WWE has released the brackets for King of the Ring and the inaugural Queen\’s Crown tournament.
The finals of both royal competitions will take place at WWE Crown Jewel on Thursday, October 21st from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Fahd International Stadium.
King of the Ring Brackets
King of the Ring 2021 kicked off on Friday WWE SmackDown. Sami Zayn defeated Rey Mysterio in a first-round match. Zayn has advanced to face the winner of Cesaro vs. Finn Balor.
The remaining first-round matches include Kofi Kingston vs. Jinder Mahal, Xavier Woods vs.Ricochet and Cesaro vs. Finn Balor.
Queen\’s Crown Brackets
Queen\’s Crown also kicked off on SmackDown. Zelina Vega defeated Toni Storm and Carmella defeated Liv Morgan in first-round matches.
The other first-round matches will take place on Raw with Doudrop vs. Natalya and Dana Brooke vs. Shayna Baszler.
For SmackDown, Vega and Carmella will wrestle each other next while the winners of the Raw matches will square off.
WWE had a negative reaction to a streaming deal that MLW was trying to secure and reportedly had a part in getting the deal nixed.
Fightful Select reported today that Major League Wrestling was working on a deal with the Tubi streaming service, which is owned by FOX. The plan was to announce the deal publicly in August, but WWE learned about it before the contract was signed and a source close to FOX stated WWE did not respond favorably to the deal.
Because of WWE’s response to the deal, it was put into question and WWE, as well as FOX, nixed the streaming deal. A comment from WWE, MLW, and FOX was not made. While MLW had archived content on Tubi at one time, it appears they are no longer on the service.
Speaking of streaming services, it has been previously reported FOX wasn’t happy with NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service being promoted on their network. One source stated that FOX wanted to pay for the rights to WWE pay-per-views to turn the tables with the idea of putting WWE programming on Tubi.
It was reiterated by FOX sources that while there were some in the company who likely shared that same frustration, they were happy to help promote major events on FOX platforms. The reason for that is due to them thinking that what is “good for the goose is good for the gander.”
A source at Peacock stated WWE’s performance on the streaming service appears to be exceptional and more eyes on WWE pay-per-view events than ever before.
Many fans are waiting to see Scarlett Bordeaux back on television after she disappeared from being with Karrion Kross when he lost the NXT Title to Samoa Joe shortly after being moved to the WWE main roster.
It was previously reported that WWE was planning to have Kross go on a losing streak in order for them to bring her back to television as a way to help him turn things around.
Kross was asked about this when he was on a recent edition of D-Von Dudley’s “Table Talk” podcast.
“This is what I can say. I mean without being deliberately cryptic, we’re waiting for something to finish taking its course. So, she is very good and she has been training like a maniac. Just like she always does. You can expect to see her any time or any place.”
It should be noted that in recent weeks, WWE has been airing vignettes for Kross. So perhaps she could return with Kross when he works his next match. Scarlett and Kross announced their engagement last month.
Before Kross was called up to the main roster, WWE did have Scarlett work dark matches without Kross as she previously wrestled in Impact Wrestling, AAA in Mexico, Ring Of Honor, and Ohio Valley Wrestling before signing with WWE.
The October 5, 2021 episode of WWE NXT 2.0 aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Mandy Rose (w/Jacy Jayne & Gigi Dolin) def. Ember Moon.
LA Knight def. Odyssey Jones
Joe Gacy def. Ikemen Jiro.
Cora Jade def. Franky Monet
Pete Dunne def. Cameron Grimes.
MSK retains NXT Tag Team Titles in Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Tommaso Ciampa Speaks
NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa came out to the ring for a promo. He asked who had the balls to take this title from him. Bron Breakker came out to speak as he has been very interested in the title.
Breakker said he doesn’t care about how long he’s been in NXT because he wants to be NXT Champion. He said that at Halloween Havoc, he wants an NXT Title match. He said that he needs this title and to Bron, it’s just a stepping stone to something bigger and better. To Ciampa, it’s exactly that and he accepts the challenge.
"Who has the balls to come out here and take my #NXTTitle from me?" – @NXTCiampa
Mandy Rose vs. Ember Moon opened up the show. The match saw Moon get the majority of the offense. Moon hit a powerbomb on the apron.
Rose beat her down for a few minutes until Moon made her comeback. Moon missed her finisher and Rose hit a running knee strike for the win.
Rose set her sights on the NXT Women\’s Championship last week by attacking Raquel Gonzalez after the champion had successfully retained the title over Franky Monet in the main event. Toxic Attraction (Rose, Gigi Dolin, and Jacy Jayne) beat down Monet, Jessi Kamea, and Robert Stone before going after Raquel.
