Miro loves to mention both his God and his hot and flexible wife in his promos these days. According to comments his wife CJ Perry (FKA Lana) made during a Highspots live signing, Miro didn’t want his wife creating an OnlyFans account.

“I stay open to all forms of entertainment except for OnlyFans because my husband doesn’t allow me,” Perry said during the signing. “Every time he’ll be like, ‘Do what you want!’ I’m like, I guess that means don’t do it.”

The former Lana continued to say that she has suggested Miro could be involved in the account. This was not something the former TNT Champion was interested in, however.

“I was trying to get Miro to do OnlyFans and [shakes head no]. Really? I feel like you just have to find your group of people. But there might be a ton of people that might want to see Miro’s naked body. Or not even naked, just those jacked thighs. But also he loves himself so much. I wasn’t going to do totally nude, anyways. With him, it’s just the idea and just the name, even. I’m like, ‘I wouldn’t be naked, it could be just your feet.’”

Finally, Perry continued to say that Miro loves to flex and do other things in front of the mirror frequently. The “helicopter” was even mentioned.

“Also, with Miro, the thing is he loves himself. Truly, I love my husband. I adore him, but I really think that no one — like when Miro looks in the mirror, no one loves himself more than he does. It’s also so entertaining that I walk into a room and he’s like standing in front of the mirror flexing and doing the helicopter naked.”

Miro has yet to wrestle since dropping the TNT title to Sammy Guevara. He returned to AEW programming recently and cut a promo indicating he is looking to regain his championship.

Miro’s TNT title reign lasted for a total of 140 days. That ranks 2nd all-time behind Darby Allin’s 186-day reign with the belt. Miro also defended the title 8 times before dropping it to Guevara. He had successful title defences against Dante Martin, Lance Archer, Evil Uno, Brian Pillman Jr., Lee Johnson, Fuego Del Sol 2x, and Eddie Kingston.

H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

After tonight’s episode of RAW from Sacramento, WWE staff and talent will charter a flight to Saudi Arabia for Thursday’s Crown Jewel event. The flight takes about 20 hours in total when flown commercially.

Everyone traveling will have to pass a COVID-19 PCR test before boarding, according to PWInsider, and it is believed that everyone will need to be vaccinated as well, although that is not confirmed.

Following Crown Jewel, WWE staff and talent will then board a flight to Wichita, Kansas for Smackdown. When flown commercially, that flight time is approximately 18 hours. Provided there are no delays this time around, they should arrive in time for Smackdown on Friday.

2019 Crown Jewel Show Led To Travel Delays

There is a lot of controversy regarding what happened following the 2019 Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia. A long delay prevented WWE talent from flying out of the country. As a result, several Superstars did not make it to that week’s Smackdown event on time. Several wrestlers from NXT had to be brought in for the show. Many advertised matches did not happen as a result of wrestlers being stuck in Saudi Arabia.

The chartered flight company Atlas Air would later release a statement regarding the incident.

“A chartered WWE passenger flight operated by Atlas Air is currently delayed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia due to a mechanical issue. The flight was scheduled to depart at 0300 local time on November 1. Our top priority is always to ensure our passengers arrive safely and on time at their destination. The aircraft is being repaired and will be inspected and certified before returning to service to transport our passengers to their final destination. We regret that operational disruptions delayed the flight and apologize to our passengers who were inconvenienced.”

Bryan Danielson has confirmed that WWE had talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling earlier this year.

Back in May, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter broke the news that WWE and NJPW were negotiating for a working relationship. It later came out that Bryan Danielson’s desire to wrestle for NJPW while under WWE contract was the genesis for the unexpected outreach.

During a recent appearance on the Kliq podcast, Danielson explained what he knows about how it all unfolded.

“I don’t know how far along the talks went and I don’t know even if I was the start of them, for sure, but one of the things when I was talking to them when WWE was trying to re-sign me was, I said, ‘I want to be able to work in Japan.'”

Bryan continued, “They were trying to come up with an agreement to where I would be able to go and do that. It was definitely something that was talked about. I don’t know where it went or anything, all I know is now it seems like AEW has a really great relationship with New Japan. So, I feel like it couldn’t have gone that well.”

WWE x NJPW

The initial report in May stated that Nick Khan was in talks with New Japan. WWE was looking for an exclusive talent-sharing deal.

“In what could end up being among the biggest wrestling stories of the year, or a non-story, depending on the end result, Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE being the exclusive American partner with the promotion,” Dave Meltzer wrote.

