Tommaso Ciampa has undergone the knife to repair a torn hip labrum.
The WWE star hasn’t wrestled since a WWE live event on Sept. 17 and has been absent from Monday Night Raw for the past few weeks. On Monday Night Raw this week, Johnny Gargnao mentioned Ciampa was dealing with an injury during a backstage promo with The Miz, but it was unclear at the time if this was merely a storyline or real-life. Obviously, the injury is real.
“The road to recovery begins. It’s a familiar road. Almost too familiar,” Ciampa wrote in an Instagram post. “Special thanks to Dr Emblom and his team for taking such incredible care of me. Thanks to the WWE medical team for once again putting me back together. And thanks to my ‘nurses’ at home for always giving me perspective. It took awhile but we finally found the cause to all of that glute/SI/back pain. A hip labrum that ‘looked like shredded cheese’ according to my wife, who watched the surgery.”
He also included an inspirational quote by beloved fictional character, Rocky Balboa:
“But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
– Rocky Balboa
Ciampa had been pushed by Triple H since taking over creative from Vince McMahon this past July. Ciampa had gone from being Miz’s henchman to challenging Bobby Lashley for the United States Championship.
The October 25, 2022 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter defeated Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark to retain the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships.
Shotzi defeated Lash Legend
Pretty Deadly defeated Blade and Enofe to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships.
Indi Hartwell defeated Solo Ruca
JD McDonagh defeated Ilja Dragunov
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Ava Raine Arrives
WWE
Ava Raine made her NXT television debut as the newest member of Schism, a group led by Joe Gacy. She said that love and acceptance that the Schism has given her defies any preconceived notions of who she’s supposed to be. She said this family completes her. The segment ended with her posing with the group.
NXT Champion Bron Breakker defeated Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh in a triple threat match in the main event of Halloween Havoc this past Saturday. So what’s next?
Throughout the show, there were video packages recapping the match. There were also videos of Dragunov and JD talking about their history to further build up their match in the main event of this show. WWE announced Bron would return to NXT next week.
The bout saw an injury angle where Dragunov was checked out for his shoulder by the doctors. The finish saw JD have him in a choke and Dragunov started to bleed and passed out. Dragnuov was stretchered out of the arena.
NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly defended the titles against Edris Enofe and Malik Blade
On last week’s show, WWE did contract signing for the match to make it official. During it, Enofe and Blade suggested that they would shock the world when they become champions after they became the number one contenders to the NXT Tag Team titles by winning a three-way match for the number one contendership.
The match was a good one that had plenty of time to tell a story with the champions going over with their finisher to retain the titles.
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance and Kayden Carter defended the titles against Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons.
WWE did contract signing for the match on last week’s show t set up the bout. During the signing, Stark said that they will prove that they are a team when they win the tag team titles while Chance said that they will see what happens when they lose.
The match opened the show and had to be restarted. Stark reversed a kick into a rollup for the victory. However, Chance complained that she wasn’t the legal person to the referee. A 2nd referee ran out and reset the match. Chance and Carter hit Lyons with their 450-Backbreaker finisher to give Chance the win.
We've got new #WWENXT Women's Tag Team Champions!!!
Lash Legend vs. Shotzi in a singles match was booked.
The match was set up at Saturday’s Halloween Havoc as Shotzi hosted the event along with Quincy Elliot. Legend confronted them towards the end of the show where she stated she would be a better host than either of them. Legend was eventually laid out with a DDT.
The match was the second on the card and ended with Shotzi hit Lash Never Wake Up (Leg Trap DDT) for the victory.
The Rock’s daughter, Simone Johnson, has made her WWE NXT television debut as the newest member of Schism.
Johnson, known as Ava Raine in NXT, took off her mask in a segment to reveal she is part of the faction led by Joe Gacy. In her promo, she talked about how love and acceptance that the Schism has given her defies any preconceived notions of who she’s supposed to be.
She said this family completes her. The segment ended with her posing with the group, including Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid.
Raine made her WWE NXT live event debut in July by scouting talent and then cut her first promo the following night and called herself “The Final Girl.”
“She’s made history. Very, very proud of her. She is fiercely independent. It’s very important for her to make her own way, blaze her own trail, blaze her own path. She doesn’t come to me looking for a lot, which I respect that. And I’m here watching and supporting.”
