WWE today announced that former Smackdown Women’s champion Bayley has suffered an injury during training and will be out of action for nine months.
Bayley was supposed to get a Smackdown Women’s title shot against Bianca Belair in an I Quit match at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view but obviously that is out of the window now. WWE said that a suitable replacement for the match will be announced tonight on FOX.
The injury has not been specific but considering it’s a nine-month layoff it means that it’s a pretty serious one that will probably require surgery.
Variety is reporting that John Cena has booked a role in an upcoming spy thriller movie titled Argylle.
Argylle will feature Henry Cavill, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine O’Hara, Bryan Cranston, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas, and Dua Lipa as part of the cast.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn, the movie will follow the globe-trotting adventures of a super-spy named Argylle across the United States, London and other locations.
The movie is set to be a franchise with multiple releases in the coming years.
Argylle will start filming next month in Europe although at this point it’s unclear if Cena will be part of the initial filming as he is slated to be part of the build for SummerSlam. Cena is rumored to be taking on Roman Reigns in the main event of the show.
The man who jumped the security rail and tried to storm the ring during Dynamite this ring has threatened to do it again “soon.”
Using the Twitter handle @MuufuhkinMark, the man who has the name as “Fat Bastard” on his profile, tweeted to Jim Cornette asking him how he liked his AEW debut on Wednesday.
“I did this for all of us real wrestling fans, wrestling is no longer a safe space for friends to dance around and play dress up. Reality can hit at anytime, did they think it is going to be f*cking playtime forever?” he wrote in the tweet.
When someone replied saying he should have been taken to jail and someone should have kicked the sh!t out of him, he replied saying he did go to jail but they didn’t have anyone who can kick him. “So too bad, so sad, going to do it again soon…”
MJF also addressed the incident, tweeting, “Keep jumping the guardrail. I’ll keep laughing.” A reply to MJF’s tweet also came from “Fat Bastard,” telling him that he doesn’t have time for mid-card guys like him, calling MJF a “f*cking rookie” and only went to deal with main event-caliber talent like Chris Jericho.
Following a very good advance yesterday during the pre-sale, All Out 2021 on pay-per-view at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, is now sold out.
Taking place on September 5, All Out is the last of three shows taking place in the same location that week with Dynamite and Rampage tapings also being held there on Wednesday and Friday. Tickets for those two shows are still available on Ticketmaster.com.
This is the second time that NOW Arena, formerly known as the Sears Centre Arena, has hosted All Out, with the 2019 event also taking place there in front of a sold-out crowd. The inaugural AEW World champion was crowned during that event.
All In, the event that pretty much led to the creation of All Elite Wrestling, was also there in September 2018.
In a press release issued by ESPN yesterday it was revealed that Sasha Banks and Smackdown Women’s champion Bianca Belair will be appearing at the 2021 ESPYS, joining other star-student athletes and stars to celebrate the best moments from the year in sports.
Banks and Belair were finalists for the WWE Moment of the Year for their match at WrestleMania, becoming the first African American females to headline a WrestleMania. Their appearance likely means that they won the poll as voted by fans. The other three finalists were Bianca’s Royal Rumble win, Edge’s Royal Rumble win, and Bad Bunny’s match at WrestleMania.
The ESPYS will be broadcast live on ABC this Saturday, July 10, at 8PM ET from The Rooftop at Pier 17 at the Seaport in New York City.
The Road Rager episode of Dynamite this week drew a total of 871,000 viewers, down 12,000 viewers from last week’s episode. This was the first Dynamite on the road since the pandemic began. The show did 0.33 in the 18-49 demo, down slightly 0.02 from last week. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Monday Night Raw during the Independence Day federal holiday this week drew an all-time record low of just 1,472,000 viewers on average. That is the lowest ever Raw has done since its inception in 1993. That number is down 98,000 viewers from last week’s show.
Raw started with 1,511,000 viewers, then increased to 1,534,000 viewers in the second hour, before dropping to a record low of 1,373,000 viewers in the third and final hour.
