Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows signed new WWE deals in July of 2019. 9 months later, they were released from the promotion.
According to an update from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Anderson & Gallows are looking to return to NJPW and also looking for a North American promotion to work for. They could be headed to Impact Wrestling but nothing is for sure at this point.
“Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson are looking for what was described as two deals, one of which would be New Japan, which would be the main deal, and the other would be a U.S. deal, and Impact is in play for being the second deal,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
The tag-team’s 90-day no-compete clause with WWE expires in time for them to appear on the Impact Slammiversary PPV. The event is scheduled for July 18th, 2020.
Impact has been heavily-teasing that several recently released WWE stars could appear on the show.
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows
Anderson & Gallows began teaming together shortly after the Bullet Club angle began in 2013. Gallows debuted for NJPW as Anderson’s tag partner in November of 2013, with the faction having been formed that May. They won the World Tag League tournament that year. They would then go on to win the IWGP Heavyweight tag-team titles 3x before leaving the promotion in 2016.
Anderson & Gallows then appeared in WWE shortly after WrestleMania 32. They would win the RAW tag team championships twice and won the WWE Tag Team World Cup in Saudi Arabia in 2019 as well.
The battle between WWE and AEW Vice President Cody Rhodes over the last name of the latter has made a number of headlines since Cody left the company and it appears that he is not the only star in battle with WWE due to a similar issue.
It was noted on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that former DX member Billy Gunn is not allowed to use his last name in AEW due to WWE.
While the exact details of the issues between the star and the company were not disclosed, it was noted that the veteran is not allowed to use his last name due to WWE lawyers getting involved.
This would explain why AEW has refrained from referring to the former WWE star using his full ring name. The star’s official ring name in the company is just Billy.
Though AEW officials have still managed to work around these restrictions and they usually refer to the wrestling star as “Billy of The Gunn Club”. They also bill him as “Billy and Austin Gunn” when he is teaming with his son.
Billy Gunn was hired as a producer and coach by AEW back in January 2019. He has made numerous on-screen appearances for the company since then and the wrestling veteran has also competed in several matches for the promotion.
Recent reports have suggested that Sonya Deville is pushing for acting roles in near future and one possible opportunity for her is the role of Batwoman in the CW series.
The former NXT star recently had an interview with ComicBookMovie.com where she talked about a number of things including a possible acting career and more.
Deville is WWE’s first openly gay female superstar. With Batwoman being a famous gay superhero, the female star was asked what it would mean for her to play the role:
“It was so cool to me to not only see a strong female being portrayed on a network like The CW, but that Batwoman is gay. That was so, so cool to me. I remember seeing when Ruby Rose got the part and being like, ‘Oh my God, that’s so badass.’
The fact they want to keep it in the LGBTQ+ community I think is something that’s really, really cool.” said Sonya Deville “I would love to be able to be the one to continue that inspiring message.”
When asked if she has had any contact with the makers of the show or if she had been given any chance to audition for the role, Sonya said that it’s a work “in progress. I’m working on it. [Laughs] I’ll say that.”
Ruby Rose, surprisingly announced her departure from Batwoman after the first season of the show recently. The producers have since confirmed that Rose’s Kate Kane will be replaced by a different character in season 2 of the series.
CM Punk had taken some serious shots at AJ Styles while replying to a fan tweet recently and now the Phenomenal One has responded to his comments with the same sharpness.
The former TNA star recently had an interview with Times Of India where he talked about a number of things including his upcoming match with Daniel Bryan and more.
When asked about Punk’s comments, Styles made some interesting remarks saying that he would not react to criticisms from a guy who he doesn’t respect:
“I will not react at all coming from a guy like that I don’t respect anyway, it doesn’t really matter. Look, my job as a performer is to perform and get the mind off all the things that have happened throughout the world. I am not going to react to people saying ridiculous and stupid things.”
CM Punk ‘Shoots’ on AJ Styles
The comments in question came in response to a tweet where a fan had questioned AJ Styles for being quiet on the current events in the United States.
The fan had called out the SmackDown star for promoting his streams and claimed that his “silence speaks volumes” before noting that he is unfollowing the former champion.
CM Punk interestingly responded to these remarks from the fan and in a tweet which has since been deleted he wrote “Well. Come on. That one has been obvious for years.”
Now it would be interesting to see where this rivalry between the two former WWE Champions is headed next and how CM Punk comes back at AJ Styles.
WWE made some major changes to its creative team earlier yesterday when the company decided to merge the creative teams for its premier shows Raw and SmackDown.
This change was a result of the declining ratings of the Red Branded Show which has seen over 20% decline in year over year audience in the past couple of months.
PWInsider provided some more update on the changes recently and the site notes that the boss Vince McMahon has been “very upset” and openly “frustrated” with Raw of late.
The TV audience has been on a decline across the board for all wrestling shows since the coronavirus pandemic forced companies to halt their regular production and produce shows without a real audience.
However, the Red Brand of WWE has been hit hardest among the shows and 5 out of the last 6 Raw episodes have been the least-watched episodes in the show’s history.
In their response, the officials have decided to relive Paul Heyman of his duties as the Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, a position he took over in June last year.
The company has also decided to merge the creative teams of Raw and SmackDown which will be led by Bruce Prichard to ‘streamline’ their writing process.
Another major shakeup has taken place with WWE’s writing staff.
WWE has consolidated the writing teams for Raw and SmackDown. Bruce Prichard will lead the new creative team. He previously served as the Executive Director of the SmackDown brand.
