News
WWE News: WWE Reveals Full List, Details On This Week’s Tryout Attendees
Who took part in this week’s WWE tryouts?
As was noted, the WWE had another set of Performance Center tryouts scheduled for this week and among those who were reported to be attending was that of Penelope Ford (see the story here), who most fans will know from her work alongside the currently injured Joey Janela.
Today, WWE has revealed a complete list of all the attendees of this week’s tryouts including a current independent titleholder, the son of a former WWE Superstar and many more:
- Former UFC middleweight Eric Spicely (pictured above), 32, from Rhode Island. The 205-pounder holds 10 wins in professional fights and was a cast member on the 23rd season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Having trained under NXT Superstar Oney Lorcan, Spicely has competed in independent wrestling organization Beyond Wrestling.
- 25-year-old Cal Bloom, son of former WWE Superstar Wayne “Beau Beverly” Bloom. The younger Bloom stands 6-foot-5, weighs 255 pounds and played tight end for the University of Central Florida. Although he hasn’t yet wrestled a match, he has trained under his father, former WWE Superstar Ken Kennedy and prolific wrestling coach Brad Rheingans.
- Olympic sprinter Emmanuel Matadi, 27, from Liberia. Matadi represented his home country in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In 2015, while at Minnesota State University, Matadi won two NCAA Division II sprint titles.
- 22-year-old Heba Ali, a New Jersey-based physical trainer and fitness social media star who was featured on the fifth season of “Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge.”
- 24-year-old Matrick Belton, a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder who played wide receiver for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.
- Olivia Hasler, better known by her ring alias “The Bad Girl” Penelope Ford, a former gymnast and cheerleader who has been wrestling on the U.S. independent scene since late 2014.
- 23-year-old Jeremiah Buoni, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound bodybuilder and cast member of MTV’s “Floribama Shore.”
- Ontario-based heavyweight wrestler Randy Bynoe. With a background in amateur wrestling, Muay Thai, boxing, judo and more, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Bynoe trained for the ring under Santino Marella and Rip Rogers.
- 6-foot-5, 235-pound Clayton Chambers. A student of Booker T, Chambers is the current TV Champion of Booker T’s Houston-based Reality of Wrestling, competing under the name Van Harrison.
- Cruiserweight Jonathan Cruz, who has wrestled throughout North America. Trained by The Dudley Boyz, Cruz is now an assistant trainer at the Team 3D Academy’s Florida location.
- Georgia’s Alexis Evans, a 23-year-old from Georgia with a background in rugby and bodybuilding.
- Independent wrestler Danielle Hardy, aka Marti Daniels. A standout in volleyball and basketball in high school, Hardy has held the Women’s Championship for Salt Lake City-based UCW-Zero.
- Latasha Harris, known by her ring alias Tasha Steelz, a three-year veteran who has studied wrestling at the IWF Wrestling Training School and Team Adams Academy, both based in New Jersey. She is the current Chaotic Wrestling Women’s Champion.
- Donald Howard, aka “The Man of Tomorrow” Daniel Eads, an independent wrestler from Evansville, Indiana, who’s competed throughout the Midwest and Southeast U.S.
- 22-year-old Lenns Kamba, a 6-foot-3, 224-pound former collegiate grappler.
- Vincent Lawrence, a basketball player-turned-professional bodybuilder who is currently training for the ring in Miami. The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder placed fifth among heavyweights in the 2017 World Natural Bodybuilding Federation World Championships.
- 26-year-old weightlifter Tina Rivas. Originally from Mexico and now residing in Seattle, Rivas was recently announced as a cast member of NBC’s “The Titan Games,” The Rock’s new physical competition series.
- California wrestler Kenny Marquez, also known as Jake Atlas. A trainee of the Santino Bros. Wrestling Academy, Marquez was the team captain of his college’s nationally ranked cheerleading squad and was featured as a WWE hopeful in Stephanie McMahon’s episode of “Undercover Boss.”
- 26-year-old grappler Caleb Marsh, a two-time NCAA national qualifier who wrestled at Dolph Ziggler’s alma mater, Kent State University.
- 6-foot-6, 240-pound football player Josh McNeil, from North Carolina. A former Under Armour All-American in high school, McNeil was a member of the Carolina Cobras’ 2018 roster in the National Arena League.
- Three-time Reality of Wrestling Heavyweight Champion Luis “Gino” Medina. The 22-year-old has eight years of experience training under Booker T in Texas.
- Marine Corps veteran and former semi-pro football player Isaac Melton, 27, from Alabama. Trained by WWE Hall of Famer Robert Gibson, Melton has wrestled throughout the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic regions under the name Ike Cross.
- Former professional defensive end Jake Metz, who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 260 pounds. Metz played pro football for four years, including stints in the NFL and the Arena Football League.
- 28-year-old Tehuti Miles, a karate fighter and former Division I football player who served in the U.S. Army, including a deployment to Afghanistan in 2010-2011. Miles attended a WWE tryout in June 2017.
- 27-year-old powerhouse Alexander Morehouse, a former collegiate cheerleader who has gone on to compete in Olympic weightlifting events, including the 2015 American Open.
- Professional bodybuilder EJ Nduka. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound Nduka played pro football for four years and currently trains in mixed martial arts.
- Yaw Jason Osei, a 31-year-old Englishman currently residing in Texas. Osei played football at Baylor University and Texas A&M and has trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, kickboxing and judo.
- Pro football player and former collegiate powerlifter Tom Parsons. The 28-year-old stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 260 pounds.
- Michigan’s Jumal Pritchett, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound independent wrestler who competes professionally under the name Jumal Kyng. A basketball and football standout in high school, Pritchett switched to the mat game in 2014.
