Month: September 2021

Mick Foley Says WWE Has A Problem In AEW

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley took to Facebook this morning and issued a video warning to WWE following the AEW All Out debuts of Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson and Ruby Soho.

Foley titled his video, “WWE – WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM.” You can read his full comments and watch the video below:

“Hello, this is ‘The Hardcore Legend’ Mick Foley. I’d like to title this video, ‘WWE – We’ve Got a Problem’ because I think you do and that problem is that WWE is no longer the place for talent to aspire to,” Foley began. “Part of it is because AEW is doing a great job of attracting great talent, proven talent, building other talent, creating storylines, but part of it is a problem of your own making. I think younger talent sees the way that developmental characters are cut or left by the wayside, or in the case of Karrion Kross, greatly watered down and even made a joke of when they debut on the main roster. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

“If I was an aspiring talent now, big league talent with a major decision to make, I’m not sure that I would trust WWE creative to do the right thing with my career. You guys did wonders with me back in the day… that was a different time, different place. If it was today, I’m not sure I would trust the powers to be with my career in their hands, and until that changes, WWE – you’ve got a problem.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

MLW Announces New “ALPHA” Mini-Series, MLW – ViceTV Note

MLW “Fusion: ALPHA” will premiere on Wednesday, September 22 at 7pm ET via the official MLW YouTube channel. It will also air via beIN Sports on Saturdays and Mondays.

MLW has announced that their new ALPHA mini-series will feature “big matches, inter-promotional clashes, shocking alliances, and a new matchmaker in the form of Cesar Duran.”

ALPHA will find MLW “in the midst of a wrestling war with raids, jumps and the fear of invasion.”

On a related note, MLW CEO Court Bauer noted on Twitter that MLW’s project with ViceTV will be coming soon.

“Those asking about @ViceTV x @MLW… that’s coming soon too. [wink face emoji],” he wrote in the tweet below.

Stay tuned for more on ALPHA. You can see the new trailer below:

https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1435048548064796679

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Bryan Danielson Is Unsure If He’s Allowed To Chant ‘Yes’ In AEW

Bryan Danielson has revealed why he didn’t chant “yes” along with the fans at AEW All Out.

Bryan Danielson has explained why he didn’t chant “yes” along with the fans when he came to the ring at All Out.

Daniel Bryan, who will now go by Bryan Danielson since he is no longer with WWE, made his very first appearance for AEW at All Out. Danielson aligned himself with Jurassic Express and Christian Cage, chasing off The Elite along with its own brand new member, Adam Cole. Fans in-house broke out into a deafening yes chant as Danielson made his way to the ring, but the former WWE Champion didn’t join in.

On the surface, that was probably because he was focused on helping out the wrestlers getting beaten down in the ring. However, when asked about it after the show, Danielson admitted he’s not sure he’s legally allowed to chant yes and strike his signature pose on a non-WWE wrestling show.

“I don’t know, we’re going to have to talk about like what I can do and what I cannot do,” Danielson explained. “I appreciate the people I worked for before and respecting their intellectual property and that sort of thing… the fans doing it is great, but I’m not sure if I’m going to do it.” Tony Khan added afterwards that he doesn’t believe the yes chant is WWE’s IP.

Despite WWE’s penchant for trademarking everything it can when it comes to its employees, it seems unlikely that it would be able to lay claim to one of the most commonly used three letter words in the English language. Based on everything else Danielson said during the post-show scrum, it may be more of a case of him wanting to respect WWE. He said that he still has a great relationship with Vince McMahon, and sees some of the people still under WWE’s employ as family.

It could also be a case of Danielson simply not wanting to bring that part of his WWE persona with him. While he might have reached the once unfathomable levels of fame he as attained while under WWE’s banner, this is a whole new chapter in his career. He may want to reinvent himself using elements of his time in WWE, but not necessarily all of them.

Source: TheSportster

AEW Star Kip Sabian Working On A New Gimmick?

AEW star Kip Sabian hasn’t wrestled since May 24 and underwent successful arm surgery in mid-May.

His last appearance on AEW TV was on April 28, thanks to a backstage attack from Miro. The current TNT Champion was not happy at the time about their loss to Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy in an Arcade Anarchy Match.

Sabian now looks to be potentially working on a new gimmick, posting a photo of himself wearing a suit and box over his head with the words, “underrated, over it” on the box. There’s also a sand timer on the side of the box.

“Time doesn’t heal…It changes you…” Sabian wrote in the caption.

During this weekend’s AEW All Out Fan Fest, Sabian did an unadvertised meet and greet with fans and scribbled different messages over his 8×10 photos.

On many of them he scratched out his face and wrote “no” as to indicate he’s not long connecting with that character. In the videos, it didn’t sound like Sabian talked at all with the fans that came up to him.

https://twitter.com/TheKipSabian/status/1434293000436436993
https://twitter.com/authofwrestling/status/1434293557557407754
https://twitter.com/infinitepuppy/status/1434388509645737984
https://twitter.com/qthomaswrestle/status/1434296655470370821

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 9/6/21

WWE has announced a loaded line-up for tonight’s Labor Day edition of RAW from the FTX Arena in Miami.

* Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre with the winner facing WWE United States Champion Damian Priest at Extreme Rules

* WWE 24/7 Champion Reggie to defend against Akira Tozawa

* WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina Snuka to defend against Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H.

