Backstage News On Triple H Planning More Surprises

Since Paul “Triple H” Levesque became WWE’s head of creative, he has wasted little time putting his imprint on the promotion’s main roster, including bringing back several former WWE Superstars. Dakota Kai, Johnny Gargano, Hit Row, Karrion Kross, and Scarlett Bordeaux have all made their returns to the company since Triple H took control following Vince McMahon’s retirement, but that might not be the end of the surprises. 

While fans have speculated about the likes of Bray Wyatt, Sasha Banks, and Naomi all coming back to WWE television, Levesque is reportedly working on other surprises. According to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he has more coming in the future, but they are not the people about whom people are speculating. 

No information was given about who Levesque could be working on bringing to the WWE roster, and whether or not they are former WWE Superstars or talent who have never appeared before, but he is clearly pushing to make big moves to keep the fans engaged.

Braun Strowman’s return to WWE is the latest comback, with the former Universal Champion making his way back on the 9/5 episode of “WWE Raw,” in which he ran through four of WWE’s tag teams. Since then he has appeared on “WWE SmackDown,” taking out both members of the Alpha Academy.

Triple H has also been keeping things fresh on the main roster by bringing talent from “WWE NXT” to the shows, with Dexter Lumis, IYO SKY, and Toxic Attraction getting opportunities to shine.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Bray Wyatt Has Talked With WWE About A Return

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE and Bray Wyatt have had discussions regarding his potential return to the company. 

Meltzer wrote the following regarding the recent talks that have occurred between the two sides. 

“Regarding talk of Wyatt returning, there were definitely talks in that direction. At one point the talks stalled but it was said it was not a dead issue. Talks with him outside WWE had also stalled in the past, as his asking price was well above what other companies were willing to pay.”

While with WWE, the belief was that Wyatt was among the top earners in the company just behind Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. 

Since Triple H took over as head of creative for WWE, he has brought back several stars including Johnny Gargano, Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, and Braun Strowman

Source: EWrestlingNews

AEW Rampage Preview 9/16/2022

AEW has announced the lineup for tonight’s new Rampage episode.

  • ROH TV Champion Samoa Joe defends against Josh Woods
  • Danhausen vs. Ethan Page
  • Darby Allin vs. Matt Hardy
  • Penelope Ford vs. Willow Nightingale

WWE SmackDown Preview 9/16/2022

Tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

  • Fatal 4-Way #1 Contenders Match for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Title: Street Profits vs. New Day vs. Alpha Academy vs. Los Lotharios
  • Logan Paul to appear

WWE Bringing Back The TakeOver Tag For NXT Events Starting At Halloween Havoc

NXT events will be Takeovers again starting in October.

WWE made a lot of changes to NXT almost exactly one year ago. Rebranding the developmental show NXT 2.0 its color scheme was changed, the arena from which it airs was given a makeover, and the majority of the faces appearing every week were new. Tuesday marked the first anniversary of all those changes, and the first indicator that now Triple H is in charge, NXT might return to the old way of doing things.

That indicator came after Solo Sikoa defeated Carmelo Hayes for the North American Title in the main event. Before NXT went off the air, Shawn Michaels’ voice could be heard as the colorful 2.0 logo transformed. Not exactly like the yellow and black of old, but far closer to it than NXT imagery has been for the past 12 months.

A logo change doesn’t appear to be the only way Triple H and HBK are shaking things back up in NXT. Wrestling Observer has also noted the Halloween Havoc event slated for next month now has TakeOver in its name. NXT events were traditionally known as TakeOvers prior to the rebrand, but that was another element that was left by the wayside when it became NXT 2.0.

Halloween Havoc is a WCW event that was revived for NXT in 2020. Even though its revival came before the 2.0 changes, it has never had the TakeOver tag attached since it was previously used as a themed episode in the middle of the week rather than a premium live event at the weekend. That will also change this year as apparently, Halloween Havoc will take place on Saturday, October 22.

