Bryan Danielson After AEW Revolution Loss: ‘It’s Time For Me To Go Home’

Bryan Danielson has seemingly been written off AEW television for the foreseeable future.

On last night’s “AEW Dynamite,” a pre-recorded video showed a bloodied and battered Danielson — following his Iron Man Match loss to MJF at AEW Revolution — addressing his immediate future in pro wrestling.

“I always thought I was doing this for my kids,” began Danielson. “When I was forced to retire, I wanted to teach them that if you love something, you have to fight for it. What I realized out there tonight [Sunday] was that Max was right. This whole time, my whole career has been [about] legs, lungs, heart, and never giving up. That’s always what I thought was best — to just fight, fight and fight.” 

Danielson continued, “But when I woke up from being unconscious, I found myself in a LeBell Lock, and my first instinct was to fight! As I was fighting, I realized I couldn’t feel my arms. My left leg didn’t have any strength anymore. And when Max said, after the Iron Man Match, that I wouldn’t be able to play with my kids…it dawned on me. He’s right.”  

Danielson was overcome with emotions as he acknowledged that he had prioritized winning the AEW World Championship over spending time with his family.

“I was putting myself before my family,” Danielson rued. “More than tapping out, that made me more ashamed than anything else. It’s time for me to go home.”

While the pre-recorded interview did not include an update on Danielson’s return date, AEW did air a separate post-match interview with MJF earlier in the show and announced a birthday celebration segment for the AEW World Champion for next week’s show. As such, it appears MJF will be moving onto a new challenger going forward.

It’s no secret that Danielson is in the stretch run of his illustrious career. In a recent interview, “The American Dragon” made it clear that the expiration of his AEW contract would mean he’s “done being a full-time wrestler.” Danielson signed a three-year contract with AEW in September 2021, meaning he’d become a free agent in the summer of 2024.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1633656090448793600

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Shawn Michaels Names Johnny Gargano As Grayson Waller’s Opponent At WWE NXT Stand & Deliver

The ongoing feud between Grayson Waller and WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels has escalated to the “NXT” Stand & Deliver premium live event. During Tuesday night’s special Roadblock episode, Michaels was a guest on “The Grayson Waller Effect.”

During the segment, Waller challenged Michaels to a match, which is when Michaels revealed that former “NXT” Champion and current “Raw” Superstar Johnny Gargano was going to be Waller’s opponent instead. Gargano and Waller have a history that goes all the way back to Gargano’s farewell to “NXT” in December 2021. As he was ending his farewell speech, Waller came out from behind and attacked him. Gargano’s last “NXT” match before he went to the main roster was at the “NXT” WarGames 2021 event.

Waller started his feud with Michaels when he crashed the Vengeance Day post-show media call and was “suspended” for his behavior. Waller returned on the February 14 episode of “NXT,” when he was kicked out of the arena after confronting Michaels backstage. While Waller was being escorted out of the building, he called the WWE Hall of Famer “a hypocrite and a suit” and that “HBK doesn’t exist anymore.”

“NXT” Stand & Deliver is set for April 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. It will be on the same day as night one of WrestleMania 39 and will be starting at 1 PM ET. The only other match announced for Stand & Deliver is Bron Breakker defending the “NXT” Championship against Carmelo Hayes in the main event.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

AEW Dynamite Preview 3/8/2023

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS, and emanate from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.

  • AEW TNT Championship: Wardlow (c) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
  • AEW All-Atlantic Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jay Lethal
  • Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia vs. Top Flight & AR Fox
  • Jon Moxley & ROH Champion Claudio Castagnoli vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver
  • Skye Blue vs. Ruby Soho
  • Hangman Adam Page to appear

Wardlow Robbed – TNT Title, Ring Gear, & More Stolen

Wardlow, who just defeated Samoa Joe to capture the TNT Championship at Sunday night’s AEW Revolution pay-per-view event, had his car broken into on Tuesday.

The AEW wrestler took to Twitter to announce that all of his possessions were stolen from his vehicle while he wasn’t around. The windows of his rental car were smashed out, which appears to be the result of a smash-and-grab. This has been happening more and more in California and other states in recent months.

In the video, which you can see below, Wardlow says he’s still planning to make it to Sacramento tonight for his match with Powerhouse Hobbs. He stated,

“Well, thanks to the person who broke into my rental car and took absolutely everything from me. My TNT Title, my gear, my boots, my whole life were in those bags. I don’t know if this means I’m going to have to beat the sh*t out of Hobbs in these clothes I’m wearing right now, but one way or another I’m going to make it to Sacramento and we’re going to get this sh*t done. Whoever did do this better thank God that I didn’t catch you in the act because your jaw would be as shattered as this glass is.”

https://twitter.com/RealWardlow/status/1633339726576103426

Source: eWrestlingNews

WWE NXT Roadblock Preview 3/7/2023

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

  • NXT Women’s Championship: Roxanne Perez (c) vs. Meiko Satomura
  • Jailhouse Street Fight: Tony D’Angelo vs. Dijak
  • Indus Sher & Jinder Mahal vs. The Creed Brothers & Bron Breakker
  • Andre Chase vs. Joe Gacy
  • Gigi Dolan vs. Jacy Jayne
  • Pretty Deadly & Gallus meet face-to-face
  • The Grayson Waller Effect with special guest Shawn Michaels

NWA Announces Lineup For Tonight’s Episode Of Powerrr (3/7/23)

The National Wrestling Alliance has announced the matches for tonight’s episode of their Powerrr series. 

