Here is your fight-size update for Tuesday, February 2, 2021:
During an appearance on Busted Open, Tully Blanchard opened up about the Reliance on highspots in today's wrestling.
“Well, I have been gone for quite a while. I just started back a year ago with AEW. so, I'm getting reorientated and I'm on a learning curve right now.
"Dax Harwood, he sent me a copy of the first match that Arn and I had in 1988 for the WWF... I sent it to Shawn Spears and said that this is the first match that Arn and I had with the WWF, you need to look at the start of this thing and see what we're doing,’ because Shawn is changing his style. He's being much more like I used to be, he's being more aggressive. I think it will be a much better product when it's finished and he is such a -- he loves this business and has been at it for a long time, he works hard and he's just kind of a treat to be around.”
He continued, “The things that got Dusty over, the things that got Flair over, the things that got The Four Horsemen over, the things that got Animal and Hawk over, those things are pretty common. They don't really change a lot and if you do the stuff right, you don't necessarily have to do 42 flips, but nobody's asked me.”
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- Arn Anderson, on his latest podcast, spoke about recently being released from WWE and how happy he was to be away from the grind. Arn Anderson telling his wife that he's never felt better, Anderson described as though he had just lifted a 500-pound weight from his shoulders.
“I felt great. Usually, in our business, I would have looked at that as humiliation and, ‘what are we going to do, how are we going to get by?’ At that point in time, there weren't that many places to wrestle. AEW had only been started for a short amount of time. It was like it should have been a panic mode situation but I was absolutely thrilled because we had prepared for this. We live beneath our means, and we had taken care of our money, and done all the right things that you're supposed to do heading towards retirement. This was just one of those things that was unexpected but I welcomed it. I was ready.”
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- In an update to Carlito’s status with WWE, Mike Johnson reports that Carlito signing is just a formality at this point and that he's expected back very soon. In addition, Johnson reports that no decision has been made on what main roster brand Rhea Ripley will end up on.
- Speaking of Carlito, both he and Mickie James are in favor of bringing back Chris Masters.
- Speaking of Masters, in an interview with Inside SKoop, Masters recalled working with Shawn Michaels at WWE Unforgiven in 2005. Chris Masters only singles semi-main event match.
"Oh yeah man, all the time. I remember I wrestled a ton of tag matches with Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair, all over the world, from that whole time I wrestled Shawn on pay per view to well throughout the year. We were working tag matches and I can remember many occasions man, being on the outside of the ring because I had made the first entrance with whoever my teammate was, and then just watching Ric Flair get in the ring with his robe, his sparkly robe, and being like “Oh my gosh.” Then just knowing, you know… because we all grew up watching these guys, and he’s teaming up with Shawn Michaels who, as many people already know, was my personal favorite wrestler. He is just like, you know, such an inspiration to me. There’s definitely a pinch yourself moment."
- Liv Morgan: Wrestling Historian confirmed.
- Check out the top 10 moments from Monday Night Raw.
- Sheamus has commented on betraying Drew McIntyre on Monday Night Raw.
- In an interview with WrestlingInc, Danhausen, like everybody, would like to see CM Punk return to the ring, but he wants it to be in Ring of Honor so that he can wrestle the former ROH World Heavyweight Champion.
“No, Danhausen did not tell him, just kidding,” Danhausen joked. “That is Danhausen’s first wrestling shirt he ever bought, the Best In The World shirt, original. Danhausen still owns it. It’s his favorite wrestling shirt. So he wanted to pay tribute and do a design of his own in the same vain because it looked quite nice. I don’t know if he’s (Punk) seen it. Who knows? Danhausen has no contact to CM Punk.
“He’s tweeted at Danhausen twice. He reposted a wonderful drawing that Danhausen made of him, and he also told Danhausen that he was a good tweeter once. Hopefully, he’s not mad about this t-shirt, but Danhausen just wanted to put out a tribute t-shirt that he liked. Danhausen tried changing it enough to be more of Danhausen’s thing.”
He added, “You’re also trying to cause a bout between Danhausen and CM Punk. He sees what you’re doing. Do it. Go coax him into coming back into fighting Danhausen! We can have a t-shirt fight. I don’t know. To clear that up, maybe we could team together. Who knows? That would be quite wonderful. We could drink a couple of Pepsis, do a nice time.
“We’ll just do the Diet Pepsi’s or whatever may have you. Also, we don’t even have to fight. We can just get Dave Honor to pay us a million dollars apiece to do nothing. ‘Look at this! He’s on TV again!’ No fighting. No bumps and bruises. Yes, people would watch.”
- Today, the stock closed at $57.16 per share.
- WWE 2K Battlegrounds is available now for free as part of the PlayStation Now subscription service.
- In Ring of Honor news, Brian Milonas addressed his weight gain and says he's working on it.
- In more ROH news, Cheeseburger is changing his name, or so he says..
- In Major League news, Tom Lawlor’s Filthy Island is being teased as getting Lawlor in “hot water.”
Team Filthy in hot water with locals
Tom Lawlor along with Dominic Garrini and Kevin Ku were spotted yesterday on a certain Hawaiian island where the fight team was seen deescalating a situation with the locals.
According to an eyewitness, the confrontation between dozens of Hawaiian locals and Team Filthy got physical before Team Filthy were whisked away in a minivan wrapped in Condom Depot sponsor signage.
There have been several allegations surrounding Team Filthy since they touched down to prepare for the February 17th Filthy Island card.
Team Filthy had hired locals to work on promotion and hospitality in advance of February 17th’s Filthy Island event.
With reports of supposed issues with sponsors backing out, cash flow issues have become a challenge for first-time promoter Tom Lawlor as he looks to host an “immersive fight card” on the beaches of Hawaii.
The financial woes are directly tied to sponsors being uneasy supporting Lawlor due to the backlash surrounding the “Filthy Screwjob” ending to the Los Parks / Von Erichs World Tag Team Championship… and then there’s the scandal involving an alleged attack on ACH outside his gym in Austin, Texas.
Strapped for cash or not, the footage on social media of Team Filthy leaving garbage on the beaches and tropical trails surrounding the Filthy Island location did not help their relations with locals.
Will Lawlor adapt and overcome these challenges? Is Filthy Island a lock for its original gorgeous location in Hawaii? Only Team Filthy knows for sure.
MLW.com has learned that there will be an update on the state of Filthy Island this Wednesday on FUSION at 7pm ET.
- In other Major League Wrestling news, Mike Johnson reports that The promotion is in the midst of repackaging Myron Reed in advance of giving him a stronger singles push with new gear, a new hair color, and makeup inspired by The Weeknd. Also, the promotion is building towards Bu Ku Dao turning heel.
- In an interview with Complex Sports, Bianca Belair opened about sharing a moment of prayer with Montez Ford after the match.
"It's just amazing that I'm doing this alongside the person I love. To be able to have your husband standing there as soon as you walk through the curtain, he's the first person you can go to. I just went to him and I hugged him and we really didn't say much at first we just embraced each other and then we prayed. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't find my words. It's bringing tears to my eyes thinking about it, but I couldn't find my words. The only thing that I could think in that moment was to pray. So we hugged and I just looked up at him and I said, "Can we pray?" I couldn't find the words but he prayed. He prayed with me. He prayed for me. That was the moment that we shared after the match."
- ICYMI: Lars Sullivan was reportedly released from WWE.
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