For the first time in nearly a year, the former Von Wagner in WWE will step into a wrestling ring.
Announced on Thursday, Wagner (Cal Bloom) will compete at this Saturday’s Mayhem at the Mall afternoon event for Midwest All-Star Wrestling in Maplewood, Minnesota, taking on Shay Diesel.
After five years in the WWE system, the 30-year-old was cut on April 22, 2024 — less than a month after losing to Lexis King on NXT TV.
It’s unclear why he hasn’t worked anywhere since that release.
The son of Wayne Bloom who wrestled as Beau Beverley in WWE, Wagner was a college football player who signed with WWE in 2019 after graduating from the University of Central Florida in 2016. He reported to the Performance Center and made his debut at a NXT house show in May 2019.
He actually made his main roster debut before appearing on NXT TV, losing to Sheamus on an April 2020 edition of SmackDown. He then competed against R-Truth on Main Event that same month and worked two SmackDown dark matches in August/September 2021 before making his NXT TV debut under the Wagner name. His first match was in a four-way for the NXT title as he replaced Kyle O’Reilly.
Eventually aligning with Robert Stone, Wagner remained in NXT for the duration of his run while also making several main roster appearances on Main Event in addition to competing in an Intercontinental title no. 1 contender’s battle royal on a May 2023 Raw.
Fightful Select is reporting that Wagner was released last week along with Jinder Mahal, Xia Li, Xyon Quinn, Veer and Sanga. He had been with the company since 2019.
“Von Wagner was also a part of the WWE releases last week, Fightful Select has learned,” Sean Ross Sapp posted to X on Monday.
Wagner’s last match was a loss to Lexis King on the April 2 episode of NXT.
Real name Calvin Bloom, Wagner is the son of Wayne Bloom, who wrestled as Beau Beverly of the Beverly Brothers for WWE from 1991 to 1993. Wagner played football for the University of Central Florida before embarking on his wrestling career. He played tight end for the UCF Knights from 2012 to 2016. After his college football career ended, Wagner was trained by his father, Ken Kennedy, and 1981 WON Rookie of the Year, Brad Rheingans.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio before Monday’s episode of Raw.
It was a tepid episode this week due to some mediocre in-ring work, but the work rate was good. The main positive is that the show doesn’t feel as stagnant as it has in the past because every week we’re provided with fresh faces.
Natalya defeated Elektra Lopez (5:44)
This was fine, but nothing special. Natalya is always excellent in these spots on Main Event.
This was the second appearance in as many weeks for Lopez, who worked against Gigi Dolin on last week’s episode. Natalya returned to the show here for the first time since August, to give her a much-needed win in what has been a lean year for her.
Just as her previous bouts have been on Main Event, this one was a hunt for the Sharpshooter for Natalya. It seems to be the thing that most of her matches are built around these days and, by the end, it was locked in on the fourth attempt.
Lopez was pretty wily here and she foiled most of Nattie’s attempts, but she locked in a long chin lock partway through which slowed things down and was probably the reason why the match ran at over five minutes.
After the third sharpshooter attempt, Lopez used a roll-up for a near fall which could well have been it had they wanted to send this one in a different direction.
After she missed a charge to the corner, Natalya finally got the submission hold locked in and got the victory to end a basic enough opener.
Von Wagner defeated Edris Enofe (5:47)
This was a little bit sloppy and not that entertaining all told, but they both certainly worked hard.
Edris Enofe made his first singles appearance on Main Event here, having only worked the show twice before in tag action with Malik Blade. He looks to be in supreme shape.
Von Wagner controlled the opening minutes, putting pressure on Enofe’s left arm. Enofe then worked his way out and nailed him with a dropkick to send him to the outside. He then ran the ropes and did a beautiful flip dive to the outside as we went to an early commercial break.
Enofe locked in a side headlock after the ads, but Von Wagner fought his way out. Enofe used a pretty horrible-looking fame-asser, where neither wrestler was at fault, before going up top.
Von Wagner had the move scouted and moved out of the way and, after Enofe tried to fight him, hit him with a powerbomb to get his hand raised.
It’s not clear what they plan to do with Von Wagner as Saxton was pushing his free agency throughout the match, but he probably needs a few more of these under his belt before he works the main roster regularly.
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan before Monday’s episode of Raw.
A solid episode of the show this week, with even more new faces as the show continues to promote NXT talent, allowing them to perform in front of pre-Raw crowds.
Apollo Crews defeated Myles Borne (5:13)
This was fine. Crews is starting to gain some momentum following his injury earlier this year against a debuting Myles Borne.
Borne made his Main Event debut in what was his first-ever appearance on a main roster WWE show. And for a guy who hasn’t had a ton of matches in his career to date, he did well.
