Weekend 3 Count 8.14.16 #WWE #NXT #TNA #LuchaUnderground #ROH #NJPW

By Brandon Albright, @B_Rock1978

Wrestling Lockup with Brandon, brought to you by Triple Threat CLE brings you the Weekend 3 Count. W3C brings you wrestling news, rumors and recaps from around the wrestling world. You'll find news and recaps involving WWE, NXT, TNA, ROH, Lucha Underground, GFW, NJPW, House of Hardcore and any Indy promotion that I find an interesting story or a cool discovery in. Be sure to check out the W3C every Sunday at @TripleThreatCLE. 

*** WWE ***

- Kevin Owens and Randy Orton Switching Shows?: According to SportsKeeda, there have been backstage talk about possibly moving Kevin Owens to Smackdown Live and Randy Orton over to RAW. Some are saying that Smackdown Live needs more heels and Owens would be a perfect fit. There hasn't been any build up to this on TV as of yet and may possibly be only rumors.

- Brock Lesnar Returns: WWE announced that Brock Lesnar will be apart of tomorrow night's RAW. RAW will be the last RAW before next Sunday's Summer Slam event.

- Steve Austin Podcast With Dean Ambrose: Last Monday after RAW, Steve Austin went live with another podcast and had WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose as his special guest. Ambrose talked about growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, how to him wrestling was his favorite thing to take his mind off life, Bret Hart being his favorite wrestler, how he got into wrestling and how he started at the very bottom sweeping floors, living on the floor at a friends house in Philadelphia when WWE called, his time in NXT, cutting promos, The Shield, not being happy at all with his match against Brock Lesnar, his relationship with Vince McMahon and what being the WWE World Heavyweight Champion means to him.

- Possible New WWE Tag Team Championship Coming Soon: Last week it was announced that Smackdown Live may soon be adding a new WWE Women's Championship to their show. This week WWE have announced plans for a possible new WWE World Tag Team Championship being added to Smackdown Live show coming soon.

- WWE Working On A Women's Tournament: With the huge success that the Cruiserweight Classic Tournament has brought in so far, WWE is working on bringing us a Women's Division Tournament some time in the near future. The tournament will showcase women from all over the world.

- Shelton Benjamin's Return Cancelled: Two weeks ago WWE announced that Shelton Benjamin would be returning to the WWE with the Smackdown Live brand. Benjamin, however, received some bad news this week. Benjamin took to Twitter this week and stated that he would not be returning to WWE at this time due to a torn rotator cuff. Benjamin gave credit to WWE for spotting the injury and hopes to be in WWE sometime in the future.

- More Insults From UFC's Conor McGregor: Last week UFC's Conor McGregor took shots at Brock Lesnar and WWE wrestlers in general, basically calling them weak, unless they're juiced up. This week McGregor made a Twitter comment and this time got a response out of the wrestling world. Here is Conor's comment from last week and his twitter comment from this week.

Conor McGregor: “For the most part, those WWE guys are p***ies, to be honest. They’re messed up p***ies, if you ask me. Fair play to Brock, he got in and fought, but at the end of the day he was juiced up to the f***ing eye balls, so how can I respect that? There’s some dons in that wrestling game. The McMahons, they’re dons. Triple H is a don. The Rock is a don. But the rest of them are p***ies.”

Conor McGregor's Twitter Comment: "I didn't mean no disrespect to the @wwe fans. What I meant to say was that I'd slap the head off your entire roster. And twice on Sunday's."

- The wrestling world responds:

Roman Reigns: "You're the size of my leg. Shut up".

Kurt Angle: "@TheNotoriousMMA @WWE very funny little guy. Why don't you get your head out of Dana White's ass!"

Chris Jericho: "Sorry pal no disrespect to u, but my fights are legit, unlike the fixed fights u have in @UFC. I’ll embarrass u."

Big E: "Would you prefer to find us individually or have us all line up at once? I know your time is valuable, sir."

