NJPW president Takami Ohbari says they are doing everything they can to ensure all matches listed for November 5 in Osaka take place as advertised.
NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson was scheduled to defend his title against Hikuleo on the show. Anderson was later announced for a match at WWE Crown Jewel on the same date, however.
The Good Brothers released a video last week claiming that NJPW never confirmed the November 5 date with them and said Anderson will not be defending his title at the Battle Autumn event.
Ohbari took to social media on Saturday to say they are working to ensure the match takes place, and that they expect all wrestlers to “honor their advertised commitments.”
“We are doing all we can to ensure every signed match in Osaka on November 5 happens as promised. We expect all wrestlers, especially champions, to honor their advertised commitments,” the NJPW president wrote on Twitter.
Ohbari also told Tokyo Sports in an interview last week that he is “angry” about the situation involving Anderson and the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Hikuleo directed his post-match comments on Saturday toward Anderson and the situation involving the NEVER Openweight Championship.
“You think you forgot about me? I’ve got a lot on my plate right now, but I can make time for you. What are you scared of, Karl Anderson? The second non-Japanese person to make the finals of the G1, scared of someone who’s just coming back from a learning excursion? The former multi-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, scared of someone who’s only had two title matches?”
“Listen, you want to call yourself ‘bright lights’? Don’t forget who turned on those lights for you- New Japan did. And now you want to say those lights are brighter? You want to say your lights are brighter. Well, don’t turn your back on us. Don’t forget where you came from,” Hikuleo said to Anderson.
“Karl, you want to hide from me? I’ll find you, and when I do- I’ll knock all your lights out.”
WWE is advertising a match featuring Anderson, Luke Gallows, and AJ Styles against Judgment Day’s Finn Balor, Damian Priest, and Dominik Mysterio for Crown Jewel.
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.”
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson are set for their first in-ring action since returning to WWE.
WWE has announced that Gallows & Anderson will team up against the Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis) on this Monday’s episode of Raw. The match comes one week after Gallows & Anderson made their WWE return.
Gallows & Anderson came back to WWE on Raw this past Monday, reuniting with AJ Styles and helping him even the odds against The Judgment Day. Styles, Gallows & Anderson brawled with Finn Balor, Damian Priest & Dominik Mysterio until Judgment Day retreated.
Gallows & Anderson’s return was their first appearance for WWE since being released in April 2020.
Despite being back with WWE, Anderson is still NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Champion. He’s defending that title against Hikuleo at NJPW’s Battle Autumn show on Saturday, November 5.
Monday’s Raw is being held at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The updated lineup for the episode is listed below:
Brock Lesnar appears
United States Champion Seth Rollins defends against Matt Riddle
Dexter Lumis vs. The Miz (if Lumis wins, he gets a WWE contract)
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis)
WWE was at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for last night’s season premiere edition of Raw.
Multiple returns took place on the episode. The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) made their return to WWE, reuniting with AJ Styles and helping him even the odds against The Judgment Day. Brock Lesnar also came back to WWE television and cost Bobby Lashley the United States title.
An attack by Lesnar left Lashley in no condition to compete, but Lashley chose to still go on with his title match against Seth Rollins after Rollins provoked him. Rollins won the United States title with a pair of stomps.
Also on last night’s Raw, D-Generation X appeared for their 25th anniversary celebration, a new message from Bray Wyatt aired, and more.
“Also already announced for November 5, Karl Anderson will defend the NEVER Openweight Championship gold against Hikuleo,” NJPW’s website reads. “The Machine Gun will go wherever the bright lights will lead him, and that certainly rings true when it comes to November’s big Osaka event. Might it also be true of Wrestle Kingdom and a NEVER Championship defence on the grandest stage? Or will Hikuleo seize the moment and his first career championship?”
NJPW additionally announced that Master Wato, Hiromu Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori, and El Desperado will compete in a tag team match. A random drawing will determine the tag match. The four will compete in a four-way match at Wrestle Kingdom 17 for Ishimori’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.
Aussie Open, the Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions, will be making their Japan debut as well. Their opponents have not been named.
Here is the updated lineup for Battle Autumn in Osaka:
IWGP United States Championship: Will Ospreay defends against Tetsuya Naito
NEVER Openweight Championship: Karl Anderson defends against Hikuleo
Aussie Open will be in action
Master Wato, Taiji Ishimori, El Desperado, & Hiromu Takahashi to team against one another, teams to be determined at a later date
The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) could be the latest wrestlers brought back to WWE under the Paul “Triple H” Levesque regime.