The comparisons to Randy Orton have been with Borne since he joined the company and he did nothing to dispel that, showing an attitude here and also using a quick scoop slam a la Orton at one point.
Crews took the early going, dominating and slowing the pace of the match down. It was only when Borne thumbed his eye that the tide turned.
After some basic offense, Crews fired up with his usual splashes to the corner and the standing moonsault. Borne dodged a second splash and used a neckbreaker (not an RKO) for a near fall.
In the end, Crews hit Borne with an enzuigiri to line him up for a frog splash off the top rope and get his hand raised in back-to-back wins on Main Event.
Joe Coffey defeated Von Wagner (6:59)
This was a slow and steady bout that got going towards the end as Coffey got a surprising victory in his debut.
While Von Wagner has had a few sporadic appearances on Main Event over the last three years, this was Joe Coffey’s first outing on the show and so felt good for him to get a win. Wagner, however, goes to 0-6 with this loss.
Before the break, Wagner was in control and after the commercials, Coffey was working a comeback. He secured a submission and the match slowed right down after quite an explosive start.
Wagner worked his way out and culminated in a double underhook suplex for a two-count. Coffey blocked Wagner’s chokeslam attempt and then they went to the finish.
After Wagner had Coffey on his shoulder looking to finish him, Coffey raked his eyes and used his discuss lariat to get the win.
John LaRocca and I are back with a brand new Fight Game Podcast.
As with most podcasts of late, CM Punk was the topic du jour. We opened up talking about his final days in AEW and whether he would go back to WWE, or if WWE would even be open to taking him back.
Here’s what else we talked about:
How AEW is doing a tournament for their top belt vs. how NXT is doing a tournament
The end of Bron Breakker and Von Wagner on this week’s WWE NXT
Jey Uso leaving SmackDown and joining Raw
What trade we would make between AEW and WWE
We also continued our getting to know your podcaster segment with a question about who we would love to invite over for dinner.
Tyler Bate will be in action on NXT’s go-home show for Battleground.
WWE has announced that Bate vs. Eddy Thorpe will take place on NXT this Tuesday night. The match comes in advance of Bate challenging for the NXT North American Championship at Battleground.
The North American title match at Battleground will see Wes Lee defend his title against Bate and Joe Gacy. The match was announced during a segment with Lee, Bate, and Gacy on NXT last week. Bate wanted to face Gacy at Battleground. But, even though they’re friends, Bate informed Lee that he also wants a shot at the North American Championship. Lee agreed to defend the title in a triple threat match.
Battleground is being held in Lowell, Massachusetts on Sunday, May 28.
Thorpe (former NJPW wrestler Karl Fredericks) made his WWE television debut on NXT Level Up this February. He’s gotten wins against Damon Kemp, Javier Bernal, and Myles Borne on NXT.
The updated lineup for Tuesday’s NXT is listed below:
NXT Women’s Championship tournament semifinals: Roxanne Perez vs. Tiffany Stratton
NXT Women’s Championship tournament semifinals: Lyra Valkyria vs. Cora Jade
While night one of the WWE Draft may be over, some additional picks have been revealed.
The draft continued with more selections being announced on Saturday’s episode of The SmackDown LowDown. There were 14 people drafted to Raw on Saturday and four drafted to SmackDown.
Here are the selections that were announced:
Raw —
The Viking Raiders & Valhalla
Dexter Lumis
Candice LeRae
Maximum Male Models (Mace, Mansoor & Maxxine Dupri)
Natalya
Apollo Crews
Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green
Zoey Stark
JD McDonagh
SmackDown —
Hit Row (Top Dolla, Ashante “Thee” Adonis & B-Fab)
Lacey Evans
It was also announced on The SmackDown LowDown that Omos (with MVP), Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali, and Von Wagner are now “free agents.” It was said that Omos is a free agent because of smart negotiations by MVP to maximize Omos’ visibility on both brands.
Stark, McDonagh, and Wagner are being called up to the main roster for the first time, while Crews is now back on the main roster following a stint in NXT.
NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn were also called up from NXT on night one of the draft. Hartwell is joining the Raw roster. Fyre & Dawn will be on SmackDown.
The WWE Draft will continue on Monday’s episode of Raw. The new rosters will then officially take effect following WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view on Saturday, May 6.
