Shelton Benjamin is not happy with his current position on Smackdown. Benjamin had been paired with Chad Gable earlier this year on the brand but that changed when Gable was moved to Raw.
The former member of Suzuki-Gun sent out the following message on Twitter directed at Smackdown General Manager, Paige.
I Am a warrior I am a competitor & I am DAMN GOOD! Yet I have not had a match on #SmackDownLIVE in months. I’m here to compete I thrive on competition @RealPaigeWWE Its time you Got me off the bench & LET ME FIGHT!
“I Am a warrior I am a competitor & I am DAMN GOOD! Yet I have not had a match on #SmackDownLIVE in months. I’m here to compete I thrive on competition @RealPaigeWWE Its time you Got me off the bench & LET ME FIGHT!”
Shelton Benjamin On Smackdown
The 43-year-old Benjamin returned to WWE in August of 2017. Aside from teaming with Gable, he hasn’t really done much. He did appear on the Mae Young Classic recently as a supporter for Mia Yim.
He spoke to ESPN earlier this year and talked about how when he and Charlie Haas were first beginning in WWE, they learned a lot from the Guerreros.
“For the first eight months, we were working with Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, and they would hide from us during the live events,” Benjamin said to ESPN. “They didn’t want to call matches because that was old school, and that was how they came up.”
Cesaro and Chris Hero used to collectively be known as “the Kings of Wrestling.” Last night, Cesaro showed up at an NXT house show and the team reunited if only for a moment.
Kassius Ohno was wrestling Adam Cole when the Undisputed Era ran in. Cesaro showed up to help his old tag-team partner against the faction.
NXT’s house show last night was in Casselberry, Florida
Cesaro & Kassius Ohno – The Kings of Wrestling
Kassius Ohno and Cesaro were a tag-team from 2005-2011. They are 2x former Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, former CZW tag champs, Chikara tag champs, and JCW tag-team champs. Additionally, Cesaro won the PWG Championship while a member of the team.
The team briefly reunited when they were both in NXT together in 2012.
NXT House Show
September 28th, 2018
Engelwood Neighborhood Center
Jessie Elaban won an NXT UK Women’s #1 Contender Battle Royal
Tony Nese defeated Stacey Ervin Jr.
Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan defeated Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar
Cezar Bononi defeated Boa
Lars Sullivan defeated Keith Lee
The Street Profits defeated The Forgotten Sons
NXT UK Women’s Championship
Rhea Ripley (c) defeated Jessie Elaban
Death Before Dishonor
September 28th
Orleans Arena
Las Vegas, Nevada
1. Kenny King defeated Jushin Liger
Liger appeared to suffer a back injury and it looked as though he wouldn’t be able to continue. As the ref was checking on Liger, King started to lead the crowd in chants for Liger. He then reached out to shake Liger’s hand but then gave him a spinebuster instead. King then covered him and got the pin.
As King was leaving he thanked Austin Aries and said he now “gets it.” Basically, he learned he should cheat from his rivalry with Austin Aries.
2. ROH World Tag Team Championships
The Briscoes (c) defeated SCU (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) w/Scorpio Sky
The Briscoes improved to 4-0 against Daniels and Kazarian when Jay pinned Daniels after multiple Jay Drillers.
The commentary team talked about how with the Addiction’s expiring contracts, they’ll need to win titles or Joe Koff won’t re-sign them.
3. WOH Championship
Sumie Sakai (c) defeated Tenille Dashwood
Dashwood came into the match with her shoulder heavily bandaged. She started favoring it after hitting Sakai with a punch midway through the match. Dashwood kicked out of Smash Mouth but ultimately tapped to an armbar from the champion.
Later in the show, Dashwood was shown beat up in the back and favoring her arm even further.
4. ROH TV Title
Punishment Martinez (c) defeated Chris Sabin
Sabin got a few near falls but ultimately Martinez retained the title with a South of Heaven Choke-Slam.
After the match, Martinez kept up the attack on Sabin. This led to Jeff Cobb making the save. Martinez looked like he was going to leave without incident but then attacked Cobb with a chair. Cobb then gave him a suplex and stood tall in the ring to end the segment.
5. Tables Match (Elimination Rules)
Bully Ray and Silas Young defeated Flip Gordon and Colt Cabana
Cabana was eliminated via powerbomb through the announce table for the first elimination. Bully then eliminated himself when he missed an attack on Flip Gordon. There was a ref bump and then Flip came off the top rope and put Silas through a table. Since the ref didn’t see it though, Bully made it look like it was Flip who went through the table and the ref called for the bell when he came to. Bully then continued to whip Flip with a chain after the match was over.
6. Cody, Marty Scurll, Adam Page, and the Young Bucks (Bullet Club) defeated Kazuchika Okada, Chuck T, Beretta, Rocky Romero, and Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS)
Nick Aldis provided guest commentary for the match. While doing so he announced that his NWA title rematch with Cody will be contested under best 2 out of 3 rules.
