NWA 74 Night Two Results 8/28/2020

Pre-Show

  • Rhett Titus vs. Doug Williams in a submission match ended in a draw when the allocated time for the contest expired. 
  • Backstage, May Valentine interviewed Austin Idol. Idol hyped up Cyon. 
  • It is revealed that the OGK (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) will be the 11th team in the tag team battle royal for the vacant NWA United States Tag Team Championship.
  • Angelina Love defeated Taryn Terrell using the Botox Injection finisher. Terrell initially rang the bell on her own accord and declared herself the winner. 
  • Mercurio was interviewed backstage by May Valentine. Bennett and Taven interrupted and took over the interview. 
  • Kerry Morton defeated Gustavo with a big knee to the face. 
  • May Valentine interviewed BLK Jeez backstage. 
  • It was revealed that Aron Stevens and Rodney Mack would team up to face JR Kratos and TBA on the main show in a Missouri tornado tag team match. 
  • Natalia Markova, Madi & Missa Kate defeated Jennacide, Taya Valkyrie & KiLynn King in a Queen Bee Match. The winning team went on to compete in an elimination triple threat match. 
  • Natalia Markova defeated Madi and Missa Kate in an elimination triple threat match to become Queen Bee. 

Main Show

* Colby Corino defeated Caprice Coleman in a 2/3 Falls Match.

* The Fixers won a battle royal to win NWA United States Tag Team Titles. There were 12 teams in the match.

Matt Cardona and The Cardona Family were interviewed. Matt claimed he was screwed in the match he lost to Rolando Freeman on Night 1 and claimed he wasn’t 100% after coming back so quickly after the biceps injury. Cardona apologized for what he was going to do to Rolando and said then he would get back the NWA Worlds Title.

* “Magic” Jake Dumas (w/Christi Jaynes) defeated Mercurio.

* Davey Richards defeated “Thrillbilly” Silas Mason (with Pollo Del Mar) by submission to retain the MLW National Openweight Championship.

The NWA’s lead play-by-play announcer Joe Galli proposed to his girlfriend in the ring and she said yes.

Wrestling legends Barry Windham and JJ Dillon were interviewed in the ring by Kyle Davis, the ring announcer. They talked about the history of the NWA for 74 years and thanked the fans supporting professional wrestling as well as the NWA.

* Cyon (w/Austin Idol) defeated Anthony Mayweather to retain the NWA National Championship.

* Pretty Empowered (Ella Envy & Kenzie Paige) defeated The Hex (Allysin Kay & Marti Belle) in a Kingshighway Street Fight for the NWA World Women’s Tag Team Championships. Envy & Paige pinned Belle at the same time after Kay was put through a table outside the ring.

* Homicide defeated Ricky Morton to retain the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Homicide won with a punch to the back of the head. Morton is 65 years old.

* Nick Aldis defeated Flip Gordon. They shook hands. Odinson attacked Gordon after the match, Aldis got involved to save Gordon and then Odinson attacked Aldis as well.

* Pope & Kratos defeated Rodney Mack & Aron Stevens in a Missouri Tornado Tag Team Match.

* Thom Latimer defeated EC3 by disqualification when EC3’s buddies from Control Your Narrative attacked Latimer. EC3 teased a chairshot after the match, but instead he sat on the chair and said something to Latimer. EC3 left with his friends.

* Kamille defeated Max The Impaler (w/James Mitchell) to retain the NWA Women’s Championship.

The NWA President Billy Corgan did a promo in the ring. Billy said that they honor history and make history thanks to the fans. Corgan announced that they will back there next year in St. Louis for NWA 75. Corgan asked for a moment of silence for people in professional wrestling that passed away in the last year. They had a list of names on the screen along with a ten-bell salute. The fans applauded when it ended. It was a nice gesture.

* Trevor Murdoch defeated Tyrus to retain the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship. Murdoch did a low blow that the referee didn’t see followed by Murdoch hitting the top rope bulldog two times in a row for the pinfall win. They shook hands after the match.

Trevor Murdoch did a post-match promo where he seemed like he wanted to put over Tyrus by saying nice things, but Tyrus flipped a table and left to the back. Trevor was frustrated saying he wanted to give the guy a compliment, but he left. Trevor thanked the fans for showing up and left to the back. 

Sources: Wrestling Inc. and TJR Wrestling

Samoa Joe Could Be Returning To AEW Soon

Samoa Joe could be returning to the AEW ring sooner than later, according to PWInsider.

PWInsider reports that the Peacock series “Twisted Metal” has now wrapped shooting, which means Joe could be returning to the ring soon. Based on the PlayStation video games, the series will see Joe in a dual role with Will Arnett as the character Sweet Tooth. Arnett is the voice, while Joe will be the physical appearance of the clown. The series also stars Stephanie Beatriz, Neve Campbell, Thomas Haden Church, and Anthony Mackie.

Joe last wrestled at the ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, where he defeated Jay Lethal. Joe is the current ROH World Television Champion. He has held the title since defeating then-champion NJPW star Minoru Suzuki on the April 13 episode of “AEW Dynamite.”

