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.
The ROH Six Man Tag Team Championships will be defended on AEW Dark: Elevation.
Dalton Castle & The Boys (Brandon & Brett) will defend against The Trustbusters team of Ari Daivari, Jeeves Kay, and Slim J on the show.
Other notable matches scheduled to air include Dante Martin vs. Eli Isom, Tay Melo vs. Trish Adora, and Alex Reynolds vs. Kip Sabian. Abadon, The Butcher & The Blade, Angelico, Athena, Eddie Kingston & Ortiz will be on the show as well.
Monday’s episode was filmed Wednesday, November 2 from the Chesapeake Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
AEW Dark: Elevation airs Monday at 7 p.m Eastern time on YouTube. The advertised lineup for the show is as follows:
ROH Six Man Tag Team Champions Dalton Castle & The Boys (Brandon & Brent) defend against The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Jeeves Kay, & Slim J)
Abadon vs. Amy Rose
Athena vs. Abby Jane
Dante Martin vs. Eli Isom
The Factory’s QT Marshall, Lee Johnson, & Cole Karter vs. Cheeseburger, Logan Easton Laroux, & Rhett Titus
Eddie Kingston & Ortiz vs. Myles Hawkins & Joe Keys
Tay Melo vs. Trish Adora
Angelico, The Butcher & The Blade w/ The Bunny vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) & Rocky Romero w/ Danhausen
Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds w/ John Silver vs. Kip Sabian w/ Penelope Ford
Katsuyori Shibata has commented on returning to the ring after 10 months to face Orange Cassidy on AEW Rampage.
Shibata suffered an acute subdural hematoma in 2017 following his match against Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Sakura Genesis. He collapsed backstage and required emergency surgery. It was believed his wrestling career was over but he would return for a grappling match against Zack Sabre Jr. in 2021 and later defeated Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom 16 earlier this year.
Shibata was defeated by Orange Cassidy in an All-Atlantic Championship match on AEW Rampage last Friday. He recently spoke with Tokyo Sports about the experience.
“It’s frustrating, really. The result is the same, and I have a lot of things to reflect on in terms of movement. I felt that I was back on the battlefield and that the ring is special. Sometimes things go well, and sometimes things don’t go well. I really felt alive,” a translation of his comments reads.
“I always wanted a chance,” Shibata continued. “I thought that if I waited in Japan, I would never get a chance. I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity I have now. I wanted to give it my all.”
Shibata continued to say that attending Antonio Inoki’s funeral last month motivated him to return to the ring.
“There were many things I thought about. If it weren’t for Mr. Inoki and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, I wouldn’t have been born. That is the level I am talking about. I realized that Mr. Inoki is one of the reasons for my existence. I realized that I must not extinguish the fire of my fighting spirit.”
Shibata also reacted to Mike Tyson working on commentary for his match against Cassidy.
“I watched a lot of Tyson’s videos when I was doing mixed martial arts. I respect him. I never thought that five and a half years after my injury, I would be competing in the U.S. and Mike Tyson would be commentating. I thought that if you work hard and live life to the fullest, things like dreams can come true.”
Shibata also said he plans on wrestling again in the near future.
“I think I will have a match in the near future. I’ve started to make a move,” he said.
According to our own Dave Meltzer, Shibata requested to have two matches in AEW: one against Cassidy and the other against Bryan Danielson.
The next NXT Championship match has been scheduled.
Von Wagner has been granted a title shot against Bron Breakker on the November 15 edition of WWE NXT. Wagner attacked the champion in the closing moments of last week’s show.
Grayson Waller announced the match in a video posted to social media on Sunday. He also revealed that both Breakker and Wagner are set to be guests on the Grayson Waller Effect on Tuesday’s show.
“I’ve come to learn that Bron Breakker, the little dog himself, will be defending the NXT Championship against big Von Wagner,” Waller says. “Since Grayson Waller always has his finger on the pulse, I’ve organized it, I’ve already gone and made sure that come Tuesday, this Tuesday live on NXT on the USA Network, the Grayson Waller Effect is back and my guests are non-other than the champion Bron Breakker and the challenger Von Wagner.”
