Author: John Bass

Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Mickie James Announced For WWE’s Royal Rumble

Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Mickie James will compete in the upcoming 2022 WWE women’s Royal Rumble match.

Mickie James is about to walk through the forbidden door … and straight into the 2022 women’s Royal Rumble match.

During this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown Charlotte Flair revealed the names of several women who are set to compete in this year’s women’s Royal Rumble match — including Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James, who was released by WWE in April of last year.

But it gets weirder … on top of announcing that Mickie would be in the Rumble, Impact Wrestling was actually mentioned on air. At one point, SmackDown color commentator Pat McAfee referred to Mickie as “the Impact Knockouts Champion.”

Soon after, both WWE and Impact referenced one another in tweets announcing Mickie’s participation in the Rumble, while Impact’s EVP Scott D’Amore congratulated WWE for finally walking through the forbidden door.

The other participants announced for the women’s Royal Rumble match are as follows:

Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley, Nikki A.S.H., Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Shotzi, Natalya, Michelle McCool, Dana Brooke, Carmella, Queen Zelina Vega, Tamina Snuka, Kelly Kelly, Aliyah, Summer Rae, Naomi, Shayna Baszler, and Lita. The match will feature 30 competitors in total meaning there are still 11 more participants to be announced.

As you might recall, Mickie James was released by WWE back in April, allegedly due to budget cuts necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mickie James returned to Impact after a six-year absence during the company’s Slammiversary pay-per-view back in July. Her relationship with the company first began way back in 2002 when it was called TNA. She signed for WWE in 2003 but returned to Impact in 2010. The legend kicked off her fourth reign as Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion with a win over Deonna Purrazzo at Bound For Glory last October.

The 2022 Royal Rumble Premium Live Event will take place on Saturday, January 29, 2022, at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Source: TheSportster

Matt Striker Reportedly Done With Impact Wrestling

Matt Striker is reportedly done with Impact Wrestling.

In a now-deleted post, Striker tweeted that he was finished with the company and that he was disappointed that his run was over.

“I am disappointed that my time with #ImpactonAXSTV is done,” Striker wrote. “I REALLY enjoyed that locker room. Thanks for allowing me to tell your story. Thanks, everyone. Stay safe.”

PWInsider confirmed with Impact Wrestling sources that Striker is no longer with the company.

Since leaving WWE in 2013, Striker has worked commentary for various promotions, including Lucha Underground. He joined the Impact announce team in January of 2021 along with D’Lo Brown, replacing Josh Mathews and Madison Rayne. PWInsider noted that Brown will remain on the broadcast team.

It appears that Striker’s release from Impact was performance related, according to RingsideNews. Striker has a lot of experience as a wrestling commentator in several companies including WWE, AAA, and Lucha Underground. That experience wasn’t enough to please the folks in charge at Impact.

In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer talked about Matt Striker’s release from Impact Wrestling. The move has been in the work for months. The company will now have to scramble to find a replacement as the Hard to Kill pay-per-view is Saturday.

Source: Wrestling Inc. and RingsideNews

Impact Wrestling Hard To Kill 1/8/2022

DATE: January 8, 2022 8:00 pm
LOCATION: , The Factory in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas

CARD

3-WAY MATCH FOR THE IMPACT WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Moose (c) vs. Matt Cardona vs. W. Morrissey

TEXAS DEATHMATCH FOR THE IMPACT KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP
Mickie James (c) vs. Deonna Purrazzo

INAUGURAL KNOCKOUTS ULTIMATE X MATCH (WINNER BECOMES #1 CONTENDER TO THE KNOCKOUTS CHAMPIONSHIP)
Chelsea Green vs. Jordynne Grace vs. Lady Frost vs. Alisha Edwards vs. Rosemary vs. Tasha Steelz

10-MAN HARDCORE WAR MATCH
Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Willie Mack, Heath and Rhino vs. The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) and Violent By Design (Eric Young, Cody Deaner, and Joe Doering)

IMPACT KNOCKOUTS TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
The IInspiration (Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay) (c) vs. The Influence (Madison Rayne and Tenille Dashwood) (with Kaleb with a K)

ROH WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Chris Sabin

IMPACT X-DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP
Trey Miguel (c) vs. Steve Maclin ( If Maclin fails to win, he will no longer be able to challenge for the title as long as Miguel is champion.)