Rusev: "So much talk for a guy who fights 15 min matches twice a year...... Good for you Conor McGaiver."

Ric Flair: "After Diaz finishes you again, I dare you to try guys like Dolph, Brock, or Fit. Oh you're welcome for your gimmick."

Baron Corbin: "I beg to differ kid."

AJ Styles: "I think McGregor could do well in the featherweight division......if the WWE had one."

Bubba Ray Dudley: "I would pay good $$ to see @RealKurtAngle STRETCH THE PISS outta @TheNotoriousMMA and make him tap." #itstrue

Sheamus: "Tonight I face @WWECesaro on #RAW... Win? Lose? I wont offer-up my throat & p***y out like another so-called Celtic Warrior. #TheMacLies"

- Conor McGregor Responds To Ric Flair:

"I don’t know what to say to Ric Flair, “This ain’t no gimmick. This is the real sh*t. I’ve gotta get in and fight a man for real. With no script, with no nothing. He was talking about bringing some other wrestler guys out to challenge me. Come bring it, then. This is the real shit over here. You know want to come over, we can fight no problem. A few of them are talking about the street and all. If they want to do that, come at me and see what happens.”

- Conor McGregor Takes Shots At John Cena:

"What’s the main guy? John Cena? He’s 40. He’s 40 years of age. He’s walking around in a luminous orange t-shirt and a headband talking about nobody can see him. We can see him right there. He’s a big fat, 40-year-old failed Mr. Olympia mot****ucker, do you know what I mean?”

- Conor's Rants, Scripted Or Real?: Some fans in the UFC and WWE world are thinking that this whole Conor McGregor rant on wrestling may be a scripted plan being set into motion. Conor made comments awhile back about maybe one day joining the WWE after his UFC career closes. So why would a man with a good future ahead ruin that by making fun of wrestlers? Is it a scripted plan that Conor has set in motion to make an appearance at a WWE pay per view? Or has Conor truly had a change of heart and really put WWE and all of wrestling on blast? Guess we'll have to stay tuned.

- Joey Styles Released: According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, former ECW announcer and Vice President of Digital Media Content Joey Styles is no longer with WWE. There's currently no word as to why Styles has been released. Some, however, think it may have been due to some of his answers during his Facebook Q&A. One of his answers being why he feels Roman Reigns has been shoved down the WWE Universe's throats.

- Cruiserweight Classic Tournament Episode #5 Highlights: This week the CWC Tournament kicked off second round matches.

- Big Show Retirement: Big Show announced this week that he is planning on finally retiring after his match with Shaq takes place at Wrestlemania 33. 

*** WWE Summer Slam Card ***
- "WWE Universal Championship Match": Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
- "WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match": Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
- "WWE Intercontinental Championship Match": The Miz (c) vs. Apollo Crews
- "WWE United States Championship Match": Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns
- "WWE World Tag Team Championship Match": The New Day (c) vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
- "WWE Women's Championship Match": Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte
- Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton
- John Cena vs. AJ Styles
- Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens vs. Enzo and Big Cass

*** NXT ***

- Danielle Kamela Debuts: This past week, NXT rookie Danielle Kamela made her official NXT debut as she came up short in a loss against former NXT Women's Champion Bayley, at an NXT Live event.

- Kenneth Crawford Returns: Three months ago Kenneth Crawford suffered a near career ending injury and was forced out of action. Crawford returned this past week and defeated Patrick Clark at an NXT Live event.

- Bayley On Talk Is Jericho: Former NXT Women's Champion Bayley was recently on Chris Jericho's Talk Is Jericho podcast. Bayley talked about how she got her WWE/NXT ring name, who has impressed her from NXT's Women's Division, the nickname she and Sasha Banks had for themselves in FCW and her relationship with Sasha Banks being her best friend.

