Former All Elite Wrestling Tag Team Champion Kenny Omega has revealed his intention to return to singles competition. He made his feelings clear during an interview with Jim Ross on last night’s episode of Dynamite.
Reflecting on his time in tag team competition, Omega praised AEW’s tag team division. He labeled it as “one of the best tag team divisions in all of wrestling.”
He admitted how he and his former partner, Hangman Page, had to “dig deep” and find themselves as a team.
Omega admitted how “The part that I learned about Hangman is a part I don’t particularly like” before acknowledging he was proud of their time as a team and as champions.
However, Kenny Omega stressed that if Page intends to strive for a tag team championship rematch, “he better make other plans.”
He then turned his attention to his future in-ring goals, noting how he’s got his own dreams to pursue.
“There are things I’m destined to do here. I gave a year of my life to the team, to Hangman, and to tag team wrestling. I think it’s time I go back to singles action and give everyone a piece of what they were hoping to see since day one.”
All Elite Wrestling’s latest acquisition, Miro, has stressed he “meant every word” of his impassioned promo during last night’s episode of Dynamite.
Miro followed up his Dynamite debut with a video uploaded to YouTube. He stressed how he meant everything he said, revealing how “This was not just a promo, but my actual feelings.”
In the run-up to his debut, Miro confessed he tried to make himself numb. The closer it got, however, the more excited he got. Pointing to his AEW moniker as ‘The Best Man,’ Miro explained how it’s not just a gimmick. Instead, the name reflects his feelings that he is the “best professional wrestler in the world.”
The former WWE Superstar reflected on being able to debut in AEW in front of a crowd. He stressed how “[…] unlike the other place, in AEW, we actually do have a crowd. We had about 1,000 people [at Daily’s Place] and its such a fantastic feeling being in front of them.” He noted how he had goosebumps after stepping out from behind the curtain.
Miro, formerly known as WWE’s Rusev, was revealed to be Kip Sabian’s best man during a segment of the show. During his first appearance, Miro talked about how he was finally free from being “under the same house, under the same glass ceiling with an imaginary brass ring.” He then declared his previous employers could “take that brass ring and shove it up your ass.”
During a recent Twitch session, Styles opened up about his personal experiences with coronavirus. He clarified how “I had that like a month-and-a-half ago, whenever it was to the point where the CDC says you have to be quarantined for ten days.”
Styles stressed how he got tested for the virus before returning home for ten days. He isolated himself in the basement of his home. According to Styles, the scheduling WWE had set for him allowed him to quarantine without impacting plans to have him on TV. Having safely isolated, Styles noted how he was able to simply “go back to work” without issue.
AJ Styles acknowledged how his case isn’t necessarily representative of everyone who has caught COVID, however. He stressed how he’s okay before noting how “had I not been tested I never would have never known I had it and I could have spread it.”
Styles then credited WWE’s testing procedure and how it let him know he not only had COVID but had to take the next steps accordingly.
AEW Dynamite aired from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. Jericho and MJF were interviewed upon arriving at Daily’s Place. They both complimented each other and guaranteed that they will be AEW Champion soon. Jericho and MJF both said “what a loser” while walking away. It was also revealed that Moxley will defend the AEW Championship against Lance Archer on October 14th.
Brodie Lee def. Dustin Rhodes to retain the TNT Championship
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Jurassic Express Picked Up A Win
Lucha Bros battled Jurassic Express in the first match of the night. Eddie Kingston, Butcher, Blade were ringside for the match.
Match Recap: Fenix went for a Dropkick but Jungle Boy got out of the way. Jungle Boy went for a Dropkick of his own but Fenix avoided it. Fenix hit Jungle Boy with a Dropkick this time and tagged in Pentagon.
Pentagon connected with a Splash but Jungle Boy kicked out at two. Luchasaurus tagged in and Pentagon sent him to the corner. Jungle Boy tagged in and sent Lucha Bros out of the ring with a couple of Arm Drags.
Jungle Boy hit Fenix with a Suicide Dive and hopped back on the apron. Pentagon shoved him off and Fenx connected with a Superkick to the face. Back in the ring, Pentagon went for the cover but Jungle Boy somehow was able to kick out at two.
Luchasaurus tagged in and hit a series of Clotheslines and then a Body Slam to Fenix. Luchasaurus followed it up with a gigantic Chokeslam and a Standing Moonsault but Pentagon broke up the cover.
