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Kurt
Angle Names His Mount Rushmore Of Pro Wrestlers -
June 30, 2022
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It’s
apparently the season for active and retired wrestlers
to name their Mount Rushmores of professional wrestling
once again. After a lull following the craze in 2021,
Rushmore lists have been popping up again recently
from wrestlers like WWE’s Titus O’Neil,
and even legends like AEW’s Sting and Diamond
Dallas Page. It’s only natural, then, that WWE
Hall of Famer Kurt Angle would be asked about who
he’d have on his own Mount Rushmore when he sat
down for an interview with Steve Fall of NBC Sports
Boston.
“”It’s
really difficult,” Angle said. “If you could
give me ten people I could pick, that would be easier.
But if I had to pick a Mount Rushmore, for the first
time in my life, I’m going to include myself.
I’ve never done that before. Daniel Bryan [AEW’s
Bryan Danielson] is definitely up there.
“Stone
Cold Steve Austin, what an underrated wrestler, because
his character was so strong. He was the ass-kicker,
the beer drinker, but he could back it up in the ring.
He was really good. And also Undertaker. What an incredible
athlete for his size. I had so many great matches
with him. I really enjoyed working with him, as well.”
While
Angel never crossed paths with Danielson during their
careers, many fans will remember his battles with
both the Undertaker and Austin during the early 2000s.
Angle and Austin, who Angle has called the best wrestler
he ever faced, feuded prominently during the “Invasion”
storyline in 2001, trading the WWE Championship back
and forth.
Meanwhile,
Angle and Undertaker were on-and-off rivals from 2000
until Angle departed from WWE in mid-2006. Arguably
their most famous match was at WWE No Way Out 2006,
in which Angle defeated Taker to retain the WWE World
Heavyweight Championship.
(WrestlingINC)
News
AEW
Dynamite tops one million viewers for TBS debut
The
show featured Page vs. Danielson II, the TBS tournament
finals, and more.
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BY PAUL FONTAINE
AEW
Dynamite's TBS debut averaged 1,010,000 viewers on
Wednesday night, up 3.6 percent from the final episode
on TNT. It’s just the second time since October
6 that the show has topped one million viewers.
In
the 18-49 demo, Dynamite drew a 0.43 rating, up 16.2
percent from last week. That’s the show's best
number in the demo since September 29.
This
is also the first week that Dynamite aired live on
the West Coast since October 6.
Dynamite
finished
second on the cable charts in 18-49, trailing
only an NBA game on ESPN that averaged 1.7 million
viewers and drew a 0.53 in 18-49.
The
show was up in every age group with the exception
of people over 50. In that category, Dynamite was
down 2.8 percent from the previous week.
The
biggest increase, by far, was in the 18-34 age group,
where the week-to-week jump was 79 percent.
The
show also increased more with women than with men.
In the 18-49 age group, women were up 20 percent and
men were up 10 percent. In 12-34, the difference was
even more dramatic. Females in that demo doubled last
week's number, while males were up 45 percent.
As
compared to this week last year, when Dynamite aired
head-to-head with NXT New Year's Evil and also against
news coverage of the United States Capitol insurrection,
Dynamite was up 52.6 percent in overall viewers and
up 72 percent in the demo.
Listed
below are the last 11 weeks of overall viewership
and 18-49 demo numbers for Dynamite. The debut show
on TBS was up 8.7 percent in viewers and up 22.9 percent
in 18-49 from the 10-week averages prior to this week.
*click
here for full article
(Wrestling
Observer / Fgure Four Online)
Media
Man
News
As
noted, the controversy surrounding Tony Khan and Big
Swole was a hot topic this weekend. It began with
an episode of Big Swole’s “Swole World”
show that aired on Call-In. During the episode, the
former AEW star pointed to a lack of diversity in
the top spots of the company as one of the leading
factors in her departure in 2021.
Tony
Khan responded in a single tweet, pointed to how other
people of color have succeeded in AEW, and then said
he let Swole’s contract expire because her wrestling
wasn’t good enough.
“The
top 2 @AEW execs are brown (me & Megha)!! Jade,
Bowens, Caster, Dante, Nyla, Isiah & Marq Quen
all won on tv this month. The TBS Title Tournament
has been very diverse. I let Swole’s contract
expire as I felt her wrestling wasn’t good enough.
#AEWRampage Street Fight TONIGHT!,” he
wrote.
Swole
continued to retweet posts throughout the day yesterday,
but it wasn’t until this morning that she finally
posted a tweet of her own. In it, she implored the
wrestling community to listen intently to her podcast
because she believes her words are being misunderstood.
“It’s
Sunday, take time to actually listen to the podcast
instead of reading headlines and excerpts. Understand
diversity isn’t just a statistic, counting us/POC
isn’t the mindset,” she writes. “Not
one time did I ever mention anyone as racist. Comprehension
is key.”
One
AEW star that quickly reacted to the situation in
frustration was Lio Rush, who demanded that Tony Khan
apologize for his statement to Big Swole. But since
that transpired, it looks as though Rush had a heart-to-heart
with Tony Khan and has more optimism toward their
process.
“I
want this to be clear… I do not consider this
to be a diversity issue, and I at no point have thought
or said that AEW or Tony is racist,” Lio Rush
writes. “We can all clearly see that wrestling
as a whole and the AEW roster is perpetually diverse.
The issue at hand was a racial insensitivity issue.
“Having
spoken to Tony and Megah, we have discussed the endeavors
to further understand the struggles of the black community.
I am grateful to be able to understand more about
Tony and Megah’s own ethnic backgrounds and glad
that they are actively seeking input from an African
American perspective. I am proud to work for a boss
and company that try to make these strides in social
equality,” Rush continues. “I look forward
to working with Tony to keep making steps towards
positive change. I pray that 2022 is a year of positive
change in all aspects. Happy New Year and GOD BLESS.
#BeTheChange”
Other
AEW stars like Powerhouse Hobbs, Jade Cargill, &
Shawn Dean also made statements concerning this ordeal.
You can see their various statements at
this link.
You
can see the full tweets below:
*click
here for full article
(WrestlingINC)
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