the shirt writing “I will keep posting this till my voice is heard. I’m not sorry for anything I say or do. Representation is important. If this is @VinceMcMahon & @TripleH “vision” of me then this is a slap in the face to EVERY African American performer, fan, and supporter.”
The shirt’s design has been compared to blackface imagery. It was listed briefly before being quickly taken down several weeks ago.
This evening, WWE issued the following statement: “Albert Hardie Jr. (aka Jordan Myles) approved this t-shirt for sale. As always, we work collaboratively with all of our performers to develop logos and merchandise designs and get their input and approval before proceeding. This was the same process with Albert, and we responded swiftly once he later requested that the logo/t-shirt be redesigned. No t-shirts were sold.”
Myles signed with WWE in February and won the NXT Breakout tournament back in August. As a result, he faced Adam Cole for the NXT title on September 4 in a losing effort.
NEW JAPAN FROM KORAKUEN HALL MONDAY AT 5:30 A.M. ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado
TJP & Clark Connors vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori
Sho & Yoh vs. Volador Jr. & Titan
Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles vs. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi
Raw is tomorrow from St. Louis, with Jerry Lawler hosting a Divorce Court segment with Lana and Rusev, Seth Rollins vs. Erick Rowan in a falls count anywhere match and Becky Lynch vs. Kairi Sane in a non-title match.
With both nights of the draft, free agent roster additions, and even a trade now out of the way, the new rosters for Raw and SmackDown look to be set.
WWE’s handling of the draft may have been lackluster, but this is a pivotal time for the company. If WWE is really going to commit to the brand split and making Raw and SmackDown stand out as different from each other, they need to get the roster mix right. They’re also working with two different television partners and will need to make sure FOX and USA Network don’t feel like they’re playing second fiddle to the other.
WWE is a promotion that’s overloaded with talent. That would seem like the ideal environment for a brand split, but the company’s lack of top-tier stars has been a barrier to the roster split’s long-term sustainability. When there’s a ratings slip, it’s easy to say Becky Lynch or Roman Reigns not being on both shows is the reason for it. And while the Wild Card rule may not have been overly popular, any of its short-term effects were probably a positive for ratings.
Here’s what the new Raw and SmackDown rosters look like coming out of the draft:
Current subscribers click here to continue reading.
We have a huge double issue this week, with a special Hall of Fame feature, some shocking ratings news from overseas, New Japan’s international expansion, Randy Couture’s heart attack and coverage of the major shows.We also cover:
The situation with Nate Diaz and why the UFC 244 main event looks to be in jeopardy.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s opening up a new U.S. outpost. We look at what the goals of the company are for 2020, who is in charge, why they are in charge, who surprisingly isn’t involved and why. We look at how the U.S. market has changed for New Japan, ticket sales for the upcoming shows, how it would be best served for New Japan in this market and the lessons learned from what they’ve done so far.
The difference between the fans in Japan and the U.S. for New Japan, the type of buildings they are looking at running and the ultimate goals.
Update on the situation with Randy Couture.
WWE Crown Jewel, with the lineup and circumstances of the show.
AAA Heroes Inmortales with the Kenny Omega vs Fenix AAA title change as well as a look at the rest of the show.
Xavier Woods, have all the Canadian TV ratings, 2020 NXT plans, Randy Orton update, Seth Rollins talks Kenny Omega, WWE news regarding lineup for the Mexico City show, major WWE signing, Update on 205 Live, WWE 2K commercial news, former Lucha Underground star talking with WWE, Dana White talks Cain Velasquez in WWE, former New Japan star teaching at performance center, reasons for the stock price decline, most watched shows this past week on the WWE Network, as well as a rundown of all the NXT and WWE shows, with match-by-match coverage and business news.
Impact Bound for Glory, with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
A huge feature looking at the 2019 Hall of Fame elections, strongest and weakest candidates with bios on a lot of the different performers. We look at everyone’s strengths ad weaknesses as well as the leading still active candidates.
A complete rundown of the Wednesday night wars over the past two weeks, how both shows are doing in every segment and with every demo group. We look at the median age of viewers, how the World Series affected viewing and more.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
The results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
Current subscribers click here to continue reading.
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
We have two weekend shows up. The first has Garrett and I looking back at Championship Wrestling from Florida and its heyday, looking at stars like Eddie Graham, Dusty Rhodes, The Von Brauners, Mike Graham, Dick Slater, Jack Brisco, Kevin Sullivan and the decision to make Bob Backlund the WWF champion in 1978. The second is a show Bryan and I did last night talking more on Florida, UFC, WWE and more.
There has been a lot of talk all day when Jordan Myles (Albert Hardie Jr.) called people’s attention to a Jordan Myles T-shirt that was listed very briefly before being taken down several weeks ago. He said that even though the shirt was taken off very quickly, the fact it was made in the first place was troublesome. The shirt itself that was removed was very tone deaf to say the least. WWE has not responded with anything on the record regarding the background and timeline but it apparently was done weeks ago and Hardie has said it has been building up in him. Hardie hasn’t responded either at this point.
