Awesome Kong, real name Kia Stevens departed AEW when her contract expired June 1, 2021, having not competed for 18 months. Since then, she hasn’t been active, and during Saturday night’s NWA Empowerrr pay-per-view, she would make her return to the ring and subsequently announced she was retiring.

She did this in a segment where she saved her longtime rival Gail Kim from Taryn Terrell, Jennacide, and Paola Blaze. Initially, it was teased that she would join in the imminent attack on Kim, but she instead chokeslammed Jennacide and gave Paola Blaze an Implant Buster as Terrell exited the ring and was then chased off by Kim. Following another confrontation tease between Kong and Kim, Kong would take the mic and made her announcement, which was followed by chants of, “Thank You Kong.“

Kim and Kong worked together in TNA initially between 2007 and 2008 and again throughout 2015. Hence, it was appropriate for Kong to end her career by sharing a ring with arguably her great rival. At one time, Kong appeared set to be the next big thing in women’s wrestling when she signed with WWE in 2010 and debuting in 2011 under the name Kharma. However, things didn’t work out for her as shortly after debuting, she needed to take a leave of absence due to being pregnant. Unfortunately, she lost the baby, and while she returned to the promotion for a Royal Rumble match appearance the following year, she ended up later being released.

Over her time wrestling, Kong would compete worldwide and held the WWWA World Single Championship, which was the top women’s title in All Japan in addition to twice being the TNA Knockouts Champion. It isn’t known at Kong plans to do going forward, but as she received rave reviews for her performance as The Welfare Queen in Netflix’s GLOW series, it wouldn’t be surprising if he pursues an acting career.

WWE failed in its attempt to use NXT to stop AEW from establishing itself as a rival, and it is understood an overhaul of the brand is upcoming. The company recently taped three weeks of NXT television in order to give them time to make the necessary amends to freshen up the brand, including a new set.

Prior to SmackDown, rapper and wrestling fan Wale would tease a brand new NXT logo. The video, which can be watched below, featured music from his song “Down South,” indicating it is set to be the show’s new theme music and displayed a multicolored logo. This clearly, but somewhat surprising shows the brand is moving away from its black and gold color scheme. The logo would later make an appearance during SmackDown, making the change official.

“Keep it true to self!” @WWENXT pic.twitter.com/tUjQmr4imz

— Wale (@Wale) August 27, 2021

NXT launched in 2010 as a type of reality show featuring rookies aligned with current WWE stars attempting to make it to the main roster. This version ran for five seasons and featured wrestlers such as Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Bray Wyatt (as Husky Harris), and Naomi. Then in 2012, NXT replaced Florida Championship Wrestling as WWE’s developmental territory, with their weekly show becoming one of the big selling points of the WWE Network when it launched in 2014. With AEW Dynamite launching on TNT, NXT would move to the USA Network in September 2018 to be counterprogramming. However, what would be known as the Wednesday Night Wars were very one-sided, with Dynamite winning 63 times, NXT 10 times, and two ties.

Baron Corbin has been experiencing severe financial difficulties in his current storyline after losing his savings and having his house foreclosed. As a result, he would stop shaving and began wearing the same shirt dirty every week. However, on this week’s episode of SmackDown, he would arrive at the arena driving a Bently and made it known that from now on, he would be known as “Happy Corbin.” This is a name that WWE trademarked two months ago, so the reveal didn’t come as a complete surprise.

Apparently, following SummerSlam in Las Vegas, he’d gambled the last of his money and gone on a winning streak. Then during SmackDown, he would offer Big E $100,000 to sell him the Money in the Bank briefcase, which was declined. Seemingly this shows he will be remaining a heel and performing as a modern-day Million Dollar Man or JBL character.

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Corbin has been with WWE since 2012 after he failed to make it in the NFL. Following four years in NXT, he would make his main roster debut at WrestleMania 32, winning the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Since then, he has become a favorite of management and received multiple pushes, including winning the Money In The Bank match in 2017. He is regularly featured towards the top of the card, and his most high-profile feuds have seen him worth with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, with the latter featuring a Loser Eats Dog Food match.

Wrestling promotions working together isn’t anything new, but Tony Khan has accommodated making it much more common by opening what he calls “The Forbidden Door.” AEW currently works with Impact Wrestling, New Japan, Billy Corgan’s NWA, and AAA by sharing talent and promoting their shows. This has even led to other promotions being more willing to cooperate, and the employment description of an independent contractor is finally becoming accurate.  Former WWE wrestler Chelsea Green is a perfect example of this as since she departed the currently she has signed to work for ROH, NWA, and Impact simultaneously.

