CM Punk puts rest to any rumors brewing about his wife AJ Lee returning since he made his return to AEW on August 20. He gave her a shout-out on the show, saying “One more thing, I just wanna say hi to my beautiful wife, sitting at home. I love you April.” Lee even joked about it later on Twitter, responding, “Wasn’t expecting to hear my government name tonight.” While Lee’s fans are hoping she will follow in her husband’s footsteps and make a return to wrestling herself, it unfortunately seems like it won’t be happening anytime soon.
CM Punk stated that Lee’s not gonna make a return to wrestling and he’s going to quash any rumors about it. The reason he stated is that Lee’s neck is not in a good condition and it would jeopardize her health to be in the ring right now.
“I just want to say, no,” Punk told The New York Post. “Just because [of] her neck. The reason she stopped wrestling is because of her neck. She’s got a bad neck, you know. I wouldn’t want her to jeopardize [her] health and neither would she, so we’ll put an end to that rumor right now.”
Dr Britt Baker recently said that she would like to see AJ Lee come out of retirement and wrestle in AEW. She revealed that she was a big fan of AJ Lee during her WWE run and would love to wrestle her. She also added that a Punk & Lee vs Baker & Adam Cole match could happen too. “I was a big AJ Lee fan. One of the first moves I asked my trainer to teach me when I was training was her finished the Black Widow. So, that would be really cool. I would love to see her back in the ring. I would love to see her in the ring with me.”
Big E, however, has said that if Lee decides to return to the WWE, the company would pull out the red carpet for her and she could even have a schedule akin to Brock Lesnar. “I also think, if she wants it, of course, there very easily is a massive place for her,” he said. “I feel like she’s in this legend territory where she comes back and she gets a massive pop. She can have a Brock Lesnar type schedule if she wanted to and work a few times a year. So, if it’s something she wants, of course there’s a place for her.”
GCW Champion and Pabst Blue Ribbon spokesman, Matt Cardona, was recently Chris Jericho’s guest on Talk is Jericho. During the discussion, Cardona spoke about his brief time in AEW and why it didn’t lead to something more permanent.
“AEW, it just didn’t work out at the time,” Cardona said (transcriptions via WrestlingNewsCo). “There’s so many people there, and there just wasn’t anything for me at the time.”
Cardona has wrestled twice for AEW. His first match was on the July 30th, 2020 episode of Dynamite when he teamed with Cody Rhodes and defeated the Dark Order’s John Silver and Alex Reynolds. He then teamed with Dustin Rhodes, QT Marshall, and Scorpio Sky to defeat the Dark Order at All Out 2020.
“No hard feelings, not to say I’ll never be there again because I would love to be. Obviously, there’s no doubt AEW is the place to be. It’s the talk of the wrestling business every single week. Timing is everything, and it wasn’t the right time.”
In addition to his run in GCW, Cardona is also currently active in Impact Wrestling. He defeated Rohit Raju on the Emergence show on Impact Plus last month. Cardona also teamed with his partner Chelsea Green and made it to the semi-finals of Impact’s Homecoming King and Queen tournament in July.
Matt Riddle has long wanted a match against Brock Lesnar. When the two met backstage at the Royal Rumble in 2020, however, it is believed that Lesnar told Riddle that a match between the two was not going to happen. According to comments Riddle made recently to BT Sport, however, he believes if he can keep raising his stock in WWE, the match will eventually make sense for all parties.
“When we had our little back and forth backstage at the Royal Rumble – I think about two years ago at this point now – he did not like me,” Riddle said about Lesnar (transcriptions via 411Mania). “Ever since I was a kid, people either hated me or loved me and I think I just rubbed them the wrong way just like I rubbed Bill [Goldberg] the wrong way.”
Every time I do an interview I watch you all scramble to either to tell me how much you hate me or how much you love me and I just love how easy it is to get you all worked up. Also don’t get worked into a shoot especially with a former UFC fighter bro ? pic.twitter.com/mfeYwakn2s
Riddle feels like at the time he spoke with Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, he wasn’t seen as valuable enough to Brock. He says that both Lesnar and Goldberg have seen him rise up the ranks in WWE recently, however.
“I made it a point to make myself valuable and I felt like at that point when I talked to Brock, I wasn’t valuable enough to him. Same thing to Goldberg when I was talking some trash. But now, they’re starting to see my stock rise.”
Riddle and Goldberg are said to have met backstage this summer in WWE. Things were much more respectful between the two and Goldberg even congratulated Riddle on his success on the main roster.
