Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has been featured in NOW Magazine, The Huffington Post, and more. A lifelong wrestling aficionado born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, he has covered the industry for a decade and a half. He joined the f4wonline.com team in 2019.
Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo’s next defense of the AAA Mixed Tag Team Championships has been announced.
They will defend the belts in a triple threat match at Noche De Campeones on December 28 from Acapulco, AAA revealed on Saturday. Lady Shani & Octagon Jr. and Sexy Star & Komander will be their opponents.
Guevara & Melo won the belts in a four-way match at AAA Triplemania Monterrey on April 30. They have since defended them twice on AEW programming, defeating Dante Martin & Sky Blue on the August 10 Rampage and Ortiz & Ruby Soho at All Out.
AAA Noche De Campeones is advertised as a television taping. The following has been announced for the show.
AAA Mega Champion Hijo del Vikingo defends against Bandido
AAA Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) defend against Hermanos Lee (Dralistico & Dragon Lee)
Copa Mundo Imperial: Vampiro vs. Aerostar vs. Blue Demon Jr. vs Nino Hamburguesa vs. Pagano vs. Mr. Iguana vs. Diva Salvaje vs. Jessy Ventura vs. Murder Clown vs. Dave the Clown vs. Panic Clown vs. Parka Negra
AAA Trios Champions Nueva Generacion Dinamita (El Cuatrero, Forastero, & Sanson) defend against Myzteziz Jr, Willie Mack, & Aramis
Two first-round matches in the tournament took place on the November 11 edition of WWE SmackDown. Santos Escobar defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to advance to the semifinals. Later in the show, Braun Strowman defeated Jinder Mahal to also advance in the tournament.
Two more first-round matches will take place on next week’s show. Mustafa Ali will face Ricochet and Sami Zayn will go one-on-one with Butch of the Brawling Brutes.
The winner of the tournament will earn a title match against Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship.
A report earlier today revealed the participants expected to take part in the World Cup. The only change to the announced lineup has Mustafa Ali added to the tournament and Rey Mysterio removed.
The November 18 edition of WWE SmackDown will take place from the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Here is what has been announced for the show:
Shotzi vs. Shayna Baszler
SmackDown World Cup first-round match: Sami Zayn vs. Butch
SmackDown World Cup first-round match: Ricochet vs. Mustafa Ali
Sarah Logan has returned to WWE and the Viking Raiders are back on Smackdown.
Logan appeared on the stage area during a segment involving Hit Row and Legado del Fantasma on SmackDown Friday night. The Viking Raiders then came through the crowd to attack members of both factions. Logan hit B-Fab with a headbutt before she stood tall with Erik & Ivar to end the segment.
Logan was released from WWE on April 15, 2020. That June, she announced that she was temporarily stepping away from wrestling. Logan then returned to the ring in the 2022 Women’s Royal Rumble match.
The Viking Raiders have been out of action since Erik suffered a foot injury in the main event of the September 2 edition of SmackDown. They defeated the New Day in a “Viking Rules” match on the show.
Logan and Erik (Raymond Rowe) were married in a Viking-themed wedding in late 2018. The couple announced the birth of their first child, Raymond Cash Rowe, on February 9, 2021.
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows have opened up about being asked to return to WWE after having been released from the company in 2020.
The Good Brothers appeared on After the Bell with Corey Graves and spoke about receiving a text from Paul “Triple H” Levesque during their final television taping with Impact Wrestling.
“We had done the two years in Impact, thankful to them it was a great two years there but we wanted to recharge our batteries, wanted to hit Japan pretty hard,” Gallows said. “So, we were like, let’s take this time, let’s go to Japan through the new year and then let’s make a decision on what we want to do.”
“So, we’re in Dallas and we’re doing our last match with the Motor City Machine Guns and we get a text that says, ‘Hey guys, can we talk?'”
Gallows would continue to say that the text was from Levesque.
“We still didn’t know if this was something that we could do or wanted to do or what was going to come out of it after what happened the last time. Then we got on the phone and we could feel the new vibe and how positive everything was and one thing led to another from there.”
Anderson would then speak about their history with Triple H.
