Browsing: Assesses

WWE executive Nick Khan has outlined the various traits of Logan Paul that stood out to him after Paul entered the world of pro wrestling.

Paul has surprised many with his athleticism and the way he can elicit a response from the crowd, and has received praise from legends of the business, like The Undertaker. Khan recently appeared on Paul’s “Impaulsive” podcast, where he explained what caught his attention about Paul.

“Listen, when the executive who first brought Logan Paul up to me, Triple H, and the founder of the company said, ‘Hey, we should give him a shot. He wants to wrestle.’ The first thing we always look for — and it applies to Logan, who’s now full-time with us, performing at an extremely high level; it applies to Bad Bunny; it applies to people who have come in, Tyson Fury — first of all, they have to be a fan,” said the WWE executive. “If they’re just doing it because — as younger folks would say, I don’t know, this might be a data term — they’re chasing clout or something like this, we don’t want them.”

Khan further added that an important criterion for celebrities who take up wrestling is their seriousness and passion for it, which Paul reportedly had.

“If you love it, we’re open to the conversation. And once you sit with Logan, you know he has star power. You saw everything he had done,” he said. “So, from our point of view, this is a mature young man, certainly athletic. If he comes down to the Performance Center and does what we think he can do, there’s all the upside in the world. And so far, everyone’s been right,” stated Khan.

He added that he was impressed that Paul, as well as other celebrity wrestlers like musician Jelly Roll, were willing to embrace the physical nature of wrestling and weren’t put off by the toll it takes on their bodies.

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John Cena wrestled his final match in Boston, Massachusetts, during last night’s “WWE Raw,” and he picked up a significant career milestone along the way. Cena defeated Dominik Mysterio to capture the Intercontinental Championship, which is the one and only WWE title that had eluded “The Champ” across his career. Though Cena won, Bully Ray thinks the night was a significant one for Mysterio as well, with the WWE Hall of Famer sharing his thoughts on “Busted Open Radio.”

“[I] loved Cena’s entrance, loved what John had to say. And then the MVP of the segment came out: ‘Dirty’ Dom,” Bully said. “Here is what impressed me about Dom: it would be very easy for anybody, in that moment, even a veteran [like] me, … to be a little bit of a deer in the headlights. That is a rough, rough spot to be in – an overwhelming spot to be in.”

Though the pressure was undoubtedly high, Bully felt that Mysterio delivered in every way possible. Interrupting Cena and Triple H, Mysterio cut a promo about being disrespected in the company, leading to a title match between he and Cena. Bully believes Mysterio excelled in the ring and on the mic in the opening minutes of “Raw.”

“Dom Mysterio was the Floyd Mayweather of that segment last night,” Bully continued. “What I’m talking about is how calm Floyd Mayweather was in a boxing ring. … Dom was in the moment last night. Not only was Dom not a deer in the headlights, I felt Dom had it in his eyes that, ‘I’m gonna steal the show tonight.'”

The fact that Mysterio left the show without his Intercontinental Championship doesn’t hurt his image in Bully’s eyes. Instead, the WWE veteran thinks Mysterio is fated to become one of the company’s greats, and last night was a major step forward on his way there.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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Baller League may be doing many things right. After starting out in Germany in 2023, it expanded to the UK and is preparing to launch in the USA.

But Starck conceded there is “room for improvement in every department”.

Several incidents of violence marred the opening UK season, with manager AngryGinge left with scratch marks on his neck following a fight between players from SDS and Yanited during matchday seven.

The Yanited manager later said he had been “gripped up and kicked” while in the middle of a melee on the pitch.

That incident came a week after former Premier League defender Joleon Lescott, who appeared as a guest player, was almost wrestled over the advertising hoardings during an altercation with Wembley Rangers’ Domingos Pires.

On matchday five, Troy Deeney was sent off for charging into a player from FC Rules the World with his forearm raised.