The only thing that trended this past weekend is Ben Askren at No. 20 yesterday with 50,000.
A few notes and corrections from stuff on audio this past week:
The Authors of Pain were very briefly on Smackdown. They were to be on the brand when Akam was injured.
The angle where Dusty Rhodes got in trouble at TBS was when the Road Warriors attacked Dusty Rhodes with a spike to the eye against the directives of TBS and Rhodes was removed as booker. Sting & Rhodes faced The Road Warriors at Starrcade on December 26, 1988, a month later. Rhodes’ last match in that run for WCW was January 17, 1989. He debuted with the new PWF with Mike Graham, he and Gordon Solie as the owners on March 4, 1989. He left for WWF on May 29, 1989 so he was there less than three months realizing it wasn’t going to work.
WWE
Ali made a surprise appearance last night at a Dream Wave Wrestling show in LaSalle, IL.
Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt was the main event of the Raw house show last night in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
John Cena on the red carpet with his new girlfriend. (thanks to Ross Blair)
AEW
The following has been listed on the FiteTV preview for this Wednesday’s show:
Chris Jericho & Cody contract signing
Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix in tag title finals with Rock & Roll Express presenting the AEW tag belts to the winners
Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Jack Evans & Angelico & Kip Sabian
Hangman Page vs. Sammy Guevara
MISCELLANEOUS
Zeda Zhang vs. Spider Lady debuts the MLW women’s division on the 11/9 tapings in Orlando on a show headlined by Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs.; Tom Lawlor.
BCW from Friday night in Melbourne, Australia: Cody Swift b Mike Morleone to keep Battle Express title, Vixsin b Ayasha, Gabriel Wolfe & Big Cuz b Cletus & Zhan Wen, Kaz Jordan b DCT, Mick Moretti b Damian Slater, Preston Kindred b Carlo Cannon & Sketch to keep tag titles, Mortar b Tenille Dashwood and Danielle Moinet (Summer Rae) to keep women’s title, Mad Dog b Syd Parker. They announced an 11/29 how in Melbourne with Mad Dog vs Sabu in a barbed wire match. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
LFA on 11/22 in Broomfield, CO at the 1st Bank Arena with Brandon Royval (9-4) vs. Jared Scoggnis (9-1) in an LA flyweight title match.
NHPW from Saturday night in Perth, Western Australia: Julian Ward & Rogan Karguis b Gorgeous Garry & Johnny Hardway, Creek Murdoch b WAR, Cannon Connors b Cornelius Low, Aaron O’Malley b Jebediah, Future Legends b Hercules Rockerfeller in a handicap match to win the tag titles, Rory Holmes b King Shail, Lena Kross b Tenille Dashwood. Danielle Moinet (Summer Rae) was in Dashwood’s corner. Main event was said to be a good match. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
ACW from Saturday night in Adelaide, Australia: Matt Hayter b Kit Condor, Duke Marshall b Havok, Joe Mundie won four-way over Isaac Bailey, Joey Triton and Lil Onyxxx, Jesse Hendy b Dean Valente, DCT won three-way over Riley and Blair Valentine, Jack Rosseley b Felix Young, Adam Brooks b Ritchie Taylor in a tables match.
Slamforce Africa from Pretoria, South Africa yesterday: Makita b X-Terminator, Kilimanjaro b Matthew Hammer, Andro Perseus b Kyle Ripley, Celeste Bonin (Kaitlyn in WWE) won three-way over Katie Forbes and Black Widow, PJ Black b Rob Van Dam to keep SFA world title. There was a spot where Black went for a crossbody and in landing Van Dam broke through the ring. Van Dam looked hurt but they still did a Spanish fly off the top rope and Black won via sharpshooter submission. Black, who was the promoter, said he wanted to create more wrestling schools in South Africa and raise the profile of wrestling in the country (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Stardom did a Sunday doubleheader at Shinkiba in Tokyo today continuing the tag team tournament:
Afternoon show: AZM won three-way over Rina and Hina, Natsu Sumire & Session Moth Martina b Momo Watanabe & Leo Onozaki, Mayu Iwatani & Saki Kashima b Zoe Lucas & Bobbi Tyler, Tam Nakano & Arisha Hoshiki b Saya Ida & Saya Kamitani, Hana Kimura & Death Yama San b Kagetsu & Andras Miyagi, Bea Priestley & Jamie Hayter b Hazuki & Natsuko Tora, Riho & Starlight Kid d Jungle Kyona & Konami 15:00
Evening show: This was a Masked Fiesta show where everyone wore a mask and had a different gimmick from usual: Trainee Miyagi (Andras Miyagi) won a handicap match over Cyber Cat & Maysu Pinya, Tam Chika (Tam Nakano) & La Gatita (Saki Kashima) b Green Sayasaya & Muneko Onite (Saya Iiida & Saya Kamitani), Black Starlight Kid d Mini Iotica (AZM), Gas Mask (Hana Kimura) & Fairy Sexy Jungle (Jungle Kyona) & Pretty Wan-Chan & Death Pumpkin (Death Yama-San) & Bobo Wazowski & Monster Z Sullivan b Trainee Ishino & Trainee Urabe & Trainee Hayama & Trainee Tora (Natsuko Tora) & Trainee Maruyama & Trainee Hirata), Fantastic Girl (Mayu Iwatani) & UDN (Arira Hoshiki) & Super Riho (Riho) b Jigsaw & Black Fuzzy Beach& Gao Jr. (Bea Priestley & Momo Watanabe & Leo Onozaki) (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)
