The first Women’s Champion in MLW history was crowned at a set of television tapings on Friday night.
Taya Valkyrie defeated Holidead at Kings of Colosseum on Friday to become the inaugural MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion. The match will air on a future episode of MLW Fusion.
Kings of Colosseum was the first time Valkyrie has appeared for MLW since 2018. In addition to winning the Women’s Featherweight Championship, Valkyrie also took part in a trios match. Valkyrie, Lince Dorado & Microman defeated Holidead, Arez & Mini Abismo Negro.
Valkyrie is also the current AAA Reina de Reinas Champion. She won that title from Deonna Purrazzo at Impact Wrestling’s Rebellion pay-per-view last month.
Valkyrie was formerly known as Franky Monet in NXT. She was released by WWE last November.
The MLW women’s featherweight division first launched in September 2021. MLW has stated that it plans to have multiple women’s weight classes in the future.
“MLW plans on having multiple women’s [divisions],” the promotion wrote. “Like the men with the heavyweight and middleweight divisions, the women’s featherweight division promises to showcase the best and promote fair fights in stature between fighters of similar attributes.”
MLW is set to crown the first Women’s Champion in the history of the promotion.
The inaugural MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion will be crowned in a match between Taya Valkryie and Holidead at Kings of Colosseum on Friday, May 13. The show is being held at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia.
Holidead has been a member of the MLW women’s featherweight division since it was introduced in September of last year.
Kings of Colosseum will be the first time that Valkyrie has wrestled for MLW since 2018.
MLW notes that it plans to have multiple women’s weight classes in the future.
“MLW plans on having multiple women’s [divisions],” the promotion wrote. “Like the men with the heavyweight and middleweight divisions, the women’s featherweight division promises to showcase the best and promote fair fights in stature between fighters of similar attributes.”
Kings of Colosseum is a television taping for MLW Fusion. The updated card for the event is listed below:
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against Richard Holliday (w/ Alicia Atout)
Taya Valkyrie vs. Holidead to crown the inaugural MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion
Weapons of Mass Destruction match: Jacob Fatu vs. Mads Krugger
Former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Taya Valkyrie is returning to MLW.
Valkyrie will be in action at Kings of Colosseum on Friday, May 13th at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This will be Valkyrie’s first match in MLW since a September 2018 tag team bout where she teamed with Joey Ryan in a loss to MJF and Aria Blake. That was her only appearance for the promotion.
From the announcement, she will be in contention for their Women’s Featherweight title tournament this year.
The 38-year-old has been active since being released by WWE in the fall of 2021, returning to AAA in addition to a slew of indies.
As of now, while more than 20 talents have been announced for the show, just two matches have been confirmed: MLW World Champion Alex Hammerstone defending against Richard Holliday and Jacob Fatu vs. Mads Krugger in a Weapons of Mass Destruction match.
The Briscoes’ match at Friday’s Impact Multiverse of Matches isn’t expected to be their last in the promotion and the same goes for Taya Valkyrie.
PWInsider has reported that Impact Wrestling would like to bring Jay & Mark Briscoe and Valkyrie and have them as regulars if possible.
The Briscoes took a loss to The Good Brothers in the main event of Friday’s show and did a post-match promo saying they weren’t happy with the loss and would be back.
It was their second match of the night (and fourth of the weekend) as they also took part in the Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor pay-per-view, losing the Tag Team titles to FTR in one of the matches of the weekend. The Briscoes were then laid out by the Young Bucks after the match, leading to questions about what their status with ROH will be in the future.
This was their first match back since the NWA/TNA weekly pay-per-view days when they took on Quiet Storm and Chris Divine in November 2002.
The Briscoes have also been regulars in GCW and the NWA as of late, winning last month’s Crockett Cup tournament.
Valkyrie came out at Friday’s Multiverse show and challenged Ring of Honor Women’s Champion and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Deonna Purrazzo to a match at this month’s Impact Rebellion pay-per-view. She is a former AAA titleholder and returned to the promotion recently.
The former Impact Knockouts Champion confronted ROH Women’s World Champion and AAA Reina de Reinas Champion Deonna Purrazzo following Purrazzo’s match at Friday’s Multiverse of Matches event, issuing a challenge for the AAA title at Impact’s Saturday, April 23 Rebellion event.