Conspicuous by their absence, though, is WWE, who rarely work promotions they deem competition. And now, in an interview, current NXT Champion Samoa Joe, who has competed for multiple promotions worldwide, would give his opinion of the practice. Specifically, he was questioned about returning to wrestle for Impact Wrestling while employed by WWE and was against the idea.

Joe raises a good point regarding the politics of the situation, and there is the chance for this to get messy if one promotion’s talent is constantly going over another. If promotions working together isn’t mutually beneficial, it is a pointless exercise. However so with AEW, things appear to be running relatively smoothly. All their partners get additional exposure, and in exchange, AEW has access to talents like The Good Brothers, Thunder Rosa, and Yuji Nagata.

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, collectively known as The IIconics, were among ten wrestlers released by WWE on April 15, ending their six-year run with the promotion. Due to WWE owning the trademark on their ring names, they hastily began going by Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay on social media. Later they’d trademark “The IInspiration” and have now officially confirmed via a tweet that that will be how they are collectively known going forward. Additionally, it was announced that they will be going on a tour titled “The IInspiration Tour,” with dates and cities to be announced.

Finally, IInspiration returns to professional wrestling.

Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay present The IInspiration Tour ✨
Dates and cities to be announced soon 💋 pic.twitter.com/ml7BIqxlv6

— Cassie Lee (@CassieLee) August 27, 2021

Due to needing new green cards and work visas, the Australian duo has been unable to work despite their WWE non-compete’s expiring. However, based on their announcement, it appears that the issue is resolved or will be soon. It had been thought the pair would walk straight into AEW due to Royce being married to Shawn Spears. Obviously, that hasn’t happened, and it has been reported they had discussions with Impact Wrestling, but no deal was agreed upon. Thankfully, though, for their fans, it appears they will be returning to the ring sooner rather than later.

Fans who were watching the SummerSlam pre-show match between Big E vs. Baron Corbin would see a sign featuring The Fiend in a Las Vegas Raiders logo. It was a well-designed fan-made sign and received a lot of attention on social media. Bray Wyatt would even acknowledge it by retweeting a screenshot to his followers. However, the sign would soon disappear, and it was later confirmed that with The Fiend no longer being with the company, WWE had it confiscated.

Now the fan has commented on social media about the experience, first stating the sign took him a total of 30 hours to create, which certainly shows dedication. Additionally, he confirms that the sign was seized and that he was threatened with removal if he didn’t hand it over.

WWE has a long history of removing signs. They like to control everything that appears on their television, even if fans basically become paying extras. Given that in the WWE Universe, Bray Wyatt nor The Fiend exists, management wouldn’t want any reference to the characters appearing. So the fact the sign made it to air for as long as it did was actually remarkable considering how strict WWE usually is with this type of behavior. Thankfully, though, the fan got his sign back after spending so much time and effort creating it.

CM Punk isn’t the most popular wrestler among his former co-workers, with it well-known that Roman Reigns, The Miz, AJ Styles, and Ryback don’t care much for him. However, somewhat surprisingly, it appears that R-Truth is also among the group of wrestlers who aren’t fans of the recent AEW signee. This became evident following a resurgence of an audio clip on TikTok featuring Punk’s infamous 2014 podcast interview with Colt Cabana.

In the clip, Punk complained about losing to Awesome Truth, the team consisting of The Miz and R-Truth, saying it made no business sense. This prompted R-Truth to comment, saying that he and The Miz were hotter than him at the time, and Punk was being entitled. Considering it is hard to find examples of R-Truth talking negatively about anyone, she must have really felt strongly about Punk to reply.

While many will argue that Punk was the hotter act in 2011, Awesome Truth were facing The Rock and John Cena in the main event of Survivor Series the following month, so making them look strong made sense. However, whether out of the entire roster having Punk pinned was the right decision is debatable. Punk’s mindset is much different now than at the time of the interview, and hopefully, this means he builds a better relationship with his new AEW peers than those from his time in WWE.

Edge went back to the early days of his WWE career this past Friday when he gave Seth Rollins a “Brood Bath” on SmackDown. This would result in Gangrel, the leader of The Brood, the group that launched Edge’s WWE career, trending on Twitter, with fans calling for WWE to bring in the Attitude Era star. Then during Saturday Night’s SummerSlam, Edge would further embrace his former gimmick by entering the match to The Brood entrance music along with flames around the ramp.

This gained Gangrel even more attention on social media, but this has ended up not being a good thing for the wrestling veteran. He’d explain why on his newly launched podcast, revealing he was actually meant to appear on Dynamite this week. Unfortunately for him, AEW canceled it following SummerSlam, apparently due to not wanting to appear as though they were copying WWE.

