WWE & Pro Wrestling NOAH Reach Deal To Share Hideo Itami

WWE has reportedly reached an agreement with Japanese promotion, Pro Wrestling NOAH, on a talent sharing deal. The agreement will see Hideo Itami return to the company he first made his name for.

According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE and NOAH reached a talent-sharing agreement at least as it concerns Itami. The wrestler formerly known as KENTA, will return to NOAH for a show in August.

Kenta Kobayashi, better known to WWE fans as Hideo Itami, has struggled to become relevant in WWE. He spent 13 years in Pro Wrestling NOAH previously, winning their Junior Heavyweight Championship on 3 occasions. Near the end of his career with NOAH, Itami would enter the heavyweight division and win the GHC Heavyweight Championship as well.  Itami signed with WWE in 2014 but injury woes caused him to lose momentum on the NXT roster.

The wrestlers Itami shared the roster with in NXT have all been on the main roster for some time now. Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tyler Breeze, and even the Ascension were some of the top names in NXT at the time.

Itami dropped his KENTA name when he debuted for NXT. Before his first match, he announced he would be going by the name Hideo Itami. The name translates to “Hero of Pain”.

Eventually, Itami’s lack of success led to a heel turn. In 2017, he was moved to the cruiserweight division on 205 Live. On Tuesday night, Itami moved closer to his first shot at the Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Buddy Murphy and Mustafa Ali in a 3-way match. The win likely moves Itami into a position to be the next to challenge Cedric Alexander for the title.

WWE will run two shows from Tokyo on June 29th and 30th next week. Shinsuke Nakamura will challenge for the WWE Championship each night.

More Details On Big Cass’ Release From WWE

Yesterday, WWE announced they had parted ways with Smackdown talent, Big Cass. The announcement was made just hours before Smackdown went to air from Toledo, OH last night.

Also of note regarding Cass’ release is that it did not come with the normal wishing well in his future endeavors statement. WWE also chose not to wish Enzo Amore well on his future endeavors when he was released either. All other recently released WWE Superstars, including Austin Aries, Rich Swann, Darren Young, Emma, and Summer Rae were wished well by the company.

Sports Illustrated is reporting that multiple sources have told them that Cass’ drinking on the most recent European tour was an issue. Evidently, Cass was intoxicated often and in public during the tour. His attitude while drinking was also said to be an issue. According to SI’s Justin Barrasso, company officials were happy with Cass’ match at Money in the Bank and were surprised at his release, his attitude problems notwithstanding.

Cass was no stranger to heat while he was with WWE. There had been reports not long after he was brought up to the main roster with Enzo that Cass could be obnoxious in his political views, namely those regarding Donald Trump. Last month, Cass also upset officials when he reportedly went off-script during a segment. Cass’ character was involved in a scene with a little person dressed up as Daniel Bryan. Even though he was told not to go overboard with his beating of the little person, Cass did exactly that.

William Morrissey was signed to WWE in 2011 after being trained by Hall of Famer, Johnny Rodz. Prior to his signing, Cass played basketball for New York University. Despite being with the company for 7 years, Cass never won a title in either NXT or the main roster.

Big Van Vader

 

The legendary wrestler, Big Van Vader passed away today from complications from pneumonia.

Vader was considered one of the greatest super-heavyweight wrestlers of all times.  It was amazing to watch him use his size and weight to make his moves look more painful than when performed by someone half his size.

I first saw Vader at WCW's Great American Bash in 1990.  He came out to the ring wearing the mastodon mask that spouted smoke once he took it off.  I was scared of him.  He wasn't like the big, lovable El Gigante.  Vader was a massive man that scared the crap out of me.

Watching Vader in the ring, I was amazed at what he could do.  His speed was that of a man half of his weight.  Watching him do a moonsault off the top rope, my jaw dropped.  I never thought a man of his size could be able to do a move like that.

I was never lucky enough to watch Vader in New Japan, except for the WCW/New Japan Supershow cards.  So I missed out on his matches with Antonio Inoki and Riki Choshu.  I also missed out on the legendary match with Stan Hansen, when Vader's eye popped out of it's socket after Hansen accidentally poked his thumb in Vader's eye.

