WrestlingNews.com

Daniel Bryan Wrapping Up WWE Career, Big Return Coming, James Storm With Impact, Why Shorty G Was Dropped, Jericho Exposes Differences Between McMahon/Khan, WWE Leaving ThunderDome, WWE Star Endorses Joe Biden, AEW Stars To WWE, Vince Disowns NXT?, Brodie Lee Regrets Vince Impersonation, Riddle Gets Name Change; Massive Push Coming?

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Welcome to the WrestlingNews.com Insider Weekly Newsletter!

This week’s issue, Issue No. 16, includes news from Saturday, October 24, 2020 to Friday, October 30, 2020. Stories were written by Richard Gray, CJ Blaze and Subroto Mookherjee with final editing done by Richard for clarity. Exclusive behind-the-scenes information was added, with content exclusive to WNC Insider Members.

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– WWE News
– AEW News
– Impact News
– Ratings News

WWE News

– Daniel Bryan has had a long career in professional wrestling, where he has competed all over the world. It seems his current full-time run in WWE will be ending eventually.

During Talking Smack on Friday, Daniel Bryan said that this current WWE run will be his last as a full-time wrestler. He simply desires to put over younger talent at this stage in his career.

“In my mind, this is my last run, this is my last run as a full-time WWE Superstar. It’s not really a scoop, I think you can feel it by even the way I approach things and my mentality as far as my view toward younger people and all that stuff. As I’m doing this last run it’s not like ‘I gotta prove to everybody that I’m the best.’ When I’m out there I’m proving things to myself and I want things better for the younger talent.”

He did not reveal when he finally plans on hanging up his boots.

– At WWE Payback, Rey Mysterio partnered up with his son Dominik and faced Seth Rollins and Murphy in a tag team match. He suffered a triceps injury during the match and has been in the ring since then.

He previously told fans on Talking Smackdown that he is 99% ready to make a return. Now it seems he could be coming back very soon.

According to a report by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Mysterio’s return is likely to be imminent. It was not noted when exactly he will be returning.

“Rey Mysterio should be back any time now as far as in the ring. He said his partially torn triceps healed slower than he had expected but was at about 99 percent.”

– Vince McMahon runs WWE in any way he sees fit and he has his own ideas regarding various things that go on in the company. This includes the concept of wins and losses.

Jeff Hardy was destroyed by Lars Sullivan on last week’s Friday Night Smackdown. It was the last time Hardy worked there as he had already been drafted to RAW that week.

According to a report by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Vince McMahon’s mindset regarding the way Hardy was beaten is unique. According to him, as Hardy is a Superstar on RAW, his old losses on Smackdown are irrelevant.

“The mentality of beating a top guy like Hardy so decisive is that once you switch brands all your losses don’t count. Whether that’s the case in real life, that is how they view it.”

– The Miz is the new Money in the Bank briefcase holder. Miz challenged Otis in a singles match for the rights to the Money in the Bank contract at WWE Hell in a Cell. John Morrison accompanied Miz to the ring, while Tucker was with Otis. Morrison was banned from ringside earlier in the match and Tucker turned on Otis, allowing for The Miz to pin Otis and win the match. Afterwards, Tucker explained it was not about Miz but that he carried Otis and Heavy Machinery and was treated as an afterthought. WWE already split Heavy Machinery in the 2020 Draft by keeping Otis on SmackDown and sending Tucker to Raw.

– Sasha Banks is the new WWE Women’s SmackDown Champion after beating Bayley at Hell in a Cell. The match was a lengthy one and included kendo sticks, chairs, a table and a fire extinguisher. Bayley held the title for 380 days after originally winning it on the October 11, 2019 episode of SmackDown. Banks was favored to go over, so the outcome was not unexpected.

– Randy Orton beat Drew McIntyre at Hell in a Cell to win the WWE Championship. The finish saw Orton hit the RKO on McIntyre and pin him clean in the show’s main event that was over a half hour long.

– The Undertaker is a legend in the world of professional wrestling and has given countless memorable matches and segments during his career. He debuted at Survivor Series 1990 and his career will be commemorated at next month’s pay-per-view.

Survivor Series will be held on November 22nd and the company will be celebrating The Undertaker for the entire duration of the month. 30 Days of the Deadman will be followed by a huge Survivor Series event, honoring The Phenom. It was not mentioned whether he will be competing during the pay-per-view.

Four new documentaries will also be a part of 30 Days of the Deadman.

– Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns are no strangers to each other. They have feuded multiple times throughout the years and their latest match ended in Strowman losing to Reigns.

During a recent interview with SportsKeeda, the Monster Among Men discussed Roman Reigns’ heel turn. He admitted that he was shocked at the heel turn and the change in his attitude, but then he said he always had a great deal of respect for Reigns.

“Look, I’ll be honest with you, I’m a little bit shocked by it and pretty appalled, you know, I’ve always had a lot of respect for Roman. Even when we were trying to kill each other, you know, he helped me out a lot early in my career, and he went away, and stuff in the beginning of this pandemic and I applauded him for being selfish and taking care of himself and his family, first and foremost. Whatever he has been through, or gone through, that was, like I said, we had a long conversation.”

He added that he is unaware where Roman Reigns got his new attitude from.

“Saying that and that being said, I don’t know where this attitude and smug chip on his shoulder that he’s got since he’s come back [came from],” Strowman said. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s got this parasite Paul Heyman in his ear, you know filling his head up full with all this c***, and stuff like this, but you know, at the end of the day, I feel like he is carrying the Universal entitlement, just his attitude, his whole new attitude. I’m not really a fan of it, and I don’t think too many of the guys are in the locker room.”

– Big E is now a singles star on Friday Night Smackdown after his New Day brethren were drafted to Monday Night RAW.

Big E signed with WWE back in 2009 via a development contract. He then spent a few years learning the ropes in FCW and NXT until he made his way onto the main roster, working alongside Dolph Ziggler.

He recently appeared on the After The Bell podcast, where he revealed a few Superstars who helped him in his career. He revealed that former WWE Superstar Curt Hawkins helped him get his Big Ending finishing move.

My only finisher I’ve ever used is The Big Ending, and I remember Curt Hawkins gave that to me, this had to be in 2009. It was called The Body Bag, and he showed it to me.” recalled Big E, “I forgot how we came up with The Big Ending. I remember Darren Young getting in the ring with me a little bit, showing me how to gorilla press.”

– Jeff Hardy worked in Impact Wrestling on two different occasions. During his previous run in the company, he had a gimmick by the name of The Willow, which was his own original creation.

Hardy spoke to Sports Illustrated, where he pitched an idea for him to bring back the Willow character in WWE. He said that his goal is to have a feud as The Willow with Bray Wyatt’s Fiend.

I want Willow to have something to do with ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt, though what that is, I’m not sure yet. That’s one of the struggles right now inside my head. I’m thinking that Willow is stuck in a little black-and-white TV of the Twilight Zone in The Firefly Fun House. Maybe The Fiend beats Jeff Hardy, and that’s why I transform into Willow. It’s cool that pro wrestling allows all this creativity to exist. For me, it’s always been where my dreams come true, and it still is to this day.

We will have to see if WWE ever goes along with Hardy’s idea in the future.

– WWE extended their stay in the Amway Center for the ThunderDome for another month, but it seems they will have to leave the place soon. The Orlando Magic requires the Amway Center as their season is set to begin on December 22nd.

According to a report by Wrestle Votes, WWE is expected to depart from the ThunderDome on December 1st. They have scouted venues in North Carolina, Texas, and Illinois. They require a venue where they will not be removed owing to a sports team and will be able to set up production with no issues.

ThunderDome update: source states WWE is set to leave the Amway Center by the 1st of December. Arenas in North Carolina, Texas & Illinois were discussed over the weekend. WWE needs to find a spot where NO team plays + able to house the weight & power requirements of the setup.

A newer arena is preferred as the weight of the ThunderDome won’t work with older buildings. Also, a major travel hub is needed as talent will be flying in and out each week. Not the easiest combination of things to find.

We will have to see which venue WWE ultimately decides on.

– Former WWE Superstar Batista is never afraid to speak his mind and has been vocal about his dislike for the current President of The United States, Donald Trump.

Batista recently released a video where he said that lying and bullying to people never make a person tough. According to him,  sharing the bad news with a strong heart and uniting the people in hard times makes a leader and makes him a tough person. He then revealed he supports Joe Biden ahead of the US Presidential Election.

“When you talk about the difference of being tough, and someone who portrays himself as a tough guy – it’s easy to lie to people. It’s easy to bully people. That does not make you a tough guy.

“It’s easy to tell someone what they want to hear. It’s not easy to tell someone what they need to hear. ‘We’re not in good shape, but this is how we’re going to get out of it.’ That is being tough.

