AEW has announced that due to Tully Blanchard’s frequent interference in FTR matches, he will be banned from ringside at Full Gear when the champions face the Young Bucks. In an AEW social exclusive, Tully Blanchard read a prepared statement from his attorney in regards to the matter.
“AEW even though it is a league with a constitution and bylaws, this is extremely and excessively punitive. It’s arbitrary, capricious, and it is an imposition on discipline because other managers that have interfered and caused this, they haven’t been kicked out, they haven’t been banned from the arena.”
Blanchard then promised a legal response to AEW’s ruling.
“I promise you, I’m going to attorneys, and I’m going to the board and this is going to be a lawsuit if it doesn’t get fixed.”
“It’s just another example of favouritism against us,” added Cash Wheeler. “It is what it is though because come Saturday, at Full Gear, we’re stepping in the ring with the Young Bucks with or without Tully Blanchard and we are going to prove once and for all that we are the best tag-team on the planet.”
“For the last decade, two tag-teams have sat at the pinnacle of professional wrestling,” Dax Harwood added. “And that’s FTR and that’s Young Bucks.”
All Elite Wrestling World Champion Jon Moxley has responded to Cody’s recent claims that the TNT Championship is “THE most important belt of the last year.”
Cody Rhodes previously sent out a tweet with an image of the AEW TNT Championship. He accompanied it with a caption that proclaimed it not only the most important belt of the last year but that it was “THE belt in wrestling.”
Jon Moxley was made aware of Cody’s recent proclamation during an interview with TV Insider. The current AEW World Champion was dismissive of Cody’s words, arguing that statements like that are why he doesn’t “do Twitter.”
“That’s why I don’t do Twitter,” Moxley said. “Whatever, dude. I’ll classify that statement by him [Cody] as inaccurate. That’s why I don’t play Twitter games.”
Cody, who recently shared he can once again be referred to as Cody Rhodes, is set to defend his TNT Championship at AEW Full Gear. He faces off against Darby Allin. Meanwhile, Jon Moxley will compete in a personal ‘I Quit’ matchup against his former friend Eddie Kingston for the AEW World Championship.
AEW’s next pay-per-view, Full Gear, takes place on November 7, 2020, from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
Hurt Business member Cedric Alexander has addressed comparisons between the Raw stable and 90’s faction, the Nation of Domination.
Speaking with TV Insider, Alexander acknowledged the juxtapositions made between the two groups. He noted how, when the idea was first proposed, people immediately gravitated towards the concept of a modern-day Nation of Domination.
“When we first started, people might say, ‘Oh, this is another Nation of Domination,'” said Alexander. “I feel like the group is a positive spin on strong, Black men. At the same time, we don’t want to spread the idea that race is the driving force.”
Alexander added how The Hurt Business just happens to be comprised of “[…] four, strong, Black men who believe in themselves.” He argued that it’s a great thing to have that kind of representation on TV right now, “[…] especially when racial injustice is still prevalent and things are looked at so negatively. When you have four men with a positive goal in mind to succeed and be the best they can be, why not go for it?”
Regarding the group dynamic since he joined, Cedric Alexander shared how it’s like he’s in a group with his “best friends.”
Alexander pointed out how, although he’s the newest member of the Hurt Business, he has long-standing relationships with each individual member. Because of these friendships, when he joined the group, he felt like a natural addition.
All Elite Wrestling’s Miro has opened up about not being able to talk to anyone about being unhappy in WWE. He shared his frustrations during a recent interview on Chris Jericho’s podcast, Talk is Jericho. During their conversation, he also divulged how he had gotten into trouble with his former employer for getting his hair cut.
According to Jericho, Miro reached out to him about a year ago about his interest in potentially joining AEW. Miro then shared the difficulties he faced after he first expressed unhappiness in WWE. He revealed how news leaked, making him feel unsafe about even talking about his frustrations.
“I did ask I think about 3 years ago because there was another situation where I was unhappy,” Miro admitted. “I talked to one person. The next day the conversation was in the dirt sheets. This is the problem. Who do you go to? Who do you turn to when you are down or when you need advice? You have nobody. They are all stooges. Somehow it always leaks out and you don’t feel safe. If you don’t feel safe and you have nowhere to turn to, then you are naked out there. Thank God I have my wife.”
Miro’s Haircut
Miro revealed how he cut his hair as he had “nothing going on” in WWE. According to him, the promotion was beating him “day in and day out” as he prepared himself for shoulder surgery.
“I came back for one match and they made Big Show chokeslam me four times and chokeslam me seven times and they tried to convince me to protect my character. C’mon man. I’m not that stupid.”
Miro added how he doesn’t mind as he loves The Big Show, especially as Big Show helped put him over in the past when he “needed it.”
However, according to Miro, WWE “[…] threw a big stink about my hair. They said, ‘how dare you? How can you? Why didn’t you ask?’ Sorry, I’ll ask next time.”
All Elite Wrestling’s Colt Cabana has opened up about aligning with the promotion’s Dark Order. Joining All Real Wrestling Podcast, Cabana what led him to join joining the stable. He also spoke about how his alliance with the stable makes for an interesting story.
