Flip Gordon Signs New Contract With Ring of Honor

One of the fastest rising prospects on the Ring of Honor roster has re-signed with the company.

According to a report from PW Insider, Flip Gordon has just reached a deal with Ring of Honor which will keep him in the promotion through to 2020. He still has yet to reach a deal with Cody and the Young Bucks to participate at All-In on September 1st, 2018, however.

It has been a big year for Gordon. Not only has he re-signed with Ring of Honor but Gordon also made his debut in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in Japan this spring. His new deal with ROH means he’ll likely find himself in the tournament again next year. His new contract also ensures he will be with the promotion when they run Madison Square Garden over WrestleMania weekend next year.

Gordon began his pro-wrestling career in 2015 and found himself on the Ring of Honor roster in 2017.

Earlier this year, Gordon spoke with reporter Chris Van Vliet about his attempts to join Bullet Club. “I tried. Kenny and Cody didn’t want me in there,” Flip said. “So if The Bucks can convince them then sure.”

Earlier this summer, Gordon spoke with the New York Post about being positioned as a little-brother type character on Being the Elite.

“It’s kind of funny because I’ve never been the little brother,” Gordon said. “I’ve always been the oldest brother out of my family. I’ve never had an older brother. I always looked to my cousins or other people that I looked up to as big brothers. So it’s kind of funny. I guess that is kind of my character because the Young Bucks, Marty, all them are like big brothers to me.”

Ring of Honor will be back on the road in mid-August. They’ll run shows from Edinburgh, Doncaster, and London before returning to Philadelphia on August 25th.

Juice Robinson Says He’s Never Going Back To WWE

IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson has publicly addressed a report from this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter stating WWE is interested in signing him. Robinson, who wrestled as CJ Parker for former WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling and later NXT from 2011-2015, isn’t going anywhere.

“That’s in the rearview mirror now,” Juice said. “I ain’t going back, I ain’t ever going back.”

Robinson made the comments backstage from Night 8 of the G1 Climax 28 tournament. He has lost every single match in the tournament thus far, likely due to competing with a broken hand.

Earlier this summer, Juice spoke with Uproxx about his frustrations while with WWE.

“You know, I loved NXT. Just, I just knew I was dead in the water, so I had to get out,” Juice said. “So it wasn’t that it was bad, it was (that) I turned it bad because I got sad. You know what I mean? So what was happening to me on a daily basis… it wasn’t like I was going home every night and crying in my room.”

He would continue to say that in NXT anytime he would try and lighten the mood, he would be told to get back in line. This was under the old head-trainer, however.

“But they’ve got a good guy there now, and everything’s really – I think it’s fun again,” Juice said in reference to current NXT head trainer Matt Bloom. “It’s good to hear. But I’m having more fun, so, haha.”

WWE is not Juice’s only option other than NJPW. Don Callis of Impact Wrestling has made it clear they would make Juice a big part of their company if he ever jumped ship.

“Juice is a tremendous performer with unlimited likeability and unlimited charisma,” Callis said on his Killin the Town podcast earlier this month. “He definitely is a rock star.”

“I really like him a lot,” Callis continued. “He’s a guy you build a company around.”

Chris Jericho Says He Has No Restrictions In NJPW

Chris Jericho says there are no restrictions to what he can do in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion has only wrestled 3 matches in 2018, but he has remained one of the most talked about wrestlers in the world.

Jericho made waves when he wrestled Kenny Omega in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th, 2018. He appeared at WWE’s big Raw 25th Anniversary just a few weeks later, his first appearance for the company since he started working for New Japan.

In April, he was back in WWE competing in the Greatest Royal Rumble. By June, he was the IWGP IC Champion after dethroning Tetsuya Naito at Dominion.

“It’s very cool to go back to Japan, where I started, and be part of this worldwide growth of New Japan,” Jericho said to Sports Illustrated recently. “There are no real restrictions on what I can do in New Japan.”

Jericho would continue to talk about the restrictions in WWE versus NJPW.

“We did the original beatdown with Kenny and got some blood going, which you never see in the WWE nowadays,” Jericho continued.

“We did the press conference where I was swearing and attacking reporters. You can’t do that in WWE, but you can in Japan. Just to have those shackles released, it just felt like all of these things led to more of a Bruiser Brody character than a Shawn Michaels-type vibe.”

Jericho has always said he would never wrestle for a company other than WWE on American soil. Events which have unfolded this year may test his commitment to this, however.

