The wrestling world is reacting today to the news of Vince McMahon’s retirement as the Chairman and CEO of WWE.
McMahon announced his retirement on Friday in the wake of a misconduct scandal first reported by the Wall Street Journal last month. WWE has confirmed that McMahon is stepping away from all of his roles including as head of creative. He continues to be the company’s majority shareholder, however.
Mick Foley, Pat McAfee, AEW’s Tony Khan, Renee Paquette, and more have reacted to the news:
Thanks to you wrestling fans and your great support of @AEW, I’m grateful to now be the longest-tenured CEO in pro wrestling.
Thank you very much to every single person who watches @AEWonTV!
See you for Friday Night #AEWRampage on @TNTdrama @ 10pm ET/9pm CT/10pm PT *TONIGHT*!
After winning a gold medal in 1996, I found my 2nd calling because of @VinceMcMahon … thank you for believing in me and giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. I Love you Vince. P.S. I’m still Vince’s favorite @steveaustinBSR 😁 pic.twitter.com/H8vVF91lwn
McMahon’s retirement comes as he was under investigation by the WWE Board of Directors regarding settlement payments made to multiple women he allegedly had affairs with. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, McMahon agreed to pay more than $12 million to four women over the past 16 years.
In a statement released on Friday, Stephanie McMahon was referred to as the Chairwoman and Co-CEO of the company. Nick Khan was also listed as a Co-CEO.
Hall of Famer Mick Foley has inked a new Legends contract with WWE.
The new deal was announced by Foley in a video that was put out by Pro Wrestling Tees on Monday night. Foley revealed that the contract gives WWE exclusivity on selling Foley T-shirts, which means that Foley’s shirts will be leaving Pro Wrestling Tees at the end of this month.
Foley said there’s “no heat or friction” with Pro Wrestling Tees, and he still has a great relationship with the company.
Hello everyone, it’s The Hardcore Legend Mick Foley and I just want to explain why my merchandise will not be available through Pro Wrestling Tees after July 31. There is no heat or friction — I still have a great relationship with Pro Wrestling Tees. It just comes down to signing a new Legends agreement with WWE that does give them the exclusive on T-shirts. In the meantime, the Socko Sale is still taking place in November. The Four Cheeses of Foley pizza is still available through Powerbomb Pizza. Please feel free to order as many shirts as you like through July 31. I love seeing them at appearances. I’m really grateful for the relationship that I’ve had and continue to have with Pro Wrestling Tees. I appreciate all of you who understand and I understand that some of you won’t understand, and that’s okay too. In the meantime, hope all as well and have a nice day.
Why Are Mick Foley T-Shirts Leaving #PWTees? Find Out Why Directly From Mick & Shop His Store Before 7/31: https://t.co/7OtKp0xwKQ
Foley most recently appeared on WWE television in 2019. He was also a guest on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions on Peacock/WWE Network last year.
Foley recently launched the weekly podcast “Foley is Pod” with his co-host Conrad Thompson. A Foley is Pod live show will take place at Starrcast V this month.
Mick Foley is launching a new podcast with Conrad Thompson next week.
It was announced via Sports Illustrated today that “Foley is Pod” will launch with its first episode premiering on Friday, June 3. The show is being hosted by Foley and Thompson and will focus on the Hardcore Legend’s career.
The podcast is part of the Podcast Heat network.
“I know the way I feel when I hear a good podcast, how it can turn a whole day around and put a smile on my face,” Foley told Sports Illustrated. “I’m looking forward to telling stories and reminding people of a time they really enjoyed when they were big wrestling fans.”
“Mick is just so passionate about pro wrestling. And look at his career. He proved he could do it all — whether that was as a heel, the ultimate babyface, or a comedic character. He did it all so incredibly well,” Thompson said.
“And I’m really interested about Mick’s thought process. His books were so good, and so are his one-man shows. I really believe that this show, which we’re recording in-person and in 4K, is going to be exactly what the wrestling world is looking for.”