“This country, more than anything right now, needs someone who is going to have a plan so we can get back on track. A leader is someone who can unite people, who takes responsibility. That’s toughness. That is Joe Biden. The guy who is respected, who can talk to people, who can work out disputes. The guy who can be a leader is stepping back into this fight for Americans. It’s that simple. That is the guy we need running this country.”

– The Rock has always made it clear how important gym is to him. However, it seems he had an accident during one of his latest gym sessions.

The Rock accidentally busted himself open while at the gym. He posted a video on Instagram, where he showed a nasty gash on his face. He needed stitches on his face after this injury. He simply licked his own blood and continued to work.

We ain’t playin’ tiddlywinks and we ain’t reciting nursery rhymes – it’s called the #IronParadise for a reason and things get extremely intense.

Throwing around 50lb chains ⛓ for a drop set, until failure and sometimes you get lumped up and need stitches.

Taste your own blood, keep working out and stitch up later – rules of the house.

And I can confirm my blood tastes like Teremana, calluses and BlaMoan (black and samoan) Hot Sauce

– During the 2020 edition of the WWE Draft, Tucker was drafted to Monday Night RAW as he was separated from his tag team partner Otis, who remained on Friday Night Smackdown. Despite that, Otis was brought to RAW by his partner under the disguise “El Gran Gordo” in order to face The Miz and John Morrison. Tucker then turned on Otis during WWE Hell In A Cell. He cost him his Money In The Bank contract as The Miz won the match and took his contract. It seems he was moved to Smackdown in order to continue his feud with Otis.

– Lana was able to secure her spot in the RAW Women’s Survivor Series team on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW. She was then put through another announcer table by Nia Jax. It seems WWE plans on doing this in order to make her connect with fans.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer explained still plans on turning Lana into a babyface. He said that the company will have her put through a table every week in the hopes of turning her into a hot babyface. Whether fans will be behind her is another story entirely, but that is the plan.

Counting this week’s RAW, it marked the sixth time she went through the announce table.

– Meiko Satomura founded Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling in 2005. She is a veteran in the world of Joshi professional wrestling. She took part in the 2018 Mae Young Classic but did not step in a WWE ring since then. Now it seems that will be changing.

She was interviewed by Tokyo Sports, where she confirmed that she will be working with WWE. She said she will be part of the NXT UK brand from November.

Satomura mentioned that she will still be making appearances for Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling, but they will not be frequent.

“I want to advance to my new stage. In the future, I will leave the group to the current players as a limited participation.”

She will be working as an on-air talent and coach for the NXT UK brand.

– Tucker of Heavy Machinery was drafted to Monday Night RAW during this year’s WWE Draft. He was separated from his partner Otis.

As reported earlier, he was listed as a Superstar on Friday Night Smackdown on the WWE Website, which puzzled fans. At WWE Hell In A Cell, Tucker turned on Otis and many fans thought that they would feud together on the same brand.

Now the situation regarding Tucker’s brand status has been clarified. According to a report by PW Insider, it has been confirmed that Tucker has not been moved to Friday Night Smackdown and that he is still a RAW Superstar.

– Survivor Series will be held on November 22nd and WWE has already booked several matches for the pay-per-view. However, NXT was not mentioned at all during the show.

According to various reports, it was said that there have been no talks of the brand being included in the build for Survivor Series. This was later confirmed when there was no mention of the brand at all during RAW. However, it could be more serious than expected.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted what Vince McMahon could be ‘disowning’ NXT as the brand has not performed at the level he wanted it to.

AEW Dynamite has been consistently defeating NXT in ratings and that seems to have made McMahon given up on the brand as a whole.

– WWE has been interested in a few wrestlers and that includes Thunder Rosa. Rosa had applied to WWE before but in the role of a referee. She was unable to make the tryout due to a hurricane. Her losing the NWA Women’s Title at this time is certainly interesting timing.

Dave Meltzer took to Twitter and revealed that WWE is interested in signing Rosa. He also added that All Elite Wrestling is also interested.

Serena Deeb of AEW (sorry) won the NWA women’s title from Thunder Rosa tonight. We did hear about this likely happening and that both WWE & AEW had interest in her.

– Johnny Gargano is the new NXT North American Champion after defeating Damian Priest in a Devil’s Playground match. Gargano is now the first two-time North American Champion. Despite the win, wife Candice LeRae came up short against Io Shirai in the main event.

