Cody Rhodes says he regrets almost everything about the angle he had with Olympic boxer, Anthony Ogogo. Rhodes was speaking to Brandon Walker on the Barstool Rasslin’ podcast when he commented on the matter.
“I regret almost everything about the Anthony Ogogo angle. Almost everything about it,” Rhodes said on the show.
Rhodes would continue to say that perhaps he wasn’t the best person to be speaking about race relations as he did during that storyline.
“A white guy talking about race relations, who has an American flag tattoo on his neck, I can see why people would use the terms ‘tone-deaf’ when it came to that,” Rhodes continued. “Then trying to defend it and all — Just again, intentions were good and sincere and I was so excited about Brandi and the baby but it just — That should have just been one where I went out and almost just winged it.”
“It set the angle in a tailspin where it just wasn’t a classic, USA vs. UK, fun-spirited deal. I was going to go over to the UK and have the return match. Now I just never want to think about it again.”
Rhodes’ promo can be viewed in the player below:
Rhodes defeated Anthony Ogogo at Double or Nothing 2021 in May. The following week, however, QT Marshall and Ogogo defeated Cody and Lee Johnson in tag team action.
Ogogo then took a 6-month hiatus from AEW. He returned on the December 1st show in Duluth, Georgia, wrestling on AEW Dark: Elevation. He also took part in the AEW Dark tapings at Universal Studios on December 3rd. Ogogo competed on the Dark: Elevation shows throughout December but was off last week for the show in Jacksonville.
Brandi Rhodes is a ratings draw and she’s not afraid to brag about it.
Rhodes is the Chief Brand Officer of All Elite Wrestling. She is an active competitor with a 13-3 career record in AEW. She’s also a divisive figure that regularly engages with her critics on social media.
Brandi has been accused of having “go-away heat.” This term describes when fans boo a performer not because they’re a good heel, but because they’re annoying and shouldn’t be featured on television.
On Tuesday, Brandi Rhodes informed her Twitter followers that her segment with Dan Lambert last week on Dynamite was the most-watched part of the show. She also addressed those claims of having go-away heat.
She boasted, “If that’s go away head, then the whole rosters lookin for that same smoke.”
High point of the show.
Consistently.
If that’s go away heat, then the whole rosters lookin for that same smoke.
Tony Khan signed a number of big names such as CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole to AEW in 2021, and it appears he plans to continue this trend in 2022.
The AEW president recently had an interview with Josh Martinez of New York’s Z100 radio station. He was there to promote Dynamite’s move to TBS and their other upcoming shows.
During the discussion, the host asked Khan if he has a “dream signing” that he’d like to see in AEW. He narrowed it down to talent located in North America, which excludes most ‘Forbidden Door’ crossovers from New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Khan said there actually is a big name coming to AEW “pretty soon” that he’s very excited about.
“There is [a dream signing]. They are in North America and they’re coming. Pretty soon. It’s going to be awesome. I’m very excited,”
-Tony Khan
Khan did not reveal any further detail about this dream signing so it’s hard to say when they will be coming or who it could be.
There are a number of big free agents in the market that fit the bill and it will be really interesting to see which one of them ends up being the promised signing.
Top free agents who are currently available, or will soon be available, to appear for AEW include Jeff Hardy, Windham Rotunda (Bray Wyatt), Johnny Gargano, Keith Lee, Karrion Kross, Danhausen, Buddy Murphy, ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham, Adam Scherr, Shane “Swerve” Strickland, Teagan Nox and Toni Storm.
Apart from this, Tony Khan talked about things such as the upcoming final of the TBS title tournament, the signing of Jake Atlas, and more.
You can check out his full interview in the video below:
Wrestle Kingdom 16 is set to be a three-night event for the very first time in the history of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest show.
The traditional January 4th show took place with Shingo Takagi defending his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada in the main event.
The winner of that bout, Okada, would then go on to face Will Ospreay as the main event of Night 2 on January 5th.
According to Eastern Lariat, the attendance for Wrestle Kingdom Night 2 compared to Night 1 can only be considered a disaster.
The attendance for Night 1 of the event was 12,047 and Night 2 of the event was 6,379.
Wrestle Kingdom Night 2 Poor Attendance
There’s a number of reasons as to why the number was so low, as mentioned it is traditional for January 4th to be the date of the big event for New Japan.
Much like you see ‘casual’ fans decide to go to WrestleMania in the US, there may be a number of fans in Japan that opted to go out for the traditional 04/01 show.
