The ROH Women’s Championship will be on the line at Final Battle.
AEW posted to social media on Thursday that Mercedes Martinez will defend her title against Athena on the show.
“In a battle of two of the toughest, @ringofhonor Women’s World Champ @RealMMartinez faces @AthenaPalmer_FG @ Final Battle LIVE on PPV, 12/10 in Arlington!” AEW wrote on Twitter.
An angle between the two took place on the November 18 (taped November 16) edition of AEW Rampage. After Athena defeated Madison Rayne, she continued to attack her opponent after the bell until referee Aubrey Edwards tried to pull her away. Athena then struck Edwards and Martinez eventually came out to make the save after Athena had turned her attention back to Rayne. Martinez had her first match in four months earlier that night during the Dark Elevation taping. She had been out since July win an undisclosed injury.
Martinez will be going for her sixth successful title defense to tie Deonna Purrazzo for second all-time behind only Rok-C (Roxanne Perez) who defended the belt eight times.
The show will take place a one-hour drive from Athena’s hometown of Garland, Texas.
ROH Final Battle takes place Saturday, December 10, from the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas with a special start time of 4 p.m. Eastern time. Three matches have been confirmed for the show.
ROH World Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Claudio Castagnoli
ROH Women’s Championship: Mercedes Martinez (c) vs. Athena
ROH Pure Championship: Daniel Garcia (c) vs. Wheeler Yuta
Three matches have been announced for the October 11 WWE NXT episode.
In a tune-up match prior to Halloween Havoc, NXT Champion Bron Breakker will face “Big Body Javy” Javier Bernal in a non-title match next week. The match was set up on this week’s episode, where Bernal interrupted a Breakker interview backstage. Breakker is set to defend the NXT title against Ilja Dragunov and JD McDonagh in a triple threat match at Halloween Havoc on October 22.
The best-of-three series between Nathan Frazer and Axiom will conclude on next week’s show. Each has one victory in the series. The winner will also qualify for the North American Championship ladder match at Halloween Havoc.
In another bout for next week, Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo will face Wes Lee in singles competition.
Next week’s card:
Bron Breakker vs. Javier Bernal
Best-of-three series finale, Halloween Havoc North American Championship qualifying match: Nathan Frazer vs. Axiom
Mercedes Martinez is out of action with an undisclosed injury.
AEW President Tony Khan revealed the news on a media call on Thursday. Martinez last wrestled on July 24 for Northeast Wrestling. Her last match for AEW/ROH occurred the night before at Death Before Dishonor where she defeated Serena Deeb to retain the ROH Women’s World Championship.
“A lot of the best wrestlers in the world are champions in Ring of Honor,” Khan said. “Mercedes Martinez, the Women’s World Champion of Ring of Honor is actually out with an injury but will be back soon.”
The AEW President continued to praise other holders of ROH titles.
“FTR, I think are a credit to any wrestling event they’re on including this pay-per-view,” Khan continued.
“Claudio [Castagnoli] and we have Wheeler Yuta in that great Casino Ladder Match and I think if you are going to put a great field of wrestlers together, fighting for the top prize in AEW, you’re going to want to bring in the best wrestlers and in this case, I do think Claudio and Yuta are two of the best and they are also champions in Ring of Honor in addition to being great members of the Blackpool Combat Club here in AEW.”
Following Tuesday’s edition of the show, there will be a Countdown to ROH Death Before Dishonor airing immediately after.
Several ROH wrestlers are set to be featured on Dark this week as well. Jay Lethal, ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham, Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta, and ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez will all be in action.
Serena Deeb and Daniel Garcia will both challenge for titles at Death Before Dishonor and both will also be in singles matches this week on Dark.
Seven of the matches for Dark this week were filmed on June 11 from Orlando’s Universal Studios and another seven were taped on July 16 from the same venue.
AEW Dark airs on Tuesday beginning at 7 p.m Eastern time on YouTube. The full lineup for the card is as follows:
Taped on June 11 from Universal Studios in Orlando:
Charlette & Robyn Renegade vs. Avery Breaux & Valentina Rossi
Danhausen vs. Jake Something
Alan “5” Angels vs. Daniel Garcia in an ROH Pure Rules match
Fuego Del Sol vs. QT Marshall
Marina Shafir vs. Amber Nova
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Anthony Henry
Jora Johl vs. Luke Sampson
Taped on July 16 from Universal Studios in Orlando:
Jay Lethal vs. Logan Cruz
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta vs. Bryce Donovan
ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez vs. J-Rod
ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham vs. Jordan Oasis
Lee Moriarty vs. Ren Jones
Serena Deeb vs. Viva Van
The Varsity Blondes (Brian PIllman Jr. & Griff Garrison) vs. Terrence & Terrell Hughes
A Women’s World Championship match has been confirmed for Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view.
