No fewer than four huge names on the WWE main roster will be headed to “WWE NXT” next Tuesday as the show goes head-to-head against “AEW Dynamite.” In addition to Asuka, who will be wrestling Roxanne Perez on the show, John Cena, Cody Rhodes, and Paul Heyman will all be appearing in what has to be considered the most star-studded “NXT” event of all time.
Cena will be in former “NXT” Champion Carmelo Hayes’ corner when he faces Bron Breakker, who, as it turnes out, will have Heyman in his corner. Cena is currently involved in a feud with the Bloodline and will face Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso in tag team action alongside LA Knight at the Fastlane premium live event on Saturday. As for Rhodes, he’s set to make “a major announcement,” but what exactly Cody wants to talk about has not been revealed.
“NXT” will go up against “Dynamite” on AEW President Tony Khan’s birthday, on what Khan is calling “Title Tuesday.” Only one match has been announced for the show so far, but it’s a big one: Adam Copeland, formerly known as Edge in WWE, will be making his in-ring AEW debut on the Tuesday edition of “Dynamite” against Luchasaurus. WWE’s recent strategy of infusing “NXT” broadcasts with main roster talent like Dominik Mysterio and Becky Lynch has paid off in ratings numbers that rival the ones “Dynamite” gets on Wednesdays; as a result, these announcements can safely be read as an attempt by WWE not only to counter-program “Title Tuesday” (and Copeland’s debut) but to beat “Dynamite” in the ratings for the first time since the heyday of the “Wednesday Night War.”
At long last, Tommaso Ciampa has found Johnny Gargano — and all he had to do was catch a group beating from Imperium to make it happen.
After searching high and low for Gargano for months on end to no avail, Ciampa was reunited with his former DIY tag team partner/arch nemesis at the end of Monday’s “WWE Raw.” Gargano hit the ring to fend off Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci from beating Ciampa to a pulp following his unsuccessful Intercontinental Championship challenge against GUNTHER, as the champion casually waltzed away while his minions put the boots to the challenger.
But then Gargano’s music hit, and the former “NXT” Champion saved the day, warding off Kaiser and setting up for Meeting In the Middle, and the reunion was finally complete (though, in a matter of unfortunate timing, “Raw” faded to black before they could hit their finishing move).
Ciampa and Gargano, as DIY, won the “NXT” Tag Team Championships together at “NXT” TakeOver: Toronto in 2016, defeating The Revival (now known as reigning AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR) in a two-out-of-three-falls match. The pair would split less than a year later, when Ciampa attacked Gargano following a loss to The Authors of Pain, and they’d go on to feud for the better part of the next year. They’d reunite to make their debuts on both “Raw” and “Smackdown,” but that was short-lived. It wasn’t until Monday night that the two seemed back together, full time, and ready to shake up the tag team division on the main roster.
When former WWE star Adam Copeland (previously known as Edge) made his AEW debut on Sunday night, he did so with a familiar entrance theme — “Metalingus,” a song by the band Alterbridge. The brief opening cue to Edge’s music, which predates the use of the song itself, used to be the voice of a woman saying the line, “You think you know me.” While that was recorded and owned by WWE, there was nothing stopping Copeland from recording a new version of the intro, and according to journalist Chris Mueller, Copeland has confirmed fan suspicion that he and his wife, WWE star Beth Phoenix, recorded the new intro themselves.
Rather than copy the original intro exactly, the new introduction includes a slight variation, with the phrasing changed to, “You think you know him.” Some AEW viewers with keen ears were able to detect Phoenix’s voice before the news was confirmed. While it seems that Phoenix won’t be joining her husband physically in AEW for the time being, she will at least have a presence in his onscreen presentation each time he comes out to the ring.
During the media scrum that followed AEW WrestleDream on Sunday, Copeland discussed his reasons for leaving WWE and heading to AEW, stating that he had simply grown apart from the company and wasn’t interested in what they had planned for him creatively. The former WWE Champion also detailed his experience going out to film his intro vignette with Darby Allin a few nights prior, stating that they traveled through some questionable parts of Seattle and, at points, had people hanging out of vehicle windows to capture shots.
Pwinsider reports there’s been a strong positive feeling among those in Impact Wrestling management of late.
The reason for that is due to the ratings that their weekly television show has been doing on AXS TV. They feel they’re going in the right direction, and the ratings show that it’s a sign the creative and talents are clicking.
The report added, “Obviously, the promotion is never going to hit WWE and AEW level numbers since they are on a smaller platform, but the feeling has been that business is heading in the right direction, slowly and surely. We are told that the Impact replay numbers on AXS have also shown some growth”
During Sunday night’s AEW WrestleDream 2023 pay-per-view event, Christian Cage defeated Darby Allin in a two out of three falls match to retain the TNT Championship in the main event of the show.
A heel turn from Nick Wayne allowed Cage to bury Allin and hold onto his title.
Following the match, Cage and Wayne mercilessly assaulted Allin which caused Sting to come out for the save.
However, the addition of Luchasaurus to the equation meant that the numbers game eventually took over and Sting met the same fate as Allin.
Cage went for a couple of chairs to deliver a ConChairTo, which led to a vignette of a car driving to the Climate Pledge Arena.
Edge stepped out of the vehicle and made his way into the ring with his classic Alter Bridge “Metalingus” theme buzzing the arena.
Edge stared off with Christian and held his hand out. The heel TNT Champion handed him the chair and asked him to deliver the ConChairTo.
