In October, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración announced they were working with Marvel to bring the new Lucha Libra Funko Pop toys to the wrestling ring. At last night’s Triplemanía XXVIII, the first five characters in Marvel’s Lucha Libre Edition debuted with Aracno (Spider-Man) and Leyenda Americana (Captain America) wrestling Venenoide (Venom) and Terror Púrpura (Thanos), and after the match, Captain Marvel made an appearance. Captain Marvel was meant to have been played by Kylie Rae until she retired, and her replacement’s identity has not yet been revealed. The four male wrestlers have since been confirmed as Aracno (Spider-Man) being Lio Rush, Leyenda Americana (Captain America) being Daga, Veneoide (Venom) being Black Taurus, and Terror Púrpura (Thanos) being Brian Cage. The match itself had a prominent position on the card, taking place before Kenny Omega’s AAA Mega Championship title defense, and was fine for what it was. Somewhat surprising the heels won and left the babyfaces laying. You can watch the conclusion of the match for yourself below. [adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”jzbdtjEG” upload-date=”2020-12-13T17:24:33.000Z” name=”Triplemanía XXVIII Marvel” description=”” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”] This was just the first of what is expected to be regular Marvel matches on AAA shows, with many more characters planned to debut in 2021. The main objective is to sell merchandise, so we’ll have to wait and see how that goes before the crossover can be deemed a success or failure.

On Friday night’s SmackDown, Sami Zayn was complaining backstage that he doesn’t have a new t-shirt for sale despite being Intercontinental Champion. In the amusing segment, Big E would show off his latest t-shirt, which angered Zayn, and then along with Apollo Crews, reveal what appeared to be a hand-designed shirt saying “I AM SAMI ZAYN.” This triggered Zayn, who tried to rip the t-shirt but failed and stormed off. You can watch this segment for yourself below.

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Never being a company to miss a merchandising opportunity, WWE has now officially putthe t-shirt for sale and you can view it at https://shop.wwe.com/sami-zayn-i-am-sami-zayn-t-shirt.

So far, fan reaction has been mixed, with some saying it is the greatest piece of merchandise the company has ever produced. Simultaneously, others say it is nothing more than a cash grab as the WWE are charging full price for it. WWE have though hedged their bets by not committing to produce the shirt in mass quantities and are instead printing on demand.

In 2016 WWE announced that they were launching a United Kingdom-based NXT brand. The brand was named NXT UK and premiered on the WWE Network on 17 October 2018. It’s now been reported that WWE is planning to do the same for India, with NXT India debuting in 2021. The belief is the show will air on television in India, with the rest of the world being able to watch through the WWE Network

Wrestling is immensely popular in India, resulting in it becoming WWE’s second-biggest market. This resulted in WWE putting the WWE Championship on Jinder Mahal in May 2017. TNA previously attempted to capitalize on the popularity in India with the Ring Ka King promotion, and the show at times had an estimated 14 million viewers watching. However, that wasn’t enough to keep the show on the air. To put that into perspective, Raw had an average of 4.75 million viewers in 2012.

WWE has had plans to expand their NXT worldwide, with NXT Japan being heavily rumored for some time. They did inquire about purchasing an existing promotion, including Pro Wrestling NOAH, but nobody was prepared to sell at the time.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it has been reported that Vince McMahon has instructed several wrestlers to attend twice-weekly sessions at the Performance Center to improve their in-ring skills. The names were not revealed, but it’s understood they are Keith Lee, Otis, Dio Maddin, Dabbo Kato, and Omos. The seasons are taking place on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s and being lead by Adam Pearce and Drew Gulak.

The inclusion of Keith Lee has raised some eyebrows as he has had experience working for Ring of Honor, Evolve, and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla before signing with WWE in 2018. The former NXT Champion and NXT North American Champion was ranked #11 in the PWI 500 earlier this year but seemingly hasn’t impressed Vince McMahon following his recent call up to Raw.

TMZ has reported the sad news that Thomas “Tiny” Lister Jr., known best to wrestling fans as Zeus and Z-Gangsta, has passed away aged 62. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department performed a welfare check at his apartment in California after friends were worried, having not heard from him since Wednesday night. A cause of death won’t be known until an autopsy is carried out, but he apparently had trouble breathing several days earlier.

Despite being born blind in his right eye he would play for the New Orleans Breakers of the United States Football League but was cut after two exhibition games. He then pursued acting and received mainstream recognition after playing the bully Deebo in the Ice Cube movies Friday and Next Friday.

