Month: August 2021

Awesome Kong Announces Her Retirement From Pro Wrestling At NWA EmPowerrr

During Saturday night’s NWA EmPowerrr pay-per-view, Awesome Kong announced that she is retiring from pro wrestling.

She made a surprise appearance at the event during a Gail Kim promo. Awesome Kong saved Gail Kim before an attack by Taryn Terrell, Jennacide, and Paola Blaze.

After that according to F4Wonline, she grabbed a microphone and told Gail Kim that she was her greatest foe and there was no other way to end her career than being in the ring with Kim. She then announced that she was done.

Awesome Kong is a former NWA Women’s Champion and a two-time Impact Knockouts Champion. She’s wrestled in several promotions such as Impact Wrestling, AEW, WWE, ROH, Shimmer, and All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW All Out To Air In Movie Theaters

AEW’s All Out pay-per-view will air in select theaters across North America next month.

AEW and Joe Hand Promotions announced today that the All Out pay-per-view on September 5 will air live in select theaters. Participating theaters include Cinemark, AMC, Harkins, Galaxy, Marcus, Emagine, Studio Movie Grill and Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas in the United States, and Landmark Cinemas in Canada.

AEW CEO, General Manager and Head of Creative Tony Khan commented on how AEW has found a lot of success airing previous pay-per-view events in theaters.

“We’ve had a lot of success bringing the camaraderie and excitement of our pay-per-events to the big screen, and we’re looking forward to delivering another memorable evening next Sunday,” Khan said. “Joe Hand Promotions has been a great partner in delivering top-notch experiences and connecting us with our fans at theatres across North America.”

The full list of participating theaters can be found on the Joe Hand promotions website.

“We’re excited to give wrestling fans the opportunity to experience ALL OUT in their local theatres through our partnership with AEW,” said Joe Hand, Jr., President of Joe Hand Promotions.

AEW All Out will air live from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on Sunday, September 5. Below is the current card:

AEW World Title Match
Impact World Champion Christian Cage vs. Kenny Omega (c)

AEW Women’s World Title Match
Kris Statlander vs. Britt Baker (c)

Steel Cage Match for the AEW World Tag Team Titles
Jurassic Express or Lucha Bros vs. The Young Bucks (c)

Chris Jericho vs. MJF
Jericho’s AEW in-ring career will be on the line.

CM Punk vs. Darby Allin

PAC vs. Andrade El Idolo

Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall

Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima

The Buy In Pre-show: Women’s Casino Battle Royale
Nyla Rose, Julia Hart, Big Swole, The Bunny, Red Velvet, Thunder Rosa, Tay Conti, Penelope Ford, Diamante, 12 more competitors TBA
Winner earns a future shot at the AEW Women’s World Title.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

NWA 73rd Anniversary 8/29/2021

The NWA 73 event will take place on Sunday, August 29 from the Khorassan Ballroom at The Chase in St. Louis.

Available on FITE

CARD

Career vs. Title Match
Trevor Murdoch vs. NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis

NWA National Title Match
James Storm vs. Chris Adonis (c)

NWA World Tag Team Titles Match
La Rebelión (Bestia 666, Mecha Wolf 450) vs. Aron Stevens and Kratos (c)

NWA World Women’s Title Match
NWA Women’s Invitational Cup Gauntlet winner vs. Kamille (c)

Brawl In The Lou
Thom Latimer vs. Crimson vs. Tim Storm

Battle Royal
12 participants TBA
Winner becomes the new #1 contender to the NWA National Title

Mickie James vs. Kylie Rae

NWA World Television Champion Tyrus, Jordan Clearwater and The Masked Man vs. The Pope and The End (Odinson, Parrow)

Ric Flair to make a special appearance

NWA EmPowerrr 8/28/2021

The All women’s NWA EmPowerrr pay-per-view will take place this Saturday, August 28 from Khorassan Ballroom at The Chase in St. Louis.

Available on FITE

Main Event: The Inaugural NWA Women’s Invitational Cup
Lady Frost (begins at #1), Tootie Lynn, Chelsea Green, Jamie Senegal, Debbie Malenko, Bianca Carelli, Jennacide, Thunder Kitty, Masha Slamovich, Kiera Hogan
The winner of the ten-woman Gauntlet will challenge the NWA World Women’s Champion the next night at NWA 73. Two competitors will begin the match and a new competitor will enter every 2 minutes. Eliminations are done by pinfall or submission.

90 Day Fiance star Paola Mayfield will appear along side current NWA star and former Impact Knockouts Champion Taryn Terrell.

Card

NWA World Women’s Title Match
Leyla Hirsch vs. Kamille (c)

Impact Wrestling Knockouts Title Match
Melina vs. Deonna Purrazzo (c)

NWA World Women’s Tag Team Titles Tournament
The FreeBabes (Miranda Gordy, Hollyhood Haley J, Jazzy Yang) vs. KiLynn King and Red Velvet

NWA World Women’s Tag Team Titles Tournament
Hell on Heels (Renee Michelle, Sahara 7) vs. The Hex (Allysin Kay, Marti Belle)

NWA World Women’s Tag Team Titles Tournament Finals
The Hex or Hell on Heels vs. Red Velvet and KiLynn King or The Freebabes

Battle of The Brands
NWA’s Kylie Ray vs. AAA’s Chika Tormenta vs. AEW’s Diamante

Paola Mayfield vs. Kenzie Paige

Skye Blue vs. Christi Jaynes

Velvet Sky will be on commentary

Maya Valentine will handle backstage interviews

AEW Rampage Preview 8/27/21

Tonight’s AEW Rampage airs on TNT from the UMW Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

* Tag Title Eliminator Tournament Finals: Jurassic Express vs. Lucha Bros

* Tay Conti vs. The Bunny

* Kenny Omega & Brandon Cutler (w/ Don Callis) vs. Christian Cage & Frankie Kazarian

WWE SmackDown Preview 8/27/21

Tonight’s post-SummerSlam edition of WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

WWE has not announced any matches for tonight but new SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch is confirmed to appear. Brock Lesnar is still being teased, but has been officially announced to appear.