Combat Zone Wrestling Cage of death last night in Voorhees, NJ: Joe Gacy b Jimmy Lloyd to keep CZW world title, The Rep b Anthony Gagnone & Homicide to keep tag titles, Jordan Oliver b Matt Tremont to keep Wired title, Conor Claxton b John Silver, Alex Reynolds b Ace Everett, Bear Country won four-team match, KC Navarro won six-way over Matt McIntosh, Leroy Green, DK Meadows, Eran Ashe and Kris Bishop. DJ Hyde announced that CZW will air live on FITE TV starting 11/30 and the CZW and WSU video libraries will both be moving to FITE TV. There will also be material from CZW being used for one hour feature PPVs and a live PPV show over the summer. Next show is 11/30, followed by Cage of Death show on 12/14. (thanks to Bob Magee)
Defiant 3 women’s show earlier today in Dublin: Amy Allonsy b Jinny, Isla Dawn b Nina Samuels, Emi Sakura b Kanji, Toni Storm b Mille McKenzie, Sammii Jayne b Raven Creed, Debbie Keitel & Valkyrie b Gisele Shaw & Katey Harvey (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
MMA fighter Anthony Garrett talked about his Bellator 231 Fight vs former WWE Champion Jack Swagger this past Friday and gives reasons why he feels he should get a rematch in this clip from The Hannibal TV:
Prior to TakeOver: Toronto, two matches were taped at the Scotiabank Arena for this coming Wednesday’s episode of NXT television.
– Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) defeated The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler w/ Jaxson Ryker)
This match was set up when Fandango returned and saved Breeze from The Forgotten Sons on the NXT TV episode that aired on July 31.
– Jordan Myles (formerly known as ACH) defeated Cameron Grimes (Trevor Lee) in the finals of the Breakout Tournament
As a stipulation of winning the tournament, Myles will get a future shot at the NXT title of his choosing. William Regal came out to the stage after the match and congratulated him.
Myles had defeated Boa and Angel Garza (Garza Jr.) in the first two rounds of the tournament. Grimes defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (Shane Strickland) and Bronson Reed (Jonah Rock).
The next set of NXT tapings will take place at Full Sail University on Thursday (August 15).
Two matches have been announced for next week’s NXT television.
The finals of the Breakout Tournament will air on next Wednesday’s episode, with Jordan Myles (formerly known as ACH) facing off with Cameron Grimes (Trevor Lee). The winner will get a shot at the NXT title of their choosing.
Myles defeated Boa and Angel Garza (Garza Jr.) in the tournament, while Grimes defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (Shane Strickland) and Bronson Reed (Jonah Rock).
A two-on-two tag match between Tyler Breeze & Fandango and The Forgotten Sons is also set for next week’s NXT episode. Fandango’s return aired on last week’s show, with him saving Breeze from The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake, Steve Cutler & Jaxson Ryker).
Both matches will be taped at the Scotiabank Arena prior to TakeOver: Toronto this Saturday. Here’s the card for TakeOver:
NXT Champion Adam Cole defending against Johnny Gargano in a two-out-of-three falls match (one fall will be a street fight, the other will be a normal wrestling match, and William Regal will pick the stipulation if it goes to a third fall)
NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler defending against Mia Yim
NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream defending against Roderick Strong and Pete Dunne in a triple threat match
NXT Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) defending against The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
This was the return of Nox, who had been out of action since her leg injury in last year’s Mae Young Classic. She ran wild after a hot tag, hitting a corner cannonball, a top rope crossbody, and a fireman’s carry stunner to get the win.
– Shane Thorne defeated Vidot
Thorne stole the win with a roll-up.
– There was an in-ring segment where Malcolm Bivens said his client Jordan Omogbehin made headlines all over the world after his debut last week. Bivens also noted that Omogbehin is his best friend.
– Team 3.0 defeated Mohammed & Denzel
Another good showing by Denzel. He has a lot of potential and one of the better dropkicks in NXT.
– Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak defeated Jordan Myles to retain his title
Excellent match here to continue a top-tier stretch of matches for Gulak this month. The crowd was into every near fall and elevated for the finish.
– Dominik Dijakovic defeated Bronson Reed
Another classic Dijakovic monster matchup with two huge men doing moves they shouldn’t be able to do.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Cal Bloom
A rolling elbow put down the newcomer.
– Lacey Lane defeated Rachael Evers
Lane submitted her with a kneebar.
– Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch defeated The Outliers (Dorian Mak & Riddick Moss) w/ Robert Stone
This match is sure to make TV soon as they’ve been working it around the house show loop.