NWA Power will air at 6pm ET on YouTube. Here are the matches: 

  • Trevor Murdoch in action
  • EC3 (w/ BLK Jeez) vs. Dontae Smiley
  • Sal The Pal vs. Gaagz The Gymp (w/ Father James Mitchell)
  • Kamille vs. Ruthie Jay

WWE Officially Announces King And Queen Of The Ring Event In Saudi Arabia

Last month, it was reported that the WWE King and Queen of the Ring tournaments would be coming back on May 27. Later that week, it was all but confirmed that these tournaments would take place in Saudi Arabia. After all, that’s where the money is. This past week on “WWE Raw,” it was made official — the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments are set for May 27 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“This May, live from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it’s all happening in Jeddah. All hail!” the official announcement read.

The last time a King and Queen of the Ring were crowned was back in October 2021, also in Saudi Arabia, at Crown Jewel. Xavier Woods defeated Finn Balor in the men’s final to turn a lifelong dream into a reality, while Zelina Vega made WWE history by becoming the first to win the Queen’s Crown after defeating Doudrop in the women’s final.

The location of these events may come as no surprise, as this announcement also comes during a time in which WWE is exploring a potential sale. Ever since Vince McMahon returned from retirement, talks have ramped up. While previous reports of the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund purchasing the promotion were ultimately proven false, it was reported as recently as last month that Saudi Arabia is still interested in buying WWE.

That said, however, they don’t appear on the latest betting odds, with Comcast currently tipped as favorites, while the likes of Disney, Amazon, Endeavor, and even Netflix trail behind them. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Trish Stratus Coming Out Of Retirement For Match At WWE WrestleMania 39

Trish Stratus will officially come out of retirement at WrestleMania 39, joining forces with WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Becky Lynch and Lita in a six-woman match against Damage CTRL. The match was made official on this week’s “WWE Raw” where Lita and Lynch thanked Stratus for helping them even the odds in their rivalry against Bayley & Co. 

Stratus stepped out and told Lita “I’ll always have your back” and that it was a pleasure to watch her win gold with “The Man.” At this point, Damage CTRL confronted the three women in the ring.

“You two [Lita and Stratus] are legitimately the reasons why we are in this ring right now,” Bayley said, thanking the Hall of Famers for their contributions to the business. “That said, the three of us [Damage CTRL] are going to be the reasons you never come back!”

At this point, Stratus referenced her promo from “Raw” last August, where she teased stepping out of retirement. 

“I warned I could go real quick from ‘I am retired’ to ‘I was retired,'” Stratus reiterated. “I couldn’t think of a better place to shut your mouth up than at the Grandest Stage of Them All!”

Stratus then looked at the WrestleMania sign and issued the challenge to Damage CTRL.

Bayley immediately accepted the challenge, something that seemed to upset IYO SKY and Dakota Kai. Thereafter, Stratus and Lita delivered tandem offense to throw SKY and Kai out of the ring, leaving Lynch and Bayley to come face-to-face in the ring. The segment ended with an upset Damage CTRL retreating from the ring.

It remains to be seen if Damage CTRL implodes at WrestleMania 39, seeing as WWE teased some tension between the trio on Monday’s show.

Stratus had previously retired following her loss to Charlotte Flair at SummerSlam 2019 in her hometown of Toronto. Subsequently, Stratus teased the possibility of unretiring for a match against Lynch, especially when Lynch was portraying her “Big Time Becks” heel persona. Stratus would also get physical at a pair of WWE live events last August, coming to the aid of Alexa Bliss and Asuka during their rivalry with Damage CTRL. As such, the news of Stratus coming out of retirement has been widely expected and is not surprising in the least.

Besides the aforementioned six-woman match, the confirmed lineup for WrestleMania 39 includes Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes, John Cena vs. Austin Theory, Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair, Asuka vs. Bianca Belair, Brock Lesnar vs. Omos, and Logan Paul vs. Seth Rollins. Other rumored matches include Bobby Lashley vs. Bray Wyatt, Edge vs. Finn Balor, Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio, and Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. The Usos. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

John Cena Accepts Austin Theory’s Title Challenge For WrestleMania 39

John Cena made his much anticipated WWE return last night on RAW and accepted a major challenge from reigning United States Champion Austin Theory for a title match at WrestleMania 39.

Cena hit the ring and as he was about to speak, Theory popped up, interrupted The Champ, and issued a challenge to face him for the WWE United States Title at WrestleMania 39.

Cena initially rejected the challenge and roasted Theory on the mic, noting that the latter didn’t believe in himself and lacked any heart or soul. This led to Theory asking Cena where his “Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect” have been.

Theory added that Cena would disappoint the WWE Universe if he refused to compete at WrestleMania, to which the 16-time World Champion declared that he was trying to protect Theory.

According to Cena, Theory wasn’t ready to face him at WrestleMania and would lose everything in such a high-stakes bout. Cena then asked the WWE Universe about their opinion, and the live audience cheered for him to wrestle Theory.

Ultimately, Cena accepted Theory’s challenge, and the match was made official.

Source: eWrestlingNews

WWE RAW Preview 3/6/2023

WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network and emanate from TD Garden in Boston, MA.