WWE executive Paul Levesque (Triple H) is recovering from a recent ‘cardiac event.’
According to a statement sent in by WWE, he underwent a successful procedure last week at Yale New Haven Hospital. The episode was caused by a genetic heart issue.
“Paul Levesque, a.k.a. Triple H, underwent a successful procedure last week at Yale New Haven Hospital following a cardiac event. The episode was caused by a genetic heart issue and Paul is expected to make a full recovery.
– WWE Statement on Triple H’s health
Levesque serves as WWE Executive Vice President, Global Talent Strategy & Development.
SEScoops wishes Paul “Triple H” Levesque a full and speedy recovery.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.849 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is down from last week’s 1.907 million viewers and the 0.54 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.958 million, 0.54 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.842 million, 0.52 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.748 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
This show was expected to drop from last week’s Raw as it went up against a college football game on ESPN that did 3 million viewers.
This episode featured Akira Tozawa vs. 24/7 Champion Reggie in a non-title match, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina vs. Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. in a non-title match, Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus with the winner facing Damian Priest for the United States Title at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event, Charlotte Flair defended her Raw Women’s Title against Nia Jax, a Tag Team Turmoil match to determine the new #1 contenders to Raw Tag Team Champions Riddle and Randy Orton, and more.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 2.147 million viewers in the overnight ratings, down from the previous week that did 2.874 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.62 rating, which was up from the 0.59 rating the week before. The final ratings were 2.220 million viewers, down from last week’s 2.250 million viewers.
Jeff Jarrett believes Low-Ki created his own roadblocks.
Low-Ki has long been one of the most highly-regarded talents in the wrestling industry. On the independent scene, fans grew to like Low-Ki’s in-ring style. He ended up competing for Ring of Honor, TNA Wrestling, and WWE. With TNA and WWE, things just didn’t feel right for the popular indie star.
Soon, stories began to circulate regarding Low-Ki’s reputation behind-the-scenes. Some believe that he is difficult to work with and has burned bridges.
Jarrett shared this belief during an episode of his “My World” podcast. Here’s what the TNA founder told Conrad Thompson.
“Low-Ki, especially as we sit here today, and it just wasn’t just in TNA, and in different promotions, he was always his worst enemy. His athletic ability and his believability in the ring, he knew how to work incredibly well so he wouldn’t hurt you. There would always be something when you get him right to the point that you’re going to push him to the next level, I don’t want to say self-destruct, but I read that about him and I’m like, yea. A lot of times he was his own worst enemy climbing that ladder. For whatever reason, he’s a guy that I think will go down in history and it’s like, ‘What if?’ because his skill set was there and he could talk as well. His stoic delivery was a unique presentation that I thought had a lot of money in it, but he never did quite get over that hump.”
Reggie, formerly known as Reginald, says that his persona on WWE TV is authentic.
Reggie is the current WWE 24/7 Champion. When you compare him to other 24/7 Champions, Reggie has had a rather lengthy reign with the title. While 50+ days with a championship may not seem like a lot, it feels liken an eternity with the 24/7 Title.
There have been several reports claiming that WWE chairman Vince McMahon is a big fan of the Reggie character. Speaking to Ryan Satin for the Out of Character podcast, Reggie said what fans see on television is who he really is.
“Actually, pretty much 100% of that character is me. It’s quite funny because I didn’t have much direction. When I first was introduced to SmackDown. I was just the sommelier and whatnot and they didn’t tell me how to act or what to do. There was just do certain things with Carmela and whatnot. But come to find out, I actually spoke French. So what’s the school in Montreal, I traveled around friends. I love fashion. I love suits. So, I just put all of those things into that character and it worked so well.”
Reggie went on to say that he isn’t interested in letting any type of success get to his head. He said he’s been given the freedom to do a lot of what people see on TV. Reggie also expressed his belief that staying humble will get him far in the wrestling business.
Don’t expect Bryan Danielson to be a part of the creative process with AEW.