Purrazzo retained the AAA title at Multiverse of Matches, defeating Faby Apache. As she was addressing ROH crowning an interim Women’s World Champion in Mercedes Martinez, Valkyrie made her surprise return.
Valkyrie was written out of Impact storylines in January 2021 after a run of three-plus years with the company. She signed with WWE in February 2021, then debuted on the NXT brand in April 2021. She was released by WWE in November 2021.
Six matches are now set for Rebellion. The lineup:
Impact Rebellion, Saturday, April 23 —
Impact World Championship: Moose (c) vs. Josh Alexander
Impact Knockouts World Championship: Tasha Steelz (c) vs. Rosemary
Impact X Division Championship: Trey Miguel (c) vs. Ace Austin vs. Mike Bailey
AAA Reina de Reinas Championship: Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie
A husband vs. wife “dirty dishes” match has been added to Thursday’s WrestleCon Mark Hitchcock Memorial SuperShow, as John Morrison will take on Taya Valkyrie.
WrestleCon announced the new match today on social media. Eight matches are now official for the SuperShow, which take place Thursday, March 31 at 9 p.m. Central time.
Taya Valkyrie officially returned to AAA tonight, winning a five way match for a future shot at the AAA Reina de Reinas championship.
During tonight’s Rey de Reyes event, Fenix came out and announced he would be unable to compete tonight due to a dislocated elbow he suffered last month during an episode of AEW Dynamite. He instead introduced Taya, who came out for the five way match that opened the show. She proceeded to defeat Lady Shani, Keyra, Maravilla, & Flammer to win the number one contendership to the title.
The Reina de Reinas title is currently held by Deonna Purrazzo. She also holds the ROH Women’s Championship, defeating Rok-C on an episode of Impact that aired on January 13.
Valkyrie left AAA last year when she signed with the WWE in February. However, her run in WWE was short lived as she was cut on November 4. She made a brief appearance at Triplemania Regia II via video in December, challenging Purrazzo.
Taya Valkyrie, as well as Cibernetico, made their returns at tonight’s Triplemania Regia event.
In a video that aired following the first match of tonight’s Triplemania, Valkyrie appeared via video and called out the current Reina de Reinas champion Deonna Purrazzo, saying that Purrazzo had something that belonged to her, the championship.
Cibernetico interrupted a Konnan promo and told him that he was not going to let Konnan do whatever he wanted. He also appeared after a three way trios match, helping the Vipers stable by clearing out members of NGD and Nuevo Poder del Norte.
Valkyrie wrestled in AAA from 2012 until 2020, winning Reina de Reinas Championship three times. She joined WWE in February of this year and briefly competed in NXT before being released on November 4.
Cibernetico was a major star in AAA in the 1990s and 2000s having won the Mega Championship one time and the Campeon de Campeones Championship on three occasions. He has not been with the company since 2015.
Now going by the name Franky Monet, Taya Valkyrie arrived in WWE on tonight’s TakeOver: Stand & Deliver fallout edition of NXT.
Monet made her NXT debut by interrupting new NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez on tonight’s show. WWE had been hyping for the past two weeks that Monet would be debuting tonight.
After defeating Io Shirai to win the NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver night one last week, Gonzalez cut a promo on tonight’s show and declared that the Raquel Gonzalez era has officially begun. Monet’s music then hit and she came out to the ring with her Pomeranian dog. Monet congratulated Gonzalez on her title win but said she was here to formally introduce herself to Gonzalez and the world. Monet called herself La Wera Loca Franky Monet.
Monet said the best division on the planet has now gotten a little shinier, a little more boujee, and a whole lot better. Monet said that since Gonzalez is at the top of Monet’s division, she’ll be seeing a whole lot more of Monet. Gonzalez responded by saying Monet is lucky that she’s in a good mood tonight. Gonzalez said that if Monet interrupts her again, she’ll shove Monet’s dog straight up Monet’s butt. Monet told Gonzalez that she’ll be seeing her every single Tuesday.
After Monet left the ring, new Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley and new SmackDown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair appeared on NXT and celebrated their title wins with Gonzalez.
It was announced this February that Valkyrie had signed with WWE and joined the Performance Center. She’s a former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion and has also held the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship three times during her career.
Taya Valkyrie’s NXT debut appears to be less than two weeks away.
