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Samantha Irvin announced her departure from WWE a few months after WrestleMania 40. She recently got married to former WWE star Ricochet, who is currently signed to Aew. While fans initially thought her exit meant that she would follow Ricochet into his new promotion as a ring announcer, Irvin has different plans.

After Ricochet recently revealed that Irvin aspired to become something more than a ring announcer, I couldn’t help but blame Triple H for not seeing a future in her. Irvin is a musician and a performer first, and the company should’ve seen that she had no intention to stay on as a ring announcer beyond a certain period.

Ricochet’s revelation about Samantha Irvin suggests that Triple H wasted her potential Samantha Irvin in the ring | Credits: WWE

When Samantha Irvin left WWE last October, it left me devastated that we would miss her voice in future WrestleMania.

Netflix's Mr. McMahon covers 40+ years of Vince McMahon's control of World Wrestling Entertainment, but the 6-hour docuseries glosses over some details and leaves key people and events out of WWE's story. In 2024, Vince McMahon stepped down as the Chairman of WWE in the wake of the federal investigation into charges of sexual abuse and trafficking of female WWE employees. McMahon and several WWE stars participated in the Mr. McMahon documentary, but Vince did not complete his interviews after charges were filed against him.

Mr. McMahon depicts the rise of Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s, the steroid scandals of the 1990s, and the resurgence of the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment in its various eras, leading up to today. Mr. McMahon covers multiple WWE storylines in-ring and behind the scenes, from Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania in the '80s, to the Attitude Era led by Stone...

WWE Network has released the trailer for its five-episode docuseries “Undertaker: The Last Ride.” The professional wrestling company’s public relations team ain’t lyin’ when they say it’s Mark Calaway as you’ve never seen him before.

In Sunday’s premiere episode, the 30-year WWE veteran Undertaker (Calaway) comes to terms with his own mortality as he prepares for what many believed to be the final match of his career against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 33, according to the limited series’ logline.

Spoiler alert: It was not.

Also Read: Game Developer 2K Cancels 'WWE 2K21,' Pivots to 'WWE Battlegrounds' Release This Fall

“Undertaker: The Last Ride” will features interviews with Calaway, his wife Michelle McCool, Reigns, Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, John Cena, Batista, Ric Flair, Edge, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and others.

“People have no idea how much pain he’s in physically,” McCool says at one point.

We might see another celebrity enter the race for President of the United States in 2020, as WWE Hall of Famer, movie star, and former Governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura is "testing the waters" for a presidential campaign this year. Taking to Twitter on Monday, Ventura revealed he'd be interested in running on behalf of the Green Party, and the ball now seems to be in their court. "If I were going to run for president, the Green party would be my first choice. I've endorsed the party and I'm testing the waters," Ventura noted in the tweet.

Ok, I've decided I'm going to test the waters. If I were going to run for president, the Green party would be my first choice. I've endorsed the party and I'm testing the waters. #mondaythoughts#MondayMorning#MondayMotivaton#MondayMood

— Jesse Ventura (@GovJVentura) April 27, 2020

To be clear: I haven't filed anything. I authorized a letter...

Welcome to this week’s Friday Night SmackDown review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have Daniel Bryan fighting Cesar…f— it…Bryan Danielson versus Claudio Castagnoli. Still feels good to call ‘em by their actual wrestling names once in a while. We have a singles title deciding the fate of the SmackDown Tag Titles…again. Is Vince Russo booking s— again, or is the stupid just contagious? Bro, it’s just wrestling, bro! Yo, bro, let’s start the show, bro! Oh no…I’ve got the stupid…the stupid is the madness…I’ve got the madness…I’Ve Got Cabin Fever!!!!! I’Ve Got It Tooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Cabin Feverrrrrrr!!!!!!!

Match #1: Tamina def. Sasha Banks The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

A well-timed intervention from Lacey Evans helped Tamina overcome Sasha Banks and earn a SmackDown Women’s Championship opportunity against Bayley.

My...