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.
Two title matches are now official for the November 15 episode:
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defends against Alba Fyre
NXT Champion Bron Breakker defends against Von Wagner
Impact Wrestling has announced a new match for Over Drive.
The promotion revealed on Friday that Bully Ray vs. Moose has been added to the show. Over Drive takes place Friday, November 18 from the Old Forester’s Paristown Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, and will air on Impact Plus.
Bully Ray returned to the promotion after an eight-year absence at Bound For Glory last month. He won the Call Your Shot Gauntlet earning him a title shot against the champion whenever he chooses.
On Impact television in recent weeks, Bully has been trying to convince the locker room he is now trustworthy. Others have accused him of backstage attacks on members of Bullet Club, however. Moose became involved in this storyline after Bully suggested he was the one actually behind the attacks.
Here’s the current lineup for Impact Over Drive:
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
The following is an opinion-based preview and doesn’t reflect the opinions or viewpoints of our website.
Saturday’s WWE Crown Jewel will be the first Saudi Arabia show run by the new WWE regime, but it looks as though they will be taking the same approach as before.
Everything WWE does on a Saudi show is about spectacle, larger-than-life characters, and getting media attention. It’s the kind of environment where Omos is a bigger star than AJ Styles and solid in-ring work means little.
The Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul headliner is all about mainstream publicity, both for WWE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Paul brings a lot of eyeballs with him wherever he goes making Riyadh an ideal place to put him against Reigns. The mainstream attention is exactly what Saudi wants out of its deal with WWE.
That is what they are paying $50 million a show for and WWE is going to deliver it at Crown Jewel.
On top of the main event, there are two matches on the show that will continue WWE’s Saudi tradition of pitting big guys up against each other — a super heavyweight division of sorts that is only active on these shows. Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman vs. Omos will be added to a Saudi list that already includes the following:
Brock Lesnar defeated Roman Reigns (Greatest Royal Rumble 2018)
Tyson Fury defeated Braun Strowman via countout (Crown Jewel 2019)
Goldberg defeated Bobby Lashley (Crown Jewel 2021)
Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar (Crown Jewel 2021)
Roman Reigns defeated Goldberg (Elimination Chamber 2022)
There was also Goldberg defeating the Fiend at Super ShowDown 2020 if you want to put Wyatt in this imagined division.
Other matches at this year’s Crown Jewel have had “spectacle” added to them. Drew McIntyre vs. Karrion Kross isn’t quite a super heavyweight clash, but throwing in a steel cage stipulation adds a layer of pomp and circumstance that wasn’t there before. Bayley vs. Bianca Belair in a Last Woman Standing match will also have lots of bells and whistles attached.
It’s the same story for every Saudi show, for better or for worse. Here’s a look at Crown Jewel 2022.
Braun Strowman vs. Omos
There’s an unacknowledged dynamic to this match that involves Strowman coming to reclaim his title as the giant of WWE. On the week he was released from the company in 2021, our own Dave Meltzer reported that it was in part due to, “the feeling he was two years past his peak and he had become obsolete as the roster giant because of Omos on Raw, Commander Azeez on Smackdown, and perhaps Shanky on Raw, being on the main roster who were so much bigger than he is.”
In other words, WWE felt it had bigger giants so Strowman was no longer needed. His successors didn’t quite rise to the occasion after he left, however. Omos has done very little, Azeez was sent back to NXT and Shanky just doesn’t dance like he used to anymore. When Paul Levesque took over, putting Strowman back in the position of company giant was one of his first moves — a position that will be even more cemented when he beats Omos at Crown Jewel.
Also, this match will almost assuredly be horrendous.
Prediction: Braun Strowman
Karrion Kross vs. Drew McIntyre in a steel cage match
After losing to Reigns at Clash at the Castle and then losing to Kross in a strap match at Extreme Rules, it feels as though McIntyre could really use a win here. It seems likely he will even up this rivalry at Crown Jewel but it’s by no means a foregone conclusion.
