Various: Elijah on Influence for Decision for His New Ring Name, AJ Francis on Upcoming TNA Debut Appearance, Indies

Elijah Comments on Influence for His Decision for His New Ring Name

As noted before, former WWE talent Elias revealed earlier this month that he will be known under the new ring name of Elijah going forward for his post-WWE career.

A recent episode of Highspots’ Virtual Gimmick Table show featured Elijah as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Elijah’s thoughts about the bible being the influence for his decision for his new ring name for his post-WWE career.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s exactly right (I chose the name ‘Elijah’ due to his relationship with John the Baptist). That’s good. I love all the biblical names if you can’t tell by now. Elias, Ezekiel, Elijah, you got the Heavy Metal Jesus from my past life so yeah, that’s where Elijah comes from.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

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AJ Francis Comments on His Upcoming TNA Debut Appearance for TNA Hard To Kill 2024

As noted before, AJ Francis, former Top Dolla in WWE, will be making his official debut appearance for TNA Wrestling at their Hard To Kill 2024 event this Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

TMZ Sports held a recent interview with Francis. One of the topics discussed included Francis’ thoughts about his upcoming debut appearance for TNA.

“Big things happen for big people, you know what I’m saying? When you put good energy out into the world, good energy comes back to you. I’ve made a lot of friends and connections in this business, and one thing that I always wanted to do was go and wrestle at TNA. Growing up as a kid, a lot of my favorites from WWE would go to TNA, and then I also discovered people that I didn’t know existed in wrestling until I watched them on TNA, like AJ Styles, like Samoa Joe, these guys. So it was like, they got a big show, Hard To Kill in Las Vegas, January 13, you ain’t never gonna tempt me with a good time going to Vegas, you know what I’m saying? [Laughs] So I’m gonna pull up there, I’m gonna be with my personal DJ, DJ Whoo Kid, it’s gonna be a good time.”

Francis also gave his thoughts about if DJ Whoo Kid will do anything in the ring alongside him at the event.

“Inside the ring yet? We working on that. But he’s been in one before. We working on the other part. He was at my house last weekend…and we was talking about getting him in the ring, getting him to do a couple things. So next time he comes to Orlando, we definitely gonna be in a ring.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

As noted before, a plagiarism lawsuit against WWE and AEW was dismissed without prejudice this past November due to legal-related issues over Anthony Duane Wilson, person who filed the lawsuit, failing to serve the defendants within a required time frame. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that Wilson re-filed his lawsuit to the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Youngstown on January 10th based on recent court records. Johnson reported that Wilson’s newly filed version of his lawsuit is pretty much identical to his original lawsuit in terms of claims and content.

Wednesday’s episode of FOX’s The Floor reality competition series featured Major League Wrestling talent Salina De La Renta being eliminated from the contest in the second round of that night’s show.

World Series Wrestling recently announced that Elijah, former Elias in WWE, will be making an appearance for the company during their upcoming Most Wanted tour of events from February 28th to March 1st in Australia.

F1RST Wrestling recently announced that Orange Cassidy will be making an appearance for the company at their Wrestlepalooza event on January 13th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was also announced that Cassidy will be appearing in a fan meet & greet following their event that night.

F1RST Wrestling also recently announced that they have pulled “The Bounty Hunter” Bryan Keith from their Wrestlepalooza event on January 13th due to Keith working for AEW that same night.

Pro Wrestling Revolver recently released the official poster for their upcoming Mox vs. Gringo event on January 25th in Dayton, Ohio.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that TNA Wrestling officials currently have plans to officially reveal multiple new signings to the company in the upcoming weeks.

As noted before, TNA Wrestling recently announced that they will be officially revealing a big new signing at this Saturday’s Hard To Kill 2024 event in Las Vegas, Nevada. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Mercedes Mone is not the identity of TNA’s mystery big talent signing. In a separate report, Johnson also reported that this mystery person is not a new female talent for their Knockouts division.

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced that they will be holding a fan vote to determine the official stipulation for the Provisional King of Pro Wrestling 2024 Championship match between Great-O-Khan and Taiji Ishimori at their The New Beginning in Nagoya 2024 event in Nagoya, Japan. The options are Bullrope Deathmatch for Great-O-Khan’s choice and 10 Minute Ishimori Ring Fit Match for Ishimori’s choice.

Insane Championship Wrestling announced that their founder and owner Mark Davis recently stepped down from the company. The official reason given was due to Davis pursuing new ventures for his career.

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced that new episodes of their NWA Powerrr series will be airing on The CW app starting on February 6th.

The NWA also recently announced new matches for the card of their NWA Paranoia event on January 13th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida:

• NWA World Women’s Championship – Tiffany Nieves vs. Kenzie Paige (c)
• NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship – King Bees (Charity King & Danni Bee) vs. Pretty Empowered (Ella Envy & Kylie Paige)
• Wrestler Who Scores the Pinfall/Submission gets title shot for NWA World Women’s Championship match – Natalia Markova, Taylor Rising, & Ruthie Jay vs. Miss Starr, Christi Jaynes, & Missa Kate
• Eric Smalls vs. Gustavo vs. Rolando