It was WWE and not Netflix who chose to blur out the blood for replays of the Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker match from Night of Champions. They also dubbed over “holy shit” chants with “this is awesome” chants instead. (PWI)
PRODUCE promoter Adam Abdalla has a few things to say about WWE ID talent being pulled from his shows: “Just a note on yesterday: The point of my announcements was not to name and shame talent. It was to highlight the fact they were promised the equivalent of a grant program and were conned into doing scabwork. This should be widely understood. PRODUCE exists to serve our fanbase, but as an idea, also as an institutional critique that shines a light on practices that are designed to devalue the talent. I’ll take 1000 bullets personally if it brings sunlight to things that will make folks think twice about screwing talent or the fans. This will always be the tone. If you want passive viewing, you’ve got plenty of options.” This comes after Chazz ‘Starboy’ Hall was also pulled from their show.
Here are Road to G1 Climax results from July 2nd. (NJPW)
- Daiki Nagai defeated Taisei Nakahara
- HOUSE OF TORTURE (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) defeated Masatora Yasuda & Ryusuke Taguchi
- Tiger Mask IV, Toru Yano, & Togi Makabe defeated Tatsuya Matsumoto, El Desperado, & Satoshi Kojima
- Taichi & Yuya Uemura defeated United Empire (Jakob Austin Young & Great-O-Khan)
- Jado, Master Wato, Aaron Wolf, & Shota Umino defeated T.M.D.K. (Kosei Fujita, Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa, & Zack Sabre Jr.)
- YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto, & YOH defeated United Empire (Jake Lee, Zane Jay, & Francesco Akira)
- Unbound Co. (Gedo, Taiji Ishimori, OSKAR, Yuto-Ice, & Yota Tsuji) defeated HOUSE OF TORTURE (Dick Togo, DOUKI, Yujiro Takahashi, SANADA, & Ren Narita)
Hiroshi Tanahashi wants more retired stars to work with New Japan: “From Wrestle Kingdom in January to Dominion in June, I think there has been a fantastic atmosphere and ambiance around NJPW. As the second half of the year, the immediate target in the ring will be the success of the G1, and outside of it, one aspect that I would like to analyze is how other retired wrestlers of this generation, such as Tiger Mask and Hiroyoshi Tenzan, can better contribute to NJPW in the future.”
Here’s an early look at the Dynamite Beach Break card for next week. (AEW)
- AEW World Championship Match: MJF vs. Kenny Omega; and if Omega loses, he can never again challenge for the AEW World Title
- AEW International Championship Match: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kyle Fletcher
- Women’s Casino Gauntlet Match: Athena OR Rina vs. Maya World OR Julia Hart vs. More TBA
- Chris Jericho vs. Tommaso Ciampa
In this interview Harley Cameron talks about the advice she got from MJF: “I have to give a shout-out to him because he very much was like, ‘Don’t ever lose who you are. That is what makes people connect with you. It’s just that when you get in that ring, you need to kick ass.’ When I look at all the greats and the people that I’ve looked up to, I feel like there’s so much power in – you don’t have to be, ‘I’m the tough guy! I’m gonna do this, and I’m gonna beat your ass’ and stuff. It’s okay to be unique and be entertaining, as long as when you get in that ring, and the bell goes, you just gotta bring it.”
Brie Bella has come out as anti-AI, noting her concerns about public land being sold for private data centers, and the insane amount of water and energy use of such centers. I couldn’t agree more.
CM Punk is expected to be back in WWE for next week’s Raw in Chicago. (FF)