More information about that report is available in the link below:

H/T to Fightful for the transcribed quotes

The Friday Night War between WWE and AEW is heating up.

Following last week’s SmackDown vs. Rampage showdown, WWE is looking to keep the pressure on Tony Khan’s young promotion.

According to updated TV listings from multiple providers, the Friday, October 29th edition of Talking Smack will air on FS1 instead of Peacock (WWE Network). It will broadcast at 10pm (Eastern) – immediately after SmackDown and head-to-head with AEW Rampage.

Talking Smack normally is released on the WWE Network and Peacock’s streaming service on Saturday mornings. It is not yet clear if this is a permanent move or a one-time thing.

Rampage vs. Smackdown

AEW Rampage and WWE Smackdown went head-to-head from 10PM to 10:30 PM last Friday. AEW also aired a special Rampage “Buy-In” show on YouTube from 9PM until 10 PM. Additionally, Smackdown went commercial-free from 10 PM onwards.

The overnight ratings, which do not include demo information, are in for the two shows. Smackdown was watched by an average of 793,000 viewers on FS1 while AEW Rampage drew 549,000 viewers on TNT. Smackdown was on FS1 due to the MLB Playoffs.

Tony Khan recently spoke to the New York Post and noted that wrestling is better when there are companies competing against one another.

“In wrestling, we’re worth more against each other and we’re better off against each other,” Khan said. “I believe there is greater value in the wrestling market when we’re fighting and people want to see competition in wrestling. I think it’s one of the reasons people lost interest in wrestling was because there was not true competition for 20 years.”

Impact Wrestling will air a tribute to Daffney show following its regular weekly programming on AXS TV next week. The show will air in the normal “Impact in 60” slot on October 28th at 10 PM.

Additionally, CollarxElbow has partnered with Daffney’s family to sell a t-shirt. Proceeds from sales of the shirt will be donating to the CTE Foundation at Boston University.

Impact Wrestling Honors Daffney

Impact also honoured Daffney by holding a memorial Monster’s Ball match at Knockouts Knockdown recently. The match was won by Savannah Evans. Gail Kim spoke to Sports Illustrated about what holding that match means to the company.

“She was one of the first to break the mold and become this hardcore queen, and the Monster’s Ball match was an important part of that,” Kim says. “It’s a great event to bring back, but it means so much more than that this time.”

“There is a very strong bond in our industry of brothers and sisters,” Kim continued. “It’s an undeniable one, and we always unite for these moments that touch us. It’s a business that moves very quickly, but we all slowed down when learning about Daffney. It is time to come together and honor her, beginning with this Monster’s Ball match.”

When Becky Lynch defeated Bianca Belair in just seconds at SummerSlam to win the Smackdown Women’s Championship, she used a variation of the Rock Bottom. During an appearance on the Out of Character podcast, Lynch recalled asking the Rock about using the move.

“I used a variation of the Rock Bottom before but it’s just easier to just get it and go,” Lynch said (transcriptions via Wrestling Inc.). “I asked The Rock if I could use it and he was very gracious and said I could.”

Lynch continued to say she called the Rock and he couldn’t have been more gracious.

“I called him, told him how SummerSlam was going to go down, and said ‘Here’s what I’m thinking, I’m supposed to hit one move on her [Bianca Belair], can I use this?’ He said ‘Yeah.’ There was more, he is so awesome and so gracious with his time and his advice. To be able to get advice from one of the best like that and somebody who’s so busy like that, it makes you feel very happy.”

The move is called the Man-handle Slam when Becky uses it.

Lynch was recently defeated by Sasha Banks on Smackdown on Friday night. It was the first singles match she’s lost by pinfall or submission since the Money in the Bank 2019 PPV. Charlotte Flair defeated her for the Smackdown Women’s Championship on that show.

WWE Hall-of-Famer Madusa has expressed interest in having a retirement match. The 57-year-old was recently on FITE’s Women’s Wrestling Talk show and put a call out to several promotions to book the match.

“I feel that I deserve a retirement match,” Madusa said on the show (transcriptions via Wrestling Inc.) “I don’t care if it’s three minutes, or if it’s an hour-long, I deserve one. And every federation knows I have it out there. Hello Impact, hello AEW, hello WWE, hello NWA, hello ROH, hello Impact, whatever, right? And so, it’s out there and I would definitely have a retirement match.”