This was a crazy 10-man but eventually, Marty Scurll was able to make Rocky Romero tap to the Chickenwing for the victory.
After the match, Cody joined the commentary team and said he accepts the best 2 out of 3 falls stipulation.
7. ROH World Championship
Jay Lethal (c) defeated Will Ospreay
Ospreay came into this match after gaining 20lbs. Riccaboni said Ospreay said the weight gain has made him a better wrestler. The commentary team mentioned how serious he looked in comparison to his usual fun-loving demeanor.
Lethal kicked out of the Oscutter and got the victory with Lethal Injection. The victory is Lethal’s 4th successful title defense since winning the title 91 days ago. It’s his second reign as champion. Lethal is now just over 4 months away from passing Samoa Joe has having spent more combined days as ROH Champion than anyone. He’s at 517 days between his two reigns and is behind Samoa Joe’s 645 days. Joe only held the ROH World Championship once.
Following the victory, the Kingdom’s Red Balloons floated to the roof and they attacked Lethal. Jonathan Gresham attempted to make the save but he too was taken out.
A new freshly mohawked Matt Taven then hit Lethal with a purple-strapped ROH World Title replica belt. The show closed with Taven claiming he was the real ROH World Champion.
Former NWA Champion, Nick Aldis, provided guest commentary for the 10-Man tag-team match between Bullet Club and CHAOS tonight. While doing so he announced the match stipulation for his rematch with Cody. The match will be contested under a best 2 out of 3 falls stipulation.
Cody vs Aldis II – NWA World Heavyweight Championship
NWA 70th Anniversary
October 21st, 2018
Nashville Fairgrounds
As of yet, no other matches have been announced for the show. Tim Storm, Jocephus, and a few other Championship Wrestling From Hollywood names will likely appear on the show, however.
“It’s such an honor to be leading this historic brand into its next chapter,” Billy Corgan said. “The enduring legacy of the National Wrestling Alliance — the men who forged it and the champions who defended it — illuminate our path in 2018. This event celebrates our first full year shepherding this brand while honoring the everlasting milestones, legends and champions of the NWA.”
“This will be an event no fan will want to miss, and I’m honored to work with Billy on a show of this magnitude,” Jeff Jarrett said regarding the event.
WWE has confirmed that Batista is returning at the upcoming SmackDown 1,000 special. The Animal will be back for a reunion of Evolution, the popular early 2000’s stable that also included Ric flair, Triple H and Randy Orton.
Evolution Faction in WWE
Evolution’s main run in WWE was from 2003 to 2005. This was during the original brand split era. Throughout their run, the faction won the World Heavyweight Championship a total of 5x. The world title of the Raw brand was won 4x by Triple H and once by Randy Orton.
Batista and Ric Flair also held the WWE tag-team Championships twice while members of Evolution. Randy Orton and Ric Flair each won the Intercontinental Championship while part of the faction as well.
The stable reunited briefly in 2014 as well minus Ric Flair. This was spurred on by Daniel Bryan defeating all 3 of them at WrestleMania 30. Following WrestleMania 30, Evolution entered into a feud with the Shield.
Batista’s inclusion in the Smackdown 1000th episode will be good news to him. He has been vocal as of late that he’s wanted to make a WWE return but the company hadn’t seem interested.
He Tweeted out the following regarding the upcoming Smackdown episode recently: “Surprise surprise!! I wasn’t invited! And it’s in my hometown.! .. guess by now I shouldn’t be shocked anymore.”
Brian Pillman Jr. recently took part in the new Hart Foundation’s attack on Kevin Sullivan. Pillman signed a multi-year deal with the promotion earlier this year. He has since aligned with Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Pillman was Chris Jericho’s guest on Talk is Jericho this week and spoke about being a “real person” before getting into the wrestling business. He said his famlly warned him about getting into wrestling and so he opted to get a more traditional job first.
Brian Pillman In The Real World
“I was more or less led to believe by my Mother and family that (wrestling) was bad for me and it was going to do all this harm to me, and it killed my father and all that,” Pillman said. “Then you meet guys like Lance (Storm) and guys like you (Jericho) that it didn’t kill you, you’re still making a good living.”
Pillman then mentioned he felt he succeeded at being a normal person. He went to college and got a real job. It was only after his co-workers began getting annoyed at him for dropping double ax-handles while at work that he decided to change course.
“I was working on databases for car dealerships all around the Western Hemisphere,” Pillman described his real-world job.
“I kept going to the top of the cubicles and coming down on people with double ax-handles. They were like ‘look, you got to get out of here’,” he continued.
You can check out Pillman and the new Hart Foundation Friday nights on MLW Fusion. The show airs on BeIN Sports Friday nights and is posted to YouTube Saturdays at 6 PM.