Legendary wrestling announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Howard Finkel has passed away. Longtime wrestling fans will certainly remember Finkel's distinctive voice introducing all of wrestling's greatest stars during the '80s and '90s, essentially serving as the official voice of WWE for many years. The news of his death comes straight from WWE's official website, though a cause of death is not clear at this time. The sports entertainment icon was 69 years old.

Finkel was born on June 7, 1950 in Newark, New Jersey. He became the very first employee for WWE (then Wwwf) when he was hired by Vince McMahon, Sr. in 1975 to become the ring announcer for the company. With an iconic voice and natural ability, Finkel quickly became one of the most familiar ring announcers in the wrestling business by the late '70s. He'd remain with the company when Vince McMahon took over the business from his father,...

Howard "The Fink" Finkel, the WWE's first and longest-lasting employee and an iconic ring announcer, has died. He was 69.

"WWE is saddened to learn that Howard Finkel has passed away at age 69. WWE extends its condolences to Finkel’s family, friends and fans," the company behind live wrestling matches on USA and Fox said Thursday in a statement.

No cause of death was given, but Finkel reportedly suffered a serious stroke in 2018 and had been in ill health.

Born on June 7, 1950, in Newark, New Jersey, Finkel debuted as a ring announcer at ...

WWE.com

It’s fair to say that, over the past thirty five years, Vince McMahon and WWE have established a poor habit of greatly under-appreciating some of their most valuable contributors. Regardless of how they ended up in the unenviable position they are in, too many former WWE personalities have had their place in history slighted for one reason or another.

In almost every case, it is varying degrees unfortunate and sad to see the hard work and sacrifices that these individuals have made throughout their career not receive the same type of recognition had it been credited to someone else, someone that is on the good side of Vince & Co.

Despite what Vince McMahon would have people believe, loyalty to the WWE doesn’t always pay off.

Sure, there are some individuals whose careers would make a good argument against this point. Guys like The Undertaker, Pat Patterson,...

WWE

For 32 years, WrestleMania has been home for historic high-profile matches and career-making moments that have created some of the most iconic imagery in wrestling. The sight of the legendary battle between Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III, the Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan main event that never happened, and the year-long build of The Rock vs. John Cena are just some of the moments and stories that couldn’t possibly be forgotten.

But there are also WrestleMania memories that WWE doesn’t like to re-live.

Not every WrestleMania story has been front page news. In fact, some WrestleMania anecdotes were often kept quiet, or tried to be silenced altogether, since their details were not the type of stories that WWE likes to share. These more secretive tales, in some cases, had the potential to change the course of the entire company; others were less impactful but...

WWE.com

The WWE Network is a beautiful invention. It’s a living museum at your very fingertips. If you’re a wrestling enthusiast and you don’t have it, do yourself a favor and subscribe for, wait for it… only $9.99.

With the 2015 Royal Rumble just around the corner, my time-warp through the network brought me to the 2000 Royal Rumble at Madison Square Garden, which is memorable for many things and is a year WWE undoubtedly continued to flourish. This pay-per-view featured the debut of Tazz, a stellar tag-team tables match between the Dudley’s and the Hardy’s, a Royal Rumble match in which The Rock guaranteed a victory and won, and one of the best undercard matches in history: Cactus Jack versus Triple H in a street fight for the WWF Championship.

Mick Foley had fallen victim to the power stroke of the less-than-a-year-old McMahon-Helmsley faction. He had...

It’s one of the most iconic moments, not only in WrestleMania history, but in the entire history of pro wrestling. You’ll be able to picture the image without looking: Bret cranking back on the Sharpshooter, Stone Cold’s face covered in blood and contorted in agony.

Bret Hart and Steve Austin’s WrestleMania 13 war is a crucial match in so many ways. It turned the Rattlesnake babyface, an event which would change the course of the Monday Night Wars. It simultaneously turned Bret heel, and can be seen as the beginning of the end of his time in the company. Its finish is remembered as one of the most iconic ‘Mania moments of all time, and – on top of everything else – it’s simply a very, very exciting match.

Because its ending sequence is so iconic, it can be easy to forget just how many awe-inspiring, wince-inducing...

