31-year-old Cedric Alexander signed with WWE in 2016 after wrestling Kota Ibushi in the Cruiserweight Classic. He’d compete on 205 Live and won the cruiserweight title in 2018. Recently on RAW, however, he has turned heel and aligned with the Hurt Business.
In a recent interview with SI.com, Alexander said that the new role is a change of pace that gives him a chance to let loose.
“I needed a change of pace and the chance to let out a new side that people aren’t used to seeing,” Alexander said. “One of the things that made me love wrestling in general was my career in amateur wrestling in high school and college. Just being on the mat made me feel a type of aggression I wasn’t really able to produce in my regular life. Now, with the Hurt Business, this is my chance to let loose. Before, when I was frustrated, I couldn’t let it out. Sometimes being a bad dude just feels a lot better. I knew I needed this, and it feels good.”
The 11-year pro who makes his home in Orlando also said he has lofty goals left for his WWE career.
“If there is a title to win, I want it,” Alexander continued. “Long-term, I want to capture the WWE championship. I want to be a grand slam champion.”
Cedric Alexander On Being In The Hurt Business
Alexander also said during the interview that being in the Hurt Business allows him a chance to work with his friends.
“I’ve known Shelton since the start of my career,” Alexander says. “I’ve known MVP and Bobby for years, too, and we’ve always been really cool and tight. So this is an opportunity to work with some of my best friends.”
Alexander also continued to talk about the respect he has for Shelton Benjamin.
“I’ve said numerous times that Shelton should have been a three- or four-time world champ by now. If I could, I’d work singles matches with him all day, every day for the rest of my career.”
The Rock was interviewed as part of the recently released “Meeting The Undertaker” documentary on the WWE Network. During the discussion, Rock mentioned that when he was about to get pushed up to main event level, there were people in WWE trying to hold him back.
“When I started to make the move and word started to get around that the office was priming me for a WWE Championship run, there were a handful of guys in the business at that time, they did everything they could to stop that run from happening,” Rock said on the show.
He would continue to say that the Undertaker would keep his confidence up during this time, however.
“Undertaker was one of those guys who was always so steady, telling me ‘Don’t worry about it, kid. You just got out, you keep doing your thing, you have a hell of a future,’” Rock continued.
“I always appreciate that about Mark, because it spoke volumes about his integrity and love for the business. I’ll always be grateful for that.”
Meeting The @undertaker is a different story for everybody.
Shortly after he turned heel at WrestleMania 13, Bret Hart aligned with his brother Owen, brothers-in-law Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart, as well as Brian Pillman to form the Hart Foundation. The faction cut anti-American promos regularly as they were cheered in Canada but booed in the United States.
Hart recently sat down with Fightful and spoke about the famous angle from 1997.
“I think there was an effort to keep it pretty smart in the beginning. That was where it kind of petered out was when they cut the power on me. Vince mysteriously ran out of ideas about the end of August,” Hart said about the angle.
Hart continued to say that Vince McMahon was pretty hands-on during the Canada vs USA angle. He suggested that after he won the title from the Undertaker at SummerSlam 97, Vince was less into the angle.
“Vince was hands-on telling me how to do the whole US / Canada thing. One of the things that happened after SummerSlam, after I worked with the Patriot and the Undertaker. But, that time period they just cut the power. If you watched my promos for the next two months, I’m walking out there and it’s the same thing as I had in WCW where I don’t know what I’m talking about,” Hart continued.
Hart continued to say that some fans in the United States got really angry with him over the angle. He talked about some fans following him in their trucks after shows.
“Even in those days, when I think of the United States today and how much problems with the political tensions that they have right now, if I go back to remember those days, I can remember in some of those places like Montgomery, Alabama, and places like that, getting in my car to drive off after the show and I would have hillbilly guys in trucks follow me for miles, shaking their fists at me and trying to drive me off the road. It was dangerous stuff.”
Kylie Rae has announced she is taking a break from pro wrestling.
Rae was recently scheduled to compete at Impact Wrestling’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view. She no-showed the event, which set off concern due to her history of missing shows due to ‘personal issues.’
On Monday morning, Kylie Rae posted a message on her Patreon page announcing that she is “currently unwell” and “no longer a professional wrestler.”