“I think as long as I keep working, I keep upping my value and upping my stock, eventually, it’s gonna be the right choice for them,” Riddle concluded.
Riddle recently made some comments about Roman Reigns in an interview with Sports Illustrated. Perhaps this is a case of the RK-Bro member targetting Reigns in the same way he has with Lesnar and Goldberg.
“No disrespect to Roman, he seems like a swell fella, but at the same time, it’s like when people say they’re a good parent. You know what? If you were a good parent, your kids would be telling you you’re a good parent. When he’s saying ‘Acknowledge me’ or ‘I move the needle,’ no, you don’t. You’re related to The Rock. Shut up. Like, I’m not impressed, I can beat you up in a real fight. So, shut your mouth,” Riddle said.
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon does not always see eye-to-eye with his top stars. CM Punk was no exception. Their personal relationship became so contentious that it became material for on-air storylines. It ultimately led to his departure from the company.
Punk is doing the media rounds this week to promote Sunday’s All Out pay-per-view, where he’ll debut against Darby Allin. During an appearance on Chicago’s 670 The Score on Tuesday, the Best in the World recalled his first big disagreement with his former boss.
“I was always going tell him the truth. I was always going to be honest.”
– CM Punk
CM Punk says the heated conversation took place at the end of 2006. The topic at hand was the creative plans for the infamous ECW December to Dismember event. He says this was the first time he was honest and truthful with Vince McMahon and feels it laid the groundwork for their relationship.
You can hear Punk recall the conversation in the player below:
https://youtu.be/lvmiFwjfUno
CM Punk: Wrestling is Art
Punk covered a lot of topics during his appearance on 670 The Score, ranging from the origin story of the Cult of Personality to what brought him back to wrestling.
In the lead-up to his pro wrestling return, CM Punk stated several times that it would take more than a big paycheck to lure him back. For him, it was more about working with young talent and being part of compelling storylines.
To Punk, pro wrestling is an art form. He considers himself an artist and questions anyone who attempts to interpret his art.
“I’m not so much worried about what other people think of my art. It’s just my art & i’m here to use it as an expression of myself.”
– CM Punk
Listen to CM Punk’s comments about “wrestling is art” –
Kurt Angle got his release from the WWE in April 2020, and we haven’t seen him anywhere since he became a free agent. It was speculated that we’d see him somewhere soon enough — most likely AEW, but he’s said that it’s off the table. The Olympic gold medalist has recently said that he’s received offers from AEW comprising of different roles from being an active in-ring wrestler to simply being an on-screen personality.
Angle detailed the various offers he’s received from AEW and stated that while Tony Khan’s been really nice to him, he can’t accept any offers at this time. “Yes, they offered me a couple of different contracts,” Angle told Wrestling Inc. Daily. “I turned it down for personal reasons, but Tony Khan’s been really nice to me, very generous, and I really appreciate his interest in having me there. But at this particular time, I can’t do it.”
Angle added that with AEW’s first offer they offered him “many” matches with the company, and the subsequent deal included three matches and deal following after that included an on-screen role with no wrestling.
Back in July, Kurt Angle revealed that he was contacted by Triple H and he was offered a role of a trainer at NXT. He was told that his task would be to go over stuff with talent, and that he could even do it from home on his computer. All he had to do was go through tapes and give the talent notes on what they did right or wrong. Angle said he was interested but he was ghosted by WWE and never heard back from Triple H. “I never heard back from him. Long story short, they were interested but at the last second they must have backed out, which is okay with me.”
It has been a tough few months for Will Ospreay. After reaching the pinnacle of his career, capturing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in April, injury forced him to vacate the title in May. After several months on the shelf, he made a shocking return at NJPW Resurgence to announce he was once again cleared to wrestle. However, now, the British superstar finds himself laid low once more after confirming he has tested positive for COVID-19.
Will Ospreay took to Twitter to confirm the news, adding that he was double vaccinated and that fans should not worry.
“I’ve got COVID, but I’m fully vaccinated, I’ll be fine. I’ll just rest for these 10 days, keep you updated and I’m sure I’ll be back in no time soon.”
Ospreay looked tired in his video but reassured fans he was going to be back soon promising to beat Covid as he was on another level to the illness.
“I’m going to beat COVID. Why? Because I am on another level!”
Will Ospreay went on to confirm his isolation will mean he misses two upcoming Revolution Pro Wrestling shows. This was also confirmed by Revolution Pro Wrestling who also broke the news via social media.
Will Ospreay has tested positive for Covid-19. He is fully vaccinated, only has mild symptoms & is otherwise healthy. He will be following protocols and will be out of this weekends shows.