Somewhat surprisingly, the odds for this match at Betonline.org as of this writing have McIntyre listed as only a -130 favorite. That he’s not a larger favorite perhaps owes to the fact that Levesque likes to book Kross as an unbeatable monster.
During his first run in WWE, Levesque had Kross win the NXT title in just his seventh match. He didn’t lose at all in NXT under Levesque’s watch until he had been called up to the main roster and they needed to get the belt off of him.
While McIntyre avenging his loss at Extreme Rules seems likely, it’s possible that Levesque wants to build Kross up for a match with Reigns or for another top program. This being a steel cage match does give WWE the option of having McIntyre win via escape, however, and thus keeping Kross strong by not having him get pinned.
Prediction: Drew McIntyre
The O.C. (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) vs. Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio)
For some fans, The O.C. vs. Judgment Day feud is all about the impact Bullet Club has had on the entire industry for almost a decade. It’s also a fairly important match in the history of NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Championship, but that’s another story altogether.
When WWE signed Styles, Anderson and Gallows in 2016, the idea was to capitalize off Bullet Club’s popularity. They saw just how many fans were showing up to their events with Bullet Club t-shirts and naturally decided they would like to have some of that money. They just never went anywhere with it once they had it. Now with Levesque in charge, they are getting a second crack at it.
So, it’s O.C., reunited once again, up against Balor’s new faction. There have been some references to Balor’s history in the club but it’s usually limited to him just mentioning that he was the guy who started it. It feels like they could be doing more to play off of history here, but that’s likely due to most of that history having occurred in another promotion.
Some comments by Gallows made shortly after his WWE release in 2020 on Tama Tonga’s podcast help illustrate how influential some feel Bullet Club has been:
“If there’s no Bullet Club, there’s no AEW. If there’s no Bullet Club, there’s no growth in professional wrestling. If there’s no Bullet Club, there really is no reason to have an NXT because why do you turn developmental into indie heaven and hire everybody in the business? There’s no reason to do it. Professional wrestling advanced because of what the Bullet Club was in Japan.”
So far, WWE has been unable to capture that same magic with The Club or The O.C. Perhaps Levesque will be more invested in it than Vince was, however.
Prediction: The O.C.
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) defend against The Brawling Brutes (Ridge Holland & Butch)
When this match takes place, The Usos will have exactly eight days left before they tie New Day’s record as the longest-reigning WWE tag champs of all time. It feels pretty likely that they will at least still hold the belts leading up to the November 11th SmackDown.
In other words, I’m not giving the Brawling Brutes much of a shot in this one.
Just being in this match (and the payday that comes with it) is a milestone achieved for Butch and Ridge Holland, however. The Brawling Brutes have been so good as of late that they basically just turned babyface without any real angle behind it. The fans just started cheering them and then they started getting booked against heels.
This match will continue the rivalry between The Bloodline and The Brawling Brutes, so it should be interesting to see how it all plays out. It’s possible this angle leads to Sheamus getting a shot against Reigns when he returns as well.
Prediction: The Usos
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss & Asuka defend against Damage CTRL (IYO Sky & Dakota Kai)
It’s been almost two months since the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships have been back on the show but they still don’t feel important as there’s really no women’s tag team division to go along with them.
The titles have changed hands three times already since they have returned and only Sky & Kai actually feel like a real team. Alexa Bliss & Asuka were basically just thrown together, just like Aliyah & Raquel Gonzalez were.
For these titles to feel important, WWE needs to start adding some true full-time teams into the mix. Granted, Levesque is in the process of hiring back plenty of wrestlers who could help make that a reality.
I imagine the belts are going back on Damage CTRL here. If Bayley wins the title at Crown Jewel as well, then you have all three members of the group wearing gold. Meanwhile, keeping the belts on Asuka & Bliss would serve little purpose at all.
