It looks like a new weekly ROH television show is close to becoming a reality following AEW President Tony Khan buying the promotion this past March.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Tuesday, Khan stated that there would soon be “great news” about weekly ROH shows. He noted that there will be one more ROH pay-per-view before the end of the year and plans to follow that up with a weekly show next year.
Tony Khan’s Plans
“We’ll have great news soon about Ring of Honor weekly shows,” Khan said. “The success of Death Before Dishonor on pay-per-view has ensured there will be more Ring of Honor pay-per-views. Our goal is to have one more great pay-per-view for Ring of Honor in 2022 and then follow that up with a weekly show in 2023.”
Although not confirmed, it’s likely ROH’s annual Final Battle event, which traditionally takes place in December, will be the event that Khan is talking about to close out the year.
Since Khan purchased ROH from Sinclair Broadcast Group this March, he has held two PPVs held since Khan bought the promotion.
Chris Jericho, the current ROH World Champion, has signed a three-year contract extension with AEW. Khan said in this interview with Sports Illustrated that he thinks 2022 has been one of the greatest years of Jericho’s career.
Although The Rock is a busy man with his acting career, running his businesses and relaunching the XFL next year, he has considered what being part of WWE would look like.
While speaking with BNN Bloomberg to promote the Black Adam film, The Rock was asked if he would be interested in making a strategic investment into WWE or taking on a corporate role in the company.
The Rock noted that he and WWE co-CEO Nick Khan has discussed that but isn’t sure if a board seat is in his future.
“Nick [Khan] and I have talked about that, and we always enjoy that over a bottle of Teremana [Johnson’s tequila brand]. I love the wrestling business. I grew up in it. My grandfather [and] my dad started here in Canada, where [his father] was born. So, I’m not quite too sure if a board seat is in my future, but possibly other things are in my future, for sure.”
The Rock on Potential WWE Sale
(WWE)
The topic of a potential WWE sale came up and he thinks if Vince McMahon did ever decide to sell the company, then it needs to be purchased by someone who loves pro wrestling.
“I’ve known Vince for a very, very long time and he’s a businessman. I think the key if there were a sale of the WWE is to make sure that whoever acquires that brand in that property, you’ve got to love the wrestling business. Of course, you can love the asset, and you can love everything that comes with it, but you got to love the professional wrestling business … because if not, then you could kind of see the writing on the wall; four or five years down the road, what will happen?”
The Rock has been friends with Khan and Khan’s sister, Nahnatchka, who is the creator of his “Young Rock” series on NBC, since they were children.
Ric Flair has commented on a potential Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair bout.
Flair is high on his daughter and her in-ring ability, especially her athleticism, as he has called her the best female wrestler of all time. Flair does put Bianca Belair in the same category as Charlotte for her athleticism.
While speaking on his To Be The Man podcast, Flair said he would love to see a showdown between the two. He thinks it could be as big as Steve Austin vs. The Rock.
Ric Flair on The Match
(via WWE)
“I have no inclination as to whether or not this will happen, but I think if Ashley [Charlotte Flair] wrestles Bianca Belair at WrestleMania, it’ll be as big as Austin and Rock if they build it right. They are the two best athletes ever, that I’ve seen in my career, to ever be in the same women’s division. There are some other great workers, but for pure athletic ability, Bianca Belair and Ashley stand out. They could be the two best athletes in the company. I’m not kidding. Both are legitimate Division 1 athletes with credentials.”
During her time at Tennessee as a track and field athlete, Belair was All-SEC and All-American.
Belair is the reigning WWE Raw Women’s Champion, while Charlotte hasn’t been on WWE TV since losing the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship to Ronda Rousey at WWE WrestleMania Backlash.
The Rock and Austin worked three WrestleMania events – WrestleMania 15, WrestleMania 17, and WrestleMania 19.
Dean Muhtadi, formerly known as Mojo Rawley from his time in WWE, is now a married match.
