Becky Lynch thinks quite highly of Big E winning the WWE Championship.
Big E captured the gold when he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on the Sept. 13 episode of Monday Night Raw. The previous champion, Bobby Lashley, had successfully defended his title against Randy Orton. Big E capitalized on his opportunity and hit the Big Ending for the victory.
Appearing on WWE’s The Bump, Lynch discussed the significance of Big E’s title victory.
“E is the best. He has talked me off many a ledge, many a ledge when I was down and couldn’t get my foot in WWE, E was always there to make me laugh because he’s one of the funniest dudes you’ll ever meet, and be so kind and patient. He’s got this calming energy that when you sit beside him, he just makes you feel better and calm and hopeful. This new era of E in WWE brings a lot of hope to not only the company, the business, but the world.”
Becky Lynch is the current SmackDown Women’s Champion. She made her surprise return at SummerSlam, defeating Bianca Belair for the gold. After Big E’s victory, Lynch hopped on Twitter to congratulate the new king of Raw.
Big E likely isn’t done with Lashley. On Sept. 26, Extreme Rules will take place inside the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. While nothing has been made official, many expect the two to meet again at the PPV.
Alex Shelley is the latest wrestler to sign with MLW. He’ll take part in the Opera Cup tournament on October 2nd when MLW presents Fightland from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
“Alex is a true fighting artist,” said Court Bauer in a press release. “He’s someone I’ve been dying to bring into MLW and the timing is perfect as the Opera Cup is the definitive stage for the grappling genius that is Alex Shelley.”
Already confirmed for the Opera Cup will be Tom Lawlor, Bobby Fish, Lee Moriarty Davey Richards, TJP, Matt Cross, and Calvin Tankman. Also confirmed for the October 2nd MLW Fightland show will be Tajiri.
Fightland will be MLW’s first show since Battle Riot in July. They had a scheduled event in Texas for September but it was cancelled due to rising COVID cases in the state.
This will be the 3rd time MLW has run a tournament for the Opera Cup trophy. In 2019, Davey Boy Smith Jr. won the cup that had been in the Hart family for decades. In 2020, Tom Lawlor won the trophy.
Shelley recently returned to the ring for the first time in 2021 at the GCW/Black Label Pro show on September 3rd. He dropped the BLP Midwest title to Tom Lawlor on the show.
It appears that fans may have to wait a bit longer to see Sami Zayn reuniting with his friends at All Elite Wrestling than originally expected.
Author Pat Laprade recently provided some update on the WWE star’s contract. He recalled how the former NXT champion told him back in June 2018 that he had signed a three years deal with the company.
This means that Zayn’s deal would have already expired if it wasn’t for the time that was added to his contract for the period he spent on the shelf after his shoulder injuries in 2018.
The former champion missed around 10 months of action from June 2018 to April 2019 back then after tearing both of his rotator cuffs. So his contract will likely expire sometime in March or at the beginning of April next year.
This is excluding the time Sami Zayn missed while sitting out at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic from April to August 2020. WWE officials had allowed wrestlers to stay home at the time without any penalty.
This means KO will be able to join his friends of the Elite at least a couple months earlier. Zayn, on the other hand, will likely have to wait a few extra months before being able to jump ships if he chooses to.
WWE Champion Big E (that has a nice ring to it) is itching for a feud with The Hurt Business. Following his big win on Monday’s Raw, Cedric Alexander posted a message on Twitter about how things would have unfolded had The Hurt Business been in Lashley’s corner.
The Hurt Business was a group led by Lashley and MVP. The two added Shelton Benjamin and Alexander to the faction. Despite widespread praise for the group, Lashley turned on Shelton and Cedric just before WrestleMania 37.
During an interview with Complex, Big E said he’s hoping that The Hurt Business makes a comeback so they can mix it up with The New Day.
“I want to see them back. I want to see them together. Man, just the opportunity to go out there. The story is already there. The history is there, but I beat Bobby, and now Bobby needs to back up and [get] his two cast-off brothers back again. I got two brothers of my own. There are so many opportunities.”
Big E said the prospect of feuding with Roman Reigns & The Bloodline is also appealing. However, his real interest appears to be a feud with MVP’s crew.