Will Ospreay Expected Back for Rev Pro High Stakes on September 19th
Will Ospreay was scheduled to appear at two upcoming Rev Pro Shows in both Sheffield and London. However, there is no reason to believe he won’t be back in time for their High Stakes show. That event is set for September 19th and will see Ospreay look to unify the Rev Pro British Heavyweight and Southside Heavyweight belts in a match against Ricky Knight Jr.
Will Ospreay is also back on the NJPW scene. However, has adamantly stated he will not be returning to Japan in the near future. Instead, he will make appearances for their spin-off brand NJPW Strong. NJPW Strong airs out of California. It is not known if this is part of a longer-term story angle with him and Shingo, or something deeper-seated. There has been no shortage of talk surrounding the happiness of gajin talent in Japan since COVID hit.
The August 31, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Sarray def. Mandy Rose via countout.
Kyle O’Reilly def. Duke Hudson.
Imperium def Drake Maverick & Grayson Waller
LA Knight def. Johnny Gargano.
Raquel Gonzalez def. Jessi Kamea
Roderick Strong def. Ikemen Jiro.
Tommaso Ciampa def. Ridge Holland.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Sarray vs. Mandy Rose
Sarray vs. Mandy Rose opened this episode of NXT. The match was controlled by Rose for the majority of the time. Rose got hit with a double drop kick and she walked to the backstage area while having a towel over her face. Sarray won via double count out.
Last week, Rose aligned with Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne as she offered to take them under her wing after they lost a tag team match against Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro.
Rose made her return to NXT this past Jily where she scouted a match between Sarray and Dolin. Before the return, Rose had been part of a tag team with Dana Brooke on Raw. On the flip side, Sarray was last in action on NXT three weeks ago where she lost to Dakota Kai.
Good to see @WWE_MandyRose back in a ring. #WWENXT
Wade Barrett hosted a sit-down interview with NXT Champion Samoa Joe. This came just a few weeks after Joe beat Karrion Kross at NXT TakeOver 36 to win the title.
Last week, Joe welcomed all challengers as the likes of Pete Dunne, LA Knight, and Kyle O’Reilly made their cases as to why they should get the next title shot.
In this interview, Joe stated he plans to dominate his opponents and wants to establish what it means to be NXT Champion. This started before he became champion, but rather coming back. He said he was at the talent tryouts in Las Vegas then straight back to Florida on a red eye and tired while challenging for the title.
He said he needed to win the title because the precedent needed to be set. He said the legacy of the title and those who have held it before him is important. The path that he goes is the way that all future champions will follow him. He wants to know who will step up.
Ilja Dragunov made his first appearance as NXT United Kingdom Champion on this show.
Ilja cut a promo in the ring about how he’s looking for someone with passion, soul and struggle to take away the title from him. He said the ring general has fallen and long live the Czar.
Dragunov defeated WALTER to win the NXT United Kingdom Championship at TakeOver 36. Dragunov is the fourth-ever NXT United Kingdom Champion as Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, and WALTER previously held the title.
WALTER held the title for 870 days. Dragunov had two matches on NXT leading up to the title match where he lost to Pete Dunne and beat Roderick Strong.
WWE booked Duke Hudson vs. Kyle O’Reilly in a singles match.
This was a short hard-hitting match that saw Hudson get some offense and looked impressive even if it was against O’Reilly, who can make anyone look good. Hudson got a near fall spot with a belly-to-belly suplex.
Ridge Holland and Tommaso Ciampa ended up working a singles match on this show.
Just last week, Holland beat Ciampa’s tag team partner, Timothy Thatcher, in a singles match. After the match, a brawl broke out with Ciampa and Thatcher being left lying thanks to Danny Burch and Pete Dunne. Thatcher is out of action indefinitely following Holland’s attack.
The match was saved for last and it didn’t disappoint. Holland continued to show off and had a good performance as he dominated the majority of it with Ciampa fighting back. Ciampa went over. Post-match, the heels beat down Ciampa until MSK came out to make the save.
Strong was supposed to challenge for Kushida’s NXT Cruiserweight Championship two weeks ago. However, it was announced that Kushida wasn’t cleared to compete and there’s still no word yet on when it will happen. On that episode, Strong instead issued an open challenge and lost to NXT UK Champ Ilja Dragunov.
On the flip side, Jiro has been a regular on 205 Live since signing with WWE last December. He also worked the NXT Breakout Tournament.
Johnny Gargano vs. LA Knight
Johnny Gargano vs. LA Knight did not end up being the main event of this show. Instead, it kicked off the second hour.