He got hitched in Italy, according to a TMZ story. Muhtadi also shared photos on his Instagram stories. He tied the knot with his lovely girlfriend, Gracie, at Villa Cora in Florence.
The Big Day
Mojo Rawley (Photo: WWE)
Mojo and Gracie’s closest friends and family were in attendance for the festivities. They had a big entrance at the reception. To show how happy he was, he danced and threw some kicks.
Rawley wore an all-white tux for his big day while his bride sported a white dress. The couple has been together for a few years and got engaged in February.
In 2012, WWE signed him, where he first worked in NXT and later formed a tag team with Zach Ryder. Despite finding some success, they were split up after a run on the main roster. Rawley won the Andre the Giant Memorial Trophy in 2017 and also appeared at WrestleMania 36 alongside his real-life friend Rob Gronkowski, who was the show host.
Rawley was released in April 2021 alongside several other wrestlers. He has co-hosted TMZ sports and was part of the “Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins” movie since the departure.
WWE NXT stars Cora Jade and Cameron Grimes made their first appearance on Monday Night Raw this week.
Jade was seen in a backstage segment with The Judgment Day (Rhea Ripley, Finn Balor, Damian Priest, and Dominik Mysterio). Balor asked Ripley if she had everything under control and Ripley said she had it then the men left the arena.
Jade said she couldn’t come up with anyone as ruthless and dominating to face Roxanne Perez. Ripley recalled Jade and Perez being former tag team partners, before stating that she and Raquel Rodriguez were once partners. Ripley agreed to face Perez on Tuesday’s NXT.
Perez and Jade are slated to meet in a weapons wild match at this Saturday’s Halloween Havoc special. Before then, Perez and Jade are choosing each other’s opponents in a ‘Pick Your Poison’ stipulation to further build up the match.
Later in the show, Cameron Grimes showed up for a backstage segment with AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and AJ Styles where he asked for them to be his tag team partners against The Schism (Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler, and Jagger Reid) on Tuesday’s NXT. They agreed.
WWE NXT specials could soon be hosted outside the WWE Performance Center.
WWE presents its Halloween Havoc special this Saturday night. To promote the event, WWE’s senior vice president of talent development creative, Shawn Michaels, recently spoke to TV Insider.
During the interview, he was asked about the possibility of holding NXT events in traditional arenas and away from the training facility.
“Absolutely. As you mentioned, we started with the Florida loop, or the coconut loop, as we call them. We’ve briefly discussed getting out for our premium live events,” Michaels responded. “Do we want to do that at the end of the year or start at the beginning of the new year? We had Stand & Deliver for WrestleMania weekend, which is the first time many of our talents were out of the Performance Center.”
Back to Touring
(WWE)
At its peak, NXT would tour nationally for house shows and specials. The NXT brand resumed touring in Florida back in June for the first time since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started.
“It’s certainly something we want to get back to. We have every intention of doing that. We’re actually having talks on how we want to go about executing that. This will go beyond shows in the state of Florida for certainly premium live events but regular live events. As you know, that is part of the developmental process. They have to get out there and perform on the main roster all around the world. They might as well get their feet wet in NXT.”
NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. JD McDonagh will headline Saturday’s Halloween Havoc.
The second bout has been announced for WWE Crown Jewel, and it’s a big one as Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will work their first premium live event since returning to the company.
On Monday’s Raw, Gallows and Anderson make their in-ring returns with a win over Alpha Academy. After the match, The Judgment Day interrupted to set up AJ Styles vs. Dominik Mysterio later in the night. Finn Balor reminded everyone how he started “this club” and promised to end them as well, so he challenged The O.C. to a six-man tag team match at Crown Jewel, and Styles accepted.
Anderson’s Other Match on November 5th
The OC: AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Anderson is still the NEVER Openweight Champion in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It was previously reported that WWE would allow Anderson and Gallows to continue fulfilling their agreed bookings with NJPW, all the way up through Wrestle Kingdom in January.
