Cody Announces Plans To Run For Texas State Senate in 2020

Former Ring of Honor World Champion, Cody, has announced plans to run for the Texas State in 2020. The announcement was made on the season premiere of “Being the Elite” released last night.

Cody recited a speech from a Harry Potter movie into a mirror as if it was a political address and then handed Page a tablet with a “Cody for Texas State Senate 2020” logo.

Mike Kanellis Comments On Birth of Child, Getting Sober

The last year has been an eventful one for Mike Bennett, aka Mike Kanellis. He recently celebrated the birth of his first child along with his wife, Maria. The 32-year-old has also been open about his recent battles with pain medication, however.

The former IWGP heavyweight tag-team champion recently posted the following message to his social media channels:

"Less than a year ago, my days were spent sitting on this couch, taking pain killers, and watching everything I loved slip away. Now, almost 10 months sober, this is how I spend my days. Life doesn’t offer 2nd chances very often, but I feel like it has offered me one. And I plan on making the most of it. This little girl deserves that! #sobriety #daddysgirl #daddyslittlegirl #princessfred #familytime #wwe"

Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis signed with WWE in 2017 and debuted at the Money in the Bank PPV that summer. Previously, Bennett and Kanellis had a brief stint in Impact Wrestling. Bennett won the X-Division championship during this time.

Bennett wrestled for several years in Ring of Honor, even winning the top prospects tournament in 2011. He would form a successful team with Matt Taven and win titles in both ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Bennett and Taven were involved in a memorable feud over the tag titles with Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows when Anderson seemed to fall hopelessly in love with Maria. Anderson’s infatuation with Maria allowed Taven and Bennett to defeat them for the belts.

Since debuting in WWE, Bennett has taken Maria’s last name.

At last week’s Greatest Royal Rumble, Bennett was eliminated in near-record setting fashion. While he didn’t last long in the actual match, he did get a few laughs for his entrance. Bennett opted to mime his normal entrance with Maria even though Maria was not there.

Kiera Hogan Talks Her Last Name, Conflict With Tessa Blanchard

“The Girl on Fire” Kiera Hogan is just 3 years into her wrestling career but is already being called the future of Impact’s Knockouts division by some of her fellow wrestlers.

The 23-year-old was featured on a recent Impact Wrestling media conference call. She spoke on several topics including her last name and Tessa Blanchard’s appearance at the Redemption PPV during her match.

Hogan, who uses her real name as a performer, seems comfortable addressing her famous last name. She was asked if she had any reservations about entering the pro-wrestling world with the last name “Hogan”.

“I knew this question was coming,” Hogan joked. “My real name is Kiera Hogan, it’s on my license, it’s on my birth certificate, I’m a real Hogan.”

She continued to say that when she first started in the business she was a ring announcer and simply decided to go by her real name. When she began her in-ring career, Hogan decided she didn’t want to separate her announcer character and in-ring character so that she could show her evolution.

In an interview she gave to Interactive Wrestling Radio last month, Hogan was asked if she’d ever considered doing an angle where she portrayed Hulk Hogan’s daughter.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I’ve actually had a conversation with Brooke Hogan about it. She got a hold of me and was like, ‘We should be sisters or something!’ I was like, ‘That would be so cool!’ My real name is Kiera Hogan. That is my real real name. When I got into wrestling, I was like, ‘That works. I already am a Hogan!”

As the conversation turned to other Knockouts in the division, a twinge of jealousy could be detected from Hogan. In particular, Hogan seems to feel disrespected that Tessa Blanchard stole the spotlight away from her at Redemption. Blanchard came in to do guest commentary during Hogan’s match with Taya Valkyrie.

“I was just so overwhelmed and then here comes 3rd generation Tessa Blanchard walking in,” Hogan said. “It did overshadow what I was doing, which she has accomplished way more than I have, I’ll definitely give it to her there, but it was my moment. I felt like this was my moment why did she have to come in and overshadow me?”

Blanchard recently gave an interview to ImpactWrestling.com, insinuating she plans to skip to the front of the line in the Knockouts division. Perhaps, we could see Hogan and Blanchard meet in an Impact ring sometime in the future.

Muhammad Hassan Returns To Wrestling

The performer behind the controversial Muhammad Hassan character from 2004-05 is returning to professional wrestling. 36-year-old, Marc Copani, made his return to the ring over the weekend, once again wrestling as the Hassan character. It was his first match in nearly 13 years.

Hassan defeated Papadon at the Dynasty King of Thrones event this Saturday.

In 2004, Hassan along with his ally, Khosrow (Shawn) Daivari, debuted on WWE programming in late 2004. Several vignettes were shown featuring Hassan and Daivari talking about the discrimination they receive as a result of stereotypes and prejudices.

At WrestleMania 21, Hassan and Daivari were involved in a segment with Hulk Hogan which led to the pair feuding with Hogan and Shawn Michaels.

The peak and beginning of the end to the storyline occurred on a taped episode of Smackdown from July 4th, 2005. Hassan was building towards a match at the Great American Bash with the Undertaker at the time. Undertaker defeated Daivari on this episode of Smackdown. During the match, however, Hassan appeared on the entrance ramp and gestured as if he was praying. Several men dressed in ski-masks then came out and attacked Undertaker. The men then lifted Daivari up over their heads and led him out of the arena while Hassan gave Taker the Camel Clutch in the ring.