“Imagine The Hurt Business coming back together to do battle with The New Day. All kinds of incarnations; singles matches, tag matches. Man, there’s so much that we can do there.
“So that’s the first order of business. I saw Cedric’s tweet, too, and I sent him the ‘mount up.’ Let him know: bring your boys, get the troop together, because that’s what I want. And I don’t think Bobby is ready to go quietly into that good night. I think he’s got some more fighting. So I want to see him with his troop, and let’s get this thing cracking again.”
MVP took to his Instagram page to hint at a reunion for The Hurt Business. He was seen traveling with Benjamin and alluded to “discussing business with an old acquaintance.” More on that below:
Franky Monet was scheduled to challenge Raquel Gonzalez for the NXT Women’s Championship on last night’s show. The match was cancelled with no reason given for the change, however. In a video posted exclusively to NXT’s social media, Monet and the Robert Stone Brand reacted to the nixed title match.
“The match was confirmed,” Stone can be heard saying as the video begins.
“Listen, I thought we had a little bit of trust growing here but clearly that’s false,” Monet said to Stone in the video. “Cause you’re right because you Robert Stone are a liar.”
“I’ve never lied to anyone in my life,” Stone then responded.
“Let’s not focus on the negative,” Monet continued. “Let’s just think about it this way, it just means Raquel Gonzalez is going to have her NXT championship moment longer than expected.”
Monet then instructed Stone to get on the phone with William Regal and fix the problem. Stone then leaves the room as Kamea reassures Monet she will be champion soon.
The video can be viewed in the player below:
Gonzalez has successfully defended the title 4 times since winning it at Stand and Deliver in April. She’s fended off challenges from Mercedes Martinez, Ember Moon, Xia Li and Dakota Kai in that time.
Being released from WWE can be more difficult for non-Americans living in the United States. The former Iiconcis (now known as the Iinspiration), Bronson Reed and others have all commented on the legal challenges they have faced following their release. The former Killian Dain, now known as Big Damo, mentioned in a recent interview with WrestleZone that he is dealing with the same challenges.
“I’ve been making sure to be as active as possible and then obviously with the world about to reopen again, touch wood as best I can, then it’ll be a lot easier for me. But my main issue is I’m a foreigner living in the USA so there’s still legal hurdles I have to make before I can get anywhere,” Damo said. “That could be sorted within a week, it could be sorted within a couple of months and sadly that’s the reality of the situation. I’m here legally, but I won’t be able to work legally just for a little time yet, and that is something that we’re hoping to get sorted ASAP….I’m really excited for what’s next.”
Big Damo On Re-Inventing His Character
When Damo does return to the ring, however, his character will be different. He continued to talk about re-inventing his persona and coming up with something that fans are interested in seeing.
“In so far as what my character’s gonna be after this, it’s gonna be my invention. And that’s gonna be fun because one of the hardest parts about being in this is, we’re characters in their soap opera,” said Damo.
“The emphasis is gonna be on me to come up with something that people are gonna be interested in seeing,” he continued. “And that’s what I’m excited about the challenge.”
Bronson Reed & The Iinspiration Also Dealing With Visa Issues
The Iinspiration have also mentioned that Visa issues delayed their return to the ring following their WWE departures.
“The difficult thing for us is, we still don’t have our green cards, so we’re not allowed to work until we get those or until we find sponsorship anywhere else” Cassie Lee said on Oral Sessions. “We’re so excited; we have all this freedom and so many ideas, but pump the brakes because we can’t do any of it.”
The Iinspiration have since announced bookings in the United States, however.
Bronson Reed has also spoken about legal challenges following his release from WWE earlier this year. He sent out the below Tweet this spring.
Some recent reports claimed that Jim Ross will be stepping away from full-time AEW commentary in coming times but the wrestling veteran is ready to continue his run for as long as he can.
The AEW star talked about things such as the recent debut of CM Punk that created a lot of buzz among other things on the latest episode of his Grilling JR podcast.