WWE Superstar Kofi Kingston has been named one of the Top 100 Coolest Dads In America by Fatherly.com. “Kofi is a fan favorite with adults who still keeps it PG for the kids,” the site wrote. “Part of this is no doubt because he’s a dad who wants to set an example for his two young sons, Khi and Orion, born in 2013 and 2016, who he’s raising with his wife Chi Chi in Tampa, Florida. Kingston has always played the good guy on the stage. We’re not sure he knows any other way.”
The listing of Kofi as one of the coolest Dads in America comes on the heels of him passing Billy Gunn as having held a WWE tag-team championship more combined days than anyone else in history.
The Dads which were named cooler than Kofi included:
LeBron James
Kelly Slater
Aaron Huey
Ashton Kutcher
Dwayne Wade
Neil Patrick Harris
Kofi will look to keep his string of accomplishments going when he travels to Australia early next month. Kingston, Big E, and Xavier Woods will be looking to defend their Smackdown tag-team championships at Super Show-Down against the Bar.
WWE recently confirmed the signing of Mae Young Classic competitor, Mia Yim. They have now announced the former Knockouts Champion will make her NXT debut on the house show circuit this weekend. She’ll debut on September 29th at NXT’s house show in Ft Pierce.
The NXT Twitter account was the first to break the news:
Speculation regarding Yim’s signing began last week when the 29-year-old appeared in a video filmed at the WWE Performance Center. It was later reported she had indeed signed with the company and reported to the Performance Center on September 16th, 2018.
Mia Yim WWE
Many expected Yim to sign with WWE after last year’s tournament but a leg injury set her back. Yim spoke to TV Insider in August about overcoming her injury last year and moving forward with her career.
“The hardest part of the recovery was the mental,” Yim said. “Going to physical therapy, learning how to walk again and run again, rolling around in the ring — it was all easy compared to the mental part.”
Yim also spoke about the competition in this year’s Mae Young Classic:
“There are a lot of good girls in this year’s competition. I’m actually happy for that people may think they know what to expect, considering what I did last year. I learned so much new stuff… I don’t want to be specific with it. I’m hoping people underestimate me and have an expectation of me from last year, so I can surprise them that much more.”
Posted September 28th, 2018 in News, NXT. Tagged: Mia Yim.
Impact Wrestling aired their second show from the Mexico City tapings held earlier this month. Two more episodes from Mexico City will air before Impact travels to New York City for Bound For Glory.
Here are 8 Takeaways from Impact Wrestling 9/27.
Impact Wrestling 9/27
Taya Valkyrie Challenges Tessa Blanchard For Bound For Glory
After Tessa Blanchard defeated Faby Apache to open the show last night, she cut a promo saying she’d run through the entire Knockouts division. Taya Valkyrie then appeared on the big screen and explained to Blanchard that she had never beaten her. The match was then made official for Bound For Glory.
The Lucha Brothers Kidnapped Dave Crist
Brian Cage defeated Jake Crist
Brian Cage defeated Jake Crist in single’s action last night. Following the victory, however, he was jumped by Callihan and Dave Crist. Not long after this started, however, the lights went out and when they came back on, Dave Crist was gone.
A video on the big screen showed Pentagon and Fenix with an already tied up Crist brother. The brothers beat him up and gave him a double super-kick. Then back in the ring, Cage delivered a double clothesline to the two remaining guys from Ohio.
Moose Pinned Eddie Edwards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHJ46Ng1-us&t=5s
Moose & Killer Kross defeated Eddie Edwards & Johnny Impact
Moose and Killer Kross picked up the win in last night’s main event. With all four men down in the closing moments of the match, Austin Aries attempted to interfere but was thwarted by Johnny Impact. Unfortunately, the distraction allowed Kross to hit him with a Saito suplex, taking Impact out of the match. Moose then delivered a spear to Eddie Edwards and picked up the win.
The OGZ Burned Konnan’s Mask
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-z6zqW0wdQ
LAX defeated the Desi Hit Squad
LAX defeated Great Gama Singh’s Desi Hit Squad in a non-title match this week. After the match, however, King again tried to goad Konnan and LAX to break the ceasefire. This time King cut a promo saying of all the myths and legends of Mexican wrestling, Konnan was one of the biggest myths. They then burned his mask in the back.
Scarlett Bordeaux Is Holding A Global Talent Search
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ROhzc5MXVk
Scarlett Bordeaux announced she is holding a Global Talent Search for someone she can dedicate her full attention to. Bordeaux mentioned the success KM and Fallah Bah have had since enlisting her help as reasons why wrestlers from other the world should be crawling over one another to have Bordeaux on their side.
