AEW Introducing TNT Championship, Title Will Be Determined In Tournament

All Elite Wrestling has announced a tournament will kick off next month to determine the promotion’s first-ever TNT Champion.

The press release states:

AEW announced its first-ever “TNT CHAMPIONSHIP,” a high-stakes, eight-man tournament which kicks off on Wednesday, April 8, on the weekly AEW: DYNAMITE show on TNT. The single-elimination tournament will feature the biggest names in AEW all vying for the inaugural TNT CHAMPIONSHIP belt.

Wrestlers in the first half of the tournament bracket will be revealed this Tuesday, March 31, on AEW’s YouTube show, AEW DARK. The second half of the bracket will be announced this Wednesday, April 1, during the live AEW: DYNAMITE show on TNT.

The TNT CHAMPIONSHIP will culminate with an epic final match at DOUBLE OR NOTHING, AEW’s highly anticipated PPV event on Saturday, May 23, in Las Vegas.

“It’s been a privilege working with Kevin Reilly and TNT to bring fans the best live wrestling show week after week on AEW: DYNAMITE, especially during these tumultuous times,” said Tony Khan, president and CEO of AEW. “I’m glad we’re now able to announce the TNT CHAMPIONSHIP. The first ever titleholder will be determined by an unforgettable tournament that fans will not want to miss, and that our wrestlers will be desperate to win. I’m excited for the announcement of the full bracket live on Dynamite this week. And, it’s only fitting that the champion and the title belt will carry the logo of the globally-respected TNT brand, and that they’ll represent not only AEW but also the great quality programming, massive reach, and storied history in the wrestling business that are all associated with TNT.”

Watch the video announcement on “Road To Dynamite” below.

 

The first four participants in AEW’s upcoming TNT Championship tournament have been revealed.

AEW Dark this week kicked off with Tony Schiavone and Cody Rhodes announcing the first two tournament matches: Shawn Spears vs. Cody and Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin.

Cody reacted to the announcement talking about how the first match is an All Out rematch and how both of his possible second opponents have taken him to the limit as well.

The tournament to crown AEW’s first-ever TNT Champion is set to begin next month and scheduled to culminate at Double or Nothing in Las Vegas on May 23.

The rest of the competitors will be announced on Dynamite this week.

Watch this week’s episode of AEW Dark for the full announcement.

 

 

Source: Pro Wrestling Sheet

WWE RAW Preview 3/30/20

Tonight’s taped WrestleMania 36 go-home edition of WWE RAW will take place from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando with the final red brand hype for next Saturday and Sunday’s big event.

WWE has not announced any matches for tonight’s show, but they have announced several top Superstars who will be appearing to push their WrestleMania 36 matches – The Undertaker, WWE Hall of Famer Edge, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar.

Impact Wrestling Announces More Upcoming Cancellations

AXS.com, the website that handles tickets for Impact Wrestling Rebellion, posted that the April 19 event in New York City is cancelled.

Impact Wrestling has now announced the PPV is indeed not happening due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, Against All Odds on April 17 and the April 24 and 25 TV tapings in Columbus are also not taking place.

Below is Impact Wrestling’s full statement:

As a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, IMPACT Wrestling will not be hosting “Against All Odds” on April 17th in Toronto, the April 19th “Rebellion” pay-per-view event at New York City’s Terminal 5 and the April 24th & 25th TV tapings in Columbus, Ohio. We are monitoring the situation closely and are looking at alternative ways that we can produce the events. All tickets will be fully refunded from point of purchase.The safety of our fans, talent and staff is of utmost importance and we will continue to adjust plans as necessary while still delivering as much IMPACT Wrestling as possible.

As noted, Impact also postponed the Lockdown PPV scheduled for March 28 in Windsor, Ontario, and the March Breakdown event scheduled for March 29 in Belleville, Michigan.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE SmackDown Preview 3/27/20

Tonight’s taped WWE SmackDown on FOX and WWE 205 Live on the WWE Network will air from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando as the Road to a taped WrestleMania 36 continues.

