NBC Universal, parent company of the USA Network, is shutting down the NBC Sports Network channel. This could have a big impact on WWE programming, most notably NXT.
NBC Sports Network currently airs popular sports properties such as NHL and NASCAR. NXT could be directly impacted since many of the NHL games on NBCSN air on Wednesday nights. NASCAR coverage could also potentially impact Raw.
Because the USA Network is in more homes than NBCSN, the belief is the sports leagues mentioned above should see their ratings go up and eventually TV rights. If that theory happens then bigger money deals could also be given to WWE.
If this move leads to NXT changing nights, the models people have regarding time frame of AEW beating Raw IF THINGS GO AS THEY DID THE LAST 12 MONTHS moves up. USA had tried to protect its investment but this changes that game because of the real world.
There have been rumors since last year of NBC Universal moving NXT to another night where they would not have to go head-to-head with AEW Dynamite on Wednesdays. What that new night would be or when a move could be made remains to be seen.
The belief has been since AEW got a TV deal with TNT, WWE moved NXT to the USA Network as a way to compete, but more importantly, to keep AEW down to a certain level, which could see AEW have less leverage once it’s time to get a TV deal/extension done.
Of course, that original belief was before AEW got an extension with TNT. There is no word yet on the exact date when NBCSN will be shutting down.
Ryan Nemeth, aka Hot Young Briley, is scheduled to make his AEW debut next week on Dynamite. AEW announced on its social media feeds that Dolph Ziggler’s brother will be facing Hangman Page Wednesday night.
Ryan Nemeth is an 11-year pro out of the Cleveland area. The 35-year-old is 5 years younger than his older brother. He was trained by Rip Rogers and has performed for promotions such as Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore, Nuclear Heat Wrestling, and Millennium Pro Wrestling. He also wrestled regularly for Bar Wrestling but would later express ethical concerns regarding the owner of the promotion.
From 2012 to 2013, Nemeth was under contract with WWE. He performed in OVW, FCW, and eventually NXT under the ring name Briley Pierce. He was released in May of 2013.
Shortly after Brodie Lee’s passing, Nemeth posted the below story to his Twitter account:
All Elite Wrestling is reportedly looking at pushing back the planned date for the 2021 Revolution PPV. The originally planned date for the event had been February 27th, 2021 but according to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the date is being pushed back. No official date has been announced for the event as of yet, however.
“We’ve heard possible dates of either 3/6 or 3/7 at Daily’s Place. The original date of 2/27 has been talked about as possibly a Jake Paul PPV,” wrote Dave Meltzer. The report would continue to say that the potential Jake Paul boxing fight is not official and may not happen, however.
It was also noted in the report that AEW’s lowest-drawing PPV, 2019’s Full Gear, went head-to-head with a Jake Paul fight on PPV.
“The lowest AEW PPV, Full Gear on November 9, 2019, even with a Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega unsanctioned match on top, went head-to-head with the second Logan Paul vs. KSI fight.”
The first match confirmed for the event was announced yesterday. Following weeks of feuding between Sting, Darby Allin, and Team Taz, a street fight has been scheduled. It will be Darby Allin and Sting teaming up against Ricky Starks and Brian Cage. The match was announced officially yesterday after having been teased this week on Dynamite.
WWE WrestleMania 37 is less than 3 months away. This year’s installment of WrestleMania will once again take place over two nights. As announced last week, WrestleMania 37 will be held on April 10th and 11th from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, FL.
“The reason there has been no television direction for the main matches at Mania. You don’t hear anything about them is because there isn’t any,” wrote Dave Meltzer. He added that there doesn’t appear to be any plan regarding top WrestleMania storylines and title matches for the Raw brand.
WWE appears to have narrowed down Roman Reigns’ WrestleMania opponent to two possible choices, however.
“On Smackdown, Reigns has two different opponents that are being considered. So, Bryan is not a lock and at least as of this past week. Nakamura was not one of the two under consideration as of last week,” Meltzer continued.
Although Daniel Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura are current frontrunners to face Reigns, “plans change.”
Road to WrestleMania
WWE will present three pay-per-view events from now through WrestleMania. The Royal Rumble takes place next weekend, on January 31st. From there, we have Elimination Chamber on February 21st and Fastlane on March 21st. There will be just 3 weeks between Fastlane and WrestleMania.