Listed below are all of the draft picks that have been announced thus far:
Raw —
Cody Rhodes
Becky Lynch
Imperium (Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludvig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci)
Matt Riddle
Drew McIntyre
The Miz
Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women’s Champion Indi Hartwell
The Viking Raiders & Valhalla
Dexter Lumis
Candice LeRae
Maximum Male Models (Mace, Mansoor & Maxxine Dupri)
Natalya
Apollo Crews
Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green
Zoey Stark
JD McDonagh
SmackDown —
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa (with Paul Heyman)
Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford)
Edge
Bobby Lashley
The OC (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows & Michin)
Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai & IYO SKY)
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn
Hit Row (Top Dolla, Ashante “Thee” Adonis & B-Fab)
This week’s WWE Main Event was taped last Monday at the Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, before Monday’s Raw.
Odyssey Jones defeated Akira Tozawa (4:23)
This was a pretty basic match with Jones getting his second win in his second-ever appearance on Main Event.
Back in August 2021, Jones made his debut on this show, defeating Austin Theory. It seems hard to imagine that happening now and just shows how radically things change in pro wrestling.
They gave the very excitable Jones an inset promo as he made his way to the ring. He’s going to need some work on who his character is, but he’s certainly likeable.
Tozawa is perfect in this role. He is an excellent opponent for a less experienced talent because he is so giving and will always bump all over the ring to make them look better. This was certainly true here.
They didn’t go for restholds which was a welcome relief and instead while Tozawa tried his best to take Jones off his feet, Jones worked over his left arm and wrist.
When Tozawa did eventually topple the big man and get a cover on him after a top rope spinning elbow, Jones kicked out and pushed Tozawa off him with Tozawa launching himself up in the air like he had been attached to a rocket.
But when Tozawa went up top again, it was one time too many as Jones dodged it and used a spinning side slam to get the victory.
After the match, they shook hands and hugged with Jones showing respect as he was playing the babyface.
Mustafa Ali defeated Von Wagner (7:35)
All things considered, this was a match that had some context and allowed them to tell a good story.
Before the match, they aired some backstage footage from earlier in the day when Wagner was arriving in the building. He was rude to the camera crew and Ali intervened, calling him out on being a bully. The segment ended with Ali saying he was going to get payback for what Wagner did to Cedric Alexander two months ago.
As he made his way to the ring, they aired the beatdown that Wagner gave to Alexander that led to a DQ in addition to a post-match angle where he continued to destroy Alexander. The announcers tried to put him over as a force to reckoned with.
This all played well into how Ali was received by the crowd when he came out as well as throughout the match with Ali trying to build up their support as the two circled each other after the bell.
Before the break. it was pretty much all Wagner with little bits of hope for Ali snuffed out as soon as they got going. Ali was on the apron when Wagner grabbed him by the throat and drilled him into the ring post to leave him writhing in pain as we headed to the commercials.
After the ads, every time Ali got some separation, he was thwarted by Wagner and the match overall did a good job in making him look strong.
For the finish, they teased a top rope superplex but when Ali reversed it into a sunset flip, his face was a picture. The crowd reacted knowing that it meant he had a chance. With Wagner down, Ali seized it and hit his 450 splash for the victory.
Ali celebrated and Wagner retreated to the back selling his ribs from the splash.
Final Thoughts:
These were two perfectly watchable matches with the second being the better of the two this week. It would be good to see them return to the Alexander, Ali and Benjamin storyline at some stage as they have really fully resolved it and none of the trio have much material on WWE main show television right now.
Hey there, welcome to another weekly episode of Speak Now Pro Wrestling hosted by Denise Salcedo.
There’s lots to talk about for today’s show including: The Iron Survivor Challenge, Bron Breakker vs. Von Wagner, Mandy Rose retaining her NXT Women’s Championship, and more! Tune in for a fun and interactive podcast!
The next NXT Championship match has been scheduled.
Von Wagner has been granted a title shot against Bron Breakker on the November 15 edition of WWE NXT. Wagner attacked the champion in the closing moments of last week’s show.
Grayson Waller announced the match in a video posted to social media on Sunday. He also revealed that both Breakker and Wagner are set to be guests on the Grayson Waller Effect on Tuesday’s show.
“I’ve come to learn that Bron Breakker, the little dog himself, will be defending the NXT Championship against big Von Wagner,” Waller says. “Since Grayson Waller always has his finger on the pulse, I’ve organized it, I’ve already gone and made sure that come Tuesday, this Tuesday live on NXT on the USA Network, the Grayson Waller Effect is back and my guests are non-other than the champion Bron Breakker and the challenger Von Wagner.”
The updated lineup for the November 8 edition of WWE NXT is as follows:
NXT Women’s Tag Team titles: Kayden Carter and Katana Chance defend against Zoey Stark and Nikkita Lyons
Five-minute challenge: Brutus Creed vs. Damon Kemp
Andre Chase vs. Charlie Dempsey
Cameron Grimes vs. Joe Gacy
Hank Walker vs. Stacks
Grayson Waller Effect w/ Bron Breakker and Von Wagner.
