Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including the Tokyo Dome tonight, RAW report from Monday with HARDENED CRIMINAL DOMINICK MYSTERIO, the dangers of getting old, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Tag: Sasha Banks
Report: Bayley will be in Japan to support Sasha Banks at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom
Mercedes Varnado (Sasha Banks) will have some support as she makes her NJPW debut.
PWInsider reports that WWE star Bayley will be in Tokyo on Wednesday to support Varnado, who is expected to appear at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17. If Varnado does show up at Wrestle Kingdom, it will be her first pro wrestling appearance since walking out of WWE Raw this May.
Bayley traveling to Japan comes after she appeared on Raw last night. She’s currently involved in a feud with Becky Lynch.
“Obviously, Bayley is under contract to WWE and likely shouldn’t be expected to be seen on camera, but we are told she will be there,” PWInsider wrote. “In asking around, we could not confirm that WWE sent Bayley to the show, but it’s entirely possible (and probably likely) she headed to Japan herself to be there for Varnado given their long standing friendship.”
Trinity Fatu (Naomi), who walked out of WWE with Varnado last May, is also in Japan ahead of Wrestle Kingdom 17. PWInsider noted that NJPW sources intimated that Fatu was coming to Japan “on her own accord.”
Dave Meltzer reported that he hasn’t heard of anything scheduled for Fatu as far as pro wrestling is concerned: “Regarding Trinity Fatu (Naomi) being in Japan as reported by Mike Johnson, we haven’t heard of anything scheduled for her as far as pro wrestling is concerned. There has been at this point nothing talked about on the Stardom side of things.”
Wrestle Kingdom 17 is taking place at the Tokyo Dome. The pre-show will begin airing on NJPW World at 1:20 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday morning.
Report: Naomi ‘slated to be’ in Japan ahead of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17
Sasha Banks’ tag team partner is reportedly headed to Tokyo as well.
According to a report from PWInsider, Naomi is “currently slated to be in Japan” but it is not clear if she will be taking part in Wrestle Kingdom 17 on Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
New Japan sources would not confirm that Naomi will be at the event and “intimated she was coming of her own accord.” Naomi may be traveling to the event to support Banks rather than to appear on the show herself.
Banks will not be wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom but is expected to appear at the event in some capacity.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed Banks’ situation in the December 16 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He noted that in addition to dates with NJPW, Banks is expected to wrestle a match for Stardom in the spring as well.
Meltzer wrote:
“[Banks’] deal is with New Japan but would include one date for Stardom. That would be for a show that is expected in April, but the company had planned for the biggest show in its history, which will tentatively be announced on 12/29 at the Stardom Sumo Hall show.”
Stardom has since announced All Star Grand Queendom 2023 for April 23, 2023 in the Yokohama Arena.
Banks and Naomi won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on night two of WrestleMania 38. The titles were vacated after both Banks and Naomi walked out of the May 16, 2022 edition of WWE Raw.
Saraya praises Sasha Banks for taking career into her own hands
In a recent interview with the Metro, Saraya praised Mercedes Varnado (Sasha Banks) for taking her career into her own hands.
“I love the fact that she took her career into her own hands, and she knows her worth and she knows she wants to be treated a certain way, and she deserves to be treated that way because she’s done a lot for the wrestling business,” Saraya said.
“She’s one of the girls that puts butts in seats, and you want to see wrestle and you wanna see main event. She deserves all those things.”
Varnado hasn’t appeared in pro wrestling since walking out of WWE Raw this May, but that’s expected to change with her showing up at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4.
Last month’s announcement that Saraya and a mystery partner will be facing Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter on the January 11 episode of Dynamite has also led to speculation that Varnado could be coming to AEW. Saraya told the Metro that she’ll be happy for Varnado wherever she ends up going.
“Wherever she ends up, I’m gonna be happy for her, and anyone that gets her is gonna be very, very lucky. I just selfishly hope that I get to wrestle her one day,” Saraya said.
Saraya commented on the speculation of Varnado being her mystery partner in an interview with Forbes that was published in December: “I feel like anytime there’s a mystery, everyone always goes straight for Mercedes (laughs). They’re like — straight away — it’s her! There’s plenty of women out there, I’m not going to say yes or no to anybody, but there’s a lot of exciting prospects for a potential tag partner.”