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The timing was clearly adverse for Gangrel, and while it is obviously frustrating for him, it is understandable why AEW felt right now was not the time to bring him in. A small but vocal number of wrestling fans criticize everything they do and using Gangrel just days after Edge used The Brood entrance would have given them plenty of material. Hopefully, though, AEW, who previously brought him in for a cameo during the Elite Deletion match between Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara, can find another opportunity in the future.

Brock Lesnar returned at the conclusion of SummerSlam to confront Universal Champion Roman Reigns after he had just defeated John Cena. A staredown would follow with Paul Heyman cowering in the corner, and the show would end shortly after Reigns left the ring. However, fans in attendance would still get to see Lesnar get physical, as he gave Cena two suplexes and an F5 off-air.

While fans were excited to see Lesnar back on WWE television, it wasn’t known if he was set to be around long-term. He might have agreed to return to take attention away from CM Punk’s AEW debut and receive a large pay-off for a wrestling a show in Saudi Arabia. However, Fightful Select has managed to get some more information on Lesnar’s future. The Patreon site has reported Lesnar is signed for approximately 18 months, which would mean his deal expires before WrestleMania 39. Additionally, they noted he has agreed to a total of 8 matches, meaning he’d wrestle every 2/3 months. But, of course, that could change at any time if WWE pays up.

Lesnar’s last WWE match took place at WrestleMania 36 when he put over Drew McIntyre in the main event of the second night. Since then, his contract expired, and due to WWE running shows in the ThunderDome in front of no fans, it wasn’t deemed cost-effective to offer him a new deal. Now though, with fans back in attendance, AEW spending big money on talent, and WWE needing someone for Reigns to work with, Vince McMahon agreed to Lesnar’s terms and price.

While it has been Adam Cole, whose WWE contract situation has been making the headlines, fellow NXT wrestler Pete Dunne’s deal is also set to expire soon. The belief is Canyon Ceman, a former beach volleyball player, who was Senior Director of Talent Development, was fired over not monitoring these deals, and it’s been known re-signing Cole has been a priority, everything went quiet regarding Dunne. Additionally, there has been speculation that the company may not even make Dunne an offer due to being in cost-cutting mode.

However, in good news for fans of the Englishman, it has now been reported by Fightful Select that Dunne was offered a new deal over SummerSlam weekend. As of writing, it isn’t known if he has signed, but as he was heavily featured during the latest set of NXT taping, it looks like he may have.

Dunne has been with WWE since 2016, having joined initially as part of their NXT UK roster. His exceptional talent ensured he would move on to the promotion’s top NXT brand, where he won both the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and NXT Tag Team Championship with Matt Riddle. Recently he’d been part of Pat McAfee’s heel stable, The Kings of NXT, along with Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan, and he still continues to tag with Lorcan. His last appearance on WWE television came on the August 10th episode of NXT when he defeated Ilja Dragunov.

CM Punk made his first Dynamite appearance on Wednesday night, being interviewed by Tony Schiavone. As he discussed potential future opponents, the Milwaukee crowd would begin chanting “Yes! Yes! Yes!” which saw Punk respond by saying, “That’s someone else’s schtick, and you might have to be a little more patient.” That comment seemingly confirmed that Daniel Bryan, known for the Yes Movement, has signed with AEW.

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Bryan last wrestled on the April 30th episode of SmackDown against Universal Champion Roman Reigns. The stipulation was that if Bryan lost, which he did, he’d be banished from SmackDown. It was assumed that this was booked to move Bryan to either Raw or even NXT. However, it would later be confirmed his contract had actually expired at midnight following the show. The belief is WWE was so keen to have him re-sign that WWE’s Nick Khan began negotiations with New Japan so he could wrestle for both companies. Although, nothing materialized, and it was reported Bryan had instead signed with AEW.

As neither AEW nor Bryan has publicly commented on this story, it isn’t known when the former WWE Champion will appear for Tony Khan’s promotion. Still, various sources have claimed that the September 22nd episode of Dynamite, which takes place at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York, has been considered for his debut.

Adam Cole met with Vince McMahon a few weeks ago to discuss a new contract, and since then, things have gone quiet. The contract extension he signed so he could finish up his program with Kyle O’Reilly expires this Friday, and it was strongly believed he was done with the company. However, a recent tweet by WWE has possibly confirmed that he has re-signed as they are advertising him for a Mattel virtual event this Thursday.

While he is still contracted to WWE until the day after this event, it would be very unusual for WWE to have a talent heading to a rival featured like this. Therefore it seems Cole has chosen to remain with WWE. With the former NXT Champion having out over O’Reilly at this past Sunday’s TakeOver event and not being involved in the latest set of NXT television tapings, it looks like he’ll soon be appearing on Raw or SmackDown.