We have plenty of time from now until WrestleMania. However, WWE typically has WrestleMania plans firmed up by now.
Former AEW Women’s Champion, Riho, has not wrestled in the United States since March. She’s been keeping an active schedule with the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion in Japan, however. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW is hoping to have Riho back on its shows soon.
“The company is right now working on bringing Riho back. People have been asking about her since Stardom stopped using her a few weeks ago. She could be back as early as February,” wrote Dave Meltzer. Riho’s last match with Stardom was on December 26th, 2020.
News that AEW is hoping to have Riho back shortly comes on the heels of the announcement of the Women’s Championship Eliminator tournament. AEW announced the tournament on Dynamite this week and graphics for it show an American side and a Japanese side.
COMING SOON!#AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament! Who will be the number one contender? pic.twitter.com/oM4I3OGrRn
Riho won the AEW Women’s Championship on the first-ever edition of Dynamite. She defeated Nyla Rose in the finals of a tournament to crown the first champion. Riho held the title for 19 weeks and 4 defences before dropping it to Rose on the 19th edition of Dynamite on February 12th, 2020.
Roman Reigns had been wanting to use his guillotine submission maneuver for a long time. However, the “process of the creative” did not allow him to implement the move up until recently.
Reigns added another layer to his new ‘Tribal Chief’ persona when he used a new guillotine submission maneuver to sleep Braun Strowman on the October 16 episode of SmackDown. He has used the move several times ever since, including on his latest rival, Kevin Owens.
Speaking with Bleacher Report for an exclusive interview, Roman Reigns revealed that the UFC has been a huge inspiration behind the finisher. He admitted to being an MMA fan and finding the guillotine choke to be one of the simplest mixed martial arts moves that one could bring over to pro wrestling.
“I thoroughly enjoy watching MMA, especially over the pandemic, I feel like UFC has been on TV far more for whatever reason. I’ve gotten into it the last couple of years and it just seems like every single card, somebody wins with the guillotine. It’s the simplest move. It’s the simplest submission ever. You just crank it in there and squeeze and wrench back.”
Roman Reigns: I’ve Been Wanting To Use That For Years
Roman Reigns was surprised that not many people in were using the move. He revealed that he tried to discuss a submission finisher for himself in the past. He got turned down and wound up using the spear instead.
“I’ve been wanting to use that for years,” he said. “No one’s to blame, it’s just the process of the creative. It’s like, ‘What if I just pulled out a submission?’ I’ve been saying that for years. Everybody knows the Spear. The producers that I work with all the way up to [Vince] said, ‘I think the finish would be better with a Spear.’ That’s great because for years we built that spear up and up.”
Roman Reigns defeats Braun Strowman with a new guillotine finisher
This time, he decided to ‘pull the trigger’ on it and do it anyway.
“There’s going to be a lot of different ways to go in and out of it. It just makes sense and nobody’s really using it. Really, I’m at the point where it doesn’t matter who’s using it, I’ll just use it anyway. The submission was something I wanted to use for quite some time, and I finally pulled the trigger on it.”
Roman Reigns also revealed in the interview how his ‘Head of the Table’ moniker came to be. Turns out, it was an in-ring improvisation by Reigns himself during his confrontation with Jey Uso early on in heel run.
Visit Bleacher Report to read their full interview with WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns.
Roman Reigns has been WWE’s marquee star for over half a decade now and in the time he has main evented WrestleMania for not one but four times against opponents like Triple H and The Undertaker.
The current Universal Champion recently had a detailed interview with Bleacher Report where he shared thoughts on a wide variety of topics.
During the interview, Reigns also revealed his favorite match of the Grandest Stage Of Them All and he picked up his WrestleMania 31 match with Brock Lesnar as the one:
“I’d probably not want to do it again because it was brutal; I was a much younger man back then. But that match, to me, was an instant classic unlike, really, any other sports-entertainment match.”
Reigns explained that the bout had a bit of something for everybody and while his other WrestleMania matches have all been great, there was something special about his fight with The Beast Incarnate:
“The matches we had as The Shield, and then the match I had coming back against Drew McIntyre after some time off to handle my health, that was very special, too. But there’s something very special about WrestleMania 31 in Santa Clara. And I was in the 49ers stadium, so that was kind of the cherry on top.”
