News

In Stree 2, Amar Kaushik introduces a new and intriguing villain, Sarkata a giant ghost with a detachable head who targets progressive women in Chanderi. This character is largely created through CGI, but the actor behind Sarkata is Sunil Kumar, a professional wrestler from Jammu who also serves as a police constable. Sunil, who is 7 feet and 6 inches tall, is known as “The Great Khali of Jammu” due to his impressive stature, even surpassing the height of the famous WWE wrestler, The Great Khali.

Sunil Kumar, who has aspirations of representing India in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) ring under the name “The Great Angaar,” brings a physically imposing presence to the role of Sarkata. His participation in the 2019 WWE Tryout further underscores his commitment to his wrestling career.

Stree 2: Bhediya Varun Dhawan saves Shraddha Kapoor; Fans call it ‘Best cameo of the film’

In addition to the introduction of Sarkata,...

Several monstrous giants have worked in WWF/E as the wrestling company has always looked for someone with the ability to instill fear in the top Superstars. Legendary André the Giant, Big Show, and The Great Khali, have graced the company with their physical prowess and Omos is the new addition of such ginormous superstars in WWE.

Omos manhandling Bobby Lashley. Credit: WWE

Omos made his WWE debut on July 18, 2019, and the wrestler has been in the company ever since. Since his debut, the giant superstar has shown dominance over Brock Lesner, Seth Rollins, Aj Styles, and Braun Strowman. Omos recently was shown to be struggling to get on a plane with his fellow superstars due to his gargantuan physique.

Omos Struggled To Fit In A Plane Omos. Credit: WWE

Former professional wrestler Montel Vontavious Porter, popularly known as Mvp who manages Omos, recently shot a short video of his client.

The new episode of ‘Madness Machayenge-India Ko Hasayenge’ will witness the comedian and actor Siddharth Sagar stepping into the spotlight in the ‘Khali Trainer Roast’, where he hilariously caricatures the intense world of personal training, targeting exaggerated techniques often associated with the Great Khali.

The show will welcome ace wrestler, the Great Khali, for a rib tickling episode.

Joined by Paritosh Tripathi and Harsh Gujral, the ‘Khali Roast’ gets even funnier where Paritosh dons the look of a wrestler and makes a series of jokes that keep everyone at the edge of their seat.

A gag titled ‘Motivational Airlines’ takes its passengers on a comedic journey through the skies with Paritosh and Hemangi Kavi as the airline crew, and Kettan Singh as the ever-enthusiastic motivation speaker.

The skit promises to lift your spirits with its hilarious take on motivational speakers and airline travel.

In the ‘Honest Interview,’ Kushal Badrike and...

Mumbai, March 2 (Ians) Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty, who hosts the Mma reality web series, ‘Kumite 1 Warrior Hunt’, has shared that the series, besides the regular heavy duty drill of fighting and martial arts, is a human story which talks about an emerging India.

The actor along with the team of ‘Kumite 1 Warrior Hunt’ including Mohamedali Budhwani, The Great Khali, India’s Star Mma fighter — Ritu Phogat and Indian wrestling coach — Mahavir Singh Phogat appeared on ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ to promote Mma and the series.

The actor said: “Kumite 1 Warrior Hunt’ is a cut above a mere reality series; it is a human story which talks about an emerging India. I thank everybody associated with the series. Thanks to Toyam for believing in the sport. It is probably the only listed sporting company in the world that one should look out for. Toyam is going to change...

Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty recalled his first meeting with cricketer and son-in-law K L Rahul and how he got the news about his daughter Athiya Shetty’s relationship with him from his wife.

He said: “I had the pleasure of meeting Rahul first at an airport and was thrilled to learn that he was from Mangalore, my hometown. As a big fan of his, I was happy to see that he was doing well and was a good player. When I came home and shared the news of my meeting with Rahul with Athiya and my wife Mana, they didn’t say much initially but just exchanged looks with each other. Later, Mana came to me and said that Athiya and Rahul had started talking to each other but I am sure it is nothing more than that.”

The 61-year-old actor began his career in Bollywood in 1992 at the age...

Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty spoke about how he began his career with an ad film and recalled working with Archana Puran Singh in his debut project. The 61-year-old actor began his career in Bollywood in 1992 at the age of 31 with ‘Balwaan’ and later acted in movies such as ‘Waqt Hamara Hai’, ‘Pehchaan’,’ Dilwale’, ‘Anth’, ‘Mohra’, ‘Gopi Kishan’, ‘Hum Hain Bemisaal’, ‘Surakshaa’, ‘Raghuveer’, ‘Takkar’, ‘Krishna’, ‘Sapoot’, ‘Rakshak’, ‘Border’, and many more.