Raine has been with WWE for several years, although she has not wrestled in a sanctioned match as of this writing.
WWE is coming off its latest NXT premium live event – Halloween Havoc – this past Saturday night was headlined by Bron Breakker defending the NXT Championship in a Triple Threat match against Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh.
“Halloween Havoc was NXT’s most-viewed standalone PLE since the start of the Peacock relationship. By standalone, I mean running a weekend where there is no main roster PLE.”
TakeOver: In Your House 2021, TakeOver 36, and WarGames 2021 were the only three standalone premium live events the brand put on since the Peacock partnership began in early 2021.
Internal Feeling
(WWE)
Halloween Havoc 2022 can now be added to that list, topping them all. Zarian also added how NBCUniversal, the parent company of the USA Network, the home of weekly NXT TV and Peacock, feels about the brand.
“More on Halloween Havoc — Execs were “encouraged” that additional promotion helped translate into additional viewership for this PLE. The overall attitude towards NXT from NBCU side of things has been very positive over the past few weeks.”
A few weeks ago, WWE dropped the “2.0” from the NXT name as the brand had taken on a new identity starting in September in 2021. WWE will present the next NXT premium live event, NXT Deadline, on December 10 — the same day as Ring of Honor’s Final Battle pay-per-view. No matches for NXT Deadline have been announced just yet.
Shawn Michaels and The Rock never worked a singles match together in their wrestling careers. The only time that they shared the ring was when Michaels served as a special guest referee for two of The Rock’s matches.
Over the years, there have been rumors that Michaels’ attitude in the 90s towards The Rock caused Rock to never want to work with him. In 2017, Rocky Johnson, the father of the Rock, shared that Rock was upset that Michaels caught him too hard with the Sweet Chin Music, leading to a confrontation between the two.
Before Rock became a top star, Michaels retired in 1998 but made sporadic appearances in the following years. He returned full-time in 2002 at WWE SummerSlam against Triple H.
While speaking to Logan Paul on ImPAULsive, Michaels was asked where things stood with The Rock and noted that it wasn’t as bad as people thought.
Shawn Michaels on The Rock
(WWE)
“I’ve never worked with him. His daughter [Simon Johnson] is here [in NXT]. The times I’ve seen him, we’ve always gotten along okay. I don’t think it was as bad as everyone made it out to be. I know I gave everybody a hard time back when I was younger. When I came back, I made sure I went up to everybody and was at least like, ‘Sorry.’ That’s the best that I could do. When I came back in 2002, I knew there was going to be, ‘We’ll see.’ It was important to me to go around and make amends and at least tell everyone, ‘Sorry about the way I was. I have no excuse. I’m willing to earn back whatever. If you never talk to me again, I’m cool with that too.”
Michaels is currently the Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative at WWE, while The Rock is arguably the biggest movie star in the world,
Former AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker has opened up on some advice she received from former WWE NXT/Raw/SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair.
Baker has been pushed as a top star for AEW since the start of the promotion in 2019 and had a reign as the Women’s Champion for over a year after winning the title from Hikaru Shida back at Double or Nothing in 2021. She dropped it to Thunder Rosa back at St Patrick’s Day Slam.
While speaking to Swerve Strickland and Monteasy on Swerve City, Baker had the following to say about comparisons made between herself and the Queen.
“I do get compared to Charlotte all the time on Twitter. For me, okay cool, one of the best women’s wrestlers of all time. You’re so mean for calling me that. People don’t understand the constant pressure that comes with all the hate that you get. We are people.”
Britt Baker on Charlotte
(via AEW)
She said being the face of a division means you’re under a microscope no matter what you do. She said that you can’t let the negative comments get to you or it will drive you insane. Baker continued by revealing some words of advice Flair gave her.
“Back to Charlotte, her and I have chatted, and she has given me so much great advice just to get through this. She’s given me solid advice to just stay true to what you know is true. Don’t worry about the narratives that fans are creating or what they want to be true because you know what’s going on and what you’re working with. She’s been fantastic to me.”
Baker most recently teamed with Jamie Hayter in a losing effort against Hikaru Shida and Toni Storm on the October 12 edition of AEW Dynamite.
With WWE gearing up for its return to Saudi Arabia in just over a week and the announcement on Monday of what the company has planned for the Elimination Chamber event, there has been speculation as to when WWE will hold its first Saudi Arabia in 2023.