Mick Foley isn’t bothered that he wasn’t mentioned in The Undertaker’s WWE Hall of Fame speech.
Last month, The Undertaker was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as the headlining member of the 2022 class. While introducing The Undertaker, Vince McMahon mentioned Foley when running down a long list of Undertaker’s past opponents, but Undertaker didn’t talk about Foley during his speech.
Foley’s daughter Noelle tweeted about the omission: “That was a great speech, but I’m very surprised there was not one single mention of my dad and their legendary matches together. Obviously I understand it’s difficult to fit everything into one speech and remember every single person you want to mention. But it just would have been really nice to hear my dad’s name mentioned.”
Foley was asked about the reaction to the omission during an appearance on the In The Kliq podcast. Foley said he wasn’t hurt that The Undertaker didn’t mention him — so no one can be hurt on his behalf.
“Well, listen, I forgot to mention my wife during my speech, so I’m not one to lecture anybody about who they should and should not include in their speech,” Foley joked. “I was not there in those formative years and his [speech] was more about friendship and support. We had a great rivalry, but he didn’t mention Rock or Austin, and he and Austin had some classics as well. So if I’m not hurt, no one can be hurt on behalf of me.”
AEW stars FTR are set to have another pro wrestling legend by their side for an upcoming indie match.
Mick Foley has announced that he will manage FTR’s Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler at a show for Patriotic Wrestling Federation on Saturday, May 14. FTR are facing Griff Garrison & Marcus Kross in the match.
The PWF show is being held at York Comprehensive High School in York, South Carolina.
FTR will have a different Hall of Famer in their corner when they take on Brian Pillman Jr. & Brock Anderson at an event for Big Time Wrestling in Webster, Massachusetts on Friday, June 10. Bret Hart will accompany FTR for that match, while Arn Anderson will manage his son Brock’s team.
FTR are the current ROH Tag Team Champions and Lucha Libre AAA Tag Team Champions.
On Dynamite this past Wednesday, Harwood and Wheeler faced each other in a qualifying match for AEW’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Harwood defeated Wheeler to earn a spot in the tournament.
The full card has been revealed for next month’s NWA Hard Times 2 pay-per-view.
The PPV is taking place at GPB Studios in Atlanta on Saturday, December 4 and will be available via Fite TV. The card is headlined by an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between Trevor Murdoch and Mike Knox. NWA Women’s Champion Kamille will also defend her title against Melina.
An ROH Tag Team Championship match will take place at Hard Times as The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) defend against Aron Stevens & JR Kratos. Taven & Bennett won the titles from Dragon Lee & Kenny King at ROH’s Honor for All show this past Sunday.
The return of the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship has also been announced. At Hard Times, there will be two qualifying matches where the winners will get a spot in the Junior Heavyweight title tournament. Austin Aries is coming to the NWA for a qualifying match against Rhett Titus. There will be a 12-man qualifying gauntlet at the show as well.
The gauntlet match will be one of the bouts on the pre-show for Hard Times. The pre-show will air for free on the NWA’s YouTube channel and Fite.