Josh Alexander vs. Jonah

PRE-SHOW (Countdown to Hard To Kill)
Chris Bey vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Ace Austin vs. Laredo Kid

AEW Battle Of The Belts Preview 1/8/22

AEW Battle of The Belts will air this Saturday on TNT at 8pm ET, live from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC. The local start time is 7pm ET, indicating that they may tape other matches before the show.

AEW only has two matches announced for the one-hour Battle of The Belts event as of this writing.

*  AEW Women’s World Championship: Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. (c) vs. Riho

*  AEW TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Sammy Guevara

AEW noted on Twitter last night that a change has been made to the Battle of The Belts card due to medical protocol. No other details were provided, but the match change will be announced during tonight’s taped Rampage episode on TNT.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night Three 1/8/2022

DATE: January 8, 2022 12:00 am
LOCATION: Yokohama Arena, Kanagawa, Japan
AVAILABLE ON: NJPW World

* Pre-show: Kosei Fujita vs. Yasutaka Yano

* Pre-show: Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima) and Yuji Nagata vs. Funky Express (King Tany, Muhammad Yone, Akitoshi Saito)

* NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champion Sho vs. Atsushi Kotoge

* The Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori, Gedo) vs. Stinger (Seiki Yoshioka, GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion & GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Hayata)

* Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Douki) vs. Yo-Hey and Nosawa Rongai

* Chaos (NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi), Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Daisuke Harada, Hajime Ohara, Daiki Inaba, Akitoshi Saito and Kinya Okada

* Suzuki-gun (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, IWGP Tag Team Champion Zack Sabre Jr.) vs. Yoshinari Ogawa and GHC Tag Team Champion Naomichi Marufuji

* House of Torture (NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champion Evil, Dick Togo) vs. Go Shiozaki and Masa Kitamiya

* IWGP Tag Team Champion Taichi, Minoru Suzuki and Taka Michinoku vs. Kazushi Sakuraba, Takashi Sugiura and TBA

* Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and GHC Tag Team Champion Keiji Mutoh

*Los Ingobernables de Japón (IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, Sanada, Hiromu Takahashi, Bushi) vs. Kongo (GHC Heavyweight Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima, GHC National Champion Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke, Aleja)

AEW Rampage Preview 1/7/22

The first AEW Rampage episode of 2022 will air tonight on TNT, taped earlier this week at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Tonight’s Rampage will also feature an announcement on a match change for Battle of The Belts, due to a medical issue.

* Adam Cole vs. Jake Atlas

* Hook vs. Aaron Solow

* Riho and Ruby Soho vs. Jamie Hayter and AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker

* Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia and 2point0 in a No DQ, No Rules, No Holds Barred match

WWE SmackDown Preview 1/7/22

The first WWE SmackDown on FOX of 2022 will take place tonight from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.

A Confrontation of Champions: WWE Champion Brock Lesnar comes face-to-face with Universal Champion Roman Reigns

It’s believed that the first blue brand participant for the WWE Royal Rumble will be revealed on tonight’s show. Austin Theory, The Street Profits and The Mysterios were confirmed for the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match on this week’s RAW.

Sami Zayn is due for a title shot against WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, and it’s possible that there will be an update on that feud tonight.

Tonight’s show will feature more fallout from WWE Day 1, and build for the Royal Rumble.

NJPW Returning To AXS TV With New Weekly Series

New Japan Pro-Wrestling returns to AXS TV later this month with a weekly one-hour series that will air on Thursday nights at 10 p.m.

The new deal with AXS TV’s owner, Anthem Sports & Entertainment, was announced during the broadcast of Night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on Tuesday. New Japan had a weekly series on AXS TV from 2015-2019.

The new agreement gives AXS TV the option to re-air those past broadcasts. AXS TV will begin airing select episodes from New Japan’s first run on the network beginning on January 20. That episode will feature the IWGP United States Championship match between Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho from Wrestle Kingdom 12. New episodes will begin airing on March 3.