During this week’s AEW Control Center, it was announced that Mercedes Martinez will defend the ROH Women’s World Championship against Serena Deeb at Death Before Dishonor on Saturday, July 23. The PPV is being held at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Martinez became the interim ROH Women’s World Champion at Supercard of Honor this April. She was then crowned as the undisputed champion by defeating Deonna Purrazzo on Dynamite in May.
Martinez & Deeb teamed together to defeat Kayla Sparks & Christina Marie on Rampage last Friday. But Deeb turned against Martinez after the match and set her sights on the ROH Women’s World Championship. Deeb put Martinez in the Serenity Lock before then picking up the ROH Women’s World title belt.
Martinez visually tapped out while Deeb had the Serenity Lock applied.
Deeb vs. Anna Jay will take place on Dynamite this Wednesday.
Death Before Dishonor will be the second ROH event since Tony Khan bought the promotion. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
ROH Tag Team Champions FTR defend against The Briscoes
ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez defends against Serena Deeb
ROH Television Champion Samoa Joe defends against Jay Lethal
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta defends against Daniel Garcia
ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez will square off against Viva Van on the show.
The Dark Order’s Evil Uno, John Silver, and 10 will also face Peter Avalon, Ryan Nemeth, and Serpentico in trios action.
The Butcher and the Blade will take on Hunter Grey and Paul Titan. Anthony Ogogo will wrestle Carlie Bravo and Jamie Hayter will go one-on-one with Danika Della Rouge.
This week’s edition of Dark was filmed at Friday’s Rampage tapings from the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
AEW Dark airs Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m Eastern time on YouTube. The full lineup for this week’s card is as follows:
ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez vs. Viva Van
The Butcher & The Blade vs. Hunter Grey & Paul Titan
Anthony Ogogo vs. Carlie Bravo
Evil Uno, John Silver, & 10 vs. Serpentico, Ryan Nemeth, & Peter Avalon
The ROH Women’s World Championship will be defended on AEW Dark: Elevation.
Mercedes Martinez will put the title on the line against Hyan on the show. Hyan is from the Houston area and is a two-time holder of the Diamonds Division Championship in Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling promotion.
Other notable matches scheduled for the episode include The Varsity Blondes facing The Butcher and the Blade as well as Lee Moriarty going one-on-one with The Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds.
Monday’s edition of AEW Dark: Elevation was filmed on Wednesday, May 18 from the Fertitta Center in Houston, Texas. The full lineup for the show is as follows:
ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez defends against Hyan
Lee Moriarty vs. Alex Reynolds
Ethan Page vs. J.D Griffey
Skye Blue & Yuka Sakazaki vs. Nyla Rose & Emi Sakura
The Butcher & The Blade w/ The Bunny vs. The Varsity Blondes (Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr.)
Mercedes Martinez closed out Dynamite tonight as the undisputed ROH Women’s World Champion.
Martinez, who was the interim champion, defeated Deonna Purrazzo in Baltimore tonight to unify the titles in the main event. Martinez scored the win after placing Purrazzo in a modified dragon sleeper.
Purrazzo, who primarily wrestles for Impact Wrestling, defeated Rok-C to win the championship back on January 9 during a taping of Impact, holding the championship for 115 days. When she was unable to appear at ROH Supercard of Honor on April 1, an interim title match was scheduled, with Martinez defeating Willow Nightingale to win the interim championship.
The Supercard of Honor event was the first held under the ownership of Tony Khan, who announced he had purchased the company in March. The ROH World (Jonathan Gresham), Pure (Wheeler Yuta), Tag Team (FTR), Television (Samoa Joe), and Women’s champions have all made appearances on AEW television in the weeks since the purchase.
