Logan Paul is just days away from having the biggest pro wrestling match of his career thus far when he steps into the ring to challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title in the main event of Saturday’s Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
Paul’s brother, Jake, will be paying attention to the match, and he thinks Logan can dethrone Reigns as the champion.
Jake Paul Wants Paul Heyman in his Corner
“My brother is going to become champion. I believe that. This is his time. It’s crazy, so crazy Logan has this match,” Paul said to Sports Illustrated. “I’m so proud of him. It’s surreal he has this opportunity, and it’s serendipitous that his event and my event are happening on back-to-back weekends. We’re taking over the world. We’re the next Kardashians.”
Jake is four days removed from picking up a boxing victory against former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. He sees himself potentially working with WWE and would be open to partnering with the legendary Paul Heyman, the special counsel of Reigns.
“Paul Heyman is very entertaining and smart. I love a lot of the WWE characters, and he’s on another level. I’d love him in my corner. We’d be Paul and Paul.”
CM Punk’s pro wrestling future is up in the air for his involvement in the All Out brawl with The Elite and Ace Steel after a controversial All Out media scrum where he ripped Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Colt Cabana, and Hangman Page.
Punk is still on the shelf with an injury suffered at AEW All Out as he had surgery, and the expectation is he will be out of action for several months. The former AEW World Heavyweight Champion continues to be in talks with AEW about them buying out his contract and potential litigation. It’s been reported that most people do not expect Punk to return to AEW.
Punk’s Future
(AEW)
Fightful Select confirmed a previous Wrestling Inc report about no active litigation against Punk. There are no working plans to bring Punk back to the company.
A WWE source indicated the company would likely be interested in possibly working with Punk again. Fightful notes that representatives from multiple pro wrestling companies have said they would at least be interested in having talks with Punk. Still, they aren’t sure how motivated he’d be to continue his wrestling career.
Several people still expect a big demand for Punk to make appearances if he’s available.
One source close to Punk said they would not rule out him wrestling in the future because he “got the wrestling bug again.”
Punk is far from being able to wrestle again due to his torn left triceps injury, so it’s unclear whether Punk will feel the same way months down the line. The source close to Punk indicated that it’d been made clear to them that at least options would be available if and when Punk wanted to wrestle again.
Posted November 2nd, 2022 in AEW, News. Tagged: CM Punk.
Odyssey Jones is excited about the comeback after returning to the ring on Tuesday’s episode of NXT.
Last week, Jones appeared as he brought the party to Malik Blade & Edris Enofé after they failed to win the NXT Tag Team Titles from Pretty Deadly.
Jones suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in January and had not competed on NXT television since December 2021. Jones was in the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament finals, losing to Carmelo Hayes.
Odyssey Jones is Back
That changed on Tuesday’s show when he quickly defeated Javier Bernal in a singles match. Following the match, he spoke with WWE digital about what his in-ring return meant to him.
“Oh, Kelly, the journey was long and difficult, but you know what kept me going through it all? This moment right here, right now. Knowing that I would be back in all black in the black, and gold in front of those beautiful fans and hearing them chant Odyssey Jones. Didn’t mean to rhyme, but it did.”
Jones continued, “I was excited to get back into the ring. Mr. Michaels is always looking out for me. He gave me a good opponent. Javier is a great, hard worker, but today he didn’t have enough to hang with Big O.”
The November 1, 2022 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Grayson Waller defeated R-Truth
Kiana James defeated Thea Hail
Odyssey Jones defeated Javier Bernal
Zoey Stark defeated Indi Hartwell
Cora Jade defeated Valentina Feroz
Pretty Deadly def. Bron Breakker and Wes Lee to retain NXT Tag Team Titles
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Let’s celebrate
Mandy Rose had her one-year NXT Women’s Championship celebration.
Rose defeated Alba Fyre to successfully defend the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc. In her first championship match, she defeated Raquel Rodriguez on October 26, 2021, at Halloween Havoc.