Kiera Hogan Pinned Su Yung
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHJ46Ng1-us
Kiera Hogan & Allie defeated Su Yung & Undead Bridesmaid
Kiera Hogan pinned former Knockouts Champion, Su Yung, with a spinning fisher-suplex. It’s arguably the biggest win of Hogan’s Impact career thus far. The win moves Hogan’s winning streak to 5 matches. Allie and Kiera Hogan are now 3-0 as a team and Hogan has defeated Alisha Edwards and KC Spinelli (ONO show) recently as well.
Shortly after this match, Impact announced Su Yung and Kiera Hogan will clash in single’s action next week.
Joe Hendry Has To Worry About MURDER Clown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB5qvVXcQxE
Katarina ran into Joe Hendry and Grado in the back. It appears Katarina is looking for revenge against the two. She announced she’d enlisted the help of Murder Clown, one of the murderous clown faction which also includes Psycho Clown and Monster Clown. Henry will have to take on Murder Clown next week.
Alberto El Patron (FKA Alberto Del Rio) recently took a crack at his former partner, Paige, during a social media post. El Patron was responding to a post from a fan on Twitter when he made the comments.
Alberto was found in the comments section of the post, taking a crack at his former love interest:
Paige and Alberto in 2018
Alberto has been wrestling sparingly thus far this year. His duties with Combates Americas keep him busy enough that he only wrestles about once per month. His last match was on August 7th, 2018. He defeated Savio Vega in a match for ICWA in Puerto Rico.
As for Paige, she announced WWE officials would no longer medically clear her for in-ring competition earlier this year. She made the announcement on the Raw after WrestleMania and then was announced as the new General Manager of Smackdown the following night.
Last night on Impact Wrestling, Taya Valkyrie returned after a short hiatus from the promotion. Fittingly, last night’s episode emanated from Mexico City, where Taya has been building a large following since debuting there in 2012.
Knockouts Champion, Tessa Blanchard, had just finished off Valkyrie’s old rival, Faby Apache, when she cut a promo saying she had gone through the entire Knockouts division. Valkyrie appeared on the big screen wearing a “Perros Del Mal” T-shirt, a nod to her longtime faction.
Valkyrie explained that Blanchard couldn’t say she’d gone through the entire division when she hadn’t yet beaten her. She then challenged the champ to a title match at Bound For Glory.
Tessa Blanchard (c) vs Taya Valkyrie – Bound For Glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxmRms-qybw
Newlyweds, Johnny Impact and Taya Valkyrie, both have title shots at Impact’s October 14th PPV from New York City. Johnny will take on Austin Aries for the Impact World Championship.
In 2018, the Knockouts division has arguably been the most talked about in the promotion. Blanchard’s performances on Impact Wrestling shows are often the most talked about matches. Valkyrie will be the tough test for Blanchard, who has already successfully defended her title against Su Yung, Gisele Shaw, and now Faby Apache. Blanchard defeated Allie, Rebel, Kiera Hogan, and Alisha Edwards in single’s action before winning the Knockouts title.
Another Canadian wrestler has received a 5-year ban from entering the United States. A similar ban was given to Montreal’s “Speedball” Mike Bailey in 2016. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Nicole Matthews will be unable to cross the American border for 5 years.
Canadian Wrestlers Crossing American Border
In the past, wrestlers have received similar punishments when they have been turned away from the border and then tried to cross again within a 24-hour period. Usually, this has to do with the wrestler not having a work VISA and/or trying to cross the border multiple times.
It is not clear what led to Matthews’ ban, however. We reached out to Matthews for comment. She offered up the following on Twitter:
Unfortunately, things are about to get a whole lot weirder at the border soon as well. Canada will legalize recreational marijuana on October 17th, 2018 and immigration lawyers are warning Canadians this will drastically increase the number of people turned away when trying to cross into the United States.
Nicole Matthews
31-year-old Nicole Matthews is a 12-year pro out of British Columbia. She’s a former SHIMMER Champion and 2x SHIMMER Tag-Team Champion along with Portia Perez. Matthews was ranked #32 in the 2017 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 50 Female single’s wrestler’s category. She’d ranked in at #16 the previous two years.
While some fans from the late-90s may never be able to forgive Arquette for winning the WCW World Championship, Arquette is chasing his pro-wrestling dream all over again at 47-years-old.
Arquette announced his return on the Wendy Show back in March. He explained his history in wrestling and then said he wanted to bring back respect to his name.
“I was promoting a movie I did called Ready to Rumble and it just so happened that I won the championship,” Arquette said. “(Fans) blamed me for ruining WCW, it’s no longer around and maybe I did have something to do with it.”
“For 18 years, I’ve been trolled on the internet,” he continued. “And I just want to bring some respect back to my name!”
Impact World Champion, Austin Aries, has taken a shine to Arquette it seems. Perhaps Arquette will even be the next name after Killer Kross and Moose to join his stable.
