BREAKING NEWS: New WWN Partnership Leads EVOLVE to the Midwest!

WWN is known as the World Wrestling Network. They already have a large chain of promotions that includes SHINE, FIP, ACW. EVOLVE, and Style Battle. EVOLVE is the most known promotion of that group, and is the one that actually benefited from this new deal. Recently, you may have seen my blog on Freelance Wrestling. They are airing in Japan! I said that they needed some more exposure, and this is it!

Freelance Wrestling is partnering with WWN to bring EVOLVE to the Chicago area on May 20th. There will be a Freelance event in the afternoon, and EVOLVE at 8PM from Summit Park District! This is not the end of the good news for EVOLVE. The next night, EVOLVE will head to the Detroit area!

All of this is thanks to the new Midwest Promoter for EVOLVE, Chris T. Bonjour. EVOLVE will be coming to the Monaghan Knights of Colombus Hall on May 21st. This is huge news for EVOLVE fans of the Midwest. Tickets are going on sale next week! Be ready Chicago and Detroit.

EVOLVE likes to go to the same places over and over. La Boom in New York, The Orpheum in Orlando, and they really like the Joppa MD arena as well. Good for them for going to their loyal fans, but this is definitely going to be for the better for EVOLVE coming up in 2017. If you really want to get a new fan base, or just expand your horizons, this is the way to do it. Hopefully with these new Midwest locations, we will also see them in other states like Wisconsin and Minnesota!

BREAKING NEWS: Freelance Wrestling Airing in Japan

Already some of you may be not familiar with the promotion "Freelance Wrestling". This is big time though. Freelance Wrestling is a pro wrestling promotion based out of Chicago Illinois. Many of you may be getting familiar with Mustafa Ali in WWE's cruiserweight division. Freelance Wrestling literally made that guy. He was a former champ and defended it non-stop against all comers! You can check them out more at freelancewrestling.com

Now, onto the good stuff. Yesterday Freelance retweeted something from "Nico Pro Wrestling". That though is not a promotion. It's more of a channel for Japanese wrestling fans to check out wrestling. Think of it like the WWE Network or any of your favorite Indy promotions subscription services, only this one is free from what I understand.

I'm not sure if you can download the app here in the US. Freelance though is trying to expand their horizons, and this is amazing. There are just some promotions that can't get their word out there, but really deserve it. Freelance is one of those. Each of their shows you can watch on their website for just $5. They used to be free, actually. The quality isn't the best, but they save that for their DVDs.

One of the things that makes Freelance so amazing is the Chicago crowd. The atompsphere at every show always delivers. Mustafa Ali's farewell show will be one he definitely remembers forever. The crowd adds to the amazing matches, and another great show is planned for February. You can check out their Twitter for even more details, but as a nice send off, check out this stacked card for "The Hammer of Dawn" on Feb. 11th.

BREAKING NEWS: Pentagon Jr. Leaves AAA, Name Change

Pentagon Jr. may have been one of your favorites in Lucha Underground and on the independents, but  that may no longer be the case. It just so happens that Pentagon Jr. has left AAA in Mexico. This is the major promotion along with CMLL. If you ask me, don't bother with AAA. It's just not that great of a promotion and it was a genius idea for Pentagon to leave and tour the indpendants.

This is not the only name that left AAA recently. Daga and Darza Jr. have both left with Pentagon. The other well known Luchador to leave was actually Pentagon's brother, Fènix. Both Fènix and Pentagon will now begin to tour around the world, but not as the names we once knew them. AAA owns  the names "Fènix" and "Pentagon Jr." Lucky for both men, only minor changes have been made to their names.

You may have been noticing already that Fènix has been going by the name of "Rey Fènix" in promotions like AAW. Pentagon will be next to follow. His name will be changed to "Penta El Cero Miedo". The name is a bit of a change, but nothing that we haven't seen from Pentagon in the past. His signature taunt is "Cero Miedo", but it just doesn't seem like a right fit in his name. Who knows. We'll see where this goes. 

Fènix and Pentagon have been in the US before. We've seen them in promotions like AAW and PWG, but they may show up even more often now after this decision. Right now, it definitely seems like it's for the better. Pentagon and Fènix can now go around and surely get more opportunities than when they were signed to AAA. Who knows. Maybe a TNA or ROH signing could be on the way (even though I would hate to see both in TNA).

BREAKING NEWS! New Title Designs for Minor Championships?

It was first reported by the reddit user, "Dvizzle", back in November that there was speculation of a new title design for WWE's Intercontinental Championship. Now there have even been more talks of changing the design, but also plans going forward are to change the look of the United States Championship as well. 

This user has been reliable for the latest scoops on title designs in the past. In August he reported that the new Universal Championship would look the same as the WWE Championship, except in the color red to represent the RAW brand. 

The Intercontinental Championship is currently held by Dean Ambrose, and is exclusive to the Smackdown brand. On the other brand. RAW holds the United States Championship, and that is currently held by Chris Jericho. Looking at the talent that holds WWE's minor championships, it wouldn't shock me if we see these designs change sooner rather than later. 