Anderson is already booked to defend his title against Hikuleo in Osaka, Japan, at New Japan’s Battle Autumn event on the same day sas Crown Jewel – November 5th.
A direct flight between the two cities clocks in at under 14 hours. By the time Crown Jewel starts locally in Riyadh, it will already be 1 a.m. in Japan.
Bobby Lashley has been in great shape for the majority of his life and throughout his pro wrestling career, he has been considered one of the best physique guys in the business.
However, Lashley was willing to go the extra mile for a storyline pitch he had for Vince McMahon when he was still in charge of creative before he resigned.
During his appearance on the NotSam Wrestling podcast, Lashley wanted to gain a bunch of weight after being unbeaten as WWE Champion and have MVP bring him back from depression to be a top star again.
“I told Vince a year ago, I think a year or two ago, I told him, ‘I want to do this character.’ He said, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘If I get beat one time, I want to go into the severe depression and put on like 40, 50, 60, or 70 pounds and just be fat, and then be a completely different character and then have like somebody like an MVP, or somebody that’s on my side, kind of like, pull me back and then have the crowd watch his transition back to me.’ He said, ‘There’s no way you can do that.’ I said, ‘Man, I think I can.’”
Last week on Monday Night Raw, Lashley lost the United States Title to Seth Rollins after being attacked by a returning Brock Lesnar. This week on Raw, Lashley has called for a confrontation with Lesnar.
Listen to Lashley’s appearance on Sam Roberts’ Notsam Wrestling Podcast:
A Brock Lesnar appearance and a United States Title match have been announced for Monday’s episode of WWE Raw.
WWE announced during Friday’s SmackDown that Lesnar would be appearing on the show, which will be held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Another announcement made was newly crowned United States Champion Seth Rollins will be defending the title against Matt Riddle.
Lesnar’s WWE TV Return
(via WWE)
Lesnar made his return on this week’s episode of Raw, his first appearance since SummerSlam, where he attacked Bobby Lashley with two F5’s and a kimura. Lashley went forward with defending the United States Title against Rollins right after the attack. Lashley stated in a backstage interview that he wanted Lesnar and challenged him to return next Monday.
Riddle and Rollins have been feuding for the last few weeks as Rollins defeated Riddle at Clash at the Castle last month. However, Riddle got his revenge by defeating Rollins at Extreme Rules in a Fight Pit match, with Daniel Cormier serving as the special guest referee this past Saturday night.
Here is the lineup so far for Monday’s Raw:
United States Championship Match: Seth Rollins vs. Matt Riddle
The Miz vs. Dexter Lumis – if Lumis wins, he earns a WWE contract
WWE star Finn Balor has given high praise to Chris Jericho.
After signing with WWE in 2014, Balor has crossed paths with a who’s who of the industry’s best wrestlers, such as John Cena, Roman Reigns, and even several wrestlers who are AEW stars. Chris Jericho received high praise from the former WWE Universal Champion.
Finn Balor Praises Chris Jericho
While speaking with Josh Martinez of the Superstar Crossover podcast, Balor discussed Jericho’s legacy in the pro wrestling business after a pre-recorded prompt from the current ROH World Heavyweight Champion.
“Chris Jericho is not only an AEW legend, not only a WWE legend, or a Japanese wrestling legend. He’s a legend of this business. He’s an incredible performer. He’s been able to adapt and change his character to suit multiple generations, and I feel like he is a treasure of this industry.”
Balor and Jericho previously faced each other in WWE and share a similar pro wrestling journey with experience working in Japan.
Jericho recently successfully retained the title against Bryan Danielson on the October 12 edition of AEW Dynamite. On the flip side, Balor is coming off a win over Edge in an I Quit Match at Extreme Rules on October 8.
The only title change to happen at last Saturday’s WWE Extreme Rules event from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, saw Liv Morgan drop the SmackDown Women’s Title.
Up and down the card were grudge matches, and one other title match – Bianca Belair put the Raw Women’s Title on the line in a Ladder Match against Bayley.