Reflecting on how he came to be in Dark Order, Cabana acknowledged he had been on a losing streak. He argued how he was ultimately a high-profile star that took years of work to earn his position. Cabana noted this hard work was acknowledged by the AEW crowd, who accepted him despite his losses.
Cabana was ultimately recruited into the Dark Order despite his slanted win/loss record. Despite being amongst their ranks, however, Cabana hasn’t seemed completely comfortable with their actions. He explained how the uncertainty of his allegiance creates compelling storytelling.
“[…] so the Dark Order thing was they were kind of taking the wrestlers who were maybe losing a little bit and kind of telling them that they can win and so thats kind of been Uno and Stu’s big thing and of course Brodie Lee who is the exalted one and so they’ve been courting me a little bit and um I think its been important an important part of the show and important part of storytelling a lot of people are still unsure whether i’m in the Dark Order maybe yourself included and that’s kind of the greatness of telling stories while in professional wrestling.”
After sporadic appearances in the company, Colt Cabana signed with AEW in February 2020. He subsequently made his official AEW debut, appearing at AEW Revolution’s Buy In pre-show.
All Elite Wrestling President Tony Khan has opened up about the recent Le Dinner Debonair segment featuring MJF and Inner Circle leader Chris Jericho.
Acknowledging the reaction to the unique musical number during an interview with PWInsider, Khan admitted he predicted it would be a “polarizing segment.”
When asked if he wanted to continue exploring unconventional vignetters or wanted to skew closer to a more grounded style, Khan shared how he believed the musical segment aligned with AEW’s sports-oriented values.
“I thought it was pretty logical, man. I think that segment is sports-oriented. Like when I watch the ESPYs or when I watch…you watch music videos, it’s not unusual to see a big athlete in a musical number, and the key thing to me was that it wasn’t done in an unrealistic context because the idea that we ended up settling on to me was a very realistic idea.”
Le Dinner Debonair Was “Very On Brand”
Tony Khan argued how Jericho and MJF are two of the “biggest showboats in wrestling,” who love to sing their own praises. To him, their egomania would justify their “hammy performance together.” He added how the entire piece’s ambiance was “very on brand” for the two wrestlers.
Khan explained how it was key that Jericho and MJF acknowledged the camera and broke the fourth wall. He stressed how looking and singing into the camera was all about connecting with and entertaining the fans.
“Clearly they were doing it for themselves as these characters but it was very much for the benefit of the fans. So it’s like to me, in their minds it was for the benefit of the fans,” Khan said. “So to me, it’s very much…it’s still a realistic segment. I don’t think it’s…people talk about a sports-based feel but I’ve seen athletes do tons of musical numbers and you know, the Super Bowl Shuffle? Was the Super Bowl Shuffle not real sports? Because that’s about as real sports as I can remember.”
He argued how that era represented a time when sports felt very real. Khan noted that, if fans were to take an honest approach to Le Dinner Debonair, they should juxtapose the segment with all the times they’ve seen athletes singing and dancing in music videos.
Following the end of last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT, Cody grabbed a microphone and addressed the crowd in attendance. He revealed in a post-Dynamite promo that he can once again be referred to as Cody Rhodes.
“As of this morning, I no longer just have one name. And whether Justin Roberts says it or not, it feels really good to be Cody Rhodes again!”
His statement was met with cheers from those watching as a chant of ‘Cody Rhodes’ broke out amongst them. His promo comes in the wake of WWE dropping its attempts to re-register its trademark to the name ‘Cody Rhodes.’
WWE actually held the rights to the ‘Cody Rhodes’ name from 2009 until 2019. However, WWE failed to renew its rights in time, leading Cody to attempt trademarking it himself. This attempt, however, was rejected.
He has previously shared his thoughts on WWE holding the trademark, explaining how the entire affair wasn’t as “sultry/scandalous as reported. It’s just business. […] Trying to license me is flattering, but it doesn’t stop this train from moving. No grudge.”
Cody Rhodes is scheduled to defend his TNT Championship this Saturday at AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view. Accompanied Arn Anderson, he faces off against Darby Allin.
AEW Full Gear takes place on November 7 from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
AEW Dynamite aired from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville. It was the final episode of Dynamite before Full Gear this Saturday. In addition to the takeaways below, PAC appeared during tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
MJF Sent A Message To Jericho Heading Into Full Gear
Jericho congratulated Jake Hager on winning his MMA fight but was quickly interrupted by MJF and Wardlow. MJF said they had tension last week and he doesn’t want that. MJF added that Jericho is going to get a front row seat to see that he does belong in Inner Circle. Jericho stated that Inner Circle is willing to do anything to win and suggested that MJF doesn’t have that and called him soft. MJF told Jericho to watch and made his way to the ring as Le Champion joined commentary. Wardlow and MJF battled Ortiz and Sammy Guevara in the first match of the night.
Match Recap: MJF immediately tagged in Wardlow and then Sammy tagged in Ortiz. Ortiz connected with a Dropkick but Wardlow responded with a massive slam. MJF tagged in an went for a Knee Drop but Ortiz got out of the way. MJF distracted the referee and Wardlow got in a cheap shot.
Wardlow and MJF isolated Ortiz in the corner and took turns beating him down. MJF slapped Sammy and Guevara tried to get into the ring. Referee Aubrey Edwards prevented him from doing so but MJF capitalized on the distraction and bit Ortiz on the head.