Roman Reigns won the 2015 Royal Rumble to earn a shot at Brock Lesnar’s WWE championship. However, he wasn’t able to win the title at WrestleMania. Seth Rollins cashed in his Money In The Bank contract in the middle of the bout and went on to win the championship.
Chad Gable has been helping Otis in training under his Alpha Academy and former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan has also seemingly joined this storyline to train for the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV.
The former American Alpha member recently appeared on WWE’s The Bump where he talked about things like being friends with Otis since 2010 and more.
During the interview, he also talked about how he has watched Daniel Bryan wrestle since 2002 and Gable said that competing against the former world champion is a dream match for him.
“That’s a dream of mine. That’s the dream match of mine, I haven’t gotten to the point yet in WWE where I’ve had a chance at singles championships. I want stakes to be there when I finally get that chance to wrestle Daniel.
I want something to be at stake. I want a championship to be at stake.” said Chad Gable, “I want time and to make this a technical classic. If we get that chance, I, without a shadow of a doubt, it’s going to be a legendary classic that you look back on.”
The former NXT star mentioned how many people have talked about this match and he claimed it will live up to the expectations when it finally happens because he will make sure of it.
Apart from this, Chad Gable also provided some interesting update on his former partner Jason Jordan and revealed that Jordan is actually working towards an in ring return. You can check out his comments on the matter at this link.
AEW Star Anna Jay hasn’t been wrestling for very long but the young star has impressed everyone with the improvement in her in-ring performance since her debut in September 2019.
The Dark Order member recently appeared on the Talk Is Jericho podcast where she talked about things like the story behind her AEW debut and more.
During the interview, the female star discussed being a WWE fan from a young age and she revealed the Bella Twins as her favorite WWE stars growing up:
“I love The Bella Twins, always say that, of course, people are like, ‘Oh, of course you do,’ but that is what got me into it because I see them and think, if they can do it, I can do it. They were good at branding themselves, and you could see that. And I feel like it started a whole different era.”
Anna Jay also recalled attending a WWE Live event in Jacksonville during her freshman year of high school where she got to see Nikki Bella.
Apart from this, the 22-year-old star discussed how her debut match for All Elite Wrestling was only her fifth or sixth bout and how she got offered a contract after only her second match with the company.
Madusa (WWE Hall Of Famer Alundra Blayze) wants the company to give her a retirement match and she has decided to go public with her request.
WWE’s official twitter account recently made a post asking fans who is the one superstar they would like to show up at this year’s Royal Rumble PPV.
Madusa interestingly replied to this tweet from the company and the former champion asked the promotion when are they gonna give their golden era Hall Of Famer a retirement match.
The former WWE star’s tweet suggested that she has been lobbying for one final opportunity for a while and the former WCW star indicated that she is done asking for it after her latest post:
Well you know what? One can only scream on top of the mountain for so long and so loud… When are you going to give one of your golden era Hall of Famer‘s a freaking retirement match? Just putting it out there. After this I’m done. I mean really I’m not getting any younger ?? https://t.co/TQIR3bqlb0
She had a stint with WWE from 1993 to 1995 but she was blacklisted by the promotion after the former champion jumped ships to WCW following her release from the company.
Madusa finally returned to WWE in 2015 when she was announced as an inductee of the company’s Hall Of Fame class of the year and she has made some sporadic appearances for the promotion since then.
WWE’s chief brand officer Stephanie McMahon recently confirmed plans for having fans in attendance for WrestleMania 37 and now the WWE champion Drew McIntyre has reacted to the news.
The Scottish psychopath recently had an interview with WFLA where he talked about the COVID-19 pandemic and how he headlined WrestleMania 36 without any fans in attendance.
When asked about the news of fans’ return, the WWE Champion said that it’s the one thing they have been missing all year and McIntyre called the WWE Universe their number one superstar:
“It’s the one thing we’ve been missing all year. It’s our number one Superstar, our secret sauce, what makes WWE special is how passionate and loud, and knowledgeable our fanbase are.