Why? I’m keen on @DavidArquette. Passion for pro wrestling, well connected, first hand experience during a dominant NWO faction era, former World Champion, heat magnet, and he doesn’t care what you think of him. Fits right in with what I’ve begun assembling in @IMPACTWRESTLING… https://t.co/eWTeG07Grd
“Why? I’m keen on @DavidArquette,” Aries said in a response to a fan on Twitter. Passion for pro wrestling, well connected, first-hand experience during a dominant NWO faction era, former World Champion, heat magnet, and he doesn’t care what you think of him. Fits right in with what I’ve begun assembling in @IMPACTWRESTLING…”
Arquette can be seen on Championship Wrestling From Hollywood on the FITE App. Most reviews of his work thus far have been positive, noting he’s not exactly a star-studded athlete but he sells well and understands wrestling. Arquette has also earned praise from within the industry for just being a likable guy. In his previous run with WCW, Arquette famously donated all of his earnings to the families of Brian Pillman and Owen Hart.
Randy Orton attacked Tye Dillinger last night on Smackdown. Dillinger was wrestling Shinsuke Nakamura when Randy Orton made a run-in and attacked Dillinger.
When WWE correspondents caught up with Orton later in the show, they asked him why he targetted Dillinger. Orton simply responded that he is not fond of Tye’s “Perfect 10” gimmick.
Dillinger’s response to Orton was just a succinct as Orton’s reasoning for attacking him:
Prior to attacking Dillinger on Smackdown Tuesday night, Orton had been involved in a feud with Jeff Hardy. The rivalry led to Orton pulling a screwdriver through Hardy’s stretched earlobes during Hell in a Cell.
Orton’s rivalry with Jeff Hardy also began after Orton attacked Hardy while he was wrestling Shinsuke Nakamura. In fact, he would attack Hardy multiple times during his matches against Nakamura. It’s possible that Nakamura and Orton could be revealed as having a spoken or unspoken alliance. Neither Orton nor Shinsuke Nakamura has a match scheduled for Super Show-Down in Australia on October 6th.
As for Dillinger, his match against Nakamura on Tuesday was his first match on Smackdown in nearly two months. Prior to Tuesday, his last match was a loss to Samoa Joe on a Smackdown from July.
Rusev, Sheamus, and Lana all participated recently in the WWE 2K19 roster reveal. During their live stream of the roster reveal, Sheamus took a crack at Total Divas. He said something to the effect of “we’re not watching that s**t!”
Evidently, Rusev and Lana asked Sheamus to housesit for them recently. Sheamus posted the following to his Instagram followers, insinuating he’s changed his mind about the show.
Former WWE Champion, Sheamus, is currently part of the Bar with Cesaro. The team recently celebrated their 2-year anniversary, having wrestled their first match together on September 16th, 2016. Originally, the team was a mismatched pair, as fans would cheer for Cesaro and boo Sheamus. Over time, however, they just became a regular team.
Now known as the Bar, Cesaro and Sheamus are 4x former Raw Tag Team Champions. They have yet to win the belts since moving to Smackdown, however. They will have their chance to earn gold for the first time on the blue brand in Australia at Super Show-Down, however. The Bar will take on current champion, the New Day.
Impact Wrestling confirmed today what had only been alluded to previously: the company will film 3 nights worth of television tapings from Las Vegas in November. The venue will be Ring of Honor’s old Las Vegas venue, Sam’s Town Casino. The tapings are scheduled from November 11th, 2018 to November 13th, 2018.
Fans can purchase front row tickets for all 3 nights for just $75. Previously, Impact has been running just 2 nights of tapings per month.
Impact Wrestling 2018 Schedule
The promotion owned by Anthem Sports and Entertainment has made international expansion a key part of their year. Anthem owns the Fight Network which is located in Toronto but works internationally. The company was just able to strike a deal to have the Fight Network aired in the UK.
Impact is said to be the second-highest ratings earner for the Fight Network, which is what led to Anthem being keen on purchasing the promotion.
So far in 2018, Impact has run shows in the UK, Mexico, the United States, and Canada. They have also worked with promotions in Australia as well. The Global Wrestling Network, the Anthem-owned streaming services, features many of the promotions Impact has partnered with so far this year. World Series Wrestling, Destiny, Smash, RISE, and others are all featured on the Global Wrestling Network.
Impact Wrestling presents their second show from their Mexico City tapings tonight. After tonight, just two more episodes will air before Bound for Glory in New York City.
Impact Wrestling Preview 9/27
Knockouts Championship Tessa Blanchard (c) vs Faby Apache
Last week on Impact Wrestling, AAA Reina De Reinas Champion, Faby Apache, defeated Alisha Edwards. After the match, she challenged Knockouts Champion, Tessa Blanchard, to a title match. Blanchard and Faby were involved in an altercation in the locker room earlier when Blanchard was acting entitled regarding where she could put her bag down.
