Tony D’Angelo Suffers Apparent Injury On WWE NXT – Update

Rising WWE Superstar Tony D’Angelo apparently suffered a knee injury during the 9/27 episode of NXT.

The injury occurred during the D’Angelo vs. Wes Lee qualifier match for a spot in the NXT North American Championship Ladder Match at Halloween Havoc. At a crucial juncture in the bout, D’Angelo seemed to seize control after nailing a huge tilt-a-whirl side slam off the ropes, before grounding Lee to the mat with a sleeper hold. Thereafter, D’Angelo charged toward his opponent in the corner, but Lee countered with a drop toehold. After falling face-first into the turnbuckles, D’Angelo immediately clutched his right knee and struggled to get back up on his feet. The referee threw the ‘X’ sign before calling for the bell, awarding the win to Lee by forfeit. D’Angelo was helped to the back by trainers and WWE officials.

Soon after the show was taped on September 14, there were murmurs of D’Angelo suffering a knee injury at the tapings. However, there was no confirmation of the same from WWE or D’Angelo himself. It was believed that WWE might not air the match at all and just give Lee a bye to qualify for the tournament. With WWE airing footage of D’Angelo’s injury, it’s possible they will use the injury as part of a storyline for D’Angelo’s eventual return to action. 

By virtue of the victory, Lee joined Carmelo Hayes and Oro Mensah in the five-man NXT North American Championship Ladder Match at the upcoming Halloween Havoc premium live event. The final two competitors will be decided in the coming weeks. 

As of this writing, WWE has yet to provide an update on the severity of D’Angelo’s injury.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

UPDATE

Tony D’Angelo is said to be better than expected after suffering an injury on this week’s episode.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reports that the issue is not as bad as first feared and he is not expected to undergo major surgery.

The report adds that D’Angelo could be back sooner than people would think.

AEW Dynamite Preview 9/28/2022

AEW Dynamite will air live tonight on TBS at 8/7C, and emanate from the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA.

Saraya to speak

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson in a World Title Eliminator Match

Chris Jericho’s Championship Celebration

Chris Jericho to defend ROH World Heavyweight Title against Bandido

AEW Interim Women’s Champion Toni Storm defends against Serena Deeb

MJF to speak

Tony Khan Reportedly Refusing to Release Any AEW Talent

After an AEW wrestler informed the company that a WWE representative had contacted them about the possibility of returning to WWE, the company reportedly sent an email to WWE co-CEOs Nick Khan and Stephanie McMahon warning them “not to tamper” with their talent.

Malakai Black has now denied the claims that he wanted to be released from his contract after it was later revealed that he had made a request. After Triple H took over creative duties from Vince McMahon a number of months ago, WWE reached out to numerous members of AEW, including Black, FTR, and Swerve Strickland, to inquire about the possibility of returning to the company.

Dave Meltzer revealed the news that AEW President Tony Khan will not be releasing anyone during his appearance on today’s episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.

“Nobody’s getting released, that’s the doctrine. [AEW President] Tony Khan made that very clear I guess in the last couple of days. So now it’s just, [Malakai Black’s] not being released, Buddy Matthews isn’t being released. Now they may be back sooner than before. They were wanting to go and trying to get a way out.

It’s not to say it’s hard and fast, and there’d be no way they’d never give anybody a release. But I think it’s pretty much the deal that if this happened in any other company, would those people get releases, and the answer is no. They signed the contract, so basically now their option is to sit at home – and [Tony Khan] can extend the contract if they sit at home – or wrestle. So now they’re gonna wrestle. He [Malakai Black] waved goodbye and now he’s coming back and he’s gonna blame me.”

“They really came after [Tony Khan], it’s pretty blatant that [WWE] came after so many of the guys. Basically everyone who had worked there, there might be an exception, every name that you would think of that had a previous relationship with Triple H was contacted and told to ‘try and get your release and come in.’ Several went to Tony and said, ‘they’re contacting us we have no intention of going’ and several said ‘we want the release’ and have been told no.”

You can listen to the audio below:

Source: PWMania

WWE NXT Preview 9/27/2022

Here is the lineup for tonight’s episode of WWE NXT in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center airing on the USA Network at 8/7C.

AEW Rampage on 10/7 will air live at 9pm, followed by Battle of the Belts IV

TNT has updated its programming schedule, and a change has been made to AEW’s upcoming TV slate.