– Pete Dunne returned to NXT as a heel by aligning with Pat McAfee, Oney Lorcan, and Danny Burch. Dunne teased making the save for Kyle O’Reilly before turning on him with a chair a shot.

– Next week’s NXT will feature Tommaso Ciampa vs. Velveteen Dream and Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai.

Click here for this week’s week’s NXT results. We’ll have complete coverage of next week’s show as well right here at WrestlingNews.com.

– AJ Styles recently debuted a bodyguard on Monday Night RAW. Jordan Omogbehin’s previous role was as a bouncer during the RAW Underground segments. He was paired with Styles after Underground got cancelled. Now it seems his name has been removed entirely.

During this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, AJ Styles did not address Jordan Omogbehin by his real name. It was shown on a nameplate during his debut, his name was not mentioned on commentary.

This week’s episode saw him with no name at all. Even during WWE RAW’s recap, he was mentioned once but his name was not included.

Backed up by his towering new associate, The Phenomenal One had some choice words for The Charismatic Enigma and the WWE Universe before the opening bell.

Now Jordan Omogbehin is now simply AJ Styles’ “towering associate” or his “new friend.”

– During the Monday Night Wars, Shawn Michaels was one of the top stars of WWE, but WCW never reached out to him as they did to other talents in WWE. It seems there are a few reasons for this.

During 83 Weeks, Eric Bischoff was asked if he was ever interested in signing Shawn Michaels to WCW back in 1993. He explained that WCW simply did not have the money to pay for a high profile star at that time. On top of that, Michaels had a reputation for being very difficult to work with.

“Shawn had a reputation for being difficult to work with. When you reach a certain level of success in the entertainment business, there is a tendency to become a primadonna. I think that was Shawn Michaels’ reputation. I don’t remember anybody even suggesting for a minute to bring Shawn in. I like Shawn Michaels and I have a ton of respect for him. I think Shawn would say that during this period of time that he was distracted with a lot of bad habits and probably wasn’t at the top of his game mentally or emotionally. You have to remember WCW in 1993 didn’t have a lot of cash laying around. There was nobody in 1993 in Turner Broadcasting, Ted Turner included, that was going to write any big checks. WCW was broke in 1993.”

– Matt Riddle will be referred to as “Riddle” going forward in WWE.

WWE implemented the changes on dot com on Thursday before Riddle confirmed it himself via social media. The Original Bro made it known he doesn’t mind one bit.

Riddle stated on Instagram, “People it’s okay I’ve been called Riddle most my life, I actually prefer it and it’s my real last name.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

People it’s okay I’ve been called Riddle most my life, I actually prefer it and it’s my real last name ? #bro #stallion #RIDDLE

A post shared by Matthew Riddle (@riddlebro) on

– A month ago, WWE issued an order which banned WWE Superstars from using third party sites such as Twitch and Cameo to earn revenue. They then made a rule that the Superstars will have to give ownership of their accounts to the company. Now some Superstars have announced their departure from Twitch.

AJ Styles officially announced on Discord that he will be leaving Twitch. Mia Yim also revealed she will part ways with Twitch. Yim, who is now Reckoning in Retribution, took to Twitter and announced her decision to leave the platform.

“Sorry guys, no more stream for the time being. Thank you for making these past few difficult months manageable. It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later.”

AJ Styles wrote a longer post, where thanked his followers on Twitch for all the great memories. However, he has to suspend his account after WWE made “changes that involve streaming.”

Superstars will have to give ownership of their accounts to WWE. The money made from the accounts will be given to WWE and they will be given a percentage of the income. However, it will not be extra income as it will come out of their downside guarantees.

– As reported earlier, Xia Li was set to compete in her first match in amateur kickboxing. However, she did not tell WWE about this and the company came to know of it by reading online.

According to a report by Fightful Select, WWE had no knowledge of the fight until everyone else came to know of it. It was revealed during an interview with the event’s promoter.

WWE then pulled her from the event and Xia Li was seemingly upset at this decision. While others understood why she was removed, Li did not and thought “WWE wasn’t giving her respect.”

Several people also said that Xia Li has “grown frustrated from not being used much on NXT TV after years with the company.” She directly went to Triple H and let him know what was wrong.

She spoke her mind to Triple H. While exact details of the conversation are not known, it was said that Triple H “appreciated the initiative.” Xia Li was also “adamant” she could “hold her own” if given an opportunity in NXT.