Suniel revealed how his journey in films began through ads: “My acting career started with ads and it started with Archana ji. She was a rockstar, she still is a rockstar and it was an absolute pleasure working with her and knowing her.”

The actor also went on to say his iconic dialogue from the movie ‘Dhadkan’, replacing the name Anjali with Archana, saying: “Archana mein tumhe bhul jaun, yeh ho nahi sakta.”

Suniel is now seen hosting the Mma...

Mumbai, Feb 10 (Ians) Actor Suniel Shetty, who is set to host Mma reality series, ‘Kumite 1 Warrior Hunt’, has shared that his image of a tough-nut-to-crack action hero is because he grew up learning martial arts.

The actor said: “I grew up learning martial arts and that itself is something that gave me an opportunity and the image of an action hero in Hindi cinema, so I owed it to that. And then the break up of martial arts, boxing, escape boxing, jiu jitsu and so many different forms.”

“When you talk about Mma, it is coming together of all these formats to prove which one is not better than the other or which one probably is more effective than the other one.”

He further mentioned: “And that’s why I keep saying wrestling, wrestling, wrestling, wrestling, because that’s about grabbing, less about power, less about grip, and hence...

Indian wrestler The Great Khali, who is the first Indian-born WWE Heavyweight Champion, is missing some action-packed entertainment and it seems like only ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ can fill that void.

In a new video, The Great Khali is seen trying to unsuccessfully drive away his boredom by watching the fights that take place around him. However, the clash between the Wakandans and the anti-hero Namor, manages to rouse Khali’s interest.

Elaborating on his love for action and keeping life interesting, Khali said, “Dhamakedaar action ke bina jeene ka kya maza? Mujhe filmein bhi action wali pasand aati hain issliye ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ ka wait kar raha hun”.

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, which stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Danai Gurira and Martin Freeman, had an amazing theatrical run and is emerging as a winner at the awards season.

The film...

In today’s film news roundup, Tobin Bell, David Walton, Majandra Delfino and Mickey Rourke are cast; “Dark Waters,” “Covers” and “Albanian Gangster” get release dates.

Castings

“Saw” actor Tobin Bell will star in the independent comedy “Mouth to Mouth,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The project will be produced by Dean C. Jones, Starr Jones, and David Shoenfeld under their Atlantic & Pacific Studios banner. The screenplay, written by Spyder Dobrofsky, centers on a scrawny nerd from the Midwest who accidentally lands the head lifeguard job at the hottest country club in Los Angeles even though he doesn’t know how to swim.

Bell portrayed the iconic John Kramer/Jigsaw character in all eight “Saw” movies between 2004 and 2017. His demented character — a former engineer — tested others’ will to live by placing them in deadly traps as symbols of what he saw as a moral flaws in the victims, in hopes...

This Sunday on the WWE Network, Roadblock: End of the Line, a Raw exclusive special event, will air. As of this writing, there are seven matches advertised for the show. I’ll discuss the lineup for the show as well as who I think should win.

Kevin Owens vs Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns has been in a tough spot for a while now. It’s clear based on how he’s been booked the past couple years that the WWE see money in his future. They want him to be the next big attraction. Yet the audience had not taken the bait, more often than not booing him out of the building. He’s not a bad performer at all in my opinion. The biggest issue I have with him is his lack of charisma. He’s boring on the mic. Not everyone has the...

WWE.com

For 25 years, he’s been the one constant in WWE. While other wrestlers defected to WCW or retired, Mark Callaway has stuck around for a quarter of a century as The Undertaker.

When the gimmick started out at the Survivor Series in 1990, it was thought it’d be a short term gig with a limited shelf life but it’s a testament to the talent of Mark Calaway that he’s been able to stick around for so long and remain an iconic character in the eyes of the fans.

In the 20 plus years he’s been in action, Undertaker has gone from the spectrum of having some classic matches that saved WrestleMania shows to having stinkers that were so awful he lived up to his gimmick by killing crowds. Vince McMahon’s appetite for having Taker face giants, freaks and supernatural folk is seemingly insatiable and thus...

WWE.com

In the Rock ‘n Wrestling Era, it was Andre the Giant, Big John Studd, and King Kong Bundy. Into the nineties, The Undertaker, Psycho Sid, Yokozuna, and Diesel dominated main events. Undertaker held over well into the Attitude Era and beyond, standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Kane and The Big Show. Undoubtedly, the Vincent K. McMahon-era of WWF/E has been haven to a number of memorable goliaths, colossal immortals presented on the merit of immensity and intimidation factor.

