Month: August 2021

Impact Wrestling Reportedly Will Make A Push For Bray Wyatt

According to a report, Impact Wrestling is set to make a push for Bray Wyatt, who was released from his WWE contract on July 31.

Bray Wyatt’s 90-day non-compete clause doesn’t expire until late October, so wrestling promotions still have ample time to negotiate with the former Universal Champion.

Wyatt was unexpectedly released from his WWE contract on July 31, abruptly ending his 12-year run with the company. Wyatt was reportedly told by John Laurinaitis that he was being let go due to budget cuts.

It was previously reported that Wyatt is bound for AEW, but that apparently isn’t a lock to happen (you can read more about that here). Not only that, but it looks like AEW will have serious competition for Wyatt’s services.

On the Sunday Night’s Main Event podcast (h/t Wrestling.com), Dave Meltzer reported that Impact Wrestling is “really after” Wyatt. At this time, however, it’s unclear if Wyatt is interested in joining them.

Impact Wrestling Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore recently hinted that former WWE superstars Buddy Matthews (Murphy in WWE) and Braun Strowman will soon join the company. Matthews and Strowman were released from their WWE contracts on June 2.

It should be noted that if Wyatt were to sign with Impact or AEW, he would be able to appear in both companies since the two promotions have a working partnership. AEW wrestler Kenny Omega held the Impact World Championship for 10 days. So Wyatt could theoretically be used as a top main event star in both Impact AEW.

WWE somehow missed so many great opportunities with Wyatt. His release may actually end up being a blessing long-term, since Wyatt’s next employer will most certainly maximize his wrestling creativity, uniqueness and skill set.

There will be no shortage of options for Wyatt when it comes to choosing the next chapter of his wrestling career. Former Universal and WWE Champions don’t hit the open market very often, and he would be an ultra-valuable addition to AEW or Impact Wrestling.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Star CM Punk Drops Major Hint About Daniel Bryan’s Future

AEW’s CM Punk made a cheeky reference to his fellow former WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) on the latest edition of AEW Dynamite.

All Elite Wrestling’s newest big-name signing has dropped a major hint regarding a heavily rumored potential acquisition for the company — Daniel Bryan.

It all went down on TNT during the most recent edition of AEW’s flagship show, Dynamite. Following on from last Friday’s episode of Rampage, CM Punk made his second appearance on an AEW show and his first appearance on Dynamite when he made joined Tony Schiavone in the ring for a chat at the top of the second hour.

Punk was there to share some more thoughts on return and perhaps address a few bullet points that he may have missed last week due to time constraints. But he was also there to hype up his upcoming ALL OUT match with Darby Allin, which will be Punk’s first match in over seven years.

After announcing that he was retiring his “Voice Of The Voiceless” monicker due to the fact that the AEW locker room has its own voice to which people are willing to listen, Punk sang the praises of his ALL OUT opponent.

“I look at Darby Allin and I see someone who would have been my favorite wrestler when I was 15 years old,” Punk said before referencing a series of questions he’s been asking himself later. “Can you still go?! Can you still be the best?! Can you still be the Best In The World?!” he said with passion in his voice as the members of the audience began to answer the question for him in unison.

With the crowd chanting “YES! YES! YES!” Punk cheekily called attention to the recent reports that Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) is on his way to AEW.

“That’s somebody else’s schtick, and ya might just need to be a little more patient,” Punk said with a wry smile and a look in his eye that screamed, “I shouldn’t have said that.”

https://twitter.com/FiteTV/status/1430698138835329024

Source: TheSportster

AEW Dynamite Preview 8/25/21

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite episode airs on TNT at the UWM Panther Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

* Jamie Hayter with Britt Baker and Rebel vs. Red Velvet

* Malakai Black vs. Brock Anderson with Arn Anderson

* Varsity Blondes vs. Lucha Bros (AEW Tag Team Title Eliminator Tournament)

* Orange Cassidy vs. Matt Hardy

* CM Punk makes his first Dynamite appearance

* Chris Jericho addresses his future

* Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, and Darby Allin vs. The Wingmen (Cezar Bononi, Ryan Nemeth, and JD Drake)

* The Factory (QT Marshall, Nick Comoroto, and Aaron Solo) vs. Gunn Club (Austin, Colten, and Billy Gunn)

WWE NXT Preview 8/24/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature fallout from Sunday’s Takeover 36 event. The episode was taped on Monday night from the Capitol Wrestling Center in Orlando.

WWE SummerSlam Was Reportedly “Most Viewed” And “Highest Grossing” In Its History

WWE has announced that Saturday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas was the most-viewed and highest-grossing SummerSlam of all-time.

SummerSlam 2021 set records for live global viewership, gate receipts, indoor attendance, merchandise sales, sponsorships and social engagement.

WWE issued the following details today:

WWE® DELIVERS MOST-VIEWED & HIGHEST-GROSSING SUMMERSLAM OF ALL-TIME

Annual Event Sets Records for Live Global Viewership, Gate Receipts, Indoor Attendance, Merchandise Sales, Sponsorships & Social Engagement

STAMFORD, Conn., August 24, 2021 – Following a weekend of record-setting metrics, WWE (NYSE: WWE) delivered the most-viewed and highest-grossing SummerSlam in the company’s history.