Ross claimed that he felt the emotional side of Punk’s return in Chicago. He then referenced the reports about his future, saying that he will keep doing what he is doing until he decides he has had enough:
“I got the best job in the world. I’m in the business that I love. I want to do this as long as I can. I don’t know how long that is, but until I or somebody including me decides I’ve had enough, then I’m going to keep doing it.
I couldn’t have that feeling with half a house, or three, or four hundred people, or an empty audience in Daily’s Place.” said Jim Ross, “Life is good. I don’t know it could be much better.”
JR also discussed how he made a mental note on a flight and realized there are at least a year’s worth of opponents ready for CM Punk in AEW right now.
He explained how the former WWE champion will not be wrestling every week for the company before claiming that nobody should be wrestling every week.
MVP may have something planned involving a Hurt Business reunion.
Back in May 2020, MVP aligned himself with Bobby Lashley. In July of that same year, Shelton Benjamin joined MVP and Lashley to form The Hurt Business. Eventually, Cedric Alexander joined the group.
While the faction garnered praise from fans, it came to an abrupt end on the March 29, 2021 episode of Monday Night Raw. Lashley attacked both Benjamin and Alexander, kicking them out of the group.
After Lashley lost the WWE Championship to Big E this past Monday (Sept. 13), he may be in need of some backup again. MVP recently met up with Shelton Benjamin, potentially to discuss that matter.
Before Lashley lost the WWE Title, he discussed his initial reaction when the decision was made to split Hurt Business up. Here’s what he told Metro.
“I’m comfortable with staying in my lane. In the wrestling business, I think too many people start worrying about so many other things and then they don’t focus on their career. Ultimately, we have to make sure our career is great before trying to do anybody else’s stuff.
“There’s lots of guys on the roster that I look and I’m like, man, he looks good – he’s tough, he’s that and he’s that. Once we have that opportunity, we might open up the Hurt Business and bring some people in and help fuel their career. But it’s one of those things where I have to focus on me for a little while, and I gotta make sure I’m defending the world title.”
WWE superstars have so little communication with the management that they often find out what they are doing on the show through social media, according to Kofi Kingston. The former WWE champion recently had an interview with 106 KMWL. Among other things, he also talked about his match on this week’s Raw.
During the interview, Kofi explained how as performers, they are usually the last ones to find out what they are doing. He gave the example of his tag team match on this Monday’s episode of Raw:
“You would be surprised. Usually, as performers, we are the last one’s to find things out. This week and last week, I found out on Twitter what I was doing on Raw. It was announced I would be in an eight-man tag team match and I was like, ‘Oh, good to know. I gotta prepare.’
Same thing last week when we had the tag team turmoil, I had no idea until I looked on social media and I saw it.” said Kofi Kingston, “If I didn’t look on social media, I wouldn’t have known until I got to the building.”
The New Day member went on to say that oftentimes they have no idea what the show is going to entail. Even when they do know sometimes, it always gets changed. Though Kingston explained that it’s the bittersweet part of being a WWE star. According to him, it’s a good thing because it keeps everyone on their toes.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods teamed up with Mansoor and Mustafa Ali to face the team of AJ Styles, Omos, MACE and T-BAR on this week’s Raw in a losing effort.
Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee, the former Iiconics now known as The Iinspiration, have announced they will partner with singer Harley Cameron on a new song to be released on Spotify next month. The track will be released on October 20th.
‘The IInspiration’ by Harley Cameron feat. Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee is available for Pre-Save!! ?
Click the link below to pre save now!
We worked with such an incredibly talented team on this song ? Can’t wait for you guys to hear it!! ?https://t.co/mXJdahqhms
Late last month, Lee and McKay announced their returns to pro-wrestling. After dealing with Visa issues following their WWE release this spring, the Iinspiration have since announced The IInspiration Tour, with cities and dates to be released soon.
Harley Cameron Works With Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox
This is not the first time Harley Cameron has worked with women from the wrestling world. Earlier this year, a music video of hers featured Smackdown tag-team Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox.
“Tonight we are releasing something we put a lot of heart into,” Blackheart wrote about the video. “This project and these 2 women remind me that I’m INDESTRUCTIBLE even when I feel weak.”
“Scarlett Shotzi and I are excited to announce we have officially released our song #indestructible,” Cameron wrote on Instagram. “This song means so much to us and everyone involved has worked so hard on this and we are ready to share with the world!”