Two title matches are now official for the November 15 episode:
NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose defends against Alba Fyre
NXT Champion Bron Breakker defends against Von Wagner
Two NXT wrestlers were in action before Monday night’s episode of Raw in Brooklyn, New York went on the air.
Carmelo Hayes and Von Wagner both wrestled matches at Monday’s WWE Main Event tapings. Hayes defeated Cedric Alexander. Wagner lost to R-Truth by disqualification.
R-Truth got the win by DQ after faking that Wagner had hit him with a steel chair.
This is the second straight week that NXT wrestlers have appeared on Main Event. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen defeated R-Truth & Shelton Benjamin on the show last week, while Fallon Henley lost a match to Dana Brooke.
Hayes is a two-time NXT North American Champion. At NXT Halloween Havoc later this month, Hayes and Wagner will both compete in a ladder match for the vacant North American title. Hayes, Wagner, Oro Mensah, Wes Lee, and either Nathan Frazer or Axiom will be the five wrestlers in the ladder match.
WWE Main Event premieres on Hulu each Thursday. The episodes are uploaded to Peacock on a two-week delay.
Von Wagner has qualified for the North American title ladder match at Halloween Havoc on October 22.
On Tuesday’s NXT, Wagner defeated Andre Chase to become the fourth participant in the ladder match. He won after manager Robert Stone distracted Chase, allowing Wagner to connect with a running boot then scored the win with a TKO.
Along with Wagner, Carmelo Hayes, Oro Mensah, and Wes Lee have qualified for the ladder match at Halloween Havoc. The final participant in the match has yet to be determined.
During the Chase/Wagner match Hayes, who was doing commentary ringside, was attacked by Lee. Earlier in the show, Hayes had defeated Mensah in a singles match.
The North American title was declared vacant after it was determined that Solo Sikoa was not eligible to win the championship when he defeated Hayes last month. Hayes attempted to get his championship back, but Shawn Micheals instead made the ladder match for Halloween Havoc, with Hayes automatically qualifying.
On this past Tuesday’s show, Sioka and Wagner met in a singles match. The two were counted out after continuing to brawl outside the ring. The two eventually made their way to the back, taking several segments to break them up. Sikoa took Mr. Stone and ended up throwing him into a nearby dumpster. Sofia Cromwell was eventually able to calm Wagner down.
Here is the current lineup for this Tuesday’s show:
JD McDonagh vs. Cameron Grimes
20-woman battle royal for a NXT Women’s Championship title shot
Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. Pretty Deadly for the NXT UK Tag Team titles
Josh Briggs vs. Von Wagner and Alba Fyre vs. Tatum Paxley have been added. This is in addition to the finals of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament, where Roxanne Perez will face Tiffany Stratton in the finals.
On tonight’s NXT In Your House, a video package aired showing Alba Fyre. After the video had ended, Lash Legend backstage didn’t seem impressed by Fyre and didn’t want to face her. Paxley disagreed with Legend and said that she would be the one to step up and challenge Fyre.
Von Wagner caused a distraction on NXT this past Tuesday, allowing Grayson Waller to defeat Briggs in a singles match. Wagner attacked Briggs after the match but was eventually called off by Sofia Cromwell.
Here’s the lineup so far for Tuesday:
Roxanne Perez vs. Tiffany Stratton in the Women’s NXT Breakout Tournament finals
WWE has confirmed a new match for tonight’s episode of NXT.
It’s been officially announced that Ikemen Jiro vs. Von Wagner will take place on NXT tonight. The match was set up in a video that WWE uploaded after NXT last week. Jiro was looking for Wagner and interrupted an interview with Wagner’s manager Mr. Stone:
WWE.com wrote:
It may be Von Wagner’s world, but Ikemen Jiro is sick of living in it.
After repeated attacks and being launched from the ring into the crowd at NXT Arena, Jiro is ready for some long-awaited retribution against the towering Superstar.
For weeks, Wagner has terrorized the NXT locker room with random and devastating attacks, including the horrendous ambush that left Jiro sidelined for weeks.
Can Jiro end Wagner’s chaotic reign of terror? Tune in Tuesday night at 8/7 C on USA to find out!
Tonight’s NXT is the second-to-last episode of the show before NXT In Your House. Here’s the updated lineup for tonight:
Non-title match: NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Duke Hudson
Non-title match: NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose vs. Indi Hartwell
Non-title match: NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly vs. Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp
Edris Enofe & Malik Blade vs. Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo & Troy “Two Dimes” Donovan
