CM Punk made his triumphant return to the wrestling ring at All Out wrestling Darby Allin, and since then, a feud with Team Taz has been teased. This would fully kick in during Wednesday night’s Dynamite when Punk, who was on commentary, was attacked by both Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook. Hobbs would attempt to slam Punk through the announcer table, which didn’t break, but Punk was still left laying. Later on, it was announced that Punk and Hobbs will now wrestle each other next week at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, with it airing on the September 24 episode of Rampage.
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This will be Punk’s first match on television in over seven years. His previous TV match was against Billy Gunn on Raw back in January 2014, shortly before he walked out on WWE. The choice of Will Hobbs as his second AEW opponent is somewhat surprising considering he isn’t yet one of the more prominent names in the company, however, Punk has previously listed several wrestlers he wanted to work with in AEW, and Hobbs was among them. Also on the list was Darby Allin, who he selected to be his first opponent, as well as Ricky Starks, Jungle Boy, and Brian Pillman Jr.
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Bray Wyatt was surprisingly released by WWE on July 31, just eight days before he was meant to return to Raw. The stated reason for being let go was budgetary cuts. Still, some people in the know have called that into question claiming creative disagreements. Whatever the actual reason is, Wyatt needs to start over as he cannot use The Fiend gimmick from now on because it is WWE’s intellectual property.
However, he is clearly already working on something else, as he previously posted an ominous image on social media captioned with “You can’t kill it.” Now the former WWE and Universal Champion has replied to fans on Twitter somewhat cryptically, confirming fans will see him soon and that we haven’t previously seen the real him.
Everything will be clear. I’ll see you all very soon. Revenge is a confession of pain.
Bray WyattYou’ve NEVER seen the real me.
Bray WyattDue to his 90-day non-compete clause, Wyatt cannot sign with another wrestling company until October 29. Although the has been speculation, he may debut for another promotion sooner if WWE allows him to end the clause early, as they did with Chelsea Green. Regardless of where he does end up working, he faces a sizable challenge to create a character that can get over as much as The Fiend did in WWE. Still, with words like genius and artist regularly used when describing him, a fresh start will allow him to exhibit his creative talents to his doubters.
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Paige hasn’t performed on WWE television since appearing via video on the March 20, 2020, episode of SmackDown. However, she is still under contract with the company and receiving her downside guarantee, and recently revealed on Twitch she has ten months on her deal. With WWE releasing so many talents this past year, it seems odd they are keeping Paige under contract when not using her.
However, she has been teasing on social media, making a return to the ring, so perhaps WWE is hoping she gets medically cleared to return to their ring rather than somebody else. Now adding to the speculation, she has tweeted out “January,” with fans now taking that to indicate when she could be planning on returning.
Most fans have jumped to the conclusion that “January” means she will be part of the women’s Royal Rumble match. However, it should be noted that the Royal Rumble pay-per-view date has yet to be confirmed, and internally WWE has been considering the first week of February. That, though, likely wouldn’t be known by Paige unless she followed every piece of wrestling gossip out there.
With Edge, Christian, Daniel Bryan, and Sting successfully resuming their careers after being forced to retire, Paige will always have hope. Although with multiple screws in her neck and previously saying she has the neck of a 60-year-old, she will be taking a considerable risk competing again. That said, it is her life, and if doctors feel she can compete relatively safely, then good for her.
