Not every AEW championship title will be defended at Battle of the Belts.
Tony Khan confirmed on Culture State that not every championship will be on the line for the special Saturday show, which will take place January 8 at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“No, it’s a one hour show,” he confirmed. “It’s a one hour event, so I can’t put every belt on the line. It’s a great chance on a Saturday night to expand the reach of AEW by giving the fans great championship matches, which is a night that we know people love watching wrestling, that you can build an audience, especially for a big event. So, there’s going to be big championship matches, I’m very excited about it.”
One championship match has already been announced for the show. Britt Baker will defend the AEW Women’s Championship against Riho, who defeated Baker on AEW Rampage last month in a Black Friday Deal match to become the number one contender.
MLW’s World Heavyweight Champion has signed a new contract with the promotion.
Alex Hammerstone confirmed to Fightful that he’s signed a new multi-year contract with MLW. The deal replaces Hammerstone’s old contract that he signed in 2019 and was coming due.
Hammerstone told Fightful that MLW’s schedule was an attractive reason to re-sign with the company. The contract allows him to work indies, but he’s unable to appear for nationally televised promotions.
This October, Hammerstone became MLW World Heavyweight Champion by defeating Jacob Fatu in a title vs. title match. Hammerstone was MLW National Openweight Champion going into that match, but he vacated the title after becoming World Champion. Alex Kane later won a five-way ladder match to become the new National Openweight Champion.
Hammerstone got his World Heavyweight title shot by winning this year’s Battle Riot match.
Hammerstone, Richard Holliday, EJ Nduka, Jeff Cobb & Savio Vega defeated Fatu, Mads Krugger, Ikuro Kwon, and two Sentai Death Squad members in a War Chamber match last month.
Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Rok-C took part in WWE’s December tryouts.
WWE held tryouts at their Performance Center in Orlando, Florida on December 15, 16 and 17. A photo gallery on WWE.com includes several images of Rok-C.
Rok-C, 20, began training at age 13. She later continued that training under Booker T while working for his Reality of Wrestling promotion. She went on to defeat Miranda Alize in the finals of a tournament to claim the ROH Women’s World title at Death Before Dishonor in September.
Rok-C appeared at last weekend’s ROH Final Battle event, retaining the ROH Women’s title in a win over Willow Nightingale. After the bout, AAA Reina de Reinas Champion and Impact Wrestling talent Deonna Purrazzo confronted her and challenged her to a match for both the ROH and AAA titles, which Rok-C accepted.
In addition to Rok-C, it was reported in this week’s Observer Newsletter that several talent used by AEW in the past would be attending the tryouts, including the Renegade Twins, Cole Carter, and Nikita Knight.
Following last night’s SmackDown at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, WWE taped next week’s Christmas Eve edition of the show.
SmackDown will air on Fox in its normal time slot next Friday. Here’s what was taped for the episode:
– Sami Zayn won the “12 Days of Christmas” gauntlet match to become the number one contender to Shinsuke Nakamura’s Intercontinental title
Angel, Mansoor, Erik, Shanky, Ivar, Sheamus, Drew Gulak, Cesaro, Ricochet, Humberto, and Jinder Mahal were the other participants in the match. Zayn defeated Ricochet at the end of the match to get the win.
Zayn will challenge for the Intercontinental title at WWE Day 1.
– Charlotte Flair defeated Toni Storm to retain the SmackDown Women’s Championship
Charlotte reversed a pin by Storm to get the win and retain her title.
– Drew McIntyre & The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) defeated Madcap Moss & SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight
More details on the Owen Hart Cup tournament have been revealed.
On tonight’s Rampage, it was announced that the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Cup tournaments will take place in May. The finals will take place at Double or Nothing. Hart’s widow, Dr. Martha Hart, will be at Double or Nothing to award the cups to the two tournament winners. Further details will be announced on next Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Tony Khan announced on Busted Open Radio on Friday that more information would be announced on tonight’s show. Both will be singles tournaments. It was announced in September that AEW was partnering with the Owen Hart Foundation for the tournaments.
“This collaboration includes launching the annual Owen Hart Cup Tournament within AEW, which will see the winner receive a Cup known as ‘The Owen,’ as well as the production and distribution of unique and original Owen Hart merchandise, including specified retail goods as well as the upcoming AEW console video game,” the company announced at the time.
The first title match for AEW Battle of the Belts has been announced.
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. will defend the AEW Women’s World Championship against Riho on the Saturday, January 8 show. The match was made official during tonight’s AEW Rampage.
Riho defeated Baker in a non-title match on the November 26 Rampage, with the stipulation being that if she won, she would earn a future title match. Riho won the bout with a surprise cradle.
The loss to Riho was Baker’s first singles loss since AEW Dynamite St. Patrick’s Day Slam, taped on March 11, 2021, where she lost an unsanctioned Lights Out match to Thunder Rosa. Prior to that, Baker’s last singles defeat in a sanctioned match came to Nyla Rose on the February 24, 2021 Dynamite, taped on February 18.