Prediction: Damage CTRL
RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair defends against Bayley in a Last Woman Standing match
The ending here should be interesting considering what happened in their ladder match at Extreme Rules. With Bliss and Asuka storyline injured, the dastardly heel faction used the numbers advantage against the champion and it seemed like Bayley would surely win. Then Belair just beat up all three of them, climbed the ladder, and won.
Now at Crown Jewel, Bliss and Asuka are back in case Belair needs backup and the odds aren’t as much in Bayley’s favor. If Bayley is going to win the title here, she’ll need to have some type of heelish plan.
Survivor Series: WarGames is just around the corner and Damage CTRL seems a likely team be entered in the women’s match. This means they are going to need a fourth for their team and that could potentially factor into the end of this match too.
Prediction: Bayley
Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley
Now that Lesnar is back, it will be interesting to see how WWE uses him. His last run was all about putting over Reigns so the company might feel the need to build him back up a little.
Lesnar is 4-1 in singles matches in Saudi, defeating Reigns, Ricochet, Cain Velasquez, and Braun Strowman. He also won the Elimination Chamber match there earlier this year. Lesnar lost at Crown Jewel last year to Reigns, and is still always a key part of WWE shows in Saudi.
Lashley hasn’t won a match in WWE’s Saudi super heavyweight division yet, losing to Strowman (Super ShowDown 2019) and to Goldberg (Crown Jewel 2021).
Lesnar still needs to avenge his loss to Lashley from the Royal Rumble earlier this year, and Crown Jewel seems like a good time to do that. This could potentially open the door for a rubber match between the two somewhere down the line as well.
Prediction: Brock Lesnar
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Logan Paul
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will pay $50 million for this show and what they want in return is the kind of publicity a celebrity like Paul can provide. It’s not about catering to WWE fans; it’s about putting on a show that will put eyeballs on the country.
WWE’s deal with the Kingdom (not Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) is part of Saudi Vision 2030, a program aimed at improving the country’s image in addition to diversifying its economy. The Kingdom is banking on WWE events, golf tournaments, boxing matches, and more to showcase Saudi Arabia on the world stage.
All of this is to say that the goal of WWE’s Saudi shows is far different than for a typical premium live event.
Reigns and Paul don’t need to have a good match from bell to bell. The idea will be to get a few cool-looking spots in there that can be shared on social media and thus make Crown Jewel look like a world-class event.
As for the match itself, the story they are building involves Paul having knockout power due to screws inserted into his knuckles, and the Tribal Chief not taking the match seriously at all. The most likely scenario here is that Reigns doesn’t give his challenger any credit until he is hit with a mighty blow that all of a sudden makes an upset seem possible.
In the end, however, Reigns will pull out the victory but it will be a far closer match than he had anticipated.
Matt Hardy set the record straight on comments from his most recent podcast where it was misconstrued that he witnessed the backstage fight between CM Punk and The Elite at AEW All Out.
After an earlier story from our website and others took his comments to mean that he was present for the fight, Hardy said otherwise:
My comments from this week’s @matthardypod have been misconstrued. I WAS NOT at All Out 2022. I DID NOT say I witnessed the events at All Out. I witnessed the entire process in real time over the months & stand by my comment that the Elite were not in the wrong.
On the Friday edition of the Extreme Life with Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy said that it’s going to be interesting to see Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks back and that he’s happy they are back.
The comments he said were taken the wrong way are as follows:
“I will say this right here and right now: those guys didn’t do anything wrong in this situation. If anything, they were the victims and I’m telling you that from a first-person perspective. I was there, I witnessed it all.”
In the aforementioned tweet, Hardy said those comments were in regard to the “entire process in real time over the months” but that he stands by his opinion that Omega and the Bucks were not in the wrong.
From the podcast:
“I love all three of those guys. I’ve known Matt & Nick forever. I’ve just gotten to know Kenny while I’ve worked with AEW but I am very happy they are returning to TV and they are back and they are back in the mix. They deserve to be in the mix.”
Hardy was also asked about Colt Cabana appearing on Dynamite this week.
“I was excited for it. It was great. Colt Cabana…he had just been away from AEW for a very long time. It is what it is. I don’t really have to sit here and go into things, but we are in a position right now where he can be back on AEW TV and I’m glad to have him back.”