The London Bombings took place 3 days after the tapings but before the Smackdown episode aired. Afterward, UPN put pressure on WWE to remove the Hassan character from their programming. Copani was released in 2005 and subsequently retired. This weekend was the first time Hassan wrestled a pro-match since losing to the Undertaker at the Great American Bash in 2005. It has since been revealed that WWE wanted to push the character to the moon. Had UPN not put pressure on WWE to drop the character, Hassan was planned to win the WWE Championship.

Danny Burch Signs Full-Time WWE Contract

Martin Stone, better known to NXT fans as Danny Burch, has signed a full-time contract with WWE. He lost his last match for Beyond Wrestling over the weekend to Josh Briggs.

Burch had previously been signed to WWE from 2011 to 2014. He was used primarily as enhancement talent on NXT. Burch was released from his WWE contract in 2014 but would be back with the company the following year. He would wrestle as enhancement talent for another 3 years in NXT before reportedly signing a full-time WWE contract yesterday.

One possible reason WWE has re-signed Burch to an exclusive deal is the upcoming World of Sport television tapings planned for mid-May. If Burch was a free agent, he would be free to wrestle on the World of Sport television tapings. While Burch is likely available for non-WWE shows in Europe provided they are not televised, his new deal likely prevents him from appearing for World of Sport.

Burch has wrestled 25 WWE televised matches in his career. Aside from his loss in the opening round of the United Kingdom Championship tournament, all of Burch’s televised matches have taken place on NXT. He currently has a 1-24 record. His one win came against his frequent tag-team partner, Oney Lorcan. Most recently, Burch and Oney were eliminated by Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong in the 1st round of the 2018 Dusty Rhodes Classic.

In 2014, Burch competed on the TNA British Bootcamp show. While he was successful on the show, he would not earn a spot on the Impact Wrestling roster through the show. The wrestler now known as Tanga Loa was victorious on the One Night Only: Gut Check PPV and earned a spot on an episode of Impact as a result.

Burch made his pro-wrestling debut in 2003 after having been trained by the Dropkixx Academy as well as the Frontier Wrestling Alliance.

Bone Soldier To Be Performed By Taiji Ishimori?

Last week, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the return of Bone Soldier, a former member of Bullet Club. The role had previously been performed by Mitsuhide Hirasawa, who had been performing as Captain New Japan.

According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Bone Soldier will not be played by Hirasawa when the character returns. It also noted that Hirasawa was released over a year ago due to gambling issues. The report continued to say there have been rumors that Taiji Ishimori might be the new Bone Soldier and also enter the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in May.

Ishimori, who has been a regular for Impact Wrestling as of late, recently left Pro Wrestling NOAH. If Ishimori has signed with NJPW, it would seemingly contradict statements he made in March. Ishimori told Tokyo Sports he was leaving NOAH to wrestle more internationally.

“Lots of Japanese wrestlers are active internationally right now,” Ishimori said in an interview to Toky Sports (translated by author Chris Charlton). “I want to be among them, for Taiji Ishimori to appeal on a global scale. I’m open to offers at home and abroad.”

It would seem odd for Ishimori to leave on Japanese-based promotion in March in order to pursue international opportunities only to sign with another Japanese based promotion the next month. Still, Ishimori might feel NJPW will offer him more freedom outside of the promotion than Pro Wrestling NOAH would.

Ishimori wrestled for 12 years in NOAH, winning the promotion’s junior heavyweight championship on 3 occasions. He’s also won the Impact Wrestling X-Division championship as well. After defeating Tyson Dux to earn a title shot, Ishimori defeated Trevor Lee for the X-Division title last November.

Ishimori was a young lion in NJPW’s dojo but left the company to join NOAH in 2006.

Enzo Amore On Social Media: “It’s Been Real”

31-year-old Eric Arndt, better known to wrestling fans as Enzo Amore, posted to his Instagram account yesterday. The former WWE Cruiserweight Champion has been silent on social media since his release from the company in January.

All of Enzo’s previous Instagram posts, including his videos from the Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor fight, have been taken down. The only post that remains is one of boots being hung up.

The image of boots being hung up could be Enzo expressing that he is “hanging up the boots”. The last time Enzo posted to Twitter was January 23rd, 2018. The post only includes a statement from his lawyer:

Enzo has also changed his bio on Instagram to read: “Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear.”

After news broke of the pending investigation into an alleged sexual assault committed by Enzo, WWE suspended and then fired him. It is speculated that the company released him for failing to notify them of the pending investigation.

Enzo’s WWE career lasted a little under 5 years. He debuted in NXT on May 22nd, 2013. He was quickly paired with Colin Cassady and the Enzo and Big Cass tag-team was born. Although the team would never win the NXT tag-team championships, they were quite popular. Enzo and Cass were called up to the main roster in 2016.

The following year, Enzo and Cass were split up with Enzo remaining babyface and Cass turning heel. An injury to Big Cass led to Enzo turning heel as well and joining the cruiserweight division on 205 Live. An attempt was made to build the show around Enzo but was later abandoned after his release in January of 2018.