Glenn Jacobs, who wrestles as Kane in WWE, said he was seriously considering running for Mayor of Knox County, as a Republican.
He said he would make his decision after the presidential election.
He said he’s talked with current mayor Tim Burchett about it.
Knox County covers the city of Knoxville, the area that Jacobs lives in.
Jacobs did an interview with WBIR television saying he’s looking at doing so because he cares so much about the community.
“That’s the only reason I would consider getting into any sort of government because I do care very deeply. and I think it’s incumbent upon people who care about the communities to try and make a difference.
Jacobs noted that for work, he could live anywhere in the U.S., but settled in Knoxville because he love East Tennessee.
Jacobs first lived in Knoxville when he worked under the name Unabom for Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion,. as a tag team partner of Al snow.
Ray Leppan, known as Adam Rose, was officially released by WWE Monday as he requested it, according to the company.
Leppan was on an indefinite suspension from the company after being arrested on both tampering with a witness and domestic battery charges on May 11 involving his wife at their home in Lutz, FL. During the proceedings it came out, it was a second incident involving Leppan.
He was already on a 60 day suspension, announced on April 16, for a second wellness policy violation. He wrote that the violation was for testing positive for Adderall XR to treat ADHD. He put up a doctor’s note on Twitter, took it down, and then put it up again. WWE never responded to questions regarding the nature of the suspension, but did not change its ruling.
Leppan started his career working in South Africa as a tag team partner of Paul Lloyd Jr. (P.J. Black in Lucha Underground, Justin Gabriel in WWE). He worked for the local promotion there and was one of its top stars when signed to WWE in 2010, where he worked as Leo Kruger and later Adam Rose, highlighted in the ESPN E:60 Behind The Curtain documentary. The latter gimmick got him a 2014 call-up but the character never got out of prelims. He was a member of the Social Outcasts group at the time of his first suspension.
We’ll discuss this more on Wrestling Observer Live today and on Wrestling Observer Radio tonight.
Best match: fatal 4 way (world title match second best)
Worst match: divas
Four way was hot and well done. Styles-Reigns a worth main event in spite of the interference.
The Jericho- Ambrose cage mess really dragged live, and brought the crowd down; divas match also poor.
Vaudvillians were actually pretty good; have potential, and were protected for the moment by the finish.
Anderson and Gallows also strong . Baron-Ziggler was not much.
–Mike Omansky
Just wanted to provide some feedback on Extreme Rules. I gave the show a slight thumbs up, somewhere between thumbs in the middle, lol. The show had hits and misses, a few good matches, a few highlights, but due to lack of build not much else. I thought the main event for the world title was the best match of the night, although it was a tough choice between the main event and I/C title match. The I/C title match was awesome, but thought the main event was better in my opinion. Worst match of the night was probably a tie between the women’s match and the Asylum cage match. The women’s match could have been so much better, and it’s hard to have a cage match without violence and blood and keeping it PG.
1. Ziggler – Corbin – Was not really into the match, either competitor could have won and would not have really made a difference.
2. Doc & Anderson – Uso’s – Really good match, fast paced, Doc & Karl have been great since they started, The Uso’s looked good as a result, and usually not into the Uso’s very much. Hope they heat up the tag team scene with the addition of Doc & Karl and give them a run as tag champs.
3. Kalisto – Rusev – Good to see Rusev win and get the U.S. title and paired back up on screen properly with Lana. I thought this was a hot act during his first run as US champ and they should have kept it that way instead of the seemingly lack of push that happened after the Cena fued and then Lana paired up with Dolph, just didn’t work. The League of Nations thing didn’t work out, and clearly neither of them was really having any on screen success without the other, so good to see them headed in the right direction again.
4. New Day – Vaudevillains – Good to see New Day win. I was annoyed with their gimmick at first, but they have grown on me and I actually like the act now. Now I’m annoyed by the Vaudevillians, lol. Don’t really see how this can be a very long lasting gimmick for them as I just don’t see it sticking.
5. Miz, Cesaro, Zayn, Ownes – Really great match, these guys are the future of the WWE and good to see them have a great match with each other. Was hoping they would get the title back on Owens as I thought he made a tremendous champion. But would be good to see either Zayn or Cesaro as champ too. And these guys are miracle workers making the Miz look good, lol. However The Miz has improved and I think a push with Maryse with him has been good. Improving as a performer and hope they just stick with that, stay away from the whole Miz TV thing, very annoying.
