NASCAR star Kyle Busch has sadly passed away. It was confirmed last night that the driver passed away following a short illness at the age of 41. Busch had made several appearances on WWE programming in the past, including winning the 24/7 Championship.
“On behalf of the Busch family, everyone at Richard Childress Racing and all of NASCAR, we are devastated to announce the sudden and tragic passing of Kyle Busch.” NASCAR said in a statement. “Our entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss of Kyle Busch. A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans.”
Kyle Busch WWE 24/7 Champion
Busch appeared on WWE programming multiple times, including guest hosting WWE Raw way back in 2009 and then returning in December 2019.
You can see the moment that Busch won the 24/7 title below, rolling up R-Truth to get the belt on the December 2nd, 2019 episode of WWE RAW:
Nikki Cross won, then promptly discarded, the WWE 24/7 Championship on Raw.
Cross defeated Dana Brooke on Monday’s show to win the championship for, according to Wikipedia, the eleventh time. Dana Brooke had been champion on television since July 18, however the championship had been changed frequently on house shows as recently as October 30 in Mexico City.
After Cross defeated Brooke, she and Damage CTRL appeared in a backstage segment. As Cross passed by a trashcan, Cross attempted to throw the championship in the trash. However, it fell by the trash can instead as the group walked away.
The 24/7 Championship was established on the May 20, 2019 edition of Raw when Titus O’Neil became the first champion. The rules were whoever was champion had to defend it at all times, even outside of the ring. R-Truth is the most prolific champion, having held the championship at least 53 times.
Current NBA free agent and former WWE 24/7 Champion Enes Kanter Freedom says he has an offer on the table to begin his wrestling career but didn’t say where from.
The 6’10” basketball player is currently focused on his NBA career, however. He was waived by the Houston Rockets last month.
Freedom spoke to Let’s Hang Live during the SEC Championship game on Sunday and was asked about a future in wrestling.
“I already have an offer. I’m just trying to figure out what is going to happen with this basketball thing,” Kanter responded when asked about a possible in-ring career. “Obviously, I’m 29 and I want to play another like seven years in this league. I’m just going to figure out my basketball career first and then see what’s going to happen but I already have an offer, it’s just I’m not taking it right now. I love basketball, I don’t want to quit basketball.”
Freedom won and lost the WWE 24/7 title on the September 9, 2019, episode of Raw from Madison Square Garden. After pinning R-Truth to win the title, Freedom revealed he was wearing a Boston Celtics jersey. He had recently signed with the team after being waived by the New York Knicks that February. As the crowd booed, R-Truth rolled him up and won the title back.
In May of 2020, Freedom told Stadium’s Shams Charania that he has an offer from WWE that he plans to accept when his basketball career is over.
Celtics center @EnesKanter told our NBA Insider @ShamsCharania he has been offered WWE deal and plans to accept after career.
Kanter also discussed his public approach with his native Turkey, Russell Westbrook's policy for opponents and more. pic.twitter.com/gOvZhfYGae
Bad Bunny handed the WWE 24/7 title to R-Truth tonight on Raw, ending his reign with the championship.
During a backstage segment on tonight’s Raw, R-Truth tried to sneak up and attack Bad Bunny to win the championship back. Damien Priest, however, pointed R-Truth out before he could attack. Truth, who was carrying Stone Cold Steve Austin merchandise, responded by giving Bad Bunny the merch he had on him. He told Bad Bunny, however, that he wanted his title back. After some deliberation with Priest, Bad Bunny gave the championship to R-Truth, saying he respected Truth and the business.
This ends Bad Bunny’s reign with the championship after 28 days, pinning a laid out Akira Tozawa on the February 15 edition of Raw. This starts R-Truth’s 50th reign as champion.
During his run as champion, Bad Bunny showcased the championship during high profile events, including his appearances on Saturday Night Live and last night’s Grammy Awards. Bad Bunny won a Grammy last night for Best Latin Pop or Urban Album.
Dave Meltzer has confirmed a Wrestling Inc report tonight that Gronkowski has exercised a release clause in his contract. As part of that release clause, he will reportedly not be able to join another wrestling company for “a set period of time”.
The report also said while there was an expectation that Gronkowski would wrestle at SummerSlam, any match with Gronkowski will no longer be happening.
Gronkowski signed with the WWE in March and hosted both nights of WrestleMania 36. He won the WWE 24/7 championship during those tapings, pinning Mojo Rawley after doing a dive off a platform and onto several NXT developmental wrestlers.
On tonight’s episode of Raw, Gronkowski lost the WWE 24/7 championship to R-Truth. Disguised as a gardener, Truth rolled up Gronkowski while Gronkowski was outside filming a TikTok video and pinned him to win the championship for the 36th time.
Gronkowski, who retired from the NFL in March 2019, was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in April.
During tonight’s WrestleMania 36 event, Mojo Rawley was being attacked by a number of wrestlers over the championship, which spilled out into the ringside area. Gronkowski, who was on a perch nearby, leaped off the perch and into the group of wrestlers below. He then found Rawley and covered him to win his first WWE championship.
Rawley had won the championship during the first night of WrestleMania on Saturday. Gronk had attacked previous champion R-Truth and tried to pin him, but Rawley pushed him away and covered Truth instead to win the championship.