Blanchard will be looking for her 3rd straight title defense. She’s successfully defended the belt against Su Yung on Impact from Toronto and against Gisele Shaw at a One Night Only show from Mississauga.
Johnny Impact & Eddie Edwards vs Moose & Killer Kross
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWuVrcCCU80
This match has been announced as the main event tonight despite the Knockouts title match also scheduled. Johnny Impact’s first episode of Survivor aired last night. He’ll be looking to get revenge on Aries’ two run-in buddies ahead of their title clash at Bound For Glory.
Eddie Edwards will face Moose at Bound For Glory but tonight he’ll have a chance to get his hands on his former ally as well.
Su Yung & The Undead Maid Of Honor vs Kiera Hogan & Allie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgK0KF5Abts
Allie and Kiera Hogan have made it their mission to stop Su Yung from locking anyone else inside a coffin. They will get their chance to take out Yung and her Undead Maid Of Honor tonight in tag-team action.
Tessa Blanchard has her eyes on Allie, however, and feels the former Knockouts Champion is just angling to get a crack at her belt. We’ll see if Blanchard gets involved this week. She has a history with both sides of this tag match, after all.
Scarlett Bordeaux Announcement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_bJnxRv2GE
Scarlett Bordeaux has been giving advice to several wrestlers as of late. Her advice to KM and Fallah Bah helped the team get on the same page and pick up a win. It didn’t help Fallah Bah much in his Impact World Championship match 2 weeks ago, however.
The Smoke Show is set to make an announcement tonight. Bordeaux’s popularity in Mexico has been rising rapidly as of late so it will be interesting to see the reaction she gets. Her highlights on YouTube from AAA are hitting high numbers.
Brian Cage vs Jake Crist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4apQDLeV-Ik&t=13s
Brian Cage will team up with the Lucha Brothers at Bound For Glory to take on Sami Callihan and oVe. Tonight, Cage gets a chance to get his hands on one of Callihan’s minions when he takes on Jake Crist.
The Desi Hit Squad vs LAX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4JPgHrVUZU&t=14s
It was revealed last week that the Desi Hit Squad have a non-title match against LAX tonight. A win in a non-title match would likely move Great Gama Singh’s team into position for a title match. LAX will have to look over their shoulders as well since King and the OGZ will likely have something in store for them now that we are less than 3 weeks away from their Concrete Jungle Deathmatch at Bound For Glory.
Last week, reports were that WWE officials met with Scott D’Amore and Ed Nordholm from Impact Wrestling. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer, it was WWE who reached out to Impact for the meeting and not the other way around. Previous reports had stated it was Impact doing the pitching but that is now being refuted.
“It was WWE that requested the meeting, that Impact pitching as we reported was not correct,” Meltzer wrote. He would continue to say that reports of Impact being up for sale are not true.
Impact Wrestling Financial Situation Moving Forward
“It was said that no deal of any note came out of the meeting and that while Impact has been a huge money loser for most of its existence, the bleeding money of 2017 has also been turned around this year and it’s a much more efficient business.”
While it appears not much of note came out of the meeting, the two sides appear to have a far more agreeable working relationship than ever before.
“As far as the meeting goes, really the only thing being said is that the days when the two sides were enemies are supposed to be over.”
Don Callis was not said to be in attendance during the meetings, however.
Impact Wrestling airs their second show from the Mexico City tapings later tonight.
In 4 days it will be a full calendar year since Neville (FKA Pac) will have competed in a professional wrestling match. That was an October 1st 205 Live house show match against Enzo Amore. Neville won the match via DQ but failed to regain his lost WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
Then Neville left WWE despite still being under contract. WWE didn’t want to set the precedent that guys could just walk out and be granted a release, so he remained on the sidelines.
According to WWE, Neville has now been granted his release and is free to wrestle wherever, whenever, and against whoever he pleases. Despite this, Neville has gone “off the grid” and is not responding to bookers, wrestlers, or many within the wrestling business who have been attempting to contact him.
Where Is Neville/Pac?
Will Ospreay was hoping he would be able to wrestle Neville at WrestleKingdom this year but his interest in the match appears to be one-sided. His situation was addressed in the most recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“(Neville) was in talks with some promotions but told them he wasn’t ready to start yet, citing legal issues,” Dave Meltzer wrote. “He’s then completely gone off the grid and hasn’t responded to promoters as best we can tell. Will Ospreay wanted to do a singles match with him at Wrestle Kingdom but we have no idea if he’s up for that or anything in wrestling right now.”
It had previously been reported that the “legal issues” Neville had cited was his contract status with WWE, which the promotion denies is the case.
Posted September 27th, 2018 in News. Tagged: Neville, PAC.
Current IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Matt & Nick Jackson, will not be appearing on as many NJPW tours moving forward. The Young Bucks are now in a position where it makes sense for them to only participate in the bigger NJPW shows.