Paul Heyman, who served as Executive Director of Raw, will not be part of the new writing team. According to the following statement sent in to SEScoops.com, Heyman will focus on his role as on-air talent.
“In an effort to streamline our creative writing process for television, we have consolidated both teams from Raw and SmackDown into one group, led by Bruce Prichard. Paul Heyman will concentrate on his role as an in-ring performer.”
Heyman worked as the head of Raw’s creative effort since June 2019. At the time, Eric Bischoff was named as the leader of SmackDown’s writing team. Bruce Prichard took over for Heyman in just a few months later in October 2019.
Viewership data is in for this week’s battle in the WWE NXT vs. AEW Dynamite Wednesday Night War.
AEW won the night in total viewers and in the key 18-49 demo, but both shows were down. Here is the breakdown of the live and same-night DVR viewership, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:
WWE NXT Viewership
NXT on the USA Network averaged 673,000 viewers, down from last week’s 715,000 In the 18-49 demo, they drew a 0.16 rating, down from 0.20 last week.
The episode featured Finn Balor vs. Cameron Grimes, WWE NXT Champion Adam Cole vs. Dexter Loomis in a non-title match, and Keith Lee & Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae & and Johnny Gargano.
AEW Dynamite on TNT was watched by 677,000 viewers, down from the 730,000 viewers last week. In the 18-49 demo, Dynamite pulled in a 0.23 rating, down from the 0.29 rating that the show did last week.
AEW Dynamite featured bouts such as Colt Cabana vs. Sammy Guevara, The Butcher and The Blade vs. FTR, Inner Circle (Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager) vs. Best Friends and Orange Cassidy, Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander vs. Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford, and TNT Champion Cody Rhodes vs. Marq Quen.
Kris Statlander is currently ranked #2 in the AEW Women’s division rankings. She was this week’s guest on the AEW Unrestricted Podcast with Tony Schiavone and Aubrey Edwards. Amongst other topics, Statlander talked about how she became the “Galaxy’s Greatest Alien.”
“When I first started wrestling, I went by the name Liza Viero,” she said on the show.
“I was getting work and I was able to do stuff, it just wasn’t really like a character that was good.”
She continued to talk about how the alien gimmick is a bit of a play on how others have perceived her throughout her life.
“I’m a little bit weirder than people realize,” she continued. “I know I’m a little bit weirder and I never really fit in with any specific group of people. When I was in school, high school and everything, it was kind of like no one really wants to get to know you until they do start to get to know you and then they realize you’re so interesting and you have so much more to offer than what you just lead people to believe.”
“In a way, it’s almost like you feel alienated from everybody and I know that’s a weird play on words.”
“No one wants to believe aliens are real until somebody can prove something about it. No one cares to look into it more until there are facts to be known or things to research.”
“I kind of feel like in a weird way it’s a weird play on how I’ve always been perceived in life. No one really cared to get to know me until I had something interesting to say or I had something to offer that interests them and that’s kind of like what aliens are in a way. So, I was just kind of like ‘why not just play up how odd I am?”
Ric Flair recently took part in an interview where he discussed his longtime friendship with the Undertaker. The two first met in 1989, when Taker was part of a tag-team along with Dan Spivey called the Skyscrapers. Evidently, Taker, Flair, and Horace Grant’s brother went out one night and the Jack Daniels was flowing. According to Flair, he lost a Rolex that night.
“Me and Taker and Harvey Grant were out one night and I lost a Rolex, which is a whole different part of the story,” Flair said to Metro UK. “Trying to hang with him and that Jack Daniels man, it’s tough. We’ve had so much fun!”
Flair also spoke about coming back to WWE in 2001 and working against Taker at WrestleMania the following year.
“When I agreed to come back to work it was never to wrestle,” Flair said regarding his return to WWE in 2001. Flair would end up facing the Undertaker at WrestleMania 18 in Toronto that year.
“I was so nervous wrestling Taker – when anybody in the world would be so excited to walk down that ramp and I was horrified.”
Flair was 53-years-old when that match took place. He noted that he told Taker he was hurting at the time.
“Once we got going – and he knew, I told him, it’s hard to tell somebody I’m struggling. Well, Ric Flair’s got a problem, guys. I’ve always been so comfortable with him, I had no problem telling him. And he got it.”
Recently released from WWE, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows appeared on Tama Tonga’s podcast recently and discussed a variety of topics. During the discussion, Gallows stated that there would be no AEW without Bullet Club.
”The f**king Bullet Club revolutionized professional wrestling and if somebody hears this and they’re mad about it, sorry,” Gallows said. “If there’s no Bullet Club there’s no AEW. If there’s no Bullet Club there’s no growth in professional wrestling. If there’s no Bullet Club there really is no reason to have an NXT because why do you turn developmental into indie heaven and hire everybody in the business? There’s no reason to do it.”
The Young Bucks joined Bullet Club in 2013 as the faction’s junior heavyweight tag-team. Kenny Omega would join the following year, originally as the group’s junior heavyweight single’s competitor. Cody, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll were all involved with the faction during their time in NJPW.
Tama Tonga, Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale and Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) are the group’s founding members dating back to May 2013. Doc Gallows would join that November, shortly after the Young Bucks did.
“Professional wrestling advanced because of what the Bullet Club was in Japan,” Gallows continued. He would continue to credit Bullet Club with wrestling resurgence over the last few years.
Gallows would continue to say the success of Bullet Club was also why they were recruited by WWE.