“We always had a really good relationship with Triple H,” he said. “He was our guy when our contract was coming up in 2019, it was Hunter who we talked with and ended up signing a new deal with in 2019. So, we had a good relationship and I think that’s why when we got released, I held some angst.”
Anderson continued to say they didn’t speak to Triple H, aside from one brief text exchange, for two and a half years following their release. In late August, they would speak with him again after Anderson and Gallows returned from Impact’s television taping in Dallas.
“We get home and we do a facetime with Hunter, we talked, asked how the families were. We got asked if we wanted to come back, kind of talked out our issues, and said, ‘Hey, that was then, this is now, let’s push forward and go.'”
“I’m getting chills now thinking about it because I didn’t think we’d ever have that talk again. Not just the business talk, to get the personal talk out. It was nice to get all that on the table, it’s over, let’s go, now we’re going forward.”
“We still had to go back to Japan, we had to go on a 10-day tour, I had a singles match with Tanahashi. Then we had to go to England for New Japan, that was October 1 and 2 and nobody knew that we had already planned to do October 10 in New York City.”
Nick Aldis says he is not sure how he would justify the current NWA product to Harley Race.
On Sunday, Aldis posted a since-deleted video to his Instagram stating that he was leaving the company. Those who saw the video say Aldis called the NWA product “embarrassing” and said he didn’t want to be part of it anymore.
The two-time former NWA World Heavyweight Champion spoke with Sam Roberts recently and clarified his comments.
“It certainly wasn’t intended to be this burial of the NWA or anything like that,” Aldis said. “Why would I do that? I would be burying myself.”
Aldis would later discuss the NWA product straying from what he had originally envisioned it to be.
“What it has become now is not what I envisioned it to be and certainly isn’t what I was laying the ground for it to be, didn’t have the core values that I had tried to sort of maintain. And again, it wasn’t a knock, it was just me saying ‘this isn’t for me anymore.’ I wanted to do an alternative wrestling brand that represented all the things about the NWA that people missed in the current product, whether it be from overproduction or from a different mentality, or a different style, let’s give them all those things.”
Aldis continued to say that he felt the product went downhill after NWA 73 and he lost the world title. He stated the world title angles after he dropped the belt wasn’t something fans were interested in.
“I was presented with the question, what’s different now? Why is it not working now compared to what? And I sort of went, again, you’re forcing me to give you an answer that paints me in this awful light but I’m going, ‘the difference is you had a world title angle that people were interested in and now you don’t.'”
Aldis continued to say the world title picture improved when Matt Cardona was added to the mix but after Cardona was injured, things fell apart again. He said that he was then accused of lobbying for himself to get the belt back.
Aldis said that in late September, his wife, Mickie James, told him about a conversation she’d had with Billy Corgan.
“He and Mickie [James] had a private conversation that he didn’t realize that I was privy to and he goes, ‘your husband is pressuring me to put the belt back on him,’ and you know, for me, that day I went, ‘this isn’t going to work.'”
Aldis continued to say the NWA product also began to go downhill when Corgan became more hands-on with the product.
“Look, the sad truth is and I don’t want to spend the whole time talking about this, but basically, things got harder when he became more hands-on because at first, he was quite hands-off, quite remote, and was just sort of lending ideas and sort of notes here and there. Suddenly, it turned into something else and I’ll try to be as nice as I can about this, he’s not very good at it. I wish it wasn’t the case but again, it’s not really for me to say, it’s for the audience to say and my decision to leave has come from the fact that the audience has left in droves. It’s just not a good decision to be there anymore, it’s not a viable option.”
“Look, I can’t get around it. I’m not saying all of it, but there was enough of it that for me, didn’t pass the Harley Race test and I know people will hear that and be like, ‘Harley, what the hell?’ But you have to understand, Harley Race wanted nothing to do with the NWA because of what it had been prior because it had some pretty dark days. Then he agreed to not only be back associated with it, asked me to come to Missouri to defend the title, to appear on camera, talking to me about being NWA champion and that ended up being the last interview he ever gave on camera before he passed away. That means a lot to me and it was because of how we had presented pro wrestling consistently for three years at that point or whatever. It was we had consistently presented pro wrestling in a serious and dignified way.”