Toxic Attraction praised Rose for making them dominate and how much they’ve helped her. They aired a video package recapping their success. Rose said that she was a barbie doll before coming to NXT and she bet on herself to rebuild herself. She called it the greatest decision she’s ever made. She said that ratings and numbers don’t lie. She said that fans didn’t think she could hold the titles. Fyre came out to attack the group and put Dolin through a table.
NXT Champion Bron Breakker defeated Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh in a triple threat match in the main event of Halloween Havoc.
In an interview from last week, Apollo Crews revealed that Breakker would be a guest on the show the following week. As Grayson Waller was now behind him and will be competing for the championship he set his sights on when he returned to NXT earlier this year, he also indicated wanting to contend for it.
On this show, Bron commended Wes Lee for working his way up the ranks to win the North American Championship. He also praised Julius Creed for defending the career of his brother. Breakker was interrupted by NXT Tag Team Champions Kit Wilson and Elton Prince of Pretty Deadly, who cracked jokes about Breakker.
Breakker asked Pretty Deadly what they wanted. Wilson argued that they were deserving of greater ceremony than Bron or Wes. Wes acts as if he’s in a Lifetime series, according to Wilson. When Wes Lee arrived, he urged Pretty Deadly to stop talking. Prince stated that he didn’t respect Wes and that they needed to discuss Pretty Deadly right away. Bron challenges them to a title match with Lee being his partner.
The match saw Carmelo Hayes knock Lee off the top rope and Lee was pinned. Post-match, Von Wagner laid out Breakker while Crews looked on.
R-Truth vs. Grayson Waller in a singles match took place.
Last week, R-Truth made an unexpected appearance to announce that he was prepared to host Halloween Havoc, which had already happened a few days before. A match between Truth and Waller was set up for this week following conversations with both Wes Lee and Waller.
Truth caught Waller with a Tope Con Hilo, but his foot caught the top rope. During the commercial break, he was checked on.
The ref called for the bell when the show cut back and Alicia Taylor announced Waller as the winner via ref stoppage. Post-match, Waller took the mic and bragged about beating a veteran. He said NXT is Waller’s house and ain’t nothing gonna change that.
Schism (Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler, Jagger Reid, and Raine) had a sit-down interview.
Raine was unmasked last week and revealed as the newest member of Schism, after a mysterious hooded figure had been spotted on NXT for several weeks. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s oldest daughter is Raine (Simone Johnson). In her debut, Raine cut a brief promo.
On this show, Gacy said that Raine chose them and not the other way around because her entire life, people have been asking and wanting something from her. The group talked about how fans compare them to other groups and none of that is true. They said that they are not responsible for Vic’s reactions. Raine said that no one brainwashed her and the group can do so much more together than on her own. She said that Cameron Grimes doesn’t get to turn them down and get away with it. Gacy will wrestle Grimes next week.
Odyssey Jones is back
Odyssey Jones made his in-ring return on this show when he beat Javier Bernal.
Following their attempt to capture the NXT Tag Team Titles, Malik Blade & Edris Enofé were treated to a party by Jones on the NXT program that aired last Tuesday. Jones hasn’t participated in an NXT televised match since December 2021 due to a ruptured patellar tendon that occurred in January.
Unfortunately, it looks like R-Truth was injured during his match against Grayson Waller on Tuesday’s episode of WWE NXT.
The opening match on the show ended earlier than expected. Truth caught Waller with a Tope Con Hilo, but his foot caught the top rope. Truth immediately clutched his leg after the impact. During the commercial break, he was checked on. Truth was being helped to the back and it was decided that the match would be called off.
The Injury
Alicia Taylor announced Waller as the winner via ref stoppage. Post-match, Waller took the mic and bragged about beating a veteran. He said NXT is Waller’s house and nothing will change that.
Truth has been appearing on television more often than he had been as of late as he would interrupt segments where the word “Truth” was used.
On last week’s NXT, Truth interrupted a promo between Wes Lee and Waller. Truth and Waller exchanged words, with a match being set up for this show. While on Monday’s Raw, he interrupted a promo with Baron Corbin and JBL. The segment ended with Corbin laying out Truth.
We hope to have an injury update shortly and that no major damage was done.
