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Ric Flair-AEW Update

Ric Flair and AEW appear to be done.

Ric Flair hasn’t appeared on All Elite Wrestling TV in ages, and isn’t factored into any creative plans for the time being, Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp has learned. 

Flair was featured on AEW TV a number of times en route to Sting’s retirement in March, including taking a superkick from the Young Bucks at AEW Revolution. However he’s not been featured on AEW TV since then, and Fightful learned that he hasn’t been brought u...

More on CJ Perry/AEW departure

CJ Perry is no longer with AEW, and hasn't been for quite some time.

CJ Perry, the former Lana, confirmed to USA Today that her time with All Elite Wrestling had finished up, after Fightful mentioned in our Discord this spring that she wasn't expected back in the company or factored into creative plans.

AEW confirmed to Fightful that Perry actually was a part of the April set of releases. Though she had originally came into the company on a per-appearance deal, she'd signed a cont...

More on recent NWA departures

NWA made numerous re-signings, but lost a couple of former champions along the way.

Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp spoke to former tag team champion Missa Kate and former Junior Heavyweight Champion Joe Alonzo about leaving the National Wrestling Alliance and what lies ahead.

Missa Kate said that she stopped being invited to NWA tapings earlier this year, and figured that her departure was coming at the end of her contract. She also noted she believes she left on positive terms ...

European Fight Size: ScrapperMania, Simon Miller, Joe Hendry, More

- Simon Miller is set to return to the ring in the coming weeks following his shoulder injury, and will be heading to the US and Canada for dates with Mission Pro Wrestling and Alpha-1. 

- In asking around with multiple promotions across Europe, Dijak is expected to compete in several countries in addition to competing for RevPro in the UK. 

- North Wrestling has several surprise appearances scheduled for Thunderstruck this weekend.

- One source in French wrestl...

The latest on Jamie Hayter

Jamie Hayter has been out of action for over a year, with little to no updates.

In fact, the only couple of updates that we’ve been able to learn since that time was that Hayter worked through an injury to drop the AEW Women’s Title at AEW Double or Nothing. Shortly after, it was apparent to All Elite Wrestling that Hayter would be unable to wrestle at AEW All In 2023. Then, it was clear that Hayter wouldn’t be wrestling for the rest of the year, and later was simply sidelined ind...

Ask Grapsody! with Phil Lindsey & Righteous Reg | 7/11/24

Get Your Questions In! Ask Grapsody! Today, at 5 PM EST, with Phil Lindsey & Righteous Reg

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ6GTHhufLI

MxM sign with AEW/ROH

A tag team is official with AEW x ROH.

Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp has confirmed that Mason Madden (aka Mace of the great Retribution) and Mansoor are officially signed by ROH/AEW. We'd slipped news of them signing in on Shane SLAPJACK Haste's re-signing, and Mansoor has already replied to Max Caster's reaction with a rap of his own.

MxM had vignettes air on ROH recently after Fightful Select reported that they were planned for the brand and had been backstage of late.

Current TNA champion backstage at NXT

A current champion in TNA was backstage at NXT.

Multiple TNA stars appeared on-screen on the July 9 episode of NXT; The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel) reunited with Wes Lee, and Joe Hendry teamed up with Trick Williams to defeat Shawn Spears and NXT Champion Ethan Page. They weren't the only TNA stars in attendance.

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp has confirmed that TNA Digital Media Champion AJ Francis was backstage at the taping. Francis, formerly known as Top Dolla ...

Update on Stephanie Vaquer

Stephanie Vaquer is the Belle of the Ball.

Vaquer has elected to remove herself from the rosters of CMLL and NJPW citing personal reasons, and as a result, has been stripped of the CMLL World and Tag Team Titles, per the official CMLL account. Last week, it was revealed that she had interest from both AEW and WWE, despite having a CMLL contract.

Fightful Select can confirm that Vaquer has had talks with both AEW and WWE, and both companies have maintained interest. As things stand...

Heavy Spoilers for tonight's NXT

Tonight's NXT looks to progress some crossing of the line.

You could say that NXT have become habitual line steppers at this point, because word within the company there will be multiple upcoming crossovers, based on those that Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select spoke to. Corey Brennan reported this past weekend that Joe Hendry of TNA was expected to be factored in heavily moving forward, and he was featured on the NXT commercial on WWE Raw.

Sources Sean Ross Sapp spoke to were ove...

NJPW Re-signs current champion

One possible free agent isn’t going to be hitting the market.

