According to Paul Heyman, the video game industry has reached its final form.
The WWE 2K25 game released a new DLC pack on Wednesday featuring Bull Nakano, Penta, KSI (wearing a Prime bottle), Jordynne Grace, and ECW legend New Jack. Heyman spoke to Metro about New Jack’s inclusion in the game, calling it a “moment of completion in the video game industry.”
“This is a moment of completion in the entire video game industry,” Heyman said.
“You cannot deny New Jack’s influence in sports entertainment/pro wrestling culture, nor should you deny his influence on video games.”
“‘Most of the people that are writing the codes that then become the video games were ECW or WWE fans,’ he added before expressing that New Jack likely influenced the developers of the hit GTA franchise.
“And I mean, are you telling me that those who make Grand Theft Autoweren’t influenced by New Jack? Come on!”
New Jack’s character in the video game will bring a shopping cart full of weapons to the ring with him, just as his real life counterpart did. His theme music will also play throughout his matches, as it did while he was in ECW.
“What a fantastic idea to pay tribute to someone that has been such an influence on not only the culture of pro wrestling, but on the culture of video games, because of the influence that we’ve had on those who write the games.“
WWE 2K25 also released on the Nintendo Switch 2 on Wednesday. The next WWE 2K25 DLC pack to release will be on September 17. The Attitude Era pack will consist of Road Dogg, Billy Gunn, Victoria, Mark Henry, and D’Lo Brown.
Heyman’s full interview with Metro is available here.
New Jack — one of the more memorable figures in pro wrestling and the focus of an episode of Dark Side of The Ring — passed away Friday at the age of 58 due to a heart attack.
PW Insider was the first to report the news via his wife, Jennifer. He was living in North Carolina at the time of his death.
Born Jerome Young in Greensboro, North Carolina, New Jack rose to prominence as one half of The Gangstas with Mustafa Saed. After a one-year run in Smokey Mountain Wrestling, he and Saed found themselves in ECW where they fit right in with the hardcore style and attitude of the promotion. He and Saed won their Tag Team titles two times and he also held them one time with John Kronus of The Eliminators.
Even after Saed left, New Jack stayed with ECW through their end in 2001. He was involved in the infamous “Mass Transit Incident” documented in season two of Dark Side where he bladed Eric Kulas (aka Mass Transit), an inexperienced 17-year-old wrestler. Kulas bled so much due to the cut that he required hospitalization and 50 stitches. New Jack was eventually acquitted on aggravated assault charges and a lawsuit against he and ECW failed in court.
Outside a short retirement, New Jack worked on the indies from the end of ECW through 2021, notably working for TNA, XPW and Combat Zone Wrestling among others. During that time, he was involved in other controversial incidents in matches with Vic Grimes and Gypsy Joe, documented on the Dark Side episode.
His final in-ring action was in April 2021 in a tag team match in Tampa, Florida.
Dave Meltzer covers the state of emergency in Japan, the actual stats, shows canceled, when NJPW is set to return
Lots more on the life of Brian Pillman, what Dark Side didn’t cover, his football career, contract disputes, booking idea if he stayed with WCW, children and legacy.
