One of the greatest tag teams of all time is coming to AEW for two appearances in January 2025.
AEW has announced that the legendary Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) will return to Charlotte, North Carolina for the Saturday, January 4 episode of Collision. Morton & Gibson are then also set to appear in Knoxville, Tennessee for Dynamite on Wednesday, January 22.
The Collision show is being held at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, while the Knoxville Coliseum is hosting the Dynamite episode.
Morton & Gibson have made a couple of AEW appearances in the past, including angles where they were attacked by Santana & Ortiz in 2019 and FTR in 2020. Both Morton & Gibson still compete in indie matches. They are one of the most decorated teams ever with inductions into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2014 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
January 4 will be the first Collision episode to be simulcast live on Max. The simulcast for Dynamite begins on New Year’s Day with its Fight for the Fallen special from Asheville, North Carolina.
AEW signings Kenny Omega, Young Bucks and Adam Page, lots behind it with comments from any going into details on the reason the decision was made, their pact to stay together and far more
WWE financials for quarter two, including why the next TV deal is taking longer to negotiate, how every sector of business is doing, USA Network with and without WWE and looks to the future
SummerSlam, why matches were changed, the huge Saturday night of events, ticket sales and more
Updating All In, where it stands on all-tie records, two straight weeks of PPV shows, the last time it happened and the history, rumored matches and more
G-1 Climax, what everyone needs to advance to the final eight, cards for the rest of the tournament and running down the shows from the past week
UFC 291 coverage, the stories behind the stories, what is next, business notes
NXT Great American Bash notes with full coverage
The life and times of Adrian Street, his death, his start, the famous photo, his U.K. heyday, why he came to the U.S., thinking wrestling was real, meeting Linda and his life after wrestling
The most detailed look at the television ratings for all the pro wrestling and MMA shows, including what the numbers mean, rankings, segment-by-segment and how shows are doing compared with one year ago.
Promotion shooting new star to the top
One of the best matches of the year in Mexico
Top pro wrestler worked as an Uber driver during the pandemic
Why Stardom is bringing back 80s and 90s legends
Wrestle Kingdom notes
Minoru Suzuki match in a unique location
Second generation star celebrates his 50th birthday on show this past week
Update on the number of homes and carriage rates for the shows that carry wrestling and MMA
More on a new television wrestling promotion starting in the fall
More matches on All In weekend in London
Who Giulia is likely defending her New Japan Strong title against next
Men’s All Japan Strong title match in Defy
Business of AEW and its value
Tony Khan talks business growth
Update on WBD business
Health updates on AEW & WWE wrestlers out of action
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Friday Update
The new issue of the Wrestling Observer is up on the site today. We’ve already gotten a lot of positive feedback on our story on the life and career of Adrian Street.
Garrett and I did our week in review show talking a ton of different topics from SummerSlam, Adrian Street, All In, Dark Side of the Ring and much more. Bryan and I will be back tomorrow night talking SummerSlam and the other weekend news.
Steve McMichael, who is battling ALS, is currently in intensive care battling sepsis, which is what killed Adrian Street. The Chicago Tribune story on it. McMichael was unconscious when rushed to the hospital Thursday night and given antibiotics on an IV. He was awake today and his vital signs improved. He is also battling pneumonia. Those in Homer Glen, IL, a southwest suburb of Chicago, held a rally for McMichael outside of the hospital as well as pushed for him to go into the NFL Hall of Fame this year. (thanks to Eric Krol and others)
Robert Gibson of Rock & Roll Express fame underwent hip replacement surgery last week according to PWInsider.
Big E revealed today at press for SummerSlam that some doctors have suggested that he never wrestle again. He said he has interest in doing color commentary. He said he is happy he has no nerve damage and is taking his time making a decision about the future saying he wants to live a pain free life.
LuFisto is having it out with much of the AEW women’s locker room. She told her story on Twitter with complaints about backstage from a tryout and a number of the women responded about what a great locker room they have and how everyone is there for everyone in times of issues.
Smackdown tonight on FOX features Jey Uso vs. Solo Sikoa, Sheamus vs. LA Knight, Austin Theory vs. Cameron Grimes, and angle with Asuka, Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair for their match tomorrow night. Knight is scheduled to be getting more of a push starting relatively soon. Paul Heyman will also be doing a feature called The History of Tribal Combat. Grayson Waller will interview Bayley and Iyo Sky. They are also announcing names for the SummerSlam Battle Royal. There were just under 8,900 tickets out for the show as of this morning. It will end up more than doubling the attendance of the last time WWE was in Dayton.
AEW Rampage on TNT at 10 p.m features Chuck Taylor & Trent Baretta vs. Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli in a parking lot brawl. This match was taped starting at about midnight last night in Jacksonville. We’ve been told it was great. One person at the taping said it was pretty sick, and that they destroyed half of Downtown Jacksonville. Also on the show is Keith Lee & Hardys vs. Butcher & Blade & Kip Sabian, Anna Jay vs. Skye Blue and AR Fox & Swerve Strickland in a tag team match.
PW Insider noted that Randy Orton is in Detroit. That doesn’t necessarily mean he will be on SummerSlam or do a surprise appearance, but he is there.
Bobby Roode starts this week as a producer for WWE.