“That’s why they bought us, they f**king wined and dined us, then they fired us.”
Randy Orton has been a top of the class performer for WWE for almost two decades and he does not plan on stepping away from the ring anytime soon.
The Viper recently took part in a media call to promote the Backlash PPV during which he talked about his twitter feud with Tommaso Ciampa among other things.
Discussing the highly physical wrestling style of NXT stars, Orton said that it worries him because they wear and tear your career. Randy then went on to explain that he plans to continue wrestling for at least another decade:
“I’ve been doing this 20 years and I’ll do it another decade. I just turned 40 and my plan is to just keep going until my 50th birthday and I think I would be able to do that and I would be able to support my family for 30 years of wrestling under Vince McMahon because of the way I tell stories in the ring.”
The former World Champion went on to explain that the NXT stars should try to work smarter and improve on their ability to tell a story in the ring because wrestling is a business and they need to make money doing it to pay their bills.
Randy Orton is currently scheduled to face Edge in the ‘Greatest Wrestling Match Ever’ at the Backlash PPV from Performance Center this Sunday night.
Drake Maverick was among the names which were released by WWE in April as part of the coronavirus budget cuts. However, the high flying star was able to turn his luck around and he was recently signed to a new contract by Triple H.
The Game recently took part in a media conference call where he talked about a number of things and also explained why they decided to re-hire the former 205 Live GM.
Triple H mentioned how Maverick managed to capture people’s hearts. He said that they had the option to ignore it or turn it into something and they chose the latter:
“When the release happened, he wasn’t involved in anything but it just happened the way it did, during the process of this tournament, he captured people’s hearts and their imagination and he earned that spot.
It was already out there so you either ignore it or you turn it into something.” said Triple H “We turned it into something based on him and his performances.”
Drake Maverick had been announced for the cruiserweight title tournament before his release. WWE decided to work this into a storyline and built a story where the high flying star was fighting to get his job back.
The former TNA star managed to win people’s hearts through his storytelling abilities in the tournament. Even though he couldn’t win the title, the buzz he created forced the WWE management to change their decision and Triple H re-hired the NXT star.
There have been a lot of speculation about a potential match between Randy Orton and Tommaso Ciampa after the two got into a heated twitter exchange recently.
The Viper took part in a conference call to promote the upcoming Backlash PPV and during the interview; he also talked about a potential match with the former NXT Champion.
Orton said that he would be open to wrestling Ciampa if that’s what Mr McMahon wants him to do before claiming that there are a few things he can help the NXT star with:
“Yeah, as I was saying earlier, whatever Vince gives me to do, whatever my job is in that particular situation, I’m gonna do it.
If it’s working with a Tommaso Ciampa, then I’d be all for it, because I think he’s very talented and I think that theres a few things that I can help him with.”
Randy then mentioned how the former DIY member has been plagued with injuries in his career. The legend killer said that he would like to help Tommaso get a little bit out of his character and slow things down:
“What I worry about Ciampa in particular, is that with all these big injuries he’s had, and we’ve all had injuries, we’ve all worked hurt, we’ve all woke up stiff after a big fight,
But he needs to learn how to tell stories and slow it down and not think that the fans want to see him kill himself.”
Randy Orton will be facing Edge at Sunday’s Backlash PPV from the Performance Center and WWE has been dubbing this match as the “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels was reportedly involved in a heated backstage argument before the NXT Takeover: In Your House event this past Sunday night.
According to FightFul, the Heartbreak Kid who is an important behind the scene figure of the Black And Yellow brand got into a heated debate with another WWE producer before the show went on air.
Though the debate did not have anything to do with the show and it was about the current events in the United States and the issues of racism in the country.
The other un-named producer reportedly claimed that everyone already gets treated the same in United States and these comments did not sit well with Shawn.
The DX member got upset over the remarks and he responded with an explanation on inequality and systemic racism in the country. Though he was professional in the debate.
It appears that things did not reach a breaking point as, despite his anger, Shawn Michaels and the other WWE official worked the Takeover event after the argument.
The WWE veteran has been working with the stars from the NXT brand for a while now and the current NXT Champion Adam Cole is among the names the former World Champion has worked closely with.
This week’s episode of NXT saw a big reveal in the masked man kidnapping storyline. Former Lucha Underground star El Hijo del Fantasma unmasked and revealed himself to be the leader of the mysterious group.
The episode saw the new Cruiserweight Champion come to the ring for an interview about his win over Drake Maverick last week in the finals of the title tournament.
Maverick was the next to come out and demanded a rematch against the masked star. The two mystery man who have been involved in the kidnapping storyline in NXT then came out as well.
It looked as if Drake and Fantasma will team up to take on this challenge as both stood in the ring together, that was until the current champion turned on the former 205 Live general manager and three men took down the high flying star.
El Hijo del Fantasma then went on to remove his mask and announced that he will now be known as Santos Escobar. The two masked men who stood with him were revealed as Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde of NXT.
"I am Santos Escobar. I am the #WWNXT#Cruiserweight Champion, and NO ONE can touch me."
The segment then ended with Escobar hitting a Phantom Driver on Maverick before his peers hit top rope splashes on the former TNA star at the same time.
There is no word yet on what the company is planning for Fantasma after this big reveal and it would be interesting to see if their group adds more members in the near future.
You can check out the complete NXT results at this link.
AEW Dynamite aired live from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville. Cody put the TNT Championship on the line against Marq Quen. FTR made their AEW in-ring debut against the The Butcher and The Blade tonight. Chris Jericho joined commentary for the show as well.