“I would choose my opponent,” Madusa continued. “And the opponent would have to be someone that could carry me. And what I mean by that, is no disrespect to myself; is that if I were to forget something, and I need someone to take care of my body. Because I’m not 20 I mean, you have to be real, you know, I’m much older than Trish and Lita. You know, I could be both of your mother, you know? Yeah, you’d have to be somebody that would take care of me in the match. And of course, likewise.”

Madusa Wrestling History

Madusa is a 3x WWE Women’s Champion under the name Alundra Blayze. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015. Madusa last wrestled on 2018’s Evolution show for WWE. She was involved in the 20-woman battle royale. Prior to that, her last match was at WCW Fall Brawl 2000 when she teamed with Billy Kidman in losing fashion to Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson in a Pittsburgh Plunge Scaffold match.

Madusa was recently featured heavily on the Dark Side of the Ring episode on Luna Vachon. During the show, Madusa mentioned that she wanted to drop the belt to Luna and even suggested they change the ending of a match to have that happen. Luna refused to go along with it, however, and never did win the women’s title.

After Dynamite last night, Tony Khan came out to thank the attending fans in Miami. He was interrupted by Max Caster and Anthony Bowens of the Acclaimed. During Castor’s rap that followed, he made reference to Top Dolla from Hit Row.

Below are highlights from Caster’s rap (transcriptions likely not perfect):

“I’m tired of you always hatin’
We’ll beat you like we beat NXT in the ratings

We can wrestle, we only got holla
and you know I rap way better than Top Dolla”

Caster’s performance was posted to social media by @FLWrestlingFan

The Hit Row member has since responded:

Top Dolla Releases Diss Track

Top Dolla from Smackdown’s Hit Row released a diss track on Friday that seemingly references the Young Bucks and his recent comments about their sneakers.

“Some of y’all favorite wrestlers only wear sneakers on-camera to seem “cool & hip” but in real life they rock vans and ASICS exclusively… but y’all not ready for that conversation,” real name A.J Francis Tweeted.

“I prefer not to mention members of the competition. But if you watch they show, they tell on themselves,” he followed that up with.

The Young Bucks later changed their Twitter bio to “Spent more on sneakers in September than the entire NXT roster did,” shortly after.

AEW has officially given a full-time contract to Lee Moriarty. This follows his match against Bobby Fish last night on the AEW Rampage Buy-In show. He is winless so far in 5 matches in the promotion.

The Pittsburgh native has lost singles matches to Dante Martin, Joey Janela, Daniel Garcia and Bobby Fish. He also teamed with LSG and lost to FTR. He was given a contract offer last month after his match against Garcia, and it appears he has come to terms with the promotion now.

AEW has also signed Amanda Huber as a member of the promotion’s Community Outreach Team. Huber also appeared on AEW programming in Rochester as part of the angle with the Dark Order settling their differences. Huber’s son, Brodie Lee Jr. (aka -1) will join the AEW roster when he is old enough to do so. Amanda has said in the past that -1 is only able to appear on AEW programming when he is keeping his grades above a certain level.

It has been almost 10 months since the wrestling world lost Jon Huber, aka Brodie Lee. He tragically passed away on December 26th, 2020. Amanda and -1 combined to bring the Dark Order back together on the show from Rochester, which was Brodie Sr.’s hometown.

Adam Cole debuted for AEW at All Out in Chicago last month. He quickly joined up with the Elite, whom he had been aligned with before signing with WWE in 2017 as members of Bullet Club. Matt and Nick Jackson were recently interviewed by Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated and commented on what it’s like having Cole in the AEW locker room.

“I can’t fully express the happiness I currently have, sharing a ring with Adam Cole again,” Matt Jackson said. “His positivity and energy had really helped the morale in our locker room. I haven’t stopped smiling since he showed up. When he arrived, it felt like we finally found that missing piece of the puzzle. The whole gang is finally back together. We hadn’t worked together in five years, but the chemistry was still there. The dude is a star and getting some of the biggest reactions I’ve ever heard.”

Nick Jackson also commented on Adam Cole’s arrival in AEW. He commented on both WWE letting Cole leave and him being resurrected from the dead on BTE.

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Nick said of WWE letting Cole walk away. “But even crazier than resurrecting the dead is letting a superstar walk away from your company to join the competition.”

Cole has wrestled 4 times in AEW thus far. He’s 2-0 in singles matches having defeated Frankie Kazarian and Jungle Boy. He’s 2-0 in tag-team matches as well. HE teamed with the Young Bucks and defeated Christian Cage & The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) on Rampage Grand Slam. He later teamed with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega and defeated Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage & The Jurassic Express(Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) in Philadelphia on October 6th.

Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey are both former RAW Women’s Champions and also new mothers. Lynch recently spoke with TMZ and was asked if she had any advice for Ronda Rousey about returning to the ring after recently giving birth as well. Lynch’s advice was for her not to return at all.

“Don’t [come back], cause I’m still on top, Ronda, you won’t like it. That’s my advice,” Lynch said during the interview.

Lynch returned at SummerSlam this year and defeated Bianca Belair for the Smackdown women’s championship in just seconds. She also spoke to TMZ about what life has been like since her return.

“It’s been crazy, Mike. It went from zero to 100 real quick. Coming back, and coming back on top after not wrestling for a year and a half. It’s been wild, but it’s been amazing. And, my baby comes along everywhere with me.”

Lynch was also recently on the Out of Character podcast with Ryan Satin. During that discussion she said she was optimistic that a singles match between her and Ronda will happen at some point.

“Yeah, and I do think it will. The fact that I’ve had a baby and came back so great that she’ll probably want to one-up me. She’ll try to come back in three months, then I’ll be right there to punch her right in the face, give her a Rock Bottom, out of here in 20 seconds, Ronda. So long, good night.”

Impact Wrestling on 9/14 was the first show since the Knockouts Knockdown event that aired on Saturday. It’s the second final episode before Bound For Glory on October 23rd.

Impact 9/14 Quick Results:

1. X-Division Championship Tournament
   El Phantasmo w/ Bullet Club (Chris Bey & Hikuleo) defeated Rohit Raju & Willie Mack
2. Savannah Evans w/ Tasha Steelz defeated Lady Frost
3. Rich Swann w/ Willie Mack defeated VsK w/ Brian Myers
4. Chris Sabin defeated Chris Bey
5. Winner Enters Call Your Shot Gauntlet #20, Runner Up Enters #1
   W. Morrissey Last Eliminates Chris Sabin to Win

El Phantasmo Qualifies For X-Division Championship Match At Bound For Glory

We now have the 3 wrestlers who will face off for the vacant X-division championship at Bound For Glory. Joining Trey Miguel and Steve Maclin will be Bullet Club’s El Phantasmo. After his Bullet Club teammates provided a distraction on the outside, taking Willie Mack out of the picture, ELP spiked Rohit Raju face first into the mat and got the 1-2-3.

Savannah Evans Picks Up Victory Over Lady Frost

Savannah Evans won the Monster’s Ball match at Knockouts Knockdown and followed it up with a win here over Lady Frost. As for Frost, this is two losses in a row for her as she was also eliminated in the first round of the tournament on Saturday when she lost to Rachael Ellering. Evans got the win with a full nelson slam. So, it looks like she is headed to the top of the division.

The Iinspiration Feel Their Title Shot At Bound For Glory Is “Well Deserved”

The former Iiconics, now known as the Iinspiration, had a letter sent to Gail Kim from Sydney, Australia. Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay said that their tag team title shot against Decay is well-deserved despite never having competed in the division. The letter also requested that it be read out loud in an Australian accent.

Rich Swann defeats VSK

Swann picked up revenge this week after VSK attacked him after a match recently. It looks like Mack and Swann are moving into a feud with the Learning Tree here. Swann landed numerous strikes followed by a Phoenix Splash for the win.

Swinger’s Palace Closes Down

Since Impact have moved its tapings to Las Vegas, Swinger’s Palace is no longer able to operate. Chris Sabin and others paid tribute to the underground casino closing this week.

Heath Wants His Partner Back

Heath signed his Impact contract with Scott D’Amore this week after a long time on the shelf with injury. He requested a match pitting him and Rhino against Violent By Design but nobody is too sure where Rhino’s head is at these days or who he is aligned with.

Chris Sabin Defeats Chris Bey

FinJuice came out to support Chris Sabin in this match here against Bullet Club’s Chris Bey. Bey also had his stablemates at ringside but after some commotion on the outside both teams were sent to the back, leaving just Sabin and Bey to go one-on-one. Sabin then picked up the victory with the Cradle Shock.

W. Morrissey Wins Battle Royal, Will Enter Last In Call Your Shot Gauntlet

The stipulation here was that the winner of the battle royal will enter the Call Your Shot Gauntlet at Bound For Glory last but the runner-up will enter first. So, a lot on the line. It came down to Chris Sabin and W. Morrissey. Moose provided some assistance on the outside, preventing Sabin from throwing the big man out and this allowed Morrissey to toss Sabin out instead to pick up the victory.

