When Shaquille O’Neal agreed on a multi-year deal with WarnerMedia, he teased working with AEW by stating, “I’d love to fight Cody. Write it. Print it. Text it to him. Call AEW up and tell them.” It now seems we are edging closer to a match between the pair as AEW has announced that Shaq will appear on this week’s episode of Dynamite.
AEW began building towards Shaq’s appearance when a debuting Jade Cargill entered the ring unannounced as Cody was cutting a promo on the November 11, 2020 edition of AEW Dynamite. She’d deride Cody for referring to himself as a giant killer and said she knew a real-giant, implying Shaq. This ended in a confrontation between Cargill and Cody’s wife, Brandi. While nothing is official, the speculation is this is leading to a match between Cody and Shaq at Revolution on February 27, 2021. However, a mixed tag involving Brandi and Cargill could also be a possibility. Shaq’s love of pro wrestling is well-known, and he has appeared over the years for WCW, TNA, and WWE. His most memorable moment being a participant in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32. He was also very close to wrestling Big Show at WrestleMania 33, but it fell apart due to either scheduling or monetary issues, depending on who you believe.BREAKING NEWS@Shaq addresses #AEW with @tonyschiavone24!
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) December 8, 2020
Watch #AEWDynamite this Wednesday night on @TNTDrama 8e/7c or https://t.co/GdI7QAsxEP by @FiteTV for our International fans. #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/447b0wIfnd
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Becky Lynch has taken to her Instagram to announce that she has given birth and revealed that she and Seth Rollins have named the child Roux. The name means red in French, and according to Datayze.com, in 2019, there were only 38 baby girls and only 6 baby boys named Roux born. Rollins is currently by his fiancée’s side, having taken a break from WWE following last month’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Lynch and Rollins got engaged in August 2019, and Lynch announced her pregnancy publicly on Raw back in May, in her first appearance since WrestleMania 36. In an emotional segment, she would relinquish the Raw Women’s Championship she had held for 398 days to Asuka, who had won the previous night’s Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
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WWE started the Slammy Awards in 1986 to commemorate the release of The Wrestling Album aired on MTV, which t the time was a big deal. It would take place again in 1987 but then went on hiatus, returning three times in the mid-90s. From 2008 it became an annual event until being dropped following the 2015 edition.
Now, WWE has officially announced they are bringing back the Slammy’s on December 23rd at 10am ET, airing on the WWE Network and their social media platforms. The awards are a mixture of fan voting, and WWE selected awards and features serious and comical nominations such as “Lana vs. Announcer Tables” being an option for Rivalry of the Year. Voting is open now at WWE.com and ends December 11th.
You can places your vote here.
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During last night’s WarGames women’s match, Candice LeRae suffered a legitimate injury to her arm. It occurred when Shotzi Blackheart hit her with a senton from a ladder while LeRae lay below with a chair on top of her. You can watch the incident for yourself below.
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LeRae’s team would still get the victory, and she’d participate in the celebrations with her teammates but was clearly favoring her right arm. After the show, her husband Johnny Gargano shared on Twitter where he arm is in a sling, but he didn’t comment on the injury. However, Triple H would during a post-show media call and revealed that they were waiting on x-rays, but the belief is her right arm was broken.
How long LwRae faces out of the ring will be determined based on the break’s severity and whether surgery is required. Hopefully, it isn’t too severe, and she only misses 5-6 weeks, although it’s possible she could be out for several months.
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At NXT TakeOver: WarGames in November 2019, Britt Baker was spotted sat in the crowd with her hands covering her mouth following her boyfriend Adam Cole’s match. Baker had got permission from Tony Khan to attend but didn’t expect to appear on air. The director didn’t realize who she was and cut to a shot of her because she was the most concerned looking fan he saw in the crowd. Following the show, her appearance received a lot of social media attention, and Triple H apologized to her and said he hoped she wouldn’t get any heat from AEW.
AEW were obvioulsy fine with her appearing on WWE’s programme given the circumstances, and would even parody the incident on Dynamite.
Now, over a year after the event aired, WWE has gone to the effort to remove Baker from replays on the WWE Network. You can see this for yourself by watching the two videos below.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”1TN8j7Tg” upload-date=”2020-12-06T21:30:54.000Z” name=”With Britt Baker” description=”” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”73rugur5″ upload-date=”2020-12-06T21:32:03.000Z” name=”Britt Baker Edited Out” description=”” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]
Fans have stated that Britt was still visible earlier this week, so the edit is new. It isn’t known why WWE decided to cut Baker, including Mauro Ranallo’s mention of her. It could be that Baker has since become a much bigger star in AEW over the last year, and WWE feels including her is promoting AEW on the WWE Network.