They can change the pace of a match. They can make an average match good, a good match great, or if an interview is going on in the ring that they don’t like, they’ll crap all over it,”
Drew McIntyre continued by saying that while they do see the reaction of people on social media among other places they still miss the live interaction:
“And we miss them. We miss the live interaction. We see everything on social media. We hear the reactions live in the ThunderDome. But to have the fans there in person, that’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”
The WWE Champion Drew McIntyre is currently set to defend his title against Goldberg at next Sunday’s Royal Rumble PPV on January 31.
The upcoming third season of the Dark Side Of The Ring has been making headlines recently and a new topic for the newest season has just been revealed. VICE is also working on an episode covering the life and career of Chris Kanyon.
Kanyon made his wrestling debut back in 1992. He had stints with both WCW and WWE during the Attitude Era in the late 90s. Following his WWE release in 2004, Chris Kanyon started using the gimmick of being an openly gay wrestler and he later admitted to being gay in real life.
The former WWE United States Champion passed away in April 2010 and the cause of his death was suicide by antidepressant overdose. The former champion was 40 years old at the time of his passing.
This is not the only topic for the third season of Dark Side Of The Ring and previous reports have revealed details of some more upcoming episodes. The topics which have been revealed so far include:
All Elite Wrestling has announced the first match for AEW Revolution and it’s a biggie. Sting will make his debut alongside AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin. They will face Brian Cage and Ricky Starks in a Street Fight.
Darby Allin commented on the news that he will be Sting’s tag team partner at AEW Revolution. He posted the black and white match graphic on Instagram with the caption, “Legendary”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKUu4IUpTmw/
Sting & Darby Allin
Sting and Darby have been at Odds with Team Taz in recent weeks. On Wednesday’s Dynamite, Sting and Darby talked about “taking it to the streets” against Taz’s henchmen. You can see video of that exchange in the player embedded below.
Darby Allin will be Sting’s first tag team partner in AEW, but he recently commented on the possibility of wrestling against him. “I don’t know what his health’s like, I don’t know what he wants to do,” Allin told Sportskeeda. “If he wants to get in the ring with me, good luck, that’s what I would say, I’m ready. If he’s ready, I’m ready. I have no clue if he’s actually going to be ready. Everything’s up in the air.
Darby has also addressed comparisons to the WCW legend:
The WWE Backstage Royal Rumble Special will air premiere Saturday, January 30th at 8pm (Eastern) on FS1. It will be hosted by Renee Paquette, Paige and Booker T.
The Backstage Rumble special will replay at midnight and then at 5pm the following day.
Naturally, this will be a Royal Rumble preview show. You can bet there will special guest appearances.
Renee Paquette and Paige both posted videos on Twitter reacting to the news.
Triple H appeared on ESPN’s The Michael Kay Show this week. The Game spoke with Michael Kay, Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg about his status for competing at WrestleMania, if he plans to take over WWE one day and much more.
WWE recently announced the dates and locations for the next three WrestleMania events. Triple H said that WWE usually has these events planned years in advance. Cities submit bids to host WrestleMania like they do with the Super Bowl. They initially had different plans for the next three WrestleManias. WWE worked closely with city officials in Tampa Bay, Dallas and Los Angeles and everyone is happy with how things ended up.
WWE is hopeful that they can have fans in attendance at WrestleMania this coming April. The NFL is bringing the Super Bowl to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay just a couple months before WrestleMania 37. Triple H says they will monitor how things go with the Super Bowl and evaluate from there.
WWE Wants Fans at WrestleMania
“I think the hopes are high, there will be some people there,” said Triple H. “Anything can happen, if this year has shown us anything. Anything can happen in this timeframe. Things move relatively quickly. The Super Bowl will be there in a few weeks, we think there will be a lot of learnings from Raymond James Stadium hosting the Super Bowl, to see what capacity they’re allowed to do, to see how they handle that capacity and see what comes out of that and how safely they can do it.”
He continued, “It all comes down to the safety of our fans and our performers and our staff. So, whatever we feel we can do working with state and local officials, working with health organizations to do it safely, then we’re all for it. WWE is different from any sport. The fans are our lifeblood. Everything we do is for their reaction. The more we can have [fans], the better, but it still has to be safety first.
