AEW Dynamite Preview 4/17/2024

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS from the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.

  • Claudio Castagnoli vs. Will Ospreay
  • Mixed Tag Team Match: Adam Copeland and Willow Nightingale vs. House of Black’s Julia Hart and Brody King
  • Trios Match: The Elite vs. PAC, Daniel Garcia and Penta El Zero Miedo
  • Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mariah May
  • Jon Moxley returns as the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion
  • Taz to broker meeting between Chris Jericho and Hook
  • We will hear from Samoa Joe
  • We will hear from Swerve Strickland
  • We will hear from Mercedes Mone’

Motor City Machine Guns Reportedly Finalizing Deal With AEW

Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin are reportedly in the process of finalizing deals that will bring the Motor City Machine Guns to AEW, as reported by Cassidy Haynes of BodySlam.net.

According to Haynes, a contract is not expected to be completed imminently but “the decision has been made and a deal will be worked out.”

The news comes after Shelley filed to trademark the terms “Motor City Machine Guns” and “MCMG” for wrestling purposes on 3/19.

The former TNA World Tag Team Champions finished up with the company at the 3/22 and 3/23 TV tapings in Philadelphia, with their final match set to air on this week’s edition of IMPACT as they face Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards.

Source: F4WOnline via WrestleView

Matt Cardona Suffers Torn Pec, Set To Undergo Surgery

Matt Cardona is reportedly dealing with a torn pectoral muscle that will require surgery.

According to a report from Fightful, several promoters have been informed that Cardona will be undergoing surgery for the injury in the near future.

Cardona’s last match came in the form of a win over Blue Pain at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 8 event over WrestleMania 40 weekend in Philadelphia, PA.

Source: eWn

Backstage Update On Former WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley’s Injury

While the company is still riding a wave of momentum from WWE WrestleMania 40, last night’s “WWE Raw” opened with Rhea Ripley making the unfortunate announcement that she was vacating the Women’s World Championship due to injury. Many speculated that the injury came about during last week’s angle with Liv Morgan, with the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio” offering some insight into what may have occurred.

“She suffered [an] AC joint sprain in the brawl with Liv Morgan last week on ‘Raw,'” Bryan Alvarez said. “She was thrown into the wall and boom — there goes the shoulder. An injury like that, [it will take] probably four to six weeks to gain mobility and then usually about three months to be back in action.”

Alvarez and co-host Dave Meltzer interpreted last night’s segment as a double-turn, with Morgan becoming a heel while Ripley was turned into a babyface due to the circumstances. It’s not clear if this was the definitive intent of the segment, but it’s undeniable that the crowd was behind Ripley last night and keeping her as a villain upon her return would likely be a difficult task.

“She suffered [an] AC joint sprain in the brawl with Liv Morgan last week on ‘Raw,'” Bryan Alvarez said. “She was thrown into the wall and boom — there goes the shoulder. An injury like that, [it will take] probably four to six weeks to gain mobility and then usually about three months to be back in action.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 4/16/2024

Tonight’s WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Performance Center on the USA Network.

  • Steel Cage Match: Carmelo Hayes vs. Trick Williams
  • Tony D’Angelo returns to NXT following Stand & Deliver loss
  • AOP vs. Malik Blade & Edris Enofe
  • Ridge Holland vs. Joaquin Wilde
  • Lola Vice vs. Sol Ruca
  • Dijak vs. Noam Dar
  • Thea Hail vs. Tatum Paxley

QR Code Flashes On WWE Raw, Reveals Cryptic Message

A series of cryptic symbols and a QR code leading to hidden messages, and ultimately, a mysterious video appeared on “WWE Raw” as The New Day made their entrance for the Triple Threat number one contenders’ tag team match. It’s hard not to be reminded of 2022’s “white rabbit” teases that led to Bray Wyatt’s eventual return with the uptick in these types of Easter eggs of late, especially amid speculation that the Uncle Howdy character could soon make a return.

As Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods made their way down the ramp, the screen glitched before showing what appeared to be the glyph representing Pluto, followed by an image of a raven, followed by the QR code, which led to a puzzle of its own at the WWE-hosted URL wwe.com/qrisme. Laying those two images over each other revealed another URL, wwe.com/UEDNJ51A, where another image is found depicting the raven held by a hand in front of a flame, and behind a man, who appears to be looking toward the shadowed projection of the bird in front of him. There is also a video below the image, in the style of an old VCR tape, broadcasting the messages, “Time to wake up,” “Take my hand,” and “Things will be better,” before ending with “Trust me,” and repeating the glyph and the bird images.

Wyatt’s real life brother Taylor Rotunda, FKA Bo Dallas, has been rumored to make an eventual return as the Uncle Howdy character who ran alongside Wyatt in his final WWE run and the conjecture has only heated up since the release of the Wyatt documentary “Becoming Immortal” on Peacock, which ended with a tease of its own. Soon after on another episode of “Raw,” hidden messages and social media takeovers furthered speculation even more and it continued again tonight.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Rhea Ripley Forced To Vacate Women’s World Title On WWE Raw

Sometimes it’s best to get the bad news out of the way first. Such was the case for the Rhea Ripley tonight, as the WWE Women’s World Champion kicked off “WWE Raw” by confirming rumors that swirled all day saying she was dealing with a serious injury and may need to vacate her title. That indeed turned out to be the case, with Ripley blaming the backstage attack from Liv Morgan last week as the reason for her now having to miss “quite a few months” and being forced to relinquish the title she has held since

Ripley entered with her right arm in a sling and though she raised her title to show the crowd, her entrance was otherwise devoid of its usual flair. Her face told the story even further, carrying a scowl all the way down the ramp. And when she took the ring, immediately, she addressed the issue at hand. “So, obviously, you guys know what’s going on right now, yeah?” she asked. “I’m angry right now. I’m pissed off. You know why? Because I’ve been told that I need to vacate the one thing that means the most to me: my Women’s World Championship.”

With the crowd chanting “bulls***,” Ripley concurred, saying, “Yeah, it is,” before laying down her belt and calling out Morgan, saying this was all because of her “stupid revenge tour.” Morgan took the stage, surrounded by security, and Ripley was soon flanked as well, with officials doing enough to keep the two apart, despite Ripley headbutting one guard and staring off another. In a backstage segment to follow, Ripley was embraced by the rest of The Judgment Day and she told them to keep the group on top before parting with a “Te amo” toward her stablemates.

PWInsider reports that Ripley was injured last week during a backstage segment between her and Liv Morgan, where Morgan attacked Ripley with a chair. No details were provided on the type of injury Ripley suffered, but it is believed to be severe enough that it could lead to Ripley being forced to vacate the Women’s World Championship on tonight’s episode of “Raw.” It’s unclear what direction WWE would take should Ripley be forced to vacate.

Though Ripley’s focus had largely been on Lynch over the past several months, the Judgment Day star has had issues with Morgan throughout 2024, since Morgan returned during the Women’s Royal Rumble match back in January. Morgan had missed six months of action before returning due to a shoulder injury, and was written off of TV after being brutally attacked by Ripley with a chair prior to a scheduled match between them on “SmackDown.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE RAW Preview 4/15/2024

Tonight’s WWE Monday Night Raw live on the USA Network from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

  • Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn (c) vs. Chad Gable
  • The return of Sheamus
  • Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley addresses Liv Morgan’s chair attack from last week
  • Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes to appear
  • Jey Uso vs. Judgment Day’s Finn Balor
  • Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio
  • Katana Chance and Kayden Carter vs. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven
  • Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell vs. Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri Dupri

Matt Hardy Comments On AEW Contract Expiring, Possible Return

Matt Hardy confirmed he is a free agent after his AEW contract expired earlier this month. Hardy reportedly rejected a new deal with AEW following his own admission that he had a formal contract offer on the table, and he provided further context on the matter during “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy.” 

“I am a free agent right now,” he confirmed. “I have interacted with everyone, still interacting with AEW, and that’s where we’re at right now. Whenever my deal ended up running out, that allowed me the opportunity to negotiate and speak to everyone available, you know, really weigh all my options. That’s what I’m doing right now.”

Hardy joined AEW in 2020, not long after his WWE contract expired. Before his 2017 WrestleMania return to WWE, he had carved his way through the independent circuit and promotions like Ring of Honor and TNA. He confirmed that he has received many offers to return to the indies, but warned promoters that he was looking to get the best deal possible at this stage of his career. 

