New Smackdown Tag Team champions were crowned on Smackdown on FOX last night as the Dirty Dawgs – the team of Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode – defeated The Street Profits.
The duo of Ziggler and Roode have been teaming up since August 2019 and the two are considered some of the best in-ring workers in the company. Unfortunately, their solo careers have not led to massive success, especially for Roode who somewhat struggled after being called up from NXT.
This is their second run as tag team champions having previously won the Raw Tag Team titles. This is Ziggler’s fourth time as a Tag Team champion, having won it with Drew McIntyre, twice with Roode, and once with The Spirit Squad. It’s Roode’s third run as a Tag champ, twice with Ziggler and once with Chad Gable.
The Street Profits have been Smackdown Tag Team champions ever since they were drafted from Raw and swapped their belts with The New Day.
A fourth baby Hardy is on the way as Matt and Reby Hardy announced last night on social media that their family is growing and they are expecting a baby girl!
“#TeamBoy is SO stacked in House Hardy, we decided to add a new member to #TeamGirl!” Matt wrote, while Reby added, “No clue what to do now. No. Clue. #issagirl.”
Matt and Reby Hardy have three boys, Maxel, Wolfgang, and Bartholomew, born in 2015, 2017, and 2019 respectively.
There are very strong rumors that NJPW’s Jay White is on his way out of the promotion with WWE looking like his next destination.
The 28-year-old from New Zealand is very popular in Japan where he made his debut for the promotion as Switchblade in 2015. He recently main evented Wrestle Kingdom 15, losing to Ibushi in a match for the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles. During the post-show press conference, White expressed his desire to leave New Japan after the New Year Dash event.
The New Year Dash event, held three days ago on January 6, saw White team up with his Bullet Club team mates to lose to CHAOS in a 10-man tag team match.
White, who is a former IWGP Heavyweight, Intercontinental, and United States champion, has never wrestled for WWE and only did a few independent shows ever since he made his debut in 2013. He was trained by the NJPW Dojo and spent the majority of his pro wrestling career wrestling for NJPW.
The Super J-Cast podcast, a podcast dedicated solely to NJPW, tweeted that several sources have indicated there is some doubt whether Jay White will be extending his NJPW contract, “WWE are believed to be making a strong play for him and it’s 50/50 whether he stays or goes,” the tweet said. White’s contract is set to expire at the end of this month.
Ben Carter, NXT UK’s newest signee, made his long-awaited debut last night on NXT UK TV.
Carter was being scouted by AEW, and actually wrestled two matches on Dark, before he was offered a deal with WWE. He eventually agreed to WWE’s deal and joined the NXT UK roster since he’s a Brit and does not have a working visa for the United States.
He made his debut by being a guest on Noam Dar’s Supernova Sessions and was then confronted by NXT Cruiserweight champion Jordan Devlin. The confrontation ended with the two agreeing to a match later in the broadcast for the title and the newcomer impressed viewers. However, his effort was not enough as Devlin retained the title after a hard-fought match.
Carter was trained by Seth Rollins and Marek Brave at the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy and is highly-regarded among his peers.
“On this day last year I was flying back to college in the US for my final semester, thinking how am I gonna get people to notice that I exist. Today, I make my @WWE debut… You’re not gonna want to miss this,” he wrote on Twitter yesterday before the NXT UK episode started.
In addition to losing Damian Priest, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is also reporting that NXT is losing Rhea Ripley as the former NXT Women’s champion is moving to the main roster.
Meltzer noted that Ripley’s loss on Wednesday against Raquel Gonzalez in the last woman standing match was a way to write her off NXT for good. NXT stars moving to the main roster typically end up doing the honors before making their debut on Raw or Smackdown.
The 24-year-old Australian Superstar has been working for WWE since 2017 and was the inaugural NXT UK Women’s champion, becoming the first-ever female Australian to win a title in WWE. After dropping the NXT UK Women’s title, she moved to NXT in 2019 and also won the title there. Ripley became the first NXT star to have a singles match at WrestleMania when last year she defended her NXT Women’s title against Charlotte Flair.