Wardlow and Sammy tagged in and Guevara connected with an Enziguri. MJF tagged in and Sammy greeted him with a knee to the face. Sammy followed it up with a Crossbody onto Wardlow and MJF. Guevara hit a couple of Suicide Dives and then a kick to MJF’s back for a near fall.
MJF poked Sammy in the eye and posed in the middle of the ring. Sammy responded with a knee to the face and then hit the GTH. Guevara went for the cover but Wardlow was able to break it up at the last moment. Ortiz and Sammy went for a Superplex but Wardlow came up from behind and planted everyone with a Powerbomb. Wardlow tagged himself in and planted Ortiz with the F10 but Sammy broke up the cover with a Splash.
MJF tagged back in and Sammy flipped onto him. Guevara gave Serpentico the finger and he launched a chair into Sammy’s face. It was revealed to be Matt Hardy under the mask and the crowd chanted “delete!”. Back in the ring, MJF locked in the Salf of the Earth Armbar on Ortiz for the submission victory.
After the match, MJF tackled Chris Jericho and started punching him in the face. Jake Hager broke it up and Jericho got up with a smile on his face. MJF will battle Jericho this Saturday at Full Gear and if he wins he will be allowed into the Inner Circle.
Trent faced Miro tonight on Dynamite. Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy, Penelope Ford, and Kip Sabian were ringside for the match. Before the match, Miro said that Trent’s mom didn’t teach him any manners and Trent caught him with a Dropkick.
Match Recap: Trent went for a DDT but Miro blocked it and hit a Belly to Back Suplex. Miro hit Trent with an elbow to the face and went for the cover but Trent kicked out at two. Miro stomped on Trent in the corner of the ring as Kip Sabian taunted him from the outside.
Miro connected with a Clothesline and followed it up with a Suplex. When Dynamite returned from a commercial break, Miro leveled Trent with a boot to the face and posed in the ring. Miro locked in a Bear Hug but Trent quickly escaped and hit a Jawbreaker.
Trent followed it up with a Clothesline for a two count. Trent hit a Suplex but Miro responded with a Uranage for a near fall. Trent dodged a kick and sent Miro out of the ring. Trent flipped onto Miro and then rolled him back inside the ring. He then planted Miro with a Tornado DDT and followed it up with a running knee for a near fall. Trent slipped off the top rope and Miro caught him with a kick to the face. Miro locked in the Game Over for the submission victory.
After the match, Miro grabbed a microphone and said he told Trent that he has no manners because of his mother. Orange Cassidy climbed to the top rope and took out Sabian and Miro with a Splash to end the segment.
Team Taz Complained About Not Having A Match At Full Gear
Taz came to the ring with Ricky Starts and FTW Champion Brian Cage. Taz claimed he sat outside of Tony Khan’s office for three hours until a production assistant came up to him. The production assistant told Taz that Tony is busy dealing with people that are going to compete at Full Gear. Taz pointed out that Brian Cage is 10-1 and that Ricky Starks has won the last 10 of 11 matches and is not even in the top 5. Starks noted that he has proven exactly why they call him “Absolute” Ricky Starks. Ricky complained about not being ranked and how they don’t have a match at Full Gear. Taz claimed that Darby Allin and Cody are both entitled and given everything they want. Taz complained that Team Taz has done the work but they are getting worked. Taz added that there will be an FTW presence this Saturday at Full Gear.
The November 4, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Dakota Kai (w/Raquel Gonzalez) def. Ember Moon
Kushida def. Cameron Grimes
Drake Maverick & Killian Dain vs. Ever-Rise ends in no contest
Toni Storm def. Shotzi Blackheart
Tommaso Ciampa def. Velveteen Dream
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream
Velveteen Dream
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream in a singles match was clearly the biggest match announced in advance for this show.
Ciampa has been strongly booked since making his return to NXT TV and turned into a heel. He’s been booked in this feud with Dream as well as Kushida, but it seems to be on one week then forgotten about the next, which is questionable.
Dream’s performance here was fine, but once again, it’s still not the same work rate that he had before the pandemic. As a result, that’s been criticized by fans.
Dream had a cast on his left hand and sold a lot in the early going of this one. In the middle of the match, Dream started to dominate before Ciampa made a comeback and they worked towards the finish. Caimpa went over with his finisher.
Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai. in a singles match turned out to be pretty good. Kai has come along so much and turned out to be a very good worker. Moon never lost a step even though she had been out of action for an injury that caused her to underdog surgery.
This was the opener of the show and it was all action right out of the gate. WWE gave them plenty of time, over 20 minutes, to tell their story. Kai worked over the shoulder of Moon until Moon made her comeback. Kai went over in the contest thanks a modified GTS in the corner after inference from Raquel Gonzalez.
Moon and Kai are the future of this division once the likes of Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley are no longer in the spotlight.
Shotzi Blackheart vs. Toni Storm was an important match in the NXT women’s division.
The match was a hard-hitting affair. Near the end of the match, Candice LeRae came on the big screen to tell Blackheart that she left her tank backstage and that she would watch it for her. This led to Strom rolling her up for the win. After the match, LeRae got into a hummer and ran over the tank.