Since the closing of the Attitude Era, however, WWE has failed to yield many brand new monsters with lasting power. Brock Lesnar and Batista qualify to an extent, but they’re also promoted with human qualities. If you’re talking ‘larger than life’ in the sense of going beyond human qualities, you can add Umaga to the list of successes, as well as to a very small degree,...

On the final night of Nxt’s first ever UK tour before Nxt TakeOver: London, the fan-favourite brand hit Cardiff for an action-packed night just as good as any one of those specials and considerably better than the majority of this year’s WWE PPVs.

The star studded event played to a sold out crowd (while it was never officially advertised as being sold out, I couldn’t see an empty seat in the arena which held a raucous 7500 fans), and delivered A+ match after A+ match as titles were defended, beloved Superstars returned, and the “Divas Revolution” was in full effect as three awesome women’s wrestling matches were showcased.

There have been rumours for years that the WWE might bring a WrestleMania to the Welsh capital’s massive Millennium Stadium, and those in attendance at Nxt last night proved why they deserve one.

Of course, there were...

WWE.com

The big news going into Night Of Champions is the fact that Seth Rollins will be forced to defend both his titles in separate matches, but there’s also a far more traditional subplot to the event – the good old mystery partner angle.

Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose have been charmingly coy about the identity of their third man, hinting that it could be anybody from The Great Khali to Savio Vega (spoiler: it’s neither of these). The options are pleasingly varied, meaning that we could be in for a legitimate surprise on Sunday night.

All manner of upcoming Nxt superstars, returning legends, and members of the current roster have been touted as the babyfaces’ partner – ranging from the incredibly popular (The Rock) to the…not so popular (Eric Rowan).

Here are the ten likeliest candidates to walk down the aisle at Night Of Champions.

10. Cesaro WWE.

WWE.com

It was another crazy week in the world of professional wrestling. Sadly, we lost one of the all-time greats, ceremoniously, Samoa Joe competed in his first televised match in a WWE owned ring, and shockingly, R-Truth had the first funny segment of his entire career when he thought he was booked for the Money in the Bank match (Kane’s delivery of “You’re not even in the match!” was stellar as well).

It’s kind of lazy that Tna showed Samoa Joe in their Slammiversary commercial, since he’s, as mentioned above, kind of in Nxt right now. Elsewhere in bad moments, Lana hurt her ankle, and may have tragically even broken a shoe. She later confessed in a wwe.com exclusive that Dolph Ziggler and her ”read books together” and “Talk about them.” That’s some fine writing right there WWE. But c’mon now! What...

2K

WWE 2K16’s roster has been leaked on wikipedia. However, it looks unlikely to be the actual roster. Names like Kurt Angle are featured as a WWE Legend, which would be a surprising inclusion given his major active role in Tna Impact Wrestling. The rest of the list is reasonably plausible, albeit with a few other unlikely names.

The list in full is can be read here. The WWE names are Bret Hart, British Bulldog, Brock Lesnar, Doink the Clown, The Great Khali, Goldberg, John Cena, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins, Sting, Sheamus, Steve Austin, Roman Reigns, Rosa Mendes, Rusev, Ultimate Warrior and Zack Ryder.

In addition, there will apparently be an Ecw roster. That will include Rhyno, Sabu and Sandman.

There’s then a WWE Legends section, with Kurt Angle, Mr Perfect and Sid.

It is doubtful that this is the real roster. For one, why would Bret Hart...

WWE.com

To many a professional wrestler, the WWE is the be-all and end-all of the wrestling industry and is the company that so many dream of stepping into the ring for. As such, this is the land where the big bucks often lie.

Obviously the financial aspect is a huge thing, but a good contract can just as easily be one that offers long-term job security in an industry that can so often be riddled with uncertainty.

Over the years, certain WWE talents have been given truly phenomenal contracts in terms of both financial rewards and security. Some of these deals are understandable given the star power or status of the talent involved, whereas other deals will leave you shaking your head in disbelief. Seriously, you won’t believe how much The Great Khali was making during his run. Yes, the same Khali who could barely land a chop...

WWE.com

It’s the rumour that has got exactly zero members of the WWE Universe out of their seats… The Great Khali looks set to return to the WWE in the very near future.

Khali was unceremoniously released from his WWE contract in November last year after an eight year run with the company. The reasons for this are still unknown, but his performances in the ring and the way he was being utilised on television could go a long way to telling us why.