Another reason for the abysmal number (comparative to Night 1) may well be the main event itself; which when you look into it objectively, falls on the shoulders of Ospreay as Okada was in the main event of Night 1.
Whatever the reasoning may be, it will be interesting to see what the attendance is for the NJPW vs NOAH event that will be taking place on Saturday 8th January.
The attendance for the second day of Wrestle Kingdom is 6,379. HALF the number compared to day 1. #njwk16https://t.co/sg99KBW154
Bron Breakker defied all expectations when he beat Tommaso Ciampa to win the NXT championship during New Year’s Evil, only a few months after his in-ring debut in September last year.
The 24-year-old destroyed the old NXT logo while he entered the arena for his main event match, signaling the start of a new era for the development brand.
Bron Breakker’s father Rick Steiner was in attendance for this big match. Bron also paid tribute to his uncle Scott Steiner by using the Frankensteiner during the bout.
The new NXT champion finally won the match after nailing a big flying Bulldog. He then made Ciampa tap out using the Steiner Recliner submission.
The show went off air with Bron Breakker raising the NXT title in the air as Vic Joseph declared him the new face of NXT.
After the broadcast ended, Rick Steiner got into the ring to celebrate the big victory of his son. WWE posted a video of the moment on their social media as seen below:
Tommaso Ciampa also reacted to the loss in his own way. The now-former NXT champion posted a photo of himself and told thank you to the fans. You can check out the full NXT New Year’s Evil results here.
NXT’s first event in 2022 in New Year’s Evil signalled the start of a new era for the development brand where Bron Breakker defeated Tommaso Ciampa to become the new NXT champion.
Breakker’s father Rick Steiner was in attendance for this highly physical match between the two stars that main evented the show.
Both the stars got plenty of offense and at a time it looked like Ciampa was going to retain his title when he hit Breakker with a Fairy Tale Ending.
However, everyone was left surprised when the 24-year-old kicked out of the finishing maneuver. This got fans chanting ‘NXT’ in excitement.
The ending of the bout saw Bron Breakker delivering a big flying Bulldog to his opponent. He then applied the Steiner Recliner on Tommaso Ciampa to make him tap out and become the new champion.
The NXT veteran took on his Twitter after the show to react to the loss. He posted a photo of himself leaving the ring after the defeat and wrote ‘Thank You’:
There is no word yet on what WWE is planning for Ciampa after tonight’s show. It will be interesting to see if he takes part in the upcoming Royal Rumble match.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge around the world, the virus has been contracted by another member of the wrestling world. Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks has reportedly tested positive.
The former AEW Tag Team Champion’s condition was confirmed by a bio change on Twitter.com. The Bucks often use that location to announce things, be snarky, or a little of both.
You can see the reveal below.
Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline revealed that both Jackson and Brandon Cutler have contracted COVID-19. Further, Nick Jackson was with both recently for 18 hours so is considered a close contact. All three men will be forced to miss tomorrow night’s TBS debut of AEW Dynamite and will not be able to return until cleared.
Dynamite takes place from Newark, New Jersey this week and none of the three are reported to have made the trip. The date of their tests has not been revealed, but due to them not making the trip, it was likely prior to Tuesday.
Nick Jackson, Matt’s brother and tag team partner of The Young Bucks, had COVID-19 in the fall of 2020 very bad. He wrote about it in an Instagram story about one year ago, detailing his battle and the long-term effect it had on him.
“Crazy to think there’s still COVID deniers out there in the world. I had a pretty bad case of COVID in early September that kept me bed ridden for nearly 3 weeks. I couldn’t taste or smell for 2 in a half months. At one point my whole body had hives in it and my doctor said that it was definitely from COVID. Matt had to do the majority of the work in matches once I returned safely because I couldn’t catch my breath. My cardio is finally back but it took months to finally feel like myself again. Let’s protect each other and wear [a] mask.”
Nick Jackson on his 2020 battle with COVID-19
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For the second time, Tommaso Ciampa defended the WWE NXT Title against Bron Breakker as the rematch took place in the main event of Tuesday’s WWE NXT that had the special New Year’s Evil name.
The match featured Bron hitting some power moves early on. Ciampa hit an outside dive then went into the ring where he got a sleeper hold locked in before Bron dumped him. Ciampa was bleeding from his right temple. Bron hit a spinebuster to Ciampa through the announce table.
The finish was when Bron locked in the Steiner Recliner for the win to become the new NXT Champion.