She wrote to her subscribers, “I’m truly sorry for the pain I’ve caused and miscommunication, I am currently unwell. I’m also sorry that I wasn’t able to get this out before your monthly subscription charge.”
“I wanted to take this time to say I am no longer a professional wrestler and am currently taking a break from social media. It’s been a very hard decision to make but please understand.. When I am well, I will try to fulfill any obligations that have missed.”
We wish Kylie Rae all the best during her hiatus from pro wrestling. If you or a loved one is battling mental health issues, we encourage you to seek help independently or from one of the online resources available below:
WWE presents a live edition of Raw tonight from the Thunderdome in Orlando, Florida. In addition to the several items WWE is advertising for the show, Retribution leader Mustafa Ali is a ‘reboot’ for the faction.
Mustafa Ali posted a message on Twitter over the weekend addressing Retribution’s ‘mixed’ success to date.
“Tomorrow on #WWERAW I turn this ship around,” he wrote on Sunday. “But I don’t want you to change. I want you to continue to ignore the warning. I want you to continue having no faith in us. After all, ‘having no faith in us’ is what made us in the first place. #RETRIBUTION”
Retribution has yet to earn a victory on WWE Raw. Despite its mission to destroy WWE, the group was drafted to the Raw brand during the recent WWE Draft.
WWE.com has the following items listed in the weekly Raw preview:
WWE Champion Randy Orton has a target on his back
Jeff Hardy vs. Elias (Guitar on a Pole Match)
The New Day vs. The Hurt Business (Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin)
Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke
All Elite Wrestling presents AEW Full Gear this Saturday night on pay-per-view. One of the most anticipated matches will see Matt Hardy square off against Sammy Guevara in the first-ever Elite Deletion match. It will be the latest cinematic match influenced by Matt Hardy’s ‘broken universe.’
With just one more edition of AEW Dynamite before Elite Deletion, Matt Hardy utilized social media to hype the encounter. Hardy vows to cleans Sammy Guevara’s ‘contaminated vessel’ in the Lake of Reincarnation before DELETING him.
As seen below, Matt Hardy used a clip of his war against Bray Wyatt to demonstrate the magnitude of what Guevara is facing.
Hardy also posted a message on Instagram and set high expectations for Elite Deletion. Hardy boasted that he is confident that, “it will be remembered for eternity.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced that it will hold a one-night Super J-Cup tournament in the United States on December 12th, 2020. The show will be held in the company’s Los Angeles Dojo and air on New Japan World.
The following participants have been announced for the Super J-Cup tournament:
TJP
ACH
Lio Rush
Chris Bey
Rey Horus
Blake Christian
Clark Connors
El Phantasmo
El Phantasmo defeated Dragon Lee in the finals of the 2019 tournament.
NJPW has also announced the participants for the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors tournament. The tournament will run from November 15th to December 11th in Japan. This year’s version will consist of 10 wrestlers in 1 block. The ten wrestlers entered are as follows:
Ryusuke Taguchi
Master Wato
SHO
Robbie Eagles
Hiromu Takahashi
BUSHI
El Desperado
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
DOUKI
Taiji Ishimori
Will Ospreay defeated Shingo Takagi in the finals of last year’s tournament.
NJPW’s next big show will be Power Struggle on November 7th. The following matches are confirmed for that show:
KOPW Trophy Toru Yano (c) vs Zack Sabre Jr.
NEVER Openweight Championship Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Shingo Takagi
Kazuchika Okada vs Great O-Khan
US Title Shot Briefcase Kenta (holder) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
IWGP Title Shot Briefcase Kota Ibushi (holder) vs Jay White
IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Championships Tetsuya Naito (c) vs EVIL
The former Shorty G, Chad Gable, has discussed the formation and split from his American Alpha partner Jason Jordan during a recent episode of WWE podcast After the Bell.
Reflecting on how the two first came to become tag team partners in NXT, Gable shared how their chemistry was first noticed during a promo class together.
“[…] we did one promo where I kind of played almost like his little brother and I was kind of bothering him, picking on him and being a little goof, but he kind of like, gave into it,” Gable recalled. “And it felt so right, and you could just feel people were with it and they were laughing.”