“I’m glad that their names have been cleared and they are coming back to TV and I’m very happy to see Colt Cabana, who I think is a great human being and also think is a great performer, I’m very happy to see him back on AEW programming.”
Colt Cabana’s appearance on Dynamite is being considered a “morale booster” for the AEW locker room.
It was his first match on Dynamite since losing to Bryan Danielson on the November 24, 2021, episode, although he continued to appear on Dark and Dark: Elevation until March.
The decision for Cabana to be Chris Jericho’s mystery opponent was addressed by our own Dave Meltzer in Friday’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“Cabana appearing led to even more talk because people saw it as a shot at Punk or a vindication of the story that Cabana stopped being used in AEW due to Punk. Whatever it was, it was Tony Khan’s idea,” Meltzer wrote.
“We were told that this was more for the locker room than anything else, that having Cabana on the show and given a positive spotlight after months of being ostracized for reasons that had nothing to do with him was a dressing room morale booster since he had many friends there.”
Cabana was originally hired as an agent and had been producing matches for Dark and Dark: Elevation while also performing on-screen as a member of The Dark Order. He left for Australia to perform as The Brooklyn Brawler in the “Young Rock” series and when he returned, AEW stopped using him. It was around this same time that the company hired Ace Steel.
Cabana’s contract was set to expire this summer but he was given a new deal to work ROH for the same money he had been earning before.
“As best we can tell, Cabana was only in for that one match but is still under contract to ROH, but is no longer ostracized and could be used again in some form,” Meltzer continued.
Lamar Jackson has commented on Chris Jericho calling him out on AEW Dynamite.
The Ravens quarterback was in attendance for Wednesday’s show from Baltimore’s Chesapeake Arena. His presence did not go unnoticed by Jericho, who mentioned Jackson in a promo before his match with Colt Cabana.
“I am ready for an open challenge tonight against any former Ring of Honor champion,” Jericho said. “World champion, tag team champion, Pure champion, women’s champion, I don’t care! I’ll even whip Lamar Jackson’s a–!”
During a media scrum on Thursday, Jackson commented on Jericho’s callout.
“I got called out! I wasn’t thinking he was going to call me out, you know, Chris Jericho called me out. I didn’t really hear what he said at first and then they told me and I started laughing, I’m like this man is crazy. I enjoyed it though because growing up I was a huge fan of wrestling.”
Shawn Spears says he still has a few things left in wrestling he’d like to accomplish, including winning a championship for a major company.
The 41-year-old was a guest on an episode of The Sessions with Renee Paquette released on Thursday. During the discussion, Paquette asked Spears what keeps him motivated and what is his “love story” with wrestling.
“The reality is it’s been a love/hate relationship,” Spears said. “It has been up and down. It has been a lot of down. There have been times where I’ve hated this industry and the reason being is its entertainment and without pulling the curtain back too much, there are just things you’re not in control of. So, it can have a tendency to make you feel like you are not good enough despite how hard you’re working, despite how much time or effort you are giving to the industry, and despite what the audience may be doing. It may just not be your number and this business doesn’t owe anybody anything. It moves on with or without us.”
Spears and Cassie Lee (FKA Peyton Royce) are expecting their first child in January.
“What keeps me motivated and what keeps me going is knowing that my legacy, the legacy I leave behind, will have nothing to do with pro-wrestling, in my opinion. No one is going to probably remember me in great detail after I’m gone, but my son will. My son will know what I’ve done, my future children will know what I’ve done, my family knows what I’ve done. My nieces and nephews will know what I’ve done and if that is enough to guide them down a path, a good path that can be beneficial to their life and the lives they create with someone going forward, I’ve done my job on this Earth.”
Spears also mentioned that he feels his time left in wrestling is limited.
“I am winding down, I don’t have a lot of time left. That’s probably the main reason I put pressure on myself now,” Spears continued.
Paquette asked him if he doesn’t have a long time left contractually or physically.
