El Hijo del Vikingo matches for independent promotions will now be available on various streaming services.
Previously, AAA was preventing companies such as GCW and Warrior Wrestling from airing his matches live or on-demand. GCW revealed AAA’s policy when announcing Vikingo’s promotional debut last month.
*Please Note* Per AAA Guidelines, Vikingos match will not be streamed. This policy will cover *ALL* of Vikingo’s independent bookings and is in effect until further notice.
However, it now appears AAA’s policy is no longer in effect. Both Warrior Wrestling and GCW announced Thursday evening that upcoming Vikingo matches will now be available to stream.
*BREAKING*
Effective Immediately:
*All* of EL HIJO DEL VIKINGO's matches at GCW will stream LIVE on @FiteTV+!
Next Up: Friday Night in Charlotte
EL HIJO DEL VIKINGO vs GRINGO LOCO
You can watch the entire event LIVE by subscribing to Fite+ NOW for just $4.99 per month! pic.twitter.com/33jrWAlQu1
Rob Viper of Highspots.TV revealed that AAA’s policy now allows Vikingo matches and content to air provided they are behind a paywall.
Rob just announced that all Vikingo matches can be included on streaming shows now, as long as they're paid streaming shows. @GCWrestling_ and @WarriorWrstlng matches can air this weekend. https://t.co/EUwOK13Dhi
It had been speculated that AAA’s reason for not allowing promotions to stream Vikingo matches was to keep him fresh for a show they would produce during WrestleMania Week. However, there is reason to believe that show is no longer happening. AAA held a press conference earlier this week announcing several upcoming events but there was no mention of one in Los Angeles during WrestleMania.
A highly-anticipated match between The Briscoes and the Lucha Brothers that was set for next month’s Warrior Wrestling 25 has been disassembled following an intervention from AEW and ROH.
The promotion announced late-Tuesday night that “after consultation from our friends at ROH and AEW, we have agreed to alter our card for Warrior Wrestling 25.”
It was to be the first time ever the two teams had squared off. It came close to happening in March at a House of Glory show, but due to Rey Fenix’s injury at the time, Arez subbed in for him.
Both teams will remain on the October 2nd show in Chicago, Illinois. Penta El Zero Miedo & Fenix will now take on Brian Cage & Gringo Loco while Jay & Mark Briscoe will face The Rascalz (Myron Reed & Zachary Wentz).
As a make-good, Warrior Wrestling announced that AEW is “sending” Eddie Kingston to compete on the show against Calvin Tankmain in addition to appearing at their pre-show meet & greet.
Will Ospreay will miss Warrior Wrestling 22 as he continues to deal with a kidney infection.
Ospreay had been scheduled to face Davey Richards in the main event of the show. Richards will now face a mystery opponent instead. Lance Archer has been added to the card as well and his opponent will be named before the event.
“Due to his ongoing battle with a kidney infection, Will Ospreay will NOT be appearing at Warrior 22 in St. Louis this Saturday,” Warrior Wrestling wrote on Twitter. “We apologize to all Warrior fans!”
Dave Meltzer addressed Ospreay’s condition following the announcement that he would miss RevPro’s show last weekend.
“It’s serious business and until the infection clears we won’t have an estimate of when he can return to the ring, but what he has is no joke,” Meltzer wrote. “Ospreay said he was as miserable as he’s ever been, that he can’t stand without feeling he was about to faint, and gets bad sweats as well as bad chills.”
The updated card for Warrior Wrestling 22 from the Gateway Center in Collinsville, Illinois is as follows:
Davey Richards vs. TBA
Lance Archer vs. TBA
Warrior Wrestling Women’s Champion Athena defends against Janai Kai
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SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
We have two weekend shows up tonight, with a Friday show with Garrett Gonzalez and John Muse that is really interesting talking about the attempted Eric Bischoff owned launch of WCW that fell through where Muse was to be on creative and what really happened with Vince McMahon’s attempt to relaunch the WCW brand. We also talk about the awards for this year, as well as AEW and WWE right now. Last night’s weekend show with Bryan we talked UFC, Nick Wayne, Smackdown, and the latest wrestling news. Bryan and I will be back with a new show after Raw on Monday. We also talked about why there is a good chance Peacock could be airing Raw and NXT on a 24 hour delay after the Hulu contract ends and the machinations of what is going on with NBC, Hulu and WWE’s contract.