Here’s the full lineup for Hard Times:
NWA World Champion Trevor Murdoch defends against Mike Knox
NWA Women’s Champion Kamille defends against Melina
There will be an in-ring tribute to Jazz following her announcement that she’s retiring from in-ring competition
No time limit and no DQ match: NWA Television Champion Tyrus defends against Cyon (Da Pope will be the special guest referee)
Nick Aldis vs. Thom Latimer (no seconds at ringside, Aldis and Latimer will both be suspended from the NWA for eight weeks if there’s a disqualification)
NWA National Champion Chris Adonis defends against Judais
NWA Tag Team Champions La Rebelion (Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf) defend against The End (Odinson & Parrow)
NWA Women’s Tag Team Champions The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle) defend against Kylie Rae & Tootie Lynn and Lady Frost & Natalia Markova
Colby Corino vs. Doug Williams
NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship qualifying match: Austin Aries vs. Rhett Titus
NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship qualifying gauntlet (Homicide, Darius Lockhart, Ariya Daivari, CW Anderson, Sal Rinauro, Kerry Morton, Luke Hawx, PJ Hawx, Jamie Stanley, Victor Benjamin, Jeremiah Plunkett, and Alex Taylor)
Mick Foley will make a special appearance
ROH Tag Team Champions The OGK (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) defend against Aron Stevens & JR Kratos
Hardcore legend Mick Foley will be on hand when Game Changer Wrestling comes to Atlantic City for Jon Moxley vs. Nick Gage
It was announced tonight that Foley will present the GCW World Championship prior to Moxley and Gage’s title match on Saturday, October 9. The show is titled “GCW Fight Club: Mox vs. Gage.” It’s taking place at the Showboat Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Moxley defeated Matt Cardona to win the GCW World title at GCW’s The Art of War Games earlier this month. After the match, Gage came out to the ring to confront Moxley. Moxley told Gage that he knows where to find him if he wants a title shot. Gage said that the match would be taking place in GCW, and he announced that he’d be facing Moxley in a death match for the title in Atlantic City.
Gage lost the GCW World Championship to Cardona this July.
GCW Fight Club: Moxley vs. Gage will be available live via Fite TV.
Foley also appears in GCW’s countdown special for Moxley vs. Gage:
It is largely predicted, due to C.M. Punk’s first pro wrestling match in seven-and-a-half years, that AEW’s All Out show on 9/5 in Chicago, that All Out will be the biggest PPV event in AEW history.
If that’s the case, it will be the biggest non-WWE pro wrestling PPV show since November 21, 1999, the WCW Mayhem show, which did 200,000 buys. AEW’s prior High Point was Revolution on 3/7 doing approximately 145,000 buys.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
PWInsider reported that Vince McMahon was not backstage at Raw last night. While he wasn’t there, he was involved with giving feedback and making changes to the show.
John Cena is being advertised locally teaming with The Street Profits to take on Roman Reigns and The Usos at the Madison Square Garden SmackDown Supershow on Friday.
Damian Priest was interviewed by Metro and talked about joking with Triple H about facing him at WrestleMania. “I make jokes from time to time. Like, hey, Mania – Hunter didn’t have a match, and that was the first time all these legends, none of them [on the show]. I was like, “I mean, did you bring your gear? Because you can have a match, I’m right here!” He started laughing and said, “You’re on a list of people that have asked me that”. I was like, I bet, I can imagine – he gets it all the time by guys being like, “Hey you wanna work? You wanna wrestle?” ‘
F9, the latest in the Fast and Furious franchise that stars John Cena, has been released for streaming and digital services today.
SummerSlam will be released on DVD on September 21, the same day as A&E’s release of the WWE Biography series from earlier this year. Extreme Rules 2021 will be released on November 2.
Vince Russo wrote on Twitter that he worked with WWE this past Friday for a project for Peacock.
AEW’s Road to Dynamite for this week, which highlights moments from All Out including Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, Lucha Bros., and Ruby Soho.
The Countdown to All Out special that aired on TNT following Rampage scored 361,000 viewers, with a 0.18 in the 18-49 demo.
Mick Foley released a video titled “WWE, We’ve Got a Problem”, where he talked about AEW’s success in attracting younger talent while seeing WWE’s problems with bringing up people once they are called up from NXT, citing Karrion Kross as an example. “If I was an aspiring talent now, big league talent w/ the major decision to make, I am not sure I would trust WWE creative to do the right thing w/ my career,” he said. “You guys did wonders with me back in the day. That was a different time, different place. If it was today, I am not sure I would trust the powers to be with my career in their hands. Until that changes WWE, you’ve got a problem.”
