– WWE posted the above vignette for the NXT re-debut of Elias Samson on their official YouTube channel following this week’s edition of NXT TV on the WWE Network on Wednesday evening. WWE referred to the vignette as “A haunting ballad for the NXT Universe.”
– The following is a WWE.com exclusive post-NXT interview with The Hype Bros following their victory over former NXT Tag-Team Champions Blake & Murphy on last night’s show.
– Limited tickets are still available for the NXT U.K. Tour stop in Glasgow, Scotland on Friday. WWE posted the following notice on the official NXT Twutter page regarding the event, which takes place at The SSE Hydro.
Triple H held his regular NXT conference call for the “TakeOver: London” special on the WWE Network next week and as usual, “The Game” dropped a couple of gems.
HHH noted during the call that former NXT Champion Sami Zayn will indeed be in action at the event live, but his match will not air as part of the TakeOver: London special. Instead, Zayn’s return match will be taped to air on the following Wednesday’s episode of NXT TV on the WWE Network.
Additionally, it appears that there will be a Fatal 4 Way and Elias Samson’s debut during the event in London, but those won’t be airing until the next NXT TV episode as well.
Triple H said WWE is looking at promoting more TakeOver specials airing in various time slots in the future, including one in Japan in 2016, due to the success of the “Beast In The East” WWE Network special earlier this year.
WWE posted the following photo on the official NXT Twitter page of Triple H taken during the NXT TakeOver: London conference call on Thursday morning.
Headlined by Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship, NXT TakeOver: London is scheduled to air live on the WWE Network at 3pm EST. / Noon PST. from Wembley Arena in London, England.
– WWE posted the above video, which premiered on Monday’s TLC “go-home” edition of RAW, for this year’s special Slammy Awards edition of RAW. The 2015 Slammy Awards take place in two weeks at the RAW show on December 21st in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
– NXT will return to Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on Thursday, January 7, 2016 for the first set of NXT television tapings of the new year. Tickets for the show quickly sold out shortly after going on sale on Monday morning.
– As seen below via WWE’s official Twitter page, Donny Deutsch made a cameo during Monday’s RAW in a backstage segment with The Miz and Neville to promote his new USA Network show “Donny!” The show airs Tuesday nights at 10:30pm EST.
Sami Zayn is returning to action later this week for NXT’s live tour of the UK. It will be his first time back in the ring since undergoing rotator cuff surgery back in May.
Zayn is advertised to compete against Finn Balor and Baron Corbin in the triple threat main event of Saturday’s show from Sheffield, England. Other matches announced for that card include Samoa Joe vs. Apollo Crews and NXT Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Emma.
It remains to be seen if Zayn will wrestle at next Wednesday’s NXT “Takeover: London” special that airs live on the WWE Network.
WWE Superstar Tyler Breeze recently spoke with The Charleston Post & Courier about the role Billy Gunn played in his development in NXT, his transition to the main roster and the legendary Gorgeous George being an inspiration for his current character.
On using wrestling legend Gorgeous George for inspiration:
“In the same vein, just modernized. He was a big influence as far as presentation and mannerisms. I watched a lot of his stuff when I tried to put this character together.”
On coming to the main roster from NXT:
“It’s been a big change for me. As much fun as NXT was, it totally took a different turn up here. Working in front of sold-out houses and at events like Survivors Series, and working with someone like Dolph Ziggler, makes it a real pleasure to come to work.”
On Billy Gunn playing a big role in his development:
“He showed me the character and showmanship part of it. He is so over the top and helped bring that out of me. I wasn’t very much like that before. I wanted to wrestle. I liked the wrestling moves and the athletic part of it. But I didn’t really know the showmanship part of it, and he helped bring that out of me.”
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently spoke with The Daily Record to promote the upcoming NXT U.K. tour. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On taking pride in the responsibility of being a role model:
“I hope I am an inspiration, as it’s something I’ve always wanted to be. When I was younger, I had people like Lita, Ivory and Molly Holly to look up to and I try to think of how they made me feel. No matter what I do in the sport, whether it’s during matches, or outside the ring, I’m always conscious of putting on a good image. I see lots of young girls dressing up like me and I get all these tweets saying I’m an inspiration. It’s a great feeling, so it’s really important not to let anyone down.”