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Bronson Rechsteiner made his debut during the first episode of the revamped NXT, and it was made clear the company sees him as a future star. Instead of the name Rex Steiner, which he had started using last week on social media, he would instead go by Bron Breakker. No mention of him being the son of Rick Steiner was made except for the comment that he was showing a “dog-faced gremlin mentality.“
The second-generation wrestler would open the show facing LA Knight and not only had a competitive match where he used many of his father’s signature moves but actually got the victory. He would later appear as the show closed, congratulating new NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, which led to a staredown between the pair. Following the episode, in what was referred to as a digital exclusive, WWE shared a video of him cutting a promo telling Ciampa that he respects him, but he’s got his eye on him now.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”5pGiyBSD” upload-date=”2021-09-15T11:20:19.000Z” name=”Bron Breakker Digital Exclusive Promo” description=”” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]Breakker, as we need to get used to calling him, was previously with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted rookie and signed with WWE after a successful tryout. Since then, he has been training at the Performance Center and made two cameo appearances on WWE television. The first was as a zombie during the lumberjack match between The Miz and Damian Priest at WrestleMania Backlash. The second was as a security guard trying to restrain Samoa Joe, who was going after Karrion Kross.
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Trademarks in wrestling are serious business nowadays and keeping an eye on who is trademarking what can give clues into future plans. Recently the Young Bucks went on a trademarking spree, and among those they applied for was “SuperKliq,” a straightforward combination of Super Kick and The Kliq. For those unaware, SuperKliq was a subgroup of New Japan’s Bullet Club stable consisting of The Bucks and recent AEW signee Adam Cole. This has resulted in fans on social media wondering whether a new faction, possibly away from Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers, could be on the horizon. While there is no way at present to tell if that is the long-term plan, The Bucks have clearly seen the rumors and have updated their Twitter bio acknowledging it.
At the same time as making this application, The Bucks also applied for trademarks on “The Elite,” “BTE,” and “Being The Elite” under their company KIlling The Business Inc. Looking at these and their trademark history, it is clear the brothers don’t just register trademarks for the sake of it, and each is significant to their brands. Thus, this would seemingly indicate something meaningful is planned with “SuperKliq” in the future.
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Tuesday night’s episode of NXT was the brand’s relaunch, with it now being referred to as NXT 2.0. Separate from the new graphics, the most significant change is that Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard, and Kevin Dunn are now in charge of the bigger picture and promptly introduced six new wrestlers. Amongst them were three second-generation wrestlers who would all have varying degrees of accomplishment upon their NXT television debuts.
The first to appear was the son of Rick Steiner, Bronson Rechsteiner, who made an immediate impact. Going under the ring name of Bron Breakker, he would wrestle LA Knight in a competitive match and somewhat surprisingly got the victory. At the conclusion of the show, he would congratulate new NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa backstage, which led to a staredown between the pair, seemingly setting up a future match. Rechsteiner, or Breakker as we now need to get used to calling him, has been signed with WWE since February and was formally a football player with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent fullback.
Next to appear was the son of Bull Buchanan, Ben, who is utilizing a cowboy gimmick under the name Brooks Jensen. The 20-year-old would team with Josh Briggs losing to Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner of Imperium in just under four minutes. While it was too early to judge his ring ability, he showed charisma in a pre-taped promo and has only been training at the Performace Center for a short time, having just signed last month. He has though been wrestling since 2019 and previously teamed with his father on the indies.
Finally, Cal Bloom would debut under the name of Von Wagner. The 6’5 son of Wayne Bloom, best known as Beau of the Beverly Brothers, would replace Kylie O’Reilly in the four-way match for the vacant NXT Championship. Von Wagner had been a regular competitor on NXT house shows, losing almost 30 matches in a row since signing. He has though wrestled dark matches in recent months before SmackDown losing to Sheamus and defeating Austin Theory.
The belief is WWE wants NXT to create wrestlers who can move the needle when called up to the main roster. Therefore, recruitment and pushes are believed to be based around size and youth, which the trio have on their side. While Breakker was the only one of the trio to win their match and now looks set for a big push, both Jensen and Von Wagner did also do well in their first NXT television outing and should be considered regulars from now on.
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Impact Wrestling has announced that they will are bringing back their all-women event Knockouts Knockdown for the first time since 2017. The event was previously part of the promotion’s One Night Only series and featured Impact Knockouts against independent wrestlers. The revived event is being filmed at The Impact Zone at Skyway Studios Nashville, Tennessee, this upcoming weekend and will air on October 9th, and so far, the only participant confirmed is former WWE talent, Mercedes Martinez. Additionally, it has been announced the show will feature a Monsters Ball match in honor of the late Daffney, who tragically took her own life on September 1st, aged just 46.