Shingo Takagi, in a post-match interview after retaining the IWGP World Heavyweight title at Wrestle Grand Slam, talked about his body while recovering from COVID-19. “I didn’t wrestle for three weeks, and dropped four kilos in ten days,” he said. “That had me sweating for a while, and then I put five kilos back on. Man, I’ve been in combat sports since I started judo around sixth grade, 25 years plus, and I don’t think my body’s been through anything like a fortnight span like I just had. It just goes to show what the human body is capable of dealing with even though I’m sure mine is complaining about it. It surprised even me, what a wrestler can do.”
Mas Lucha reported that Vangellys is the latest to depart from CMLL.
Gangrel told Cultaholic that doctors have told him that he will need total knee replacement surgery and was thinking of getting it done in December.
Defy Wrestling has announced three upcoming dates: Seattle, Washington on September 25, Dangerous on October 9 in Portland, Oregon at the Kliever Armory, and Hell Bent on October 14 in Los Angeles, CA at The Lodge Room. Eddie Kingston will be on all three cards. Tickets go on sale on September 10 at 10 am PT at www.defywrestling.com.
Vice TV will air a sneak peek for Dark Side of the Ring’s second half of their third season starting Thursday at 9 pm ET.
Bryan Alvarez has an article for Sports Illustrated sharing thoughts on All Out weekend and AEW’s current momentum.
Sammy Guevara’s latest vlog, including footage backstage from All Out.
ZERO-ONE announced today that they have ceased their working relationship with GLEAT over alleged contract tampering in relation to Hayato Tamura. As a result, GLEAT’s El Lindaman has been stripped of the ZERO1 International Junior Championship and ZERO1 World Junior Heavyweight title.
Mick Foley will be the guest on this month’s edition of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions.
WWE announced today that Foley will appear on the Broken Skull Sessions episode that premieres on Sunday, June 20. It will be available on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network everywhere else.
The premiere date ties in with June 20 also being the day of this year’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view.
“Just in time for WWE Hell in a Cell, Foley will certainly have a lot to discuss as one of the pioneers of the now infamous match, dating back to the night Mankind and The Undertaker changed sports-entertainment forever competing inside Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring 1998,” WWE wrote.
Whether it was as Mankind, the groovy Dude Love or the extreme daredevil Cactus Jack, ‘Mrs. Foley’s Baby Boy’ has a treasure trove of memorable moments from throughout his career to relive with his one-time co-Tag Team Champion, The Texas Rattlesnake.”
Last month’s Broken Skull Sessions featured The Godfather joining Steve Austin for the episode. The Undertaker, Goldberg, Kane, Big Show, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Mark Henry, Jerry Lawler, Kurt Angle, Drew McIntyre, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Randy Orton, and Chris Jericho have also previously been guests on the interview series. The Undertaker is the only guest who has appeared on the show twice.
After Dream Stage Entertainment signed Mick Foley, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall for huge money, at the last minute, for their 5/8 Hustle III Japanese PPV show from the Yokohama Arena, a lot of questions are being asked about the group.
Besides the aforementioned three, they have Bill Goldberg under contract, and have been negotiating for Steve Austin. There were no hints on the show that they were close to a deal with Austin, and right now it appears Austin isn’t in a hurry to make any kind of a move in wrestling, let alone rush into a match, although he is interested in Japanese marketing opportunities.
Among the questions is, how does it make sense to spend a rumored $75,000 each for Hall & Nash, as well as another huge figure for Foley, who was offered more than he could possibly afford to turn down, even with a bad knee? More, how is this type of money justified when it is done at the last minute with virtually no time to advertise? Paid attendance for these shows has been very small and PPV numbers are insignificant.
A look at the death, unique lives and careers of Jon Huber and Danny Hodge is the focus of what is the best issue of the Observer in more than a decade.