The match was back and forth. It ended with Knight hitting the BFT thanks to an accidental distraction by Lumis.
Knight had just finished up a program with Cameron Grimes and Ted DiBiase at NXT TakeOver 36 where he dropped the Million Dollar Title. Gargano had been in a feud with Dexter Lumis and even though he won the Love Her or Leave Her Match, Lumis is slated to have a storyline wedding with Indie Heartwell.
The betting odds for most of the matches that will air during the AEW All Out pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place on Sunday, September 5, 2021 is still taking shape. So far, nine matches have been announced for the show with four of them having a title on the line.
However, there are no titles favored to change hands. CM Punk and Paul Wight are favored to win their AEW in-ring debuts. Punk hasn’t worked a match in seven years as his previous bout came in January 2014 at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Chris Jericho is also favored to beat his arch-rival MJF.
The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Here are the betting odds, courtesy of Bet Online:
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega -600 vs. Christian Cage +350
CM Punk -500 vs. Darby Allin +300
Andrade El Idolo -300 vs. PAC +200
Paul Wight -600 vs. QT Marshall +350
Chris Jericho -250 vs. MJF +175 (If Jericho loses, he can never wrestle in AEW again)
Jon Moxley -500 vs. Satoshi Kojima +300
AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker -200 vs. Kris Statlander +150
AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks -225 vs. Lucha Bros +165 – Steel Cage Match
WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was reportedly unhappy with the original Monday Night Raw plans yesterday.
The original Raw plans were advertised by WWE ahead of the show airing, including a non-title match between Bobby Lashley and Sheamus. However, McMahon decided to make adjustments to the show. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reports that McMahon was “extremely unhappy” with the original rundown.
“PWInsider.com was told by several that Vince McMahon, extremely unhappy with the original plans for Monday Night Raw, “ripped up the script” several times, including the original plans and then the initial rewrite,” said the report.
Johnson’s sources also said that “…McMahon then began requesting new ideas, some of which we are told were good, and others no so good, but rejected everything pitched to him before decreeing the new plans for last night’s episode.
Creative issues with Vince McMahon
The report states that WWE made no official plan for the episode until 6 pm est. While it isn’t uncommon for WWE to change plans before a show, yesterday’s episode was challenging. The report called yesterday “…one of the “longest” days in a long time for the WWE Creative team.” Johnson also noted that “One source who went through the process described it as “the loudest and angriest” they’d ever seen McMahon on a show day.”
Monday Night Raw results
The main event of Raw featured the team of Bobby Lashley & MVP vs. RK-Bro for the Raw Tag Team Championships. RK-Bro successfully retained their title when Riddle pinned MVP. After the match, Lashley attacked Riddle with his spear move. However, Randy Orton landed an RKO on Lashley, and the show ended with RK-Bro posing with their titles.
Instead of facing Lashley, WWE had Sheamus compete in a triple threat match against Drew McIntyre and Damien Priest for the United States Championship. Priest successfully retained the U.S title after pinning McIntyre.
WWE is slated to hold its upcoming Queen Of The Ring tournament and a new trademark filing has seemingly confirmed the name of it.
The company filed for the phrase “Queens Crown Tournament” with The United States Patent and Trademark Office last week. The description notes that it’s for entertainment services.
WWE is returning to Saudi Arabia on October 21st for its next pay-per-view event in the country that will be called Crown Jewel, which has been used for past shows.
WWE has plans to present the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournament starting on the October 8th edition of SmackDown and continuing on the October 11th episode of Raw.
“Being that I’m already The Queen, if it was to happen, I believe whoever wins it has to face me, since I am The Queen of Queens, right?” asked Charlotte. “Like I don’t think I have to be in it. I already have the title. I think they should have the opportunity to face me if they win.”
It’s been reported that only talent from Raw and SmackDown will be part of both tournaments, so it’s very likely that no talent from NXT will participate. As always, anything in WWE can change.
CM Punk got the internet buzzing with some initials he drew on his sneakers and he has revealed the meaning.
Punk made his electric return to wrestling on Aug. 20. He made his AEW debut inside the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Punk then had an in-ring interview with Tony Schiavone on the Aug. 25 edition of Dynamite.
It didn’t take long for fans to notice several initials on Punk’s sneakers such as “AC” and “CF.” Theories ran rampant on the Internet with some believing that “AC” stood for Adam Cole and “CF” stood for Charlotte Flair.
Speaking to the New York Post, Punk revealed the true meaning behind two of those initials.
