Tony Khan Says Surprises Might Be In Store For Tonight’s Dynamite and Rampage

Tony Khan has continued to hammer home that tonight’s AEW Grand Slam event, featuring a live Dynamite and a Rampage taping, will be a major event. 

During his appearance with Busted Open Radio Wednesday, Khan said he might “have a trick up his sleeve” for tonight’s show, and that surprises might be in store for both Dynamite and Rampage.

He said the event is “the closest thing to a PPV on TV we’re going to get.” Khan also noted that the show is a big value to fans in the area and urged them to come to the show. 

Source: EWrestlingNews

Shawn Michaels Rules Title Match Result From 9/13 WWE NXT ‘Can Not Stand’

During Tuesday night’s episode of “NXT,” Shawn Michaels made an announcement regarding the “NXT” North American Championship.

Michaels brought in both Carmelo Hayes and Solo Sikoa to talk about the way the North American Title match ended during last Tuesday’s episode of “NXT.” As noted, per the results of a fan vote, Hayes was supposed to defend the “NXT” North American Title against Wes Lee. However, Hayes and Trick Williams attacked Lee backstage. Before the show ended, Sikoa made his surprise return to “NXT” and defeated Hayes to become the new champion.

“I brought you both here because of the way the match ended last week,” Michaels said. “Solo, I admire you stepping up to the plate, but you competed in a match that you weren’t sanctioned to be in. You weren’t even a candidate for the fans to vote on. Therefore the results of that match can not stand. We need you to hand over the North American Championship. Sorry.”

Michaels also revealed that Hayes will be competing in a Five-Way Ladder match for the vacant “NXT” North American Title at the upcoming Halloween Havoc event. Before losing the title last week, Hayes had been the North American Champion since June 4, when he defeated Cameron Crimes at “NXT” In Your House.

Sikoa is currently part of the “SmackDown” roster and is the newest member of The Bloodline stable. He made his main roster debut on September 3 at the Clash at the Castle event.

Halloween Havoc is set for Saturday, October 22.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

‘White Rabbit’ Easter Egg During WWE Raw Leads To Tantalizing Clues Online

Recently, “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane has been played at WWE events. Whether it is during commercial breaks during episodes of “Raw” and “SmackDown” or during breaks in the action at non-televised live events, Grace Slick’s voice has been heard ringing out across arenas where WWE is present. The song is accompanied by an ominous red light, which has led to speculation that this is all signaling that “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt is making his return to WWE soon.

Well, Jefferson Airplane and red lights returned to WWE once again during Monday’s “Raw,” as “White Rabbit” was played over the speakers again and it was joined by the signature red lights. WWE also added something special for the fans watching on TV. During a backstage segment involving the youngest Mr. Money in the Bank in WWE history, Austin Theory, a QR code could be seen in the background. Scanning this QR code takes you to a video on WWE.com featuring a white rabbit.

“Feed Your Head” is seen in the animation, joined by the rabbit. “Feed Your Head” is also the ending lyrics in the song “White Rabbit.”

The rabbit then jumps into a hole and into a game of hangman, with a clue for the game reading, “Who killed the world?” The rabbit jumps across the letters until it successfully solves the puzzle by guessing the letters that spell out the answer: “You did.”

There’s more. The first five letters that the rabbit guesses are D, followed by E, then M, and O and N. This, of course, spells out “demon.” D and O were the only successfully guessed letters by the rabbit before it jumped to X, I, U, and Y, to finally reveal the answer to the game.

The font used to write the words, “You did” matches the same font used on one of Wyatt’s old t-shirts.

There’s more to the animation after the puzzle is solved. It apparently teases that something, or someone, is coming to “SmackDown” Friday night. The rabbit flashed around text that switched from “9.23” and “9:23.” The numerals also flashed white and blue, the same colors as the famous “SmackDown” logo.

https://twitter.com/WrestlingNewsCo/status/1572027833102520321
https://twitter.com/WrestlingNewsCo/status/1572035077311270913

Source: Wrestling Inc. and WrestlingNews.co

WWE NXT 2.0 Preview 9/20/2022

Here is the lineup for tonight’s episode of WWE NXT 2.0 in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center on the USA Network: 

KUSHIDA Off Upcoming NJPW Show Due To Health Concerns

New Japan Pro Wrestling(NJPW) announced that KUSHIDA would no longer participate in an upcoming event in Kumamoto, Japan, tomorrow due to health concerns related to a suspected skin disease. The Japanese star was initially removed from a show last Saturday after coming down with a fever. You can read NJPW’s full announcement below.

KUSHIDA, who was scheduled to wrestle on a non televised live event September 21 in Kumamoto, will miss the event as a precaution due to health concerns.

KUSHIDA was removed from Saturday’s event in Kagoshima after presenting with a fever. After testing negative for COVID-19, he underwent consultation with doctors who diagnosed him with a suspected skin disease.

We apologize to fans who were looking forward to seeing KUSHIDA wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.

The following change has been made to Wednesday’s card.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Tama Tonga, KUSHIDA & Jado vs Jay White, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo ->

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Tama Tonga & Jado vs Jay White, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Taiji Ishimori

Source: EWrestlingNews

WWE RAW Preview 9/19/2022

Tonight’s WWE RAW live from the SAP Center in San Jose, California – airing on USA Network at 8/7C.