WWE Hall of Famer Edge has also been announced to appear by the arena, as well as Seth Rollins, Big E, and Bianca Belair. The dark main event advertised locally is Finn Balor and The Mysterios vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Former TLC Reality Star Announced For NWA EmPowerrr Pay-Per-View

NWA announced this evening that former 90 Day Fiance star Paola Mayfield will appear at this Saturday’s EmPowerrr pay-per-view.

Current NWA star and former Impact Knockouts Champion Taryn Terrell will be alongside her.

The promotion tweeted, “She’s dominating entertainment and now she’s here to dominate professional wrestling! Looks like the @IAmTarynTerrell army is getting stronger and so is #EMPOWERRR. Welcome, @paolamayfield!!!”

Paola was part of the 2014 season of TLC’s 90 Day Fiance. She also appeared on the spin-off series, 90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After? 

She made her pro wrestling debut on May 5 under the ring name Paolo Blue. The debut match was against Kilynn King for Magic City Wrestling.

NWA EmPowerrr will take place this Saturday, August 28 from Khorassan Ballroom at The Chase in St. Louis. The full card is available at this link here. 

Below is NWA’s announcement:

https://twitter.com/nwa/status/1431033717452001281

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Brock Lesnar New WWE Contract Details Revealed

Brock Lesnar’s new WWE contract will reportedly carry him through early 2023.

Lesnar returned to WWE at the end of Saturday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view to confront WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, right after Reigns’ retained over John Cena. This was his first appearance since dropping the WWE Title to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, and since his last contract expired in the summer of 2020.

In an update, Lesnar’s new WWE contract is believed to be for “roughly a year and a half,” according to Fightful Select. That should carry Lesnar through early 2023, possibly into WrestleMania 39 season.

The new contract is also believed to be for at least 8 matches. It was noted that the terms of the contract are open to change with further negotiations.

The first match under Lesnar’s new WWE contract is expected to be against Reigns, with Paul Heyman a big part of the build. There is no word on when that match will happen. Lesnar vs. Reigns has been rumored for WWE Crown Jewel in October, but it’s not confirmed that Lesnar will be working that show.

It was reported earlier today that WWE is moving forward with Lesnar as a babyface on the blue brand. He is being teased for Friday’s SmackDown, but not officially announced for the show. This would be Lesnar’s first blue brand appearance since November 1, 2019. It’s worth noting that he is still listed on the RAW roster on the official WWE website as of this writing.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Impact Wrestling Preview 8/2I6/21

Less than one week after an unforgettable Emergence, the stars and Knockouts of IMPACT Wrestling turn their attention towards Victory Road on an all-new IMPACT!, this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV.

* Impact World Champion Christian Cage will be in the Impact Zone

* Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack

* Chris Sabin vs. Sami Callihan

* Chris Bey vs. David Finlay

* 1 on 3 Handicap Match: Taylor Wilde vs. The Influence (Madison Rayne, Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb With a K

* Steve Maclin open challenge on BTI at 7/6c on AXS TV.

SmackDown Commentator Pat McAfee Tests Positive For Covid-19

WWE color commentator Pat McAfee has tested positive for Covid-19 and will likely miss the next two SmackDown episodes.

WWE color commentator Pat McAfee has tested positive for Covid-19 and will presumably be absent from this week’s episode of SmackDown.

McAfee took to social media to let his fans know that he had tested positive for the virus and would be “aht” (out) indefinitely despite being fully vaccinated.

“Fully Vax’d. Very Positive,” McAfee captioned an image of three at-home Covid tests that signified he had indeed tested positive.

“It’s miserable but thankful that my wife and the boys at the office all took tests and they are all negative,” he continued. “This is obviously a sign from the universe, probably telling me that I stink & to stay home for a while.”

Pat also included a photo of a digital thermometer on which his fever was recorded as 104.5 — which is high!

Sadly, McAfee will probably miss the next two episodes on SmackDown at the very least, which is a shame as he’s been a very welcome addition to the WWE broadcast crew.

Pat and his SmackDown broadcast colleague Michael Cole have covered the SmackDown sides of every WWE pay-per-view since McAfee debuted on the blue brand. At the Money In The Bank pay-per-view, the duo shared a historic call when John Cena returned to WWE following the main event after more than a year away. Cole had nothing but good things to say about his colleague while appearing as a guest on a recent edition of The Pat McAfee Show.

“First I do want to say this—and I’ve read a lot about this online as well but it’s absolutely true—you’ve completely revitalized my career,” Cole gushed.

McAfee is a former NFL player who became SmackDown’s new color commentator back in April following a brief but successful stint in NXT where he served as a broadcaster and an in-ring talent. On his SmackDown debut, McAfee was referred to as a “former NXT Superstar” by Michael Cole.

Source: TheSportster