WWE.com

The full content listing for the upcoming WWE DVD and Blu-ray set on the life and death of Owen Hart has been revealed, courtesy of the Wrestling DVD Network. The list includes all chapter titles for the documentary feature on disc one, as well as all extras, including the full list of matches selected for the package.

Bret Hart recently commented on the documentary portion of the set, sounding very pessimistic about the chances that the documentary will do a good job telling the full story of his brother’s life. Bret believes that WWE is having to walk on egg shells to cater to Owen’s widow, Martha, who is not supporting the DVD release.

Bret told the Fight Network:

“I’m looking forward to it but I’m not really optimistic that it’s going to be a great job. Martha handcuffed them so much. I...

WWE.com

WWE Legends House is the first reality television program available on the WWE Network. Eight WWE legends: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Hillbilly Jim, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Tony Atlas, Jimmy Hart, Pat Patterson, “Mean” Gene Okerlund and Howard Finkel all move in together and the hilarity ensues. While we best know these legends from watching them in the ring, Legends House offers us a look at the personal lives of our beloved childhood heroes every Thursday at 10pm on the WWE Network.

Seven episodes in and we know things about these grapplers that we may have been better off not knowing, like Tony Atlas’ foot fetish (more on that later.) Ashley, the show’s host, and her now infamous “hello boys” catchphrase puts the legends in different activities on a daily basis. The legends so far have been male models in Las Vegas, participated in a “Larping” battle and filmed...

Here we are, finally, at the thirtieth annual WrestleMania event, live from the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Let’s get to the results shall we?

There was a two hour long pre-show for this event that aired on the WWE Network and in other areas of media. The pre-show featured a panel of guys like Mick Foley, Booker T and Shawn Michaels, along with Josh Matthews, discussing the upcoming matches and the spectacle of the event itself. The second hour brought us the pre-show match.

The match in question that aired on the pre-show was the four-way tag team elimination match between the defending champions, The Uso’s, The Real Americans, Ryback & Axel and Los Matadores. The match was okay, allowing each team to get some chances to show their capabilities and shine. The final two teams in the match were The Uso’s and The Real Americans, with...

Copyright: WWE WrestleMania Xiv Blu-ray

WrestleMania is fast approaching and superstars will be making plans to impress on the big stage. Everyone that makes it to the Superbowl of wrestling enters with the mission of stealing the show and leaving an impression on the viewer.

Some have made a career of it, whether it be ‘Mr WrestleMania’ Shawn Michaels and his tendency to have the best match of the night or making audiences believe in The Undertaker’s undefeated streak coming to an end or someone trying to steal the spotlight in a multiman match (such as this year’s Battle Royal), there isn’t a single performer who isn’t trying to demand attention.

There is no better way to grab the audiences attention than to do so from the moment a superstar steps through the curtain. This list takes a look back at the best WrestleMania entrances in its 29 year history.

Shizuo Kambayashi/AP/Press Association Images

In the world of professional wrestling, celebrities are kings. Whenever one shows up on Raw or SmackDown, the wrestlers just fawn over them, and the announcers gloat over their appearance. The fans for the most part are sick of seeing them. After all, they’re watching a show filled with talent who are celebrities in their own right. Why should they care about a B-movie star or someone from a cr*ppy reality TV show?

People watch wrestling to watch wrestling. That simple fact never seems to have fully registered in Vince McMahon’s mind. Because of that, we get weird dancing segments, singing competitions and plenty of celebrities. Unfortunately, besides the rare appearance of someone like Mike Tyson (who helped elevate Steve Austin), celebrities in professional wrestling are usually a bad mix. While there have been a lot of lame ones, some have been downright terrible.

It’s a sad day in the world of wrestling. On Jan. 14, women’s wrestling pioneer Mae Young passed away at the age of 90. Now celebrities who were touched by her through their lives are speaking out and remembering the legend.

From Dwyane Johnson (Aka “The Rock”) to Triple H, some of the biggest names in wrestling have taken to Twitter to share what they loved about Mae Young, who professionally wrestled from the 1940s until 2013.

