WWE have confirmed that Dean Ambrose will not be remaining with WWE after April this year, sending out the following comment to the media:
“Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good) will not be renewing his contract with WWE when it expires in April. We are grateful and appreciative of all that Dean has given to WWE and our fans. We wish him well and hope that one day Dean will return to WWE”
UPDATE: WWE Have put the following statement on their Twitter account:
2018 has been an up and down year in the world of professional wrestling, it has been mired with controversy and tragedy but has also seen some prosperity within the independent world. From WWE’s Saudi Arabia debacle to the success of the All In PPV, 2018 has seen both ends of the spectrum.
These are our end-of-year awards for all things WWE, both the good and the bad. You can hear our audio podcast above or over at iTunes here
Male Superstar: AJ Styles (Seth Rollins a close 2nd)
Female Superstar: Becky Lynch
Top 4 Matches of the Year: 1) Becky v Charlotte (Evolution)
2) Gargano v Ciampa (Takeover New Orleans)
3) Brock Lesnar v Bryan (Survivor Series)
4) Gargano v Black (Takeover Wargames)
Best PPV of the Year: Evolution
Worst PPV of the Year: This should come as no surprise to anyone, it is being named the worst PPV solely because of the hideous, deceptive nature of their existence and the disgusting promotional tactics of the WWE. So…. DRUM ROLL PLEASE….. It’s a TIE and The Award Goes to …. The Greatest Royal Rumble and Crown Jewel
For more of our end of year awards and reviews, head over to iTunes HERE to listen to our full review. We hand out awards for most improved, best and worst feuds, best tag team and the most overrated wrestler. We also review the year of 2018 in WWE.
We hope everyone has a great New Year and we’ll see you on the other side with more Straight Edge Content.
Weekly Wrestling Roundup – Crown Jewel, Triple H Injured, UFC, Wrestlemania 35
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO PODCAST BELOW OR FOLLOW US ON iTUNES BY CLICKING THE LINK IN THE SIDEBAR
Crown Jewel
Although this event should never have happened in the first place, following the controversies surrounding WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, it did.
From the all-American “World” Cup, the loss of Roman and the refusal of Bryan and Cena to go to Saudi Arabia this show was on a doomed trajectory and it lived up to it quite radically.
Hulk Hogan
Hogan has been gone from WWE tv since 2015 following the leak of a sex tape which showed him, un-prompted, firing off a racist tirade. Further controversies followed after an earlier recording was leaked in which he said to his then jailed son Nick that he hopes neither he nor Nick get reincarnated as black people.
WWE’s decision to bring Hogan back from this is completely tone deaf, and to do it at an already controversial event is equally astounding. Hogan came to the ring at Crown Jewel as “host” to his ‘Real American theme music’ – once again, the tone deafness of the entire thing is incredible.
Hogan hasn’t drawn in nearly two decades, I’m sure people will pop when his music hits in future as he undoubtedly a legend but whether 2018 WWE needs Hulk Hogan is doubtful.
The World Cup
WWE’s world cup tournament to determine the “best in the world” was a farce from the start and with the exclusion of all non-Americans it was quickly a laughing stock. To top it all off the winner was not even on the card… it was Shane McMahon… This was completely out of left field and not in any kind of good way.
The best thing to come out of this is that after his victory somebody opted to have a little fun with Shane’s wiki page….
Brock Lesnar and UFC
Back to the reign of terror of Brock we go. This match was a cluster from the start, Baron Corbin smashed Braun from behind with the title before Brock unleashed a flurry of F-5’s. One throwing Braun over the top rope – which looked rather brutal.
I cannot get on board with them not putting the belt on Braun here unless it is used to catapult Drew McIntyre in some manner, even then it just screams out one solid F-U to the fans.
Brock is obviously set to fight in UFC next year, reportedly against Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier; Cormier called Brock out this Saturday, telling him he should bring the Universal Title to UFC for D.C to win that too.
Triple H Injured
During his match at Crown Jewel, Triple H was thrown over the top rope when it immediately became clear that he was hurt as he grabbed at his right shoulder and chest and was checked at ringside by medical staff.