After his WWE release on January 6, Joe signed with both AEW and ROH. He made his AEW in-ring debut on the April 7 episode of “Dynamite.” He won his debut match against The Acclaimed’s Max Caster and qualified for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Joe made it finals of the tournament but lost against Adam Cole at Double Or Nothing.

Before his AEW debut, he had made his return to ROH on April 1 at Supercard XV, where he saved Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty from Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Supercard XV was ROH’s first event since being acquired by AEW CEO Tony Khan on March 2.

Along with his “Twisted Metal” role, Joe voiced King Shark for the upcoming DC video game, “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Vince Russo says he secretly worked as a consultant for USA Network from 2020-2022

Vince Russo is claiming that he worked as a consultant for the USA Network for the past 2 years.

In a video posted on his YouTube account, Russo says the consulting job lasted from 2020 (just before WrestleMania) until 2022. Russo didn’t go into too much detail on his YouTube channel because he wants his followers to find out more by subscribing to his Patreon account.

Russo said the following on the free version posted on his YouTube account:

“I’ve been keeping a little secret for the last two plus years that I want to talk about on this show. I want to come clean. People tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about. When I start talking about the network, people actually think they know more about the network, and where the network stands pertaining to Raw and its audience and its numbers, than I do. Well, bro, I’m gonna break the news to you on this show. I’ve not said this publicly before from March, pre mania, bro. It was right before Mania in 2020 up until this past Mania in 2022. So basically, bro for two years, I was consulting for the USA Network, bro…”

“For two years, bro, the USA Network paid me very, very, very well. Now, if you want to know how this came about, let’s take a couple of steps back and I will explain this to you. I got in contact with the Vice President at the USA Network who was overseeing Raw, he knew who I was [and] called me back immediately. And we had a long, long, long discussion. And as the Vice President who oversaw Raw…so the first thing he did was he went directly to Vince McMahon….”

“So for two years, two years, I was consulting weekly with the USA Network. For two years, I heard the number and the rating and the viewership and the return on the investment…Don’t tell me I don’t know what the f**k I’m talking about. When it comes to numbers, when it comes to networks. I don’t care if it’s if it’s 1999 or 2020. I know where they stand. I know what they’re looking for. I know what’s acceptable and unacceptable because I had communication with them for two straight years. So don’t tell me I don’t know what the f**k I’m talking about bro when I am working directly with the network that WWE Raw is on.”

In 2021, Russo stated, “After knowing Vince McMahon for 30 years & having great success w/him during my time at WWE–yesterday he & I had our FINAL EXCHANGE. It’s an unfortunate story & sad in many ways, but, Closure is good.” Earlier this year, Russo claimed that Vince McMahon asked for his thoughts on the WWE product. Russo said he offered to work as a consultant for McMahon but he wasn’t going to do it for free. Russo said the following in May 2022: “But I certainly was not gonna do that for free because the product is horrible. I was just looking to help the guy because the product is horrible!”

Source: WrestlingNews.co with credit to Vince Russo

The latest on Sasha Banks and Naomi’s return to WWE

It looks like fans won’t be waiting much longer to see Sasha Banks and Naomi make a return to WWE.

Banks and Naomi reached an agreement to return, now with Triple H running creative. WWE has been waiting for the Women’s Tag Team Title Tournament to play out before bringing them back to television.

The finals of the tournament will take place on tonight’s episode of Raw when Dakota Kai & IYO SKY battle Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah.

During today’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that Banks and Naomi are expected back shortly, while Bryan Alvarez noted that both stars are back on the internal roster.

“Naomi and Sasha Banks should be back any week now,” Meltzer said.

Bryan Alvarez added, “they are back being listed on the roster, so they should be back at any time.”

Source: WrestlingNews.co

[Report] FTR removed from AEW video game

Fightful Select reported that FTR won’t be part of the first version of the AEW: Fight Forever video game.

The former AEW Tag Team Champions originally made it to the “model phase” of the game but were pulled this past Spring. FTR was told of the decision and wasn’t too happy about it because wrestlers being part of video games usually also comes with a significant bonus.

All Elite Wrestling and THQ Nordic announced the game earlier this month.

No official release date is still confirmed, but it is listed as December 31, 2022, on Amazon. The game is available for pre-order on Amazon for PC, Xbox, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch with a price tag of $59.99.

FTR will team up with Wardlow vs. Jay Lethal & Motor City Machine Guns in a trios match at next Sunday’s AEW All Out.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

AEW Rampage Preview 8/26/2022

Tonight’s AEW Rampage episode on TNT was taped earlier this week from the Wolstein Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

AEW President, CEO, General Manager & Head of Creative Tony Khan took to Twitter last night and announced that exclusive backstage footage of CM Punk will air on tonight’s Rampage. The footage will show the aftermath of Punk’s loss to new Undisputed AEW World Champion Jon Moxley on Wednesday’s Dynamite.