However, I was lucky enough to see Vader have amazing matches in WCW with Sting and Ric Flair.  But it was his matches with Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) that I remember the most.  Those matches were so physical and makes me cringe just thinking about them.  Especially the match in Germany, where Cactus Jack lost his ear when he got tangled up in the ropes.

Most fans will remember him for his run in WWF, but I try to forget it.  When he came to WWF, he was paired up with Jim Cornette, and to me it never worked.  WCW paired him up with Harley Race and it worked.  Harley had that rough voice and was known for being a tough man himself.  Cornette had the high pitched voice and looked like he was he was AWOL from an accounting firm.

I don't remember Vader having any memorable matches in his WWF run.  While he did have matches against people like Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Goldust and Kane, it made me sick at my stomach to see Vince McMahon turn the man I once feared, into a glorified jobber.

I will always remember Big Van Vader as the power house monster that made a kid want to cry as he squashed his heroes.

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.  He was 63 years old.

David Arquette Returns To The Ring For CFWH

David Arquette announced last month he plans to return to pro-wrestling. Few took his comments, or previous run in wrestling, seriously. Yesterday, Championship Wrestling from Hollywood posted a clip of the former WCW World Champion in action.

“I’d like to announce my return to professional wrestling!” Arquette proclaimed on the Wendy Williams show last month. He would later explain his motivation for returning as wanting to clear his name.  “I was promoting a movie I did called Ready to Rumble and it just so happened that I won the championship,” Arquette said. “(Fans) blamed me for ruining WCW, it’s no longer around and maybe I did have something to do with it.”

“For 18 years, I’ve been trolled on the internet,” he continued. “And I just want to bring some respect back to my name!”

According to the German wrestling statistic site, Cagematch, Arquette has officially wrestled in 5 pro-wrestling matches. Not only is he a former WCW World Champion, he actually successfully defended the title once against Tank Abbott.

April 24th, 2000 (Nitro)

David Arquette defeated Eric Bischoff

April 25th, 2000 (Thunder)

WCW World Championship

DDP (c) and David Arquette defeated Eric Bischoff and Jeff Jarrett (Arquette wins title due to getting the pin)

May 1st, 2000 (Nitro)

WCW World Heavyweight Championship

David Arquette (c) defeated Tank Abbott

May 7th, 2000 (Slamboree)

WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Triple Threat, Triple Cage

Jeff Jarrett defeated David Arquette and DDP

December 13th, 2010 (Monday Night Raw)

2-on-1 Handicap Match

Randy Orton defeated Alex Riley and David Arquette

When asked if working for WWE is in his future, Arquette had this to say:

“I love WWE, I’ve always been a fan of the McMahons and Vince and everything they’ve been doing over there,” Arquette said. “It’s always been a weird relationship between me and wrestling. I’m just trying to clear my name.”

Enzo Amore Opens Up About Problems With WWE

Former WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Enzo Amore, recently appeared on the “Store Horsemen” podcast. The podcast features comedians from “the Comedy Store” in Los Angeles talking about pro-wrestling.

During the podcast, Amore noted that he got into a disagreement with WWE management shortly after his heel turn. According to Enzo, the company never officially told him he was turning heel.

“I was backstage, I wrote the most tremendous promo of my life, which would have saved me as a babyface if I would have gotten the microphone,” Amore said. “So I was in the midst of turning heel but they didn’t want to tell me that, per say, per say. For the first time they come to me and say ‘no, you can’t say anything. You have to read this verbatim.’ And I’m backstage losing my shit, and Hunter comes up to me and was like ‘you say what’s on that script if you wanna keep your job.’ And they didn’t tell me I was turning heel so I get it, but at the time and in the moment, I was like fuck this man I’m quitting.”

As talk turned to the allegations which have been plaguing his career as of late, Enzo had this to say:

“You know how scarred I am, bro? I haven’t even talked to a woman in five-six months. I’m out here hitting the repeat list, dawg.”