– Various reports suggested that Matt Riddle had issues in gaining Vince McMahon’s trust. It was also said that McMahon was only giving him what he thought he could handle. It seems Riddle impressed McMahon with his performance this week.

According to a report by Fightful Select, Vince McMahon was a huge fan of Riddle’s match against Sheamus. He was “complimentary after it closed to those involved.” He praised both performers and the producers.

Due to the praise, Matt Riddle is now simply known as Riddle. He is also going to get a serious transition for his character.

It seems as if the match particularly had a big impression on McMahon, as he made the call to change Matt Riddle’s in-ring name to “Riddle,” and pitched a more serious character presentation. We’re told Riddle was supportive of the idea.

– Vince McMahon has a life that is far from ordinary and it seems people will get to see it in more detail soon. WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer, Nick Khan revealed during an investor’s call recently that a docuseries is in the making.

Bill Simmons, creator of ESPN’s “30 For 30” docuseries will be serving as the executive producer of the series based on the life of Vince McMahon. Simmons was responsible for the Andre The Giant documentary for HBO.

Chris Smith will also be working on the series. He has previously worked on “Fyre Fest,” which was successful on Netflix.

It was said that the docuseries based on McMahon’s life will have one of the largest Netflix docuseries budgets of all time.

– WWE let go of over one hundred employees on April 15th. This included WWE Superstars, producers, writers and other members of staff. Some of the released employees found work elsewhere. A portion of the employees was furloughed and it seems they might be coming back soon.

During WWE’s third quarter 2020 investors call, WWE President & Chief Revenue Officer, Nick Khan stated that the company expects to hire back all the furloughed employees by the end of this year.

It was also noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that this will make up “25%” of WWE’s total capacity of workers. They have already brought back a few employees. They have also told former employees such as Gerald Brisco that his services are no longer required.

Owing to WWE earning a huge profit for the last quarter, we will have to see whether all the furloughed employees will be coming back.

– Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, and Bianca Belair have qualified for their respective Survivor Series matches to represent Team SmackDown.

– Speaking of Jey Uso, he has officially aligned with Universal Champion Roman Reigns.

– Next week’s SmackDown will feature Bayley vs. Sasha Banks in a rematch for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. The winner is expected to face Raw Women’s Champion Asuka at Survivor Series.

Click here for complete SmackDown results.

AEW News

– AEW taped next week’s episode of Dynamite ahead of time. It seems one of the wrestlers suffered an injury during the tapings.

Tay Conti faced off against Abadon during the tapings. However, the match was ended abruptly owing to a possible injury. Dave Meltzer reported on F4WOnline that it was Abadon who was injured.

Abadon was injured last night and hospitalized in her match with Tay Conti. We don’t have full details but it was serious and she is expected to make a complete recovery

She made her debut back in June of this year. Now it seems she is injured. The nature of her injury has not been revealed, but she is expected to recover soon enough.

– As reported earlier, Abadon suffered a possible injury during the tapings for next week’s AEW Dynamite, which took place earlier today. She faced off against Tay Conti but the match was stopped suddenly. Now more details regarding the injury have come to light.

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed Abadon’s injury. He said that he is unsure of what really happened. However, at one point on the match, she was hit in the throat and that might have been why she got injured. She was hospitalized and will be making a full recovery.

We will have to see when she is able to return.

– Chris Jericho has wrestled in various promotions in his three-decade-long career and that includes WWE. He is currently working in All Elite Wrestling and knows how the Superstars are treated there.

While speaking to Andrew Yang on Talk Is Jericho, the topic of how WWE Superstars are treated by the company was mentioned. Andrew Yang revealed he was able to see a WWE contract for a Superstar and realized how WWE Superstars have money taken out of their pockets. He said WWE has saved “hundreds of millions of dollars” due to the peculiar way the contracts are worded, which he said is intentional.

Jericho then explained how Vince McMahon and Tony Khan treat their talents. McMahon clings to old wrestling ideas, while Khan treats his talents similar to how he treats a sports team.

“I think the biggest difference is kind of what we’ve been talking about this whole conversation is that WWE treats the business as a wrestling business because that’s what it’s been for 60 years from Vince’s father and Vince’s grandfather, almost from the old school carny attitude, and you can see that with ‘the independent contractor’ for example. It’s not right, but it’s just the way it is, like I explained.”