“Yes. I mean, I have [talked to other companies]… If you’re an indie promoter and you’re listening to this… I’m working on things, but if you don’t hear back from me don’t take it personally because I’m very overwhelmed with all the people that have reached out and requested… I’m working to get back to everybody as much as possible… I’m also gonna say I wanna make sure I go to the best place possible.” Furthermore, this could mean a return to AEW at some point.

Matt Hardy last wrestled for AEW during the January 5 episode of “AEW Rampage,” teaming alongside his brother Jeff Hardy and Mark Briscoe to defeat The Butcher, The Blade, and Kip Sabian. However, even as a free agent, Matt Hardy refuses to rule out a return to the promotion. 

“I think as time continued to move on and we were so close to the finish line, I do think I wanted to wait until everything ran out, and where I could weigh all my options. I could do things correctly from a legal standpoint and figure out what I wanna do next,” Hardy reasoned before reiterating, “I love AEW. I think AEW is paramount to the health of the pro wrestling industry. I’m a big advocate of the schedule they have, especially having four young children and a family, that kind of changes everything. You want your schedule to be as smart as possible when you get a little older, especially if you wanna be here to see your kids grow up. I am certainly not ruling [returning to AEW] out. I would love to do that because I do love the schedule.”

Hardy has previously said that either as a singles talent or teaming with his brother, he wants to ensure that he is optimized as he knows he has little left in the tank. Jeff Hardy reportedly remains signed with AEW, so any move elsewhere could spell the end of their reunion run. The brothers reunited in AEW in 2022 and looked on the cusp of capturing tag team gold again in the summer of that year. However, Jeff Hardy was arrested on a DUI, and they were subsequently removed from their championship match. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage Report On The 2024 WWE Draft

The dust around WWE WrestleMania 40 has finally settled, and the company is now set to turn its attention to freshening up the roster with the annual WWE Draft. Beginning on April 26 on “WWE Smackdown” and concluding on April 29 on “WWE Raw,” it seems as if all three of WWE’s brands will be getting some shake-up in this year’s draft, with a reported renewed focus on “WWE NXT” in particular.

Sources close to “NXT’s” creative process told Fightful Select that there is a push to make it more of a third main roster brand, similar to how things were before the COVID-19 pandemic when “NXT” was also included in the brand warfare storyline at Survivor Series 2019. This means that there is a strong chance that main roster talent can be drafted to “NXT” in the upcoming draft, with Fightful reporting that appearances from Ivar and The Final Testament are examples of how stars from “Raw” and “Smackdown” are likely to make Tuesday nights their new home.

“NXT” names that have been thrown around as those who will be leaving the brand include Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes, who are reportedly seen as locks for a main roster call-up. Roxanne Perez, Baron Corbin, and Tony D’Angleo’s Family have also been discussed as potential draftees. However, Shawn Michaels has apparently told several talents he doesn’t know who will be called up. “NXT” will reportedly have a draft-heavy focus on the upcoming “Spring Breakin'” episodes of the show on April 23 and 30, with the roster being more or less finalized by Battleground, which takes place on June 9.

This year’s draft will take place on April 26 and 29, as WWE is looking to capitalize on the 2024 NFL Draft, which will take place between April 25 and 27. Fightful Select confirmed this, and the outlet also noted that this year’s draft could potentially have input from WWE’s upcoming media partners, Netflix and The CW.

“Smackdown” will move from FOX to the USA Network, and “NXT” will move from USA to The CW in October 2024, while “Raw” will begin its new era on Netflix at the beginning of 2025. While USA will also be able to have some input on who appears on “Smackdown,” the CW and Netflix have the chance to try and secure some big stars for their launch dates if they choose to. However, Fightful was told by one WWE source that “Raw’s” debut on Netflix is closer to the 2025 draft than the 2024 one, meaning that they won’t be worrying about what the rosters look like for a little while. 

“Smackdown” and “NXT” will both be moving to Netflix in 2025 for fans in the United Kingdom, Latin America, Canada, and various other markets at the same time as “Raw’s” move. Still, there has been no word on whether that will impact any of the movement in this year’s draft or whether the rules may become relaxed at the turn of the new year.

Source: Wrestling Inc.