The dark main event after last night’s WWE 205 Live tapings at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama saw WWE Champion Daniel Bryan retain over AJ Styles by disqualification. Bryan reportedly cut a strong heel promo, which poked fun at Alabama for losing to Clemson in the College Football Playoff National Championship earlier this month. AJ came back and laid Bryan out, also stopping to celebrate with a young fan in the crowd. AJ then impersonated WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin, switching out the beer cans for water bottles, after hitting a Phenomenal Forearm on Bryan. You can see video from the segment below:
Chris Jericho’s new contract with All Elite Wrestling is reportedly for 3 years, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer said Jericho revealed that this is the best contract of his career.
As noted before, Jericho talked with WWE and AEW up until the last minute, signing his AEW contract just recently. It came down to AEW offering Jericho a better deal. Jericho will be allowed to work New Japan Pro Wrestling and his cruise, which are stipulated in the contract.
It’s no secret that AEW and WWE are getting aggressive when it comes to signing top talents to contracts. AEW is expected to pursue WWE talents when their contracts expire. Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks have friendly relationships with many of the WWE talents, which will help with potential negotiations. One top WWE Superstar who has a contract coming up that they are familiar with is AJ Styles. Meltzer speculated on WOR that Styles has a lot of leverage right now because he’s a top WWE talent and AEW would offer him a significant deal with an easier schedule. Styles is making a lot of money with WWE right now but AEW potentially could beat that. AJ turns 42 this year and if he really wants an easier schedule with good money, he could get that from AEW.
Meltzer noted that no one is in a better position between WWE and AEW right now other than Styles, except for maybe Kenny Omega. Omega’s future has not been confirmed but it’s still believed that he will end up with AEW after his New Japan Pro Wrestling contract expires on January 31.
It was also noted that AEW is offering good money to wrestlers right now. During the recent Double Or Nothing rally, Cody talked about how AEW wanted to change the wrestling economy and how they wanted to pay wrestlers good money because happy, paid wrestlers translates to happy fans. Some of the AEW contracts are totally exclusive but others are being allowed to work elsewhere. AEW officials are wanting to make everything beneficial for all talents. There’s no word yet on what talents like “Hangman” Adam Page are earning from AEW but WWE made a strong offer to Page and he turned them down.
Last night’s Christmas edition of WWE SmackDown closed with a very interesting exchange between Vince McMahon and AJ Styles. You can see video of the segment above.
There’s no word yet on where they’re going with this segment but speculation is that we’ll see a darker side to Styles. The segment ended with The Phenomenal One dropping the WWE Chairman, but only after McMahon slapped Styles in the face.
The backstage segment started with McMahon greeting Styles backstage, which was AJ’s only appearance on this week’s show. This was Vince’s second straight appearance for the blue brand following the “fresh start” that was announced by the McMahon family last week.
WWE made a few edits to the video they released on YouTube, which was missing a few lines from the taped segment that aired on TV tonight. Based on the YouTube video that was released, the exchange went like this:
Vince: I want to know, what’s your name?
AJ: My name?
Vince: I want to know, who are you?
AJ: AJ Styles, The Phenomenal One. Two-time WWE Champ. SmackDown Live… the house that AJ Style built.
Vince: I was thinking about that. If this is the house that AJ Styles built, why aren’t you competing in your house tonight? Why is Daniel Bryan competing in your house tonight? Why is he raising holy hell and you’re back here walking up and down the hallway. I don’t quite get that. See, he’s the new Daniel Bryan. I want to know who the real AJ Styles is. Because, like it or not, we’re a lot alike. You got a black hole in your heart and I know it. But there’s an animal in there, an animal is begging to get out. That animal is eating you alive. You want it to come out, I want to see it. I want to see that animal. Oh yea, I want to see it, AJ. I want to see it, and I’m going to see it.
That is when Vince slapped AJ in the face and the two stared each other down. AJ then fired back and dropped Vince with a right hand. Styles stood over Vince, growling, as officials rushed into the room and Vince barked at them to get AJ out. The video does not show this but a referee asked Vince if he was alright and Vince said he thinks he’s good. SmackDown went off the air with Vince laying on his back, smiling, while looking up at the ceiling.
