Author: John Bass

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 Schedule On AXS TV Announced

AXS TV announced its broadcast schedule for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, starting on January 12 through January 26. AXS TV issued the following: 

WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 FEATURES THE RETURN OF KENNY OMEGA WHEN AXS TV’S NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING PREMIERES THURSDAY, JANUARY 12

Other Highlights Include the debut of Mercedes Moné, Jay White vs Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, FTR vs Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI for the IWGP Tag Team Titles, and ‘The Great Muta’ Keiji Mutoh’s Final Match of his legendary NJPW career, & More

LOS ANGELES (January 11, 2023) – AXS TV, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, Inc., presents New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s premiere of Wrestle Kingdom 17, beginning Thursday, January 12 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.

The weekly series delivers one hour of blockbuster content compiling the absolute best moments from the groundbreaking promotion’s most recent broadcasts. Each episode is broadcast in English and features expert play-by-play commentary from NJPW’s own Kevin Kelly, Chris Charlton and Gino Gambino.

AXS TV’s upcoming schedule of Wrestle Kingdom 17 coverage is as follows:

January 12—Wrestle Kingdom 17

-The legendary Kenny Omega makes his highly-anticipated return to NJPW for the first time in four years, as he challenges the “Commonwealth Kingpin” Will Ospreay for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

January 19—Wrestle Kingdom 17

-Bullet Club mastermind Jay White puts the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on the line against the “Rainmaker,” Kazuchika Okada, in a rematch of their championship bout from Dominion 2022, where White shocked the world by taking Okada’s title.

January 26—Wrestle Kingdom 17

-Witness the moment that took the wrestling world by storm, as Mercedes Moné (formerly known as Sasha Banks) makes her NJPW debut with a stunning statement—putting inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI on notice just minutes after her first title defense against Stardom standout Tam Nakano.

-Fan-favorite IWGP Tag Team Champions FTR defend their belts against Bishamon brutes YOSHI-HASHI and Hirooki Goto.

-Then, heralded as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, “The Great Muta” Keiji Mutoh enters the squared circle one last time for NJPW, as he joins forces with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino to take on Los Ingobernables de Japon’s own Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and BUSHI.

February 2—Wrestle Kingdom 17

-2022 Super Jr. Tag League winners Lio Rush and YOH cash-in on their opportunity to challenge United Empire duo TJP and Francesco Akira for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.

-Tama Tonga sets his sights on former Bullet Club brother WWE Superstar Karl Anderson, as Anderson walks through the Forbidden Door to defend his NEVER Openweight title.

-IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori steps into the ring for a fearsome 4Way showdown with Hiromu Takahashi, El Desperado, and Master Wato.

In addition to these programs, NJPW on AXS TV is presenting all-new episodes through February.  

AXS TV produces the English-language version of New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a joint venture with New Japan World and in association with TV ASAHI CORPORATION.

AEW Dark Preview 1/11/2023

AEW Dark on AEW’s official YouTube channel later tonight at 7:00 pm EST.

* ROH Women’s World Championship Match: Athena (c) vs. Marina Shafir
* Juice Robinson vs. Travis Williams
* Ruby Soho & Willow Nightingale vs. Emi Sakura and Diamante
* The Voros Twins vs. Big Bill & Lee Moriarty
* Ethan Page, Matt Hardy, & Isiah Kassidy vs. Judas Icarus, Sebastian Wolfe, & Caleb Teninty
* Teal Piper & Kel vs. Anna Jay A.S. & Tay Melo
* Steve Migs vs. Jake Hager

WWE NXT New Year’s Evil Preview 1/10/2023

The WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL will host the 2023 NXT New Year’s Evil episode, which will air live tonight on the USA Network.

New Year’s Evil will also include the reveal of a vignette that has been airing for weeks, as seen below. This vignette is thought to be for Tiffany Stratton’s return.

For tonight’s NXT special, WWE has announced the following lineup:

NXT Title Match
Grayson Waller vs. Bron Breakker (c)

20-Woman #1 Contender Battle Royal
Gigi Dolin, Jacy Jayne, Ivy Nile, Tatum Paxley, Sol Ruca, Cora Jade, Zoey Stark, Nikkita Lyons, Fallon Henley, Kiana James, Elektra Lopez, Wendy Choo, Ivy Nile, Thea Hail, Lyra Valkyria, Valentina Feroz, Lash Legend, Amari Miller, Jakara Jackson, Dani Palmer
Winner faces NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez at Vengeance Day.

Gauntlet Match
Pretty Deadly vs. 3 teams TBA
If they win, Pretty Deadly will earn a title shot at NXT Tag Team Champions The New Day.

Donovan Dijak vs. Tony D’Angelo
Winner will earn a shot at NXT North American Champion Wes Lee, who will be on commentary.

The Creed Brothers (Julius Creed, Brutus Creed) vs. Indus Sher (Veer Mahaan, Sanga)

Charlie Dempsey vs. Hank Walker

Chelsea Green Returning To WWE, Deal Signed ‘Quite Some Time’ Ago, Update On Matt Cardona And Kylie Rae

Many fans have speculated that Chelsea Green was returning to WWE after finishing up with Impact Wrestling late last year following reports that WWE was interested in bringing her back. 

Fightful Select has updates on the contract status of three wrestlers, including Green.