The agreement also puts New Japan’s weekly series on Anthem’s Fight Network. The network is available in Canada, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

New Japan’s new timeslot on AXS TV provides it with Impact Wrestling as a lead-in. Impact’s flagship show airs Thursday nights from 8-10 p.m.

New Japan and Impact Wrestling have been working together and sharing talent over recent months. The working agreement has brought Jay White, Minoru Suzuki, Juice Robinson, David Finlay, El Phantasmo, and other New Japan stars onto Impact’s broadcasts.

Impact wrestlers including Moose and Josh Alexander have appeared on recent New Japan shows. And Impact’s Chris Bey landed a spot in Bullet Club last summer after accepting an invitation from Jay White.

“There is a great deal of support and synergy between the two companies, and we could not be more proud to have them back on AXS TV as they prepare to celebrate an incredible milestone in NJPW history,” Impact Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore said in a news release. “We are excited to continue to build on our growing relationship with NJPW, and look forward to seeing what new opportunities arise from this partnership in the future.”

https://twitter.com/njpwglobal/status/1478299030652583939

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW To Announce Battle Of The Belts Change Due To Medical Issue

AEW is scheduled to announce a change to the card for Saturday’s Battle of The Belts event.

AEW noted on Twitter last night that a change has been made to the Battle of The Belts card due to medical protocol. No other details were provided, but the match change will be announced during tonight’s taped Rampage episode on TNT.

AEW only has two matches announced for the one-hour Battle of The Belts event as of this writing – Riho vs. AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker, and Sammy Guevara vs. AEW TNT Champion Cody Rhodes.

Regarding the change, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that word from AEW says everyone is OK, but one match had to be changed due to a late medical issue, believed to be related to COVID-19, but not confirmed yet. Rhodes was reportedly not in Newark, NJ for Wednesday’s Dynamite TBS premiere, but there’s no word yet on if his Battle of The Belts match is being changed.

Rhodes did post a pro-vaccine message to his Instagram Stories on Thursday morning, writing, “Please get vaccinated – if not for yourself, for the young kids/babies who can’t defend themselves as easily from Covid”

AEW Battle of The Belts will air this Saturday on TNT at 8pm ET, live from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC. The local start time is 7pm ET, indicating that they may tape other matches before the show.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Samoa Joe Released By WWE

On Thursday, WWE released former NXT Champion Samoa Joe from his contract.

Following the news of his release, Samoa Joe issued a statement on social media that you can read below:

This is the second time WWE has released Samoa Joe over the past nine months. He was also let go from the company on Apr. 15 of last year, but WWE wound up bringing him back on a new deal. Samoa Joe returned to television as William Regal’s “Special Enforcer”.

He would go on to claim the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver 36. Joe defeated Karrion Kross that night. Kross was among the company’s round of cuts in early November. In WWE, Joe won the NXT Championship three times and the United States Championship on two occasions. In 2015, he and Finn Balor teamed up to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

WWE has released several NXT wrestlers and employees since Wednesday. This included the stunning release of NXT mainstay William Regal, Scott Armstrong and WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg. Wrestlers Hideki Suzuki, Timothy Thatcher, Danny Burch and Allison Danger were also released.

NXT talent contracts usually consist of 30-day non-compete clauses, and the clauses for main roster talents are traditionally for 90 days. It’s unclear how long Samoa Joe’s non-compete clause is for, but the well-respected wrestling legend shouldn’t have any problems finding a new home. Impact Wrestling could very well look to bring him back, and it obviously wouldn’t be a surprise if AEW made a play for the 42-year-old.

Various injuries unfortunately sidelined Samoa Joe for long periods of time in WWE after he joined the main roster in 2017. Still, Joe had high popularity among the fans and is an elite in-ring worker. Simply put, he should have had at least one world championship reign on the main roster, but WWE often failed to fully maximize his star power and potential. There’s little doubt that Samoa Joe will enjoy great success in his next stop.

Source: TheSportster