There were a few more edits made to the video released on YouTube, including Vince commenting on how he has seen WWE Superstars come & go, win their titles and earn their money, only to become complacent and then go home. Vince said he knows that’s not AJ, and that’s when he mentioned that they are alike. Vince also said AJ has a tormented soul, and AJ is afraid to lose control because of what would happen. Vince also said if AJ is harnessing all of this darkness, he will brutalize and terrorize the locker room.
In a surprise end to SmackDown Live this week, Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles for the WWE Championship and will go on to face Brock Lesnar on Sunday at Survivor Series.
SmackDown kicked off with Styles cutting a promo about Lesnar. He was then interrupted by Paul Heyman and later Daniel Bryan. The two wrestlers ended the segment brawling and shortly after a main event title match was confirmed on commentary.
The match took place later in the night and ended after Daniel seemingly turned heel by hitting Styles with a low blow while the ref was knocked out to help him get the win.
After the match was over, he continued his attack on Styles.
Because Daniel is champion, he’s now been confirmed for the champion vs. champion match against Brock Lesnar on Sunday at Survivor Series — similar to last year when Styles defeated Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship.
WWE and JBL took to Twitter this week to congratulate WWE Champion AJ Styles on breaking the record of the longest reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history. Styles is currently #13 on the all-time list and is set to pass CM Punk for the 12th spot in just under 40 days.
WWE Champion AJ Styles, U.S. Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are all set to have their contracts expire in early 2019, according to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. Meltzer noted that they all had signed three-year deals with WWE in 2016, and Styles and Nakamura’s deals expire in January.
Meltzer noted that New Japan Pro Wrestling has “absolute interest” in bringing Nakamura back to the company. With NJPW’s expansion, Nakamura’s name value has increased dramatically since his WWE debut.
The Orlando crowd erupted into cheers at the 2016 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event when Styles made his WWE debut. Styles held the WWE Championship for 140 days before the year was over, giving him a great start to his WWE career. He is still WWE Champion in his second run with the title, and addressed the idea of re-signing with WWE during a March 2018 interview with Raute Musik.
“I don’t see why not if I can do what I do,” Styles said. “Like, if I can still be AJ Styles, then I would like to keep working in the WWE in a talent form. So as long as I can keep going, then I would like to keep working there.”
Daniel Bryan’s WWE contract expires on September 1st.
As noted, it was announced at the WWE 2K19 press conference today that WWE Champion AJ Styles will be featured on the cover of the game, which will be released worldwide for PS4, Xbox One and Windows PC on October 9th.
Below is the full announcement on the game and the Million Dollar Challenge:
AJ Styles unveiled as WWE 2K19 cover Superstar2K unveiled The Phenomenal One as the WWE 2K19 cover Superstar and introduced a brand-new challenge that could make someone $1 million richer.
WWE 2K19 now has a Phenomenal cover Superstar and a path to WWE video game immortality.
2K has named AJ Styles as the cover Superstar of the upcoming edition of the WWE video game franchise. The world-renowned video game publisher unveiled its choice and other details about WWE 2K19, most notably the debut of the Million Dollar Challenge, during a press conference today.
Styles, the two-time WWE Champion who successfully retained his title at Money in the Bank 2018, attended 2K’s press conference. He expressed excitement and gratitude at being chosen for 2K’s highest honor.
“As a hardcore gamer and ambassador of everything it means to ‘Never Say Never’ in both my professional and personal life, it is a dream come true to be selected as the WWE 2K19 cover Superstar,” he said.
The Phenomenal One joins an elite group of grapplers who previously served as the face of the WWE 2K franchise. 2K’s past choices for the coveted role include “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, John Cena, Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins, who graced the cover of last year’s game.
In addition to its cover Superstar selection, 2K introduced the WWE 2K19 Million Dollar Challenge. This competition, introduced by Styles during the press conference, will put players on a path to facing The Phenomenal One for a chance to win $1 million.
To participate in the WWE 2K19 Million Dollar Challenge, eligible players must accomplish four tasks:
* Players must beat a to-be-announced new mode in the game.
* Then, players can submit a promotional video proving they can beat AJ Styles in WWE 2K19.
* From there, four semifinalists will be selected for a semifinal round of competition.
* One player will then earn the chance to compete against AJ Styles one-on-one in WWE 2K19. The prize? One million dollars.