6. Dean – Jericho – Really lackluster match, a whole bunch of nothing going on in the cage. Hard to have a cage match in today’s WWE. And the whole storyline between Dean and Jericho really was not going anywhere in my opinion. Cool spot at the end however with the bump into the tacks, that was cool at least.
7. Charlotte – Nattie – Very disappointing since they are both so talented and this match was regulated to seemingly almost nothing and elevate who? Dana Brooks? I don’t think Dana is ready for the main roster yet. Her matches have left something to be desired that I’ve seen so far. Hopefully they will just keep her in the “Bodyguard” position for Charlotte and continue to push Charlotte as a really good heal. Daddy Ric can only do so much at ringside, so it will be good to have Dana there to take the bumps outside the ring. No disrespect to Flair, but he can’t actually do a whole lot of bumping at his age and keeping his physical role limited will be more effective I think.
8. Roman – Styles – I thought this was a great match, AJ really took some hardcore bumps. I like Roman as champ and hope they go full heal with his character. Also want to see see Styles as champ. Also really cool to see the return of Rollins and would like to see him as champ again too, lol. But an amazing match of an otherwise somewhat lackluster card other then the I/C title match.
Thanks, Jon Southerland — Clovis, Ca.
Thumbs in the middle. Very mixed bag.
Best match: Roman vs AJ. Maybe the best WWE match this year.
Worst match: Ambrose vs Jericho. Maybe the worst WWE PPV match this year.
The women are hopeless if every title match has a screw job finish.
Thanks, Erin J Hotovy
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Styles v Reigns
Worst Match: New Day v Vaudevillans
Another solid card. Styles had an insane match performance but important to say Reigns did a lot right in there as well. Wonder what is up next for Styles as a reward for the stuff he is doing out there since joining WWE. That main event delivered on a lot of levels. The passion of the crowds love/hate relationship with Reigns added here rather than detract and cant imagine that dynamic if RollinsVReigns is at MITB. The IC 4 way would be best match on a lot of cards. Big fan of the Kalisto-Rusev match as so much they did in that match was very tight. Kalisto has been doing some solid stuff from the del rio feud through the recent big men. Rusev is so underused but its hard to gauge how well they will handle the win based on the wackiness of the secondary titles. Usos and “The Club” had another good match, not sick of the feud though looks like its over (Wargames dreams shattered). The asylum match lagged in parts but overall felt good. Enjoyed Corbin Ziggler but think Corbin, who I am a fan of, needs a little more work on selling. The Dana Brooke spot took me out of the Charlotte-Natalya match. Get what they were going for but just came across weird.
Network was perfect tonight, none of even those minor blips or hiccups.
Thanks!
Michael O’Brien | Brockton, MA
Thumbs up just because of two superb matches. Roman gets the hottest heel reaction in years and Rollins was welcomed like he was HBK. Anything else but a double turn is plain simple stupid.
Best Match: Miz vs. Zayn vs. Owens vs. Cesaro closely followed by Reigns vs. Styles
Worst Match: Corbin vs. Ziggler
Earlier in the day during the USA vs. Puerto Rico International Friendly soccer match on FS1, one of the announcers actually said “Puerto Rico, the shining star of the Caribbean”.
Leonardo II Mendez | San Sebastian, PR
Thumbs Up
Worst Match: Corbin vs. Ziggler
Had a couple of awkward moments & the rhythm could’ve been better at times, but I thought it was an ok match. Liked the finish, although thought he waited a little long to capitalize on the low blow.
Usos vs. Anderson & Gallows
Thought they were rushing a fair bit but decent match.
Rusev vs. Kalisto
There were some awkward moments in the early going, thought the heat section left a lot to be desired, Kalisto’s comeback wasn’t as crisp, smooth & explosive as others, but I thought it was ok, & improved towards the end, which featured some nice spots & I liked the finish.
New Day vs. Vaudevillians Didn’t last long but I thought it was a good solid match.
Owens vs. Cesaro vs. Zayn vs. Miz Thought the crowd jumped the gun on the awesome chants, but it was a hell of an outing. No losers here. Was surprised to see Miz win, thought for sure the title would end up on Zayn or Owens.
Jericho vs. Ambrose Thought the crowd were a bunch of cocks. Thought they worked a real good match, with a good structure & nice pacing, but the crowd weren’t interested until the tacks, which frankly I was surprised to see used, I thought both they & the barbed wire 2×4 were just going to be teased, not that I feel that would’ve been a wise decision. They were out there trying to work, but the crowd wanted pace & spots. Ok, it was following a great match, but there was no need for some of their behaviour.
