NXT did 647,000 viewers for the show headlined by AJ Styles vs Grayson Waller. That is down 38,000 viewers from the New Year’s Evil episode. The show did 0.14 in the 18-49 demo, down 0.02 from last week as well. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Tammy “Sunny” Sytch is back in jail after she was arrested this morning for unlawfully possessing a weapon and making terrorist threats according to TMZ.COM.
Sytch was taken into custody in Keansburg, New Jersey and booked into county jail at 11AM. She had three charges against her, two for illegally possessing a weapon which TMZ says it does not appear to be a firearm and one for terrorist threats.
In New Jersey, the weapon charges carry up to five years prison sentence if convicted and the threat carries up to another year.
Sytch and jail seem to go hand in hand as she was arrested around half a dozen times in the past, mainly for driving under the influence. She did spent eight months in jail in 2018 before she was released again.
The WWE Hall Of Famer runs a very successful OnlyFans account with nearly 100,000 likes on her profile.
PCO, whose career took off again a few years ago in Ring of Honor, has signed with Impact Wrestling according to Pat Laprade.
Laprade noted that PCO’s deal will allow him to work with other promotions but Impact will always take first preference when it comes to dates. Laprade broke the news during his French-speaking podcast Les Anti-Pods de la Lutte.
PCO, who is now 54 years old, appeared with other former ROH stars during Saturday’s Hard To Kill pay-per-view. This is not the first time that PCO worked for Impact. He briefly worked there in 2003 and then in 2005 worked as part of the French broadcast team, doing commentary for Impact.
He is a former WWE Tag Team champion with Jacques Rougeau as The Quebecers and is a former ROH World, Tag Team, and Six-Man Tag Team champion as well.
Charlie Haas, who made his Impact Wrestling debut during the weekend tapings in Dallas, Texas, issued a statement over the injury he suffered in his first match with the promotion.
Haas wrestled Josh Alexander in the main event of the Sunday night tapings and suffered a concussion when he slipped after his head caught Alexander’s head and the rope simultaneously.
Hass called the incident one of those “freak wrestling accidents you can’t explain” and thanked the Impact management and roster for their great care and attention they showed to him.
“I can’t say enough good things & I truly look forward to working with them again in the near future. I just wanted everyone to know I will be just fine, and contrary to some reports, Charlie Haas is not dead,” Haas wrote.
He added that his appearance on the show lit a new fire in him and for the first time in over five years he will be taking bookings in 2022.
“There are a ton of crazy & unique matchups happening these days & I want to be a part of it all,” Haas said.
Speaking on The Bellas Podcast, Nikki and Brie Bella discussed the news of being in the Royal Rumble this year.
“I officially got cleared,” Nikki said. She noted how she went to her surgeon and there were a lot of people in the room, which made her feel special, but hoped that all those people would be there to give her the good news that she got cleared.
“I’m going in to win, I have unfinished business with Charlotte and I never had business with Becky,” Nikki continued.
She wondered how cool it would be if she wins and then gives the middle finger to both champions and tell them that she wants to go for the Women’s Tag Team titles with her sister instead.
Brie said she’s getting in shape by not having any alcohol this month and said that the way she was taken out in the first-ever women’s Rumble was not very nice.
“I don’t even remember,” Nikki joked, before Brie warned her that she better watches her back as well.
The Bellas Podcast airs on SiriusXM’s Stitcher. Listeners can subscribe to The Bellas Podcast on Stitcher, the SXM App, Pandora, and all major podcast listening platforms.
Wrestling shows have been on TV for decades but the growth of the sport over the last few years has led to many new shows, each of which has its own focus and specialty. For wrestling fans, finding a good wrestling TV show can be akin to achieving top Thunderbolt casino bonuseswith live action, good commentators and plenty of additional entertainment.
Some of today’s best wrestling shows on television include:
WWE Raw
WWE Rawairs on the USA Network every Monday night and features Raw brand characters in live action, scripted wresting matches which are played out to live audiences. The show originally made its debut in 1993 and over the years has attracted a dedicated audience.
Monday Night Raw is WWE’s flagship broadcast and is the longest running weekly episodic television show in history with 52 new episodes every year. Unfortunately, viewership has been declining for the past several years and the show now averages 1.7 million viewers, down from the 5 million+ it drew during the height of the Attitude Era.