Lee hasn’t wrestled since March 22nd when she lost a match to Asuka on WWE RAW. Billie Kay hasn’t wrestled since WrestleMania when she teamed with Carmella in the women’s tag team turmoil match.
Before he vacated the NXT Championship over the weekend, Samoa Joe spoke to Sportsnet, the home of NXT in Canada. Joe was asked about the new direction for NXT and said that the brand has always been a place of change, NXT 2.0 is just the latest continuation of that.
“It’ll just be a continuation of what NXT has always been,” said Joe. “It’s always been a place of change, it’s always been a place of flux. I’m a little shocked that everybody is as surprised about the change because it’s never been the same from one year to the next.”
The 3-time NXT Champion says NXT has a history of defined eras. NXT 2.0 will just be yet another era for the developmental brand.
“With change always comes a little bit of uncertainty, but I’m looking forward to it.”
– Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe’s In-Ring Future
When Joe vacated the NXT title over the weekend he did not mention what his specific injury was or how long he will be out.
He spoke with Sportsnet about getting back in the ring after dealing with concussion injuries, however. According to Joe, he was not going to resume his in-ring career if there were lingering issues doctors felt were serious.
“If there were some lingering issues that I felt were serious (and) the doctors felt were serious … then I wasn’t going to get back in the ring,” Joe said.
“I was going to take the time, all the time that I needed, and I was going to come back feeling stronger, and 100-percent. I wasn’t really concerning myself with career moves (like), ‘oh is it over, is it this or is it that?’”
Joe returned to NXT shortly after being released from WWE this spring. At first, he was not in a wrestling role but was positioned as William Regal’s enforcer. This led to a feud with Karrion Kross and him winning the NXT title for a third time.
Joe is the only wrestler to have won the title on 3 occasions. He’s held the title for a combined 156 days, good for 8th all-time.
Shawn Michaels made a surprise appearance once cameras stopped rolling for NXT 2.0.
The revamp of NXT got underway this past Tuesday night (Sept. 14). The show featured a fatal four-way match to determine the new NXT Champion as well as the wedding of Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis.
The show also featured a slew of debuts. One of them was Rick Steiner’s son, Bronson Rechsteiner. His ring name is Bron Breakker. He opened the show by getting an upset win over LA Knight. Breakker then closed the show by confronting newly-minted NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa.
Once the show went off the air, fans in attendance were in for a treat. WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels appeared.
After the show went off the air, Johnny Gargano talked up the future of NXT and put over the rest of the locker room, with help from LeRae, Grimes and a surprise Shawn Michaels sighting #WWENXTpic.twitter.com/J1U1nbbyBC
Michaels has played a pivotal role behind the scenes in NXT. After the revamp episode, Michaels helped Johnny Gargano put over the NXT talent. Gargano said the future is bright for NXT. Gargano had appeared at the wedding of Hartwell and Lumis.
While Triple H has been known to make surprise appearances for the NXT audience, he had been dealing with a cardiac event. The good news is, “The Game” is expected to make a full recovery. Triple H serves as the WWE Executive Vice President, Global Talent Strategy & Development.
Here are more photos of Shawn Michaels appearing after NXT 2.0:
After years and years of hard work, Big E finally got the success he deserves when he cashed in his Money In The Bank contract and became the WWE champion on this week’s episode of Raw. The new champion spoke to Sports Illustrated to talk about his emotions after the big win.
The former NXT champion first detailed the minutes leading up to his victory. He recalled how he was lost in space for a moment during his match with Bobby Lashley but then he refound his focus:
“At first, I couldn’t find the hard camera, I lost where I was in space when Bobby grabbed me for the Dominator. This is the single biggest night of my career, so I wanted to get that moment right. Then, as I was going for the Big Ending, I had a very big man in my hands so I was only focused on the task at hand. After that, all I could hear was that reaction from the crowd.”
Opening up about how he felt in the moment when he finally got the pin and was handed the WWE championship, Big E said that it was a spiritual experience for him:
“It was a spiritual experience, I connected with this massive group of people that all wanted the same thing. To have that support and the people behind me, it’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
E then discussed how many people have helped him get to this point. Apart from his tag team partners of the New Day, he credited names such as Michael Tarver, Curt Hawkins and Mike Doughty for his success.