Varnado filed a trademark for “Mone’ Banks” on December 27.
After departing WWE this July, Saraya made her AEW debut in September. She returned to the ring by defeating Baker at November’s Full Gear pay-per-view. It was Saraya’s first match in nearly five years. Saraya was medically disqualified from competing in the ring during that time due to neck issues.
Daily Update: Don West, Sasha Banks, WWE SmackDown
Daily Update
Latest News:
- WWE SmackDown live results: John Cena returns to the ring
- Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey not currently planned for WWE WrestleMania 39
- Bray Wyatt says he broke his finger at WWE house show
- Former TNA announcer Don West passes away after cancer battle
- William Regal bids farewell to AEW, says he had ‘lovely’ time working there
Latest Audio:
- Wrestling Observer Radio: Remembering Don West, WrestleMania news, Dragon Lee contract details
- Mat Men: Samoa Joe dominates, WWE signs Dragon Lee, a plea to CM Punk
- Wrestling Observer Live: Our favorite memories of the late, great Don West
- Wrestling Weekly: 2022 in review
- JNPO: MMA year in review – The Nate Diaz UFC circus comes to a fitting end
- Fight Game: Our 2022 pro wrestling awards, 2023 predictions
- Bryan & Vinny Show: Dynamite with Joe vs. Wardlow and a really bizarrely bad NXT
Latest Free YouTube Video:
This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site with these stories:
*The life and times of Stephan Bonnar, a look at a person who was one of the key building blocks of the popularity of UFC, including the Forrest Griffin fight, his relationship with Griffin after the fight, season one of Ultimate Fighter and the building years, life after UFC, the feud with Tito Ortiz, his pro wrestling days and much more.
*Match of the week and performer of the week
*The WWE signing of Dragon Lee, full details of the deal, unique stipulations in the deal, how long WWE had been after him and what he told people he asked for decision making help
*How AAA, WWE and AEW had talent on the same show, including in the same match and the unique situation there
*Coverage of Wednesday’s AAA show in Acapulco, production issues, match to go out of your way to see
*What AEW knew about Dragon Lee
*Comparing his potential in AEW and WWE
*WWE talks using Lee to help expand
*A look at Stardom’s Sumo Hall show
*A look at a lot of Stardom plans going forward
*Dragon Gate’s Final Gate show
*WWE does its traditional Christmas week show in Madison Square Garden
*How the show did as compared with the last 13 years
*The life and times of Hall of Famer Johnny Doyle, one of the great promoters of all-time
*A detailed look at the ratings over the past week
*Streaming numbers and international TV numbers
*CMLL’s Jan. 1 cage match where somebody loses their mask
*Konnan talks about his health
*Cain Velasquez talks about his returning to wrestle and teaming with Daniel Cormier
*All Japan bringing in Minoru Suzuki
*NOAH’s Budokan Hall show
*Tokyo Dome preview
*Shibata vs. Tom Lawlor
*Ricky Steamboat talks why he didn’t wrestle Ric Flair
*Notes on the death of former WWE promoter Doc Holliday and why he was so well liked
*Anniversary of the first splash off the cage top
*AEW loses TV outlet in Canada and story behind it
*Tony Khan says AEW isn’t going anywhere
*Ticket sales for upcoming AEW & WWE shows
*Bellator signs former Olympic medalist
*WrestleMania updates
*Mysterio family angle
*Notes from all the WWE holiday house shows
This Week’s Retro Observer Newsletter:
Ordering Info:
Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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Friday Update
Before starting out I’d like to send sympathies to the family and friends of Don West, who passed away earlier today at 59. We talked a lot about him on today’s show. I’ll just say I barely knew him, but when I saw him, he treated me like he’d been my friend for 20 years. He came into this business with very little product knowledge and was thrown on national television because Jeff Jarrett I believe saw him selling merchandise on the Shop At Home Network on television. It was a ballsy move to put a guy like that on commentary but he also had the advantage of working with Mike Tenay, who has as great an understanding of wrestling as almost anyone. Don was not well received at first because of his over-the-top style and lack of product knowledge, but he wanted to learn, did learn, and he and Tenay jelled quickly. I thought they ended up as a tremendous pairing, with Tenay’s X’s and O’s product knowledge and West’s enthusiasm. Announcers can’t save a bad product, but announcers an enhance a good one and when new talent was trying to get over, or matches were exciting, Don’s ability to enhance the excitement of the audience was tremendous. At the end of the day, he was a great guy who was given a bad hand in recent years with his battles with cancer. After leaving Impact, he worked as a radio host at KPQ in Wenatchee, WA and as the General Manager for the Wenatchee Wild minor league hockey team. He and Tenay had remained close long after they were no longer working together.