He added how he then dropped the “Ready, Willing, and Gable” catchphrase. According to Gable, “[…] all of a sudden, everybody just lit up.” He remembered his delivery and Jordan’s reaction being perfect, and how it was at that moment that they knew their teaming together would work out.
Matching Mindsets
Chad Gable explained how their amateur wrestling backgrounds helped bring out a friendly competitive nature between them. He shared how this attitude helped to bring out the best in both men. As the need to compete and prove themselves faded however, a firm friendship remained:
“Our friendship was built out of that competitiveness, and before you know it, we were best friends after six months because we recognized that. We recognize that our mindsets are the same. We came from the same background,” Gable said.
“[…] and so, the competitiveness kind of went away when we realized we can do this. It’s going to work. We can force it to work; we can make it work. Before you know it, we were just clicking, and everything we did, we were on the same page. We would finish each other’s thoughts. It was definitely meant to be, 100%.”
Chad Gable On American Alpha Split
Chad Gable reflected on American Alpha’s eventual split following Jordan’s Raw debut as Kurt Angle’s “son,” which officially disbanding the team. Gable shared how he wasn’t aware of the storyline and found out WWE’s plans for Jordan at the same time as the WWE Universe.
He admitted how American Alpha’s intention was to be remembered as the greatest tag team in wrestling. However, he acknowledged that “[…] it wasn’t going well to be completely honest. We just weren’t having the success we wanted.”
Because of this, Gable was looking forward to a fresh start as a singles competitor away from Jordan and the American Alpha team.
After a stint as Shorty G, Gable turned heel after attacking SmackDown Superstar Matt Riddle. He later announced he would stop being known as Shorty G, once again adopting the Chad Gable ring name.
Dark Order’s Mr. Brodie Lee has reflected on his recent Dog Collar matchup against Cody. Lee opened up about their bout during a recent episode of AEW’s official podcast, Unrestricted.
Lee confessed how his favorite match of all time is the Dog Collar match between Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine. He added how he had originally pitched the idea of a Dog Collar match between himself and Cody as a joke.
“[…] when discussion of what should the big match be that we do, I almost jokingly threw out, ‘let’s do a Dog Collar Match.’ And everyone goes, ‘yeah, that’s a great idea.’ And I was like, ‘oh my God,’ so then the day of, they say, ‘hey, Valentine’s coming and he wants to talk to you.’ It was unreal.”
Lee shared how Valentine pulled them both aside and praised them for the bout after the match had concluded. He admitted that he has yet to rewatch the match and has only seen clips, revealing that he wants to “leave it as it is” because of how special it is to him.
Brodie Lee On Being “Terrified” Of Promo Time
Brodie Lee also opened up about how he’s been afforded creative freedoms delivering his promos in AEW. He revealed how the promo where he challenged Cody to the Dog Collar match was improvised without the need of a script.
This positive promo experience has led Lee to discover a renewed passion for mic time. Whereas he was once “terrified” of promo time, Lee explained how he now craves it.
“[…] I want that 10-minute promo. I crave it. It hit and it feels good,” Lee stated. “I don’t know the exact moment, but I feel like that promo with Cody and then the BTE leading up to that was kind of the turning point to where we are now.”
NXT Superstar Cameron Grimes has praised the WWE Performance Center, claiming that the WWE system simply “cannot be beat.”
He stressed how the Performance Center is unmatched when it comes to guiding and training pro wrestlers. Grimes also highlighted the sheer talent available in the WWE PC’s coaching staff. He pointed to WWE Hall of Famers Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and “Road Dogg’ Jesse Jame as further proof of his argument.
“Let me be completely honest with you. The PC, the system that WWE has cannot be beat,” Grimes informed Daily DDT.
He stressed how “The coaches WWE has cannot be outmatched. Let me tell you, when you’re a young stud coming in like Cameron Grimes with all the potential in the world and all the pieces just right, all those coaches throw themselves at you. Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Road Dogg, Norman Smiley, Terry Taylor, they all want to talk to Cameron Grimes because look at me.”
Grimes argued how he’s able to “pull off things you have never seen before” inside the squared circle. He noted how his Cave In finisher is the “most dominant” finisher in WWE. He added that the RKO is number two.