Minoru Suzuki Is Coming Soon To Impact Wrestling

A vignette aired this week advertising that Minoru Suzuki is on his way to Impact Wrestling. A big forbidden door addition is “coming soon.”

Josh Alexander No Longer Respects Christian Cage

A sit down interview with Josh Alexander and Christian Cage was held this week. During the segment, a clip from a Impact fan fest was shown where Christian said he didn’t know who Josh Alexander was. Cage said it was just good natured ribbing but Alexander was clearly upset. He said he has lost his respect for Christian and stormed off. This will no longer be a friendly contest at Bound For Glory.

Coming Up in Impact Wrestling

Next week:

• Mickie James vs TBD (Picked by Deonna Purrazzo)
• Trey Miguel vs Alex Zayne
• Impact Tag Team Championships #1 Contendership
  FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) vs Bullet Club (Chris Bey and HIKULEO)

Bound For Glory (October 23rd)

• Impact World Championship
  Christian Cage (c) vs Josh Alexander
• Knockouts Championship
  Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs Mickie James
• Knockouts Tag Team Championships
  Decay (Rosemary & Havok) (c) vs The Iinspiration (Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee)
• X-Division Championship (Vacant)
  Trey Miguel vs Steve Maclin vs El Phantasmo
• Call Your Shot Gauntlet
  W. Morrissey to enter last, Chris Sabin to enter first

Adam Cole and AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker have been dating since 2017. With Cole now a member of the AEW roster, there is potential for them to be involved in a storyline together. Cole was recently interviewed by Chris Van Vliet and stated that he would be happy to take part in an angle involving both of them.

“I do love the idea of eventually doing something on-screen with Britt. I know I have been asked that before, and I know some people are like ‘Oh maybe you want to keep it separate’ or ‘Maybe you want to work together.’ I love the idea of that,” Cole said.

Cole and Baker’s relationship has come up on AEW programming, most notably when Cole dressed down Baker’s friend Tony Schiavone on-air.

Cole continued to say that he enjoyed working with Britt on the independent scene when they were briefly able to do so. Baker and Cole teamed together twice for Wrestle Circus in 2017.

“There was a small phase when I was done with Ring of Honor, where for like 3 months I was doing independent shows. I remember doing shows that she was also booked on, and in a couple of those matches we got to do some mixed tags, or she had run in or I had run in, it was really fun to work with her. Eventually, doing something like that on the big stage that is AEW, I’m all for it.”

On June 24th, 2017, Baker and Cole defeated the now-engaged team of Sami Callihan and Jessica Havok. They later defeated Roppongi Vice (Beretta & Rocky Romero) that August.

• Twitch Leak Includes Payouts For Adam Cole, Paige & Zelina Vega

Adam Cole’s full discussion with Chris Van Vliet can be viewed in the player below:

nZo, the former Enzo Amore in WWE, is being teased as a new addition to the MLW roster. In MLW storyline, Cesar Duran (the former Dario Cueto from Lucha Underground) is the match-maker for the show. Duran stated this week that he is in talks with the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion.

The 34-year-old has been wrestling with the NEW (Northeast Wrestling) promotion as of late. The promotion regularly draws over a 1000 fans to its shows. Content from Northeast Wrestling’s shows are available on their YouTube channel here.

nZo was released from WWE in early 2018 after he was accused of sexual assault in Phoenix in October 2017. It was announced in May 2018 that the Phoenix Police Department had ceased their investigation due to insufficient evidence, however.

Along with his often partner William Morrissey, a.k.a. Big Cass, the two appeared at the G1 SuperCard in Madison Square Garden in 2019. It’s was played up as a worked shoot invasion angle, however Ring of Honor never followed up on the segment and the two never appeared in promotion again.

He debuted for Northeast Wrestling in June of 2019 and has been a regular for the promotion ever since.

The rocky road continues for WWE’s video game franchise. The game was initially scheduled to be released this fall, but has been delayed to early/mid 2022.

Back in August, reports surfaced regarding tensions between WWE and game developer 2K. WWE has released dozens of wrestlers this year, which led many fans to wonder what this would mean for the WWE 2K22 roster. The drastic talent cuts have in fact caused problems with the game’s development, according to a report at Sports Gamer Online.

Plans for at least one Downloadable Content pack had to be scrapped. The DLC pack was going to revolve around former NXT star Bronson Reed.