WWE Smackdown
Smackdown made its debut in 1999 and was considered as the “B” show for several years before its eventual move to FOX a few years ago. The home of the blue brand now hosts Universal champion Roman Reigns, Charlotte Flair, Brock Lesnar, and some of the biggest names in WWE.
Ever since it moved to FOX, Smackdown has been the top WWE show with the most viewers. It consistently ranks #1 in the 18-49 demo among all television networks every Friday night.
Miz & Mrs
The show Miz & Mrs gives an exclusive glimpse into the luxurious lifestyle of married WWE Superstars, The Miz, Maryse and their family. It airs on E! and it was recently renewed for its third season.
The new 10-episode season three will start airing in the beginning of 2022 and will continue to focus on their crazy life, back home and on the road with WWE.
AEW Dynamite
WWE enjoyed a free ride with no competition since 2001 when they bought out WCW but in 2019, All Elite Wrestling came in play, stealing some of WWE’s biggest stars in the process. Dynamite faced competition from NXT but NXT retreated and changed nights last year, leaving wrestling fans with one show on Wednesdays.
Now, with stars such as Kenny Omega, CM Punk, Hangman Page, Adam Cole, Britt Baker, Bryan Danielson, Chris Jericho, Malakai Black, and many others, All Elite Wrestling is giving WWE a run for the money when it comes to production of wrestling shows.
Dark Side of the Ring
All isn’t fun and excitement in the world of pro wrestling and the Dark Side of the Ring documentary television series points that out through focus on controversial events and subjects that have occurred in the real world of professional wrestling. Thus far there have been 3 seasons.
Episodes have focused on topics such as mysterious deaths, use of steroids, rivalries, cocaine use, domestic violence and shoot fighting brawls. Some of the subjects included The Ultimate Warrior, Chris Benoit, Owen Hart, Road Warriors, Fabulous Moolah, and others.
The series prompted the 2021 Dark Side of Football series which premiered in May.
Celebrity DeathMatch
There are no new episodes of Celebrity Death Match being filmed right now but viewers who want to enjoy a parody of sports entertainment programs can watch some past episodes of Death Match on Paramount+.
Celebrity Death Matchis a top-motion claymated series made for adults in which various celebrities are depicted engaging in professional wrestling matches. In the series, which received a large amount of criticism for it’s violence, combatants were portrayed employing weapons and fighting abilities that resulted in gory physical injuries to opponents.
The show was popular among MTV audiences for awhile but interest waned. A 2006 revival drew a decent-sized audience but the new episodes didn’t sustain interest and subsequent plans to get it going again faded.
Wrestler Unstoppable
If you’ve become a little tired of watching wrestlers and wrestler-themed content, you may want to play Wrestler Unstoppable, a fun-filled, action-packed game in which you create and customize your own wrestler, create a training program for your wrestler to build up strength, agility and speed and then put your wrestler-character into competition.
As you play you can earn points and cash, unlock gear and achieve upgrades based on your wins. You can play for titles, tournaments, championships and other competitive engagements.
Lance Archer made his return to AEW last night during Dynamite and made a massive statement by attacking the AEW World champion Hangman Page.
Page was cutting a promo when he was interrupted by Dan Lambert of American Top Team. As Lambert tried to weasel his way to the back, Archer’s theme song kicked in and he stormed out with a chair ready to attack Lambert.
But there was a swerve coming up as Archer decked Page and proceeded to beat him up and finished him off with a Blackout through a chair.
Archer has been out of action since the end of October when he got injured on Dynamite in a match against Eddie Kingston. Archer attempted a top rope moonsault and landed on his head, with his match cut short due to the injury.
He admitted that the injury could have been much worse but thanked all the staff for taking amazing care of him.
Brody King has arrived in All Elite Wrestling and he made his debut last night during Dynamite, quickly re-aligning himself with one of his best friends, Malakai Black.
King, who reportedly signed with AEW last month, helped Black fend off The Varsity Blonds and Penta El Zero M. King was referred to as The Kings of the Black Throne on the broadcast.
The 34-year-old made his pro wrestling debut in 2015 and was part of the Ring of Honor roster, even wrestling in their End of an Era pay-per-view last month. He also wrestles for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
King and Black are friends in real life and are currently the PWG Tag Team champions.
