NJPW Video Teases Reunion With AEW’s Kenny Omega At WrestleDynasty Crossover Show

Kenny Omega has faced some of the best wrestlers in NJPW history, and the promotion was where he firmly established himself as a major name in the business. On AEW television, Omega hasn’t been seen since May, when he was written off after an attack by former allies The Elite, but it seems like “The Best Bout Machine” is returning to the public eye.

The official NJPW X account recently shared a brief clip where Hiroshi Tanahashi looked back at his last match with Omega, and teased an upcoming reunion. “We wrestled in the main event in the Tokyo Dome in 2019. That match and what came out of it? It was a unique situation, so I think everyone’s curious as to how we’ve been. I’ve got a lot of mixed emotions, but I’m curious too. Excited to see him,” Tanahashi said. The two men then met in a room, and greeted one another, with the post’s hashtags teasing that their “reunion” is somehow tied to the multi-promotion Wrestle Dynasty pay-per-view, which will take place on January 5, 2025.

The most recent update on Omega’s health was one month ago, in August. The star has been suffering from diverticulitis for quite some time, and had surgery recently. His good friend and AEW star, Michael Nakazawa, claimed that “The Cleaner” had 25 centimeters removed of his colon, and had lost abdominal strength as a result, making basic tasks difficult for him. However, Nakazawa added that Omega had steadily been recovering, and that he’d been training at the time. Considering that he’s seemingly planning to appear at Wrestle Dynasty in January, it appears like his recovery has gone quicker than many anticipated.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Grand Slam Preview 9/25/2024

AEW Dynamite Grand Slam will air live tonight on TBS from Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City.

  • AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness (non-title match and if Danielson is cleared to wrestle)
  • Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin for Darby’s AEW World Championship opportunity
  • Prince Nana to provide an update on Swerve Strickland
  • AEW Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (Matthew and Nicholas Jackson) (c) vs. International Champion Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher
  • FTW Championship Match: Hook (c) vs. Roderick Strong
  • AEW Women’s World Championship: Mariah May (c) vs. Yuka Sakazaki

Nikki Garcia’s Husband Artem Chigvintsev Won’t Be Charged With Domestic Violence

Artem Chigvintsev will not be charged following his arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence.

On Tuesday, Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley announced that her office has declined to file criminal charges after reviewing the investigation and evaluating all of the evidence.

Haley says her office feels it doesn’t have the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Artem committed a crime. With that being said, criminal charges could be filed in the future if new facts or evidence come to light.

Artem was arrested for felony domestic violence on August 29th. He was released on a $25,000 bond later that day.

Garcia has since filed for divorce and has hired a divorce attorney. She is currently living with their 4-year-old son, Matteo, in the family’s Napa Valley home. Chigvintsev is reportedly still living with a friend.

You can check out the official statement from the District Attorney’s Office below:

Napa County DA Declines to File Criminal Charges Against Artem Chigvintsev
Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley announced today that her office has declined to file criminal charges against Artem Chigvintsev, age 42, in connection with his arrest on suspicion of felony domestic violence. The decision to not file charges against Mr. Chigvintsev was made after a thorough review of the criminal investigation and careful evaluation of the evidence presented to the DA’s Office.

“While we take every arrest seriously and stand firmly against domestic violence, we have an ethical obligation to only file charges when supported by the evidence,” Napa County District Attorney Allison Haley said. “We are required to prove any and every criminal charge ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ which is the highest standard in the American criminal justice system. If the available evidence doesn’t rise to this level of proof, then we cannot ethically file charges.”

Domestic violence can either be filed as a felony or a misdemeanor and has a statute of limitations of three years or one year, respectively. At any time within the statute of limitations, the Napa County District Attorney’s Office may revisit the case if it learns of other incidents, or otherwise learns of facts or evidence not previously known.

The Napa County District Attorney’s Victim Services Division works closely with victims of domestic violence and other crimes and links them to available resources whether charges are filed or not DA Haley said.

The Napa County District Attorney’s Office does not typically issue press releases when it declines to file charges against any given individual; however, did so for this case due to the intense media interest it has received since Mr. Chigvintsev’s arrest.

The Napa County District Attorney’s Office will not be releasing any further information about this case, including the identity of the alleged victim, and any questions pertaining to this case may be directed to Public Affairs and Media Officer Carlos Villatoro.

Source: eWn

Stephanie Vaquer Makes WWE NXT Debut

Stephanie Vaquer made her on-screen debut during this week’s episode of WWE NXT.

In the main event segment on this week’s edition of NXT, Roxanne Perez and Giulia were involved in a “press conference” prior to their Women’s Title match on next week’s debut on The CW Network.

As the two women took shots at each other, Vaquer appeared on the big screen from Chile to interrupt Giulia. She revealed that she’ll be waiting for the winner of next week’s match.

Source: eWn

Report: Vince McMahon Attempted To Purchase Upcoming Series From Netflix

Netflix’s “Mr. McMahon” docuseries will become available to watch tomorrow, but according to a new report from Puck, the former WWE CEO attempted to stop its release in the most Vince McMahon way possible. After seeing some early footage from the series, McMahon allegedly reached out to Netflix to attempt to buy back the rights to the show. His attempt was unsuccessful, and Netflix declined to comment in the report. 

McMahon released a statement on the impending documentary, calling it a “deceptive narrative” and claiming that the series conflates his wrestling persona with his real personality. However, McMahon began his statement by saying he did not regret his involvement with the docuseries.

When it was first conceived, the project had the official involvement of both WWE and McMahon. However, things took a turn when McMahon was forced to step down from his role with the company in 2022 after allegations of sexual misconduct and trafficking first became public. Though it’s been awhile since there were any public updates, McMahon is under scrutiny from federal officials, and a civil lawsuit regarding those allegations is currently on hold pending that investigation.