UFC 271 did 2,550,000 searches which is a good number, second only to the Super Bowl this weekend. Searches for Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker are part of the UFC search number. Three others cracked the top 20 from last night with Tai Tuivasa No. 7 at 200,000, Jared Cannonier No. 13 with 100,000 and Roxanne Modafferi, who retired, No. 19 with 50,000.
As far as the scorecard for the main event, judge Mike Beltran scored rounds 1, 3, 4 and 5 for Israel Adesanya. Doug Crosby scored 1, 2, and 3 for Adesanya and 4 and 5 for Robert Whittaker. Jacob Montalvo scored the same as Crosby. I had only round five for Whittaker. There were media scores for Whittaker but 85% were for Adesanya.
As far as the two split decisions, just Robert Alexander was at fault for both of them. In Andrei Arlovski vs. Jared Vanderaa, almost everyone had Arlovski winning the fist two and Venderaa winning the third. No media score gave it to Vanderaa. But Alexander gave rounds two and three to Vanderaa.
Similarly, in the Casey O’Neill vs. Roxanne Modafferi fight, every media card including me had 30-27 for O’Neill. You could have given Modafferi the third as it was competitive at least even though no media score had it that way. Even that was a stretch Alexander gave Modafferi rounds 1 and 3 and scored the fight for her. That was so bad that on the air the announcers called out Alexander by name and basically called his card unforgivable, and it was. Judges Ivan Guzman and Kerry Hately both gave Modafferi the third round.
People were raving about Friday night’s Mike Bailey vs. ACH match at West Coast Pro Wrestling. We heard lots of talk about a number of Warrior Wrestling matches last night, notably the first match back of Athena (Ember Moon) in a 30:00 draw with Thunder Rosa and the Briscoes ROH tag title defense against JD Drake & Anthony Henry.
Evil retained the Never Open weight title earlier today in Osaka beating Tomohiro Ishii. Tetsuya Naito & Sanada beat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada in the main event which was to set up this coming week’s Sapporo shows with Tanahashi vs. Sanada for the U.S. title and Okada vs. Naito for the IWGP title.
In the Super Bowl pregame show, there was a mention of Woody Strode. Strode was one of the first African-Americans to play in the NFL, and later became a pro wrestling star as well as a legit movie star. He’s actually someone WWE and AEW should be talking about when it comes to Black History month and pro wrestling.
The five best selling Ticketmaster shows over the past 24 hours
Raw on Monday in Indianapolis
UFC 273 on 4/9 in Jacksonville
AEW on 4/6 in Boston
AEW on Wednesday in Nashville
WWE house show on 2/27 in Rochester, NY.
WWE
This doesn’t necessarily mean a lot, but WWE is advertising Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Rhea Ripley for the women’s title and Chad Gable & Otis vs. Riddle & Randy Orton for the 4/11 Raw in Detroit, which is a week after WrestleMania. This doesn’t necessarily mean those matches will take place or the titles won’t change hands.
Because next week is the Saudi Arabia trip, WWE gave the talent off house shows this weekend. The last WWE show is Raw tomorrow night in Indianapolis.
A correction from last night’s show. I said that Angel Garza didn’t do the pants tearing gimmick during the Friday night tag match with the New Day. He actually did and I missed it, so they haven’t dropped that from his routine.
The company has filed to trademark the name “NXT: Level Up” for a new television show. This may be the new name for 205 Live, which obviously has been in the works for a name change since it’s neither 205 nor live anymore.