The Friday show with Garrett Gonzales is up. We talked about a ton of subjects in the current issue and why 2023 will be such a interesting year for wrestling.
Want to make a special thanks to Steve Yohe for all his work in researching the history of wrestling. The Johnny Doyle piece in the new issue is so fascinating, not just about Doyle but also the wrestling business in genera in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and the moves of Vince McMahon, Jim Barnett, Sam Muchnick, Fred Kohler, Jules Strongbow, Roy Shire and the other major players of the industry in that era.
In the closest thing to an acknowledgment she’ll be there, Bushiroad CEO Takaaki Kidani told Yahoo Sports today that there is a possibility she’ll (Sasha Banks) come to the Dome. In recent issues we’ve noted the agreed upon plans for her and the big show just announced yesterday that they expect her to be a major part of. There was also footage of Banks with Kalisto in Japan where she’s been for several days.
Tonight is one of the biggest Smackdowns of the year from Tampa, because John Cena & Kevin Owens face Roman Reigns & Sami Zayn. If not for the Orange Bowl, this would be expected to do the largest rating of the show this year, and still should be among the biggest. Ronda Rousey defends the women’s title against Raquel Rodriguez and Sheamus vs. Solo Sikoa are also on the show. The show will be a rare television legitimate sellout of nearly 13,000 fans.
WWE may have two sellouts tonight because as of this morning, the Toronto house show had 7,560 tickets out and just 495 remaining.
Rampage at 10 p.m. tonight on TNT has Orange Cassidy vs. Trent Beretta for the All Atlantic title (we were told this was a very good match), Jade Cargill vs. Kiera Hogan for the TBS title, Kip Sabian vs. Abita and Swerve Strickland vs. Wheeler Yuta. Sting will also be on the show.
We are doing two weekend polls, one for yesterday’s Stardom show at Sumo Hall and the other for Sunday’s NOAH show at Budokan Hall. You can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match from each show to [email protected]
We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s WWE shows in Toronto and Smackdown in Tampa. For Toronto we’re looking for results, finishes and highlights. For Smackdown we’re looking for dark matches, and any other notes from the live event that aren’t on television to [email protected]
A.J. Styles was injured last night in Hershey, PA during a six-person match with Styles & Karl Anderson & Mia Yim vs. Damien Priest & Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley. The description was that he fell out of the ring and got up like his ankle was injured. They changed the planned finish of the match with Styles planned to use the phenomenal forearm, and instead Anderson pinned Balor. Styles needed help getting to the back. No word on the severity of the injury or if he’ll be able to work Toronto tonight. There was another change in advertising for Toronto as they had advertised Austin Theory vs. Seth Rollins in a cage match as the main event, but other advertising has it as Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley in a cage match.
Bray Wyatt suffered a broken finger in last night’s match with Jinder Mahal in Miami
For AEW ratings, because network numbers for Wednesday weren’t in, the Holiday Bowl on FOX did 3,969,000 viewers and 0.93 and the other bowl game on ESPN did 3,914,000 viewers and 0.93 as well, so that was the reason the AEW numbers were lower than in prior weeks. We didn’t get the quarters in time for this week’s issue for AEW due to Christmas week delays. The audience was down from the start, likely due to going against two Bowl games. It held up well until 9:15 and dropped from there, but the Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow main event averaged 817,000 viewers and 329,000 in 18-49, which while lower than usual, did increase 72,000 in viewers and 25,000 in 18-49 over quarter seven.
Bellator vs. Rizin New Year’s Eve from the Saitama Super Arena airs at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on Showtime tomorrow night with a best of five:
Gadzhi Rabadanov (155.8) vs. Koji Takeda (156)
Juan Archuleta (134) vs. Soo Chul Kim (133.8)
Kyoji Horiguchi (124.8) vs. Hiromasa Ougikubo (125.4)
Patricio Pitbull Freire (145) vs. Kieber Koike (145.2)
AJ McKee (154.7) vs. Roberto de Souza (156)
The Bellator fighter is the one on the left. The fighters are in a ring under Rizin rules, which are closer to the old Pride rules for people who were fans of that era.