Raw placed #1, #2, and #4 in the top 50 cable chart with 0.42, 0.42, and 0.39 respectively for an average of 0.41. (Ratings credit: SpoilerTV.com)
A male fan tried to storm the ring last night during the beginning of the Jericho/MJF segment and was nearly successful in his attempt.
The intruder managed to step on the apron before a security guard blocked him as Jericho finished his entrance. MJF, who was already in the ring sitting down, stood up and moved towards the ropes while Jericho also took a swing at the individual and then pushed him down.
Ring announcer Justin Roberts also got in on the action and while the intruder was down on the entrance ramp, pulled him by his legs as security secured the man.
The segment then continued without any incidents. You can see cell phone footage from someone at ringside who caught the incident below.
ICYMI: Cellphone footage of the fan who tried to attack Chris Jericho and MJF on AEW Dynamite last nightpic.twitter.com/1wWP0a7mqB
— SkullsMedia.com by GIFSkull (@SkullsMedia) July 8, 2021
Tickets for the All Out week events in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, went on pre-sale today. AEW has four different shows on sale – Dynamite on September 1, Rampage on September 3, All Out on September 5, and a trio combo of all events.
If you are interested in purchasing tickets now, you can use the pre-sale code AEWNOW for all events on Ticketmaster.com.
As expected, all the allocated tickets for All Out were snapped immediately. More tickets will go on sale when the general public sale hits tomorrow at 11AM EST.
All three events that week will be held at the NOW Arena, which already hosted two All Out pay-per-views before.
The Great American Bash episode of NXT drew 654,000 viewers on Tuesday up 18,000 viewers from last week’s episode. The show did 0.18 rating in the 18-49 demo, up from the 0.13 of last week. NXT has failed to crack the 700,000-viewer mark for the past seven weeks and has not seen an increase since moving to Tuesdays away from AEW. NXT went head-to-head with game one of the NBA Finals which drew over 6 million viewers on ABC. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Chris Jericho and MJF will be meeting one-on-one again soon after the two agreed on the stipulations for Jericho to get his rematch against the leader of The Pinnacle.
MJF already has one win over Jericho from Full Gear in November of last year. That win enabled MJF to join The Inner Circle but that partnership did not last very long as MJF double crossed his team mates and started his own faction.
Their match will bring another chapter in this feud which has dominated the AEW programming for the past several months.
In order for Jericho to get to MJF, he will have to beat the remaining four members of The Pinnacle in one-on-one, back-to-back matches. MJF likened this task to Greek mythology Labors of Hercules. After Jericho agreed, MJF said that the match will be official only if he shook his hand.
Jericho proceeded to shake MJF’s hand but as you guessed, he held on tight and hit the Judas Effect to take down MJF.
Deontay Wilder has gotten his wish — a third crack at Tyson Fury. ‘The Gypsy King’ had agreed a blockbuster all-British encounter with Anthony Joshua, a bout that had boxing fans all over the world rubbing their hands with glee.
However, Wilder stepped in, demanding that Fury honours the third-fight agreement in their contract, and after the 32-year-old refused to pay ‘The Bronze Bomber’ the £14 million-purse he was demanding to let the trilogy bout slip, an arbitration case has forced the pair back into the ring.
Given that The Gypsy King was so dominant in victory in their second fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena last year, it’s no surprise that he is the heavy favourite in the Fury v Wilder odds. But he will still need to be wary of the American’s famous hammer blows, which have won him so many fights to date.
So, as we count down the days to the trilogy fight, which will take place on July 24th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, let’s take a look back at three of Wilder’s most brutal knockouts. Read on to find out more!
Artur Szpilka – ninth round KO
Many felt that Artur Szpilka was on the cusp of an almighty upset when he went toe-to-toe with Wilder at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn back in January 2016. The Polish fighter was causing Wilder issues from the off, keeping the required distance to avoid those big punches, whilst landing accurate attacks of his own. In fact, by the end of the eighth round, most had scored the fight in Szpilka’s favour.