PWInsider reported on Monday that, according to multiple sources within WWE, The Good Brothers are believed to be headed back to the company. The report states that Anderson & Gallows may return to WWE Raw as soon as this month.
Dave Meltzer confirmed the story.
“Gallows, Anderson and [AJ] Styles were all spotted together yesterday in Washington, DC, likely to film something for WWE,” PWInsider wrote. Styles and The Good Brothers were formerly Bullet Club stablemates in NJPW and known as The Club together in WWE.
Styles is currently involved in a program against Finn Balor, who is someone else The Good Brothers have a history with. Balor is a member of The Judgment Day alongside Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley, and Dominik Mysterio.
The Good Brothers were released from their WWE contracts during the company’s April 2020 roster cuts.
The Good Brothers recently finished up a run with Impact Wrestling, dropping the Impact Tag Team titles to Matt Taven & Mike Bennett at a set of television tapings this August. Impact released a video last month with Anderson & Gallows saying they had business to take care of in NJPW but could return to Impact in the future.
Anderson is currently NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Champion. He retained the title against Hiroshi Tanahashi at Burning Spirit in Kobe last month.
Sports Illustrated conducted an interview with Anderson that was published on September 23. With The Good Brothers being free agents, Anderson was asked if he and Gallows could potentially reunite with Styles or Balor in WWE.
“Just like you said, never say never,” Anderson responded. “We’ve got verbally agreed upon dates with New Japan Pro-Wrestling for an extended period of time. But there’s such a built-in story with Bullet Club, and we never got to finish the story [in WWE] with AJ Styles or even Finn. There’s been a lot of things that have happened in the business, so you can never say never. Any time we can work with brothers like AJ and Finn, we’re always going to listen to that.”
Tonight saw the first of NJPW Strong’s Autumn Attack tapings from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Shota Umino defeated QT Marshall
Umino got his full-on babyface crash course from QT Marshall in tonight’s opening bout, babyface vs. heel 101 between these two.
Usually, Marshall doesn’t do anything in the ring that I’d call out of the ordinary, but he is consistently good at eliciting negative responses from crowds. Though this always comes across better live, and it always seems to drag on television because NJPW’s production quality isn’t able to capture how loudly the crowd reacts. This style of wrestling is better in a live setting than on NJPWWorld, for sure.
Marshall earned a close two-count after a Golden Star Bomb, just like Kota Ibushi does. I’m sure people will love to read that. Umino hit a tombstone piledriver and later, he’d pick up the win after hitting the Death Rider on Marshall.
*****
JR Kratos and Danny Limelight from Team Filthy came out next. Limelight got on the mic and trashed the people of Vegas and called out “cherry boys” Aussie Open, who are current STRONG Openweight Tag Team champions. The crowd gave them a lot of heat during the promo. When Kratos grabbed the mic to speak, the mic seemed to have been cut out, so the fans started chanting “We can’t hear you!” What’s funny was that Kratos has such a powerful voice that I did, in fact, hear him, even though it was through the screen.
Kratos eventually got the mic working again and re-emphasized what Limelight said, that they essentially were owed a shot at the titles since they were in NJPW Strong and grinding far longer than some outsider team. Aussie Open then appeared on the entrance ramp and nodded in approval of they and Team Filthy squaring off for the titles in the future.
Ren Narita defeated Juice Robinson via disqualification
The “Rock Hard” one ambushed Narita on the entrance ramp as he was on his way to the ring. The ring announcer was barely into his match call when Robinson appeared, so Narita took a lengthy pre-match beating.
When the bell rang, Robinson continued beating the hell out of Narita at ringside. He even at one point grabbed the ring bell and hit Narita with it. Actually, right before that, the referee tried taking the bell out of Robinson’s hands but Robinson shoved him into the guardrail.
Soon after all this, the ref called the match and awarded the win to Narita via disqualification. Narita was covered in blood by this point.
“You shouldn’t have called me out on the internet, Narita!” Robinson said. He then proceeded to cut a pretty blue promo on Narita for calling him out (despite being a lower ranked wrestler in the NJPW system), and at the end of it, he basically offered Narita to restart the match, but as a no-DQ match. A bloodied-up Narita demanded the ref restart the match, and we were back on. Bloody Narita vs. “Rock Hard” Robinson in a no-disqualification rules match.
