Today on the DragonKingKarl Show, Karl Stern’s time machine takes us back to 1991, a time when pro wrestling was about as low as it could go.
Business was horrendous across the board, the WWF was plagued by multiple scandals, and WCW is drawing less than 1000 people to some of its hottest areas.
In a November 1991 issue of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he breaks down all the information one needed to know about pro wrestling and steroids, plus an interesting write-up about how WWF was forced to edit the NWA World title belt out of its TV shows and what they did about it.
TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro has never been shy about pointing out perceived Vince McMahon’s business flaws from his ticketing strategy to his lack of in-arena and in-ring advertising.
Shapiro was talking about the work ethics of WWE president Nick Khan and creative head Paul “Triple H” Levesque and how they are always open to new ideas and ready to “take on a new shot, a new risk, a new opportunity” which includes new events like Wrestlepalooza.
“Right now, a lot of our PLEs were really created by Vince McMahon. We need to get in the business of taking that torch and moving past that. Nick (Khan) and Triple H created Wrestlepalooza, which is the launch event for our new ESPN deal which did incredibly well and may turn into a super franchise. Not to mention from a merch standpoint, I don’t need to tell you, securing the IP rights and then selling merch out at Wrestlepalooza. Let’s just say it was a real winner,” he said.
Shapiro didn’t go into why he feels that way or if that is a corporate directive to Khan. He also made news for the interview as he called Fox “a little lazy” in how they approached selling UFC when they held TV rights.
In the TKO era, WWE has yet to abandon long-standing event names like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank or Elimination Chamber — all of which were created in the McMahon era. Even the names of their trademark TV shows haven’t changed.
Rusev appeared on the debut episode of his wife CJ Perry’s new podcast, Identity Crisis.
During the conversation, Perry asked Rusev about an interaction he had with Vince McMahon in September 2019 when he returned from a three-month absence noticeably slimmer.
Lana: “Are you okay with sharing the story about in 2019 when you lost a bunch of weight and then we had a meeting with Vince and what did he say to you about your new look of being 260lbs?“
Rusev: “He said he wanted the big Bulgarian. He wanted a 300-pound guy.”
Lana: “(Vince) goes, ‘I want my 300 pound Bulgarian brute. That man puts asses in seats. That heel. I want you as a heel. I want the 300 pound Bulgarian brute because that sells tickets.”
Rusev didn’t last much longer in WWE after this meeting. He was released from the company in April 2020 and at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before his release, he was involved in a storyline where Bobby Lashley was having an affair with Lana. He lost a Tables match to Lashley that December at the TLC pay-per-view, then teamed with Liv Morgan in a losing effort against Lashley and Lana on the January 20 episode of Raw. His final televised match before his release came on the February 17 Raw, where he teamed with Humberto Carrillo in a loss to Lashley and Angel Garza.
The debut episode of CJ Perry’s new podcast is available below:
Vince McMahon is likely to avoid any significant punishment in his reckless driving case.
On Thursday, McMahon made a Stamford, Connecticut court appearance relating to the July car crash that he was involved in. It was determined that — as long as McMahon stays out of trouble for one year — his charges will be dismissed. McMahon was accepted into a pretrial rehabilitation program where his charges are set to be fully expunged in 2026 and he does not have to enter any kind of guilty plea.
“The judge granted the program for a period of one year on the condition that McMahon make a $1,000 charitable contribution and only drive if properly licensed and insured,” the New Haven Register wrote. “[Charges] will be dismissed Oct. 15, 2026, if McMahon stays out of trouble.”
McMahon was facing charges of reckless driving and following too closely in the July 2024 crash where his Bentley rammed into the back of a vehicle and collided with a median wooden-beam guardrail. A third vehicle was also involved in the incident due to striking debris that had flown into the other lane after the accident. The person whose car was struck by McMahon’s called it a “horrific” crash and said she was doing mostly fine physically but felt lucky to have survived.
The New Haven Register notes that McMahon did not speak with reporters at the court date today.