However, when Wilder is involved, just one punch can change the fight, and that’s exactly what happened in the ninth round. Forced into the corner, The Bronze Bomber ducked an overhand left from his counterpart, landing a strong right hook of his own on Szpilka’s chin, which left him sprawled out on the canvas. Fury, who was ringside, then entered the ring and the pair squared off for the first time.
Dominic Breazeale – first round KO
After the split decision draw with Fury at the Staples Center in Los Angeles back in December 2018, Wilder returned to the Barclays Center for a bout with fellow American Dominic Breazeale, and The Bronze Bomber was back in knockout form. Breazeale, known as ‘Trouble’, tried to go toe-to-toe with Wilder in the centre of the ring, but he was quickly put on the back foot as Wilder shrugged off his opponent’s early advances and landed some big punches. After being wobbled a couple of times in the opening minutes, Wilder finally put the fight to bed with a left jab followed by a huge right. Breazeale did manage to get back to his feet, albeit a bit wobbly and dazed, but not in time for the referee’s count.
Kelvin Price – third round KO
We’ve had to delve almost a decade into the archives to uncover this brutal knockout, but it was definitely worth it. It was a slow start to the fight, which took place in December 2012 at the Memorial Sports Arena in LA, with Wilder not throwing too many big punches, whilst Kelvin Price’s attacks were even more scarce.
However, in the third round, The Bronze Bomber finally seemed to find his range. He put every ounce of his almighty power into a huge overhand right, which connected perfectly with the side of Price’s face — literally sending him flying into the ropes. The American managed to get back to his feet shortly after the count, but we don’t think he really knew where he was after that punch.
UFC fighters Jorge Masvidal and Amanda Nunes appeared at the Road Rager Dynamite yesterday in Miami along with Dan Lambert, the founder of the world-renowned American Top Team MMA gym.
The three were about to get interviewed by Tony Schiavone before Lambert hijacked the microphone and stepped in the ring to cut a heel promo, running down AEW, its stars, and wrestling in general. Lambert said that if he wants to see good wrestling, he has to put in a VHS tape of Championship Wrestling from Florida and not see this, saying that AEW sucks.
As Lambert ranted on and on, Lance Archer then stormed down the ring with Jake “The Snake” Roberts and knocked him out before delivering the Blackout.
Pre-sale for WWE’s return to Madison Square Garden on September 10 kicks off today at 10AM ET with tickets on sale to the general public starting on Friday, July 9 at 10AM.
If you want to attend the live Smackdown on FOX broadcast from MSG you can use the pre-sale code SOCIAL at Ticketmaster.com to unlock tickets now and get them before they go on sale for everyone.
Madison Square Garden has some COVID-19 rules for attending events at the arena and it is important to note that anyone over the age of 16 will need to be fully vaccinated to attend this show and proof has to be provided upon entry. Your final vaccine dose need to be administered at least 14 days prior to the event. Children under the age of 16 have to provide proof of a negative antigen or PCR COVID-19 test to attend when accompanied by a vaccinated adult.
The IWGP United States title will be defended again on an episode of Dynamite, this time on night one of Fyter Fest next week.
The current champ, Jon Moxley, is set to go one-on-one against Karl Anderson and this will be his first title defense since mid-May. Moxley has not wrestled either in over a month and his last outing in the ring was at Double or Nothing.
This will be Karl Anderson’s first NJPW match since 2016 and he along with his tag team partner Doc Gallows will be part of the NJPW Strong tag team tournament as well. The Good Brothers are currently pulling triple duty, appearing on Impact, where they currently have a contract, AEW, and now New Japan as well.
The man formerly known as Aleister Black in WWE made his AEW debut last night on Dynamite under the name of Malakai Black.
Black showed up during a segment where Tony Schiavone was interviewing Arn Anderson. While Anderson was speaking, the lights went dark and when they came back on, Black was standing in the corner and delivered his Black Mass kick on Anderson, laying him out.
Cody Rhodes then came out to rescue Anderson and while Black at first backed off, he then delivered another Black Mass to Cody.