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During the November 18 episode of Dynamite, Jon Moxley revealed that his wife of three years, Renee Paquette, was at home pregnant when he was cutting a backstage promo. She would then follow up by afterwards by posting a photo of them both smiling and hugging on Instagram. You can watch Moxley’s announcement in his promo below.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”qUTt5S1x” upload-date=”2020-11-19T10:19:29.000Z” name=”Moxley Promo” description=”” player-type=”default” override-embed=”default”]
This will be the first child for Paquette and Moxley, who began dating in 2013 after meeting while working for WWE, and now the former WWE announcer has shared an update. The mother-to-be posted on her Instagram a photo of a cut cake, along with the caption “It’s pink!,”confirming the couple is having a baby girl. It has not been made public how far along Paquette is with her pregnancy but scans often confirm a baby’s gender between 12 and 14 weeks.
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Qatar Pro Wrestling is currently the only wrestling promotion based in the Middle East. They’ve run a total of run 13 since launching in 2013 and hope to become a player in the wrestling industry, having formed a working relationship with OVW and looking at getting a television deal. Their last show took place back on February 21in front of almost 6,000 fans coming to see RVD, Alberto Del Rio, Enzo Amore, Michael Elgin, and Chris Masters.
The promotion has now announced their next show, titled Super Slam III, which will take place on October 23, 2021, and scheduled to headline is former WWE and AEW champion, Jon Moxley. Despite being signed to AEW, Moxley is free to take bookings outside of the company as long as it doesn’t conflict with his AEW commitments, and with the show booked for a Saturday, it shouldn’t cause any issues with him appearing on Dynamite. In addition to Moxley, fellow AEW talent Sammy Guevara, Luchasaurus, Rey Fénix, and Penta El Zero M are also booked, along with EC3, Primo, and Epico.
SuperLuchas.com has previously reported that Ali Marafi, the company president, has spoken to Steve Austin about potentially appearing. This would be quite a coup for QPW and certainly make WWE take notice, considering they are making inroads themselves in the lucrative Middle East market through their partnership with the Saudi General Sports Authority.
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Back in June 2018, Wardlow, with another 40 hopefuls, received a tryout with WWE. Chelsea Green and Robert Stone would get signed, but also trying out was two-time All-American heavyweight wrestling champion Jacob Kasper, the twin sons of D-Von Dudley, the younger brother of Drew Gulak, and multiple former footballer players. Despite his look and intensity, Wardlow, who had only been wrestling for four years, would get passed over. He has now discussed this experience on the AEW Unrestricted podcast and revealed he sold all his possessions in anticipation of being signed as he was that confident.
I smoked that tryout. I was literally the only dude there in a suit. It was mind-blowing. Dudes are there in shorts and t-shirts. That’s because they’re not recruiting wrestlers. They’re recruiting ex-NFL athletes or college wrestlers, people that have never watched wrestling, don’t care about wrestling. The comments these people were making made me sick to my stomach that they were there getting an opportunity. Of course, my roommate, he’s like, “Man, I’ve never even watched wrestling. I don’t even like it.” I’m just like, “Get out of my room. Why are you here?” And that was his second tryout. These people are getting multiple chances.
So I smoked that tryout. I’m like, “I have this in the bag,” so much so I literally sold my motorcycle, sold my house, literally got rid of everything because I’m like, “I’m going to put everything into moving into Florida.” So when the email came in that I was not, I remember I actually had to pull over on the side of the road because I just couldn’t believe it.Wardlow
Wardlow didn’t let this put him off following his chosen career path and would actually train with Kurt Angle ahead of his WWE comeback. During this time, Angle told him he had spoken to someone at WWE about him and was told it wasn’t if, but when WWE would sign him.
I started training personally with Kurt Angle when he was getting ready to make his comeback for his final couple of matches. And me and Kurt clicked in the ring really well, and him and I talked a lot. And he expressed that he had a conversation with a certain somebody there about bringing me in, and he’s like, “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”
Lord knows I am not the most patient person at all. That’s always been a battle. So when the opportunity came with AEW, and I heard what the plans were, and I heard the vision and the passion behind it, I knew there was nothing for me to wait for it. This is what it is, and I’m very happy I didn’t say no and wait and wait and wait.Wardlow
WWE’s loss was AEW’s gain because Wardlow would debut for them on the November 13 episode of Dynamite and immediately make an impact by attacking Cody Rhodes. He is currently aligned with MJF as his bodyguard, and the pair recently became part of the Inner Circle. Being part of Chris Jericho’s faction guarantees Wardlow plenty of television time, and with an inevitable feud with MJF down the line, it’s likely WWE regrets their decision to pass on him.