On the reach of WWE NXT and her newfound popularity:
“I’m noticing the more we travel outside of Florida, the more I’m noticing the impact we’re having. Like I’m touching people outside of my own state, which is crazy. I’m seeing my Hugger shirts all over the world, on everyone from little kids to grown men and women. When I started seeing that everywhere, that was when I realized something was happening. It’s really cool.”
On her cheerfulness coming natural because she loves her job:
“It’s easy for me as I really feel like a little kid when I walk out on stage. Even if I’m feeling tired, sore or beat up backstage and am thinking ‘I don’t know if I can get through this one’, as soon as I walk out there, the adrenaline just pours out of me. It’s not even something I have to think about, it’s automatic. Once I see the fans and that wrestling ring, it’s like a switch. I just love it.”
TNA star Ethan Carter III recently appeared as a guest on Art Of Wrestling, not to be confused with the Colt Cabana podcast of the same name, and spoke about the current success of NXT, his most memorable opponent and whether or not he is a fan of women’s wrestling. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On his most memorable opponents and good friends within the industry:
“I’ve been fortunate to share the ring with great wrestlers of legendary status, and those that will fill their boots in the future. It wouldn’t be fair to list names without feeling as though I missed someone, but I can say that my favorite opponent has been Kurt Angle. Kurt was one of the reasons I fell in love with wrestling, and one the reason I decided to pursue it as a career.”
On whether he is a fan of women’s wrestling and his favorite Knockout:
“I’m very much a fan of women’s wrestling and the effort our knockouts and women throughout wrestling have put forth in changing it’s previous perception. They are very skilled athletes who deserve recognition for that fact. As far as my favorite, I don’t play favorites (Gail Kim).”
On the current success of NXT:
“It’s far different from the incarnation I was on and that is obviously for the better. They have a very good show and I’m happy to see the success of the people who are there.”
NXT Diva Carmella recently appeared as a guest on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast and spoke about her previous jobs as a New England Patriots and Los Angeles Lakers cheerleader, working in NXT with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, being friends with NXT Women’s Champion Bayley and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On her father being a pro wrestler and a WWE enhancement talent when she was a kid:
“I grew up watching wrestling and in wrestling because my dad wrestled when I was younger. He wrestled independently and in the WWE in the ’90s, so it’s just bringing everything full circle being here in the WWE.” Carmella added, “when [Van Dale] does get a chance to see me, he’s so proud. And he watches NXT every single week and he’s always calling me [and] telling me what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong, so it’s really cool.”
On managing Enzo and Cass and being a wrestler, and not having a preference between the two:
“I feel so lucky because I get the best of both worlds. I get to go out and wrestle on my own, but I still get to be a part of Enzo and Cass, [which] as you said, is one of the biggest and most popular acts here in NXT, so I can’t just chose one. I really enjoy both, especially with my background cheering. I’m out there cheering on my boys! But I just love performing in front of the cameras, so when I’m out there and wrestling on my own too, it’s such a cool feeling, just all eyes are on me.” Carmella continued, “I’m so grateful and I have so much fun either way, so when I’m with the boys, I feel like I’m a certain character, but when I’m by myself, I have to kind of amp it up because I’m just out there by myself.”
On being best friends with current NXT Women’s Champion Bayley:
“I don’t know if you know that, but we’re Baymella. And we’re just super silly and crazy and we mess with people, like, on our little road trips to our shows all the time and we’re just messing with people any opportunity we can get, pranking people. That’s just what we do!”
On the Divas Revolution in WWE:
“When I first started [at WWE], it was just beginning of the Divas Revolution. I am just so excited to be able to have an opportunity to show that we’re athletes and we’re here to work hard and we’re not just here to have these little five-minute matches that are about how we look. It’s more than that.”
On growing up idolizing Miss Elizabeth and how she was influenced by her:
“Watching [professional wrestling] when I was younger, I idolized Miss Elizabeth. For me, I was like, ‘okay, that is a diva. That’s what I want to be.’ She’s classy and she always looked the part. She looked fabulous. And that to me, that is what I want to portray, so to be here now in this time with the Divas Revolution, it’s perfect for me.”