Jungle Boy tagged back in and Fenix connected with a slam/Leg Drop combo on Jurassic Express. Pentagon hit Jungle Boy with a Backstabber and followed it up with a Piledriver but Jungle Boy wouldn’t stay down. Pentagon accidentally hit Fenix and Jungle Boy rolled him up for the victory.
After the match, Eddie Kingston separated Fenix and Pentagon and scolded them for fighting with each other. They kept shoving each other and Kingston demanded that they shake each other’s hand. Lucha Bros finally shook hands and Kingston shouted that he never was eliminated from the Casino Battle Royal.
Matt Hardy Vowed To Come Back Healthy & Chase His First AEW Title
Matt Hardy came down to the ring to address the crowd following his scary injury at AEW All Out. Matt thanked the people in attendance and they started up a “Hardy!” chant.
Matt said it is so amazing to be in an arena with people and that they are a part of our magic. Hardy stated that he suffered a fall at All Out and that he knows it frightened a lot of people.
Matt thanked everyone for all the love that they have shown him and he is expected to make a 100% recovery. Hardy pointed to his wife and newborn in the crowd and apologized to his family for putting them through that Saturday night.
Hardy added that the fans showed everyone how much they care about the wrestlers that put their body on the line. Matt stated that the Broke Rules match wasn’t what he wanted it to be but he is glad that his vendetta with Sammy is over. Hardy vowed to come back healthy and chase his first AEW Championship.
Orange Cassidy squared off against Angelico tonight on Dynamite.
Match Recap: Angelico controlled the action early and connected with an Arm Drag. Angelico locked in a choke hold but Cassidy was able to make it to the bottom rope to break the hold. Angelico went for a Splash in the corner but Cassidy ducked and Angelico flew out of the ring. Cassidy hit a Suicide Dive and brought Angelico back in the ring. Orange hit Angelico with a Splash and followed it up with a Tornado DDT. Cassidy then connected with the Orange Punch for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Santana and Ortiz attacked Orange Cassidy from behind. Best Friends rushed the ring but Santana and Ortiz retreated. Best Friends told Santana and Ortiz to meat them in the parking lot next week on Dynamite.
WWE has come under fire in recent weeks regarding the company’s classification of talent as independent contractors.
Earlier this month, WWE held a talent meeting to address the issue of wrestlers generating revenue for themselves independently. WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon also sent out a memo instructing wrestlers to cease money making ventures with third-parties by October 2nd.
WWE’s communication with talent was said to be vague and misleading. There were conflicting reports about whether or not wrestlers could still use services like Cameo, Twitch and YouTube using their WWE-owned names or their ‘real’ names.
WWE received a lot of pushback within the industry, amongst fans and even from that of former US Presidential candidate Andrew Yang. They addressed the controversy in a statement released over the past week. WWE comparing their need to protect intellectual property similar to Disney and Warner Bros:
“It is the control and exploitation of these characters that allows WWE to drive revenue, which in turn enables the company to compensate performers at the highest levels in the sports entertainment industry.”
A lot of the backlash about the “third party restriction” has focused around wrestlers making money on services like Twitch, but that is not the main reason behind WWE’s crackdown. Several talents have simply stopped using their ring names for these accounts (such as Paige), switched to using their real names, and can continue without skipping a beat
SEScoops has learned that several high-profile wrestlers, including Mandy Rose, have been doing high-dollar VIP meet-and-greets online and making a small fortune. One source stated, “It’s a pretty cut and dried violation of any WWE contract for the past 20-30 years.”
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW averaged 1.725 million viewers with a 0.47 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This was down from last week, which did 1.896 million viewers and a 0.58 demo rating.
In fact, viewership numbers have fallen the past two weeks after hitting just over two million viewers two weeks ago for the post-SummerSlam episode. This was the Labor Day edition of RAW.
To compare, just one year ago, RAW averaged 2.507million viewers. Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.762 million, 0.48 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.800 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.613 million, 0.45 in the 18-49 Demo
SmackDown Viewership
Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.129 million viewers on FOX. This is down from the 2.144 million viewers that the show did for the previous week.
SmackDown averaged 2.066 million viewers in the fast nationals, which was down from the 2.181 million viewers a week ago. This number measured the top metered markets.
The first hour drew 2.018 million viewers while the second hour did 2.113 million viewers. For comparison, the first show of last week’s show did 2.210 million viewers while the second hour did 2.151 million viewers.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 demos, the same from the 0.60 rating as last week’s show.