2K will announce more details about the WWE 2K19 Million Dollar Challenge in the months to come. For complete rules including eligbility requirements, please visit: wwe.2k.com/milliondollarchallenge/rules
When they purchase their copy later this year, players will also be able to choose from multiple editions of WWE 2K19. 2K introduced multiple premium editions of this year’s game, which include:
* The WWE 2K19 Deluxe Edition, which contains a copy of the game with special packaging and access to Season Pass, Pre-Order and Collector’s Edition digital content.
* The WWE 2K19 Collector’s Edition, which contains the same features as the Deluxe Edition plus exclusive and rare collectibles, as well as limited-edition WWE SuperCard content.
Additional details about what will be offered in each edition will be announced by 2K this summer.
WWE 2K19 is not yet rated by the ESRB and is scheduled for worldwide release on Oct. 9, 2018.
It was announced that AJ Styles will be on the cover of WWE2K19.
The announcement kicked off with Corey Graves, who introduced an excited AJ Styles. He then talked about being an actual gamer and showed off the new packaging.
AJ also announced the “Million Dollar Challenge” during the presser, which will apparently allow gamers to somehow enter a tournament that will end with a million dollar game against Styles.
The WWE Champion has long stated that being on the cover of WWE2K was on his bucket list. Because of that, AJ says he started dancing after being given the news a few weeks ago.
Ronda Rousey will be the pre-order bonus.
Watch the video of the announcement below:
A commercial was shot this week for WWE2K19 featuring Styles and Rousey.
Rey Mysterio was on-set and seemed to be playing a big part in the advertisement. Mysterio shared a photo on Instagram this week with Jeff Hardy— the location being tagged as Jupiter — and followers with a keen eye noticed it was definitely a recent picture.
WWE Champion AJ Styles may have suffered a MCL injury earlier this month, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Styles and WWE have been quiet about the specifics of the injury that kept him out of the ring for more than a week this month but word going around is that it was related to his MCL.
Seth Rollins tore the MCL in his right knee back in February 2017 but he was still able to make WrestleMania 33, where he defeated Triple H in a match.
Styles returned to the ring at last weekend’s WWE live events but he worked multi-man matches to limit his in-ring participation. Styles did not wrestle again on this week’s SmackDown but he is still scheduled to face Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania 34 in 10 days.
Styles has acknowledged the injury in recent media interviews but he remains confident about being able to put on a show with Nakamura in New Orleans.
“If my leg got cut off I’d find a way to make it to WrestleMania,” Styles told Catch-Newz during a call. “I will be wrestling Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania, don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine.”
Triple H also commented on the injury one week ago when speaking with Catch-Newz. He said, “AJ is working diligently on rehabbing his injuries and getting himself in tip-top shape for WrestleMania. We are trying to help him with that process of getting the best care and the best rehab and everything else possible. We’re hoping for the best. Right now he says he’s feeling a lot better and will be ready to go. Obviously we’ll get him doctors to make sure that he is ready to go and get a medical clearance, if that’s possible. He’s working very hard at it, so we’re hoping for the best.”
WWE Champion AJ Styles is scheduled to return to the ring at weekend SmackDown live events in New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania, according to PWInsider. Styles is booked to work eight-man tag matches, likely as a way to cut down on his in-ring work. Styles will be teaming with The New Day to face Chad Gable, Shelton Benjamin, Rusev and Aiden English.
Styles hasn’t wrestled since working a match against Rusev on last week’s episode of SmackDown Live. He appeared at last Friday’s live event at Madison Square Garden where he was scheduled to team with Nakamura, but an injury angle was done at the beginning of the show to take him out of the match. He missed the remaining SmackDown live events over the weekend, where he was announced as injured. Styles told Catch-Newz earlier this week during a media call that he still planned on defending his title against Nakamura at WrestleMania.
“If my leg got cut off I’d find a way to make it to Wrestlemania,” Styles said. “I will be wrestling Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestlemania, don’t worry about it, it’ll be fine.”
Triple H also spoke with Catch-Newz and said they are working with AJ to get him cleared for the big match in New Orleans, if possible.
“AJ is working diligently on rehabbing his injuries and getting himself in tip-top shape for WrestleMania,” Triple H said. “We are trying to help him with that process of getting the best care and the best rehab and everything else possible. We’re hoping for the best. Right now he says he’s feeling a lot better and will be ready to go. Obviously we’ll get him doctors to make sure that he is ready to go and get a medical clearance, if that’s possible. He’s working very hard at it, so we’re hoping for the best.”