Later in the show, Toxic Attraction interrupted Raquel’s in-ring promo and were about to attack her, but Io Shirai and Zoey Starks came out to even the odds only for the heels to back off.
LA Knight vs. Odyssey Jones in a singles match was booked as the second match of the night.
Two weeks ago, Knight got mad at Jones for pointing out that he lost twice in the same night the previous week. Just last week, there was a backstage segment where Knight was interviewed about challenging Jones to a match. Knight later attacked Jones in that same segment.
The match saw Jones dominate the majority of it until Andre Chase came out and distracted Jones and Knight hit his finisher for the win.
Cora Jade was in action against Franky Monet. Monet took out Jade’s original opponent before the match took place and went quick to work in beating down Jade.
The tide turned when Monet missed a splash in the corner and Jade hit a few moves. Monet hit a spear and went for her finisher, but Jade reversed it and rolled her up for the win.
A romantic relationship between Jade and Trey Baxter has recently been presented on TV.
Tony D’Angelo made his official in-ring debut against Malik Blade. Tony dominated the majority of the match, but Blade did make a quick comeback with a head kick and crossbody off the top rope for a near fall.
Tony wore a white tank top and blue pants. He tossed Blade in the corner then hit a belly-to-belly suplex before finishing him off with a swinging neckbreaker.
WWE has been airing vignettes hyping D\’Angelo\’s arrival over the past few weeks. D\’Angelo\’s real name is Joe Ariola and he portrays an Italian character from Chicago whose family has ties to the mafia. He was an amateur wrestler for the University of Buffalo.
Fatal 4-Way Match
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams vs. Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen in a Fatal 4 Way Title match took place.
Just last week, MSK were interviewed in the ring and during their promo, they said that any team can step up to them and get knocked back. The rest of the teams involved in this match came out for a brawl that ended with MSK standing tall in the ring.
The match was turned into an elimination match. Hayes and Williams were first eliminated. Grizzled Young Veterans were sent packing by Briggs and Jensen after they hit a double team powerbomb. Lee rolled up Briggs for the win. A fun yet match in about 12 minutes.
A top match has been announced for the upcoming WWE Crown Jewel PPV.
Big E will defend the WWE Title against Drew McIntyre at this show. Just last week on Raw, Big E had beaten Bobby Lashley to retain the strap inside of a Steel Cage. Post-match, McIntyre came out and pointed his sword at the champion.
Fast forward one week later, Big E came out for a promo only to be interrupted by McIntyre, who challenged Big E to the title match at Crown Jewel. Before Big E could give him an answer, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode came out, which led to a tag team match being made. The babyfaces went over in the bout. Following this match, Big E told McIntyre that he accepted the challenge and the match was made official.
WWE presents the Crown Jewel pay-per-view event on Thursday, October 21, 2021 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Fahd International Stadium that will air on Peacock at 12 PM ET/9 AM PT.
Updated WWE Crown Jewel Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks – Triple Threat Match
WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Randy Orton and Matt Riddle vs. AJ Styles and Omos
WWE is getting big money from its television deals with FOX and USA Network. A new report had shed some light on the relationship between the company and the USA Network as well as the input from the networks regarding this year’s WWE Draft that kicks off Friday night on SmackDown and continues on next week’s Raw.
Fightful Select reports WWE is working with both networks to make sure all parties were satisfied with how the Draft ends up and where the stars land. The USA Network is said to enjoy “the unique rosters a brand split provided, and that the prevailing thought is that they prefer that continue.” One source compared the situation to the NFL balancing all their broadcast partners.
There were concerns on USA’s side regarding some at Fox being under the impression that their platform was used to promote Peacock so heavily as they pointed to WWE booking Hell in a Cell matches on both Raw and SmackDown as WWE was doing their best to work with both sides.
Andrew Zarian of Mat Men noted in the report that he\’d heard that USA Network was responding favorably to NXT 2.0 and many of the changes put forward. They also pointed out the increase in NXT 2.0 viewership in addition to the production values added, which made USA Network very happy. It was also said that USA Network does keep tabs on the product and is familiar with Tommaso Ciampa.
USA Network was said to be \”elated\” about the direction of NXT 2.0 specifically and didn\’t worry about pushback from sponsors regarding the edgier product as they have the same elements on their own shows.
One person said the company\’s relationships extended well before many of the employees there were even born and quickly dismissed the notion of \”not caring\” about the quality of the program.
The network is well aware of viewership trends and acknowledged the decline in viewership. Despite the decrease in ratings since signing the new deal back in 2019, it hasn’t waned to the degree that is something they\’d like to see addressed as they’ve noticed the shows have been getting better.
Some people at the network grew tired of \”scapegoats and shortcuts\” in the two years before the COVID-19 pandemic to the point where they wanted it to change once fans returned.