Danielson has the wrestling industry buzzing. The “American Dragon” made his debut for AEW at the conclusion of the All Out PPV. He helped Christian Cage and Jurassic Express fight off The Elite.
During a media scrum, Danielson was asked if he has any interest in dabbling into some behind-the-scenes creative decisions for AEW. Danielson says that’s a hard pass.
“So I briefly took part in creative in WWE and I will say this, I like just wrestling, right? I’ll leave the business stuff and all that kind of stuff up to up to Tony. I mean, honestly, Tony’s the businessman. I couldn’t care less about the business. As far as the business I want him to make money so that he keeps doing this thing that is so much fun for me to do, right? So what I want more than anything else out of all this — I don’t know if you know this, I’m the richest man who’s ever lived.
“Yeah, pretty much I grew up without much so in comparison, I feel — as far as that kind of stuff, I just feel so blessed to be able to step into this position where you have a crowd that just loves this product and you saw it tonight. Every match, they’re just invested, you know? So for me, it’s not about like, ‘Oh, can we take it to this?’, or, ‘Can we take it to that?’ I would love to help Tony do that. But my goal is to produce excellent professional wrestling that people can watch because this is one of the things I truly believe: you show excellent professional wrestling to anybody and they will enjoy it because excellent professional wrestling is fucking awesome.”
Bryan Danielson has admitted that walking away from WWE was a hard decision to make. He says that while he has much love for Vince McMahon, he believes the WWE chairman is overly protective of him. Danielson also said there’s renewed excitement when it comes to joining the AEW roster.
AEW head honcho, Tony Khan, can now admit that Adam Cole had him worried when he was on WWE’s NXT brand.
Cole became the talk of the wrestling world when news broke that his WWE contract expired. Cole didn’t leave the company high and dry in the middle of a feud with Kyle O’Reilly. He ended up signing an extension in order to give O’Reilly the final victory in their rivalry.
It didn’t take long for Cole to sign on with AEW once his contract extension with WWE ended. He appeared at the end of the All Out PPV, realigning with The Elite.
At the height of the AEW vs. NXT “Wednesday Night War,” Cole was a key player. Speaking to the media following the All Out PPV, Khan explained why he feared going up against Cole when he was on NXT.
“I’d just like to say a statement, which is that, the Wednesday Night War is over and in the demo, I believe, out of 75 episodes, we went 74-1. [Adam Cole] is the one in 74-1. When there was a Wednesday Night War, this is the man that used to strike fear into my heart every Wednesday. This guy scared the sh*t out of me every Wednesday. There is nobody I would rather have here and it means the world that he came.”
It shouldn’t take long to find out exactly what’s in-store for Cole under the AEW banner. He has already gotten physical, taking part in a brawl that involved Bryan Danielson before All Out went off the air.
It was revealed on Busted Open Radio this morning that Kenny Omega is the #1 ranked wrestler in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated top-500 this year. Omega last earned the top spot in the rankings in 2018.
Omega earned the spot after spending much of the last year holding the AEW World Championship, AAA Mega Championship, and Impact World Championship. Omega ranked in at #13 in 2020.
Omega now joins Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Triple H, John Cena, and Seth Rollins as the only wrestlers to top the list on multiple occasions.
The annual edition of the magazine is available for pre-order here.
PWI Top-10 2021
The top-10 ranked wrestlers from this list year are as follows:
1) Kenny Omega 2) Roman Reigns 3) Bobby Lashley 4) Drew McIntyre 5) Kota Ibushi 6) Jon Moxley 7) Will Ospreay 8) Finn Balor 9) Shingo Takagi 10) Rich Swann
Kenny Omega Tops PWI Top-500 For 2nd Time
Omega joins a small list of wrestlers who have topped the list more than once.
The rivalry between Chris Jericho and Maxwell Jacob Friedman had many twists and turns. At one point the two delivered a song and dance routine over dinner. Then MJF defeated Chris Jericho to earn a spot in the Inner Circle. Then MJF formed the Pinnacle to feud with Jericho’s faction. Eventually, there was the 5 Labors of Jericho and then The Final Fight at All Out.
