William Regal is back with WWE following his departure from All Elite Wrestling.
Regal had an opt-out clause in his AEW contract, but AEW President Tony Khan had an option earlier than that, allowing Regal to leave the company early as requested. Regal wanted to return to WWE to be with his son in NXT and work with Triple H again.
Pwinsider.com reported that Regal made his return to WWE this morning. Regal has taken on a Vice President role in the company.
Source: ewrestlingnews
It is indeed ‘Boss Time’ at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 as Sasha Banks has made her debut for the promotion.
In the second match of the main card, IWGP Women’s Champion KAIRI retained her title against Tam Nakano.
Post-match, Banks, now going by the name Mercedes Mone, appeared and posed in the ring, before challenging KAIRI to a Women’s Championship match.
Mone would attack KAIRI and vow to leave the IWGP Women’s Champion bankrupt when they face off for the title.
The match between KAIRI and Mone has been set for NJPW Battle in the Valley on February 18 in San Jose, California.
Mone’s arrival was later shared via tweet by the NJPW Global account.
Source: ewrestlingnews
CARD
EXHIBITION MATCH:
Ryohei Oiwa vs. Boltin Oleg
NEW JAPAN RANBO:
Participants TBA
ANTONIO INOKI MEMORIAL SIX-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH:
Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima and Togi Makabe vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, Minoru Suzuki and Tiger Mask
IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Catch 2/2 (T.J. Perkins and Francesco Akira) (c) vs. LiYoh (Lio Rush and Yoh)
IWGP WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Kairi (c) vs. Tam Nakano
IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
FTR (c) vs. Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi)
NJPW WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ren Narita
NEVER OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Karl Anderson (c) vs. Tama Tonga
SIX-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH:
Keiji Muto, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Sanada and Bushi)
* This is Muto’s last NJPW match *
IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR-WAY MATCH:
Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. El Desperado vs. Hiromu Takahashi vs. Master Wato
IWGP UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Will Ospreay (c) vs. Kenny Omega
IWGP WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada
WWE NXT is back tonight for the first show of 2023. Tonight’s show will be live once again onUSA Network at 8:00 pm EST. after the last two episodes aired on tape delay. Tonight also serves as the go-home show before next week’s New Year’s Evil special.
* Extreme Resolution Match: Alba Fyre vs. Isla Dawn
* The Grayson Waller Effect: Grayson Waller & Bron Breakker contract signing for New Year’s Evil
* Carmelo Hayes vs. Apollo Crews
* Trick Williams vs. Axiom
* Charlie Dempsey vs. Hank Walker
In anticipation of Wednesday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 event from the Tokyo Dome, Naomi, real name Trinity Fatu, has confirmed through her Instagram Stories that she is in Tokyo, Japan.
As Mercedes Varnado, formerly known as Sasha Banks, is believed to be appearing at the Wrestle Kingdom 17 event, Naomi was expected to be in Japan, as reported by PWinsider.com.
It’s still unknown whether Naomi will appear at the event or is merely there to support her friend. After Banks negotiated her WWE release, Naomi’s WWE status is uncertain.
Source: ewrestlingnews
On Tuesdays at 6:05 PM EST, Powerrr will once again air exclusively on The NWA’s YouTube channel.
FITE is still broadcasting NWA pay-per-views. The weekly program had been airing on FITE before being added on YouTube a few days later. The NWA issued the following:
CHICAGO — The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is making bold changes this year to allow our television programming to be available to the largest international audience possible. We are proud to announce that starting immediately, NWA Powerrr will return as first run programming on the NWA YouTube Channel on Tuesdays at 6:05 p.m. EST and NWA USA will remain airing at 12:00 p.m. EST on Saturdays on the channel as well. NWA pay-per-view programming will still be available through FITE TV.
First run programming will begin Tuesday January 3, 2023 and includes matches which will determine the teams that will head to the finals of the Champions Series Tournament.
“I want to thank our viewers who used FITE’s Monthly or Annual subscription service to enjoy our product,” said William Patrick Corgan, president of the NWA. “Making the switch to having the world be able to watch NWA Powerrr at the same time is essential to our growth strategy going forward. FITE has been an important partner and we are happy to continue our relationship with FITE as our pay-per-view provider,” Cogan said.
The NWA Annual Subscription on FITE began to be phased out on August 26, 2022. Viewers who have active subscriptions can still use them to watch pay-per-view programming until their subscription expires.