Ren Narita defeated Juice Robinson via submission in a no disqualification match
There was a great visual of Narita having Robinson locked in a figure four, all blood all over his face. Robinson hit Narita with a kendo stick a number of times, to the point where the stick split apart and hit the announcers at the commentary table. Ian Riccaboni even mentioned he got hit by a piece of the stick, and both announcers claimed they got some of Narita’s blood on them.
Robinson later started biting Narita’s bloody head. People in the crowd began chanting “You sick f*ck!” at Robinson, who pointed out a fan and mouthed “This is YOUR fault” before removing his belt and whipping Narita with it. Robinson is damn good in this role.
Robinson hit the Left Hand from God for two. Narita responded later by tossing Robinson a chair, then using a single-foot dropkick into the chair, smashing Robinson in the face with the chair he was holding. Narita laid in a number of elbows before Robinson was able to reverse the offensive momentum. He then grabbed a chair and stuck it in between the middle and top rope in the blue corner, but when he tried to throw Narita into it, Narita reversed the Irish whip and slammed Robinson head first into it instead.
Narita unfolded the steel chair next and used a single-arm suplex on Robinson, sending him crashing onto the chair. Narita continued hitting Robinson with the chair, but Robinson was able to catch Narita with a low blow before spiking him head-first onto the mangled chair for a very close count of two. Ten minutes had passed at this point, and the pace slowed between spots.
Finally, Robinson power bombed Narita through a table on the outside, which got a “Holy shit!” & “This is awesome!” chant from the crowd. Robinson rolled Narita back into the ring for a pin but only scored another two-count. The house energy dipped a lot from here. The crowd started chanting about wanting tables. Robinson obliged and grabbed the ring announcer’s table and threw it into the ring.
When Robinson attempted an avalanche Death Valley Bomb through a table, Narita was able to slide out of the fireman’s carry hold and slapped on a sleeper lock. This forced Robinson to come down from the top rope to attempt blocking the submission hold. Narita eventually transitioned from a sleeper to an escalera double-shoulder lock from standing rear mount, which he cranked on until Robinson tapped. Narita grabbed the win and looked awesome in doing it. Despite this going a little too long, both Robinson and Narita did a hell of a job, and I think both came out of this looking stronger and more interesting.
Bullet Club (Jay White & Karl Anderson) defeated Homicide & Wheeler Yuta
“Filthy” Tom Lawlor joined the English announce team for this one. He ended up getting into a scuffle with Homicide a few minutes into the match, with Homicide spitting water in Lawlor’s face.
White got a bloody shiner in this, with some blood visible from under his left eye.
Yuta tagged back in at around the ten-minute mark and cleaned house. Minutes later, the finish saw White hit Homicide with a Blade Runner while Homicide was distracted by Tom Lawlor, who jumped the guardrail. Doc Gallows kept referee Jeremy Marcus distracted as White laid the aforementioned Bladerunner on Homicide for the win.
After the match, chaos ensued: Lawlor came into the ring and attacked Homicide. White joined in. Yuta beat on Lawlor to defend his partner. Soon after, West Coast Wrecking Crew arrived and began beating on Yuta. Shota Umino also arrived too and would end up getting beaten on. White got on the microphone and asked Tim Filthy to “remove the trash from the ring,” referring to Homicide. He scolded fans for chanting for Jon Moxley and said he wouldn’t be showing up tonight. He also said that Eddie Kingston, who was supposed to face White in Las Vegas, got “butterflies” which is why Kingston didn’t appear (Kingston actually contracted COVID-19, which is why he had to miss the show). White hinted that maybe he’d come to meet him instead, at NJPW’s upcoming event there, Rumble on 44th St.
Afterwards, “Filthy” Tom got on the mic and addressed his hometown crowd in Las Vegas. He said Team Filthy has been carrying NJPW Strong. He then got the audience to do a “NJPW Strong” call-and-response before saying “Ganbatte! [Do your best]”! A pretty babyface promo considering what’s just gone on in the ring. Will this lead to more Bullet Club + Team Filthy team-ups in the future?