Dynamite Results (6/10)
FTR def. Butcher & Blade
Penelope Ford & Nyla Rose def. Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander
Match Recap: Dax Harwood and Blade started the match off by locking up in the middle of the ring. Dax applied a Headlock but Blade drove him to the ropes to break it up. Dax and Blade traded punches and Harwood got the better of the exchange and connected with a shoulder tackle.
Harwood rolled up Blade for a near fall and went back to the Headlock. Cash Wheeler tagged in and sent Blade to the corner. Harwood tagged back in and stomped away on Blade’s arm. Dax hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a two count.
Cash and Butcher tagged in and traded shots in the middle of the ring. Wheeler hit a Dropkick but Butcher didn’t fall down. Cash sold a shoulder injury for a distraction and went for a roll-up but Butcher kicked out at two. Butcher choked Wheeler up against the ropes for a few seconds before Blade tagged back in.
Blade brought Wheeler down to the canvas and applied a Headlock. Wheeler broke free with a Jawbreaker and planted Blade with a Powerslam. Dax Harwood tagged in and unloaded on Blade with some jabs to the face. Harwood hit Blade with a Neckbreaker and then delivered a Dragonscrew to Butcher.
Harwood connected with a Brainbuster and then perched Blade up on the top turnbuckle. Butcher hopped on the apron and shoved Dax to the canvas. FTR planted Butcher with a DDT and Dax hopped back up on the turnbuckle. Dax hit a Superplex and Wheeler followed it up with a Splash off the top rope for a near fall.
Dax tagged in and Blade greeted him with a knee to the face. Butcher tagged in and slammed Harwood to the mat for a near fall. FTR hit Goodnight Express (formerly Shatter Machine in WWE) on Butcher. FTR then hit the Mindbreaker (assisted spike Piledriver) on Blade for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Tony Shiavone interviewed FTR in the ring. Harwood stated that this is the pinnacle of tag team wrestling. Young Bucks interrupted and joined FTR in the ring. Young Bucks said that FTR helped them out of a jam a couple weeks ago but they failed to properly introduce themselves. Matt said that the Young Bucks have been carrying tag team wrestling on their backs for 15 years. Butcher and Blade attacked Young Bucks from behind and a massive brawl broke out. Kip Sabian, Jimmy Havoc, Kenny Omega, and Hangman Paige joined the party and knocked the heels out of the ring.
Opinion: FTR versus Butcher & Blade was a solid old school tag team wrestling match and I loved it. The brawl at the end just showed off some of the great teams on the roster and some potential matchups going forward.
Nyla Rose & Penelope Ford squared off against AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander tonight on Dynamite.
Match Recap: Rose and Penelope attacked Shida and Statlander before the bell rang and beat them down. Statlander battled back and launched Nyla onto Penelope. Kris connected with a Dropkick for a two count.
Statlander and Shida isolated Nyla in the corner and beat her down. Statlander went for a Splash off the top rope but Rose got out of the way. Nyla followed it up with a massive Clothesline for a near fall.
When Dynamite returned from a break, Statlander hit Rose with a Pele Kick that knocked the former champ to the canvas. Hikaru and Penelope tagged in and Shida hit a knee to the midsection. Shida hit another knee to the face and climbed to the top rope. Shida hit a Dropkick and followed it up with a Suplex.
Statlander tagged in and hit a Backbreaker on Ford. Kris connected with a Standing Moonsault for a near fall. Penelope planted Kris with a DDT and went for the cover but Statlander kicked out of two. Rose tagged back in and walked into a boot to the face from Statlander.
Penelope hit Statlander with a Stunner but got dropped with a knee to the face from Shida. Hikaru hit Nyla with a Superplex as Statlander connected with an Axe Kick on Ford for a two count. Shida tagged in and Nyla hung her up on the ropes. Nyla hung up Statlander on the ropes as well and hit a ridiculous Knee Drop on both women.
Shida hit a running knee to Nyla’s face that sent Rose out of the ring. Hikaru planted Ford with a Falcon Arrow but Penelope kicked out. Statlander took out Kip Sabian with a Suicide Dive as Nyla threw the women’s title in the ring. Penelope hit Shida in the face with the belt and followed it up with a Fisherman’s Suplex for the pinfall victory.
Match Recap: Inner Circle dominated early and beat Best Friends down. Hager launched Orange Cassidy onto the entrance ramp. Santana hit Trent with a series of chops in the corner of the ring. Chuck tagged in and planted Ortiz with a German Suplex. Trent hit Hager with a Suicide Dive outside the ring as Chuck flipped onto Santana & Ortiz.
Trent hit Ortiz with a Spear outside the ring. Back in the ring, Hager hit Chuck with a Vader Bomb for a near fall. When Dynamite returned from a break, Trent planted Ortiz with a DDT and tagged Orange Cassidy in. Hager tagged in and had a stare down in the middle of the ring.
Cassidy hit Santana and Ortiz with a double Hurricanrana and then hit Hager with a Suicide Dive. Orange planted Santana with a DDT and then made his way to the top rope. Cassidy leaped onto Hager but Jake caught him with a slam for a near fall. Hager Clotheslined Trent out of the ring. Chuck Taylor shoved Santana off the top rope and onto Hager. Orange Cassidy rolled up Ortiz for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Chris Jericho rushed the ring with Floyd the baseball bat and beat the hell out of Best Friends & Orange Cassidy. Jericho brought a giant bag of oranges into the ring as Orange Cassidy was bleeding from the head. Jericho then smashed Orange Cassidy with the bag of oranges. Chris grabbed the microphone and said “blood Orange Cassidy has just been juiced”.