The NWA Monthly Subscription is canceled effective immediately. NWA pay-per-views, such as Nuff Said, the Crockett Cup and NWA 75, will be available for individual purchase on FITE.
AEW star Chris Jericho has opened his heart and his wallet to Damar Hamlin after the football star’s cardiac arrest.
Hamlin, 24, fell to the ground after colliding with an opponent during the first quarter of a Buffalo Bills match against the Cincinnati Bengals.
After being tended to for 30 minutes on the field, Hamlin was taken to a local hospital and the game was suspended.
The Buffalo Bills later confirmed the cardiac arrest in a statement and added that his heartbeat was restored on the field.
On a GoFundMe for a toy drive set up by Hamlin, Jericho donated $5,000 to the NFL star but a typo meant that the donation had been made by ‘Chrus Jericho.’
Correcting his mistake, Jericho donated another $5,000 and his name was spelled correctly.
Jericho has previously given generously to other GoFundMe pages, including to an AEW crew member who lost their home to Hurricane Ian last year and to Virgil’s medical costs.
Many are using the toy drive GoFundMe to send their best wishes to Hamlin and wish him a speedy recovery.
Source: ewrestlingnews
Don West, who was one of the most colorful personalities of the past two decades in wrestling, has died after his battle with cancer.
Long-time friend and colleague Mike Tenay relayed the news on Friday afternoon that West had passed away due to brain lymphoma.
West initially revealed his diagnosis in June 2021 with the wrestling world supporting West through a Go Fund Me campaign. Months later, it was reported that West’s cancer was in remission. Sadly, it returned in late 2021.
Professional wrestling was hardly West’s first act as a celebrity as he carved out a niche for his boisterous hosting skills with the Shop at Home network as one its lead pitchmen. His irreverent excitability became his calling card and led to West being impersonated by Will Ferrell on several episodes of Saturday Night Live in the late ‘90s.
After leaving the Shop at Home network, West got involved in sports radio and landed on Vince Russo’s radar, who became the conduit to West eventually dabbling into wrestling when NWA TNA launched in June 2002. Throughout the time period, he continued hosting a show on SportsRadio 560 in Nashville through 2008.
West was part of the initial three-man booth with Mike Tenay and Ed Ferrara, which would quickly become a two-man team with Tenay and West and was the synonymous team for the brand throughout its early years.
West was unpolished and drew mixed reviews throughout his early days in TNA but over time, his infectious personality became a hallmark of the broadcast. A famous call of an Amazing Red match saw West leap onto the broadcast booth shouting, “Go Red Go” and was a major shift in Red’s popularity in the promotion and a turning point for West among his fanbase.
Given his background of selling memorabilia, it was a natural role for West to become the show-closing pitchman to hype the following Wednesday’s pay-per-view lineup in the same way Excalibur handles the upcoming lineups on AEW broadcasts.
West was a regular partner with Tenay as TNA moved from weekly pay-per-view events to its Fox Sports Net show in 2004 and moved to Spike in October 2005 and went with monthly pay-per-views, away from the weekly format from its inception.
In 2009, TNA made the call to break up the popular broadcast team and was met with a lot of negativity with Taz taking the place of West when he left WWE and joined the company. They shot an angle with West turning heel and cutting a scathing promo on Tenay, which was excellent given West’s lack of experience shooting wrestling angles or cutting promos but it was a diminishing role for West, who was best served as a broadcaster rather than a manager.
West held various roles on and off camera in TNA until leaving the company in 2012 and taking a role with the Wenatchee Wild hockey team.
West was brought back to IMPACT in early 2017 as part of the promotion’s merchandise department and was part of the commentary team for Slammiversary that year.
West was a native of Chicago and married his wife Terri in 1992.
Don West was 59 years old and we send our condolences to Terri and all of those affected by West’s passing.
Source: PostWrestling
AJ Styles has issued a statement on his injury status.
The former WWE Champion teamed with Karl Anderson, & Mia Yim vs. Finn Balor, Damian Priest, & Rhea Ripley at Thursday’s house show in Hershey, PA.
It ended shortly after Styles suffered an ankle injury, and he had to be helped to the backstage area.
Styles issued the following statement today, noting that he has a broken ankle but won’t need surgery:
“Just want you guys to know that I’m ok. Broken ankle is what I’m dealing with. No surgery, this just takes some time to recover. This will be the longest I’ve ever been out of the ring. Thanks for the prayers and get well wishes.”
Source: ewrestlingnews
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