WWE officially announced the match when Ciampa called out Breakker and predicted that the young star would ask for a championship opportunity. The vet told Breakker that he hopes he doesn’t drown again because he doesn’t think Bron is ready to be a champion in his NXT. Bron told Ciampa that there was blood in the water and he’s the shark was coming to feast.
Their first match took place at the Halloween Havoc special edition of NXT where Ciampa beat Breakker to retain the title, which was a surprise as many people including oddsmakers thought it was Bron’s night.
They later were part of the men’s WarGames match in November where the rookies went over the veterans. With Ciampa dropping the title, it will lead to speculation that he could be headed to the main roster whether that’s on Raw or SmackDown.
What are your thoughts on Bron winning the NXT Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
The January 4, 2022 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center with the New Year’s Evil name.
WWE NXT New Year’s Evil Results
Carmelo Hayes def. Roderick Strong to unify the titles
Wes Lee, Nash Carter & Riddle def. Imperium (WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner).
Mandy Rose def. Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez to retain Women’s Title
Bron Breakker def. Tommaso Ciampa to win NXT Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Time To Chat Again
AJ Styles confronted Grayson Waller once again after the two stars have traded words in the past. Styles has appeared on NXT before while Waller has shown up on Raw.
So what happened this time? AJ came out to the ring and cut a promo about when he first signed with WWE, he didn’t go to NXT, but rather was on the main roster. He said that there is something special about NXT. AJ put over the great fans and said he doesn’t care what the name of the show is, it’s the passion that makes NXT what it is. He said that he’d be damned if he will allow someone take it away from the fans. He said that there is always going to be someone like Waller who thinks he is better than everyone. Waller came out and said that AJ is trying to hide from his loss to Omos. Waller said that AJ doesn’t mean that he really wanted to start in NXT instead of starting on the main roster. Waller said that AJ lost last night because he was thinking about Waller. He said he’s living in AJ’s head rent free. AJ wanted a match tonight. Waller turned it down, but wanted it next week in the main event of NXT. AJ accepted and Waller tried to attack, but AJ punched him. They brawled until AJ got the better of him and Waller retreated.
WWE NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bron Breaker took place in the main event.
Their first title match took place at Halloween Havoc in October where Ciampa retained the title. They later met in the men’s WarGames match where Breakker pinned Ciampa. Since then, they’ve traded words and it led to them sharing the ring one more time.
The match saw Bron hit some powerslams right out of the gate. Ciampa hit a corkscrew dive to take out Bron. Back in the ring, they went back and forth. Bron with a spinebuster then a standing moonsault. Bron caught Ciampa with a spear. Ciampa was bleeding from his right temple. Bron hit a spinebuster to Ciampa through the announce table. Bron with a powerslam for 2 as Ciampa grabbed the rope. Bron with a bulldog then locked in the Steiner Recliner for the win to become the new NXT Champion.
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose vs. Raquel Gonzalez vs. Cora Jade in a Triple Threat Match took place.
Rose defeated Gonzalez to win the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc with the help from the returning Dakota Kai. Raquel defeated Dakota in a street fight on December 21st and then called out Rose for a title match, but Jade came out citing her victory over Rose a few weeks ago as a reason why she should get a title shot.
Rose appeared on the big screen and stated she would take them both on in a three-way. igi Dolin and Jacy Jayne then attacked the babyfaces.
The match was in the second hour. Rose tried to leave ringside, but was stopped by Raquel. Once in the ring, Rose hit a codebreaker then talked trash to Raquel. Raquel hit her finisher to Rose for 2 as Jade broke up the pin attempt with a dive. Jade tossed Raquel to the floor then Rose rolled up Jade for the win.
WWE NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes and WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong battled in a Title vs. Title Unification match.
The match opened the show. Hayes was in control early in the match, but missed a dive off the top rope and Strong caught him with a knee strike for a near fall. Hayes did a splash fly off the top rope for a near fall. Hayes hit his leg drop finisher off the top rope for the win.
WWE introduced the North American Championship a few years ago with many wrestlers holding the title including Johnny Gargano with three separate title reigns.
Ironically, 7 of the 11 former Champions are no longer with WWE with the 4 still there including Damian Priest, Ricochet, and Strong and Hayes. The NXT Cruiserweight Championship has been around since 2016 where at first, it was exclusive to Monday Night Raw in addition to a live episode of 205 Live every week. In recent times, the title has been only inclusive to NXT as 205 Live is a second platform to the NXT brand.
Riddle and MSK (Nash Carter & Wes Lee) vs. Imperium (WALTER, Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) went down.
This feud came about when Matt Riddle became the Shaman for MSK although original plans called for Jeff Hardy to be in this role, but his WWE release nixed those plans.