He would appear in more movies and television series than we could list, but wrestling fans will remember him fondly for playing Zeus in the 1989 Hulk Hogan movie No Holds Barred, released by New Line Cinema in 1989 and financed by WWF. This lead to a Zeus/Hogan feud that saw him partner with Randy Savage in a losing effort against Hogan and Brutus Beefcake in the main event of SummerSlam 89. He’d then be part of Ted DiBiase’s The Million Dollar Team facing The Hulkamaniacs at Survivor Series at the 1989 Survivor Series. His final WWE match took place at a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping. He’d again team with Savage losing to Hogan and Beefcake in a steel cage match, which was aired as part of a No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie pay-per-view.

After his WWF run concluded, he’d compete for World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and defeated Abdullah the Butcher by countout. His last involvement in wrestling came at the 1996 WCW pay-per-view Uncensored. He was one of the eight opponents of Hogan and Savage in the Doomsday Cage and competed under the name Z-Gangsta.

Snoop Dogg first worked with WWE when he was the Master of Ceremonies for the Maria/Ashley Massaro vs. Melina/Beth Phoenix match at WrestleMania XXIV. He then returned for Raw appearances in 2009 and 2015, which led to him being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame celebrity wing in 2016. The following night he’d accompany his cousin Sasha Banks to the ring for her match ar WrestleMania 32 for a cool WrestleMania moment.

His WWE relationship appeared to be strong as just last month he partnered with the company to release a limited-edition merchandise collaboration with The Undertaker. However, according to Bryan Alvarez of F4Wonline.com, WWE is very upset with the rapper for taking a booking to appear on AEW’s January 6th New Year’s Smash edition of Dynamite.

Snoop’s AEW appearance is likely related to his involvement in the “Go-Big Show,” which is premiering the following night on TBS. He is a judge on the show, alongside Cody Rhodes, so the appearance does make perfect sense. Although, that likely won’t appease WWE management. Previously WWE canceled the booking of Jay and Silent Bob after they were featured on Dynamite, so it will be interesting to see if Snoop has burnt his bridge with WWE.

Karrion Kross became NXT Champion by beating Keith Lee at TakeOver on 22nd August, but during the match, he separated his shoulder and had to vacate the title. Now, after over three months away, Kross has returned to NXT television along with his valet Scarlett.

Scarlett would appear first, as part of the opening segment involving Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, Pete Dunne, and Kyle O’Reilly but wouldn’t speak. Bálor would tell her to tell Kross that he’s ready. Priest would then say that if Kross wants to come back and pick a fight, he should step up to him like a man.

This lead to Kross returning and jumping Priest later in the show as he was coming down the aisle. After working him over, Kross would powerbomb Priest through a table and leave the Capitol Wrestling Center, getting into a waiting car with Scarlett. You can watch this for yourself below.

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Bálor is set to defend the NXT Championship at NXT’s New Year’s Evil special on 6th January. Given that Kross seems to be working with Priest, it’s unlikely he’ll be the challenger, although WWE’s long-term plan is to have Kross as champion. Had he not gotten injured, he’d likely be the current champion now. Hence, it’s expected Kross will end up working a program with Bálor in the future and winning the NT Championship back.

Bill Goldberg returned to WWE earlier this year after signing a three-year contract, which requires him to complete twice per year. His first match saw him squash The Fiend and win the Universal Championship in just under three minutes. His second match was meant to be him dropping the title to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 36, but plans changed when Reigns went home due to the Miz arriving unwell. This resulted in Goldberg instead losing the belt to Braun Strowman in just over two minutes.

Now, on WWE’s The Bump, Goldberg has revealed that he is gunning for Reigns. He said he wants the match because Reigns backed out at WrestleMania and stole The Spear from him. He’d add it’s a move Reigns won’t understand until he is on the receiving end of one from him. You can watch the excerpt below.

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Goldberg did make an appearance during October’s SmackDown on FOX season two premiere via a ThunrderDome video screen. He’d watch the main event between Strowman and Universal Champion Roman Reigns with WWE planting the seeds Goldberg would be looking to challenge the winner. Vince McMahon doesn’t believe in wasting time promoting a match that isn’t going to happen, so based on Goldberg’s comments, it’s as good as confirmed that we’ll be seeing the pair wrestle in 2021.