* Bray Wyatt opens the door to The Firefly Fun House

* Alexa Bliss and Asuka look to settle the score this Friday

* The New Day & The Usos put WrestleMania fate on the line

* Drew Gulak collides with Shinsuke Nakamura in a match with major WrestleMania implications

 

205 Live is scheduled to feature Joaquin Wilde vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Tony Nese vs. Oney Lorcan.

Seth Rollins’ Stable Loses AOP Due To Rezar’s Injury

The injury to Rezar of The Authors of Pain has led to a significant change to Seth Rollins’ WWE RAW stable.

Rezar suffered a torn right biceps during the March 9 RAW episode on the USA Network. The injury occurred when Rezar took a crossbody from RAW Tag Team Champion Montez Ford during the eight-man main event of the show, which saw AOP, Rollins and Murphy defeat The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits. Rezar caught the crossbody, but his biceps went out.

There had been speculation on WWE keeping Akam on TV with Rollins and Murphy while Rezar is out of action. In an update, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports this week that right now the decision is to not use Akam without Rezar. As of right now, there are no plans for either of them to appear on TV.

This means the stable with Rollins, Murphy, Akam and Rezar has now been reduced to just the tag team with Rollins and Murphy. There’s no word on if WWE plans to add to the team to make it a faction again while AOP is off TV.

It was also noted that Rezar has already undergone surgery to repair the torn right biceps. This has not been confirmed, but he’s expected to be out of action for 7-8 months, which means AOP may be out of the storylines until after the SummerSlam pay-per-view in August. There was some talk that Rezar may have been able to avoid surgery, which would have had him on the shelf for just a few months, but he ended up going under the knife and will likely be out for closer to 8 months.

Rollins is scheduled to face Kevin Owens in a singles match at WrestleMania 36, during either Night One on Saturday, April 4, or during Night Two on Sunday, April 5. Samoa Joe had been involved in the Owens vs. Rollins feud before he was suspended for 30 days due to his first violation of the WWE Wellness Policy, going against Rollins, but there’s no word yet on if he was brought back at this week’s TV and WrestleMania tapings because his suspension did expire. It could be interesting if they have Joe turn on Owens, putting him in the group with Rollins and Murphy.

At one point AOP had been discussed for a spot in a possible RAW Tag Team Titles match at WrestleMania 36, but that idea was nixed due to the injury to Rezar. As noted earlier in this new report on WrestleMania changes and plans, WWE also discussed champions The Street Profits vs. Angel Garza and WWE United States Champion Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio and Humberto Carrillo, but that idea was also nixed. The red brand tag team titles match at WrestleMania will be Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins defending against Andrade and Garza.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

WWE NXT Preview 3/25/20

Tonight’s taped WWE NXT episode on the USA Network will air from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. The show was taped and will air from a closed set with no crowd due to the coronavirus pandemic.

* Triple H appears with an announcement

* Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa will have to answer to Triple H for their recent brawl at the WWE Performance Center

* NXT Champion Adam Cole shares a special message

* Austin Theory vs. Tyler Breeze

* Roderick Strong vs. NXT Tag Team Champion Matt Riddle

* Ladder Match Qualifier: Candice LeRae vs. Kayden Carter

* Ladder Match Qualifier: Xia Li vs. Aliyah

AEW Dynamite Preview 3/25/20

Tonight’s episode will air live from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida on a closed set. Cody will be special guest announcing with Tony Schiavone.

* Kenny Omega (c) vs. Sammy Guevara (AAA Mega Championship)

* Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc

* Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho to have a one-on-one confrontation

* Luchasaurus vs. Wardlow (Lumberjack Match)

* Chuck Taylor and Trent vs. Pentagon Jr. and Fenix (Parking Lot Street Fight)

WWE Offering Most Of Their Network Content For Free

WWE announced today that they are unlocking a vast portion of the WWE Network library for a limited time.

Starting today, WWE is extending free access to thousands of hours of on-demand content, including every WrestleMania in history, past pay-per-views, original documentaries and more.