Last week on NXT, Carter and Lee called out Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) for the NXT Tag Team Titles . WALTER and Riddle both appeared on the big screen where WALTER insulted MSK. Riddle issued the six-man tag challenge to Imperium.
The match was in the middle of the show with the heels controlling the majority of the match. Riddle got the hot tag and cleaned house. He hit an outside dive to take out the heels. Riddle even hit a german suplex to WALTER. MSK hit a powerslam move to Fabian before Riddle hit an RKO to Marcel for the win.
The odds were against Mandy Rose in storyline when she put the WWE NXT Women’s Championship on the line during Tuesday’s New Year’s Evil special against Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzalez.
The match took place in the second hour. After the babyfaces worked together, they turned on each other. Rose tried to leave ringside, but Raquel stopped her. Rose rolled up Jade for the win and to retain her title.
Rose defeated Gonzalez to win the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc with the help of Dakota Kai. Jade, Raquel, and Rose have all been feuding with each other the past several weeks.
On last Tuesday’s show, a tag team match with Gonzalez and Jade teaming against Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne was supposed to take place. Instead, Rose announced Kay Lee Ray and Io Shirai would replace her girls to take on Raquel and Jade with the winning team being her opponents at New Year’s Evil. Clearly, plans didn’t change.
What are your thoughts on Mandy Rose retaining the NXT Women’s Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Kris Statlander has four AEW stars in her sights and some of them are familiar foes.
Statlander knows a thing or two about scrapping with AEW’s top female wrestlers. She’s gone toe-to-toe with the likes of current AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, and Nyla Rose.
For 2022, Statlander has a couple of rematches in mind.
Kris Statlander Lists Potential Opponents
Kris Statlander has mixed it up with the likes of Jamie Hayter and Ruby Soho but she told Chris Denker on Into The Danger Zone that she’s eyeing rematches. She’s also got two other names on her radar.
“I wanna wrestle Serena Deeb. I’ve wrestled Thunder Rosa on the indies but I haven’t in AEW.
“I really just wanna wrestle them all but Jamie Hayter and I, we had a singles match on the Jericho Cruise and I would love to do that on Dynamite.
“It was a great match. It was so fun. Did I win? No, her and Britt cheated so I lost that one. So, we gotta do one that actually counts.
“I just wrestled Ruby and I lost to her but I would love to [wrestle her again].”
The match with Ruby took place in the TBS Title tournament. With the defeat, Statlander has missed out on her chance of becoming the inaugural TBS Champion.
Ruby and Jade Cargill will do battle for that honor on the Jan. 5 episode of Dynamite. This will be Dynamite’s debut on TBS.
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It was the end of an era in NXT as WWE decided to unify the Cruiserweight and North American Titles when North American Champion Carmelo Hayes vs. Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong took place at New Year’s Evil.
The match opened the show and it was a back and forth match. Hayes hit his leg drop finisher off the top rope for the win.
Strong won the NXT Cruiserweight Championship from Kushida this September while Hayes beat Isaiah “Swerve” Scott to win the North American Title in October. Dave Meltzer noted on the last month’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that he had heard WWE might be getting rid of the title and renaming it the All-Inclusive Championship.
Hayes agreed to the match after being challenged by Strong as both stars have been calling themselves the real champion in NXT. WWE had a contract signing to make the match official last week on NXT that was hosted by NXT announcer Wade Barrett.
The North American Title was first introduced in April 2018 and won by Adam Cole. There had been 13 champions in the original history of the title. The Cruiserweight Title was back in 2016 with TJ Perkins being the first champion. There had been 19 champions in the history of the title since WWE brought back the division.
Despite Brock Lesnar winning the WWE Championship on short notice this past Saturday night at WWE Day 1, plans for a Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns match at WrestleMania 38 are reportedly still in motion.
Some had wondered in the aftermath of Lesnar’s championship victory what it meant for the long-rumored WrestleMania match between he and Reigns. There was speculation about a possible match at Royal Rumble or the Saudi Arabia show in February. However, Lashley vs. Lesnar was confirmed for the Royal Rumble during Monday night’s edition of Raw.
Plans in Place
During the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer spoke about WWE’s commitment to presenting another Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar showdown.
“I know that they’ve got everything worked out between now and WrestleMania,” Meltzer said. (h/t WrestleTalk). “Everything is worked out. All the original plans, there were some changes obviously because the Lesnar and Roman Reigns match from Saturday didn’t happen, but they’ve got their new twists and turns, and the final destination, which is presumably Lesnar and Roman Reigns, is still on.