All Elite Wrestling has officially signed former NXT roster member, Tay Conti to a contract. Conti competed in the recent AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup as Anna Jay’s partner. They defeated Nyla Rose & Ariane Andrew in the 1st round. In the second round, they would lose to the eventual tournament winners Ivelisse and Diamante.
Ever since teaming with the Dark Order’s Anna Jay, Brodie Lee’s faction has been attempting to recruit Conti into their ranks.
Conti was released from her NXT contract back in April. AEW announced Conti’s signing on Twitter today:
The 25-year-old signed with WWE in 2016 and reported to the WWE Performance Center. She was eliminated in the 1st round of the Mae Young Classic the following year. She would make her NXT television debut in October of 2017.
Conti spoke about her release from WWE in a YouTube video she posted shortly after.
“As you guys know, I don’t work for WWE anymore. I was with the company for 2 and a half years or so, a little bit more I guess. Honestly, it was the most crazy and amazing opportunity of my whole life. I will always be grateful because WWE changed my life, and for the better. I came here to US and I had no English, I had no idea what wrestling was before.”
Impact Wrestling presented a big show last night on AXS TV and Twitch. The show featured a match for the Impact Tag Team Championships and a main event of Tommy Dreamer vs Eric Young.
Impact Results 9/8:
TJP defeated Chris Bey
Brian Myers defeated Willie Mack
Impact Tag Team Championships Motor City Machine Guns (c) defeated The Rascalz
New Impact World Champion Eric Young kicked off this week’s episode. He was interrupted by former champion Eddie Edwards’ wife, Alisha Edwards. She told Young that because of his attack last week, Eddie can’t even hold their young child. Alisha vowed that Eddie would be back to take back the title soon, however.
Young then looked to give Alisha a pile driver but Tommy Dreamer made the save. A match was then made between the two of them for later in the night.
Young picked up the victory via a pile driver in the main event. He would continue the attack after the match but Rich Swann returned and limped to the ring area on crutches. He used his crutch to batter the champion and chase him away from the ring area to close the show.
Previously on Impact, Moose has told EC3 he plans on destroying the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He just doesn’t yet know how he’s going to do it. Moose has been searching for him but ended up in a rather weird predicament on this week’s show.
Moose traveled to visit his old football coach but it appeared that his coach had been corrupted by EC3 already. The coach told Moose to “control his narrative” and that he had been warned before a series of players in EC3 hoodies made weak attempts to attack Moose.
Things Are Heating Up In Impact’s Tag Team Division
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnHM9mjDGbQ
The Motor City Machine Guns gave Wentz and Dez a shot at the tag titles this week. The two teams met at Slammiversary but MCMG said last week they felt the Rascalz deserved a title shot when they know which team they will face ahead of time.
MCMG utilized their innovative tandem offense to score the victory but after the match, things in the tag division got heated. Former champions the North came out and attacked MCMG from behind. The tag champs managed to turn the tables on the North but this only brought out Ace Austin and Madman Fulton. The North and Fulton & Austin then took it to the tag champs. This then brought out the Good Brothers, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows, for the save.
It looks like there are plenty of teams lining up to challenge the champs in Impact’s tag division.
Sami Callihan Has Plans For Debut of The Whole F’N Talk Show
Rob Van Dam and Katie Forbes announced this week that next week they will debut a new talk show titled The Whole F’N Talk Show. Later in the show, Sami Callihan commented on what he has in store for their debut episode. Callihan said he doesn’t plan on hacking into their talk show, as he did for Katie Forbes’ website reveal before. He does have other plans for the debut episode of their show, however.
Taya Valkyrie Planning John E Bravo’s and Rosemary’s Wedding
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbJdlfZGqxo
On the final episode of Wrestle House last week, John E Bravo and Rosemary became engaged to be married. This week, Rosemary expressed concern about being a demon and getting married. She said she has to resurrect Father James Mitchell to officiate the wedding. Bravo was put in charge of planning the wedding but Taya Valkyrie quickly took these responsibilities from him.
Taya later told both Kiera Hogan and Tasha Steelz that they will play no part in the wedding which leads to a match between Taya and Steelz on the show.
Taya managed to defeat Steelz without the help of John E Bravo. He spent more time on the phone planning his wedding than he did paying attention to the match. Taya picked up the win with the Road to Valhalla.
TJP Next In Line For X-Division Championship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2KdaOj75Nk
TJP took on former X-Division champion Chris Bey in the opener this week. Current X-Division Champion Rohit Raju watched from ringside. TJP picked up the victory by countering a sunset flip attempt into a pinning combination. Josh Matthews suggested on commentary that TJP has now put himself in a position to challenge Rohit Raju fro the belt.