A note regarding NXT and Dragon Lee’s contract from the new issue. Apollo Crews is in NXT with his main roster contract so with Mandy Rose gone, Crews is likely the highest paid guy there right now.
Tatiana Suarez, who was one of the best women amateur wrestlers in the country until cancer derailed her, and is unbeaten as an MMA fighter, is looking to return in February. She hasn’t fought since the summer of 2019 due to neck and other injuries. She was a championship contender at strawweight where she dominated and submitted two-time champion Carla Esparza prior to her injuries.
Geoff Neal is out of his 1/14 bout with Shavkat Rakhmonov in the first UFC show of the year. Neal suffered an undisclosed injury according to MMA Fighting.
Other Notes
AAW tonight in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium and live on highspots.tv has Jake Something vs. Mance Warner for the AAW title, Christi Jaynes vs. Sierra for the AAW women’s title, Davey Vega vs. ? for the Heritage title, Jah C & Calvin Tankman vs. Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz for the tag titles, Fred Yehi vs Gar7 Jay an a Rumble match where the winner can challenge for any title at any time.
WAR Wrestling on 1/7 in Lima, OH at the Empowered Sports Center.
MCW tonight at the RJ Meyer Arena in Joppatowne, MD
The Billington Brothers vs. Myron Reed & Mr. Thomas has been added to the 1/7 MLW taping at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Combat 1 Wrestling from Wednesday night in Waterford Township, MI: Gisele Shaw b Krystal Moon, Chinstrap Jesus b Ryan Matthias, Midwest Scum b Mason Dixon Line Jason Hotch won over Jack Price, Nate Bock and Jaden Newman, AJ Cazana b Karam Rhino b Mr. Anderson. Next show is 2/10 at the Elite Sportsplex in Waterford Township. (thanks to Leonard Brand)
The Premiere Streaming Network which launches in January announced that ECWA and World-1 will air live events on their network including the 3/25 Super 8 tournament.
PFL announced its Challenger series being taped at Universal in Orlando starts on 1/27 on Fubo Sports. The shows will be every Friday from 1/27 to 3/17. The most impressive fighters will get to enter the PFL tournaments for $1 million later this year.
AIW tonight in Akron, OH at the Tadmor Shrine has Brian Myers, Joey Janela, Matthew Justice and Tom Lawlor on the show.
Wrestling Observer Radio: John Cena, WrestleMania, Miro
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio going over all the news in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Topics include:
- John Cena and his availability for WrestleMania
- Miro and Lana
- Ric Flair documentary comes out on Monday
- Tony Khan and Honor Club
- NFL Sunday Ticket
- More Netflix docuserieses
- AEW Dynamite rating
- Sasha Banks rumors
- UFC PPV prices
The video version of this show is available for video subscribers at video.f4wonline.com.
Wrestling Observer Radio: Latest on Vince McMahon, Sasha Banks, MLW/WWE
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio going over the news in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Topics include:
- The latest on Vince McMahon and him wanting to come back to WWE
- Why the Rita Chatterton lawsuit can happen in 2022
- The market for Mandy Rose
- Sasha Banks and how WWE perceived her internally
- Dave’s feelings on the Wrestle Kingdom card
- If Kota Ibushi might work in AEW in 2023
- Honor Club
- Cable homes being down and what that means
- MLW/WWE tampering case
- Chris Jericho and Action Andretti
- AEW Revolution and Dynamite/Rampage ticket sales in the Bay Area
- The Rock and Warner Brothers Discovery
The video version of this show is available for video subscribers at video.f4wonline.com.
Sasha Banks’ NJPW deal includes Stardom show; WWE negotiation details
New details are available regarding Sasha Banks’ deal with NJPW.
Dave Meltzer addressed Banks’ status in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Meltzer noted that while Banks’ agreement is with NJPW, it also includes one Stardom date, likely a major show the promotion has planned for the spring.