Regarding WWE doing multiple drafts in the same year or concepts like Raw Underground, a USA Network representative said they aren\’t opposed to these types of things, but don’t want them used as crutches or scapegoats.
It was said Stephanie McMahon has been a big steward of the connection between the two sides as NBCUniversal Chairman Mark Lazarus personally invited her over the summer to join him for a 1-on-1 discussion with the Paley Center for Media.
The September 28, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Elektra Lopez def. B-Fab.
Xyon Quinn def. Oney Lorcan.
Zoey Stark & Io Shirai def. Toxic Attraction to retain Women’s Tag Team Titles
Boa def. Andre Chase.
Roderick Strong def. Grayson Waller to retain Cruiserweight Title
Kyle O\’Reilly def. Ridge Holland.
Raquel Gonzalez def. Franky Monet to retain Women’s Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Kyle O\’Reilly vs. Ridge Holland
Late on Tuesday, WWE announced that Kyle O\’Reilly vs. Ridge Holland in a singles match for the show. Just two weeks ago, Holland and Pete Dunne attacked O\’Reilly in the locker room, which prevented him from working the fatal four-way match for the vacant NXT Championship.
Last week in the main event, Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker faced Dunne and Holland where O\’Reilly appeared to stop Holland from using his club as a weapon.
These guys brawled earlier in the show then before the match. There was outside inference by Dunne, but Kyle managed to roll him up for the win. After the match, Holland and Dunne attacked Kyle until Von Wagner, who Wagner replaced Kyle in the fatal 4-way title match a few weeks ago, ran down to make the save.
B-Fab vs. Elektra Lopez in a No DQ Match took place in the opening contest of the show.
Hit Row (Isaiah \”Swerve\” Scott, Ashante \”Thee\” Adonis, Top Dolla, and B-FAB) and Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, Raul Mendoza and Elektra Lopez) have been feuding for over a month now.
The match saw them go right at it and put on a pretty stiff bout. They used a chair for a spot and Lopz sent a table in the gut of B-Fab. Lopez won with a sitdown powerbomb.
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark defended the titles against Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne.
Mandy Rose, Dolin, and Jayne are known as \”Toxic Attraction\” in NXT. Last week, the group cut a promo sending a warning to the entire women’s division. Dollin and Jayne later issued a challenge to Io and Zoey, which led to this match being made.
The match was one of the best bouts on the show as they were doing various high spots and had a quick pace. Zoey hit a nasty german suplex right on Jacy’s head. Stark at one point hit a flipping GTS move that was pretty sweet. The finish saw Io hit a springboard moonsault for the win.
NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong made his first title defense against Grayson Waller. The match saw Waller got a lot of offense in and was bringing a real fight to Strong, who was giving him plenty. Waller wears boughting shorts. At one point, Waller rolled into the ring and hit a stunner for a near fall. Strong won with a knee strike to the face.
Roderick Strong defeated Kushida to win the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Following the match, Waller came out to issue a challenge to Strong for the title, which was obviously accepted.
Waller(formerly known as Matty Wahlberg) joined the WWE Performance Center this April and had been working matches on the 205 Live brand. He\’s also been aligned with Drake Maverick in NXT.
WWE NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez defended against Franky Monet. The match was saved for the main event in which Monet got most of the time to shine. Raquel made a comeback and hit her finisher for the win.
Post-match, Toxic Attraction came out to attack Monet and The Robert Stone Brand. They circled Raquel before attacking her. Mandy Rose stood tall with the title to close the show.
When Monet first made her promotional debut, she had her sights set on the title as she confronted Gonzalez in April. Just three weeks ago, Monet interrupted a backstage interview with Gonzalez and promised to take Gonzalez\’s shine and her title.
Gonzalez defeated Jessi Kamea two weeks ago and after the match, she had a staredown with Moment, who is aligned with Kamea and Robert Stone.
Gonzalez won the NXT Women\’s Championship from Io Shirai at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver in April.
As promised, Bobby Lashley got his rematch for the WWE Championship against Big E in the opening match of Monday’s episode of Raw. The match was hard-hitting and went about 10 minutes until the DQ happened as The Hurt Business reunited (Shelton Benjamin, Cedric Alexander, and Lashley) to attack Big E.. This led to Kofi Kington and Xavier Woods running out to make the save.
It was announced that the match would be restarted and take place inside of a Steel Cage. This was saved for the main event. At one point, Kingston did a dive off the side of the cage to take out The Hurt Business. Big E won with a Big Ending. Drew McIntyre came out and pointed his sword at Big E to close the show, so that\’s the new direction.
Two weeks ago on Raw, Big E cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Lashley to win the title after Lashley had retained the WWE Championship against Randy Orton. WWE gave Lashley a storyline out as he was selling a knee injury. Big E got the win after hitting the Big Ending.