AEW will air a live Rampage on Friday, October 7, in addition to taping Battle of the Belts IV at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C.

Originally, Rampage was listed as airing at 9 p.m. ET followed by Battle of the Belts IV at 10 p.m. ET. This would’ve put Rampage head-to-head with the second hour of WWE SmackDown.

TNT now lists Rampage as airing at 10 p.m. ET followed by Battle of the Belts IV airing at 11 p.m. ET on Friday, October 7. The start time for the show is listed locally as 8 p.m. ET. 

Rampage typically airs at 10 p.m. ET on Fridays, while Battle of the Belts has been taped in the past and aired on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. ET.

If the Battle of the Belts special aired on October 8th, it would’ve gone head-to-head with WWE Extreme Rules on Peacock.

Source: WrestlingNews.co

Candice LeRae Returns To WWE On RAW

Former NXT Superstar Candice LeRae made her surprise return to WWE during Monday night’s episode of Raw.  LaRae squared off against Nikki A.S.H. and picked up a win over A.S.H.

This is LaRae’s first appearance on WWE television since May 4, 2021. She took time away from WWE due to her pregnancy. After her contract expired this past May, she was among including her husband Johnny Gargano that were speculated to sign with AEW. Gargano made his surprise return to WWE during the August 22 episode of Raw that took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Malakai Black Denies Reports Of AEW Release, Says He’s Received Death Threats

Malakai Black took to Instagram to make a statement about the recent reports he has been released by AEW.

Black said he will be back soon. He also noted that he has received death threats.

He had previously stated that he had asked for his release, saying that he need time off to recalibrate.

Black said the following in his live statement on Instagram.

“Some people can’t seem to just shut the fuck up and create things that are not there, so I have to go out here again and have a conversation with you guys. So guys, how many times do I have to tell people to not trust people that are not in this business? If you can’t even get the years of my contract right, which is a very minuscule detail, then how are you expecting or how are people expecting these guys to know very intimate and private detailing in regards to my private business? My contract’s not five years, my contract’s never been five years. This is all bullshit, it’s all lies. So you know, I posted a statement and you, of course all of you, have read my statement, because even if you read my statement, it clearly reads that even release is in quotations. Now, if you don’t know what quotation means, it means that the author does not agree with said quote or said word choice. Or it also means that it’s not his wording. Then it is followed by a bunch of multiple things, in regards to my marital stuff, but it even says that my stuff about my conditional release, that it’s false. So how are you guys still thinking like, why are people still writing that I’ve got my release? Guys, I don’t know, why do you trust these people to tell you the truth? Because it’s not true. In a time where I’m supposed to take care of myself and kind of wind down, I have to deal with this kind of stupid bullshit from people who are not in the business and pretending that they are in the business with all their sources. You know, the worst thing about it is, for the past three days, [I’ve been getting] hateful comments and today, even two death threats. Death threats? Death threats? You wish death upon a person because of what someone else had said, and then says that it’s confirmed. It’s not confirmed. Clearly it’s not confirmed. None of it’s confirmed. There’s no confirmation because I haven’t left. That’s what this whole thing was about. I’ve been given time off by Tony to take care of a bunch of stuff. All this stuff has been played up like weeks. All this stuff was weeks ago…

I posted that statement was a summary for you to understand why I’d take some time off. Again, it’s in the statement. It is in the statement. It’s mine-boggling, if this isn’t enough incentive for you to stop believing these people, then I don’t know what is. Because if you were part of this whole mob that, like I said, sending me a bunch of hateful comments based on the words of someone else, then sorry, but you’re dumb. You’re stupid. Does anyone understand that in the time where I’m going through this stuff and I’m kind of dealing with a bunch of stuff in a very productive manner, that exactly doesn’t help, and what I hate about it is that none of these dirt sheets will take responsibility, none of these guys will take accountability and say, ‘Oh shit, we fucked up, I’m sorry. We should have probably not said that. Oh he’s going through some stuff. Maybe we should not. Maybe we should not make all these baseless assumptions because again as it turns out, it’s not true. None of it’s true. Not one single thing of it is true.

