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.
MLW has announced that the middleweight title will be on the line at Fightland.
Shun Skywalker will defend his championship against Lince Dorado on the show. It will be Skywalker’s first defense of the belt since winning it from Myron Reed at MLW Super Series last month.
As for Dorado, this will be his second time challenging for the title. He faced Reed for the belt in a fatal four-way match at Battle Riot IV on June 23.
“The new World Middleweight Champion Shun Skywalker has accepted his first challenge for the title as luchador Lince Dorado looks to pounce the mercurial masked Japanese phenom and win gold,” reads an MLW press release.
MLW Fightland takes place Sunday, October 30 from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, and will be filmed for future episodes of MLW Fusion. The announced matches for the show are as follows:
MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against EJ Nduka in a last man standing match
MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against TBA
MLW Middleweight Champion Shun Skywalker defends against Lince Dorado
Jacob Fatu vs. Lio Rush
Willie Mack vs. Calvin Tankman
Real 1 (nZo) vs. Mance Warner
Billington Bulldogs & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Bomaye Fight Club
Darby Allin believed his match against Jeff Hardy would likely send him to the hospital.
Allin appeared on an episode of The Sessions released on Thursday and was asked if there has been any moment in his career that he thought might have been too dangerous. He responded that the closest he’s come to that was when he wrestled Jeff Hardy on the May 11 edition of Dynamite. During that match, Allin jumped off a ladder and landed on a pile of chairs below on the outside of the ring.
“Earlier in the day, I climbed that ladder and I looked down and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m for sure going to the hospital tonight,’ Allin said. “There’s no way around it, for sure.”
“But when the lights are and the camera’s going and you’re up there and then I’m like, ‘Alright, here I go’ and I did the flip and then everyone asked me, ‘How’d that feel?’ I’m like, ‘Dude honestly, it didn’t feel like anything, it was so safe.'”
“You can see me if you watch the video back, I kind of go to Jeff’s ear, I’m like, ‘That s**t was so fun!’ That was fun but I feel like AEW wise that was like the craziest thing that I thought for sure I was going to meet my doom.”
When asked what it was like working a match with Hardy, Allin responded, “it was like putting a match together with myself.”
Renee asked Darby what his parents think of all his stunts and he responded that they are usually in attendance for them. He noted that both his parents took part in the pilot for a reality show titled, “Darby’s Days Off.”
“They’re there for all of it. My mom and dad were there when I jumped my house. It was so funny because we jumped the house for the pilot of my reality series, called ‘Darby’s Days Off.'”
He continued to say that Brody King also bodyslammed his father onto thumbtacks for the pilot of the show.
“My dad and my mom have been there since the beginning with all the gnarly s**t that I was doing in high school with the skateboarding and stuff like that, so they’re used to it. They are so hyped on it now that it, like, paid off.”
Allin continued to say that he considers skateboarding as his life’s true calling.
“There’s nothing that beats skateboarding to this day. With wrestling, I love it, it’s so weird to say but I don’t think it’s my true calling in life.”
When Renee asked him what he felt his true calling is, Allin responded, “‘skateboarding & backflipping tricycles.'”
Allin then said that he would be interested in disappearing from wrestling for a little while as well.
“I just think it would be so cool to just disappear from everything for like two years and go to some random country and just fall off the face of the Earth and never update people with where I’m at. It just sounds nice.”
Later in the interview, he spoke about the benefits of a wrestler being away from television for awhile.
“I haven’t been off of AEW since I started. Yeah, I’ve had a two-week break or a three-week break or whatever, but I haven’t been gone for more than a month since AEW started,” he said. “There was a time in the spring where I was like, ‘I feel like I need to disappear.'”
“I just feel like people take a lot for granted, I just feel like I gotta disappear, and maybe I’m hoping that I blow up in a jeep one day.”
“I just got to disappear and be gone, like really f**k off and be gone. In the spring I just felt like I was floating around.”