WWE set up the rematch at Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view after Big E pinned Lashley in a six-man tag match that saw The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) defeat Lashley, AJ Styles & Omos.
Later that night, Lashley cut a promo about Big E and dared him to defend the WWE Championship against him on this Monday\’s Raw. Lashley went as far as stating that Big E was a coward for the way that he won the title. Quickly after that, Big E accepted Lashley\’s challenge by stating that Lashley better be ready this time.
Keith Lee made his return to television on Monday\’s episode of WWE Raw and did so with a new nickname.
The former NXT Champion did so when Akira Tozawa was upset after failing to win the WWE 24/7 title in the previous segment. This led to him issuing an open challenge to anyone.
At last Friday’s SmackDown event, while working a dark match, Lee was introduced under the Bearcat nickname for the first time. Since the start of August, he had been working dark matches prior to Raw and SmackDown.
Lee said in a video on YouTube that he contracted COVID-19 in January and that was why he missed TV for 3 weeks.
Lee had been out of action since February as it was reported that he was not medically cleared to compete. It turned out that there was an issue with his heart and thus, he was forbidden from training as there was a fear that he could pass away if he put strain on his heart.
The inflammation in his heart eventually went down to normal and he was eventually cleared to return. He was last seen on television when he beat Karrion Kross on the August 2nd edition of Raw.
Roman Reigns put the WWE Universal Championship on the line against Finn Balor, who was portraying his Demon character, in the main event of the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Arena on Peacock.
This was the first time Balor has used the Demon character since 2019. The match saw them brawl throughout the crowd so they could do a spot where Balor drove him through a table. They did a spot where Reigns hit a spear, but Balor kicked out by hitting a low blow. The Usos came out to attack Balor, but Balor eventually fought them off thanks to the announce table.
The finish was very interesting as after Reigns speared Balor through the barricade, Balor’s music played with the red light coming on. Balor fired up, hit him with a chair and kicked him through a table. However, when Balor went to the top rope, the rope broke and Reigns hit a spear to Balor for the win.
Their first match took place earlier this month on an episode of SmackDown. Reigns retained the title when Balor passed out in a guillotine. After that match, the lights turned red and there was a soundbite of a heartbeat that played.
On the September 10th edition of SmackDown, Balor\’s Demon character made its return as Balor confronted Reigns from Madison Square Garden.
Reigns will make his next title defense against Brock Lesnar at the Crown Jewel pay-per-view event in October.
Becky Lynch made her first televised defense of the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair in a rematch, but the bigger news was the return of Sasha Banks.
It happened during the hour of the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Arena. The match was fast-paced right from the get-go. Throughout the match, Lynch would go for the armbar and this was the story of the match as Belair continued to get out of it.
Belair went for her finisher, but Banks ran out and attacked Belair to cause the DQ. After Banks got done attacking Belair she went after Lynch. Banks hit Belair with the backstabber and so did it to Lynch. Banks stood tall.
Lynch made her WWE TV return last month at SummerSlam by defeating Belair in under 30 seconds to win the SmackDown Women\’s Championship. Originally, Belair was supposed to defend the title against Banks at this show, but it was announced at the PPV that Banks wouldn\’t be able to compete.
In late August, Belair became the number one contender by defeating Liv Morgan, Carmella, and Zelina Vega in a four-way elimination match on SmackDown despite the rule of champions getting an automatic rematch.
At first, Lynch refused to give Belair a title shot as Lynch declined to give Belair a title match. However, WWE authority figures Sonya Deville and Adam Pearce informed Lynch that she\’ll be defending the championship against Belair at Extreme Rules. On the SmackDown episode from Madison Square Garden, WWE booked a contract signing for the match to make it official.
Damian Priest was at a storyline disadvantage when he put the WWE United States Title on the line in his latest title defense at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event when he wrestled Jeff Hardy and Sheamus in a triple threat match.
The match saw everyone get their key spots in. Sheamus even mocked Hardy’s signature celebrations before hitting a knee drop off the top rope to Priest. Priest with a chokeslam off the top rope to Sheamus but Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb to both stars. Priest rolled up Sheamus for the win.
WWE originally announced that Sheamus would challenge Priest for the United States Title at Extreme Rules. However, on Monday’s Raw, WWE booked Sheamus against Jeff Hardy with the stipulation that if he won then he would be added to the title match and make it a triple threat bout at Extreme Rules.
Obviously, Hardy won the match and was added to the title bout. After it, a brawl between Priest and Sheamus was broken up by officials. It started when Sheamus got in Priest\’s face and shoved him.
Last month at SummerSlam, Priest won the United States Title from Sheamus. Two weeks ago on Raw, Priest retained the title against Hardy after Hardy answered his open challenge.
