Ricochet became WWE’s first-ever Speed Champion back in April, and his next challenger is set in stone. As documented by Wrestling Headlines, Tyler Bate defeated Apollo Crews — who replaced the injured Ivar — in the finals of the latest Speed Tournament during last week’s “WWE SmackDown” taping. Both he and Ricochet will now collide on the next episode of “WWE Speed.”

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“Speed” is a collaboration between WWE and X (formerly known as Twitter). Both entities announced their partnership in February 2024, which entails WWE producing short-form matches that are exclusively shown on the social media platform on Wednesdays. Despite becoming official back in February, WWE tested the speedy concept last year, suggesting that it was in the works for a while.

Winning the Speed Championship would mark Bates’ first title since joining WWE’s main roster. However, he did have a decorated career when he competed on the company’s “NXT” brands, becoming a Triple Crown Champion on “NXT UK” and NXT Tag Team Champion with Trent Seven on the main show. Since joining the main roster, the rising star has primarily teamed with Pete Dunne, with the duo going by the name New Catch Republic.

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As of this writing, neither Ricochet nor Bate have commented on the upcoming bout. However, their respective styles should make for an exciting and interesting title match on the upcoming episode.

Frontman of The Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, purchased the NWA in 2017 and has been running the promotion ever since, and has discussed whether the wrestling business or rock n’ roll is more difficult. 

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A new TV series titled “Billy Corgan’s Adventures in Carnyland” about the rock star’s life with his band as well as leading the NWA was recently released, and Corgan has talked about everything that will be shown in the series. He said on “Busted Open Radio” that wrestling, hands down, is tougher because there are rules that “you just can’t get around,” even with his own company.

“Trying to convince someone who’s been in the business for 20 years that there’s a better way to do a finish, there’s a better way to roll out an angle, there’s a better way to run the business of the NWA [is hard,]” Corgan said. “Most of the people in the NWA have no idea how much money I spend or how I spend it. They just sit there and they just want to sort of run their mouth, some of them being ex-talents, they want to run their mouth on how I run the business, and that’s what the show deals with.”

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Corgan said the series deals with “critical aspects” of why he’s doing what he’s doing with NWA. He said one of the best things he was recently told came from a 25-year veteran in the wrestling business. 

“[I’m] not saying I’m a genius. It’s not saying I’m the best booker of all time,” he said. “It’s saying, ‘Look, we believe in what you’re trying to do and we’re going to do our best to get it behind you and push because we believe in what the NWA stands for.'”

Please credit “Busted Open Radio” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

The Undertaker has shared the experiences from his wrestling career that he loves to make public knowledge on his “Six Feet Under” podcast.

The Hall of Famer has weekly episodes of his podcasts, sometimes hosting guests as well such as comedian Tony Hinchcliffe and his wife Michelle McCool. On a recent edition of “Busted Open Radio,” The Undertaker commented on the topics he loves to talk about the most on his podcast.

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“I love talking about my interactions with the boys, that’s the stuff that I really love to talk about, and the nights that we had and the places where we went. The night in Tokyo was crazy … there’s so much coverage of them, you know, the x’s and o’s and they should’ve done this and they should’ve done that, it’s just like, there’s enough people covering that … I’m trying to find my niche and how I mix em both together,” said the legend.

He understands that wrestling will always be the main theme of his podcast but wants to branch out into talking about other unrelated discussions and possibly into hosting other athletes or artists on the show. 

“Wrestling will always be the common link but I want to take people from other genres, other athletes, other musicians. I like to hear people’s stories, my story is fairly interesting coming up, and I like to hear other people’s stories about how they came up and the things they had to deal with and there’s always them being fans of wrestling, me being involved in wrestling and just the similarities. That’s kind of where I feel like I want to go, it’s just a matter of whether or not that’s where the audience is.”   

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He also elaborated on his surprise appearance at WrestleMania 40, and how it was put together. 

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

After two rounds of fierce competition, only four men remain in the 2024 WWE King of the Ring tournament – Randy Orton, Tama Tonga, Jey Uso, and GUNTHER. The tournament will continue on tomorrow’s episode of “WWE Raw” with GUNTHER taking on Uso, while Orton and Tonga collide on “WWE SmackDown” later in the week. Before the action resumes, though, former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. recently revealed who he believes will ultimately claim the throne in the King of the Ring tournament.

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“I think GUNTHER is winning,” Prinze Jr. said on “Wrestling With Freddie.” “I think he’ll look the best in it even if they make him wear a crown. Please don’t make him wear a crown. Please don’t make him wear a crown and a cape, but I just think it suits him. It fits him well. He’s definitely on a trajectory towards a world championship. And I just think it would be awesome if he wins. And that match [against Sheamus] was so freaking good. Dude, it was so freaking good.”

As Prinze Jr. alluded to, GUNTHER kicked off his King of the Ring journey with a “Raw” main event match against Sheamus, which resulted in a bloody chest for the “The Celtic Warrior.” Sheamus and GUNTHER, of course, are no strangers to one another, as they’ve notably faced off at WWE Clash at the Castle 2022 and WrestleMania 39. The physicality of these two men was brought to the forefront once again on the May 6 episode of “Raw,” in what Prinze Jr. described as a “fight scene from a movie.”

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The finals of the King of the Ring tournament will take place on May 25, when WWE hosts the King and Queen of the Ring premium live event from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Wrestling With Freddie” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

William Regal doesn’t do a lot of interviews, so the particulars of his current WWE role are quite ambiguous. However, “NXT” announcer and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T has revealed that he’s quite influential behind the scenes, as he explained during an episode of the “Hall of Fame” podcast.

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“He’s still making money moves. Let’s just say that. I don’t want to give away his role,” Booker said. “He had not spoken something like that; his title. I wouldn’t want to give it a title. I could tell you he’s very very instrumental in the young guys and the young guys that are coming up and making it to the next level.”

While Booker doesn’t want to give away his colleague’s secrets, Regal’s behind-the-scenes WWE role is reportedly Senior Vice President of Global Talent Development. This entails him giving feedback to wrestlers after watching their matches so that they can improve their in-ring work. He previously worked as a trainer at the Performance Center before being promoted to Director of Talent Development and Head of Global Recruiting.

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Regal officially returned to WWE in 2023 so he could work more closely with his son, Charlie Dempsey. This came after a short stint in AEW, where he served as the manager of the Blackpool Combat Club faction. Despite working for a rival company for a while, Regal said that it didn’t effect his relationship with Triple H, so it makes sense that he was welcomed back to the promotion when the latter started helming the ship.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the “Hall of Fame” podcast and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.