News
Chairshot Wrestling News Shuffle (2/7/2019)
Start your Thursday off with comments on news regarding Sasha Banks, AEW, IMPACT and more!
Jason shuffles in to the homestretch of the week with the Chairshot Wrestling News Shuffle! A look at Sasha Banks, an IMPACT Champion returning, AEW News and more!
AEW Planning Big Announcement?
WrestleVotes Twttier account has usually been a source for breaking news in the wrestling world, and often times they are correct with news/rumors. They have tweeted that AEW has made an offer to a current WWE superstar.
Seems like the first real shot has been fired… source says AEW has made an “outstanding” offer to a current, big time WWE superstar. An offer that is almost too good to turn down. Things are really about to get interesting.
— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) February 5, 2019
IMPACT Champion Returning ?
The IMPACT product has been greatly improving over the past year. It appears the they company is going to be bringing back a former world champion for their United We Stand event on April 4th according to their Twttier account:
A former World Champion in IMPACT Wrestling will return to main event United We Stand on April 4th!
Find out who this Friday on IMPACT! #IMPACT pic.twitter.com/lmBnxwo9qy
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) February 6, 2019
The Boss Injured?
The past few days we have discussed some of the various injuries to the WWE roster including Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch. You can also add Sasha Banks to that list. Banks missed this weekends live events, and also was attacked before her tag team match with Bayley on RAW, forcing Bayley to have to wrestle Nikki Cross and Alicia Fox herself.
Jimmy Havoc Signs With AEW
All Elite Wrestling continues to sign talent to the roster adding indie darling Jimmy Havoc to the roster as announced via Twitter.
Welcome to @AEwrestling@JimmyHavoc pic.twitter.com/QIzNzHh5Tm
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) February 6, 2019
Jason’s Thoughts On Today’s News
I step away for a day to battle some illness and wow, the wrestling world explodes with news. In addition to the Pope, Darth Vader, Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose and everyone else signing with AEW, it appears that the WWE star non mentioned in the WrestleVote tweet is none other than Randy Orton. Who knows at this point who is exactly going to sign with AEW and who isn’t. While Randy Orton has been a ficture in WWE for years, what benefit is it to him or to AEW by signing with AEW ? Would Orton be a draw ? Many have also stated that Orton has a 10 year deal with WWE, so I am skeptical at this point. I can understand the company wanting to have name value, and Orton is a fairly big name.
The former IMPACT champions currently not signed to WWE include Rob Van Dam, Ken Anderson, James Storm, Austin Aries, Bully Ray, Chris Sabin, Nick Aldis, Alberto el Patron. Of that list, you can rule out Chris Sabin as he is reportedly out 8 to 12 months with a torn ACL. If I were to make a guess, Austin Aries seems like the most likely candidate to return to IMPACT.
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Did your picks win points?
The AEW Continental Classic is underway, with almost everyone competing. Check in here if you haven’t seen the winners and losers of week 1!
Here are your Gold League standings!
- Jon Moxley: 1-0, 3 points
- Swerve Strickland: 1-0, 3 points
- Jay White: 1-0, 3 points
- Rush: 0-1, 0 points
- Mark Briscoe: 0-1, 0 points.
- Jay Lethal: 0-1, 0 points
Here are your Blue League standings!
- Brody King: 1-0, 3 points
- Claudio Castagnoli: 1-0, 3 points
- Daniel Garcia: 0-1, 0 points
- Eddie Kingston: 0-1, 0 points
- Bryan Danielson: Yet to Compete
- Andrade El Idolo: Yet to Compete
My Thoughts:
Nothing too crazy, nothing too wild, this tournament only just got started. The only disappointing point is that they could not get Bryan “cleared to compete” Saturday night. Not sure how much of that is shoot given the bad eye, but this was kinda the problem of wanting him in the tournament over tons of other choices. Bryan wants to face Okada for WrestleKingdom 18, how is Bryan supposed to do that at his best if he’s also gonna be in a round robin, doing five top level matches in about as many weeks? And it takes away from Andrade being able to do something. Also a little surprised we didn’t even hear from Andrade on Saturday.
Now as we heard on Saturday, round two’s matches are set. Gold League will see Mark Briscoe VS Rush, White VS Swerve, and of course, Moxley VS Lethal. Nice variety there, a couple 0-1 guys facing off, as well as two 1-0 guys, and then 1-0 VS 0-1. No offense to Lethal, but he feels like an 0-2 going up against Moxley. Hard to call the other ones but that’s the fun of it. Meanwhile, Blue League sees Brody VS Claudio in a showdown to be 2-0, then Bryan and Andrade finally jump in, Bryan against Eddie and Andrade against Garcia. Sadly, feels like Eddie and Garcia are going 0-2, no way Tony Khan is booking Bryan and Andrade to lose their first shots.
In fact, that could be half the reason they did wait on those two, that’s almost too good for just a first round opener. But I still would’ve done it, same as NJPW does stuff like that for round robins, which this is all modeled after anyway.
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Tony Khan Reveals the Blue and Gold “Leagues!”
Originally livestreamed, Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone officially announced the twelve total entrants and divided them into the two round robin blocks known as the “Blue League” and “Gold League.” If you don’t feel like sifting through the almost 30 minute video, the groups are:
Blue League
- Bryan Danielson
- Andrade El Idolo
- Brody King
- Claudio Castagnoli
- Daniel Garcia
- Eddie Kingston
Gold League
- Jon Moxley
- Swerve Strickland
- Rush
- Mark Briscoe
- Jay Lethal
- Jay White
Tony Khan also explains the rules for the Continental Classic:
- Every match has a 20 minute time limit
- The winner of each match earns 3 points, losers earn 0, 1 point for a draw
- EVERYONE ELSE is banned from ringside for true 1v1 action
Eddie Kingston also joined the selection special as his “life’s work” is on the line in this tournament, both the ROH World Championship and NJPW Strong Openweight Championship on the line as part of the modern day North American Triple Crown Eddie, Tony Khan, AEW, ROH and NJPW are looking to create together. Gold League competes tonight on Dynamite while Blue League will have their start this Saturday on Collision. Look for more articles like this one to keep up with the Continental Classic standings over the next six weeks of tournament action!
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