“AEW treats things from a sports team perspective. The Khan family owns the Jacksonville Jaguars. They own Fulham Football Club in England. So they treat the company like they treat their football team, and that’s a whole different vibe as how the talent, the athletes [and] the performers get treated.”

– Santana & Ortiz are two of the top tag teams in AEW and an integral part of The Inner Circle. However, they might have not signed with AEW at all.

Talk Is Jericho recently spoke to Santana and Ortiz where they talked about their journey from Impact Wrestling to All Elite Wrestling. They were aware AEW was an option after having talked with Cody Rhodes. An opportunity to go to WWE was presented by Jeremy Borash. Impact Wrestling had no desire to pay them more money, but the two had more options.

Ortiz explained how they eventually made their way to AEW.

“Cody had contacted us, and it was just like, ‘hey, how long do you have left at IMPACT?’ Based off that, we already knew we had another option,” Ortiz recalled. “At the time, we were trying to negotiate with IMPACT. We were like, ‘hey, we need a little bit more money,’ and they were kind of going back and forth with us, which I understand. They’re running a business, so they’re not going to just outright give us exactly what we want. Just going back and forth with that and knowing that, we had other options, and also, WWE was an option at the time because [Jeremy] Borash now works there. That was our in, so we were just like, ‘okay, what are we going to do?’ It was a couple of weeks out from leaving IMPACT and we still didn’t know.”

“We were really sitting there and trying to make the decision, and they were like, ‘alright, just stay for one more year. Just do one more year and we’ll figure something out.’ We were going over it in our heads. ‘What are we going to do? We’re going to just stay here? People are going to turn on us, and if we stay here and they kind of feel like we’re going to leave, maybe they bury us or something sh*tty happens.’ It was like, ‘hey, we’re willing to do business the right way. We’ll lose on the way out. We’ll put over whoever you want to put over.’ We just felt like it ran its course, and we love the people there.”

“We loved working there. We just felt that we needed to grow; we felt like we were a big fish in a small pond. Not that we weren’t being challenged, but we wanted a challenge to try to work our way up.”

– Kenny Omega will meet former tag team partner Hangman Adam Page at Full Gear in the finals of the Eliminator tournament. Page beat Wardlow and Omega beat Penta El Zero M on this week’s Dynamite to advance.

The winner of Omega vs. Page will be declared the new AEW World Championship number one contender.

Additionally, it is now confirmed that Cody will defend the TNT Championship against Darby Allin, while Hikaru Shida will defend the AEW Women’s Championship against Nyla Rose.

We’ll also see MJF vs. Chris Jericho in a singles match. If MJF wins, he can join The Inner Circle.

And in the AEW Tag Team Championship match, The Young Bucks have announced that if they lose to FTR, they will never challenge for the titles again.

Below is the updated Full Gear card, now featuring eight matches:

AEW World Championship “I Quit” Match
– Jon Moxley (c) vs. Eddie Kingston

AEW Tag Team Championship Match
– FTR (c) vs. The Young Bucks
(If Young Bucks lose, they never challenge for the titles again)

AEW TNT Championship Match
– Cody (c) vs. Darby Allin

AEW Women’s Championship Match
– Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Nyla Rose

Elite Deletion Match
– Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara

Eliminator Tournament Finals
– Hangman Adam Page vs. Kenny Omega

– MJF vs. Chris Jericho
(If MJF wins, he can join Inner Circle)

Buy In Pre-Show Match
– Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver

We’ll have complete coverage of AEW Full Gear on November 7th right here at WrestlingNews.com.

– AEW has announced a stacked card for next week’s episode of Dynamite as we get closer to Full Gear on November 7th.

MJF will be teaming up with Wardlow in order to face off against Sammy Guevara and Ortiz of the Inner Circle. Cody Rhodes will partner up with the Gunn Club and take on Preston Vance, Colt Cabana, and John Silver of The Dark Order.

Miro will be competing in his first singles match since making his debut in AEW. He will be squaring off against Trent. Shawn Spears is also scheduled to compete against Scorpio Sky in a singles match.

Eddie Kingston and Eddie Kingston will also have a face-to-face time.

– Thunder Rosa recently lost the NWA Women’s Championship at the Prime Time Live event. Since then she has been addressing rumors of where she will be going next. She also uploaded a new video which teased fans as to where she might go.

Thunder Rosa uploaded a short video where she asked: “hey dirt sheets what’s next for me?” Following which, she pulled down her tights to reveal AEW, WWE, and NWA written on her hip. Apart from that, she did not mention anything.