Morgan defended the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Ronda Rousey in an Extreme Rules Match, but Rousey walked away with the title, ending Morgan’s reign after 98 days.
The Reason
(WWE)
Following the event, it was reported that Rousey was officially listed as a heel within WWE. Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the long-planned heel turn was the reason why Rousey won back the title at Extreme Rules.
This heel turn could be linked to WWE’s plans for next year, as when Vince McMahon was still in charge, he wanted to have The Baddest Woman on the Planet face Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles.
With Triple H in charge, the match could still be on the cards. Lynch is now a babyface, meaning Rousey would likely have to be a heel for the match or they could do a babyface vs. babyface match.
The UFC is connected to pro wrestling as it has elements of the drama that wrestling uses for its storylines. In wrestling, the storylines are scripted, while in MMA, the promotion uses storylines from real life to promote its fights.
Since 2020 when WWE began releasing wrestlers, on-air talent, employees, and production staff, rumors of WWE potentially selling the company ramped up.
Many fans have speculated that Vince McMahon made Nick Khan the President & Chief Revenue Officer of WWE after he helped negotiate its US television rights deal with NBCUniversal and FOX, to prepare the company for a sale. Key figures, including Khan, Vince McMahon, and Stephanie McMahon, have publicly stated that they’re open to hearing an offer regarding a sale.
Endeavor President Speaks
On Thursday, Endeavor President Mark Shapiro appeared on Matthew Belloni’s The Town podcast and expressed interest in buying WWE. He also spoke highly of Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel’s relationship with WWE, Khan, Vince, Stephanie, and others.
“That would be something that would be interesting and worth exploring,” said Shaprio. “Would we buy it? Who knows? Last I checked, it wasn’t for sale. “We’re interested in anything in the owned sports properties segment.”
Endeavor closed a deal to obtain a controlling interest in the UFC back in 2016 for just over $4 billion. WWE’s current market cap is estimated to be $5.63 billion.
With WWE’s US TV rights renewal coming up in approximately mid-2023, a potential buyer might think the time is right to buy the company as WWE has been able to get higher increases each deal for its rights.
Currently, FOX has the broadcasting rights to Friday Night SmackDown, while NBCUniversal hosts Monday Night Raw. Both television deals will be up at the end of 2024.
The AEW All Out media scrum is one of the most talked about press conferences in the history of the wrestling business.
CM Punk ripped Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks. The former AEW World Heavyweight Champion was involved in a backstage brawl with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Ace Steel was also part of the brawl.
No Timetable
A third-party investigation into the brawl was started and is still going on. Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there is still no timetable for the investigation to be concluded.
Meltzer stated that none of the five (Punk, Young Bucks, Steel, and Omega) have heard anything from AEW but are continuing to get paid.
At least one person (not one of the five) who was there had not been interviewed, and there may be others. It was said that most are frustrated because they want to be back working at this point. Punk may be the exception to that belief since he can’t work for a long time due to getting surgery.
Meltzer continued by noting that none of the five stars are allowed to speak, but several of them want to discuss the incident.
“Any rumors of anyone being fired, anyone being told they aren’t coming back, or anything like that are incorrect as of midweek at least. None have been given any impression of a timetable.”
Fans can expect to see Charlotte Flair back on WWE television soon.
The daughter of WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair has been used as a top star since her main roster debut in 2015, where she has gone on to hold multiple championships. Now, it is time for The Queen to return to her kingdom.
Flair last wrestled at WrestleMania Backlash on May 8 in an I Quit match against Ronda Rousey. She lost the match, and WWE did an injury angle where they announced that she broke her left arm based on the finish. This was done to write her off television as she was getting married to AEW star Andrade this past summer.
Flair Returning Soon
(via WWE)
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Flair may be on her way to return soon as Dave Meltzer wrote, “Charlotte Flair is scheduled to return soon.”