AEW
The company did its best first day of sales in a long time on Friday for the Agganis Arena show in Boston on 4/6. They are at more than 4,000 fans. They legit sold out the last time at just over 5,000 so this should sell out. (thanks to Wrestle Tix /William Zdon)
OTHER NOTES
Warrior Wrestling from last night in Cicero, IL: Sam Adonis b Lince Dorado-COR so retain the Lucha title, Dalton Castle b Warhorse, Skye Blue b Miranda Alize (good), Blake Christian won four-way over Alex Zayne, Myron Reed and Gringo Loco (said to be great, Christian issued a challenge for Will Ospreay’s title after winning), The Acclaimed b Brian Cage & KC Navarro (Max Caster rapped about Cage’s contract expiring to a big pop, Cage got a big reaction rapping back saying they aren’t organic but a Tony Khan creation), Santana b Speedball Mike Bailey with a piledriver (people were raving about this one), Dante Martin b Bandido (great spots, a little short), Mark & Jay Briscoe b Anthony Henry & JD Drake to keep the ROH tag titles (excellent) and Thunder Rosa d Athena (Ember Moon) over 30:00. Athena hit the eclipse with a second left. Also said to be excellent and seemed to build a rematch. Athena worked heel but after the match started crying and thanking the fans for reigniting her passion for wrestling. (thanks to Lance LeVine and Brandon Ruiz)
A first-time ever match with Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Penta & Fenix was announced for the 3/11 House of Glory Wrestling show in Jamaica, NY at Club Amazura. The hope was for Fenix to return to action this coming weekend at the AAA Rey de Reyes show but we haven’t been told if he will or won’t be ready.
Puma King was announced for the MLW show on 2/26 in Charlotte.
West Coast Pro Wrestling results from Friday night in South San Francisco: Nick Wayne won three-way over Tresario and Gringo Loco, Atticus Cogar & Rickey Shane Page & Bobby Beverly b Midas Kreed & Alpha Zo & D-Rogue, Vinnie Massaro b B-Boy, Masha Slamovich won four-way over Kylie Rae, Nicole Savoy and Rachael Ellering, Kevin Blackwood b Davey Richards, Titus Alexander b Blake Christian, Jacob Fatu & Juicy Finau b Effy & AJ Gray, Mike Bailey b ACH. The 3/11 show features Gray defending the WCPW title against Jacob Fatu
SICW from last night in East Carondelet, IL: Curtis Wylde b Brandon Baretta, Bobby D b David Lee Walker, Flash Flanagan & Big Texan b Christopher Hargas & Ken Kasa, Gary Jackson b Frankie D, Gil Rogers & Billy McNeil b Shawn Santel & Mauler McDarby, Kowalski b Danny Dollar, Attila Khan b Jayson Breed to keep the Classic title (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Nolan King reported that Christian Edwards tested positive for COVID-19 so his Bellator fight against Kevin Haley on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Casino is off.
Kevin Blackwood vs. Kevin Bennett headlines Empire State Wrestling on 3/5 in Niagara Falls, NY at the Frontier Fire Hall, plus Silas Young vs. Jay Freddie, Jake Crist vs. Vinnie Moon and All Japan’s Ren & Jun Saito make their debut with the promotion.
Ember Moonâs first announced match following her WWE release has been announced.
Moon, going under the name Athena, will face Thunder Rosa for the Warrior Wrestling Womenâs Championship in Cicero, Illinois on February 12 at Cicero Stadium. She had previously used that name prior to signing with WWE. A video showing Athena confronting Rosa was posted along with the announcement.
In the video, Athena confronted Rosa, saying that she accepted Rosaâs open challenge for the championship, but told Rosa that it wouldnât be the result that she wanted.
Tonightâs announcement marks the first announced post-WWE match for Athena since being released from her WWE contract on November 4. She had most recently been wrestling on the NXT brand, with her final match being a loss against Mandy Rose on the October 5 edition of NXT.
February 2 marked the end of the 90-day no compete clause for those who were released on November 4 including Keith Lee, Nia Jax, Karrion Kross, Gran Metalik, and Lince Dorado, among others.
Warrior Wrestling announced today that the Kylie Rae vs. Thunder Rosa match has been delayed, but Kylie Rae will still make her return to pro wrestling on June 5.
In a press release, the company said that Thunder Rosa would not be available on June 5 due to the NWA changing its taping schedule. Warrior Wrestling said that the two companies have since worked together to move the match to August 21.
Kylie Rae, who is returning to professional wrestling for Warrior Wrestling, will still mark her return on June 5 and will defend the Warrior Wrestling Womenâs title against Holidead. If Rae is still champion on August 21, she will defend the title against Rosa.
Rae announced her retirement from professional wrestling last year, saying she was unwell. She had missed a scheduled match that was set for Impactâs Bound for Glory event.
Warrior Wrestling is running three Stadium Series events this summer, taking place at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois starting on June 5. Another show will run on July 17, and a third will take place on August 21.