Nevertheless, the nature of his release wasn’t befitting of a man that had enjoyed such a lengthy run and more than one world championship reign. His profile was simply moved to the alumni section of WWE’s website before they were forced to confirm the decision a few days later when fans starting asking questions.

However, the former Punjabi Playboy has come out...

WWE.com

There are all kinds of gimmicks in professional wrestling that work whether somebody is a face or a heel. The idea of a guy that women are attracted to and want to be with is something that has been done in wrestling for a long time. It’s an easy gimmick to do because if a guy brags about getting all the girls it’s easy to hate him.

A term that WWE has often used for these kinds of character is a “Boytoy.” It’s another way to say that a guy is desirable to women. These guys can come in different forms with unique personas, but essentially they are the same thing. The gimmick goes back decades because it’s something that has worked quite well. There’s even a current star in Nxt that does it in a very over the top way.

Most of...

2K Sports

WWE and 2K Sports are not hanging around as they have already announced the release date for the second downloadable showcase mode.

Hall Of Pain, which depicts all of Mark Henry’s biggest matches, will be released for all platforms on February 17.

Hop pays homage to the World’s Strongest Man, who has been in the WWE since 1996, as it allows you to play some of his most memorable matches against the likes of: The Big Show, Kane, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Sheamus, The Great Khali, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan and Ryback.

Most of these matches took place on SmackDown but 2K have really spoilt us by charging us more money for the privilege to play Henry v Ryback at WrestleMania Xxix.

We are not worthy.

Even though they arguably should considering the price of the game itself, 2K sports doesn’t give such additional content away for free.

They say to be a successful superstar, your gimmick needs to be an extension of your own personality. You only need to look at 3Mb as a recent example where that blatantly wasn’t the case. The gimmick was ready made for Heath Slater, you can tell he is kind of a ‘goof’ in real life and plays the role of a deluded rocker well.

For Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal however, it was painfully obvious they were having to try too hard to become rockers of Slater’s standing.

The pair had pretty well established gimmicks before the band got together. McIntyre was labelled as ‘The Chosen one’ by Vince McMahon of all people and had a long reign as the Intercontinental Champion, headlining SmackDown with the likes of The Undertaker. Mahal, came into the WWE as The Great Khali’s ‘brother’ and was making little, but progressive waves as a heel.

wwe

To be given a title means more than bragging rights or having possession of a big shiny belt. Having a title means the company you work for, in this case WWE, has faith in you and your abilities and feels comfortable having you represent them on a slightly elevated level compared to your co-workers.

Not everyone can hold a championship belt. Some of the old territories that Vince McMahon bought out back in the day used to have only two belts, one for singles wrestlers and one for tag teams.

The WWE, in recent years at least, has had five belts that their roster fights for: The WWE World Heavyweight, The Intercontinental , The United States, Tag Team and Divas championships. They have also had belts like the European and Hardcore championships that are no longer used.

There have been occasions where someone far from befitting a particular championship belt,...

Youtube

Santino Marella & Tamina Smuka. Eve Torres & Chris Masters. Charlie Haas & Maria Kanellis. Mickie James & The Great Khali. Mark Henry & Mae Young. Randy Orton & Stephanie McMahon and Kaitlyn & Hornswoggle.

These are but a simple seven of the enormous plethora of pairs whom have locked lips for a ratings pop in their WWE careers. Sometimes for romance, sometimes for comedy, occasionally out of a genuine real-life affection, the kiss has become a recurring image in the pro-wrestling universe, so much so it’s become a bit clichéd.

There have been some absolutely awkward and pointless kisses over the years in WWE, some of which you’ll find in the opening paragraph. However, on occasion, WWE has paired two performers together on-screen with a genuine chemistry. Whether as a one-shot deal or a recurring relationship, they’ve produced a selection of kisses that were genuinely hot, leading to folks in the arena...

WWE.com

The machine that is Word Wrestling Entertainment never stops moving. It is a brutal business that waits for no superstar or Diva. As Stone Cold Steve Austin famously put it, one cog in the machine gets used up, and another is put in its place.

This ruthless streak has been shown in the past year with a number of high profile releases. WWE released 11 employees in June including Brodus Clay, Theodore Long the former 3Mb member and ‘chosen one’ Drew McIntyre, showing no one is ever safe in the company.

Last week, The Great Khali’s bio appeared in the Alumni section of WWE’s website, seemingly bringing an eight year stint with the company to a close.

2015 looks to be another transitional year for WWE as a number of Nxt superstars look to make their mark. WWE’s proving ground has made huge progress during 2014, narrowing the...