– It looks as though former Neville may be undergoing some character changes in the near future. Featured above is a video clip from this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown that shows The Miz approaching the former NXT Champion backstage and offering to help by taking Neville under his wing.
– In addition to WWE Tough Enough winner Josh Bredl revealing his new WWE ring name, Bronson Mathews, during a promo segment at the NXT live event in Orlando, Florida on Thursday evening, another former Tough Enough contestant made her in-ring debut.
Daria Berenato, who was signed to a developmental deal with WWE after Tough Enough ended, worked a match at the NXT live event. Berenato is currently working under her real name, but is also using the “Jersey Devil” nickname. She was squashed by Nia Jax in her in-ring debut at Thursday’s live event.
WWE Tough Enough winner Josh Bredl appeared at the NXT live event in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night and in an in-ring promo segment, revealed his new WWE ring name.
Bredl, who also appears regularly on the WWE Network original series “Breaking Ground,” revealed that his new name is Bronson Mathews.
After revealing his WWE ring name, Bredl mentioned that he has 250,000 reasons to prove himself and that 2016 will be a big year for him.
Below is a photo of Bredl’s in-ring promo segment from last night’s NXT live event.
WWE Hall Of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin was a guest on The Taz Show: Bodyslams and Beyond earlier this week and spoke about various issues related to the state of the pro wrestling industry. Here are there highlights..
Austin continues to voice his opinion that promos are entirely over-scripted, which stifles creativity and prevents the wrestlers from fully getting over.
“I don’t like to be the bitter veteran that complains about the system, but, I don’t believe that promos should be scripted,” Austin said. “A couple of bullet points, yes, to point a cat in the right direction, but you’ve got to be out there and be able to feel at home and believe with conviction and your heart and your soul with everything that you’re saying and if you’re just trying to be an orator or someone who delivers a speech, that’s not effective in my opinion. And to me, to draw money, you’ve got to be able to reach people’s heartstrings and reach some kind of guttural response or just anything that resonates with them.”
Despite the limitations of a stale creative environment, Austin says today’s WWE Superstars are athletically superior to the generations that proceeded them. That said, it’s not just about bouncing around in the ring and current performers need to focus on selling and telling a story.
“These guys are a step above our generation and the generations before us, athletically. What they can do in the ring is amazing and they’re great athletes, but I can give you Flair/Windham from ’87 or ’86 and those guys are working at today’s pace, but they’re selling everything, they’re not telegraphing anything, they’re not foreshadowing the next sequence of moves. It’s about 50-50 or 70-30 called in the ring and so it feels spontaneous and it feels different. It feels like a shoot. So there’s a real fine line between taking all that athleticism and you’re going to set up a little bit of stuff, but when it looks like you’re just going through the motions, you’re just going through the motions and people can see that. And you’ve got to be able to feel and really get behind a character and a personality and the human that’s doing that. I mean, that’s the money level.”
NXT Champion Finn Balor was also a recent guest on The Taz Show and explained that he’s in no hurry to join the main roster. Stone Cold also has some concerns about Balor getting called up and whether his character will connect with the WWE Universe. Austin put over Balor as a great human being and a hellacious worker, but it’s all about getting the fans behind your character.
“I’m wondering if he’s going to get lost in the shuffle a little bit [on the main roster]. He does that crawl to the ring and sometimes it takes so long. It’s a little disconcerting because I’ve seen the kid. Good looking kid, worked for many years in Japan, and he’s very technical from Ireland or wherever he’s from. Great kid! Great kid! Hell of a worker. Ten times the worker I ever was, but he [has] got to connect with those people. And so hopefully that gimmick allows him to do that. And it’s a great look. You can make a lot of action figures off of it, but put all the pieces together. People [have] got to care about him to become emotionally invested in him, but a great human being and a hellacious worker.”
He added that he’s not totally sold on Balor’s elaborate ring entrance because he finds it unrealistic that his opponent will stand in the ring waiting while Balor takes his time crawling to the ring. If Austin would have been in the ring waiting for Finn Balor to finish his ring entrance, “I’d have to go stomp a mud hole in him and walk it dry when I’d have the opportunity because that’s what ‘Stone Cold’ would do.”