“I started looking at stuff like gags, the social distancing match where the two wrestlers can’t touch each other, and on and on it went with different wacky, silly comedy, nonsensical stuff. I said how would I have justified this to Harley Race?”
Aldis continued to say he attended a Fan Fest event with Mickie James and Bret Hart in the UK the day before WWE Clash at the Castle. He then attended the event the next day. The experience caused him to consider what might be next in his career.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t sit there and go, ‘you don’t think that me and Drew McIntyre but with the right promotional build in the UK, like England vs. Scotland, people kind of care about that.'”
Aldis also spoke about recently having won the Stu Hart Heritage Championship for Dungeon Wrestling in Calgary.
“I just wrestled up in Calgary for Dungeon Wrestling, which is kind of the new incarnation of Stampede Wrestling. Bret [Hart] booked me to wrestle the match and I’m wrestling Harry Smith and then Bret says, ‘I want you to win the title.’ I mean, it’s the Stu Hart title.”
“I was so flattered and thrilled by that and now I’ve taken it on as a sort of personal challenge, I want to see if I can help get that thing going up there for them because it’s the Victorian Pavillion in Calgary and we had a pretty good house.”
Harleigh White (Track and Field – Clemson University)
Rickssen Opont (Haitian National shotput record holder)
Lea Mitchell (Three-time MVP gymnast – Michigan State University)
Anna Keefer (Track and Field. Five-time NCAA All-American – UNC)
Kennedy Cummins (Cheerleading – University of Minnesota)
Breanna Ruggiero (Tumbling and acrobat athlete – Sacramento State University)
Jade Gentile (Professional soccer player in Iceland)
Monika Klisara (represented Team Canada in karate)
14 of the 15 new recruits are from the tryouts held the week of SummerSlam in Nashville this year. Klisara took part in the tryouts held in Dallas during WrestleMania week this spring.
El Hijo del Vikingo’s GCW debut has been announced.
The promotion revealed on Thursday that Vikingo will be in action at GCW Amerika’s Most Wanted on Friday, December 16. The show will take place from the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California, and air live on FITE TV.
An angle took place at AAA Triplemania last month setting up Vikingo’s GCW debut. He was attacked in the back by GCW wrestlers Joey Janela, Alex Colon and Gringo Loco.
Janela later tweeted about the backstage attack, “Biggest moment of your life followed by the biggest beatdown of your life!” and told AAA to say hello to “the biggest outlaws in America!!!”
Vikingo revealed to SI.com recently that he has secured a US work visa. He is also scheduled for AAA’s show on December 3 from the Mullett Arena in Tempe, AZ.
The only announced match for GCW Amerika’s Most Wanted thus far is Gringo Loco & Los Vipers vs. Arez, ASF, & Komander.
Chris Jericho is working on a graphic novel based on his Painmaker gimmick and he hopes to eventually turn the project into a movie.
Jericho appeared on “Howie Mandel Does Stuff” recently and spoke about his future plans for the character.
“I have this character that I play called the Painmaker and I invented the character when I was wrestling in Japan because I wanted something a little bit more violent, like what would a serial killer look like if he was a pro wrestler,” Jericho said.
“The character is really cool and I thought, okay, I have seen so many Spider-Man, Batman, Superman movies, how many more characters are there any these universes? They’re just making the same ones over and over again. Somebody somehow is going to have to create a new superhero, so, that’s where the Painmaker came in.”
“The idea is to make it into a movie at some point. That’s my overall goal,” Jericho continued.
“We’re just writing and illustrating the graphic novel now. So, the idea is that the Painmaker is an intergalactic former serial killer. He’s changed his life and he’s not a serial killer anymore but now he travels the galaxy hunting down other serial killers in different galaxies, different planets, so you could have like a giant scorpion serial killer, whatever. But the flaw is that he still has to kill innocent people from time to time because it’s just in his DNA. So, he’s a flawed character.”
“What if the Painmaker falls in love and then can’t help himself enough to kill the one he loves? Who knows? The possibilities are endless.”
Jericho is working with the NFT company Semkhor on the project.