An ROH Women’s World Championship unification match, two Owen Hart Cup qualifiers, and more are set for tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
Deonna Purrazzo will make her AEW debut, facing Mercedes Martinez in the ROH Women’s title unification match. Purrazzo holds the ROH title, but Martinez won an interim title match at Supercard of Honor last month to set up this bout.
Two qualifying matches for the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament will take place tonight. Jeff Hardy faces Bobby Fish in one qualifier, while Rey Fenix takes on Dante Martin in the other.
Blackpool Combat Club will be in action in a trios match, as Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, and Wheeler Yuta face The Butcher, The Blade, and Angelico.
Former Inner Circle stablemates will do battle tonight, as Chris Jericho takes on Santana.
Wardlow will face a mystery opponent of MJF’s choosing on Dynamite. It was heavily teased on last week’s programming that the mystery opponent will be W. Morrissey, formerly Big Cass in WWE.
Varsity Blonds, with Julia Hart, will also call out The House of Black on tonight’s show.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Report —
Adam Cole joined commentary.
Owen Hart Foundation Cup qualifier: Jeff Hardy (w/ Matt Hardy) defeated Bobby Fish (w/ Kyle O’Reilly)
Fish took Hardy down early on with a dragon screw before turning his attention to Hardy’s midsection. Hardy avoided a slingshot senton, but Fish hit another dragon screw on the floor, sending Hardy into the barricade. Darby Allin and Sting were shown looking on ahead of a commercial.
Once back, a jawbreaker from Hardy bought him some time, but he was taken down with high kicks. Hardy came back with strikes and his leg drop for two. He climbed to the top turnbuckle, but Fish knocked him down and hit the avalance falcon arrow for two. Hardy kicked out right into a knee bar and had to fight to reach the ropes.
Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind, then climbed the ropes again, crushing Fish with a Swanton Bomb for the win.
– After the match, the Young Bucks walked out and exchanged glances with the Hardys before checking on Fish.
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A William Regal video promo played where he was shown training Wheeler YUTA. He talked about their unique brand of violence. Regal spoke quite fast and it was difficult to keep up with, but this was so entertaining for the time it was on the screen.
Regal subsequently joined commentary.
Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, & Wheeler YUTA) defeated Andrade Family Office (The Butcher, The Blade, & Angélico)
A.F.O. attacked before the bell. Angélico tried a llave submission on Danielson, who returned fire with mid kicks. YUTA unloaded a flurry of offense on Blade but was overwhelmed by his opponents ahead of the break. Once back, YUTA dumped Butcher on the back of his head and reached Moxley for the hot tag.
Moxley tossed Blade all over the ringside area, over the timekeeper’s table and into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Moxley hit a cutter and bit at Butcher’s face before taking out Angélico with a lariat. Danielson tagged back in and landed a missile dropkick before kicking Angélico’s head in and locking on a triangle for the stoppage.
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Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs of Team Taz were backstage and asked about their tag title challenge. Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, and Christian Cage interrupted, with Jungle Boy offering to spice things up with a shot at the FTW Championship. Starks accepted the challenge.
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Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland were backstage. Swerve said they had unfinished business with Team Taz. Lee said they would “Swerve in their glory.”
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Wardlow came out handcuffed, accompanied by security, and with no music as usual.
MJF and Shawn Spears emerged. He insulted the fans and said he’d watch the match in the back. MJF said Wardlow should be scared of the man coming out, the seven-foot-tall W. Morrissey (formerly Big Cass in WWE, currently with Impact Wrestling).
Wardlow defeated W. Morrissey
Morrissey used some surprising agility early on to dispatch Wardlow to the outside. Back in the ring, Morrissey continued to dominate. A black hole slam got two. They jockeyed for position on the top rope before Wardlow took Morrissey out with an imperfect but thrilling moonsault. Wardlow then hit a single solitary powerbomb for the win.
– After the match, Wardlow refused to be handcuffed and attacked all the security. MJF and Spears called in reinforcements, like an absurd amount of people, and Wardlow took out them all, powerbombing one of them out of the ring onto a pile of them.
Wardlow grabbed a mic and said he wouldn’t stop until he gets his hands on MJF or he releases him from his contract. MJF said Wardlow would have to do another match before that happens, and he’s got a couple conditions — which he will go over in a contract signing on Long Island next week.
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Four of the qualified women for the Owen Hart Cup were backstage — Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter will take on Toni Storm and Ruby Soho on Rampage in a preview tag. Soho can’t wait to get her hands on Baker.