Posted November 1st, 2022 in WWE, News. Tagged: R-Truth.
WWE released several NXT stars on Tuesday, including Bodhi Hayward, who came as somewhat of a surprise because he was involved in a storyline with Andre Chase’s Chase University.
While speaking on today’s Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez noted there is apparently more to the story behind Hayward’s release, and he was said to be a handful to work with.
Waiting for More Details
WWE
“All I will say, because I don’t know all of the details, but there was stuff going on,” Alvarez said. “I guess the easiest way to describe it is apparently Bodhi was a handful. So it wasn’t just ‘well, let’s get rid of this guy’ or whatever. But I did hear from multiple people that it wasn’t just ‘we’re gonna cut some folks, we’re gonna cut this person who was right in the middle of a storyline.’ There was more to Bodhi’s story. That’s really all I can say because I don’t know what the more is. But you know, you got a bunch of guys and whatever and they’re in Florida and there’s a loop and god only knows what can happen.”
Alvarez said that he presumed that the other releases were because they were not improving, and on Monday, he heard that there were six releases, so it’s possible that one name has not gotten out yet or WWE decided to not let this person go.
Dark Side of the Ring is on pause for now while creators Evan Husney and Jason Eisener work on Tales from the Territories.
Both shows are on VICE TV. A few months ago, before the announcement of Tales from the Territories, there were reports and speculation that Dark Side of the Ring had been canceled after the third season.
No Truth
Dark Side Of The Ring
It got to the point where VICE TV put out a statement denying the rumors, saying they were committed to the series. While speaking on Two Man Power Trip, Husney addressed the rumors.
“It was some rumor about how WWE was putting pressure on A&E to not air our shows and it could be too controversial, so they were going to cancel it. VICE would never do that because it’s their most successful show. If Dark Side wasn’t successful, I could see not doing another season. It was this weird thing where, yeah, season three had some controversial moments. I could see where people put two and two together. We see that happen every day in the wrestling news cycle of people guessing with the rumor mill and speculating what one thing means and two things are similar, you put it together and you have a story. That’s how our news cycle works. I totally understand how people come to that conclusion. 99.9% of the time of anything, any conspiracy, is always the most boring answer or reason. In this case, the boring answer is that we just made another show for a second,” he said.
Tales from the Territories debuted in October 2022, and is in conjunction with The Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions. Husney was asked about details for the fourth season.
Husney noted that the season is in the works, and things are still being worked out. He noted there should be an official word made, but they’re not done with the show. Husney pointed out how it would be challenging for them to do both shows at the same time because they’re too much control freaks for that to happen.
It is unknown when Dark Side of the Ring season four will premiere, while Tales from the Territories is currently airing Tuesdays on VICE TV.
There was a scary moment on the October 18th edition of AEW Dynamite during the AEW World Title match between champion Jon Moxley and “Hangman” Adam Page as Page took a King Kong Lariat that turned him inside out.
Page hit the mat and was unresponsive, which led to referee Paul Turner calling AEW Ringside Physician Michael Sampson into the ring where Turner called for the bell, giving Moxley the victory by referee’s decision. After AEW Dynamite went off the air, AEW released a statement that noted Page had suffered a concussion.
Khan Shares an Update
While speaking to First Coast News, Khan said that Page was in “good spirits.”
“He’s doing really well. I talked to him just in the past 24 hours, and also saw him not long after he was officially cleared and saw him after he came back, not long after we took him to the hospital and he got out. It was great to see him in good spirits that night,” Khan said (h/t Fightful). “About 90 minutes after he got hurt, he was smiling and feeling pretty good. That’s about as fortunate as we could be given that he got knocked out in the match.”
Khan praised Turner and Sampson for their work in the situation, noting that it was the “right thing” to call off the match. He said that is what would happen in a big fight, and the doctors took care of him.
It’s currently unclear when Page will be back in the ring. We wish him a speedy recovery.
WWE will present its second and final premium live event of 2022 in Saudi Arabia this Saturday with Crown Jewel.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Saudi Arabia has shared with the United States that they have intelligence about an imminent attack from Iran. The story notes that the attacks are planned for “targets in the kingdom.”
