Author: John Bass

Nick Aldis Re-Signs With NWA, NWA Powerrr Returning To YouTube

Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis revealed on Busted Open that he has re-signed with the promotion. Aldis has been with the company since 2017, and during a recent interview with Wrestling Inc., he discussed what he enjoys about the promotion.

“One of the things I’ve enjoyed in my time with the NWA was the ability to breathe new life into things which have a tremendous amount of history and tradition attached to them, but haven’t always been celebrated in that respect,” Aldis told us. “They were always things people talked about in the past tense.”

NWA President William Corgan also announced today the addition of two more pay-per-views, bringing the 2022 schedule up to six events. The company will be including all PPV events in a brand new annual “All Access” plan, which launches today. A new Saturday morning show, NWA USA, will air free on YouTube before becoming available as replays via the NWA “All Access” plan on FITE. The NWA USA season starts this Saturday, January 8th and will revive the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship as an extended tournament and a title.

“With the NWA coming off our biggest and most successful year of this modern era, I can’t express just how thrilled I am to make this newest offering to fans via NWA All Access,” NWA President William Corgan said. “And to that, we will work that much more to exceed expectations. Which is what makes the inherent savings in this annual package so exciting. Because we as an organization really believe this new model will change the game for us; all whilst rewarding our most loyal and ardent fans with more shows and more PPV events.”

The “All Access” Pass–Annual Plan will cost $49.99 and will get fans all six of NWA’s live and scheduled PPV events for 2022. All Access Pass holders, whether monthly or annual, will continue to watch NWA POWERRR first, each Tuesday at 6:05 ET. Exclusive specials such as the docu-series Ten Pounds of Gold will be available only with “All Access” plans.

NWA and FITE have also partnered to put NWA POWERRR shows on YouTube free on Friday nights at 6:05 PM ET. NWA USA will debut on YouTube on Saturday mornings at 12:05 AM ET, before moving to FITE for NWA “All Access” members on Sunday nights.

“Most wrestlers and wrestling fans grew up watching Saturday morning matches with classic promotions like NWA,” said Nick Aldis. “We wanted to bring back that joyful state of being and indoctrinate impressionable young minds into the National Wrestling Alliance.”
We guarantee that this fresh and exciting addition to the brand’s quickly growing slate of programming will be can’t miss.

You can get more details and subscribe at FITE TV by clicking here.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Preview 1/5/22, Young Bucks And Brandon Cutler Covid-19 Situation

The first AEW Dynamite of 2022 will take place tonight from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. This will also be the TBS premiere for the show.

* Malakai Black vs. Brian Pillman Jr.

* MJF will be in action

* Jade Cargill vs. Ruby Soho to crown the first-ever AEW TBS Champion

* AEW World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros defend against Jurassic Express

* AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page defends against Bryan Danielson

Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks revealed via Twitter that he has tested positive for COVID-19. Jackson’s stablemate Brandon Cutler is also dealing with the virus.

According to Bryan Alvarez of The Wrestling Observer, both Jackson and Cutler got the virus and since Nick Jackson was in close proximity with them less than 18 hours ago, he was deemed a close contact. Therefore, all three men will be missing tonight’s AEW Dynamite premiere on TBS, and won’t be back on TV until they are cleared.

All three wrestlers are believed to be at home in California and didn’t travel to Newark, NJ, for tonight’s show. The report added that it’s unknown when their positive tests came in, but it was not Tuesday.

Freddie Prinze Jr. Says WWE Offered To Sell “The Whole Product” To FOX

On this week’s Wrestling with Freddie podcast, Freddie Prinze Jr. was joined by Macaulay Culkin, as they delved into the world of WWE.

Culkin stated that he believes that WWE has lost focus of their product, as they are preparing to sell the company with current restructurings going on within. Freddie Prinze Jr. was quick to respond to reveal that WWE had previously offered to sell to FOX.