WWE.com

The Great Khali was released by WWE this past Thursday after eight years of employment. He was a former World Heavyweight Champion that was the first Indian wrestler that WWE ever signed. He was very popular in his home land, but he moved to America to wrestle. Considering he spent eight years in the biggest wrestling company in the world it’s fair to say he was very successful in his career.

When WWE fans think of Khali they don’t consider him to be a great wrestler, nor should they. He was never really that good at it, but that’s also because of how big he was. Khali was a true giant that is 7’1″ and about 350 pounds. From the moment he showed up in WWE he was the biggest guy in the company as he towered over other giants like Big Show, The Undertaker and Kane.

WWE.com

The Great Khali’s career in World Wrestling Entertainment appears to be over. On Thursday night, fans noticed that his WWE.com profile was moved to their Alumni section. There was no official “future endeavors” post on WWE.com on Thursday although it could happen on Friday. A report from F4WOnline.com noted that “there had been talk around wrestling for the last week that such a move was imminent.”

It’s a move that makes a lot of sense from both sides whether it was WWE releasing him or his contract expiring and they chose not to renew it. From WWE’s point of view, Khali probably makes a lot of money as an eight year employee that is a former World Champion, but he really doesn’t work a lot or appear on television with any regularity. They’re trying to save money, so there...

Aside from WrestleMania, one of the most anticipated events of the year for wrestling fans is the release of the latest WWE video game. Thq and now 2K Sports have done a tremendous job over the years of updating and adjusting the game play, adding new content and, of course, refreshing the roster. However, there are only so many Superstars spots that can be filled. Not every active competitor can make the cut, as a handful of spots are also occupied by WWE Legends, Hall of Famers and other alumni.

It’s become a tradition over the years to reveal the roster over SummerSlam weekend and this year was no exception. A part of a star-studded panel featuring the likes of John Cena, Hulk Hogan and Sting among others, hosts Stone Cold Steve Austin and Renee Young ran down the list of the Superstars that will be included in WWE...

In folklore, seeing a doppelganger was not only a sign of bad luck, but also an omen that illness and death were on the horizon. Nowadays, a lookalike is less foreboding and the most you will have to put up with is double takes from strangers.

Take the wrestlers that make up the troop of the World Wrestling Entertainment, image is everything and sometimes more important that in ring ability. No one remembers The Great Khali for his 60 minute submission matches. But maintaining a hard man image is not easy. One step in the wrong direction and all your attempts to look like a force to be reckoned with will be met with ridicule and disbelief. And it is twice as hard if due to unfortunate genes from your mother and father, you grow up to resemble someone that completely contradicts the image you are trying to create.

So what...

Marvel Studios is taking its biggest risk yet with Guardians of the Galaxy, banking on an obscure team of heroes to bridge the gap until the next Avengers flick roars into theaters. But there's an even larger obstacle standing in the way of box-office success: Dave Bautista.

To the uninitiated, Bautista is a six-time world champion in Vince McMahon's wrestling circus, and one of the most iconic squared-circle stars of the last decade. In Guardians, he plays intergalactic warrior Drax the Destroyer, which is unquestionably his biggest role to date.

WWE.com

When a wrestler turns 40 it’s usually a time for reflection on that guy’s career and also a time to wonder how much time they have left as active wrestlers. What’s funny about that is that so many wrestlers have said they were retired only to keep coming back for more.

Ric Flair was losing retirement matches about 15 years before his WWE retirement in 2008 and he still kept on wrestling into his 60s outside of WWE. Mick Foley retired as a regular in 2000 in his mid 30s, yet he wrestled throughout the 2000s on a part time basis. The all time leader in joking about retiring is Terry Funk, who recently turned 70 years and is still a part of the wrestling business.

There are some great wrestlers that don’t get to have matches in their 40s due to injuries with Steve Austin and Edge as...

The highly anticipated WWE 2K15 roster has allegedly leaked online. The big news is that Cm Punk is in the game, alongside a range of Nxt stars. There’s 92 wrestlers in total, including Mick Foley who had been in doubt after not signing a WWE legends deal earlier this year.

The leak surfaced on GameFAQs, where it was claimed that the list came from the August edition of Game Informer Magazine. The post has since been removed.

The official roster reveal will be on August 16th in Los Angeles. 2K will be working in partnership with WWE’s SummerSlam event which takes place on the same weekend. That timing ensures maximum publicity for the video game’s content.

Is there any validity to this apparent leak ahead of time? The list certainly looks plausible. Punk’s contract may have expired, but he would have been under a deal when production of the game started.