According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer, the Young Bucks will not participate in the World Tag League this November despite being IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The last time the heavyweight tag champs didn’t participate in the tournament was 2009 when the titles were held by Team 3-D.
The Young Bucks NJPW Schedule To Reduce
“In the spot they are in now, it really doesn’t make sense both for ROH which they are key players on every show, as well as time with family, and even non-wrestling autograph show bookings which they can get when ROH doesn’t have weekend shows,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
The Young Bucks will continue to play a key role on big shows, however, especially when the promotion holds shows in the United States. It sounds as though the “Road to ___” shows will rarely feature the Bucks in the future.
At Fighting Spirit Unleashed this Sunday, the Bucks will defend their IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships against Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, the Guerrillas of Destiny. At Death Before Dishonor tomorrow, the Bucks will team with Cody, Marty Scurll, and Hangman Page to take on CHAOS.
Carmella has spent much of her time on the main roster as a heel. She won 2 Money in the Bank matches and the Smackdown Women’s Championship while playing the role. Recently, however, “Mella” has been teaming with R-Truth and has seemingly made an abrupt babyface turn. She spoke with TV Insider recently about her new pairing and everything else that has gone on in her career these last few years.
“I want to keep growing and learning,” Carmella said. “And whatever opportunity I’m given right now like for R-Truth, I will be the best rapping manager for Truth. I want to do whatever I can do to be the best at whatever I’m doing.”
She also mentioned she was thrilled to be ranked an 80 in WWE 2K19 this year.
“First off can we talk about how I’m an 80 in the game. That’s so cool. I thought maybe I’d get 47 or something.”
Carmella and R-Truth: The Fabulous Truth
R-Truth and Carmella form the team “The Fabulous Truth” in this year’s Mixed Match Challenge. They dropped their opening round-robin match to last year’s winners, Asuka and Miz.
Carmella also commented on the strides made in WWE’s women’s divisions in the last few years.
“It’s crazy to think in a few months we’ve gone from, ‘Oh my gosh, the women are the main event of SmackDown Live. Can you believe it?’ And now the women are the main event. It’s not even a big deal. It has become the norm. I think that is rightfully so. It’s about time.”
The full interview with TV Insider can be read here.
The Mae Young Classic completes the 1st round tonight on the WWE Network. Matches 13-16 are scheduled to air following tonight’s episodes of NXT and 205 Live.
Mae Young Classic Preview 9/26
Io Shirai vs Xia Brookside
There is a lot of hype around both of these two. Shirai’s hype train was only derailed last year when WWE didn’t sign her following a medical. She was said to have been dealing with neck problems at the time. Shirai seems ready to go now, however, and WWE seems happy to have her.
At only 19, Brookside is likely the youngest person in WWE’s developmental system. Her step-father is NXT trainer and UK legend, Robbie Brookside, however, which likely means she’s been training long before her official debut as a wrestler in 2015 (when she was still only 15 years old).
Rachel Evers vs Hiroyo Matsumoto
Paul Ellering’s daughter, Rachel Evers, is a graduate of the Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary. While not signed to WWE, Evers has wrestled for the promotion frequently in the last few years. She has also competed professionally in power-lifting.
A 13-year pro, Matsumoto made a name for herself in Japan’s Stardom promotion. PWI ranked her 25th in the female single’s wrestlers in 2017.
Jessie Elaban vs Taynara Conti
23-year-old Taynara Conti is the first female Brazilian wrestler in WWE history. She is well-versed in Judo and Jiu-Jitsu and currently assigned to the WWE Performance Center. Conti has appeared several times on NXT, usually in a losing effort. She has also competed in artistic gymnastics.
Elaban is also signed to WWE developmental but hasn’t been as visible as Conti on WWE programming. She’s wrestled on the NXT live event schedule but tonight will be her first match on the WWE Network. Elaban is said to be a quirky Superstar who describes her style as a mix of clumsy and goofy.
Isla Dawn vs Nicole Matthews
The Scottish Isla Dawn (Stacy Coates above) also took part in the WWE UK tapings recently and will likely become a big part of that brand. She’s still competing elsewhere, however, so it doesn’t look as though WWE has locked her up yet.
Canadian Nicole Matthews is a veteran of the North American independent scene and was an alternate in the tournament last year. She is a veteran of promotions such as Shimmer, RISE, Defy, and PWA in British Columbia.
NXT’s newest “big thing”, Matt Riddle, has let fans know he’s interested in a potential match with Cesaro. He made the comments on ESPN West Palm’s The Main Event recently.
“In my opinion, if I was going to pick main roster guys, I’ve always had a hunch out for Cesaro,” Riddle said. “I just feel like if we were able to just go at it, make it a fight, I think it would be pretty sensational.”
Matt Riddle On Potential Opponents In WWE
Riddle also mentioned several names on the NXT roster he would also like to face.
