A slightly quieter week, but here’s some news items that may have sailed under your radars…
NEWS: From the folder marked “big shock”, AEW’s Double or Nothing show in May sold out in double quick time. The pre-sale tickets for what’ll technically be the inaugural AEW show went in under half an hour, with the remaining general sale clearing out too. Double or Nothing will be held on May 25 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Don’t read anything into the story of AEW running Royal Albert Hall in August. The venue’s booked from July to September for the BBC Proms, which means we can pretty much discount this story as clickbait trash using the mindset of “hey, there’s wrestling fans in the UK… the last high profile venue WWE ran was the Royal Albert Hall… let’s join the dots that don’t exist.”
ICYMI: With no PROGRESS show until next weekend, PROGRESS dropped a 50-minute feature recapping the history of the Jimmy Havoc/Will Ospreay feud onto their VOD service. It’s a pretty good piece, but if you’re not into folks laughing about the time they nearly had their ear cut off, then this may be one to avoid for sticklers of kayfabe. I can’t help but wonder how electric it’d have been had their final match been at Wembley WITH this video being released in the run-up, rather than this being a retrospective…
NEWS: Speaking of Will Ospreay, he’s pulled out of the OTT shows in Dublin and Belfast next month. I’d expect him to be in the New Japan Cup field then… his replacements? Flip Gordon for Belfast… and Jushin Thunder Liger for Dublin.
UPCOMING: And on another segue, the New Japan Cup will be airing live in its entirety on New Japan World. Like last year, our coverage will be delayed and limited to the tournament matches since we’ll be in Germany for 16 Carat Gold…
ICYMI: Another one from the IndependentWrestling.tv catalogue – at time of writing the show’s available to watch for free, but check out the opener from Black Label Pro’s BLP Unplugged from two weeks ago. Daniel Makabe vs. Rory Gulak
NEWS: For those who remember him, the former Kizarny (Sinn Bohdi) got a vignette to announce his arrival in OVW. Their show’s up on YouTube free every week if you want to try it out…
NEWS: Joe Hendry announced his departure from Impact this past week. He debuted (in-ring) for Impact last summer, but hadn’t wrestled for the company since last September’s tapings in Mexico, losing to Murder Clown as part of an ongoing storyline that also involved Grado and Katarina Waters.
NEWS: If you’re a fan of DDT, then you’ll probably have noticed that the DDT Universe player now allows you to tweak volume levels again. Now, if only they quit showing things match-by-match…
UPCOMING: New Japan’s latest “card drop” confirmed two matches for their Anniversary show on March 6. They were both matches set up at the New Beginning in Osaka, as Jushin Thunder Liger challenges Taiji Ishimori for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles, while Roppongi 3K challenge BUSHI & Shingo Takagi for the junior tag titles. Yay for these not being three-ways.
UPCOMING: This may well be a rib, but there are no words…
UPCOMING: PROGRESS are teasing doing an 80s themed show – the natural successor to last May’s “May 27th, 1978” show. Prepare for a LOT of synth-pop stock muzak!
ICYMI: Another week, another promo: this time it’s TK Cooper who’s pressing the reboot button…
All we can do is our best.
And sometimes the best that we can do is;
Start Over. 💯 pic.twitter.com/R00EgyGsJ4— TK Cooper ▲ (@PureTKC) February 14, 2019