NXT’s New Year’s Evil with limited commercials drew 641,000 viewers on Wednesday, up 55,000 viewers from last week’s show. Just like Dynamite, NXT struggled for viewers due to the news coverage on Wednesday and finished outside the top 50 chart, getting a 0.16 rating in the 18-49 demographic and landing in #68. The difference between the two shows was of 21,000 viewers. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Dynamite won the first head-to-head of 2021 but barely beat NXT as both shows suffered a big hit due to the ongoing coverage of the Capitol riots on Wednesday. New Year’s Smash night one on TNT drew 662,000 viewers, down 315,000 from last week’s broadcast. It had a 0.25 rating in the 18-49 demographic and placed #48 on the top 50 chart. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Impact Wrestling on AXS TV pulled in 148,000 viewers on Tuesday, up 45,000 viewers from the previous week. The show did 0.04 in the 18-49 demographic and placed #140 on the cable chart. Impact had two weeks of Best Of episodes leading to a new episode this week. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that Damian Priest was supposed to make his main roster debut on Smackdown last week but that did not happen due to a last-minute creative change.
Priest was set to tag team with Kevin Owens and introduced as one of Owens’ best buddies to help him in the war against Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. But while Owens was said to have agreed to roll with it, he expressed his thoughts about him and Priest sharing absolutely no history together, so the storyline did not make much sense. After Roman Reigns pitched in and took Owens’ side, the whole angle was scrapped and Priest remained backstage and was not part of the broadcast.
The former NXT North American champion might now find himself part of the Raw roster instead of Smackdown although no final decision has been made yet.
Priest has been working for WWE since late 2018 and enjoyed an eventful time on the NXT roster so far.
Snoop Dogg was part of AEW Dynamite last night and got physical as well, getting involved in a segment with Cody Rhodes after his match against Matt Sydal ended.
Snoop Dogg, a frequent WWE collaborator, accompanied Cody to the ring for his match and after it was over, Luther and Serpentico attacked both Rhodes and Sydal. When the faces regained control, Cody positioned Serpentico in the corner for Sydal’s shooting star press but Dogg had other ideas.
Snoop entered the ring and climbed to the top rope. “He doesn’t have a wrestler’s license!” screamed Jericho on commentary. Snoop Dogg then delivered one of the worst-looking frog splashes in the history of professional wrestling, hooked Serpentico’s leg, and Cody counted to three.
The WWE Hall of Famer then went to the commentary booth and hugged Jericho and high-fived the rest of the crew. A smiling Jericho then said, “I still hate that guy!”
Sasha Banks, who is Snoop Dogg’s cousin, called it “The Snoopy Splash” and replied to AEW’s video with laughing emojis writing, “Fam! We’re gonna have to work on this.”
Cody and Snoop Dogg are judges on a new show on TBS called The Go Big Show which starts tonight along with Rosario Dawson and Jennifer Nettles.
Version two of the TNT championship was introduced last night on Dynamite after the original title was retired and given to Brodie Jr last week during the Brodie Lee tribute show.
The new title has a black leather strap instead of red, but the same red ribbon where the word Champion is written remains. Everything else remains the same as the original TNT title.
The TNT title will be defended next week as Darby Allin takes on challenger Brian Cage on night two of New Year’s Bash.
AEW President Tony Khan proclaimed Brodie Jr as the “TNT champion for life” last week in the closing moments of Dynamite as he handed the original title to the eight-year-old.
NXT announced a Takeover for Valentine’s Day on Sunday, February 14.
This is only the third Takeover to take place in February after NXT held Takeover: Rival on February 11, 2015, and Takeover: Portland on February 16, 2020.
There’s still no name for this Takeover, which could simply be referred to as 33. This will also be the third Takeover inside the Capitol Wrestling Center at the WWE Performance Center.
There will be two Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournaments as NXT General Manager William Regal announced last night that the women will be part of another tournament, a first in NXT.