Flair is one of the biggest names in the business right now and a draw for the company. Andrade mentioned in an interview before his AEW suspension due to a brawl with Sammy Guevara that Flair was away from WWE due to personal reasons.
Almost a week after returning to WWE at Extreme Rules, Bray Wyatt will kick off his WWE return storyline tonight on Friday Night SmackDown. There is a lot of speculation about who will be revealed as part of his Wyatt 6 stable.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there are long-term plans for the group that leads up to WrestleMania. No other details are available, but there has been a lot of speculation that Joe Gacy is Huskus, Grayson Waller is Mercy the Buzzard, and Alexa Bliss is Sister Abigail. That’s not confirmed.
The Members
The speculation about Joe Gacy was fueled by him posting rabbits on social media, while speculation about Bliss is due to her being presented as someone who has lost her edge since Wyatt has been gone.
The Sister Abigail character had a pair of WWE Women’s Titles shown next to her at Extreme Rules, while The Mercy character is the same height and build as Waller. He also wore a shirt that Waller had previously worn on television.
Finally, the Ramblin Rabbit is rumored to be Erick Rowan, who was part of The Wyatt Family, and The Fiend is Taylor Rotunda (Bo Dallas), Wyatt’s brother.
Meltzer added, “Others internally have said some of those are believed to be accurate but said things are up in the air, mentioning others could be part of it, mentioning The Dyad, in particular, are possible, and other names listed are not sure things. While obviously, this won’t happen, there was talk of Aleister Black for this group.”
Black is instead expected back in AEW at some point.
Former WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon and former Talent Relations head John Laurinaitis passed on renewing Saraya’s contract when it expired.
Fightful Select has a new report regarding the WWE departure of Saraya, formerly known as Paige. When she was informed of the news that WWE wasn’t going to re-sign her, she went public with her statement. Saraya’s WWE contract was surprisingly low, and many of her outside projects were restricted to some degree.
It was said that while Saraya was on the shelf for the majority of the last five years, there were “some confusing messages sent regarding about her physical status, ability to wrestle, and the way that things went down.”
WWE’s Offer
(AEW)
The new WWE regime did offer her the role of General Manager a month after her deal was not renewed. When the regime made that offer, she was told that if she ever wanted to return to in-ring action, the company would help make that happen. There had been rumors of WWE getting Saraya multiple doctors to get her medically cleared, but this report dismissed it and said WWE didn’t go to the extent of getting her checked out for an in-ring return.
Instead, Saraya went through three extensive health checks herself to gain clearance. WWE reportedly was not interested in bringing Saraya back before the new regime. Also, that regime wouldn’t sign off on X-rays to have her examined. The case of her wrestling again was said to be closed as far as the old regime was concerned.
When Triple H took over, his regime did make efforts to get Saraya back into the mix, as there is a positive relationship between the two sides. Triple H was reportedly said to be shocked when the old regime did not renew Saraya’s deal.
Ultimately the freedom to do outside projects without giving up a cut in pay, and other contract terms, led to Saraya going with AEW instead of returning to WWE.
Shawn Michaels had the chance to work for Vince McMahon as both an in-ring wrestler and someone working in creative in WWE.
That all changed when McMahon resigned from his duties as Chairman and CEO of WWE amid the WWE Board investigating him for alleged sexual misconduct and hush money.
WWE later confirmed that from 2006 through 2022 (including amounts paid and payable in the future totaling $14.6 million), funds were not appropriately recorded as expenses in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.
Also, WWE identified two additional payments totaling $5.0 million, unrelated to the alleged misconduct by McMahon that led to the investigation from 2007 and 2009, that were not appropriately recorded as expenses in the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.