Saraya has been medically cleared to return to the ring.
During an appearance on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, the 30-year-old noted that she didn’t receive clearance until October 31, and doctors have said she can start with one match a month.
“When I came in, I didn’t really know what the deal was, I just knew that I was going to be part of something and we were going to build something special here,” Saraya said. “But then when I got there, got the great reaction when I walked out, and I was like, ‘oh my god’ and you can’t put a pro-wrestler out there and tell them that they can’t do anything else.”
“I came to terms with not being able to wrestle anymore and that’s fine, although a couple of years ago I did do some x-rays and they were looking great but I didn’t do the full MRI.”
“I just did the x-rays because I was a little nervous about doing the MRI a couple of years ago so I was just like, okay, they’re looking good, maybe in a couple of years it starts getting better but I’m not going to rush it because Edge was out for like nine years, Stone Cold had that match with Kevin Owens but he didn’t bump much.”
She continued to say that at the time she figured she would be able to work a match similar to Owens vs. Austin at WrestleMania.
“I was like, I could probably pull off doing a Stone Cold match. It was just in my head because in the match, you wouldn’t think that there wasn’t a crazy amount of bumps because the story they told was so fantastic.”
She continued to say that she brought up the idea of wrestling again to Tony Khan, who suggested she could work some tag matches. However, Saraya said if she was going to come back, she would want to have a singles match.
“I remember talking to the doctors and they were like, ‘okay, you can do this, but we’re not going to clear you to take a bump.'”
“I went out there with Britt and we did our own thing. I didn’t ask clearance from the doctor there, I’m going to be honest. He was cool with it, he was just like, ‘please don’t take a bump, you’re not ready to take bumps yet.’ So he was like, ‘if you want to actually have matches, we have to get you completely cleared, that means MRIs, CT scans, everything.'”
Saraya then said she didn’t want to go to a doctor that was associated with wrestling.
“Halloween, perfect day, I went to the doctor here in California, one of the best doctors around. He did a bunch of NFL, NBA, all these huge action stars, celebrities, actors & actresses, and all that fun stuff.”
Saraya said she got x-rays, CT scans, and everything else done on the same day and later met with the doctor to go over the results.
“Then he sat there and went through them all and he was just like, ‘you’re cleared’ and I just burst into tears.”
The doctor told her that the fusions in her neck looked perfect, and said there were no fractures or other issues.
“I was like, let’s talk about paralysis. He said, ‘it’s rare’ and if you get kicked there, you have some cushion now. And if you ever feel like you’re not feeling too well, take some time off. You know your body but I will clear you to get back in the ring again.”
Saraya says the doctor said they could start with one match a month and then gradually start building up.
“Long story short, Halloween is when I got the full clearance. I called my parents, I was crying my eyes out.”
Saraya’s last match was a WWE house show on December 27, 2017. The match had to be stopped early when Saraya was injured after being kicked in the back by Sasha Banks. Saraya continued to talk about texting Banks after being medically cleared to return.
“The first person I texted as well was Mercedes, Sasha. She was one of the first people I texted. All that stuff, that can mentally f**k someone up to end someone’s career.”
“I just said, ‘Hey sis, I just want to let you know since I know this whole thing was tough on you mentally but my doctor just cleared me and told me my neck is 100% ready to go. I haven’t told anyone else but I know this will make you feel good. I’m back, haha.’ And she was over the moon and stuff like that.”
Lady Frost has reportedly been granted her release from Impact Wrestling.
The 37-year-old announced in June that she requested to be released from the company. It was then revealed in August that Impact had not granted the request.
According to a report from Fightful Select, Frost was officially released from the company last month. There were people within the company pushing for it as it didn’t seem productive to keep her under contract.
Frost was under a pay-per-appearance deal and had not performed for the promotion since Multiverse of Matches on April 1. Since then, she has wrestled for various independent promotions as well as on five CMLL shows at the end of last month.
Frost is said to have been frustrated with not having her travel and accommodation paid for Multiverse of Matches over WrestleMania week. She later needed minor surgery and says Impact kept in the dark regarding her status after.
Frost is said to have had two years left on her deal.