We’re looking for reports from Smackdown tonight in Dayton, with dark matches and anything not on the live show to [email protected]
Our only weekend poll will be for SummerSlam, you can leave a thumbs up, down or middle, best and worst match to [email protected]
Here’s some pre-show video from the Jake Paul vs. Nate Diaz fight tomorrow night:
The G-1 shows this coming weekend are the last night of A block on Saturday at 4 a.m. Eastern from Osaka and the last night of B block at 1 a.m. late Saturday night from Osaka. For those on the West Coast, the New Japan show will start at about the same time as Collision ends and UFC ends on television, and maybe an hour or two after SummerSlam ends. The Observer goes into detail in all four blocks of who is alive, tiebreakers and such.
Combate Global is live on Univision and Paramount + on Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern with Lucero Acots (3-2) vs. Silvia Juaneda (3-1) in the main event. This will be the first Combate show since the show after a major soccer game ended up No. 7 in the prime time rankings for the week a few weeks ago.
Hulk Hogan did a video interview with some stories. He claimed a sumo wrestler was making his debut and refused to put him over, so John Tenta came to the ring and the two got into a fight. Okay, the first part never happened, but there was an incident where Koji Kitao, a former sumo star, was unhappy about having to put over Tenta. They were in the ring and it was very tense. Neither would make the first move but it could have ended up in a fight. The bigger one is claiming that he and Vince McMahon were both offered a shot at buying UFC as partners, but they turned it down. He did say he regretted it. There was a time when SEG was in talks of selling UFC to Vince, but Vince ultimately decided against it, thinking that because you couldn’t control the outcomes and stars you put money into promoting could lose at any time, that there was no long-term future in it.
AIW on 8/12 is running shows every two hours at the Main Street Festival in North Canton, OH starting at 11 p.m through 9 p.m. with free admission. They also announced the J.T. Lightning Memorial tournament for 9/15 and 9/16 in Cleveland at Temple Live at 3615 Euclid Avenue.
Sareee ran a show earlier today at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo: Ibuki Hoshi b Chi Chi, Kaoru Ito & Kohaku b Jaguar Yokota & Kinzuma Tanaka, Mio Momon b iyuki Takse, Sareee & Kairi b Arisa Naajima & Takuma Iroha (thanks to Shannon Walsh)
Want to send our best wishes to Jay Dumont (Great Fowler) who will be undergoing a heart ablation procedure on Monday.
AEW is set to crown its inaugural Tag Team Champions next week, and a Hall of Fame team will be playing a part in the process.
It was announced today that The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) will be appearing on next week’s episode of Dynamite. They’ll present the AEW Tag Team titles to the winners of the promotion’s Tag Team Championship tournament.
The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) are facing SoCal Uncensored (Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian) in the Tag Team title tournament finals on Dynamite next Wednesday. The episode is taking place at the Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, West Virginia.
To get to the finals, Pentagon Jr. & Fenix defeated Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt) in the first round of the tournament and Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) in the semifinals. Sky & Kazarian defeated Best Friends (Trenta Barreta & Chuck Taylor) and The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson).
Sky replaced Christopher Daniels in the tournament after an angle where SCU were attacked by The Lucha Bros right before their match against Best Friends.
The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express have been added to the Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour.
NJPW announced this evening that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, will be part of the Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour later this month. A short video was released with Ricky and Robert talking about the upcoming tour.
This will mark their first appearances under the NJPW banner. They previously toured with All Japan Pro Wrestling in the late eighties.
Roppongi 3K and Lance Archer were also announced for the tour. It starts September 17 in Lowell followed by the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York on September 28 and the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on September 29. The full cards for the tour have yet to be released.
NJPW is continuing to ramp up their presence in the United States, as they will return to California on November 9 in San Jose and November 11 in Los Angeles.
One of the more prolific teams from the Crockett era are set to compete in this year’s Crockett Cup.
Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express, have been announced for this year’s tournament. They’ve previously competed in the 1986 and 1987 tournaments, but failed to advance to the finals.
Already announced for this year’s tournament include The War Kings (Crimson and Jax Dane), Villain Enterprises (Brody King and PCO) and the Briscoes. Teams from both CMLL and NJPW are also expected to be announced ahead of the tournament.
An NWA World Heavyweight title match as also been announced, as Nick Aldis will defend the title against ROH’s Marty Scurll. Willie Mack, the North American champion and Jazz, the NWA Women’s champion, will also be defending their titles.
The 2019 Crockett Cup will take place on April 27 at the Cabarrus Arena in Concord, North Carolina.
Adding to a class that already includes Kurt Angle as its headliner, it was revealed on Monday afternoon that The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express would also be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.
The announcement that Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson would be joining the Hall of Fame was made by CBS Sports, with WWE also posting an article about it on their website. Morton & Gibson were voted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 2014.
“It was a surprise,” Morton said to CBS Sports. “I had a message on my phone (from WWE) to call the number back. I think they got ahold of Robert at the time. When they called, it was just like a suckerpunch. It just knocked us off our feet.”
“It’s an honor for Ricky and me to go into the Hall of Fame,” Gibson said.
Morton & Gibson remain one of the most popular babyface tag teams of all time, with their rivalry with The Midnight Express in the 80s serving as one of the most fondly remembered periods in tag team wrestling history.
They held the NWA World Tag Team titles four times during their peak, and had a brief run in the WWF in 1998. The duo most recently appeared in TNA Wrestling as part of The Hardys’ Tag Team Apocalypto match last year.
The 2017 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set to take place on Friday, March 31st at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida as part of WrestleMania weekend in the city.