Also in this issue:
Match and wrestler of the week
AEW & WWE back on the road and details
A look at the next two major pro wrestling PPV shows
UFC coverage of Saturday’s show, next week’s show, new fights, new financial info
Most detailed look at ratings, what shows do people watch longest, what shows do they watch live or most on DVR, Segment breakdowns and and exclusive info on how the different shows are consumed
U.S. Olympic wrestling preview
The amazing historical story of a fugitive in a foreign country who held the biggest tag team title in the world, and his shocking death
Notes on AEW television schedule for the next six weeks
2016 Gold medalist talks WWE
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
We’ve got a busy weekend of shows, with Garrett Gonzalez and I doing a show today with Bruce Mitchell as guest, plus Saturday Bryan and I will cover UFC, AEW, preview WrestleMania Backlash and more, and Sunday we’ll be covering Backlash. You can send questions to the shows to [email protected]
We’re sorry to report that one of the most infamous and colorful wrestling characters of this generation, Jerome Young aka New Jack, passed away today from a heart attack. He had been living in North Carolina. New Jack started in Georgia where he met Mustafa Saed, and they first gained a reputation feuding with the Rock & Roll Express in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. They became bigger stars going to ECW in 1995 where he became a cult favorite for diving off balconies through tables and weapons-filled attacks while his music was playing. In many ways, he was one of the symbols of the company and it’s out of control violence in the 90s. There were endless stories of him, chronicled in the Dark Side of the Ring episode on him in season two. Some, like slicing open Erich Kulas or nearly killing Vic Grimes by throwing him off a high place, or stabbing someone during a match, or beating up 70 year old Gypsy Joe are not pretty. He was known for his promos and attitude and for the dangerous vibe he brought to wrestling.
My newest book, “The Wrestling Observer Yearbook 2014: The Year of the Yes Movement” has just been released. It’s available on Amazon. The key chapters in the book include the year of Daniel Bryan, C.M. Punk quits WWE, The launch of the WWE Network and UFC Fight Pass, TNA loses Spike TV, death of Ultimate Warrior, Sting arrives in WWE, Undertaker loses to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling and Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier. As of today it was No. 2 in the Amazon best seller list in the wrestling category.
Smackdown tonight has Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Tamina & Natalya for the women’s tag team titles. 205 Live has Asher Hale vs. Ariya Daivari and Ari Serling vs. Tony Nese.
For AEW first day ticket sales, Cedar Park, TX sold about 2,700 tickets, Garland, TX sold about 2,000 and Miami had 200 tickets left at last check but we don’t know how much was open. So no instant sellouts but Miami is close.
UFC, on the other hand, sold out its 6/12 show in Glendale, AZ instantly.
UFC 262 tomorrow:
ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m.
Christos Giagos (156) vs. Sean Soriano (156)
Kevin Agular (145) vs Tucker Lutz (146)
Gina Mazany (126) vs. Priscilla Cachoeira (126)
ESPN at 8 p.m.
Jordan Wright (185) vs. Jamie Pickett (186)
Andrea Lee (126) vs. Antonina Shevchenko (125)
Lando Vannata (146) vs. Mike Grundy (146)
Ronaldo Jacare Souza (186) vs. Andre Muniz (186)
PPV at 10 pm..
Matt Schnell (136) vs. Rogerio Bontorin (137) – For missing weight Bontorin forfeits 20 percent of his purse to Schnell
Shane Burgos (146) vs. Edson Barboza (146)
Katlyn Chookagian (126) vs. Viciane Araujo (126)
Tony Ferguson (156) vs Beneil Dariush (156)
Charles Oliveira (155) vs. Michael Chandler (155) for vacant lightweight title
Congratulations to Garrett Gonzales whose son graduates college this week.
There will be a press conference on Tuesday to announce TripleMania for this summer and the Kenny Omega vs. Andrade el Idolo main event for the mega championship.
The Cubs Fan reported L.A. Park is off all his bookings the next few days due to pneumonia.
Bobby Lashley -200 vs. Drew McIntyre +175 vs. Braun Strowman +500
Roman Reigns -600 vs. Cesaro +350
Rhea Ripley -200 vs. Charlotte Flair +175 vs. Asuka +500
Bianca Belair -950 vs. Bayley +500
Rey & Dominik Mysterio -200 vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode +150
Damien Priest -800 vs. The Miz +400
A correction from last week’s show I did with Garrett Gonzalez as a Q&A on Brian Pillman and Randy Savage. The Pillman radio show clip talking about his accident that aired on last week’s Dark Side of the Ring was from Wrestle Radio USA with Vinnie Carolan and Ed Symkus. I said Vinnie Carolan and Cody Boyns. Boyns did a different Boston area wrestling radio show.
The Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial show that was scheduled for 5/30 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo has been moved to 5/31 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
WWE
A story on John Cena hosting a new Peacock web series on top heels is at(thanks to Barry Werner)
Slam Wrestling has stories on 70s star Chris Colt. In the first one, Jonathan Plombon (who has a Herb Abrams book coming out), speaks with filmmaker Jack Fritscher about the gay porn movies that Chris Colt did at the end of his career. In the other piece, photographer Brad McFarlin recalls how he got a photo of Chris Colt and singer Joe Cocker together … and then how Cocker later threw up on him during the concert!
MLW Fusion on Saturday at Noon on Vice has Erick Stevens vs. Douglas James and Tom Lawlor vs. Ross Von Erich. MLW is expected to announce new wrestlers starting in the company over the next week or so.
There is a show on Sunday at 7 p.m. at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with Rob Van Dam. The show is called “A Night with Rob Van Dam at the ECW Arena.” There will be a live signing, a documentary on RVD and RVD doing a Q&A comedy show. The price of $65 includes a picture with RVD or an autograph, plus food and beverage. Additional autographs are $20. Masks must be worn at all times in the building.
Going into the last week of the NBA season, viewership is down 13 percent from last year overall. ABC is down nine percent. ESPN and TNT are down 17 percent. Overall TV viewership from last year is down 12 percent.
KSW will be bringing fans back on 6/5 for a show at the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland, allowing 50 percent capacity. The company’s all-time biggest draw, Mariusz Pudzianowksi (14-7) faces Lukasz Jurkowski (17-11) in a heavyweight main event.
Paul Daley (43-17-2) vs. Jason Jackson (14-4) has been announced as the co-main event for Bellator on 6/11 on Showtime. The main event on the show has Douglas Lima (32-8) defending the welterweight title against Yaroslav Amosov (25-0)
The CWE promotion in Winnipeg returns to Shaw TV on 5/21 at 9 p.m. Central time. They will have a weekly Friday night show called CWE Adrenaline on Ch. 9 in Winnipeg and on Shaw Direct throughout Canada. The show will also be uploaded on YouTube the next day.
LFA tonight from Sioux Falls, SD at 9 p.m. Eastern on UFC Fight Pass
Taylor Mauldin (124.8) vs. Ambar De la Harran (125.2)
James Wilson (155) vs. Daniel Jefferson (155.8)
Jordan Heiderman (241.4) vs. Anthony Garrett (244.4)
Allan Begosso (135.6) vs. Samarbek Sabyrzhan Uulu (137.6) – Uulu missed weight and had to pay a penalty to Begosso
George Garcia (136) vs. Ricardo Dias (135.2)
Kamuela Kirk (155.8) vs. Daniel Swain (155.6)
Steve Keirn will be honored as part of The Gathering weekend in Charlotte starting 7/22. They also announced a David Schultz Q&A on 7/22.
Stardom from today at Korakuen Hall
Mina Shirakawa b Ruaka in a Future of Stardom tournament match
Natsupoi won four-way over Tam Nakano, Lady C and Hanan
Natsuko Tora & Konami & Fukigen Death b Momo Watanabe & AZM & Hina
Saya Kamitani b Starlight Kid in a Cinderella tournament match
Maika b Giulia via over the top rope in a Cinderella tournament match
Syuri b Utami Hayashishita via over the top rope in a Cinderella tournament match
Himeka b Mayu Iwatani via over the top rope in a Cinderella tournament match
Unagi Sayaka b Syuri via over the top rope in a Cinderella tournament match
This leaves Sayaka, Kamitani, Maiki and Himeka in the semifinals on 6/12.
You have to be a little crazy if you’re a professional wrestler.
Think about it. To want to dress up in tights, take loads of physical punishment in front of an audience who is ready to turn on you with a single botch, and to do it all for little to no money in the early years is 100% nuts. But, we love the people that do it anyway because, honestly, we’re a bit crazy too.
And then, there’s Jerome Young, aka New Jack, the subject of the second installment of Vice’s Dark Side of the Ring second season entitled “The Life and Crimes of New Jack”. He takes crazy to a completely different level and not necessarily a good one.