On November 5th, WWE will present its Crown Jewel premium live event headlined by Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Logan Paul from Saudi Arabia.
On February 18, 2023, the Elimination Chamber event will be held from the Bell Centre in Montreal, marking a change from this year, where they held the Chamber event from Saudi and had a main event that saw Brock Lesnar regain the WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber match.
For November, WWE will have two premium live events with Crown Jewel and then hold the Survivor Series event later in the month. WWE won’t be doing this in February, a typical month that WWE holds Saudi shows.
WWE’s Return
WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia
According to Pwinsider.com, there will not be a Saudi Arabia event in February as is planning to hold the next Saudi Arabia show in the Spring, although an official date has yet been locked down.
WWE and the Saudi General Entertainment Authority have a long-term partnership through 2027. That contract states that WWE is obligated to hold two events annually in the country.
Triple H had been away from WWE events for a week after testing positive for COVID-19 but was said to be doing well. The good news is that The Game is back in the saddle.
Triple H was backstage at this week’s WWE Monday Night Raw from the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC, according to Sean Ross Sapp via Fightful Select. He was there to run things and appeared to be feeling okay.
Triple H is Back
(BT Sport)
The report adds:
“We’re told he was feeling okay and just frustrated he had to miss the event. Road Dogg filled in during his absence, and most of the show was written by the day before, as was SmackDown.”
Triple H’s return comes at a good time as it will give the crew a morale boost ahead of the building to its next premium live event.
WWE will have a double SmackDown taping this Friday before having a live Monday Night Raw next week ahead of them flying over to Saudi Arabia for the November 5th Crown Jewel event, which will be headlined by Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Title against Logan Paul.
Renee Paquette wasn’t the only on-air talent to have talks with AEW, who had a past in WWE, as Cathy Kelley did.
The battle to sign talent between WWE and AEW doesn’t just mean in-ring performers but outside of the talent. It was reported that WWE had reached out to Paquette before signing with the rival promotion to see if she would be interested in returning to the company where she did commentary, hosting, and interviewing work.
Another broadcaster went the opposite direction, according to Fightful Select.
Earlier this month, WWE announced big commentary changes and on-air shakeups. Michael Cole and Wade Barrett are the main commentators for SmackDown. Samantha Irvin serves as the ring announcer, with Kayla Braxton and Megan Morant as backstage interviewers. Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves are on the commentary team for Raw. Mike Rome is the ring announcer, while Cathy Kelley and Byron Saxton conduct onscreen interviews.
Cathy Kelley Was Nearly All Elite
Cathy Kelley
Sources told Fightful earlier this year that Cathy had conversations with AEW, including speaking to Tony Khan directly at some point about the possibility of working there, and that things looked promising. It didn’t happen, and there’s no word yet on what happened to make the deal not be reached.
Kelley and AEW were on solid terms before she headed back to WWE. Kelley returned to WWE after leaving the company in 2020.
Bray Wyatt made his expected return to WWE at the Extreme Rules premium live event and has been assigned to work on the WWE SmackDown brand moving forward, with his only scheduled appearances on the blue brand for now.
Wyatt has made a few appearances on SmackDown since his return as he builds his next character. Some fans have wondered whether he will be a babyface or a heel going forward, as he has teased being both.
Bray Wyatt as a Babyface
Wyatt is slotted as the number one babyface on the SmackDown brand on WWE’s internal roster, according to a new report at PWInsider. Drew McIntyre is the number two babyface after being in the top spot since being moved over from Raw.
Wyatt had been the top draw in merchandise for the company before his release in 2021, which made the decision to cut him even more surprising.
He has recently become the company’s #1 merchandise seller, and WWE officials are reportedly thrilled with the rollout of his return. He will reportedly receive new merchandise from the company, including pushes of every Funhouse character.
Because of the success that WWE had with the White Rabbit stuff, they will be looking to do similar content for future storylines if the time is right and fits the story.
It will be very interesting to see who WWE pairs Wyatt with in his first feud since returning.
The WWE NXT Halloween Havoc 2022 special took place on Saturday, October 22, 2022 from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Halloween Havoc Results
Wes Lee defeated Carmelo Hayes, Oro Mensah, Von Wagner, and Nathan Frazer to become the new NXT North American Champion.
Apollo Crews defeated Grayson Waller in a Casket Match.