Other wrestlers that had been expected to be DLC for the game included Mercedes Martinez, Tyler Rust, and Leon Ruff. Nothing has been confirmed as to how WWE 2K22 will handle DLC releases for the game. There is talk of scrapping them altogether, however.

Back in August, a source to SGO commented that the releases are likely to cause a very outdated roster. “This is shaping up to be the most outdated roster a game has seen,” the source revealed.

It was also noted that WWE was against the idea of delaying the release of the game. The studio felt they needed to go that route, however.  

“Most of those within WWE wanted the game to release in its normal Survivor Series window. Those from 2K Sports and Visual Concepts, on the other hand, pushed hard for a delay of the launch,” wrote Michael Straw from Sports Gamer Online. 

Check out SEScoops’ official WWE 2K22 Review

Tony Khan recently discussed the possibility of a streaming service that would feature AEW’s content library. According to comments the AEW President made on the Brandon Walker on Rasslin podcast via Barstool Sports, he has been speaking to WarnerMedia about the possibility.

“I’m talking to great people about WarnerMedia and AEW partnering. I think there are great opportunities. I work with one of the biggest media companies in the world and they have a lot of great ideas. Hopefully, we can make a solution for the fans,” Khan said (transcriptions via Fightful).

Khan continued to say that he is working on building up the AEW content library for just such a purpose. He also mentioned the “House Always Wins” unaired live show which could debut on the service.

“Believe me, I get asked that question every day. I’m trying to build the library up. We’ve done over 100 episodes of Dynamite, pay-per-views, streaming specials, I have something nobody has ever seen before with The House Always Wins, a pay-per-view level card. It’s something I’ve been saving and it’s a great show nobody has ever seen. It’s going to be available.“

The House Always Wins was held on April 9th, 2021 from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. The main event saw Darby Allin defend the TNT Championship against the winner of a 15-man battle Royale held earlier in the show. In addition to the Dynamite, Rampage, Dark and PPV libraries, AEW also held several events before the launch of Dynamite in 2019. These include Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen 2019.

Bryan Danielson and Minoru Suzuki will clash this Friday night on the Rampage Buy-In show. AEW announced yesterday that from 9PM until the start of Rampage at 10PM, AEW’s YouTube channel will run live from the James L. Knight Center in Miami.

Both Bryan Danielson and Minoru Suzuki have released statements about the upcoming match.

“In 2004, I wrestled Minoru Suzuki 1 on 1. He beat the sh*t out of me. Showed me what violence and sadism inside a wrestling ring looks like. Since then, I’ve learned a thing or two about violence myself. And sadism. Excited to show Mr. Suzuki what I’ve learned,” Danielson Tweeted.

Minoru Suzuki also Tweeted about the match.

“When I was drinking coffee in the city, I got a call and decided in a hurry. The wind of Minoru Suzuki will blow to Miami,” a translation of his Tweet reads.

Suzuki and “The American Dragon” met on July 20th, 2004 at NJPW Summer Struggle. Suzuki defeated Danielson in 13 minutes and 38 seconds. They had been on opposing sides of several tag matches leading up to the event. After their singles match, however, Suzuki and Danielson teamed together 4 times from July to October. They went 2-2 when teaming together. Their last match was a loss to Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Shinsuke Nakamura on October 20th, 2004.

In February of 2020, a story broke that Brett Dibiase, son of the “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase had been one of six people arrested as part of an embezzlement scheme regarding welfare funds for the state of Mississippi. Brett had been hired as deputy administrator at the Mississippi Department of Human Services in 2017 before his arrest.

Recently, State Auditor Shad White sent out several letters demanding repayment for misspent welfare dollars. Although all details have not been revealed, Dibiase Sr.’s Heart of David Ministry, had received $2.1 million in welfare money from the state of Mississippi, according to state records.

Yesterday, a report from Mississippi Today revealed names of individuals and the total amount they owe the state. Amongst those names is also Brett Favre. The former quarterback is said to owe over $800 thousand paid to him for speaking engagements that he did not attend.

Brett Dibiase, Ted Dibiase Sr, and Ted Dibiase Jr. were also named in the report.

“Ted DiBiase Jr., a retired WWE wrestler, must return $3.9 million,” the reports reads. “Virtually all the money he earned as a motivational speaker for the welfare agency, plus interest.”

Ted Dibiase Sr. owes just under what he spent in storyline on the Million Dollar Championship belt. He is being asked to repay $722,299 that his Christian ministry received.