When asked by a fan on Twitter if he still intends to stand by his earlier claims, Jericho gave an answer some fans will find surprising.

There’s been speculation that Jericho is interested in working for Impact Wrestling. Jericho responded, “Of course!” when asked if he’d consider ‘going to’ Impact.

This October, Chris Jericho is hosting the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Rager cruise, which departs out of Miami on October 27th and travels to the Bahamas.

Talent from WWE, Impact Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor will be appearing on the ship. Very few people can pull off something like this. Chris Jericho is among a rare breed of performers who makes his own rules in this business.

Hiromu Takahashi Still In Hospital Following G1 Special In San Francisco

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Hiromu Takahashi, is believed to still be in hospital 19 days after his match with Dragon Lee at the Cow Palace.

Takahashi was dropped on his head during a cradle-suplex spot on the July 7th card. After finishing the match, Takahashi is said to have collapsed backstage. He was taken to a local hospital and then was transported back to Japan a few days later.

“He’s still in the hospital,” Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio last night. “He’s in good spirits but it’s 18 days and he’s still in hospital. That’s not a good sign to me, at all.”

The day after his injury, NJPW updated fans on his condition by stating he was awake and able to sit and talk.

Dragon Lee also reacted to Hiromu’s injury. “Hiromu is the most important rival I’ve ever had,” Lee said. “The most beautiful matches of my career have been against him. [Hiromu’s] injury was a wrestling-related accident. Though he is my rival, he is in my prayers.”

Juice Robinson also commented on Takahashi’s injury while on Jim Ross’ podcast.

“When you hear broken neck people think (the person is paralyzed) but that’s not with every broken neck,” Juice said. “Hopefully his broken neck is just you know time off. Even though that still sucks but that beats the alternative. After seeing it, this is probably the best case scenario cause that looked like it could’ve been the last bump he ever took.”

Sean Waltman, who has a history of neck problems, made the following comments:

“I’ve had my neck broken twice in the ring. 2nd time had it surgically repaired. I was able to make a full recovery & return to Wrestling for the most successful run of my career,” Waltman Tweeted. “Takahashi walked out of the ring on his own. He’s not done yet. Mark my words.”

Champion Challenged To Double-Title Match At All In

Only two matches have been officially confirmed for All-In so far. Cody will challenge for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (likely against Nick Aldis) and Marty Scurll will take on Kazuchika Okada.

Another championship match may appear to be in the works. Madison Rayne just challenged Tessa Blanchard to a match which could have title implications for multiple belts.

Rayne sent the following message to Tessa Blanchard recently:

This made Tessa ponder the idea…

Blanchard captured a title recently for the Crash promotion in Mexico. She is also the RISE champion, WSU champion, PCW women’s champion and the list goes on.

Madison Rayne and Tessa Blanchard have met twice recently on Impact Wrestling. Both times Rayne used a pinning combination to score the upset victory over Blanchard. Those are the only two losses on Blanchard’s Impact record so far.

Partially as a result of the victories, Rayne has been granted a title shot against Su Yung. She’ll take on the champion July 22nd at Slammiversary. Should Rayne be victorious on that night she’s challenged Blanchard to a champion vs champion match at All-In.

Blanchard just signed a new deal with Impact reported to be 2-years in length. The contract with Impact will keep her from competing for the second year in a row in the Mae Young Classic. She lost to Kairi Sane in the 1st round of the tournament last year.

On a recent Impact Wrestling media call, Blanchard had this to say about how she’s glad she didn’t sign on with WWE last year or after her initial tryout with the company.

“These life experiences, these personal experiences through wrestling, if I was signed on (with WWE), my entire path would be different,” she said. “I’m very blessed for things to have played out the way they have.”

Masa Saito

 

Masa Saito, the Japanese wrestling legend, passed away today from complications from Parkinson's disease.

I was first introduced to the man I knew as Mr. Saito in 1990, when he teamed up with The Great Muta for the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament at WCW's Starrcade.  Yes he did play the traditional salt-throwing Japanese heel, but what made him memorable was his physical style.

Saito is credited with being the innovator of the Scorpion Deathlock / Sharpshooter and the Saito Suplex.  During his time in prison from 1985-1987, Saito created a hold called Kangokugatame, which translates to Prison Hold.

Saito had a legendary feud in New Japan with the legendary Antonio Inoki.  In 1987, to settle their feud, the two competed in an Island Death match.   The match lasted two hours and went all over the island.  Inoki was eventually victorious defeating Saito by TKO.  Saito won the IWGP Tag Team Championship twice during his career, once with Riki Choshu and the second with Shinya Hashimoto.