Roxanne Perez defeated Cora Jade
Julius Creed defeated Damon Kemp in an Ambulance Match
Mandy Rose defeated Alba Fyreto to retain the NXT Women’s Championship.
NXT Champion Bron Breakker defeated Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Main Event
NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh in a triple threat match headlined the show.
The match was great.Dragunov hit coast to coast on JD and Bron. here was a spot where Bron hit a Frankensteiner to JD, who then was caught by Dragunov for a powerbomb. Dragunov hit a powerbomb to Bron for 2. JD with a 450 splash to Dragunov for a near fall. Dragunov with his finisher to Breakker, but JD broke it up. Breakker with a spear to Dragunov for the win.
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defended her title against Alba Fyre
The match was split in half as there was a pre-tape where Rose and Toxic Attraction arrived at a creepy house to look for Fyre, who took everyone out and put Rose in her SUV back to the Performance Center.
They kept the match short and while Fyre did get a near fall, the referee was taken out. Thanks to outside interference by Jayne and Dolin, Rose was able to retain the title with her running knee strike.
Grayson Waller vs. Apollo Crews in a Spin the Wheel, Make a Deal Match was booked. The stipulation was a casket match.
The match was interesting. Crews took him out on the floor with a back flip. Waller pushed Crews off the middle rope through a casket. The lights went out and Crews was out of the casket before he brought out the druids and they had a new casket. So the match was basically restarted.
Carmelo Hayes vs. Oro Mensah vs. Wes Lee vs. Von Wagner vs. Nathan Frazer battled it out in a ladder match for the vacant NXT North American Championship.
The match opened up the show. Everyone started brawling to start off the match. The ladders were introduced early. Nathan hit a drop kick off the top rope to knock Hayes off a ladder before Carter with a leg drop while using a ladder to Nathan. Frazer with a spanish fly from the middle rope onto a ladder with Hayes.Trick William pushed Oro off the ladder so Oro jumped off taking everyone out. Frazer with a frog splash off the top rope to Von on a ladder outside the ring. Von tossed Carter from the ring onto the announce table.Lee won the bout.
Roxanne Perez vs. Cora Jade had a Weapons Wild Match.
The match saw them use various weapons including chairs and trash cans. They both fell off a platform through a stack of tables. The finish saw hit a sunset flip powerbomb on the chairs for the win.
Damon Kemp vs. Julius Creed was booked in an ambulance match with the stipulation that if Julius lost, Brutus Creed would have to leave NXT.
The match saw them brawl all over the place and they used various weapons. Kemp put Creed in the ambulance, but held on and Kemp smashed the door on his hands several times. Creed hit him with a chair then powerbombed him through a stretcher for the win.
WWE NXT Champion Bron Breakker made his latest title defense in a triple threat match that served as the main event of this year’s Halloween Havoc event from Orlando, Florida. Breakker defended it against JD McDonagh and former NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov.
The match featured numerous memorable spots including when Dragunov hit coast to coast on McDonagh and Breakker. Breakker hit a Frankensteiner to McDonagh, who then was caught by Dragunov for a powerbomb.
Dragunov hit a powerbomb to Breakker for 2. McDonagh with a 450 splash to Dragunov for a near fall. Dragunov with his finisher to Breakker, but McDonagh broke it up. Breakker with a spear to Dragunov for the win.
The September 27th edition of NXT opened with Dragunov and McDonagh laying claim to being the next contender for the NXT Championship. Breakker came out to address them.
McDonagh suggested that Breakker and Dragunov face each other, with the winner facing him, but Bron didn’t like it so he came up with a triple threat match at Halloween Havoc, which was eventually confirmed.
This was after Dragunov made his return the previous week by confronting McDonagh after he won a number one contendership match, defeating Tyler Bate. Dragunov said he never lost the NXT UK Championship as he had to vacate it earlier in the summer due to injury and that’s why he wanted a title bout.
Alba Fyre wasn’t the person to step up and dethrone Mandy Rose as the NXT Women’s Champion in one of the top matches featured on the card of this year’s Halloween Havoc event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
Before the bout, Toxic Attraction went through a haunted house with Fyre taking out the group. The match did start in the ring though.
There was outside interference from Jayne and Dolin, but the bout was kept short. Fyre avoided a knee shot and hit her finisher, but the referee was out thanks to Dolin and Jayne, who took out Fyre on the floor and Rose hit her with a knee strike for the win.