Using the steel weapon and his signature spear, Edge laid out Wayne and Luchasaurus in the middle of the ring. Cage bailed out in fear and shock.
The announcers then referred to the WWE Hall of Famer by his real name, Adam Copeland. Taz also referenced him as “The Rated R Superstar.”
AEW President Tony Khan then announced on Twitter that Copeland is #AllElite.
[ZERO HOUR] 4 ON 4 MIXED TAG Satoshi Kojima, Keith Lee, Athena & Billie Starkz def. Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty, Diamante & Mercedes Martinez
[ZERO HOUR] Claudio Castagnoli def. Josh Barnett
[ZERO HOUR] Luchasaurus def. Nick Wayne
[ZERO HOUR] AEW TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP: The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass (c) def. TMDK
WRESTLEDREAM
Maxwell Jacob Friedman gets on the mic during his entrance, festooned with his AEW World Championship and both ROH World Tag Team Championship belts.
He says the devil has arrived in Seattle and addresses “bullshit” rumors that he attacked “Tofu” Jay White and to top it off, some schmuck stole his devil mask out of his bag. To make matters worse, his boy Adam Cole is hurt and not here tonight. But it’s all good ‘cause he’s gonna make sure when he comes back, these tag titles are waiting for him.
He tells DUTCH he’s gonna pick him up and bodyslam him, and for Vincent, he’ll grab him by his dirty hipster hair, tie into a neat little bow, and then shove it straight up DUTCH’s fat ass!
2-ON-1 HANDICAP MATCH FOR THE ROH WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: MJF (c) def. The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch)
NJPW STRONG OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP AND ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Eddie Kingston (c) def. Katsuyori Shibata
AEW TBS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Kris Statlander (c) def. Julia Hart
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP NO. 1 CONTENDER’S FOUR-WAY MATCH: The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) def. The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn), The Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) (with Alex Abrahantes) and Orange Cassidy and Hook
Swerve Strickland def. “Hangman” Adam Page
Ricky Starks def. Wheeler Yuta
Bryan Danielson def. Zack Sabre Jr.
Post-match, Danielson offers the handshake but Sabre refuses it and takes a walk.
The Don Callis Family (Sammy Guevara, Will Ospreay and Konosuke Takeshita) def. Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (c) def. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis)
2-OUT-OF-3 FALLS MATCH FOR THE AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP: Christian Cage (c) def. Darby Allin
Wayne stands in the ring next to Darby, Allin directs traffic… AND NICK CLOBBERS ALLIN WITH THE BELT MUCH TO THE DISMAY OF HIS MOTHER! Wayne walks off, Christian pulls Remsburg in and wakes him up, slow count but it’s over.
Post-match, Cage holds Allin up and Nick yells at Darby, slapping him and punching him and putting boots to him!
STING IS HERE! Christian sends Nick Wayne at him but the Icon drops them with right hands of vengeful fury! Drawing Wayne up, the Stinger puts him in the ropes but Luchasaurus is here to even the odds! They overwhelm the Icon and put boots to him on the exposed board!
Cage goes and grabs some chairs from the timekeeper’s area, setting up a Con-Chair-To on Sting!
The lights go down, we get an “Our Feature Presentation” video package. A man in a car drives over a road with “Rated R” painted on it and he gets out.
The lights come up…
EDGE IS HERE! WITH METALINGUS! IN ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME EDIT AS WWE JUST A DIFFERENT “YOU THINK YOU KNOW HIM” VOICEOVER! HOLY SHIT!
HE GETS FACE TO FACE WITH CHRISTIAN! HE EXTENDS A HAND AND CAGE GIVES HIM THE CHAIR! HE TURNS TO STING AS NICK WAYNE PUTS THE ICON BACK IN POSITION FOR THE CON-CHAIR-TO! THE AIR IS HEAVY BUT EDGE HITS NICK WITH THE CHAIR AND THROWS IT AT LUCHASAURUS! CHRISTIAN BAILED OUT OF THE RING! SPEAR TO LUCHASAURUS!
ANOTHER SPEAR FOR NICK WAYNE! EXCALIBUR CALLS HIM ADAM COPELAND SO I GUESS WE’RE DOING SHOOT NAMES!
Darby offers a hand and Edge shakes it. Sting offers a hand and Edge shakes his hand as well!
Mere days after the Season 2 finale of “Heels” aired on Starz, the streaming platform opted to cancel the show and not renew it for a third season. This also came after a major season finale cliffhanger.
In light of the Hollywood writers’ strike coming to an end, “Heels” showrunner Mike O’Malley spoke to Entertainment Weekly and revealed that they are now shopping the series around to other outlets.
“Yeah, we are actively doing it right now,” O’Malley said. “And some of the actors are still under contract. Obviously, the [writers’] strike just ended. I couldn’t have any conversations about this [until now], and granted, they just told me on Friday. But not only are we trying to [find a new network], I really believe the Starz executives when they say they want to see a future for the show too, because they did invest a lot in the show… I really do think it’s going to have a life someplace else.”
O’Malley noted that the Season 2 finale cliffhanger was certainly not intended to be the last episode of the series that stars Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig as the Spade brothers. Fans may recall that Amell has dabbled in a few pro wrestling matches outside of “Heels.” He made his WWE in-ring debut at SummerSlam 2015 and also competed at All In 2018.
“Heels” Season 2 notably featured appearances from CM Punk and AJ Lee. Punk’s Ricky Rabies character has recurred in both seasons, while Lee portrayed Elle Dorado in the latest batch of episodes that streamed this summer.
Wrestling News Blog 