Shawn Michaels on Vince McMahon’s Departure
While speaking on The MMA Hour about NXT, where he oversees creative for the brand, Michaels was asked if he ever envisioned a day that McMahon would not be running WWE:
“No. You can talk about it, but I never envisioned the time when Vince wasn’t there running stuff. All of us who have known him and worked with him for as long as we have, everyone knows, and I mean this lovingly, but he wanted to pass at his desk. That’s who he is. That’s how he’s built. I had every reason to believe that’s exactly what he was going to do. He always made jokes that, ‘If I die at Gorilla position, the show has to go on. Don’t move me. We got to get to seg 10 and 11 and finish the show.” You can talk about it, again, there’s lots of big talk in our line of work, but very rarely you see it get delivered on, but he’s always done what he’s felt was best for business.”
Following Vince’s departure, Triple H took over creative for the main roster while Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan were named co-CEOs.
Warner Bros. Discovery continues to be happy with the television ratings of AEW.
Since the merger in April, there has been a lot of synergy between AEW and WBD with multiple events having WBD branding and the company sending out press releases touting AEW ratings.
Currently, AEW Dynamite airs every Wednesday night on TBS, while AEW Rampage airs every Friday night on TNT. Four Battle of the Belts specials also air throughout the year.
Warner Bros. Discovery Happy With AEW
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Kathleen Finch, Warner Bros. Discovery US Networks Group chair and chief content officer, discussed how TNT and TBS can maintain a male audience over time.
“We really play in the sports space. One of the things that we’re doing around sports is creating shoulder programming to hold onto those fans. AEW [All Elite Wrestling] pulls huge numbers, so we are working with the wrestling team to figure out what new kind of content can we build that’s not in a wrestling ring,” she said.
TNT previously aired “Rhodes To The Top,” a reality show starring Cody & Brandi Rhodes before the married couple left All Elite Wrestling earlier this year.
Triple H isn’t done with bringing back former WWE stars who were released under the Vince McMahon regime.
According to a report by WrestleVotes, WWE is interested in bringing back Chelsea Green, who was among the names to be released by the company last year because of “budget cuts.”
Chelsea Green Returning?
Chelsea Green
Her departure happened shortly after she was moved from the main roster to NXT. Should she return to the company, she will likely re-debuting on the main roster. WrestleVotes tweeted the following about Green:
“I’m told another name WWE has significant interest in bringing back is Chelsea Green. I would think if a deal is offered, it’s for the main roster. Time will tell.”
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. Cardona has been able to draw money for several promotions since his WWE departure as he has reinvented himself with a more serious gimmick, unlike the comedy character he had in WWE.
While away from WWE, Green made a surprise debut at Ring of Honor’s Best in the World pay-per-view event last July before returning to Impact Wrestling.
Enofe and Blade defeated The Dyad and Briggs and Jensen
Alba Fyre defeated Jacy Jayne
Wes Lee defeated Stacks
Kiana James defeated Thea Hail
Ilja Dragunov defeated Grayson Waller
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Malik Blade & Edris Enofe vs. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. The Dyad
Malik Blade & Edris Enofe vs. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. The Dyad
The next challengers for Pretty Deadly’s NXT Tag Team titles were determined on this show when WWE booked a triple threat number one contender’s tag team match with Malik Blade & Edris Enofe, Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen, and The Dyad (Rip Fowler & Jagger Reid).
Last week’s NXT ended with Pretty Deadly being confronted by Blade & Enofe and Briggs & Jensen after they retained their titles against The Brawling Brutes (Ridge Holland & Butch) in the main event.
Grimes tripped up Fowler to prevent Ticket to Mayhem. Enofe rolled up Reid for the win.
NXT North American Championship Ladder Match Qualifier
Axiom vs. Nathan Frazer in an NXT North American Championship Ladder Match Qualifier took place. Fazer went over with his finisher to advance and win the best-of-three series. It was a great match.
This was the final edition of the best-of-three series between them as both wrestlers in the series has one victory. The winner is eligible to compete in Halloween Havoc’s North American Championship ladder match.
WWE NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Javier Bernal in a non-title bout took place.
On this week’s show, Bernal interrupted a backstage interview with Breakker, setting up the match. On October 22, at Halloween Havoc, Breakker will defend the NXT championship against Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh in a triple threat match.
