Weekend 3 Count: 2/16 - 2/22 #WWE #TNA #GFW

By @B_Rock1978

The Weekend 3 Count is brought to you by Triple Threat CLE. This week I bring you all the news and rumors around the WWE, TNA, GFW and the Independent wrestling scene for February 16th - February 22nd.

*** Weekend Flashback ***

- Oh how I miss ECW....the real ECW, not the WWE's watered down version. I remember being 18 and out of high school and catching ECW on TV every Friday night at 2:00am on Sports Channel Ohio. Not only did I love watching some of the most hardcore matches, but I discovered a ton of songs and bands I never knew existed, just from ring entrances. I became a huge fan of Hard Rock, Metal and Classic Rock music and there was a lot of that heard in ECW and I have ECW to thank for that. This week enjoy Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee in a "Scaffold Match" from ECW 1996.

*** WWE News and Rumors ***

- This past week's Raw scored a 3.0 rating, up from the 2.72 from last week's show.

- This past Monday on RAW, we saw a heel turn. Stardust turned on his brother Goldust. Then told his father, Dusty Rhodes, that Cody Rhodes in his eyes was dead and as far as he was concerned so was his father.

- Also on RAW, Darren Young, returned to TV from injury. Young rejoined with his former tag team partner, Titus O'Neil, and reformed the Prime Time Playas, as they fought off an Ascension attack.

- WWE Hall of Famer, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, is entering the world of podcasting. Flair signed a deal with CBS Sports and will do one podcast a week. Flair will not only talk wrestling, but he'll also have musicians, actors and athletes on his show.

- Ric Flair also appeared on RAW last Monday, where Flair had a heart to heart with Triple H about Sting.

- Many people are still wondering where Brock Lesnar will end up after Wrestlemania 31, when his current contract expires. Jim Ross recently blogged about it and thinks that Lesnar will stay in WWE because it's more safer for his body. Ross thinks that Lesnar is worried about concussions and having his career shortened, which would make WWE the logical choice to pick over UFC or any other MMA organization. There still has been no legit word from Lesnar himself as to where he's going.

- Inoki Genome Federation, which is a Japanese promotion owned by WWE Hall Of Famer, Antonio Inoki, have also shown interest in Lesnar. Inoki stated he would love to bring Lesnar to his promotion after Lesnar's WWE contract expires.

- WWE Hall of Famer, Shawn Michaels, was recently on Ring Rust Radio. Shawn talked about his new book, his greatest rival, some of his greatest matches, his comeback in 2002 and wrestlers today. You can catch that half hour interview here:

- After WWE had to deal with Seth Rollins' supposed Instagram hack last Monday, Cesaro may have become the next victim. The hashtag #PushCesaro was trending on Twitter, after someone apparently hacked the Twitter account of WWE superstar Cesaro, on Monday morning.

The following Tweets went out on Monday morning:

The hacker talked about WWE dropping the ball with Curtis Axel and another message followed telling Cesaro how he could gain access back into his Twitter. All tweets were taken down immediately.

- WWE owner, Vince McMahon, is on the cover of Muscle and Fitness in the March 2015 issue.

- Seth Rollins invited The Daily Show"s host, Jon Stewart, to Fast Lane to settle their recent feud. Rollins and WWE made comedic remarks about Stewart and his show, recently. Stewart responded with a comedic video of his own, challenging Seth Rollins to a match.
- Cassandra Frazier, the widow of Big Daddy V (aka Viscera, Mabel, King Mabel), has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against WWE. Frazier is stating that the 400+ matches that her husband competed in, caused his concussions and brain trauma, which ended up taking his life.

- The WWE have challenged CM Punk’s Allegations, that he was treated poorly by the WWE medical staff and was forced to wrestle at last years Royal Rumble with a baseball size lump on his lower back. You can read that story HERE./

- Last week it was learned that Rhyno worked an NXT match. According to sources, Rhyno is signed to compete in NXT at least until April. WWE has been hinting at a Rhyno vs. Finn Balor feud during Rhyno's short time in NXT.

- NXT wrestler, Bull Dempsey, worked a dark match on Smackdown this week. Dempsey lost to Fandango.

- Former NXT World Tag Team Champions, Lucha Dragons, may be making the jump to the main roster soon, as they have been working matches for Main Event.

- Solomon Crowe, who has been highly talked about on the independent wrestling scene, made his official NXT debut this past week.

- WWE will be releasing ECW Unreleased Vol. 3 in April. You can check out the match listings for the DVD/Blu-Ray
HERE.

*** TNA News and Rumors ***

- With a surprise announcement on Twitter this past Tuesday, Samoa Joe, stated that he has quit TNA. It is said that Joe and TNA couldn't come up with a new contract agreement. Joe will still be on Impact in weeks to come, due to TNA taping their shows weeks ahead of time. Joe leaving caught a lot of people by surprise as many of the TNA roster tweeted their best wishes to Joe when they heard the news. It's unknown where Joe will end up next. Sources have said that Triple H is interested in using Joe in NXT, but Vince McMahon has no interest in Joe at all.

- Eddie Edwards suffered an injury this week during the TNA pay per view tapings. Edwards, at first believed to have suffered a broken ankle, but now after x-rays, Edwards may only have a heel injury.

- British Bootcamp 2 contestant, Grado, is trying to get the ok from pop legend, Madonna, to use her song "Like a Prayer" as his ring entrance music. Madonna has currently turned down Grado's wishes. Grado has recently went to Twitter to get the word out to Madonna to let him use the song.

- As goofy as Grado may seem with the unique ring entrance to Madonna, the kid has heart. The fans really get into Grado and cheer him on, kind of like the UK's version of Daniel Bryan. You be the judge on how you feel about Grado and if he fits in TNA. The following video is Grado vs. Red Lightning for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.

*** GFW News and Rumors ***

- GFW Owner, Jeff Jarrett, was interviewed this week and was asked questions about GFW, WWE, TNA and CM Punk. You can read that interview
HERE.

- Jeff Jarrett also has stated that he will be making some major GFW announcements around Wrestlemania season. Some think it will be to announce GFW talents and future live events.

- GFW have been in contact with New Japan Pro Wrestling and are interested in doing another pay per view. GFW is also still interested in doing a pay per view with AAA Mexico.

*** Other Wrestling News ***

- Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and current UFC Fighter, Phil "CM Punk" Brooks was interviewed this week. Punk was interviewed by Lance Allen with WISports.com and talked about WWE, UFC and Brock Lesnar offering to help Punk. You can check out that article and interview
HERE.

- We'll be seeing for the first time ever in wrestling, John Hennigan (John Morrison in WWE) vs. A.J. Styles. The two will meet on March 11th in FWE wrestling. The match will be a "2 Out Of 3 Falls Match" and will be for Hennigan's FWE World Heavyweight Championship.

- Japanese legend, Jushin Thunder Liger, has been signed to compete at the March 27th Ring of Honor show.

- Former ECW, WWE and TNA wrestler, Kid Kash, announced that he will be retiring at the end of 2015.

And that is this weekend's 3 Count. Join me every Sunday afternoon, where I give you the major stories in WWE, TNA, GFW and the independent wrestling scene. Till next time, tap or snap.

~B~