Kenny Omega Pulled From AAA TripleMania Over AEW Suspension

AEW EVP Kenny Omega won’t be appearing at next month’s AAA TripleMania event due to his ongoing suspension from AEW.

Omega, along with The Young Bucks, CM Punk, and Ace Steel, have all been suspended from AEW following a confrontation backstage at AEW All Out 2022.

During his Keepin’ It 100 podcast, Konnan confirmed that Omega was meant to be part of the event, but is off the card. He said,

“Omega was gonna headline Triplemania and [AEW] won’t let him go.”

Konnan added that Omega and AEW’s Head of Talent Relations Christopher Daniels have both said he will be unable to make the show.

Matches announced for the October 15 show in Mexico City include Pentagon Jr. vs. Villano IV in a mask vs. mask match.

AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie will defend against Kamille, who is replacing the injured Thunder Rosa.

Source: EWrestlingNews

Trish Stratus Had Emergency Appendix Surgery

WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus is recovering after undergoing emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix.

Stratus recently took to Instagram to share the news, saying that she drove herself to the emergency room after dealing with pains in her abdomen during a ten-hour travel day. She wrote,

“A reminder that if you ever have a nagging pain in your lower right quadrant – do go to emergency…

After a crampy 10 hour travel day on Monday I was working through the pain on Tuesday prepping for an announcement (which I will post tomorrow). I have a pretty high pain tolerance so when what I thought was 💩 cramps but ended up getting pretty intense I drove myself to emergency and turns out my appendix was getting ready to burst – which can be really bad if it happens and like cause death and stuff so I’m really glad I went to check it out, you know to avoid the whole dying thing.

Some takeaways – listen to your body. Dr. Google told me appendicitis was pain in the lower right abdomen, so that’s why it took me a while to think it was that because at first the pain was all across my belly. But after getting another Dr. Google’s opinion (reading another article) I found out it will start as pain across your stomach (also was tender to touch) but as the appendix gets more inflamed the pain will migrate to the right side and continue to to get worse. And boy did it. Turns out it’s an organ that serves no function so good riddance old pal.

Got 3 new scars to add to my body badges and one less organ … recovery hasn’t been too bad so far, definitely manageable. Just wanted to check in! xo

Big thanks to my OR team at @mackenziehealth!!”

Source: EWrestlingNews

Triple H Reveals Survivor Series Will Include Two WarGames Matches

WarGames is finally coming to the main roster.

Triple H has quickly made a number of changes to WWE’s on-air product since being appointed head of creative. From bringing in released stars to giving some who never lost their jobs their names back. Some fans would argue the overall quality of what we see each week on Raw and SmackDown has already been upped considerably too.

The Game is clearly keen to make his mark on what WWE is with him in charge of its creative instead of Vince McMahon as swiftly as possible, and the next way he plans on doing that is via Survivor Series. As first reported by The Ringer, Triple H has revealed there will be two WarGames matches at Survivor Series. One with male Superstars, and another for female Superstars.

https://twitter.com/ringer/status/1571866744599216128

“The tradition of the Survivor Series has ebbed and flowed and changed slightly over time, but this will be similar to that,” Triple H explained. “This will not be Raw versus SmackDown. It will be much more story-line driven. I still look at it as a traditional component to Survivor Series in there because it’s large teams of people competing .”

WarGames lends itself to the Raw vs. SmackDown format, so it’s somewhat surprising WWE won’t be keeping it as simple as a battle for brand supremacy when it brings the two-ring cage to the main roster for the first time. It could be a sign that the battle of the brands at Survivor Series is scrapped entirely despite previous rumors it would remain in place.

Getting rid of the concept altogether would certainly make a lot of sense. Not only does a battle of the brands feel a little redundant when Superstars appear to be able to show up wherever they like, but The Bloodline currently has a lot of the main roster titles. Roman Reigns doesn’t have a World Champion to face on an opposing brand, nor do The Usos have another set of Tag Champions to face. As for WarGames, it’s unclear whether the original format from WCW will return or if Triple H plans on using the tweaked cage without a roof that has been used in NXT.

Source: TheSportster

Backstage Update On Jeff Hardy’s AEW Status

Jeff Hardy has not been seen on AEW television since June following his DUI arrest, and since that time he has been in rehab to recover from his addiction. However, according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the wrestling veteran is expected to be out of rehab soon, and back inside the ring. 

No time frame was given for exactly when he will be leaving rehab, or when fans can expect to see him wrestle again, but it is a major step towards the former WWE Champion making his return to action. His last match took place back at AEW’s Double Or Nothing earlier this year when he and Matt Hardy teamed up to defeat The Young Bucks.

Hardy was arrested for a third DUI on June 13th, and following that Tony Khan suspended him from the company without pay because of his actions. The AEW President also made it clear that he could “only return to AEW upon successfully completing treatment and maintaining his sobriety,” which is what he has been working on ever since.

Jeff was referenced on “AEW Dynamite” this week when his brother challenged Darby Allin to a match, as he spoke about the encounter Allin and Jeff had in the past. Matt also teased an upcoming return for his brother, saying, “we’re getting close to the point where we meet the new Jeff and we figure out his future and what he ends up doing.”

Jeff pleaded “not guilty” to the charge against him, and a pre-trial hearing will be taking place in October in regards to the incident.

Source: Wrestling Inc.