Just as soon as Retribution were free agents, many of them became….not free agents. Fightful confirmed that Mansoor and Mason Madden (formerly of Retribution) has signed contracts with AEW/ROH, but they’re not the only ones with new deals. Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp has confirmed that former Slapjack, Shane Haste has re-signed with NJPW.

Haste recently won the IWGP Tag Team Titles and Strong Openweight Tag...

WWE Raw News, Producers, AEW Notes

• We're told that AEW is likely to have a presence at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con

• Tyler Bate did sustain an injury on NXT last week. Pete Dunne will still be featured on TV moving forward

• We're told that Rhea Ripley had been discussed for a television return internally for almost a month.

• There wasn't any heat on Pat McAfee for the "Brick shit house" line about Bron Breakker. There were some chuckles and a "can't wait for Netflix" line i...

  2024-07-09 15:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post

Fightful Weekender (7/8): GCW, IWS, BEYOND, KOBK, DPW, GLORY PRO, NXT LEVEL UP, ROH SPOILERS

STEPHEN JENSEN is back with a new edition of the WEEKENDER!

- GCW: "Backyard Wrestling 6" + "Worst Behavior" results

- IWS/GCW: "Scarred 4 Life" results

- BEYOND: "Americanrana: Where Eagles Dare" results

- KOBK: "For The Working Man" results

- DPW Live 7 results

- GLORY PRO: "Ascend" (Ep. 43) results

- NXT Level Up (7/5) results

- ROH HonorClub SPOILERS (59 min-end)

Alex & Kate's SOUR GRAPS: Raw 7/8 | Mixed Reactions

Look, the WWE employs a bunch of really great wrestlers, and when you put them in the ring with each other, they usually deliver great matches.

But the storylines these wrestlers get put in sometimes leave a lot to be desired.

And now you understand what our podcast is about.

The "Reverse Sexual Harassment" story continues into the main event, hopefully with Rhea Ripley returning and getting things back on track.

And the "CM Punk is somehow the good guy" story also con...

Details on Jordynne Grace's TNA contract

Jordynne Grace's TNA deal is up in January, but it wasn't always.

Fightful Select noted on a recent Backstage Report podcast that Jordynne Grace's TNA contract was up "much sooner than expected." Grace confirmed on Gigantic Pop this week that her contract is actually up in January.

Grace re-signed with TNA for two years in the Summer of 2023, with her deal set to expire in the Summer of 2025. However, we're told that at some point her contract was amended and changed to expire in ...

WWE Raw Plans

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select has learned the following plans for WWE Raw, subject to change.

Please be cognizant of those who wish to avoid spoilers.

• SPOILER PROMO

• Jey Uso vs. Chad Gable

• SPOILER MATCH

• UNADVERTISED PROMO

• Braun Strowman & Awesome Truth vs. Judgment Day

• Uncle Howdy vignette

• SPOILER MATCH 2

• Damage CTRL vs. Katana, Kayden & Lyra

• G...

  2024-07-08 23:44:36 +0000 UTC View Post

FREE POST: Damon Kemp's WWE Contract Not Being Renewed

Damon Kemp is no longer with WWE.

Damon Kemp, aka Bobby Steveson announced he was no longer with WWE after four years with the company. The brother of the recently released Gable Steveson, Bobby made a much better impression on officials, coaches and fans of WWE. Kemp has performed on NXT, Level Up, 205 Live and WWE Main Event.

We're told that this isn't a part of a "round of cuts," and instead, Kemp was told that his WWE contract would not be renewed. This has been more of the no...

SRS Backstage Report Podcast 7/8: Cena, MITB, Swerve/Ospreay

• John Cena retirement

• World Heavyweight Title match

• Chelsea Green

• Ricochet

• MVP

• Ospreay & Swerve

• Money in the Bank

• AEW injuiries

• NWA

• Tiffany Stratton, Carmelo Hayes, LA Knight

• Women's US & IC Titles

• Ciampa

WWE talent gained praise for Money in the Bank week

A WWE women's star has been gaining praise behind the scenes.

This past weekend, Chelsea Green went into WWE's Money in the Bank as number two in the BetOnline odds, but left number one in the hearts of many in defeat. While she'd already maintained a positive reputation backstage, several within WWE reached out to Fightful over the weekend to sing her praises.

One area of particular interest was Chelsea Green's promotion of the match itself. WWE officials Sean Ross Sapp spoke wit...

More On TNA Star’s Last Second Appearance At NXT Heatwave

Say his name, and he appears.