As a result of the warning, Saudi Arabia, the United States, and “several other neighboring states have raised the level of alert for their military forces.”
WWE’s Reaction Following The News
WWE talent is scheduled to fly out to Saudi Arabia this week for Crown Jewel ahead of the show on Saturday. Logan Paul noted that he’s flying out on Tuesday.
However, it appears that nothing has changed on WWE’s end for now as they announced this afternoon Alexa Bliss and Asuka will defend the Women’s Tag Team Titles against IYO SKY and Dakota Kai, a rematch from Monday’s Raw that featured the title change between the two teams.
The leader of the group, Bayley, will also be in action at this show as she meets Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair in a last woman standing match. The show will be headlined by Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Logan Paul.
PWInsider reports WWE is set to go forward with the event and have security protocols in case of emergency.
Saudi Arabia has shared intelligence with the U.S. warning of an imminent attack from Iran on targets in the kingdom https://t.co/dmmXyJnRru
Cody Rhodes has opened up about how his physical therapy after an injury he suffered earlier this year is going.
The top WWE star has been sidelined since this year’s Hell in a Cell premium live event, which took place on June 5 when he wrestled Seth Rollins in the main event of the show with a torn pectoral muscle. He suffered the injury while training for the match, which saw him go over in.
The following night on WWE Raw, Rhodes was written off TV the following night after he was ambushed by Rollins, who had faked showing respect to him moments earlier.
Cody Rhodes’ Recovery
In a post on Twitter, Rhodes gave some details of how his recovery from the injury is going on his Twitter account, where he said the following:
“How’s pt going?” It’s fn’ awful. Everyday we dig into the muscle, then I scream, half the time I spot a tear flowing. It’s a near impossible task getting a bodypart that had been shredded to 100%…or Hell even 90%. But on the worst of days I have the best reason to not tap out.”
He also shared pictures and a video of Rhodes’ daughter Liberty Runnels, dressed in a Halloween costume.
ODB had a long and successful career in TNA/Impact Wrestling as she is a four-time Women’s Knockouts Champion and former Knockouts Tag Team Champion.
She has also worked in NWA and AEW in recent years before returning to Impact in 2021. These days, she is focused on her food truck business.
While speaking on The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast, ODB was asked whether there’s anywhere she wants to work that she hasn’t already, including WWE. This is where she revealed that she got a call for the WWE Royal Rumble, though it didn’t pan out.
ODB Was Nearly in the Royal Rumble?
ODB
“I always wanted to go there. Maybe because you got the Rumble, you know. I did get a call for the Rumble, but it didn’t work out. But that would be cool. I always wanted to drive the food truck into the arena,” ODB said.
She was asked to elaborate. She also didn’t mention what year this would’ve been, but did note that someone high up in WWE blocked it from happening. She replied, “They wanted me, but of course, a person [in] upper… someone turned it down. But I did get a couple calls.”
ODB previously talked about how Triple H encouraged her to sign with TNA Wrestling. She named Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, and the Beautiful People as some of her favorite opponents in the promotion.
Logan Paul is set to challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship this Saturday afternoon at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.
This will mark his third time stepping into the squared circle for a match, with it being his only second singles match thus far in his wrestling career.
He teamed with The Miz at WWE WrestleMania 38 to defeat The Mysterios (Rey & Dominik Mysterio), which marked his in-ring debut, and then defeated The Miz at WWE SummerSlam in July.
Paul on the Match
While appearing on TimboSugarShow with Tim Welch & Sean O’Malley, Paul was asked if there are people in the WWE who he doesn’t get along with. He noted that he stays to himself before admitting that it is ridiculous that he is getting this title opportunity so early on in his career.
“Truthfully, I keep to myself. I imagine there are a few wrestlers who have a problem with me going for a title in my third match. That’s ridiculous and I acknowledge that, but I don’t acknowledge the Tribal Chief and I’m going to f**k him up in Saudi Arabia.”