Concluding the talk was Big E’s statement that it is only the beginning of things. He said that he will stay as he is before promising to put his own spin on his title run:
“This is only the beginning, I’m still going to be myself. I’m still going to be fun. I’m going to put my own spin on this run, and I’m here with purpose and drive. I can’t wait to show everyone what I’ve got.”
The first episode of NXT 2.0 ended with the new NXT champion Tommaso Ciampa and one of the debutants of the night Bron Breakker congratulating each other and shaking hands in a backstage segment.
However, the young star stared Ciampa’s hand down for a bit before shaking it. He also kept the NXT champion’s hand held for a while, seething and staring, resulting in Tommaso staring back at him as well.
WWE later released a post-show video after the NXT 2.0 episode went off air. In the video as seen below, Breakker warned the new champion to keep his head on a swivel:
“I’m here to make a statement. Ciampa, congratulations on the win. I respect ya, I got mad respect for you and what you’ve done here in NXT, but know this – I got my eye on ya now. Keep your head on a swivel, brother.”
Bron Breakker made his debut on WWE TV during the opening segment of this week’s episode of NXT. He defeated LA Knight via a power slam in the first match of the night.
Real name Bronson Rechsteiner, the 23-year-old star is the son of former WWF and WCW star Rick Steiner. The NXT episode makes it seem like he is in line for a push.
Despite WWE’s effort to attract young viewers with the world title match and Big E’s Money In The Bank cash in, AEW Dynamite managed to beat this week’s episode of Raw in the key 18-49 demographic once again.
The September 15 episode of the Wednesday night show featuring the in-ring debut of Adam Cole and CM Punk doing commentary did a total of 1.175 million viewers, according to Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics.com.
Raw this week was watched by 556,000 in 18 to 49.
Dynamite ranked #1 in the demo among cable originals on the day, according to Showbuzz Daily. It beat MTV's The Challenge, which had a 0.44 demo rating.
This is a 10.91% decline in average viewership compared to last week. Last week’s episode of the show featuring the first Dynamite appearances of debutants such as Bryan Danielson and Ruby Soho had drawn 1.319 million viewers.
When it comes to the key 18-49 demographic which has been a matter of discussion among fans since last week, AEW Dynamite drew a 0.44 rating. This represents a total of 574,000 viewers of the age group.
A 0.44 rating means that AEW managed to beat this week’s episode of Raw in the key demo once again. Though Raw drew a 0.43 rating in the same demo so the margin for this victory was very narrow.
AEW has already announced a stacked card for next week’s Grand Slam special of Dynamite. It will feature matches such as Bryan Danielson’s AEW in-ring debut against Kenny Omega and more. So it’s very much possible that they will be able to extend their winning streak to the third week.
The new direction for NXT has been a buzzing topic of discussion among wrestling fans. Though Booker T has a different idea of what changes they should make.
The former WCW champion discussed this topic on the latest episode of his Hall Of Fame podcast. He revealed his thoughts on things such as the new logo.
Booker also explained what change he thinks should be made. He said that the thing he would push for will be to send some of the talents to different camps around the world. It will help them understand what territory wrestling is about:
“My thing is this man, I love that NXT system but the one thing I would push for is, for instance, let some of those guys go to Reality of Wrestling, Let some of those guys go to some of these really good camps around the world.
Send them there for a month, just so they can understand that territory wrestling is really about wrestling in front of different crowds,” said Booker T, “As opposed to just being under that NXT system at the Capitol [Wrestling] Center.”
The former US champion continued by saying that he doesn’t think the officials will have to spend any more money on this than they are already doing on talent development and it wouldn’t hurt the guys either.
A former world champion in his own right, Booker T not only has the experience of being a main event talent, but also running a wrestling promotion in his Reality Of Wrestling indie as well.
It appears that the WWE championship main event between Randy Orton and Bobby Lashley and the promise of Big E cashing in his Money In The Bank contract did not help the ratings for the September 13 Raw.