Natalya vs. Charlotte Tough stipulation match to have given the two matches that’d gone before. I thought it was decent, but wasn’t a fan of the finish, thought it was very anticlimactic, & was pretty surprised by Dana Brooke’s appearance, given her ongoing program with Becky. Interested to see where they’re going.
Best Match: Styles vs. Reigns Thought it was an amazing performance from Styles, he worked so hard, & Reigns wasn’t a passenger. Lots of creative spots, great layout, great flow & rhythm to the match, very spectacular, although I would’ve liked a little more dramatics given everything they did, & for them to bring down the pace a little at times. Again no losers here.
Just three weeks after Payback, we’re right back into the big event mix for WWE with Extreme Rules, their annual WWE Network show where nearly every match has a stipulation or twist added onto it. This year’s show emanates from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey — the second time the event has been hosted in the Garden State.
This is the eighth Extreme Rules show in company history as they began back in 2009, headlined by Edge vs. Jeff Hardy in a ladder match. Last year’s show featured then-WWE Champion Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton in a steel cage match.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
**********
There was an angle where Big Cass laid out both Dudleys in the ring. He gave Devon the East River Crossing.
DOLPH ZIGGLER VS. BARON CORBIN — NO DQ
A basic match with Ziggler getting a series of near falls until Corbin did a blatant low blow (legal in a no DQ match) and got the pin with the End of Days. Not as good as their match last month.
DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON VS. USOS IN A TORNADO MATCH
Fast paced match, fairly short. It was all four in the ring at the same time and no DQ. The crowd was totally behind Gallows & Anderson and booed the Usos. Gallows & Anderson got the clean win. Gallows brought in the ring bell, but Jimmy superkicked him. Jimmy went to the top rope and Gallows moved, so Jimmy landed on the ring bell. Gallows & Anderson then used the Magic Killer on Jimmy for the pin and win.
US CHAMPION KALISTO VS. RUSEV
Good match. Rusev won the title after slamming him off the top rope onto the apron. They sold it like Kalisto reinjured his back from Raw on Monday and they were checking on him. Rusev then jumped in and put the Accolade on for the submission. Kalisto had gone to the top rope after delivering a moonsault to the floor. They were pushing like Kalisto was injured at the end, and was coming into the match injured. The EMTs came out after the match.
WWE TAG CHAMPIONS THE NEW DAY (Big E & Xavier Woods) VS. VAUDEVILLAINS
Another short match: 6:00. Match was okay for the time it had. The Vaudevillains used the Whirling Dervish on Woods but he kicked out. For the finish, Big E tackled English to the floor. Kofi Kingston hit Gotch with an enzuigiri which led to Woods pinning Gotch with the shining wizard.
– A.J. Styles interview vowed to walk out as champion.
I-C CHAMPION THE MIZ VS. CESARO VS. SAMI ZAYN VS. KEVIN OWENS
This was a super match with tons of near falls and saves. Cesaro and Zayn, in particular, were great. Michael Cole called it a match of the year candidate, a previously banned Vince McMahon term. The finish saw Zayn hit Cesaro with the Helleva Kick, but Owens pulled Zayn out of the ring when he went for the pin. Zayn threw Miz into the barricade, and then Miz crawled into the ring and pinned Cesaro.They did everything in their arsenals including Cesaro doing a 16-rep swing on Miz. Cesaro had Miz in the Sharpshooter and he tapped but ref Dan Engler was distracted by Maryse. Owens did cannonballs on everyone. Cesaro did running uppercuts on everyone three times on each guy alternating.
DEAN AMBROSE VS. CHRIS JERICHO — ASYLUM CAGE MATCH
The short matches earlier led to this match running more than 26:00 in the cage. It was a weird match that didn’t have much heat for a long time as they traded climbing up and getting the different weapons. They were also hurt following a great match. It was just too long with too many weapons although they did pick it up at the end with Ambrose pulled down a bucket that had thumbtacks. They wrestled for along time after with Jericho using a codebreaker for a near fall. Ambrose came off the top of the cage with an elbow for a near fall.
Jericho used the Walls of Jericho but Ambrose used a kendo stick to break it. They also used a leather strap, fire extinguisher, and then saved a barbed wire board until late with Jericho using it. The match ended Jericho going for a Codebeaker, Ambrose blocking it and slamming Jericho into the thumbtacks, then giving him the Dirty Deeds into the tacks. Jericho’s body had thumb tacks sticking to him everywhere and he was selling it tremendously, bleeding from his triceps.