It was announced on March 11 that Gronkowski signed with WWE. Debuting on SmackDown days later, he announced that he would host this year’s WrestleMania. Mojo Rawley, who previously was on Raw, was moved to SmackDown due to his association with Gronkowski.
Gronkowski first appeared for WWE back at WrestleMania 33, helping Rawley win the Andre the Giant Memorial battle royal.
Joseph Currier looks at the reactions to Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega’s unsanctioned match.
AEW’s first pay-per-view since debuting on weekly television was headlined by what will likely end up being the most divisive match of the year.
For some, Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega’s unsanctioned lights out match at Full Gear was a hardcore classic. To others, it was a gratuitously violent and long match that was a misstep for AEW. They wrestled for over 38 minutes and did everything they could to try and have the epic hardcore match that its biggest fans thought it was. A board covered in mouse traps, a chain, a screwdriver, glass, barbed wire, and a barbed wire spider web were just some of the weapons used. By the end of the match, part of the ring was deconstructed — and a Paradigm Shift DDT on the exposed wood finally put an end to things and gave Moxley the win.
Every move AEW has made in its brief history has been overanalyzed to the point of exhaustion. Each positive and negative moment has probably been assigned too much importance. But AEW is defining its identity over the course of the promotion’s first year. Moxley vs. Omega is now always going to be part of that. Full Gear was an opportunity for AEW to put their best foot forward to an audience that has sampled their first six weeks of TV. While it’s likely that some things were gimmicked and Moxley vs. Omega wasn’t quite as violent as it came off as, AEW not only didn’t shy away from the “blood and guts” criticism that Vince McMahon leveled at them — they leaned into it.
The return of C.M. Punk to the pro wrestling scene and coverage of AEW’s Full Gear and the lessons after seven weeks of television of what we’ve learned from AEW and NXT are the lead stories in this week’s issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We examine the timeline of C.M. Punk and his deal with WWE Backstage, including the original approach, how things were viewed along the way, the last AEW offer and how much AEW wanted him, what he said that led to AEW going cold, and his debut on Backstage on Tuesday night.
We cover what has and hasn’t happened for NXT and AEW since getting television. We look at things like maintaining audience, live sales, PPV, NWA Powerr and its reaction and numbers, key demo ratings, how NXT came close once, PPV numbers, how the date backfired on AEW, how PPV changed with television with organizations in the past, plus full coverage of Full Gear with business notes, match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results.
The new issue also covers:
Survivor Series update with booking changes made, how that affects TLC and early plans for that show, plus a key title match not yet announced.
Steve Austin’s new WWE Network show, the value of WrestleMania, how ticket sales this year differed from shows in the past, Johnny Gargano injury and how that changed the Takeover card, ACH update, Sin Cara talks wanting out, new John Cena movie, Rusev talks his angle with Lashley, Starrcade card, Evolve notes, as well as WWE market value, most watched shows on WWE Network and a look at all the WWE and NXT live events over the past week with results, highlights and business news.
Notes on New Japan’s coming to San Jose with match-by-match coverage.
Full rundown on the UFC show in Moscow and the stories behind it.
Full coverage of all the WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
In-depth looks at the ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Bill Goldberg told Sports Illustrated that his match with Dolph Ziggler at SummerSlam was not his last: “It’s by no means my farewell performance, nor was it my best performance, but you have to be realistic and take all things into consideration. It’s a very good possibility I’ll be back, but you don’t know it until it’s done.”
David Arquette will appear on the “Promo School” segment on tonight’s episode of Backstage. Ember Moon will also appear on the show, which airs on FS1 at 11 p.m. Eastern time and will feature CM Punk’s debut as an analyst.
A WWE 24 episode on Trish Stratus and her match against Charlotte Flair from SummerSlam will premiere on the WWE Network after Starrcade on December 1.
A WWE corporate employee named Mike won the 24/7 championship earlier today at a Town Hall meeting at WWE headquarters. Hours later, R-Truth defeated him to regain the title. Mike was billed as the first WWE employee to hold the title.
The mid-season finale of Total Divas airs tonight on E!, which covers WrestleMania. The series will return on December 3.
They have also uploaded a preview for the first episode of WWE Network’s new series The Broken Skull Sessions featuring The Undertaker. That will air following Sunday’s Survivor Series event.
Titus O’Neil is featured on the cover of the latest issue of Millennium magazine.
Pro Wrestling
The NWA announced a new series called The Circle Squared, where talent will be given the opportunity to showcase their skills with the possibility of earning an NWA contract. The first episodes of the series will be recorded at the next NWA tapings, which take place December 14 -16 at the GPB Studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
Rudson Caliocane, a former Titan FC bantamweight champion, suffered a brain stem ischemic stroke after his fight against Matheus Mendonca on October 19. He has been paralyzed across the left side of the body since then and has vacated the bantanweight title as a result. Doctors noted it may have been due to the dehydration that comes with weight cutting, as Caliocante had lost 13.4 pounds prior to the fight.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Israel Adesanya expressed interest in a fight against Jared Cannonier following Paulo Costa’s bicep injury.
