An F4WOnline Editor since 2019, Ethan has been covering wrestling and MMA since 2011. He has hosted The Wrestling Life Podcast since 2014, and is a former Baltimore Sun TV/Tribune Media contributor. He is also a Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles fan.
Miro will defend the TNT Championship against Eddie Kingston at AEW All Out on September 5.
Miro vs. Kingston was made official during this week’s Rampage show. Miro was attacking Fuego Del Sol when Kingston ran out to make the save. Miro and Kingston had a brief pull-apart to set up the bout for All Out.
Miro won the TNT title from Darby Allin on AEW Dynamite on May 28. He has since made successful defenses against Dante Martin, Lance Archer, Evil Uno, Brian Pillman Jr., Lee Johnson and Fuego Del Sol.
Ten matches are now official for All Out. Here is the lineup:
AEW All Out, Sunday, September 5 —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage
AEW World Tag Team Championship steel cage match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Lucha Bros
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Kris Statlander
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
TNT Championship: Miro (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
Chris Jericho vs. MJF, if Jericho loses he must retire
The Lucha Bros won the AEW World Tag title eliminator tournament on Rampage to earn a shot at The Young Bucks at the All Out PPV.
Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix defeated Jurassic Express in the Rampage opener, earning an AEW World Tag Team title shot in a steel cage at All Out. Penta and Fenix beat Private Party and Jurassic Express in the four-team tournament to punch their ticket to All Out.
The bout will be a rematch of the Escalera De La Muerte ladder match for the AAA Tag titles from All Out 2019, a match that Penta and Fenix won.
Ten matches are now official for All Out. Here is the lineup:
AEW All Out, Sunday, September 5 —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage
AEW World Tag Team Championship steel cage match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Lucha Bros
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Kris Statlander
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
TNT Championship: Miro (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
Chris Jericho vs. MJF, if Jericho loses he must retire
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour wrapped up today with a Korakuen Hall finale.
Hirmou Takahashi returned after being sidelined with a torn pectoral. He took on Suzuki-gun’s DOUKI in the main event.
Hiromu’s Wrestle Grand Slam opponent, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles, faced Master Wato in the semi-main.
Kazuchika Okada and Jeff Cobb’s tag team series continued. Okada and Togi Makabe faced Cobb and Great-O-Khan. Okada and Cobb will face off at Wrestle Grand Slam on September 4.
A preview of the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle Grand Slam was featured in the second match of the night. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and Ryusuke Taguchi took on Minoru Suzuki and IWGP Tag champs Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi.
The opener featured new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita meeting for the fourth time in as many nights.
Below are results from today’s show.
**********
Ryohei Oiwa drew with Kosei Fujita (10:00)
The Young Lions went to their fourth consecutive time limit draw.
Eagles won by submission with the Ron Miller Special.
Hiromu Takahashi defeated DOUKI (29:43)
Hiromu won with Time Bomb.
These guys tore the house down. DOUKI works harder than anyone on every show he’s on and Hiromu was great in his comeback match.
Eagles and Hiromu had a brief staredown after the match. Hiromu cut a promo on the IWGP Junior title. Eagles left, then Hiromu addressed the crowd for a long time as the show closed. His promo might still be going on.
**********
Here are the announced lineups for Wrestle Grand Slam:
NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome night one, Saturday, September 4, 4 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
IWGP United States Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kota Ibushi
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb
Provisional KOPW 2021 No DQ, I Quit match: Chase Owens (c) vs. Toru Yano
NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome night two, Sunday, September 5, 2 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. EVIL
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Robbie Eagles (c) vs. Hiromu Takahashi
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour continued today with the third of four straight nights in Korakuen Hall.
Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan took on Kazuchika Okada and Satoshi Kojima in the main event. Cobb and Okada will square off at Wrestle Grand Slam on September 4.
Bullet Club took on Suzuki-gun in the semi-main event, a preview of an upcoming IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship battle.
The opener featured new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita meeting for the third time in as many nights.
Below are results from today’s show.
**********
Ryohei Oiwa drew with Kosei Fujita (10:00)
The Young Lions went to their third consecutive time limit draw.
NJPW has made the first four match announcements for the September 25 and September 26 Autumn Attack shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
On night one, Minoru Suzuki will face Fred Rosser. Rosser is an NJPW Strong regular, while Suzuki will be embarking on a rare tour of the United States this fall.
Also added to night one, Will Ospreay will take on Karl Fredericks. Ospreay returned to NJPW at Resurgence on August 14 and declared himself the true IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
On night two, Lio Rush will face IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Taiji Ishimori in a singles match. Rush is next in line to challenge Tom Lawlor for the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship.
Suzuki and Lance Archer vs. Lawlor and Royce Isaacs has also been added to night two. Isaacs recently joined Lawlor’s Team Filthy on NJPW Strong, while Archer faced Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of Resurgence.
