AJ Styles Appears On NXT 2.0, Confronts Grayson Waller

AJ Styles showed up at the WWE Performance Center on Tuesday, December 21 … but he wasn’t there for a workout. Instead, “The Phenomenal One” was there to confront the most hated man in NXT; Aussie upstart Grayson Waller.

It all went down on this week’s edition of NXT 2.0 when Styles confronted Waller, who earned the ire of the entire NXT locker room when he interrupted Johnny Gargano’s departure speech a few weeks ago, has been roasting Styles on social media over the last few days. As a result, Styles put Waller on notice and told him to expect a visit soon.

In case you missed it, Waller senselessly attacked Dexter Lumis with a steel chair following Dexter’s victory ver Trick Williams on Tuesday. As Waller gloated from inside the ring, live footage of Styles arriving at the Performance Center appeared on the screen. The arrogant Waller didn’t look perturbed in the slightest.

Following a commercial break, Styles made his way to the ring and came face-to-face with the dude who insulted his hairstyle on Instagram earlier in the week. Waller and Styles went back and forth on the mic, with Styles attempting to bury Waller by pointing out his shallow attempt to get a rub from a bigger star. Waller talked a big game and threatened to “end” the former WWE Champion.

The situation almost got physical, and Waller even took off his shirt in an attempt to goad Styles. When Styles called his bluff, Waller backed down and left the ring, telling Styles that he wants Omos to take care of Styles first.

As you might recall, Omos and AJ split on the latest edition of Raw after AJ loudly chastised Omos and Omos retaliated.

Source: TheSportster

WWE NXT Preview 12/21/21, AJ Styles

Tonight’s WWE NXT 2.0 episode will feature more build for the upcoming New Year’s Evil event.

* AJ Styles appears for new feud with Grayson Waller

* Dakota Kai vs. Raquel Gonzalez in a Street Fight

* Pete Dunne vs. Tony D’Angelo

* Trick Williams vs. Dexter Lumis

* The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. The Creed Brothers

* Von Wagner will appear

NXT 2.0’s Grayson Waller posted a video on Twitter this week in which he mocked former WWE Champion AJ Styles and even stole his phenomenal moniker. Styles responded to the video on Twitter and will seemingly follow up on that via a physical confrontation.

Waller questioned whether he had heard right, tweeting that Styles had better wipe his feet should he dare to show up in NXT tonight. WWE then retweeted Waller’s message, not confirming Styles is going to show up, but effectively doing so by ackowledging the whole thing. It’ll be a welcome break for Styles and a chance for him to be in a ring without having to check Omos isn’t lurking nearby.

WWE RAW Preview 12/20/21

Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, WI.

AEW Will Hold Men’s And Women’s Owen Hart Cups In 2022

It was announced earlier this year that AEW had partnered with The Owen Hart Foundation to honor the late wrestler in a number of ways. Through the creation of exclusive merchandise, the potential of inclusion of Hart in AEW’s upcoming video game, and perhaps most exciting of all, the first-ever annual Owen Hart Cup Tournament. The winner of the tournament will receive a cup called The Owen.

Tony Khan was a guest on Busted Open Radio last week. On the show, the AEW chairman revealed more details about the tournament. In fact, Khan revealed there will actually be two tournaments, one for male wrestlers and another for female performers. Owen’s widow Martha has been working closely with AEW and will present the cups to both winners.

More details about the tournaments were revealed on Rampage on Friday night. Both will be taking place in May 2022 with each final happening at next year’s Double Or Nothing. More details will be announced during next week’s Holiday Bash Dynamite special.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1472585009471107073

The partnership between AEW and the Owen Hart Foundation will finally provide a chance for Owen’s life and career to be celebrated in the pro wrestling sphere. Owen tragically lost his life falling from a zip wire during a WWE PPV in 1999. Martha blames WWE for her husband’s death so has not allowed them to use his name for promotional gain. That includes allowing him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

https://twitter.com/owen_foundation/status/1472313203774222338

Source: TheSportster

AEW Rampage Preview 12/17/21

Tonight’s AEW Rampage will air on TNT from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas.

* Submission Match: Tay Conti vs. Penelope Ford

* The Young Bucks, Adam Cole & Bobby Fish vs. Best Friends (Trent, Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy) & Rocky Romero

* AEW World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix), Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia, The Acclaimed & 2point0

* Dan Lambert returns to AEW

WWE SmackDown Preview 12/17/21

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will air live from the Allstate Arena near Chicago.

Universal Champion Roman Reigns returns to SmackDown this Friday

“The Samoan sabbatical is over this Friday. After taking a week away on a night that saw Brock Lesnar wreak more havoc on the blue brand by attacking Sami Zayn yet again and hunting down WWE Official Adam Pearce to tell him a rather threatening story, Universal Champion Roman Reigns is set to return to Friday Night SmackDown. What will The Head of the Table have in store? How will he respond to The Beast’s latest actions on the road to their championship showdown at WWE Day 1? Find out live on SmackDown this Friday at 8/7 C on FOX!,” WWE wrote in their official preview for tonight.

Indie Star Dani Mo Reportedly Assaulted Backstage At OVW Event

Independent wrestling star Dani Mo was reportedly punched in the eye during a backstage altercation with one of her peers at an OVW show.

At a recent OVW event, independent wrestler Dani Mo was allegedly assaulted backstage during a pre-show meeting. after she broached the topic of some of her peers working while intoxicated.

Indie veteran Facade, who is Dani’s real-life partner, took to social media shortly after the incident to share his side of the story.

