Author: John Bass

AAA Is Finished Putting Championships On AEW Wrestlers

Don’t expect to see AEW talent draped in championship gold from AAA, with the possible exception of Kenny Omega.

At the recent Noche de Campeones event, FTR lost the AAA World Tag Team Championships to Dralistico and Dragon Lee, the latter of whom announced his WWE deal shortly after.

Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo were stripped of the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championships after Melo was pulled from the event.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AAA is finished putting titles on AEW talent for the time being due to the difficulties with booking them.

“Right now the plan is that unless it’s Kenny Omega, who they still want as their Mega champion because of his work and name value if they can get dates on him, they don’t want titles on AEW wrestlers because of the difficulty in confirming dates on them.”

Instead of appearing for AAA, Melo competed on this week’s Dynamite, teaming with Anna Jay to defeat Ruby Soho and Willow Nightingale.

Source: ewrestlingnews

Dragon Lee Signs With WWE –  Believed To Be The Highest-Paid WWE NXT Star

Dragon Lee has signed a contract with WWE.

Following a tag team match featuring Lee and Dralistico teaming up to face off against FTR at Wednesday’s AAA Noche De Campeones event, the AAA wrestler grabbed a microphone and cut a promo to announce that he’s heading to WWE. ESPN is reporting that Lee will be starting with WWE in January. He’s expected to begin on the NXT brand.

At Wednesday’s AAA Noche De Campeones event, Lee and Dralistico defeated FTR to capture the AAA World Tag Team Championships. This means Lee will be leaving the company as a champion.

Both Lee and Dralistico received WWE tryouts following their appearance on AEW Dynamite back in August. Lee told ESPN the following:

“I think I can become the new Rey Mysterio in WWE. I just need the opportunity. [Finn Balor] told me, ‘Would you like to be in WWE?’ [laughs]. I said, ‘Yeah, sure. Why not?’ … It was something special for me. It’s my challenge to learn more about promos. You will never finish learning in pro wrestling. But every time you wrestle, you learn. But about promos, it’s something new for me. I would like to learn something new, how to become not just a wrestler — an artist.”

Dave Meltzer addressed Lee’s signing on Wrestling Observer Radio where he revealed that the deal was made about two weeks ago and the luchador was asked to keep it under wraps for obvious reasons. Meltzer said,

Lee is a former ROH Television and ROH World Tag Team Champion. He’s also held the World Welterweight and Lightweight Championships in CMLL. Lee also had a reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Dragon Lee may be less than a week into his WWE contract, but the new signing is believed to be the highest earner in NXT.

Lee announced his signing with WWE after he and Dralistico dethroned FTR as AAA World Tag Team Champions, and the titles have since been vacated.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dragon Lee’s deal is believed to be the highest in NXT now that Mandy Rose is gone.

“The belief is that he would be the highest-paid NXT wrestler now that Mandy Rose is no longer working with the brand. It’s a three-year deal and does call for pay increases with each year, but the hope and certainly the feeling he was given is he would have a main roster contract and be brought up in 2024.”

WWE contracts have a confidentiality clause in that the talent and their representatives are not allowed to reveal the dollar amount of each deal.

Source: ewrestlingnews

XFL Announced Plans For The Supplemental Draft

The XFL announced plans for the Supplemental Draft on January 1, 2023.

AEW Dynamite “New Year’s Smash” Preview 12/28/2022

AEW Dynamite special “New Year’s Smash” will air live tonight on TBS and will emanate from the 1STBank Center in Broomfield, CO.

  • AEW TNT Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Wardlow
  • AEW Trios Championship Six In The Best of Seven Series: Death Triangle (c) vs. The Elite
  • Jon Moxley & ROH Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Top Flight
  • Bryan Danielson vs. Ethan Page
  • Ruby Soho & Willow Nightingale vs. Tay Melo & Anna J.A.S.

AEW Dark Preview 12/27/2022

Tonight on AEW Dark at 7pm ET via the official AEW YouTube channel.

* Dante Casanova vs. Angelico

* The Work Horsemen vs. The Hughes Brothers

* Mafiosa vs. Diamante

* Billie Starkz vs. Red Velvet

* AR Fox vs. Slim J

* Evil Uno vs. Blake Li

* Lucky Ali vs. Fuego del Sol

* Iron Savages vs. Brandon Bullock & Jameson Ryan

* Matt Menard vs. Brock Anderson

WWE NXT Preview 12/27/2022

Tonight on WWE NXT on USA Network at 8/7C

AEW Rampage “Holiday Bash” Preview 12/23/2022

Tonight’s AEW Rampage “Holiday Bash” on TNT at 10/9C

* $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Royale
* Jade Cargill (C) vs. Vertvixen (TBS Women’s Title Eliminator)
* The Acclaimed vs. Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett
* We’ll hear from Eddie Kingston & Ortiz
* We’ll hear from Wardlow

WWE SmackDown Preview 12/23/2022

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX at 8/7C.

  • Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles: Hit Row Vs. The Usos (c)
  • 34th Street Fight: Braun Strowman & Ricochet Vs. Imperium
  • Gauntlet Match to determine a new challenger to SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey: Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, Tegan Nox, Emma, Sonya Deville and Xia Li

Tama Tonga Invites AJ Styles To NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, Vows To Dethrone Karl Anderson

Karl Anderson will defend the NEVER Openweight Championship against Tama Tonga in two weeks at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. This will be the first time that a WWE-contracted talent wrestles on the show.

Tonga took to Twitter to invite Styles to the Tokyo Dome show so that The OC Leader can watch The Good Bad Guy “smash” the WWE Superstar at the venue. He wrote,

“AJ can come too. He can watch me smash his boy. ( still got love for you #PhenomenalOne ) #Wrestlekingdom17 – January 4, 2023 #AndNew #NeverOpenWeightChampion.”

Earlier this year, Anderson defeated Tonga to win the NEVER Openweight Title at NJPW Dominion. It will be interesting to see if Anderson can retain the title in his second outing with Tonga come January 4th.

Source: ewrestlingnews

IMPACT Wrestling Preview 12/22/2022

The action continues on the road to Hard To Kill. Don’t miss an all-new IMPACT! this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

  • Knockouts Tag Team Championship: The Death Dollz (Rosemary & Jessicka) (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo & Gisele Shaw
  • Steve Maclin vs. Rich Swann
  • Jordynne Grace & Mickie James vs. Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans
  • “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Yuya Uemura

The action begins Before the IMPACT, streaming this Thursday at 7:15pm ET exclusively on IMPACT Plus, YouTube and Facebook. A new side of Taylor Wilde will be unleashed as the “Wilde Witch” locks up with IMPACT newcomer KiLynn King!