WWE.com

At Sunday’s WWE Battleground PPV there was a somewhat controversial promo that Lana did before Rusev’s match with Jack Swagger where she mentioned “current events” that upset people. It was clearly a reference to the Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 that saw 298 people die after a missile attack by the Ukraine/Russia border. We reported on the story multiple times and several major news outlets around the world like the Daily Mail and Washington Post reported on it. Some people were outraged by it. Others just realized it was part of a wrestling storyline.

On Monday afternoon WWE felt like they should say something about it, so they released this statement: “Last night’s segment during WWE’s Battleground event was in no way referring to the Malaysia Airlines tragedy. The storyline with characters Rusev and Lana has been a part of WWE programming for more than 3 months.

WWE Battleground is smack in the middle of Money in the Bank and SummerSlam — right between two of the biggest shows of the year. Because of that, this will be a throwaway event with little change or much excitement. Storylines will be built here and a clearer picture of SummerSlam will be made by the end of the night. Here are predictions of what should be happening at this less-than-stellar, but purposeful WWE event.

Pre-Show Match Cameron vs. Naomi

Naomi proved to me that she can have a great divas match at Money in the Bank 2014 and I look forward to seeing more of her. This is a grudge that I suppose we’re supposed to care about because of the history of these two as Funkadactyls, but I mainly just want to see Naomi win and move on to bigger things. Plus, I’m sure Jimmy Uso has taught...

WWE.com

When the news leaked that WWE had signed Kenta (real name Kenta Kobayashi) earlier this year, it surprised a lot of wrestling fans. It’s not a surprise because of his talent. It’s a surprise because at 5’7″ and 180 pounds he’s smaller than most guys that WWE would sign. Not only that, but at age 33 he’s older than guys that WWE typically brings in too. However, he’s been one of the best Japanese wrestlers of the last decade that had a dream of working for WWE, so that’s where he’s headed to be a part of Nxt by the end of this week.

There is another reason why he’s being brought in too. According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, a big reason why WWE signed Kenta is because the WWE Network is expanding into Japan next year and they wanted...

WWE.com

When it comes to the differing types of wrestlers that compete all across the world (from giants such as The Great Khali right through to men like Spike Dudley), there is one particular kind above all else that seems to attract popularity – the high-flying, energy-inducing risk taker. Think the kind of guy that made Jim Ross leap out of his seat and scream various obscenities (or at least before the PG-Era, anyway); he’s a popular choice amongst wrestling fans, from WWE all the way down to independent circuits.

But it’s WWE risk takers that garner the most attention (as they naturally would do), after being exposed to an audience of literally millions. Over the last 14 years WWE fans have been given a real treat when it comes to daredevils, with a whole host of guys putting their bodies on the line with extreme consequences. We’ve...

WWE.com

Following Monday’s edition of Raw there were only three matches that were official for WWE’s Battleground pay-per-view on July 20 in Tampa. After last night’s Smackdown and Main Event tapings we can add four matches to the official lineup to make it seven.

Here’s what we knew officially after Raw.

WWE World Heavyweight Title Fatal 4-Way: John Cena vs. Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton vs. Kane. That’s the clear main event. Nothing else on this card is really close to it in terms of its stature.

WWE Intercontinental Title Battle Royal: Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Rob Van Dam, Big E, Alberto Del Rio, Fandango, Sheamus, Cesaro, Damien Sandow, The Great Khali, Ryback, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas. There are 13 names. The key addition is Sheamus, who is already the Us Champion. He could add the Ic Title to the Us Title he already has.

WWE.com

The next WWE pay-per-view is called Battleground and it takes place on July 20 in Tampa, Florida. Even though there is only one more week of Raw before the show, WWE has only announced three matches for the event. Two of them were known last week and one was added on Raw.

The new match added to the show was Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) taking on Rusev (with Lana). During Raw, Rusev was in a match and Colter appeared doing a taped promo that aired during the Rusev. That kind of promo doesn’t happen too often. The story has been built up for weeks now, so it makes sense that they’ll have the “Real American” taking on the evil “Russian” at Battleground.

Swagger wasn’t at Raw, nor was he at any of the live events this weekend. The reason given for that is due to...

WWE.com

There was a time in World Wrestling Entertainment when SmackDown was vastly superior to Monday Night Raw. The wrestling was oftentimes better, the storylines more intriguing and the motives of each character more defined. Each week presented a pay-per-view quality bout featuring the best wrestlers in the world while Raw was busy featuring the latest chapter in the Katie Vick saga or yet another in an endless line of boring 20-minute Triple H promos. Yes, SmackDown was everything that Raw was not, thanks in large part to a concentrated effort from its Superstars and creative team to prove it was every bit the brand that the Monday night flagship show was.

