Mick Foley garnered headlines recently after posting a video to social media critical of how WWE handles its talent from a creative perspective. Foley has since expanded on those thoughts during appearances on Sean Waltman’s Pro Wrestling 4 Life podcast and Busted Open Radio.

“I think it’s something WWE needed to hear,” Foley said of his video on Busted Open Radio. “I used Karrion Kross as an example of somebody whose main roster debut was about 1/8th as electrifying as his NXT debut, that’s an issue. Then when you go from watering down a character to embarrassing it, I think that sends a bad signal to everyone who is in developmental and everyone who has a choice to make, a real choice to make.”

Foley’s son, Dewey Foley, works in creative for WWE. As of 2020, Dewey was working on creative for 205 Live.

“If I’m Adam Cole and I’m looking at what just happened with a few of the guys who made their debuts, I would seriously have to consider whether WWE was the place where my dreams will come true,” Foley continued. “When you put all these things together and you see that people are departing for what they now see are greener pastures, that’s a problem for WWE.”

Foley’s comments on Busted Open Radio can be heard in the below Tweet:

Foley also posted the following regarding Johnny Impact vs Killer Kross in Impact and John Morrison and Karrion Kross in WWE.

Mick Foley On His Comments About WWE

Foley was also on Sean Waltman’s podcast recently and spoke about his issues with WWE creative.

“I love the company. I really do, and I think they need to hear that. If I texted Vince that’s one thing, and that might be effective, but I think it needs to get out there. If it embarrasses them, I think that’s ok,” Foley said on the show.

Ruby Soho made her AEW debut at All Out and won the Casino Battle Royale. She followed that up by defeating Jamie Hayter on Dynamite this week and has a future date with AEW Women’s World Champion, Britt Baker. She spoke to Sports Illustrated recently about her emotional debut in AEW and the 11-year journey it’s been to get there.

“I was able to experience a lot in WWE and make lifelong friends, so I’m very grateful for my time there,” said the 30-year-old Soho. “But that chapter is closed, and I knew there had to be a new place for me. This is a chance to experience a side of professional wrestling I haven’t experienced yet. There is a fire here, and there is a lot for me to show the world. There are a lot of sides to what I do that have yet to flourish, and I am going to put it all out there in AEW.”

Ruby Soho On Her AEW Debut

Soho was emotional during the post-event media scrum following All Out. She talked about the fans chanting for her even before she was announced as the Joker card in the battle royale. She continued to tell Sports Illustrated how much that moment meant to her.

“I fell back in love with professional wrestling at that moment,” Soho said. “I was elated. These people accepted me. They understand me; they understood my journey. That gave me a fire I haven’t felt in a long time. These people were ready to see me thrive, and there is no better stage to do that than in AEW.”

After leaving WWE, Soho released a series of vignettes on social media. The videos would show Ruby en route to somewhere. In her first video, she was seen with a train ticket from Florida to New York’s Penn station. Her second video featured her stealing a car. She says “The Runaway” has now found a home in AEW.

“Choosing AEW wasn’t a difficult decision,” Soho continued. “I had been a fan of AEW long before I left WWE. I could sense there was something very special and very different about this company. Now that I’m here, I am beginning to realize it was the home I have always been searching for.”

“This is where I belong, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to be here,” she continued.

Soho debuted a new name and ring music at All Out. Using “Ruby Soho” by Rancid for both her name and ring music was something Lars Frederiksen of the band encouraged her to do. Frederiksen is a longtime wrestling fan and co-hosts the Wrestling Perspectives Podcast along with Impact’s Petey Williams and former NHL player Darren McCarty.

Tony Khan was on Busted Open Radio this morning and touted the success of his company’s All Out PPV. The total number of buys is not yet available for, Khan said the show did “well over 200,000 buys” – making it the most purchased AEW PPV of all time by a longshot.

Below is a list of AEW PPV buys, estimated and compiled by Wrestlenomics:

• All Out 2018 (ROH/Elite): 45,000.
• Double or Nothing 2019: 98,000.
• All Out 2019: 88,000.
• Full Gear 2019: 80,000.
• Revolution 2020: 90,000.
• Double or Nothing 2020: 105,000.
• All Out 2020: 90,000.
• Full Gear 2020: 85,000.
• Revolution 2021: 135,000.
• Double or Nothing 2021: 115,000
• AEW All Out 2021: 200,000+

This is the first time a non-WWE PPV had over 200,000 buys since WCW Mayhem in 1999 (estimated at 200K). WCW PPVs fell off after that. The company’s final 8 PPVs all brought in less than 90K buys following the Bash at the Beach PPV in 2000.

TNA PPVs never managed to get higher than an estimated 60K buys.