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1562982229554315267

AEW has announced the following line-up for tonight’s Rampage:

* Exclusive backstage footage of CM Punk will air, showing aftermath of his loss to AEW World Champion Jon Moxley on Dynamite

* AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill will speak

* AEW TNT Champion Wardlow defends against Ryan Nemeth

* Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo vs. Ruby Soho and Ortiz

* House of Black vs. The Dark Order in a match for the tournament to crown the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions. The winners will face the Best Friends in the next round

* ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli defends against Dustin Rhodes

Backstage News On How AEW Dynamite World Title Match Came About

It’s now been two days since Jon Moxley defeated CM Punk to become Undisputed AEW World Champion in one of the more dominating World Championship matches in recent memory, and as the shock wears off, fans are wondering just how this whole thing came together and what’s happening next. Luckily a new report is here to confirm some details and provide an update on what fans can expect. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer seemed to confirm that another Punk-Moxley match will be happening soon, while also backing up previous reports that revealed a Moxley-Punk TV match wasn’t originally in the cards.

“A rematch between the two will headline All Out on September 4 in Chicago,” Meltzer said. “The announcers gave Punk a backstory of perhaps coming back too soon. He limped out of the ring, and no doubt the story of the Chicago match is that he goes in injured. This was not the original plan as far as doing the television match and this type of match. 

“It wasn’t a ratings ploy, although the timing was such that they definitely wanted to boost ratings, as much as Moxley becoming the real champion as he personally hated the interim thing, and it being a way to tell a different story. Some didn’t like the short match. Others did. Some felt it would hurt doing a PPV rematch just 11 days later, and others felt the nature of how the match was done, being kept short and having an injury, puts more doubt and helps the PPV. Anyway, that answer to at least an extent will be determined shortly after the show.” It’s unknown when the Punk-Moxley rematch will be announced. Exclusive backstage footage of Punk following his loss is scheduled to be shown tonight on “AEW Rampage.”

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 8/26/2022

WWE SmackDown returns tonight to Detroit, Michigan – airing live on FOX at 8/7C.

After it was revealed earlier this week that Gigi Dolin’s injury has taken her out of action, WWE made a major change to the Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament. Toxic Attraction was initially added to the tournament following an injury to Zoey Stark and an unspecified medical issue for Nikkita Lyons, which ultimately saw the “NXT 2.0” team of Stark and Lyons removed from the tournament. Now, instead of finding a second replacement team, WWE has confirmed that it’s scheduled a Second Chance Fatal Four-Way Tag Team Match to find out who will advance to the semi-finals. The semi-finals bout will also happen tonight against Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah, meaning that winning team — Dana White and Tamina, Shotzi and Xia Li, Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop, or Natalya and Sonya Deville — will compete twice in the same evening.

AEW told to down the language by Warner Bros Discovery

Warner Brothers Discovery has given a new directive to All Elite Wrestling.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that “word has gotten to the promotion from WBD that they’d like the language toned down. As best we can tell, they have said nothing about the blood.”

Unlike WWE, AEW does not script its promos but gives bullet points to its wrestlers. Many wrestlers use the words “sh**” and “bi**h during their promos and other curse words.

During his memorable promo on the August 17 episode of AEW Dynamite where he called out Hangman Adam Page, which wasn’t planned, before setting up his match with Jon Moxley, Punk said “sh**” multiple times.

WarnerMedia and Discovery completed a multi-billion dollar merger between the two companies this past April. AEW President Tony Khan previously stated that he felt very good about the future of the promotion and their working relationship with Warner Bros Discovery following a meeting in May.

AEW reportedly takes in just under $45 million annually for its television rights. They will be going into contract talks before their deal expires in 2024.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

WWE Backing Away From Plans To Go TV-14

Any plans by WWE to go TV-14 with their programming are potentially on hold, according to a report. As per PWInsider, while there was some truth to the idea that WWE was considering making their product TV-14, they’ve backed off of those plans, at least for now.

The report notes that the company will not be making the change with its TV rating. WWE Raw on USA and SmackDown on FOX will remain as TV-PG shows for the foreseeable future. This comes after a report in July from Andrew Zarian that an email was sent out among people at the USA Network about Raw becoming a TV-14 show. Future reports noted that the email went out prematurely, and now it sounds like the company has changed their minds altogether.

“WWE will be remaining TV-PG for the foreseeable future on both FOX and the USA Network.” noted Triple H in a company call Thursday morning. The plan seems to be to remain a family-friendly product that can gear its programming towards children not include foul language and blood.

While there will be some fans disappointed that WWE isn’t going to get into some of the more adult content, this isn’t the worst news. With Triple H in charge creatively, the company can still base its storylines on reality and find creative ways to appease the older fans.

So too, some fans believed WWE was only going TV-14 as a response to AEW’s programming and it might not be the best move for WWE to be seen as reactionary. One critique of AEW is that there’s too much blood and foul language for no reason.

The PG audience is a much bigger audience so it makes sense for WWE to cater to it. As for when TV-14 might be back on the table, that could all depend on business and how well or not well things are going for WWE.

Source: TheSportster