Author: John Bass

AEW Roster “Excited” At Possibility Of Mercedes Varnado (Sasha Banks) Joining Soon

The AEW roster is “excited” over the prospect that Sasha Banks could be ‘All Elite’ within a matter of weeks.

Banks has not been seen on WWE TV since May and is serving a suspension for walking out of an episode of RAW.

This week, it was reported that Banks is expected to appear at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom event on January 4, 2023.

Fightful Select reports that several AEW stars are “excited” and believe that Banks’ Wrestle Kingdom outing could be a sign of her arrival in AEW.

One anonymous source said they believe Banks joining could turn around the promotion’s TV ratings.

Some have suggested that Banks could be Saraya’s mystery partner, as the British star and her partner will face Britt Baker and AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter on the January 11th episode of AEW Dynamite, one week after Wrestle Kingdom.

Source: EWrestlingNews

Barry Windham Out of ICU

After suffering a heart attack at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport last week, Barry Windham is now out of ICU, according to his niece Mika Rotunda.

Rotunda wrote:

“Thank you to all who have reached out, prayed, contributed and sent well wishes to my Uncle Barry this week.

I wanted to give an update! I’m grateful to say he is stabilized & out of ICU. Talking & able to stand.

Thanks again everyone! There absolutely is power in prayer.”

A GoFundMe to help Windham with medical expenses has raised nearly $30,000 as of this writing. Windham doesn’t have health insurance.

https://twitter.com/MikaRotunda/status/1601201642941997056

Source: EWrestlingNews

Mercedes Varnado (Sasha Banks) Will Reportedly Be At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

Mercedes Varnado (also known as Sasha Banks in WWE) is expected to be at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, according to a report from Pwinsider.

It’s unclear whether she will just be in attendance for the show or appearing on the broadcast, but she’s being brought in. This comes after she expressed interest in wrestling former WWE Superstar KAIRI in STARDOM, a sister company to NJPW.

Due to creative differences, Banks walked out of WWE at a Monday Night RAW TV taping back in May. She and Naomi were later indefinitely suspended. Both women have made several public appearances since the walkout.

This past August, it was reported that Banks and Naomi had reached an agreement to return to WWE. However, their return has yet to happen as there have been hang-ups in negotiations for a new deal with Banks due to money.

Source: EWrestlingNews

Johnny Fusion (John Morrison) Is Coming To MLW

Major League Wrestling (MLW) sent out the following press release on Thursday, announcing that Johnny Fusion (John Morrison) will be appearing at the MLW Blood & Thunder event on Saturday, January 7 in Philadelphia, PA:

Johnny Fusion (f/k/a John Morrison) is coming to MLW in Philly

Get tickets at MLW2300.com

Major League Wrestling today announced Johnny Fusion (formally known as John Morrison) will return make his return at MLW Blood & Thunder on Saturday, January 7 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.

🎟 Tickets start at $15 at MLW2300.com and the 2300 Arena box office.

The card is a FUSION TV taping, airing on beIN SPORTS nationwide on cable and dish, streaming on Pro Wrestling TV, and in over 60 countries around the world.

For the first time in over 4 years, John Hennigan — whose surnames also include Morrison, Mundo, and Impact, will bring both substance and style when he steps into the ring on January 7th, competing under the name “Johnny Fusion.”

Over the last several years, Johnny Fusion has been busy. From main eventing some of the sport’s biggest events to appearing in SURVIVOR on CBS and starring in Boone: The Bounty Hunter, Johnny Fusion is seemingly ben en fuego.

No stranger to MLW, Johnny Fusion, tore it up against the likes of Shane Strickland, Darby Allin and others in MLW during his last stint. With a reloaded MLW roster featuring the likes of Davey Richards, Alex Hammerstone, Jacob Fatu and many others, expect some dream matches on the horizon.

Perhaps a reunion could be in the mix for Johnny Fusion, who has history with the ruthless Cesar Duran.

Plus, the reigning Women’s World Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie happens to be Johnny Fusion’s wife. Could a new power couple be in play in 2023 in MLW?

The scenarios are endless as Johnny Fusion readies to hit the ring in Philadelphia Saturday night, January 7th.

See Johnny Fusion Saturday night, January 7th at MLW Blood & Thunder in Philadelphia!

Major League Wrestling returns to Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena on Saturday, January 7. Buy tickets at http://MLW2300.com.

MLW Fusion Preview 12/8/2022

MLW FUSION returns tonight at 8pm ET streaming worldwide on Pro Wrestling TV and Saturday 8pm ET nationwide on cable television on beIN SPORTS. 

This week’s card:

  • World Middleweight Championship: Myron Reed (champion) vs Shun Skywalker
  • EJ Nduka vs Sultán del Aire
  • Samoan SWAT Team vs. Mark Davidson and Angel Fashion

The Super Series enters its second stage this week as all eyes are on the World Middleweight Championship. Dragon Gate’s Shun Skywalker enters MLW for the first time ever to challenge the Bomaye Fight Club’s Myron Reed in an inter-promotional bout for the gold! 

Can the former Open The Freedom Gate Champion make history in his MLW debut, or will The “Young GOAT” walk back another international contender and keep the gold in Bomaye’s grasp? Tune in and find out!

EJ Nduka competes in action this week! Could a strong showing in the Super Series be the leverage “The Judge” needs to secure a World Heavyweight Championship bout as he continues to obsessively lock in on Hammerstone?