“The deal is with New Japan but would include one date for Stardom. That would be for a show that is expected in April, but the company had planned for the biggest show in its history, which will tentatively be announced on 12/29 at the Stardom Sumo Hall show,” Meltzer wrote.
Bushiroad is hoping that Banks’ large social media following will help draw fans and build the public perception of the company.
“Their belief is that with 5.6 million Instagram followers and 2.4 million Twitter followers, far more than any of their talent, that she has gigantic mainstream appeal,” Meltzer continued.
Voices of Wrestling reported that Banks’ deal is the largest per-event agreement NJPW has ever made, including Chris Jericho’s. Jericho’s deal, however, was based on various percentages as opposed to a flat rate.
“For the record, the money I reportedly made during my run with @njpw1972 from 2018-2020 online currently is completely wrong. I never had a flat per appearance deal, I was paid according to the event. And I made more per event than I did for MOST of my Wrestlemania matches,” Jericho posted to Twitter on Thursday evening.
Sources close to the situation only confirmed Banks’ agreeement is a “huge per-event deal” but it is unknown how much she will be making or if it is more than Jericho received.
Banks negotiated with WWE over the summer and reached an agreement that she would become a free agent at the start of 2023. This meant that WWE would not freeze her contract but she would be unable to do anything wrestling related until January. Following the regime change in WWE, the two sides began negotiating a deal for Banks’ return but ended up being far apart on money.
“She was said to be seeking a number along the levels of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and those internally have said she wasn’t offered numbers close to that. They said that she’s not seen internally as somebody who would be on top for the next five years,” Meltzer wrote.
Pacific Rim: Looking at Sasha Banks’ popularity and visibility in Japan
The Pacific Rim Pro Wrestling Podcast with Fumi Saito and I is back and everyone is talking about the potential for Sasha Banks to appear at Wrestle Kingdom.
But, how big of a star is she in Japan now as WWE isn’t on TV there and hasn’t toured there in years? How much visibility does she have in the country? We discuss.
Also, we talk big plans for Keiji Muto’s retirement, Jake Lee, Naito & Ibushi being elected to the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, Rossy Ogawa, your questions and more.
A packed show with all kinds of history and information, so check it out.
Wrestling Observer Radio: Sasha, New Japan, RAW report, new AEW production hire, Hall of Fame Q&A
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including the annual Hall of Fame issue with your questions, updates on Sasha and Konnan and New Japan’s tournament wrapping up, Karl Anderson and the Tokyo Dome, RAW from Monday night, Winter is Coming, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Nine Lives of Vince McMahon on Vice Tuesday night
3:37: Sasha Banks/NJPW update
6:43: Michael Mansury joins AEW
10:26: William Regal returning to WWE in a executive position, Konnan waiting for kidney transplant
13:47: NJPW World Tag League/Super Jr. Tag finals
20:37: BOLA tickets going on sale soon
22:08: Ratings
27:04: More on UFC judging
33:31: Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame Q&A
53:10: Raw recap
1:15:57: AEW preview
Wrestling Observer Live: ROH on Honor Club, Sasha to New Japan, NXT and ROH PPV reviews, more!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including ROH TV on Honor Club and what it might mean for the future of New Japan in America, NXT Deadline, Ring of Honor Final Battle, Sasha Banks to the Tokyo Dome, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Sasha Banks and WWE ‘very far apart on money,’ multiple NJPW dates agreed to
As of right now, Sasha Banks has agreed to terms for multiple dates with New Japan Pro Wrestling but re-signing with WWE is still a possibility.
On Saturday, our own Dave Meltzer confirmed PWInsider’s report that Banks is scheduled to attend Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, 2023. He also noted that the booking with NJPW did not go through WWE.
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio released early Sunday, Meltzer reported that Banks’ WWE contract is set to expire at the end of the year, and the last he had heard, the two sides were far apart on money. While a deal with NJPW has not been officially signed, Banks has agreed to terms for multiple dates in 2023 with the promotion.
“I asked WWE about it and they had basically nothing to say as far as the situation,” Meltzer said.
“[WWE] were talking to her about a return and they were very far apart on money. That was the last that I had heard. Again, could AEW afford her? She wanted a lot. What she was asking for was a very high number for a WWE woman wrestler but again, if you look at the amount of money WWE takes in, she still would have been underpaid.”