Per the report, Green has been under contract with WWE “for quite some time and is still awaiting creative.”

Another indication that Green was headed to WWE was her recently shutting down her Onlyfans page. Major Pod also had to limit the new Chelsea Green merchandise production due to her signing.

With multiple reports that Green was being brought back, there was speculation that her husband, Matt Cardona, could be on his way back to the company. WWE sources have indicated that “Cardona is not signed, but that we shouldn’t rule anything out for the future.”

Finally, Kylie Rae is reportedly still a free agent despite being brought in for a tryout and appearing on WWE Main Event, which led to speculation that she’d been signed.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

Johnny Gargano Out Of Action With Shoulder Injury

Johnny Gargano is out with an injury.

The self-proclaimed “Johnny Wrestling” took to Twitter to announce that he suffered a shoulder sprain during a recent WWE live event in Toronto, Canada.

On Monday night’s episode of RAW, the commentary team announced that Gargano is out with a Grade 2 AC sprain. Gargano wrote,

“I injured my shoulder at a live event in Toronto (ironic?), and the medical team is going to protect me from myself for a bit.. but you better believe I’m going to do EVERYTHING I can to get back in that ring so I can be that guy you all know I can be. Just let me in that Rumble!”

https://twitter.com/JohnnyGargano/status/1612632529772724227

Source: ewrestlingnews

WWE Plans To Sell The Company Before Starting New Television Deal Negotiations

On Friday morning, WWE confirmed that Vince McMahon, Michelle Wilson, and George Barrios were back on WWE’s Board of Directors.

McMahon made it clear that he would not approve any media rights deals or a sale of the company without him on the Board of Directors. WWE has hired JPMorgan to lead potential sale talks. 

During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that the company plans to sell before they get into new television deal talks. 

WWE’s TV deals with NBC Universal and FOX expire in September 2024, with talks about a new deal starting later this year. 

Source: ewrestlingnews

WWE RAW Preview 1/9/2023

Tonight’s WWE RAW at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL on the USA Network at 8/7C.

AEW Dark: Elevation Preview 1/9/2023

The latest episode of AEW’s latest weekly show, Dark: Elevation, is slated to air tonight at 7pm ET via the official AEW YouTube channel. 

* ROH World Championship: Claudio Castagnoli (c) vs. Josh Woods
* Bandido vs. Christopher Daniels
* Athena vs. Viva Van
* Spanish Announce Project vs. Best Friends & Danhausen
* The Bollywood Boyz vs. The Kingdom
* Marina Shafir & Nyla Rose vs. Amira & Danika Della Rouge
* Eddie Kingston & Ortiz vs. Ricky Gibson & Eddie Pearl
* Ari Daivari, Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth vs. The House of Black
* Brian Cage vs. Schaff
* Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Vinny Pacifico
* Matt Hardy & Isiah Kassidy in action

WrestleMania 39 Breaks All-Time WrestleMania Gate Record

WWE issued the following: 

WWE today announced that WrestleMania Goes Hollywood (WrestleMania 39), which will originate from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles across two nights, broke the company’s all-time gate record for any WrestleMania, despite having yet to announce a single match. The previous record announced was $17.3 million in 2016 at WrestleMania 32 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The record gate comes on the heels of unprecedented ticket sales demand for WWE in 2022, in which it produced the highest-grossing gates of all time for Royal Rumble, Survivor Series and WWE Extreme Rules. WWE Clash at the Castle in Cardiff, Wales, which marked WWE’s first major stadium show in the U.K. in 30 years, was the highest-grossing U.K. event in company history.

Additionally, WWE set in-market gate records for SmackDown and Raw events in more than 20 markets for the year, including the Dec. 30 SmackDown, which took place in Tampa, Fla., and heralded the return of  John Cena.

WrestleMania 39 streams live on Saturday, April 1, and Sunday, April 2, exclusively on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.

Full Card Announced For The Great Muta’s Final Bye-Bye Event

The full card for The Great Muta’s Final Bye-Bye event presented by the Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling NOAH has been announced.

Muta will wrestle in a six-man tag match and team up with AEW stars Sting & Darby Allin.

The event will take at the Yokohama Arena on Sunday, January 22, and air live on Abema TV. This will be Keiji Mutoh’s final match as The Great Muta. However, this is not going to be his final match as a pro wrestler. Mutoh’s actual final match will emanate from the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday, February 21.

-The Great Muta, Sting, and Darby Allin vs. Hakushi, AKIRA, and Naomichi Marufuji

-Kaito Kiyomiya, Hijo de Doctor Wagner Jr., Takashi Sugiura, and Satoshi Kojima vs. Kenoh, Katsuhiko Nakamjima, Masakatsu Funaki, and Manabu Soya

-AMAKUSA, Ultimo Dragon, and Ninja Mack vs. YO-HEY, Kzy, and Dante Leon

-GHC Martial Arts Rules match: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hideki Suzuki

-Jake Lee, Jack Morris, and Anthony Greene vs. Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba, and Yoshiki Inamura

-Yoshinari Ogawa, Eita, and NOSAWA Rongai vs. Junta Miyawaki, Alejandro, and Yasutaka Yano

-Timothy Thatcher vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

-Jungle Kyona and Saori Anno vs. Sumire Natsume and Maya Yukihi

-Atsushi Kotogi and Seiki Yoshioka vs. Hajime Ohara and Hi69