Triple H repeatedly said, “It’s not the same” running shows without fans in attendance. He believes WWE has done a great job helping people take their minds off what’s going on in the world. Last year’s WrestleMania was not the spectacle fans have become accustomed to. Hopefully this year’s will be a little different and we can return to a stadium.
Will He Compete at WrestleMania?
Triple H recently returned to action on WWE Raw. This prompted a question about that match being a precursor to getting in the ring at WrestleMania.
“[Laughs] I said it a few weeks earlier, ironically, not thinking it was going to happen so quickly.. but I said I’m like that little box on the wall that says ‘in case of emergency, break glass.’ To be honest, I got the call the night before, and was like, hey we’re gonna write you into the show tomorrow, and that was it.”
He continued, “Its not the same, as a performer. My hat is off to all the men and women right now that are doing this week in week out, that did it all this time during Covid and the pandemic, and did it in front of no one, did it front of a few, did it front of video walls with fans cheering and booing.. it’s not the same. It’s difficult when you gear your whole life and your whole career towards getting that reaction and working towards it, and now you have to work towards the reaction that you believe that you will get, but it’s not the same.”
Finally, Triple H was asked if he intends to take over WWE one day when Vince McMahon steps aside.
“Look, for me, all of this comes down to the success of WWE. I never started doing this from any standpoint. When I first got into this, I just wanted to do it because I thought it was the greatest form of entertainment in the world and you just want to be great at it and whatever comes along with it. As my career wound down, I realized that I was just as fascinated with the behind-the-scenes of it.”
“It’s irrelevant to me who is steering the ship, who is doing what, there is plenty of work for everybody here. For me, it’s just about ensuring that like the tagline says, ‘Then, Now and Forever,’ that this brand of entertainment that I personally consider the greatest blended form of entertainment in the world, that it continues. So to me, it’s irrelevant, any of it, just as long as it continues.”
You can listen to the full Triple H appearance on the The Michael Kay Show at ESPN.
The Undertaker was recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast. During the conversation, he made some comments about today’s roster being soft. Today, Xavier Woods put out a Tweet that many are taking as a reaction to these comments.
“It’s tough right now for me [to enjoy the product]. Cause the product has changed so much and it’s kind of soft. I’ll probably piss a lot of people off but they need to hear it. It is what it is.”
Taker also specifically mentioned guys playing video games backstage in WWE.
“You go into a dressing room nowadays and it’s a lot different. I remember walking into my first real dressing room and all I saw were some crusty f***ing men. Half of them had guns and knives in their bags. S**t got handled back then. Now you walk in, there’s guys playing video games and making sure they look pretty. It’s evolution, I guess. I don’t know what it is, but I just like those eras, man. I liked when men were men.”
Xavier Woods posted the following Tweet today:
I wouldn’t be the person that I am without the guidance and lessons of a few key people from the previous generation of wrestling. They taught me about the business, to save my money, & that having video games in the locker room is healthier than having [redacted]. Thank you guys
The matches and the storylines booked for the female wrestlers of AEW have attracted their fair share of praises as well as criticisms. However, the role of Kenny Omega in the changing scenario of AEW’s women’s division cannot be denied.
In a recent interview with Scott Fishman of TVInsider, the AEW World Champion discussed working the creative side of the business behind the scenes, including charting the course for the AEW women’s division.
“I think we are taking baby steps,” Kenny Omega said. “We have hungry performers who are passionate about getting a chance to do their best. Passion speaks to me more than the performance of a maneuver, and right now, our women are really chomping at the bit to get these TV spots.”
AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida
Kenny Omega Praises the Women of AEW
Kenny Omega did not miss out on heaping praise on the women of AEW, and he is confident that the company will soon reach the place where the female roster gets as much screen time and opportunities as their male counterpart.
“They’re all training hard. Our roster keeps getting better. [No one has] lost their passion. They are still striving for that big goal, which is for the women’s division to get more time. I’ll have the biggest smile on my face the day we get it. I know we will.”
For a long time the AEW women’s division has been subject to criticism due to poor booking and minuscule screen time. However, wrestlers like Britt Baker, Serena Deeb, Thunder Rosa, Hikaru Shida, and others have proven time and again that they are more than capable of putting on entertaining matches and storylines if given the opportunity.