WWE PPVs in the years before the Network also struggled to get above 200K. Typically, WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble, and SummerSlam would all bring in monster PPV numbers while most other PPVs would bring in less than 200K buys.

The Money in the Bank 2011 PPV from Chicago which featured John Cena vs CM Punk brought in an estimated 146,000 buys. The last WWE PPV to bring in more than 200K buys was WrestleMania 30 (420,000 buys) which featured Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Championship in the main event.

Nike announced today they have produced a collection of Lucha Libre-inspired shoes and apparel. The collection will be released in Mexico in the coming days before being released globally next Friday.

The collection features multiple shoes and hooded sweatshirts all influenced by Lucha Libre culture.

“We see sharing cultural expressions as a way of creating relationships,” says Carlos Hernández, Mexico City Merchandising Director for Geo Express Lane in a press release. “When you’re deeply invested in a culture, you share its passions and interests. By paying close attention to Lucha Libre tradition, we get to use footwear and apparel to share a piece of Mexican culture with the world in places like Seoul, Tokyo, Brazil and more. With a number of Mexico GEL collections releasing soon, we’re creating the product with that same imaginative focus on cultural detail.”

Images of the collection are below:

The hoodies in the collection draw inspiration from Luchador masks. The back of the hooded sweater shown below has an interesting design in the back. The hood of the sweater is designed to look like there are laces in the back.

“The Air Max 90 comes in a bisected black and white color scheme,” a description of the shoes reads. “A nod to famous Lucha Libre rivalries pitting good against evil, or “Los Técnicos vs. Los Rudos.”

Impact Wrestling on September 9th featured the continued build to Victory Road and another Bullet Club member walking through the forbidden door. Much of this show also involved Christian Cage and Ace Austin putting together teams for a big multi-person tag match next week.

Impact 9/9 Quick Results:

1. Rosemary defeated Tasha Steelz
2. Bunkhouse Brawl
   Karl Anderson defeated Rich Swann
3. David Finlay defeated Chris Bey
4. Steve Maclin defeated Petey Williams
5. Moose defeated Eddie Edwards

Tasha Steelz and Savannah Evans Steal KO Tag Title Belts

Decay’s Rosemary picked up a win in the night’s opening contest against Tasha Steelz. Things seemed even between the two but then Rosemary caught Steelz coming out of the corner with a spear and picked up the win.

As Decay was celebrating, Savannah Evans hit the ring and distracted Rosemary and Havok. This allowed Steelz to grab the Knockouts tag title belts as Evans attacked Decay. Steelz and Evans hurried away with the title belts with Decay in pursuit to end the segment.

Karl Anderson Needs Doc Gallows’ Help To Beat Rich Swann

Rich Swann was without his tag partner Willie Mack at ringside this week, and that was the difference here. Mack is on the shelf with an injury after The Good Brothers put him through a table recently. This meant that Swann had nobody in his corner for this Bunkhouse brawl against Karl Anderson. It would be the numbers advantage that would allow Anderson to pick up the win.

The finish of the match saw Swann go to the top rope, possibly to go for his Phoenix Splash while Anderson was on top of a table. Gallows got involved, however, and grabbed Swann’s leg. This allowed Anderson to recover and deliver a top rope Gun Stun to Swann onto a table (that didn’t break) for the win.

Bullet Club’s HIKULEO Walks Through The Forbidden Door

David Finlay picked up a measure of revenge on Bullet Club this week. He scored a pin on Chris Bey moments after Juice Robinson thwarted Bey’s attempt to use the ropes for leverage on a pin attempt of his own. The real action came after the match, however.

As FinJuice was celebrating their win, Bullet Club’s HIKULEO hit the ring and attacked. Bey and HIKULEO wrapped Juice’s injured knee in a chair and stomped on it. Bullet Club then celebrated in the ring to end the segment.

Gambling Scandal Costs Petey Williams Match Against Steve Maclin

Sadly, an underground gambling operation backstage in Impact has reared its ugly head. Backstage this week in Swinger’s Casino, TJP placed a bet on Steve Maclin in his match this week against Petey Williams. Then during the match, TJP led a conga line with Fallah Bah and No Way to the ring just as Williams was going for the Canadian Destroyer. This distracted Williams and allowed Maclin to hit his finisher for the win.

Moose Defeats Eddie Edwards With Help From W. Morrissey

Moose and W. Morrissey have aligned in Impact and have targeted Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan. Edwards could have used Callihan’s help in this match as Morrissey’s interference on the outside allowed Moose to gain the advantage. He eventually put Edwards away with a spear. A melee after the match would eventually force Callihan to come to Edwards’ rescue, however.