WWE confirmed two new matches for NXT Takeover: London on this week’s episode of NXT TV. NXT Tag Team Champions Dash and Dawson will defend against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy and Asuka will square off against Dana Brooke. With those matches set, here’s the updated card:
NXT Championship
– Finn Balor (c) vs. Samoa Joe
NXT Tag-Team Championship
– Dash & Dawson (c) vs. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady
NXT Women’s Championship
– Bayley (c) vs. Nia Jax
– Emma vs. Asuka
– Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews
NXT Takeover: London takes place on Wednesday, December 16th and airs live on the WWE Network.
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens missed WWE television this week due to being ill. Owens was in Pittsburgh on Monday night, but had a bad flu bug and was sent home as a result. The expectation is that Owens will be okay by the weekend.
– Neville has been added to at least some of the upcoming NXT shows on their upcoming tour. The tour runs from December 10th until December 16th and thus far, Neville is advertised for the first two shows, which includes the opening night in Newcastle, where he is from.
Sami Zayn is advertised for the entire tour. He has been back training as of late and his return was being pushed on NXT TV this week. At this point, it is unclear if Zayn will just be appearing or wrestling on the NXT tour.
WrestlingDVDNetwork.com has revealed the complete content listing for WWE upcoming “NXT’s Greatest Matches Volume 1” DVD & Blu-ray sets, due out March 8th, 2016.
Disc 1
It Started as a Whisper
Creating the Future
NXT Championship Tournament Final
Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal NXT • August 29, 2012
WrestleMania 31
No Disqualification Match for the NXT Championship
Seth Rollins vs. Big E Langston NXT • January 9, 2013
Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt NXT • May 1, 2013
Women’s Wrestling is Back!
NXT Women’s Championship Tournament Final
Paige vs. Emma NXT • July 24, 2013
Best 2 Out of 3 Falls Match
Sami Zayn vs. Antonio Cesaro NXT • August 21, 2013
William Regal vs. Antonio Cesaro NXT • December 25, 2013
Disc 2
NXT ArRival
Ladder Match for the NXT Championship
Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville NXT ArRival • February 27, 2014
NXT Women’s Championship Tournament Final
Charlotte vs. Natalya NXT Takeover • May 29, 2014
Tyler Breeze “#MMMGorgeous” Music Video NXT • June 5, 2014
#WeAreNXT
Sami Zayn vs. Tyson Kidd NXT • October 16, 2014
NXT Championship Match
Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn NXT Takeover: REvolution • December 11, 2014
The Four Horsewomen
Fatal Four-Way Match for the NXT Women’s Championship
Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch vs. Bayley NXT Takeover: Rival • February 11, 2015
Disc 3
Takeover: Rival
NXT Championship Match
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens NXT Takeover: Rival • February 11, 2015
The Arnold Classic
Adrian Neville vs. Cesaro Columbus, OH • March 5, 2015
San Jose
Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze [Arena Cam] San Jose, CA • March 27, 2015
Six-Person Tag Team Match
Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady & Carmella vs. Blake, Murphy & Alexa Bliss NXT • June 17, 2015
Beast in the East
NXT Championship Match
Kevin Owens vs. Finn Bálor Beast in the East • July 4, 2015
Takeover: Brooklyn
NXT Women’s Championship Match
Sasha Banks vs. Bayley NXT Takeover: Brooklyn • August 22, 2015
Long Live the Dream
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament Final
Finn Bálor & Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin & Rhyno NXT Takeover: Respect • October 7, 2015
This past week, I was looking at some clippings in old newsletters and found one of a Vince McMahon interview from some point in 1985 (it wasn’t dated) in the Boston Globe’s weekend magazine. Most of it was pretty run of the mill (his background in promoting, the appeal of pro wrestling, and so on), but there was one question and answer that stood out as especially interesting as well as relevant in 2015….
For those of you who need a text version for screen readers and the like:
Are you putting more effort into women’s wrestling these days?
“Yes. I see it as a growth area. I think that women’s wrestling was an area that was overlooked for many years, and it wasn’t until recently that a very attractive element, physically, began to enter ladies’ wrestling. And with the advent of Cyndi Lauper and Wendi Richter who now, there will be a deluge of female athletes who are nice looking as well. Not that all women wrestlers have to be nice-looking, because they won’t be. Just as all male wrestlers aren’t handsome devils.”
