AEW Dynamite Preview 6/18/21

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite episode airs on TNT at 10/9c from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. This week’s show was preempted on Wednesday due to the NBA Playoffs.

* QT Marshall and Aaron Solow with Nick Comoroto vs. Cody Rhodes and Brock Anderson with Arn Anderson

* Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky vs. Darby Allin (Handicap Match)

* Penta El Zero Miedo, Eddie Kingston, and Frankie Kazarian with Alex Abrahantes vs. Matt Jackson and The Good Brothers with Don Callis

* Jim Ross sits down with Andrade El Idolo

* Orange Cassidy with Best Friends and Kris Statlander vs. Cezar Bononi with The Wingmen

* Wardlow vs. Jake Hager (MMA Rules Cage Fight)

* Julia Hart with Varsity Blonds vs. Penelope Ford

WWE SmackDown Preview 6/18/21 – Reigns vs. Mysterio (Hell In A Cell Match)

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will be the Hell In a Cell go-home edition of the show.

WWE Hell In A Cell 6/20/2021

DATE: June 20, 2021 7:00 pm
LOCATION: WWE ThunderDome, Tampa, Florida
AVAILABLE ON:Peacock, WWE Network (outside of the U.S.) and on traditional pay-per-view

CARD

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP (HELL IN A CELL)
Bobby Lashley (c) with MVP vs. Drew McIntyre
If McIntyre loses, he can’t challenge Lashley for the title again.

WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP (HELL IN A CELL)
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley

WWE RAW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte

Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins

Shayna Baszler vs. Alexa Bliss

Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayne

Cody Rhodes Announces Birth Of His And Brandi’s Daughter

Just days after AEW’s Jon Moxley and Renee Paquette became parents, fellow AEW stars Cody and Brandi Rhodes have followed suit. The two time AEW TNT Champion announced on Instagram that he and Brandi’s daughter, Liberty Iris Runnels, was born this morning.

“6 lbs, 12 OZ’s. Liberty Iris Runnels,” Rhodes said. “Mother & Daughter are doing wonderful.”

Cody and Brandi announced Brandi’s pregnancy on the December 16, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite; they would similarly reveal the gender of the baby on Dynamite in February. In an appearance on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette that same month, Brandi noted it had been a difficult pregnancy for her due to a condition called PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome).

Brandi has not appeared on AEW programming since judging a walk off between Peter Avalon and Lee Johnson on AEW Dark. She has been at AEW tapings however, appearing regularly on Sammy Guevara’s vlog during her pregnancy, and having a baby shower with the AEW Women’s roster during Double or Nothing weekend.

Cody meanwhile has kept busy in ring, feuding with QT Marshall’s Factory stable and defeating Anthony Ogogo at Double or Nothing. He is scheduled to face Marshall on the July 7 episode of Dynamite in a Miami Strap Match. Thus far, the bout is the only scheduled match for AEW’s first show outside of Jacksonville since March of 2020.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Impact Wrestling Preview 6/17/21

Tonight on Impact on AXS TV:

  • Fallout from last Saturday’s Against All Odds
  • Tenille Dashwood vs. Rachael Ellering
  • Steve Maclin (Former WWE Superstar Steve Cutler) is scheduled to make his IMPACT Wrestling debut 
  • Satoshi Kojima vs. Rhino. If Kojima wins, he and Eddie Edwards earn a future opportunity for the IMPACT World Tag Team Titles currently held by  Rhino and Joe Doering
  • We will find out what the firing of Sami Callihan means for the Slammiversary PPV main event, as Sami was fired by Don Callis at the close of last Saturday’s Against All Odds as it went off the air.

Stephanie McMahon Promises Surprises For SummerSlam

SummerSlam 2021 is just a few months away, and WWE’s Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon is guaranteeing that there will be some big surprises at the event, which goes down on August 21, 2021, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Stephanie was being interviewed by Yahoo Finance when she was asked when she’ll be getting back in the ring again.

“Ever since Ronda Rousey broke my arm, I have a little PTSD. I’m not sure you’re going to see me in the ring anytime soon,” Stephanie said. “But I guarantee for SummerSlam, there is going to be a lot of surprises,” she added.

In the same interview, Stephanie addressed the recent WWE layoffs, the challenges the company faced during the pandemic, and its touring preparations.

“Like a lot of media companies, we’re in the process of transition and evolution,” she clarified. “When you consider the fact that we had three different media teams doing the same work, we realized there was a lot of duplication and Inefficiency. It’s being more prudent business people and looking at our business in a different way.”

“The live event is where our event really comes to life,” Stephanie said. “When you think about WWE superstars, they are akin to superheroes, except they’re real, genuine, authentic, you can come see them in person.”