Bodies continue to stack around the mysterious callings cards, and in a shocking display, Cesar Duran has effectively walked out on his role as matchmaker! How will officials respond as chaos continues to engulf the league? 

After revealing himself as the mastermind behind the theft of the Opera Cup, Alex Kane dishes on the Bomaye Fight Club’s plans for international expansion. 

The Samoan SWAT Team rep the red, white and black of MLW in the Super Series as Lance Anao’i and Juicy Finau go toe to toe with Puerto Rico’s Angel Fashion and Mark Davidson.

IMPACT Wrestling Preview 12/8/2022

IMPACT Wrestling tonight at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

  • IMPACT World Champion Josh Alexander returns to the IMPACT Zone for the first time since Bully Ray‘s heinous attack at Over Drive
  • Impact Wrestling Champion Josh Alexander vs. Mike Bailey.
  • Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship: Heath Miller & Rhino( c) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns.
  • Sami Callihan vs. Big Kon.
  • Savannah Evans w/Tasha Steelz vs. Taya Valkyrie w/Death Dollz 

Tony Khan Teases Update On ROH Television Situation

While speaking during Wednesday’s media call to promote this weekend’s Ring of Honor Final Battle pay-per-view event, ROH owner and AEW President Tony Khan hinted that an update on the promotion’s television deal could be coming soon. Khan acquired Ring of Honor in May of this year. Tony indicated to Brandon Thurston that an announcement regarding ROH’s TV future could come this weekend.

ROH Final Battle 2022 will take place this Saturday, December 10th at 4:00 PM EST from Arlington, TX. It will air live on pay-per-view.

https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1600559192984768513

Source: EWrestlingNews

AEW Dynamite Preview 12/7/2022

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS, and emanate from the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas, just outside of Austin.

  • TNT Championship Match: Samoa Joe (c) defends against Darby Allin
  • AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: The Acclaimed (c) defends against FTR
  • Jade Cargill & The Baddies vs. Madison Rayne, Skye Blue & Kiera Hogan
  • Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale
  • Jake Hager & Daniel Garcia vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta
  • AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter Sit Down Interview w/ Tony Schiavone
  • We Will Hear From Jon Moxley
  • We Hear From AEW World Champion MJF

Ronda Rousey Thinks She Failed Shotzi At Survivor Series

WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey recently took to her latest video game stream, “The Baddest Stream On The Planet,” to offer her thoughts on her Survivor Series match with Shotzi. Rousey said a planned DDT spot she pitched didn’t go as planned, and noted she felt like she let Shotzi down with the match.

Here are the highlights:

DDT spot not going as planned:

Let me explain what happened. I actually pitched that spot because I love that she does that. We couldn’t practice in my ring because the ropes are too loose. We couldn’t practice it when we got to the arena because there are these big cages.

I’ve taken DDTs before, but I’ve never helped anybody over to the floor, so they were like, ‘Okay, you have to have your hand here on her leg, the other hand on her hip, and you’re going to guide her over.’ Everyone was so focused on ‘guide her over, guide her to the floor,’ that it was literally all that was on my mind when it happened.

When she went over it was like, ‘guide her.’ When she was down, I was like, ‘Oh fuck. Ahhh, just go to where you’re supposed to go.’ I fucked it up because I was so concerned with keeping somebody safe and a lot of time, when you see me do something for the first time, it’s the first time I ever did it.

I was really concerned with keeping Shotzi safe and I made it look bad. You know what, sorry. Apparently, I deserve to be fired or burned. It reminds me of Monty Python, ‘BURN HER!’ There weren’t calls to fire anybody when Madcap Moss and Big E were spiked on their heads. ‘BURN HER ANYWAY!’ I’m so sorry that I was so concerned with keeping someone safe that I made the bump look bad.

Feeling like she let Shotzi down:

What really bummed me out was, my favorite thing in the match was turning around a hostile crowd. We’re in Boston, of course they’re hostile because they’re angry at the fact that they live there. Right when we got them turned around with the ‘holy shit’ and the crossbody into the fans, ‘F*ck yeah, we’re turning it around, we got all the awesome shit coming up.’

Then, Shotzi rolls me in the ring, and they’re like, ‘Get out of there. Plan B, get out of there, we’re out of time. We gotta go.’ ‘What?’ She was going up and I had to run up and throw her down and throw her into the armbar and get out of there because that’s what they were telling me on the mics because I guess the match before us went over by six minutes and they were concerned about going over on time.

The match after us was a three-way, so they wouldn’t be able to communicate with each other to make the match shorter and the match after that was WarGames and they couldn’t cut that out. It was the only place they could get that time back. I was bummed though because we worked on that match for two weeks and we were really excited about it. I felt like I really failed Shotzi.

Source: EWrestlingNews

The New Day Confront Pretty Deadly On WWE NXT, Tag Title Match Set For Deadline

It’s a New Day, yes it is.

The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) made a shocking return to NXT on Tuesday night. The 11-time tag team champions interrupted Pretty Deadly’s reading of their “Christmas Story” to challenge them for the NXT Tag Team Championships. Pretty Deadly said that all they wanted was a team that could match them in the ring, and Woods and Kingston answered the call.

The confrontation escalated into a full-on brawl, as The New Day stood tall after smashing Pretty Deadly with some Christmas presents that were in the ring.

Their match for NXT Deadline this Saturday has now been made official.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1600323332473249793