Wednesday, September 26th 2023

Word is that if LA Knight is over COVID by Fastlane he will be teaming with John Cena on the show versus The Bloodline. Knight was supposed to be worked into the feud last week on Smackdown but was pulled from the show due to his illness.

Liv Morgan spoke with Muscle and Health and confirmed she is currently injured when speaking about her diet: “My diet has actually been a huge work in progress. I love desserts, I love pasta. I love to indulge. I’d like to say I eat clean 90% of the time, with 10% indulgence lapses, but the real numbers are more like 70/30. It took me a while to fully understand that proper fuel makes for better athletic performance. I know that’s common sense, but to have the willpower to act on that at 2 am when you’ve got a 4-hour drive to the next show is really difficult. The only places that are open are fast food outlets a lot of the time. I’m actually out injured right now and aside from healing up, my focus has been on my nutrition, so it’s been really exciting honing in on that. I want to come back in the very best shape of my life, so right now, I am eating clean, tons of fresh fruits and veggies. I’m basing my carb intake on the amount of physicality and energy I expend each day. I do believe life is about balance, though, so I still order a cheeky little dessert with dinner sometimes.”

Here is a video of Dominik Mysterio interacting with fans before Raw this week:

Here is the latest episode of Chamber of Horrors with Shotzi and Scarlett:

Slam’s John Powell has some of your streaming schedules for October:

Netflix

Amazon Prime

Arrow

Peacock

Paramount+

Disney+

Hulu

Shudder

In case you missed it, here is the Brian Pillman Jr. promo from a great episode of NXT last night:

Tuesday, September 25th 2023

Some news on Becky Lynch’s memoir: ‘The Man Not Your Average Girl”. It will be released next year on March 26th by Gallery Books. The book is described as: “By age seven, Rebecca Quin, now known in the ring as Becky Lynch, was already defying what the world expected of her. Raised in Dublin, Ireland in a devoutly Catholic family, Rebecca constantly invented new ways to make her mother worry—roughhousing with the neighborhood kids, hosting secret parties while her parents were away, enrolling in a warehouse wrestling school, nearly breaking her neck and almost kneecapping a WWE star before her own wrestling career even began—and she was always in search of a thrilling escape from the ordinary…Culled from decades of journal entries, Rebecca’s memoir offers a raw, personal, and honest depiction of the complex woman behind the character Rebecca Quin plays on TV.”

 

Impact Wrestling has announced that Throwback Throwdown 4 is set for November 11th at the Don Kolov Arena at Battle Arts Academy in Mississauga, Ontario.

The Von Erich bio-pic The Iron Claw will be released in theaters on December 20th.

On his Reality of Wrestling podcast Booker T had this to say about Matt Riddle: “There is only so much that is going to be tolerated. It catches up to you. You become a liability. I was not shocked or surprised this happened. You put yourself in a position for something to happen. Nine times out of ten it will happen.”

Ricky Steamboat himself has revealed that the reason he appeared on AEW Collision recently was a request from CM Punk to work him into Punk’s angle with Ricky Starks.

It appears that the WWE and Hulu have agreed to a short-term contract extension.

Brooke Hogan has explained her absence from her father’s wedding with a post on Instagram: “For my own journey to healing and happiness, I have chosen to create some distance between myself and my family, and am focusing on people and things that heal my heart and align with my own personal beliefs, goals, and values. I wish him well.”

Word is that Wardlow could be following Jade Cargill to the WWE.

Here is what you will see on NXT tonight:

  • Butch and Joe Coffey to square off in the NXT Global Heritage Invitational Final
  • Carmelo Hayes and Ilja Dragunov to sign their No Mercy NXT Title Match contract
  • Eddy Thorpe to battle Dijak in a Strap Match
  • Gigi Dolin and Blair Davenport set for highly anticipated collision

Here is what you will see on NWA Power tonight:

  • NWA Champion EC3 vs. Jay Bradley.
  • NWA Tag Team Champions Blunt Force Trauma vs. Mike Knox & Trevor Murdoch.
  • NWA United States Tag Team Champions Talos & Daisy Kill vs. Brothers of Funstruction.
  • Chris Adonis vs. Blake Troop vs. Mims vs. Jordan Clearwater – Winner earns NWA TV Championship match.
  • Kamille vs. Madi.