“I stole this from LeBron James; a lot of basketball players will write messages on their shoes and stuff. I wrote AC on my shoes and CF on the other foot. AC is Always Chicago and CF is Chicago Forever.”
CM Punk
Punk had some other initials on his sneakers that he did not address. One of them was “BW.” This has led many to speculate that it stood for Bray Wyatt, who was released by WWE.
CM Punk is scheduled to have his first match since January 2014. He will meet Darby Allin at the All Out PPV on Sept. 5. The action will be held inside the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Punk left WWE following the 2014 Royal Rumble PPV event. He cited the lack of time off, a misdiagnosis of a staph infection, and creative differences as the reasons for his departure.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.907 million viewers with a 0.54 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is down from last week’s 2.067 million viewers and the 0.64 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.955 million, 0.56 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.936 million, 0.57 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.830 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
This show was expected to drop from last week’s Raw, which was the fallout edition for SummerSlam, and set the second biggest viewership number the show has done thus far this year, only behind the January 4th edition.
This episode featured Rhea Ripley vs. Shayna Baszler, The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) vs. Jinder Mahal & Veer, United States Champion Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus, Nia Jax vs. Charlotte Flair, Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle) vs. Bobby Lashley & MVP, and more.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 2.874 million viewers in the overnight ratings, up from the previous week that did 2.237 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.59 rating, which was up from the 0.57 rating the week before.
The final ratings were 2.250 million viewers, up from last week’s 2.102 million viewers.
This week’s episode of Dynamite will mark the 100th episode of the show. Dynamite first aired on October 2, 2019. Tomorrow’s episode will be significant for the 100th episode and the last episode before All Out. AEW also announced five matches for the 100th episode. However, the promotion hasn’t revealed what the main event would be.
AEW promoted on August 29th that Chris Jericho would do an in-ring interview with Jim Ross on tomorrow’s episode. Today, AEW shared that CM Punk will also appear on the show to promote his upcoming match with Darby Allin at All Out.
CM Punk Return to Chicago
Punk will be making his return to Chicago after his debut on AEW Rampage on August 20th. As a Chicago native, Punk received a thunderous ovation from the crowd. On the August 20th episode of Rampage, he also challenged Allin to a match at All Out.
In his return, Punk said to Allin, “…You’re the first on the list. I’m going to help you because you are a daredevil and you like danger. Well, Darby Allin, there is nothing you could do that is more dangerous than wrestling CM Punk. Except wrestling CM Punk in Chicago.”
CM Punk makes his in-ring debut for All Elite Wrestling this weekend at AEW All Out. He’ll face Darby Allin in the most anticipated match of what’s happing up to be AEW’s biggest show of the year.
Punk appeared on ESPN’s SportsNation this week and was asked about his decision to sign with AEW. According to Punk, AEW’s locker room has really impressed him.
“It kind of helped breathe life back into my love of professional wrestling,” Punk said of AEW. “I see this young, upstart company that’s full of what I call punk rock youthful exuberance. Rough around the edges but just so eager to learn and soak up everything they possibly can. It’s new and it’s exciting.”
CM Punk on AEW’s Locker Room
Punk continued to talk about how the AEW locker room keeping news of Brodie Lee’s illness a secret impressed him.
“One of the big things that turned me on to them and made me consider going there was, unfortunately, the wrestling world lost Brodie Lee last December,” he said. “His sickness and everything that came with it was known in the company but they kept it so secret. And wrestlers will always tell you that ‘oh the boys, we’re a big family, we care about each other, the wrestling business…’ none of that is entirely true but to see everyone in the company band together just to keep a secret about somebody’s health, I was blown away by that. I was blown away that it wasn’t plastered all over every single website and it was just kept secret. And that made me go, ‘there’s something to that locker room.'”
Watch CM Punk’s comments about choosing AEW over WWE below:
Paul Heyman took Cesaro under his wing as the Swiss Cyborg revealed himself to be a Paul Heyman guy on Raw in April the night after WrestleMania 30 in 2014. It lasted only briefly, as by July of the same year Cesaro declared that he’s no longer a Paul Heyman guy.
Paul Heyman recently reflected on their short-lived stint and said that it ultimately did no favors to Cesaro. He also discussed why he thinks Cesaro is a main event level talent in the WWE.
WrestleMania 30 saw The Undertaker’s streak being broken by Brock Lesnar, and Cesaro winning the inaugural André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Since Lesnar wasn’t going to be available every week on Raw, Cesaro was coming in hot after winning the battle royal. And this is why Cesaro was made a Paul Heyman guy, explained Heyman while speaking to Inside the Ropes.