Final thoughts:
This was a decent episode of Strong, though it did feel like it dragged at times. The hardcore match was good, but it could have been chopped by five minutes; also, while the main event was good, the crowd sounded exhausted. If this were in front of a NJPW crowd in Japan, or on an AEW taping, this would have turned out much differently, and the energy would have been a lot higher. Like with any other promotion taping a series of shows in a row at a single event, NJPW Strong tapings exhaust fans, and that often impacts the overall perception of the show itself and its main events. Fussiness aside, this was a fine extended edition of NJPW Strong.
A pair of title matches have been made official for NJPW Battle Autumn in Osaka.
NJPW has announced that IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay will defend his title against Tetsuya Naito at Battle Autumn in Osaka on Saturday, November 5. Also set for that event is a NEVER Openweight Championship match with Karl Anderson defending against Hikuleo.
Naito is getting the title shot against Ospreay as a result of defeating Zack Sabre Jr. at NJPW Royal Quest II night two this past weekend. At Burning Spirit in Kobe last month, both Naito and Sabre confronted Ospreay and wanted to be his next challenger.
Before being confronted by Naito and Sabre, Ospreay retained the IWGP US Heavyweight title against David Finlay at Burning Spirit in Kobe.
Burning Spirit in Kobe also saw Anderson retain the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. A post-match angle set up Hikuleo as Anderson’s next opponent.
The November 5 event in Osaka will be the final show of the Battle Autumn tour. The tour starts at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on Friday, October 14.
NJPW still has one major event set to take place before Battle Autumn begins. Declaration of Power is being held on Monday, October 10.
Ospreay vs. Naito and Anderson vs. Hikuleo are the first two matches to be confirmed for Battle Autumn.
NJPW Battle Autumn in Osaka (Saturday, November 5) —
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defends against Tetsuya Naito
NEVER Openweight Champion Karl Anderson defends against Hikuleo
The Good Brothers aren’t saying goodbye to Impact Wrestling, they are just saying “see you later.”
Impact Wrestling released a video on Thursday featuring Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows stating that they are leaving the promotion for “a little while” to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
“Impact Wrestling, we’ve got to tell you something. We’re leaving for a little while. New Japan Pro Wrestling is where we’re going, we got business we’ve got to take care of across the pond,” Anderson says in the video.
“We don’t say goodbye, we say ‘see you later’ and I’m happy we got to have a dream match on the way out, what we asked for for two years with the Motor City Machine Guns. So until we get back from across the pond, too sweet me,” added Gallows.
According to a report from Fightful, Anderson and Gallows’ contracts with Impact ran out after the tapings in Dallas on August 26 & 27. The Good Brothers are currently in Japan for NJPW’s Burning Spirit tour. Anderson will defend his NEVER Openweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi on Sunday’s show from Kobe.
Impact Wrestling has announced two more matches for Lone Star Stampede.
The Motor City Machine Guns vs. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) will take place on Friday’s show. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley will then face The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) on the second night of the upcoming television tapings.
Impact Lone Star Stampede takes place Friday, August, 26 & Saturday, August 27 from The Factory in Dallas. According to a report from Fightful, The Good Brothers’ contracts with Impact will expire following the event. Their deals were originally up in July but they reportedly signed extensions through to the end of this month.
The Good Brothers defending the Impact Tag Team Championship against the OGK (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven) was previously announced for Friday’s show. Also previously announced for the first night of the tapings are Deonna Purrazzo vs. Masha Slamovich and a special announcement by Mickie James.
The advertised lineup for Impact Lone Star Stampede is as follows:
Friday, August 26:
Mickie James to make an announcement
Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defend against The OGK (Mike Bennett & Matt Taven)
Deonna Purrazzo vs. Masha Slamovich
The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher
Saturday, August 27
The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley)
Will Ospreay, Karl Anderson, and Tanga Loa are all out of the Best of the Super Junior finals on on June 3.
NJPW announced tonight that Ospreay is continuing to recover from an kidney infection, while Anderson has tested positive for COVID-19. Loa has suffered a right knee injury. All three were previously announced for the card.
The finals of this year’s tournament was determined on a show that was held earlier today. It will be Hiromu Takahashi (winner of the A Block) vs. El Desperado (winner of the B Block), with the winner likely getting an IWGP Junior Heavyweight title shot at Dominion, which takes place on June 12.