Saito wrestled his last match in 1999 against Scott Norton.  Following his retirement, he stayed with New Japan as a commentator until 2003.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.  He was 76 years old.

Daniel Bryan: I’ll Likely Re-Sign With WWE

Much has been made of Daniel Bryan’s WWE contract expiring later this year. September 1st is believed to be the final date on his current deal with the company. Based on comments he made during WWE’s recent stop in Tapei, however, Bryan won’t be leaving the company anytime soon.

“The wrestling world is an interesting world right now,” Bryan said. “But I love working with WWE and my wife (Brie Bella) is a part of WWE and so there’s a good chance I’ll re-sign.”

“The drive is always to do something better,” he continued. “I want to create a performance next that’s better than any performance I’ve ever done. And when you talk about that, you talk about the high points of my career like main-eventing Wrestlemania 30. That’s the highest you can really get. How do you create things that are as creatively, mentally and emotionally satisfying as that? And that is what I am in the pursuit of.”

Rey Mysterio Booked For NJPW Event Next Month

New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced Rey Mysterio will return to the promotion next month. The famous luchador is scheduled to have a match on the final night of the G1 Climax 28 show from the Nippon Budokan on August 12th, 2018.

Mysterio’s opponent for the show has yet to be named, however. His only match for NJPW to date was at last month’s Dominion. On that night, he teamed with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jushin Liger in a losing effort to Cody, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll.

Mysterio originally challenged Jushin Liger when he first appeared in NJPW. A match between the two legends for Strong Style Evolved was eventually scrapped last year, however. Mysterio was forced to withdraw from the event due to a torn bicep.

It’s possible Liger is named later as his opponent, however that is only speculation.

ROH & NJPW Book Madison Square Garden For April 6th, 2019

In a landmark announcement, ROH and NJPW have just announced a super-card from Madison Square Garden.

“ROH and NJPW are proud to announce that on April 6th, 2019, the companies will join forces to present the ultimate wrestling event,” an ROH press release reads. “G1 Supercard, to fans from around the world, LIVE from Madison Square Garden in New York City!”

It had previously been reported that talks between ROH and the historic venue had broken down.

“We are thrilled to welcome Ring of Honor Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling to Madison Square Garden for the much anticipated G1 Supercard,” said Joel Fisher, Executive Vice President, MSG Marquee Events. “We expect April 6th to be another memorable night of wrestling at The World’s Most Famous Arena.”

“This is destined to join a long list of historical wrestling moments and where better to hold it than at Madison Square Garden,” ROH Chief Operating Officer Joe Koff said.

Koff would continue to say that this would not be possible without the tremendous fan support they enjoy.

Tickets will go on sale August 8th, 2017 at 10AM ET for Honor Club VIP subscribers. They will go on sale to the general public August 10th.

Hiromu Takahashi Injury Update

New Japan Pro Wrestling has sent out an update on the condition of Hiromu Takahashi. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion collapsed backstage at the Cow Palace Saturday. He is believed to have suffered a broken neck during a triangle to a cradle-suplex spot where he landed on his head.

“It is reported Takahashi, after the match was immediately taken to a nearby hospital,” the statement reads. “He is currently undergoing a thorough evaluation, Takahashi is conscious, and is able to sit and talk.”

Takahashi indicated to the referee after the botched move that he was OK to finish the match despite the injury. He even performed his Time Bomb finisher without looking as though he was in much discomfort. Takahashi walked to the back on his own after winning the match as well.

I will keep you up-to-date with any news regarding Hiromu Takahashi’s condition.

Hiromu Takahashi Taken To Hospital With Possible Broken Neck Following G1 Special

Hiromu Takahashi is believed to have suffered a broken neck during his match with Dragon Lee last night in the Cow Palace. The injury is believed to have been suffered during a cradle-suplex where Takahashi was dropped on top of his head.

“He finished the match, retained the championship and I guess he collapsed backstage or something. They took him to the hospital and the preliminary word is they thought that he had a broken neck,” Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio last night. “Hopefully, it’s not as bad as that but that’s the word we got.”

Takahashi would continue the match. Red Shoes checked on him after the spot and then backed off as if everything was ok. They did several spots after the injury, including Takahashi giving Dragon Lee the Time Bomb for the win.

