Author: John Bass

WWE Provides Update On NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez

This past Tuesday night at “WWE NXT” Roadblock, “NXT” Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez successfully defended her title against the legendary Meiko Satomura. Following the bout, though, and shortly after Satomura handed her the championship, Perez suddenly “collapsed” to the mat. Medical officials, referees, Shawn Michaels, and even Booker T rushed to the ring to check on her. The last thing viewers saw was Perez being taken away on a stretcher to an ambulance backstage. Now, WWE has provided a further positive update on the champion.

“Update: Roxanne Perez has been discharged from the hospital and is now at home resting,” WWE tweeted.

WWE’s first update Tuesday night simply stated that she’d be kept in the hospital overnight for further testing. So while the latest announcement is certainly progress, it’s also worth monitoring whether or not she’ll be competing at the “NXT” Stand and Deliver event on Saturday, April 1. Thus far, only two matches have been announced for the big show. Johnny Gargano will make his in-ring return to “NXT” to take on the man who brutally attacked him before he left WWE in 2021, Grayson Waller. Also, Carmelo Hayes is set to challenge “NXT” Champion Bron Breakker.

Perez has been “NXT” Women’s Champion since December 13, when she dethroned Mandy Rose, ending her 500-plus day reign and becoming the developmental brand’s youngest-ever women’s champion in the process. Perez has successfully defended it five times since, including Tuesday’s contest against Satomura. While the bout itself lasted nearly 14 minutes, vignettes leading up to their showdown showed the champ putting herself through very rigorous workouts.

Roxanne Perez’s injury at NXT Roadblock concerned fans about her well-being. Fortunately, the whole collapsing scenario was a take from an angle with Shawn Michaels on RAW in the mid-90s. Similar to HBK, Perez took several blows to the head, which led to the kayfabe injury.

As fans pointed out, Roxanne Perez’s injury at NXT Roadblock is kayfabe because the referee didn’t show the dreaded X sign. The signal is used whenever a superstar is grievously injured and isn’t a part of the storyline. WWE takes head injuries seriously and if Perez did suffer one, multiple reports would have hit the wrestling capsule already.

The injury angle did put over Roxanne Perez in a major way. She may now sport the neck brace as a reminder of her heroics. Her participation in Stand and Deliver is unknown, although the injury could mean she will be out of the ring for a while.

Nonetheless, The Prodigy does have a challenger in line. Tiffany Stratton staked her claim to the Women’s Championship before Roadblock rolled out. It remains to be seen if the showdown will be booked for April 1 or a later date.

Sources: Wrestling Inc. and sportskeeda

Mark Briscoe Announces Reach For The Sky Ladder Match For ROH Tag Titles At Supercard Of Honor + More ROH News

On Friday night’s episode of Rampage, AEW World Tag Team Champion Mark Briscoe announced that a “Reach for the Sky” Ladder match will be held at ROH Supercard of Honor to determine the new ROH World Tag Team Champions. The Lucha Brothers are the first team to be announced for the match.

In other news, on the latest episode of ROH TV, former champions Dalton Castle and The Boys (Brandon Tate & Brent Tate) challenged The Embassy for the ROH Six-Man Tag Team Championships at Supercard of Honor. They also defeated Marcus Cross & C4 (Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas) on the show.

Meanwhile, ROH TV also saw The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett w/ Maria Kanellis-Bennett) cut a promo backstage, stating that they want to get their revenge on Top Flight (Dante & Darius Martin) for costing them their return to ROH at Final Battle earlier in December, potentially setting up a rematch at Supercard of Honor.

In another noteworthy segment, Eddie Kingston confronted ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, challenging him for the Ring of Honor World Championship. Claudio refused to accept and disrespected Kingston. Nevertheless, they are expected to collide in a blockbuster title match at the pay-per-view event.

Source: eWrestlingNews

Rey Mysterio Announced As First Inductee Into The 2023 WWE Hall Of Fame

Rey Mysterio was announced as the first inductee into the 2023 WWE Hall of Fame class. The most famous luchador of all time..

The WWE has announced its first inductee into the 2023 Hall of Fame Class and it’s a somewhat surprising name. Rey Mysterio will go into the Hall and while he’s completely deserving, that WWE has chosen to induct an active competitor who is not announcing his retirement or is close to being finished with his in-ring career, is the surprising part of this announcement.

Rumors circulated that the Great Muta might be the first name announced, so when a video package featuring Rey started showing as WWE announced their first entrant into this year’s class, fans were thrilled, but also a bit stunned. By every stretch of the imagination and by any measuring stick, Rey’s career is Hall of Fame worthy. That said, he wasn’t on anyone’s radar for being inducted this year, simply because he’s not finished as an active competitor. There have been names inducted that have come out of retirement, but it’s rare to see WWE put someone in the Hall of Fame who has plenty of gas left in the tank and hasn’t announced his departure from active competition.