“I haven’t said this before, but I’ll say it now because it has been long enough,” Prinze Jr. began. “I was talking to a dude who was interviewing to be their COO, or they wanted to interview. They ended up going with Nick Khan, he had passed but he wanted to talk to me about the company. So we were just talking about the brand and all this, and he goes ‘yeah, they wanted us to buy the whole product.’ He’s an exec at FOX. He goes ‘they wanted us to buy the whole brand but the number they wanted wasn’t a number we were going to pay, so we licensed SmackDown instead.’”

Freddie Prinze Jr. and Macaulay Culkin highlighted particular flaws they felt WWE currently had. This included the revamping of the NXT brand. Prinze Jr. believes the brand went from “the most watchable brand in the whole company, to the most unwatchable in the space of a week.”

The pair were also critical about the way WWE handled Karrion Kross’ call up to the main roster by altering his character with a new look. Prinze Jr. said he felt bad for the former NXT Champion.

“When he came out [On RAW], in like the porno dungeon mask, and the red suspenders, I literally felt bad for the guy. I didn’t even know him. I reached out to a wrestler that I do know, who I happened to know was on the road with him, and I was ‘Yo man, give that dude a hug for me!’” Prinze Jr. said.

Source: Wrestling Inc. credit to Wrestling with Freddie podcast

Booker T Comments On His Impending Return To In-Ring Action

It was confirmed this week that Booker T will be returning to the ring for his Reality Of Wrestling promotion. During his latest Hall Of Fame podcast, Booker himself discussed the situation, likening his current role when he returns to the ring as that of a player-coach.

“Player-coach baby. I’ll coach it from the outside and, hey, I’m putting myself in the game. Go in and score 30,” he added. “That’s what it’s all about. It’s about letting these young guys get a ‘rub.’ Get a rub and let them see exactly what it takes from an inside perspective.”

Booker T will be teaming with Gaspar Hernandez  and the match will be taking place on January 22 in Canton, Texas. He believes it is all about on-the-job training and also spoke about the future of his tag team partner.

“I mean, on-the-job training, baby,” Booker T said about the situation. “It’s about learning this thing the proper way. A straight line is the direction that Gaspar Hernandez is going. Do you feel me?”

Booker T is taking his return to wrestling seriously. He has not been in the ring since February of 2020, where he competed for Reality Of Wrestling as well. However, the Hall Of Famer has been getting ready to get back, by spending time inside of the gym in order to get ready.

“I just finished working out in the gym. I am getting prepared, I am getting ready,” the Hall Of Famer claimed. “To go out there and do something special, the first time that it has never been done. Player-coach, Booker T, Gaspar Hernandez, Canton, Texas. It’s going to be good.”

Source: Wrestling Inc. credit to Hall Of Fame podcast

Rick Steiner Appears With Bron Breakker After WWE NXT New Year’s Evil

The legendary Rick Steiner watched from ringside as his son Bron Breakker defeated Tommaso Ciampa for the WWE NXT Title in the main event of last night’s NXT New Year’s Evil event.

As seen in the photos and videos below, Steiner cheered his son on throughout the match, and then joined him in the ring for the post-match celebration after NXT went off the air.

Steiner was also greeted by Ciampa after the match. While Steiner was still in the crowd, Ciampa went over and shared a moment of respect with the former World Tag Team Champion, former WCW World Television Champion and former WCW United States Champion.

Breakker had noted in previous interviews that his father was supposed to be in the crowd for his first title match against Ciampa, back at Halloween Havoc in October, but he wasn’t there. There was no sign of Breakker’s legendary uncle, Scott Steiner, at tonight’s show.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

For full results from last night’s WWE NXT New Year’s Evil click HERE – Wrestling INC

Tony Khan Says “Dream Signing” Coming To AEW Soon

AEW President, CEO, General Manager & Head Of Creative Tony Khan says a “dream signing” is coming soon to AEW.

Khan spoke to Josh Martinez of Z100 in New York City this week and was asked if there are any dream signings coming to AEW, and if so, if they are a North American talent.

“There is,” Tony Khan responded. “They are in North America, and they’re coming. And pretty soon, and it’s going to be awesome. I’m very excited.”