Jericho recently reflected on the longest storyline of his career in a post to Instagram.
“Jericho vs MJF was THE longest storyline of my career…and one of the best,” Jericho wrote. “The angle started in Sept of 2020 and it ended last night at one of the greatest PPVs of all time, with the good guy making the bad guy tap out.”
“The angle between the The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle was full of twists and turns, comedy, tragedy, friendship, betrayal, blood, bubbly and genuine animosity. But overall, I feel it was a brilliant, expertly told tale that was one of the best in the business from the last 20 years. I hope all of you enjoyed watching this pro wrestling magnum opus as much we did telling it!!! On to the next challenge….”
Chris Jericho vs Maxwell Jacob Friedman Statistics
The first singles match between Jericho and MJF took place at Full Gear on November 7th, 2020. MJF won that match, as well as the Fifth Labor of Jericho before Jericho won at Final Fight, giving MJF a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head series in singles matches.
Jericho and MJF teamed together 7x throughout the storyline as well. They went a perfect 6-0 in these matches before losing a title match to the Young Bucks At AEW Revolution 2021.
MJF and Jericho were also on opposing sides of 2 different tag-team matches during the angle. The Pinnacle won the Blood and Cuts double-cage match while the Inner Circle won the Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing.
At WrestleMania this year, Damian Priest teamed up with Bad Bunny and defeated John Morrison and The Miz. According to comments he made recently during an interview with Metro, however, Priest attempted to goad Triple H into a match on the show.
“Mania – Hunter didn’t have a match, and that was the first time all these legends, none of them [on the show],” Priest said. ‘I was like, ‘I mean, did you bring your gear? Because you can have a match, I’m right here!’ He started laughing and said, “You’re on a list of people that have asked me that”.
“I was like, I bet, I can imagine – he gets it all the time by guys being like, ‘Hey you wanna work? You wanna wrestle?'”
Priest would continue to talk about other wrestling legends he would like to face. Since he’s returned, Priest specifically mentioned working with Edge as something he would like to do. He also noted Kane as someone he’d like to wrestle.
“I think the closest one that I know that there’s a chance – and we’ve already kind of had an interaction at the Rumble – is Edge,” Priest said. “Obviously Kane, we had a little bit of an interaction. But I’m not satisfied, I need a lot more of that! Those feelings, just standing across from those guys – super cool, super, super cool.”
Priest is scheduled to face Sheamus at Extreme Rules. Sheamus earned a shot at Priest’s United States Championship on RAW this week after defeating Drew McIntyre. Priest defeated Sheamus for the title at SummerSlam. He’s since defended it once in a triple threat match against both Drew McIntyre and Sheamus on the August 30th episode of WWE RAW.
Jake Atlas and Taylor Rust (FKA Tyler Rust in WWE) will return to Ring of Honor at Death Before Dishonor this weekend. Both wrestlers have had previous stints with the promotion, albeit brief ones. Rust was released from WWE on August 6th after having just been introduced as a member of the Diamond Mine. Atlas was also released from the NXT brand on August 6th and has since been announced for shows with New Japan Pro Wrestling as well.
Rust had a brief stint with ROH last October. He competed in the ROH Pure title tournament and was defeated by Tracy Williams in the 1st round. He then signed with WWE in December. Atlas competed for ROH briefly in 2019, wrestling one match on the Death Before Dishonor Fallout tour that September.
ROH has announced that Atlas and Rust will face each other on the September 12th PPV from Baltimore. The full lineup for the show is below.
Death Before Dishonor Lineup
ROH World Championship Bandido (c) vs. Brody King vs. EC3 vs. Demonic Flamita
ROH Pure Championship Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Josh Woods
ROH Women’s World Championship Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship Shane Taylor, Moses, & Kaun vs. Dragon Lee, Bestia del Ring, & Kenny King
Homicide, Chris Dickinson, & Tony Deppen vs. John Walters, LSG, & Lee Moriarty
AEW tag team The Acclaimed returned to action on this week’s AEW Dark.