Warrior Wrestling announced tonight that Kylie Rae would be taking part in their Stadium Series event on June 5 in Chicago. Rae, the Warrior Wrestling Womenâs champion, will be defending her title against a currently unnamed opponent.
Rae has not been seen in pro wrestling since she missed a scheduled match set for Impact Wrestling Bound for Glory last October. She was scheduled to face Deonna Purrazzo for the Knockouts title. She was instead replaced by Su Yung, who won the title.
Two weeks later, she closed her Patreon account and announced she was no longer wrestling, saying she was unwell, and would try and fulfill any missed obligations when she became well again.
Also announced for Warrior Wrestlingâs June 5 show include Trey Mguel, Jake Something, Warhorse, Arez, Aramis, Kongo Kong, Robert âEgoâ Anthony and Frank the Clown, Thunder Rosa, Brian Pillman Jr., and Sam Adonis. Warrior Wrestling will also run shows on July 17 and sometime in August.
Tessa Blanchard will make her first appearance in the independent scene since being released by Impact Wrestling.
She will headline the first Warrior Wrestling Stadium Series event on September 12. She will defend the Warrior Wrestling Womenâs championship against current Impact star Kylie Rae.
Blanchard was released from Impact on June 25th. The Impact World title was vacated and was later determined in a five way match that took place at Slammiversary on July 18. Eddie Edwards won the vacant title that night.
The full card for this weekendâs show includes:
TJP vs. Alex Shelley
The Rascalz vs. Myron Reed, Chris Bey, and Jordan Oliver
Thunder Rosa vs. Kimber Lee
Dan the Dad vs. Elayna Black
Joey Janela vs. Warhorse
Daga vs. Isaias Velazquez
Tom Lawlor vs. Kevin Ku
Brian Cage vs. Alex Zayne
The event will stream this weekend on FITE.TV. Other Warrior Wrestling Stadium series events are scheduled for September 19 and September 26 at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois.
Submitted by E.A. Krol from the Marian Catholic High School gym
Warrior Wrestling put on its seventh show Friday in Chicago Heights, IL, about 30 miles south of downtown Chicago. This was the first time for the promotion on Fite TV and it was one of the biggest independent events of the year in the U.S.
Danhausen def. Reilly Maguire (pre-show)
Danhausen prevailed over a student of Michael Elginâs in a comedy match.
Templario def. Jake Lander
Templario won with a face first reverse duplex off the second rope in a bonus match that went about 15 minutes. The crowd was into this. Lander also trains at Elginâs school in St. Louis.
Savanna Stone def. Holidead
Stone won in about nine minutes with a spear.
Impact X Division champion Ace Austin def. Blake Christian and Carlos Romo in a three-way to retain
To explain why he did not have his belt with him, Austin did a promo before the match poking fun at WALTER for getting the NXT UK belt stolen in Chicago. The crowd chanted âyou forgot it!â In response. They took turns resting on the outside at the start before Romo (from White Wolf Wrestling in Spain) won a slap battle. At the end, each got to hit a finisher off the top with the third guy breaking up a pin attempt on the other two. Austin retained over Christian in about 11 minutes.
Robert Anthony (w/Frank the Clown) def. Jake Atlas
Frank did a pre-match promo telling the crowd it was the holiday season and he had a gift for the crowd: himself. His gift to Atlas was his best friend, Robert âEgoâ Anthony, who came out to Queenâs âCanât Stop Me Now”.
Early on, Anthony stalled and the crowd chanted âYouâre a baby!â and Atlas got in the fetal position in the corner in a nice touch. Atlas called for quiet before chopping Anthony loudly a couple times. He missed a third and Anthony took over. Atlas hit a flipping top rope DDT but Frank put Anthonyâs foot on the rope. In the end, Frank grabbed Atlasâ leg while the ref was tending to Anthony, who rolled up Atlas for the win in about 11 minutes.
Michael Elgin and Sam Adonis went to a draw
Adonis told the crowd to shut up about his brother (WWE announcer Corey Graves). He turned 33 today and the crowd wished him a happy one. Elgin won a chop battle and told the ringside fans he âreally liked chopsâ before pasting Adonis, who soon after hit a tope. Elgin barely beat the 10-count back in. Elgin eventually hit a sitdown power bomb for two. Elgin hit a Samoan drop on the apron and Adonis missed a flip dive off the top, Elgin hit a lariat and a last ride sitdown power bomb for two.
