Date: 08/12	10:00 PM
Views: 914

Thurs. #2 is HERE. To help out the site subscribe to Mistah MegaManFan or support us on Patreon. Don't miss all of today's news updates! With the cheap plugs out of the way here's Friday's latest wrestling news.

In this interview Tony Khan says TNT is already happy with Rampage: "As a wrestling fan and as a wrestling promoter, this is the best news we can get. TNT is so happy with how Rampage is tracking already. I think they think it's going to be a huge hit. There's definitely a lot of interest and we owe the people at TNT. They could not have rolled out the red carpet any more for us. They have so much in terms of promoting the show. There's been ads all over the place. I watched Seinfeld on TBS last night when I checked into the hotel in Pittsburgh. Every time it went to break, there were Rampage commercials, which is great. So it's on all kinds of shows, including other wrestling shows. And I really, really am happy that they're promoting it. Really, I think with two shows it's going to provide more opportunities, more upward mobility. But it's still going to be a star driven show, Rampage, just like Dynamite is a star driven show. And I think what Elevation and Dark have given us the ability to do is develop stars and get them TV ready. Now there's more TV real estate for everyone to work towards getting in there and fighting for."

Dr. Julius Smokes has signed with MLW.

In this interview Pitbull Gary Wolfe explains why The Pitbulls never went to WWE: "In '98, WWF brought us back up, and they had us work The Headbangers, which is another tag team from the Monster Factory, and Cornette was, I guess, in charge of it and he wouldn't let us do our finish. We didn't care. We still had a really good match, and it's not like Vince didn't want to hire us. He wanted to hire us two other times, and we said no. He brought us in, and I'm like, you know what, let's see what happens. And once he dissed us, he never called us back, and we got a call to go to Australia. I moved to Melbourne, Australia, and I was working for King Curtis' buddy and Kevin Sullivan's buddy, Mark Lewin who ran Hardcore Championship Wrestling out of Australia."

New WWE related videos are available below.

In addition new All Elite Wrestling videos are below.

A WWE and Foxtel press release is below.

WWE (NYSE: WWE) and the Foxtel Group today announced a major new multi-year agreement to deliver WWE's weekly flagship programming Raw, SmackDown and NXT, as well as WWE's monthly pay-per-views, live to Australia fans via Main Event on the Foxtel Group's platforms.

Raw, SmackDown and NXT will continue to air live on Foxtel's FOX8 and Fox Sports each week, with one-hour versions of each show airing the next day and on-demand. In addition, the Foxtel Group's SVOD services, Kayo Sports and Foxtel Now, will continue carrying all weekly WWE programming.

Rebecca McCloy, Foxtel Group Commercial Director - Sports, said: "We are excited to extend our long-term partnership with WWE, bringing all the amazing WWE action, personalities and theatre to the Foxtel Group's 2.4 million sports subscribers.

"We know our Foxtel customers love WWE. Our new sports streaming service Kayo now has over one million subscribers, which is seeing a whole new audience of Australian sports fans entertained by WWE's universe of superstars including Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair."

"For more than 20 years, Foxtel has shared our passion for engaging and entertaining fans throughout Australia," said Jay Li, WWE Vice President, International. "We are pleased to renew our partnership and look forward to continuing to provide WWE's unique blend of action-packed, family-friendly entertainment."

Fans can order WWE's pay-per-view events on Foxtel's Main Event pay-per-view channel and streaming live on Kayo, including WrestleMania, next month's massive SummerSlam event, Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. WWE weekly highlight shows, Afterburn and Bottom Line, will be available to stream on Kayo and Foxtel Now.

The latest New Japan on Roku video is below.

The Great Muta will miss an upcoming Pro Wrestling NOAH show as he's gone into quarantine due to coming into contact with someone who had COVID-19. (PWI)

Ariya Daivari talks about his unique entrance for Money in the Bank: "I was doing the Daivari Dinero thing and the pay-per-view was Money in the Bank, it just popped into my head; the reason why I thought it was it's a pay-per-view and a title match, 'I wonder if I could get a cool entrance.' At that time, I had been in WWE for two-and-a-half years and I hadn't done anything like that so I was like, 'Who knows if this will be my only (shot).' I wondered if I could do the Alberto Del Rio entrance and pull up in a cool car. I asked the writer, pretty quickly he's like, the way he just looked at me, 'Ahhh, I don't think so.' I thought it would be cool and fits my gimmick. When I first switched to Daivari Dinero, when I pitched it to Vince, he got me a Corvette the next week, just to pull up in a backstage (segment), so it's not out of the realm of possibility because they had done it before. I was like, I just think (the writer) didn't want to ask Vince. He thinks it might be to small of an issue to bother the boss with. I said, 'You know what, fuck it. I'll ask him myself.' He digs that kind of shit, he got Alberto Del Rio a car every single week, no matter where they were."