Will Hobbs debuted for AEW this summer. He turned heel and aligned with Team Taz this November. He was the guest this week on the AEW Unrestricted podcast. Hobbs spoke about trying out for WWE earlier in his career as well as earning a full-time contract with AEW.
“The tryout was good. That’s a long story but I’ll give you the short story,” Hobbs said about trying out for WWE. “They said we didn’t have anything for you right now.”
Hobbs continued to say that WWE contacted him again after he had appeared on AEW television.
“Years later, (I was) getting the carrot dangled in front of me, then I pretty much told them F-you.”
“The way I was raised, I don’t have time for that s**t. I’m not ‘Boo Boo the Fool’ as my grandmother used to say,” he continued.
Aubrey Edwards then noted others in Team Taz have similar stories.
“Yeah I think Ricky (Starks) had the same thing happen. Both the Team Taz guys. It was like (they) appear on AEW, ‘hey, remember us, we would like to talk you.'”
“I’d rather you tell me ‘100% no’ than try and BS me,” Hobbs continued.
Will Hobbs On Getting A Full-Time AEW Contract
Hobbs also spoke about signing a full-time deal with AEW in September.
“I started off as a Tier 0,” Hobbs said about his first deal with AEW. “And then I believe I got that offer, I want to say right after my Darby match on the Saturday Night Dynamite.”
“Then I believe the PPV was maybe 3 weeks after that. Right after I did my whole thing with Mox, saving him, I got to the back and had another contract waiting for me. I got on the phone, I called a few people back home. When I got back to the hotel, I’m not a real emotional person, but I had to shed a few tears.”
Today on #AEWUnrestricted, @tonyschiavone24 and I are joined by @TrueWillieHobbs! We discuss growing up watching wrestling at the legendary Cow Palace, joining Team Taz, comic books, daytime soap operas, + more!
Private Party defeated Chris Sabin and James Storm this week on Impact to claim the #1 Contenders spot for the promotion’s tag-team championships.
Impact has announced that the match between current champions, The Good Brothers, and Private Party will take place on February 13th at No Surrender. The event will stream on Impact Plus.
Matt Hardy brought Private Party to Impact this week. Tony Khan would later say that he sent Hardy to the promotion as revenge for Impact stars showing up on his show. Jerry Lynn and Tony Khan were ringside for Private Party’s match on Impact this week. Lynn even got involved in the match, holding onto Sabin’s foot so he was unable to escape from the Gin and Juice.
The Good Brothers have two other big matches upcoming. On next week’s AEW Dynamite, they will team with the Young Bucks against the Dark Order. The following week at Beach Blast, Gallows and Anderson will team with Kenny Omega to take on PAC, Fenix, and Jon Moxley.
Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen seem to be warming up to Matt Hardy’s coaching, even if they aren’t happy with the financial side of their agreement. Last night on Dynamite, Kassidy used a steel chair to give his team the advantage, perhaps suggesting they have turned heel along with their mentor.
Joseph Meenan, better known to wrestling fans as Joey Ryan, has been awarded a default judgement against one of his accusers. Ryan was the subject of numerous allegations from multiple parties as part of the Speaking Out movement this summer. In the aftermath, he has launched multiple lawsuits against some of his accusers as well as Impact Wrestling.
As first reported by the SoCal Uncensored website, Ryan was awarded a default judgement after one of his accusers failed to respond in time.
Joey Ryan won one of his court cases today with a default judgement against Allie Kat. pic.twitter.com/kqQYcqZqwm
According to a report from HeelByNature, the defendant was served with legal papers on October 26th, 2020 but never responded. The report states that the documents were left at the person’s residence but not served to them directly. It is still possible for the judgment here to be set aside, however.
Ryan’s legal team also asked for a default judgment to be awarded against Impact Wrestling after the company failed to respond in time. Impact did eventually respond to Ryan’s lawsuit and the case is still ongoing.
Recently, Joey Ryan posted to Twitter that he is not a criminal and has not committed any crimes.
“I have not committed any crimes. I have never been investigated for a crime. There has never been any evidence connecting me to a crime. I have never even been a person of interest in a crime. It is bizarre that some would expect me to live my life like a criminal,” Ryan posted.