The team of Max Caster and Anthony Bowens were last seen on the August 28th episode of the AEW Youtube series. Caster found himself in hot water after one of his pre-match freestyle raps received major blowback from fans.
Caster is known for walking the line of tastefulness, but his references to US Olympian Simone Biles’ mental health and the Duke Lacrosse 2006 sexual assault scandal crossed that line for many. He was sent to sensitivity training as a disciplinary measure.
During their entrance on Dark this week, the duo joked about their hiatus from AEW programing. Instead of lacing into their opponents with well-crafted biting insults, they jokingly read from a script approved by AEW management. See below:
Ivelisse insists that Thunder Rosa is to blame for their AEW match going off the rails.
On the Sept. 16, 2020 edition of Dynamite, Ivelisse and Rosa went one-on-one. It was clear that something was off between the two. The match was rough as the two threw stiff strikes and to many, Ivelisse appeared to be uncooperative. For Ivelisse, however, the notion that she was the problem doesn’t sit well with her.
“When the day came, she didn’t want to do anything. I’m like, what? No, this match will be awesome. But I’m also trying to knock it out of the park. Even at the start, with the slap, we went over that 1 million times, we knew. She forgets what comes after. I had no choice but to nudge her face. That’s when the shoot stuff happened. I’ve trained in MMA. You can’t pull that on me. I just didn’t want to allow that negativity. I didn’t want to be pulled into that. She tried and tried though. Also, I was already signed. Why would I do that? Somehow I was made into the bad guy though. There’s nothing that can be done about that, but the bigger issue is not understanding what kind of an asset I could be.”
Ivelisse would soon find herself out of a job. She ended up being released from AEW and claims it came as a surprise to her.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Robbie Eagles, is making his way to NJPW Strong Autumn Attack.
NJPW has announced that Eagles will be a part of their Autumn Attack shows in Garland, Texas. These shows will be held inside the Curtis Culwell Center on Sept. 25 and 26.
Here’s what NJPW said in a statement regarding the addition of Eagles.
“An already stacked lineup for NJPW STRONG’s first matches at the Curtis Culwell Center in DFW Texas have allowed for dream matches including Lio Rush vs Taiji Ishimori, Suzuki-Gun versus Team Filthy and Jay White vs Daniel Garcia across two cards on September 25 & 26. That lineup is getting even more of a boost though, as fresh off his first defense at the MetLife Dome against Hiromu Takahashi this weekend, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles is joining the Autumn Attack.
“With a wealth of junior heavyweight talent on STRONG and across the US, the ‘Sniper of the Skies’ heads into Texas with a target of his own on his back. Who will take aim at the champion? Find out in person later this month!”
Eagles is fresh off a successful title defense against Hiromu Takahashi at NJPW’s Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome. Eagles defeated Hiromu via submission.
This is yet another solid name added to NJPW’s Autumn Attack shows this month. The promotion has already announced Will Ospreay, Minoru Suzuki, and Lance Archer for the shows. NEVER Openweight Champion Jay White is also set to take on Daniel Garcia, who has been appearing on AEW television in prominent spots.
The reports are correct, AEW will indeed be making its way to the UBS Arena.
Andrew Zarian was the first to report that AEW was heading to the arena in Long Island, NY on Dec. 8. Earlier today (Sept. 7), AEW made it official. This will be for a live Dynamite show as well as a Rampage taping.
Here’s what was said in a press release sent out by AEW.
“All Elite Wrestling (AEW) brings its wildly popular shows ‘AEW: Dynamite’ and ‘AEW: Rampage’ to the brand-new UBS Arena on Wednesday, December 8, for a spectacular night of bell-to-bell action. Located on the border of Queens and Nassau County in Belmont Park, NY, the state-of-the-art UBS Arena will host the world-class wrestlers of AEW as they take the squared circle in the stunning new venue.