Rose defeated Gonzalez to win the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc last year with the help of Dakota Kai. Rose’s previous title defense came against former NXT UK Women’s Champion Cora Jade on the February 8, 2021 edition of NXT 2.0.
Rose became the unified champion at NXT Worlds Collide when she beat NXT UK Champion Meiko Satomura and Blair Davenport in a triple threat match.
WWE crowned a new NXT North American Champion in the way of booking a ladder match at this year’s Halloween Havoc event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
Wes Lee ended up winning the bout. Also in the match included Von Wagner, Nathan Frazer, Carmelo Hayes, and Oro Mensah.
The match opened the show. Some memorable spots included Carter with a leg drop while using a ladder to Nathan.Frazer with a spanish fly from the middle rope onto a ladder with Hayes. Trick Williams pushed Oro off the ladder so Oro jumped off taking everyone out on the floor. Frazer hit a frog splash off the top rope to Von, who was placed on a ladder outside the ring. Von tossed Lee from the ring onto the announce table.
The title was vacated on the September 20th edition of NXT after the week prior where Sikoa, who made his main roster debut at Clash at the Castle, made a surprise appearance on NXT, by challenging Hayes after Hayes and Trick Williams laid out his original opponent, Wes Lee. An impromptu match was held, with Sikoa picking up the win. Shawn Michaels made Solo vacate the title.
Although Hayes wanted the title, Michaels booked a ladder match at this show instead. Hayes automatically qualified for the title match.
In his NXT debut under his new name, Mensah, formerly Oliver Carter, defeated Grayson Waller to advance followed by Lee. Von Wagner would be the fourth Superstar to join the fray after an emphatic qualifying victory over Andre Chase. Frazer defeated Axiom in their best of three series to earn the final spot in the ladder match.
News broke earlier this week that WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque had tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, he missed Monday Night Raw and NXT the following night.
WWE will present a live episode of SmackDown tonight, and fans have been wondering whether “The Game” will be back in time to run tonight’s show. PWinsider.com reports that Triple H “remains in WWE’s COVID-19 protocol” and will therefore be unable to be present at the show.
Health Update
(BT Sport)
Just like at Raw, Triple H continues to be in close contact with those helping creative in his absence.
Triple H is said to be feeling fine and is simply doing what’s required before he can return in person. The hope is that he will be able to come back to television next week, but that will depend on the test results. This would also mean that he will miss Saturday’s NXT Halloween Havoc special on Peacock.
This week’s SmackDown from Toledo, Ohio, will feature an appearance by Logan Paul as WWE continues to build to his Undisputed Universal Championship matchup with Roman Reigns at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, next month.
Chris Jericho isn’t going anywhere, as the former AEW World Champion signed a new deal with All Elite Wrestling this week. That new deal will see him be under contract with the promotion through December 2025. It also will see Jericho take on additional responsibilities as a producer and creative advisor.
Jericho originally signed with AEW in January 2019, putting pen to paper on a three-year deal with a two-year option reportedly for $3 million per year before AEW ever had a television deal.
Many, including Jericho, didn’t think he would work for another promotion besides WWE in America after two stints from 1999 until 2018.
WWE Interested in Jericho
In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that there was an expectation within WWE that Jericho would go back after his initial deal with AEW expired. Those in WWE believed Jericho would have one final run in WWE and be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at the end to cap off a great career.
Jericho maintained a good relationship with former WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon over the years. The Painmaker told his former boss about the offer from AEW in 2019.
The new deal with AEW will keep him under contract until he’s 55 years old, which may make Jericho’s chances of one more WWE run appear slim. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that Jericho received a raise that made his new deal “the biggest contract of his life.”
Despite having what was advertised as his retirement match, Ric Flair is still not closing the door on the idea of stepping back into the ring for one more match.
This past July, Flair partnered up with his son-in-law Andrade El Idolo and faced Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett in the main event of “Ric Flair’s Last Match” event during SummerSlam weekend at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium that Jim Crockett Promotions and Conrad Thompson presented.
During the match, Flair took some scary bumps and bled throughout it, which was something that he promised to do heading into the bout. Flair managed to finish without any serious injury.
Since then, Flair has teased getting back into the ring and regretting saying it would be his last match.