*** NXT Takeover: Brooklyn 2 Card ***
- "NXT World Championship Match": Samoa Joe (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
- "NXT Women's Championship Match": Asuka (c) vs. Bayley
- "NXT World Tag Team Championship Match": The Revival (c) vs. Tommasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano
- Bobby Roode vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas
- Austin Aries vs. No Way Jose
- Ember Moon Debuts

*** TNA ***
- TNA Impact Recap:
-- Ethan Carter and Bobby Lashley trade verbal shots with their match against each other coming up at Bound For Glory. James Storm interrupts mocks Lashley and a brawl breaks out. Storm and Lashley brawl all the way backstage.
-- Mike Bennett and Moose attack Ethan Carter. Eddie Edwards makes the save and challenges Bennett and Moose to a tag team match, right now.
-- Mike Bennett and Moose defeated Ethan Carter and Eddie Edwards, by pinfall. Moose hits Sky High on Edwards. Bennett tags himself in and steals the pin from Moose.

-- The man formerly known as Damien Sandow makes his TNA debut. Sandow now goes by Aron Rex. Rex says he's not going to talk bad about WWE, he's here because TNA has great talent and he's going to prove that he isn't just an entertainer, he's a main eventer.
-- Marti Belle attacks Gail Kim with a baton and beats her down. Maria Bennett announces they'll face each other tonight.
-- Eddie Edwards challenges Mike Bennett. Bennett declines and says Edwards will fight Moose instead.
-- Gail Kim defeated Marti Belle, by pinfall, in a No DQ Match. Maria Bennett ordered Allie to attack Gail. Allie goes to attack Gail with the baton. Gail sends Allie crashing into Marti. Gail then rolls up Marti for the pinfall. After the match, Gail is attacked by Marti. Jade hits the ring and makes the save. Maria orders Jade to face Gail Kim next week.
-- Jeff Hardy tells Matt Hardy that he can't win the tag titles alone, Matt needs to stop being "Broken" and go back to the way things were. Matt says The Hardy's are over and Jeff is on this Odyssey alone. The Tribunal and Al Snow interrupt and mock The Hardy's setting up a tag team match.
- Matt and Jeff Hardy defeated The Tribunal, by pinfall. Matt bites Al Snow and beats Baron Daxx with his shoe. Jeff hits the Twist Of Fate on Barraca for the win.
-- Jeff Hardy flips out and attacks The Tribunal and Al Snow. Jeff hits a plancha on Snow through a table. Jeff then hits a Swanton Bomb putting himself through a table on purpose. Jeff says that he is Brother Nero and the only one that punishes him is himself. Matt laughs and says that Jeff is "Broken". 
-- Drew Galloway blames Ethan Carter for trying to sabotage his career. Galloway challenges EC3 to a match with EC3's Bound For Glory world title match on the line.

-- Bobby Lashley defeated James Storm, by pinfall, to win the TNA King of the Mountain Championship and to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and TNA X-Division Championship. Lashley got a near fall with a Dominator and a spear. Storm got a very close near fall with Last Call. Lashley hits another spear for the win.
-- Aron Rex arrives and stares down Bobby Lashley to end the show.

- Damien Sandow Arrives: As you read in the above Impact recap, Damian Sandow, now using the name Aron Rex arrived in TNA. Sandow is a former 1-Time WWE World Tag Team Champion and Money In The Bank Winner. Sandow was never really used to his full potential in the WWE. Sandow was mostly used for corny gimmicks, even with the WWE Universe fully wanting a Sandow push. Sandow commented on why he signed with TNA.

"TNA just seemed like the perfect spot for me, they are a growing company with a proven track record. I really believe that they have their finger on the pulse of what the audience wants, and they will gear their product towards that. I really was not planning on signing with anybody this soon, I was serious about that. But the way the conversations went with several TNA officials, and the strong feeling of a family atmosphere, really made me want to explore the possibility of getting in the ring sooner than I expected."