Logan said he’ll be flying to Saudi on Tuesday for his Saturday match against Reigns. Reigns is set to be part of Monday’s WWE Raw before going to Saudi as WWE taped this Friday’s episode of SmackDown last week.
Due to the crew flying overseas for Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, next week’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, MO, was filmed after the October 28th show.
WWE SmackDown Spoilers
Here are the spoilers for next week (November 4), courtesy of F4Wonline.com:
Liv Morgan defeated Sonya Deville in a no disqualification match. Morgan kicked out of a powerbomb onto a pile of chairs, then won with a springboard facebuster on top of the chairs.
LA Knight defeated Ricochet. Knight hit on ring announcer Samantha Irvin before the match, causing Ricochet to attack him as she and Ricochet are in a relationship. Knight won after reversing Ricochet’s roll-up and grabbing the ropes for leverage.
The Usos cut a promo saying they will be the longest-reigning WWE Tag Team Champions after Crown Jewel. The New Day said that if The Usos retain, they will be waiting for them. The Brawling Brutes attacked the Usos, with Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa coming in to even the odds. The Bloodline end up standing tall.
Shayna Baszler (with Ronda Rousey) defeated Natalya via submission.
Braun Strowman defeated five men picked by MVP. Strowman ended up repeatedly powerslamming MVP.
Gunther defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the Intercontinental Championship.
Posted October 29th, 2022 in WWE, News. Tagged: Gunther.
Paul Levesque (Triple H) is planning more ‘mystery’ storylines for WWE programming after the company’s success with the build-up to Bray Wyatt’s return with the White Rabbit teases.
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that Triple H had considered incorporating more ominous teases and angles before Wyatt’s return.
“Paul Levesque had told people even before Wyatt debuted that the type of teases that were being done would be used more often as a facet of storylines and mystery. With the success of the Wyatt angle, expect there to be more of it.”
Mystery Storylines Continuing
(BT Sport)
Wyatt’s return at Extreme Rules on October 8 was teased with a series of QR codes onscreen during TV events while the White Rabbit song played for the live crowd in attendance.
The teases had clues that led fans down a rabbit hole, following red herrings to creepy videos of butchered pigs interspersed with cartoons.
The company is reportedly thrilled with how the campaign was received, and fans seemed to enjoy the teases, as well as Wyatt being the bestseller of merchandise in the company. Plans were recently reported that WWE intends to create a line of plushes of the FunHouse characters.
On this week’s episode of NXT TV, WWE began teasing a new character called Scrypts and the company recently filed a trademark for the term. As of this writing, it’s unclear who is behind this character as no clear hints were given past the vignettes, as the first one had someone leaving a distorted voice message for the Performance Center.
Triple H has already made changes to the 2023 WWE premium live event schedule as he nixed the Day 1 and Hell in a Cell shows. He is also looking to go away from gimmick-themed shows.
Some fans think WWE should make a change to the Money in the Bank event with it being moved back to WrestleMania instead of its stand-alone event.
WrestleMania to Host MITB Again?
While speaking with GiveMeSport, WrestleVotes noted that WWE has talked about bringing Money in the Bank back to WrestleMania.
“Putting Money in the Bank on WrestleMania, one night women’s and one night men’s is something I’ve heard. I know since Hunter has taken over, the idea of one night women and one night men is alive.”
The person behind the Twitter account did explain that while WWE is considering the idea, this person doesn’t think it will happen.
“I don’t think they’re going to do that. Let’s say Money in the Bank was scheduled for Allegiant Stadium, and they’re hoping to get 50,000 people. If you can do that on the back of Money in the Bank, I don’t think you put that show in the garbage and put the matches WrestleMania.”
In July, Money in the Bank was originally scheduled to be held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, but the show was moved to MGM Grand Garden Arena due to poor ticket sales.
WWE has plans to use Bray Wyatt on tonight’s episode of SmackDown and next week’s show, which will also be taped from St. Louis, MO.
Fightful Select reports WWE plans to include several pieces of Wyatt’s past as of Thursday. One thing stated was that WWE wanted to bring in the rocking chair that Wyatt used during his early years in the company. Also, there has been talk of The Fiend mask being ripped up by Bray or another talent.