3 More Names Confirmed For All In

3 more names have been confirmed for All In on September 1st, 2018 from the Sears Center in Chicago. Despite hating the city the event is being held in, the members of ROH”s SoCal Uncensored faction have just declared for All In.

Christopher Daniels announced the news earlier today on Twitter:

The trio from Ring of Honor consists of Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky.

Confirmed For All In:

Cody Rhodes

The Young Bucks

Hangman Page

Marty Scurll

Kota Ibushi

MJF

Madison Rayne

Paul Turner (ref)

Rick Knox (ref)

Todd Sinclair (ref)

Jerry Lynn (ref)

Earl Hebner (ref)

Matt Cross

Kazuchika Okada

Stephen Amell

Specifically not Flip Gordon

Tessa Blanchard

Joey Janela

Jay Lethal

Pentagon

Fenix

Brandi Rhodes

Cody Takes Shot At Triple H, Offers Advice To Deonna Purrazzo

Cody Rhodes is generally complimentary of Triple H when he speaks about his time in WWE. He decided to take a jab at WWE’s COO recently on Twitter, however.

Cody’s jab came after it was revealed that Deonna Purrazzo has pulled out of All-In on September 1st, 2018. Speculation is Purrazzo is likely going to be competing in the Mae Young Classic next month.

“It’s been incredible to see first hand what @MattJackson13, @NickJacksonYB, & @CodyRhodes envision for pro wrestling. I am so sad I won’t be wrestling at #AllIn but my heart will be there September 1st.” Purrazzo tweeted.

Cody responded to Deonna’s Tweet with some advice on how to handle her potential photo with Triple H:

“Take 1 large step forward in the photo, he likes to make people look shorter than him. Good luck D. Beat everybody. Run up the score.”

Last month, Cody addressed the possibility of WWE signing talents scheduled to appear at All-In. The discussion began when a fan asked Dave Meltzer on Twitter about how WWE might decide to counter the Chicago event.

“Nope and tickets are sold,” Meltzer responded to a fan’s question of possible WWE action against the event. “All they can do it try and sign the talent on the show and pull them, and most are under contract elsewhere past that date.”

Cody saw the Twitter conversation and responded. “That’s a possibility,” Cody admitted. “Everybody has different goals. If your goal is to take a meet/greet style handshake photo, and pretend to be excited about going back to wrestling school…that’s your prerogative ha.”

Bullet Club Throws Joey Ryan A Funeral

In the Being the Elite universe, Joey Ryan is presumed dead. That Ryan has been wrestling regularly on the independent scene is not referenced on the show. The characters on Being the Elite believe Joey Ryan is missing and presumed dead, however. Stephen Amell had been considered a suspect.

Marty Scurll and Hangman Page ran into Joey Ryan’s hot-wife, Laura James, to start off the episode. James noted that Page looks an awful lot like Amell. Scurll and James then talked about how they would beat up Joey’s killer if he was there. This caused Page to storm off from the scene.

James then told Scurll that she is unable to make her late husband’s funeral and Scurll commented on how poorly Ryan’s funeral is going to draw.

Later in the show, it was revealed that actor, Stephen Amell, had been let out of prison due to insufficient evidence.

Matt Jackson confronted Page about having killed Ryan and Page responded by strangling him and storming off. Jackson then told his brother he believes Page is responsible for Ryan’s disappearance.

During the funeral, Flip Gordon noted that since Ryan was presumed dead there is an open spot on All-In.

Hangman Page showed up to the funeral at the very end despite Matt Jackson not inviting him. He said Joey Ryan taught him to never give up and to never quit. Page continued to say he believes Ryan would be proud that he became a famous dick-wrestler just like him. As Page is in the hallway collecting himself a mysterious voice tells him “I know you didn’t kill Joey Ryan, because I did.”

Don Callis On Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho Potentially Going To Impact Wrestling

Don Callis is believed to have played a key role in organizing the Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega match at the Tokyo Dome this year. All three are from Winnipeg and Callis also has his own podcast through the Chris Jericho podcast network.

At the Slammiversary press conference in Toronto recently, Callis indicated to me he’d love to bring Omega and Jericho to Impact Wrestling. “There’s a young Canadian kid I like, we’d love to sign him, his name is Kenny Omega,” Callis said. “Another is Chris Jericho.”

Callis recently doubled-down on his comments during his appearance on Jim Ross’ podcast.

Callis explained his history with Omega. “I’ve been on this journey with Kenny Omega since he was a 16-year-old kid who I booked,” Callis explained.