“McMahon did not speak to reporters but paused briefly to sign autographs and take pictures with fans before going into court, and again after leaving, before he was led to a waiting Cadillac SUV,” the outlet wrote.
The 80-year-old McMahon has not been involved with WWE since resigning from the company in January 2024 in the wake of Janel Grant’s still-ongoing lawsuit against him and the company. Grant — a former WWE employee — has accused McMahon of physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault, and sex trafficking.
Paradigm Talent Agency has signed NXT wrestler Kelani Jordan and WWE LFG season winner Shiloh Hill as clients. Other WWE talent represented by Paradigm include CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, Sheamus, Rusev, Montez Ford, Natalya Neidhart, Liv Morgan, Tiffany Stratton, Jade Cargill, Alexa Bliss, and Blake Monroe.
Bronson Reed told The West Australian that, despite getting hurt, he would still try the spot again where he was injured at Survivor Series 2024 hitting a Tsunami off the War Games cage through a table:
I feel like we’re sort of in that business where we have to take those risks.
That’s sort of what we do. But it’s calculated risks. I was not scared jumping off the top of that cage. I didn’t expect what was going to happen. But in a heartbeat, I’d do again. I just think I could nail it again and not hurt myself, hopefully.
In the moment, I had known that I had injured myself but I didn’t know to what severity. I actually stood up, walked out and went backstage. So, the doctors backstage didn’t think I had broken anything because I was walking around.
Then about an hour later, the pain set in, and I couldn’t stand up. And I was like, okay, something, something’s gone wrong here.
My leg was not allowed to be weight bearing for two-and-a-half months. I had to build up all the muscles in my leg again. I had to learn how to walk again on my right leg, and then run, and then jump, and then everything that we do in the ring as well.
So in the back of my mind, it was a little scary wondering ‘will I be able to get back to where I was or exceed where I was?’ Thankfully, I put in the hard work rehabbing, and now I’m better than ever.
Today would have been Eddie Guerrero’s 58th birthday. Rey Mysterio and CM Punk are among those who took a moment to remember him on social media.
Other Wrestling
Bobby Horne – formerly known as Mo in the WWF stable Men on a Mission – is currently hospitalized with a blood infection and pneumonia:
Please keep Bobby “Sir Mo” Horne in your prayers.
He’s battling a severe blood infection & pneumonia and remains in the ICU. His wife Denise Jones is with him and they need all the love & strength the wrestling world can send.
TNA is an interesting platform because we can bring and provide a new platform for legends that have already been in the game for 10 and 15 years-plus. But then we can also help to bring on the young talent. Look, is that talent at times gonna leave? Is that talent gonna wanna go to WWE if they’re younger talent? They are and I’ve said it and I’ve said it in our — Nic knows this, I will be the person that will help them as well, if that’s the path that is great. I also know that they’re gonna continue to support TNA and maybe come back to TNA some day, to continue creating this engine, and that’s how we’re gonna continue to operate.
Lio Rush vs. Mascara Dorada is set to take place at show two of Fantastica Mania UK on October 18. The show is being presented by RevPro and CMLL.
As part of the promotion for Saturday’s WWE Wrestlepalooza, CM Punk did a Q&A session of sorts for GQ Magazine where the outlet provided him various questions from around the Internet that he answered.
Two of his answers gave some insight into parts of his sometimes strained relationship with former WWE chairman Vince McMahon.
He was asked about if he would consider bringing back Killswitch Engage’s “This Fire Burns” as his entrance song and he said he wouldn’t because he loves “Cult of Personality” and made the decision to stick with it years ago.
He loves it so much that he revealed that he negotiated use of the song during a renegotiation of his contract with McMahon specifically because he knew “how much he hated paying for licensed music.” Punk thought he would say no and would take a vacation, but to his surprise, McMahon said yes.
Punk also said that during one period of his Straight Edge Society run in WWE, McMahon “got very upset” with him because he bleached his hair blonde, demanding he dye it back.
“I refused to do it. It turned into a thing,” he said.
Other notes:
Punk also said when it comes to retirement, “I’ll f**king retire whenever I want to. There’s work to be done and you’ll miss me when I’m gone.”