Eddie Edwards and Sami Callihan’s Uneasy Alliance

After the match, a huge melee took place featuring the wrestlers scheduled for the 10-man tag match on next week’s show. Chris Sabin came out to make the save but was thwarted by Brian Myers and his “professionals.” Josh Alexander then came out to fight them off but he was then attacked by Ace Austin and Madman Fulton. Christian Cage then came out to take on Fulton and Austin. Edwards came in to help Cage with the numbers advantage but then Moose and Morrissey rejoined the fight and attacked him. This led to Alisha Edwards coming out with a kendo stick to try and help but was not overly effective at this. Morrissey was ready to pick her up for a choke slam when the lights went out. When the lights came back on, Sami Callihan was in the ring with two baseball bats. He gave one to Edwards and the two of them fought off the heels. Cage then played peace-broker between the two longtime rivals turned uneasy partners as the show came to a close.

Coming Up In Impact Wrestling

Much of this week’s episode featured Ace Austin and Christian Cage recruiting team members for a big multi-person tag match next week.

Next Week:

• Ace Austin, Madman Fulton, Brian Myers, Moose & W. Morrissey vs Christian Cage, Josh Alexander, Chris Sabin, & TBA

Victory Road (September 18th)

• Impact World Championship
  Christian Cage (c) vs Ace Austin
• X-Division Championship
  Josh Alexander (c) vs Chris Sabin
• Knockouts Tag Team Championships
  Decay (Rosemary & Havok) vs Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans
• Chris Bey & Hikuleo vs FinJuice (David Finlay & Juice Robinson)
• Moose & W. Morrissey vs. Eddie Edwards & Sami Callihan

Has Brian Cage gotten lost in the shuffle in AEW? There are some who believe so. According to Cage’s wife, Melissa Santos, he is being misused in the promotion. She posted a video to social media explaining her position.

“You see, Brian Cage is a superstar,” Santos said. “Those people who know him from indies, Impact, Lucha Underground where I met him, know that he’s a superstar. All you have to do is Google him and watch all his matches [at] PWG. He’s a superstar, and he’s being misused right now.”

Earlier, Santos had posted the following to social media:

Cage appears to agree with the post and responded with a Fresh Prince GIF to illustrate this:

The former FTW Champion lost to Team Taz’s Powerhouse Hobbs on Dynamite last week. Back in July, he lost the FTW title to Ricky Starks. Before then, he lost to Hangman Page in the opening match of the Double or Nothing PPV in May. Cage had defeated Page on an episode of Dynamite back in April, however.

The last time Cage was ranked in the AEW top-5 was on May 19th, 2021. Cage’s career record in AEW currently sits at 38-9.

Jon Moxley defeated Minoru Suzuki in the main event of Dynamite from Mox’s hometown of Cincinnati this week. AEW has just announced, however, that Suzuki will be back on Dynamite next week.

AEW also announced that he’ll be joined by his Suzuki-Gun teammate, Lance Archer, and plans to issue a new challenge to the former AEW World Champion. Archer and Suzuki are said to be upset that Moxley received preferential hometown treatment on Dynamite this week.

AEW announced the news on Twitter:

The main event match this week between Suzuki and Moxley only went a little over 8 minutes. There may have been some timing issues in the final few segments of the show that saw the match get reduced in-ring time.

Mox and Suzuki have now met in singles matches twice, with Moxley winning both matches. Their first match took place at the New Beginning in Osaka in February of 2020.

Suzuki also needed 7 stitches to close a cut above his eye that occurred in the match. Emi Sakura posted to Twitter about Suzuki’s injury below:

Next Week’s Dynamite

Next week’s Dynamite will take place from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. In addition to Suzuki-Gun challenging Moxley, the following matches have also been scheduled for the show:

1. Frankie Kazarian vs. Adam Cole
2. Leyla Hirsch vs. Jade Cargill (w/Mark Sterling)
3. Shawn Spears (w/Tully Blanchard) vs. Darby Allin (w/Sting)

Lio Rush was the “Joker” in the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing back in May. Rush was injured in the match, however, and would eventually announce his retirement in June. He did note that he would fulfill his obligations to New Japan, however.

Rush was back wrestling with New Japan this summer and performed on the Resurgence PPV on August 14th. Tony Khan took to Twitter this afternoon to say he’s been speaking a lot with Lio Rush lately and said he feels like Rush could be back with the company in the near future.

Earlier today, reports surfaced that WWE had pitched having Adam Cole serve as a manager for Keith Lee similar to the role Lio Rush performed with Bobby Lashley. Khan may have been referencing these reports when he posted the Tweet.

Khan spoke about Rush during the Double or Nothing post-event media scrum back in May.

“I don’t have a pen to paper [deal], but Lio and I have a handshake [deal] that he can work here and do New Japan both,” Khan said. “I think we have something good on a handshake, and I think he’s doing that on a handshake with New Japan too, and that’s kind of what we’ve been doing and it’s been pretty good.”