“I was just trying to maneuver around and stay relevant without disappearing, it was like the ultimate challenge. Like I said, I’ve been there since the beginning of TV and I’ve never had that consistent time off.”
He was scheduled to wrestle Dexter Lumis on WWE Raw this week but ended up attacking his opponent with a chair before the bell. The match never did end up taking place.
Miz appeared on an episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast released on Wednesday and noted that he is dealing with a burst bursa sac. He also revealed his shoulder is a little “messed up.”
“I have a bursa sac that I burst that just keeps blowing up,” he said when talking about injuries wrestlers have to deal with. “It takes so long and then it’ll go away, I don’t know if you can see it, literally it just keeps coming back. Fluid comes in, it goes away, comes in, goes away. I’ve messed up my shoulder a little bit and then you’re trying to work out, work through it, and trying to make sure you maintain your body and physicality.”
The Miz has not wrestled since a house show in Bismark, North Dakota on October 1. The last time he wrestled on WWE programming was the September 5 edition of WWE Raw.
Miz also revealed, however, that he is scheduled to work a dark match after Friday’s SmackDown taping in Toledo, Ohio.
“I’m going on Friday just to do the main event dark to give them something a little more for that live crowd. You’re not going to see me on TV but the live crowd will see me in Toledo and perform,” Miz continued.
Karl Anderson will not be defending his NEVER Openweight Championship on November 5.
NJPW had previously announced Anderson would face Hikuleo on the Battle Autumn tour stop. On WWE Raw this week, however, it was revealed that the Good Brothers will team with AJ Styles to take on Judgment Day at Crown Jewel on the same date.
In a video posted to his social media on Wednesday, Anderson says NJPW didn’t run the November 5 date by his booking agent and tag partner, Doc Gallows, first. The Good Brothers confirmed that they won’t be on the NJPW show.
“New Japan Pro Wrestling, few questions,” Gallows begins in the video. “Are we the OG Bullet Club? Yes. Are we the world-famous Good Brothers? Yes. Are we repping OC on WWE Monday Night Raw? Yes. And do all bookings still go through the Big LG when it comes to ‘Bright Lights,’ when it comes to the Good Brothers? Yes, they do.”
“You guys announced ‘Bright Lights’, ‘The Machine Gun’ Karl Anderson for a match on November 5. Guess what? We’re a little double-booked because you didn’t run it through me. So, he ain’t coming. We’re not coming unless it’s on our time.”
“New Japan Pro Wrestling, listen, I love what you’ve done for the Good Brothers through these years,” Anderson added. “But let me tell you something, I am the greatest NEVER Openweight Champion of all time. I only work when the lights are bright and November 5, we ain’t coming. We’ll come on our time. The Machine Gun will tell you when I’m coming to defend my championship.”
The NWA Women’s tag titles will be defended at Hard Times 3.
On Tuesday’s edition of NWA Power, it was announced that Pretty Empowered (Kenzie Paige and Ella Envy) will put their belts on the line against Madi and Missa Kate. The challengers recently defeated the champions in a non-title match on the October 15 edition of NWA USA.
Pretty Empowered first won the titles at NWA Alwayz Ready on June 11. They have since defended the belts successfully twice against former champions, The Hex (Marti Belle & Allysin Kay).
NWA Hard Times 3 will take place at the Frederick J Sigur Civic Center in Chalmette, Louisiana on November 12. It will air live on FITE TV. The announced 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
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 and Ella Envy) vs. Madi and Missa Kate
AJ Cazana vs. Jordan Clearwater for the vacant NWA TV title
Billy Gunn believed he would be part of D-Generation X’s 25-year anniversary in WWE.
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, X-Pac, and Road Dogg closed out the October 10, 2022 episode of WWE Raw celebrating the Hall-of-Fame faction. AEW’s Billy Gunn was not in attendance, however, and according to comments made by Road Dogg on his ‘Oh… You Didn’t Know’ podcast, he wasn’t happy about it.