“I’ve always thought Cesaro was a main event player in WWE. Cesaro was paired with Paul Heyman because Paul Heyman needed an excuse to be on television to say the words, ‘My client, Brock Lesnar, conquered The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania.’ That was an elevation in terms of exposure for Cesaro, but it did him no favours in terms of showcasing his talents.”
The pairing really didn’t do much for Cesaro, and the two were soon split up without any significant big break up scene. Cesaro spent most of his career as a midcard talent after that, until recently when he got in the main event picture at WrestleMania Backlash where he faced Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship in a losing attempt. He then got into a brief feud with Seth Rollins which saw a match in the Hell in a Cell PPV event. He hasn’t been up to much since then on SmackDown and only time will tell if Cesaro will be able to break through the mid-card and stay in the main event picture.
It was a big weekend for Ric Flair. He took part in the NWA’s 73rd Anniversary show in St. Louis on Sunday evening. Flair cut an emotional promo during the show and then returned later in the evening to congratulate the new champion, Trevor Murdoch.
Flair recently appeared on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette and spoke about a variety of topics including what led to his departure from WWE.
“There is no animosity whatsoever. It was just business, I wanted to try something and they just had a different vision,” Flair said of his relationship with WWE on the show.
Renee then asked Flair what was the vision WWE had for him.
“To just get paid, basically, a lot of money. Nothing was wrong with that,” Flair responded. He would continue to say, however, that he wants to be out doing things in the wrestling business.
“Like this weekend, I’m doing the 73rd Anniversary of the NWA, which is a huge deal,” Flair said.
“I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that, not because Vince would have said no, it would have never got to him,” Flair continued.
“I talked to Vince after it was over and I just said whatever paths our lives take us, we’ll always be brothers and he said ‘you’re damn right.'”
Is Ric Flair Headed To AEW?
Flair also commented on rumors that he’s possibly headed to AEW.
“Yeah (Tony and I) are friends but I haven’t heard a word from Tony,” Flair said to Renee. “If he asks you, tell him I’m around. I hear you know someone that works there!”
Flair also noted that Charlotte Flair will likely never leave WWE.
“Ashley would never leave there, she’s the happiest she’s ever been,” Flair said.
The full interview can be listened to in the player below:
The National Wrestling Alliance has announced details of their next special event.
Hot off EMPOWERRR & NWA 73 this past weekend, we now know the “where” and the “when” regarding the NWA’s next pay-per-view.
NWA President Billy Corgan appeared on Busted Open Radio Tuesday morning and spoke with hosts Dave LaGreca & Bully Ray. Corgan revealed NWA Hard Times 2 will take place Saturday, December 4th from Atlanta’s GPB Studios.
You can hear audio of Corgan’s appearance on Busted Open here:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=piduaSHf_fU
The first NWA Hard Times pay-per-view took place in January 2020. The event saw the return of the NWA’s beloved television championship. That title was won by Ricky Starks, who currently wrestles for AEW. Tyrus is the current champion.
Visit our NWA News section for much more on the National Wrestling Alliance, including NWA EMPOWERRR and NWA 73.
Charlotte Flair won the WWE Raw Women’s Championship for the 12th time in front of 51,000 people at SummerSlam this past week. She defeated the previous champion Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat match to regain her title.
Another star in the company who has more than a dozen reigns under their belt is John Cena. With his joint-record, he has the world championship 16 times under his name. Charlotte Flair said that she wants to be like John Cena and embody him, and have a work ethic that’s similar to him.
Charlotte stated that she believes that there will never be another John Cena. He means a lot to the industry and he is irreplaceable. But Charlotte said she knows that since the day she started and even to this day, she wants to mold herself after Cena and be like him.
“Unfortunately, I am a bad guy on camera, and Cena is the ultimate good guy. But I never lose that density or passion of wanting to embody WWE, wanting to do as much on the outside, for instance, media and the Special Olympics. There’s so many community events that we take part in,” Charlotte told DAZN News.
Charlotte continued saying that she wants to be considered to be in the same class as John Cena, in terms of in-ring success as well as the work they do outside the ring as well.
“I hope to be mentioned in the same sentence as him. He’s John Cena. I’m a talent in the same company as him. Not even a peer but as a co-worker, and I still say it like that. He’s John Cena. Yes, I want to be the female John Cena. And if people say that, then I’m going to continue, even if I don’t feel like I’ve gotten there yet, but I’m going to continue to work as hard and feel that I want to be that way with everything I do.”
Sheamus has done quite a bit over the past year after making his return from injury. He went back to his old hairstyle, won the United States Championship at WrestleMania 37 and had some great matches. He recently talked about his current run in the WWE and said that it’s the best one he’s had so far.