Celebs Remember Mae Young

“She’s a wrestling pioneer. I truly had deep affection & respect for “Aunty Mae” Young. Rip. #IMissUMae,” Dwayne wrote on Twitter, sharing an adorable photo (above).

The other big stars of WWE paid their respects with tweets:

#RIPTheOneandOnlyGreatMaeYoung Thank you for your example to my girls on how to get all you want out of life! #pioneer #legend #whatarun

— Triple H (@TripleH) January 15, 2014

Pretty crazy reading everyone’s tweets about...

With the WWE network on the horizon in 2014, or anytime they feel like it, the biggest aspect to consider is the programming. To make it worth the monthly subscription price, they have to pull out all the stops.

The question is what will they show? A “Best of the Great Khali” match series? How about more unreleased footage from the debut of Akeem? I got it, how about a loop of the Vince McMahon Music video?? What about a year in review of 1995 WWE? No? Well ok, I tried.

According to the 50 Years of WWE documentary, the company possesses over 100,000 hours of vault footage from WCW, to Ecw, to Awa and much more. Surely they cannot just rotate matches or else it would just be the on demand service all over again. So if WWE is reading this, and I am sure they are, here are 6 show concepts based on reality that are marketable and,...

The History of WWE: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment begins with Vince McMahon getting out of his car at WWE headquarters in Connecticut and greeting employees as he makes his way to his office on the top floor of what was once known as TitanTowers.

The documentary portion of this release begins at the beginning, with information about Jess McMahon and Vince McMahon Sr, and how they began what we now know as WWE. Jess McMahon was a boxing promoter, his son Vince, turned it into a traditional regional professional wrestling promotion, and his son, the current head of WWE, Vince McMahon Jr, turned it into the multimedia conglomerate that we know today.

The talking heads are extremely relevant and well picked, it is nice to see the big names from wrestling’s history on here, talking about the history of WWE as a company and the wrestling business as a whole.

The Best of WWE at Madison Square Garden is an interesting release from WWE and it’s nice to see them going into the massive video library at their disposal and putting together a compilation of matches and segments that is a little different to the usual things they put out.

The DVD is on three discs and the Blu-ray, which I will be reviewing, is on two discs. The quality of the picture improves as the matches progress, with earlier matches from the 1970’s being a mixed bag in quality of sound, picture and match content. We see early matches with the likes of Bruno Sammartino, The Iron Sheik, Bob Backlund and Billy Graham which vary in terms of entertainment value but are good to see as a history lesson. The Sheik/Slaughter boot-camp brawl is a fun watch but I imagine many of today’s casual wrestling fans...

Going into this week’s Nxt with the tagline of “Road to Wrestlemania edition” you are never really certain what you’re going to get. However, you might be pleasantly surprised as we received solid action even know there were no developmental stars… Well except for one to be found.

First of all, and they gave the episode a different feel with having not only one Hall of Famer in attendance, but two as Jim Ross and the always incomparable Howard Finkel join the broadcast and raised the level of the show just by being there. Along with Regal and Todd Phillips it was a welcome addition to the week to week monotony.

The night began with strong action as a divas title match between Kaitlyn and Natalya showed why ladies wrestling works so well as they brought aggression and intensity usually reserved for the men. It’s a shame...

Last night’s 1,000th episode of WWE’s Money Night Raw comes from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri with Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler on commentary.

The show kicks off with a new intro. Another video then plays that looks back at some of the memorable moments from the past 1,0000 episodes, including some of the saddest moments in the history of the show such as Eddie Guerrero’s tribute night. The video plays for four minutes with lots and lots of clips.

Vince McMahon kicks off the show from the middle of the ring. A “thank you Vince” chant starts and Vince welcomes us to Monday Night Raw and then introduces D-Generation X and the music plays as Shawn Michaels and Triple H comes to the ring.

Michaels says he needs to catch his breath from all the running around. Hbk says something feels missing and...

WWE announced today that United States Champion Santino Marella had challenged Ricardo Rodriguez to a Tuxedo Match that has been accepted for Sunday’s WWE No Way Out pay-per-view.