- New TNA President Announced: Impact Ventures, which oversee Impact and TNA, along with TNA Chairman Dixie Carter have announced a new TNA President. That man is Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan. Corgan joined the company as a senior producer back in 2015 and according to Dixie, he has flourished in his role. Dixie stated the following:

"Billy is a visionary, an iconic artist and savvy businessman with an incredibly gifted creative mind. In working with Billy over the last 16 months, he has impressed me to the point that I’ve been in discussions with him to take an elevated strategic leadership role within the company."

- Bound For Glory Date Changed: TNA announced Monday that their biggest PPV event of the year, Bound For Glory, will take place on Sunday, October 2, at 8:00pm EST. TNA had to change their PPV date due to WWE running WWE Backlash on the same day. TNA wanted nothing to do with the ratings war on PPV.

- TNA Working With AAA: During the recent AAA World Cup event, there was a lot of talk backstage regarding TNA Wrestling talent being brought in for the TripleMania event. As of now, there are TNA Superstars being advertised for the show. TNA and AAA were said to be on the outs with each other the past few months, but sources have said that it appears both are working together again.

*** RING OF HONOR ***
- ROH TV Recap:
-- Jay White defeated Will Ferrara, by pinfall, with the Kiwi Crusher.
-- Mark Briscoe ruins Bobby Fish's Fish Tank talk show with his own show called The Chicken Shack. Briscoe and Fish trade insults that leads to a brawl, forcing ROH officials to separate both men.

-- Jay Lethal defeated Colt Cabana, by pinfall, to retain the ROH World Heavyweight Championship. Lethal hits a super kick on Cabana, followed by the Lethal Injection to pick up the win.
-- Jay Lethal begs Nigel McGuinness to lift Adam Cole's World Title Match ban, so he can get revenge on Cole. McGuinness says no at first, but finally caved in and announces Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole at Death Before Dishonor, for the ROH World Heavyweight Championship.

*** ROH Death Before Dishonor Card ***
- "ROH World Heavyweight Championship Match": Jay Lethal (c) vs. Adam Cole
- "ROH Television Championship Match": Bobby Fish (c) vs. Mark Briscoe
- "ROH World Tag Team Championship, Triple Threat Match": The Addiction (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito and Evil vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Dalton Castle
- Silas Young vs. Kaysuyori Shibata
- "Six Man Tag Team Match": Chaos (Rocky Romero, Beretta and Toru Yano) vs. The Bullet Club (Yujiro, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa)
- "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Jay Briscoe
- "Fatal Four Way, #1 Contenders ROH Television Title Match": Lio Rush vs. Jay White vs. Donovan Dijak vs. Kamaitachi

*** NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING ***

- Ryback In Talks With New Japan: Sources are saying that Ryback has been in contract talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling and might be signing on with them soon. Ryback is currently working independent wrestling shows and is asking a hefty price tag of $4500 a match. Ryback is also currently wrestling under the name "The Big Guy". 

*** Lucha Underground ***

- Season 3 News: Lucha Underground have released the new mini trailer for the third season of Lucha Underground. Season 3 is expected to air in the fall of 2016. 

*** W3C Wrestler Of The Week ***
- This week's W3C Wrestler Of The Week goes to a man who just made his NXT debut, was one of TNA's Originals and right now is simply GLORIOUS.......Bobby Roode!

- NWA World Tag Team Champion (2 times) - with Eric Young
- TNA World Tag Team Champion (6 times) – with James Storm (5) and Austin Aries (1)
- TNA King of the Mountain Champion (1 time)
- TNA World Heavyweight Champion (2 times)
- Bound for Glory Series Winner (2011)
- Team 3D Invitational Tag Team Tournament Winner (2009) – with James Storm
- TNA Tag Team Championship Series Winner (2010) – with James Storm
- TNA Tournament of Champions Winner (2013)

Roode has also won many titles in the independent wrestling world and is considered one of TNA's Originals.

- The Best Of Bobby Roode:

- "TNA World Heavyweight Championship, Steel Cage Match": Bobby Roode (c) vs. James Storm:

And that's this week's W3C! Join me every Sunday afternoon as I bring you news, recaps and rumors all around the wrestling world!