“They’ve got so many talented individuals,” Riddle said. “I’ve worked with the majority of them. In NXT, I have probably worked with every top guy from Ricochet to Roderick (Strong), to Kyle (O’Reilly), Adam Cole. The only guys I haven’t really worked with are Velveteen Dream and Lars [Sullivan], some of the other guys that are homegrown.”
Riddle also mentioned the unique shorts he wore during his NXT debut recently. According to Riddle, the small and colorful shorts were actually his wife’s. His normal ring gear has sponsors logos and Riddle didn’t think WWE or NXT would approve.
“I have other gear I wore while I was on the indies and I have a couple sponsors on there and I didn’t want to wear the sponsors in matches,” Riddle continued. “Especially if WWE didn’t sign off on it and NXT didn’t sign off. I didn’t think it was fair for me to wear sponsored clothing while performing under their umbrella without their permission. I just decided to wear little shorts, which were actually my wife’s shorts.
Tonight’s episode of NXT will feature something WWE 2K19 is unable to boast: Tommaso Ciampa. The NXT Champion will be in single’s action tonight against Heavy Machinery’s, Otis Dozovic.
205 Live will feature two matches, including Noam Dar vs Lio Rush, which had originally been scheduled for last week.
NXT Preview 9/26
Full Sail University
Tommaso Ciampa vs Otiz Dozovic
Otis Dozovic took part in William Regal’s investigation into the attack on Aleister Black recently. In addition to admitting he broke the toilet in the Performance Center, Dozovic mentioned Ciampa’s name as a possible attacker. This resulted in the champ confronting Dozovic backstage and this match tonight.
William Regal To Address Aleister Black Attack Investigation?
William Regal has been questioning everyone on the NXT roster regarding the Aleister Black situation. WWE is hinting that NXT’s General Manager could address the situation tonight.
Street Profits vs the Mighty
The Street Profits got the win the last time these two teams met but recently the Mighty cost their rival team a match against the Forgotten Sons. Neither of these two teams will move up the rankings until they are able to best the other one.
Kairi Sane In Single’s Action
The Women’s NXT Champion will also be in action tonight as Kairi Sane will step into the ring. Her opponent has yet to be announced meaning it’s likely local talent.
Former NXT Women’s Champion, Shayna Baszler, will likely be watching this match close tonight.
Lars Sullivan In Single’s Action
Sullivan is 2-0 since returning from a broken jaw suffered at the hands of Aleister Black. He’ll be looking to make it 3 straight as he steps into the ring for single’s action tonight. No opponent has been named for him thus far, however.
205 Live Preview 9/26
Pepsi Center
Denver, CO
Lio Rush vs Noam Dar
This match was originally supposed to take place last week but Lio Rush informed Drake Maverick he was not able to fulfill his 205 Live duties because of his responsibilities to Bobby Lashley. Maverick informed Rush he will fulfill his responsibilities to the brand.
Dar and Rush have been going back and forth on social media promoting tonight’s match.
Mustafa Ali vs Hideo Itami
Mustafa Ali has been dealing with injuries suffered from his August clash with Hideo Itami. He returned from injury too soon, landing him back on the shelf as a result. Drake Maverick has been hesitant to put Ali back in action following this. Tonight, however, Maverick has given Ali what he wants most: a shot at revenge on the man who put him out of action, Hideo Itami.
Kazuchika Okada will team with his CHAOS stablemate, Tomohiro Ishii, on Sunday night at Fighting Spirit Unleashed in Long Beach. They will take on the team of IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kenny Omega, and his Golden Lovers’ teammate, Kota Ibushi.
Just days ahead of NJPW’s return to California, Okada spoke with NJPW1972.com about the promotion’s international expansion.
Kazuchika Okada On NJPW’s International Expansion
Okada was in the main event of NJPW’s first Long Beach show on July 1st, 2017.
“I felt like I had to show the people what New Japan Pro Wrestling was all about,” Okada said of his match that night. At the same time, I didn’t want to get caught up in catering to the American audience. I really wrestled that match as if it was in a Japanese venue.”
Okada wrestled Cody that night, who he offered up some heavy praise for.
“Like I expected, he was great,” Okada said of Cody. “I don’t know how much came from his dad and how much he developed by himself, but he’s obviously very charismatic, and more than that, he isn’t excessively flashy. Some fans see guys who do flashy moves and might think ‘this guys a great wrestler,’ or ‘that guys tough’, but without big showy moves, he’s able to get the fans to know he’s really tough. He’s so fundamentally sound, too. A really good wrestler.”
Despite dropping his recent match for the G1 Briefcase to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Okada stresses he is still the “face of NJPW.”
“I am the face of NJPW. I’m going to take that responsibility seriously, and I’m going to tear it up in the Walter Pyramid.”
