MLW Fusion Preview 8/17/2023

MLW FUSION headlined by the 2023 Opera Cup finals, streaming 8pm Thursday on MLW’s YouTube channel and FITE+, Friday on beIN XTRA and Saturday on Cable TV’s beIN SPORTS (find a provider). 

  • 2023 Opera Cup Finals: Davey Boy Smith Jr. (with Mister Saint Laurent) vs. “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams
  • National Openweight Championship: Jacob Fatu vs. Rickey Shane Page
  • Delmi Exo vs. Paris Van Dale 

The grandest and oldest wrestling tournament in the sport’s history concludes its 2023 edition as Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Tracy Williams grapple with destiny and history.

Can Mister Saint Laurent’s untamed “Bulldog” win his second cup or will “Hot Sauce” take home the antique century-old trophy and put the eyes of the sport on him? 

It’s been a scandalous summer, according to Alex Kane. The World Champ makes shocking  accusations against Willie Mack and his fans. The heat is cranked up as Fury Road’s main event just got more personal.

Jacob Fatu has revenge on his mind as the “High Chief of the Hood” puts the National Openweight Championship on the line against Rickey Shane Page! Fatu promises to hold nothing back but is he ready for “The Human Slaughterhouse” after The Calling’s vicious attacks on the Samoan SWAT Team?

World Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo squares off with newcomer Paris Van Dale.

Get the scoop on some newly signed Fury Road matches!

Promising a “spoken words” performance, B3CCA crosses the line in a desperate attempt to get her shot at the World Featherweight Championship.

ROH Preview 8/17/2023

ROH will air a new episode of its weekly television show tonight at 7 pm ET on HonorClub. 

  • Samoa Joe and Stokely Hathaway vs. The Boys
  • Silas Young vs. Josh Woods in a Pure Rules match
  • Billie Starkz vs. Charlette Renegade
  • ROH Women’s World Championship Proving Ground Match: Athena (c) vs. Brittany J

Impact Wrestling Preview 8/17/2023

Tonight’s Impact Wrestling on AXS TV.

  • Last stop before Multiverse United 2 this Sunday in Philadelphia
  • No DQ Match: Bully Ray vs. Black Taurus
  • Deonna Purrazzo vs. KiLynn King of The Coven
  • The Rascalz vs. Rich Swann and Sami Callihan in the tournament final –  Winners become top contenders for the Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship
  • Eric Young vs. Kon
  • Moose vs. Kevin Knight

Speculation As To The Reason Behind Lacey Evans’ WWE Departure

Lacey Evans is officially gone from WWE after her contract reportedly expired after August 15. During the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer weighed in with what possibly led to her departure.

“I remember when she was in ‘NXT’ and she was brought to the main roster, she had that giant push at first,” Meltzer recalled. “She got the real big push at first. Then she would get the weekly vignettes and not a push at all. It was the craziest thing ever. But a lot of her lack of exposure had to do with Vince being gone because Vince was her proponent.”

Ever since Vince McMahon stepped back from being the head of creative in July 2022, Evans’ television time has decreased. At the beginning of this year, Evans was repackaged with a military gimmick similar to that of Sgt. Slaughter, but it only resulted in her picking up a couple of squash wins. Evans lost her last three televised matches this year, with her final one airing on “WWE SmackDown” in June.

The 33-year-old first signed with “WWE NXT” in 2016 and took part in the 2017 Mae Young Classic. She transitioned to the main roster at the start of 2019 and entered at number one in that year’s women’s Royal Rumble match. Her biggest feud came later that spring against Becky Lynch for the “Raw” Women’s Championship. Evans also made history alongside Natalya that year when they took part in the first WWE women’s match at a Saudi Arabia event. Her last high-profile feud took place in early 2020 when she turned babyface and challenged Bayley for the “SmackDown” Women’s title.

Source: Wrestling Inc. credit to Wrestling Observer Radio

AEW Dynamite ‘Fight For The Fallen’ Preview 8/16/2023

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite ‘Fight For The Fallen’ live on TBS from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN.

All proceeds from ‘Fight For The Fallen’ will be going to the Maui Food Bank for the families affected by the fires.

  • Qualifying Match For AEW Women’s Championship Four-Way at All In: Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. The Bunny
  • AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta
  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre Death Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Jeff Hardy
  • Darby Allin and Nick Wayne vs. Gates Of Agony (Toa Liona and Kaun)
  • MJF and Adam Cole will talk about the main event of AEW All In
  • Kenny Omega sit-down interview with Jim Ross
  • Chris Jericho will reveal his decision on if he will join Don Callis’ family

Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. Taking A Step Back From Dentistry

Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. is taking a step back from being a dentist to focus more on All Elite Wrestling.