Here is the updated lineup for this year’s finals:
Hiromu Takahashi vs. El Desperado in the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano, Tama Tonga, and Jado vs. Jay White, Doc Gallows, Taiji Ishimori, and Gedo
Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, and Aaron Henare vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, and El Phantasmo
Tomoaki Honma vs. Juice Robinson
Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato vs. Francesco Akira and TJP
Robbie Eagles, YOH, Titan, and Clark Connors vs. El Lindaman, Ace Austin, Wheeler Yuta, and Alex Zayne
NJPW has confirmed that several big names will be at the Best of the Super Juniors finals on June 3.
The promotion revealed on Friday that members of Bullet Club, the United Empire, G.O.D, and more will be on the show.
Bullet Club’s Jay White, Juice Robinson, Karl Anderson, and Doc Gallows have been confirmed. As have the United Empire’s Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, and Aaron Henare. The Guerrillas of Destiny, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa will also be present at the Nippon Budokan for the event. Zack Sabre Jr. has been announced for the show as well.
Many of those scheduled for the BOSJ Finals will have big matches upcoming at NJPW Dominion on June 12. White will challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Championship on the show. Tama Tonga will also defend the Never Openweight Championship against Karl Anderson while Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan will challenge Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.
Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows’ contracts with Impact Wrestling are set to expire this summer.
According to a report from PW Insider, The Good Brothers’ deals with the promotion are up in July. They signed 2-year contracts in the summer of 2020 and debuted at the Slammiversary PPV on July 18 that year. According to a report from Fightful Select, the exact end date of their current deal is July 17, 2022.
In July of 2019, the Good Brothers re-signed with WWE. At the time, they had been with the company for three years. They were then part of roster cuts WWE made in April 2020 at the onset of the global pandemic.
Since signing with Impact Wrestling in the summer of 2020, The Good Brothers have also performed for AEW and NJPW shows in the United States. NJPW is said to be currently in the process of obtaining work visas for foreign talent to work in Japan for the first time since 2020, potentially opening the door for their return.
The Good Brothers are two-time Impact World Tag Team Champions, two-time Raw Tag Team Champions, and three-time IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
A cartoon series called The Gimmicks featuring Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, nZo and Rocky Romero will begin releasing episodes this Friday.
The show has been described as “South Park meets wrestling.” New episodes will be released every Friday on the show’s website.
The plot follows three washed up wrestlers from a regional promotion titled the Wrestling Wrestling Wrestling League. They bring in a new rookie to their promotion in an attempt to make it back to the big time.
It’s backed by Sixth Wall Productions, the digital branch of Mila Kunis’ Orchard Farm Productions. A non-fungible token (NFT) component of the show will allow owners of The Gimmicks NFTs to have impact on the direction of the story. Each episode will end on a cliffhanger and NFT owners will have input as to where the story goes next.
NFT owners will also be able to view episodes before the general public along with other perks.
The pre-list mint access period for the show’s NFTs will be from March 15-17. The public mint will be on March 18. The NFTs will be free for anyone with a Solana wallet and can be purchased directly from the show’s website.
The Gimmicks is written by Dave Ihlenfeld and David Wright and produced by Web3 animation studio, Toonstar. Gallows, Anderson, Romero and nZo will all voice characters.
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The ongoing feud between Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers and Rich Swann & Willie Mack continues Thursday as Swann takes on Karl Anderson in a bunkhouse brawl on Impact Wrestling.
Swann will be looking to gain revenge as Doc Gallows and Anderson injured Mack by putting him through a table in a recent non-title encounter Swann and Mack won. They are still in hot pursuit of a Tag Team title rematch.
This week’s show will also see Moose take on Eddie Edwards after Moose helped W. Morrissey beat Edwards down last week.
Other matches include Chris Bey vs. David Finlay in both a rematch and continuation of Bey and Jay White’s recent feud with Finlay and Juice Robinson; Rosemary, one half of the Knockouts Tag Team Champions, against old Fire N’ Flava rival Tasha Steelz; and the undefeated Steve Maclin vs. Petey Williams.
The BTI pre-show will see Laredo Kid return to take on the surging John Skyler.
* * * * * * * * * *
Laredo Kid defeated John Skylar on BTI
* * * * * * * * * *
Tonight’s opening video covered the ongoing feud between the Good Brothers and Rich Swann and Willie Mack, setting up the Swann and Anderson Bunkhouse brawl. Also, last week’s main event with Ace Austin defeating Tommy Dreamer.
Last week, Steelz and Evans jumped Rosemary and Havok while Decay made their entrance to face off with Fallah Bahh and No Way. Steelz and Evans have been chasing the Knockouts tag titles since their turn on Kiera Hogan.
