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Monday, March 2 2020 Issue #5864
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Visit our website at
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//->> OPENING WORDS FROM THE EDITOR
Colin Vassallo -[mailto:editor@...]-
Being on this side of the world allows me to watch wrestling shows live for a change. The only bad thing about that is the fast forward button doesn't work! Will be giving my useless thoughts on Twitter during Raw tonight. Follow me @wrestlingonline.
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//->> NEWS FROM THE WRESTLING-ONLINE NEWSWIRE
Web version at
MATT HARDY OFFICIALLY A FREE AGENT
- Just after Midnight, Matt Hardy uploaded a video on YouTube where he announced that he is now a free agent and no longer under a WWE contract. Hardy thanked WWE for the way they treated him and his family and said that he would be back some day. "I love WWE. WWE is my home," he said, adding that he has nothing but good things to say about the company. He said that if it wasn't for Vince McMahon, he would not be able to obtain the quality of life he has now so he will always be grateful for that. Matt said it's just time for him to take a break and the reason he needed to leave WWE is because when it comes to creative stands and his creative outlook on himself, him and WWE are on different pages. He said that in the last three or four years of his in-ring career, he needs to cement his legacy and while he's 45 years old, he needs to be utilized in a certain way but he has a lot to offer still. He requires to have a creative input in his career but WWE was not allowing him to do that. You can see the full eight-minute video at .
AEW DROPS ANOTHER MATT HARDY HINT
- All Elite Wrestling has made another subtle hint at Matt Hardy joining the promotion by posting an image simply saying “The Exalted One is Near” on Twitter just after Midnight. However, upon zooming in on the photo, on the words E of Exalted and I of Is, there’s the words “Sitting in a dead tree” in very faint grey on the white text. In the video that Matt released also just after Midnight, he is seen sitting on a throne…made of wood. There have been several hints over the past few weeks of Matt Hardy joining AEW to be the leader of The Dark Order. Last week, Hardy addressed Orton in a video titled “Dear Dr RKO” which when you scramble the words they come out to Dark Order. Hardy announced that he is now a free agent after his deal expired on March 1 at Midnight.
WWE THANKS MATT HARDY FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS AND WISHES HIM THE BEST
- In what is certainly a sign of ending on a good note and not burning any bridges, WWE.COM today uploaded a story on Matt Hardy leaving the company, calling him a trailblazer. The short story lists his championship achievements and notes how he stole the show at WrestleMania on several occasions with his brother in TLC matches. It also puts over Hardy for the "uncanny connection" he has built with WWE fans through his several character changes. The statement, titled Matt Hardy's contract expires, ends with, "WWE thanks Matt Hardy for his contributions to sports-entertainment and the WWE Universe and wishes him the best in his future endeavors."
FIVE MATCHES ANNOUNCED FOR RAW
- Five matches have been announced so far for tonight's Monday Night Raw, the go-home episode for this Sunday's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. Set for tonight are Kairi Sane vs Shayna Baszler, The Street Profits vs Seth Rollins and Murphy for the Raw Tag Team titles, AJ Styles vs Aleister Black, Rey Mysterio and Humberto Carrillo vs Andrade and Angel Garza, and a 24/7 title defense by Riddick Moss. Baszler was supposed to face Asuka but the former Smackdown Women's champion was replaced due to a sprained wrist. Apart from these matches, WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix will appear live to address Edge's injury. Is an RKO by Orton on Phoenix on the horizon leading up to Edge's return next week?
MONEY IN THE BANK PPV TO TAKE PLACE FROM BALTIMORE
- Ticketmaster.com has an entry for the Money In The Bank pay-per-view listed as taking place from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland on Sunday, May 10. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, March 13 at 10AM ET while the pre-sale kicks off on Wednesday, March 11 at 10AM ET and ends the next day. Citi Cardmember pre-sale starts a day earlier on Tuesday, March 10 at 10AM ET. The official website of the Royal Farms Arena still has no entry for the pay-per-view on their calendar.
FORMER AJPW PRESIDENT JUN AKIYAMA TO GUEST COACH AT WWE PC
- Former All Japan Pro Wrestling President Jun Akiyama will be serving as a guest coach at the WWE Performance Center between May 12 and May 22. The announcement was made on the AJPW's official Twitter account. The 50-year-old from Osaka has spent all of his career wrestling with All Japan and Pro Wrestling Noah and was never part of a major promotion outside Japan. There are big rumors that NXT will open its Japan branch this year so his arrival at the Performance Center is certainly adding more fuel to that fire. Akiyama will also be meeting Triple H, with the two having met a couple of times last year as well when WWE toured Japan.
JAPANESE MEDIA PICKS UP RUMOR OF AJPW MERGING WITH WWE
- Tokyo Sports is covering the rumor of a possible merger between WWE and All Japan Pro Wrestling which would see AJPW being absorbed by WWE and possibly renamed to NXT Japan. WWE has been looking at the possibility of expanding the NXT brand to Japan after the successful launch of NXT UK and opening the third WWE Performance Center in the country. In comments to Yahoo! Japan, AJPW President Takeshi Fukada said that he’s glad to see that the company has a worldwide value but there’s no final decision yet on what will happen about a possible merger with WWE. He said that he hopes that the visit of Jun Akiyama to the WWE Performance Center in May will shed more light on the situation as Akiyama meets Triple H and other WWE officials. If WWE ends up absorbing All Japan Pro Wrestling it would mean that another major player has taken control of another wrestling promotion in Japan. Bushiroad owns New Japan Pro Wrestling and Stardom while Cyber Agent owns Pro Wrestling NOAH and DDT.
FORMER WWE AND IMPACT STARS LAUNCH AMBITIOUS KAYFABE TV SERIES
- Gail Kim, Christy Hemme, and Amy "Lita" Dumas are teaming up to create a new television show titled KAYfABE, a one hour show which is described as "50 percent story and 50 percent in ring action." The project was launched today on Kickstarter with a goal of $400,000 to be raised. "It is an edgy, racy, cinematic television series about a female led professional wrestling start up. This show is a dramatization and collection of female stories inspired by real life events," the description of the show reads. The show promises to take viewers behind the curtain, into the locker room and outside of the arena with drama, passion, humor, love, anger, frustration and real life challenges with real storylines of abuse of power, manipulation, injury, addiction, and inequality. The $400,000 budget is to get the pilot production, campaign rewards, platform fees and credit card processing, and operational costs. The trio hope to reach $4.8 million in funds to have an eight-episode season. Several rewards are being offered to those who contribute starting with $5. There are a few wrestling personalities attached to the show already including Tom Casiello, Jimmy Jacobs, Chavo Guerrero, and David Sahadi. Other names who will be part of the production team are Geordy Sincavage, Doug Lebow, Alisha Edwards, Curtis Blank, Bryan Edwards, Sebastian Sokolowski, Kevin Hooper, DS Shin, Shawn Zuzek, Javier Lovato, and Jeffrey Lamont Brown. A preview of the show and the Kickstarter page can be found at .
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