As NXT Heatwave went off the air with a new NXT Champion, a blink and you miss it tease occurred for one Joe Hendry. This comes after Hendry’s recent NXT debut where he stated that he could show up on “any show.”

Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan has been told by multiple sources in NXT that there are plans to use Hendry ‘heavily’ as part of the NXT and TNA crossover in the coming weeks and months. Following his debut, Brennan was told that ...

More on World Heavyweight Title match snafu

There was an issue with the World Heavyweight Title match at WWE Money in the Bank that left many puzzled.

During the Seth Rollins vs. Damian Priest's World Heavyweight Title match, there was a situation where a nearfall actually wasn't. Following a Falcon Arrow from Seth Rollins, there was to be an interruption, though many fans online were debating which that was to be.

Though champion Damian Priest didn't kick out, the referee didn't count to three. The referee, Rod Zapata, wa...

Fightful Select Exclusive NXT Heatwave Pre-Show

Fightful Select Exclusive NXT Heatwave Pre-Show

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkQMIdRXp0Q

More on John Cena's retirement

John Cena has announced his 2025 retirement tour.

Cena formally announced that 2025 would be his last year in wrestling, indicating that Royal Rumble, WrestleMania and Elimination Chamber would be his last. However, he'd indicated that he'd work 30-40 events during that period. Fightful Select's Sean Ross Sapp has learned more about his WWE Money in the Bank appearance and retirement.

John Cena wasn't exactly hiding in Toronto on July 6, and Fightful Select reported that he was in...

MITB News And Notes

• We've not heard of any significant injuries emerging out of Money in the Bank. We've asked about Tanga Loa after he hit his head on the table

• Specifically we were told that Chelsea Green, Zoey Stark and Chad Gable were fine after the big spots they took.

• Matt Cardona, Josh Alexander and Jade Chung were around the show. The latter two live in the area. Former referee Jimmy Korderas was around this weekend as well.

• Speaking of referees, those...

  2024-07-07 18:20:36 +0000 UTC View Post

Numerous injury updates in AEW

Unfortunate news out AEW with several injury updates this week.

An ROH regular is sidelined with an injury, as Cole Karter announced he'd undergone surgery on a broken arm. AEW sources noted that Karter would likely be out of action for a number of months, until the later part of the year or early 2025.

Karter had been performing on ROH TV for the last year, teaming with Griff Garrison. Most recently, they and Anthony Henry defeated Serpentico and The Infantry. Karter last appeare...

News on Women's IC & US Title belts

WWE's women's division could be getting a shot in the arm.

Late on July 6, PWN reported that there were Women's United States and Intercontinental Titles in the works, which would represent each brand. We've not heard that it's a definite as of yet, but in the hours that have followed did confirm via a number of sources in the company that the titles have been discussed.

The images circulating are not actual images of the championships, but instead are AI art.

We've not spok...

Alex & Kate's SOUR GRAPS: WWE Money In The Bank 2024 | What A Waste

Tiffany Stratton is your new Miss Money In The Bank.

And so ends the list of the things WWE got right so far tonight.

If Solo Sikoa doesn't end up pinning Cody Rhodes in the Main Event, they will be 1 for 5.

Not such a great batting average for the new era.

The Men's Money In The Bank should be retired as a concept. Bron Breakker's meteoric rise has stalled out just as it was beginning. They didn't even have Damian Priest lose so he has to leave the Judgment Day.

WWE Money In The Bank SCOOPS THREAD

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select has learned the following plans for tonight's WWE Money in the Bank, subject to change.

This will be updated throughout the night

• Men's Money in the Bank Ladder match
  
• IC Title: Sami Zayn vs Bron Breakker
  
• Trish Stratus promo
  
• World Heavyweight Title: Damian Priest vs. Seth Rollins
  
• Women's Money in the Bank Ladder match
  
• Bloodline -- Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. KO...
  2024-07-06 22:35:26 +0000 UTC View Post

WWE Legend Allegedly In Toronto Ahead Of MITB

Please be cognizant of those who wish to avoid spoilers -- aka, if you're an engagement account, please don't post a possible spoiler with a picture and no warning in case people want to avoid it.

-----

A WWE legend was spotted in Toronto today.

A Fightful reader Alex Albiatia (aka A-Pox) sent word (and a photo) of John Cena allegedly in Toronto today, ahead of WWE Money in the Bank. To clarify, we've not heard if he's planned for tonight's show in any capacity.

Fi...