“Both,” he responded. “Bodywise I’m in really good shape. I’m in great shape, the best shape of my life. I mean in the sense where I’ve never been at the main event, top of the card schedule.”
“I never had to do the champion’s schedule so my body after almost 21 years is in really good condition based on what I have done but there’s very few things that I would like to do left in wrestling. I’m pushing to try and check off a few of those boxes before my time is done. It’s been difficult and it’s been a challenge but not more challenging than anything else I’ve been through in 20-plus years.”
Spears continued to say that winning a championship is something left he would like to accomplish. He mentioned being inspired by a photo of Brodie Lee holding the TNT title with both of his sons.
“My goal is to be decorated, is to win a championship in a major company, AEW or elsewhere. That is my goal, just so I can have that time and that prize to show my son in the future.”
He continued to say WWE’s Intercontinental Championship is a belt he would like to win.
“Being completely honest, I have always seen myself as an Intercontinental Champion,” Spears said.
“I grew up on the Mr. Perfects, and the Rick Rudes, and the Ultimate Warrior, and then as I got into wrestling, it was always seen as the workhorse championship. So, I had always seen myself in that zone. So, in a perfect world, it would be the Intercontinental Championship.”
Sloane Jacobs has commented on her release from WWE.
The 19-year-old was one of five wrestlers to be let go from the company earlier this week. She began training at the Performance Center in March and debuted on NXT programming later that month.
Jacobs took to Instagram to comment on her release.
“bend, don’t break no matter what, wrestling will always be my home, from when I was a fan in the crowd to when I was on tv. thank you @wwenxt for helping me learn and grow these past months. now onto whatever is next”
Jacobs’ last match on WWE programming was a loss to Indi Hartwell on an episode of Level Up taped on October 4.
Prior to signing with WWE, Jacobs was trained at the Monster Factory in New Jersey and wrestled on the independent scene as Notorious Mimi. She wrestled four times on episodes of AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation in late 2021 and early 2022 as well.
The next-day rights to air WWE Raw will continue to be held by the streaming service after a deal was struck following months of negotiation. WWE revealed the news today during its third-quarter investors call. The two companies have been in business together since 2012.
WWE Chief Financial Officer & Chief Administrative Officer, Frank Riddick said the Hulu extension is a short-term deal designed to better align with the upcoming live TV rights negotiations.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics believes the short-term deal is structured to end at the same time WWE’s current TV rights deals expire in September 2024.
“Sounds like WWE settled for less money from Hulu in exchange for getting the deal to expire with live rights Sep 2024,” Thurston wrote on Twitter.
Hulu continues to hold the next-day rights to air WWE SmackDown until at least September 2024 as well. This is due to Fox sub-licencing all of its next-day rights to the streaming service.
Additionally, Nick Khan also revealed on today’s investors call that a WWE series focused on Bianca Belair and Montez Ford is coming to Hulu as well.
Butch says that knowing how his new character on the main roster would be received was “a pretty anxious, tense time.”
The 28-year-old appeared on an episode of Out of Character released on Wednesday. During the discussion, he was asked about his transition from Pete Dunne to Butch after being called up to the main roster.
“I was just about to board the plane, I got a call saying the new name and a basic rundown of the vision. Then I spent the whole flight thinking to myself, ‘How is this going to be received?’ And knowing how it was going to be received, for the most part,” he responded.
“Luckily I have a great network around me in wrestling. I was able to call William Regal, Shawn Michaels, get their opinion on it. The sort of overriding conclusion I came to was Pete Dunne the name, that isn’t why people connect to me, people connect to me through what I do in the ring.”
“There are a lot of people now that have really come around to the Butch character, whatever that means now, but there’s a lot of people who liked the work that we did, especially now [that] I’m getting that time to go out there and wrestle.”
“Knowing how that was going to be received, that was a pretty anxious, tense time. But the second it was out there, and then you get that wave of people saying, ‘What’s this? This is not what we wanted.'”
“If anything I took it as a huge positive because the fact that people were so upset by it at times, or concerned about it, worried about it, it shows how into what we’ve done in the past they were and I’m grateful for every single one of them.”