Sheamus earned a title shot to become the number one contender after defeating Drew McIntyre on Raw three weeks ago.
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair put her title on the line in a match at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in Columbus, Ohio against Alexa Bliss.
The match was short but both stars got plenty of offense. Flair tossed Lilly the doll at Bliss, which allowed her to send Bliss into the ring post and hit Natural Selection. Post-match, Flair ripped apart the doll. Bliss attacked her as a result. Flair got the better of Bliss in the brawl.
Flair had been in a feud with Nia Jax as Jax got a win over the champion only for Flair to successfully retain the title. After the match, Bliss and her doll Lilly appeared on the video screen so Bliss could invite Flair to join them on the playground. Flair said she wasn\’t interested in Bliss\’ mind games so Bliss said she would join them. After a match challenge, Flair accepted it and setting up this match.
Flair became the Raw Women\’s Champion by beating Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley in a triple threat match at SummerSlam last month.
Based on this post-match angle, it appears WWE will continue this feud.
The Street Profits were the latest challengers to step up to take on The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles.
The match was booked at the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Arena. It featured the challengers coming out strong, but once Jimmy landed a kick to the “injured” ribs of Ford, the champions took over and dominated the majority of the match until Dawkins got the hot tag. The finish saw The Usos hit a double splash to Ford.
Earlier this month on an episode of SmackDown, The Usos and The Street Profits headlined the show with the titles on the line where The Street Profits were close to getting the win after Montez Ford hit a frog splash on Jimmy Uso. However, Reigns came out and interfered to cause a disqualification.
“The Big Dog” put Ford in a guillotine, but Finn Balor came out as his \”Demon\” character to make the save. The following week, a non-title match was booked with The Street Profits winning by DQ again as Ford hit a frog splash on Jimmy, but Jey broke things up. Post-match, The Street Profits got the better of a brawl with The Usos.
The card for tonight\’s (Sunday, September 26, 2021) WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view event has been finalized.
The company hasn’t officially announced the main event of this event that takes place in Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Arena that will air on the WWE Network but it will most likely be WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor (The Demon) in an Extreme Rules Match.
According to the betting odds, there are no titles expected to change hands on this show. Only one match has a stipulation so expect WWE to announce gimmicks for matches throughout the day.
As a reminder, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of this special on Sunday evening starting at 6 PM EST. Here is the final card for the show:
Final WWE Extreme Rules Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor (The Demon) – Extreme Rules Match
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Alexa Bliss
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. The Street Profits
WWE United States Champion Damian Priest vs. Sheamus vs. Jeff Hardy – Triple Threat Match
A new report was published regarding the relationship between WWE and FOX. Fightful is reporting that there was talk in July about the relationship being strained.
It was noted that FOX was disappointed with WWE’s viewership compared to what they were expecting when they made the deal to bring them onto the network. When FOX first made the deal with WWE, the initial reports stated FOX was expecting somewhere around 3.3 million viewers for Smackdown and while WWE drew 3.9 million viewers for their debut broadcast, they’ve not come close to that number since.
It was said that FOX isn’t thrilled with SmackDown being used to promote another service, Peacock, which is owned by NBCUniversal. WWE airs its PPV events on Peacock.
FOX owner Rupert Murdoch feels him being portrayed in a not so flattering way in the upcoming Vince McMahon scripted series is a “childish move” by WWE.
It was noted in the press release that the series will bring up how Murdoch purchased the New York Post. Of course, Post writer Phil Mushnick regularly took shots at McMahon and WWE in his columns. “The United States vs. Vince McMahon” will look at McMahon getting indicted for steroid distribution. McMahon was later found not guilty.
However, WWE’s relationship between the two families is one of “great respect.” There had been talk of doing an episode of Raw at the Staples Center in Los Angeles but Khan and McMahon nixed the idea since FOX Sports is a Los Angeles-based company. SmackDown will have a show there this December.
A dream match for many fans between Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega finally happened on the AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam special at the USTA Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The match was non-title as the World Heavyweight Champion wasn’t on the line.
The match opened the show and went a full 30 minutes. They built slowly and the pace continued to increase. At one point, Omega hit a running V-Trigger on the rampway. Both men exchanged chops and had bruised chests. Because time ran out, it was ruled a draw. A finish that will clearly lead to a rematch.
Danielson made his promotional debut at the AEW All Out pay-per-view event after Omega beat Christian Cage to retain the World Title. The Elite attacked Jungle Boy and Jurassic Express so Danielson came out to stand with the babyfaces. A brawl broke out with the babyfaces standing tall to end the show.
Danielson was originally going to debut at this show, but it was nixed and moved up due to a growing concern about the spread of COVID-19. In July, it was reported the former WWE star had indeed signed with All Elite Wrestling.