So again, if you were part of this mob that felt the need to send me death threats, well, then thank you dirtsheets because they don’t care about my mental health. They don’t care about your mental health. They don’t care about your feelings, they don’t care about my wife, they don’t care about my family. They don’t give a shit. All they want is dumb clicks with stuff that they’re making up. Because they’re tying bridges between things that are no longer there, they’re tying things… that don’t exist. Because they want the narrative to exist. But again, I’m sure, tomorrow there will be a different narrative, and tomorrow it’ll be, ‘Oh, we got the wrong information. Oh we heard it from this. Don’t blame us, we’re just reporting.’ A real person will own up to their bullshit. They will own up to their words and then say, you know what? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. If the words come out of your mouth, then you know, own it. Just own it. Anyway, I would like to very much go back to just working on my stuff, working on my private life, working on getting to the point of feeling good again. So I hope that this puts all this stuff to bed. I am definitely not going to be on my social media for a while because like my god. Again guys, stop believing these things. It is unbelievable. Anyway, I will see you guys in a couple weeks, maybe a couple of months, like I said, I’m only taking some time off. That’s it. Just taking time off. There’s no conspiracy to this. Just taking some time off. Alright. I will see you guys soon. Take care of yourself, stop believing any other narrative. Right now, I debunked it. There’s nothing going on. Don’t believe these people. Don’t write, don’t believe it, nothing. I’m fine, I’m going to be fine. Everything is fine. You’ll see me right back with AEW pretty soon. I’m just gonna take some time. That’s it.

Guys, last thing before I leave, don’t make me some instrument for this while tribalism, us versus them thing because I don’t do that stuff. I don’t do the whole Team AEW versus Team WWE. I don’t play that. To me, this is a business. This is genuinely like a business in the sense that it’s a business, it’s my job, it’s what I do for a living. This is how I’ve made my living for the past 22; 13 years of my life. I’ve been in this business since the 2000s. So thank you for those who have been supportive of me, thank you for your nice messages. Thank you for the people who clearly obviously did my statement and understood from the get-go that that means that I wasn’t released. So again thank you for the support. Thank you very much. Not true if it didn’t come from me. Even that’s said in the statement. If it doesn’t come out of my mouth, it’s not true. Now you’ve known me to be a pretty calm guy for the most part, but this shit is annoying as hell. So again take care of yourself, and we’ll see each other soon. Thank you very much.“

Transcript is courtesy of Fightful.

Source: WrestleView

New White Rabbit QR Code Appears On RAW, Leads To Tiktok Video

A brand new White Rabbit QR code appeared on Monday night’s episode of WWE RAW. The code leads to a TikTok from user _comewithme.

The video features the message “Who killed the world? You did” and features the coordinates 44.244273, 7.769737. These are the coordinates for the location in Prata Nevoso, Italy where the famous “Giant Punk Bunny” used to be. Ryan Satin also noted that when you go into the source code for the WWE.com location of the video, it features the lines “No man is every truly good, no man is ever truly evil,” from Aleister Black’s old WWE theme.

There’s also the number 40701, which is the zip code for Corbin, Kentucky, which is where The Fiend once defended the Universal Championship against The Miz back in 2020. The link to the video on WWE.com features “930YWG” which is the abbreviation for the airport in Winnipeg, which is where SmackDown will be this weekend on September 30.

Source: EWrestlingNews

WWE RAW Preview 9/26/2022

Tonight’s WWE RAW live from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on USA Network at 8/7C.

Will we see the return of “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, who is believed to be behind the White Rabbit QR code teaser videos. Or will will just get another clue

Vice TV Airing “Dark Side Of The Ring” Marathon Ahead Of “Tales From The Territories” Premiere

Vice TV will air a Dark Side of the Ring marathon on Tuesday, October 4th in advance of the premiere of Tales From the Territories that evening at 9 PM EST. 

Tales From the Territories is a new docuseries produced by The Rock and Danny Garcia’s Seven Bucks Products as well as the producers of Dark Side of the Ring. Here is the marathon schedule:

  • 7 AM – Chris Kanyon
  • 8 AM – The Fabulous Moolah
  • 9 AM – The Plane Ride from Hell
  • 10 AM – Herb Abrams
  • 11 AM – Collission in Korea
  • 12 PM – Randy Savage & Elizabeth
  • 1 PM – XPW
  • 2 PM – Dr. D David Schultz
  • 3 PM – Owen Har.
  • 4 PM – Bruiser Brody
  • 5 PM – Von Erichs
  • 6 PM – Chris Benoit
  • 8 PM – Ultimate Warrior