In storyline, Blackheart got to pick her opponent for this week’s NXT after William Regal liked the job she did hosting Halloween Havoc so she picked one of the top names she could face and it makes sense.
Blackheart stated that she wanted a fresh opponent and is a big fan of Storm, who just made her NXT return. She actually has a bit of history with Blackheart as she confronted Shirai. Storm defeated Aliyah on NXT three weeks ago.
On the flipside, Blackheart was involved in the Tables, Ladders & Scares match between NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai and Candice LeRae at Halloween Havoc to even up the odds thanks to interference by a mystery person.
Kushida vs. Cameron Grimes in a singles match happened.
This came just one week after Grimes dropped a loss to Dexter Lumis in a Haunted House of Terror match. WWE was hyping in his latest contest that Kushida is looking to extend his recent winning streak.
It was a short match with an impressive performance by Kushida. There was a strange finish as Grimes thought the referee was a zombie and that allowed Kushida to get the pin fall.
A good win for Kushida here, but it appears the comedy will continue with Grimes.
It's okay, @CGrimesWWE! The Haunted House of Terror Match is over!
Fans can expect to see a new documentary on the life and career of Steve Austin.
WWE is teaming up Jake Rogal for the project. Former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia said on The Chris Van Vliet Show that WWE had contacted her about being interviewed by Rogal.
For those who may not know, Rogal helped put together the 10-part docuseries on Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls for ESPN that was widely praised.
“They were like, ‘The producer from The Last Dance is going to reach out to you. They want you involved in a documentary. I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ … It was funny because my husband and I were currently watching that documentary as this message was happening. So when Jake reached out to me, I was just like, ‘Jake, I’m literally watching your documentary right now, this is amazing.'”
This comes at an interesting time as WWE has teamed up with A&E Network under A&E’s Biography banner for a new set of documentaries.
It’s been confirmed that the series will cover the careers of Austin, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Booker T and Shawn Michaels. The Steve Austin documentary is supposed to be in 2021.
On Wednesday, All Elite Wrestling made some changes to the Full Gear card.
Originally, Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver in a singles match was slated to take place on the pre-show portion of the show.
However, AEW President Tony Khan first announced during an appearance on Busted Open Radio that this match had been moved to the main card. On Wednesday evening, Khan later announced that NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb vs. Allysin Kay would take place on the pre-show this Saturday night.
“Before tonight’s huge Live #AEWDynamite on TNT, I’ve just secured a big new match for Saturday at The Buy-In available to all! After her NWA World Women’s Title win last week + 1st defense on Dynamite, @SerenaDeeb will defend her title against former champion @Sienna Allysin Kay!”
AEW Full Gear Card
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston – I Quit Match
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. The Young Bucks – If Young Bucks don’t win, they can’t challenge for tag titles again
Kenny Omega vs. Adam Page – AEW World Heavyweight Title Tournament Finals (winner gets title shot)
Chris Jericho vs. MJF – If MJF wins, he joins Inner Circle
AEW TNT Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin
AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara – Elite Deletion Match
Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver
NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb vs. Allysin Kay – Buy In Show
Stories about Vince McMahon have been told for years and the latest one comes from a former WWE writer.
Jon Rineman told a story during participation in a Reddit AMA. It started when he was asked for any light-hearted stories he may have of the WWE Chairman.
The story is about how McMahon wanted to donate a hospital wing as repayment for a storyline angle that would’ve cost some big money.
“As far as a crazy Vince story: we had an idea where someone was going to attack somebody in a hospital. And then I had an idea for it that Vince liked, then Heyman had a bunch of ideas Vince liked. So, Vince thinks about it and says: “We’re really gonna f**k up this hospital. How much would it cost to rebuild?” He stops, thinks a second, then says, matter-of-factly, “Hmm. I might have to donate a wing to a hospital. How much does that cost?” So, our writer’s assistant started looking up how much it cost to donate a wing to a hospital.
The angle was nixed later on in a meeting due to another idea that came up.
“Which one is the one without buying the hospital wing? Do that one.” Then he stopped and said, “I should donate a wing somewhere though…” and it got quiet while he thought. Then he took out his pencil and I saw him write “Hospital.”
Some of the more famous stories about McMahon come from the likes of Jim Cornette, Bruce Prichard, Jim Ross, and Bret Hart.
CM Punk decided to have some fun at the expense of Chris Jericho.
On Wednesday morning, Jericho sent out a misleading tweet about the election, which has received responses from various people including wrestlers and CM Punk.
Jericho tweeted, “Im not a political person, but is it strange to anybody else, that for the first time ever, we have to wait a day…2 days…5 days…10 days…to find out who won the presidential race?”
It should be noted that elections are oftentimes not called on election day. There have been a few examples of that such as the elections in 2016 and 2000. In fact, the 2000 election took over a month before a winner was declared.
For those who may not know, the mail-in ballots are still being counted and it was known prior to election day that there could be delays. Jericho has been corrected by several people but has yet to delete his tweet.
Jericho and Punk most notably worked a program in 2012 that saw Jericho challenge Punk for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 28.
Scorpio Sky has been pulled from a scheduled match.
On Wednesday evening, AEW announced via Twitter that Sky had been exposed to someone with the illness and as a result postponed his scheduled singles match against Shawn Spears from this week’s AEW Dynamite episode on TNT.