Back in late August during an episode of Dynamite, CM Punk responded to a “YES” chant by telling fans that they need to be patient a little bit longer. Many took this as a clear indication that Danielson was on board with the company.
The betting odds for most of the matches that will take place at the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place this Sunday from Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Arena is still being finalized. So far, six matches have been announced for the show with only one of them having a stipulation.
Roman Reigns is a favorite to retain the Universal Title over Finn Balor while WWE United States Champion Damien Priest is expected to retain his title against Jeff Hardy and Sheamus in a triple threat match.
There are no titles favored to change hands. The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Odds call for all three titles to change. Here are the betting odds, courtesy of Bet Online:
WWE Extreme Rules Betting Odds
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns-800 vs. Finn Balor (The Demon) +450 – Extreme Rules Match
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair -150 vs. Alexa Bliss +110
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch -350 vs. Bianca Belair
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos -200 vs. The Street Profits +150
WWE United States Champion Damien Priest -235 vs. Sheamus +200 vs. Jeff Hardy +500 – Triple Threat Match
The September 21, 2021 episode of WWE NXT 2.0 aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Roderick Strong def. Kushida to win Crusweight Title
Kay Lee Ray def. Amari Miller.
Dante Chen def. Trey Baxter.
Cameron Grimes def. Joe Gacy.
Elektra Lopez def. Anna Scheer.
Odyssey Jones def. Darren Ciapetta & Cary Millman
Bron Breakker & Tommaso Ciampa def. Pete Dunne & Ridge Holland.
Tommaso Ciampa Opens
New NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa kicked off the show after he won the title in a four-way match last week.
He beat LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and the debuting Von Wagner (Cal Bloom) in the bout to crown a new champion after Samoa Joe relinquished it. Following the bout, Ciampa had an interaction with Bron Breakker (Bronson Rechsteiner), who had made his debut by defeating Knight earlier in the show, backstage. Breakker and Ciampa congratulated each other on their wins. Breakker looked at Ciampa\’s title belt.
Ciampa came out for a promo with various NXT stars with him about how once again he is NXT Champion. He said the fans should like the young stars as they’ve been working hard and waiting to show the world how good they are. He named Camelo Hayes and Bron Breakker. He said he has always been known and will be mr. NXT. He said that the passion hasn’t left NXT. He said with him as champion and the new fresh paint just became the A show because they are NXT.
Cameron Grimes came out and said he’s fired up. He said the NXT Title is the rocket fuel that he needs to go to the moon. LA Knight came out, but was shut down and reminded he lost twice last week. Pete Dunne was out next and said that all he sees is a bounce of scared people looking to throw a punch. A brawl broke out.
After this brawl broke out, Breaker challenged Dunne and Ridge Holland to a match tonight with Ciampa being his partner. Thus, the match was booked later in the show in the main event.
Breaker got the win thanks to outside inference from Kyle O’Reilly, who attacked Holland.
Joe Gacy did an in-ring promo while sitting in a chair. He talked about how the ring is his safe place. Wade Barrett said after the promo that he has no idea was Gacy was talking about and neither do I. Gacy is dressed in a nice shirt and slacks, but is supposed to be a crazy guy.
Anyways, Cameron Grimes came out for a match with him. Gacy had a strong showing and was decent in the ring. Grimes went over with his finisher. Post-match, Gacy hugged Grimes.
Toxic Attraction (Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne) came out to \”address the NXT Universe,” as WWE had advertised.
This came one week after Rose debuted a new look with brown hair in order to interrupt a match between Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter and Dolin & Jayne, which led to a six-woman tag where Toxic Attraction defeated Sarray, Catanzaro & Carter.
Rose talked about how the fans like to look at her, but when she had her face busted up the fans were nowhere to be found. She said that she became a GIF and was yesterday’s news. She said that the fans treated her just like Gigi and Jacy, but they don’t give a damn about what the fans think. She said that behind the beauty is the beast and this is the future of the women’s division. She’s ready to take it over with Gigi and Jacy next to her. Gigi said that they always knew of what Rose had in her. They want the Women’s Tag Team Titles. It was later announced the match would happen next week.
"Behind this BEAUTY, a BEAST is ready to be unleashed. THIS is what the future of the #WWENXT Women's Division looks like."
Cruiserweight Champion Kushida put the title on the line in a match against Roderick Strong.
The match was originally supposed to take place on the August 17 episode of NXT, but it got pushed back due to Kushida testing positive for COVID-19. Last week, Kushida made his return and declared that he\’s ready to face Strong.
Diamond Mine manager, Malcolm Bivens, has been calling Strong the uncrowned NXT Cruiserweight Champion since Kushida wasn\’t able to compete.
The match was back and forth. Kushida had a submission hold locked in, but there was outside interference by Diamond Mind. This allowed Strong to hit a back breaker for the win.