Shortly after Rush announced his retirement in June, Khan released a statement.

“Lio Rush reached out to me today, and he shared that he’d planned to announce his retirement from pro wrestling tonight. While this news was unexpected, I’m glad that he’s made a choice that he’s confident will make him and his family happy,” Khan’s statement read. “Lio is a great talent, and I enjoyed briefly working with him, and I absolutely wish him the best.”

More viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 years old watched AEW Dynamite than WWE RAW this week. This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite was watched by an average of 1,319,000 total viewers and 681,000 in the 18-49 demo (0.53 rating). WWE RAW this week averaged 1,845,000 viewers and did a 0.52 in the key demographic.

There are notable variables, however. RAW this week took place on Labor Day and was up against college football. Dynamite, on the other hand, was coming off of the most talked-about and buzzworthy PPV in the promotion’s history.

This was the second most-watched episode of AEW Dynamite in history, falling only behind the premiere episode in the fall of 2019. That first episode brought in 1,409,000 viewers on average and scored a 0.68 in the key demographic.

Earlier this month, WWE RAW scored its best record for the summer with the post- Summerslam edition on August 23rd. That show averaged a total of 2,067,000 and brought in a 0.64 in the key demographic.

The episode of Dynamite on August 25th also did good numbers for AEW. Until this week, that show had been the second highest-rated in company history in terms of the key demo. It brought in an average of 1,172,000 and did a 0.48 in the 18-49 demo. This was the show that came after CM Punk’s debut on the August 20th edition of Rampage.

AEW is going to tape episodes of Dark from Orlando’s Universal Studios this weekend. The promotion announced today that tickets are available for two sets of tapings to take place Saturday.

Each set of tapings is set to run for 3 hours. The first taping will run from 12 until 3 PM. The second taping will run from 4:30 to 7:30 PM.

AEW Taping Schedule

For most weeks, AEW will not tape episodes of Rampage live. Rather, the shows will be filmed immediately following Wednesday’s Dynamite and then air on Friday nights in the usual Rampage timeslot of 10 PM. Episodes of AEW Dark: Elevation are filmed before Dynamite on Wednesdays and then air the following Monday on YouTube.

Some episodes of Rampage will air live, however. The next live episode of Rampage will take place on October 15th from Miami. The November 5th edition of Rampage is also scheduled to be live from St. Louis.

The move to a studio setting for Dark was addressed last month in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

“They are going to be doing studio tapings for Dark most weeks now since Rampage is being taped on most Wednesday nights going forward,” wrote Dave Meltzer. The report continued to say that the format will typically be Dark Elevation filmed before Dynamite and then Rampage being filmed after. 

Jeff Hardy was involved in a segment on RAW this week where he was chasing after the 24/7 Championship. Many fans have voiced criticism of having a multi-time former world champion in such a segment.

Hardy was asked about his chase of the 24/7 title during a recent appearance on Boston’s 98.5 The Sports Hub.

“Monday night in Miami, that’s just what I felt like doing, that’s what I had to do,” said Hardy. I was in the chase for the 24/7 Title and it just didn’t work out. It’s one of those things, I show up to work and do what they need me to do and move on. That’s in the past and this Monday is the future so I’m super excited.”

Reactions to WWE’s Booking of Jeff Hardy

Several fans have reacted to the segment on social media.

Jeff Hardy’s Recent Win/Loss Record In 2021

Jeff Hardy is 7-12 in 19 singles matches this year. 5 of those matches took place on Main Event, where he has a 2-3 record this year. Hardy’s victories in singles matches have been over Elias, Jaxson Ryker, Cedric Alexander (3x), Karrion Kross, and Shelton Benjamin. His losses in 2021 have come to Randy Orton, Jaxson Ryker, AJ Styles, Sheamus, The Miz, Jinder Mahal (2x), Mustafa Ali, John Morrison, Veer, and Karrion Kross (2x).

FTW Champion Ricky Starks recently took part in an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session for Reddit Talk. During the Q&A, Starks was asked who he would like to see join Team Taz. Starks responded that he’d like to see Sasha Banks in the heel faction.

“Sasha Banks. They’re gonna run with that one, boys. Sasha Banks, y’all, in Team Taz,” Starks said during the discussion.

He also mentioned Andrade as someone who he would like to see in Team Taz.

Where Is Sasha Banks?

It has been over a month since Sasha Banks wrestled. She was pulled from some house show events in mid-August and then did not appear on SummerSlam for her scheduled match against Bianca Belair. The reason for her absence has not been revealed.

WWE is hopeful that Banks will return tomorrow for WWE’s Super Smackdown event at Madison Square Garden, according to PWInsider. The Boss was reportedly backstage at last week’s Smackdown.