Meanwhile, Brett Dibiase who worked as the state administrator, is being asked to repay $225,950.

AEW will be airing a “Buy In” show on its official YouTube channel beginning at 9PM est before Rampage this Friday night. The show will go head-to-head with Smackdown which will be airing from 8PM est to 10:30PM est this week. AEW is notifying various media outlets about this today.

“We’re going to do what we normally do what we do for a PPV, you know how we do the preshow the Buy In? Rampage is a huge event on Friday night so we’re going to have a Buy-In live on YouTube Friday night live from the Knight Center,” Khan said on WFAN Sports Radio today.

Khan then announced that Bryan Danielson and Bobby Fish will both wrestle on the YouTube show. Daniel Bryan will face Minoru Suzuki and Fish will take on Lee Moriarty. Fish and Danielson will wrestle each other the following night on Saturday Night Dynamite.

Matches announced for this Friday’s live Rampage from Miami include:

• CM Punk vs. Matt Sydal
• The Bunny vs. Ruby Soho
• The Men Of The Year (Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky) & Junior dos Santos (w/Dan Lambert & Jorge Masvidal) vs. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager & Sammy Guevara)

The following night, AEW will be back in Miami for a special Saturday night episode of Dynamite. Here are the matches scheduled for that show:

• Malakai Black vs. Dante Martin
• AAA World Tag Team Championships
  The Lucha Brothers (Fenix & Pentagon Jr.) (c) vs. TBD (w/Andrade El Idolo)
• Bryan Danielson vs. Bobby Fish

CM Punk recently commented on the Owen Hart Cup tournament upcoming in AEW. He was on the Sport1 podcast and noted that he had heard about it before the official announcement was made. Still, he says the announcement had a big impact on him and he’s hoping to participate in the tournament.

“I knew about it beforehand, but it still hit me like a truck when I read the press release just because I think it’s such a staggering and monumental bridge,” Punk said (Transcriptions via Fightful). “I think it goes a long way to show and prove that Martha always wanted Owen’s memory to be revered and his legacy preserved. It just couldn’t be at WWE and if you really look at it, it makes a lot of sense. Now, the fans can embrace Owen again, like they’ve always wanted to, Martha can embrace the fans and support Owen’s legacy, like she’s always wanted to. There just wasn’t an outlet or a place to do it before. Now there is. It got me emotional reading the press release. I was like, ‘Wow.’ This is pretty special. Just as a wrestling fan.”

AEW announced a partnership with the Owen Hart Foundation last month. As part of the deal, AEW will be able to create merchandise featuring Owen’s likeness. This includes clothing, action figures, and his inclusion in the upcoming AEW console video game. The Owen Hart Foundation, run by Martha Hart, has various programs dedicated to underprivileged youth, education, and helping low-income families achieve home ownership.

“I’m not sure how the tournament is going to go, but I’m for sure throwing my name in that hat. I want to be in that tournament,” Punk continued.

The Owen Hart Cup

No details as to the format or schedule of the tournament have been announced thus far. Tony Khan has said he plans on it being an annual event, however.

Chris Jericho, who grew up idolizing Owen Hart and dreaming of being in a tag-team with him has also expressed his appreciation for AEW partnering with the Owen Hart Foundation.

Tessa Blanchard will be back with the Women of Wrestling (WOW) promotion when it returns to television. The Jeanie Buss-led company has signed a multi-year deal with ViacomCBS. New episodes are expected to air next fall with historical episodes to run in syndication beginning later this year.

Tessa Blanchard was interviewed by Entertainment Tonight about her return to the company. She noted that she feels blessed to be part of what she believes will be the biggest platform for women’s wrestling in history.

“In my own experiences, professional wrestling has been my life since before I was born,” Blanchard said. “My father, my grandfather, and with that, I followed my passion and it’s taken me all over the world. I’ve gotten to live in different countries, win championship titles all over the world, but now with WOW, this is, without a doubt, the biggest platform for women’s wrestling in history. In history. To be a part of it, it’s a testament that we’re changing the status quo for women’s wrestling, for professional wrestling altogether. It’s such a blessing to be a part of it.”

AJ Mendez, the former AJ Lee from WWE, will also be part of the company. She will serve as an executive producer for the show. AJ will also work as the color commentator. Recently, AJ said “never say never” as it comes to a potential return to the ring with WOW.

Max Caster appeared on TMZ Sports recently and delivered a freestyle rap that was loaded with mentions of this past weekend’s Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder fight.