Rosemary started the match on top, controlling the pace and easily getting Steelz on the upside down, but Steelz turned things around when Rosemary decided to go for a top rope senton, which gave Steelz the time to recover and anticipate her.
Steelz’ control only lasted for some minutes before Rosemary made a comeback, but Rosemary was too hurt and Steelz kept doding most of Rosemary’s offense, even a spear, but as they kept going, Rosemary managed to land the second attempt of the spear and get the win. Weak match, nothing really happened and Rosemary won with one move.
After the match, Evans distracted both Havok and Rosemary, allowing Steelz to steal the title belts. Evans ended up attacking them from behind when they distracted themselves towards Steelz.
– D’lo Brown & Matt Striker ran down tonight’s card.
– Gia Miller interviewed Ace Austin and asked if he felt prepared for Christian Cage. Austin said that he has been prepared to be the champion for a long time. Suddenly, they noticed that D’Amore was around and headed his way. Austin proposed that Cage should be in action next week, and since Fulton was free, he could take on that task. D’Amore agreed, but he instead made it a 10-man tag between team Austin vs team Cage.
Austin walked up to Brian Myers and asked him to join him on Team Austin. Myers agreed.
– We got a vignette of Rhino’s rehab with Violent By Design. Young interrogated Rhino about what he had learnt during his time in isolation. Rhino was once again baptized in the holy water of change.
Karl Anderson (with Doc Gallows) defeated Rich Swann in a Bunkhouse Brawl
This match was signed as a result of Swann confronting the Good Brothers last week. Anderson and Gallows took out Willie Mack a couple of weeks ago as these teams feud for the tag titles.
While this should be a singles match, Swann started the match going after both Anderson and Gallows with some of the weapons that surround the ring. Swann managed to maintain that momentum for a long while, switching between attacking Anderson and Gallows.
Unfortunately, distracting himself between two people became too much and Anderson was able to recover and take down Swann from behind. Anderson was completely dominant working over Swann, he put him through a plywood sheet, attacked him with garbage can lids, and back into what was left of the plywood sheet.
It was until Swann dodged a running Anderson that he was able to turn things around and get a near fall with a standing frog splash. Anderson came back with a spinebuster for a near fall himself. Anderson went for the gun stun, but Swann blocked it. Swann went for a 450, but Anderson dodged it and came back with a lariat.
Finally, Gallows brought out a table for Anderson, where he hit a top rope gun stun, and even if the table didn’t break, it was enough for the pin and win.
– Miller had a sit down interview with Mickie James. She asked about Purrazzo attacking her at NWA 73, to which James said that Purrazzo got the better of her because she didn’t expect it and she let her guard down. James said that she won’t let Purrazzo make a name out of her and she is not the producer she was at NWA Empower, she is now coming after Purrazzo as Hardcode Country Mickie James.
– We got a vignette by Matthew Rehwoldt talking and painting. Good promo on Trey Miguel, but I wasn’t impressed by his painting technique. He challenged Miguel to a match next week.
– Miller interviewed Josh Alexander about going into a match with Chris Sabin. Alexander said he was prepared for Sabin and brought up that Sabin is an 8x X Division champion because he lost it 8 times.
Christian Cage approached Alexander and asked him to join Team Cage for next week’s match against Team Austin.
– We got a recap of last week’s match where Raju and Shera defeated Cardona and Green when Raju knocked out Green with a jumping knee.
Rohit Raju cut a promo tha a lot of people were angry at him for how he defeated Green. He said that he would not apologize because he saw in Green eye’s how she wanted to take on a real man, and not someone like Cardona who hides behind her.
David Finlay defeated Chris Bey
Bey, as a representative of the Bullet Club, has been feuding with FinJuice for some months when they came back to the promotion, on the same night that Jay White debuted. Two weeks ago, Bey got a win over Finlay with his feet on the ropes, prompting this rematch.
In the most Bullet Club way, Bey started the match by stalling and doding Finlay around, to the point that Finlay had enough and chased after Bey to the floor where they started going back and forth.
The match eventually got back in the ring, where Finlay caught Bey with a back elbow and senton combo for the first pin attempt of the match. Finlay tried to follow with a plancha to the floor, only to get tricked by Bey, who successfully cut Finlay off on the ropes and gained control of the match.