On tonight’s NXT episode, there was a series of videos where a Pomeranian dog was shown entering the WWE Performance Center and running around the building. The final video ended with the dog finding a woman who was wearing heels. Only the women’s legs were shown, but a message on the screen said “See you April 13th!” The message was signed by “Franky.”
The dog in the videos was Valkyrie and John Morrison’s Pomeranian Prince Presley.
It was announced last month that Valkyrie had signed with WWE and joined the Performance Center. Valkyrie, who is a former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion, finished up with Impact Wrestling this January. Valkyrie has also held the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship three times during her career.
The April 13 edition of NXT will be the show’s debut on its new night. It was officially announced earlier this week that NXT is moving to Tuesdays starting with the April 13 episode.
The death of Tom Cole this week takes us back to one of the most sordid pro wrestling stories of the last 50 years, which involved media heavyweights at the time like Phil Donahue, Larry King, Geraldo Rivera and Phil Mushnick. It’s the lead story of a new double issue of the Observer.
We look at the story and its tragic end this past week and all the key characters involved. We look at Cole’s death, what exactly happened to him, different media appearances at the time, the WWF first settling his case, the unique plans for the Phil Donahue show, at the time the leading daytime talk show in the U.S. with a gigantic audience and how Vince McMahon planned the show and why it never transpired the way it was planned. Cole’s memories of what happened, and things that triggered his past including a first suicide attempt that few knew about. This is a major piece of wrestling history that has been largely hidden except from those who were around at the time.
Also in this issue:
NXT Takeover show with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results of what undoubtedly will be considered among the best shows of 2021.
WWE not offering raises and promotions and how that went down this past week, as well as a look at WWE performer salaries if they were paid the same percentage as sports stars or even UFC fighters, Lacey Evans’ pregnancy, a pilot for a new WWE Network show filmed, the attempt to re-litigate the concussion case and its likely outcome, injury updates, details of a number of different people having signed new deals, who they are and their background, notes on how many saw Sasha Banks start the Daytona 500, Finn Balor talks staying in NXT, TV show with WWE stars as guests, WWE & AEW international TV ratings and how last week’s shows did compared to other sports, another celebrity training to appear in WWE rings, upcoming TV matches, a what ever happened to, current company value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
Gina Carano and her social media posts that cost her a television series was was to be built around her, her new affiliation, and the situation with Ariel Helwani, Dana White and ESPN as well as media criticism of ESPN for how they handled the situation.
UFC 258 with match-by-match coverage and all the business news.
How Keiji Muto became one of the oldest world champions in history, why NOAH made the move, a look at NOAH today after its biggest show in many years.
WWE social media regulations for its talent, what is and isn’t allowed.
Debut episode of “Young Rock,” its ratings, and what was real, nor real and in between about the stories with a look at early women wrestling promoters, Rocky Johnson, Peter Maivia, Lia Maivia and Dwayne Johnson growing up.
Second night of New Japan’s New Beginning in Hiroshima..
Television ratings of the past week, including segment-by-segment numbers for the past two weeks on Wednesday, who was watching in different age groups, how different segments did on Raw & Smackdown and more.
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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Taya Valkyrie took to Instagram after news of her signing with WWE became official: “For those that have been on this decade long journey with me, you know how badly I have wanted this. I’ve sacrificed and dedicated my life to this. Moved across continents, learned languages, immersed myself in new styles, cultures and experiences with the over all goal of making it one day to the @wwe. I have worked my butt off and today my dream has come true. I promise to work harder than I ever have, to show the world who I am as a performer and human being. I love my life and take absolutely nothing for granted. I’m hungrier than I have ever been and now the work begins. Thank you to all those that have supported me, and to those that don’t like me…welp, too bad. I know my worth, my talent and I will always strive to be better. Now buckle up because this is going to get interesting. LETS GET TO WORK!!”
This week’s episode of The Bump features Riddle, Big E, Ron Simmons, and Punky Brewster star Freddie Prinze Jr.
Young Rock last night on NBC brought in 3.48 million viewers, down from last week’s premiere of 5.03 million.
Cesaro will be a guest on this week’s After the Bell with Corey Graves.
Ric Flair spoke to WrestlingInc on his relationship with the McMahons and Shawn Michaels.
Big E has launched a Kickstarter for a new project, Our Heroes Rock!, which is described as “A 3D animated family series that explores the Heroes of Black History through Hip-Hop and Science Fiction.”
