Date: 01/06	11:00 PM
Views: 597

Thurs. #2 is HERE. To help out the site subscribe to Mistah MegaManFan or support us on Patreon. With the cheap plugs out of the way here's Friday's latest wrestling news.

Samoa Joe has been released (again) by WWE. (FF) Full details are not available at this time, but Joe hasn't been seen on WWE TV since vacating the NXT championship back in Septemebr 2021 due to an undisclosed injury.

UPDATE: Samoa Joe has now commented on his release: "Extremely fortunate and grateful to all the young & amazing talent I had the pleasure of working with in the past months. Only saddened at the loss of an 'excuse' to see their continued growth & achievement. I am very excited for their future... and mine."

It looks like an angle is brewing between Joey Janela and Matt Cardona. Shortly after Cardona married Chelsea Green in Las Vegas, he got a package in the mail from Janela that he assumed was a wedding gift. Instead it was pictures of Janela and Green frolicking together in swimwear, photos that Chelsea Green swears are photoshopped. Janela insists that the photos are legit and since it happened before the wedding it "wasn't cheating" on Green's part. He also cheekily gave her a rating of "**** 1/4."

Last night's new episode of Before the Impact is below.

IGT and WWE have signed a deal to produced WWE-licensed lottery games. The full press release is below.

IGT Signs Multi-Year Agreement with WWE for Exclusive Licensing Rights to Develop Omnichannel Lottery Games

International Game Technology PLC (IGT) (NYSE: IGT) announced that it has signed a multi-year exclusive licensing agreement with WWE (NYSE: WWE) to develop and distribute WWE-branded omnichannel lottery games and turnkey promotional programs featuring company logos, Superstars, events and programs.

"The WWE brand has broad appeal that reaches diverse age groups and cultural demographics in many geographies," said Jay Gendron, IGT Chief Operating Officer, Lottery. "IGT looks forward to melding the unique WWE assets with IGT's lottery expertise to create appealing, high-quality games and second-chance promotional opportunities for our global customers and their players."

"IGT is the clear industry leader in the lottery and gaming space, and we look forward to collaborating by bringing our intellectual property to our fans and lottery games around the globe," said Alex Varga, WWE Vice President, Revenue Strategy & Development. "This is an exciting opportunity for us to continue to leverage the strong crossover between the WWE Universe and another segment of the gaming landscape."

For more information about IGT's lottery business, visit igt.com and follow IGT on LinkedIn.

New WWE related videos are available below.

According to Wayne Gretzky's friend and podcast co-host Paul Bissonette, Gretzky and Lesnar had drinks together after the Day 1 PPV: "I had no idea that Brock Lesnar bought property in Saskatchewan and lives in Saskatchewan, he just commutes and drives over the border about two hours away and that's where he travels out of. Great guy, very interesting, and he's still going. I was like, 'How are you not banged up and how are you still wrestling at this age?' He said about 13 years ago, he got this trainer and it changed his whole life as far as eating habits and the way he trains. I think he said he could probably wrestle at a high level for another three or four years. He was a great guy. I know he's known as a bit of a heel and he has to have kind of an asshole persona as far as his character, but he was the complete opposite. He actually exchanged numbers with me and I got a text the next day, 'Let's keep in touch man!' Alright, fuckin eh, I'll let you chokeslam me through a table for content. Let's do it."

The debut episode of MLW's Azteca Underground is below.

Via social media Tony Khan celebrated the success of AEW's ratings this week: "Congratulations to the diligent AEW staff, + every wrestler who worked hard and maintained a high professional standard to help us reach this point, + most of all you fans. Last night's #AEWDynamite TBS debut was a huge success in the eyes of our network bosses, thanks to you all."