“Sasha was at SmackDown last week, she did not appear on camera,” Mike Johnson wrote. “I was told the plan was for her initially to be at SmackDown this week at the Garden, so I don’t know if she’ll return, but I expect her to be on the road for the company full time this week.”

Adam Cole debuted for AEW at All Out on Sunday, aligning with members of the Elite. Cole reportedly met with Vince McMahon regarding a potential move to the main roster in the weeks leading to his departure. What WWE had planned for him on the main roster was recently addressed on Wrestling Observer Radio.

Evidently, WWE’s pitch to keep him in the company was to have him become a manager. “They were going to bring him up, the idea was to turn Keith Lee heel, have Adam Cole be his manager, probably with a different name because of the last name Cole and its main roster and Michael Cole, and you know how that goes,” said Dave Meltzer.

Meltzer then compared what they wanted from Adam Cole and Keith Lee to a Lio Rush/Bobby Lashley dynamic.

“That was kind of the dynamic they were looking for from him. More of a manager than a wrestler,” Meltzer continued. He would then say that these ideas were coming from either Vince McMahon or Bruce Prichard and not necessarily the creative team.

WWE’s Idea To Have Adam Cole Manage Keith Lee

Mick Foley recently commented on social media that WWE is no longer the place that wrestlers aspire to be. WWE’s pitch to have Adam Cole be more of a manager than a wrestler may illustrate some of Foley’s points.

“I think younger talent sees the way that developmental characters are cut or left by the wayside or in the case of Karion Kross, greatly watered down and even made a joke of when they debut on the main roster,” Foley said in the video. “

“I’m not sure that I would trust WWE creative to do the right thing with my career,” Foley continued. Perhaps Adam Cole began to feel the same.

At the post-event media scrum from All Out this weekend, Bryan Danielson mentioned that WWE had made a very gracious offer to him. Danielson said their offer included him being able to work for other companies.

There had been rumors that part of Danielson’s negotiations with WWE involved being able to work with NJPW. This is said to have been a key reason why Nick Khan was looking to develop an exclusive relationship with the promotion. Danielson’s negotiations with WWE and AEW were addressed recently on Wrestling Observer Radio.

“New Japan was a big thing. The key aspect of this was whether Nick Khan could pull of the exclusive deal between New Japan and WWE which obviously did not happen,” said Dave Meltzer. “Because if that happened, maybe he would have gone in the other direction and maybe he wouldn’t have.”

WWE Was Going To Let Bryan Danielson Go To NJPW

Meltzer continued to say that WWE was going to let Danielson work for NJPW. He also said that both offers from WWE and AEW were similar from a financial perspective.

“Both offers were money-wise similar. And both would have allowed him to do New Japan. WWE was going to allow him to do New Japan and he was trying to open the door for other people in WWE that wanted to go to New Japan to be able to do that but that seems to be a dead issue right now from a WWE standpoint.”

Danielson’s decision is also said to have been influenced by what he felt was best for the wrestling industry as a whole.

“He may have felt like Mick Foley did many years ago when he went to TNA, that the best thing for the industry is competition at a high level,” Meltzer continued. “Mick Foley went to TNA years ago for that reason.”

“For the industry as a whole, if competition is one of the key things then going to AEW would obviously be a big part of that as well. So, that was a factor.”

It was revealed on Busted Open Radio this morning that Kenny Omega is the #1 ranked wrestler in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated top-500 this year. Omega last earned the top spot in the rankings in 2018.

Omega earned the spot after spending much of the last year holding the AEW World Championship, AAA Mega Championship, and Impact World Championship. Omega ranked in at #13 in 2020.

Omega now joins Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Triple H, John Cena, and Seth Rollins as the only wrestlers to top the list on multiple occasions. 

The annual edition of the magazine is available for pre-order here.

PWI Top-10 2021

The top-10 ranked wrestlers from this list year are as follows:

1) Kenny Omega
2) Roman Reigns
3) Bobby Lashley
4) Drew McIntyre
5) Kota Ibushi
6) Jon Moxley
7) Will Ospreay
8) Finn Balor
9) Shingo Takagi
10) Rich Swann

Kenny Omega Tops PWI Top-500 For 2nd Time

Omega joins a small list of wrestlers who have topped the list more than once.

