Huge week for pro wrestling news
It is rare there is more than one big news item in the professional wrestling world, but this week, there are three newsworthy items, so let蘑菇视频 jump in.
Ric Flair returning to the ring
Monday morning, word broke that Ric Flair would be returning to the wrestling ring for one last match.
Jim Crockett Promotions, under whom Flair had his greatest run as a multi-time NWA world champion, will promote the July 31 show which will take place in Nashville.
The show is being promoted as 鈥淩ic Flair蘑菇视频 Last Match鈥� and it will take place at the Nashville Fairgrounds and it will stream worldwide exclusively on FITE.
Look for the match to be a tag match with it more than likely being a six-man match.
We will dig deeper into the fact that Flair, at the age of 73, is wrestling again, more in future columns, but it is smart for the show to be held in Nashville.
The prior day, WWE presents SummerSlam in Nashville at Nissan Stadium, the home of the Tennessee Titans.
Odds are a lot of the fans will stay in town an extra day to take in history, which means there will be a bigger gate.
Banks walks out of WWE again
The news about Flair returning to the ring should have been the biggest wrestling news of the week, but the buzz lasted for less than 12 hours as Sasha Banks and Naomi, the WWE women蘑菇视频 tag champs, walked out from Raw and left the arena.
According to www.pwinsiderelite.com, Banks took issue with some of the planned creative for the original main event and went to Vince McMahon about it.
The planned match was a six-pack challenge to decide Bianca Belair蘑菇视频 challenger for WWE蘑菇视频 Hell in the Cell event next month.
McMahon didn鈥檛 change the direction which upset Banks, so she left, and Naomi went with her.
Oddly enough, PW Insider reported a short time later that Naomi was scheduled to defeat Banks to win the match and move on to challenge Belair.
It was also reported that Friday night, Banks would have earned a Smackdown title shot at Cell against Ronda Rousey where Banks would have lost.
Could Banks and Naomi have been mad that despite being tag champs, they were being used to give Belair and Rousey successful title defenses?
Regardless, this is the second time Banks has walked out on WWE as she did it after she and Bayley lost the WWE women蘑菇视频 tag titles at WrestleMania 35.
A few people have said this could all be a storyline, but it seems unlikely and an update on the situation could have been given Friday on Smackdown, which aired after this column蘑菇视频 deadline.
More on this next week.
Stephanie McMahon leaves WWE
Thursday afternoon, Stephanie McMahon shocked the pro wrestling world announced she would be taking a leave of absence from WWE starting Friday.
The consensus is that almost no one in WWE蘑菇视频 inner circle knew this announcement was coming.
Several sites reported that people backstage were using words like shocked, floored, gasping, and taken aback.
The belief is McMahon蘑菇视频 leave is for family reasons, and it would be understandable as her husband Triple H, is still recovering from health issues.
Several birthdays
Several wrestling personalities have birthdays today, but more importantly, it is my dad蘑菇视频 birthday. I know he is reading this, so happy birthday, Dad!
Also celebrating birthdays today are Reverend Lee Carroll (1946), Brian Pillman (1962) would have turned 60, Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) (1981), Bray Wyatt (1987).
This Week in History鈥�
In 1987, NWA world champion Ric Flair defeated Florida heavyweight champion Mike Rotunda. Rotunda蘑菇视频 son, Bray Wyatt, was born the same day, and this is further proof of the sacrifice pro wrestlers make being on the road as much as they are.
In 1994, Flair retained the WCW championship against Barry Windham at Slamboree.
In a rare occurrence, Flair was flipped over the top rope off an Irish whip, ran along the apron, climbed to the top rope and was successful in executing a flying body press for the pin.
Usually, in one of his signature moves, Flair would get caught after running to the turnbuckle and thrown to the mat.
In 1995, Jeff Jarrett defeated Razor Ramon to regain the WWF Intercontinental title. Ramon had won the title three days earlier, and this would begin Jarrett蘑菇视频 third reign.
In 1999, Owen Hart wrestled his last match, one day before tragically passing away at Over The Edge, a WWV PPV in Kansas City, KS.
In Hart蘑菇视频 last match, he teamed with Jeff Jarrett to defeat Edge and Christian when he pinned Christian, on the sold-out card at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago.
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