Over the course of its 15 years, SmackDown has brought fans some tremendous episodes. It was the birthplace of the Cenation, the setting of the No Disqualification war between Edge and Eddie Guerrero and featured the reign of “the Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar.

WWE.com

It was a big week in WWE with the Money in the Bank pay-per-view taking place, the forfeiture of the Intercontinental Title, and a trio of returning stars (Aj Lee, Chris Jericho, and of course, The Great Khali). The fallout from Money in the Bank has begun to lay the groundwork for SummerSlam, which means Brock Lesnar should be coming back soon to take on John Cena. Because of all this, Raw should have felt like a hot show, but any main event that has both John Cena and Randy Orton in it can’t help but feel like a rerun from seven years ago.

This week, I’m actually letting Tna off the hook. Yes, Sam Shaw and Gunner are free from the mental institution and off to a stupendously stupid start. Angelina Love needlessly dropped her Knockout’s Title, but there was just so much wrong...

The WWE main roster is always changing, some wrestlers leave for whatever reason happens to cause their departure, some wrestlers move up the card because management wants to give them a push and some wrestlers move downwards, or stay still, sometimes merely because the creative team has a lack of ideas for their television character.

The last twelve months have been memorable and a lot has happened to the main WWE roster since June of 2013. So, let’s take a look at the main superstars who are on the main stage of WWE, rate them, and look at how their future in WWE looks at this moment.

The grading system is as follows:

A+ – Is/Should be one of the main faces of WWE. A true star.

A – Should be/Is in the main event scene and has the talent to stay there.

B – Should be being pushed as a future top contender.

The Intercontinental Title is up for grabs following the bad news that Bad News Barrett will need shoulder injury after he was thrown into the barricade by Jack Swagger last week on Smackdown. Because of that, WWE announced on Raw that the Ic Title would be vacated. To determine the new winner, there will be a Battle Royal at Battleground probably because WWE thinks it sounds good.

There have been several Battle Royals in the past few months. At WrestleMania there was the Battle Royal for the Andre The Giant Memorial Trophy that was won by Cesaro. Then there was a Us Title Battle Royal that Sheamus won on Raw as a way to get the title off Dean Ambrose. A few weeks ago on Raw, Roman Reigns won a Battle Royal to gain entry in the Money in the Bank ladder match for the WWE Title. It seems like...

24 hours removed from Money in the Bank and WWE host another edition of Raw, live from Hartford, Connecticut. What will WWE do to set up the next PPV, Battleground? What will the new WWE World Champion John Cena have to say to the WWE Universe? Will Seth Rollins attempt to cash in his Money in the Bank contract? Let’s take a look at the June 30th, 2014, edition of Raw.

The Match Results:

Seth Rollins pinned Rvd The Wyatt Family beat Sheamus & The Uso’s The Funkadactyls defeated Nikki Bella in a handicap match Kofi Kingston pinned Cesaro The Great Khali squashed Damien Sandow Dolph Ziggler pinned Fandango Goldust & Stardust beat Rybaxel Aj Lee pinned Paige to regain the Divas Title John Cena & Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton & Kane went to a non-finish

The show opened with, shock-horror, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon hitting the ring and talking about how...

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It was announced in the first segment of Raw that John Cena will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Title against Kane, Randy Orton and Roman Reigns at WWE’s Battleground pay-per-view from Tampa on July 20th. It’s a Fatal Four Way match, which means the man that gets the first pinfall or submission will be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

While the Fatal Four Way match hasn’t been done as a PPV main event in a while, it’s the second PPV in a row with more than two people in a major title match. When you keep doing it all the time the novelty wears off a bit.

The main event on Raw saw Cena team up with Reigns against Kane and Orton. The match ended in a Dq after Kane attacked Cena with the steel steps. Reigns ended up brawling with Orton. When Reigns returned,...

When Dave Bautista was last in WWE I was taking a partial hiatus from wrestling and so while I was aware of him, and the whole Evolution thing, I didn’t really pay much attention. So when he returned at the Royal Rumble back in January I didn’t share the enthusiasm of WWE universe, or at least their enthusiasm until he beat Roman Reigns to win the event and secure his shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania XXX.