Highlights include:

* More people watched Saturday’s event live across Peacock and WWE Network than any other SummerSlam in the company’s history. The seven-figure global audience marked a 55% increase over 2020 and a 29% increase over 2019;

* The sell-out crowd of 51,326 broke SummerSlam records for indoor attendance and gate receipts. With tickets purchased by fans from all 50 U.S. states, Saturday’s live gate was more than four times greater than the last SummerSlam held with fans in attendance in 2019;

* Merchandise sales posted an increase of 155% over 2019;

* SummerSlam set a new sponsorship record, growing by 25% vs. 2019 and 18% vs. 2020;

* With more than four million views, Brock Lesnar’s return became WWE’s most-watched Instagram video of all-time – surpassing the video of John Cena’s return at Money In The Bank. In total, SummerSlam videos generated more than one billion views across all WWE social platforms during the week.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage Note On Becky Lynch Working As A Heel

New SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch reportedly asked WWE officials to work as a heel for this run.

As noted, Lynch made her surprise return at WWE SummerSlam on Saturday and defeated Bianca Belair in just seconds to capture the SmackDown Women’s Title, as the replacement for Sasha Banks, who is not cleared to compete. It was later reported that current plans call for Lynch to be the top heel of the blue brand women’s division.

In an update, word now is that Lynch was the one who requested that she be booked as a heel moving forward, according to F4Wonline.com.

There’s no word on when the Belair vs. Lynch rematch will take place, but it will be interesting to see what sort of heel promo Lynch returns to SmackDown with this Friday.

Ric Flair Announced For The NWA 73rd Anniversary PPV

WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair is returning to the NWA for a special appearance.

After issuing the invitation earlier this month, the NWA announced this evening that The Nature Boy will be attending the upcoming NWA 73rd Anniversary pay-per-view, Wrestling At The Chase, in St. Louis.

“It was always historic. But now #NWA73 at The Chase will be LEGENDARY. [revolving light emoji] The rumors are true. He’s finally HOME. [high voltage sign emoji] @RicFlairNatrBoy is coming back to the NWA & Wrestling At The Chase!!”

The announcement included a video package of highlights from Flair’s NWA days.

There’s no word on what Flair will be doing at the NWA 73rd Anniversary show. Flair, who was granted his WWE release a few weeks back after requesting it from WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon, appeared at the AAA TripleMania pay-per-view. He is expected to sign with AEW in the near future.

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

https://twitter.com/nwa/status/1428478128439971843

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Dark Side Of The Ring Reveals Return Date And Schedule For The Rest Of Season 3

Dark Side of the Ring will return for the second half of its third season next month with seven episodes left to go.

Dark Side of the Ring returned for a third season earlier this year. Its latest slate of episodes appeared to attract more attention than ever before. The two-hour special all about Brian Pillman to kick off season three got a lot of fans talking, as did a later episode covering Nick Gage and deathmatch wrestling.

The show’s third season isn’t done yet, though. In fact, we’re only halfway through. It took a break over the summer, possibly since traveling to interview people for the show was trickier during the pandemic, or perhaps just to break things up. Dark Side of the Ring’s creators have now released a new trailer for the second half of the season.

The trailer, which you can check out below, includes when Dark Side of the Ring will return as well as a full list of the seven episodes that are left to come. Highlights include The Plane Ride From Hell and The Steroid Trials. Jim Ross is shown at the end of the trailer declaring that he hopes he is never asked about the aforementioned plane ride ever again.

https://twitter.com/DarkSideOfRing/status/1428477108456722435

The Steroid Trials are also a hot topic of conversation right now. If you don’t know, Vince McMahon was charged with possession and conspiring to distribute illegal steroids in the early 1990s. Had the chairman been found guilty, he faced time in prison. There’s reportedly a show based on that time in McMahon’s life being created with the help of WWE, hence it being somewhat topical again all these years later.

Dark Side of the Ring will return for the second half of season three on September 16 and air weekly on Vice for six weeks after that. While not confirmed, The Plane Ride From Hell is the episode listed first in the tweet so that will likely be the one that kicks things off again. That also means The Steroid Trials will bring the curtain down on season three if that schedule is stuck to.

Source: TheSportster

WWE RAW Preview 8/23/21

Tonight’s WWE RAW from the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California will feature fallout from Saturday’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.

WWE President Nick Khan Says NXT To Undergo Revamp In Coming Weeks

WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer Nick Khan says NXT is undergoing a revamp with production changes expected in the coming weeks.

Khan spoke with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport about the new vision for NXT as they want to change how talent will be developed.

“We are doing a complete revamp on NXT, led by Triple H, who is really one of the architects of the original NXT,” Khan revealed. “What we found — it’s part of why we did the tryout yesterday — what we want to make sure is easy for folks who want to be WWE Superstars, is figuring out how to become WWE Superstars.”

“In terms of an NXT re-brand, look for it in the next couple of weeks. It’s going to have a whole new look, it’s going to have a whole new feel — and we believe — because of a lot of the indie wrestlers, if you will, have come through our system and are in our system with SmackDown and RAW now. We don’t want to just keep doing that same thing, we want to look elsewhere for great, young talent.”

Khan was then asked what he meant by a new look and feel for NXT.

“The look of the show, the production of the show, everything is going to change in the next few weeks,” Khan confirmed.

In this interview, Khan also clarified his “We’re open for business” comment about the possibility of WWE being sold, and also this year’s WWE releases. You can check out the full interview in the video below.

Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to BT Sport