Willie Mack Unable To Get Revenge On Brian Myers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTWuH8weTO8
The most professional wrestler Brian Myers cut a promo this week. He told Willie Mack that they had just gotten off on the wrong foot. Myers said he paved the way for people like Mack and invited him to come out and shake his hand. Mack preferred to have a match instead. Myers said he wasn’t in his gear (and hadn’t tanned) but Mack didn’t care.
Myers picked up a victory after a low blow and DDT but another match between the two has been scheduled for next week.
AEW has released new top-5 rankings ahead of tonight’s edition of Dynamite. Lance Archer is now the newly top-ranked contender for Jon Moxley’s title after winning the Casino Battle Royale at All Out.
AEW Men’s Singles Division
AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley (17-0) TNT Champion: Brodie Lee (6-1)
Lance Archer (13-1) (+1)
Brian Cage (6-1) (+2)
MJF (8-1) (-2)
Cody (18-2) (-1)
Scorpio Sky (7-2)
There was quite a bit of movement this week in the men’s singles division. #1 Lance Archer claims the top spot in the rankings after winning the Casino Battle Royale. #2 Brian Cage jumps up two spots mainly due to #3 MJF and #4 Cody dropping in the rankings.
Tonight on Dynamite, TNT Champion Brodie Lee will look to defend his title against Dustin Rhodes.
AEW Women’s Division
AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida (17-1)
Nyla Rose (8-2)
Big Swole (8-3)
Abadon (5-1)
Penelope Ford (7-5)
Dr. Britt Baker (4-6)
There was no movement in the women’s division rankings this week. Champion Hikaru Shida was victorious over NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa at All Out. #2 Big Swole also picked up a victory over #5 Britt Baker in her own dental office on the PPV.
As for the rest of the division, #1 Nyla Rose has been in the top spot for awhile but her previous losses to Shida make it hard to give her another shot right away, though it could be coming soon. The terrifying #3 Abadon has been moving up steadily as well.
AEW Tag Team Division
AEW Tag Team Champions: FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (7-0)
FTR now top the rankings as the new AEW Tag Team Champions. #1 Kenny Omega and Hangman Page drop to the #1 spot but it is not clear if they will ever team together again given the drama that has occurred.
#5 Santana and Ortiz are back in the rankings after defeating #2 the Best Friends last week on Dynamite.
Jurassic Express fall out of the rankings after losing to #3 the Young Bucks on the PPV. They will face the unranked Lucha Bros on tonight’s show.
Since 2017, The Undisputed Era has been dominating NXT. At one point, the faction held the NXT, North American, and Tag-Team Championships for the yellow brand. Adam Cole recently spoke with SI.com and was asked about the Undisputed Era possibly moving to the main roster.
“I know some people want to see that, but to be part of a brand that is constantly growing, evolving and getting bigger, to be involved in that rise, it’s such an amazing feeling,” Cole said. “I am involved in the growth of a brand I really believe in, and there is so much left for me to do with young talent in NXT.”
Cole would continue to say, however, that he feels his faction would do great on the main roster if they were to make the move.
“With all that said, of course I think that the Undisputed Era would make an incredible impact on Raw or SmackDown.”
He also spent some time during the interview talking about comparisons between him and Finn Balor.
“The thing that impresses me so most about Bálor is the way he is such an all-around performer,” Cole says. “There are so many styles in pro wrestling—a high-flying style, a striking style, a technical-based style, brawling—and he possesses everything that encompasses an exciting pro wrestler, with an entrance and presence, too.”
The G1 Climax tournament this year will begin on September 19th, 2020 in Osaka. New Japan Pro Wrestling has just released the list of participants for the tournament this year. Fortunately, it appears many of the wrestlers who had to miss the New Japan Cup and other events, are now able to perform in the upcoming tournament.
The list of participants is below:
G1 Climax 30 A Block:
Kota Ibushi (2019 G1 Winner)
Jeff Cobb
Kazuchika Okada (2012, 2014 G1 Winner)
Tomohiro Ishii
Will Ospreay
Shingo Takagi
Minoru Suzuki
Taichi
Jay White
Yujiro Takahashi
G1 Climax 30 B Block:
Hiroshi Tanahashi (2007, 2015, 2018 G1 Winner)
Juice Robinson
Hirooki Goto
Toru Yano
Yoshi-Hashi
Tetsuya Naito (2013, 2017 G1 Winner)
Sanada
Zack Sabre Jr.