- Nick Pulos, a 6-foot-5, 275-pound super-heavyweight bodybuilder and actor from Florida.
- Forrest Rhines, an 18-year wrestling veteran who has wrestled throughout North America and Asia as Cooley AAYOOO.
- Actor, strength coach and strongman competitor Ian Michael Simon, from Scottsdale, Ariz. Simon also played football as a linebacker and fullback in the collegiate and pro ranks.
- 22-year-old bikini competitor Courtney Lemmings. She has placed in the top 10 at national events and won an overall title in competition.
- 25-year-old track-and-field athlete Emily Loogman. In 2014, as a junior at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, Loogman placed first in the heptathlon at the Pacific West Conference Championships.
- Nashville-based fitness instructor and model Haley Jade Poston. The 26-year-old was also a competitive cheerleader in high school.
- Second-generation wrestler and former figure skater Karissa Rivera. The 26-year-old from New Jersey wrestles as “Karissa the Cherokee Warrior” and recently saw action against Lacey Evans on NXT TV. Her father wrestled under the name Steve King.
- “Lady Frost” Brittany Rae Steding, a competitive gymnast-turned-wrestler from Pittsburgh.
Are you familiar with any of these names? Let us know on social media @theCHAIRSHOTcom and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
News
Chairshot News Report: TNA Impact Results, AEW Speculation For Ricochet & Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon, More!
Your Wrestling News for July 5, 2024, including TNA Impact, Ricochet, Shane McMahon, his daddy Vince, and more!
Your Wrestling News for July 5, 2024, including TNA Impact, Ricochet, Shane McMahon, his daddy Vince, and more!
Welcome to your daily dose of pro wrestling news–and analysis you can trust! We take all wrestling news with a grain of salt here at The Chairshot, and we hope to steer you in the right direction.
Results: TNA Impact (July 4, 2024)
Here are your results from Thursday night’s edition of TNA Impact (originally taped on June 28 at the 2300 Arena in Philly):
- Trey Miguel vs. Leon Slater ends in a no-contest after WWE NXT star Charlie Dempsey attacks everyone.
- Dani Luna battled Jody Threat to a time limit draw in the 10-Minute Challenge. They were granted the customary “5 more minutes” but were attacked by Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich. During the match it was revealed that Nic Nemeth had been attacked backstage.
- Frankie Kazarian defeated Mike Santana by countout to advance to the TNA World Championship Match at Slammiversary.
- Matt Hardy & Reby Hardy beat Eddie Edwards & Alisha Edwards.
- Joe Hendry pinned Jake Something to advance to the TNA World Championship Match at Slammiversary.
No surprise that Joe Hendry advanced to the world title match, but Santana-Kazarian could have gone either way. A promo video to end the show implied that Kazarian was the one who took out Nic Nemeth backstage, seemingly creating a story for them within the Slammiversary title match. No shocker that The Hardys won the tag team match, but a great surprise with Charlie Dempsey getting involved in the opener. That TNA/NXT collaboration continues to be a lot of fun.
You can catch Andrew’s Review of the event here.
Ricochet Expected To Sign With AEW
Many outlets are reporting that Ricochet’s expected landing spot remains AEW, with additional reports surfacing that his agent has been working out the details on his behalf.
Personally, I’d rather see him back in WWE. Even after an initial push in AEW, he will be a novelty act much like PAC, so I don’t see the difference. But if he’s going to AEW, here’s hoping that agent does a great job and secures quite the bag for ol’ Ric.
Vince Russo Suggests Shane McMahon As A Front Man For Vince McMahon to Purchase AEW
”We saw this with WCW, it happened before. It (purchasing AEW) could be under the guise of Shane, that’s what I’m saying. Shane is as clean as whistle. Vince could be behind it without anybody knowing it, bro.”
Those are the words of Vince Russo, who on the surface seems to be spouting nonsense. Time will tell if there is something to it all, but I wouldn’t place any wagers on this one. Shane McMahon to AEW would be an entertaining shocker, but that–like many things in AEW–would quickly wear off.
Shawn Michaels Discusses NXT Releases, Referencing Drew Gulak
During the NXT Heatwave media call, Shawn Michaels was asked about the release of Gable Steveson, but also lumped Drew Gulak in his response about main roster viability:
“From my understanding, nothing on anyone’s part other than contracts being up. Certainly, in the place of Drew Gulak. From a company standpoint, there not being anything from a main roster standpoint that they were going to be using him in. In NXT, over the last year and a half to two years, we’ve been trying to get into the process of keeping it fluid. It’s all about getting to the main roster when everything is said and done. In two or three years, if that doesn’t happen, we bring other people in or see if we’re ready to move on.”
If anything, it’s a stark reminder that NXT still exists to, above all else, populate the main roster. It’s quite the delicate balance between booking your own television show and preparing for the future, one that HBK has arguably done better than Triple H himself.
Other Odds & Ends:
- According to reports, the mini-stroke referenced by Britt Baker (DMD) on AEW Dynamite is legitimate. If so, both she and Adam Cole have been through a ton over the past 24 months.
- Mason Madden (Mace) and Mansoor, now known as the MxM Collection, showed up in ROH when featured in a vignette on this week’s broadcast. They might not have made it in WWE, but it’s good to see them getting work, and a second chance to make this gimmick their own. YEAH!
- Cody Rhodes continues to be the ultimate good dude, this time helping a fan who won tickets to Money In The Bank actually attend the event. The fan who won the tickets is in a wheelchair, and there were no more accessible seats left. That was, of course, until Cody got involved. Now the fan can be there and enjoy the show as intended when he won the contest. Cody wins again!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!
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.
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!