Wyatt Rumors
The report added that rumors about Wyatt vs. Reigns imminently starting a feud are false because “Where would we go from there?” Another person in the company said they learned from the Fiend run.
Seth Rollins, who feuded with Wyatt in 2019, has said publicly that the previous Fiend run was difficult on the wrestlers he worked with because The Fiend had to be booked to be indestructible.
Dave Meltzer noted in this week’s Wrestling Observer about those two names potentially feuding, but Meltzer never said when the feud could happen. Meltzer wrote, “While it would be best to keep them apart for a while, the idea is Reigns vs. Wyatt could be the biggest program in a long time since Wyatt is so hot right now.”
ORIGINAL: Former WWE star Tennille Dashwood aka Emma, is returning to the company as she is backstage at tonight’s SmackDown TV event in St. Louis, Missouri.
Pwinsider.com reported the news this afternoon. Per the report, she is expected to return tonight as the person responding to SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey’s open challenge.
Emma’s Homecoming
Tenille Dashwood aka Emma
Dashwood, the first Australian woman signed to a WWE deal, had two runs on the WWE main roster, with the first being tied to Santino Marella and then a heel run leading to her rebranding as Emmalina eventually. This character was dropped before she came back to television. She also found success in NXT.
Dashwood was released in October 2017. After her WWE release, Dashwood spent a year working for Ring of Honor before several years in Impact Wrestling but finished up with the promotion this past August when her contract with the company expired.
Dashwood got over with fans as a loveable babyface on the NXT women’s roster during Triple H’s time in charge of the promotion. Dashwood is currently dating SmackDown’s Madcap Moss.
She is one of the world’s best wrestlers and helped create the women’s revolution alongside several names, including Paige.
AEW has another Schiavone working behind the scenes as Tony Schiavone’s son, Matt, is now in the promotion.
Tony is one of the most accomplished wrestling announcers of all time, and after years away from the wrestling business, he joined AEW to return to calling the action. Schiavone has various responsibilities behind the scenes in AEW
Matt Schiavone’s AEW Role
Tony Schiavone (Photo: AEW)
On the latest episode of AEW Unrestricted, Tony announced that his son Matt is also working behind the scenes in AEW. It started at last week’s AEW Rampage in Jacksonville, Florida.
“I’ve really kind of wrestled with even mentioning this, but I’m going to, we have just hired a brand new producer to help us backstage. It’s a producer who’s had 15 years of network TV experience, and really knows what he’s doing. I really wrestled with even wanting him to come to work for us, and it’s my son, Matt. He will start as a producer in Jacksonville, and as this thing airs, it’s already happened. He had such a good job, but he just like us, just absolutely loves pro wrestling and wanted to do it. I went, ‘Matt, are you sure? Because it’s freaking crazy back there!'”
Tony noted that AEW President Tony Khan told him that his son will be working under Sonjay Dutt.
Matt previously worked for Fox News as his LinkedIn notes that he was a producer for America’s Newsroom w/ Bill Hemmer & Dana Perino.
Impact Wrestling finds itself at a time where there is turnover in the promotion with stars leaving and staying as The Kingdom departed to join AEW while another Impact star is also leaving the company as Chelsea Green is reportedly on her way out.
According to a report by PWInsider, Green filmed an exit vignette at the most recent set of Impact tapings, with many people believing she could be on her way to WWE.
Is Chelsea Green Returning?
Chelsea Green
Also at the tapings, Impact taped a singles match between Green and Mickie James now believed to be a ‘Loser Leaves Town’ match. The feeling is that Green reportedly wouldn’t ‘give up regular Impact bookings unless she was WWE bound’.
Green wrote, “Left you all #VXT from the beginning” on Twitter, with many seeing this as confirmation of Chelsea’s exit.
Green was released by WWE in 2021 after a tumultuous three-year run with the company.
WrestleVotes recently reported that WWE is interested in bringing back Green, who was among the names to be released by the company last year because of “budget cuts.”