Sheamus also revealed that The Undertaker recently told him that Sheamus is “one of the old crew now.” Sheamus told ComicBook that it took him a second to process that he’s now considered one of the “seniors” in WWE, because the last 12 years have been like a blur to him.
Sheamus was asked if he thinks this has been the best run of his career. He absolutely agreed that he’s done his best in all aspects, whether it’s on the mic, or inside the ring. He’s finally able to be himself and not have second thoughts about what he’s doing.
“I guess sometimes it was in my interest to emulate this persona that wasn’t me. So for the last year and a half, I’ve really been able to just throw all that aside and just be me, and go out there and do what I do best. I’ve always been a physical competitor in the ring, and for me it’s never been the ‘Oh, you just want to take liberties’. You hear all that stuff in the past. It’s always about bringing the best out of my opponent, bringing the fight out of my opponent, because I know at the end of it all, whoever I’m in there with when the match is over, I’ve had that physical encounter,” Sheamus said.
Sheamus considers this year and a half his best. He stated that he loves working with the younger talent and others including Matt Riddle, Damien Priest, Keith lee, Humberto Carrillo, Drew McIntyre, etc. Sheamus said that it feels like he has started his career right all over again.
Adam Cole is a free agent. His WWE contract is believed to have expired on Friday and it is not clear where he will end up next. While some expect Cole to sign with AEW, there are others hoping a chance still remains he re-signs with WWE.
One darkhorse contender to sign Adam Cole to a contract appears to be Pat McAfee, however. The Smackdown commentator sent out a Tweet recently to offer Cole a “legitimate contract” to work on the Pat McAfee Show.
According to a report from PW Insider, a memo was sent out to some WWE employees recently letting them know that Adam Cole is no longer with the company. He is expected to field offers from other promotions. It was also noted that he could still re-sign with WWE. Previous reports have suggested that Cole is likely done with the company, however.
According to a report from Talk Sport, Cole does not have a 90-day no-compete clause that he would have to wait out before debuting in another company.
“As part of the extension, Cole also managed to ‘kill the non-compete clause’ he would have had to fulfill,” wrote Alex McCarthy earlier this month.
Tony Khan was recently a guest on Busted Open Radio. During the discussion, he mentioned that he sometimes likes to compare AEW’s roster to the one WCW had in 1997.
“I like to compare our roster sometimes to what I think was the hallmark great roster, which was 1997 WCW,” Khan said on the show (transcriptions via Fightful).
While WCW in 1997 had many top names including Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Hollywood Hogan, Sting, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash, Khan feels it was the young and underutilized talent that really could have helped the company in the long run.
“They had a lot of young talent that they didn’t realize and they could have built for the future to help make it a profitable company that they never want to shut down. They could have made it a money-printing machine if they developed the young talent in-house that they had like Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio.”
Khan would continue to say that those young names didn’t get an opportunity in WCW. In AEW, however, Khan says he’s proud of the young homegrown stars the company has been able to produce thus far.
“I do try to build stars for the future and that’s why you have so many great homegrown stars that are being featured at All Out. There are great opportunities here and I don’t think Jericho, Mysterio, and Guerrero got those same opportunities when they were on a roster with the all-time names like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, and Roddy Piper.”
Thank you to everyone who made #AEWDynamite the #1 show on cable on Wednesday + #AEWRampage the #1 show on cable on Friday! Both Dynamite + Rampage ranking #1; it’s such a cool milestone to hit going into this week with Dynamite episode 100 + first ever Rampage go-home +ALL OUT!
Chris Jericho was on the roster in WCW in 1997 and is currently a member of the AEW roster. The role he is in has swapped, however. Back in 1997, Jericho was one of those young and underutilized guys. In AEW today, Jericho is an established name and the company’s first-ever world champion.
“What a great TV business they built with that roster that unfortunately didn’t last, but I think would have lasted longer if they had built the young stars the way I try to do,” he said.
The upcoming AEW Full Gear pay-per-view is set for November 6 from the Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Missouri. However, the company could possibly move the date for the event as it will face some huge competition if it takes place on the scheduled date as another company has just announced a stack card for their combat sports event.
AEW Full Gear
While AEW is set to hold All Out 2021 as scheduled this Sunday on September 5, the clashes with boxing and UFC events on the same night as Full Gear could be a problem for the pro-wrestling company.
UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2 will take place on November 6 at the Madison Square Garden. The card will feature the rematch between Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington which is much awaited amongst fans.