The match will be non-title bout and WWE.com announced the match like this;

“Described by Marella as “one of the most electrifying matches in sports-entertainment,” Tuxedo Matches require both competitors to enter the fray in full penguin suits. The objective is to strip the other man of his outfit. For a rivalry that has featured plenty of laughs and more than a tinge of humiliation, the Tuxedo Match is a wholly appropriate venue for Marella and Rodriguez to settle the score”.

So the match is basically the male wrestling version of an Evening Gown Match. It will of course be the comedy entertainment bout of the night and hopefully WWE will have a place for Howard Finkel, in a signature tuxedo,...

Results from last night’s WWE Smackdown “Blast From the Past Edition” that took place in Hampton, Virgina.

Lilian Garcia introduces Hall of Fame announcer Mean Gene Okerlund who is standing in the ring. Mean Gene brings out his first guest, World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus.

Sheamus apologies for hitting referee Chad Patton last week and that there is no excuse for his behaviour. He says he is sorry but it is not enough for John Laurinaitis who comes out to the ring and says he must take some action. He has given Sheamus the biggest fine in WWE history, a whopping $500,000. He also announces that he will take on the team of Daniel Bryan and Alberto Del Rio tonight with his partner… Gene Okerlund.

1) Randy Orton vs Mark Henry goes to a no-contest when Kane interferes to further his feud with Orton. Kane attacks Cowboy Bob Orton who accompanied his son to ringside.

The big showdown from the Mar. 12 Raw, live in Cleveland, Ohio is a musical battle between John Cena and the Rock.

We're two weeks away from "WrestleMania 28" on Sun., April 1. Live from the Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida, headliners Cena -- the face of World Wrestling Entertainment -- will be squaring off against wrestler-turned-movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at the Super Bowl of wrestling.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, onto this week's showdown:

Opening Segment: John Cena's Battle Rap

Watch On WWE Fan Nation

Cena comes out in full "Doctor of Thuganomics" gear, complete with Cavaliers jersey. Despite the local sports team pandering and wrestling fans' love of nostalgia, Cena is met with a divisive crowd. He lays down some pretty vulgar rhymes, including wanting to give Rock a Cleveland steamer. Cleveland, uh, appreciates(?) the shout-out.

When John Cena used to do this Mark Wahlberg...

You can't teach old wrestlers new tricks -- and several WWE icons proved it last week, during a hilariously left-footed Zumba class ... and TMZ has obtained the clumsy footage."Hacksaw" Jim Duggan ... along with WWE legends like Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Hillbilly Jim, Pat Patterson, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Howard Finkel, and Tony Atlas all hit the dance studio in Palm Springs ... and shocker, we're told it's for an upcoming reality show.

WWE’s official website has announced that former Diva Lilian Garcia is to return to WWE as a full-time announcer on the SmackDown brand. WWE.com have a new video on their site with Garcia that was taped backstage from last night’s Raw in Tampa, Florida.

Garcia then confirmed the news on Twitter;

“Yes! It’s true!! All happening so fast! I am returning to WWE as the SmackDown Announcer!! So excited!! And video trailer out tomro! Big wk”

Garcia debuted with the WWE in August 1999 and became a staple of the new WWE for the next decade and she was certainly easier on the eye than Howard Finkel!

By 2009, Garcia became the first WWE diva to stay with the company for a decade and on the 21st September edition, just one month after 10 years since her debut, she announced her last edition of Raw from Little Rock, Arkansas.

As I grow older and find increasingly less reasons to justify why I continue to show a waning interest in the campy pantomime that is wrestling, Thq comes out with a game that on the face of it seems to remind me why – the sense of spectacle, the silliness, the fun, and even with the knowledge that it is scripted, the mind-boggling athleticism. WWE All Stars is a love-letter to all these things, yet with the possibilities on offer, it should probe further, and the oddly threadbare approach makes for an experience only fleetingly satisfying.

Those tired of the clinical, simulation-like nature of the Smackdown games will find this a welcome refinement – at least at first – harkening back to the more simplistic, pick-up-and-play arcade-style titles such as WrestleMania: The Arcade Game (whose producer, Sal Divita, worked on this game) and In Your House. There are five different modes of play; the first is exhibition,...