After the match, all three top stars got into a brawl to further build up their match.
Alba Fyre wrestled Jacy Jayne in a singles match on the show.
Last week, a six-woman tag match with Toxic Attraction facing Alba Fyre, Nikkita Lyons & Zoey Stark was booked, but didn’t take place. Toxic Attraction arrived in a SUV, and they were attacked with a baseball bat by Fyre, who sped away with NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose in it. On this same show, Gigi Dolin & Jayne fell short in their NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles No. 1 Contenders’ Match against Zoey Stark & Nikkita Lyons.
Fyre hit Jayne with a kick and Gory Bomb for the victory. Following the bout, Fyre was grabbed and hit by an individual in a black hoodie who was revealed to be Sonya Deville. Fyre was taken out by Deville, Jayne and Gigi Dolin. They delivered a powerbomb to her through the announce table. In a backstage interview, Sonya stated that she would confront Fyre in the ring next week, but if Fyre did so, she wouldn’t make it to Halloween Havoc.
Fyre will challenge Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc on October 22.
Bray Wyatt made his expected return to WWE this past Saturday at the Extreme Rules premium live event, and now he is moving forward to what’s next.
Wyatt is reportedly set to work on the WWE SmackDown brand moving forward, according to Pwinsider.com. The outlet noted that as of last word, Wyatt is only scheduled for appearances on SmackDown, although it’s possible that this could change.
Bray Wyatt Part of SmackDown
(WWE)
It should be noted that the official WWE roster still has Wyatt listed as an Alumni Superstar, but that should change soon. As of this writing, WWE has yet to add him to Raw or SmackDown on the official WWE website roster.
WWE has already announced him for Friday’s SmackDown from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA. The teaser video for SmackDown sks what Wyatt has in store for his return to the blue brand, which will mark his SmackDown appearance since The Fiend defeated Kevin Owens in the main event of the October 9, 2020, Draft edition of SmackDown.
Wyatt didn’t appear in front of the live fans on Monday Night Raw in Brooklyn. It’s unclear whether he will appear live in front of the crowd at SmackDown, but the WWE Events website has Wyatt listed along with other Superstars booked to appear live, indicating that he will be there in the ring.
Mustafa Ali shared an interesting video on Youtube where he declared that he is “done” and expressed his frustrations. Ali stated he is not going to allow anyone to keep him down.
On Twitter, Ali tagged Joey Maloney, who is the Director of WWE Network documentaries. It’s possible that he did the video with WWE’s approval and it’s part of a push he is getting from the company. Ali said the following in the video:
Mustafa Ali’s Declaration
(via WWE)
“I heard something the other day and it really hit me and it goes. ‘if I always do what I’ve always done then I’ll always be where I’ve always been.’ And the reason that hit me is because I’m done. I’m done being here. I’m done being where I’ve always been. Everyone keeps asking me why did I pick a fight with Bobby Lashley? Why don’t I just stay down? And listen, as complicated as it gets up over here I promise you the answer is simple. it’s just done. I am done standing in line and waiting for my number to get called. A number that we all know was never gonna get called in the first place. I’m done being the victim.”
Ali continued, “I’m done blaming other people. I am done complaining about what I don’t have. I’m done not fighting. I’m done with it. I got a fight, it is on me! This is World War me. And yes, sure there might be someone in front of me. Someone slamming the door in my face but it’s on me to kick that door down. It’s always been on me. Every night I used to pray to God. I used to pray to God to please calm my mind and heal my heart and to please please let my dreams come true. But now I realize even that’s too much I’m asking. You see for my dreams to come true I gotta be a little insane. I have to go through the pain. Now the only thing that I ask from God is to wake me up because I gotta handle the rest. I’m gonna handle the rest. So to everyone in that locker room, the next time you lock eyes with me, brother – It is not just an opponent that you are staring at. You are staring at a problem! Realize that you are facing a man that is willing to die before he lets his own dreams die. Go ahead. Knock me down. I promise you. I promise you you’re not going to keep me down.”
