Impact Wrestling Officially Announces Move To AXS TV

Impact Wrestling has confirmed their weekly show will be moving to AXS TV.

As we previously reported, Anthem Sports and Entertainment — the parent company of Impact — recently purchased a majority stake in AXS TV.

Impact will begin airing weekly on AXS TV following the Bound For Glory pay-per-view, which takes place on October 20th in Chicago. The show will continue to simulcast globally on IMPACT Wrestling’s official Twitch channel.

“Impact Wrestling is a perfect fit for AXS TV’s slate of live sporting events and combat sports content,” said Impact Wrestling President Ed Nordholm. “The newest addition to our growing portfolio of media assets, AXS TV’s audience perfectly aligns with our passionate Impact Wrestling fan base, and this move increases the reach for our weekly program with distribution in over 50 million homes.

“We could not ask for a better home and are excited by the opportunities to work with Mark Cuban and Anschutz Entertainment Group, our partners in AXS TV, to bolster IMPACT Wrestling’s presence in the market, as we continue to deliver action-packed and innovative weekly programming featuring some of the most athletic and gifted stars in the professional wrestling industry.”

Impact Wrestling currently airs on Friday nights on Pursuit. Impact did not officially announce if the show would continue to air on Fridays.

WWE NXT Preview 9/11/19

NXT tonight at 8 ET on WWE Network.

WWE NXT UK Preview 9/11/19

NXT UK, today at 3 ET/8 BST on WWE Network.

Huge NXT UK Tag Team Championship Rematch

After The Grizzled Young Veterans lost the NXT UK Tag Team Titles to Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a Triple Threat Match at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, General Manager Johnny Saint has granted Liverpool’s No. 1 Zack Gibson & James Drake a one-on-one opportunity to regain the titles against new titleholders. Will the Welshmen’s title reign be permanently grounded before it even gets off the ground?

Plus, Tegan Nox makes her highly anticipated NXT UK debut and Jordan Devlin takes on Ashton Smith and so much more.

WWE Reportedly Planning Significant Announce Team Changes

WWE is scheduled to make significant changes to the announce teams, according to @Wrestlevotes.

We’ve noted how WWE is looking to have more brand exclusivity, with everything from announcers to rosters to storylines, after SmackDown premieres on Fox Friday nights on October 4. The announce team changes are set to be made then.

There’s no word yet on the exact commentary team changes, but word is that all shows will be impacted, including RAW. It was also said that the return of the two-man booth is coming.

As noted, there’s been talk of Renee Young becoming exclusive to SmackDown because she will be hosting the FS1 WWE studio show on Tuesday nights. Corey Graves is expected to call either RAW or SmackDown, but not both shows. Nigel McGuinness has left the 205 Live announce team, to call WWE NXT with Mauro Ranallo and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix each week. 205 Live is now being called by Aiden English, Vic Joseph and NXT Superstar Dio Maddin (Brennan Williams) each week.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Kevin Owens Reveals Return To WWE NXT After Being Fired On SmackDown?

As noted, last night’s  WWE Clash of Champions go-home edition of SmackDown Live from Madison Square Garden saw Shane McMahon “fire” Kevin Owens to close the show.

Owens took to Twitter after the show and posted a cryptic tweet that seems to indicate that he may be headed back to the WWE NXT brand.

He wrote, “14-24-20”

Speculation is that each number corresponds to a letter in the alphabet, to spell out N-X-T. They could do a storyline where Owens was fired from SmackDown and RAW, but the ruling doesn’t apply to NXT.

Owens originally made his WWE debut on the NXT brand back in December 2014. He made his last appearance for the black & yellow brand in August 2015, and has been a member of the blue or red brand ever since.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Elias Reportedly Dealing With Legitimate Ankle Injury, Shane Fires Owens

WWE announced yesterday that Elias is injured and will not be able to compete in tonight’s King of the Ring quarterfinals match against Chad Gable on SmackDown from Madison Square Garden.

Elias is reportedly suffering from a legitimate ankle injury, according to PWInsider. The decision to pull him from the ring was made just yesterday.

Last night on SmackDown Elias was replaced by Shane McMahon. In the soryline fued between Shane & Kevin Owens, Shane made Owens the special guest referee and promised to drop his $100,000 fine if he does his job correctly – meaning make sure Shane wins.