“We’re a very soft society these days but this is sport, this is emotion,” Starck said.

“If two roosters get in a room they are going to fight and we have 250 roosters, so they are going to fight.

“We had whole talks [after incidents], we don’t discuss publicly what we did but we took measures to make sure things like this don’t happen again.”

Unlike the Premier League, Baller League is not regulated by a governing body and therefore sanctions are processed by its internal disciplinary commission.

Baller League took action after tensions boiled over again on the penultimate matchday of the regular season, when Trebol FC’s Amine Sassi appeared to kick an opponent in the head as they lay on the floor – handing out a one-match suspension.

“Baller League upholds a strict zero-tolerance policy for this kind of behaviour and will continue to enforce it consistently,” the organisation posted at the time., external

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WWE faction The Vision underwent a massive shift last week, with Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed seemingly ejecting Seth Rollins from the group via a ferocious beatdown at the end of “WWE Raw.” As a result, it seems likely that both men will take a step up in the company’s hierarchy. Speaking on “Busted Open Radio” in the aftermath of “Raw,” Bully Ray shared his take on whether or not Breakker is ready to become a regular main eventer.

“I never like to see talents jump too far ahead of things, but Bron is one of those very unique talents, so I’m gonna compare him to a couple of guys,” Bully said. “Brock Lesnar. Randy Orton. Kurt Angle.”

Those three performers have more than a few things in common, and Bully believes WWE’s leadership and creative team had a clear idea of what they wanted to do with those wrestlers. He believes the same could be true for Breakker. While there’s a chance that he could stumble and lose the audience, Bully doesn’t think it’s likely in this case, as Breakker has a ton of raw talent.

That being said, Bully showed some hesitation when it comes to the idea of making Breakker one of the company’s top stars right now. One thing that Breakker needs to work on, in Bully’s estimation, is adding some depth to his character.

Though the discussion focused on Breakker, and he was the one who initiated the coup, it’s worth noting that Reed just picked up a victory over Roman Reigns at WWE Crown Jewel days before. Because of that, it seems WWE has significant plans for both Reed and Breakker, and Bully noted that Reed’s Tsunami finisher was used in tandem with Breakker’s spear to put Rollins out of commission.Â

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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Veteran journalist Dave Meltzer has assessed The Rock’s portrayal of Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine,” and discussed whether the movie got things right about the MMA legend’s career.

A majority of movies based on sports personalities usually have some add-ons for cinematic effect, but Meltzer believes that the movie about Kerr was historically accurate. He drew parallels between “The Smashing Machine” and the pro wrestling movie based on the life of the Von Erichs, “The Iron Claw.”

“It reminded me a lot of the movie on the Von Erichs that I saw a couple of years ago. You know, I guess because they’re both A24 movies, they’re both sort of based on reality,” said Meltzer on the “Cinema Sidetrack” podcast. “This one was more historically accurate than the Von Erich movie, though. That’s the one thing I’ll say is that this is a very — as far as sports movies that try to recreate something, this was way more historically accurate than most, because most of the ones that I watch, I’ll look and I’ll go like, well, this didn’t happen here and this didn’t happen here. And this is like made up. And this is for dramatic reasons, but this movie was pretty much, you know, how it went down.”

Meltzer, while noting that he didn’t know Kerr personally, said that what was showcased in the movie actually happened in Kerr’s real life. He added that the film got everything right about his career, including events from the earliest parts of his life and career

“You know, they didn’t make up matches. They didn’t make up finishes. Right? They didn’t make up opponents. I mean, this was his, you know, his more famous early career fights. The tournament went exactly how it was,” he said.

The movie was a challenging one for The Rock, who recently claimed that he was scared to take on the role of Kerr and had doubts about whether he could pull it off.