Mysterio made his debut in WWE in 2002 and quickly became one of the most popular wrestlers in the company. He won numerous championships, including the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, Intercontinental Championship, and United States Championship. He is also a multiple-time Tag Team Champion, having won the belts with partners such as Eddie Guerrero, Batista, and Edge.

Known for his high-flying wrestling style and his signature moves, including the extremely popular 619 finisher, he is perhaps the most famous Luchador of all time and his elaborate masks have become a trademark of his persona. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest high-flyers in the history of professional wrestling and has been a mentor to many high-flyers who followed.

AEW Rampage Preview 3/10/2023

AEW taped this Friday night’s episode of Rampage at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA after Dynamite went off the air.

  • Konosuke Takeshita vs. Preston Vance
  • Sammy Guevara vs. Action Andretti
  • Riho vs. Nyla Rose
  • The Acclaimed in tag team action
  • Jungle Boy to speak

WWE SmackDown Preview 3/10/2023

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on FOX, and emanate from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA.

  • Fatal Five-Way Intercontinental Championship Qualifying Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus vs. LA Knight vs. Karrion Kross vs. Xavier Woods
  • WWE announced on Thursday that Woods will replace the injured Kofi Kingston in the Fatal-Five Way. The winner will go on to challenge Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 39.
  • The Viking Raiders vs. Braun Strowman & Ricochet

AEW Is Working On Long-Term Deals For The Elite

Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks will have to decide whether they want to sign new AEW deals or see what they can get on the free agent market soon. 

Omega’s deal had been slated to expire earlier this year, but due to the time, he missed while on hiatus, time had been added to his existing deal. 

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that AEW is keen to tie down The Elite to new deals.

“AEW is working on signing the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega to new long-term deals well before they become free agents.”

The Elite lost the AEW Trios Championships to the House Of Black at Revolution. Next week’s Dynamite, The Elite vs. Jericho Appreciation Society vs. House of Black, will take place.

Source: eWrestlingNews

WWE To Start Announcing Hall Of Fame Inductees Today?

WWE will be holding this year’s Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, March 31, after SmackDown that night in Los Angeles.

WWE is just a few weeks away from WrestleMania weekend and has yet to announce any inductees for this year’s class. That will be changing, according to WrestleVotes. 

Per the report, WWE will start announcing the inductees today. 

“The plan as of Monday was to begin announcing this years Hall of Fame induction class today. The annual HOF ceremony is 3 weeks from tonight in Los Angeles following SmackDown.”

WWE is operating with the idea of keeping things shorter than in previous years. 

Earlier this week, Mick Foley revealed that he had been asked to induct someone as a part of this year’s class, although he wouldn’t offer any specifics on who had made the request or if it’d even been greenlit yet. One name that keeps being bandied about is Dave Bautista. He was initially tapped to enter the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020. However, that event was put off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was then going to be inducted the following year, but he was pulled from the slate with the wrestler-turned-actor stating that prior obligations would prevent him from attending. A later date was expected for his eventual participation, so could this be the year?

Sources: WrestleVotes and Wrestling Inc.

Taya Valkyrie Finishes Up With Impact Wrestling

Taya Valkyrie has finished up with Impact Wrestling. Pwinsider.com reports her last date for the promotion was on March 2nd at the TV tapings in Las Vegas.   

It’s worth pointing out that AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill challenged a Canadian star to face her on Dynamite next week, and Valkyrie is Canadian so she could be the mystery person. 

Taya does currently hold the MLW Featherweight Title so if she does go to AEW then she may have to drop the title soon.

Source: eWrestlingNews

Impact Wrestling Preview 3/9/2023

Tonight’s episode of Impact Wrestling at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

  • Knockouts Championship: Mickie James (c) vs. Gisele Shaw 
  • Sami Callihan vs. Rhino
  • Jonathan Gresham vs. Kushida

ROH TV Preview 3/9/2023

ROH will air a new episode of its weekly television show tonight at 7 pm ET on HonorClub. 

You can sign up for the streaming service here. 

  • Ring of Honor Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Tony Deppen
  • Ring of Honor Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta (c) vs. Timothy Thatcher
  • Ring of Honor Women’s Championship: Athena (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
  • Dalton Castle & The Boys vs. Marcus Cross, Guillermo Rosas & Cody Chhun
  • Rhett Titus & Tracy Williams vs. Aussie Open
  • Eddie Kingston vs. Ben Dejo
  • Serpentico & Angelico vs. RUSH & Dralistico
  • Billie Starkz vs. Trish Adora
  • Jake Crist & Man Scout vs. Ari Daivari & Slim J