Bey worked over Finlay’s back for a couple of minutes before he got cocky and thought he could hit the art of finesse, only for Finlay to block him and make a comeback. Finlay got a good near fall with a backbreaker, and quickly transitioned into an STF and into a crossface, but after some struggle, Bey made the ropes.
After a couple more near falls, Bey got the same pin that he used to defeat Finlay two weeks ago, except Juice Robinson was ready to make sure Bey couldn’t cheat. With the distraction, Finlay rolled up Bey and got the win.
After the match, Hikuleo made his debut and took out both Juice Robinson and David Finlay. Hikuleo and Bey Pillmanized Robinson’s ankle.
– Josh Alexander and Chris Sabin sat with Scott D’Amore for the Victory Road X Division match contract signing. They both had words for each other, signed the contract, and after some nice words from D’Amore, they both shook hands.
After Alexander was gone, Cage asked Sabin to join him in Team Cage. Sabin accepted.
– Over at Swinger’s Palace, TJP, Bahh, and No Way arrived and placed a bet on Maclin vs Petey Williams. TJP placed a bet on Maclin, while No Way teased a fight with Hernandez, and Undead Kimber Lee lurked around. All that happened.
Steve Maclin defeated Petey Williams
Petey Williams and Maclin have been feuding for some weeks now, trading momentum. Two weeks ago, Williams interfered in the TJP versus Maclin match to keep the feud going after Maclin had already defeated Williams at Emergence.
Match was back and forth and kept at a fast pace throughout. Maclin was all about power moves, while Williams did more high flying offensive moves. After a dive and a diving rana, Williams set up the Canadian destroyer, but out of nowhere, TJP, No Way, and Bahh came out with the conga line and distracted Williams enough for Maclin to hit mayhem for all for the win.
After the match, TJP and Williams eyed each other, and while it wasn’t officially a heel turn for TJP, it did seem like we’re heading that way.
– Miller interviewed Eddie Edwards about facing Moose with Morrissey in his corner. Edwards said that last week, he got taken out because he wasn’t ready, but this week, he’s ready for both of them.
Sami Callihan walked up to Edwards and told him that he needed him, but Edwards rejected the idea of him working along with Callihan. Christian Cage also walked up and asked them both to join Team Cage. Callihan quickly accepted, but Edwards told Cage that he had to choose between him and Callihan, because he was not going to team with Callihan.
– Miller asked Ace Austin if he had his team finalized, before he could answer, Moose and Morrissey approached him and said that if either Callihan or Edwards made Team Cage, then they were on Team Austin.
– Next week it will be Team Austin vs Team Cage. For Victory Road, they announced Hikuleo & Bey vs FinJuice and Tasha Steelz & Evans vs Decay for the Knockouts tag titles.
Moose (with W. Morrissey) defeated Eddie Edwards
These two have a long history together, but as of late, the ongoing feud of Edwards and Morrissey got mixed up with Moose and Callihan, rekindling the rivalry between Edwards and Moose.
Match started with good back and forth action, similar to a Japanese pacing with both men exchanging strikes and shoulder blocks, but it wouldn’t be long before Moose cut off Edwards on the ropes, snapping his arm on them. Moose would continue going after Edwards’ arm, with the occasional interference of Morrissey outside the ring.
Edwards would make a comeback and get into another strike exchange with Moose, that would end with Edwards spinning Moose around with a huge lariat, only to get taken out when Edwards went for the BKP. Edwards would dodge a lights out and get a near fall, but Morrissey was there to put Moose’s leg on the ropes. Edwards retaliated with a dive on Morrissey, but it was that distraction that allowed Moose to hit lights out and get the win.
After the match, Morrissey and Edwards ganged up on Edwards until Sabin came out for the save. Sabin managed to take down both guys, but Myers and all his gang came out to attack Sabin. Josh Alexander came out and took out everyone, including a C4 on Myers.
Ace Austin and Fulton came out and took out Alexander, and finally, it was Christian Cage that came out, took out Fulton, and along with Edwards, took out Ace Austin.
With everyone out, Moose and Morrissey recovered and were about to take out Edwards when Alisha Edwards of all people came out for the save, but she obviously couldn’t do much and was about to get destroyed by Morrissey when Callihan made the save. Callihan and Edwards worked together to take out Morrissey and at the request of Christian Cage, both men temporarily patched things up and agreed to work together in Team Cage.
Team Cage posed together as the show went off the air. Great looking unit this Team Cage.