CM Punk (Phil Brooks) talks about his creative freedom on the Starz TV show Heels: "I showed up and saw that outfit and everything else and I was kinda given free rein to figure out who Ricky Rabies was, where he was from. And really what I was thrilled about was, I could get to do a little love letter, an homage to some people in my wrestling career that I shared locker rooms with and helped me out. The big one—I don't even want to say who it is. I want people to watch this show and watch Ricky Rabies, and they'll be able to figure it out. I peppered it in with little Easter eggs here and there, so if you're a hardcore wrestling fan. You know what to look for. You're going to be 'tickled pink' by Ricky Rabies."

Zelina Vega explains why she returned to WWE: "I think, more than anything, WWE has always been a place that I felt like I had some kind of unfinished business with. And, for me as a kid, you look and you're like. 'I want to be a champion,' there's so many things that you want to accomplish and coming back. I set my eyes on the SmackDown Women's Championship and that's what I'm focused on the most and seeing where that takes me. After Bianca versus Sasha, who knows, will it be Bianca that remains champion or will it be Sasha? Either one, I'm coming after them and I can't wait for that opportunity."

Josh Alexander talks about learning to play things up for the audience: "I reiterate this a lot to a lot of younger wrestlers at Impact and throughout the independents. It took me about the 10 or 11-year mark to learn. I wrestled El Generico and I remember him telling me, 'Just calm down and wait.' We were in the ring and something happened. He said, 'Wait, wait!' I was just like, 'What?' I waited and all of a sudden you hear the crowd just come up to this insane level and I would have cut them off and they would have never been there because I would have just been going through the motions."

This week's episode of Dynamite did 979,000 viewers (down from 1.102 million) and a 0.35 18-49 demo (down from 0.46). (Wrestlenomics)

From WWE.

Gacy to battle Briggs, Jiro to take on Waller on 205 Live

A must-see edition of 205 Live is set to feature Joe Gacy tangling with Josh Briggs, as well as a highly anticipated rematch between Ikemen Jiro and Grayson Waller.

The purple brand will now occasionally play host to matches where one or multiple Superstars eclipse the 205-pound weight limit, setting the stage for a colossal main event between Gacy and Briggs!

Both hard-nosed competitors were eliminated in the first round of the ongoing NXT Breakout Tournament, and it stands to reason that each will be in a foul mood and looking to take out their frustrations on the other.

Gacy and Briggs will both be making their second appearance on 205 Live, having each already picked up a win on the purple brand prior to competing in the NXT Breakout Tournament, but what will happen when these two bulls cross paths?

Speaking of NXT Breakout Tournament participants, Jiro will be looking to get back on track after being eliminated in the first round by Duke Hudson. Regardless of the early exit, Jiro remains undefeated on 205 Live and will square up with Waller.

Despite dropping his last four matches on 205 Live after a 3-0 start, including a defeat to Jiro in July, Waller has remained as arrogant as ever. Still, desperation to finally get back in the win column has to be building for the Australian Superstar.

Don't miss a thrilling edition of 205 Live, streaming Friday at 10/9 C on Peacock in the United States and on WWE Network everywhere else!

Stephen Amell says he used the WWE Network as research for Heels: "I was able to go back and watch Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and Harley Race and a lot of the older stuff from the South. I canvassed Cody Rhodes and found some stuff to watch. That was extremely helpful. Then when it comes to getting into character, sometimes it's as simple as hearing your music hit and feeling the reaction of the crowd. I can't say enough about the people we had as extras on the show. They brought so much intensity and had to commit so much to this show as we shot during a pandemic. They were great. That was the prep there. It was on the page. It was all there. Michael Waldron did such a wonderful job crafting this world."

Last night's Before The Impact is below.

Enjoy!