Details surrounding the Huber health crisis and death, words from his wife, how he got started in wrestling, my own personal thoughts regarding my interaction with him, his leaving WWE for AEW, his WWE run with The Wyatt Family, what were the plans for the Bludgeon Brothers to imitate and how it fell through, the match that changes his WWE focus, the background of his big decision, what match was scheduled for him that fell through, how his AEW term played out with his biggest matches, why the death became such a huge news story, the story behind and coverage of the tribute show and more.
The iconic figure of Danny Hodge with what should be a movie script, covering growing up in a small town known for wrestling, his unique childhood, his developing his legendary grip strength, his unbelievable credentials as a wrestler, MMA, street fights, the auto accident that ended his career, his biggest pro wrestling matches, his boxing career and why people will talk about him as his records every year going forward.
Also in this issue:
Preview the Wrestle Kingdom shows this week, covering the matches and the stories behind the matches, as well as how the restrictions have changed things.
Update the Royal Rumble including a gimmick match being talked about, new WWE show, top 25 WWE matches of the year, U.K. and Canadian ratings as well as where pro wrestling ranks in sports ratings, market value of WWE as well as the most-watched shows on the WWE Network.
2020 Wrestling Observer Awards ballot.
Television stations that carried wrestling and MMA in 2020 and how they did, and how wrestling did in comparison with the station’s usual programming.
Detailed look at the television business, looking at stats not available elsewhere to get the deepest read into how shows are doing, what categories are doing well and how shows compare with previous weeks and one year ago.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight. We’ll be covering the Tokyo Dome show as well as the weekend news. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]
Tonight is the first night of Wrestle Kingdom. It starts at 2 a.m. Eastern time with these matches:
22 man Rumble which will go down to four men, and those four meet in the opener tomorrow night for the KOPW title.
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Phantasmo- winner faces Taiji Ishimori on Tuesday for the IWGP jr. title
KENTA vs. Satoshi Kojima for the U.S. title briefcase
Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. defending the IWGP tag titles against Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Great O’Khan
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP & IC heavyweight titles
We have a preview up on the site with Kevin Kelly talking about both Dome shows as well as New Japan going forward.
Kevin Kelly will be in Japan through mid-February so all the major shows this week as well as on the New Beginning tour will have live from the building English language commentary.
Jack Curtis Jr., a wrestler and later promoter in the state of Mississippi and Louisiana, passed away yesterday at the age of 85. He wrestled in the 60s and 70s for Leroy McGuirk, and later promoted and then became the events coordinator for Bill Watts during the heyday of Mid South Wrestling. (thanks to Matt Riviera)
For those who think Ryan Garcia may have star power, there were 1 million searches for him which puts him second for the weekend behind Ohio State. The only other combat sports reference this past week was Brodie Lee on Wednesday night with 100,000, which also makes the first time since I think week one that anything on AEW Dynamite cracked the top 20 searches for the day in the United States.
WWE
Mick Foley wrote this update about testing positive for COVID: “I tested positive for the coronavirus following a December 12 virtual signing. As soon as I learned that I had been exposed and even before the test result, I began isolating in a hotel room – and have been here for 19 days. I am no longer contagious and will be checking out tomorrow. Fortunately, my symptoms were not too serious – body aches and headache for a few days, followed by loss of my sense of smell and just within the last few days, my hearing has been affected. Worse than the physical symptoms was missing the holidays with my family – Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s. I tried to do my best to be safe these past ten months, but looking back on it, there were a number of occasions where I did let my guard down. Since mid-March, I have only done four virtual signings, two personal appearances, two guest appearances on reality shows and my appearance on WWE Raw at The Undertaker’s farewell. In 2019, I flew 150,000 miles on Delta Airlines – in addition to tens of thousands more on other airlines. In 2020, I flew less than 10,000. Still, there were several occasions where I could have been more careful. Moving forward, I will do my best to do better. I hope all of us can do a little better for as long as it takes to put this terrible pandemic behind us. I appreciate all the well wishes and prayers that I have always received on social media. I’m lucky… things could have been worse.In a little bit of good news, enthusiasm on Cameo in December resulted in my being able to donate $5,000 to the Daniela Conte Foundation – a foundation created by the parents of a very special little girl who was lost way too soon. To learn more about Daniela and the foundation formed in her honor, you can check out my Facebook post from December 23rd“
UFC
Markus Perez will be replacing Isi Fitikefu against Dalcha Lungiambula on the 1/20 show. Fitkefu suffered an injured left elbow while training with Robert Whittaker.
