AEW Rampage Preview 4/22/22

Tonight’s AEW Rampage episode was taped earlier this week from the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

* Adam Cole vs. Tomohiro Ishii in a qualifier for The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament, the opening match of the night

* Lance Archer vs. Serpentico

* Eddie Kingston vs. Daniel Garcia. Santana, Ortiz and Jericho Appreciation Society members are banned from ringside

* AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill defends against Marina Shafir in the main event

* Tony Schiavone interviews Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland

* Tony Schiavone interviews The Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament participants Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, and Toni Storm

* Appearances by Shawn Spears, Rocky Romero, Jay White, Orange Cassidy, and more

WWE SmackDown Preview 4/22/22

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the MVP Arena in Albany, New York with more build for WrestleMania Backlash.

Impact Wrestling Rebellion 4/23/2022

DATE: April 23, 2022 8:00 pm
LOCATION: MJN Convention Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
AVAILABLE ON: Pay-Per-View, FITE TV

CARD


IMPACT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Josh Alexander vs. Moose (c)

IMPACT KNOCKOUTS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Rosemary vs. Tasha Steelz (c)

IMPACT X-DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Mike Bailey vs. Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel (c)

AAA REINA DE REINAS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Taya Valkyrie vs. Deonna Purrazzo (c)

IMPACT WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP – 8 TEAM ELIMINATION CHALLENGE MATCH
Violent By Design (c) vs. The Good Brothers vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack vs. Heath and Rhino vs. Matt Taven and Mike Bennett vs. TBA vs. TBA vs. TBA

IMPACT KNOCKOUTS WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
The IInspiration  vs.  The Influence (c)

Jonathan Gresham vs. Eddie Edwards

JONAH vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Chris Sabin vs. Jay White vs. Steve Maclin

Pat McAfee Is In Talks With Amazon For NFL “Thursday Night Football” Position [Report]

According to a report, SmackDown commentator Pat McAfee is in talks with Amazon for a position on their “Thursday Night Football” program.

WWE SmackDown commentator and popular sports personality Pat McAfee is reportedly talking with Amazon about a position for their NFL Thursday Night Football broadcasts.

According to a report from Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post, the two sides “have been in discussions about the former NFL punter contributing to” the Thursday Night Football program. Glasspiegel added that there have been talks about having The Pat McAfee Show air on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, though a source told him “nothing has been finalized.”

McAfee, a former NFL punter, played with the Indianapolis Colts from 2009 to 2016. The two-time Pro Bowler retired in 2017 and entered a broadcasting career soon after. In April of last year, WWE brought in McAfee to serve alongside Michael Cole on the SmackDown broadcast team.

FOX held the NFL’s Thursday Night Football program from 2017 to 2021. Last year, the league signed new television deals with ABC/ESPN, FOX, CBS, Amazon and NBC. They recently hired longtime NBC and legendary announcer Al Michaels to serve as the play-by-play man for Thursday Night Football. Well-known ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit will also be part of the Amazon commentary team.

McAfee has also added professional wrestling to his resume, competing in four matches for WWE thus far. Two of them, of course, took place at WrestleMania 38 weekend in Arlington, Texas. McAfee defeated Austin Theory at day two of the show but lost an ensuing bout to WWE chairman Vince McMahon.

McAfee is one of the most followed and beloved sports personalities, so it’s not surprising that Amazon is supposedly interested in bringing him aboard their football broadcasts. McAfee would certainly be a fun addition to a broadcast team that already features two of the most accomplished and legendary football sports commentators in history.

Source: TheSportster

MLW Fusion Preview 4/21/22

The show was taped during WrestleMania weekend in Dallas, Texas at Gilley’s. Fusion streams Thursdays on the MLW YouTube page and FITE TV at 7CT/8ET. The show is replayed Saturdays on beIN Sports at 9CT/10ET.

* Alex Hammerstone vs. Mads Krugger vs. Jacob Fatu in a Triple Threat for the MLW Heavyweight Championship.

IMPACT Preview 4/21/22

It’s the last stop before IMPACT Wrestling’s spring pay-per-view extravaganza, Rebellion! IMPACT! tonight at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders!

* Bullet Club vs. Honor No More

* Violent By Design vs. Decay

* Ace Austin and Mike Bailey battle Trey Miguel and Laredo Kid 

* Fan-favorite tag teams collide when Rich Swann and Willie Mack square off with Heath and Rhino! – Before the IMPACT, streaming this Thursday at 7:30pm ET exclusively on IMPACT Plus, YouTube and Facebook.