Cameron Grimes recently wrestled a losing effort against Dexter Lumis. The two competed in a Haunted House of Terror matchup during last week’s NXT Halloween Havoc special.
Rey Mysterio has opened up about Cain Velasquez’s potential pro wrestling future in an interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.
During their conversation, Mysterio told Helwani that he believes Velasquez will eventually compete once more inside the squared circle:
“I can’t dig into the exact situation with Cain. I do know for a fact that he’s very dedicated, he’s very passionate about lucha libre and about wrestling, I know this was one of his biggest dreams to be a part of the WWE,” Mysterio said.
He continued, “I honestly don’t think that he’s gone for good. I think he’s going to make an appearance and a comeback. It’s very hard to put a mask on someone that has created their own history within the UFC like Cain.”
Mysterio added how he thinks Velasquez should compete without a mask if he does decide to continue wrestling. He stated how he is a big fan of the former UFC Heavyweight Champion and thinks that a Velaseuz return “would be huge.”
Cain Velasquez’s WWE Tenure
After signing with WWE, Cain Velasquez would debut during the first episode of SmackDown on Fox with Rey Mysterio by his side. Velasquez would ultimately wrestle twice for the promotion before being released.
He competed in a loss to Brock Lesnar at WWE’s 2019 Crown Jewel event. He also teamed with Humberto Carillo to defeat Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows at a WWE Live Event.
Cain Velasquez was let go by WWE earlier this year as a cost-cutting measure. The promotion cited the coronavirus pandemic as the driving factor behind the cuts.
The Usos might soon be adopting the same shirtless look alongside new theme music as they align with Roman Reigns’ new SmackDown stable.
According to a report at WrestlingNewsCo, a WWE source has claimed that the story is ‘meant to elevate Roman but also to bring Jimmy and Jey up to the next level as well.’
The Roman Reigns and Usos storyline arc has reportedly been mapped out as a long-term story that will take place through the end of this year. WWE creative head Vince McMahon is said to be supportive of the current storyline and its planned trajectory.
With Roman Reigns and The Rock laying the groundwork for a possible clash at WrestleMania 37, it’s intriguing to consider how this will all play out in the months ahead.
Jey recently turned heel during last week’s Friday Night SmackDown. He aligned with Reigns, making his intentions clear after attacking Daniel Byran following their match. He would eventually put him through the SmackDown announce table as Reigns watched on from inside the ring.
Jey Uso’s victory over Bryan saw him join Team SmackDown alongside Kevin Owens for an upcoming Survivor Series matchup.
The long-term goals for the Usos will allegedly see them once again claim the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. The titles are currently held by recently drafted Superstars Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, The Street Profits.
However, none of this can get underway until Jey’s brother, Jimmy, has been medically cleared to return to in-ring action.
FTR member Dax Harwood has shared how he and his partner, Cash Wheeler, lobbied AEW for a matchup against the legendary Rock and Roll Express. Harwood revealed the pitch details during an interview with WrestleTalk, where he noted FTR had “begged” AEW President Tony Khan for the opportunity.
“Both of us have begged him multiple times to please book this match, please book this match. He’s apprehensive and he has his reasons to be apprehensive.”
Harwood noted how Khan is aware of a potential online backlash to FTR’s proposal. He pointed to how COVID-19 was a major contributing factor as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express are “[…] more susceptible to the virus.”
“I understand that but man, FTR vs. Rock’ n’ Roll is great on the marquee, but also the way that myself and Cash, and I’ve talked about it all the time, but the way that we wanna make people feel, that match would help us make people feel a certain way.”
He noted how people “feel a certain way” about Ricky Morton in the same way as they do for FTR, whether it’s good or bad. He believes those feelings would help “evoke so much emotion” for a bout between the teams.
“That would help us evoke so much emotion… because if we got the chance to beat on Ricky Morton that would help our stock rise. You know, just the Spike Piledriver rose our stock so much more than a year of having great matches, and that would just help us so much if we can ever get that done.”
You can see the Spike Piledriver the FTR member is referencing in the video below:
Former WCW President Eric Bischoff made a surprise appearance during last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. He appeared to ask a question during the Chris Jericho and MJF Town Hell segment, discussing whether MJF should join the Inner Circle. During an episode of his podcast 83 Weeks, Bischoff addressed how his appearance came to be.