AEW
The top three wrestlers in 2020 for four-star matches were Tomohiro Ishii, Kenny Omega and Shingo Takagi. The top for five-star matches was Will Ospreay.
During the Outback Bowl, Indiana players were holding chairs over their heads and the ESPN announcers said this was like an ECW match and they were looking for kendo sticks and barbed wire (thanks to Barry Werner)
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling has a show that will stream from Korakuen Hall tonight at 9:30 p.m. Eastern and 6:30 p.m. Pacific time with Stewart Fulton, Mark Pickering and Chris Brookes doing the English language commentary.
LFA on 1/29 at the Hartman Arena in Park City, KS (near Wichita) on UFC Fight Pass is headlined by Josh Fremd (6-1) vs. Bruno Oliveira (8-2) in a middleweight fight.
In the new season of Cobra Kai on Netflix, there are references to WrestleMania 3, Chris Jericho and a feud between the Hart Foundation and British Bulldogs (thanks to Joe Puccio)
The first episode of the ROH television show will be based around a documentary of how the company handled the pandemic, starting with the weekend of 3/13 and 3/14 when the crew was in Las Vegas for a PPV and television tapings and then, while there, the decision was made not to run. Before being shut down there was a Flip Gordon vs. Bandido and Jay Lethal vs. Mark Haskins match, and those matches have never aired but will air on the show this week.
Impact has an Impact+ special on 1/9 headlined by Moose vs. Willie Mack in an I Quit match plus the Super X Cup one-night tournament.
Stardom results from today in Shinkiba: Saki Kashima won three-way over Maika and Lady C, Tam Nakano & Sayaka Unagi b Saya Iida & Ruaka, Utami Hayashishita & AZM & Saya Kamitani b Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid & Gokigen Death, Momo Watanabe d Syuri over 15:00, Giulia & Himeka & Natsupoi b Bea Priestley & Konami & Natsuoko Tora. Matches coming out of this show are AZM vs. Gokigen Death, Syuri defending her SWA title against Watanabe, Priestley & Konami defending the Goddesses of Stardom titles against Natsupoi & Himeka and Giulia vs. Tora for the Wonder of Stardom title, which will be a no DQ match headlining the 1/17 show at Korakuen Hall (thanks to Tomi Yamada and Shannon Walsh at Wrestlingwithdemons.com)
Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa lost their All Japan world tag team titles to Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi in the company’s first show of the season yesterday at Korakuen Hall. Today’s main event saw Suwama retain the Triple Crown over Aoyagi.
Yusuke Okada showed up at today’s DDT show at Korakuen Hall. He had left All Japan at the end of the year when his contract expired.
Yasufumi Nakanoue won the Big Japan Strong title from Yuji Okabayashi and Takumi Tskamoto won the Deathmatch title from Minoru Fujita on yesterday’s Korakuen Hall show.
Game Changer Wrestling from Thursday night in Atlantic City: Tre Lamar b Levi Everett, 1 Called Manders b Ellis Taylor, Holidead b Willow Nightingale, Matthew Justice & Joshua Bishop d KTB & Shane Mercer, Treehouse Lee b Saieve Al Sabah, Atticus Cogar b Elayna Black, Lee Moriarty b Calvin Tankman, Shlak b 1 Called Manders in a death match, Jordan Oliver b ACH, Chris Dickinson won a Scramble mach over Effy, Allie Kat, Cole Raddick, Blake Christian and Mance Warner, G-Raver b Jimmy Lloyd in an I Quit match.