Opinion: I’m not sure anyone else in professional wrestling could pull off beating someone down with a bag of oranges besides Chris Jericho. This segment was wildly entertaining and I cannot wait for the match between Jericho and Orange Cassidy.
Sammy Guevara defeated Colt Cabana tonight. After the match, Dark Order came to the entrance ramp. Brodie helped Colt up and Cabana followed them to the back. Cabana was later shown entering the Dark Order’s locker room.
Sammy grabbed the microphone and claimed that he was the best wrestler AEW. Matt Hardy interrupted and told Guevara has to get away from Chris Jericho to realize his maximum potential.
Hardy turned broken and entered the ring with Sammy. Matt shouted “delete!” over and over as Sammy retreated.
Taz told Cage that they sent the message and enough was enough. Brian Cage dropped Moxley for a moment but picked him up again. Brian launched Moxley onto the car again and walked away. Moxley will defend his AEW Championship against Brian Cage at Fyter Fest.
Match Recap: Quen controlled the action early and leveled Cody with a Dropkick. Cody battled back and locked in a Dragon Sleeper as Dynamite went to a break. When Dynamite returned, Cody was still in control and was focusing his attack on Quen’s injured knee.
Quen battled back and booted Cody in the face. Cody went back to work on Quen’s knee and then perched him on the top turnbuckle. Cody connected with a Suplex and Marq landed on his knee. Marq battled back and hit a Shooting Star Press for a near fall.
Marq connected with a DDT for a two count. Quen knocked Cody out of the ring and flipped onto him. Quen fought through the pain and flipped onto Cody once again outside the ring.
Back in the ring, Marq went for the cover but Cody kicked out at two. Quen made his way to the top rope as Cody rolled onto the entrance ramp. Marq connected with a beautiful 450 Splash on the entrance ramp.
Quen rolled Cody into the ring and went to the top rope again. Marq went for a Shooting Star Press but Cody got out of the way and applied and Ankle Lock for the submission victory.
After the match, Jake Hager came down to the ring and shoved Arn Anderson to the corner. Hager launched Cody across the ring and then slammed him to the canvas. Private Party and Matt Hardy came down to the ring with a steel chair. They hit Hager with the chair and Hardy Clotheslined him to the outside. Inner Circle then brawled with Private Party, Cody, and Matt Hardy before referees broke it up. Cody then told Hager that if he wants a TNT Championship match at Fyter Fest he’s got it.
Opinion: Cody and Marq Quen put on a very good match to close another very solid episode of Dynamite. The ending brawl felt a bit rushed but it still set up an interesting match between Cody and Hager at Fyter Fest.
The June 10, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University. The show was headlined by Adam Cole vs. Dexter Lumis.
WWE NXT Results (6/10)
Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae def. Keith Lee & Mia Yim.
Dakota Kai (w/Raquel Gonzalez) def. Kacy Catanzaro
Adam Cole (w/Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong) def. Dexter Lumis
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Adam Cole Addresses His Previous Dream
In a different way to start the show, Adam Cole walked out to the ring with Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong for a promo. Cole talked about how The Velveteen Dream isn’t anywhere near him because there’s only one Adam Cole. He stated that now he’s done with Dream, he’s looking forward.
Cole said that it doesn’t matter what’s next for him because he’s run through all that NXT has to offer and nobody has held the title more than anyone and no one can beat him.
Cole said that he doesn’t know what Dexter Lumis’s problem is. Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish brought up their past problems. They think Loomis is scared of them. We then see Loomis in the crowd but when Fish turns around, he disappears.
Cole later hyped his match with Loomis and stated that he would send Lumis back to the drawing board where he belongs.
Of course, Lumis interfered in the Backlot Brawl between Cole and The Velveteen Dream from this past Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House special to take away Fish and Strong in his car.
Now, Cole is done with his program with Dream due to the stipulation that went along with this contest. As noted, Dream can’t challenge for the NXT Title if Cole is the champion.
Keith Lee & Mia Yim vs. Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae
Photo Credit: WWE.com
The first match of the night was a tag team match that saw Keith Lee and Mia Yim vs. Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae.
It was a fun match with some entertaining spots. The finish was interesting as Yim was knocked to the floor while LeRae was laying in the ring and Gargano hit a springboard DDT to Lee, who landed on LeRae. Gargano rolled up Lee, who was holding LeRae, for the win.
Of course, Lee successfully retained the NXT North American Title over Gargano this past Sunday at NXT TakeOver: In Your House.
Yim and LeRae worked a singles match last week on NXT and then a six-woman tag team match at TakeOver as well.
WWE went back to the feud between Finn Balor and Cameron Grimes. The company had hyped how Balor was looking for retribution against Grimes as their first match last month took place and saw Grimes score a win over the former NXT Champion.
However, earlier in the night, Damien Priest hit Grimes in the face. Thus, WWE claimed that Grimes wouldn’t compete due to this. However, WWE later did a segment where William Regal dismissed Grimes’ broken jaw claim.
Balor went over in the contest. After the match, he issued a challenge to Keith Lee for the NXT North American Title.
At the time, it was an interesting booking decision on the part of management due to Balor, a bigger star than Grimes, in addition to Balor being in a feud with Damien Priest.
Fresh off his latest title defense, Cole took on Lumis in a non-title match on this show. It was the biggest match promoted in advance.
