Four WWE Stars QUITTING?! | WrestleTalk News Jan. 2019

Partially Undressed Blonde Women = Ratings

Partially undressed blonde women… who could’ve foreseen such a thing.

This week, WWE aired segments on both their main roster shows that contained a partially undressed blonde woman. On Raw, there was a scene where a production runner walked in on Alexa Bliss while she was getting dressed, and SmackDown saw a lingerie-wearing Mandy Rose trying to seduce Jimmy Uso to anger his real-life wife Naomi.

Raw clips rarely get over a million views on YouTube, but the Alexa Bliss segment drew a statistically significant 4.5 million views, and the Mandy Rose lingerie brawl with Naomi managed a very impressive 1.9 million. They are both currently in the top 5 clips from Raw and SmackDown uploaded this year, just a few days after they went live, and have received a number of critically praising comments, like:

“Can y’all just imagine if she accidentally dropped the cover ohhhh baby my meat bouta be gone”

And “I hope wwe make more sexiest scence for elxa bliss i love elxa bliss she’s so sexy and hot”

It’s a tactic IMPACT Wrestling have been using with Scarlett Bordeaux’s sexualised character for some time now, with her lap dance for Scott Steiner on last week’s episode getting 845,000 views on YouTube – far above the channel average.

Speaking of IMPACT, but not partially undressed blonde women SEGWAY.

Chris Jericho Reveals IMPACT Wrestling Talks

Chris Jericho has uploaded a tell-all edition of his Talk Is Jericho podcast, revealing just how many promotions he was talking to before eventually signing with All Elite Wrestling.

Confirming the Wrestling Observer’s report from last week, Jericho said he was actually negotiating with WWE “all the way up to a few days before the [AEW] rally”, and he gave Vince McMahon multiple opportunities to counter All Elite Wrestling’s proposal – but “there was never really a [WWE] offer given. ”

So Jericho chose to sign with AEW because “they’re showing me respect… In WWE, it doesn’t matter what I do. It’s still gonna be WWE. In AEW, it does matter what I do, and I have to be my best, and I have to really use my 30 years, or my 29 years of experience to help build this company. And that was exciting to me.”

Y2J also revealed his AEW contract “is a three year exclusive deal, with the exception of New Japan, which I still intend to work with.” – where he’s rumoured to be starting a feud with current IWGP Heavyweight Champion and owner of the most luscious hair in wrestling Hiroshi Tanahashi.

But just as interesting was how close Jericho came to signing with another promotion…

Y2J has been teased to join IMPACT Wrestling for months, mainly by his very good friend Don Callis name dropping him on commentary, and the picture he posted late last year of his meeting with IMPACT’s top executives. But ultimately, he opted for All Elite…

“I really, really enjoy [IMPACT’s product], and I thought long and hard about doing some shows there. I even had a meeting with Scott and Don in Toronto with Ed Nordholm; the offer they made was a great offer… They were going to spend some money on Chris Jericho. We had some great matches planned—Jericho versus Sami Callihan, maybe … Johnny Impact, Brian Cage, Rich Swann. I’d love to work with Rich Swann. So, I did honestly talk to IMPACT and really, really thought about going there, and then Tony Khan came in with this offer, that’s the biggest offer I’ve ever been offered in my career.”

Jungle Boy To AEW

Those Tony KHAAAAAAAN offers – the billionaire President of AEW – might be popping up more and more as the fledgling promotion looks to secure a vital TV deal.

And Wrestling News World claim they’ve added another wrestler to their roster – rising star ‘Jungle Boy’ Nate Coy.

Showing how competitive the wrestling talent war is becoming between the major promotions, AEW apparently tried to sign the 21 year old, relatively inexperienced Jungle Boy to a two year deal, but him and his actor father Luke Perry negotiated it down to a shorter term contract.

Ilja Dragunov To WWE?

Meanwhile in WWE’s attempts to lock up talent ahead of AEW’s launch, there’s speculation they’ve signed the brilliant German wrestler Ilja Dragunov, following DEFIANT Wrestling’s announcement he’s been pulled from their February dates.

ROH Signs RUSH, PJ Black & Tracy Williams

And Ring of Honor are trying to replace the Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes-shaped hole in their roster by signing the former Justin Gabriel in WWE, PJ Black, former EVOLVE wrestler ‘Hot Sauce’ Tracy Williams and the huge Mexican star from CMLL, RUSH, who is actually the leader of the Los Ingobernables faction, which spun off into Natio’s LIJ group in New Japan.

As a mark of how good he is, Rush was one of Daniel Bryan’s dream opponents when he was considering leaving WWE before he was medically cleared to return to the ring in the promotion, and is thought to be the reason Bryan grew out his hair so much, for an eventual hair vs hair match against Rush.

With so many promotions now bidding for talent, it’s a good time to be a free agent. Which might be the reason behind four wrestlers in WWE allegedly asking for their release…

The Revival Ask For WWE Release

According to a report from Sean Ross Sapp over at Fightful – a wrestling reporter with a very reliable track record – there’s rumours backstage in the company that The Revival’s Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder have asked for their releases.

“I’m careful to make sure not to say they outright asked for their releases, as I wasn’t told explicitly that’s what happened. Instead, I was told “has reason to be very fearful that The Revival are done or finishing up with the company” after a situation unfolded at WWE Raw.”

The situation presumably being a real-life incident, rather than them losing unfairly to Lucha House Party and Chad Gable and Bobby Roode in recent months.

Dave Meltzer has since reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that they have asked for their release.

The Revival were a consistently TakeOver stealing act during their NXT run, having classic matches against DIY and American Alpha. But their main roster call-up stalled almost immediately, with Wilder fracturing his jaw just two weeks after debuting on Raw, and shortly after the team returned from that, Dawson suffered a ruptured bicep, taking them out until December 2017. They’ve been booked as an undercard act in Raw’s lacklustre tag division ever since.

Fightful add that their multiple sources speculate the Revival would go to All Elite Wrestling if they leave WWE. This would tie in with their long running ‘FTR’ feud with the Young Bucks on Being the Elite.

And they’re not the only double act who are reportedly potentially leaving the company…

Mike & Maria Kanellis Leaving WWE?

As Pro Wrestling Sheet claim Mike and Maria Kanellis have also asked for their releases from WWE.

Unlike the Revival, Mike and Maria didn’t even get a critically celebrated run in NXT, instead debuting straight on the main roster after signing with WWE from TNA in 2017. They have since done barely anything of note onscreen, with Maria taking time off to give birth to their first child, and Mike overcoming an addiction to pain medication.

The article reveals they’ve “been unhappy with the way they’ve been used in WWE for awhile and finally made the decision a few weeks ago to request their releases”. Supporting those claims, Mike has started selling new shirts on Pro Wrestling Tees – a merchandise store separate to WWE official shop.

Pro Wrestling Sheet point out, however, that WWE doesn’t always grant talent releases, so Mike and Maria might be “paid to sit at home until the deal expires” – like how Rey Mysterio and Daniel Bryan were in the past, a strategy even more relevant now WWE might want to stop talent joining rival promotions. The also very reliable WrestleVotes concurred, revealing this happened to another midcard act last year:

“Some interesting reports of multiple superstars requesting to be released by WWE. They are more than likely true. Keep in mind however, WWE DOES NOT have to honor those requests. A midcard superstar during the middle of ‘18 asked for his release & WWE refused. So that’s that.”

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