He said Paul Heyman gave him advice that he still holds onto: “Don’t take sh*t from anybody.”
Punk said that he won’t sign autographs at an airport or hotel or when he’s walking his dog. During those times, he’s “Phil and not CM Punk.” When he performs, he said he gives his all to the fans and will sign for them outside.
Punk and wife AJ Lee will face Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch Saturday at Wrestlepalooza on ESPN’s streaming service (U.S.) or Netflix (outside the U.S.).
A week after a clip went viral with a fan questioning WWE head Nick Khan about the increasing price of WWE tickets, the message apparently didn’t get through to TKO leadership in terms of what’s to come.
TKO chief operating officer Mark Shapiro spoke at the annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference Wednesday (audio below) and in talking about ticket prices for both UFC and WWE, he said “WWE is not where the UFC yet is on ticket yield. We have our work to do there.”
“We know we have a lot of room there because Vince McMahon was primarily pricing tickets for families and wasn’t totally focused on maxing the opportunity there. Now that we’ve seen what we can do with UFC, we’re replicating that in terms of ticket yield and holding back and advance sales when it comes to OnLocation on the WWE side and it’s working out really well,” he said.
A term used commonly by concert venues, airlines and hotels, ticket yield is considered a measure of the average revenue generated per ticket sold, maximizing revenue with the goal of selling all inventory at the right mix of prices.
WWE live event & hospitality revenue finished at $185.7 million for the second quarter, up $41.4 million year over year, partially attributed to higher ticket revenue. Both WrestleMania 41 and Night of Champions from Saudi Arabia were in the second quarter.
Shapiro hasn’t been shy about saying publicly this year that TKO sees “tremendous upside” in increasing ticket prices. An example he used Wednesday was UFC shattering previous records to become the highest-grossing event in the history of Chicago’s United Center.
Site fees continue to be a key focus of TKO with Shapiro saying they need to sell out their inventory of UFC numbered events in addition to WWE PLEs before moving on to UFC Fight Nights, WWE Raw and SmackDown events.
He said they are talking to Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, London, Paris and that “there are no shortage of countries…that want to see us bring our show to town.” He said they will continue to maximize those opportunities with both in-kind deals (goods & services) but that the “most important to me is cash. Cash kills.”
He also had a warning of sorts for towns that are successful when WWE or UFC comes to their town, especially for the smaller events, using UFC Fight Nights as an example.
“If we have a St. Louis going up against a Des Moines, Iowa, and you want us back there and you’ve broken records and sold out both your arenas, you have to pay for us to come back or else we’ll take it to another town. And that goes for NXT, Raw and SmackDown on the WWE side.”
On this week’s show I continue my long form history of pro wrestling series taken from my book DragonKingKarl’s 1984-1985 Pro Wrestling Omnibus.
I take a deep dive into October 1985 where Vince McMahon buries Uncle Elmer during his own (real!) wedding! Plus, both the NWA and AWA World champions are in Japan at the same time and tag team with each other. Plus, the Mike Von Erich saga continues.
The Godfather says he had a good time at Vince McMahon’s recent birthday party.
McMahon’s 80th birthday party took place over the weekend of August 22–24. It was held at the Baccarat Hotel in New York, with live performances also taking place at Gotham Hall. Godfather detailed his experience during a recent episode of his Poddin’ Ain’t Easy show on AdFreeShows.com.
Godfather said:
“I’m not going to mention everybody who was there but, of course, Taker was there and Kane was there and Bradshaw was there. We had a good time. Cena was there. A lot of entertainers were there. Jelly Roll performed.”
Godfather says he ran into McMahon as he was entering the cocktail party on Friday. He mentioned that McMahon was wearing a suit that made both him and The Undertaker think of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movies.
“I’m like, ‘Vince, thank you for inviting me.’ He goes, ‘Charles, I just want you to know there’s nobody here that’s not my true friend.’ And we talked for a second and then we walked in, but he had on, like, a Dr. Evil suit.”