The two-night WrestleMania 36 event is only available to WWE Network subscribers. However, this offering allows fans worldwide to watch all of the past WrestleManias as well as every Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and Survivor Series event; every NXT TakeOver and NXT UK TakeOver; and originals such as the entire WWE 24 docuseries, Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions interview show, the recent five-episode WWE Ruthless Aggression series, and its 20-episode predecessor, The Monday Night War series.

Recent episodes of Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown, every episode of WWE Untold, and the A Future WWE: The FCW Story documentary are also included.

To start watching now for free, visit watch.wwe.com and create your account to start streaming on your favorite device.

WrestleMania 36 airs on the WWE Network next Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5 at 7 ET/4 PT.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Tony Khan On This Week’s Special Edition Of AEW Dark, Six Matches Announced

AEW has announced a loaded card for Tuesday’s special double episode of AEW Dark, which premieres at 7pm ET on the official AEW YouTube channel.

The matches were taped last Wednesday before & after the AEW Dynamite episode at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, with no normal crowd. AEW President & CEO Tony Khan took to Twitter today and said the special edition of Dark was taped to give fans something “fun and free” to watch while they’re stuck at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, and as a way to give chances to indie wrestlers who are out of work.

Khan wrote, “With fans at home who deserve fun (and free) wrestling content, we’re streaming a double episode of #AEWDark tomorrow! 6 matches on the card & it will feature top stars from AEW + with many independent wrestlers out of work, we’re giving chances to several of them tomorrow night!”

The following matches have been announced for the show:

* Jake Hager vs. Joe Alonzo

* Kip Sabian vs. Suge D

* Colt Cabana vs. Brandon Cutler

* SCU’s Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels vs. Shawn Spears and Robert Anthony

* Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall vs. Jon Cruz and Matt Sells

* Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss vs. Corey Hollis and Mike Reed

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Planned WWE NXT “Takeover: Tampa Bay” Matches To Air On NXT TV Next Month

The matches originally planned for the nixed WWE NXT “Takeover: Tampa Bay” event will air during NXT TV episodes on the USA Network in the month of April, according to Sports Illustrated.

“Takeover: Tampa Bay” was cancelled when WWE pulled the plug on WrestleMania 36 Week due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was announced today that beginning on Wednesday, April 1, the planned Takeover matches will begin airing on the weekly NXT TV series.

Triple H will appear on this week’s NXT episode to give more details on the planned Takeover matches that will air. As noted, Triple H will also be on this week’s NXT episode to deal with Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano after their recent brawl through the WWE Performance Center.

“Takeover: Tampa Bay” was originally scheduled for Saturday, April 4 at the Amalie Arena.

The only Takeover match made official before the cancellation was the Women’s Ladder Match to crown a new #1 contender to the NXT Women’s Champion, which would be the winner of the WrestleMania 36 match between champion Rhea Ripley and challenger Charlotte Flair. Tegan Nox, Chelsea Green and Mia Yim had already qualified for that match. Candice LeRae vs. Mercedes Martinez was scheduled to be the next qualifying match, but that match was nixed due to schedule changes related to the COVID-19 outbreak. SI notes that potential candidates for the remaining spots would be LeRae and Bianca Belair, or a returning Io Shirai.

Other potential matches to air during the month of April are Ciampa vs. Gargano, The Velveteen Dream vs. NXT Champion Adam Cole, and Finn Balor vs. NXT North American Champion Keith Lee. Dominik Dijakovic and Damian Priest are also potential challengers for Lee.

Stay tuned for updates on the NXT matches that will air in place of Takeover. Below is WWE’s announcement:

Triple H to appear on tomorrow night’s NXT on USA NetworkTriple H will appear on tomorrow night’s edition of NXT on USA Network, as first reported by Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated also reported that several of the matches originally scheduled for NXT TakeOver: Tampa Bay will instead take place over the next few weeks on NXT, starting with the April 1 edition of the weekly USA Network spectacular.

Could The Game’s appearance have anything to do with this news? Tune in to NXT tomorrow night at 8/7 C on USA Network to find out!

 

 

Source: Wrestling Inc.