KENTA
Evil
Starting September 19, thousands around the world will watch as one!
Starting September 19, 20 will battle to Be The One!
Wrestlers entered into last year’s tournament that aren’t included this year include AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Lance Archer, and Bad Luck Fale.
The tournament will conclude with three straight nights at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Sumida, Tokyo from October 16-18.
While the tournament normally takes place during the summer months, it was always meant to be pushed back to the fall this year. The schedule change this year was due to the 2020 Olympic Games that were ultimately postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eve Torres noted on Instagram recently that her family returned home early from vacation due to her husband, Rener Gracie, testing positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, it seems others in the family area also experiencing symptoms. Torres also says she has now tested positive for the virus as well.
“My husband, Rener, tested positive for COVID last Wednesday in the beginning of our vacation in Utah with my family. We all returned home immediately. I have now tested positive, and my 2 year old, Renson, has had a fever, who we also assume to be positive.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE2u7n-MCGb/
“We have a great support system and a great vitamin/ supplement regimen, and we know many of you may have already battled with this virus and all the weight that comes with it. We welcome your positive thoughts for us and my family as we are hoping to be on the other side of this soon.”
Torres was the winner of the 2007 Diva Search competition. She would go on to win the Divas Championship 3x during her run with the company. Upon her retirement in 2013, she assumed an ambassador role with the company. Torres is also an instructor at Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Torrance, California.
Additionally, Stephanie shared how Vince McMahon actively “listens to the live audience” and even pays attention to social media. According to her, he is always open to ideas.
“Vince listens to the fans. He listens to the live audience. He listens to social media. He also listens to our employees. He always said you never know where a great idea is going to come from. He solicits that opinion. He talks to people.”
When asked if she believes Vince McMahon and her husband, Triple H, were good at admitting when they are wrong, Stephanie admitted how she tries to be “very transparent” in owning her personal mistakes.
“I think there is a difference between being wrong and making mistakes, I know that’s a subtlety in semantics but human psychology plays into that,” Stephanie McMahon said. “Going back to Vince, he believes in some cost. So if you made a mistake, if something isn’t’ working, stop throwing good money after bad, just move on.”
She explained how Vince McMahon’s approach is to “learn the lesson that you are supposed to learn and then apply it.” As far as he’s concerned, you can make mistakes, but he wants to ensure he doesn’t make the same mistake twice.
Speaking on his podcast, 83 Weeks, Bischoff revealed how he has “never signed a 1-year deal” in his life before adding how he “never would.” He admitted he doesn’t want to get involved in anything long-term unless it’s a project he knows he’ll enjoy. Bischoff noted how his interest in a long-term deal is driven by his desire to “really connect” and engage with the material.
“Same with WWE when I was under contract. When I was there as an employee last summer, I was an employee; I didn’t have a contract. There were no contracts, but when I was under contract, they were all 2 and 3-year agreements. I never signed a 1-year agreement ever.”
Eric Bischoff: AJ Styles’ Wasn’t A “Big Draw” Outside Of TNA
During the show, Eric Bischoff looked back on his time in TNA Wrestling and one of its stars: AJ Styles. He explained why he personally didn’t feel how AJ Styles was a draw in the company at the time.
According to Bischoff, outside of TNA and its core audience, “not a lot of people knew AJ Styles.” He acknowledged Styles’ in-ring ability but stressed how he fell into a “younger developing category” compared to other roster members.
“He had been in the business for 8 years. He wasn’t really a big draw outside of the TNA core audience because he hadn’t had the exposure, not because he wasn’t good enough.”
Bischoff expressed how this isn’t the case in WWE, pointing to Styles’ success within the promotion. However, he stressed that back in TNA, not many people knew who he was “outside of the bubble.”
Anderson, previously known as Mr. Kennedy during his WWE tenure, revealed how Vince McMahon informed him how “funny doesn’t draw money” in an interview with SportsKeeda.
He shared how, when he first debuted, he was “over-the-top” and comedic in his delivery. This prompted Vince McMahon to tell him to “[…] stop trying to be funny and entertaining.”
This confused Ken Anderson, who thought “[…] isn’t that the point of what we’re trying to do here, to just be entertaining? He said, with all due respect, ‘funny, doesn’t draw money.”