Bischoff recalled how AEW reached out to him, asking if he’d be interested in appearing on the show. He admitted he didn’t know what this entailed. Bischoff also noted that he didn’t ask any creative questions regarding the segment.
“They just wanted to know if I was available, and if I’d be interested. And I said, ‘Sure.’ I’d figure it out when it was time to figure it out. And then I found out oh, maybe five days before,” Bischoff revealed. “Just kind of a really brief outline of what that segment or scene, or whatever you wanna call it was going to be. And it was pretty straightforward. Like I said, it’s not like I had to get into character for it or anything. So it was easy, and it was fun. And I watched it last night live, I thought it was fairly effective.”
“Make It Your Own”
Bischoff also explained how he wanted to approach the “political” vibe of the segment with appropriate line delivery. He wanted to ensure he stayed consistent with what the Town Hall was. That being said, he still had some initial thoughts on the material he shared with Chris Jericho.
“I took what had been prepared for me in the notes and I went, ‘Oh yeah. But if I changed it up this way, it won’t change the meaning of anything. It does the exact same thing, it just kind of makes it feel more tuned-in politically, based on the theme of that segment.'”
He explained approaching Jericho with his notes and being given the go-ahead to change whatever he felt was necessary. According to Bischoff, Jericho told him to “make it your own,” which he did after “polishing it up a little bit” in his head.
Eric Bischoff On Not Telling MJF
Despite approaching Jericho about changing lines, Bischoff confessed he forgot to inform MJF.
“[…] it wasn’t until last night when I watched it, did I realize that I smartened up Chris, but I didn’t smarten up MJF. He had no idea that question was coming the way I posed it.”
Bischoff praised MJF’s ability to stay in the moment and improvise as needed without becoming flustered by the change. He stressed how a more experienced wrestler wouldn’t have an issue with the surprise, noting how most younger wrestlers would have been tripped up by the changes.
“[…] I should have gone to MJF and because it was close to showtime, and in my mind it didn’t really change that much, I went ‘Eh, whatever. I’ll just go out and do it.’ I didn’t decide not to do it, I just didn’t think to go smarten up MJF. And man, he just hit that thing like a two-hundred pound softball. Just splattered it. Didn’t miss a beat.”
Eric Bischoff added how MJF is “a very talented guy,” something he noted the wrestler is already fully aware of. Bischoff admitted MJF’s mic skills and improvisational ability left him highly “impressed” with the AEW star.
AAA World Cruiserweight champion Laredo Kid is joining Major League Wrestling (MLW) for #TheRestart.
Laredo Kid is one of the top luchadores in all of pro wrestling. He is interested in unifying AAA’s Cruiserweight title with the MLW World Middleweight championship, currently held by Myron Reed.
SEScoops can confirm that an inter-promotional unification match is currently in the works and likely to happen in the months ahead.
Laredo Kid made his debut for MLW last year. He’s made a few appearances on MLW programming, including a match against Hammerstone during the MLW vs. AAA Super Series event that took place earlier this year.
In addition to wrestling for AAA and MLW, Laredo Kid has wrestled for Impact Wrestling, AEW and even had a WWE tryout back in 2015, when he wrestled without a mask and teamed up with Sammy Guevara in a losing effort to Los Matadores (Primo and Epico).
MLW returns Wednesday, November 18th with the premiere of MLW Fusion on Fubo Sports and YouTube. The Wednesday episodes replay (and premiere on national television) Saturday nights at 10pm ET on beIN SPORTS.
Heath was injured during the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match at Impact Wrestling’s Bound For Glory PPV last weekend. Early reports on the injury stated he believed he suffered a groin tear. It was later said he’d actually suffered a hernia. As it turns out, he does not have a hernia and will not need surgery.
He took to Instagram to comment on the injury recently. “This is the moment I knew I was screwed,” he began. “After two doctors telling me that my injury was a severe inguinal hernia, I made an appointment with a hernia specialis,.
“OFFICIAL DIAGNOSIS: partially torn abductor muscle (from the bone) and a slight tear in my groin. RECOVERY: luckily no surgery, just gotta suck it up and deal with the pain for a while. Lots of rest, ice, physical therapy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUKLZz67Zvs
There is no timetable for Heath’s return, but this type of injury typically requires a few weeks for mild cases. More serious cases could take several months for recovery.