“Tickets will go on-sale to the general public on Friday, Sept. 10, at 10 a.m. ET via AEWTix.com and Ticketmaster.com. Tickets start at $30 plus fees.
“UBS Arena at Belmont Park is a $1.1 billion multi-purpose venue that is finishing construction adjacent to the Belmont Park racetrack. The world-class entertainment venue, with its timeless and classic design, will bridge its iconic past with today’s advanced technology and amenities. In addition to being the new home to the famed New York Islanders Hockey Club, the state-of-the-art arena, opening in the fall, will deliver an unmatched live entertainment experience with clear sightlines and premier acoustics.”
This will likely be AEW’s final stop in New York for 2021. The promotion is set to have its “Grand Slam” edition of Dynamite take place inside Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY on Sept. 22.
Zoey Stark & Io Shirai def. Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro
Mei Ying def. Virginia (aka Dreamgirl Ellie).
MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) def. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Mei Ying’s In-Ring Debut
Mei Ying made her in-ring debut. She took on Virginia Ferry, who is also known as Dream Girl Ellie. It was a quick match with Mei hitting some strikes then locking on a choke for the win.
Karen Q portrays the character. Before signing with WWE, she worked for ROH and Impact Wrestling. Karen made her WWE debut in August 2018 by competing in the second annual Mae Young Classic.
In December 2020, Karen was repackaged as Mei Ying as the mysterious leader of Tian Sha with Xia Li and Big Boa. The group debuted on January 6, 2021.
Kay Lee Ray vs. Ember Moon in a singles match was booked.
The match opened the show and was a grappling heavy bout. Ray hit her finisher for the win.
Ray made her NXT debut at TakeOVer 36 after being on hiatus after dropping the NXT UK Women’s Title. Moon has been trying to find her way after losing Shotzi Blackheart as her tag team partner.
Santos Escobar vs. Carmelo Hayes in a singles match took place.
The match was back and forth. Hayes looked good in his outing, but of course, Santos went over thanks to outside interference before hitting his finisher for the win.
Entering this match, Escobar had been in a feud with Hit Row. On the flip side, On the August 24 episode of NXT, Hayes defeated Odyssey Jones to win the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament.
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark defended against Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro.
This marked the first defense for Io and Stark. Just last week, Catanzaro and Carter defeated Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne.
The match was pretty good with the challengers looking decent yet the champions were kept strong. Post=match, Mandy Rose, Jayne, and Dolin laid out the challengers.
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK defended against Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.
WWE set up the match last week when the champs noted they’d like to give Lorcan & Burch a shot at the titles.
Lorcan and Burch had to give up the titles this past March when urch suffered a separated shoulder. Fast forward to April, MSK won the vacant titles by defeating The Grizzled Young Veterans and Legado del Fantasma’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquín Wilde in a triple threat match at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver
Burch made his big return last week as he joined Lorcan, Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland in beating down Tommaso Ciampa only for MSK to make the save.
The match was dominated by the challengers until MSK made their comeback at the end and won with their finisher. A very solid match. Post-match, Holland and Dunne attacked Burch and Lorcan.
Adam Cole relished in his AEW debut but Britt Baker made things even more special.
Cole appeared at All Out following the main event world title match between Kenny Omega and Christian Cage. Cole initially appeared to make the save for Cage and Jurassic Express following a post-match beatdown. Instead, he delivered a kick to the jaw of Jungle Boy.
Cole’s reunion with The Elite was spoiled when Bryan Danielson also made his promotional debut. Bryan aligned himself with Cage and Jurassic Express to fight off The Elite.
During his post-show media scrum, Cole explained how his girlfriend, AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker, was able to make his AEW debut that much sweeter.
“I’m so excited for the future. Sunday was one of the greatest nights of my life. It was my favorite night of my career. It’s such an exciting time. I knew last minute, Britt (Baker) knew last minute, and Britt made sure she got Momma Chugs and B-Fresh [Adam Cole’s brother] there. It made it even cooler. Britt deserves a ton of credit for that. She surprised me, she didn’t even tell me she was going to do that.”
