Motor City Machine Guns To Debut On WWE SmackDown Next Week

“Coming soon” has turned into “next week,” as the Machine City Motor Guns are slated to make their first WWE appearance on the upcoming October 18 episode of “WWE SmackDown.”

Nick Aldis was the first to break the news on WWE programming, informing Legado del Fantasma leader Santos Escobar that he was bringing in “a new tag team” next week, and that the team would be facing Escobar’s stablemates, Los Garzas. Shortly following the segment, a vignette featuring the bright lights of Detroit and the purr of motor engines filled fans’ screens. The letters “M-C-M-G” even briefly flashed at the end of the package, all but confirming the identities of Aldis’ expected new tag team arrival — and likely confirming that they will at least be using the same collective name.

Notably, Fightful Select reported earlier on Friday that Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were not slated to appear on the blue brand until the October 25 episode of “SmackDown,” though the report allowed that the debut date could be changed even as a result of the report itself. Fightful also claimed the Guns’ upcoming debut had nothing whatsoever to do with the situation surrounding The Lucha Brothers, whose WWE arrival has been delayed by AEW CEO Tony Khan invoking his contractual right to extend Rey Fenix’ deal due to injury.

Shelley and Sabin are no strangers to gold — the Motor City Machine Guns boast tag team title reigns across multiple promotions, including NJPW, Deadlock Pro Wrestling, IGWP, Ring of Honor, and most famously Impact/TNA. The Guns’ contracts with TNA expired in April 2024; by September 2024, reports of Shelley and Sabin’s deal with WWE hit the wrestling news cycle. The Guns were initially reported to be heading to “WWE NXT,” but will instead call the blue brand home.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW WrestleDream 10/12/2024 (Card)

AEW WrestleDream Pay-Per-View – Saturday, October 12, 2024 – Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington

CARD

AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:
Bryan Danielson (c) vs. Jon Moxley

AEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:
Mariah May (c) vs. Willow Nightingale

ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:
Mark Briscoe (c) vs. Chris Jericho

AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP:
Jack Perry (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata

AEW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP:
Will Ospreay (c) vs. Ricochet vs. Konosuke Takeshita

AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP:
The Young Bucks (c) vs. Private Party

OPEN CHALLENGE:
Darby Allin vs. Brody King

Hangman Page vs. Jay White

TWO OUT OF THREE FALLS:
Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos

Swerve Strickland returns

ZERO HOUR – ROH WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP:
Atlantis Jr. (c) vs. Brian Cage

(Zero Hour Pre-Show):
MxM Collection (Mason Madden & Mansoor) vs. The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens)

(Zero Hour Pre-Show):
Anna Jay vs. Harley Cameron

AEW Rampage Preview 10/11/2024

AEW Rampage tonight on TNT.

  • The Conglomeration (Orange Cassidy & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Undisputed Kingdom (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven)
  • Rocky Romero vs. Brian Keith
  • The Beast Mortos vs. The Butcher
  • Kris Statlander in action
  • Lance Archer in action

WWE SmackDown Preview 10/11/2024

WWE SmackDown will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.

  • Fallout from Bad Blood
  • WWE United States Championship: LA Knight (c) vs. Carmelo Hayes
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Bianca Belair and Jade Gargill (c) vs. NXT’s Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend
  • Roman Reigns will sound off following Bad Blood
  • There will probably be some more info on what happened after Bad Blood between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens

Update On Why Britt Baker Missed Wednesday’s Episode Of AEW Dynamite

Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. missed this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite due to an illness.

The former AEW Women’s Champion was originally set to compete in a Women’s Title Eliminator match against Willow Nightingale, but the match wound up being pulled at the last minute.

Taking to Twitter, the D.M.D. posted a video to announce that she went to urgent care and was given antibiotics, an IV, and a shot due to a case of strep throat.

Tony Khan announced during Wednesday’s media call to promote AEW WrestleDream 2024 that Baker attended the wedding of former AEW VP Megha Parekh prior to becoming ill.

Baker ended her video with the following message to her critics,

“To all the weirdos with your conspiracy theories, f**k off.”

Source: eWn

Backstage Update On AEW Star MJF Taking Time Off To Make Happy Gilmore 2

Former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman’s acting career was taken to new heights recently as he stepped away from All Elite Wrestling to be a part of the cast of “Happy Gilmore 2,” which is set to be released next year. However, that time away from wrestling seems to be ending soon, as Fightful Select is reporting that MJF has wrapped his scenes and is expected to return to AEW in the near future, though the exact date has yet to be determined. MJF was initially written off of TV at All Out after his victory over Daniel Garcia, who dropped MJF on his neck with a piledriver from the middle rope. Garcia supposedly lost the match as a result of his hesitancy to sign a new deal with AEW, but he has since made his return.