AEW’s New Video Game Will Be Called Fight Forever

Within AEW‘s first year, some of those within the company confirmed that work had already begun on the promotion’s first video game. Revealing that information might have been a mistake as at the time, wrestling fans were used to WWE launching a game every single year. Since then, WWE 2K has taken more than two years to work on WWE 2K22, and AEW taking its time over what will be its very first console game is being encouraged.

Even though a recent report suggested the game could be here by September, details about it are still few and far between. However, Tony Khan has finally revealed what the game will actually be called. The AEW owner appeared in front of the in-house crowd for this week’s Rampage taping, revealing to them that the game will be called AEW: Fight Forever. The company filed a trademark for that name last month according to The Wrestling Observer.

Fans at the taping were encouraged to chant Fight Forever so they could be recorded and used in the game, which is pretty cool for anyone in attendance. A number of wrestler chants were also started up and recorded for the games including FTR, Aubrey Edwards, Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, Jeff Hardy, Sting, Adam Cole, and Hangman Page, indicating some of the other wrestlers who will be a part of the roster.

No big surprises there, of course, but perhaps a couple of interesting ones. Cole and Hardy being in the game even though they signed with AEW within the last year. Edwards having her own chant is also a cool inclusion. WWE games don’t tend to use different or even recognizable referees. AEW makes a bigger deal of its refs though, particularly Edwards who is the promotion’s leading official.

AEW’s game finally having a name leans into the reports that it could well be here before the end of 2022, as well as the news that there is now a publisher attached. Very little has been revealed about its gameplay at this point though, and there hasn’t really been anything close to a proper trailer. That might well be coming soon, and perhaps the chants recorded for Fight Forever this week will make a cameo appearance.

Source: TheSportster

AEW and NJPW Announce Crossover Pay-Per-View “Forbidden Door”

AEW, the second-biggest wrestling promotion in the United States, will partner with Japan’s number one promotion NJPW to produce a crossover pay-per-view called “Forbidden Door” in Chicago on June 26.

The announcement was made during last night’s AEW Dynamite. AEW President Tony Khan appeared on the ramp and was soon joined by New Japan Pro Wrestling president Takami Ohbari. TK was about to make the announcement, but the pair of promoters was interrupted by Adam Cole, a man who knows NJPW very well.

Cole appeared on the big screen and announced an event called “Forbidden Door” which will feature talent from both All Elite Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Cole then revealed that he will be going one-on-one with New Japan veteran Tomohiro Ishii on Friday’s Rampage. New Japan roster member “Switchblade” Jay White then joined Khan and Ohbari on the ramp to boast about selling out Madison Square Garden and remind everyone that it’s still the Bullet Club era.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1516942066294607872
https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1516940662838464512

AEW Dynamite Preview 4/20/22

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite on TBS will air live from the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the Road to Double Or Nothing continues.

* The Dynamite debut of Hook vs. TBA

* CM Punk vs. Dustin Rhodes

* Wardlow vs. The Butcher

* Britt Baker vs. Danielle Kamella in a qualifier for The Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament

* Kyle O’Reilly vs. AEW World Tag Team Champion Jungle Boy in a qualifier for The Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament

* Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo in a Coffin Match

* Tony Khan has a “huge announcement” to make

Cody Rhodes Teases The Return Of The Winged Eagle If He Becomes WWE Champion

Two nights after re-debuting in WWE, Rhodes opened the Raw After WrestleMania and declared that the leading reason he returned is to do something his father never could. Win the WWE Championship. Two weeks on from that emotional promo, Rhodes has teased something else should he manage to achieve that goal. Bringing back the winged eagle version of the championship that was retired more than two decades ago.

Rhodes posted a close-up of the iconic WWE Title on his Instagram story, renewing the belief among fans that he will bring it back should he ever become WWE Champion. The winged eagle is one of, if not the most popular design WWE’s richest prize has ever had. Active for a full decade, the title was held by icons including, but not limited to, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold, and The Undertaker.

https://twitter.com/JudahSuper/status/1516600196217683981

Rhodes actually has a history of reviving old title designs in WWE. When he became Intercontinental Champion, the former AEW EVP brought back one of the old title designs, the one with a white strap. Much like the winged eagle, that particular IC Title design is regarded as one of the greatest in WWE history. Needless to say, a lot of people would be very happy if he did the same with the winged eagle at some point in the future.

There are obviously a lot of hoops for Rhodes to jump through before he can even think about rummaging through WWE’s storage facility to find the old title. He needs to become WWE Champion, for starters, which is easier said than done. Roman Reigns is currently the unified champion and who exactly will be the first person to beat him has never been less clear. Should Rhodes beat him, he will then need to convince Vince McMahon to let him change the title design, which might be equally as difficult as winning it in the first place.

Source: TheSportster