Monster’s Ball matches are basically hardcore street fights and were established in the promotion back in 2004 with Monty Brown defeating Raven and Abyss in the debut match of this type. Over the years, 51 matches of this type have been held, with Abyss featuring in 49 of them. While the vast majority have featured men, women have appeared on occasion, with Daffney wrestling in them twice. The first being against Taylor Wilde at Sacrifice in May 2009. Then the following month, she would team with Raven losing to Abyss and Taylor Wilde.
There is some controversy with Impact Wrestling holding a Monster’s Ball match to honor Daffney’s memory due to her suffering a severe concussion on one of these matches, with it is speculated that the head trauma may have led to her difficulties later in life. Additionally, she would sue the promotion for putting her in an unsafe working environment, as during a dark match against Rosie Lottalove, she would end up hospitalized after suffering a bruised sternum, a severe stinger, and another concussion. It should, though, be noted that the majority of people involved with the company at the time are no longer there, and while Dixie Carter does still own a minority stake in the company, she is not involved in day-to-day activities.
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On Sunday night Samoa Joe shared a video on social media explaining he was relinquishing the NXT Championship due to injury. Having only just returned to the ring after suffering two concussions in early 2020, the news was upsetting for his fans and what the future holds for him is currently unknown. Nevertheless, with NXT’s revamp set to premiere on Tuesday, WWE needed to decide what to do with the title quickly, and William Regal has now confirmed WWE’s plan on social media.
Regal would announce that the previously scheduled #1 contender fatal-four match between Tommaso Ciampa, Kyle O’Reilly, LA Knight, and Pete Dunne will now be for the NXT Championship.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”tF0W4Zj5″ upload-date=”2021-09-13T21:07:35.000Z” name=”William Regal NXT Championship Announcement” description=”” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]Of the four men involved, only Ciampa has previously held the NXT Champion, who saw his reign sadly end because of a severe neck injury that required surgery. Therefore, it would be somewhat fitting for him to win the vacated championship after previously giving it up himself. However, the other three men in the match would all be worthy champions, and an excellent match should be expected regardless of who is triumphant.
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Big E is currently the Money In The Bank briefcase holder, having won the ladder match in July. It was an incredibly popular booking decision with fans. However, with him being on SmackDown, the idea of him defeating Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship seemed incredibly unlikely with Reigns working with Lesnar. So instead, the former Intercontinental Champion and NXT Champion has stated he will be cashing in during Raw tonight for Bobby Lashley’s WWE Championship.
WWE had been building up Lashley vs. Randy Orton for Extreme Rules but have since announced the match as taking place on Raw tonight. This change was considered an unusual decision, but it makes sense if WWE is hot-shotting an angle to boost ratings with Big E cashing in on the winner or potentially making the match a triple threat.
Fightful Select has since reported that Big E is scheduled to appear in multiple segments throughout the show, so it seems the episode will be built around his cash-in effort. It should, though, be noted that just because he is cashing in, it doesn’t guarantee he will win the WWE Championship, as on occasion, briefcase holders do fail.
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Previously, AEW would tape their YouTube show Dark on the same day as Dynamite. Now, with Rampage being taped following Dynamite, an alternative plan was required for Dark. It was subsequently announced that Dark would be taped going forward at Universal Studios, where both TNA and WCW previously recorded shows. The two sets of tapings would take place this past weekend, and multiple former WWE talents would make their debut throughout the day.
First to appear were Stallion Rogers and Anthony Greene, who were respectively known as Curt Stallion and August Grey in NXT facing off against FTR. The duo teamed previously in both EVOLVE and WWE, last teaming together in January 2021 against Drake Maverick & Killian Dain in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They would then go on to wrestle singles matches during the second session facing off against Joey Janela and Evil Uno in singles matches.