For those used to this series focusing on the more infamous stories in wrestling history (Bruiser Brody’s stabbing, Chris Benoit’s decline, the Montreal Screwjob), this is a bit of a diversion, focusing on someone who is singularly responsible for several infamous stories but is also still alive to tell his side of the story. Unlike other installments of the series, there isn’t any redemption story or anything close to a happy ending. Rather, like what appears to be in Young’s soul, there’s a big empty feeling when it’s all said and done.
Helping tell the story are Young, Jim Cornette, The Sandman, and D-Lo Brown, who was part of The Gangstas when they worked in Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling. The defunct Tennessee-based group was essentially our intro into the documentary with Cornette explaining what he was looking for in pairing Young with Mustafa Saed (Jamal Mustafa) in 1994: protagonists to rile up their primarily Southern white fanbase and boy, did he get it.
Unfortunately, Saed wasn’t part of the documentary. Based on the pencil shavings story in the doc, that would have been a trip.
‘New Jack’ takes the viewer through the SMW days and how the team had to deal with being called the n-word on a regular basis, firing back through firey and reality-driven promos and angles that reflected what was happening in the mid-90’s that only incensed the fanbase more. Without a doubt, Young was (and is) a gifted communicator, able to convey emotion easily, something we don’t get a lot of today.
The viewer eventually lands in Young’s ECW days and, primarily, the Mass Transit Incident, aka the time when Young got supposedly offended by something 17-year-old Erich Kulas (aka Mass Transit) said to him backstage and therefore took it out on him in the ring with a surgeon’s scalpel in a Revere, MA, tag match.
Unprofessional? Yes. Dangerous? Hell yes. One of the most well-known wrestling stories of the last twenty years? Yes, yes, and yes. Without it, I’m not typing 900 words about a New Jack documentary.
Unfortunately, we can’t hear from Kulas as he passed away in 2002 due to complications from gastric bypass surgery, nor his father who didn’t want to be involved. We also don’t hear from D-Von Dudley, who was part of the match, nor ECW head Paul Heyman. That leaves us with a little person wrestler named Tiny The Terrible who worked with Kulas and accompanied him that night to the arena, Sandman, and Young himself to tell the story.
“What I’m going to do to him, people will talk about for 10 years. 20 years later, they are still talking about it,” Young says, showing zero remorse even when discussing Kulas’ death or the subsequent trial in which he was found innocent because of something Kulas’ father had to admit on the stand.
That begins a rapid and dangerous decline into hardcore matches and more “The (Insert Wrestler Name Here) Incident” type affairs, partially (mainly?) fueled by increased drug use which Young freely admits to.
There’s The Vic Grimes Incidents, both of which would have set modern day Twitter ablaze if it was around then. In particular, an XPW rematch between the two features one of the nastiest bumps you will ever see, but miraculously, Grimes walked away with a dislocated ankle after being thrown off a scaffold seconds after being tased, somewhat hitting the ring ropes intead.
Young thinks the whole thing is funny and says simply wanted to even the score, but was actually trying to throw Grimes onto the ringside floor. It’s here when you start to really wonder why anyone would have booked him after this…but they did.
There’s The Gypsy Joe Incident (a 72-year-old wrestler Young beat up in front of around 50 fans because Joe no sold his offense) and the grand finale, The Hunter Red Incident. Young said he was incensed after Red blew him off as they were going through their match backstage. Then, after taking a few stiff shots in what essentially was an empty arena match, Young pulled out a blade and simply started stabbing Red in the back.
And, in the most wrestling way possible, he got out of it after being jailed, the story of which brings us to the end of the documentary. When asked about how a movie about his life would end, he laughs and says he would want to be seen sitting in a wheelchair snorting coke, throwing up middle fingers, saying, “Thank you, bitches!”
Like I said, wrestling is crazy.
You can watch ‘The Life and Crimes of New Jack’ on Vice TV on demand.