In addition to this UFC MSG card, Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant, billed as “On the Road to Undisputed” is a unification boxing match in the super middleweight class that’s also going to take place on November 6, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The match is important because the winner will become the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history as multiple titles are on the line.
?? Este 6 de noviembre vamos a poner al boxeo de México en todo lo alto. ¡Vamos por el cinturón que nos falta!
AEW would probably not want to clash with events of such calibre, so it’s likely that we’d see a date change announcement for Full Gear soon.
This wouldn’t be the first time the company would do something like this either, as they previously moved AEW Revolution 2021’s date from February 27 to March 7. This was also because of a Canelo Alvarez match, which took place on February 27. So, AEW had to reschedule the event to avoid clashes with the match and we could see the same thing happening here with Full Gear.
AEW has built several wrestlers into home-grown stars since their inception. MJF is one such wrestler. He has flourished in the heel role, fast becoming one of the key members on the AEW roster.
MJF has the in-ring ability, a natural character and talent on the mic that means he can go toe-to-toe with the likes of Chris Jericho and no be overwhelmed or beaten down.
Talking during a recent appearance on Inside the Ropes, MJF talked about his inspirations growing up and which wrestler he would most like to go up against on the mic.
“Roddy Piper,” MJF said with no hint of hesitation. “Before me, I’m going to say the only person who would equal the ability to get a visceral reaction from the crowd was Piper. Piper made me fall in love with wrestling.”
MJF continued to talk about the influence Rowdy Roddy Piper had on him growing up, slipping effortlessly into character as he did so.
“And if I was able to have an opportunity to have promos back and forth with Roddy, and then a match that I know would be vicious as all hell. I think that would probably go down as the greatest match in the history of professional wrestling.”
MJF Stands on the Precipice of History
A match with Piper is impossible, and speculation is always easy. However, MJF does stand on the point of making history.
During the interview, MJF also reserved certain praise for his AEW arch-nemesis, Chris Jericho. Reserving special praise for the man whose career he hopes to end at AEW All-Out next week.
“Chris Jericho was up there [as a heel]. As much as I hate to admit it. I would say Chris Jericho is most certainly up there.”
Until now, MJF has had Chris Jericho’s number at every meeting. However, at All-Out the stakes are considerably higher. Maxwell Jacob Friedman has the chance to retire the leader of the Inner Circle if he can pick up a fourth consecutive win over Jericho.
Social media was ablaze after Raw last night, and it wasn’t anything to do with the two different title matches that took place. It was the contest between Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax that had fingers whirring over the keyboard.
The pair faced off against each other in a brutally stiff match which saw Nia Jax pick up the win, hitting Charlotte with a powerbomb for the pinfall victory. However, it was not the victory that sparked rumours of heat between the pair. Rather the mid-match point just after the commercial break on the televised show. The match took a much stiffer route with a series of cumbersome exchanges that looked to pack a little extra heat than normal.
Nia Jax his Charlotte with a spinebuster and a back drop. Both of which looked a little rough. However, Charlotte kicked out after just a one count. The exchange continued with the pair trading stiff slaps and shoves.
Later, Nia was a guest on Raw talk where she cut an angry promo about getting and taking her shot at the title.
“You know what, I’m sick of this,” Nia Jax said. “Yes, Charlotte is a 12-time champion, but I just beat, no I splattered, the RAW Women’s Champion. Do you know what? I think that gets me a title opportunity.”
At this point in time, it is not clear if there is any genuine heat between the pair, or if it was just a loss of temper and a couple of semi-botched moves. Nia Jax doesn’t have the reputation for being the smoothest worker out there. While Charlotte Flair has a lot of backstage sway in the company and may have taken umbrage to Nia’s mistakes.
WWE has announced they are moving the location of its planned Oct. 1 SmackDown taping.
The company initially scheduled a SmackDown taping on Oct. 1 for New Orleans. The event was going to be held inside the Smoothie King Center. WWE has revealed a change in plans.
“STAMFORD, Conn., August 30, 2021 – The WWE Friday Night SmackDown live event scheduled for October 1 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans has been postponed. All original tickets will be honored for the new 2022 date.
Friday Night SmackDown on October 1 will now take place at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore.
Additional ticket information on both events is forthcoming.”
WWE made the change due to Hurricane Ida.
WWE has been enjoying the ability to return to live crowds. The promotion created the ThunderDome in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of WrestleMania 37, the company wasn’t running events in front of a live audience for over a year. That changed in July when SmackDown was held live inside the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Time will tell when the company will return to the Smoothie King Center but for now, the live SmackDown action comes to the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