John Cena is back on your television screens starting today but instead on WWE programming, it will be on HBO Max.
Cena will play the leading role in the Peacemaker series, with the first three episodes of the show available together. Episode one will air on the HBO linear service on January 15. The other five episodes will be released weekly running through February 17.
There will be eight episodes in total for the first season. The show is written and directed by James Gunn, who helmed both Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Cena plays the role of Christopher Smith, who is Peacemaker, a merciless killer who believes in achieving peace at any cost. Joining Cena on the show will be Steve Agee, Danielle Brooks, Robert Patrick, Jennifer Holland, Freddie Stroma, and Chukwudi Iwuji.
Filming on the series started in January 2021 in Vancouver, Canada and lasted through July.
Dynamite returns on TBS tonight live from the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina where just under 5,000 fans have bought tickets for tonight’s broadcast.
The show will be headlined by CM Punk taking on Wardlow in what is certainly Wardlow’s biggest match of his career yet. This is in continuation of the feud between Punk and MJF.
Also announced for Dynamite are Hikaru Shida vs Serena Deeb, Powerhouse Hobbs vs Dante Martin, and Sammy Guevara defends his interim TNT title against Daniel Garcia.
We talk a lot about the iconic matches the UFC puts together – when they make current champions fight past champions or when they put two fighters with perfect records against each other. By making the most of MMA betting odds you can have a lot of fun predicting the results of these matches.
Today, however, we wanted to talk about something a little different. We are going to be looking at the debut fights that put past and current champions on the map for the first time.
Frank Mir vs Roberto Traven (UFC 34)
Mir holds two UFC records – (1) most wins via submission in the Heavyweight division, and (2) longest uninterrupted tenure with the UFC, 2001-2016. He was a Heavyweight Championship holder.
Could this have been predicted by watching his debut fight? We think so.
Mir’s debut took place against Roberto Traven at UFC 34. At the time, Traven was a UFC tournament champion. No one expected Mir to win the fight. However, in 1:05 he had Traven in an armbar and his opponent submitted.
Ronda Rousey vs Liz Carmouche (UFC 157)
Anyone who knows a little bit about the history of the UFC will not be surprised to see this fight on this list.
Not only was this the UFC debut for both fighters, but it was the debut of women’s fighting in the UFC.
Many had believed that the pair would be fairly evenly matched and that this fight was going to be quite boring. It was much the opposite.
Rousey forced Carmouche to submit in the first round, taking only 4:59. This was the first of many victories for Rousey in the UFC.
Marcus Brimage vs Conor McGregor (UFC on FUEL TV 9)
In both 2020 and 2021, McGregor was named the highest-paid sports star in the world. This may seem odd to many as he is not currently a UFC champion and he lost his last match. However, McGregor has a huge brand and many spectacular wins under his belt that helped to build this reputation.
His debut was no different.
McGregor knocked Brimage out in 1:08. That night he won “knockout of the night” and took home his first big UFC paycheck. No one had even expected him to be able to compete against Brimage.
Nick Diaz vs Jeremy Jackson (UFC 44)
Diaz had been building a reputation for himself outside of the UFC. He had won his first two professional MMA matches by submission and many were excited to hear that he would be joining the UFC.
Many fighters were dismissive of this reputation and said he would get a real challenge until he fought in the UFC.
Diaz proved them wrong. His fight with Jackson went until the final round. However, Diaz eventually won via submission after he got Jackson in an armbar.
Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir (UFC 81)
Having been an amateur wrestling champion in college, Lenser was determined to prove to the world outside the WWE that he could actually fight. So, he joined the world of MMA and eventually got signed by the UFC.
Mir had upset on his debut fight, so it only seems fair that he would be at the receiving end of the same kind of upset eventually.
The fight lasted through all the rounds and eventually went to the judges. They unanimously crowned Lesner the champion. Unanimous decisions were very rare at the time – so, the win was a huge deal.
Luis Ramos vs. Erick Silva (UFC 134)
Silva was not meant to fight Ramos originally, but his first opponent broke their knee during training and had to pull out.
Silva was instead scheduled to fight fellow Brazilian Luis Ramos. Most expected this to be a quick fight and that Ramos would knock Silva out in the first round.
However, Silva came out swinging and won the fight via knockout in 1:08 minutes.