Meltzer also addressed the possibility that WWE could freeze Banks’ contract as a result of her walking out on an episode of Raw in May and having not returned since.
“Her contract was to expire at the end of the year. However, as we’ve seen with so many people in that company, I mean, she hasn’t worked there so they can freeze the deal and they’ve frozen deals for people who have walked out, they’ve frozen deals for people who have been hurt, and we’ve heard over and over again so many people who wanted to be free agents had to wait, and wait and wait,” Meltzer continued.
“Perhaps they just figured we don’t want to freeze you and you can go or perhaps her lawyer said ‘we’re going to challenge it’ and whatever, I don’t know what’s happened.”
Meltzer also noted that Banks will appear at Wrestle Kingdom 17 but is not scheduled to wrestle on the show.
“I do know this, she will be going to the show. She will appear on the show, she will not wrestle on the show. She has dates with New Japan Pro Wrestling in her deal, I do not believe it is signed. She could still sign with WWE and this could all fall apart but she has pretty much agreed to their terms. So as far as they are concerned, they have a deal.”
How AEW fits into the situation is not clear.
“I do not know how AEW fits in. Obviously, everybody is going to jump to the speculation that she is the mystery partner of Saraya against Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker on the Forum show January 11 and now if it’s not her, it’s probably going to be a terrible disappointment.”
“New Japan Pro Wrestling cannot afford to pay the numbers that WWE was willing to pay her, I can say that. AEW could, obviously, afford that. So, is it a deal where she does both? Perhaps, that I cannot confirm at all. I know when I asked AEW about it, I got a non-answer.”
“As of right now, she’s done with WWE. Like I said, it could change at any moment but that’s the situation right now.”
WOR: Dave Meltzer gives an update on the Sasha Banks situation as of this moment. https://t.co/mYdKSjV7fm pic.twitter.com/4UATejAMnu
— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) December 11, 2022
Wrestling Observer Radio: Great ROH and NXT shows, UFC, ROH streaming deal, Sasha Banks to New Japan, more
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including great shows from Ring of Honor and NXT, a full UFC recap, notes on the ROH streaming deal announced today, Sasha Banks to the Tokyo Dome and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: ROH TV coming to HonorClub
14:38: UFC Light Heavyweight title remains vacant following split draw main event
21:26: NXT Deadline fallout
23:36: Sasha Banks is going to the Tokyo Dome
30:00: ROH Final Battle recap
1:06:55: The Jon Moxley/Konosuke Takeshita match from Rampage
1:09:26: NXT Deadline recap
1:23:32: UFC report
Sasha Banks NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 appearance not booked through WWE
Sasha Banks is heading to the Tokyo Dome.
Dave Meltzer confirmed on Saturday a report from Mike Johnson of PWInsider that Banks would be appearing at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 event on January 4. Additionally, he said that while WWE could still sign Banks, New Japan believes she will be a free and clear to appear on the show by January 4.
“This deal is not through WWE, so if the appearance isn’t blocked legally by WWE, it means she will be a free agent by that date,” Meltzer wrote. “WWE can still sign her but NJPW believes she is free and clear by 1/4.”
Banks has not been seen on WWE television since she and Naomi walked out of a Raw event back in May due to creative differences. WWE responded by stripping Banks and Naomi of the Women’s Tag Team championships, and their status with WWE remains unclear. Both Banks and Naomi are still listed on the active roster on WWE.com.
NJPW crowned their first IWGP Women’s Champion last month, when KAIRI defeated Mayu Iwatani to become the first champion at NJPW x Stardom Historic X-Over.
Wrestling Observer Radio: 2022 WON HOF class, John Cena, MJF at UFC
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio going over the 2022 class of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. John Muse joins us to go over the full class, the acts who were close, and next year’s new candidates.
After that, we talked about all the recent news. Topics include:
- John Cena on SmackDown and if he will be at WrestleMania
- The Rock and WWE’s decision
- Barry Windham
- Sasha Banks at WrestleKingdom
- Ticket sales for AEW Revolution so far
- MJF at UFC 282
- ROH, NXT, & UFC shows tomorrow
- Tony Khan’s ROH press conference
- Vince McMahon documentary
- Dana White’s Slap League
- Miro’s current situation
The video version of this show is available for video subscribers at video.f4wonline.com.