“Whatever the plan was for the WWE Championship match — I don’t know what it was — but they’re gonna get there, and that’s also still on. So the WrestleMania matches are the same, but the plans on how to get there obviously have changed.”
Roman Reigns & Brock Lesnar
It will be interesting to see how they get to this match with Lesnar now holding the WWE Championship. There’s a possibility of a unification match at WrestleMania between the two champions, Universal title vs. WWE title.
Perhaps Roman Reigns could cost Lesnar the WWE Championship to Lashley in their match at the Royal Rumble, kicking the Lesnar vs. Reigns feud into high gear on the march to WrestleMania. Nobody can truly say with any certainty right now what will happen, but speculation is certainly running wild.
With Lesnar vs. Reigns still reportedly scheduled for WrestleMania, the third time the two have wrestled at WWE’s biggest show of the year, what other top matches do you want to see at the event?
If Lesnar no longer has the WWE title by WrestleMania, who do you want to see wrestling for that championship? Let us know in the comments section!
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The New Day members, King Xavier Woods and Big E, shared their thoughts on turning heel.
Metro.co.uk Alistair McGeorge spoke with them about if they considered making the change. The group is currently working as babyfaces and is thriving. However, WWE fans may remember the group performed as heels in the past. Woods responded positively to McGeorge’s question and shared why.
McGeorge transcribed the quotes.
“… It’s just super fun to scream at little kids, ’cause when we were heels before, our stuff would see kids getting legitimately mad and upset at us. It’s just so much fun to be snarky, to be rude and disliked,” said Woods.
He also compared working babyface and heel. “It’s great being cheered, and people pulling for us and being the good guys – both sides are really fun to play, but I wouldn’t be mad at it at all. We love that. We talk about it all the time.”
Big E Thoughts on Turning Heel
Former WWE champion Big E also expressed intrigue in the group making the change. He admitted that he has so much fun being a heel. However, he also wants it to be an organic decision to switch roles.
“…My feeling is if we do turn, it feels organic, and it feels natural again. Unfortunately, we’re in a position right now where our reactions are pretty damn good. So, I don’t see that happening any time soon, but who knows,” said Big E.
Both Woods and Big E are open to turning heel, but it won’t happen anytime soon. Big E shared that he’s enjoying doing charitable work that helps because he is a babyface.
“What I’m doing in the ring dovetails so well into all the things I wanna do outside of the ring, as far as just charitable work, just telling my story with my issues with depression and mental health,” said Big E.
What’s Next for the New Day
The group is hoping to get back to becoming champions. Woods and Kofi Kingston lost their opportunity to regain the Smackdown Tag Team Championships at Day 1 on January 1st to the Usos. While the feud could continue, the Usos won the match clean.
Big E lost the WWE Championship to Brock Lesnar in a Fatal Five-Way match at the same event. Big E also lost clean like his partners, and Lesnar pinned him. The WWE could give Big E another opportunity at the WWE championship in the future. However, he lost a Fatal Four-Way match to Bobby Lashley to become the number one contender to face Lesnar at the Royal Rumble.
The New Day will have to work their way back to gaining championship opportunities. It’s unclear what the WWE has planned for them. While they are not rushing to become heels, the role change could give them a fresh start.
A lot has been made about the decision to have Big E drop the WWE Title at this stage but the crowd in attendance was on their feet for the finish. After all, Lesnar by far received the biggest ovation of the night.
Bully Ray Likens Big E To A ‘Chase Champion’
On an episode of Busted Open Radio, Bully Ray admitted that he didn’t hate the title change. In fact, he sees more value in Big E as the one chasing WWE gold.
“A lot of these babyface champions who are built the right way, you will pay to see retain.
“Big E is one of those talents where I feel like you pay and you invest your emotion to see him chase another one of these guys, much like a Kofi Kingston where you feel like he’s been working hard for so long and he deserves better, thus you get behind him because of the chase.
“Then once it happens and the chase is over, alright fine we got what we want. Do we really wanna invest our — let’s forget about time and money. Do we really wanna invest our emotion in seeing Big E retain?
“Yeah, there will be some fans who wanna do that but the majority? I’m not quite sure.”
There will be no immediate rematch for E. Instead, Lesnar will be putting his WWE Championship on the line against Bobby Lashley at the Royal Rumble event. Whether or not Big E gets a one-on-one match with Lesnar down the road remains to be seen.