WWE WOMEN’S CHAMPION CHARLOTTE VS. NATALYA — SUBMISSIONS MATCH
Dana Brooke came out dressed as Ric Flair (wig, robe) and distracted Natalya when she had Charlotte in the sharpshooter. This allowed Charlotte to get Natalya from behind and put her in the figure eight for the submission. During the match, they traded submissions but were just getting the crowd just as the match was ending. Match wasn’t as good as last month. The crowd has never recovered since the four-way which tore down the house. Ric Flair, Brooke and Charlotte celebrated together at the end. So, the story of this match was to elevate Brooke into the top mix. It’s clear they are putting Charlotte and Brooke into a duo to eventually set them up as rivals.
WWE CHAMPION ROMAN REIGNS VS. A.J. STYLES IN AN EXTREME RULES MATCH
The big spot at the end was after Reigns won, Seth Rollins jumped in and hit the Pedigree. The crowd went totally nuts for him as a babyface and chanted “Thank you Seth.” He posed with the belt so Reigns vs. Rollins is the probable Money in the Bank main event.
The match ended with Styles going for the phenomenal forearm but Reigns nailed him with the spear for the pin. Styles had a death wish, taking some crazy (and I mean crazy) bumps including a high backdrop through a table where he landed on his tailbone. Anderson & Gallows interfered first and laid out Reigns but he still kicked out of the pin. The Usos came out and laid out Styles with superkicks and a splash off the top but he kicked out.
Reigns hit Anderson and Gallows with Superman punches. Reigns kicked out of a Styles clash, and Styles used a Styles Clash on a chair but Jey Uso pulled Styles off him. Styles got a chair and destroyed Reigns and the Usos with more than a dozen chair shots before going for the spingboard forearm. Another super match.
Submitted by Danny West (Thanks to Joe Collins as well)
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day over Vaudevillians
New Day warmed up the crowd well. Also, the sky is blue. This was the epitome of face/heel work. People loved New Day, hated Vaudevillians. Was a fun start to the show.
– Apollo Crews over Curtis Axel
Crews got a lot more love here than he’s been getting on TV, but still a little lukewarm for someone of his ability. Axel worked the crowd very well as a cowardly heel. Amazing how much better he is when he isn’t surrounded by the rest of the Outcasts.
– Jack Swagger over Viktor
Reading is a working class bunch, so they get onboard with an American even if he’s pretty irrelevant in the big picture these days. Short, predictable, but functional
– Goldust over Tyler Breeze
Fandango interfered at one point, but Goldust still prevailed. Decent contest. After the match, Fandango and Breeze beat on Golddust. R-Truth (of course) came to the rescue. Crowd chanted “Golden Truth.”
– Big Show/Kane over Rowan/Strowman
Big Show got the 2nd biggest pop of the night. Kane got the 3rd biggest. This was a very playful affair with lots of Big Show goofiness. Crowd was obviously appreciative of his tenure in the business. The older guys were super super over. It was a nice change of pace from the “Please retire” chants they sometimes get.
AJ Styles over Kevin Owens
KO was messing with kids, ruining signs, etc. Styles did his usual amazing stuff, You would never know his ankle isn’t 100%. Phenomenal Forearm won it after a long and strong bout. AJ brought a previously heckled KO kid from the aisle into the ring to introduce him. Kid had a Roman Reigns shirt, but AJ Styles gloves. He told AJ on the mic that he liked both of them. AJ said, “That’s alright with me.” Great moment.
Intermission
– Becky Lynch over Summer Rae
Yay for Becky winning something. Armbar tap out. She got a great crowd reaction.
– US Champion Kalisto over Alberto Del Rio and Cesaro
Crowd was into all three of these guys. Lots of antics out of Cesaro. Lots of Kalisto’s usual “whoa” moments. Finish was especially good. Kalisto’s finish happened after he used his feet to rebound Cesaro out of the ring and over Del Rio’s head. Great match.
– Dean Ambrose over Rusev (w/Lana)
Lana introduced Rusev and did some promo for Extreme Rules. Dean’s pop was huge — by far the biggest of the night. Rusev didn’t get a ton of heat until he berated America. “USA” chants were straight out of 1991. Rebound lariat, Dirty Deeds, pin. Lana was ejected from ringside for being a nuisance.
WWE female wrestling star Sasha Banks missed house shows this past week in Utica, NY, and Reading, PA due to an undisclosed head injury which happened on the 5/15 show in Charlottesville, VA.
Banks, who hasn’t been used in a few weeks on television due to creative reasons of wanting to keep her off TV when they didn’t have a program at today’s PPV, was still working a full house show schedule up until this past week.