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AEW

At its core, professional wrestling is a family business in that some of the biggest stars the industry has ever seen have been born into it. Now, another second generation star is making their way into the business in the form of Steven Borden Jr., the son of “The Icon” Sting. Steven Jr. made his in-ring debut on October 3 at an Awesome Championship Wrestling event at the 52Walker art gallery in Manhattan, New York, teaming with JD Drake of The Workhorsemen to take on former WWE Superstar Killer Kross and his trainer, current AEW star and close friend Darby Allin.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer touched on Steven Jr’s debut, and while he didn’t get to see the full match, Meltzer stated that Steven Jr. not only looked like a very good athlete for someone working their very first match, but even went as far as saying that he looked better than his father did at the same age. However, Meltzer did note that Steven Jr. has been training under the guidance of Darby for well over a year, while Sting made his in-ring debut just a few months after he began training as we wanted to make money as quickly as possible.

AEW fans have already become familiar with both of Sting’s sons thanks to “The Icon’s” retirement match at AEW Revolution 2024 where Steven Jr. and his older brother Garrett both got involved in their dad’s final match. Both men dressed as previous versions of their dad, with Garrett dressing as “Surfer Sting” while Steven Jr. donned the red and black attire of “Wolfpac Sting.” The Borden boys impressed a number of people with their performances at the event, so much so that AEW broadcaster Renee Paquette joked about giving Steven Jr. an AEW contract based solely on how much hang time he got performing his dad’s trademark Stinger Splash.

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Tiffany Stratton defeated challengers Nia Jax and Jade Cargill to extent her WWE Women’s Championship reign on “WWE SmackDown, but that match didn’t end without controversy, as it ended on a major botch that saw the referee fail to make the three count despite Jax failing to kick out of a Stratton pinfall. Following the controversy, Bully Ray explained who he believes is at fault.

“In wrestling it’s better to be early than to be late,” Bully said during an episode of “Busted Open Radio,” noting that the botched sequence began when Stratton was late breaking up a Cargill pinfall on Jax with a dropkick. This led to Jax kicking out, but Stratton hit the dropkick anyway and covered, with Jax then failing to kick out of Stratton’s pin. The ref, however, swiped her hand away on the third count rather than count the three and end the match.

“The ref swiped on three because she clearly does not think that this is the finish,” Bully said. “What I think was supposed to happen was that Tiffany Stratton was supposed to steal the victory from Jade Cargill. Jade hits the Black Hole Slam, one, two — Tiffany hits the [dropkick], and then covers and gets the 1-2-3 … You can’t be a 100% positive of who makes the mistake; whether it’s the ref or Nia not kicking out … If Tiffany is supposed to steal the win, why did the ref swipe on three?”

After co-host Dave LaGreca expressed that he believed the mistake lies with the referee and not with Jax, Bully agreed — for the most part.

‘There’s obviously miscommunication there’

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“Nia didn’t kick,” Bully continued. “In that situation, the referee’s responsibility is to count to three. Now, we go past that. This is what the most puzzling part of the match is. I can deal with mistakes … it’s gonna happen, it can happen to anybody. What I don’t understand is why Nia decides to have a conversation with the referee.”

Bully was referring to what happened after the ref swiped her hand, when Jax could be seen raising her head to communicate with the ref before performing an exaggerated kick-out long after it made any sense.

“There’s obviously miscommunication there,” Bully said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen blatant [mis]communication like I saw there … You have to be a little bit more aware, especially in 2025 with high definition-cameras and cameras all over the place, that that conversation is being picked up.”

Bully reiterated his belief that “the planned finish was for Tiffany Stratton to steal the victory from Jade, because that would be good heat. If it’s just the moonsault, what’s the big deal?” He then suggested that he would have made the spot simpler, having Stratton toss Cargill out of the ring before making the cover, rather than relying on someone with Stratton’s relative lack of experience to get the timing exactly right on the dropkick.

“I don’t know if I would rely on Tiffany to have that split-second timing to hit that [dropkick] just as the three-count is starting,” he said.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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