Monday, September 25th 2023

The on-going court battle between WWE/Endeavor and Panini, which produced WWE cards, had a little news today. The court in New York City denied WWE’s request for a temporary restraining order to delay the case. On the Panini side, WWE products have been removed from Panini’s release schedule for the rest of the year, though WWE product is still for sale on its website.

Eddie Kingston has revealed that he has signed a four year deal with AEW.

Kayfabe News announced they’re making a documentary about referees (and no, it’s not a joke).

Sheamus hasn’t been on WWE much lately because he is dealing with shoulder injury.

Mariah May has made a big splash since joining Stardom. Word is her contract is over and could be heading to AEW.

Apparently, only 5,000 tickets have been sold for AEW’s WrestleDream which is scheduled to for this Sunday. The Climate Pledge Arena can seat between 17,000 to 18,000 people.

Want to know what’s new to stream this week? Slam’s John Powell has your calendar here.

Hirooki Goto suffered an injury at yesterday’s Destruction in Kobe event and will be missing some scheduled dates. Taichi has also asked for a leave of absence and will be missing some future dates.

NJPW has announced some matches for Royal Quest III on October 14 in the Copper Box in London. Will Ospreay will face Zack Sabre Jr. Shingo Takagi and Tomohiro Ishii will battle. NJPW STRONG and ROH World Champion Eddie Kingston will defend both titles against ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata. Yota Tsuji will take on Luke Jacobs. El Desperado will face Trent Seven.

Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White had these words to say about Matt Riddle in a recent interview: “Matt Riddle did an interview before that fight where he said ‘I smoke weed so that I don’t beat my children’. Then, he tests positive for it. He’s a f—–g moron. That’s why he’s not here.”

Sunday, September 24th 2023

Word is that Sami Callihan could be finishing up with Impact Wrestling soon.

Happy birthday to Stephanie McMahon, who turns 47 today. Also celebrating is WWE superstar Sonya DeVille, who turns 30.

On his YouTube channel Rick Boogs had this to say about his WWE release: “It’s been an interesting time in my life with my job in WWE being terminated due to a backstage political power play, at least that’s my opinion of it. But now is not the time to talk about that. I will get into detail about that when the time is right.” What could it all mean?

AEW has updated its WrestleDream card. Here is the current line-up for next Sunday’s event:

  • Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Hangman Page vs. Swerve Strickland
  • AEW Tag Team Champions FTR defend against Aussie Open
  • ROH Tag Team Champions Adam Cole & MJF defend against The Righteous (Vincent & Dutch)
  • NJPW Strong & ROH World Champion Eddie Kingston defends both titles against ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata
  • TNT Champion Christian Cage defends against Darby Allin in a two out of three falls match
  • TBS Champion Kris Statlander defends against Julia Hart
  • Will Ospreay, Konosuke Takeshita and Sammy Guevara vs. Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Chris Jericho

Saturday, September 23rd 2023

PCO is exiting Impact Wrestling in October.

The new Sukeban promotion has put their debut event on YouTube for free.

Hulk Hogan got married for the third time on Friday. Hogan’s wife is Sky Daily. A friend told The Daily Mail: “It was a low key wedding. Neither of them wanted over the top, just a small affair with their nearest and dearest to declare their deep love and commitment to each other. Sadly Brooke did not show up.”

Word is that the WWE is thinking about moving Raw to another night to avoid competing with Monday Night Football in future.

Gable Steveson returned to NXT last night at a live event in Florida. He partnered with the Creed Brothers to defeat Charlie Dempsey, Damon Kemp and Myles Borne.

The thought behind Riddle’s release is that he “burned through too many second chances” during his time with WWE. An old interview with CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has resurfaced in which White runs down Riddle after he left the company.

LA Knight missed Smackdown last night because he has COVID. He was supposed to team up with John Cena to fend off The Bloodline. The AJ Styles angle was thrown together at the last minute.