From Friday night in Atlantic City: Jordan Oliver b Tre Lamar, Ken Broadway b ACH, Chris Dickinson b Cole Raddick, Matthew Justice & Joshua Bishop b Effy & Aliie Kat, KTB & Shane Mercer won a scramble over 1 Called Manders, Charlie Tiger, Elayne Black, Ellis Taylor, Steve Scott and Levi Everett, Mance Warren b Calvin Tankman, Blake Chrstian b Lee Moriarty, Alex Colon b Atticus Cogar in a death match (thanks to Nick Mahmood)
Mick Foley has announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
In a tweet, Foley said that he had tested positive following a December 12th virtual signing event and has been isolated in a hotel room for the last 18 days.
“There were two people in the room with me, both wearing masks,” he said in a video attached to the tweet, explaining what had happened. “I did take my mask off so I could do a better job on the virtual signing, and one of the gentlemen ended up having symptoms later that night.”
Foley in the video said that he could have done a better job social distancing, mentioning how he had done four virtual signings during the pandemic and also appeared for The Undertaker’s Final Farewell at Survivor Series in November. He also said that the worst part of contracting COVID-19 was being unable to celebrate the holidays with his family.
It was also announced today that CMLL star Mistico and his girlfriend, Carolina Rodriguez, have also tested positive for COVID-19.
One of the strangest endings to a Raw show on 12/15 from Tampa saw, after spending nearly two hours building up Mick Foley’s in ring return against Randy Orton, saw Foley walk out of the building.
The idea, said to be Foley’s idea he suggested, was done with the idea of getting people talking since wrestling hasn’t done a lot of real cliffhangers endings. Early in the show, Eric Bischoff presented Foley with the idea of a match against Orton, where if Foley won, Bischoff would leave Raw, but if Orton won, Foley would leave. Foley insisted on the stips of Earl Hebner as referee and Evolution banned from ringside. The IC title was also talked about being at stake. The key point was Foley talking with Shawn Michaels, about Michaels, who had retired for a few years and came back for what was planned to be one match last year, and now he’s working semi-regularly. Michaels said it was like the mob and you get sucked in, but when Foley asked if the feeling you get coming back was worth it, Michaels said it was.
It was supposed to be Jerry Lawler’s public birthday party and a night of 80s glory days nostalgia for Memphis wrestling fans on 11/29 at the Mid South Coliseum. It turned into anything but fun when Larry Booker, who had worked main events in the building on-and-off for about two decades, passed away from a massive heart attack suffered during a match that he, in another lifetime, helped put on the wrestling map.
Booker, who gained his first wrestling fame as Larry Latham of a tag team called The Blond Bombers, was far better known as Moondog Spot, a role he lucked into in 1981 when he walked into WWF as tag team champion on the recommendation of Andre the Giant.
Booker was 51. He had been wrestling for about 28 years, in recent years still consistently working on small independent shows in Tennessee. Unbeknownst to all but his closest friends and family members, most of whom were at the show, he had been a diabetic for the past three or four years.
Here’s the brief description for the episode: “At the dawn of the new millennium, a pair of brutal bouts against Cactus Jack and a game-changing interview propelled Triple H to the top of WWE. He, along with Mick Foley and others, look back at the untold stories behind the rise of The Game.”
A segment celebrating Triple H’s 25th anniversary with WWE headlined last night’s episode of SmackDown. It featured in-person appearances by Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon, along with Stephanie McMahon, Ric Flair, and Road Dogg calling into the segment.
To mark Triple H’s 25th anniversary, the WWE Network also uploaded “25 Years of Triple H: The Game Changing Matches” and “Live To Win: A Conversation With Triple H and Lemmy,” a special where Corey Graves interviewed Triple H and Lemmy prior to Lemmy’s passing in 2015.
The most recent new episode of Untold premiered earlier this month and was focused on Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle’s feud and match from WrestleMania 21.