The wholesale changes made to NXT last year were done, for the most part, while Triple H was away. The Game was recently asked if there was any truth to the talk that the brand he built from the ground up was altered drastically to punish him for the show losing to AEW in the Wednesday night war. While he rubbished that idea, the changes he and Michaels are making now are evidence The Game wasn’t the biggest fan of what happened to NXT while he was away.

Source: TheSportster

Update On The Status Of Several AEW Suspensions

Earlier this week it was reported that Pat Buck has had his suspension lifted by AEW, and according to Dave Meltzer on the latest “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Brandon Cutler, Christopher Daniels, and Michael Nakazawa are now all in the same position, and are able to return to work. 

The four men were all suspended alongside Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Ace Steel, and CM Punk due to the backstage fight following the post-AEW All Out media scrum, with Tony Khan taking action on everyone that was in the room that night. However, it is believed that those who have had their suspensions lifted were just trying to break up the fight, rather than actually being involved themselves, which is likely why they are all now able to work again. 

AEW is holding a private third-party investigation into the incident to get to the bottom of it, and that is why they were all initially suspended so that could be carried out. But while these four men are now able to work again, the status of the other five is still very much up in the air. 

Buck was the only one out of the four that was backstage at “AEW Dynamite” this week, but both Daniels and Nakazawa are currently in Japan, where they are going to be involved in promoting AEW’s upcoming video game “Fight Forever,” at the Tokyo Game Show. Omega was also going to be involved in that, but while he is in Japan himself it is unknown if he will have anything to do with it. 

Source: Wrestling Inc.

IMPACT Preview 9/15/2022

Eight nights away from Victory Road, the road to Bound For Glory continues on an all-new IMPACT! this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

  • Impact World Tag Team Championship: The OGK (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) (c) vs. Impact World Champion Josh Alexander & Rich Swann.
  • The Good Brothers vs. The Motor City Machine Guns.
  • Impact Wrestling X-Division Championship: Mike Bailey (c) vs. Mascara Dorada.
  • Steve Maclin & Moose vs. Decay’s Crazzy Steve & Black Taurus.
  • Killer Kelly vs. Alisha Edwards.
  • Mickie James vs. Hyan.

The action begins Before the IMPACT, streaming this Thursday at 7:30pm ET exclusively on IMPACT Plus, YouTube and Facebook. After defeating Kenny King in his IMPACT debut, New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Yuya Uemura continues his excursion when he battles IMPACT Wrestling mainstay, Raj Singh.

Tony D’Angelo Reportedly Injured During Wednesday Night’s WWE NXT 2.0 TV Tapings

According to a report from WrestlingNews.co, Tony D’Angelo suffered an injury during Wednesday night’s WWE NXT 2.0 TV tapings. The company taped two weeks worth of shows on Wednesday night.

While there are some conflicting reports regarding the significance of the injury, it appears to be related to his knee.

D’Angelo actually had his match stopped as trainers tended to him at ringside. As of this writing, there’s no word on how long he could be out of in-ring action.

Source: EWrestlingNews

UPDATE:

Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that D’Angelo suffered a legitimate injury, but officials aren’t sure how serious it is yet. 

AEW Dynamite Preview 9/14/2022

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite takes place from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York.

  • “Grand Slam” Tournament of Champions – Semifinals: Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara
  • “Grand Slam” Tournament of Champions – Semifinals: Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson
  • Toni Storm & Athena vs. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. & Serena Deeb
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1570079928808181760

NXT Reverting Back To A “Black & Gold” Logo

This week’s first-anniversary edition of NXT 2.0 concluded with the unveiling of a new logo for WWE’s developmental brand.

The “paint splash” logo for WWE NXT 2.0 appears to be a thing of the past.

Tuesday night’s episode of WWE NXT 2.0 went off the air with a vignette that featured a voiceover by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, who currently serves as the head man in charge of WWE’s developmental brand.

The vignette ended with the current WWE NXT 2.0 logo turning into a new one that reverts back to the “Black & Gold” logo.