Then, we got a double lariat and the bell rang for a 20-minute draw which fans booed. Afterward, Elgin said his relationship with Chicago has been a little rocky, but tonight was his birthday, and heâll be damned if heâs gonna go to a draw. He called for five more minutes and the crowd chanted for it. Adonis declined and said they could do a no-time-limit rematch in Feb. 15 at Warrior Wrestling 8. Elgin brought in a little kid and told him a secret. He didnât want to lose on his birthday. Elgin rolled up the ref and the kid counted three.
Black Taurus def. Drago, Aerostar, Rey Horus and El Gringo Loco in a five-way scramble
This was non-stop action as you would expect. Horus dove over the top rope and hit a rana outside. Taurus hit the pop up Samoan drop on Horus like Jacob Fatu does. Loco, a local who also appears for MLW, dove over the top onto everyone but Horus as they made the local guy look good. Taurus and Aerostar spit at each other. Taurus and Loco botched a spot near the finish, which was Taurus hitting a spinning slam on Loco for the win in nine minutes. They bumped fists and posed for pictures after the well-received match. A few fans threw money in the ring.
Kurt Angle made an appearance and was greeted with the âyou suckâ chant. He did a short promo and noted John Cenaâs first match was against him in Chicago and said he took on Randy Orton (and Rey Mysterious) at WrestleMania 22 here as well.
Lance Archer def. Brian Pillman Jr.
New Japan’s U.S. champ had a tune-up match before he takes on AEW’s Jon Moxley at Wrestle Kingdom. Archer took a lot of the match and no sold Pillmanâs chops. Archer hit the EBD claw to win in about 12 minutes. Fans were really into it when they went to the near falls.
Minoru Suzuki def. “Filthy” Tom Lawlor
Lawlor came out wearing a yellow vest to a New Kids on the Block song, waving his arm. Suzuki got the biggest pop so far with a good portion of the crowd here to scream âKaze ni Nare”. This was mat wrestling at first, followed by outside brawling and a chop/strike battle. Suzuki got the better of the exchange. They tried to choke each other out and reversed each other. Suzuki hit the Gotch piledriver about 14 minutes in for the win. Afterward, he left all the fans attempting high-fives hanging. On his way out, he teased putting a move on the kid who counted Elginâs pin on the ref earlier in the evening.
Warrior Wrestling Champion Brian Cage def. El Phantasmo to retain
El-P took a couple hats off fans who tried to ‘Too Sweet’ him and tossed them into the crowd. He grabbed the mic from the ring announcer and said âIâve been waiting a long, long time to say this: CM Punk sucks.â He also said Colt Cabana sucked, Chicago deep dish pizza sucked, and the Cubs sucked. The last one got cheers because the event was in White Sox territory. Cage clotheslined him for his troubles.
This was a speed vs. power match. They brawled in the crowd. Cage kicked El-P while he had a plastic trash can over his head. El-P took over with a dive through the ropes onto Cage. El-P did his rope walk spot. El-P got a handful of tights for two and somehow got Cage up for the airplane spin. Cage hit a buckle bomb and back breaker and the ref counted to three, but it wasnât the finish. Oops.
Cage suplexed El-P back into the ring from the second rope. El-P hit a destroyer that Cage no sold, who then hit him with a big lariat for a spin bump and hit his finisher for the win in about 17 minutes.
The main event of the evening pitted the New Japan faction against the Impact team. Rocky and Wentz started off with some comedy and Red and Xavier were next. They were super fast. Ospreay was really into the match on the apron. He got the tag amid soccer chants of his name. This had the most sustained heat of the night even four hours in. Miguel got tied to the tree of woe and CHAOS each slide kicked him.
The Rascalz got heat on Romweo, who hit a double rana and hot tagged Red. Ospreay hit a standing twisting moonsault for two, then Pip Pip Cheerio. Ospreay went for an Os cutter but was pushed over the top rope instead.
There was a series of dives to the outside, topped by a Red monkey flip to one of the Rascalz off the top to the outside, landing on everyone else. Ospreay got the storm breaker on Xavier for the win in 24 minutes.
Both teams got on their knees and hugged after the match. Ospreay did the show-ending speech, singing âSweet Home Chicago”.