During a recent appearance on the “Jon Chuckery Show,” the DMD admitted that it’s been difficult to manage her work in both AEW and dentistry. She said,

“With the ever changing and every growing schedule with AEW, it was getting really hard to manage because I don’t want to be calling off last minute at the dental office all the time if Tony [Tony Khan] needs me for something for a TV taping or to go do media or an event. I hold myself accountable to be available for those types of events because I’m one of the faces of AEW and I want to be available for everything like that. Unfortunately, that means…I don’t want to say closing the door, but I’m definitely taking a step back from dentistry.”

Baker added that it’s unfair for her to have to cancel on her patients due to her AEW commitments. She said,

“It’s not fair to be canceling on patients all the time if something else popped up and it’s not fair to the staff. My staff is absolutely fabulous at the dental office, I love them to death. I’m still there a few times a month to check in on my old patients to make sure everyone is okay. I don’t really accept any new patients just because it was getting really tricky to navigate the waters of fans coming into the dental office and not really knowing who is there to be a patient and who is there to get an autograph and picture. It’s fun, but at the same time, it gets frustrating for my staff when they are there to see patients and keep a successful practice going.”

Source: eWn

Lacey Evans Gone From WWE

Lacey Evans is no longer with WWE, as Dave Meltzer reported today, that she is done with the company. No further details were given. 

Evans first joined WWE in 2016 and trained at the Performance Center before being assigned to NXT for development. Three years later, Evans was brought up to the main roster where she had numerous start-and-stop pushes and character changes.

Her latest match was with Zelina Vega last month. Evans hasn’t been particularly involved in a storyline with her in recent months. 

Fans began speculating that Evans was referring to her counting the days until her WWE contract expires when she shared a meme with the words “How Many Days Left” on social media. 

Later, Evans changed her social handles to LimitlessMacey. Over the past 24 hours, she also started using her real name, Macey Estrella.

WWE NXT Preview 8/15/2023

Tonight’s WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the USA Network: 

  • NXT Championship number one contender’s match: Wes Lee vs. Dijak
  • NXT Tag Team Championship: Tony D’Angelo and Stacks (c) vs. The Dyad 
  • Trick Williams vs. Drew Gulak
  • Dana Brooke vs. Blair Davenport
  • Mustafa Ali has a very important announcement

Piper Niven Declares Herself Chelsea Green’s New Partner, Claims Title Belt On WWE Raw

Chelsea Green didn’t have to look too hard to find a new tag team partner to help her defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship after Sonya Deville suffered a torn ACL, leaving her out of action indefinitely. On Monday’s episode of “WWE Raw,” Piper Niven declared herself Green’s new partner and took one of the title belts off of Green’s shoulder, seemingly getting her first taste of championship gold (outside of the defunct 24/7 title) in WWE.

In a backstage segment, it looked as though Adam Pearce was going to strip Green of the championships due to Deville’s inability to compete. Green argued with Pearce, saying she had worked too hard for the titles to see them vacated. Pearce asked Green what she would do in his situation, and she said she would “hold auditions,” which she had been doing on social media throughout the day leading up to the show, calling the video segments “Chelsea’s Got Talent.” Green was confronted by Kayden Carter and Katana Chance who said they wanted a shot at the titles when Green received a new partner.

Auditions never got underway on “Raw,” however, as Niven burst in attacks Carter and Chance and declared herself Green’s new partner. Green said Niven should submit her name, number, and Instagram handle to be considered, but Niven simply grabbed the title belt and reiterated that she was Green’s new partner. It seems Green and Niven will now be partnering as Women’s Tag Team Champions moving forward on WWE programming — their first match together has not yet been set up, but Niven did attack Katana Chance and Kayden Carter during the segment.

Green and Deville won the championships from Liz Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez on an episode of “Raw” last month.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Backstage Update on Bray Wyatt’s Return to WWE; Was Dealing With Life Threatening Illness

Bray Wyatt has been out of action for almost all of 2023 having not received clearance to return to in-ring activity by WWE medical personnel. Fightfulselect.com is reporting that Wyatt has been battling an undisclosed illness during that time, something that was termed both career and life threatening that caused him to be hospitalized at one point.

While rumors over the last couple of months leading into SummerSlam suggested that Wyatt was ready to return and simply waiting for proper “creative” to be drawn up for him, fightful reports that isn’t the case and that Wyatt was never ever considered for SummerSlam as no one was sure when or even if he would return. However, things have taken a positive turn lately and WWE sources now state that Wyatt is getting closer to a return and that internally, the company has discussed some creative plans for his return with September being tossed around as a target date.

Prior to his illness, Wyatt was set to be integrated with Alexa Bliss, Eric Young and Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) in a stable but Bliss is now on maternity leave, Young requested his release after Vince McMahon returned and was granted it, while Dallas is the only active member of the group who is truly waiting for creative. For what it’s worth, Bray Wyatt’s father Mike Rotunda recently seemed to confirm the above report stating that he is “sure” that Wyatt would be returning to WWE hopefully in short order.

Source: RAJAH.COM