“I gave him his first break wrestling for the promotion I had in Winnipeg [Canada]. And his uncle, The Golden Sheik, who was an indie wrestler in Winnipeg helped train me in the [pro wrestling] business in 1989, so my roots with Kenny go back many years. I’ve been on this journey with him, and specifically since I’ve been in New Japan and we have a very close relationship. We talk about ideas, we do things, I helped put together the match between him and Chris [Jericho] for the Tokyo Dome.”

Callis continued to say the chances of Omega and Jericho appearing in an Impact Wrestling ring are less remote than they seemed not too long ago.

“I kind of say, ‘never say ‘never” and I think that one of the things that we’ve been doing under Ed Nordholm here at Impact is breaking some longstanding paradigms of pro wrestling,” Callis said.

“The intellectual property stuff that we’ve talked about before, but also we’ve been working with multiple people now and now recently announced by Chris Jericho and I know [Ross] will be on that cruise, so that’ll be cool, get to have a beer together. It’s going to be Impact and Ring Of Honor on the same cruise ship, so there’s some stuff that’s probably going to happen and I don’t think you can have those talents in a closed environment like that, so we are working, in a sense if you take that, with Ring Of Honor right now.

We’ve got Taiji Ishimori coming in for our pay-per-view and our TV in July. The Bone Soldier just started with New Japan, so we’ll see what happens. How many people would’ve thought that Chris Jericho would’ve headlined the Tokyo Dome with New Japan Pro-Wrestling? I was so sheepish when I pitched it to him because he always told me, ‘I will never work for anyone except Vince McMahon and I have a deep respect for Vince.’ Obviously, he took Vince into consideration. Vince is the first guy he told about it. Nevertheless, it shocked me that Chris was on a New Japan show, so I’ve learned to say, ‘never say ‘never” in this business.”

Jimmy Jacobs On Role With Impact Wrestling, WWE, and Matt Sydal’s Development

Last October, Jimmy Jacobs was fired from the WWE creative team. While multiple reasons have been given for Jacobs’ release, a selfie he took with members of Bullet Club during their “invasion” of Raw is largely believed to have been the catalyst.

Many felt Jacobs would sign with Ring of Honor and begin working with Bullet Club following his WWE release. After all, there was a built-in storyline regarding Jacobs being fired from WWE for his association with the faction.

Instead, Jacobs chose to sign with Impact Wrestling. He’s been working as the manager of Kongo Kong and serving as a producer backstage.

Jacobs recently gave an interview to Vulture Hound in the UK and spoke about how he has been enjoying his time with Impact.

“I really enjoy working with Impact,” Jacobs said. “I feel like with Impact right now, I get all the upside, I get the chance to help create, I get the chance to help out talents. Having the opportunity to have somebody like me for talents, like Tessa Blanchard who has a lot of potentials and is awesome in the ring.”

Jacobs has returned to in-ring work as well since leaving WWE. In fact, he recently defeated Joey Ryan on June 28th, 2018 for Bar Wrestling in Los Angeles.

Jacobs doesn’t believe he’ll step inside the Impact ring, however.  “As far as wrestling with Impact goes,” Jacobs continued. “I don’t see that happening right now, it’s not especially completely off the table but what I do at the shows, producing the shows, honestly it’s a lot.”

Jacobs also mentioned Matt Sydal as someone who he has particularly enjoyed working with recently. On the latest episode of Impact Wrestling, we saw Sydal and Jimmy Jacobs possibly align with each other due to their mutual disdain for Brian Cage.

“Matt Sydal has been one thing his whole career,” Jacobs said. “It’s been great, being a sort of babyface that can have great matches, who doesn’t talk much, being a good wrestler and doing high-flying stuff. That’s been him his whole career and, a few months back, we took a chance on him when we said: “hey I think there’s something more.” We capitalized on what he’s in real life, with him being kind of spiritual and holistic and those sort of things.”

Last month, Jacobs spoke to the Irish Mirror in the UK. The conversation focussed on his time in WWE and his new role with Impact Wrestling

“Going to WWE and working there in the capacity that I did was a blessing,” Jacobs said. “It was great to be there, but that being said it’s great to not be working there anymore.”

“I spent so long on the independent wrestling scene, but sometimes it’s like the cliche goes ‘you don’t know what you have until it’s gone,'” he continued. “I’m very excited to be working in Impact Wrestling and using some of the things I picked up in my last job to help out here.”