“If you were in a relationship where someone didn’t care about your physical or mental well-being, and didn’t adequately provide for you financially, would you fight to be free from it?” She wrote on Twitter in August, later adding, “This is certainly not about my husband.”
Impact Wrestling has revealed three more matches scheduled to air on Thursday.
Bully Ray vs. Zicky Dice has been announced for the show. Bully is also set to face Moose in singles competition at Impact Over Drive on November 18.
Bhupinder Gujjar will be in action on this week’s episode as well. He will face Impact newcomer, G Sharpe. Gujjar is coming off a loss to Matt Cardona on the October 13 episode.
Killer Kelly vs. Sandra Moone will be this week’s Before the Impact match. Kelly has won five of her six singles matches since returning to the company in 2022. Her only loss was via disqualification to Tasha Steelz. She then defeated Steelz in a no disqualification match two weeks later.
Impact Wrestling’s episode scheduled for Thursday, November 10, was filmed on October 22 from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, Nevada. The advertised lineup for the show is as follows:
Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace defends against Gisele Shaw
Digital Media Champion Brian Myers defends against Joe Hendry
Mickie James vs. Chelsea Green
Mike Bailey vs. Trey Miguel in an X-Division title tournament semifinal
Bully Ray vs. Zicky Dice
Bhupinder Gujjar vs. G Sharpe
Killer Kelly vs. Sandra Moone (Before the Impact)
Impact Over Drive takes place Friday, November 18 from the Old Forester’s Paristown Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The announced lineup is as follows:
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defends against Frankie Kazarian
Tag Team Champions Heath & Rhino defend against The Major Players
Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Death Dollz defend against Tasha Steelz & Savannah Evans
Pat and Samantha McAfee are expecting their first child.
Samantha posted to social media on Wednesday announcing the news. She noted that the couple’s pregnancy journey was a particularly difficult one.
“For those of you who haven’t followed along with our parenthood journey, we have lost two pregnancies, I almost lost my life both times with internal bleeding, resulting in losing both of my Fallopian tubes which has caused us to not be able to conceive naturally. In July, we started our IVF journey. It’s hard to put into words what all comes with IVF. It is physically demanding and emotionally challenging for the both of us. Pumping my body with so many hormones, the anxiety, the hope, truly being a human science project. Also despite my many tattoos, I absolutely hate needles so getting shots everyday (sometimes 3 in one day) was not easy on me or for Patrick to have to cause pain to me. I would like to believe IVF has made our relationship stronger.”
“Dear women and couples trying and battling, I hope this isn’t a trigger but rather serves as hope. Hope that you too can over come the battle of infertility. You will be parents! And remember that after a storm, a rainbow can occur.”
Pat McAfee released the following statement as well:
“From the emergency surgeries, both of which I was told that I might lose my wife (those were wild days) all the way thru this entire IVF process.. you’ve been an absolute badass Sam.”
“Your persistence and resilience has been nothing short of inspiring… it certainly hasn’t been an easy road but, nothing worth having comes easily. I can’t wait to be a parent with you. I love you.”
“We appreciate the hell out of all of the support from our friends and family thru this all. My parents, Sam’s parents, her friend group, my dudes… literally everybody in our universe has helped us thru this. We are eternally grateful.”
After about 150 shots, a surgery, a transfer, countless blood tests, waiting on embryos, genetic testing, hoping for a big fat positive on a pee stick. So much support from family & close friends. We are beyond happy & blessed to announce our double rainbow baby! @PatMcAfeeShowpic.twitter.com/PJRjhXCrqb
WWE has announced a new match for Tuesday’s edition of NXT.
JD McDonagh will face Axiom in singles competition on the show.
McDonagh is coming off a victory over Ilja Dragunov on the October 25 episode. Prior to that, McDonagh and Dragunov were defeated by Bron Breakker in a triple-threat match for the NXT Championship at Halloween Havoc.
McDonagh was also shown in the closing moments of last week’s episode approaching Apollo Crews in the back.
Axiom is coming off dropping a best-of-three series with Nathan Frazer. He lost the third and deciding match to Frazer on the October 11 episode.
