Various: Beth Phoenix on Future of Her Wrestling Career, Wrestling World Pays Tribute to Afa Anoa’i, Indies, TPWW Site Update

WWE

Aug 17, 2024

Beth Phoenix Comments on Future of Her Wrestling Career

As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix recently confirmed that her contract with WWE had recently expired and she is no longer with the company.

A recent episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast featured Phoenix as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Phoenix’s thoughts about the future of her wrestling career and potential of having one last match.

“It’s really hard to say you’re retired. When I left in 2012, that was the word I threw around a lot. ‘I’m retired. I’m retired,’ because I wanted to have a family. I knew, for myself, that wasn’t going to be in congruence to perform and to have kids. I needed to devote myself to the kids at that time. I give the age ol’ cliche that everybody hates, ‘Never say never.’ It really just depends on the opportunities and what suits our family. That’s really it. We weight out everything. Adam’s opportunities, too. I remember when Percy Jackson came on the table and he was full-time in WWE. It was really hard to take that on, but we weighed out everything. We sat as a family and made that decision. ‘This is huge. This is the biggest acting opportunity that has come our way. You need to go do this. This is massive.’ We talked about saying no to that. We talked about everything that comes our way as a family and does that serve us now? How does it affect our kids? How does it affect our marriage? That matters too.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

Wrestling World Pays Tribute to Afa Anoa’i

As noted before, WWE Hall of Famer Afa “The Wild Samoan” Anoa’i passed away on Friday at the age of 81.

Following his passing, WWE, AEW, TNA Wrestling, Roman Reigns and others in the wrestling industry paid tribute to the life and legacy of Anoa’i.

AEW and the wrestling world mourn the passing of the legendary Wild Samoan Afa. Our thoughts are with his family, his friends and his fans. pic.twitter.com/053EKcrAVm
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 16, 2024

TNA is saddened to learn of the passing of Afa Anoa’i Sr., one-half of the legendary Wild Samoans tag team. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Anoa’i family, his friends and fans during this time. pic.twitter.com/6mww2L7dcw
— TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) August 16, 2024

Our family has suffered another great loss with the passing of my uncle and WWE Hall of Famer, Gataivasā Afa Amituana’i Anoa’i. We thank everyone for their support and are comforted by the fact that he now rests in peace. Afa and my father, Pola’ivao Leati Sika Anoa’I were…
— Roman Reigns (@WWERomanReigns) August 16, 2024

Deeply touched and grateful for the absolutely beautiful tribute video @WWE put together for my Dad. That was perfect. My heart is full of love. Thank you so much. pic.twitter.com/RiqOhjpg6l
— Vale Anoa’i (@ValeAnoai) August 17, 2024

The Hart family has so much love for your family. Reflecting on the incredible life Afa lived and what an amazing family man he was. May The Wild Samoan’s legacy in wrestling burn brightly FOREVER. https://t.co/lZc4YI52nQ pic.twitter.com/1mE2hYX5He
— Nattie (@NatbyNature) August 16, 2024

My heart hurts today. More than I can imagine. pic.twitter.com/z4riMPSg1B
— Mercedes Martinez 🏳️‍🌈🇵🇷 (@RealMMartinez) August 16, 2024

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Saturday’s G1 Climax 2024 event for New Japan Pro Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan featured Yota Tsuji and Zack Sabre jr. advancing to the Finals of this year’s tournament. Tsuji defeated David Finlay and Sabre Jr. defeated Shingo Takagi in Semifinal Round matches of this year’s tournament.

Saturday’s Summer Action Wars 2024 event for All Japan Pro Wrestling in Tokyo, Japan featured Yuma Aoyagi defeating Yuma Anzai to become the new AJPW Triple Crown Champion.

As noted before, El Hijo del Vikingo has been out of action for AAA since this past February due to a right knee injury. Lucha Libre AAA recently announced that Vikingo will be making an appearance at their September 17th event in Pachuca, Mexico.

As noted before, former MMA fighter and WWE wrestler Cain Velasquez was arrested following an attempted murder shooting incident in February of 2022 in San Jose, California. The East Bay Times reported that Velasquez pleaded no contest for his murder trial on Friday before a San Jose court. It was reported that the terms of the plea bargain agreement included the charge of premeditated attempted murder being dropped which carried a mandatory life in prison sentence with the possibility of parole if convicted. Velasquez reportedly will also avoid going to a jury trial and Judge Arthur Bocanegro will determine his sentencing at a later date. Prior to the plea deal, Velasquez’s criminal trial had been scheduled to start in three weeks.

Totally Harmless Concept, LLC filed a trademark for “The Hurt Syndicate” on August 15th for merchandise-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This is currently believed to be for the name of MVP and Bobby Lashley’s revived Hurt Business stable outside of WWE.

WrestleCade announced that Juice Robinson will be making an appearance for the company at their WrestleCade Weekend 2024 event on November 29th to December 1st in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

TNA Wrestling’s Slammiversary 2024 event this past July reportedly generated around 6,500 cable television pay-per-view buys based on updated late buys purchases, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that Slammiversary 2024’s buys are currently up 114.7% compared to this past April’s Rebellion 2024 event based on the same number of days after the event. Meltzer reported that when including streaming buys estimates, Slammiversary 2024 is currently estimated to have generated around 21,000 total buys.

In a recent interview with USA Today, Joe Hendry gave his thoughts about TNA and WWE’s working partnership being a “perfect example of business done right.” Hendry stated “This partnership between TNA wrestling and WWE has been the perfect example of business done right. Business done right is where every single party wins. TNA wins because we’re selling out regularly now, our crowds are getting so big. We’re gaining so much from the increased exposure. WWE, a lot of their NXT talents are getting the opportunity to perform for a different audience. Wrestlers win and the fans win because it’s an exciting product.“

Former NWA wrestler Bobby Fulton announced on Twitter that he is currently dealing with heart-related health issues following a surgery he underwent this past Tuesday to repair he throat from cancer. Fulton stated “This past Tuesday I had surgery to repair my throat from the cancer treatments in 2020. Unfortunately during the surgery I had heart complications. This coming week I’ll be going to see a cardiologist. I’m still here and still standing! Please continue the thoughts & prayers!“

The National Wrestling Alliance recently announced one new match for the card of their NWA 76 event on August 31st in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Four-way match – Mims vs. Bryan Idol vs. Paul Burchill vs. Carson Drake

Revolution Pro Wrestling recently announced one new match for the card of their 12 Year Anniversary event on August 24th in London, England:

Undisputed British Women’s Championship – Mina Shirakawa vs. Dani Luna (c)

TPWW Website Update

I will be going on a partial break for the remaining two Sundays this month due to having some family-related and other personal stuff coming up soon.

Any major wrestling shows and news will still be posted on the website on those days but it basically mostly means no Weekend Roundup style news articles for those weeks.