FREE: The Rock, Smackdown, UK News, MORE (Patreon)

• We've made this post free for all subscribers. On the paid tier this weekend, we'll have more info on women's frustration in WWE, a follow up on The Rock at Smackdown, Smackdown scoops thread and producers, updates on injured AEW and NJPW talent, our Q&A podcast, and numerous other shows.

• NXT announcer Vic Joseph was backstage at TNA. He's married to ring announcer McKenzie Mitchell.

• A number of matches for Smackdown have been reworked with The Rock appearing on the show tonight. WWE deleted Nick Aldis' announcement video. Those that we've spoken to claim that this was a very late situation to most in the company.

• A number of UK talent are expected to get looks while WWE is overseas.

Fightful News

• Fightful has a new FIGHTFUL PRESENTS video up covering the TNA effort for the Monday Night War. You can see it at this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0v8i70tsc

• A reminder, Fightful Podcasts are available on Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and all other audio platforms. Please leave us a nice review if you can.

• We have a clips channel over at Fightful Scraps: https://www.youtube.com/fightfulscraps

• We're going to be running a ton of contests with BetOnline and other merch, so subscribing to these will have you entered in many of them.

  https://youtu.be/kkI1-a45FyY?feature=shared

Euro News/Australia Round Up 

•  Much of the talk backstage at PROGRESS: For The Love Of Progress 3 on Valentine’s Day was about talent being signed, but we have not heard of who as of this writing.

• -There were extended rehearsals for at least one match on the PROGRESS show.

• Talents from Spain, Portugal and the UK have so far been invited to do extra work during WWE’s Road To WrestleMania tour.

• We had heard of a possible WWE athlete tryout also taking place in March, but have yet to receive confirmation on that.

• Miyu Yamashita’s return to RCW in Spain next month has been in the works since November. There was some concern that it wouldn’t happen due to her tight schedule.

• There were several talents from various promotions in Australia who worked as extras for AEW’s Grand Slam tapings.

• Those we spoke to in British Wrestling were firm on their disapproval of a recent ableist angle at Purpose Wrestling, but several we spoke to were content with the promotion’s public apology on the matter.

• In addition to several names of the UK independent scene announced for Las Vegas during WrestleMania weekend, we have heard of several unannounced bookings featuring some top names from wXw and the French scene.

Amale Interview Notes

Fightful’s Corey Brennan recently sat down with former NXT UK name Amale for an interview. You can check out the notes from the interview below.

Corey began the interview by asking Amale about her rivalry with Lyra Valkyria, with Amale giving heavy praise to the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion, noting that she was a prodigy in NXT UK, and that she had recently told Valkyria that she was her hero. While on the topic of NXT UK, Amale discussed facing Meiko Satomura and the positive reaction she got from French fans after the bout aired. Amale would later discuss her feud with Blair Davenport and becoming the first French woman to sign with WWE.

Amale went on to discuss winning the wXw Women’s Champion, stating her pride at her reign and how much of a shock it was to fans in 2019. Amale also touched on possibly facing Shotgun Champion Anita Vaughan for her title in the future now that the women’s title is defunct.

On the topic of wrestling outside of the UK and France, Amale spoke highly of those working behind the scenes at RCW Spain, noting that they truly care about women’s wrestling. Amale also talked about wrestling across Europe recently, including in Germany.

Amale also discussed how she used to be a schoolteacher and a wrestler at the same time, noting that it was an exhausting experience trying to keep up with both jobs at once. Finally, Amale discussed her return to France for the first time in several months, explaining that she is both excited and nervous, noting that she had previously canceled several bookings in France over the last few months.

You can check out the full interview with Amale on Fightful Scraps here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovSS69l-FI0