Silva went on to win the UFC Welterweight title, and his younger brother is also a titleholder in the UFC.
All of these debuts were so iconic that it is hard to pick the best. We do have a soft spot for Ronda Rousey’s debut though. This fight opened up the door for many other female fighters and she created a place for women in the UFC. And, in that fight, Rousey put in an incredible performance.
WWE Raw announcer Corey Graves has been cleared to wrestle after seven long years according to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful. Sapp broke the news on his Fightful Select website today.
The 37-year-old Graves signed with WWE in 2011 and was part of FCW and the early days of NXT until he suffered multiple concussions which put on the brakes on his in-ring wrestling career. His struggles and eventual alternate job offer as a commentator were featured as part of the WWE Breaking Ground documentary series on the WWE Network. He is a former NXT Tag Team champion with Adrian Neville, who now goes by the name of PAC.
Graves announced his in-ring retirement during the NXT Takeover: R Evolution pre-show in December 2014 and joined the NXT commentary team. In 2016 he moved to the main roster where he served as commentator for Monday Night Raw and later Smackdown as well.
He made his in-ring debut in March 2000 and wrestled on the independent circuit for nine years before being scooped up by WWE and has a win against AJ Styles and Cesaro from their indie days.
Fans will be hearing a lot more of AEW announcer Tony Schiavone as he revealed on his podcast What Happened When that he has extended his deal.
His extended AEW contract will now run until 2024 after initially signing a deal in August 2019. He also serves as a senior producer at AEW shows.
Schiavone, synonymous for his work with WCW where he spent 11 years doing commentary, came to AEW from Major League Wrestling where he was doing commentary for the promotion after an absence from professional wrestling for 16 years.
It’s believed that WWE also made a play for him before he signed for AEW but the Virginia native opted to go with the upstart promotion instead. He worked for WWE between 1989 and 1990.
Former IWGP Heavyweight champion “Switchblade” Jay White will be participating in the January 21 and 22 Impact Wrestling television tapings which will be held in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
White has not appeared on Impact since mid last year and appeared at the company’s Slammiversary pay-per-view where he confronted Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows, and Karl Anderson at the end of the show.
The popular 29-year-old from New Zealand is under contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling and is the leader of the Bullet Club faction. White is frequently seen on NJPW Strong, which is taped in the United States, as he has not been traveling to Japan due to the coronavirus pandemic.
White last held the NEVER Openweight title but lost it in November of last year to Tomohiro Ishii. He is the first-ever NJPW Grand Slam champion.
When you hear the word WWE, all that goes through our mind are the greatest wrestlers that have given us performances that have gone on to be evergreen to a typical wrestling fan.
For a wrestler, the biggest and the most important task is to be employed by the WWE and entertain fans with a performance on the biggest stages in the world.
Founded by Vince McMahon, the WWE has gone on to become one of if not the greatest wrestling company of the last few decades. It has gone on to produce wrestling superstars like John Cena, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Triple H and so many more. These stars have gone on to put smiles on the faces of a wide range of people. Whether it’s a young fan that has just seen John Cena defend his world title or the bettors who have gone on the online platform https://www.stakers.com/ca/bookmaker/ to place bets on their favourite wrestlers.
In any case, these wrestlers have one time in our lives that made us either cry from their failure on the biggest stages to putting smiles on faces of their biggest supporters from winning multiple titles and defending those titles.
Here are the Top 5 Greatest WWE superstars of all time.
Note this list can be considered opinionated.
John Cena.
A 16-time champion, the name John Cena has gone on to be a household name after his WWE debut. During most of his wrestling career, Cena also ventured into other creative ideas like starring Hollywood movies that include The Marine, Train Wreck and Suicide Squad to name a few. He also released his debut studio album “You Can’t See Me” while wrestling for WWE.
The Undertaker.
Probably the greatest wrestler from the Attitude Era, The Undertaker was known for his scary dark entrance and antics coupled with laying in a casket as if dead. He was always accompanied to the ring, with his manager the great Paul Bearer, who was always seen with an Urn.
During his tenure with the WWE, The Undertaker won multiple titles, but one of his greatest achievements was headlining five WrestleMania pay-per-views with his 21 straight victories, which was later ended by the Brock Lesnar. The Undertaker retired from professional wrestling in 2020.