This week’s episode of the red branded show with the championship main event got an average of 1.670 million viewers according to Wrestlenomics. This a big 9.68% decline from last week’s episode of the brand.
Last week’s episode with the tag team turmoil match to determine the new #1 contenders for the Raw tag team championships had drawn 1.849 million viewers.
As far as the numbers for the 18-49 demographic goes, the show garnered a 0.43 rating. This is also a massive decline from last week’s episode which had a 0.52 rating.
In terms of actual numbers, a 0.43 ratings with 1.670 million viewers represents 556,000 viewers of the 18-49 demo. This is a big 17.01% decline compared to the 670,000 viewers of the same demo based on the ratings and viewership of last week’s episode.
Now it would be interesting to see how the Dynamite episode performs this week and what strategy the WWE officials devise to bounce back from this decline.
If you were wondering about the identity of Tony D’Angelo, now we know.
Fans who tuned in to the debut of NXT 2.0 witnessed a promo video featuring D’Angelo. He was one of the many debuting talents featured on the show. D’Angelo had the following to say in the promo.
“You see, I was born and raised in the streets of Chicago. And I come from a long line of businessmen. See my family has interests in waste management, the fish market, the meat market, you name it. But I found success in my own way – amateur wrestling at the University of Buffalo. I was even named All-American for the Greco-Roman style. My family, they smartened me up because let’s face it, there’s no real money to be made in amateur wrestling, but you know where the real money is? NXT.”
As it turns out, D’Angelo is Joe Ariola, a former NCAA wrestler. Ariola attended the University of Buffalo. In his freshman year, he had an overall record of 5-3. In his 2014-2015 season, he went 14-11. Then in the 2015-2016 season, he had a record of 14-17.
D’Angelo’s debut was on the same night that Bron Breakker (Bronson Rechsteiner) and Brooks Jensen (Ben Buchanan) also made their way to the NXT brand. There was also a slew of other fresh talent for the first NXT 2.0 episode.
The first episode of the revamped NXT dubbed as NXT 2.0 saw multiple new debuts including the newest and first female member of the Diamond Mine – Ivynile.
The female star was introduced after The Creed Brothers defeated Dan Jarmon and Trevor Skelly in a tag team match. She signed with WWE back in January 2020.
Ivynile, real name Emily Andzulis first gained fame after winning NBC’s sports game show Titan Games. She became the first female titan champion in the game show hosted by The Rock.
Other debuts of the night included Von Wagoner who was added to the NXT championship match. Real name Cal Bloom, Wagoner is the son of former WWF and WCW star Beau Beverly of the Beverly Brothers. He was signed in March 2019.
Tony D’Angelo, who was introduced via a vignette teasing a mafia character, is Joe Ariola. He has a background in collegiate wrestling. He was undefeated state and national champion and also qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2016.
Trick Williams, who debuted accompanying Carmelo Hayes to the ring during NXT was signed in February 2021. The 27-year-old, whose real name is Matrick Belton trained at the CZW wrestling academy in New Jersey
The star who debuted under the ring name Bron Breaker is Bronson Rechsteiner. He is another second-generation talent and the son of former WWF and WCW star Rick Steiner. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ Scott Steiner is his uncle.
The son of former WWE Tag Team Champion, Bull Buchanan, has made his debut on NXT.
Ben Buchanan appeared on the first NXT 2.0 episode. He goes by the name of Brooks Jensen. He teamed with Josh Briggs to take on Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel of Imperium.
As for Jensen’s tag partner, Briggs, he was the last EVOLVE Champion. Briggs signed with WWE back in Aug. 2020.
Jensen debuted on the same night that Rick Steiner’s son, Bronson Rechsteiner did. Rechsteiner’s new ring name is Bron Breakker. Breakker had quite the debut, defeating LA Knight to open up the show in a major upset. He then closed out the show by intensely staring down the newly-crowned NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa backstage.
Time will tell how far Jensen can go in developmental and if he’ll eventually find his way to WWE’s main roster. At 6’4 and 250 pounds, he certainly has the size that WWE is looking for.
Matches for Will Ospreay and Minoru Suzuki have been added to the NJPW Strong Showdown tapings.