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Hangman Page promo
The champ was brought out by Schiavone and asked about CM Punk’s challenge. Page said it’d be easy to talk about how excited he was to face Punk and how much he was looking forward to the match, but that’s not going to happen. At Double or Nothing, there’s not going to be a handshake or a “masturbatory Bret Hart tribute match,” because at Double or Nothing, Page is going to destroy Punk.
Page noticed a fan with a Punk shirt and said that after the match, he’d be running to the merch stand to get a refund. Punk’s not here tonight, and Page suspects he’s out filming another television show. Page is going to embarrass Punk and give him the fight of his life at Double or Nothing.
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Konosuke Takeshita was announced for AEW Rampage.
The cameras cut backstage for Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, and Satnam Singh. Dutt and Lethal asked where their red carpet was before Lethal challenged Takeshita to a match on Rampage.
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Chris Jericho (w/ Jericho Appreciation Society) defeated Santana (w/ Ortiz)
Santana attacked with a dive before the bell and the two teams brawled on the outside. There was a funny moment where Jericho’s camera middle finger spot was immediately countered by Santana. The match finally got underway after Jericho used the official as protection, and then a distraction allowed Jericho to hit his springboard dropkick and take control leading into the commercial.
Back from break, a corner bulldog from Santana started a comeback. He followed it up with the Three Amigos suplexes, then a frog splash got two. Jericho fought out of a fireman’s carry and locked on the Walls of Jericho. Santana reached the ropes and the two men traded chops before a reverse rolling cutter from Santana got two.
Ortiz stopped Angelo Parker and Daniel Garcia from using Floyd the Bat as Santana dispatched Jake Hager and hit a discus lariat for two. A distraction from Matt Menard allowed Jericho to hit a low blow and the Judas Effect for the win.
– After the match, the Jericho Appreciation Society continued to beat down Santana and Ortiz. The announcers said Eddie Kingston couldn’t be here as he recovered from a fireball. Jericho whacked both men with Floyd as the Jericho Appreciation Society stood tall.
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Samoa Joe addressed Jay Lethal. He said he was coming for Lethal on Rampage.
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The Gunn Club were backstage, and they approached The Acclaimed with gifts. The gifts were scissors, and then they all celebrated. I don’t really understand what that meant but it made me laugh.
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Varsity Blonds call out House of Black
The Varsity Blonds and Julia Hart were in the ring. Pillman said he was humbled by his encounter with the House of Black, but now he’s watching everything he has torn apart little by little. He’s reminded of a quote by the best friend of his late father, John Harbaugh. “Attack with all the enthusiasm known to mankind.” Pillman didn’t do that, and the House of Black drove them apart. But now, he’s feeling enthusiastic, and he wants a fight with the House of Black.
The lights went out and House of Black made their entrance. They surrounded the Blonds in the ring and beat them down. Hart, still in the ring, didn’t even react. Black approached Hart, who was shaking, but then Murphy brought her into the fold. King gave her a chair and demanded she attack Garrison with it, but she took too long, so Black snapped and ripped her eye patch off.
Death Triangle ran down and House of Black retreated.
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Jade Cargill, Mark Sterling, and the Baddies were backstage. Sterling put over the group’s accomplishments, and Jade said Red Velvet would win the tournament.
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Owen Hart Foundation Cup qualifier: Rey Fénix (w/ PAC & Penta Oscuro) defeated Dante Martin
It’s so great to have Fénix back.
Fénix landed a rope-run dive early on to take control into the break. During commercial, Dante came back with a tope suicida. Upon return, Fénix hit an inverted springboard Spanish Fly for two. Dante returned fire with kicks and a top-rope crossbody for two of his own before an inverted gutwrench got two more. Fénix cradled Dante with a hurricanrana for yet another two-count.
They jockeyed for position on the apron, with Fénix eventually popping Dante up into a cutter for a near fall. Dante countered a driver into a cradle before landing a thrust kick. He climbed the ropes but was stopped by Fénix, who went for the inverted Spanish Fly again, but both men landed on their feet.
Dante hit a poisonrana and wanted the Nose Dive, the double jump moonsault, but Fénix avoided it. Fénix got Dante in position for an elevated Fire Thunder Driver for the win.