When confronted with this idea, Anderson pointed to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He argued how The Rock would often entertain the crowd with humor. Vince McMahon allegedly told him how “[…] after Rock cut those funny promos, fans began to expect the same delivery every single night. I understood why it’s really hard to do that [cut funny promos] when you are running 52 weeks a year.”
Anderson confessed that it was interesting advice to receive. He added how comedy characters in wrestling seem to be “secondary” when compared to main event wrestlers.
Former WWE Superstar Heath Slater has claimed other WWE Superstars want to join him in Impact Wrestling during an interview with TV Insider.
The former Heath Slater, now just Heath, admitted how “guys that did get released and guys from other companies have been texting and calling and asking about Impact.”
According to Heath, they’ve been telling him how they would be interested in jumping to Impact Wrestling but couldn’t because of their contracts.
“The WWE crew, some of them have been like, ‘Man, that would be awesome to do this, But I still got a year-and-a-half or another year.’ I’m like, ‘Remember what you’re saying because years go by pretty fast. So if you really want to, I might know a guy.’ The interest is there for sure.”
When asked who he’d like to join him in Impact Wrestling, Heath pointed to Curtis Axel. He admitted he and Axel have had conversations, but that Axel is “doing his thing right now and enjoying life.”
Heath is only one of a few former WWE Superstars to recently join Impact Wrestling. They were released from WWE earlier in the year as a cost-cutting measure. WWE cited COVID-19’s impact upon business as a reason for the cuts.
Sasha Banks has commented on the possibility of WWE eventually hosting an Evolution 2 pay-per-view during an interview on D-Von Dudley’s podcast, Table Talk.
Looking back on her matchup at 2018’s Evolution event, Banks stressed how her scheduled bout was a “beautiful match” for pay-per-view. She took part in a six-woman tag team matchup. Banks teamed up with Bayley and Natalya to defeat the Riott Squad.
“[…] I never dreamt that would happen because you would never dream of women main-eventing anything. But for all those women coming together from the past, present, and future, it was such an inspiring and incredible pay-per-view that I’m like, ‘Where is number 2?! Where is Evolution 2?’ We’ve been waiting for it and I know the fans want it. I’m dying for it, because you also saw a lot of matches that you would never see before and I think that’s really awesome to see, especially as the women’s division keeps on growing.”
Sasha Banks pointed to the ever-expanding roster of talented women in WWE and NXT. She highlighted how, when she first started, there were barely any women on the roster compared to the current day product. Because of the number of ready female Superstars, Banks admitted she struggles to see why WWE hasn’t yet committed to delivering Evolution 2.
She admitted how, if Evolution 2 were to occur, there would be only one person she’d want to face: Trish Stratus. Banks confessed she would “lose her mind” at an opportunity to share the ring with Stratus.
Former NXT Champion Adam Cole has addressed the criticisms some lobbied at the cliffhanger ending to the recent NXT Championship Iron Man match.
Speaking with Comicbook.com, Cole explained how the ending was devised to provide a cliffhanger to draw people back to the following episode of the black-and-gold brand. He argued how the approach was no different from a typical scripted television show ending on a similar cliffhanger.
“As far as a television show goes, it would be the equivalent to a cliffhanger. We give you a cliffhanger on last week’s episode, and then this week you’re going to get the finale. So in that sense, because wrestling at the end of the day is a television show, it makes perfect sense to me.”
He shared how he understands how some of the WWE Universe could be upset with the outcome. Cole noted how some people want to see a “definitive” ending to an important match, and how it “makes total sense” that it would irk some people. He added how fans’ divided opinions on the match is why he loves wrestling. According to Adam Cole, for every person who hated it, there will be some who loved it. Ultimately, he believes neither side is wrong.
The 4-way NXT Championship Iron Man matchup took place on the 9/1 episode of NXT. It ended after an hour of action, with Cole and Finn Balor tied with 2 points each. They subsequently faced each other on last night’s edition of NXT. Balor would manage to defeat Cole, claiming the NXT Championship for a second time.
The September 8, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from the Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University.
WWE NXT Results
Finn Balor def. Adam Cole to become the new NXT Champion
The Velveteen Dream def. Ashante Adonis
Bronson Reed def. Austin Theory
Roderick Strong def. Killian Dain
Rhea Ripley def. Mercedes Martinez
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Sudden Death Battle
Finn Balor returns to NXT
Fans had to wait a week, but man did it deliver. The sudden death battle opened the broadcast as Finn Balor and Adam Cole faced off in a one-fall match to crown the new NXT Champion.