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After making his promotional debut on AEW Dark: Elevation last night, Tony Khan has revealed that AEW has signed Jake Atlas. The 27-year-old had been released from his WWE contract in August of this year where he had been assigned to the NXT brand.
Tony Khan made the announcement today on social media.
“Congratulations on winning your tryout match last night, Jake Atlas! What a great @AEW debut, and now @kennymarquez, I’ll see you Tomorrow night in Newark at the debut of #AEWDynamite on @TBSNetwork! Safe travels, and… Welcome to the team!”
Congratulations on winning your tryout match last night, Jake Atlas! What a great @AEW debut, and now @kennymarquez, I’ll see you Tomorrow night in Newark at the debut of #AEWDynamite on @TBSNetwork! Safe travels, and… Welcome to the team! #JakeAtlas is All Elite! pic.twitter.com/b9oDuGLZWZ
Atlas was trained by Santino Bros Wrestling in Los Angeles and made his debut in 2016.
Atlas has wrestled 3 times since departing WWE this summer. He wrestled and defeated Effy on GCW’s Effy’s Big Gay Brunch Chicago on September 5th. He lost to Taylor Rust on ROH’s Death Before Dishonor show on September 12th. Shortly after, Atlas announced he was leaving the wrestling industry citing mental health concerns.
“At 26 years old, I’ve got my entire life ahead of me & I’m choosing to explore completely different industries to find my passion again,” he wrote.
Evidently, Atlas had second thoughts about leaving the industry. He returned last Wednesday at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida and defeated Serpentico.
Jeff Hardy was set for a big angle in NXT 2.0 prior to his surprise release from WWE last month.
WWE had plans for Hardy to be revealed as “The Shamon” for MSK, as first reported by Fightful. Hardy’s release left WWE scrambling. With just days until the culmination of this storyline, WWE tapped Matt Riddle to fill this role and “rush” to film the necessary content.
“Just days before the reveal was to happen, Hardy was released by the company, and Matt Riddle had to rush to film content with MSK to make it work,” the report states.
Luckily Matt Riddle and MSK’s characters mesh together quite nicely. The trio is scheduled to face Imperium at tonight’s NXT New Years Evil special.
Just days before the bombshell news broke, the Charismatic Enigma worried fans with a bizarre incident a WWE live event from Edinburg, Texas.
Jeff’s brother Matt Hardy shared on Twitch that he believes WWE made a mistake by canning Jeff. According to Matt, Jeff doesn’t need rehab and WWE didn’t even wait to see any drug test results before making its decision.
Here’s what Matt had to say during that Twitch stream, as transcribed by SEScoops’ own Andrew Ravens:
“Before anyone rushes to judgment, obviously they [WWE] drug tested him after all this stuff, wait until you hear the results of that and when that comes back clean then hopefully people will feel better about it. They [WWE] felt like they were backed into a corner because of his [Jeff’s] history. Even though they may have jumped the gun with this a little bit, they made a decision and it is what it is,”said Matt.
In recent weeks, Jeff Hardy has been doing meet and greets with fans. Christian Cage and Ric Flair have both said they could see Jeff joining All Elite Wrestling. However, neither side has addressed this possibility in public.
Big E’s WWE Title reign has come to an end but one WWE Hall of Famer feels the former titleholder did his thing.
On the Sept. 13, 2021 episode of Monday Night Raw, Big E cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Bobby Lashley. E pinned Lashley to become the WWE Champion. E held the championship for 110 days before dropping the gold to Brock Lesnar at Day 1.
While Big E most likely won’t be going into WrestleMania 38 as the WWE Champion, Booker T believes the former New Day member is better because of the title reign.
Booker T Praises Big E’s Reign
During an episode of his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T expressed his belief that Big E was solid during his world championship run.
“I thought Big E had a good run and I thought the championship made him better.
“It was almost one of those things to where I always say, when you win the title it makes you a better performer normally just because you know that you’re the world heavyweight champion.
“You walk a different way, you feel a different way. I don’t know what it is but that effect definitely got a hold of Big E and you could see him falling into that role as being the WWE Champion.
“He believed he should have been a WWE Champion. So, I thought he did a great job.
“We didn’t get a chance to see Big E have a whole lot of classic matches as champion or anything like that but I think there again that’s more — I think Big E has a chance to come back and capture it again [and] grow.
“I think Big E is gonna be in this business for at least five to perhaps eight to ten more years maybe. Not the WWE but in the business but he has a chance to literally grow over this time and really become the performer that he wants to be.”
Big E made some key media appearances during his time as WWE Champion. Most notably, he introduced Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder for their trilogy fight and he made an appearance ahead of a college football game at his alma mater earlier that day.