“I didn’t want to say it to him but, first of all, he looked better than when I’ve seen pictures of him lately, he looks a lot better than that. He’s walking a lot better than that. He introduced me to his girlfriend or whatever she was. But I thought, Dr. Evil, you’re Dr. Evil.”
“I go in, everybody of course is talking to Vince. He gets to me and Taker are talking and Kane and (Vince) walks away and Taker goes, ‘Dude, Vince looking like Dr. Evil. I’m like, ‘Dude, that’s exactly what I was thinking!’”
“Had a good time, had a good time,” he added.
Godfather also mentioned that phones and cameras were not allowed at the cocktail party, so it’s not clear if any pictures of the Dr. Evil suit exist. A report from Fightful Select earlier this week stated that McMahon’s party was intended to be kept secret, but details leaked out regardless.
Doc Gallows says it got weird backstage in WWE when Vince McMahon returned to the company in January 2023.
Gallows and his longtime tag partner Karl Anderson were released from WWE in April 2020 but returned in October 2022, a few months after McMahon announced his retirement that summer. McMahon then returned three months after Anderson and Gallows did. That’s when Gallows says you could feel “the winds of change” backstage.
“Yeah, when we came back in October of 22 it felt great. It felt fresh. It felt new. And then, you know, a few short months later, we’re in New York, and we’re getting ready to leave the building, and a limousine pulls up, and we see a mustachioed man pop out, and it was Vince McMahon coming back for the first time. We happen to see him in the parking garage. And I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors there, but from that point on, everything certainly got weird, whether it was the Vince thing and then the eventual sale to TKO and however that timeline worked, but you know, you could feel again, the winds of change.”
Gallows and Anderson were released from WWE again in February. Including his 2010 release, it marked the third time Gallows has been cut from the company. He says he holds no bitterness.
“Not at all. There’s no bitterness, no hard feelings. You just keep on trucking. That’s what you do.”
Up next for Gallows, he and Anderson are scheduled to appear at Scott D’Amore’s Maple Leaf Pro Sacred Ground show on September 5.
Gallows also discussed his time as a member of CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society, The Club, and other ventures outside of wrestling. The full interview is below:
*The most detailed coverage of the WWE’s deal with ESPN starting early, why the different moves were made by all sides, the costs, more details on Wrestlepalooza, the embarrassment to sports journalism that ESPN has been and emphasized this week, how WWE benefits and doesn’t from the changes,and more. *Will Ospreay, his neck issues, comparisons with other major stars and their serious problems, and his future. *More questions regarding the death of Hulk Hogan. *A look at Forbidden Door and the card, AEW injury rate ,NXT Heatwave, WWE Clash in Paris, France attendance record and more. *Full coverage of TripleMania, lots of behind the scenes stuff, why the next show is where it is and when it is, what Nick Khan told AAA talent, records set and a record claimed that was so far from accurate, actual viewer numbers for each match and more. *A look at The G-1 Climax tournament, the booking, the business, Konosuke Takeshita, new record set and upcoming book New Japan bouts. *Real attendance figures for WrestleMania in Las Vegas and stats on who traveled for the show vs. who lived in Las Vegas and bought tickets, *Full coverage of UFC 319, business, Chimaev and his future. *Dragon Gate’s Dangerous Gate 2025 show *The most detailed look at the ratings for all pro wrestling and MMA shows this past week, including weekly standings, nightly standings, head-to-head shows, segment numbers and more notes. *Details of another big CMLL week *Stardom Five Star Grand Prix update *Kents vs. Marufuji *Women’s legends show packs Korakuen Hall *Cauliflower Alley Club awards *Man who claims to have saved Scott Steiner’s life. *Wrestler charged with murdering a neighbor in a brawl *Sami Callihan retires *Lots of thoughts on Chris Jerich as a free agent *Tony Khan media call *Unionizing wrestlers *Ticket advances for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows. *Dana White talks Jon Jones *Sean Strickland suspended. *PFL crowns new world champions. *The farce that is Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis. *Gable Steveson’s MMA debut. *BJ Penn back in court. *Time changes for a lot of the WWE TV shows over the next month. *High level athletes being recruited by WWE. *Rhodes talks about leaving AEW. *Bronson Reed talks about his injury.