The contest saw Cole go over and rightfully so. After the match, Cole went to attack Lumis further, but Lumis popped up and was jumped by Fish and Strong. This led to Dream running out to make the save and run them off.
Cole was left in the ring with the lights being deemed. We see Scarlett walk out to the ring and place an hourglass in the ring then there was a Karrion Kross logo placed on the screen. Scarlett stared at Cole, who was looking at her while clutching at the NXT Title.
It seemed too early for Lumis to be challenging for the NXT Title. However, WWE is clearly behind Kross and the rocket has been boosted to that man. A very good cliffhanger of an ending.
El Hijo del Fantasma came out to the ring for a promo about winning the Cruiserweight Title last week. Drake Maverick came out to the ring and said that last week shouldn’t have been about him. Instead, it should’ve been Fantasma.
Maverick said that he had a lot on his mind last week but now that he’s under contract again, he knows he can win the title and beat Fantasma. He challenged him to a title match, which Fantasma accepted.
Two masked men came out to the ring and surrounded them. Fantasma attacked Maverick before the two men jumped in.
Fantasma confirmed his alliance with the masked men who reveal themselves to be Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde. Fantasma unmasked himself and said that he’s Santos Escobar and no one can touch him. Wilde and Mendoza then hit a double splash off the top rope.
Chris Jericho has opened up on his belief about the possibility of having legendary boxer Mike Tyson wrestle for the first time.
While Tyson has made appearances in WWE and AEW, most notably being the special guest enforcer for the Shawn Michaels-Steve Austin WWE Title Match at WrestleMania 14, he has never wrestled.
Jericho recently did an interview with WrestleZone.com where he talked about Tyson possibly having a match in AEW.
Jericho started out by talking about how Tyson has been an enforcer, thrown a punch, knocked somebody out, and a brawl.
“The one thing he has never done is have a match, and I think this is the perfect time for him. The aura and the mystique of Mike Tyson is back. He looks great, you’ve seen his sparring videos, he moves fast, he’s ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson again.”
Jericho noted that one of the worst things you could do is put him in an actual boxing match. He stated that Tyson could do an exhibition, but they want to keep Tyson’s aura at a maximum which is why AEW is perfect for him.
Jericho stated that they can do whatever storyline they want in order to plug him into any situation that they want to make. He stated that he thinks there’s no better person for Tyson to wrestle than him because he never lost his aura or mystique.
“You can see that I’m doing some of the best work in my career after doing this for 30 years. So it’s a perfect match-up.”
Shayna Baszler continues to go on the attack towards Becky Lynch over becoming a mother.
The former NXT Women’s Champion knocked the former RAW Women’s Champion for getting pregnant while being one of the top stars in WWE.
She did so while making an appearance on Wednesday’s episode of The Bump.
“No, I think it’s garbage,” Baszler said. “What are we teaching? Responsibility? She had responsibilities to uphold as ‘the champion’ of the division. Like, take care of your responsibilities first. Don’t leave the division in an uproar and then hand your title away to whoever you feel [deserves it].”
Baszler continued by noting that it’s ridiculous how everyone is saying that it’s wonderful but she thinks that if Lynch was your daughter then you would smack her upside the head and tell her that she needs to be smarter. Basylzer added that it’s a double standard.
Lynch is due in December with her first child with Seth Rollins, who proposed to her back in August.
She announced the news last month on an episode of RAW, which also saw her award Asuka the championship.
WWE went back to a previous gimmick match that hadn’t been used in several years back at the NXT TakeOver: In Your House special.
NXT Champion Adam Cole successfully retained the title over the Velveteen Dream in a Backlot Brawl this past Sunday night in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University on the WWE Network.
According to a report by Wrestling Inc, Michael Hayes, Triple H and Jeremy Borash produced the match. If you recall, these are the same producers who were in charge of the highly praised Boneyard match at WrestleMania 36 between AJ Styles and The Undertaker.
It was noted that while there may have been other people that had a hand in it, they were the main people in between takes that made changes or suggestions.
Per the report, WWE had to take a break after Cole took the bump into the windshield. Thus, it was noticeable that the blood had already dried up as Cole had a cut on his arm.
The Backlot Brawl didn’t take as long to film as the Boneyard match, which took eight hours to film, while the set took a week to build.
Instead, Filming for the Backlot Brawl started after midnight due to weather and it only took three hours to complete.
WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels recently appeared on WWE’s The Bump. The Heartbreak Kid took part in an NXT Takeover: In Your House themed episode of the WWE Network show. HBK discussed a number of topics from his career both in and out of the ring.
One of the points that Shawn Michaels addressed was recently re-hired NXT Superstar Drake Maverick. The British Superstar was one of the unlucky talents who were released as part of Black Wednesday; and following his announced release by WWE he uploaded a video to Twitter that seemingly helped to save his job with the company.
Following his loss in the NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament final, Triple H appeared to give Drake Maverick a contract and confirm that the former Rockstar Spud was not going anywhere else in the pro wrestling world. There has been some backlash to the angle, as some have felt that it was in poor taste to play off a real world situation where a number of people lost their ‘dream’ jobs.
Shawn Michaels on Drake Maverick
“I gotta say, look I know it’s not a breakout star? But? I’m thrilled for Drake Maverick” Shawn Michaels said on The Bump. “I’m thrilled to have him, we’ve, you know, we’ve wanted to keep Drake for a long time. So I’m glad we got him.