* Tag Team Turmoil to determine new #1 contenders to RAW Tag Team Champions Riddle and Randy Orton with 7 teams – AJ Styles and Omos, The Viking Raiders, Lucha House Party, Jinder Mahal and Veer, T-BAR and MACE, Mustafa Ali and Mansoor, The New Day

* RAW Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair to defend against Nia Jax

AEW All Out Results 9/5/2021, Minoru Suzuki, Ruby Soho, Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson Debut

THE BUY IN
Chuck Taylor, Wheeler Yuta, Orange Cassidy, and Jurassic Express defeated Matt Hardy, TH2, and Private Party

AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP
Miro (c) defeated Eddie Kingston

Jon Moxley defeated Satoshi Kojima

Post-match, Minoru Suzuki’s music hit and a surprised Moxley looked to the stage in confusion. Suzuki eventually came out and calmly made his way to the ring.

Moxley and Suzuki faced off for a moment, Suzuki then took his jacket off and they battled in the ring. The two threw some big shots and laughed along the way. Suzuki eventually put Moxley down with a rear naked choke and a gotch style piledriver.

https://twitter.com/WrestlingInc/status/1434678469158387715

AEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Britt Baker (c) defeated Kris Statlander

AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (STEEL CAGE MATCH)
Lucha Bros defeated The Young Bucks (c) to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship

WOMEN’S CASINO BATTLE ROYALE
Ruby Soho makes AEW debut and wins Casino Battle Royale to earn a future shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1434696235525591040
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1434698188187963399

Chris Jericho defeated MJF

CM Punk defeated Darby Allin

Paul Wight defeated QT Marshall

AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Kenny Omega (c) defeated Christian Cage

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega defeated Christian Cage in the main event and then cut a promo about how anybody that could beat him was either dead, retired, or not in AEW. Cole’s music hit and out he came to a big pop. Cole got in the ring to face-off with Omega and quickly superkicked Jungle Boy (who had come down to help Christian during a post-match beatdown).

Cole reunited with his friends and said The Elite was the most dominant group in pro wrestling. Omega then went to do his signature sign-off and Danielson’s music hit. He got into the ring and teamed up with Jurassic Express and Christian against The Elite (with Omega running out of the ring). The Elite was quickly cleared away as Danielson and the rest of his guys celebrated to close out the show.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1434724098748395522
https://twitter.com/WrestlingInc/status/1434724570813149190
https://twitter.com/SirLARIATO/status/1434724440118546433
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1434725051727859713
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1434725051727859713

NJPW Announces Wrestle Kingdom 16 To Be Three Nights

During today’s NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam, it was announced Wrestle Kingdom 16 will be a three-night event on January 4, January 5, and January 8, 2022.

The first two show are set to take place in the Tokyo Dome and the third night happens in Yokohama Arena. This is in celebration of NJPW’s 50th anniversary with the company being founded in 1972 by Antonio Inoki.

Typically, New Year Dash is right after Wrestle Kingdom, but no word yet on if that event is still going to happen in 2022.

Up until 2020, Wrestle Kingdom has been a one-night event where it then jumped to two nights.

You can check out the video announcement below:

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW All Out 9/5/2021

DATE: September 5, 2021 8:00 pm
LOCATION: NOW Arena, Chicago, Illinois
AVAILABLE ON:B/R Live, Traditional PPV, FITE

Card

AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage

AEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Britt Baker (c) vs. Kris Statlander

AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP (STEEL CAGE MATCH)
The Young Bucks (c) vs. Lucha Bros

AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP
Miro (c) vs. Eddie Kingston

CM Punk vs. Darby Allin

Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall

Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima

MJF vs. Chris Jericho
If Jericho loses, he can never wrestle in AEW again.

WOMEN’S CASINO BATTLE ROYALE
Riho, Anna Jay, Kiera Hogan, Jade Cargill, Abadon, KiLynn King, Leyla Hirsch, Nyla Rose, Julia Hart, Big Swole, The Bunny, Red Velvet, Thunder Rosa, Tay Conti, Penelope Ford, Diamante, Rebel, Jami Hayter, Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida, Skye Blue
Winner receives shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship.

THE BUY IN
Chuck Taylor, Wheeler Yuta, Orange Cassidy, and Jurassic Express vs. Matt Hardy, TH2, and Private Party

AEW Rampage Preview 9/3/21

Tonight’s AEW Rampage airs on TNT from the NOW Arena in Chicago, Illinois. This will be the last stop before All Out on Sunday.

*  Darby Allin vs. Daniel Garcia (CM Punk will be on commentary)

* Malakai Black vs. Lee Johnson

* AEW TNT Champion Miro to speak

* Kris Statlander vs. Rebel and Jamie Hayter

WWE SmackDown Preview 9/3/21

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will take place from the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

WWE has just one match advertised for tonight and that’s Finn Balor vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns with the title on the line.

It’s interesting to note that the WWE website has Sasha Banks advertised for tonight’s show. She has been away from the ring since missing the WWE live events the week before SummerSlam. It wast reported at one point that she was not expected back this week, but was hopeful for next week’s Super SmackDown taping from Madison Square Garden.

Source: Wrestling Inc.