Tickets for NJPW Autumn Attack in Garland, Texas are on sale now.
Here are the lineups:
NJPW Autumn Attack night one, Saturday, September 25 —
Minoru Suzuki vs. Fred Rosser
Will Ospreay vs. Karl Fredericks
NJPW Autumn Attack night two, Sunday, September 26 —
Lio Rush vs. Taiji Ishimori
Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer vs. Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs
The finals are set for the World Tag Team title eliminator tournament on this Friday’s AEW Rampage.
Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix, the Lucha Bros, advanced to Friday’s finals with a win over Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison of Varsity Blonds on tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
Already set for the finals are Jurassic Express. Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus advanced on last week’s Rampage with a win over Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy of Private Party.
The tournament winners will go on to face The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship in a steel cage match at the All Out PPV on Sunday, September 5.
Also announced for Rampage, AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Brandon Cutler will take on Christian Cage and Frankie Kazarian. Cage challenges Omega for the AEW title at All Out.
The Bunny vs. Tay Conti is also set for Rampage. This match was set up in a backstage segment on Dynamite. Bunny and Conti will both be participants in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out.
Here is the lineup for Rampage:
AEW Rampage, Friday, August 27, 10 p.m. Eastern time —
AEW Tag Team title eliminator tournament final: Jurassic Express vs. Lucha Bros
Kenny Omega & Brandon Cutler vs. Christian Cage & Frankie Kazarian
The Bunny vs. Tay Conti
Here is the lineup for All Out:
AEW All Out, Sunday, September 5 on PPV —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Kris Statlander
AEW World Tag Team Championship steel cage match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Jurassic Express or Lucha Bros
An AEW Women’s World Championship match has been added to the All Out PPV.
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. will defend the title against top-ranked contender Kris Statlander in Chicago on Sunday, September 5. The match was announced during tonight’s AEW Dynamite episode.
Baker has held the AEW Women’s Championship since the Double or Nothing PPV on May 30, where she ended Hikaru Shida’s title reign of over a year.
Statlander returned to action in April of this year after missing nearly ten months with a knee injury. She is on a sixteen-match winning streak in AEW in singles matches.
Here is the lineup for All Out:
AEW All Out, Sunday, September 5 on PPV —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Kris Statlander
AEW World Tag Team Championship steel cage match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Jurassic Express or Lucha Bros
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour continued today with the second of four straight nights in Korakuen Hall.
Members of CHAOS took on a Suzuki-gun squad in an elimination match main event, while Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan faced Kazuchika Okada and Tomoaki Honma in the semi-main.
KOPW 2021 Chase Owens and his next challenger Toru Yano were in action on the undercard, as were IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo.
The opener featured new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita meeting for the second consecutive night. They drew in Tuesday’s opener.
NJPW has added three big names to their Showdown events in Philadelphia’s 2300 Arena on Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17.
Will Ospreay, Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer have been announced for the show.
Ospreay made his return to NJPW at Resurgence in Los Angeles on August 14 after being sidelined for three months with a neck injury. In his return promo, Ospreay declared himself the rightful IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, promising to defend his version of the title on NJPW Strong.
For Suzuki, Showdown will mark his first appearances at the former ECW Arena.
Archer is a two-time former IWGP United States Champion and headlined Resurgence against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Tickets are on sale now for NJPW Showdown.
Here is the full list of talent advertised for Philadelphia:
NJPW’s Summer Struggle tour continued today with the first of four straight nights in Korakuen Hall.
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and Robbie Eagles of CHAOS took on Suzuki-gun’s Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. and DOUKI in the six-man tag main event.
Kazuchika Okada and Jeff Cobb were on opposite sides of a tag match in the semi-main event. Okada and Cobb will battle on night one of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on September 4.
Provisional KOPW 2021 Chase Owens teamed with Jado against Toru Yano and Ryusuke Taguchi. Owens will defend the KOPW title against Yano at Wrestle Grand Slam.
The opener featured the debut of new Young Lions Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita.
NJPW has revealed the lineup for night two of Summer Struggle USA on this Friday’s NJPW Strong.
In an eight-man tag main event, Juice Robinson, Lio Rush, Brody King and Chris Dickinson will face Team Filthy’s Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs. Rush is the next contender for Lawlor’s Strong Openweight Championship.
In singles action, Karl Fredericks will take on NJPW newcomer Alexander James. James defeated Kevin Knight in his debut on the August 6 Strong.
Also set for Friday, Wheeler Yuta, Adrian Quest and The DKC will face Bateman, Misterioso and Barrett Brown in a trios match.
Strong airs Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on NJPW World and is available on demand after airing.
Here is Friday’s full lineup:
NJPW Strong Summer Struggle USA, Friday, August 27 —
Juice Robinson, Lio Rush, Brody King & Chris Dickinson vs. Tom Lawlor, JR Kratos, Jorel Nelson & Royce Isaacs
Karl Fredericks vs. Alexander James
Wheeler Yuta, Adrian Quest & The DKC vs. Bateman, Misterioso & Barrett Brown
A few seconds of backstage footage from CM Punk’s debut on AEW Rampage made up this week’s cold open.
