Alberto Del Rio Says He’s Proud Of CM Punk, Comments On Leaving Wrestling

Alberto Del Rio says he only takes 2-3 wrestling bookings a month these days and the rest of the time is for his children and other projects. He recently talked about his current schedule,  his transition to other forms of entertainment, and his relationship with WWE in an interview with Chris Van Vliet.

One of the most interesting topics Del Rio addressed, however, was CM Punk’s UFC career. Del Rio himself has a background in MMA. He has a 9-5 pro record in the sport. Del Rio is currently involved with the Combate Americas promotion as well.

“I just hate to hear people talk crap about someone like Phil,” Del Rio said about Punk. “Someone’s who’s got the balls to go and try something different.”

In regards to his current wrestling schedule, Del Rio mentioned he’s keeping his wrestling bookings to a minimum these days.

“A lot of people know I only take 2 or 3 wrestling shows or indy booking or whatever wrestling shows out there per month,” Del Rio said. “my time is for my kids, my time is for the other stuff I’m doing.”

“I’m in the middle of the transition from being a pro-wrestler to being an entertainer,” he continued. “I still love wrestling, I still have a lot of passion for wrestling but I think it’s time for me to start moving on to other stuff.”

Big Cass Update: Reporter Alleges False Accusations Have Been Made

There has been no shortage of theories as to why exactly Big Cass was fired from WWE recently. A report from Sports Illustrated indicated Cass’ drinking on the most recent European tour was to blame but there’s been speculation this was not the only reason.

A report from Wrestlingnews.co claims to have insider information regarding the situation.

“We were told that he went up to her and, according to a well-placed source, caused a scene while asking her to forgive him, apparently in hopes for a reconciliation,” the website states in their report. “Carmella tried to walk off but he grabbed her arm and wrestlers in the area stepped in. We’re told that The Usos and Erick Rowan were the ones to get Cass to back away.”

Robbie Fox from BarStool Sports is claiming these are false accusations, however:

“I’ve been pretty silent about Big Cass’ release from the WWE because he’s a good friend of mine and it’s just an unfortunate situation all around that I’ve felt really bad about, but this report that it’s because of an “altercation with Carmella” is complete and utter bullshit.”

“There never was an altercation with Carmella, or Vic Joseph, or the Usos, or ANYONE, and it fucking sucks to see Cass getting dragged through the mud because of a report from one of the most notoriously inaccurate “journalists” in modern pro wrestling history.”

“It’s disappointing that none of the names involved in the report have come forward to dispel the rumor like I figured they would, but hey, I guess if it doesn’t make THEM look good it’s not worth it, right?”

Sting Comforted Vader In His Final Days

The wrestling world lost Leon White earlier this week. The wrestler better known as Big Van Vader touched a lot of people in his 63 years. Wrestling legends and personalities, such as Mick Foley and Jim Ross, have paid tribute to Vader in the days since his death. His memory was honored at the NJPW shows this weekend as well.

TMZ has published an interview with Vader’s son, former NXT wrestler Jesse White. White wrestled under the name Jake Carter in WWE developmental from 2011 to 2013. According to Jesse, Sting was a big help to the family in Vader’s final days.

“Dallas Diamond Page, [Stone Cold Steve] Austin, Mick Foley,” White mentioned as having helped but one of Vader’s old friends made an extra special impression. “I do have to send a big thank-you out to Sting, Steve Borden.”

“Sting has been a huge blessing,” White said, also noting they had grown closer since Vader’s health began to decline.  “My father was a God-fearing man and so was Sting, and they would sit down and read the bible together. Go over the Bible, just talk about life and good time stories and, yeah, Stings been a huge blessing throughout this process.”

Sting and Vader were rivals in the ring. Vader won his first WCW World Championship from Sting in 1992, simultaneously ending Sting’s first run with the belt. Vader would lose the belt to Ron Simmons but gain it back just 5 months later. In 1993, Sting defeated Vader to win his 2nd WCW World Championship. He would drop the title back to Vader just 6 days later, however. All throughout 1992 and 1993, Sting and Vader would wrestle each other on WCW house shows as well.

More Details on WWE Blocking ROH From Running MSG

Last week, it was reported that the Ring of Honor was looking at booking Madison Square Garden for WrestleMania 35 weekend next April. A report from Pro Wrestling Insider then stated WWE had blocked them from booking the famous arena.

Chief Operating Officer for Ring of Honor, Joe Koff, spoke to PWI’s Mike Johnson.

“You know, I’m going to tell you Mike because you are asking. I’m not going to discuss beyond this statement because I am not going to litigate this in the press. We had a deal with (the) Garden and they then told us they were backing out after communications from the WWE. We are not able to get any other dates in any kind of discussion. I’m expecting that our lawyers will be contacting all the parties involved and the best we can hope for is that we can find resolution, and we can bring the kind of energy and excitement that ROH and our partner New Japan brings to a bigger audience and to bigger arenas to the fans of New York City.”

A recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is now stating WWE was able to block ROH booking the building with just one phone call.

According to the Observer, ROH officials are furious about what happened and are looking at legal options:

"We were told last week by sources close to the situation that it could and probably would turn into an ugly legal fight." Dave Meltzer said.

Ring of Honor officials had been of the belief a deal had been struck, although the terms were agreed to orally and not in writing. MSG canceled the deal reportedly after one phone call from a high-ranking WWE employee (not Vince McMahon).

Sinclair believes a court would not uphold MSG’s cancellation of their agreement. This is the case despite the agreement never having been signed. There is also speculation that Madison Square Garden officials were looking for other wrestling promotions as WWE only runs house shows in the arena a few times a year. WWE does not generally broadcast television shows or PPVs from the arena due to the increased cost the venue charges for such rights. Some are saying MSG was upset the company will not be running WrestleMania from the arena despite being in the surrounding area.

AAA Lucha Libre has also expressed interesting in running MSG later this year.

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.