According to PWInsider, Vince McMahon had an arraignment hearing today based on his reckless driving charge from last month. The next court date will be October 16 for a disposition hearing.
NXT’s Uriah Connors is also celebrating a birthday. His father Finlay wrote on social media: “Happy Birthday,Brogan, @WWE_URIAH I’m so proud of you and love being on this journey with you. I Love ya Son. Have a great day. Happy Birthday.”
Will Ospreay wrote about his introductory video at AEW Forbidden Door, which was narrated by fiance Alex Windsor: In a time where I’ve been so in my head about if I’ll ever be the same again. She makes me feel like I’m indestructible. Love you Al.”
AEW posted a video of British wrestling legends Marty Jones and Johnny Saint with Nigel McGuiness, Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, and Zack Sabre Jr.
Evil Uno talked to Fightful about the logistics of putting the longest match ever together:
JCW is set to hold the first-ever Luna Invitational, named after the late WWE Hall of Famer Luna Vachon. This takes place on October 26 with Mara Sade, Nicole Matthews, Lena Kross, and Jade Stone announced as the first participants.
Over the weekend, James Castle & Kurtis Chapman were inducted into the RevPro Hall of Fame.
*The most detailed coverage of the WWE’s deal with ESPN starting early, why the different moves were made by all sides, the costs, more details on Wrestlepalooza, the embarrassment to sports journalism that ESPN has been and emphasized this week, how WWE benefits and doesn’t from the changes,and more. *Will Ospreay, his neck issues, comparisons with other major stars and their serious problems, and his future. *More questions regarding the death of Hulk Hogan. *A look at Forbidden Door and the card, AEW injury rate ,NXT Heatwave, WWE Clash in Paris, France attendance record and more. *Full coverage of TripleMania, lots of behind the scenes stuff, why the next show is where it is and when it is, what Nick Khan told AAA talent, records set and a record claimed that was so far from accurate, actual viewer numbers for each match and more. *A look at The G-1 Climax tournament, the booking, the business, Konosuke Takeshita, new record set and upcoming book New Japan bouts. *Real attendance figures for WrestleMania in Las Vegas and stats on who traveled for the show vs. who lived in Las Vegas and bought tickets, *Full coverage of UFC 319, business, Chimaev and his future. *Dragon Gate’s Dangerous Gate 2025 show *The most detailed look at the ratings for all pro wrestling and MMA shows this past week, including weekly standings, nightly standings, head-to-head shows, segment numbers and more notes. *Details of another big CMLL week *Stardom Five Star Grand Prix update *Kents vs. Marufuji *Women’s legends show packs Korakuen Hall *Cauliflower Alley Club awards *Man who claims to have saved Scott Steiner’s life. *Wrestler charged with murdering a neighbor in a brawl *Sami Callihan retires *Lots of thoughts on Chris Jerich as a free agent *Tony Khan media call *Unionizing wrestlers *Ticket advances for upcoming WWE, AEW and TNA shows. *Dana White talks Jon Jones *Sean Strickland suspended. *PFL crowns new world champions. *The farce that is Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis. *Gable Steveson’s MMA debut. *BJ Penn back in court. *Time changes for a lot of the WWE TV shows over the next month. *High level athletes being recruited by WWE. *Rhodes talks about leaving AEW. *Bronson Reed talks about his injury.
— Garrett Gonzales and I did our Friday show talking about the WWE’s deal with ESPN as well as new deals ESPN is looking at with WWE and UFC, Chris Jericho, Forbidden Door, Will Ospreay and injuries, and a lot more. Bryan and I will be up later tonight covering Forbidden Door NXT, and the rest of the weekend news.