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Owen Hart Foundation Men’s tournament first-round matches:
Rey Fénix vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Jeff Hardy vs. Darby Allin
Adam Cole vs. Dax Harwood
Samoa Joe vs. *JOKER*
Darby Allin addressed Jeff Hardy, saying it would be a special night. Sting said both men would pull out all the stops.
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Thunder Rosa came out to the stage. She said that everyone has a story, and she stands in front of everyone as their world champion. Today, she’s “La Mera Mera” despite coming in with no expectations. She’d like to call out the number one contender, someone she drove eight hours to see at one point in her career: Serena Deeb.
Deeb came out. She said she truly believes that AEW can have the best women’s division in the world, but to make that happen, the best wrestler in the world needs to be champion. Deeb’s on another level, in a class all her own, and it’s time she had the championship to show that. At Double or Nothing, she’s taking the title.
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AEW Rampage (5/6) lineup:
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. & Jamie Hayter vs. Toni Storm & Ruby Soho
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Jay Lethal
HOOK vs. JD Drake
Owen Hart Foundation Cup qualifier: Riho vs. Yuka Sakazaki
AEW Dynamite (5/11) lineup:
Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal: Darby Allin vs. Jeff Hardy
Owen Hart Cup quarterfinal: Adam Cole vs. Dax Harwood
MJF vs. Wardlow contract signing
FTW Championship: Ricky Starks (c) vs. Jungle Boy
CM Punk vs. John Silver
AEW Double or Nothing (5/29) lineup:
AEW World Championship: Hangman Page (c) vs. CM Punk
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Serena Deeb
Men’s Owen Hart Cup final
Women’s Owen Hart Cup final
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John Silver addressed CM Punk. He said they’d be wrestling in his hometown next week, and he’s the meat man.
They performed back-and-forth chain wrestling early on, with Purrazzo eventually gaining the upper hand into the commercial. During the break, Martinez speared Purrazzo on the apron. They traded forearms in the center of the ring until Martinez hit clotheslines, a back suplex, and corner boots for two.
Purrazzo came back with a moonsault press for two. Martinez escaped a piledriver and hit a running knee followed by a fisherman’s buster for two more. Purrazzo hit an exploder suplex for a near fall. They traded cradles until simultaneous clotheslines led to the double down.
Martinez hit a Samoan driver and a curb stomp before the Romero Special into the dragon sleeper finished it.
Deonna Purrazzo will make her AEW debut on next week’s Dynamite in Baltimore.
ROH Women’s World Champion Purrazzo will face interim ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez in a title unification match on Dynamite. Martinez was crowned interim champ after Purrazzo was unable to defend the title at Supercard of Honor earlier this month.
Also announced for next week, Jeff Hardy will face Bobby Fish in an Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament qualifier.
Additionally, Wardlow will be in action against a mystery opponent of MJF’s choosing next week. It was heavily suggested on this week’s show that the mystery opponent will be W. Morrissey of Impact Wrestling, formerly Big Cass in WWE.
Here is the announced lineup for next week:
AEW Dynamite, Wednesday, May 4 —
ROH Women’s World Championship unification match: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. interim title holder Mercedes Martinez
Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament qualifier: Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Fish
ROH has announced there will be an Interim Women’s World Championship match at Supercard of Honor.
Mercedes Martinez will face Willow Nightingale with the winner moving on to wrestle current champion, Deonna Purrazzo, at a later date. The event takes place Friday, April 1 at 8 p.m Eastern time from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas.
Purrazzo will be holding her “champ-champ open challenge” at Impact Multiverse of Madness the same night beginning at 10 p.m Eastern time. AEW President Tony Khan said on the Strong Style YouTube show last Friday that he didn’t want to make Purrazzo wrestle twice in the same evening.
“I don’t want to put her in a tough position where she has to wrestle twice in a span of a few hours but that could happen. Scott and I are still talking,” he said.
The updated lineup for ROH Supercard of Honor is as follows:
Winner-take-all match to determine undisputed ROH World Champion: Jonathan Gresham vs. Bandido
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defend against FTR
ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods defends against Wheeler Yuta
Mercedes Martinez vs. Willow Nightingale for the Interim ROH Women’s World Championship
Swerve The Realest (Shane Strickland) vs. Alex Zayne
Ahead of their AEW Women’s World Championship match at Revolution, Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa will face off in tag team action.