“It broke my heart, and I believe it broke his too,” Road Dogg said. “In all actuality, Hunter was not happy about it either. Shawn and X-Pac weren’t either. We wanted the band, all that we could get back together. Chyna is there in spirit. That didn’t happen. From what I understand, and I’m not in those inner circles anymore, and for my sanity rightfully so and thankful. I don’t know the exact reason, but I was told everything that we could do was done, and we couldn’t come together.”
“During the day prior, I texted him, ‘Hey, are you going to be able to make it? Have you found out any answers yet?’ He said, ‘Yes, I’m in.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s awesome.’ Literally, before I landed at home, I found out he was not in. I texted him back and he wasn’t happy either. It just didn’t work, no matter what. I understand. Whatever. I understand we’re [AEW and WWE] not huge fans of each other from a business standpoint. It was a big deal, and I feel like he got ripped off and didn’t live it with us. I’m sorry for that. I know he is too,” he said.
Billy Gunn and Road Dogg officially joined D-Generation X on the Raw after WrestleMania in 1998. Sean “X-Pac” Waltman returned to WWE on the same day and also joined the faction.
The MLW Women’s Featherweight Championship will be defended at Fightland.
MLW revealed on Wednesday that champion Taya Valkyrie will put her belt on the line in an open challenge.
“Who will step up and attempt to dethrone the globetrotting luchadora and take the Women’s World Featherweight Championship?” MLW’s press release reads. “It’s the question on everyone’s mind following MLW Matchmaker Cesar Duran throwing a curveball into the FIGHTLAND card with an open contract title fight for Taya Valkyrie.”
Valkyrie became the first-ever MLW Featherweight champion when she defeated Holidead to win the title at Kings Of Colosseum on May 13, 2022.
MLW Fightland takes place Sunday, October 30 from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA, and will be filmed for future episodes of MLW Fusion. The announced matches for the show are as follows:
MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against EJ Nduka in a last man standing match
MLW Featherweight Champion Taya Valkyrie defends against TBA
Jacob Fatu vs. Lio Rush
Willie Mack vs. Calvin Tankman
Real 1 (nZo) vs. Mance Warner
Billington Bulldogs & Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Bomaye Fight Club
The 30-year-old is advertised as a celebrity guest for an episode of the first season of ‘Barmageddon.’ The show is a project of Blake Shelton and Carson Daly and will be hosted by WWE Hall-of-Famer Nikki Bella.
“In each episode, two celebrities will play a unique set of five games in the bar to win a much-needed prize for a viral Internet sensation each has chosen to support,” a description of the show reads.
According to a report from PEOPLE, Banks will compete against Brie Bella on an episode of the show. Other match-ups scheduled for the first season are as follows:
Gwen Stefani vs. Sheryl Crow
Elle King vs. Chris Young
Clint Bowyer vs. Jimmie Johnson
Jay Pharoah vs. Martin Kove
Trace Adkins vs. Coach Mike Vrabel
Blake Shelton vs. Kane Brown
Lil Rel Howery vs. Malin Akerman
The series is scheduled to premiere Monday, December 5 on the USA Network.
“Hosted by WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella, the series will see Shelton open the doors of his Nashville-based bar Ole Red to welcome a rowdy crowd for live music sing-alongs and well-loved bar games — with a twist! With Daly behind the bar and Shelton on stage, Bella will keep the competition fierce and set the stakes as celebrity friends go head-to-head in games such as Air Cannon Cornhole, Keg Curling, Drunken Axe Hole, Sharts (“Shelton Darts”) and many more.”
NXT specials, such as Saturday’s Halloween Havoc, could soon be hosted outside the WWE Performance Center.
WWE’s senior vice president of talent development creative, Shawn Michaels, recently spoke to TV Insider about the future of the brand. During the discussion, he was asked about the possibility of holding NXT events in traditional arenas and away from the Performance Center.