In the match, Gable got a quick pin for the win, then Shane made it 2 out of 3 falls, Owens did his best to help Shane with quick counts but in the end Shane tapped out. Shane then attacked Owens and fired him.

WWE 205 Live Preview 9/10/19

Tonight’s WWE 205 Live will take place from Madison Square Garden in New York City with the final hype for WWE Clash of Champions.

* Tony Nese and WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado and Humberto Carrillo

* Jack Gallagher and a mystery partner vs. Akira Tozawa and The Brian Kendrick.

WWE SmackDown Live Preview 9/10/19

Tonight’s WWE SmackDown will take place from Madison Square Garden in New York City with the final hype for WWE Clash of Champions.

* The Undertaker returns to SmackDown LIVE

* Kofi Kingston’s journey brings him back to Madison Square Garden

* Chad Gable looks to continue impressive King of the Ring run against Elias

* Will Roman Reigns pay back Erick Rowan for last week’s surprise attack?

Becky Lynch Comments On Ric Flair Filing To Trademark “The Man”

The current WWE RAW Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch, has reached unparalleled levels of success in WWE’s women’s division after she deemed herself “The Man” last summer. But since then, WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair has taken issue with WWE and Lynch freely using the term to describe Lynch’s character.

Flair has even filed for the name to be trademarked under him, saying that he would be completely fine with Lynch using the term if WWE would pay him while using it.

Lynch has now spoken out to ESPN’s Marc Raimondi about Flair attempting to trademark “The Man” for his own.

“All I can say about Ric is, I like Ric,” Lynch said. “He’s been a good friend to me over the years. We’ll see what happens with that.'”

You can see the full tweet below:

The two first started trading shots on Twitter this past August when Lynch caught wind of Flair’s trademark filing. As seen below, Lynch responded to Flair’s, ‘To Be The Man, You Gotta Beat THE MAN!’, with, ‘I am The Man.’

https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1167665524911816704

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Matt Hardy Would Like To Finish Up WWE Run With “Broken” Gimmick

Matt Hardy seemingly announced his retirement from wrestling last year when he said “It’s time” and had transitioned into a producer role. But Hardy ended up returning to the ring and used that time off as a way to heal up from various injuries from a lifetime in the ring.

At nearly 45 years old, Hardy says he isn’t done wrestling as he explained on the Cheap Heat podcast.

“I feel good. I am excited about getting to work and kicking some ass,” said Hardy. “I am over here just waiting. I’m not someone that wants to sit on the bench; I don’t want to be on the bench. I have a few years left to do this and I want to be a contributor and I want to do something important where I am entertaining people and making money.”

WWE held their first Raw in years from Madison Square Garden last night and that venue is one that is near and dear to Hardy’s heart. He talked about his favorite memories of MSG.

“I have a lot of cool memories at the Garden; one was when tag-team wrestling was really hot with the work that myself, my brother, the Dudley Boys, Edge & Christian put in,” stated Hardy. “One time we main evented at MSG which was a very cool memory for me. We had a four-way tag and if I am not mistaken, I think the four teams were The Hardy Boyz, Edge & Christian, Dudley Boyz, and The Acolytes. Probably my biggest memory that stands out at Madison Square Garden was at the Royal Rumble in 2000 during the Tables Match just because that was a big match for us and a match that after what happened on top of the Ladder Match, it was the beginning and the catalyst for the TLC matches.”

Hardy has won 14 tag team titles in WWE as one half of perhaps the greatest tag team in company history. He also won six individual WWE titles and was asked if there’s anything left for Hardy in WWE.

“I don’t think there’s really one more thing, maybe. I would like to finish my run with WWE as ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy. I think there’s still a lot of money to be made with ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy. I think it’s different; it’s very 2019. I think a great example is The Firefly Funhouse with Bray Wyatt which I am really enjoying. I think he is really extremely intelligent, creative, think-outside-the-box guy and that is why we were such great friends when we teamed. I think he is very creative. What he is doing right now is very masterful. He has dialed in to the hardcore audience and there’s such a good separation between The Firefly Funhouse Bray and The Fiend Bray Wyatt. He knows how to do the duality of the two. I am very intrigued and also super entertained between the two personas,” said Hardy.

Source: Cheap Heat podcast via Wrestling Inc.