“We’re headed back from Louisville right now. During a backstage meeting where “officials asked to leave,” Dani was sucker punched in the eye from behind after speaking up about people getting intoxicated before the show,” Facade tweeted. In a follow-up tweet, Facade said he didn’t want to put anyone on blast but that the incident wasn’t cool.

https://twitter.com/1FACADE/status/1471659207812390913

Later, Dani clarified that OVW was not at fault for the incident and placed the blame solely on the unnamed individual who attacked her.

“I want to make this CLEAR, this has NOTHING to do w/ a company I work for, this insident was out of their hands COMPLETLY. It was w/ 1 particular person. Please do not make assumptions nor bash anyone,” she tweeted.

https://twitter.com/realdanimo/status/1471683769661014019

Dani Mo debuted for OVW back in May and has wrestled for the company 29 times since. She was originally scheduled to face Sierra for the latter’s OVW Women’s Championship at OVW’s Christmas Chaos event on Thursday, December 16. Dani withdrew from that match prior to the event, presumably as a result of the aforementioned backstage altercation.

Ohio Valley Wrestling is a Kentucky-based promotion that is currently owned and booked by businessman Matt Jones and former WWE Superstar Al Snow. The promotion was closely associated with WWE in the late ’90s and early 2000’s when it served as a developmental territory. During its glory days, the promotion was responsible for developing future megastars like Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Batista.

Source: TheSportster

FTR Sets Its Sights On The IWGP Tag Titles As AEW Contracts Wind Down

AEW stars Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler are teasing a potential New Japan run and declaring their desire to challenge for the IWGP tag titles.

FTR members Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have a few very clear-cut goals … but not all of them involve AEW. And if their own words are anything to go by, they’re more than ready to part ways with Tony Khan’s promotion in order to take care of business.

Harwood and Wheeler addressed their future and their current AEW contract status during a recent chat with Brandon F. Walker on Barstool Rasslin‘. The FTR said they want to regain the AEW tag titles next year and they intend to defeat The Briscoes, the stalwart Ring Of Honor tag team they confronted during last week’s Final Battle pay-per-view.

“I think we are going to be the first-ever two-time AEW Tag Team Champions,” said Wheeler. “In 2022, we are going to get the titles back. We are going to have the title run that we should’ve had the first time,” he added. “Rematch with the Young Bucks. Beat the s**t out of The Briscoes. Hold titles everywhere.”

Harwood later revealed that the lads don’t have much time left on their AEW contracts.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen from there. But we have a short amount of time to accomplish what we want to accomplish,” Harwood said, before declaring FTR’s intention to challenge for the coveted IWGP Tag Team Championship at some point.

So far, FTR has been unsuccessful in its attempt to recapture the AEW World Tag Team Championship, but they didn’t manage to win the AAA tag titles from the Lucha Bros on Dynamite a few weeks ago.

Harwood and Cash Wheeler formed a tag team while they were both members of WWE’s developmental roster. For the majority, they were known as The Revival, due to their penchant for an old-school style of tag team wrestling. The duo parted ways with WWE in 2020 and subsequently jumped ship to AEW. They made their AEW debuts on the May 27, 2020 edition of AEW Dynamite.

Source: TheSportster

Impact Wrestling Preview 12/16/21

Tensions are at an all-time high as Hard To Kill approaches! Don’t miss an all-new IMPACT! tonight at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders.

* Before they collide in a Triple Threat World Title showdown on January 8th at Hard To Kill, IMPACT World Champion Moose, Matt Cardona and W. Morrissey will sign the contract for the blockbuster matchup.

* Rohit Raju vs. Josh Alexander 

*  Tenille Dashwood vs. Jessie McKay

* Doc Gallows and Joe Doering vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack

* John Skyler vs. Trey Miguel

* Chris Bey vs. Laredo Kid

* Ace Austin w/Madman Fulton vs. Hernandez w/Johnny Swinger – Before the IMPACT, tonight at 7/6c on AXS TV and 7:30pm ET on YouTube. 

AEW Reportedly Signed Brody King

Top indie wrestler Brody King has reportedly signed with AEW.

King reportedly signed with AEW almost immediately after ROH announced that they were going on hiatus until April 2022 at the end of October, according to Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam. King was then told over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend that the signing was a done deal.

As seen in the tweet below, this week’s Winter Is Coming edition of AEW Dynamite featured a new Malakai Black vignette to tease the debut of a new House of Black member. It’s believed that King will be the new member.

https://twitter.com/AEW/status/1471304754890432519

King and Black are the current PWG World Tag Team Champions. Billed as The Kings of The Black Throne, they won the vacant titles at PWG Threemendous VI on September 26, defeating Black Taurus and Demonic Flamita.

Report: Brody King Signs With AEW, Likely Role Revealed

King began wrestling back in 2015, and has worked for MLW, ROH, NJPW, PROGRESS, EVOLVE, and GCW, among others. He worked for ROH from December 2018 until the company went on hiatus with the Final Battle pay-per-view last weekend. Final Battle saw King lead his Violence Unlimited stable of Homicide, and Tony Deppen with Rocky Romero to an eight-man tag team match victory over EC3, Eli Isom, Taylor Rust and Tracy Williams. King left ROH a one-time ROH World Tag Team Champion and a one-time ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion.

King has been working with NJPW since 2018 due to his ROH contract. There is no word on if the AEW contract will prevent him from working with NJPW moving forward. He last worked for NJPW at the NJPW Strong Nemesis tapings on December 9, going up against Dave Dutra.

Source: Wrestling Inc.