Pro wrestling news and notes
There were some newsworthy happenings in the world of pro wrestling this week, so let鈥檚 take a look.
WWE season premieres
The new season of Smackdown took place Friday night, and it served as a lead-in to Saturday鈥檚 Extreme Rules event on Peacock while Raw debuts Monday.
While there are some changes, the most notable is behind the announce tables.
For the time being, the Smackdown team is Michael Cole and Wade Barrett while the new Raw team is Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves.
Since Pat McAfee joined ESPN鈥檚 College GameDay, Graves, a native of the Pittsburgh area, had been working on both Raw and Smackdown.
Patrick replaces Jimmy Smith who has left WWE.
Steveson鈥檚 absence
There has been speculation for months why NCAA wrestling legend Gable Steveson had yet to debut with WWE, as he had been expected to be on TV months ago.
He appeared at WrestleMania, but he had not been seen since. Earlier this week, WWE announced why.
ESPN reported Thursday that an ablation was performed on Steveson鈥檚 heart last month to treat Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome.
The condition was discovered before Steveson went to the Olympics last year but he didn鈥檛 undergo the procedure until WWE鈥檚 staff told him to do so.
WPW is a rare congenital heart defect present at birth in which an extra electrical pathway causes a rapid heartbeat.
Steveson is now at WWE鈥檚 Performance Center training with Fit Findlay.
More backstage drama in AEW
This past Wednesday, Andrade el Idolo and Sammy Guevara got into a fight.
Backstage fights are becoming more frequent in AEW as this comes on the heels of the blow up between CM Punk and The Young Bucks.
Remembering Antonio Inoki
Word broke last Friday that Antonio Inoki, arguably the most popular pro wrestler in their own country in history and a bona fide legend, passed away.
Without a doubt, Inoki is one of the greatest, and most important, pro wrestlers to ever lace up the boots.
Inoki defeated then-WWF champion Bob Backlund in 1979, but the title change was never recognized by WWE.
Perhaps the biggest sports feat Inoki took part in was when he faced Muhammed Ali in a boxer-vs-wrestler match.
When Ali balked at the 鈥渨orked鈥� finish of the match, it became a legit bout with Inoki actually getting the best of Ali, despite the bout being declared a draw.
Inoki would also serve in politics in Japan, which is further proof of just how big of a star he was.
This Week in History鈥�
In 1967, Eddie Guerrero was born.
In 2006, Kurt Angle made his TNA Impact Wrestling debut.
This week鈥檚 question:
Last week, you mentioned Chris Jericho being a bad pick as Ring of Honor champion. I agree. He is well over 50 and 15 years past his prime. I used to listen to his podcast, but all he does is hype up AEW to the point of ad nauseum. Does this annoy you as much as it does me? Kelly, Carmichaels.
I listen to his podcasts here and there, but it doesn鈥檛 bother me.
He is an employee of AEW, so it isn鈥檛 like he is going to plug or compliment WWE like he did on the podcast when employed by WWE.
Jericho was one of the first to understand the importance of the internet in the late 1990s, so he has always been ahead of the curve.
This is why he has a successful podcast and makes solid money off of it.
While I don鈥檛 listen to all of his shows (he has over 900 now), I have listened to many of the pro wrestling episodes but I have not listened to the ones that do not interest me.
I get it where Jericho annoys you, but considering his prominent role in AEW (and now apparently ROH as well), it is understandable why he does what he does yet why it also bothers you (and others).
Email questions/comments to powerhousehughes@gmail.com or tweet them to @BillHughes_III.