SummerSlam will be WWE’s first major pay-per-view to take place in front of a capacity crowd since 2019’s Royal Rumble. It will be the second WWE pay-per-view on WWE’s 25-city tour, which will run from July 16 to Labor Day. The first one, Money in the Bank, will take place on July 18 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Last year’s SummerSlam event was held at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. It was the first WWE pay-per-view to feature the ThunderDome concept.

Source: The Sportster

WWE NXT Preview 6/15/21

Tonight’s WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will feature fallout from Sunday’s “Takeover: In Your House” event.

* Tornado Rules: Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans

* NXT Cruiserweight Champion Kushida defends in an Open Challenge

* What change is General Manager William Regal looking to bring to NXT?

* Fallout from “Takeover: In Your House”

Renee Paquette Announces The Birth Of Her And Jon Moxley’s First Child

Renee Paquette has revealed she has given birth. Congratulations to her and Jon Moxley on the arrival of their first child.

Shortly after Renee Paquette, better known to many fans as Renee Young, parted ways with WWE, she announced that she was pregnant. Paquette is married to former AEW Champion Jon Moxley and this marks the first child the two of them have had together. In fact, the arrival of the little girl will be both Paquette and Moxley’s first child, together or otherwise.

Paquette has launched her own podcast since leaving WWE named Oral Sessions. In recent weeks, Paquette has shared just how pregnant she is right now, hoping that the baby will come any day now. She even posted evidence on Instagram recently. Well, Paquette wasn’t wrong, as she and Moxley are now officially parents.

Paquette took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to reveal that her daughter has finally arrived. “Baby girl is officially here, so I’m checking out and becoming a mom,” the former announcer tweeted. Paquette added “she’s absolutely incredible” implying all went well with the birth and that the new addition is doing okay. Interestingly, despite previously claiming to have revealed her daughter’s name on the podcast, Paquette refers to her as baby girl, implying she and Moxley are yet to decide on a name.

Other than to let the world know Baby Paquette/Moxley is here, Renee also wanted to let fans know what will be happening to Oral Sessions in the immediate future. Knowing that she would be missing a period of time while she looks after her new arrival, Paquette reveals that she has pre-recorded a bunch of shows with guest hosts. The first is Moxley whose Ask Mox episode is available right now.

Source: The Sportster

WWE RAW Preview 6/14/21

Tonight’s WWE RAW on the USA Network will feature the final build for next Sunday’s Hell In a Cell pay-per-view.

* The final RAW build for Hell In a Cell

* Fallout from last week’s angle with Alexa

* Eva Marie returns to kick off her “Eva-Lution”

* RK-Bro (Randy Orton, Riddle) vs. The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods)

* RAW Tag Team Champion AJ Styles vs. Drew McIntyre

Samoa Joe Reportedly Returning To WWE NXT For Non-Wrestling Role

Samoa Joe is reportedly back with WWE after being released back in mid-April due to budget cuts.

It was reported last week that NXT officials wanted to bring Joe back to work as an in-ring talent, and that he was briefly at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando earlier in the week. Now PWInsider reports that Joe is coming back to work exclusively with the NXT brand.

Joe’s return to the company comes after Triple H reportedly “snatched him back” as soon as possible. A source noted that Triple H was not happy with Joe being let go, and wanted him back in NXT instead of going to work elsewhere, away from WWE. Triple H was the point person responsible for signing Joe back in 2015, and at one point gave him a unique contract where he was able to continue working indie dates.

Joe was not backstage at “Takeover: In Your House” on Sunday, and there’s no word on when he will officially make his return. Joe has not wrestled since February 2020 due to concussion issues, and was working as a RAW commentator at the time of his release. It was noted that when he was at the WWE Performance Center in recent weeks, he was not taking any bumps.

Regarding Joe’s in-ring future, it’s believed that while he could wrestle at some point, that is not the goal with this upcoming return as they want Joe to focus more on non-wrestling duties. It’s possible that Joe’s return is related to NXT General Manager William Regal teasing change for the NXT brand at the end of Takeover last night. WWE is promising that there will be a follow-up to Regal’s teaser on Tuesday’s NXT episode.

Dave Meltzer noted on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Joe has been given “a Regal-like role” with NXT, and that Joe is the favorite to replace Regal, if the pro wrestling legend really is stepping down from the General Manager role. It was speculated by PWInsider that we could see Joe be the new General Manager, or some sort of enforcer for Regal.

Regal has been the NXT General Manager since July 2014, and has also worked as a trainer behind-the-scenes, and as WWE’s Director of Talent Development & Head of Global Recruiting. Joe worked the NXT brand from May 2015 until January 2017, and is a two-time NXT Champion.

Source: Wrestling Inc.