If Green returns to WWE, it will be interesting to see whether WWE would also be interested in her husband, Matt Cardona, also known as Zack Ryder, in WWE.
After returning to AEW programming at the end of the All Out pay-per-view event, MJF has been greeted with cheers from the crowd at AEW events.
He has done some heel antics in his promos and other times as a babyface. He told Renee Paquette to shut up in a promo for his Full Gear bout with the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite. This was an example of the back-and-forth that his character is doing.
He was attacked by The Firm on the show, indicating he is a full-fledged babyface, though that might be a swerve.
On today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that MJF wants to stay as a heel and does not want to be a babyface. Bryan Alvarez said on Wrestling Observer Live that people in AEW want MJF to become a full-blown babyface.
Alvarez pointed out how the fans have wanted to cheer him since he came back and was supposed to be a heel when he returned. AEW went to the point where he would come out before the show and bury the crowd to try to make sure they would boo him, but that still didn’t help him from getting cheered.
MJF to Give in?
(AEW)
“Well, now they are no longer doing that. Now they are just going with it at this moment. The question is do you go all the way with it or do you do whatever and he ends up being a heel again. What I can tell you is there are people within AEW that strongly believe that they should go with him as a babyface right now. They feel that he could be a massive babyface star for AEW. They think that is what he should do now.”
“There are people who believe he could be a generational babyface. That was not the intention when he came back but things happen.”
MJF is the heavy-betting favorite to defeat Jon Moxley to win the AEW World Heavyweight Title at Full Gear.
Posted October 27th, 2022 in AEW, News. Tagged: MJF.
WWE has discussed doing something new with Austin Theory’s Money In The Bank cash-in attempt.
Over the summer, Theory won the briefcase at this year’s Money In The Bank after being added to the ladder match as a last-minute entry over Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Omos, Sami Zayn, Riddle, and Madcap Moss.
The Pitch
(WWE)
WrestleVotes revealed that there had been an internal pitch for Theory where he would keep the Money in the Bank briefcase for almost an entire year.
“There is an idea that he is the first guy to wait a full year, like the day of or let’s say, night of Money in the Bank next year,” the person behind the Twitter account stated in an interview with GiveMeSport. “That’s the storyline, like ‘you have to cash this in two and a half hours. You have to cash this in 90 minutes.’ That type of thing. I know that idea is on the table.”
As of this writing, it is unclear whether or not the current plan is for Theory’s cash-in to be successful.
Theory last wrestled on this week’s edition of Raw, defeating Mustafa Ali in singles action. He doesn’t have a match announced for Crown Jewel on November 5th in Saudi Arabia.
John Cena has another Hollywood role lined up as the former WWE Champion has signed onto a new project.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Cena will star in Ilya Naishuller’s next film, “Heads of State” along with Idris Elba. In October 2020, Amazon Studios picked up the rights for “Heads of State” during a competitive Zoom presentation.
The film will be produced by Peter Safran, co-chair and co-CEO of DC Studios, and John Rickard via The Safran Company, while the initial script was created by Harrison Query, who recently set up My Wife and I Bought a Ranch
Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec, who worked on the recently wrapped Beverly Hills Cop reboot, wrote the final draft.
Cena’s Other Films
The film is described as “Air Force One meets Midnight Run,” centered on a mismatched pair who are in over their heads in a high-stakes situation.
Cena recently finished filming movies such as The Independent, Snafu, Coyote v. Acme, Argylle, and Freelance while he is currently filming Honeymoon Friends.
As previously noted, The Independent, which comes out next month, will be exclusively on Peacock.
Zelina Vega made her return to WWE on the October 7 episode of WWE SmackDown by being the new manager of Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz Del Toro) to attack Hit Row (Top Dolla, B-Fab, & Ashante “Thee” Adonis).
Throughout her career with WWE, Vega has filled multiple roles, including managing Andrade in NXT and the main roster, winning the first-ever Queen of the Ring tournament and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles.
While speaking on Busted Open Radio, Zelina discussed her opportunities in WWE and wanting the ball.