Ric Flair Not Ruling It Out
(via WWE)
While speaking to TMZ Sports, Flair was asked about returning to pro wrestling again and he made it clear that he does not rule out competing again.
“I don’t know,” Flair told us out in LA this week. “I’ve already promised [I was done] once. Right now, I’m not doing anything. But, never say never.”
The WWE Hall Of Famer responded to the recent comments made by Joe Rogan regarding his Figure Four Leglock submission finisher.
Ric Flair has responded to the recent comments made by popular podcaster and standup comedian Joe Rogan regarding his Figure Four Leglock submission finisher and threw out a challenge to him.
On a recent episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. The UFC commentator referred to the legendary move as “dumb” because the technique of the move doesn’t make sense when applied to real-life fighting.
Flair Fires Back
On Friday, in a post on Twitter, the legendary pro wrestler responded to Rogan and called for an appearance on his podcast so he could put him in the submission hold that helped him win many of his 16 world titles.
“@joerogan, You’re Getting A Lot Of Attention For Calling Me Out! The Only Way To Resolve This Is To Have Me On The Show. I’ll Put You In The Figure Four Leg Lock & We’ll See If You Can Take It! LFG! WOOOOO!”
Flair wrestled his final match at the “Ric Flair’s Last Match” event during SummerSlam weekend at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium that Jim Crockett Promotions and Conrad Thompson presented.
He teamed up with his son-in-law and AEW star Andrade El Idolo to beat Jeff Jarrett and AEW wrestler Jay Lethal in a tag team match.
WWE NXT’s Arianna Grace has provided an injury update after getting surgery to repair a knee injury.
Gace first revealed on October 13th that she suffered the injury that needed surgery with the following message on Twitter:
“Hey you guys!!!! Sadly, I’m injured and will have surgery next week. I’m going to do all I can to recover properly and come back stronger so I can get back to doing what I love, performing for all of YOU! I can’t wait to get back in the ring.”
Gace later thanked fans and fellow wrestlers for their support and well wishes following her announcement.
Arianna Grace’s Road to Recovery
WWE
Grace later revealed on TikTok that she had surgery due to a torn ACL and meniscus in her knee. In another TikTok video, she noted that she would miss in-ring action for nine months. “The Iron Princess” announced today that she underwent successful surgery this past Tuesday.
“Hey guys, surgery went well. Now is the hard part. Really difficult to move or even use my crutches without excruciating pain. Hoping it gets better soon,” Grace wrote via Twitter.
Gace had a WWE tryout last December and signed with the company to start training at the Performance Center earlier this year. She worked the inaugural NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament but fell short to Nikkita Lyons in the opening round. Her last match happened at the October 4 NXT Level Up taping, where she teamed with Kiana James against Fallon Henley & Sol Ruca.
Karl Anderson has commented on the situation where NJPW and WWE double-booked him on the same date.
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) made their returns to WWE to align with AJ Styles earlier this month despite working for NJPW as they weren’t under contract with the promotion. Instead, they had been working for NJPW on a handshake deal only. Anderson still has New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s NEVER Openweight Title.
The belief is that The Good Brothers will work their committed dates with NJPW through next January at Wrestle Kingdom 17. Anderson won the belt from Tama Tonga at Dominion.
His next title defense is scheduled for November 5th at NJPW Battle Autumn in Osaka against Hikuleo. WWE confirmed on Monday Night Raw that Gallows and Anderson are scheduled to team with Styles at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia against The Judgment Day.
Karl Anderson’s Address
The OC: AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Anderson shared a video on social media where he noted that he’ll defend the belt on his own time and will not be at Battle Autumn. Gallows added that all Karl’s bookings must go through him, and since New Japan did not clear it, Anderson will not be there.
WWE booked The Good Brothers on Tuesday’s NXT episode, where they tagged with Cameron Grimes and scored a win over The Schism (Joe Gacy, Jagger Reid & Rip Fowler).
As of this writing, NJPW is still advertising the NEVER Title match on its website for the upcoming November 5th event.
Bret Hart’s dislike of Bill Goldberg has been well-documented as his animosity stretches back to 1999’s Starrcade event where Goldberg nailed Hart with a thrust kick during their WCW World Heavyweight Championship match.
This was where Hart suffered a career-ending concussion. Hart has discussed his frustration with Goldberg ever since and has taken shots at him over the years.