There’s no word on who the big talent acquisition might be, but rumored potential signings include Windham Rotunda (fka Bray Wyatt) and Johnny Gargano, but there’s no word on if AEW has been in recent talks with these wrestlers.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night Two Results 1/5/2022

IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Flying Tiger (Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask) (c) defeated Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo) vs. The Mega Coaches (Ryusuke Taguchi & Rocky Romero)

Tam Nakano & Saya Kamitani defeated Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid

PROVISIONAL KOPW 2022 TROPHY
Minoru Suzuki defeated Chase Owens, Cima, and Toru Yano

NEVER OPENWEIGHT 6-MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
House of Torture (Evil, Yujiro Takahashi & Sho) (c) (w/ Dick Togo) defeated Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi & Yoh)

Sanada defeated Great-O-Khan

Tetsuya Naito defeated Jeff Cobb

NO DQ MATCH FOR THE IWGP UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated KENTA (New IWGP United States Champion)

IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Kazuchika Okada (c) defeated Will Ospreay

Pro-Wrestling NOAH made its presence felt during New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s flagship event. Members of the NOAH roster briefly occupied the ring during Night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on Wednesday.

A large contingent of NOAH wrestlers was led to the ring by Keiji Mutoh. Speaking during the English language broadcast on New Japan World, Chris Charlton said it was Muto’s first time in Tokyo Dome since Wrestle Kingdom 8.

Keiji Mutoh is a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion from his years in New Japan. Early last year, Mutoh signed a contract with Pro-Wrestling NOAH, where he won the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Mutoh is currently one-half of the GHC Tag Team Champions alongside Naomichi Marufuji.

Kaito Kiyomiya and Kenoh took the microphone and addressed the crowd at the Tokyo Dome. They were eventually confronted by New Japan’s Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, and BUSHI. The trio exchanged words with the NOAH wrestlers inside the ring but left without any physical interaction.

Keiji Mutoh took a picture while the NOAH wrestlers were in the ring. He later posted it on Twitter, along with words explaining that NOAH had occupied the ring at New Japan’s biggest event of the year.

Members of the Pro-Wrestling NOAH and New Japan Pro-Wrestling rosters are preparing to meet in matches on Night 3 of Wrestle Kingdom 16. That card will be held at Yokohama Arena on Saturday.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night Two 1/5/2022

DATE: January 5, 2022 12:00 am
LOCATION: Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
AVAILABLE ON:NJPW World

CARD

– IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Tiger Mask & Robbie Eagles (c) vs. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori

– Starlight Kid & Mayu Iwatani vs. Saya Kamitani & Tam Nakano

– KOPW 2022 Four Way

– NEVER Six-Man Tag Team Championship: SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL (c) vs. YOH, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto

– SANADA vs. Great-O-Khan

– Tetsuya Naito vs. Jeff Cobb

– IWGP US Heavyweight Championship: KENTA (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi in a No DQ Match

– IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Will Ospreay

WWE NXT ‘New Year’s Evil’ Preview 1/4/22

NXT Title Match
Bron Breakker vs. Tommaso Ciampa (c)

Triple Threat for the NXT Women’s Title
Cora Jade vs. Raquel Gonzalez vs. Mandy Rose (c)

Title vs. Title Unification Match: NXT North American Cruiserweight Championship
NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong vs. NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes

AJ Styles appears live to confront Grayson Waller

Imperium (WALTER, NXT Tag Team Champions Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) vs. RAW Tag Team Champion Riddle and MSK (Wes Lee, Nash Carter)

Alexa Bliss Returning To WWE RAW Soon

Alexa Bliss is set to return to WWE RAW soon.

WWE announced this week that we will begin to see Bliss’ journey back to RAW next Monday night. It sounds like a series of vignettes will be released, leading up to Bliss making her return to the storylines.

Bliss has been away from WWE since losing to then-RAW Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on September 26. It was reported after the pay-per-view that Bliss would be taking “a few months” off due to sinus surgery. She noted on Twitter in late November that she needed “time to heal” when a fan asked about her return.

There’s been speculation on Bliss possibly returning with a new gimmick, or her old character. She was wrapping up the Lilly storyline the last time we saw her. There’s also speculation on Bliss possibly making her return in the 30-Woman Royal Rumble Match later this month.

Source: Wrestling Inc.