In addition to his role in “Happy Gilmore 2,” Fightful was also told MJF’s next movie has been confirmed, as he has secured a role in the upcoming film “Stranglehold.” The movie will be directed by Clark Duke who is best known for staring in the final season of “The Office,” while the likes of Justin Long, Ron Pearlman, and Jake Lacy, who also joined the cast of “The Office” at the same time as Duke. Friedman is the latest in a long line of wrestlers to make the jump to Hollywood, as he has landed some noteworthy roles in the past few years. He made his acting debut in 2023’s “The Iron Claw” playing Lance Von Erich in the film that documented the Von Erich family story before voicing Killer Croc in the direct-to-video animated film “Justice League X RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen, Part Two.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Injury Update On AJ Styles

AJ Styles returned on last week’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” to face Carmelo Hayes. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury that’s derailed the momentum he had. While some fans and reports claimed the health setback was a work, it was ultimately confirmed that Styles is hurt.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the referee stopped the match and that this angered the star. Interestingly, the report further noted that Styles was meant to begin a storyline about farewell tour and teasing his retirement. Despite his injury, the report also claimed that Styles’ retirement storyline is still planned to occur pending the results of an MRI he underwent to assess the severity of the injury.

WWE’s current deal with TNA Wrestling could also factor into Styles’ retirement tour, since he’ll be able to appear in the promotion that put him on everyone’s radar. Earlier this year, Styles commented on WWE and TNA’s partnership, noting that he had hopes that he’ll still have a final match in his old stomping grounds. The veteran also commented on the stars crossing between the two promotions, and expressed how he believes it has enriched the companies and the talent involved. 

Hopefully for Styles, he will heal up while the promotions still have their crossover deal, as a TNA appearance would be the cherry on top of his rumored retirement tour. However, for now, it remains to be seen what’s in store for “The Phenomenal One,” as he is currently focused on recovering from the setback.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

TNA Impact Preview 10/10/2024

TNA Wrestling will present a new episode of Impact tonight on AXS TV as the build continues for Bound for Glory.

  • X Division #1 Contenders Match: Jason Hotch vs. Leon Slater vs. Laredo Kid
  • Josh Alexander vs. Eric Young
  • The Hardys vs. ABC
  • Wendy Choo, Rosemary & Tasha Steelz vs. Masha Slamovich, Sol Ruca & Jordynne Grace
  • We’ll hear from Mike Santana
  • We’ll hear from Nic Nemeth

ROH TV Preview 10/10/2024

Ring of Honor will present a new episode of ROH TV on Honorclub tonight.

  • ROH Women’s World Television Championship Match: Red Velvet (c) vs. Diamante
  • ROH World Championship Proving Ground Match: Mark Briscoe(c) vs. Josh Woods
  • Shane Taylor & Lee Moriarty vs. The Infantry
  • Lance Archer vs. TBA
  • Billie Starkz vs. TBA

AEW’s Adam Copeland Assisting FEMA Workers In NC, Cash Wheeler Starts Crowdfund For Hurricane Relief In Hometown Near Asheville, NC

As the Gulf Coast prepares for Hurricane Milton, those in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee are still cleaning up after Hurricane Helene ravaged the area, hitting towns like Asheville, NC unprecedentedly hard. On the pre-WrestleDream media call, AEW President Tony Khan says that his booking and travel woes caused by the hurricane were put in stark perspective by a conversation with AEW star and WWE Hall of Famer Adam Copeland.

“I talked to [Adam Copeland]…and I was dealing with a bit of a scramble with those [booking] issues and Adam called me, backstage at ‘Collision’ and he was with the FEMA workers and he was with them and he was helping them and they were digging [dead] bodies out,” Khan said. “Here I am, six cups of coffee and pulling my hair out because people’s flights got canceled.”

Khan said the conversation inspired him to think a little clearer, as realizing how small his problems were in comparison was all he needed to inspire a little creative problem-solving.

Copeland’s own family lives in the area, and his wife, WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, updated fans on the condition of the family following the storm. The couple’s daughter suffered an infection in the days after the hurricane but were able to navigate the flooded streets to get her medical attention.

Khan has given generously to the town of Asheville, home of AEW’s Cash Wheeler. Wheeler has led relief efforts within the wrestling world, which has seen numerous wrestlers donate to the cause.

Wheeler’s GoFundMe for Hurricane Helene victims has raised over $70,000 as of this writing with 534 donors. Former AEW World Champion MJF donated $1,000 to the campaign and Tony Khan donated $10,000.

Source: Wrestling Inc.