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The Rascalz finished their run with Impact Wrestling at their last set of television tapings, and WWE subsequently offered all three contracts. WWE has now officially confirmed the signing of Dezmond Xavier, real name Deveon Aiken, and Zachary Wentz, real name Zachary Green. The duo were the group’s founding members, wrestling together dating back to 2015 on the indies, and are the current PWG tag champions, having won the titles on April 20, 2018. With PWG currently on hiatus, they haven’t had the opportunity to drop the titles.
During a recent interview, Triple H would discuss both men and said he was impressed with them having figured out their personality and in-ring style.
These are two kids that I’m very impressed with that the things that they’ve done, but I don’t know that they had a lot of helping hand to help have them get to where they are, they just sort of figured it out on their own. They figured out their personality and charisma. They’ve figured out the in-ring style that they have and made it their own. I’m a big fan of that. I’m excited to see what they can do now and when you meet them, they’re really great guys that are humble and are hungry and looking for that opportunity.
When I meet kids like them where they are so passionate about this and want it so bad, man, they just want that opportunity, and then if you give them that opportunity, I’m gonna run through a brick wall, and I’m going to prove to you.Triple H
The third member of The Rascalz, Trey Miguel, joined the group in 2018 and has yet to sign with WWE. The belief is he has also received an offer from AEW and is taking his time to consider his options. Impact Wrestling seemingly saw him as having the most upside of the trio as he received a single push, resulting in him being involved in the main event of Slammiversary.
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D-Von Dudley revealed he was suffering health issues on his Table Talk podcast but added he hoped to return to work once hearing from his doctor. We reported this, as did many other news sources, and it resulted in the WWE and TNA Hall of Famer’s phone blowing up from concerned friends. Now in the latest episode of Table Talk, he has downplayed his health concerns, saying he isn’t dying and doesn’t like the people who reported on what he said.
I came on the show last week, and I pretty much said I had some health issues, but here’s the deal. Health issues can be anything. It can be from a common cold to what have you. Of course, certain people, what we like to call the dirt sheets ran crazy with it – oh D-Von is not feeling well or what have you.”
Listen, stop the BS. I’m not dying. Don’t put both of my feet in the grave. I said I was dealing with health issues; that can be anything. I’m getting phone calls from people going, “Hey, are you okay? What’s going on?” I’m like, “don’t listen to those idiots.” This is exactly why I don’t like dirt sheets or people that write like that or things like that because they take what you say and blow it out of proportion.
I could have had a common cold, I could have had gallstones, or what have you that would have prevented me from being on the show. I could have said anything, but they are gonna sit there and print garbage like that to try to make it seem like it’s more than what it is. Well, to all of the people out there, just to let you know, I’m fine. I don’t have any feet in the grave.
For those sheet writers that want to write about stuff like that, how about you write about this – kiss my ass, how about that?D-Von Dudley
While we only reported on what D-Von himself said, and included a direct quote in our story, it appears some people may have construed that to mean he was dying. We are happy to clear up the confusion and hope D-Von can return to his backstage role with WWE shortly.
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Pat Patterson was one of the most important men in WWE history and his creative input was all over the product in the 80s and 90s. Without him, its unlikely talents like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels would have risen above the Intercontinental level.
Sadly he passed away Wednesday morning at 1:15 am in Florida, and Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has revealed that Patterson passed away due to liver failure caused by a blood clot. He had been in hospital since November 27th and believed he had cancer and dementia.
WWE paid tribute to the much-loved legend by opening Wednesday night’s NXT with all the wrestlers on the entrance rampway along with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and William Regal. They then played a fantastic video of Patterson, which featured images of both his in-ring and backstage career, accompanied by him singing My Way. You can watch the video for yourself below.
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In what many considered to be the biggest match in Dynamite history, Kenny Omega became the AEW World Heavyweight Champion thanks to assistance from Impact Wrestling’s co-executive vice president Don Callis. Fans will best remember Callis from his days in WWE and ECW, where he was known as The Jacky and Cyrus respectively. The finish saw Callis slip a microphone to Omega, who used it to bloody Moxley. After numerous V-Trigger’s with his knee pad down and a One-Winged Angel, Omega became champion. Following the victory, Omega and Callis run from the building, and Callis would tell AEW interviewer Alex Marvez that “This Tuesday, Impact Wrestling on AXS TV, me and Kenny will tell you all about it Marvez.” You can watch the aftermath below.
.@TheDonCallis said wait till Tuesday? But, #AEWDynamite is on Wednesday! pic.twitter.com/ybM0rrXcvm
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) December 3, 2020
AEW is currently working with Billy Corgan’s NWA and has featured Thunder Rosa, a talent who is contracted to them numerous times on their television. This precedent means it is likely Impact Wrestling talent could soon appear on Dynamite, but we’ll have to see how the AEW/Impact working relationship plays out. Still, it is an exciting time for both promotions, with Impact Wrestling likely to receive their biggest rating since moving to AXS thanks to Omega’s appearance.
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