• 1991: Hulk Hogan
• 1992: Sting
• 1993: Bret Hart
• 1994: Bret Hart (2)
• 1995: Diesel
• 1996: Shawn Michaels
• 1997: Dean Malenko
• 1998: Steve Austin
• 1999: Steve Austin (2)
• 2000: Triple H
• 2001: Kurt Angle
• 2002: Rob Van Dam
• 2003: Brock Lesnar
• 2004: Chris Benoit
• 2005: Batista
• 2006: John Cena
• 2007: John Cena (2)
• 2008: Randy Orton
• 2009: Triple H (2)
• 2010: AJ Styles
• 2011: The Miz
• 2012: CM Punk
• 2013: John Cena (3)
• 2014: Daniel Bryan
• 2015: Seth Rollins
• 2016: Roman Reigns
• 2017: Kazuchika Okada
• 2018: Kenny Omega
• 2019: Seth Rollins (2)
• 2020: Jon Moxley
• 2021: Kenny Omega (2)

The rivalry between Chris Jericho and Maxwell Jacob Friedman had many twists and turns. At one point the two delivered a song and dance routine over dinner. Then MJF defeated Chris Jericho to earn a spot in the Inner Circle. Then MJF formed the Pinnacle to feud with Jericho’s faction. Eventually, there was the 5 Labors of Jericho and then The Final Fight at All Out.

Jericho recently reflected on the longest storyline of his career in a post to Instagram.

“Jericho vs MJF was THE longest storyline of my career…and one of the best,” Jericho wrote. “The angle started in Sept of 2020 and it ended last night at one of the greatest PPVs of all time, with the good guy making the bad guy tap out.”

“The angle between the The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle was full of twists and turns, comedy, tragedy, friendship, betrayal, blood, bubbly and genuine animosity. But overall, I feel it was a brilliant, expertly told tale that was one of the best in the business from the last 20 years. I hope all of you enjoyed watching this pro wrestling magnum opus as much we did telling it!!! On to the next challenge….”

Chris Jericho vs Maxwell Jacob Friedman Statistics

The first singles match between Jericho and MJF took place at Full Gear on November 7th, 2020. MJF won that match, as well as the Fifth Labor of Jericho before Jericho won at Final Fight, giving MJF a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head series in singles matches.

Jericho and MJF teamed together 7x throughout the storyline as well. They went a perfect 6-0 in these matches before losing a title match to the Young Bucks At AEW Revolution 2021.

MJF and Jericho were also on opposing sides of 2 different tag-team matches during the angle. The Pinnacle won the Blood and Cuts double-cage match while the Inner Circle won the Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing.

At WrestleMania this year, Damian Priest teamed up with Bad Bunny and defeated John Morrison and The Miz. According to comments he made recently during an interview with Metro, however, Priest attempted to goad Triple H into a match on the show.

 “Mania – Hunter didn’t have a match, and that was the first time all these legends, none of them [on the show],” Priest said. ‘I was like, ‘I mean, did you bring your gear? Because you can have a match, I’m right here!’ He started laughing and said, “You’re on a list of people that have asked me that”.

“I was like, I bet, I can imagine – he gets it all the time by guys being like, ‘Hey you wanna work? You wanna wrestle?'”

Priest would continue to talk about other wrestling legends he would like to face. Since he’s returned, Priest specifically mentioned working with Edge as something he would like to do. He also noted Kane as someone he’d like to wrestle.

“I think the closest one that I know that there’s a chance – and we’ve already kind of had an interaction at the Rumble – is Edge,” Priest said. “Obviously Kane, we had a little bit of an interaction. But I’m not satisfied, I need a lot more of that! Those feelings, just standing across from those guys – super cool, super, super cool.”

Damian Priest At Extreme Rules

Priest is scheduled to face Sheamus at Extreme Rules. Sheamus earned a shot at Priest’s United States Championship on RAW this week after defeating Drew McIntyre. Priest defeated Sheamus for the title at SummerSlam. He’s since defended it once in a triple threat match against both Drew McIntyre and Sheamus on the August 30th episode of WWE RAW.

Jake Atlas and Taylor Rust (FKA Tyler Rust in WWE) will return to Ring of Honor at Death Before Dishonor this weekend. Both wrestlers have had previous stints with the promotion, albeit brief ones. Rust was released from WWE on August 6th after having just been introduced as a member of the Diamond Mine. Atlas was also released from the NXT brand on August 6th and has since been announced for shows with New Japan Pro Wrestling as well.

Rust had a brief stint with ROH last October. He competed in the ROH Pure title tournament and was defeated by Tracy Williams in the 1st round. He then signed with WWE in December. Atlas competed for ROH briefly in 2019, wrestling one match on the Death Before Dishonor Fallout tour that September.

ROH has announced that Atlas and Rust will face each other on the September 12th PPV from Baltimore. The full lineup for the show is below.