The updated lineup for the November 8 edition of WWE NXT is as follows:
NXT Women’s Tag Team titles: Kayden Carter and Katana Chance defend against Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons
Five-minute challenge: Brutus Creed vs. Damon Kemp
Andre Chase vs. Charlie Dempsey
Cameron Grimes vs. Joe Gacy
Hank Walker vs. Stacks
Grayson Waller Effect w/ Bron Breakker and Von Wagner.
JD McDonagh vs. Axiom
Two title matches have been announced for the November 15 episode:
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defends against Alba Fyre
NXT Champion Bron Breakker defends against Von Wagner
Laredo Kid is back home after spending nine days in hospital.
The 35-year-old required emergency surgery after suffering ruptured intestines during a match with Vikingo on October 23 from Monterrey, Mexico.
Laredo Kid spoke with TheLaredo Morning Times on Monday about his injury and the emergency surgery it required.
“As I ended my fight with Vikingo, I had to be transported to San Vicente Hospital immediately and had to receive emergency surgery, as one of my intestines have become ruptured during the fight,” Laredo Kid said. “It has been the toughest battle I have ever fought in my career and life.”
“After being hospitalized for nine days and fighting for my life, I want to tell everybody that I am back,” he continued. “I am back at my house with my family and my children, and it is thanks to all of you — and all of my Laredo fanaticos — that I am better, because you all sent your well wishes, vibes and prayers. I really want to thank you all for always wanting to stay updated about my condition, and I especially want to thank my company Lucha Libre AAA that was always looking as to how I was doing.”
Lucha Maniaks Promoter Ishaan Idnani-Ramos says they are taking things “day-to-day” regarding a timeline for Laredo Kid’s recovery and return to the ring.
“He will be back and better than ever,” Idnani-Ramos said. “Right now we just wish for a speedy recovery and the best of vibes.”
The National Wrestling Alliance has suspended former two-time World champion Nick Aldis.
The NWA released a statement to PWInsider on Monday announcing Aldis will not be at Saturday’s Hard Times 3 or the promotion’s television tapings scheduled for this weekend. He had been scheduled to wrestle Odinson on the pay-per-view.
In a since-deleted video posted to his Instagram on Sunday, Aldis announced that he has given the promotion his notice and intends to become a free agent in January. According to those who saw the video, Aldis also stated he’s had creative differences with Billy Corgan and finds the current NWA product “embarrassing.”
From the NWA’s statement:
“Pursuant to the recent comments made by Nick Aldis, the National Wrestling Alliance has suspended Aldis from the main roster and effective immediately, Aldis will not appear for the Hard Times 3 PPV and Revolution Rumble television tapings in New Orleans, LA on Nov. 12, 2022, and Nov. 13, 2022. As such, the National Wrestling Alliance reserves its right to comment on this matter at a future date.”
NWA Chief Operating Officer Joe Galli later said that it is unclear if Aldis will be scheduled for the company’s television tapings in December.
“This is not a wrestling angle,” Galli also clarified.
Aldis also responded to an article regarding the NWA not running an all-female Empower event this year.
“If some of you are wondering whether stuff like this factored into my decision to give my notice you’d be correct,” he tweeted.
“Also, fans in NOLA: Sorry to disappoint but I was removed from the shows this weekend after giving my notice. I fully intended to fulfill my obligations to the audience but unfortunately the company doesn’t seem to share the same values,” a follow-up post reads.
During an appearance on Busted Open Radio in January, Aldis revealed that he signed a contract extension with the NWA. He was also scheduled to challenge Trevor Murdoch for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at NWA 74 but was later replaced in the match by Tyrus.
Corgan appeared on Busted Open Radio in July and explained the change to the NWA 74 main event and also expressed his frustration with Aldis.
“In the case of Nick Aldis, yes, your #1 contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Trevor Murdoch in St. Louis. I’ve dealt with this man for over four years, and for every ounce of politicking you see publicly there’s about ten times worse behind the scenes,” Corgan said.
“No one stresses me out more in the NWA than Nick Aldis, no one is more highly paid than Nick Aldis and no one is more unhappy than Nick Aldis.”