Bret Hart on Goldberg
While participating in a K&S Wrestlefest signing, Hart noted that he thinks Goldberg should be removed from the WWE Hall Of Fame.
“I always thought that if Goldberg got into the Hall of Fame then Horowitz should’ve gone into the Hall of Fame. Horowitz can actually wrestle. Goldberg never could. I think he got in there for hurting everybody he worked with…They should [on being told that WWE should put Horowitz into the Hall of Fame]. They should take Goldberg out.”
Hart has previously stated that he wishes Goldberg had never kicked him in the head and doesn’t know how WWE could induct Goldberg into the Hall Of Fame for hurting as many wrestlers as he did.
Hart also lost money due to the concussion as he had signed a $3 million-a-year contract with WCW on top of the two years he had left on his original contract.
Goldberg has repeatedly apologized for what happened, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. While on The Michael Kay Show back in July, Goldberg stated that he had apologized over and over, but at some point, he questioned what else he could say for Hart to forgive him.
The October 18, 2022 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Rhea Ripley defeated Roxanne Perez
Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Channing Lorenzo
Alba Fyre defeated Sonya Deville
Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams defeated Wes Lee and Oro Mensah
The Good Brothers and Cameron Grimes defeated The Schism
Quincy Elliot defeated Xyon Quinn to become the co-host of Halloween Havoc.
Cora Jade defeated Raquel Rodriguez
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Final Build
NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh will headline Saturday’s Halloween Havoc.
On this show, WWE brought in Kevin Owens to be the moderator for an in-ring segment, which was the final segment. Owens called JD a creepy weirdo and he needs a shower just looking at JD.
JD said he’s been on his best behavior since he became #1 contender. He said that Bron was the one to spear Dragunov.
Dragunov said that at Worlds Collide, he knew Breakker is beatable. Dragunov said he will recapture the title that should’ve been his in the first place. Bron said that he’ll lose the title over his dead body.
Owens said that he appreciates the intensity, but he sees JD is trying to get them to tear each other apart and he can just walk away from the title. He said that they can’t let that happen.
A brawl broke out with Dragnunov standing tall. Austin Theory came out with the announcers speculating Theory has come home for the NXT Title.
The Schism (Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler, and Jagger Reid) vs. Cameron Grimes, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson.
Last week, Edris Enofe and Malik Blade are now the top contenders for the NXT Tag Team titles after Cameron Grimes attacked Joe Gacy and the rest of the Schism at ringside. Later, backstage, Gacy announced a three-on-one handicap match for the following week, claiming that Grimes had no allies. While it was true that he couldn’t trust anyone in NXT, Grimes reassured McKenzie Mitchell backstage that this didn’t apply to the entire WWE.
The match was kept short. Anderson hit a spinebuster, then tagged in Gallows and the two delivered Magic Killer for the win.
Alba Fyre vs. Sonya Deville was booked in a singles match.
Deville made an unexpected debut on last Tuesday’s NXT and attacked Fyre after she had defeated Jacy Jayne. When Jayne and Gigi Dolin joined the assault, they drove Fyre through a table. Deville later claimed that she and Mandy Rose remained friends and that they would take on Fyre during a backstage promo.
The match ended when Fyre pulled Dolin in front of her and Deville hits her with a knee and Fyre rolled her up for the win.
Post-match, Toxic Attraction jumped Frye. Rose came out and said she made the wrong decision by abducting her. She said she will be more callous and vicious at Halloween Havoc. Rose tried to attack Fyre, but Fytre stopped her and they had a staredown.
Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo vs. an opponent of Tony D’Angelo’s choosing, which ended up being Shinsuke Nakamura, took place.
Last week, D’Angelo met Stacks backstage and expressed disappointment in him for losing against Wes Lee. He promised to wrestle a chosen opponent on this show. Stacks pressed D’Angelo for information about his opponent, but he remained silent.
The match came to a close after Nakamura landed a kick to his head, then sent him to the outside with a Kinchasa. He tossed him back in the ring and delivered a second Kinshasa for the win.
Roxanne Perez vs. Cora Jade will take place in a weapons wild match at Halloween Havoc. Ahead of that show, Perez and Jade picked each other’s opponents.
Perez wrestled Rhea Ripley while Jade worked with Rodriguez.