Death Before Dishonor Lineup

• ROH World Championship
  Bandido (c) vs. Brody King vs. EC3 vs. Demonic Flamita
• ROH Pure Championship
  Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Josh Woods
• ROH Women’s World Championship
  Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize
• ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
  Shane Taylor, Moses, & Kaun vs. Dragon Lee, Bestia del Ring, & Kenny King
• Homicide, Chris Dickinson, & Tony Deppen vs. John Walters, LSG, & Lee Moriarty
• Matt Taven & Mike Bennett vs. The Briscoes
• Eli Isom vs. Dalton Castle
• Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust

A new interactive horror film starring the Undertaker and New Day is set to debut on Netflix next month. “Escape the Undertaker” will feature the New Day inside a haunted mansion where the Undertaker has set a trap for them. It will premiere on the streaming service on October 5th, 2021.

“The Undertaker has set a trap for the decorated tag team The New Day at his mansion. What they don’t know: The Undertaker’s mansion is an extreme Haunted House, packed to the brim with supernatural challenges. It’s up to viewers to decide the fate of these three poor souls trying to survive the wrath of The Undertaker,” a description of the movie reads.

Netflix announced the project today and included several screenshots of the film.

Netflix has been toying with interactive projects in recent years. These include Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and several other projects. Netflix did not reveal what interactive aspects will be part of the film, however.

For the 56-year-old Undertaker, this project will be his first with WWE since Survivor Series last year. Taker has officially retired from in-ring competition.

Some fans may have been hoping to hear Bryan Danielson enter the arena to the sounds of Europe’s “Final Countdown” at All Out. Danielson had used the song on the independent scene before signing with WWE. According to comments made by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, however, AEW tried but was unable to secure the rights to the song.

“There was, in fact, an attempt to have him come out to the Final Countdown, figuring the place would explode, which they did anyway,” said Dave Meltzer. “But it was, even for Tony Khan, it was cost-prohibitive. So, that’s why that didn’t play.”

“One of (Danielson’s) friends made this new remix and they think, in time, this song will be just fine,” Meltzer continued.

ROH evidently ran into similar problems trying to obtain the rights to the music.

Bryan Danielson on Using “Yes!” Chants in AEW

Danielson was also asked about using the “Yes!” chants in AEW during All Out’s post-even media scrum. Danielson said he won’t be using the chants himself due to WWE’s intellectual property rights. He said it was great that the fans were doing it, however.

“I don’t know, we’re going to have to talk about like what I can do and what I cannot do,” Danielson said. “So one of the things that I do try to respect, because like I said, I appreciate the people I worked for before and respecting their intellectual property and that sort of thing. And so try and making sure that I don’t contradict any of that. And the fans doing it is great, but I’m not sure if I’m going to do it.”

While CM Punk has been critical of his time in WWE (without mentioning the company by name) since signing with AEW, comments made by Bryan Danielson since All Out strike an entirely different tune. At the post-event media scrum, Danielson was very complimentary of WWE, his time there, and his relationship with Vince McMahon.

“WWE was so gracious with me as far as the offer that they gave me,” Danielson said. “They were gonna let me go do some other stuff on the outside, but, I hate to say this, Vince sometimes — He and I have a great relationship. I love him, I do. Sometimes he’s overprotective of me.”

Yet even though Bryan did not have the contentious relationship with WWE management as Punk did, was not released from his contract like a Ruby Soho or many others were, he still chose to sign with AEW.

Danielson signed with AEW even though WWE was going to let him work with other companies. He signed with AEW despite WWE offering him big money and featuring him in the main event of WrestleMania just months ago.

Bryan Danielson: I Want To Be A Part of This

Bryan continued by saying that it’s the fans, the AEW locker room, and the excitement surrounding the new company that enticed him to join.

“There’s just an excitement. You see the crowd. I mean I think you all see it, probably were all out there and you felt it,” Danielson continued to say about AEW. “You felt how excited people are about this product and it feels vibrant. Even just watching it through a TV screen in a trailer. I’m sitting there going, ‘God this is awesome. I want to be a part of this.’ So that was it.”

In other words, Bryan leaving WWE and signing with AEW had nothing to do with the negative aspects we often hear about WWE. Instead, Bryan’s signing had everything to do with the positive aspects of AEW. This is something WWE may want to be concerned about.

If they are unable to hold onto key talent such as a Daniel Bryan/Bryan Danielson, it might be a sign that the pendulum has swung inside the industry. Amongst wrestlers, WWE is no longer the promotion wrestlers dream of signing with. AEW is now in that role.

Last night on RAW, Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston wore black and red NWO-themed gear reminiscent of the Wolfpac. The New Day took part in the tag-team turmoil match for a shot at RK-Bro and the RAW tag team championships.

When the Wolfpac split away from what would eventually become NWO Hollywood in 1998, Kevin Nash, Randy Savage (briefly), Konnan, Lex Luger and Sting were the key members. Nash took to Twitter to comment on New Day wearing the Wolfpac-themed gear on RAW last night:

Big E responded to Kevin Nash’s comments with the following GIF:

Kofi Kingston also responded to Kevin Nash’s Tweet:

WWEShop.com has the New Day’s NWO-themed shirt available for purchase here.