AEW has announced that Baker & Jamie Hayter vs. Rosa & Mercedes Martinez will take place on tonight’s Dynamite. The episode is Dynamite’s go-home show for Revolution.
In storyline, Baker hired Martinez to attack Rosa during the semifinals of the TBS Championship tournament. Rosa then defeated Martinez two weeks ago on Dynamite. After the match, Martinez hesitated to join Baker and company in an attack on Rosa. Martinez was then ambushed from behind by Hayter.
Last week during a contract signing on Rampage, Martinez came to Rosa’s rescue and ended up putting Hayter through a table to end the segment.
Baker is defending her AEW Women’s World title against Rosa at Revolution this Sunday.
The updated lineup for tonight’s Dynamite is as follows:
AEW World Champion Adam “Hangman” Page and Dark Order’s John Silver & Alex Reynolds vs. Adam Cole and reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
A Casino Tag Team Battle Royale with the winner advancing to the three-way AEW Tag Team title match at Revolution
AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter vs. Thunder Rosa & Mercedes Martinez
A grudge match weeks in the making will finally happen on next Friday’s AEW Rampage as Thunder Rosa will face Mercedes Martinez.
Martinez made her return to AEW in a surprise appearance at the December 29th Dynamite, attacking Rosa and costing her in her semifinal match against Jade Cargill in the TBS title tournament.
This will be Martinez’s first AEW match since 2019 while Rosa has one win since the Cargill defeat. This will be the fourth singles meeting they have ever had and the first since a mid-December clash for Warrior Wrestling.
The match joins the previously announced FTW title bout between Ricky Starks and Jay Lethal that has also been weeks in the making. Starks will be looking to extend a four-match win streak while Lethal is on a three-match win streak. This will be their first time ever squaring off.
At least one more match, and likely two, will be announced next week.
Rampage will be taped after Dynamite in Chicago, Illinois, at the Wintrust Arena.
Former Impact Knockouts Champion and current AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Deonna Purrazzo’s road to her January 8th Hard to Kill pay-per-view challenge of current champion Mickie James will go through Mercedes Martinez on next Thursday’s show.
The hopeful champion-to-be also has her next challenge lined up the week after as she will face Ring of Honor Women’s Champion Rok-C in the latter’s promotional debut in what will be a winner takes all match.
Martinez appeared via video on Thursday’s Impact, saying she heard Purrazzo mention her last week when being given the Knockout of the Year award and challenged her to the match next week.
While the two have never squared off in Impact, they have had several singles matches through the years including for Purrazzo’s then-Knockouts title on a WrestlePro show this past October. It was announced on Wednesday that Martinez has signed with AEW, but this match had already been taped prior to that announcement.
It will be a winner take all match on the January 13th edition of Impact when Purrazzo faces ROH titleholder Rok-C. As part of ROH Final Battle, Purrazzo made a surprise appearance and challenged Rok-C to put her title on the line against her AAA Reina de Reinas title. Depending on the outcome of the James match at Hard to Kill, the Knockouts title could be on the line as well.
That match will be taped on Monday, January 9th at the post-Hard to Kill TV tapings.
Mercedes Martinez made her return to AEW on Wednesday’s New Year’s Smash edition of Dynamite, attacking Thunder Rosa and contributing to her loss to Jade Cargill in the TBS title tournament semifinal.
Shortly thereafter, Tony Khan welcomed Martinez back on Twitter and said she was #AllElite, signifying her deal with the company.
Martinez had on a black hooded sweatshirt and face covering when she hit a slumped Rosa on the bottom rope with an object. Cargill then hit Jaded to win the match and when Rosa attacked her afterward, Martinez jumped in the ring again to lay her out, revealing herself after. The two beat down Rosa until Ruby Soho came out to make the save.
The 41-year-old made two appearances for the company in 2019, competing in the first women’s Casino Battle Royale at All Out. Two months later, Martinez and Big Swole lost to Allie and Sadie Gibbs on AEW Dark.
She continued to work indies until beginning with WWE starting in 2020. She mainly worked in WWE NXT, but made an appearance at that year’s Royal Rumble. She was part of the original Retribution lineup before requesting to be removed from the group over creative differences.
She was released this summer and returned to the indies in September, also working for Impact Wrestling. She won the Knockouts Knockdown tournament to earn a title shot and was unsuccessful in defeating champion Mickie James at November’s Turning Point.