No teams or other details were announced and a start date was not given either.
Speaking of the Dusty Tag Team Classic, all participants for this year’s men’s tournament were revealed last night. The participants are Adam Cole and Roderick Strong, Breezango, The Grizzled Young Veterans, Ever-Rise, Curt Stallion and August Grey, Killian Dain and Drake Maverick, Imperium, Legado Del Fantasma, and Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory.
The Impact Wrestling Tag Team champions, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, made their AEW Dynamite debut last night at New Year’s Bash, coming to the aid of Kenny Omega.
There was a big brawl after Kenny Omega retained his title over Rey Fenix, with the returning Jon Moxley attacking Omega with a barbed wire bat. At that point, Omega’s buddies ran in to make the save as other members of the roster invaded the ring.
The Young Bucks eventually also joined the fray and aligned themselves with Gallows, Anderson, and Omega, reuniting The Bullet Club. After the smoke cleared, all five individuals held up the too sweet hand sign in the middle of the ring to end the broadcast.
All of them were part of The Club between 2013 and 2016 until Gallows and Anderson moved to WWE with BC leader AJ Styles.
NXT will hold its first themed episode of the year with New Year’s Evil, a packed card with limited commercials and a main event with “non-stop” action, suggesting picture-in-picture commercials.
The highly-anticipated night is headlined by an NXT title match between Finn Balor and Kyle O’Reilly, a rematch from their hard-hitting Takeover 31 match where both men ended up injured.
In addition, Rhea Ripley will be taking on Raquel Gonazlez in a last woman standing match, Damien Priest takes on Karrion Kross in the opening match, and Gran Metalik will challenge Santos Escobar for the NXT Cruiserweight title.
Plus, after weeks of brutal punishment, Xia Li and Boa are set to make their NXT re-introduction.
Tommaso Ciampa was set to go one-on-one against Timothy Thatcher in the Fight Pit but it looks like the match is off due to an injury.
While many fans hated the fact that Goldberg is back in the main event title picture, the popularity online and the views that the segment between Goldberg and McIntyre is bringing to WWE somewhat justifies the controversial move.
As of today, the clip across YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram amassed over 5 million views in just two days, with 1.9 million views on Facebook, 1.7 million views on YouTube, and 1.6 million views on Instagram.
No matter what fans say, the former WCW champion still has pull with viewers and the fact that he manages these kind of numbers explains why WWE keeps bringing him back.
Goldberg revealed that he has a contract with WWE until 2023 and has two matches listed per year as part of his deal.
Amanda Huber, the wife of Jon “Brodie Lee” Huber, posted a story on Instagram showing her son, Brodie Jr, training with TJ Wilson and Liv Morgan at Wilson’s and Natalya’s place.
“Tonight was pretty cool. We got to go visit @tjwilson711 & @natbynature and let Brodie work in the ring. @yaonlylivvonce is a gem for working around the ring with him and letting him learn,” Amanda wrote, adding videos and photos of Brodie grappling with both Liv and TJ.
Brodie Jr, known as -1 of The Dark Order, actually made his AEW Dark debut by cutting a promo, something that his mother wasn’t aware of until it actually aired. “I thought AEW was just letting him have some fun after a really really tough night. Having them air it was incredible and I wish you guys could have seen his smile when we watched it. I told him what @tonyrkhan said about his promo and he was BEAMING,” she wrote.
Amanda also wrote that AEW’s contract with her son activates when he is 18 if he wishes to join the promotion.
The Legends Night Raw paid off and with no football competition on Monday, Raw did an average of 2,127,000 viewers, up 358,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast and the best number since March 16, 2020.
The first hour started with 2,197,000 viewers and then held on to 2,150,000 viewers for the second hour, before dropping of to 2,036,000 viewers in the third hour.