The stipulation on the Gauntlet match was that if Heath or Rhino didn’t win, they’d both be gone from the company. With Rhino winning the match, not only do they both remain in the company, they will have a tag-team title shot awaiting them once Heath is healthy.
Fans picked up on how Sting no longer has a page on the WWE Shop website.
This means that WWE pulled the merchandise associated with the WWE Hall of Famer. It had been on the WWE Legends section of the website as recently as Thursday.
Dave Meltzer noted during Saturday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Sting’s WWE Legends Contract had expired several months ago. As a result, the company is no longer contractually obligated to sell his items.
It’s just like Brock Lesnar, who had his merch pulled from the website a few months after his contract expired in April. Typically, WWE has a timeframe of up to six months when WWE can continue to sell merchandise of wrestlers even after their contracts expire.
Meltzer stated that the initial contract that WWE offered to Sting which he signed was possibly to be more than just on the Alumni page as it’s something that WWE doesn’t want to deal with anymore.
Meltzer did speculate that it is possible that Sting could show up in AEW although there’s been no word yet of that happening. He could work in some wrestler’s corner or just making a general PPV appearance.
WWE transformed the Amway Center back in August ahead of SummerSlam to turn it into the ThunderDome. No fans are allowed into the arena and additional COVID-19 safety and cleaning procedures in place. The Amway Center will make about $450,000 from the residency
The Famous Group, the company behind WWE’s ThunderDome concept, won the Digital Fan Experience Award at the 2020 Sportel Awards. The company did a behind the scenes video of how they monitor the virtual fans.
Banned from the ThunderDome
It’s been documented that WWE has dealt with various instances of inappropriate content displayed during broadcasts. So much so that they had to issue a statement after a video showing a KKK rally was shown during an episode of RAW.
The middle part of the video shows a list of images of faces and logos banned from being shown during the broadcast. Among the banned images:
WWE SmackDown aired from the ThunderDome in the Amway Center. Jey Uso battled Daniel Bryan in a Survivor Series Qualifying match in the main event.
SmackDown Results (10/30)
Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler to qualify for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series
Bianca Belair def. Billie Kay, Natalya to qualify for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series
Street Profits def. Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura
Jey Uso def. Daniel Bryan to qualify for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Roman Told Jey That He Has Until The End Of The Night To Fall In Line
Jey Uso and Roman Reigns
Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman kicked off this week’s show. Jey Uso was already in the ring and had his head down as Roman made his way down the entrance ramp.
Heyman started to talk but Jey ripped the microphone away. Jey told Reigns that he didn’t beat him and that Roman isn’t that type of person. Roman said that Jey can make all the excuses he wants but he still quit at Hell in a Cell. Reigns demanded that Jey take the oath and fall in line.
Jey called Reigns a snake and that he does not respect him. He claimed that the Universal Championship has Reigns tripping and that he used the only person in the world that he would say “I quit” for.
Roman said “of course I did” and that these are things you have to do to have the Universal Championship. Reigns added that their entire family is all behind him and that if Jey doesn’t fall in line his ass is out of the family.
Reigns told Jey that he understands that he is mad but there is nothing he can do about it. Jey shouted “I hate you” at Reigns and started getting choked up. Roman told Jey that he loved him and that he always has. Reigns told Jey that he has until the end of night to fall in line.
Opinion: I was excited that Roman Reigns returned as a heel because it was something different. I had no idea that Reigns was going to be this good as a heel. He is excellent and I absolutely love this storyline.
Kevin Owens Qualified For Team SmackDown At Survivor Series
Dolph Ziggler squared off against Kevin Owens in a Survivor Series Qualifying match. Robert Roode was ringside.
Match Recap: Owens connected with a shoulder tackle and Dolph rolled out of the ring to regroup. Back in the ring, Owens hit Ziggler with an elbow to the face but got distracted by Roode. Dolph went for the Zig Zag but Owens blocked it. Ziggler sent Owens out of the ring and Dolph distracted the referee. Robert Roode hit Owens with a cheap shot and rolled Owens back into the ring. The referee then threw out Roode as SmackDown went to a commercial break.