Richter’s last ever WWF match was not long after this, which was 30 years ago this past week. Having said she wanted time to read a new contract before signing it, a screwjob was pulled on her to take the Women’s Championship without her cooperation:
NXT Champion Finn Balor recently appeared as a guest on The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond to discuss all things NXT. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.
On NXT talents that have ‘blown him away’:
“The growth that a lot of the boys have shown in the last year since I got here is just unbelievable. The likes of like Jason Jordan [and] Chad Gable, they’re two guys that, in the last year, have blown me away with their growth.”
On his demon body paint:
“Honestly, I’m just a fan of art. I’m a fan of expressionism. I’m a fan of changing things on the fly. I’m a fan of just going with the flow and being in the moment and that’s really what the demon is for me. It just kind of helps me channel, kind of, maybe an inner, darker side. People accuse me of being kind of too nonchalant or too laid back and too introverted and I feel like the demon definitely helps me bring a different side of my personality out.”
– Following her loss to Bayley in the NXT Women’s Championship match on this week’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network, which aired on Wednesday evening, WWE Diva and Total Divas star Eva Marie spoke to WWE.com about coming up short and how she’s earned everything she’s gotten while in WWE, noting that nothing has been “handed to her.” You can check out the new Eva Marie interview above.
– On next week’s edition of NXT, Samoa Joe and Tommaso Ciampa will go one-on-one. In an interesting statistic, both Joe and Ciampa have worked for WWE, ROH and TNA during the 2015 calendar year.
– WWE posted the following video showing NXT Women’s Champion Bayley struggling to her feet after being attacked by Nia Jax on this week’s edition of NXT TV.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley recently sat down for an in-depth interview on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast to talk about a number of topics related to her career. Below are some of the highlights.
On being separated from the rest of the Four Horsewomen and becoming the focal point of the NXT Women’s division:
“It’s kind of bittersweet. It’s really weird and hard to [explain] because I grew up with them. We started in NXT together and Full Sail [University] together. To watch them go off [to the main roster], like, it’s amazing and I’m so proud [of them], but it’s kind of like, ‘man, I miss having them around!’ I miss having matches with them, but at the same time, it’s all eyes on me [now] and I’m like the front end of this new era of women coming up in NXT. And it’s like, man, there are so many amazing performers coming up and I’m so happy that I’m the [NXT Women’s] Champion and get to be a part of it and get to work with them.”
On becoming a locker room leader in NXT:
“It’s really cool because now I’m literally the one who has been here the longest out of the women who we train with. And, so, I try to be the best leader in the locker room that I can.” Bayley continued, “I really enjoy helping and teaching and stuff. And when we’re training with Sara Del Rey, if she misses something, she asks me if there’s something that I saw that maybe she didn’t catch. And, so, it feels really cool. I’m kind of like a little assistant [coach] sometimes. It’s a whole new level of learning when I’m able to help someone else out.”
On avoiding getting a big ego:
“At the [WWE] Performance Center, we’re all at the same level. We’re all at NXT. We’re all wanting to get to the main roster. That’s the way I see it. That’s the way Coach [Matt] Bloom always says it. We’re all right here. Whether we’re the champions or not, we all need to treat each other equal.”
On her feelings that WWE would try and change her character:
“It was really, really weird. I felt like they were going to try to change me and if I didn’t change, I wasn’t going to succeed. That’s how I felt coming in, but I knew I was going to try no matter what. Like, ‘I’m going to give this a shot. This is where I want to be, so I’ve got to try to fit into wherever they want me to be to be this huge Diva.’” Bayley added, “I didn’t think I was this amazing wrestler. It’s just wrestling is all I knew and I kind of felt like, ‘I don’t have the look for that anyways. They probably wouldn’t want to use me for those type of things,’ so I didn’t even expect them to want to put me on these bikini posters and stuff like that, so it wasn’t really something that I was too worried about.”