To spice things up, this is a good idea. It'd be pulled off better if moving into WrestleMania (maybe after the Rumble), a new design was revealed. Then say the RAW after Mania we get the second new design. That way both don't get thrown at us at once. Overall though, the new designs aren't a must have, but will be a nice change. I personally love the IC Title design since it has such a rich history, and don't believe it needs a change. As for the US Title, it is relatively generic and could use a change. 

Now I ask, do you believe the belts should have a new look? It is a nice way to change things up moving into Mania, or after, but is it really needed? Guess it's a way for WWE to make more money, like they need it. 

BREAKING NEWS! HUGE Tag Match Set For Upcoming ROH Show in Ohio!

Credit: ROH Wrestling

Hey guys, it's Bowen from the Rest Hold Party back with some ROH news.

ROH has recently posted a photo on their Twitter confirming a HUGE match for the ROH tag team titles at ROH: The Experience as Hanson and Rowe, otherwise known as WarMachine, take on the current Ring of Honor tag team champions The Young Bucks when ROH shows up in Ohio on the twelfth of February. This is also the first time these two teams have gone one on one and all I have to say is ... The Young Bucks are done fucked.

What are your thoughts on ROH booking this match? Do you think the Young Bucks have any chance of breaking the protective beards of the two giants put in front of them, or will the Buck stop here?

BREAKING NEWS: Triple H confirms Women's Wrestling Tournament

Ladies and gentlemen, this women's wrestling revolution continues! It has been confirmed that this summer on the WWE Network, World Wrestling Entertainment will orchestrate a women's wrestling tournament! Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and current head of NXT himself Triple H confirmed this on the FOX Sports Wrestling Compadres Slamcast. Thanks to Wrestling Inc, here's the excerpt where The Game verified this news:

DALE RUTLEDGE: Last time on the show, [Stephanie McMahon] mentioned an idea for the women's talent that you were working on. Has there been any further development on that?

TRIPLE H: So, that's another one of my big, big kind of passions, is to go do that, a women's tournament. And we're down the road a bit of — the harder thing now, in a changing landscape, I feel like sometimes in WWE, like, you know, Tuesday, I'm like, "Okay, so this is where we're going, right? No changing it? Yes!" On Wednesday morning, you have to call, it's like, "We're not doing that anymore."

So you look at the landscape and how much it's changed in the last year. NXT Takeovers now are attached to our "Big Four" pay-per-views. Raw and SmackDown have split brands and have pay-per-views of their own, but there's more pay-per-views. When you look at the big calendar of where do you stick an event, that's changed. And you have to look for the space where you go like, "Do it here! … no, that's not good, you have a holiday." Right?

So it's really just been a process with the women of us finding the right time and space. This one worked out great with the little gap before Rumble here, to fit this tournament in and doing it in a shorter time frame, doing it live.

The women, we're probably going to do this summer, is what I'm hoping, and a lot of women performers just [reacted] when I said that, but that's the plan anyway. And you know, again, much like cruisers, it's to go scour the globe and maybe find the girls that are out there doing this that no one's heard of, that no one has seen, that are like these diamonds waiting, and bring them up. And let's see what they can do, and entertain people with the tournament, and let them be exposed to this new talent. And at the same time, just massively increase the opportunity and the talent pool for us, and for everyone, really. 

So, there you have it. Be on the lookout for a WWE Women's Tournament sometime in the summer of 2017! Rest Hold Party will have more on this breaking story as it develops...

BREAKING NEWS: Kurt Angle to be inducted in the 2017 WWE Hall Of Fame!

Oh, It's True, It's True! The Olympic Gold Medalist himself is being inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame class of 2017! It was announced earlier this afternoon by WWE themselves on their website. Angle is a former WCW, TNA, WWE and IWGP Heavyweight Champion as well as one of the most accomplished amateur wrestlers in the entire world. His work is revered in the sport of professional wrestling, with critically acclaimed matches with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, Sting, Samoa Joe and Chris Benoit just to name a few. His Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards also speak for themselves, as he has claimed awards in a multitude of categories.

When reached for comment by wwe.com , this is what Triple H had to say about this induction:

"Kurt Angle’s accomplishments both in the Olympics and WWE were extraordinary. He was one of the most gifted athletes to ever enter the ring, and we are honored to welcome him into the WWE Hall of Fame." 

This historic induction will also mark the first time Angle has been involved with WWE since his subsequent release in 2006, but there is still no word on if he will have a match for the promotion at any time in the near future, or even an appearance in this year's Royal Rumble match.

Congratulations to Kurt Angle on being the next inductee into the WWE Hall Of Fame Class of 2017 from all of us here at Rest Hold Party.

[SOURCE HERE: http://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-hall-fame/wwe-hall-of-fame-2017/article/kurt-angle-wwe-hall-of-fame-class-2017]