Some fans enjoyed the cliffhanger ending to last week’s show where the Fatal 4-Way Iron Man Match headlined but ended in a tie. There were others who didn’t like the finish as WWE was promising a new champion.
Either way, this was a hot way to open Tuesday’s show with both wrestlers putting on a memorable performance. They shot it with both wrestlers coming out with their entrances.
In the end, after a back and forth affair, it was Balor hitting a DDT off the top rope for the win.
Bronson Reed vs. Austin Theory in a singles match took place in what felt more of a filler contest rather than something that meant something.
Reed had the majority of the offense and won with a splash off the top rope.
Clearly, WWE is building up Reed as a player in the brand and one who is close to getting an NXT North American Title Match from Damian Priest.
On the flip side, Theory needs to find himself and do it fast as he was dropped from the main roster but has made a notable splash since returning to NXT.
Killian Dain vs. Roderick Strong in a singles bout was a late addition to the card as WWE had announced it on Monday morning.
From a booking standpoint, the bout made sense as Dain has been feuding with the Undisputed Era over the last few weeks. From a match standpoint, something was off and they didn’t click.
Dain went for a splash off the top rope, but he had to knock Bobby Fish off the apron and that allowed Strong to score the win.
Post-match, Strong and Fish beatdown Dain until Drake Maverick ran out, but he got taken out. Dain grabbed a pipe and chased them off. Maverick went to shake Dain’s hand, but got punched out for it.
WWE likes Dain as someone who they can build up as a monster, but it seems like this idea has played out for quite some time with WWE not getting the exact results they want. Thus, they go back to the original starting point then play it out for a few weeks and then repeat.
As promised, the Steel Cage Match between Rhea Ripley and Mercedes Martinez was the main event.
WWE had been building off to a blow off between these two and they delivered. They used the cage throughout the match, but clearly no blood. Ripley brought chairs, a kendo stick, and a table into the ring with her to be used.
The hard fought battle was finished with Ripley hitting her finisher off the middle rope through a table for the win.
Now that this feud is over, let’s hope that WWE books Ripley back to the top of the card with the NXT Women’s Title. WWE has been trying to build up Martinez as the next big star, but with them still doing comedy with Robert Stone, it’s hard to take her seriously although Stone is very good in his role.
Heading into Tuesday’s episode of WWE NXT we knew there would be a new NXT champion crowned and it just so happened to be Finn Balor.
Last week’s show saw the entire second hour being taken up by a 60 Minute Iron Man Fatal 4-Way Match to determine the new NXT Champion. Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa was booked.
However, there was no winner as Ciampa and Balor were tied with the most points, which was two while Gargano and Cole each had one point. Thus, they had NXT GM William Regal announce a Sudden Death Battle between Ciampa and Balor, which took place on Tuesday’s episode.
It opened the show that aired on the USA Network. In the contest, WWE filmed it as a separate match with both stars getting a full entrance.
They did some near falls, but mostly a technical match. The finish saw Balor connect with a Super 1916 DDT off the top rope for the win.
Of course, Karrion Kross relinquished the championship two weeks ago, which is why the title became vacant.
He had to give up the title because he separated his shoulder when he defeated Keith Lee to win the WWE NXT Title in the headliner of NXT TakeOver: XXX on the WWE Network.
Vince McMahon wasn’t featured as part of The Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans this year.
It should be noted that a record 233 billionaires from the United States did not make the list this year, which is 12 more than in 2019. The way the list works this year, which is the third straight year that the media company has put it together, is that a person needs a net worth of $2.1 billion or higher to claim a spot.
Part of the article was a profile of 10 of the most notable and noteworthy billionaires who did not make the list. It turns out that the WWE Chairman & CEO joins Kayne West in this spot.
The deadline for the list came back on July 24, 2020. Per the report, the net worth of McMahon was $1.8 billion
Here is what was written about the WWE boss:
“The chairman and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) fell off the list this year as shares of his media and live events company slid 30% in the first seven months of 2020. In April, WWE announced it had furloughed “a portion” of its workforce and reduced executive and board member salaries, resulting in an estimated monthly savings of $4 million. McMahon spent some $200 million to relaunch an NFL competitor called XFL this year. In March, the coronavirus forced XFL to cancel its 2020 season and, weeks later, the company filed for bankruptcy.”
Currently, Forbes has the net worth listed for McMahon at $1.7 billion. He ranked #1,196 on the Billionaires 2020 list and #296 on the Forbes 400 list in 2019.
Just one day after having a scary moment during a match on WWE RAW, Ivar has commented on how he’s doing.