Both AEW and WWE are good options for Rosa. She had a WWE tryout as a referee before but could not make it due to a hurricane. She also competed in AEW in a few matches and certainly made fans with her performances.

– Brodie Lee signed with AEW as the Exalted One, leader of The Dark Order. His initial few promos seemed to be a spoof of Vince McMahon and that might have actually harmed him.

During AEW Unrestricted, Brodie Lee discussed those spoof skits of McMahon. He said that the spoofs were all that people talked about and he could not help it. The only thing fans cared about was what peculiar habit of McMahon Lee was going to make a parody of next.

“The Vince McMahon comparisons flew! That’s all people talked about the first 3 to 4 weeks of my AEW career, and that became I think detrimental to me, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t want it. So I tried to get away from the stuff that they were saying so as opposed to a multi-colored suit, I now went with a full tailored to me that I don’t think looks like a Vince McMahon or anybody else. This is my bi-monthly routine now is to go get a suit made, and I love it.”

In order to veer away from the McMahon comparisons, Brodie Lee started wearing custom suits. Despite it costing a good amount of money, Lee was prepared to do it as he wanted to make sure it was unique to him.

– Jake Hager was scheduled to compete at Bellator 250 where he was up against Brandon Calton in the prelims of the event. Both competitors were undefeated coming into the match.

It was a very physical affair as both fights gave it their all. When all was said and done, it was Hager who managed to win. The Inner Circle member won via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).

AEW took to Twitter and congratulated Hager on his huge win.

“Congratulations to the Inner Circle’s @RealJakeHager on remaining undefeated with a win over #BrandonCalton at @BellatorMMA 250”

Hager took a good few blows to the face and it showed. Hager certainly has something to be proud of as he is still undefeated in MMA.

– AEW has announced that we’ll get an appearance from PAC in some form on Wednesday, November 4th, as he will break his silence.

It remains to be seen if PAC will appear live and in person, but it seems his return to competing on Dynamite is imminent.

Impact News

– PWInsider broke the news on Saturday that Impact Wrestling X-Division Champion Rohit Raju has signed a new multi-year agreement with the company. Raju joined Impact Wrestling in 2017 under the name Hakim Zane. He’s set to defend his title in a six-way scramble tonight at Bound For Glory.

– The Cowboy is back.

James Storm returned to Impact Wrestling at the Bound For Glory pay-per-view as a surprise entrant in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match. He made it to the final four and was eliminated by Sami Callihan.

Storm was last seen in Impact in January 2018 and has recently been a fixture in NWA. He has gone on record to say that he was slated to debut in WWE earlier this year before the pandemic forced those plans to be put on hold.

It remains to be seen if Storm will return to his former stomping grounds on a full-time basis.

Also of note, the Call Your Shot Gauntlet featured surprise appearances from Shawn Daivari and Swoggle.

Click here for complete Bound For Glory results.

– Rich Swann challenged Eric Young for the Impact World Heavyweight Championship in the main event of the Bound For Glory pay-per-view.

Young was brutal throughout the match as he was determined to retain his title against Swann. Young targetted Rich Swann’s neck and ankle during the match, but Swann did not relent no matter what.

The closing moments of the match saw Swann hitting two Cutters and then a Phoenix Splash off the top rope in order to get the three count. He was victorious in the match and became the new Impact World Heavyweight Champion.

After the match, the entire Impact Wrestling locker room came out in order to celebrate his huge win.

– Deonna Purrazzo was initially going to defend her Impact Knockouts Championship against Kylie Rae at Bound For Glory. However, due to Kylie Rae possibly suffering an injury, that match was cancelled.

Purrazzo waited for Rae to come out. When she did not, Purrazzo issued an open challenge for her title. Su Yung came out and accepted that challenge.

Kimber Lee was in Purrazzo’s corner and tried to help her win the match in any way possible. However, that came to no avail. Towards the end of the match, Su Yung hit a Panic Switch and was able to pick up the win. She is now the new Impact Knockouts Champion.

– Impact Wrestling’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view featured memorable matches and great moments. This included the Impact World Tag Team Title match as it featured the first title change of the night.

The Motor City Machine Guns vs. The Good Brothers vs. Madman Fulton and Ace Austin vs. The North battled for the Tag Team Titles. The North attacked the Machine Guns before the match as Josh Alexander hit a double underhook piledriver on Alex Shelley on the entrance ramp, leaving Chris Sabin on his own.