Battle of the Belts will air as a quarterly special on TNT. The January 8 show will take place at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After being on a collision course for weeks, Adam Cole will face Orange Cassidy for the first time ever on this Wednesday’s Holiday Bash edition of AEW Dynamite.
Cole defeated Wheeler Yuta on last week’s Rampage which was followed by a Superkliq beatdown of Best Friends. Both Cole and Cassidy were on opposite ends of an eight-man tag on this week’s show which involved the Superkliq and Bobby Fish against Best Friends and Rocky Romero.
Wednesday will also see the first semifinal in the TBS title tournament as Ruby Soho will take on Nyla Rose. The winner will take on the victor of Jade Cargill vs. Thunder Rosa, the date for which has yet to be announced.
AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker and Tony Schiavone will also have a Christmas party. Baker will defend against Riho at Battle of the Belts on January 8th.
Excalibur also teased on commentary that fans might hear more about what’s next for AEW World Champion Hangman Page and Bryan Danielson after their 60-minute draw this past Wednesday.
Here’s what’s been announced thus far for Greensboro, North Carolina:
CM Punk, Sting and Darby Allin vs. MJF and FTR
Orange Cassidy vs. Adam Cole
Malakai Black vs. Griff Garrison
TBS title tournament semifinal: Ruby Soho vs. Nyla Rose
Hook will be in action on the Christmas night AEW Rampage.
Team Taz’s Hook will face Bear Country’s Bear Bronson on the Saturday, December 25 AEW Rampage Holiday Bash. The match was announced during tonight’s Rampage episode.
Hook vs. Bronson joins a TNT Championship match with Sammy Guevara defending the title against former two-time champ Cody Rhodes as the first matches announced for Rampage Holiday Bash. An angle with Guevara saving Rhodes from Dan Lambert, Scorpio Sly and Ethan Page of American Top Team also took place on tonight’s Rampage.
Hook debuted on the December 10 Rampage, defeating Fuego Del Sol in his first AEW match.
“Thanks to @OfficialTAZ + @730hook, this Christmas, #AEWRampage, I’m giving the world the gift of HOOK!
It will be a much bigger test: HOOK vs. @bearbronsonBC on Saturday Night December 25 @ 9pm ET/8pm CT, as part of a huge Christmas Night Rampage at a special night and time!”
WWE has announced a pair of matches for next week’s Christmas Eve edition of SmackDown.
The SmackDown Women’s Championship will be on the line as Charlotte Flair defends against Toni Storm on next Friday’s show. Storm, who has been attempting to get a shot at Charlotte’s title, pinned Charlotte in a tag team match on SmackDown tonight. Storm & Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte & Shotzi.
A “12 Days of Christmas” gauntlet match will also take place on SmackDown next Friday. The winner will become the number one contender to Shinsuke Nakamura’s Intercontinental title.
Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Sheamus, Ricochet, Angel, Humberto, Jinder Mahal, Shanky, Erik, Ivar, Mansoor, and Drew Gulak will be the 12 participants in the gauntlet match.
The Christmas Eve episode of SmackDown is being taped at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois tonight. It will air on Fox in the show’s normal time slot next Friday.
Tonight’s live SmackDown also took place at the Allstate Arena.
A new singles match has been added to WWE’s Day 1 pay-per-view event.
On tonight’s SmackDown, it was announced that Madcap Moss would take on Drew McIntyre in a singles match. This follows the events of tonight’s SmackDown, where Happy Corbin made the match, much to Moss’ chagrin.
Moss and Corbin have been feuding with McIntyre in recent weeks. On last week’s SmackDown, McIntyre grabbed his sword, named Angela, and stabbed it through WWE official Adam Pearce’s desk after an argument. It was later revealed that Corbin and Moss had stolen Pearce’s desk, with the sword still stuck in it.
On this week’s SmackDown, McIntyre confronted Corbin and Moss after Corbin officially gave Moss the sword. McIntyre came out and went after Corbin, but Moss pulled Corbin out of the ring. Later on in the show, they were shown hiding in a dark room in the arena. That was where Corbin made the match for Moss against McIntyre. Moss didn’t seem to like the idea of the match.
WWE Day 1 will take place on Saturday, January 1 at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defends against Brock Lesnar
WWE Champion Big E defends against Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, and Bobby Lashley in a fatal four-way match
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defends against Liv Morgan
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) defend against The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston)
Edge vs. The Miz
Drew McIntyre vs. Madcap Moss
Hip-hop group Migos will make a special appearance
PWG has made their tenth talent announcement for the 2022 Battle of Los Angeles event.