When SmackDown returned, Dolph connected with a Neckbreaker and went for the cover but Owens kicked out at two. Owens connected with a slam for a near fall and then climbed to the top rope. Kevin went for a Senton but Ziggler got his knees up. Owens went for a Pop-Up Powerbomb but Dolph countered into a Fameasser for a two count. Dolph went for a Superkick but Owens countered into the Stunner for the pinfall victory. Kevin Owens qualified for the men’s SmackDown team at Survivor Series.
Corey Graves interviewed Lars Sullivan tonight on SmackDown. Corey asked if Lars would to be called by his name or “The Freak”. Sullivan went on a rant about being called a freak and Graves just said that he cannot do the freakish things Sullivan can.
Lars said he will play along and brought up kids singing “freak show, freak show, everyone look at the freak show” when he was younger. Sullivan said he cried and was hoping that they would show kindness but everyone stood there and laughed at him. Sullivan laughed and said that they all stopped laughing a few minutes later. Lars added that the screaming lasted for hours and he was not allowed back at school. Sullivan vowed to make this world his personal hell on earth.
Opinion: Sullivan’s backstory being that he tortured students and teachers for hours as they screamed is a bit odd but I guess anything is better than fighting the Lucha House Party over and over.
Bianca Belair Qualified For Team SmackDown At Survivor Series
Natalya, Bianca Belair, and Billie Kay competed in a Triple Threat Survivor Series Qualifying match.
Match Recap: Billie Kay tried to roll-up Bianca Belair and then got out of the ring. Natalya caught Bianca with a Clothesline and Billie sent Natalya out of the ring. Billie tried to cover but Bianca but she was able to kick out at two. Belair hit Billie with a Moonsault and went for the cover but Natalya broke it up at two.
Natalya sent Billie out of the ring and locked in the Sharpshooter. Billie applied a Headlock at the same time but Belair didn’t give up. Billie hit Natalya with a boot to the face for a two count. Natalya locked in the Sharpshooter on Billie but she didn’t tap. Belair launched Natalya into the ring post and then hit Billie with the KOD for the pinfall victory. Belair qualified for the SmackDown women’s team at Survivor Series.
Heading into Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown there wasn’t much announced in advance for it and there’s a good reason as to why.
On Thursday, WWE confirmed that Jey Uso would face the consequences of losing to Universal Champion Roman Reigns at last Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.
It wasn’t until about an hour before the show went live on FOX from Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center that WWE started to announce matches.
Bryan Alvarez noted on Twitter shortly after the matches had been announced that the script for the show was finished. That’s the reason for nothing being advertised all week or even the morning of the show.
Those matches were Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso and Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler in qualifying matches for spots on the men’s team SmackDown at the Survivor Series pay-per-view next month.
It was reported last week that WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon didn’t have last week’s show written until the afternoon of it. The reason for that was due to extra time being put into the Otis court segments.
This was before Otis lost the Money in the Bank contract to The Miz at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.
Rey Mysterio has had a long and successful career in the pro wrestling business.
With the future WWE Hall of Famer getting older, there have been questions over the past few years as to how long he intends to wrestle for. This is something that he was asked about while doing an interview with Ariel Helwani of ESPN.
“Well, I started saying at the age of 40 that I had one to three years left. Now I’m 45 and I’ve been taking care of my body these last couple of years, with stem cell treatments, with Cryo[therapy], with hyperbaric chambers. All the necessary things that we didn’t have back in the day, so I think that added another five years to my career so, truly blessed to still be able to go.
I remember saying as well, ‘Soon as my son is in, I’m out.’ Now my son is in, I’m enjoying this moment with my son. I’m able to share the ring with him and have the fans that have been my fans, convert to become his fans so, now, I’m not really gonna say how much time I have left but, whenever it’s time, it’s gonna be time.”
Mysterio had been in contract talks with WWE over the summer that led to him signing a new deal with the company. There’s still no word yet on how long the deal is for, but before the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE had been signing wrestlers to new deals that lasted for five years.
Mysterio could have jumped to AEW since they offered him a big contract, he turned it down.
Last week word broke that WWE was dealing with another outbreak of positive COVID-19 tests within their developmental system.
