Tonight’s AEW Dynamite episode airs on TNT at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
* Inner Circle vs. The Pinnacle (Blood and Guts Match)
* Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs. Kenny Omega and MT Nakazawa
* Britt Baker in action
* SCU vs. Jurassic Express vs. Varsity Blonds vs. The Acclaimed (Winners get AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks on May 12)
* Cody Rhodes with Arn Anderson vs. QT Marshall with The Factory
* Miro to speak
The WWE is reportedly “pushing hard” to sign Daniel Bryan to a new contract, according to Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer.
Bryan’s WWE contract expired last week, or was set to expire last week. Meltzer added that Bryan’s contract did indeed expire this past Friday following his loss in a Career vs. Title match to WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns on SmackDown.
Since the loss to Reigns, Bryan has been moved to the Alumni section on WWE’s official website.
Bryan recently stated that he would be interested in wrestling for other wrestling companies as well as WWE. He also recently praised Kenny Omega during an interview with Robbie Fox on My Mom’s Basement.
“I have a lot of respect for Kenny Omega,” Bryan stated. “And it’s not just the great matches he’s put on. It’s also that he looks at wrestling differently than anybody else.
“When you look at say, the Young Bucks, who you’d think of in a similar vein. You can see where the Young Bucks take of wrestling is. It’s like a takeoff, a genius takeoff, of the wrestling they loved when they were younger. And mimicking it but also evolving from that and evolving from the takes from that. That’s why I think it resonates with so many people, the way that they wrestle.
“Kenny, it doesn’t have a previous evolution point. It’s just these completely new things that have entered his head that he’s daring to try.”
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will be headlined by the return of Finn Balor.
NJPW Wrestling Dontaku (Night Two) was earlier today.
As noted, six wrestlers (Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH) were held off today’s show due to COVID-19 concerns. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion El Desperado was scheduled to wrestle YOH, but the title match was taken completely off the event.
Below are the results:
* Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., and DOUKI defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Jado
* Yujiro Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Master Wato
* Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, and Aaron Henare defeated Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI
* Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Jay White, EVIL, and Dick Togo
* Will Ospreay (c) defeated Shingo Takagi (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship)
Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, and YOH were taken off today’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku (Night Two) card due to COVID-19 concerns.
NJPW announced a wrestler scheduled to appear on today’s show had a fever and was undergoing evaluation (including PCR and antibody testing). Another wrestler who has been involved in events since May 1 also had a fever and was undergoing further evaluation.
“In an abundance of caution, neither participated in today’s event, and any wrestler who competed with them on recent cards were also removed from the event,” NJPW said in a statement.
NJPW ended up removing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship match between El Desperado and YOH completely off the card. They made addition changes to other tag matches that were featured on the undercard.
Kazuchika Okada and SHO vs. Minoru Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru became Master Wato and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Taiji Ishiomori and Yujiro Takahashi. Also, Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Toru Yano, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Dick Togo, Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro Takahashi, EVIL, and Jay White was changed to Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Dick Togo, EVIL, and Jay White.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
Eva Marie is back with WWE.
Last night’s WWE RAW featured a new vignette where Marie declared that “The Eva-lution” is coming soon.
“Do I have your attention?,” Marie asked in the vignette. “I’ve been thinking about where I’ve been and where I’m going. Do I have your attention now? Good. You know, on the road of life there are twists and turns, and I’ve always tried to be the one in control of my own life, and the independence that comes with it, but part of that is giving back. Now I have your attention. I want to be someone others look up to, I want to influence others to go after their own ambitions like I did. So, I’m back where my journey started. This is Eva-lution.”
Eva tweeted after the vignette and wrote, “Do I have your attention? @wwe #EvaLution #WWERAW”
It was reported back in the fall of 2020 that Eva’s WWE return was in the works. She had been rumored for RAW appearances a few times since then, but there had been no concrete updates until now.
Eva first joined WWE in 2013 for Total Divas and the Divas Search, but left the company in August 2017 to focus on other interests outside of the company. She has done some acting and reality TV work since then, and has also launched her own fashion brands, among other projects. She has stayed away from pro wrestling for the most part, but was recently working with WWE Performance Center recruit Parker Boudreaux.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
NBC has renewed “Young Rock” for a second season.
“Young Rock is the No. 2 new comedy of the current television season in the key 18-49 demographic. The pilot episode, which premiered back on February 16 has been seen by 13.4 million viewers. NBC also noted that “Young Rock” is the network’s top comedy debut across digital platforms on record through 60 days with 3.6 million digital views.
“Young Rock” has former WWE Superstar Dwayne Johnson starting as a fictionalized version of himself, where he telling stories about his childhood and teenage years during his run for President of the United States during the 2032 election.
Episodes during the first season focused on different chapters of Johnson’s life – from growing up in a strong and resilient family, to being surrounded by the wild and crazy characters of his professional wrestling family, and playing football at the University of Miami.
“Young Rock is produced by Universal Television, Seven Bucks Productions and Fierce Baby Productions with Johnson, Nahnatchka Khan, Jeff Chiang, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia, Brian Gewirtz and Jennifer Carreras as executive producers for season one.
Source: Deadline via WrestleView
Tonight’s WWE RAW on the USA Network will feature more build for the upcoming WrestleMania Backlash pay-per-view.
NJPW Wrestling Dontaku (Night One) took place earlier today in Fukoka.
* EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, and Dick Togo defeated Toru Yano, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tiger Mask, and Master Wato
* Kazuchika Okada, SHO, and YOH defeated Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
* Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI defeated Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, and Aaron Henare
* Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Tanga Loa
* Taichi with DOUKI defeated Tama Tonga with Jado (Iron Fingers From Hell Ladder Match)
* Jay White with Gedo defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) (NEVER Openweight Championship)
Post-match, White referred to himself as “the real belt collector” (a reference to Kenny Omega) and offered up anyone to find him if they had a problem with that.
Night two of Wrestling Dontaku takes place tomorrow and features the following matches:
* Will Ospreay (c) vs. Shingo Takagi (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship)
* El Desperado (c) vs. YOH (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship)
* Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Master Wato vs. Jay White, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, and Dick Togo
* Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and BUSHI vs. Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, and Aaron Henare
* Kazuchika Okada and SHO vs. Minoru Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
* Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., and DOUKI vs. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Jado
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