Ric Flair.
Ric Flair is regarded by journalists and his wrestling peers as the greatest professional wrestler ever. He has a career which lasted for four decades.
Nature Boy, as he is fondly called, is a 16-time world champion across NWA, WCW, and WWE and was the first two-time WWE Hall of Famer. He was also the first WCW Triple Crown champion.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Arguably the biggest star to come out of the WWE, The Rock wrestled for the organization for eight years before joining Hollywood. With multiple championships to his name, The Rock is considered as probably the greatest star and trash talker to ever grace the WWE ring. He headlined multiple main events across the country and was one of the fans favourite if not the fans’ favourite during his time.
Hulk Hogan.
Regarded as the most famous wrestling star during his time, he entertained fans both in the ring and the television scenes making cameos on TV shows and commercials.
During his career, Hulk Hogan won multiple championships in different promotions that included the likes of WCW and WWF. He is also the leader of Hulkamania and along with Vince McMahon fired the WWF into super stardom in the mid-80s.
The organization and the present WWE stars continue to entertain fans all over the world, week in week out.
Facing the College Football game on ESPN, Raw dropped to 1,633,000 viewers on Monday night, down 83,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
The first hour of the show drew 1,726,000 viewers, then dipped to 1,661,000 viewers for the second hour, before finishing the night with just 1,512,000 viewers. The football game on ESPN drew a massive 22 million viewers head-to-head with Raw.
Raw finished #9, #10, and #12 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demo with 0.40, 0.39, and 0.38 ratings respectively for an average of 0.39, down 0.06 from the previous week. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Professional wrestling company Major League Wrestling (MLW) (MLW Media LLC), filed a lawsuit today against World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE). The federal court antitrust lawsuit is based on WWE’s ongoing attempts to undermine competition in and monopolize the professional wrestling market by interfering with MLW’s contracts and business prospects.
As described in the complaint, WWE pressured third parties to abandon contracts and prospective relationships with MLW. WWE’s misconduct included disrupting every level of MLW’s business, including a major streaming deal for MLW which would have been transformative for the company.
MLW also allege in the complaint that in early 2021, after MLW announced that it was in talks with VICE TV to air MLW programs on VICE TV, a then-WWE executive warned VICE TV that WWE owner Vince McMahon was “pissed” that VICE TV was airing MLW programs, and that VICE TV should stop working with MLW, the VICE TV executive responded that WWE’s conduct was illegal and an antitrust violation, with the WWE executive responding that she could not control McMahon.
“WWE has been wrongfully depriving its competitors of critical opportunities for many years, but its latest conduct has been even more unconscionable,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer. “I think we speak for the rest of the professional wrestling world when we say that this anti-competitive behavior has to stop.”
WWE’s ongoing misconduct has hurt fans of professional wrestling and competition in the professional wrestling industry. Through this lawsuit, MLW seeks to recover its losses due to WWE’s interference and to enjoin WWE from future interference.
The case is captioned MLW Media LLC v. World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. MLW is represented by Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP.
Former WWE champion AJ Styles will be stepping inside the ring tonight to headline NXT on USA Network.
The Phenomenal One will be locking up against Grayson Waller in the climax of their feud so far. Four other matches have also been announced, a rarity when it comes to WWE announcing a full card before a show.
The other matches include Santos Escobar vs Xyon Quinn with Elektra Lopez’s allegiances on the line, Pete Dunne takes on Tony D’Angelo in a crowbar on a pole match, Solo Sikoa wrestles Boa, and Wendy Choo joins Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta to take on Kacy Catanzaro, Kayden Carter and Amari Miller in a six-woman tag team match.
The fourth Chris Jericho cruise Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea which was set to sail on March 14 has been postponed to 2023.
Titled The Four Leaf Clover, the new sailing date has been set to February 2, 2023 and will go through February 6 aboard the Norwegian Pearl, leaving Miami, Florida to Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas.
The reasons behind the postponement were the current coronavirus pandemic and the quick turnaround from the last cruise, which was in October. Demand was less this time around and after getting feedback and looking at options it was decided to have no cruise in 2022 and move everything to next year.
All booked guests were sent an email with next steps today while those who wish to join the 2023 cruise can check out chrisjerichocruise.com for more announcements. Refunds for current customers will be processed till January 25 if you submit a request.