On how the Divas Revolution came about:
“It was kind of like a combination of everyone’s work because, obviously, Sasha and Charlotte, and when Becky came, we were all just wrestlers. And I think we were listening and kind of taking everybody’s [advice], the coaches opinions, and we were learning and stuff. We weren’t ignoring what they wanted. We were still [saying], ‘okay, that’s what you want me to do? I’ll do that.’ But we were still having these matches and the crowd was getting into it. I really think it was the fans that helped the Revolution. They loved watching us wrestle! It kind of seemed like it turned everybody’s heads, and especially Triple H.”
On how the inflatable tube men became part of her entrance:
“So the tube men, they kind of like surprised me with that one day, where they were like, ‘we have something really cool for your entrance. We think it will match you perfectly.’” Bayley continued, “so they were just like, ‘we want to do this rehearsal with you, so we’ll surprise you. Just do the rehearsal.’ It was before the show, so I come out, I’m doing my entrance, and then they pop up and I’m like, ‘oh my God! This is perfect!’ It was such a legit surprise and the colors [matched] with my [ring] gear and all that. It just seemed like so perfect.”
On “Macho Man” Randy Savage influencing some of her ring gear:
“‘Macho Man’ was who drew me to wrestling. The first time I saw him, I was like ‘oh my gosh! He is so cool!’, so that’s just something I wanted to kind of carry on and nobody does it. It’s different, so that was going to stand out on it’s own and it’s my own little ‘Macho Man’ thing.”
Contract negotiations for a new deal between Ring Of Honor and the tag-team of Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly have reportedly stalled as the two sides are still far apart.
According to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there have been a few WWE wrestlers who have tried to recruit Fish and O’Reilly, particularly because WWE is looking to load up the NXT roster with talented in-ring performers for a more extensive schedule of big shows around the country.
As noted, WWE is looking to take NXT on the road more in 2016, with their aim to be to draw a similar type of audience that Ring Of Honor draws when they take shows on the road.
The crew at WrestlingDVDNetwork.com continued their week of match reveals for the upcoming NXT’s Greatest Matches Vol. 1 DVD and Blu-Ray set today by announcing that these three will be included:
NXT Championship Finals: Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal (NXT August 29, 2012)
Ladder Match for the NXT Championship: Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville (NXT ArRival February 27, 2014)
NXT Championship Match: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (NXT Takeover: Rival February 11, 2015)
– Featured above is the latest edition of WWE’s “Five Things” YouTube show, which takes a look at five love affairs fans may have forgotten about.
– The following is scheduled for tonight’s edition of NXT on the WWE Network:
* Guest general manager due to William Regal recovering from surgery
* Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe contract signing
* Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. The Vaudevillains for the NXT Tag Titles
* Asuka vs. Dana Brooke
* Apollo Crews vs. Jesse Sorensen
* Bayley vs. Eva Marie for the NXT Women’s Championship
– WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to the SmackDown television taping in Indianapolis, Indiana on Tuesday evening:
* Titus O’Neil def. Stardust via count out in the first of four matches taped for this week’s show.
* Ryback def. Heath Slater in a quick match. This basically amounted to a squash match, with Ryback dominating throughout.
* Rusev def. Zack Ryder in another quick match. The fans in Indianapolis were into Ryder here, and also gave Rusev good heat.
* Brie Bella def. Charlotte in a non-title match after Paige caused a distraction that allowed Brie to get the win.
Former NXT Champion Sami Zayn is being advertised for the NXT tour of the U.K. coming up in December, including all of the regular live events and the NXT TakeOver: London special on December 16th.
It’s possible that Zayn is just appearing at the shows in a non-physical capacity, as we haven’t heard that he is ready to make his in-ring return just yet.
Other talents advertised for the NXT tour that is scheduled to kick off on December 10th in Newcastle, England include NXT Champion Finn Balor, NXT Women’s Champion Bayley, NXT Tag-Team Champions Dash and Dawson, Neville, Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews, Samoa Joe, Dana Brooke and Emma.
The folks at WrestlingDVDNetwork.com are announcing new matches for the upcoming NXT’s Greatest Matches Vol. 1 DVD and Blu-Ray set this week. Today’s matches include quite the notable one: A 2012 dark match featuring CM Punk & Seth Rollins vs. Antonio Cesaro & Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero). This match is probably the last time Punk and Hero, who had a famous feud in IWA Mid-South, will ever wrestle each other.