AEW sent out the following statement about the situation in this tweet:
“Through contact tracing, AEW learned @ScorpioSky was exposed to someone with COVID-19 within the last 14 days. An initial test was negative, but AEW has decided to postpone tonight’s scheduled match.”
AEW later announced a new match to take place of this planned contest that was nixed. Private Party vs. The Young Bucks in a tag team match was booked.
“#NewMatchAnnouncement The @youngbucks will take on #PrivateParty in a rematch from the second episode of #AEWDynamite, where Private Party eliminated the Bucks in the first round of the #AEW World Tag Team championship tournament.”
This episode of Dynamite is important as it serves as the go-home edition for Saturday’s Full Gear pay-per-view event from Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place. The Young Bucks will challenge FTR for the Tag Team Titles at this show.
Cody Rhodes may have just scored a significant victory in the ongoing tug-of-war between him and WWE over various trademarks. WWE has recently canceled its attempt to re-register its trademark of the name “Cody Rhodes”.
This potentially opens up the door for Cody to trademark the name for himself, something he has been attempting to do since last year.
WWE held the rights to the name “Cody Rhodes” from 2009 until 2019. The company failed to renew the trademark in time, however. Following this, Cody filed to trademark the term the next day on April 14th, 2020. His attempt to trademark the name was rejected, however.
According to the website HeelbyNature, WWE filed a notice of cancellation with The United States Patent and Trademark Office on November 2nd. It was finalized earlier this morning.
Earlier this year, Cody commented on WWE’s trademarking of the name.
“It’s not as sultry/scandalous as reported. It’s just business. They’ve seen the same data we have, and they know they can make big money off the brand(even though it’s not in their house). Trying to license me is flattering, but it doesn’t stop this train from moving. No grudge,” Cody Tweeted.
Recently, Cody abandoned trademark filing for two trademarks that were both opposed by WWE. Those were for the WCW PPV name “Slamboree” and the War Games-associated term of “The Match Beyond”.
AEW has released new top-5 rankings for each of its divisions ahead of tonight’s episode of Dynamite. These will be the official rankings as AEW heads into Full Gear on Saturday.
AEW Men’s Singles Division
AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley (20-0) TNT Champion: Cody (20-2-1)
Brian Cage (10-1)
MJF (9-1)
Lance Archer (13-2)
Darby Allin (13-5) (+1)
Shawn Spears (15-2) (+1)
Brodie Lee dropped out of the rankings this week. He hasn’t wrestled since dropping the TNT title to Cody. Cody defeated Orange Cassidy to retain the title last week. He’ll team up with the Gunn Club tonight to take on the Dark Order.
Brodie Lee falling out of the rankings allows #4 Darby Allin to move up one spot ahead of his title match against Cody at Full Gear. He picked up a win on Dark this week.
#5 Shawn Spears is back in the rankings after defeating VSK on Dynamite last week. He’ll take on the unranked Scorpio Sky tonight.
#2 MJF will team with Wardlow to take on the Inner Circle’s Ortiz and Sammy Guevara tonight.
AEW Women’s Division
AEW Women’s Champion: Hikaru Shida (19-1)
Nyla Rose (11-2)
Penelope Ford (9-5)
Abadon (5-1)
Big Swole (10-4)
Dr. Britt Baker (6-6)
There was no movement in the women’s singles division this week. NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb successfully retained her title over Leyla Hirsch last week in the only women’s match on Dynamite.
#1 Nyla Rose is scheduled to challenge for the title at Full Gear. She’ll face Red Velvet in something of a tune-up match tonight.
AEW Tag Team Division
AEW Tag Team Champions: FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (12-0)
Young Bucks (8-3)
Best Friends (18-7)
The Natural Nightmares (8-2)
Butcher and the Blade (11-6)
Jurassic Express (9-5) (previously unranked)
Santana and Ortiz drop out of the rankings this week. They are replaced by Jurassic Express who picked up a win on Dark this week.
AEW’s tag division is gearing up for what could be the most significant tag title match in the promotion’s young history when FTR face the Young Bucks at Full Gear.
WWE is promoting 30 Days of the Deadman on the WWE Network at the moment. A new documentary “Meeting the Undertaker” premiered on the network Sunday night and features interviews with wrestlers about the first time they met the Undertaker.
Winner of the original Tough Enough, Maven, appeared recently on WWE the Bump. He spoke about not only meeting the Undertaker but finding out he would be eliminating him from the 2002 Royal Rumble.
“Are you f’n kidding me?”
“I got the call literally the day before,” Maven said.
“Tough Enough had just ended. I think I had been on programming probably a handful of times, maybe 2 or 3 times, I wrestled Taz a couple of times. I think I wrestled Booker on Smackdown once. And the day before they called and were like ‘You’re going to Atlanta’ which is where the Rumble was.”
“At that point, I’m not an idiot, I knew I would probably be in the Rumble but I knew I would probably come out, get a quick whatever pop Tough Enough was going to get, and then I would be thrown out and gotten rid of as soon as possible.”
Maven then spoke about the backstage meeting where he was told he would be eliminating Undertaker from the match.