It was a very intense match from start to finish with a lot of high-octane action, which fans certainly appreciated. The ending of the match saw Ethan Page hitting Karl Anderson with the title belt and then won the match.

– On this week’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown, Shorty G announced that he is done with that gimmick. So fans will be seeing Chad Gable return soon.

According to several reports, the idea to change the Shorty G name was a long time coming. Many people backstage, including Daniel Bryan, had been pushing the change since July of this year. Bryan was one of his biggest supporters. However, the plans were delayed for many reasons.

Due to Bryan being part of WWE Creative on Friday Night Smackdown, he has is able to give his input regarding what can be shown on the show. It was said that there is “some optimism” that Gable will receive an opportunity to prove himself.

– During Impact Wrestling’s Bound For Glory pay-per-view, Rhino was able to win the Call Your Shot gauntlet and secured a contract for Heath Slater. However, it seems Slater suffered an injury.

According to a report by PW Insider, the initial belief was that Slater suffered a knee injury. However, it seems he actually a groin or abdomen tear. At this time Heath is still waiting for the official diagnosis.

This is certainly unfortunate timing as Slater finally received a contract from Impact Wrestling. We hope he will be able to make his return soon enough.

– Impact Wrestling’s biggest pay-per-view of the year Bound For Glory concluded this week. The company is already getting ready for the next pay-per-view next year and it seems they will be bringing back something older fans of the company will remember.

Following Su Yung’s shocking Impact Knockouts Championship win over Deonna Purrazzo, the company officially announced that Hard to Kill will be taking place on January 16th, 2021. The event will feature the return of the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Tag Team Titles.

No participants in order to determine the titleholders have been announced as of yet. It was also not announced whether there would be a tournament. The titles were discontinued since June 27th, 2013.

– As reported earlier, Heath Slater possibly suffered an injury during the Bound For Glory pay-per-view. It was initially planned that he would be winning the Call Your Shot match. However, he was eliminated after suffering an injury.

Rhino went on to win the match for him as the company made an impromptu finish. Thankfully, the company had made the stipulation for either Rhino or Slater to win the match in order for Slater to receive a contract.

According to a report by PW Insider, Heath was going to win the match but that was changed after he got injured. The nature of the injury is not known yet, but it is likely to be a groin or abdominal injury.

Due to the injury issue, an audible was called that saw Rhino instead go over in order to secure Miller the contract.

– Impact Wrestling has officially announced Turning Point as the next Impact Plus special event on Saturday, November 14.

– In other Impact news, Rohit Raju will defend his X-Division Championship in another “Defeat Rohit” challenge on Tuesday’s Impact.

Below is the updated lineup for Tuesday:

  • Trey Miguel vs. Chris Bey
  • Ethan Page vs. Doc Gallows
  • Sami Callihan & Eric Young vs. Eddie Edwards & Rich Swann
  • Rohit Raju’s “Defeat Rohit” challenge for the X-Division Championship
  • Deonna Purrazzo vs. Su Yung (c) for the Knockouts Championship

Ratings News

– Last week’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown did 881,000 viewers on FS1. That is down from the 2.124 million viewers the show did the week prior on FOX. This was the final airing before WWE Hell in a Cell. The show aired on FS1 due to the World Series airing on Fox. SmackDown will return to FOX this week in its normal timeslot.

– This week’s episode of Monday Night RAW was the post-Hell In A Cell episode. It seems the show did not fare as well.

– According to a report by Showbuzz Daily, WWE Monday Night RAW received an average of 1.732 million viewers for its three-hour broadcast. This is a noticeable decrease compared to last week’s episode.

Last week’s episode of RAW secured a three hour overnight average of 1.77 million viewers. This was a drop from the previous week’s show which received 1.86 million viewers.

That week’s episode was an increase compared to the week before that episode, which managed only 1.686 million viewers. This episode was a huge decline compared to the previous week’s show which garnered 1.822 million viewers.

– Viewership numbers for both Dynamite and NXT went up this week.

This week’s WWE NXT drew 876,000 viewers on the USA Network for the Halloween Havoc special. This is up from last week’s 644,000 viewers. The show ranked No. 21 in the 18-49 demographic with a 0.25 rating.

This week’s AEW Dynamite did 781,000 viewers on TNT. This is up from last week’s 753,000 viewers. The episode ranked No. 12 in the 18-49 demographic with a 0.32 rating.

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