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NXT 2.0 superstar Bron Breakker wants to establish his legacy. However, he still would like to work with his father and uncle in WWE.
Sporting News’s Andreas Hale interviewed Breakker ahead of challenging Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Championship. The match will be the main event of NXT 2.0 New Years Evil. Hale asked Breakker if there was a possibility of seeing him share a ring with his father and uncle. He also wondered if Breakker thinks about it because of his family legacy. Professional wrestling fans may know Breakker as the son and nephew of professional wrestling legends Rick and Scott Steiner.
Breakker responded that he would like to have them involved in his pro wrestling career in the future. Hale transcribes the following quotes.
“I have. It would be great for both of them to be a part of my career at some point. Who knows? I have no idea. But it would be a cool moment for me because neither of them have seen me wrestle in person. They’ve watched it on TV. Maybe down the line, they can be part of something with me. I don’t know,” said Breakker.
“So, he was meant to be at Halloween Havoc,” Ciampa started. “He pulled out last minute. Maybe because I retained, but I won’t say that’s why [laughs]. I would love to be friends with him.”
Bron Breakker vs Tommaso Ciampa Rematch
Breakker will attempt to defeat Ciampa tonight in their rematch to become NXT Champion. Ciampa retained the championship in the first match by using his finisher on Breakker twice. However, Breakker plans to get his revenge and win his first NXT Championship. He also believes it will be the greatest moment of his life to win the title.
Hale asked Breakker what fans can expect to see from him in the rematch. Breakker believes it will be a war.
“I think we are going to see a more polished Bron Breakker this time around. I’m not going to make the same mistakes that I made before. Kudos to him because he exposed me as being inexperienced, as he said he would. I know what he’s about and how tough he is. I know that I’m up against the best in the business, and I’m up for the challenge. It’s going to be a hard-hitting battle. I’m not going to make the same mistakes I made the first time, and it’s going to be a war,” said Breakker.
It’s unclear if WWE will try to work with Breakker’s father and uncle, and both Rick and Scott haven’t shared if they want to collaborate with WWE publicly. Regardless, Breakker will try to further his legacy with a win over Ciampa tonight.
Kazuchika Okada hopes that he can share the ring with Bryan Danielson and CM Punk before it’s too late.
Okada is gearing up for Wrestle Kingdom 16. He’ll be challenging Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Okada won the 2021 G1 Climax and if he defeats Takagi on Jan. 4, he’ll defend the gold against Will Ospreay on Jan. 5.
While Okada has a lot on his mind going into the big Tokyo Dome show, he isn’t afraid to look into the future.
Kazuchika Okada’s Dream Matches
Ahead of Wrestle Kingdom 16, Kazuchika Okada spoke to Sports Illustrated. Okada admitted that he wants to have matches with Danielson and Punk but he knows there isn’t a lot of time left.
“Danielson and Punk would make for some incredible matches. A lot of those dream match scenarios are about getting excited for the possibilities, and once the match is done, it’s done. So it is important to keep that excitement and anticipation, I think. Still, if we wait too long, they’ll both retire eventually, so I want to face them both while they’re still active.”
(Update) CM Punk has has since replied to Okada expressing interest in working together. Punk provided the address of Chicago’s United Center and says, “come see me.”
Danielson and Punk are currently members of the AEW roster. NJPW and AEW have been chummy as of late and once Japan allows foreigners to return without a quarantine period, Okada may get his wish.
Okada has had some classics against the likes of Kenny Omega, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, and many more.
NJPW has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. There has already been rumblings about Wrestle Kingdom this year not being as heavily hyped as it had been in years past. Still, Okada is looking to remind fans of his legendary status.
NJPW has attempted to spice things up by adding a third night of WK on Jan. 8. That show will be a crossover with Pro Wrestling NOAH.
WWE presents NXT New Year’s Evil tonight from Orlando, Florida. The show will air live on the USA Network.
The top of the card will see Bron Breakker challenge NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa. The second generation star may be a rookie, but that hasn’t stopped him from climbing the ranks to the top of NXT.
The NXT Women’s Championship will be on the line in a triple threat match. We’ll also see a championship unification match and a huge 6-man tag match that has match-of-the-night potential written all over it.
NXT New Year’s Evil Card
The following matches are set for tonight’s NXT New Year’s Evil. The event is expected to have limited commercial breaks, similar to last year’s installment.
NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bron Breakker
Women’s Champion Mandy Rose vs. Raquel Gonzalez vs. Cora Jade
North American Champion Carmelo Hayes vs. Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong (Unification Match)
Riddle & MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) vs. Imperium (WALTER, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner)
Brock Lesnar will defend the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley at the Royal Rumble later this month. It’s interesting to see that Lesnar is still thinking about Roman Reigns, instead of being laser focused on his next challenger.
Lashley should not be taken lightly and he might be able to exploit Lesnar’s lack of focus in the lead-up to the Rumble.
Lashley has wanted a match with Brock Lesnar for several years. Last year, he shared his theory for why the match never happened (until now). You can read all about that below:
Whether it be the reports of backstage rift with other AEW EVPs or the fan reaction to his bookings, in the past few months Cody Rhodes has found himself making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Now the latest comments from the All Elite Wrestling executive about the egos in the company’s locker room are only bound to attract some more negative reactions for the current TNT champion.
Rhodes discussed the growth of AEW in 2021 and what to expect in 2022 during a recent interview with Fite TV’s Fite in Focus. Talking about the backstage environment of the promotion, he claimed that it has its own egos and problems:
“I imagine it will be our biggest and most successful year yet. And I hope fans don’t take that as me being arrogant or anything of that nature. We continue to grow for three years and I don’t see us stopping, because we love it too much. We genuinely do.
If you come backstage at AEW, there is no place like it. It has its own egos and problems, people not liking each other.” said Cody Rhodes, “But for the most part, that’s the most team effort place that I have been part of in my life.”
Japanese wrestling star Maki Itoh is determined to wrestle in the United States again. She’s plotting a return to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and wants to pin Thunder Rosa’s shoulders to the mat.
Itoh currently wrestles for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. She is their reigning International Princess Champion. TJPW has released a video of Itoh stating her intentions.
“With this belt, Ito will definitely go to AEW! And I’ll fight Thunder Rosa one more time. And Ito will definitely win!”
Itoh added, “There are many, many more attractive people in the world. So Ito wants to beat them one by one with this belt.”
Update: Thunder Rosa has replied to Maki Itoh’s comments. She wrote:
“I was actually thinking the opposite. FOR THE RECORD, I BEAT YOU FOR THAT CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE and I will again! you must be out of your freaking mind if you think you can defeat me. Bitch is open season! Ass whippings are giving for free at @AEW get in line…”
I was actually thinking the opposite. FOR THE RECORD, I BEAT YOU FOR THAT CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE and I will again! 2. @maki_itoh you must be out of your freaking mind if you think you can defeat me. Bitch is open season!Ass whippings are giving for free at @AEW get in line…???? https://t.co/w2Kdq5yNns
Maki Itoh wrestled for AEW a few times in 2021. She participated in the AEW Women’s World Title Eliminator tournament, but lost to Ryo Mizunami in the first round.
She shared a ring with Thunder Rosa at AEW Revlution in March 2021 during the Buy In kickoff show. Itoh and Britt Baker scored a victory over Thunder Rosa and Riho after interference by Rebel.
Itoh wrestled one more time for AEW, losing to Riho in the main event of the premiere episode of AEW Dark: Elevation.
Maki Itoh’s Popularity
Maki Itoh is very popular. Last summer, one of her t-shirts was the top selling piece of merchandise on Pro Wrestling Tees.
She posted a video back in July stating that she’s received offers from both AEW and WWE. However, she’s yet to sign with either organization.
Former WWE superstar Keith Lee has changed his look drastically since being released by WWE in November last year.
The former NXT champion shared a photo of himself in a Twitter post. He claimed that he is almost done with his Samuel L. Jackson look:
“Back to work. In the Lab. I think I’m almost done with my Samuel L. Jackson meme look (right after I take a crazy looking photo with it lol). But it’s time to start considering what is next properly.”
Back to work. In the Lab.
I think I'm almost done with my Samuel L. Jackson meme look (right after I take a crazy looking photo with it lol). But it's time to start considering what is next properly. pic.twitter.com/2m1nIVzbOL
Keith Lee should have about a month left on his 90-days non-compete clause. This means fans will have to wait a bit more before seeing him back in the ring.
Though this hasn’t stopped the former WWE star from making headlines. Right after his release, Lee infamously got WWE to dispute some claims about paying his own medical bills while being employed by the company.
The former WWE star was trending as early as last week when he told people to stop watching WWE in hopes of his return, because the promotion has made ‘enough money’ off his name since his release.
There is no word yet on what Keith Lee is planning for his future after his non-compete expires. We should get a better idea about it in the coming days.