The Elite —
Cutler Cam footage from The Bucks vs. Jurassic Express on last week’s Dynamite aired.
Kenny Omega broke up The Elite’s Nike sneaker head clique by wearing a pair of Yeezys. Matt and Nick said that losing the Impact Championship made Kenny lose his mind and that they need to fix this.
Sour Boy returned after Doc Gallows urinated in Karl Anderson’s drink.
The Elite went shoe shopping in Chicago.
The group visited the Chicago Bulls locker room at United Center.
The Bucks scouting the tag team tournament match on Rampage was shown from Cutler Cam.
Miscellaneous bits —
Leva Bates and Alex Reynolds were in their hotel room. There was a knock at the door. Sammy Guevara was there with his cards and recreating a Love Actually bit on behalf of Peter Avalon. Guevara walked out when one of the cards read that BTE was superior to his vlog. Bates and Avalon had another brief, awkward interaction, but still haven’t gotten back together.
Ryan Nemeth and his assistant had a brief cameo in a swimming pool.
Kris Statlander choked Wheeler Yuta out in a hotel room as his education by Best Friends continues.
2point0 were backstage looking for Jeff Farmer. They ran into John Silver instead.
NJPW has announced the cards for the final four Summer Struggle events of 2021.
Hiromu Takahashi’s return match after being sidelined with a torn pectoral muscle headlines the final leg of the tour. He will take on DOUKI in the main event of the Friday, August 27 show.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Robbie Eagles will take on Master Wato in a tuneup match on the same show. Eagles will defend his title against Hiromu on the second night of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome on Sunday, September 5.
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI, EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo and Dick Togo are all absent from the lineups. Shingo and BUSHI tested positive for COVID-19 last week, while the others were pulled from subsequent events due to close contact.
Two new Young Lions will also debut at Summer Struggle. Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita will face each other in singles matches on each of the four nights.
Here are the full lineups:
NJPW Summer Struggle, Tuesday, August 24, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Robbie Eagles vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
Kazuchika Okada & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Chase Owens & Jado
Satoshi Kojima & Master Wato vs. Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask
Ryohei Oiwa vs. Kosei Fujita
NJPW Summer Struggle, Wednesday, August 25, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Elimination match: Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Robbie Eagles & Tiger Mask vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr., El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Kazuchika Okada & Tomoaki Honma vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
Toru Yano & Togi Makabe vs. Chase Owens & Jado
Minoru Suzuki & DOUKI vs. Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo
Ryohei Oiwa vs. Kosei Fujita
NJPW Summer Struggle, Thursday, August 26, 5:30 a.m. Eastern time on NJPW World —
Kazuchika Okada & Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan
El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki vs. Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Jado
Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tiger Mask vs. Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI
A pair of NJPW Dojo Young Lions will make their debuts at Tuesday’s Summer Struggle event.
Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita will make their Korakuen Hall debuts this week, facing each other in singles matches on each of the four Summer Struggle shows scheduled for this week on August 24, 25, 26 and 27.
Both Oiwa and Fujita were part of December 2020 NJPW tryouts. Both also joined the NJPW Dojo in April 2021.
Oiwa, 22, is 5’10” and weighs in at 198 pounds, according to NJPW. He has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling throughout middle school and through his college career. He placed third in the 2018 JOC nationals in the 86 kg weight class.
Fujita, 19, is also 5’10” and weighs 183 pounds. He also has an amateur background, claiming the JOC Western and Central Japan freestyle tournament in the 80 kg weight class in high school.
Oiwa and Fujita will fill the void left when Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji graduated from the NJPW Dojo and were sent on international excursion earlier this month.
Becky Lynch is now the top heel in the WWE SmackDown women’s division, according to a report.
Lynch, the SmackDown Women’s Champion, is going to be positioned as the top heel on the brand according to PWInsider. PWI cites multiple WWE sources as having confirmed the decision to have Lynch be the heel in a feud against a babyface Bianca Belair.
Lynch defeated Belair in 25 seconds at SummerSlam to win the SmackDown Women’s title, hitting a forearm strike and a Manhandle Slam after feigning a handshake. The SummerSlam bout was Lynch’s first match since night one of WrestleMania 36, taped in March 2020.
SummerSlam marked Lynch’s first WWE appearance since vacating the Raw Women’s Championship and announcing that she was taking maternity leave on the May 11, 2020 edition of Raw. Lynch and her partner Seth Rollins announced the birth of their daughter Roux in a social media post on December 7, 2020.
PWInsider reports that Lynch was originally slated for an October 2021 return to WWE until this past week. PWI does not cite a reason for the change in plans with regard to Lynch’s return. Lynch began teasing her WWE comeback with a social media post on April 9.