Raw was #1, #2, and #3 in the top 50 cable chart among the 18-49 demo with 0.70, 0.68, and 0.66 ratings respectively. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
Whilst there’s never going to be a sport that’s quite as good as wrestling, there are occasions where it’s necessary to branch out. Perhaps you’ve exhausted the YouTube rabbit hole, or your satellite has gone down, or maybe it’s the Olympics and you just want to get in on the action? Well, there are a few sports that seem to translate really well to the wrestling fan’s need for excitement, drama and sheer determination. See if one of these could be your second sport of choice.
Gymnastics?!
Gymnastics might seem an unusual choice, but the level of athleticism and determination are similar to those you might see in the wrestling ring.
Alexa Bliss had an interesting and slightly unconventional start to her career. Before making her debut in the WWE ring, Bliss had got plenty of competitions under her belt already. She began her competitive career aged just 5 when she took part in the gymnastics competition at the Arnold Sports Festival. This early grounding in gymnastics helped her rise to become a cheerleader in her teens. Not satisfied with this though, she later progressed to be the first woman to hold both the WWE Smackdown and the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. Far be it from Alexa to rest on her laurels, she’s now hosting the hilarious Uncool podcast.
Anyway, there are going to be some wrestling fans who may be skeptical of just how exciting gymnastics is to watch. However, some of the things we love most about wrestling are equally present in this sport too. Agility, strength, balance and above all determination are the key qualities that allow both gymnasts and wrestlers to succeed. Watching someone land the perfect Produnova vault is definitely comparable to the rush of your favorite wrestler pulling off a suplex.
Kabaddi
If you’re after a sport that’s truly terrifying then the Bangladeshi sport of Kabaddi might be just the thing for you. This sport is played by two teams of seven men each, the objective is for the ‘raider’ on each team to run into the other team’s half of the court and tag as many of their defenders as possible. Full contact is obviously allowed, so you’re likely to see some moves that would be perfectly at home in the wrestling ring.
One more thing, which makes the whole thing seem even more impossible. The raider must run into the other half of the court, tag the defenders and return to their own half of the court, all in one breath only. Some of the raiders shout one continuous note for the duration of their turn, making this quite a spectacle. If you’re looking to get properly involved with the action then AsiaBet.org offer odds on Kabbadi. Just remember that points are scored for each defender that is tagged and conversely for each raider that is stopped. So, you’ll want to find yourself a team with some big and burly defenders and some quick and agile raiders. Let’s hope the odds are in your favor!
Mixed Martial Arts
For many wrestling fans, it’ll be no surprise that there’s a huge crossover between competitors in the MMA and pro-wrestlers. Although MMA is huge nowadays, it wasn’t so long ago that it was a relatively unheard of sport. Antonio Inoki, a successful wrestler competed in MMA against champion boxer Muhammad Ali back in 1976. This fight was the spark that MMA needed and many wrestlers followed in Inoki’s footsteps. Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, Alberto Del Rio and Brock Lesnar have all competed in MMA as well as their successful wrestling careers.
Just as in wrestling, MMA is a fight between two athletes. In order to keep things relatively civil there are a few rules, which ought to go without saying. No attacks to the groin, back of the head, eyes or inside the mouth. Head butting, biting and fingers in orifices are all forbidden, but aside from that, anything goes. If you want to get to know the sport then watching a fight organised by the Ultimate Fighting Championship is the best place to start. Connor McGregor is the fighter that really draws in the crowds at the moment, but other great names include Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva. For people who enjoy watching an incredible female fight then Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm are the athletes to follow.
AEW will present night one of New Year’s Bash themed episode of Dynamite tonight on TNT, delayed by a week due to the sudden death of Brodie Lee.
A few matches have already been announced for the broadcast, including a main event of Kenny Omega vs Rey Fenix for the AEW World title, Wardlow vs Jake Hager, Hikaru Shida vs Abadon for the AEW Women’s title, The Young Bucks and SCU vs The Acclaimed and TH2, and Cody Rhodes vs Matt Sedan.
In addition, Snoop Dogg will be appearing on the broadcast to promote his new show with Cody titled Go Big Show, Le Champion Chris Jericho will be on commentary for the night, and Jon Moxley returns after a month out.