Davey Richards will take part in the 2022 edition of BOLA. The tournament is set to take place on Saturday, January 29 and Sunday, January 30 at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Richards joins PWG World Champion Bandido, AEW’s Lio Rush, Daniel Garcia and Lee Moriarty, JONAH, Alex Shelley, Kevin Blackwood, Black Taurus and Jack Cartwheel in the BOLA field.
Richards returned to the ring in 2021 following a four-year hiatus. He won MLW’s Opera Cup in November, defeating TJP in the finals. Richards also re-formed the American Wolves tag team with Eddie Edwards and captured the Pro Wrestling Revolver Tag Team titles in October.
In his most recent PWG appearance, Richards lost to Lio Rush at It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll) in November. He also unsuccessfully challenged Bandido for the PWG title at Threemendous VI in September.
AEW head Tony Khan made it clear on Friday’s Busted Open Radio that fans haven’t seen the last of AEW World Champion Hangman Page vs. Bryan Danielson.
“I’ll be honest: I’m excited for what’s coming next between Hangman Page and Bryan Danielson. It’s far from over. And I’ll tell you this: Bryan Danielson is still the no. 1 contender,” he said, “It’s a rematch I’m very much excited to see.”
The two went to a 60-minute draw to open Wednesday’s Winter is Coming edition of Dynamite, a match Dave Meltzer gave five stars in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Khan didn’t indicate when that would be, but with their first-ever Battle of the Belts special coming on Saturday, January 8th, that would appear to be the front-runner.
When the rematch happens, it will be only the second World title rematch of any kind in the young history of the company. Jon Moxley got a rematch against then-champion Kenny Omega at February’s Revolution after he lost the the title to Omega at last December’s Winter is Coming.
It was the first title defense for Page and Danielson’s first shot at the gold since coming to the company in September.
The card for NJPW vs. NOAH at night three of Wrestle Kingdom 16 has been set.
NJPW and NOAH held a press conference today and announced eleven matches for the card. All of the matches will have NJPW vs. NOAH talent. The match order has yet to be announced, but two matches were designated pre-show bouts.
Most notably, NJPW’s Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada will face Keiji Muto and Kaito Kiyomiya. Muto is no stranger to NJPW, having held the company’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship four times. Kiyomiya is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and a two-time GHC Tag Team Champion.
In an all-star 10-man tag, Los Ingobernables de Japon takes on Kongo (Diamonds), as Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI of NJPW face NOAH’s Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Tadasuke and Aleja.
Just two singles bouts have been announced, as NJPW’s SHO faces NOAH’s Atsushi Kotoge, and NOAH’s Yasutaka Yano takes on NJPW Young Lion Kosei Fujita.
In an interesting twist, NJPW’s KENTA will team with NOAH talent on the show, as Taichi, Minoru Suzuki and TAKA Michinoku face Takashi Sugiura, Kazushi Sakuraba and KENTA.
NJPW’s IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi and NOAH’s GHC Heavyweight Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima were on hand for today’s presser, which can be seen below.
All told, nine tag bouts and the two singles contests were announced for the event.
Here is the full lineup:
Wrestle Kingdom 16 night three, NJPW vs. NOAH, Saturday, January 8, 3 a.m. Eastern time on Abema pay-per-view —
The rematch for the Impact Knockouts title at January’s Hard to Kill between champion Mickie James and former champion Deonna Purrazzo will now be a Texas Death Match, announced on Thursday’s show along with a no contact clause until the pay-per-view.
After Purrazzo lost the title to James at Bound for Glory, Purrazzo disappeared until she attacked James following her title defense over Mercedes Martinez at Turning Point. The two got into a pull-apart brawl recently and were on opposite sides of a mixed tag team match two weeks ago. The two had another pull-apart Thursday after a contract signing.
James will be looking for the fourth defense in her most recent title reign while Purrazzo hasn’t had a singles match in Impact since losing the gold. Also made official Thursday is that Purrazzo will face reigning ROH Women’s Champion Rok-C at a future date.
Here’s the current lineup for Saturday, January 8th from Dallas, Texas:
Impact World Champion Moose vs. W. Morrissey vs. Matt Cardona for the title
Knockouts Champion Mickie James vs. Deonna Purrazzo Texas Death match for the title
Josh Alexander vs. Jonah
Women’s Ultimate X match: Lady Frost, Rosemary, Jordynne Grace, Tasha Steelz, Chelsea Green, Rachael Ellering
NJPW has announced the lineups for their final shows before Wrestle Kingdom 16.
The Road to Tokyo Dome tour will be held December 21, 22, 23 and 24 at Korakuen Hall. A KOPW 2021 match on December 24 is the only title match on the tour, while the rest of the matches are a mix of random tag bouts and Wrestle Kingdom 16 preview tags.
Here are the lineups:
NJPW Road to Tokyo Dome, Tuesday, December 21, 4:30 a.m. Eastern time, free on NJPW World —