After helping him win the AEW Championship last week, Don Callis announced that Kenny Omega would appear on Impact Wrestling. This created the most buzz the promotion has received in many years and resulted in Impact Wrestling trending as #1 on Twitter. In addition, Omega’s segment helped the company smash their Twitch record with over 55,000 people watching.

Putting this number into perspective, Impact’s previous Twitch record was 5,449 on April 6, 2018. Tony Kahn and Tony Schiavone also made an appearance during what was called a “paid advertisement,” and over 40,000 viewers watched it. It isn’t known yet what the episode did on AXS, the station which Impact airs on. Still, it’s expected to be considerably larger than the 166,000 the show received last week.

The segment has been highly praised and featured Omega and Callis being interviewed by Josh Mathews. It started with Callis talking about meeting Omega as a ten-year-old having trained under Kenny Omega’s uncle. Callis then spoke about how he set up Omega vs. Jericho, which lead to the creation of AEW. After this, Callis changed the nameplate on the AEW belt from Jon Moxley to Omega’s. Kenny would say that Moxley broke their gentlemen’s agreement when he struck Callis, and that’s why he did what he did. He’d add that he is a collector and not opposed to adding to his collection referring to title belts. Omega ended by teasing a surprise for tonight’s Dynamite.

You can view the full segment for yourself below.

Eva Marie left WWE in 2017 following four years with the company but signed a new contract with WWE a few months ago. Since that news broke, fans have been wondering when she will return to television. It’s understood she has been in training for her return, and her name is listed on WWE’s internal roster meaning she is available for creative to book. However, it seems she might already be factored into an angle on Raw.

Over recent weeks Angel Garza has been presenting a mystery woman a rose, and the belief is this will be revealed to be Eva Marie. To add credibility to this, Eva Marie posted a photo on her Instagram earlier today where she is smelling roses, possibly meaning the reveal will be soon.

Eva Marie initially joined WWE in 2013 after impressing during a casting call and signed a developmental contract. She appeared in E!’s reality show Total Divas and was therefore rushed to the main roster. She’d eventually disappear from television and extensively worked with Brian Kendrick to improve her in-ring ability. This lead to her debuting on NXT in 2015 and then returning to the main roster in 2016. She’d depart the company due to wanting to focus on other projects and competed on Celebrity Big Brother, became an ambassador for Monster Energy’s Reign brand, and launched a fashion range with Ryderwear in Australia.

Alexa Bliss was conspicuous by her absence on Monday night’s episode of Raw, and it’s been explained the reason was that she is currently in Los Angles filming an episode of the upcoming Punky Brewster revival. Also appearing in the episode will be Charlotte Flair, who has been on hiatus from WWE after having additional plastic surgery earlier this year. WWE producer D-Von Dudley revealed this during a fan Cameo video when he stated he is with them on set to help choreograph. This would seemingly indicate that wrestling will be featured on the episode. You can watch D-Von’s cameo for yourself below.

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Last year this NBCUniversal announced that they were bringing the 80s cult-classic Punky Brewster back, along with its original star Soleil Moon Frye and adding Freddie Prinze Jr. to the cast as her ex-husband. The ten-episode first season is set to air on Peacock, their streaming service, in 2021. The original series was about a young girl abandoned by her parents that ends up being raised by a foster parent. It would run for a total of 88 episodes between 1984 and 1988.

Jaxson Ryker, who wrestled as Gunner in TNA, was set for a big push alongside Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake when the trio was called up to SmackDown. The plan for the group, known as The Forgotten Sons, was to defeat The New Day to become SmackDown Tag Team Champions, but plans changed when Ryker was sent home.

Ryker had received backlash after tweeting support for Donald Trump following the George Floyd tragedy and BLM protests. Not only did he bring unwanted publicity to the WWE, but he also had heat with other wrestlers, including Kevin Owens, Mustafa Ali, and Sami Zayn.

With Ryker at home, Cutler and Blake’s WWE carers were left in limbo despite their attempts to distance themselves from their partner’s comments. However, after a six-month absence, Cutler and Blake would return to SmackDown this past Friday, now alongside Baron Corbin. This lead to speculation that Ryker could soon be released as The Forgotten Sons stable was clearly no more.

Therefore it came as a surprise that Ryker returned to WWE as part of their Main Event tapings on Monday night. The man who was once considered a pariah is now aligned with Elias in what is believed to be a trial. Vince McMahon wanted to see the pairing ahead of them appearing on Raw. Right now, it isn’t known what McMahon’s opinion was of the act, but we should find out if he liked the duo over the next few weeks, depending on whether they appear on Raw.