Wanting The Chance
(via WWE)
“I had those questions like, ‘Can I do this by myself? Can I carry all about me?’ Damn right I can. Then, I became Queen,” she said when discussing moving away from being utilized more as a manager. “Now, it’s taking both parts and combining them together and doing this for me but also doing this for my team and getting people to see that side of me. For the longest time, I was like, ‘Damn, they have no idea what they have.’ I always told them, ‘Give me the ball. If I drop it, screw me, but you’ll never know until you try.’”
Vega noted that you have to trust people and give them a chance as WWE did with Liv Morgan once fans got behind her.
She continued, “I heard from so many different people, ‘it’s just a matter of time. When is Zelina going to get this chance?’ I’m waiting. I’m here. For the longest, I felt like they were afraid to do it. The only thing they’re going to regret is that they didn’t do it sooner, that they didn’t take a chance on me sooner. They have no idea. This is one side of me, and you’re getting a different side now, but imagine what could happen if you actually give me the ball to just be me and have that opportunity. I feel like, for the longest, they were afraid to do it. What’s stopping you? Clearly, I can do for me alone, I can do it for other people, why not give me the actual chance? Are they afraid? What could you really lose when it comes to me? I’ve handled literally everything that has been handed to me. I think it’s just a matter of time.”
Before her return, Vega had been off television for several months due to an injury as she last wrestled on the April 11 episode of WWE Raw, losing to Bianca Belair.
On Friday’s WWE SmackDown, Legado Del Fantasma will be in six-man tag team action when they take on Hit Row and their mystery partner.
Peacock is slated to premiere a new movie featuring John Cena next month.
Peacock announced today that the political thriller “The Independent” will premiere exclusively on the streaming platform on Wednesday, November 2.
The movie comes from Emmy-nominated director Amy Rice. Evan Parter wrote the script. Relativity Media and Park Pictures are releasing the film, along with Anonymous Content and NEXT Productions, in association with Orogen Entertainment and The Exchange.
Also starring in the movie include Cena, Ann Dowd, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Brian Cox. The official synopsis reads like this:
The Plot
“It’s the final weeks of the most consequential presidential election in history. America is poised to elect either its first female president (Ann Dowd) or its first viable independent candidate (John Cena). Reporting history as it’s made, an idealistic young journalist (Jodie Turner-Smith) teams up with her idol, legendary journalist Nick Booker (Brian Cox), to uncover a conspiracy that places the fate of the election, and the country, in their hands.”
The film is produced by Sam Bisbee, Theodora Dunlap, Caddy Vanasirikul, Ryan Cunningham, and Evan Parter. Executive Producers include Laura Grange, Julia Stuart, Brian Cox, Jodie Turner-Smith, John Cena, Blair Ward, Anders Erdén, Eric Harbert, Bill Kiely, Whitney Moehle, Michael Arrieta, Marc Danon, David Robbins, Lex Miron, Amy Jarvela, Charles Stiefel, Brian O’Shea, Giovanna Trischitta, Nat McCormick, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Lance Acord, and Cody Ryder.
Although no trailer has been released, you can check out a new first-look clip for the movie with Cox and Turner-Smith:
Following the news of AEW releasing Ace Steel and there being talks of the promotion buying out CM Punk’s contract, there has been speculation that the investigation is wrapping up, which could mean that The Elite will be back soon.
The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega have been added back to television commercials for Dynamite and Rampage, indicating that they are returning soon. Also, last week, Tony Schiavone mentioned The Elite during Dynamite in reference to them being the first-ever AEW World Trios Champions.
The Elite’s Return
(via AEW)
According to Fightful Select, there’s been talk backstage about The Bucks and Omega returning to work soon, at least in a backstage capacity. One source said their return could happen “imminently,” although there is no definite answer on when exactly they will be back.
The report added that there was also a meeting scheduled for last week, but no details were available on what was said.
AEW had suspended Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Pat Buck, Chris Daniels, Michael Nakazawa, and Brandon Cutler following the backstage fight with Punk at AEW All Out last month. Everyone listed above except for The Elite have returned to work.
