Back in May, in response to the pandemic, Belgian designer Dries Van Noten and a group of brands and retailers including Thom Browne, Acne studios, Mytheresa and Selfridges signed an open letter in a forum to the fashion industry announcing a proposal of “adjusting the seasonality and flow of both womenswear and menswear goods.” Another initiative, Rewiring Fashion, launched nearly simultaneously, but voiced by a different group of independent designers, executives and retailers, called out a fashion calendar that is out of sync with the end customer and a fashion show format that is outmoded. The two forces are now joining together with a common aim to solve some of…

— Last night’s WWE Smackdown drew the lowest rating of 2017, generating just 2.18 million viewers. Not only is it the least watched Smackdown of the year but it is the third lowest since the brand split almost a year ago. The only two episodes that drew lower went head to head against the presidential debates. — Smackdown was affected by the NBA playoffs which drew 5.78 million viewers and the NBA draft lottery, which drew 3.22 million. Smackdown lost 173,000 viewers from the week prior, whereas the NBA game gained over a million viewers. Overall, Smackdown was 10th on the night for total viewers and fourth in the 18-49…

WWE Superstar and Executive Stephanie McMahon recently spoke with The Sun out of the U.K. for an interview. During the discussion, the current RAW Commissioner spoke about the possibility of stepping between the ropes for a match again at some point in the future. “I absolutely love the in-ring performance aspect to what we do,” McMahon told The Sun. “It’s such an honor to be able to get in there with some of those performers and actually take bumps or tell a story of the match.” Stephanie continued, “I’m not necessarily the best but I do love to get in there. If there’s ever an opportunity again to do that…

— The Enzo getting beat up storyline now appears to be headed towards a Cass heel turn, as speculated by Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio. At least that is what WWE is strongly hinting at though it is expected that this storyline will play itself out over a few more weeks at least. — The Cass turn has been internally discussed for a while and now it makes more sense to happen ever since the Hardy Boyz rejoined WWE as they have sort of taken Enzo & Cass’ role as the top babyface tag team whose job it is to get the audience into the show. Click…

WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross updated the blog at his official website, JRsBarBQ.com, this week. Below are some of the highlights. On Samoa Joe becoming number one contender to WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar: “Samoa Joe getting his long awaited bout with Brock Lesnar is a stellar booking IMO and one that I endorsed at our RINGSIDE Show the night before WM31 in San Jose when Joe was my guest at our RINGSIDE Show. Some naysayers are already questioning this booking which is a head scratcher as some feel that Joe is being positioned for merely a one off against Lesnar which, if true, is not the end of…

Earlier this week, Eva Marie took to social media to comment on an acting role she is auditioning for. Featured below is a post from the WWE Superstar and Total Divas cast member’s official Instagram page regarding her potential acting gig and her take on laziness versus fear. Putting myself on tape for an absolutely fantastic role Every day I try to do at least one thing that helps me progress towards my goals. There are many people who desire the final result , but shy away from the tremendous amount of work required to attain that result. Often this is perceived as laziness, but I believe that it’s something…

WWE Superstar and Total Divas cast-member Natalya recently appeared as a guest on E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness for an interview. Below are some of the highlights. On being proud that she was able to help Charlotte Flair improve in the ring: “I always wanted to be good for other people, so we could keep paying it forward. And the way TJ helped me, I’m proud to say, like, I helped Charlotte Flair that way, because when we had our match, we had a very famous match in NXT and we’ll talk about that another time, like, that match helped her so much to believe in herself. And she understood what…

As noted, in addition to the much-hyped “free agent” return of John Cena, next Tuesday night’s special Fourth Of July edition of SmackDown Live will also feature an “Independence Day Battle Royal.” As of this writing, the only participant confirmed for the battle royal on 7/4 is former WWE Champion AJ Styles. According to PWInsider.com, that is who is expected to win the battle royal when all is said and done. PW Insider is reporting that the current working plan is for Kevin Owens to defend the WWE United States Championship against AJ Styles at the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view. Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership As announced earlier this week…

— As reported earlier today, WWE and Austin Aries have parted ways, with the company granting the wrestler his release effective immediately. Click Here: Golf special — According to sources, the actual release was already decided upon earlier in the week, but WWE usually announces contract terminations on Friday, which is why it was made public today. — A report from pwtorch.com confirms what was noted in the earlier post in that it was Aries who requested the release and reportedly the reason is that he didn’t want to be typecast in a “cruiserweight” sort of role and being relegated to 205 Live only. The story goes on to suggest…

— As posted earlier today, there appears to have been some sort of incident between Braun Strowman and Karen Jarrett at a Nashville bar last week. The version we posted via the The Wrestling Observer Newsletter indicated that Karen asked Braun for an autograph, was ignored so she threatened to tell on him to Kurt Angle, who is the father of her son leading to Strowman begging and apologizing. — Another version floating online indicates that it was Karen who was aggressive towards Strowman while a third version, according to PW Insider, suggests that “it was a drunken conversation between two drunk people in a bar that got loud, nothing…