Adam Cole had plenty of options on the table once his WWE contract expired. Cole, himself, admitted that even he thought his deal would take longer to end before signing a brief extension to finish his feud on NXT with Kyle O’Reilly. Cole didn’t have a non-compete clause, so he was free to appear at All Out.
Jon Moxley believes Vince McMahon would be of the mindset that many AEW matches are “garbage.”
Moxley has made it clear that he needed to break away from the WWE system. Moxley cited creative differences as his reason for leaving the company. He felt that being force-fed dialog on television wasn’t effective. Moxley ended up joining AEW and become the promotion’s second world champion.
During an interview with the folks at Cincy 360, Moxley said that McMahon would dismiss the styles of certain matches seen on AEW TV while dismissing crowd reactions.
“There is no ‘put-on’ character going on here. That’s what wrestling should be. Letting guys be themselves and having their own creativity whether they are Orange Cassidy or a crazy high-flying team like the Young Bucks who think up the most ridiculous and action-packed sequences.
“No one is trying to tone each other down or say, ‘that’s too much.’ Vince McMahon would watch a lot of AEW matches and say, ‘That’s garbage. They’re not selling. Slow it down. It’s crap.’ Blood and guts or whatever, but he wouldn’t be paying attention to the 15,000 people going nuts. I feel vindicated. I said a lot about how I felt wrestling should be that’s what AEW was going to do and that’s what we did. Now, look where we are. Now, I’m going to have a bit of a flex.”
Jon Moxley will be in action this Wednesday night (Sept. 8) on Dynamite. It’ll be a special night for Moxley as it’ll be his homecoming in Cincinnati, Ohio. He will be taking on Minoru Suzuki.
The same day that Kevin Owens got fans speculating about him potentially going to AEW, a report came out regarding the contract status of the former WWE Universal Champion.
Owens stated in an interview in May of 2018 with TVA Sports that he’d signed a new 5-year contract that would carry him into 2023 with WWE. It turns out that’s changed and his deal is up sooner than most people expected.
Fightful Select reported today that his deal is actually now up in January 2022. WWE restructured several contracts ahead of the pandemic and Owens’ deal was changed to expire in January 2022.
It’s unclear if any additional terms of the deal or specifically why it was shortened. Unlike WWE being unaware of the contract status for Adam Cole and Pete Dunne, WWE is aware of Owens’ deal.
Owens took to Twitter to tweet and later deleted the coordinates to Mt. Rushmore. He just so happened to be in the Mt. Rushmore stable with the Young Bucks and Cole prior to signing with WWE. Thus, rumors about him potentially going to AEW started.
Owens also tweeted out this photo of himself with no caption after he was trending on social media:
AEW has released new footage of its upcoming console title.
AEW has been garnering a ton of attention. Recently, the company acquired top-tier talents in CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Adam Cole. The promotion’s popularity has allowed them to dive into other forms of media. That includes video games.
The official AEW Games YouTube channel unveiled gameplay footage of their upcoming console game, and Jungle Boy is at the forefront this time.
In addition, a roster update for the mobile game AEW Elite GM was also announced. Among the names added to the game are CM Punk, Andrade “El Idolo,” Malakai Black, and Thunder Rosa.
Here are the rest of the AEW Elite GM roster additions announced.
AEW Elite GM Roster Update
CM Punk
Andrade “El Idolo”
Malakai Black
Thunder Rosa
Wheeler YUTA
Shawn Dean
Julia Hart
Negative One
Anthony Ogogo
Cezar Bononi
Brian Pillman Jr
JD Drake
Ryan Nemeth
The Elite GM game will also receive a content update outside of the roster. Players will soon have access to ranked multiplayer, a championship belt system, animations for segments, additional storyline missions, new finishing moves, and more. Players can expect the new content during the week of Sept. 14.
Wrestling legend Mick Foley believes younger talent is skeptical of how they’ll be used in WWE.