Ali was off TV for several months late last year and in early 2022 after a dispute with Vince McMahon over creative for his character. He returned to television in April, but the company hasn’t done much with him besides working Main Event episodes.
MLW CEO Court Bauer has announced a partnership with Pro Wrestling TV that will kick off in November after teasing for months that a new deal was coming, which had been holding up new episodes of MLW Fusion
The news was announced on SI.com Tuesday. MLW’s official streaming home will be on the free service and starts on Thursday, November 3rd, with Battle Riot IV. This is MLW’s June event that has yet to be aired anywhere.
MLW’s Programming Schedule
MLW Blood & Thunder (Photo: Ho Ho Lun)
According to their website, MLW Fusion will debut on PWTV on Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern. Fusion will continue to air on BeIN Sports on Saturdays as their linear partner, but it’s unknown if YouTube, where Fusion used to debut, will also continue to air during the week.
PWTV already broadcasts AAA, Control Your Narrative, and other indie promotions, airing 24/7. MLW’s entire catalog of shows will be available on PWTV in the future.
MLW hasn’t aired a new episode of Fusion since July. Once matches from Battle Riot IV air, MLW will transition to matches taped in September (Super Series) and then to this month’s Fightland TV taping.
Aliyah has confirmed that she suffered rib and shoulder injuries last month.
The former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion posted an injury update on Tuesday via Instagram. She revealed she suffered rib and shoulder injuries last month. The injuries are an elevated first rib and AC sprain on the September 12 episode of Raw, where she and Raquel Rodriguez lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles to Damage CTRL’s Dakota Kai & IYO SKY.
Aliyah mentioned she doesn’t know when she will return to action, but she can’t wait to get back in the ring.
Aliyah’s Statement
“It’s been a month so here I go straight from the horses mouth: I have to say my last match was probably one of my most favorite. And I would like to thank my tag partner Raquel and Damage CTRL And everyone involved. Yes I got injured mid match, however I have this overwhelming gratitude towards the incident because I felt like it pulled out a version of me that I never even knew existed. ‘Keep going!’ I remember thinking. ‘I never get opportunities like this one’ another voice in my head screamed. So idc I’m going to keep going and keep showing out. The emotions and energy I was feeling in the moment truly lit me up inside and I felt INDESTRUCTIBLE in that moment (yes, with an elevated first rib and ac sprain and all.) I am very grateful to get to do what I do and I hope my passion and efforts transcended thru your television screen.
I don’t know what the future holds or when I’ll be back. But I just want to say thank you for everyone that has reached out. I really can’t wait to get back in the ring.”
Aliyah and Rodriguez became the Women’s Tag Team Champions when they won the tournament to crown new champs after Sasha Banks and Naomi were stripped of the titles when they walked out. Aliyah & Rodriguez held the titles for 14 days before losing them.
Posted October 11th, 2022 in News, WWE. Tagged: Aliyah.
Seth Rollins has dethroned Bobby Lashley as the WWE United States Champion.
On Monday’s episode of WWE Raw, Rollins was supposed to challenge Lashley for the title. However, before he did, Brock Lesnar made his return and attacked Lashley by hitting him with a few F5s and locking in the kimura submission hold.
Lashley was being helped from ringside by some referees when Rollins walked out, got into the ring to cut a promo in typical heel fashion, and talked down to Lashley as a way to try to fire him up and accept the match despite being injured.
Seth Rollins is a Champion Again
Lashley bit on the bait and accepted the match. Rollins managed to get some near falls with a pedigree and a frog splash off the top rope. WWE kept Lashley strong and had him connect with a few moves before Rollins laid him out with the stomp to become the new champion.
Rollins just lost to Matt Riddle in the Fight Pit Match at Saturday’s Extreme Rules, with UFC Legend Daniel Cormier serving as the special guest referee.