NWO Wolfpac History

Before the Wolfpac ever became an official faction, they were something of an NWO sub-group. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Syxx-Pac sometimes referred to themselves by this name. When the Wolfpac officially separated from NWO Hollywood in 98, however, Syxx was already gone from WCW, and Hall opted to remain a member of the NWO Black and White faction.

The NWO would eventually reunite after the infamous “Finger Poke of Doom” on January 4th, 1999. Kevin Nash won the WCW World Championship from Goldberg at Starrcade 1998 the week before the this. It was his first of 5 eventual reigns he’d have with the belt.

Many fans noticed that the match between CM Punk and Darby Allin at All Out shared multiple similar spots to an influential match from the past. Bret Hart faced the 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman) for the WWF Championship in July of 1994. Punk would have been 15 years old at the time the match took place. In the build-up to Punk vs Darby, Punk mentioned that if he was 15-years-old, Darby would be his favorite wrestler.

A Bret Hart fan page on Instagram posted a video showing several spots where Punk and Darby Allin paid homage to Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid at All Out.

Sean Waltman Responds To Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid Homage During CM Punk vs Darby Allin

Sean Waltman responded to the homage recently on social media.

Waltman doesn’t always remember his matches with Bret as clearly, however. He responded to a thread about another match he had against Bret that took place in February of 1994.

Based on fan ratings from Cagematch.net, Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid is the 14th highest rated match of Bret Hart’s career. It was the 3rd best match of Waltman’s career according to the same website. The match received a 4.5 star rating from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The full match between the 1-2-3 Kid and Bret Hart can be viewed in the player below:

Ruby Soho debuted for AEW at All Out last night as the Joker in the Casino Battle Royale. Not only that, Soho won the match and has now earned a shot against AEW Women’s World Champion, Britt Baker. Soho spoke to the media following the show at the post-event press conference.

“Having been through this very, very long almost 11-year journey to get here, to get to this moment, to get to the legitimate pinnacle of my entire wrestling career, which was tonight, and gain the opportunity at the AEW women’s championship is the most special and significant thing in the world to me,” Soho said.

Ruby also fittingly came out to the ring to the sounds of Rancid’s “Ruby Soho.” She was asked about the significance of her new ring music as well.

“So, I have been a fan of Rancid for a very, very long time. Coincidentally enough, I don’t know if you guys know this, but a lot of punk fans are big wrestling fans. And Lars (Frederiksen) and I had became friends over the last couple years. I had kind of come upon a time where I was like ‘ok, I need to know what I’m going to be called, what my music is going to be’ and he suggested, and like bestowed upon me, Ruby Soho and the music.”

Soho then started to get emotional as she spoke about fans chanting for her before she made her debut.

“I have never experienced anything like that before,” Soho continued. “To have people have that anticipation for me to come out and for people to want that and for people to get it and get excited, is something that I think all of us in the wrestling industry thrive for.”

“It just felt like home from the moment I walked out there,” Soho continued.

Soho was also asked when was the last time she was this happy in pro-wrestling. She was adamant that this is the happiest she’s ever been in her career.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in pro-wrestling, if I’m being honest,” Soho responded. “Like tonight, my face hurts from smiling. That’s a real thing, my face hurts from smiling so much. I never want this feeling to go away. I’m so grateful, I’m so grateful to Tony, I’m so grateful to all of you, to everyone that was in attendance tonight for just welcoming me with open arms. Usually I’m the misfit, but you guys made me feel like I fit right in.”

Soho’s comments can be heard in the player below:

At All Out 2021, CM Punk returned to the wrestling ring for the first time in 7 years, Bryan Danielson debuted for AEW, Adam Cole re-joined his former Elite stablemates, and Ruby Soho debuted and earned a title shot. At the post-event media scrum, Punk was asked about the new additions to the AEW roster and how they stack up against the names WCW brought in during the mid to late 90s.

“I’m not Hogan, I’m not Savage. Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole are not the Outsiders,” Punk responded. “I see the parallels. This is totally different and I’ll go ahead and say it, people can quote me and they’ll be pissed off about it, to me, this is bigger.”

Earlier in the discussion, Punk said that he feels the new AEW additions will have a big impact. He’s not worried about competing with other companies, however. It’s about AEW focussing on their talent and audience.

“Obviously, I think it’s going to be very impactful,” Punk said. “I’m not personally in the business of a war or competing. I know who competition is and who competition isn’t. To me, we focus on ourselves. We focus on the talent we have and we focus on the people in the building and I think that’s how we grow.”

Punk’s comments can be heard in the video below: