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Five NXT stars participate in TNA Impact television tapings

By
Colin Vassallo
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NXT stars Sol Ruca, Wendy Choo, Kendal Grey, Carlee Bright, and Arianna Grace were all part of the TNA Impact television tapings in San Antonio, Texas yesterday.

Ruca teamed up with TNA Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace to take on Choo and Rosemary while Grey and Bright wrestled the new TNA Knockouts Tag Team champions Dani Luna and Jody Threat.

Grace is the “liaison” between NXT and TNA Wrestling and already has shared the screen with her father, Santino Marella, who is the on-screen authority figure in TNA.

The relationship between NXT and TNA does not seem to have an end, with both promotions enjoying something different with the exchange of talent.

JBL shows up at MLW’s Fightland event in Atlanta

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former WWE champion JBL continued his tour of showing up unannounced at multiple promotions yesterday, making a surprise appearance during MLW’s Fightland show in Atlanta, Georgia.

Layfield showed up during the CW Anderson and Brock Anderson vs Alex Kane and Mr. Thomas match, decking Thomas with a right hand and then hitting the clothesline from hell. JBL told something to Brock Anderson and then left the ring.

This is the fifth appearance by the WWE Hall of Famer in the last several weeks. He appeared at AAA Triplemania, at TNA Emergence and Victory Road, and at the GCW Homecoming.

Steph De Lander to undergo neck surgery, out for up to 10 months

By
Colin Vassallo
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Steph De Lander will be out of action for the foreseeable future after she announced at TNA Victory Road that she will need to undergo neck surgery.

De Lander was supposed to team up with Matt Cardona to take on PCO and Rhino in a tag team match but the match did not take place.

In a digital exclusive posted yesterday TNA’s Gia Miller reported that De Lander will be sidelined between six to ten months, depending on recovery.

She recently extended her deal with TNA through the rest of the year.

Motor City Machine Guns sign with WWE

By
Colin Vassallo
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PWInsider.com is reporting that the Motor City Machine Guns have officially signed with WWE and are NXT-bound.

The team of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin have tons of titles between them in TNA Wrestling, having won the Tag Team titles three times together and separately, Shelley is a one-time X Division and TNA World champion while Sabin is a 10-time X Division and two-time TNA World champion.

Earlier this week, Dave Meltzer of the Observer wrote that the duo were about to start “imminently” with WWE, with NXT chosen as the brand.

NXT has two important TV shows coming up, the CW premiere on October 1 and the following week on October 8 head-to-head with Dynamite, two potential shows where the MCMG could make their debut.

Collision preview for 09/14/2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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Tonight’s Collision is not live and was taped on Thursday night from the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. A total of seven matches were taped for the TNT broadcast, which airs in its regular time slot of 8PM ET tonight.

Matches include Jack Perry vs Christopher Daniels for the TNT title, FTR vs Grizzled Young Veterans, Wheeler Yuta vs Anthony Henry, Mark Briscoe, Kyle O’Reilly and Hologram vs The Beast Mortos, Tony Nese, and Ari Daivari in a trios match, Bang Bang Gang vs Cage of Agony in a trios match, Yuka Sakazaki vs Serena Deeb, Queen Aminata vs Robyn Renegade, and Private Party and Komander also in action in another trios match.

Collision is coming off from its worst viewership number last week when it aired against Smackdown and an NFL game on a Friday night, with only 157,000 viewers tuning in.

Lyra Valkyria gets engaged

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former NXT Women’s champion Lyra Valkyria is now engaged after her longtime boyfriend, fellow pro wrestler LJ Cleary, popped the question.

Cleary posted on Instagram a photo of rose petals arranged in the form of “Will you marry me” on a bed in a hotel in New York with their photos in the background.

“Yes. 10 years together celebrated by getting engaged to the person I will be spending the rest of my life with, and she is the love of mine,” he wrote.

The 27-year-old Valkyria has been signed to WWE since 2020, first as part of NXT UK, then NXT, and now on the main roster with the Raw brand. Cleary, 25, wrestles mainly for Pro Wrestling NOAH and other indie promotions.

Toni Storm to face Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s title at STARDOM event

By
Colin Vassallo
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Former AEW Women’s champion Toni Storm is gunning for another title, this time in the Land of the Rising Sun as she challenged Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s title at the STARDOM Nagoya Golden Fight on October 5.

Storm showed up via a black and white video in front of a fireplace during today’s STARDOM’s Namba Grand Fight event in Osaka to make the challenge.

“Did you forget about me? Stardom, do you remember who I am? Because I have never forgotten you,” Storm said. “I have done a lot in your land and I will always respect Japanese pro wrestling but there is one thing that I must do: in 2017, I became the World of Stardom champion. Some say it was a mistake. I must prove that it wasn’t. October 5, Nagoya…I challenge you Mayu Iwatani for the IWGP Women’s championship!”

Iwatani has been champion for a total of 508 days so far, winning the title from Mercedes Mone at the Battle in the Valley event in February 2023.

Nightingale and Jericho lose their matches at CMLL’s 91st Anniversary event

By
Colin Vassallo
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Two AEW stars had a rough night at the CMLL 91st anniversary show yesterday, with both Willow Nightingale and Chris Jericho losing their respective matches.

For Nightingale, it was a bit worse as she lost the CMLL Women’s title after she got defeated by Zeuxis following an avalanche powerbomb. The former TBS champion won the title just over 60 days ago at the CMLL x NJPW: Fantasicamania event held in San Jose. The title was up for grabs in a three-way match after then champion Stephanie Vaquer was stripped of it when she decided to join WWE.

Nightingale also just lost to Kris Statlander at All Out last week, making this two back-to-back defeats for the popular star.

Meanwhile, Chris Jericho main evented the show against Mistico but lost the match two falls to one. Jericho got the first fall after Mistico tapped out to the Walls of Jericho but the Mexican luchador had a pinfall victory in the second fall and then submitted Jericho for the third and decisive fall.

Following the match, Big Bill came out and took out Mistico. Before the two-on-one attack continued, Orange Cassidy came out to even the odds and the faces celebrated in the ring.

AEW to present live match ahead of Jacksonville Jaguars home start

By
Colin Vassallo
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AEW logo

AEW will have a presence at the Jacksonville Jaguars opening home game on Sunday and will present a match at Flex Field.

Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month, a two-out-of-three falls match featuring Sammy Guevara and Hologram vs The Beast Mortos and Matt Taven will take place at 11:30AM ET.

Flex Field is the 94,000 square-foot indoor practice area for the Jacksonville Jaguars at the TrEverBank Stadium.

The Khan family owns the Jags and Tony Khan is the Chief Football Strategy Officer for the football team.

AEW did not announce if this match will air on any social media channels.

Report: Motor City Machine Guns to start with WWE “imminently”

By
Colin Vassallo
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Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, collectively known as The Motor City Machine Guns, are expected to start with WWE imminently.

The former multi-time TNA Tag Team champions will be working for the NXT brand, a decision that apparently they preferred. Their in-ring vet status will certainly help many at the WWE Performance Center and it is obviously something they were willing to do rather than go straight to the main roster.

A TV start date has not been locked in but this will be a surprise appearance. NXT has two very important shows coming up, the October 1 premiere episode on The CW from Rosemont and the following week in St. Louis head-to-head with Dynamite.

The two have not wrestled in nearly a month, losing their last tag team match against Evil Uno and Stu Grayson at an indie event in Ontario, Canada.

New Smackdown theme song from Megan Thee Stallion and RM

By
Colin Vassallo
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Smackdown last night opened with a brand new theme song titled Neva Play, a song performed by Megan Thee Stallion featuring South Korean rapper RM of the popular group BTS.

The song was released as a single on September 6, 2024, through Stallion’s own Hot Girl Productions and Warner Music Group.

The 29-year-old Stallion is a wrestling fan and recently Mercedes Mone revealed that she was trying to get Stallion to do something with her in AEW.

Over 15,000 tickets sold for Survivor Series: WarGames 2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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Survivor Series 2024

Ticket tracking service @WrestleTix is reporting that Survivor Series: WarGames 2024 already has over 15,000 tickets sold following yesterday’s general on-sale.

The Rogers Arena in Vancouver is being used in full and currently set up for just over 17,200 tickets. There is no stage as per the seating chart and tickets behind where the stage would be were also on sale.

The cheapest single ticket is CA $300 plus another CA $79 in fees. There are hundreds of seats in Section 300 – the top part of the arena – where they are labeled as Platinum and selling for CA $675 plus CA $129 in fees.

The majority of floor seats are not sold yet simply because prices are super ridiculous, with ringside seats selling for CA $5,000. Row 10 seats next to the aisle are CA $4,000 plus another CA $722 in fees.

With these prices, WWE is surely set to break another arena record in terms of gate revenue, at least for any show in Canada.

Several WWE Hall of Famers appear at Smackdown premiere

By
Colin Vassallo
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Several WWE Hall of Famers and WWE Superstars appeared on the premiere episode of Smackdown on USA Network yesterday night.

Rob Van Dam, Katie Forbes, Vickie Guerrero, Booker T, Sharmell, Michael PS Hayes, Ron Simmons, Teddy Long, William Regal and Bobby Roode were joined by current WWE Superstars Sheamus, Ludwig Kaiser, World Heavyweight champion Gunther, and Damian Priest on the broadcast.

None of them did anything in particular except for posing for the cameras when it was their cue on television.

The broadcast was opened by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

Second NXT on CW show moved from St Louis to smaller arena

By
Colin Vassallo
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The second NXT on CW episode which was taking place from St. Louis has been officially moved to a much smaller location in Chesterfield.

The show was set to take place from the Enterprise Center, but slow ticket sales prompted WWE to move location and its now being held at The Factory at The District.

Around 3,000 tickets only were sold for St. Louis in an arena that can hold 20,000 in a regular setting. The Factory holds a maximum capacity of 3,400. Randy Orton was also scheduled to appear, but it’s not confirmed if he will do this show now that the location has been changed.

Refunds and exchanges are available at all original points of purchase. Tickets for the NXT event at The Factory at The District will go on sale next Wednesday, September 18 at 12 PM CT via Ticketmaster.

Victory Road 2024 results

By
Colin Vassallo
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Here are the results from last night’s Victory Road 2024 which took place live from the Boeing Center at Tech Port in San Antonio, Texas.

PRE-SHOW: Kushida defeated Leon Slater; Hammerstone and Jake Something defeated Eric Young and Steve Maclin.

MAIN SHOW: Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy defeated A. J. Francis and KC Navarro; Mike Bailey defeated Zachary Wentz to become the new TNA X Division champion; Dani Luna and Jody Threat defeated Masha Slamovich and Tasha Steelz to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team titles; Joe Hendry defeated Josh Alexander; Brian Myers and Eddie Edwards defeated Ace Austin and Chris Bey to become the new TNA Tag Team champions; Jordynne Grace defeated Wendy Choo to retain the TNA Knockouts title; Nic Nemeth defeated Moose to the TNA World title.

Huge tag team match signed for Bad Blood 2024

By
Colin Vassallo
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A huge tag team match was confirmed for Bad Blood last night on Smackdown, with Roman Reigns teaming up with former arch rival Cody Rhodes to take on Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu.

The show-long angle saw Smackdown General Manager trying to sign a match after Sikoa requested it. Aldis approached Cody Rhodes first but Cody said that after beating Sikoa, he was done with The Bloodline and that is now Roman Reigns’ problem.

Reigns addressed the crowd in the main event and said that The Bloodline is his business and doesn’t need the help of Rhodes, which prompted Rhodes to come out. After some bickering between the two, Solo and Jacob came out but they were there as a distraction as Tonga Loa and Tama Tonga attacked from behind.

The two faces eventually got the better of The Bloodline this time around and Reigns then picked up the contract and signed it. Cody extended his hand and Reigns handed over the contract and the champion signed it too.

This will be Roman’s first match since WrestleMania XL.

Roman Reigns returns on Smackdown to help Cody Rhodes

By
Colin Vassallo
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Roman Reigns returned on Smackdown last night, coming to the aid of Cody Rhodes after The Bloodline attacked him following the successful WWE title defense against Solo Sikoa inside the steel cage.

With Cody standing tall in the ring, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu came out and climbed the cage to attack The American Nightmare. Cody was getting whooped when all of a sudden, Reigns’ theme hit the speakers to a thunderous ovation.

Reigns took his time to come down the aisle but when he did, he entered the cage, closed the door, and took out The Bloodline. The numbers were not in his favor though and The Bloodline eventually regained the advantage. When Reigns was about to get on top again, Fatu dragged Solo out and then Reigns invited Fatu in the cage. Tonga and Loa took out Reigns again but this time, Cody Rhodes came back to it and helped the OTC recover and get rid of the WWE Tag Team champions.

With The Bloodline retreating, Rhodes and Reigns stared at each other as the segment ended and Smackdown went to a commercial break after 38 minutes.

Tickets for AEW: Grand Slam Australia open to general public

By
Colin Vassallo
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Tickets for AEW: Grand Slam Australia opened to the general public today on Ticketek.com.au with reasonable prices.

There are several levels of tickets which cost $20, $68.20, $94.85, $122.35, $193.20, $263.90, $314.90, and $499.90 for the most expensive ticket. All ticket prices are quoted in Australian Dollars and for comparison sake, a $20 AUD costs around $13.50 USD and the highest-priced ticket would be the equivalent of $335 USD.

There is no big stage set to be used judging from the seating chart published. The 400 Level, 600 Level and some parts of the 700 Level seats are not open and unlikely to be opened in the future unless the company moves over 40,000 tickets. Also, the hard cam section only has few rows of accessible seating open, with the rest closed. The stadium sits 52,000 fans.

AEW: Grand Slam Australia will be held on Saturday, February 15, 2025. This is AEW’s first live event of any kind in Brisbane and in Australia overall.

New Smackdown logo to debut tonight on USA Network

By
Colin Vassallo
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A completely new Smackdown logo will be used for tonight’s premiere episode on USA Network.

The logo features the word Smack in white at the top and Down in blue at the bottom, with the two words sharing the S and D words which are combined and separated by white and blue color.

Leaked footage from inside the Climate Pledge Arena, where the show is being held, shows the new logo on the apron skirt and barricade. The X account @WrestleVotes was the first one to leak the new logo.

The new logo does give a hint of the TKO logo, especially the font used.

First 30 minutes of tonight’s Smackdown to be commercial-free

By
Colin Vassallo
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Smackdown’s premiere on USA Network tonight will have its first 30 minutes commercial-free, meaning the WWE championship match inside a steel cage will be uninterrupted.

The news was announced by Smackdown GM Nick Aldis, similar to what Adam Pearce did with Raw’s first hour being commercial-free for its premiere episode.

Smackdown takes place from the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington, and has Cody Rhodes vs Solo Sikoa for the WWE title in a steel cage match, Kevin Owens and a mystery partner vs Grayson Waller & Austin Theory, and Andrade vs Carmelo Hayes. Nothing else has been announced so far.

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