“Absolutely. As you mentioned, we started with the Florida loop, or the coconut loop, as we call them. We’ve briefly discussed getting out for our premium live events,” Michaels responded. “Do we want to do that at the end of the year or start at the beginning of the new year? We had Stand & Deliver for WrestleMania weekend, which is the first time many of our talents were out of the Performance Center.”
“It’s certainly something we want to get back to. We have every intention of doing that. We’re actually having talks on how we want to go about executing that. This will go beyond shows in the state of Florida for certainly premium live events but regular live events. As you know, that is part of the developmental process. They have to get out there and perform on the main roster all around the world. They might as well get their feet wet in NXT.”
The NXT brand resumed touring in Florida back in June for the first time since March 2020.
Warner Bros Discovery is moving ahead with a ‘behind-the-scenes’ documentary series focussed on AEW.
In May, AEW sent out a survey announcing the series was in the works and asking fans to help name it. AEW also revealed that the show will “track our core cast on the road at AEW events as they try to hold onto the titles they have or win back the ones they’ve lost, with everything culminating at the biggest Pay-Per-View event of the year.”
According to a report from Fightful Select, AEW staff and talent were informed this past week that filming for the project will begin on November 2 when AEW Dynamite emanates from the Chesapeake Arena in Baltimore. It will continue for six weeks until Winter is Coming on December 14 from Garland, Texas. Tony Khan will serve as Executive Producer. The project will be a collaboration between Warner Bros Discovery and Shed Media. It is expected to air sometime in 2023.
Warner Bros Discovery US Networks Group chair and chief content office Kathleen Finch spoke to the Hollywood Reporter earlier this month about looking to create AEW content “that’s not in a wrestling ring.”
“We really play in the sports space. One of the things that we’re doing around sports is creating shoulder programming to hold onto those fans. AEW pulls huge numbers, so we are working with the wrestling team to figure out what new kind of content can we build that’s not in a wrestling ring,” she said.
Konnan says that Kenny Omega was prevented from sending a video to AAA for Triplemania due to “legal issues.”
Omega is technically the number-one contender for El Hijo del Vikingo’s AAA Mega Championship but was not permitted to take part in this weekend’s Triplemania event. He continues to be suspended from AEW due to the backstage altercation he was involved in at All Out. The suspension prevents him from taking part in bookings outside the promotion as well.
On the latest edition of his Keepin’ it 100 podcast, Konnan mentioned that he approached Omega about submitting a video to be played during the show but was told that was not possible.
“I know there are some legal issues because I actually asked Kenny Omega if he could send me a video for Triplemania, whoever wins between Vikingo and Fenix because, you know, he’s the number one contender, and he goes, ‘I still can’t because of legal issues.’ So, there is something legal going on,” Konnan said.
Last month, Konnan noted on his podcast that Omega’s suspension also prevented him from wrestling at Triplemania.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed possible legal issues stemming from the altercation at All Out in the October 3 edition of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“Regarding the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega, they all hadn’t heard anything from the company at least as of a few days ago,” he wrote.
Meltzer continued, “the belief is that their situation is on hold pending potential legal action, which unless cleared up, could delay things for some time and there is also a second hold up that hasn’t been made clear.”
WWE’s Day 1 premium live event has reportedly been canceled.
According to a report from Wrestlenomics, the event is not expected to be rebranded and WWE currently does not have a PLE listed for between Survivor Series on November 26 and Royal Rumble on January 28.
The event was scheduled to take place on January 1st from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA, for the second straight year.
Bryan Alvarez reported that there will be “big changes” coming to their PLE schedule for next year with likely more international events and less “gimmick shows.”
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed the issue on Sunday.
“Brandon Thurston reported Day 1 has been canceled. There were conflicts with major football games in Atlanta on 12/31 and 1/1. We’d been told a few weeks ago it could be moved but Thurston reported no PPVs between Survivor Series and Rumble. WWE hasn’t confirmed,” Meltzer wrote.