As a result he struggled to get traction with the fans - even his heel turn wasn’t as stellar as I think both he and the WWE had hoped it would be - and thanks to a combination of his on screen character and the apparent whining nature of his tweets about not being revered as the returning Superstar that he thought he should be, I have to...

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Drew McIntyre and Evan Bourne are now out of work. Hornswoggle and The Great Khali are very much employed. This is the world of wrestling that we live in and must accept. This past week we also had Seth Rollins struggle to come up with a coherent reason for why he turned on The Shield, Damien Sandow further devolving into an embarrassing act after wearing a flesh colored dance outfit, and Summer Rae dress up as a chicken. We may ask why, while Vince McMahon asks “why not?”

Perhaps the biggest question of the week, though, is how did Daniel Bryan not know he was being stripped of the title? After all, the belts were clearly hanging above the ring on Raw! Did The Authority have someone (The Repo Man in my imagination) sneak into his house and repossess his gold while he was having snuggle time with Brie?...

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The WWE is primarily a showcase for the best professional wrestling talent in the United States of America. Programming is intensely patriotic, with foreign performers often forced to play the heel against the flag-waving fan favourites. If you turn on a WWE programme at the moment, it won’t be long until you see the “Bulgarian Brute” Rusev, accompanied as always by the “Ravishing Russian” Lana and their Putin-loving gimmick.

The easiest way for a superstar to gain negative heat is simply to take aim at America, such as in the case of The Un-Americans in 2002, a stable formed mainly of Canadian wrestlers who believed they were being slighted by the system. In fact, Jim Ross has claimed that the group disbanded due to the stars becoming afraid of the heat they were receiving due to the angle.

Over the years, however, there have been loads of international...

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With WWE’s next pay-per-view (or ‘special event’) happening on June 1st, the creative team find themselves in a delicate situation. The neck injury sustained by Daniel Bryan leaves them without a WWE World Heavyweight Champion and reduces the show’s star power even more. Coming from Chicago for the second consecutive year, Payback only has rematches of Evolution vs The Shield and John Cena vs Bray Wyatt, along with an Intercontinental Championship match between Bad News Barrett and Rob Van Dam. Whilst the two main events will be interesting and should deliver in quality, these rematches won’t convince non-Network subscribers to fork out $45. And with the WWE’s stock plummeting recently, the corporate staff in Connecticut certainly doesn’t want to miss out on money!

In a rare move, a promo has been announced for Payback, where Bryan has to either surrender his title or his wife Brie gets fired.

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A lot of people have been talking about Benjamin Morris’ 538 piece, “Are Pro Wrestlers Dying at an Unusual Rate?”

Like Morris, I am neither an actuarial scientist nor a demographer. So, our interpretations of the data should be taken with a grain of salt. My results were somewhat different from Morris’ due to a difference data set and changes in how we calculated actuarial predictions.

Differences in methodology from Morris

I also used Social Security Actuarial Life Tables, but my “expected mortality rates” for the age groups were not the same as Morris’. For each wrestler, I calculated what their age would have been as of today. Then, based on gender, I looked up the number of lives (out of 100,000) that were expected to still be alive and converted that to a percentage. His analysis looked at wrestlers who were on 20+ WWF PPVs through 2002. I went with a...

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The 14-year journey of Claudio Castagnoli from Swiss-born wrestling hopeful to being christened as Cesaro, then winning Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 30 is one of the most inspiring stories of passion and desire in WWE at-present. However, the competitor’s globally-travelled in-ring journey now begins anew as he begins his ascension to becoming the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Given his level of in-ring technical talent, he certainly has the chops to win the championship tomorrow. However, in now being a “Paul Heyman Guy” and being placed in a stable with potential champion-to-be Brock Lesnar certainly gives him time to develop the talents which he may be deficient as a wrestler, namely in the realm of having a unique character and a fully engaging charisma.

It can and should be accepted as certain fact that Cesaro will become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Intriguingly, there is...

Wrestlemania XXX Teaser Wallpaper by i-am-71

Last night’s edition of Raw was the second last episode of WWE’s flagship show prior to WrestleMania 30 on April 6 in New Orleans. It was held in Brooklyn, New York in front of a boisterous crowd that reacted well to most of the action. There were times when they veered off in another direction with “Cm Punk” chants, but for the most part they cared about what they saw in the ring even without Daniel Bryan in action.

For weeks we’ve been updating you with the lineup for WrestleMania. Several matches were made official following Elimination Chamber while others have slowly taken shape based on recent actions from Raw and Smackdown. Here’s a look at the eight matches that are expected to be a part of the full WrestleMania card.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Randy Orton vs. Batista vs. (Daniel...