HBK would go on to mention some more talent from the NXT roster who he sees could be ‘breakout’ stars. “Karrion Kross has made a huge impact in NXT. I think it’s obvious that there’s a lot more to come from him. I think Dexter Loomis does a great job. Fantastic. I think has been fantastic.”
AEW has released new top-5 rankings ahead of tonight’s episode of Dynamite. Perhaps the biggest news coming out of the rankings this week is that Chris Jericho is once again featured.
AEW Men’s Single’s Rankings
AEW World Champion: Jon Moxley (13-0) TNT Champion: Cody (11-1)
MJF (6-0)
Lance Archer (5-1)
Brodie Lee (5-1)
Kenny Omega (4-0)
Chris Jericho (2-1) (previously unranked)
Darby Allin drops out of the top-5 rankings this week after having been ranked #5 last week. He is currently not medically cleared to compete. Allin’s last match was at Double or Nothing in the Casino Ladder Match won by Brian Cage.
Brian Cage is still unranked but is owed a title shot at Fyter Fest due to his victory in the Casino Ladder Match.
#5 Chris Jericho is back in the rankings this week. He defeated Colt Cabana on Dynamite last week.
#4 Kenny Omega competed in the tag division this week. Along with his partner Hangman Page, they defended the tag belts successfully against Jimmy Havoc and Kip Sabian on Dynamite.
#3 Brodie Lee didn’t compete this week. He did welcome Alan Angels into the Dark Order on AEW Dark last night, however. Angels is now known as #5.
Neither #2 Lance Archer or #1 MJF competed last week.
TNT Champion Cody defended his title against Jungle Boy on Dynamite while AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defeated Robert Anthony on Dark.
AEW Women’s Division
Champion: Hikaru Shida (11-1)
Nyla Rose (6-2)
Kris Statlander (4-4)
Britt Baker (4-4)
Yuka Sakazaki (1-1)
Penelope Ford (3-3)
There was no movement the women’s division this week.
#1 Nyla Rose picked up a win over Big Swole on Dynamite.
Upcoming in the division is a big tag match booked for tonight’s Dynamite. #1 Nyla Rose teams with #5 Penelope Ford to go up against champion Hikaru Shida and #2 Kris Statlander. #3 Britt Baker might be watching the match from her “Role’s Royce.”
AEW Tag Team Division
Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (7-0)
Best Friends (9-3)
The Natural Nightmares (5-0)
Private Party (4-2)
SCU (3-4) (previously unranked)
Young Bucks (2-2)
After dropping a tag team title match against Omega and Page, Jimmy Havoc and Kip Sabian drop out of the rankings this week. #4 SCU are back in the rankings after picking up a victory over Fuego Del Sol & Low Rider on Dark.
A few matches take place in the tag division this week. FTR will make their debut against the Butcher and the Blade. #1 The Best Friends team with Orange Cassidy to go up against Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager from the Inner Circle.
An iconic wrestling legend has passed away. Johnny “Mr. Wrestling II” Walker has died. He was 85 years old. No cause of death is immediately available.
Long-time wrestling journalist Bill Apter broke the news this morning.
Horrible way to start any day …https://t.co/mdi4RkS7iW Johnny "Mr. Wrestling II" Walker has died.
Walker adopted the Mr. Wrestling II persona in 1972. He originally partnered with Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) in Florida, Georgia and a few other areas. He had previously wrestled as “The Grappler” and under his real name.
One of the greatest "masked men" in Wrestling history, Mr Wrestling 2, Johnny Walker has passed away today.. R.I.P. Johnny https://t.co/x5acsFxVGU
During the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter said that Mr. Wrestling II was his favorite wrestler. Carter invited Walker to his inauguration but he was forced to decline due to the Secret Service’s insistence that he attend unmasked.
The National Wrestling Alliance sends its deepest sympathies on the passing of "Mr. Wrestling II" Johnny Walker.
A huge star in the 1970s and 1980s in Georgia Championship Wrestling, Mid-South and all over the NWA. He was also the favorite wrestler of President Jimmy Carter. pic.twitter.com/OJAFuItZK7
In the twilight of his career, Walker spent 2 years working with Vince McMahon in the then-WWF. He rarely appeared on television and was not involved in any major storylines during his time with the company.
The great Mr. Wrestling II passed away today at age 85. He held dozens of championships over the years and was voted Wrestler of the Year in our 1975 year-end poll. pic.twitter.com/bQ63pFL85a
— PWI (Pro Wrestling Illustrated) (@OfficialPWI) June 10, 2020
Mr. Wrestling’s II’s numerous championships include:
Paige commented on WWE’s handling of the Women’s Tag Team Championships this week on WWE Backstage. According to Paige, the titles have been thrown under the rug and are not being treated as seriously as they should.
“I just feel like the tag team championships haven’t been utilized to their full potential,” Paige said.
“I feel like they are not being defended right, I don’t think they are being used right. They’ve kind of just been thrown under the rug, they are not being taken very seriously. At some point, they have to be taken seriously because this was such a big moment for the women’s divisions to have these tag team titles. Instead of just having one championship, now we have a tag team division.”
Paige also expressed the sentiment that WWE could be building up some other teams, including ones in NXT.
“Bayley and Sasha, they are good, they are solid, we all love them but let’s try and build some other people, you know?”
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
The women’s tag team championships returned to WWE on February 17th, 2019. Sasha Banks and Bayley won the titles at the Elimination Chamber PPV before dropping them to the Iiconics at WrestleMania just 49 days later.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Teams:
The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) 1x champions, 171 days as champions.