MLW Fusion on 1/20 featured a World Championship match between Jacob Fatu and ACH. Two other members of Contra Unit were also in action last night as Simon Gotch took on Jordan Oliver and Daivari faced Zenshi.
The full show can be viewed in the player below:
MLW Fusion 1/20 Quick Results:
Daivari (Contra Unit) defeated Zenshi
Simon Gotch (Contra Unit) defeated Jordan Oliver (Injustice)
MLW World Championship Jacob Fatu (Contra Unit) (c) defeated ACH
While Josef Samael isn’t able to physically be in the venue for recent MLW events, he’s added new troops since the restart. In addition to “The Black Hand of Contra” Mads Krugger, the faction has added Daivari to its ranks as well.
The finish of this match came when Zenshi missed a 450 splash and Daivari hit a hammerlock short-arm clothesline for the win.
Savio Vega is finally going to get his hands on Richard Holliday. He might even get his Caribbean Championship belt back. Holliday has been proclaiming himself as the title-holder for months, despite not officially defeating Vega for it. This week, Savio Vega sent in a promo and promised to use the very same strap that he and Steve Austin beat each other with on Holliday. Later in the show, Holliday said he would accept the terms in the contract he was sent for the match.
This long-running feud will reach a boiling point next week when Richard Holliday faces Savio Vega in a Caribbean Strap Match.
We were supposed to get this match at Kings of the Colosseum but Gotch went MIA for the event, only returning to aid in a Contra Unit assault on Injustice. While Jordan Oliver provided significant competition for Gotch, it would be the Contra member’s submission skills that would earn him the victory here. The finish of the match came when Oliver springboarded off the ropes but was caught in a sleeper by Gotch. The ref called for the bell but Gotch wasn’t done. He held onto the submission after the bell and then gave Oliver a Gotch-driver.
ACH went into his title match against Jacob Fatu with taped up ribs. This was due to an attack that took place outside his gym. It’s not clear who attacked ACH, but he would say he thought he heard the voice of Dominic Garrini from Team Filthy. Is Tom Lawlor upset that ACH is getting a title shot before him? Lawlor denied these allegations when confronted with them by Alicia Atout earlier.
ACH took a beating in the early parts of the match. He mounted a comeback despite his injuries, however. He hit a springboard cutter, a hurricanrana, and an enziguri but Fatu countered with a hard kick and followed that up with a pop-up Samoan Drop and then his springboard moonsault finish for the win.
It seemed as though nothing could go wrong for Contra Unit on this night. They’d won all 3 matches on the card including Jacob Fatu defending the World Championship. As Daivari and Fatu were cutting a promo on the stage at the end of the night, they were suddenly attacked by two flag-bearing members of the Sentai Death Squad. As the two members unmasked, they were revealed to be Jordan Oliver and Myron Reed of Injustice. Contra Unit may have won all 3 matches this night, but it would be Injustice who would close the show getting the last laugh.
Tom Lawlor and Team Filthy denied allegations that they attacked ACH before his match with Jacob Fatu. His faction found a creative way to pronounce “ACH” but said they aren’t worried about him and are focussing on the coming debut of “Filthy Island.”
Salina de la Renta blew off Alicia Atout’s questions about the change of ownership regarding Promociones Dorado. Salina says the only thing anyone should be worried about is what Mil Muertes is going to do next.
Mads Krugger cut a promo directed at Alexander Hammerstone. The two wrestlers fought to a draw at Kings of the Colosseum but now they will square off in 2 weeks in a Baklei Brawl.
The AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament is coming soon to All Elite Wrestling. The announcement was made on Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite. A 16-woman single-elimination competition will determine the #1 contender to Hikaru Shida’s AEW Women’s World Championship.
Notably, the tournament brackets feature an American flag on one side and a Japanese flag on the other. This implies half of the tournament will take place in the United States and the other half will be held in Japan. This could be due to some notable names in AEW’s women’s division being impacted by travel restrictions due to the global pandemic.
COMING SOON!#AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament! Who will be the number one contender? pic.twitter.com/oM4I3OGrRn
AEW advertises the tournament as “Coming Soon” with no start date announced as of this writing.
In terms of what wrestlers could be competing in the Japanese side of the bracket, there are a few options. Former AEW Women’s Champion, Riho, could likely take part, as is Yuka Sakazaki.