‘Platinum Max’ also called out The Rock, who recently made his rapping debut.

Some of the highlights from Caster’s rap include the lyrics below (transcriptions likely not perfect):

“When I’m on AEW the crowd goes *bleeped*
Gotta keep it clean like a bucket and mop
The PR team is worried to watch

Yo what up to the Rock
Yeah I heard your rap song
Why you all up in my lane when Dwayne’s *Bleeped* is that long
Flow’s weak but the last’s strong
When the track’s on, you just can’t act on
Yo, come to Dynamite, we can get this match on
Yo, knock you out like Deontay
Say my name like Beyonce
Platinum Max on TMZ
Y’all don’t know what he gonna say.”

The full segment featuring Max Caster can be viewed in the player below:

The Rock Raps with Tech N9ne

The 49-year-old Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made his rap debut on the Tech N9ne’s song “Face Off” recently.  

“Made my historic rap debut (thankfully I didn’t suck) Huge shout to all the hip hop & music fans for your HYPE reactions,” Rock tweeted Friday. 

AEW President Tony Khan believes that wrestling is on the cusp of another golden era. He spoke recently with DAZN and mentioned that “All Out” was AEW’s Bash at the Beach 96 moment, and the future is looking bright.

“I think wrestling fans should strap in for a big ride,” stated Khan. “We’re not there yet but I feel it’s close. Things are happening and I don’t think it’s going to be too long before wrestling fans are going to feel what I felt in the late 1990’s when WWE and WCW went at trying to provide the best entertainment possible.”

There is some debate to be had as to when the true “Golden Age” of professional wrestling was. Some will say the Hulkamania boom of the 1980s that coincided with an exciting period for Jim Crockett Promotions, Ric Flair and the 4 Horsemen. Others will say it was the late 90s when WWF and WCW were competing with each other on Monday nights. Going back even farther, others will say the 1950s when television sets became more common in households and wrestling was featured prominently.

“I feel like we’ve come so far in the brief time we’ve been around but there’s still a lot more to come and that’s what we are trying to work on all of the time,” Khan continued. “We arrived with some short-term goals relating to talent and TV deals, and now we can aim bigger because we still have a lot to achieve.”

Do you believe Tony Khan is correct? Are we about to enter another Golden Age of professional wrestling? Let us know in the comments section below. AEW Rampage and WWE Smackdown will go head-to-head (for 30 minutes anyway) next Friday night. Khan commented on this in the below Tweets:

The former Crowbar from WCW (aka Devon Storm) will make his AEW debut on Dark: Elevation this week. He participated in the tapings held on October 6th from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’ll face Joey Janela and be accompanied to the ring by ECW Original, The Blue Meanie. The match will air Monday night on AEW’s YouTube channel.

Crowbar is a former WCW Cruiserweight, Hardcore, and Tag Team Champion (w/ David Flair). He is perhaps best known for his time in a trio along with David Flair and Daffney.

The wrestling world is mourning the loss of Daffney, real name Shannon Spruill, who passed away on September 1st at the age of 46. At one point, Daffney and Crowbar were co-Cruiserweight Champions together after defeating then champion Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch in a tag-team match. They then met in singles action, with Daffney coming out the victor after interference from Candido.

Crowbar spoke with Chris from the It’s My Wrestling Podcast about what a wonderful person Daffney was.

“She was a type of person that would walk into a locker room, or wherever, and would instantly, just, joy would come in,” Crowbar said (transcriptions via Sportskeeda). “She would just light up a room. A very happy, positive person, and we stayed close all these years.”

The IInspiration are headed to Impact Wrestling.

Cassie Lee and Jessica McCay, formerly known as The IIconics in WWE, will debut at the upcoming Bound for Glory pay-per-view from Las Vegas. The duo has reportedly signed with Impact, according to PWInsider.

A video package aired during this weekend’s Knockouts Knockdown event announcing their arrival:

The Australian stars joined WWE in 2015 and were paired together on the NXT brand that year. They were widely regarded as one of the most entertaining, yet underutilized acts on the roster. They were released on April 15th, 2021.

Since their departure, Lee and McCay launched the Off Her Chops podcast and have been making appearances at wrestling conventions. Now, they’re Bound for Glory.

• The IInspiration’s Bound For Glory Opponents Announced

Impact Wrestling’s Bound For Glory PPV takes place Saturday, October 23rd from Las Vegas, Nevada at Sam’s Town Live. If you’re in the Las Vegas area, tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.com.