The former WWE star took to Twitter this evening to thank everyone for their support following the injury. He wrote the following:
“From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to every single friend, family and fan who has reached out to me,” he wrote. “My heart is truly touched from all the love and support. Still figuring it all out but I am working hard to recover and be better than ever! Love you all [two hearts emoji] [sign of the horns emoji] [poultry leg emoji]”
From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to every single friend, family and fan who has reached out to me. My heart is truly touched from all the love and support. Still figuring it all out but I am working hard to recover and be better than ever! Love you all ??? pic.twitter.com/pAgw1eqjRm
The injury happened during an 8-man tag team match on the show that saw The Hurt Business with new member Cedric Alexander battled The Viking Raiders, Ricochet and Apollo Crews.
Ivar did a dive through the ropes to take out several wrestlers at ringside and landed oddly on his right leg. WWE announced after the show that Ivar suffered a cervical injury while doing a suicide dive.
As of this writing, there’s no word yet on the severity of the injury, but Ivar immediately knew that something was wrong.
As soon as he landed, he did an “X” gesture that led to the match ending just a few moments later.
Up until recently, Rey Mysterio was deciding whether or not he would be staying with WWE.
The two sides were working on a new deal as his previous contract had expired. This was around the time that he was just starting to feud with Seth Rollins. WWE even put Kevin Owens into a brief feud with Rollins as a back-up plan in case the former WWE Champion didn’t sign with WWE.
In a rare case in WWE, Mysterio was still appearing on television without being under contract.
It had been previously reported that Mysterio had received an offer from AEW that matched how many dates he had have to work, which was the same as WWE.
During today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Vince McMahon knows that Mysterio could have jumped to AEW since they offered him a “huge contract” and he turned it down.
Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez then had a discussion about how Mysterio’s son, Dominik, has turned out to be a good wrestler despite his limited experience.
Unlike other stars, McMahon hasn’t buried him and seems to be on board with his push. Meltzer did caution how McMahon McMahon can get tired of someone quickly but the circumstances might be different in this situation.
Marty Jannetty made headlines recently when a Facebook post seemed to imply he had killed someone decades ago. He claimed that a person he bought cannabis from at a Bowling Alley had attempted to molest him when he was 13 and the person subsequently “disappeared.”
“That was the very first time I made a man disappear. They never found him. They shoulda looked in the Chattahoochie River,” Jannetty says in the post.
“I can’t say he deserved to die, but he deserved to get his ass beat,” Jannetty later said to Boston Wrestling MWF. “And, when I was beating him in the head with a brick, I was only trying to beat his ass, I wasn’t trying to kill him.”
Now Jannetty is saying he made the whole thing up as part of a wrestling angle. He spoke to TMZ about it.
“It was just the beginning of a damn wrestling storyline … but OH MY GOD, OMG. Didn’t the WORLD buy it??!!” Janetty said to TMZ.
“It got so hot I had to drop it … when my Columbus, Ga. Police Department got involved, I knew I had to drop it.”
The police opened a probe into the case after Jannetty’s Facebook post.
Jannetty is now claiming the angle was supposed to result in a feud with a corrections officer, perhaps similar to the old Nailz vs Big Bossman feud from way back.
“If he wins, he takes me in, in peace. If I win, he leave me alone, in peace … but sadly now, we’ll not get to do that storyline.”
Marty Jannetty Claims Murder Confession Was Fake, Part of 'Wrestling Storyline'https://t.co/YsD5kaKq3Y
2 weeks ago on RAW, Liv Morgan & Ruby Riott defeated the Iiconics in a match that carried the stipulation that the losing team must break up. Recently on RAW, Peyton Royce defeated Billie Kay in singles competition. Billie Kay spoke to Chris Van Vliet recently about the breakup of her longtime tag-team.
“I think we eventually do want to do some sort of singles career,” Billie said on the show. “I think that just all comes down to evolving as who we are, as Billie and Peyton and as The IIconics. So when that happens I think that we’ll both have so much fun doing that.”
Peyton defeated Billie Kay on RAW last night. The two longtime friends shared an embrace in the ring after. Both wrestlers debuted new ring music and entrances last night as well.
Billie continued to talk about how she considers both Peyton and her husband, Shawn Spears, as family.
“We used to all travel together, it used to be us three. Same car and everything. He’s like my family too. They are just absolutely perfect for each other. I love them both with all my heart. He’s just an absolute sweetheart, I can’t talk highly enough about him.”
