It was announced by WWE earlier in the week that they were releasing James Ellsworth from the company. This surprised Pro Wrestling Sheet’s James McKenna who claimed that WWE had plans for Ellsworth at Wrestlemania for months. He elaborated on those plans during Wrestling Sheet Radio’s 100th episode. McKenna claims that Vince McMahon himself wanted Ellsworth to face Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship, and he even wanted James to win the title at some point. The storyline allegedly would’ve seen Ellsworth claim that he is transitioning into a woman in order to fight for the title. Ellsworth recently revealed on Twitter that he will be taking independent bookings again in February.
After being together for several years, it was reported earlier today that David Otunga and Jennifer Hudson are no longer in a relationship. Hudson has since accused Otunga of getting physical with her. While those accusations have yet to be proven, TMZ has now posted an update revealing that WWE has pulled Otunga from the Survivor Series kickoff panel and all future WWE events in light of the scandal. Otunga’s attorney released the following statement earlier today: “David Otunga has been trying to negotiate the terms of an amicable parenting agreement with Ms. Hudson for several weeks now…However, when it became apparent to Ms. Hudson that Mr. Otunga would be the parent granted residential care of the child, as a result of Mr. Otunga being the child’s primary caregiver while Ms. Hudson pursues her career all over the world, Ms. Hudson decided to file a meritless Petition for Order of Protection in an effort to gain an unfair advantage in the custody dispute.” An order of protection has since been filed by Hudson.
Ric Flair parted ways with the Legacy Talent agency after working together for several years a few months ago. It appears as though Flair will now be filing a lawsuit against his old management company. Flair alleges that the company received and kept a $25,000 payment for Flair’s recent 30 for 30 special that belonged to him. Legacy’s CEO Melinda Morris Zanoni was credited as a producer for the special, but Flair says he was never made aware of the payment. He also alleges that an advance payment for $12,000 due to an endorsement deal is due. Legacy apparently told him that the money was going towards legal fees, something that Flair denies having authorized.