On commentary, Excalibur said that it’s the man he wrestled 15 years ago in Germany and called him Tommy End, before revealing his new AEW name. “That’s the eyes of a trained killer if you ask me,” said JR as the camera focused on Black’s face.
The fans popped huge for him and chanted “holy sh!t” as Black surveyed the damage he did.
Black was surprisingly terminated from his WWE deal last month and only had a 30-day no-compete clause. His wife, Zelina Vega, has just returned to WWE after she was fired in November.
Tonight’s Dynamite live on TNT carries the Road Rager theme and will take place from the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida.
Five matches have been announced for the show including The Young Bucks vs Eddie Kingston and Penta for the AEW Tag Team titles in a street fight, Cody Rhodes vs QT Marshall in a strap match, Kris Statlander and Orange Cassidy vs The Bunny and The Blade, Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager vs FTR and Wardlow, and the AEW in-ring debut of Andrade el Idolo as he takes on Matt Sydal.
Plus the leaders of The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle – Chris Jericho and MJF – will have a face off.
Tegan Nox made her return on NXT last night, her first televised appearance since the September 23 episode of NXT on USA Network.
On that night, Candice LaRae attacked Nox on her injured knee, forcing Nox out of the NXT Women’s championship number one contender’s battle royal match. A week later, WWE announced that Nox suffered her third ACL tear and would be out of action for an undetermined amount of time.
On NXT last night, the battery level that had been appearing on the show for the past few weeks reached 100% during the women’s tag team title match and when the lights came back up, Nox was there, distracting LaRae, which eventually led to The Way’s defeat.
The Welsh star tore her ACL for the first time before the start of the 2017 Mae Young Classic tournament where she was supposed to be a part of. She returned in mid-2018 and was announced for that year’s tournament but she was unlucky again as she tore her ACL, MCL, and suffered other injuries in the quarter final match against Rhea Ripley. This was her third major injury in four years with WWE.
WWE and Rolling Loud, the world’s premier rap festival, today announced a new partnership that brings Friday Night SmackDown to Rolling Loud Miami 2021 on July 23. The occasion marks the first ever collaboration between WWE and a major music festival.
Gracing the same stage as festival headliners Travis Scott, Post Malone and A$AP Rocky, WWE Superstars will compete in matches live from Rolling Loud Miami. The July 23 edition of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX will feature a split-site broadcast with multiple matches at Rolling Loud Miami, and the remainder of the evening held at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
“What Matt Zingler, Tariq Cherif and the entire Rolling Loud team have built is spectacular,” said Scott Zanghellini, WWE Senior Vice President, Revenue Strategy & Development. “We couldn’t think of a better partner to deliver such a unique WWE experience to fans during the July 23 edition of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX.”
“I grew up on Sweet Chin Music, mesmerized by the spectacle that Vince McMahon and co have built at WWE,” said Tariq Cherif, Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Rolling Loud. “The idea of weaving our two storylines into one world, one must see event, is electrifying.”
Bringing 130 of the hottest acts in hip-hop to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., the sold out Rolling Loud Miami 2021 is a triumphant return for live rap music, and a coming out party for risers and new superstars eager to play in front of a festival crowd. The sixth Rolling Loud festival in Miami, where it started as a humble one-day event in Bayfront Park, Rolling Loud Miami 2021 will occur from July 23-25.
Samoa Joe will step back in the ring next week on NXT but this time he will be donning the referee t-shirt as he will be officiating the NXT title match between Karrion Kross and Johnny Gargano.
The match was made official last night during the Great American Bash face off segment between Kross and Gargano which also featured Regal and Joe.
Kross has not wrestled on NXT since the Takeover: In Your House 2021 show back on June 6 where he successfully defended the title in a fatal five-way match against Gargano, Cole, O’Reilly, and Dunne. Since then, the champ has had four dark matches prior to Raw and Smackdown and one match on Main Event.
There have been some teases for Kross vs Joe but the former NXT champion is not medically cleared to compete yet.