Here is what you will see on AEW Collision tonight:

  • Texas Death Match: Ricky Starks vs. Bryan Danielson
  • AEW TNT Champion Luchasaurus vs. Christia Cage vs. Darby Allin.
  • Rob Van Dam & FTW Champion Hook vs. Angelo Parker & Matt Menard.
  • AEW Tag Team Champions FTR  vs. The WorkHorsemen.
  • Jay White vs. Andrade El Idolo.
  • Willow Nightingale vs. Julia Hart.

Friday, September 22nd, 2023

Author Brian R. Solomon announced that Bret Hart would be writing the foreword to his upcoming biography on Gorilla Monsoon (which we wrote about in March).

Word is that Becky Lynch will be wrestling Zoey Stark in a dark match at Smackdown tonight.

If you’re a fan of comic books, or wrestling, or comic books about wrestling, consider contributing to Michael Kingston’s Kickstarter and secure your copy of Headlocked: Tales From The Road Volume 3 today!

Norman Rockwell by Doug Hills Headlocked Comic cover variant

 

 

WWE has released some more live event dates:

 

Dakota Kai and Zelina Vega’s new YouTube series debuted today:

The temporary restraining order hearing in the case of WWE vs. Panini is scheduled for today, Friday, September 22, at 2:45 PM EST.

WWE PANINI HEARING

 

Variety has a massive story breaking down the UFC and WWE merger. You can check it out here.

The WWE Playlist this week is pretty fun:

Want to know what’s new to stream this weekend? Slam’s John Powell has your calendar here.

Here is what you will see on Smackdown tonight:

  • John Cena to appear on SmackDown
  • IYO SKY to defend the WWE Women’s Title against Asuka
  • Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar vs. The Street Profits

NXT stars Brooklyn Barlow and Ikemen Jiro have also been released from WWE/NXT.

Thursday, September 21st, 2023

Hulu has a message for its customers:

Speaking of streaming services if you wish to know what’s coming in October Slam’s John Powell has these calendars available so far:

Taya Valkyrie is the guest of AEW’s Unrestricted podcast. You can check it out here.

Word is that there could be NXT releases this evening.

Here are this week’s Rampage spoilers:

Sting & Darby Allin defeated Luchasaurus and Christian Cage.*Hangman Page & The Young Bucks defeated The Gates of Agony and Brian Cage to win the ROH Six Man Tag Team titles.

Sammy Guevara, Konosuke Takeshita and Don Callis came out for a promo which ended in a brawl with Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega.

Julia Hart defeated Skye Blue.

The Righteous defeated The Best Friends, The Kingdom and Matt and Jeff Hardy to earn a ROH Tag Team title match at Wrestledream.

AEW Trios Champions The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn defeated Evil Uno & Alex Reynolds & John Silver.

Jon Moxley suffered a concussion during his match with Rey Fenix last night. Fenix wasn’t booked to win the AEW International Championship.

Adam Cole was also injured when he jumped off the entrance ramp and landed on his ankle.

This year’s CZW Tournament of Death has been postponed until Saturday, October 7th. In an announcement, promoter DJ Hyde said that the event date had to be changed due to inclement weather. “… we wanted to ensure that does traveling from out of town are able to properly make necessary arrangement. We also wanted to make sure that we can put on the best show possible for the fans and on tape. We sincerely apologies for the inconvenience.”

Anyone who already has tickets will be given a photo-op and meet and greet with the ToD competitors and the trophy at the event. Refunds are available for anyone who cannot make the new date through Eventbrite or by contacting CZW.

Happy birthday to legendary tag team star Ricky Morton, who turns 67 today. Today would have been the 82nd birthday of the late great Jack Brisco.

Wrestler Sabrina (Doris Williams Whitlock) posted a health update on Joyce Grable to Facebook: “I was able to visit Joyce in the hospital for a few minutes on Tuesday. She’s still very weak, has pneumonia and several other things going on. She’s still going through more tests. I told her you all were concerned and she asked everyone to keep her in your prayers.”

At AEW Grand Slam on Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY, Tony Khan was out before the show started and hinted that there might be a pay-per-view at the venue down the road.