Post-match, Grayson Waller came out and challenged Strong to a title match next week because he’s looking to take an opportunity instead of waiting for it.
WWE relaunched the NXT brand last week with a new look, logo, stage, and name, NXT 2.0. Part of the revamp was to introduce newer and younger talent on television as well.
Fightful Select reported today that more changes could be in store for NXT as WWE has discussed some plans for NXT 2.0 that are directly from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Those at the USA Network are said to be in support of what the WWE boss has in mind, which is for the show to target “more of a P18-34 demographic, including everything from in-ring work and aggression to harsher language and the like.”
\”Keep up with current affairs with promos and character verbiage\” was another point said to be brought up. One talent stated that they\’d believe it when they see it regarding the possible changes.
Jon Alba has also heard of the company wanting to go after a younger audience:
For what it's worth, I reported on our @theLTGpodcast Patreon last week that I was told specifically that the NXT 2.0 rebrand was primarily aimed at attracting a younger audience.
It will be interesting to see if WWE goes in this direction and should they do so, how long McMahon will stick with it as he is known to change his mind quite often. Also, WWE has presented a PG-product for over a decade now with the mindset that they could get better sponsors with a family-friendly product compared to a TV-14 audience.
AEW has found great success under the leadership of its President Tony Khan who just two years ago took the leap of starting his own wrestling promotion.
In their first year, they reached a television deal with WarnerMedia that would see them air a weekly two-hour flagship series every Wednesday night in primetime on TNT. In January 2020, they reached an extension through 2023 with a fourth-year option for 2024 that would give AEW a significant pay increase.
It was reported around this time by Dave Meltzer that the new deal was worth $175 million, just under $45 million per year.
Khan talked about AEW’s finances in a new interview with the Associated Press. It was noted that Khan stated to them, “AEW has already turned a profit.”
“Our TNT deal is very fair. I think we’ve performed at such a high level that we’ll justify a big increase on our next deal,” he said. “We are very fortunate to have their support. The timing of that deal was great, to get that in January 2020, that is a huge revenue stream for us.”
It was announced earlier this year that Dynamite will move to TBS in January 2022. Part of AEW’s deal was to introduce a new one-hour show, AEW Rampage, that premiered in August. Also in 2022, AEW will air four “supercard” specials on TNT.
Days after Vice TV’s Dark Side of the Ring episode covering “The Plane Ride From Hell,” Ric Flair broke his silence on the allegations made against him.
The episode featured an interview from Heidi Doyle, former a flight attendant, who alleged that he exposed himself to her while wearing a robe and forced her to touch his penis.
Flair took to Twitter to issue the following statement regarding the allegations:
“Every person that I’ve worked with, from my lawyer to my publicist to my wife has said not to post a response; but I’ve never run from past behaviors before and I’m not going to start now.
I want to clarify a few things:
About four years ago, I gave ESPN full access to my life for a “30 for 30? special. They covered taxes, financial issues, adultery, divorces, the passing of my child and drinking/partying AT LENGTH.”
Rory Kampf, desperate to matter for another 15 minutes, did an interview about it this morning. When Rory’s lips are moving, he’s typically lying, but one part of what he said was the God’s honest truth:
“I’d never heard that he had forced someone to touch his genitals,” Karpf admitted. “Everything with Ric that was construed as negative I tried to address in the 30 for 30. His drinking, his philandering, his adultery, his money problems, there’s quite a bit, but never, at least in the people that I spoke to, no one ever brought up that he would force himself on somebody.”
I allowed my personal life and the lives of my wife and children to be turned upside down for one reason: Whether it’s good or bad, even the really bad, the truth has to matter. Even in wrestling.
My issues have been well documented over my 40+ year career. The impact of drinking too much (which nearly killed me 5 years ago) has been told time and time and time again. The reason Rory (or anyone else for that matter) never heard stories of me forcing myself on ANYONE is simple: it never happened.”
There have been a few contracts that have already expired or will expire this year for some WWE NXT stars.
Fightful Select reports several of the top NXT talents were offered deals to re-sign in the Fall of 2019. However, they decided to turn them down due to the amount being offered as it was “nowhere near” what the Raw and SmackDown talent were being offered at the time.
Thus, there was not much incentive for wrestlers to re-sign for the rates being offered for a long-term deal. This would explain why so many deals were up this year.
Johnny Gargano, whose deal expires in December, is one of the NXT talents that was offered a new contract in the Fall of 2019 around the time when NXT moved to the USA Network in order to go head-to-head with AEW Dynamite.
At the time, WWE was trying to re-sign any and all wrestlers that they could in order to prevent them from going to the rival promotion.