The injury was described as a fluke in a match where referee Darrick Moore accidentally caught her with a solid knee to the head. It was not a spot where Moore and she were supposed to have serious contact.
WWE hasn’t confirmed the injury, nor whether a concussion was sufferened. Reports within the industry were that Banks suffered a concussion, which would mean an undetermined length of time before she could return — any day or a few weeks.
Hulk Hogan. Ultimate Warrior. Ric Flair. Sting. Bret Hart. Shawn MIchaels. Steve Austin. The Rock. John Cena.
For many people, these are the names that drew them into professional wrestling and made them fans of this crazy industry.
But it took announcers to help us to make sense of what was happening in the ring. Whether that was Gordon Solie, Gorilla Monsoon, Tony Schiavone, JIm Ross or today’s Michael Cole and Mauro Ranallo, fans relied upon them to put the words to what we were seeing in the ring.
Over the last few weeks, WWE released several wrestlers, but it also released some announcers and interviewers. One of them was RIch Brennan, best known for his time commentating on NXT and SmackDown.
But there is more to him than that. He has commentated on other sports and has been a professional wrestling referee. He worked for Booker T and set up countless rings and technical equipment while on the road with NXT. And he has been produced by the aforementioned Cole. Yes, you read that correctly.
I recently talked with Brennen and we discussed all of the above, plus how he got into WWE, whether he has any bitterness towards them, calling matches without knowing what is happening versus being aware of key points beforehand, whether he had to ‘unlearn’ his commentary style when he joined WWE, his deep appreciation for MIchael Cole, calling big matches in NXT, what the future holds for him in and out of wrestling and much, much more.
Cody Runnels on Twitter today said that he requested his release from WWE earlier today.
“The past ten years have been quite the trek, but as of earlier today, I have asked for my release from WWE. I’ll speak further on the matter shortly. Thank you to all the pro wrestling/sports entertainment fans worldwide. Thank you.”
Runnels, 30, the son of Dusty Rhodes, was a two-time state champion high school wrestler in Georgia and at first studied to be an actor before going into pro wrestling.
He started with the company in 2006 and was on the main roster in 2007 with a push. His biggest run was early on as part of The Legacy with Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase Jr. Once the group broke up, Runnels was used as more of a lower and mid-card wrestler in a number of changing roles. He was Dashing Cody Rhodes talking about grooming, Team Rhodes Scholars and he and his brother Goldust formed a strong babyface tag team.
Ever since the team split up and he became Stardust, a parody of his brother, his career had gone nowhere and he hadn’t been used well. For whatever reason, the company decided against changing him after the death of his father, or since even though he constantly would tease going back to Cody Rhodes.
A.J. Styles did work the WWE house show last night in Utica so the original reports he was going to rest up until the PPV ended up being inaccurate.
He worked against Roman Reigns in a preview for Sunday’s show. The house show match ended with Reigns winning via DQ due to outside interference of The Club, leading to the Usos making the save.
Styles is advertised for Reading, PA tonight before the PPV in Newark, NJ on Sunday.
Reigns is advertised to headline in Albany tonight so they’ll be facing different opponents.
Styles hadn’t done a match since injuring his ankle on May 9 but he was physically active on Raw and Smackdown, in shooting angles for tomorrow Extreme rules PPV main event.
Results:
Dolph Ziggler beat Bo Dallas with a super kick, Dallas was with Heath Slater and got the crowd heated early cause he kept rolling out of the ring and running around with Slater.
The Shining Stars came out and cut a promo on Utica, they beat the bizarre pairing of Titus O’Neil and Sin Cara. Titus took the pin. Shining stars used Kronus and Ssaturn’s total elimination as the finisher.
Big Cass beat Devon with Bubba Ray ringside. Bubba tried to get involved but Cass got the clean pin
Usos beat Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in a snoozer.
Charlotte over Becky Lynch in a women’s title match. Charlotte won with feet on the ropes. Match of the night.
Sami Zayn beat Kevin Owens. Owens worked the crowd to perfection. Even getting out of the ring and cutting a promo mid match and then starting down a guy in the front row for the entire match, yelling at him.
Roman Reigns and A.J. styles ended in a DQ when The Club interfered. The Usos out for the save. Again. Making the club look week but whatever.
Overall good show, Shining Stars match was the worst. They did not get over and the team of Titus and Sin Cara made no sense. The match was sloppy too
Cass is a budding star. Crowd loves him. He has the look and size
Reigns was booed massively.
Owens was the star, the women stole the show. Sounds like a routine house show cause it was.