“When I got there and they called me to the ring and it was Shane and Taker,” Maven continued. “They called me to the ring and at the time, I’m terrified. I’m the rookie, I’m young, I’m in my mid-20s and I’m standing there with Shane McMahon and with the Undertaker. Scared to death. And then he tells me ‘Maven, you’re going to come in and eliminate him’ and I thought he was completely joking.”
“Well then Taker turns, looks at me, and he says ‘Are you f’n kidding me? And at that point, I wanted to run, I wanted to just leave.”
Rhea Ripley was a big fan of Triple H’s growing up. In a recent interview with Wide World of Sports, Ripley opened up about working for the wrestler that she says was the reason she started watching wrestling in the first place.
“Growing up, Triple H is the reason I started watching WWE and the reason I started wrestling,” Ripley said during the interview. “Now he’s my boss and saying that I might be the one to main event WrestleMania in the next five years – to me that’s amazing.”
“To think how far I’ve come from wrestling in little Adelaide, South Australia, to now having Triple H say nice words about me and putting me over everyone is wild.”
The 24-year-old last wrestled on NXT’s Halloween Havoc special last week. She defeated Raquel Gonzalez on the show.
Ripley continued to talk about the confidence she gets from Triple H’s praise.
“Sometimes you need a confidence boost in anything you do and it’s nice to get that from someone like Triple H,” Ripley continued.”I normally like to prove people wrong and that gets me going and that’s what makes me push myself to the next level but every now and then it’s nice to get some positivity and I can use that to become the best Rhea Ripley.”
Ripley also spoke about how far women’s wrestling has come in recent years.
“We’re proving to everyone we’re just as good as the men and some of us are better. I’m putting that out there, some us go in harder so it’s cool to be part of this women’s revolution and just showing everyone that women can do it too.”
Matt Riddle was recently called up to the main roster after a successful run in NXT that included a tag title reign with Timothy Thatcher.
Riddle has a reputation for being a polarizing figure behind the scenes in WWE. He rubs some people the wrong way. Brock Lesnar and Goldberg did not appreciate Riddle calling them out. Riddle was accused of sexual assault, resulting in a (still pending) lawsuits against Riddle and WWE.
Seth Rollins is the latest big name to take issue with the Original Bro. After speaking highly about Riddle in recent years, Rollins recently stated on WWE programming interview that he has no plans on working with Riddle in WWE. Rollins stated in mid-October, “I’ve got no interest in facing Matt Riddle at any point in my career so he can go to RAW as far as I’m concerned.”
The heat between Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle might stem from Riddle’s wife body shaming Rollins’ wife, Becky Lynch, on social media. Seemingly out of the blue, Riddle’s wife Riddle’s wife Lisa posted a photo of Becky Lynch’s backside, calling her “skinny, jiggly fat” and suggest she needs to squat in relation to pretty much nothing
During a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Matt Riddle revealed he spoke to WWE boss Vince McMahon a few weeks ago about the Rollins situation.
“To answer your question, yes, some people I have heat with,” said Riddle. “But most of it’s just high school, catty, ‘He said this’, people who just can’t take a joke or a work.”
At the end of the day, Vince McMahon signs the checks in WWE and Matt Riddle will do his best to be a good independent contractor.
“I was in Vince McMahon’s office just three weeks ago, before this thing broke out,” Riddle said. “I was in headquarters talking to him – and, yeah, we mentioned the heat I have with certain people but, at the end of the day, he signs the checks, he makes it happen for me and they’re in control, not the talent.”
He continued by saying that if Vince is happy and he can help WWE make money, then he’s pulling his weight and he doesn’t see a problem.
Impact Wrestling is currently reeling from the attempted murder of John E Bravo on last week’s episode. This week, Tommy Dreamer has found his best Sherlock Holmes costume and is on the case.
Impact Wrestling 11/3 Quick Results:
Knockouts Championship Deonna Purrazzo defeated Su Yung (c) via DQ
Chris Bey defeated Trey Miguel
Doc Gallows defeated Ethan Page
Johnny Swinger defeated Cody Deaner
Sami Callihan & Eric Young defeated Rich Swann & Eddie Edwards
Tommy Dreamer Is On The Case Of Who Shot John E Bravo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVMDKnossB4
It was revealed this week that John E Bravo is not dead following being shot last week. Bravo is in a medically induced coma, however. Tommy Dreamer also announced that he is on the case after dressing up in his best Sherlock Holmes costume.
It’s clear that numerous people had a motive to shoot Bravo. Dreamer narrowed the list of suspects down to 10 names:
Johnny Swinger
Havok
Cody Deaner
Fallah Bahh
Referee Brandon Tolle
Hernandez
Larry D
Father James Mitchell
Rosemary
Taya Valkyrie
It might be some time before we find out who shot Bravo. We’ll all just have to following Dreamer’s investigation as it unfolds.
Knockouts Title To Be Defended At Turning Point
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDajhO3lOBE
A rematch from Bound For Glory kicked off the show this week. Deonna Purrazzo faced Su Yung for the Knockouts title. Kimber Lee tried to give her ally an advantage by sliding a chair into he ring. Yung picked up the weapon, however, and was disqualified after using it on the challenger.
Following the match, Purrazzo’s attorney, RD Evans, argued that she wasn’t given a fair shot. Scott D’Amore then announced Purrazzo and Yung will face each other again at Turning Point on November 14th in a no disqualification match.
Sami Callihan To Face Rich Swann At Turning Point
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2todUsLgQ7A
Sami Callihan teamed with Eric Young to face Rich Swann and Eddie Edwards in the main event this week. The team of Callihan and Young picked up the victory after some interference from Ken Shamrock allowed Callihan to pin Edwards. The trio of Young, Callihan and Shamrock seemed pretty aligned to end the show as well.
It was later announced that Callihan will face Swann at Turning Point.
Moose Wants A Shot At Rich Swann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATEYnixKPVs
Moose cut an in-ring promo this week about his victory over EC3 at Bound For Glory. He noted that he considers his belt the top one in the promotion and that Swann is holding a secondary title. Moose also talked about having attacked Willie Mack in the parking lot last week. Mack came out to confront Moose but found himself on the wrong end of the melee after bumping into the camera operator.
A match between Moose and Mack was later scheduled for Turning Point.
Chris Bey Also Wants A Shot At Rich Swann
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-3ZlZDmYrQ
Chris Bey picked up a singles victory over Trey Miguel this week on Impact. We would later see him in the backstage area trying to convince Rich Swann to grant him a world title shot. Swann told Bey that if he wants a title shot, he’ll have to do something to earn it.
Rhino won the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at Bound For Glory, seemingly earning his friend Heath a contract in the process. Heath tore his groin during the match, however, and the team went to great lengths to hide this from Scott D’Amore this week. D’Amore eventually figured it out, however, and said that Heath will have to wait until he’s healthy to sign his new contract with the promotion.
Doc Gallows Picks Up Victory Over Ethan Page
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUW3F-HKSdY
The North regained the Impact tag team titles at Bound For Glory but Ethan Page would face one-half of the Good Brothers, Doc Gallows, in singles action this week. Josh Alexander attempted to interfere in the match but Karl Anderson made the save. Gallows then hit Page with a thrust kick and got the 3-count. The North attempted to assault Gallows after the match but Anderson again made the save and the Good Brothers stood tall to end the segment.
Johnny Swinger Picks Up Victory With A Loaded Fanny Pack
Johnny Swinger picked up a rare singles win this week on Impact. He defeated Cody Deaner but the match was not without controversy. Swinger picked up the pin after hitting Deaner with his fanny pack. It’s not clear what Swinger loaded the pack up with but it certainly did the trick.
Swoggle was interviewed in the back this week. He was talking about his book “Life is Short and So Am I” when he was interrupted by Brian Myers. The Most Professional Wrestler called him a sideshow attraction and pushed him over at the end of the segment. It seems a feud between these two is brewing. A match between the two at Turning Point was made official later in the night.
Rohit Raju To Defend The X-Division Title Against TJP
Rohit Raju held another “Defeat Rohit” challenge this week. It was answered by TJP, however, who has already challenged the X-Division champion. The two ended up brawling after TJP threw hot tea on the champion.
Later in the show, D’Amore confirmed that Raju will defend against TJP next week and if TJP doesn’t win, he can’t challenge for the title again while Raju is champion.
Madison Rayne hosted another episode of “Locker Room Talk” this week. Her guests were Jordynne Grace and Tenille Dashwood (along with Kaleb). Rayne mentioned that neither of the two Knockouts have a partner for the KO Tag Team Championship tournament. Grace seemed okay with the idea of teaming with Dashwood but Dashwood asked Rayne to be her partner instead. The new team will face Neveah and Havok next week.
Upcoming Matches In Impact Wrestling
Next week on Impact Wrestling:
X-Division Championship Rohit Raju (c) vs TJP
Chris Sabin vs Acey Romero
Madison Rayne & Tenille Dashwood vs Havok & Neveah
Coming up at Turning Point on November 14th:
Impact World Championship Rich Swann (c) vs Sami Callihan
Knockouts Championship No Disqualification Su Yung (c) vs Deonna Purrazzo
Impact Tag Team Championships The North (c) vs the Good Brothers
All Elite Wrestling has added Max Caster & Anthony Bowens to its roster.
The duo has wrestled as a team on the last two episodes of AEW Dark. They defeated Aaron Solow and Angel Fashion on the show last night but lost to the Best Friends the week prior. Their team name is “The Acclaimed”.
AEW took to Twitter to officially announce the news and welcome them to the team. The Acclaim are #AllElite.
Max Caster made his pro-debut in 2015. He was trained at the Create-A-Pro Wrestling Academy by Brian Myers & Pat Buck. Caster also wrestled a couple of matches on AEW Dark back in June before his two matches teaming with Bowens recently. Anthony Bowens was trained by Pat Buck and Dan Maff. He made his pro-debut in 2013.
The Acclaimed had never teamed before aligning on AEW Dark. They are 1-1 as a unit.
There are a few tag-teams starting to emerge on AEW Dark as of late. In addition to the Acclaimed, Luther & Serpentico (the Chaos Project), and Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr. have become established teams.
Thank you to everyone who has ever supported and believed in me. I’m so excited for this new journey. Anthony Bowens is officially ALL ELITE! @AEW#5TP#Acclaimed ? pic.twitter.com/PJu8C4gFEh
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW averaged 1.656 million viewers with a 0.48 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This was down from last week, which did 1.732 million viewers and 0.51 demo rating.