Butch would also say that since he began portraying Butch on the main roster, he has been more popular with kids.
“What I will say, especially about the earlier Butch stuff, it’s the first time in my career that when I meet people in the street they say, ‘you’re my kid’s favorite wrestler.’ It’s always been before ‘you’re my favorite wrestler.'”
“That was nice to see that okay now I’m connecting with a completely different portion of the audience.”
Butch was also asked about his relationship with Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
“I have full trust in him. That whole UK tournament and all that, the trust that he put in me to do that. To that point, he probably seen me have one tryout match – he probably had watched footage of me and stuff separately – but I hadn’t even met him until the press conference which was a few weeks before the UK tournament, and then never worked with him until the UK tournament. He had full trust in me to go out there and have three or four matches that weekend, to be the ongoing story throughout that weekend, and to sort of build the UK title around me, myself and Tyler [Bate], Trent [Seven], Mark Andrews, others. The trust he put in me there, ever since then my full trust is in him. I try not to bother him too much but I know that he’s there, I know that he’s approachable.”
MLW has announced that January’s Blood & Thunder event will be held in Philadelphia.
The event will take place Saturday, January 7, 2023, from the famed 2300 Arena. Matches on the show will be filmed for future episodes of MLW Fusion.
MLW presented Fightland 2022 from the same venue last month. Last year’s Blood & Thunder event was held in Gilley’s Dallas and featured Alexander Hammerstone defending the promotion’s world championship against Pagano.
Tickets to the show are set to go on-sale Tuesday, November 8 at 10 a.m Eastern time.
The following are advertised to appear on the show:
World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone
Jacob Fatu
Alex Kane and the Bomaye Fight Club
Real1
Davey Boy Smith Jr. & The Billington Bulldogs
World Tag Team Champions Hustle & Power (EJ Nduka & Calvin Tankman)
Lince Dorado
Women’s World Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie
Microman
Davey Richards
Mance Warner
Delirious
Sam Adonis
Cesar Duran
The Samoan SWAT Team
The FBI
MLW debuts on Pro Wrestling TV on Thursday, November 3. The “new season” of Fusion kicks off with the airing of Battle Riot IV, which was filmed in June from New York’s Melrose Ballroom.
The NWA has added two matches to the lineup for Hard Times 3.
The father and son team of Hawx Aerie (Luke & PJ Hawx) defeated The Dirty Sexy Boys (JTG & Dirty Dango) in a number one contenders match on last night’s NWA Power. They will now move on to face the NWA tag champions, La Rebelion, at Hard Times 3.
James Mitchell also cut a promo on last night’s show challenging Natalia Markova to face Max the Impaler in a Voodoo Queen Casket match. The match has since been confirmed for the show.
NWA Hard Times 3 takes place Saturday, November 12 at the Frederick J Sigur Civic Center in Chalmette, Louisiana. It will air live on FITE TV. The advertised lineup for the show is as follows:
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Trevor Murdoch defends against Tyrus and Matt Cardona in a triple-threat match
NWA Women’s Champion Kamille defends against KiLynn King and Chelsea Green in a triple-threat match
NWA Tag Team Champions La Rebelion (Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf) defend against Hawx Aerie (PJ & Luke Hawx)
NWA US Tag Team Champions The Fixers defend against The Spectaculars
NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion Homicide defends against Kerry Morton
NWA National Champion Cyon defends against Dak Draper
NWA Women’s Tag Team Champions Pretty Empowered (Kenzie Paige & Ella Envy) vs. Madi & Missa Kate
AJ Cazana vs. Jordan Clearwater for the vacant NWA TV title
MLW National Openweight Champion Davey Richards defends against Colby Corino
EC3 vs. Thom Latimer
Nick Aldis vs. Odinson
The Question Mark w/ Aron Stevens vs. The Question Mark II
Mercurio, Magic Jake Dumas, and Jax Dane vs. Anthony Mayweather, JTG, and The Pope (pre-show)