AEW has served as an alternative for many wrestling fans. Recently, we’ve seen the likes of Bryan Danielson, CM Punk, and Adam Cole make their arrivals in the promotion. In Cole’s situation, his WWE contract ran out sooner than expected and the 32-year-old said the decision was quite “easy.”
Foley hopped on Facebook to address the reason he thinks AEW has become a more appealing option than WWE for some talent.
“The problem is that WWE is no longer the place for talent to aspire to. Part of it is because AEW is doing a great job of attracting great talent, proven talent, building younger talent, creating storylines. But part of it is a problem of your own making. I think younger talent sees the way that developmental characters are cut or left by the wayside or in the case of Karion Kross, greatly watered down and even made a joke of when they debut on the main roster.
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. If I was an aspiring talent now, a big-league talent with a major decision to make, I’m not sure that I would trust WWE creative to do the right thing with my career. You guys did wonders with me, uh, back in the day, that was a different time, a different place. If it was today, I’m not sure I would trust the powers to be with my career in their hands and until that changes WWE, you’ve got a problem.”
You can watch his comments here:
Mick Foley has been outspoken about WWE’s decision-making in regards to on-air talent. More recently, he was critical of a chair spot involving Drew McIntyre and Shanky.
Do you agree with Mick Foley or is WWE still the place to be for young talent?
WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle is cautioning WWE on dismissing signing independent wrestlers.
Wrestling Inc’s Nick Hausman interviewed Angle on August 31st to promote Angle’s new sneakers. During the interview, Hausman asked him about WWE focusing more on signing athletes than independent wrestlers. He also noted that most applicants had never been in a wrestling ring at the latest WWE tryout. Angle responded by warning WWE not to ignore independent wrestlers as potential employees.
“…I would tread very lightly on that because there are a lot of incredible independent wrestlers and wrestlers that never did any real sport, but very good at their craft,” said Angle.
WWE Developmental Changing
The WWE developmental program NXT is going through a change. WWE is promoting that the change will start as soon as September 14th. The announcement came with the introduction of the new NXT logo.
WWE President Nick Khan has shared in an interview with BT Sports’ Ariel Helwani that NXT will change his views on new talent. “In terms of an NXT rebrand, look for it in the upcoming weeks, it’s going to have a whole new look, it’s going to have a whole new feel, and we believe because of a lot of the ‘indie wrestlers’ if you will, have come through our system, and are in our system with SmackDown and RAW now. We don’t want to keep doing that same thing; we want to look elsewhere for great young talent,” said Khan.
NXT History with Independent Wrestlers
The WWE has had a successful history of acquiring famous independent wrestlers to NXT. Wrestlers like Matt Riddle, Johnny Gargano, and Asuka came from independent promotions and had successful careers in WWE. However, the success of All Elite Wrestling and other independent promotions has created more options for wrestlers. WWE’s decision to focus on younger athletes with no professional wrestling background seems to be their response.
In August, WWE released several former independent wrestlers from NXT. With the new era of NXT coming next week, it’s still unclear if WWE’s new direction in talent scouting will be a success.
PROGRESS Wrestling has confirmed that their Women’s Championship will be on the line at their next show, Chapter 121.
Gisele Shaw will be defending her title against Alexxis Falcon, who has already defeated her since the return of PROGRESS Chapters in 2021.
Shaw did however defeat Alexxis at a more recent event after The ‘Dragon of PROGRESS’ had won the top Championship.
The company released a hype video ahead of the anticipated rematch on Saturday, September 11th on Peacock, WWE Network and demandPROGRESS.
This match joins the already confirmed 30 minute Iron Man match between Cara Noir and Chris Ridgeway for the PROGRESS World Championship as well as the second-ever PROGRESS match for Charles Crowley.
Crowley will be joining ELIJAH to face Chuck Mambo and TK Cooper of Sunshine Machine on the card.
Many more matches are expected to be revealed over the next few days ahead of the card on Saturday, September 11th on Peacock, WWE Network and demandPROGRESS.