Emi Sakura seems likely to be in the tournament. She sent out the below Tweet in response:
WWE Superstar and Intercontinental Champion Big E recently appeared on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. The New Day member discussed a number of topics during the show, including how the wrestling world has been affected by the passing of Jon Huber/Brodie Lee/Luke Harper.
Brodie Lee of course passed away late last year. AEW and WWE have been paying tribute to Lee over the past few weeks, with his son Brodie Lee Jr being well looked after by All Elite, especially during this extremely difficult time in his family’s life.
Big E Talks Outpouring of Love for Brodie Lee
“It’s a very, very strange time for me” Big E began on Busted Open. “For all of us actually. I think the hardest thing is…I’ve really been touched by the outpouring of love for Brodie, for John Huber. He was a very, very good, dear friend of mine. I’m still kind of, you know, dealing with him not being here and his passing.”
“He was a regular part of my life” Big E continued. “He lived like 15 to 20 minutes from me, and I got to see him all the time. And you know he’s, he’s someone…I’ve never, it’s my first time losing someone who meant so much to me, and was really close to. So, the one thing that’s been really rewarding is man, you know, a lot of times I think we talked about wrestling being a family, that can be cliche, but there is a real brotherhood.”
Big E then finished by saying how the ‘brotherhood’ of wrestling came together to mourn the loss of their dear friend. “I feel a real Brotherhood. In that I have so many guys that I’ve worked with, who hit me up, who cried with me, who reached out to me, and that’s beautiful. It really made me think ‘man, we have something special in our industry.'”
Our thoughts go out to Jon Huber’s family and all that have been affected by his passing
While Nikki Cross is a former two times women’s tag team champion, the female star hasn’t been featured much on WWE programming since her partnership with Alexa Bliss ended.
The former NXT star recently vented about her current position in WWE and she cut a promo about her struggles in a video posted on her Twitter account.
Cross told the interviewer who tried to talk to her that he will not get the fake smile from her because she is angry and annoyed at not having any momentum heading into the Royal Rumble PPV:
“I’m angry and I’m annoyed and I don’t want to talk about new year’s resolutions or feign happiness. The Royal Rumble is right around the corner and I have zero momentum going into it! I have no momentum to even want to!”
Nikki Cross then explained that the only thing that is stopping her from getting angry is focusing on the ring before saying that one day people will realise her potential and the reason behind the success she has achieved so far:
“I swore that I wasn’t going to be like my mom and dad; struggling and working so hard and working 60-hour shifts, night shifts, just tryin’ to keep our bellies full. I swore that wouldn’t to be me. It’s not going to be me. It’s not. Because there is a reason why I was the first-ever Scottish woman to be signed by WWE!
It may not be now, it may not even be in the near future, but one day, you’re all going to realize what exactly it is about me that got me to this point. So let me finish with this. I’m gonna be around in this industry for a very long time and I’m gonna go down as one of the best. And I am so done and I am so finished with not realizing that myself!”
Nikki Cross made her main roster debut back in 2018 and she started teaming with Alexa Bliss in May 2019. Though this team disbanded last year and the female star was drafted to Raw from SmackDown.
AEW star Kenny Omega surprised everyone when he associated himself with Impact Wrestling’s Don Callis few weeks back and since then, this relationship has extended into a full blown partnership between the two promotions.
During a recent interview with TVInsider, the current AEW Champion talked about things like their struggles with the COVID-19 pandemic and more.
When asked how it has been working with Impact Wrestling, Omega claimed that it’s exciting that they have blown the doors opens for many new potential opponents:
“I went to Impact, AAA and back to AEW, so I have been able to see three different rosters—all incredibly talented, regardless of what fans say is the best. As a performer, I’d love to work with each and every one of them.
It’s exciting that we’ve blown the doors wide open and there are all these potential opponents.” said Kenny Omega, “I just hope as we present these new matches, the fans enjoy watching them as [much as] we enjoy performing them.”
The former IWGP World Champion also talked about his partnership with Callis and said that for a long time he thought Don was one of the most psychologically gifted professional wrestlers.
According to Omega, for him joining forces with the Impact official meant that they weren’t going to take failure as an answer.
You can check out his full interview at TV Insider.