Earlier this week, a report detailed initial reactions to “Mr. McMahon” from people backstage in WWE, with Dave Meltzer stating that there were some McMahon supporters in the company who were not happy. The timing of the documentary’s release is notable, as WWE and Netflix are set to enter a long-term partnership at the beginning of 2025 that will see “WWE Raw” stream live on the platform.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 9/24/2024

Tonight’s WWE NXT will be the last episode on the USA Network before moving next week to The CW Network.

Tonight’s show will feature a press conference on the upcoming debut for NXT on The CW Network scheduled for next week in Chicago.

  • NXT North American Women’s Championship: Kelani Jordan (c) vs. Wren Sinclair
  • Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows vs. Hank Walker & Tank Ledger
  • Wendy Choo & Rosemary vs. Karmen Petrovic & Brinley Reece
  • Ridge Holland vs. Riley Osborne
  • Oro Mensah vs. Lexis King
  • Grayson Waller Effect featuring WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Axiom and Nathan Frazer
  • NXT on CW Press Conference

Backstage Update On WWE Status Of Recent Signing & Potential Bloodline Member Hikuleo

The Bloodline has had three new additions this year following the arrival of Tama Tonga, Tango Loa, and Jacob Fatu. The group could be poised for another new arrival to the faction with the rumored signing of Hikuleo.

But, a report by “PWInsiderElite” has revealed that the former NJPW star will first be a part of “WWE NXT” as he has been added to its internal roster. Hikuleo is seemingly following in the footsteps of Solo Sikoa, who also first featured in “NXT” and then was moved to the main roster, in contrast to Tonga, Loa, and Fatu, who debuted directly on the main roster.

There are no further details about Hikuleo’s WWE character, but the promotion may have a few ring names lined up for him if they don’t use the Hikuleo name as the recently trademarked two names — Talla Tonga and Casesar Sikoa.

The son of the legendary Haku and the brother of the aforementioned Tama Tonga and Tango Loa, Hikuleo began his pro wrestling career in NJPW, where he was a part of the Bullet Club alongside Tonga and Loa. Reports had confirmed that the former Strong Openweight Champion had signed with WWE in July, after his eight-year run with the Japanese promotion came to an end. Hikuleo was reportedly lined up for a move to WWE a year ago, but the promotion had put in place a hiring freeze which resulted in him staying with NJPW.

Aside from wrestling in NJPW, Hikuleo has also wrestled in AEW as well as Impact Wrestling in 2021 and 2022.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Mysterious Runic Graphic On WWE Raw Suggests Potential Return Of Injured Tag Team

A cryptic video on Monday’s episode of “WWE Raw” may be alluding to the return of a popular tag team that has been on the shelf for quite some time.

During the broadcast, a video vignette was shown of a burning circle, similar to a shield, with runes burning inside. The only audio in the promo outside of the crackling flames was a man’s voice saying, “Fate is woven.” Social media users translated the runes from the oldest form of the runic alphabet into “WAR,” leading many fans to believe the video was a teaser for the return of Erik and Ivar, the Viking Raiders.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1838397500165701761

It was revealed back in May that Ivar’s future in wrestling was uncertain. He had been working on “WWE NXT” before being written off TV for the injury, to the confusion of many of the legitimacy of the injury. Ivar clarified on social media at the time he was indeed injured, and that is was “very serious,” but he had not had surgery at that point in time. However, it was revealed by Andrews Sports Medicine on X (formerly Twitter) that Ivar had undergone surgery on his spine in May. Erik underwent neck fusion surgery, prior to his partner’s injury, in September 2023. The pair’s last match together came on an episode of “WWE Main Event” that year. A timetable was not provided for either of the Viking Raiders’ injuries.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE Raw Preview 9/23/2024

WWE Raw airs live tonight on the USA Network from the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

  • WWE Intercontinental Championship: Bron Breakker (c) vs. Jey Uso
  • Sami Zayn vs Ludwig Kaiser
  • We will hear from Drew McIntyre

AEW Media Deal With WBD Reportedly In Final Stages, Will Include PPV Streaming On Max

It seems like it’s only a matter of time before AEW announces a new media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. Earlier this week, Puck reported that a four-year deal — three guaranteed and one optional — worth around $170 million had been agreed to, with AEW programming remaining on TNT and TBS and additionally airing on TruTV. Andrew Zarian touched on that report during his “Mat Men Podcast” on Saturday, confirming that the deal is done with just a few things left to be finalized. Zarian also said AEW pay-per-views will finally make its way to the Max streaming platform in January, though he noted that they can still be accessed on other selected platforms.

Additionally, Zarian noted that he hadn’t personally heard about TruTV as part of the package, but he speculated TruTV could be used to air replays of “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Collision.” Meanwhile, it seems “AEW Rampage” will not be airing on TNT or TBS, implying it will either be canceled or itself aired on TruTV, possibly paired with “AEW Shockwave,” whatever that turns out to be (Zarian would only say it was another hour of weekly programming). Fox has been reportedly linked to “Shockwave,” though Zarian noted that network executives could be referring to any Fox network as “Fox” just as they refer to both TBS and TNT, for example, as “Turner.” 

Zarian also said WWE isn’t expecting Fox to use AEW as a replacement for “WWE SmackDown” after its move to USA Network, but that Fox’s sales team is reportedly confident that wrestling was something they could sell. Fox was the only network Zarian had personally heard to be in talks with AEW. As for when the actual deal would be announced, Zarian said he’d heard it will be announced next week, but he’s also heard the same thing for weeks now.

Source: Wrestling Inc.