It also appears Enzo did not get along well with the creative team in WWE. During the podcast, Enzo also spent some time explaining why he and the WWE writers often came into conflict.

“As a writer, you gotta understand why people were maybe were mad to work with me or say I was difficult to work with. If a writer has a job to work with you and you get to work on Monday I re-write the whole fucking promo,” Enzo said. “So they would give me my bullet points and I would rewrite my whole promos you know what I’m saying, and sometimes I could and could not, for instance ‘zero dimes’ you remember that thing? Like, Vince didn’t get it. So I used in NXT a bunch when I got to the main roster, Vince was like ‘…what’s that mean?’ So he doesn’t get but we’re making money off merchandise with it.”

Hangman Page Comments On Possibly Having Murdered Joey Ryan

While Hangman Page’s career seems to be skyrocketing, recent events could lead to his downfall. As has been alluded to recently on Being the Elite, there are concerns that Hangman Page is responsible for the disappearance of famous dick-wrestler, Joey Ryan.

He recently sat down with Impact Wrestling and AMBY’s Alicia Atout and spoke about the current allegations against him.

“If (Joey Ryan) is missing forever, I’m kind of fine with that,” Page explained. “But you know, it wasn’t me.”

Atout brought up that Joey Ryan’s wife has been raising concerns about Ryan’s whereabouts. She insinuated some are of the belief Page is responsible for Ryan’s disappearance. She asked Page why he dislikes Ryan so much.

“He was a penis pretender,” Page said. “I’m going to talk about him in the past tense maybe; he’s missing.”

“For years and years he built his whole career off a lie,” Page said regarding Ryan’s emphasis on his genitals. “As if he had a more impressive nether region than I did and it just wasn’t true.”

If Joey Ryan is ever to return, he might want to face Hangman Page on a big show. All-In on September 1st from Chicago seems like a possible time and location for such a match.

Atout also asked Page about the dissension in Bullet Club.

“At this point, it’s just down to Kenny and Cody; Two alpha males who they can’t help but want to call themselves the leader,” Page said. “We’re grown men, I don’t think we need a leader.”

Hangman Page will be in Texas tonight and tomorrow for Ring of Honor’s “State of the Art” tour. His most recent match was at Dominion this weekend. Page teamed with Cody and Marty Scurll to defeat the team of Rey Mysterio Jr, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Jushin “Thunder” Liger. He’ll team with the Young Bucks and Marty Scurll to go up against the Briscoes and KES tonight in San Antonio and then part of an ROH TV title 6-way Proving Ground match in Dallas on Saturday.

Meiko Satomura Likely Added To Mae Young Classic

Tokyo Sports is reporting that longtime Joshi veteran, Meiko Satomura, will be taking part in the second Mae Young Classic. The 38-year-old is a former World of Stardom champion and 1/3 of the Chikara Trios champions.

In 2005, Satomura co-founded the all-woman promotion, Sendai Girls. She also worked with WCW in the mid-90s on their short-lived women’s division which was to feature the likes of Bull Nakano and Madusa.

She helped create Sendai Girls after a previous female promotion, Gaea Japan, went out of business. Satomura wrestled in the final match ever held by the promotion before founding a new company the next year. She is the current Fight Club Pro champion. Satomura is also the last person to win the Joshi Puroresu Grand Prize award before Io Shirai began her sweep of the award. Satomura was given the award in 2013 and Shirai has swept every year since. That will change in 2018, however, as Shirai has spent the year with NXT.

Satomura defeated Kairi Hojo (Kairi Sane) for the World of Stardom Championship on July 26th, 2015. She held the title for 150 days before losing it to Io Shirai, who would then hold the title for 546 consecutive days. The most recent title change in the promotion saw Toni Storm drop the belt to Kagetsu on June 9th in Nagoya. Storm is recently believed to have signed a WWE UK deal and could likely end up in the second Mae Young Classic as well.

Last year, the tournament taped over a couple of days in July. They then aired the finale live in September. This year, it is believed they are looking at filming the tournament in August. This has not been confirmed, however. Full Sail University is expected to host the tournament again this year.