On Oct. 16 and 17, NJPW will be holding its Strong Showdown tapings. The action will take place inside the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.
NJPW has announced that Suzuki and Ospreay will be in action at the tapings in separate matches. Suzuki will meet Chris Dickinson on Oct. 16, while Ospreay will do battle with Alex Zayne on Oct. 17.
“A first time ever singles encounter will see the Dirty Daddy Chris Dickinson go toe to toe with Minoru Suzuki. At one point scheduled for independent events before the COVID pandemic disrupted the entire wrestling world, NJPW STRONG can now bring about this fated dream match. Dickinson is as respected as they come as a striker and grappler, but can he match up with the King? This is an encounter you will need to witness live and in person at the 2300 Arena next month!
“Night two in Philadelphia will see Alex Zayne in singles action against “IWGP World Heavyweight Champion” Will Ospreay. Alex Zayne was a viral sensation when he first got the opportunity to compete in NJPW STRONG, and after a brief sojourn to WWE, returns to STRONG with a huge test awaiting him. Whether his title claims are legitimate or not, Ospreay is indisputably one of the best wrestlers in the world, but could Zayne surprise the Commonwealth kingpin in Philly?”
Ospreay returned to NJPW at Resurgence after being away due to injury. Ospreay brought an IWGP World Heavyweight Title belt with him. He claimed to be the real world champion and said Shingo Takagi is an interim titleholder. Ospreay said he’ll be wrestling on Strong for a while.
As for Suzuki, he will miss out on this year’s G1 Climax in Japan. This has freed the Japanese wrestling legend to work dates in the United States.
Paul Heyman believes he is responsible for the success of Gable Steveson.
There are a lot of high hopes for Steveson. The Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling has signed with WWE. He will be finishing his collegiate career before making the jump.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, Heyman said he deserves credit for all of Stevenson’s success.
“I am personally responsible for all of Gable Steveson’s right business decisions in his life and his gold medal and his Hodge trophy and his NCAA Division 1 Heavyweight championship.
“I had everything with Gable Steveson winning the Olympic gold medal. I arranged for Gable Steveson to train with Brock Lesnar at the University of Minnesota, which helped Gable Steveson win the NCAA Division 1 Heavyweight championship. Then he used my strategy to win the gold medal in the Olympics.”
As Heyman mentioned, there is history between Steveson and Brock Lesnar. Heyman has played the role of Lesnar’s advocate for years. Steveson and Lesnar have trained together at the University of Minnesota. Stevenson retweeted Paul Heyman taking the credit, so it may be a sign of approval.
Tommaso Ciampa def. LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and Von Wagoner to win NXT Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Carmelo Hayes Speaks
Carmelo Hayes cuts a promo in the ring about how three weeks ago he was riding high and with this new era, he won’t be caught off guard. He said that he called his guy Trick Williams and as long as he has a contract for a title match, Trick goes with him. Trick said that he was born with the gift of the jab. Trick said he has a bone to pick with him. He called out Hayes for being humble. Hayes said that Trick is right and they hugged it out. Duke Hudson came out for a match and told Hayes that he got lucky in the tournament. Trick said that it stops today before laying out Hudson with a big boot. Trick and Hayes jumped Hudson.
Hayes won the NXT Breakout Tournament, which gives him a title shot of his choice. Matrick Belton is now Trick Williams.
WWE changed Rex Steiner (real name Bronson Rechsteiner) to Bron Breakker. He did a backstage segment with LA Knight. Bron stated that he was looking for an opportunity and Knight said that he would be more than willing to slap the smile off his face.
So they booked it in the opening segment. A very basic match with Bron going over clean, which is a surprise.
Bron is the son of former WCW/WWE World Tag Team Champion Rick Steiner. He signed with WWE earlier this year.
B-FAB’s In-Ring Debut
Hit Row’s B-FAB made her in-ring debut against Katrina Cortez. This was a very short yet one-sided match for B-FAB.
Over the past several weeks, Hit Row has been in a feud with Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, Elektra Lopez & Raul Mendoza).
Post-match, B-FAB cut a promo about how Elektra Lopez put her nose in her business. The rival group came out and said that they could fight again. B-FAB was more than willing to do this right now. They didn’t, but rather Santos waved her off and the segment ended.