Check out the hype video for Gisele Shaw vs Alexxis Falcon via the tweet below:
WWE affiliated Scottish promotion Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) has revealed that their World Champion and NXT UK Superstar Noam Dar has been stripped of the title.
The company issued the following statement on their social media accounts today:
“As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, Noam Dar has been unable to compete for ICW since winning the ICW World Heavyweight Championship last year.
ICW on Noam Dar
“Due to the ongoing uncertainty around this, we have made the difficult decision to vacate the ICW World Heavyweight Championship.
“We hope that Noam Dar can return home to ICW in the near future. When he does, he will be granted a World Championship match at a time of his choosing.
“Two Fatal-4-Way Elimination Matches will now take place on 12 September and 26 September. The winner of each match will enter the main event of Fear & Loathing to challenge for the vacant ICW World Heavyweight Championship.”
ICW has also confirmed that Kez Evans, BT Gunn, DCT and Jason Reed will compete in the first Fatal-4-Way match this Sunday at ICW Fight Club.
The exact reason for Noam Dar being unable to compete for Insane Championship Wrestling has not been confirmed.
It is however worth noting that former PROGRESS Women’s Champion and NXT UK Superstar Jinny also had to vacate her title earlier this year, despite the company filming Chapter shows behind closed doors.
ICW has also been filming on closed sets recently, so it may well be an issue with regards to Dar’s NXT UK status that means he is unable to appear during the ongoing pandemic.
A new interactive horror film starring the Undertaker and New Day is set to debut on Netflix next month. “Escape the Undertaker” will feature the New Day inside a haunted mansion where the Undertaker has set a trap for them. It will premiere on the streaming service on October 5th, 2021.
“The Undertaker has set a trap for the decorated tag team The New Day at his mansion. What they don’t know: The Undertaker’s mansion is an extreme Haunted House, packed to the brim with supernatural challenges. It’s up to viewers to decide the fate of these three poor souls trying to survive the wrath of The Undertaker,” a description of the movie reads.
Netflix announced the project today and included several screenshots of the film.
Starring Undertaker and New Day, an interactive horror movie titled Escape the Undertaker is coming to Netflix on 10/5! "The Undertaker has set a trap for The New Day at his mansion, with supernatural challenges. It’s up to viewers to decide their fate." https://t.co/v5uLQJFXm3pic.twitter.com/X76dggiBdp
Netflix has been toying with interactive projects in recent years. These include Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and several other projects. Netflix did not reveal what interactive aspects will be part of the film, however.
For the 56-year-old Undertaker, this project will be his first with WWE since Survivor Series last year. Taker has officially retired from in-ring competition.
Here's your first look at #Netflix's Escape the Undertaker, a brand new interactive Halloween movie that stars WWE legend The Undertaker alongside Big E, Xavier Woods, and Kofi Kingston. pic.twitter.com/U4YGQboZmZ
Some fans may have been hoping to hear Bryan Danielson enter the arena to the sounds of Europe’s “Final Countdown” at All Out. Danielson had used the song on the independent scene before signing with WWE. According to comments made by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, however, AEW tried but was unable to secure the rights to the song.
“There was, in fact, an attempt to have him come out to the Final Countdown, figuring the place would explode, which they did anyway,” said Dave Meltzer. “But it was, even for Tony Khan, it was cost-prohibitive. So, that’s why that didn’t play.”
“One of (Danielson’s) friends made this new remix and they think, in time, this song will be just fine,” Meltzer continued.
ROH evidently ran into similar problems trying to obtain the rights to the music.
Danielson was also asked about using the “Yes!” chants in AEW during All Out’s post-even media scrum. Danielson said he won’t be using the chants himself due to WWE’s intellectual property rights. He said it was great that the fans were doing it, however.
“I don’t know, we’re going to have to talk about like what I can do and what I cannot do,” Danielson said. “So one of the things that I do try to respect, because like I said, I appreciate the people I worked for before and respecting their intellectual property and that sort of thing. And so try and making sure that I don’t contradict any of that. And the fans doing it is great, but I’m not sure if I’m going to do it.”