It has since been reported by PWI and WON that Triple H suffered a torn pectoral and that as a result this may have thrown any Wrestlemania plans up in the air. If surgery is required, it may mean Triple H is not back in time for ‘Mania and any proposed match with Batista.
Triple H reportedly flew directly back from Saudi Arabia to the USA for medical evaluation – missing the current European tour.
Wrestlemania 35 Tickets
WWE announced that Wrestlemania 35 tickets will go on sale on Friday November 16th at 10am E.T.
VIP travel packages are on sale today November 5th at 12 noon E.T.
Listen to the Audio version of this article at the bottom or on iTunes
This week has been dominated by the continuing drama surrounding WWE’s persistence in holding their Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia in two weeks time. The latest development within Saudi Arabia is that the country is now accepting responsibility for the death of Jamal Khashoggi within their Turkish consulate. WWE shows no signs of relenting on holding the event, although it has been reported that they have delayed the release of tickets for the event, which were due to be released on October 19th. However, photos seem to have been released showing the early stage of the Stadium preparations over in Saudi Arabia.
Only time will tell the outcome of this decision, however two issues of note must still be addressed. Firstly, the financial argument, which I covered here is no longer an issue – should these figures be correct – as Wall Street analyst Eric Handler says they are. Secondly, the argument from JBL and Randy Orton this week that WWE needs to hold this event to be able to effect change is completely fallacious. WWE held an event in the country 6 months ago, yet they’re still executing journalists. It is not for the WWE to act as the United Nations and nor have they tried. The Greatest Royal Rumble event was covered with false propaganda concerning the Saudi regime and the Crown Prince, a fact highlighted by HBO’s John Oliver last week.
With the WWE not standing to make too large a loss financially, but definitely taking a huge PR hit, it is surprising they are insisting on moving forward with the event. One would hope that sense would prevail in the end.
NXT UK Episode 1 is in the bag and I was pleasantly surprised, the small-time, intimate feel of the venue added quite a lot to making this feel like a different show to NXT.
Pete Dunne and Noam Dar were the clear show stealers of the night, putting on a great main event match for the NXT UK Title. The painful-looking joint manipulations and electric pacing was a great way to end this show.
A star is also waiting to be born in the form of Dave Mastiff, the behemoth that WWE snagged from the clutches of WOS Wrestling this year. A far-cry from everything else on offer on the card, Mastiff made short work of Sid Scala and asserted himself as a dominant force on the UK roster.
Hopefully more work is done on character development and storylines in the coming week, rather than simply matches for the sake of matches, but for a debut show I was very impressed.
In other UK Wrestling news, Rev Pro debuted their TV show, World of Pro Wrestling, on FreeSports this Friday which has received some praise from not just wrestling media but the mainstream press also. This is not the first time FreeSports has gone into the world of Pro Wrestling as they also aired the now defunct 5 Star Wrestling earlier this year.
Rev Pro is, however, a very popular brand in the UK with a fiercely loyal fan base. This shone through on this debut show and established a very good opening show with some famous faces such a Jushin Liger, Zack Sabre Jr and Kushida.
The word at the moment is that the reason behind the NXT UK debut being this week was due to the RevPro show debuting on Friday.
This week the rumour mill has been churning out names of numerous legends who are slated to appear on the WWE all-female Evolution PPV on October 28th. This list includes Madusa, Molly Holly, Ivory, Torrie Wilson, Michelle McCool .
It was also reported by Wrestling Inc. that WWE had reached out to Sable, one of the most popular female stars in WWE history, to try and get her to appear at the PPV in some capacity. However, it is said that an agreement could not be reached this time.
This weeks SEW Weekly Roundup takes a look at Hell in a Cell, news surrounding Super ShowDown and the next Saudi Arabia show entitled ‘Crown Jewels’, we also discuss Alexa Bliss, WWE Womens Tag Titles and more – see the video or audio only podcast below.
For our audio only version please click below or subscribe on iTunes by following the button on the right
This weeks weekly roundup covers ALL IN, Raw and Smackdown highlights, news on Batista, WOS Wrestling and more…
Listen to the audio only version here, or click the link on the right to subscribe on iTunes:
Round up of some of the hottest news, gossip, results and speculation in the world of sports entertainment! This week – ALL IN, Neville, CM Punk, RAW/Smackdown Review
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