Perez lost to Ripley in the opening segment. Judgment Day came out with Ripley. The finish saw Dominik Mysterio distract Perez from the outside, allowing Ripley to deliver a head butt and follow it up with Riptide for the win.
Jade vs. Rodriguez took place later in the night. Raquel hit Jade with her kendo stick multiple times and was DQ’d. Perez ran out and attacked Jade from behind. They brawled until Jade was laid out with the babyfaces standing tall.
Jon Moxley made his latest title defense of the AEW World Heavyweight Championship against Hangman Page in the main event of a special Tuesday edition of AEW Dynamite.
The match saw Moxley get busted open. At one point, Page hit a deadeye on the apron. The match ended early as Page suffered an injury. The match was called off when Moxley hit Page with a clotheslined. The doctor checked on him, and Moxley was awarded the win. Page was put on a stretcher and taken out of the ring. Moxley, cut a promo about how he hopes and prays that Page will be okay.
For those wondering, Page is legitimately injured and the match stoppage was not planned.
AEW set up the bout on the September 23rd edition of Rampage when they All held the Golden Ticket Battle Royal. It featured Hangman Page, Rush, The Butcher, The Blade, Dark Order, Private Party, Danhausen, Dante Martin, Penta El 0 M, Brian Cage, Ari Daivari, Lance Archer, Daniel Garcia, Cole Carter, Best Friends, Jake Hager, Dalton Castle, Lee Moriarty, Matt Hardy, and Jay Lethal.
The finish saw Page eliminate Rush. As a result of this win, Page earned the right to get a title shot on the October 18 edition of Dynamite.
Moxey became a three-time AEW World Heavyweight Champion by beating Bryan Danielson in the championship tournament finals. The tournament started due to CM Punk suffering an injury that needed to be surgically repaired and his involvement in the AEW All Out media scrum fight with The Elite. Ironically, Punk started his first AEW World Heavyweight Title by beating Hangman Page at Double Or Nothing, while he started his second reign by defeating Moxley at All Out.
Becky Lynch separated her shoulder during her match with Bianca Belair at WWE SummerSlam. The following night on Raw, she was attacked by Damage CTRL and hasn’t been on television since then.
It was previously reported that Lynch would be out of action for several months. However, there was speculation she could be close to a return after she was backstage at the October 3 episode of Raw in St Paul, Minnesota. That’s not the case, though.
The Latest on Becky
Fightful Select reported today that nobody within WWE confirmed that Becky would be returning to in-ring action soon and even stated that the company had not yet followed up with Lynch regarding a possible return at that point in time. Those within WWE say that she was never slated for a September return.
WWE officials had hoped that Lynch would be able to avoid needing surgery and that she would return after a few months in rehab. In early September, Lynch’s doctors and physical therapists believed that it would be at least a couple of months before she could return to the ring. As of this writing, there is no definitive timetable for her return.
People in WWE creative said they were hoping to have Lynch back by the end of the year, but that was not a guarantee and was them being optimistic that she wouldn’t have surgery.
The ratings war between AEW and WWE returns for one night only tonight (October 18, 2022) as AEW Dynamite and WWE NXT go head-to-head for the first time since WWE’s black, and gold brand moved to Tuesdays in April 2021.
The ratings war started in October 2019 when AEW got a television deal to air its flagship show on TNT. To counter-program the show, WWE inked a deal with the USA Network to air NXT in the same time slot.
That migration ended what fans called the Wednesday Night Wars. During that time, Dynamite bested NXT in viewership in every week except one.
While speaking with Sports Illustrated, AEW President Tony Khan emphasized that his promotion prioritizes being the highest-viewed wrestling program.
Tuesday Night War
(AEW)
“It’s important for us to be the most-watched wrestling show. We want to maintain the great audience we consistently have on Wednesdays and bring it to this one-time-only Tuesday special. We want to be the number-one wrestling show this week on Tuesday.”
Dynamite will feature four championship matches including Jon Moxley defending the World Title against Hangman Page.
“It’s ‘Title Tuesday,’ only the second time in Dynamite history we’ll have four title matches on the same show,” Khan said. “We’re going to deliver in a major way.”
WWE has also stacked their show as NXT will feature main roster stars like main roster stars such as Rhea Ripley, Raquel Rodriguez, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in matches as well as Kevin Owens in an in-ring segment.