Later on, Adrian Jaoude, formerly known as Arturo Ruas in WWE, wrestled teamed with fellow Brazilain Cezar Bononi taking on Ryzin and Jake St. Patrick. The match was a reunion of former tag partners, with the pair having first teamed in 2016 while in NXT and teaming together dozens of times until 2019. Ruas had been with WWE for six-year years before his release on June 25th and had been recovering from surgery since the 18th November episode of NXT after being injured in a match against KUSHIDA.
Also debuting at the tapings was Santana Garrett, who wrestled Diamante. It was her first match since entering at number 12 during the women’s Royal Rumble match earlier this year, where she was eliminated by Rhea Ripley. Over the years, she has wrestled for countless independent promotions in addition to World Wonder Ring Stardom and Impact Wrestling and developed a reputation as an enhancement talent due to very rarely winning on television.
It isn’t known if AEW intends to offer any of the four wrestlers deals. However, without wanting to spoil anything, as one of those wrestling was booked to win their match, it is possible AEW may have some future plans for that individual. Typically independent wrestlers will regularly wrestle on Dark, usually losing to contracted talent to prove themselves. Then, if they get over and impress management, they are offered a full-time deal, which happened with Will Hobbs, Lee Johnson, Griff Garrison, and Brian Pillman Jr.
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Ric Flair’s WWE release came out of nowhere after he challenged Vince Mcmhon about his daughter Charlotte’s booking. Flair says he quit, while some claim he was fired, but regardless of the circumstances, the end result is he is no longer with the promotion. Despite this WWE, and proving that Flair’s departure was unexpected, the company has released a limited-edition championship title with a genuine leather strap housed in a diamond case, with 16 Swarovski Crystals to represent all of his 16 world championship victories.
Also accompanying the belt is a robe, which appears to be based on what Flair wore at WrestleMania 24 when he wrestled his final WWE match. Unfortunately for fans, only 500 are available, however, the $999 price will ensuring only the most affluent Flair fans will be able to afford it. More information is available on WWE Shop.
Since leaving WWE, Flair has been keeping busy making special appearances. His first post-WWE show saw him accompany his future son-in-law Andrade at TripleMania, and later on, he would cut a promo for Billy Corgan’s NWA during their NWA 73 event. As soon as he left WWE, it was speculated he would end up with AEW, and given that Andrade hit and left his current manager Chavo Guerrero Jr. laying on Rampage, it appears a spot has been created for him.
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The sad passing of Jonathan Huber united the wrestling world, which speaks volumes of the man that Huber was. AEW would dedicate an entire episode of Dynamite to his life, while WWE opened Raw with an in-memory of tribute graphic and shared a video package on social media. Many wrestlers also took it upon themselves to pay tribute in their own ways, such as Lance Archer dressing like Luke Harper and Drew McIntyre referencing Huber’s Twitter catchphrase saying, “It’s Monday, you know what that means,” during a Raw promo. The New Day would go as far as to have new ring gear designed for the Royal Rumble. Now his friend and longtime colleague, Curtis Hussey, known as Fandango in WWE, has shown off the tattoo he had inked onto his arm this past weekend.
Brodie and Fandango shared a ring over 30 times between 2013 and 2018, with the majority being tag matches between The Bludgeon Brothers and Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze). They apparently built up a strong bond during this time, and now Hussey will have a permanent reminder of their time working together.
WWE released Fandango three months ago, having been with the company since 2006, where he was initially assigned to developmental territory Deep South Wrestling. He originally went by the name Johnny Curtis and won the fourth season of NXT when it was a competition. His career took off when he was repacked as a ballroom dancer and famously defeated Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 29. However, he wouldn’t reach those heights again and slipped down the card before he went on to form Breezango along with Tyler Breeze. The duo would win the NXT Tag Team Championships in 2020, which would be Fandango’s only title victory in WWE.
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