WWE renovated the WWE Performance Center to turn it into the Capitol Wrestling Center for weekly NXT television. WWE had to move to a nearby location to resume training its developmental recruits.
The outbreak in NXT led to several wrestlers being put into a two-week quarantine due to contact tracing.
Regarding how the outbreak happened, it was reported that one of the WWE Performance Center coaches tested positive for COVID-19, which led to the outbreak and quarantine.
Dave Meltzer reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the coach was teaching recruits on October 23rd and every wrestler who was being coached and everyone who was around this coach was told to quarantine for two weeks.
It was noted that apparently there were other positive COVID-19 test results, but those were only new people to the system who were around the coach and nobody that appeared on NXT TV.
Because of this outbreak, Indi Hartwell was forced to be pulled from Wednesday’s episode of NXT, which had a special Halloween Havoc theme.
All Elite Wrestling has announced that Pac will appear on next week’s edition of Dynamite. It is not clear if this will be in a taped segment or if Pac will be live at Daily’s Place, however.
AEW took to Twitter to announce that Pac will be on next week’s edition of Dynamite:
After months of silence in isolation, we’ll hear from @bastardPac this Wednesday, November 4th on #AEWDynamite!
Pac hasn’t officially wrestled a match since March 11th. He teamed with his stablemates Pentagon Jr. and Fenix and defeated Private Party and Joey Janela. The Lucha Bros have since aligned with Eddie Kingston and the Butcher & The Blade.
Pac is 7-4-1 in singles matches in AEW and 2-2 in tag matches, giving him an overall record of 9-6-1 in the promotion. He is 2-1 in PPV matches, having defeated Kenny Omega at All Out 2019, lost to Hangman Page at Full Gear 2019, and defeated Orange Cassidy at Revolution 2020.
AEW President Tony Khan addressed Pac’s absence last month during a media call to promote All Out. Khan said everybody at AEW was really missing Pac in his absence. To read more about what Khan said, click on the below link:
Several Twitch accounts owned and operated by members of the WWE roster have shut down this week. AJ Styles, Mia Yim, Zelina Vega & Aleister Black have all announced to their fans that they will be temporarily stepping away from the streaming platform.
According to a report from PW Insider, several talents on the WWE roster sat down with Vince McMahon this week to argue against the Twitch ban. It appears there was no change in McMahon’s stance, however.
The Twitch ban was also addressed in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It was noted that a direct order was sent out regarding this yesterday.
“WWE talent such as Xavier Woods as Austin Creed, Mia Yim, Styles, Cesaro and others all disbanded their Twitch accounts after getting direct orders on 10/29,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
Paige gave an emotional speech during her latest stream about what Twitch means to her.
“I had my neck taken away from me twice. You can’t take away my Twitch too. I’m gonna keep streaming, we’ll see how that goes,” she said.
Roman Reigns has defeated Jey Uso on the last two WWE PPVs. As for who the Universal Champion’s next challenger might be, that is not altogether clear. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there are no plans to bring in any big stars to feud with him either.
“We’re told there are no immediate plans (for) a hotshot John Cena or Bill Goldberg match right now, which can always be used as a Reigns opponent. With Goldberg, there is even a storyline since it was to be at WrestleMania before Reigns went home,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
Meltzer continued to write that he feels it is too early for Big E to be in a program with Reigns. Daniel Bryan is a possibility but his return to the ring after months away seems to have fallen thorough the cracks.
“The point being is they need to create two or three key babyfaces that are groomed for Reigns, and Bryan is the strongest potentially of all of them for right now,” Meltzer continued.
Roman Reigns vs The Rock
There has also been plenty of speculation that the Rock could return to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania this year.
“There is no word (Roman vs Rock) is official but it would make sense if the cards fell into place, regarding Johnson’s schedule, fans being back at shows and Johnson wanting a memorable true final match,” Meltzer said.
Smackdown lost some of its big names in the draft. Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman, and AJ Styles all moved to RAW and away from Roman. In terms of babyface male singles wrestlers still on Smackdown who could possibly feud with him, there is Daniel Bryan, Big E, Rey & Dominik Mysterio, and Kevin Owens. Also on Smackdown are Apollo Crews, Chad Gable, and Otis.