The wedding of Dexter Lumis and Indi Hartwell took place after Johnny Gargano gave his blessing last week.
The ring was filled with various wrestlers. Austin Theory was the best man. The grooms were dressed like Dexter. Indie says that when people call Dexter a freak, she says he is her freak. Indie brought up how Lumis once snuck into her bed while the Garganos were sleeping and Lumis never loses a staring contest. Lumis had no vowels.
The preacher started asking why Lumis had no vowels and said it was probably because of nerves. Lumis choked out the preacher. Gargano wanted William Regal to be the new preacher and he turned it down. Beth Phoenix became the new preacher.
They both said “I do” and kissed. Lumis showed off his min axe in his jacket pocket before holding up Indie. Ciampa was seen watching in the back.
A wrestling wedding that went off without a hitch ?
LA Knight vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne in a fatal 4-way match to a new NXT Champion was advertised as the main event of this show. There was a slight change as O’Reilly was supposed to be in the match until he was attacked by Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland earlier in the night. Von Wagoner (the former Cal Bloom) did make the save for O’Reilly and William Regal announced that Von would replace Kyle in the bout.
The match was chaotic and everyone got their spots in. Knight was busted open pretty good. The finish saw Ciampa hit his finisher to Knight for the win.
The title became vacant on Sunday night when Samoa Joe relinquished the title due to injury. Joe said that WWE medical informed him that they’d like him to step away from the ring for a “brief but still indeterminate” timeframe. Joe defeated Karrion Kross to win the NXT Championship at TakeOver 36 last month.
LA Knight, Tommaso Ciampa, Von Wagoner (the former Cal Bloom), and Pete Dunne battled it out in a Fatal 4-Way Match to determine a new WWE NXT Champion on Tuesday’s episode of NXT on the USA Network.
The title became vacant when it was announced on Sunday night by Samoa Joe that he was relinquishing it due to an undisclosed injury. At the time, he said that he wouldn’t be out of action for very long, but didn’t say what the exact injury was.
WWE had NXT General Manager William Regal announce that the planned Fatal 4-Way Match that was supposed to determine the next contender for the title would see the winner become the new champion.
O’Reilly was supposed to be in the match, but was pulled after an attack by Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland. Wagoner ended up replacing him. The match was a typical fatal 4-way with Knight being busted open. Ciampa pinned Knight to become the new champion. This marks the second time Ciampa has been NXT Champion.
Joe became the champion when he beat Karrion Kross at last month’s NXT TakeOver 36 event. Although at first he was placed in an on-screen role, he later became an active in-ring wrestler as NXT did a feud between Joe and Kross. With the company already having a feud in place and needing to get the title off Kross since he was called up to the main roster, a title change was done.
Santana of Proud N Powerful believes there is huge potential in a feud with Lucha Bros.
The Lucha Bros are the new AEW Tag Team Champions. They capture the gold against The Young Bucks inside a steel cage at All Out. The match was an instant classic and is already being regarded as one of the greatest tag team matches of all time.
Santana and Ortiz of Proud N Powerful have been gaining a ton of steam as of late. The team recently defeated FTR on an episode of Dynamite. Many are wondering when Proud N Powerful will capture AEW gold.
Appearing on Gettin’ Better with Ron Funches, Santana said he feels Proud N Powerful vs. Lucha Bros will be some of the best tag team matches ever.
“I see on Twitter, everyone is like, ‘when are ya’ll gonna get the tag titles?’ It’s awesome. It feels great. It’s one of those things where, we’re obviously doing something right if people want us to have that spotlight. Us and Lucha Bros, we had a feud in IMPACT for the tag titles and that feud pretty much caused us to have 24 or 25 matches around the world. We took that same match and did it all over the Indies in the States, we went to Canada, we went to Mexico, we went to England, we did it in Germany.
“We literally did that match all over the world. The chemistry is definitely there. We’ve always been like a family with each other. We all came up under Konnan and he’s a big mentor for us. When that time comes, best believe it’s going to be some of the best tag team matches anyone has ever seen. That’s not even being cocky, we have the proof.”