Adam Cole, whose deal expired in July, but signed a contract extension to get through August to finish up his storyline with Kyle O’Reilly only to leave to join AEW, was another person who passed on what was offered to him in 2019. There are other names that weren’t being used on TV but still passed on new contract offers.
In the cases of Cole and Gargano, if they did sign new deals in 2019 then they would be under contract at least until 2022 or longer. Pete Dunne recently signed a new deal with WWE.
Tommaso Ciampa def. LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and Von Wagoner to win NXT Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Carmelo Hayes Speaks
Carmelo Hayes cuts a promo in the ring about how three weeks ago he was riding high and with this new era, he won’t be caught off guard. He said that he called his guy Trick Williams and as long as he has a contract for a title match, Trick goes with him. Trick said that he was born with the gift of the jab. Trick said he has a bone to pick with him. He called out Hayes for being humble. Hayes said that Trick is right and they hugged it out. Duke Hudson came out for a match and told Hayes that he got lucky in the tournament. Trick said that it stops today before laying out Hudson with a big boot. Trick and Hayes jumped Hudson.
Hayes won the NXT Breakout Tournament, which gives him a title shot of his choice. Matrick Belton is now Trick Williams.
WWE changed Rex Steiner (real name Bronson Rechsteiner) to Bron Breakker. He did a backstage segment with LA Knight. Bron stated that he was looking for an opportunity and Knight said that he would be more than willing to slap the smile off his face.
So they booked it in the opening segment. A very basic match with Bron going over clean, which is a surprise.
Bron is the son of former WCW/WWE World Tag Team Champion Rick Steiner. He signed with WWE earlier this year.
B-FAB’s In-Ring Debut
Hit Row’s B-FAB made her in-ring debut against Katrina Cortez. This was a very short yet one-sided match for B-FAB.
Over the past several weeks, Hit Row has been in a feud with Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, Elektra Lopez & Raul Mendoza).
Post-match, B-FAB cut a promo about how Elektra Lopez put her nose in her business. The rival group came out and said that they could fight again. B-FAB was more than willing to do this right now. They didn’t, but rather Santos waved her off and the segment ended.
The wedding of Dexter Lumis and Indi Hartwell took place after Johnny Gargano gave his blessing last week.
The ring was filled with various wrestlers. Austin Theory was the best man. The grooms were dressed like Dexter. Indie says that when people call Dexter a freak, she says he is her freak. Indie brought up how Lumis once snuck into her bed while the Garganos were sleeping and Lumis never loses a staring contest. Lumis had no vowels.
The preacher started asking why Lumis had no vowels and said it was probably because of nerves. Lumis choked out the preacher. Gargano wanted William Regal to be the new preacher and he turned it down. Beth Phoenix became the new preacher.
They both said “I do” and kissed. Lumis showed off his min axe in his jacket pocket before holding up Indie. Ciampa was seen watching in the back.
A wrestling wedding that went off without a hitch ?
LA Knight vs. Tommaso Ciampa vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne in a fatal 4-way match to a new NXT Champion was advertised as the main event of this show. There was a slight change as O’Reilly was supposed to be in the match until he was attacked by Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland earlier in the night. Von Wagoner (the former Cal Bloom) did make the save for O’Reilly and William Regal announced that Von would replace Kyle in the bout.
The match was chaotic and everyone got their spots in. Knight was busted open pretty good. The finish saw Ciampa hit his finisher to Knight for the win.
The title became vacant on Sunday night when Samoa Joe relinquished the title due to injury. Joe said that WWE medical informed him that they\’d like him to step away from the ring for a \”brief but still indeterminate\” timeframe. Joe defeated Karrion Kross to win the NXT Championship at TakeOver 36 last month.
LA Knight, Tommaso Ciampa, Von Wagoner (the former Cal Bloom), and Pete Dunne battled it out in a Fatal 4-Way Match to determine a new WWE NXT Champion on Tuesday’s episode of NXT on the USA Network.
The title became vacant when it was announced on Sunday night by Samoa Joe that he was relinquishing it due to an undisclosed injury. At the time, he said that he wouldn’t be out of action for very long, but didn’t say what the exact injury was.
WWE had NXT General Manager William Regal announce that the planned Fatal 4-Way Match that was supposed to determine the next contender for the title would see the winner become the new champion.
O’Reilly was supposed to be in the match, but was pulled after an attack by Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland. Wagoner ended up replacing him. The match was a typical fatal 4-way with Knight being busted open. Ciampa pinned Knight to become the new champion. This marks the second time Ciampa has been NXT Champion.
Joe became the champion when he beat Karrion Kross at last month’s NXT TakeOver 36 event. Although at first he was placed in an on-screen role, he later became an active in-ring wrestler as NXT did a feud between Joe and Kross. With the company already having a feud in place and needing to get the title off Kross since he was called up to the main roster, a title change was done.
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