Following news of his signing with AEW, Paul Wight responded on Twitter, writing “Incredibly excited !!!”
Mick Foley congratulated Wight, writing on Twitter: “Wishing the very best to my friend @PaulWight on his signing with [AEW] I’m guessing the big fella thought he had done all there was to do in @WWE – and that he still had some gas left in the tank.”
Sean Ross Sapp wrote the following regarding Jimmy Rave: “One person I’ve contacted says they’ve heard from Jimmy Rave and said that he’s okay.” Rave earlier wrote on Twitter “I can’t take anymore hurt … I’m sorry”.
ROH Roundtable with Caprice Coleman is joined by Shane Taylor, World Famous CB, and Kenny King as they discuss Black excellence in wrestling, as well as the performers who inspired them.
Taya Valkyrie and Harlem Bravado have reportedly signed with WWE.
PWInsider reported this afternoon that both Valkyrie and Bravado have signed with the company. Valkyrie left Impact last month following their Hard to Kill pay-per-view event. It was revealed that she was the person that shot Jon E. Bravo, framing Larry D for the crime. Tommy Dreamer and Acey Romero later figured out it was Valkyrie and had her arrested, writing her off the show.
A Lance Storm trainee, Valkyrie joined AAA in 2012 and won the Reina de Reinas championship on three occasions. She joined Impact in 2017 and won the Impact Knockouts title once, holding it for a record 377 days.
Bravado had been a regular in EVOLVE from 2013 through its closure last year. He and his brother Lance trained at the ROH Dojo under Delirious and competed in Ring of Honor from 2008 through 2012. He also did tours in Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2012 and 2013.
It was reported this week that University of Central Florida football player Parker Bordeaux and GCW regular Blake Christian have also signed with the company.
Taya Valkyrie is done with Impact Wrestling for now as her contract has expired.
PW Insider first reported the news Tuesday after Valkyrie was written off the show as she revealed she was the one who shot John E. Bravo in a storyline that started last year. She was taken into custody and admitted she shot him to prevent her friend Rosemary from marrying Bravo.
Insider reported that Valkyrie’s contract expired in December, but she stayed on to help finish up the angle and to give Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo a win at last Saturday’s Hard To Kill. She had been on the final year of a multi-year contract.
Last night, she retweeted a AAA tweet speculating about who she should defend the Reina de Reinas championship against next. She last defended the title in February on a show in London, England.
The 37-year-old debuted for Impact in 2017 and became the longest-reigning Knockouts Champion in the company’s history at 377 days.
A new match for Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view has been set.
Deonna Purrazzo will defend the Knockouts title against Taya Valkyrie. The match was announced tonight on the second night of Impact’s Best of 2020 special that aired on AXS.
Purazzo accepted a challenge Valkyrie issued on last week’s special. She said that Taya was once the longest reigning Knockouts champion, and when she defeats Taya at Hard to Kill, she will become “the greatest champion ever”.
Already announced for Hard to Kill:
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) vs. Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) in a six-man tag team match
Manik vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju for the X Division title
Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. either Havok & Nevaeh or Jazz & Jordynne Grace in a tournament final for the Impact Knockouts Tag Team titles
Impact Wrestling’s Knockouts Tag Team title tournament is down to its final four teams.
Havok & Nevaeh vs. Jordynne Grace & Jazz and Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz vs. Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary are the semifinal matches for the tournament. It will continue on next Tuesday’s episode of Impact.
The opening round concluded with Valkyrie & Rosemary defeating Deonna Purrazzo & Kimber Lee on this week’s Impact. Rosemary is challenging for Purrazzo’s Knockouts Championship at Impact Wrestling’s Final Resolution special on Impact Plus this Saturday.
Havok & Nevaeh defeated Tenille Dashwood & Alisha Edwards in the first round of the tournament, Grace & Jazz defeated Killer Kelly & Renee Michelle, and Hogan & Steelz defeated Sea Stars (Ashley Vox & Delmi Exo).
Jazz had recently announced her retirement but returned to the ring for the tournament. Grace & Jazz’s first round match was Jazz’s Impact Wrestling in-ring debut.
The new Knockouts Champions will be crowned as the tournament finals take place at Impact’s Hard to Kill pay-per-view on Saturday, January 16. The winners will be the first team to hold the Knockouts Tag Team titles since they were deactivated in 2013.