“Tickets had not been put on sale yet. They were scheduled to be put on sale 9/23. We had asked WWE about that this past week and gotten no answer.”
It was reported in the October 3 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that changes to the Day 1 pay-per-view could be forthcoming.
“A decision will be made this week regarding the date of the Day 1 PPV show. Right now the show is scheduled for 1/1 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta. There is talk that it could be changed and the announcement would be made next week if that’s the case, although we were told that either way it would remain at the building. Also as of right now, Lesnar is scheduled on that show which is the next U.S. show that he’s being listed for,” Meltzer wrote.
The New Year’s Day pay-per-view is believed to have been a Nick Khan project with the idea being it would become an annual event.
Two more wrestlers have advanced to the second round of the NJPW World TV title tournament.
SANADA and KENTA will both move on to the tournament quarter-finals after victories on Sunday’s show from Niigata. KENTA defeated Hirooki Goto in the night’s semi-main event and SANADA beat Taichi to close the show.
SANADA and KENTA will face each other in the next round on Sunday, October 30 from Chiba.
All matches in the tournament have a 15-minute time limit. If the match goes to a time-limit draw, a coin flip will be used to determine who advances.
Here’s the updated schedule:
Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Alex Zayne (October 14)
David Finlay defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru (October 14)
YOSHI-HASHI defeated Jeff Cobb (October 15)
EVIL defeated Aaron Henare (October 15)
SANADA vs. Taichi (October 16)
Hirooki Goto vs. KENTA (October 16)
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Ren Narita (October 26)
Toru Yano vs. The Great-O-Khan (October 26)
EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI (October 27) (quarter-finals)
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Finlay (October 27) (quarter-finals)
SANADA vs. KENTA (October 30) (quarter-finals)
Ishii/Narita vs. Yano/Great-O-Khan (October 30) (quarter-finals)
Rhea Ripley wrestled her first match in over four months this weekend.
The Judgment Day member returned to action at a WWE house show in Sioux City, Iowa on Saturday. She teamed with Damian Priest and lost a tag team match against Dolph Ziggler and Nikki ASH.
Ripley had not wrestled since June 6 when she won a fatal four-way match on Raw to earn a title shot. After being removed from the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Ripley would reveal that she was suffering from “brain/dental injuries” when replying to a fan on Instagram.
“Brain/teeth. Can’t see a brain injury. Stop being incompetent and reaching at nothing,” Ripley responded to someone who said she didn’t look injured.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed Ripley’s status during the June 23 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
“Her teeth were knocked loose in a match and she had braces put in. The braces were evident on her the last time she was on TV. But the other thing must have been…when she says her brain, that usually means a concussion,” he said.
“The two things that WWE doesn’t like to talk about are COVID and concussions,” he continued.
“She didn’t quite use the word ‘concussion’ but she had a brain injury is what she said.”
Cameron Grimes is reportedly scheduled to be at WWE Raw on Monday.
According to a report from PW Insider, the 29-year-old will be at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City for the show and will likely take part in the tapings for Main Event that night.
Several NXT wrestlers have appeared on Main Event over the last two weeks. Von Wagner and Carmelo Hayes each wrestled dark matches on last week’s show from the Barclay’s Center in New York. Fallon Henley, Josh Briggs, & Brooks Jensen also appeared on the show the week prior from Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Grimes hasn’t wrestled since dropping a match to Joe Gacy on the September 14 NXT taping. The match aired on September 27.
Grimes has been with the company since 2019. He previously wrestled as Trevor Lee (real-name Trevor Lee Caddell) for promotions such as PWG, OMEGA, and Impact Wrestling where he is a former three-time X-Division Champion and once held the promotion’s tag titles along with Brian Myers. Grimes is also a former NXT North American Champion and won the Million Dollar Championship at TakeOver 36 last year.
