Big D and I are back to talk about the passing of Kanyon, who passed away this weekend. D remembers a few tidbits about his career, including a WWE house show he was at that Kanyon showed up to unannounced.
We talk fallout of WrestleMania, including the retirement of Shawn Michaels and three other men who we probably won’t see on WWE TV again. We discuss the aftermath of UFC 111 and what you do with Frank Mir. We talk about the Super Six tournament and the debacle of a fight between Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins.
We also preview UFC 112, which is this weekend. And lastly, Big D quickly talks about the ROH Big Bang PPV from the weekend as well. Lots of stuff, but we get through it with a quickness.
FIP Owner Sal Hamaoui, FIP Champion/ROH Tag Team Champion Davey Richards, and former ROH/FIP booker and current Dragon Gate USA booker Gabe Sapolski, possibly believing that ROH’s days are numbered, have opened a new wrestling promotion for the Northeast entitled EVOLVE. Hamaoui recently has made a bid to be granted a New York State promoter’s license, which is the first step.
The project has been worked on in secrecy for months and I heard clues and hints about it at the last FIP show I attended, but as usual they worked me. Bastards. Seriously though, this partially explains the union between Dragon Gate and FIP as now Sal plans to expand into the Northeast market.
The company is beginning the tease with an online viral campaign, starting with this YouTube video, teasing the birth of the company.
The company’s homepage is already in effect over at www.EVOLVEwrestling.com. There is no word as to whether or not they will feature Dragon Gate talent, but I have a feeling that they will. Will they compete against Ring of Honor? Well considering DGUSA is running in Arizona the same day that ROH is for Wrestlemania weekend, that seems to be the case. I don’t know if competing for the same 2000 or so fans is that great of an idea, but whatever.
I’m excited to see what this trio can come up with!
Alright folks, here is ALL I was able to dig up (more in the Observer tomorrow):
- Nigel’s new TNA name is Desmond Wolf and he will be facing Kurt Angle at TNA’s Turning Point PPV next month in something of a hardcore fan’s dream match. Nigel came up with this name on his own and was asked to change it so TNA can market him and trademark the name.
- Shockingly, as we speculated on before, there WAS something that World Wrestling Entertainment discovered when they performed the pre-signing physical on Nigel McGuinness and it was enough to freak WWE out to repudiate their initial contract offer. I have no idea what they discovered whether it be a wellness issue or perhaps due to the head injuries and recurring muscle tears. There ARE conflicting stories, but one source stated it was “kinda like Claudio in 06″.
- Vince Russo has been watching Nigel McGuinness and was immediately enamored with his gimmick and workrate and wanted to bring him in for a while and jumped at the chance to do so. Dixie Carter was also a fan of his work and wanted McGuinness to be an original member of the British Invasion.
- This contract was worked out in the past 3 or 4 days.
- As far as I know, Bryan Danielson has fully passed his physical and is still heading in to WWE.
Jason Powell reported earlier today that former ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness, rather than sign with World Wrestling Entertainment as it was thought, instead has opted to sign with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and will be debuting (technically re-debuting since he’s worked a few shots there before) tonight at the Impact tapings.
You’re probably wondering “what the hell?” I can shed some light into this. Continue Reading »
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