— Perhaps the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen in a wrestling ring took place last night at the Knokx Pro show in Sun Valley, CA. This is the wrestling school that is being run by Solofa Fatu (Rikishi), the father of Jimmy & Jey Uso. Raja Jackson,the son of Rampage Jackson, was at the show and wrestler Syko Stu (Stu Smith) hit him with a beer can, which he didn’t react to at all and others told Smith Jackson was not a worker. Still, they all talked things out and set up a spot later in the card (all of this was being filmed) where Jackson would do a run-in and slam Stu. He did but followed up throwing 21 all out punches from the mount, probably 20 after Smith had been knocked out. Smith is back home but it looked terribly scary. Los Angeles police are investigating. Smith apologized and they shook hands and the person running the show thought it would be cool to do a run-in spot since the beer can spot was taped.
The slam was planned but then Jackson, a trained MMA fighter, just unleashed on Stu with punches. Jackson will likely be in a lot of trouble because he was filming himself and even after the two shook hands, he was on camera saying after the slam he’s going to hit Smith as hard as he can, over and over, until they pull him off.
— Vince McMahon turns 80 tomorrow. He had a birthday party last night at Gotham Hall in New York. Among those attending were John Cena, Undertaker, Glenn “Kane” Jacobs, Michelle McCool, Sgt. Slaughter, Gerald Brisco, Shane McMahon, Sheamus, Bruce Prichard, John Layfield and Ron Killings.
— If the 18,988 figure for Forbidden Door attendance today is accurate, that would not only have set the O2 Arena attendance mark, breaking the 2023 Money in the Bank record, but would have been the largest attendance for an arena pro wrestling show in the history of the U.K. The largest was 18,514 in Manchester for an April 4, 1998 WWE show with a double main event of Undertaker vs. Kane and HHH vs. Steve Austin.
— After the PPV was over, they tended to Will Ospreay and carried him out on a stretcher. Many cable systems shut off before the angle had taken place.
— We’re looking for your thoughts on Forbidden Door and NXT Heatwave, thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
— We’ve had a ton of recommendations when it comes to great matches this weekend. At the Friday Arena Mexico show, very strong last three matches with a great main event of Mistico & Neon & Titan vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Stuka Jr., plus TJP & Templario defending the New Japan Strong tag titles against Villano III Jr. & El Hijo del Villano III, Mercedes one vs. Emersyn Jayne, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay Joshua, Leon Slater vs. Michael Oku, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Zozaya, as well as Momo Watanabe vs. AZM in the finals of the Five Star Grand Prix and Ishii vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Young Bucks vs. Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly from Collision.
— WWE results from yesterday’s show in Liverpool, UK:
Iyo Sky b Roxanne Perez
Damien Priest b Aleister Black clean
Lyra Valkyria b Bayley clean. Both worked as faces
Sami Zayn & Jimmy Uso & Jacob Fatu b Solo Sokoa & JC Mateo & Tonga Loa. Fatu was barely in.
Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker b War Raiders. Breakker was shaking hands with the fans like a face but Reed was not.
Tiffany Stratton won a three-way over Jade Cargill and Nia Jax to keep the women’s title when she pinned Jax
CM Punk & LA Knight & Penta b Finn Balor & Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh. The main event had been advertised as Dom vs. Punk for the IC title, but they did this instead. Punk pinned Dom after the GTS. Said to be the best match by far with Punk & Knight getting the biggest reactions. They sang Happy Birthday to Jimmy after the match. The Usos both turned 40 the day before. (thanks to Jack Randles)
— We’re looking for reports from today’s WWE house show in Newcastle, UK, results,. finishes and highlights to [email protected]
— Jake “The Milkman”Milliman, a cult favorite AWA enhancement wrestler of the 1980s, has entered hospice care according to Mick Karch. He was always a popular enhancement guy until getting a cult push as an unlikely star during the dying days of the company. He was a guy who in the Midwest in the early 80s when AWA was a television institution, everyone knew him.
— Not much as far as trends. Raja Jackson was at 500,000. Forbidden Door was 20,000 earlier today while the UFC show yesterday was at 10,000.
— AEW announcing 12/13 and 12/17 shows for Collision in Cardiff, Wales and Dynamite in Manchester at Co-op live would in theory based on the dates be part of the Continental Classic tournament.