To compare, just one year ago, RAW averaged 2.135 million viewers. The biggest thing to note is the third hour setting its all-time low.
WWE went up against an NFL game that aired on ESPN, which was between the Buccaneers and Giants that had 11.703 million viewers.
RAW: 1.656 million
Third hour did an all-time record low 1.455 million
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.747 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.767 million, 0.52 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.455 million, 0.43 in the 18-49 Demo
SmackDown Viewership
Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.286 million viewers on FOX. This is up from the 881,000 viewers that the show did for the previous week on FS1, which aired on the television network because of the World Series game that aired on FOX instead and did over 8 million viewers.
The overnight rating was 2.133 million viewers. The first hour did 2.115 million viewers while hour two did 2.151 million viewers.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 demos, up from 0.25 rating as last week’s show.
SmackDown was expected to drop in viewership because FS1 is in far fewer homes than big FOX, but with it back normal, the increase was also expected.
While their marriage isn’t acknowledged on-air, Su Yung and Rich Swann are both world champions in Impact Wrestling. At Impact’s Bound For Glory PPV, Rich Swann defeated Eric Young to win the Impact World title and Su Yung defeated Deonna Purrazzo to win the Knockouts title.
For Yung, it is her second time winning the coveted Knockouts belt. For Swann, his win at Bound For Glory was his first world championship, though he is a former X-Division and WWE Cruiserweight champion as well.
Su Yung took to Twitter to comment on their title wins:
once üpon a time. . .
4 oür fütüre 4 oür present 4 oür history love &&& so proüd of ü Richie ??? thank ü to all ?? we made history present &&& fütüre
Deona Purrazzo was originally scheduled to face Kylie Rae on the PPV but when Rae didn’t make the show, Su Yung was chosen as her replacement.
The celebration for Swann and Yung might be short-lived, however. A rematch between Yung and Purrazzo is scheduled for tonight’s show. The below matches are also scheduled for tonight:
Chris Bey vs Trey Miguel
Knockouts Championship Su Yung (c) vs Deonna Purrazzo
Ethan Page vs Doc Gallows
Rich Swann & Eddie Edwards vs Eric Young & Sami Callihan
Additionally, Impact will likely address the murder of John E Bravo on tonight’s show.
SmackDown Superstar Zelina Vega has opened up about her marriage to fellow WWE Superstar Aleister Black. She recently joined Lilian Garcia for her podcast Chasing Glory. During their conversation, Vega explained why she wanted to keep the marriage a secret. She also shared how she felt after word leaked.
Vega explained how they still don’t know who leaked the fact the two are married. She noted how there were a few people they had to tell, including Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, who she claimed they view like parents. Vega was quick to add how neither herself nor Black believe they were behind the leak as she reflected on Triple H’s reaction.
“We call Triple H Papa H and Steph, Mama Steph. I remember when I first told Hunter, he said, ‘You guys are together?’ I said, ‘yea, we are getting married.’ He was so confused. He said, ‘you fooled me.’ He was so happy and supportive,” Vega said.
“At that point, we had just told them and then a few days after, it slipped out in front of a few friends. Later, we told my Mom. Terry Taylor came to the wedding. At the wedding, we said, ‘I know you guys are taking pictures. I’m glad you are here and having fun but please don’t post anything on social media. We want to keep this here.'”
Vega speculated that the information could have been procured by websites as “[…] marriage certificates are made available for public reasons.” She believes this is how news of their marriage was first discovered.
Zelina Vega On Keeping Their Marriage A Secret
Zelina Vega then explained her reasons behind wanting to keep her marriage to Black a secret. She discussed her alliance with Andrade, noting how she didn’t want conspiracies suggesting Andrade lost the NXT Championship to Black because of their relationship.
“They would say she jumped on him and he did the Black Mass and she was with him the whole time,” Vega said. “I had seen a few times in history where real life bleeds into storylines and it can get a little messy. So I didn’t want any of that and Aleister didn’t want it either.”
Aleister Black and Zelina Vega were recently drafted to SmackDown following the WWE Draft.
RETRIBUTION leader Mustafa Ali has addressed why the stable’s members have names like T-BAR, Slapjack, Mace, and Reckoning.
Ali appeared on Raw Talk last night following Monday Night Raw, where he opened up about the names’ origins.
When first asked about the names, Ali scoffed at the question. He mocked R-Truth for asking it, questioning how a Superstar named R-Truth can even ask about odd names.
“Let me tell you why the members of RETRIBUTION look the way they look, and have the names they have,” Ali said. “Imagine being judged by your name. Imagine being mocked because of how you look. Now, imagine a guy named Mustafa Ali that gave the members of RETRIBUTION names and masks so that they can feel what he feels. So that they, too, can be judged by their names and how they look. It’s a crazy concept, isn’t it?”
Later in the show, Charly Caruso pushed Ali for a further explanation behind the Slapjack and T-BAR monikers. At this point, Ali asked RETRIBUTION to join him on-air. They subsequently interrupted the show, abruptly ending Raw Talk.
Mustafa Ali would also upload a short video to his Twitter account, reiterating his explanation of his deeper reasoning and logic behind the names chosen for his RETRIBUTION members.