Bliss Cross (Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross) 2x champions, 123 days as champions.
The Iiconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay) 1x champions, 120 days as champions.
Bayley & Sasha Banks 2x champions, 64+ days as champions.
Impact Wrestling 6/9 featured an update on the Impact World Championship scenario. The promotion also continued to tease that several wrestlers recently released from WWE could be on their way to the promotion.
Impact Wrestling 6/9 Quick Results:
Michael Elgin defeated Sami Callihan vs Ken Shamrock
Tasha Steelz w/Kiera Hogan defeated Susie
Willie Mack & Cousin Jake defeated Chris Bey & Johnny Swinger
Jacob Crist w/Joey Ryan, Rob Van Dam, & Katie Forbes defeated Crazzy Steve
“The Virtuoso” Deonna Purrazzo had been advertised to appear on this week’s show but as we went to the night’s main event, she had yet to be seen. Attempts to interview her backstage had proved to be difficult.
The night’s main event was a match originally planned for Rebellion. It pitted the longest-reigning Knockouts champion in history, Taya Valkyrie, against the current champion and the woman who took the title off of her, Jordynne Grace. During the match, Taya was not able to get the usual help she’s often been able to rely on from John E. Bravo. The former corrupt referee was distracted by his budding romance with Rosemary on the outside. This led to Grace securing the tap-out from a rear-naked-choke/sleeper hold.
After the match, Purazzo’s music hit and the 26-year-old confronted the champion. She went to shake Grace’s hand but locked her in an armbar instead. Purrazzo then stood over the champion to end the show.
5-Way Championship Match Booked For Slammiversary
Scott D’Amore came out to the ring this week to address the Impact World title situation. He was interrupted by several wrestlers who feel they should be in-line to compete for the championship. This included Ace Austin, who believed D’Amore should just hand the title over to him since he won the #1 Contenders tournament.
D’Amore, however, announced that Tessa Blanchard will be at Slammiversary and she’ll defend the title against 4 challengers in a 5-way match at the PPV. Trey Miguel was announced as in the match just before he came off the ropes to attack Ace Austin. It’s largely assumed at this point that Austin is the one who attacked Trey before he was to compete in the finals of the #1 Contenders tournament.
Eddie Edwards, Michael Elgin, Trey Miguel, Ace Austin and champion Tessa Blanchard will all face off for the belt at Slammiversary.
During a backstage segment this week, Rohit Raju confronted Rhino backstage. Raju told Rhino he should be treating him like a tag-team partner. Rhino responded that he already has a tag-team partner, and his partner “has kids.”
Was this a tease that Rhino’s former tag-team partner Heath Slater is on his way to Impact Wrestling? Slater and Rhino are former Smackdown tag-team champions.
Raju and Rhino brawled to end the segment. A match between the two has been scheduled for next week.
Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis, and EC3 Featured In “Flashback of the Week”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-QTi0dS89s
During the Flashback Moment of the Week (the one that aired on Twitch anyway) EC3, Mike Bennett, and Maria Kanellis were featured. All 3 were recently released by WWE and their 90-day no-compete clauses will be up in time for them to appear for Impact on July 18th at Slammiversary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gyo1iQxjag&t=13s
Could we see “The Miracle” return to Impact Wrestling? EC3 is a former Impact World Champion and has been heavily teased as someone who could appear at Slammiversary.
"You know us Canadians, we've always been team players."
Impact also dropped a hint that maybe Eric Young is returning to the promotion. Elgin was shown on his phone at the very end of the episode and said something along the lines of “You know us Canadians, we’ve always been team players.” Young is a former member of Team Canada in the promotion.
Michael Elgin Wins, Shamrock vs Callihan Not Over
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0U55UeiK-4
Michael Elgin picked up a big win this week to kick off the show. This triple threat featured 3 of the top ranked male single’s stars in the promotion, so the win here is likely what helped get him booked in the 5-way championship match at Slammiversary mentioned earlier.
Elgin threw Shamrock into an exposed turnbuckle before taking Callihan out with a strike. He then hit a sit-down power bomb on Shamrock for the win.
After the match, Callihan and Shamrock stared each other down before Callihan caused the lights to go out and then disappeared.
Chris Bey and Willie Mack seem to be on a collision course for the next big X-Division title tilt. This week, however, Mack and Cousin Jake teamed up to defeat Bey and his run-in buddy Johnny Swinger. Mack picked up the victory for his team with a Stunner on Swinger.
After the match, however, Swinger and Bey tried to beat down their opponents but Cody Deaner returned from quarantine and made the save. Mack, Jake, and Deaner celebrated to end the segment.
Cancel Culture Picks Up Win Over “Mentally Unwell Steve”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=achftV6MUuE
Joseph P. Ryan of Cancel Culture gave a speech before the newest member of Cancel Culture, Jacob Crist, took on Crazzy Steve. Ryan suggested that the name “Crazzy Steve” is “problematic” and referred to him as “Mentally Unwell Steve.” He was flanked by the other members of Cancel Culture, Katie Forbes & Rob Van Dam as well.
During the match, Ryan distracted Steve with something on his iPad, which allowed Crist to hit a leg lariat for the win.
Next Week On Impact Wrestling
The following matches have been booked for next week’s show:
Rohit Raju vs Rhino
TNA World Heavyweight Championship Moose (c) vs Hernandez
Street Fight Ace Austin vs Eddie Edwards
Impact Tag Team Championships The North (c) vs The Rascalz (Wentz & Dez)