— The PFL tournament matches on Thursday night on ESPN were helped by a strong Little league World Series lead-in and the show did 356,000 viewers and 0.08 in 18-49, its best numbers of the year. The game that preceded it did 1,575,000 viewers and 0.21. In the time slot it was behind the NFL post-game show on the NFL Network and Impractical Jokers on TBS for third place in the time slot.
— Brian Jossie, who was a manager in WWE as Abraham Washington, underwent surgery for a torn intestine. During surgery he aspirated which causes fluid to go into his lungs and was put in an induced coma and on life support. He did fully recover and was able to return home on Thursday after a month in the hospital.
— Josh Emmett vs. Yousseff Zalal has been added to the 10/4 UFC 320 PPV show in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena.
— A&E has WWE programming tonight with WWE’s Greatest Moments on Tag teams of the 90s at 9 p.m., Mic Drops of the 90s at 9:30 p.m. and LFG at 10 p.m.
— Undertaker was at today’s PBR event while Kevin Owens was at yesterday’s NASCAR event.
— Nyla Rose won the Pro Wrestling Eve title last night in London. She will return to defend against Rhio on 11/7 and Willow Nightingale is also on that show in her Eve debut.
— Dana White has announced Fight Pass would free for a month. This announcement came just as ESPN was reported as being interested in buying Fight Pass from UFC to give them MMA programming after UFC moves to Paramount.
Vince McMahon wasn’t happy about Hulk Hogan’s appearance on Raw this year.
In an interview with TMZ that aired on Tuesday, the ex-WWE Chairman recalled the segment that took place earlier this year in Los Angeles in which Hogan was booed while promoting his Real American Beer brand. McMahon felt that the segment wasn’t set up properly.
“I was angry because we’ve known each other for a lifetime, professionally and personally. And setting up, so to speak, this larger than life superhero, you don’t just let him walk out there. He deserved something very, very special. More than anyone, they owe him. It’s just like, okay, here comes Hulk Hogan. I got angry because that’s not the way I would have done it and he deserved much more,” he said.
In an interview with TMZ that aired on Fox Tuesday, McMahon recounted when a Hulk Hogan sex tape resurfaced in 2015 featuring racist language from the WWE Hall of Famer, including Hogan saying he was a racist “to a point.”
“It was unforgivable, and I was like, aghast. What happened? And when those things occourred, that’s not like him. What is God’s name is going on? As soon as it happened obviously, the company didn’t have anything to do with him anymore. We took him out of the Hall of Fame. You just don’t do those things,” he said.
Despite this, Hogan was welcomed back into the WWE in 2018 and continued his relationship with the company through his death last month. McMahon defended the decision during the interview.
“I knew he wasn’t a racist, I’ve been with him for so many years,” he said. “He wasn’t a racist. He said some racist things, and he should pay for that, and he did. But in the end, I think everyone saw the real Hulk Hogan, Terry Bollea, and they felt, well wait a minute, this guy, he doesn’t act like a racist. He’s not a racist. We all make mistakes. That was a big one, but he wasn’t a racist.”
The interview is the first McMahon has given publicly since his resignation from TKO in January of last year following a lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault and trafficking.
Vince McMahon had nothing but positive things to say about Hulk Hogan.
In an interview with TMZ that aired on Fox Tuesday, McMahon said he was shocked when he learned Hogan died last month from cardiac arrest, comparing it to the death of a family member or loved one.
“You just don’t think about someone, a family member or someone that close to you, you don’t think about them passing away. Terry had kicked out, so to speak, of so many surgeries…and, you know, he overcame that. It was a tremendous shock. It was a blow to my heart.”
The on-air interview was the first McMahon has given since January of 2024, when he resigned from TKO amid fallout from a lawsuit filed accusing him of sexual assault and trafficking. When Hogan passed away, McMahon issued a short statement on social media, writing that “the world lost a treasure today.”
McMahon picked Hogan to lead the company upon his global expansion of the WWE in 1984. Hogan would go on to be one of the biggest mainstream stars of the modern era, becoming a huge drawing card not only in the WWE, but later in the 1990s when he joined WCW and became the leader of the New World Order stable.
