WWE booked Bobby Lashley defending the WWE Title on Monday’s episode of Raw against Randy Orton while also teasing that Big E would be looming to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase.
Earlier in the day, Big E announced on Twitter that not only would he be on Raw, but planned to cash in the contract to become WWE Champion.
This title match took place in the main event of the show from Boston, MA at the TD Garden. The match was back and forth with brawling on the outside of the ring. Down the stretch, they did some near falls. Orton hit an RKO to MVP on the floor. Lashley beat Orton with a spear. Post-match, Lashley attacked Riddle then put Orton through a table. Lashley was selling his left knee as if he had injured it.
This led to Big E coming out to cash in and did. After a commercial break and with 5 minutes left, the match started. Big E went after the knee of Lashley, who did get a near fall with a spear. Big E hit the Big Ending for the win.
This was a change of original plans as WWE had already confirmed Orton vs. Lashley in a WWE Title match taking place at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event.
It’s been reported that the reason why WWE loaded up this show and moved Orton vs. Lashley from Extreme Rules to Raw was due to Vince McMahon responding to last week’s AEW Dynamite beating Raw in the key 18-49 demo for the first time ever.
WWE previously advertised Lashley and MVP getting a Raw Tag Team Title shot against Orton and Matt Riddle, but that was nixed. Also, WWE went up against Monday Night Football for the first time this season and the NFL is a ratings monster.
On Monday night during Raw, WWE confirmed when this year\’s Draft will be taking place.
The Draft will be held over two shows in October as it will begin on the Friday, October 1 episode of SmackDown and continue on the Monday, October 4 episode of Raw.
WWE will hold the October 1 episode of SmackDown at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore while the October 4 edition of Raw is being held at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
This episode of SmackDown will be the post-Extreme Rules edition of the show. WWE holds its next pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia. Crown Jewel is planned for Thursday, October 21 with Crown Jewel.
This marks the third straight year that the WWE Draft has taken place and the Draft was also held in October the previous two years. Despite the Draft, WWE did the Superstar Shake-ups in April 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast originally reported that this year’s Draft would take place on August 30th for Monday Night Raw and the second night on the September 3rd edition of Friday Night SmackDown. However, just like various things in WWE, plans changed.
Johnny Gargano joins the likes of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn as notable WWE wrestlers in deciding what they’ll do about their futures in the company as their contracts are coming up soon.
Fightful Select reported today that Gargano’s contract is set to expire on December 3, 2021. It was said that sources have indicated Gargano and WWE have not entered into negotiations to extend his contract, but that WWE \”expected to\” in the Fall.
This is not the same situation as to Adam Cole and Pete Dunne where their contracts coming due came as a surprise. Instead, they knew this was coming.
WWE has reviewed many of the deals since the situation with wrestlers like Malakai Black who had 30-day non-competes instead of the traditional 90-day non-compete that most wrestlers are under when the company decides to end their agreement.
It was mentioned that Gargano’s deal is up roughly around the same time that Cole’s deal was supposed to be up. Thus, while WWE has yet to talk with Gargano, they will just like they had planned to do with Cole.
Gargano first started out as an enhancement talent in 2015 for WWE before he officially signed with the company in 2016. Since that time, he has held all titles available to him in NXT.
Ring of Honor presents Death Before Dishonor live pay-per-view tonight from the famous 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.
The main event will see ROH Champion Bandido vs. Demonic Flamita vs. Brody King vs. EC3. Other title matches include Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham vs. Josh Woods and ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions vs. La Faccion Ingoblernable.
Death Before Dishonor can be purchased via traditional pay-per-view and the FITE streaming service. The action kicks off at 7pm (Eastern) with a 1-hour pre-show that is free to watch. At 8pm, the main card begins on PPV.
The following is a full rundown of tonight\’s matches:
ROH Champion Bandido vs. Demonic Flamita vs. Brody King vs. EC3 – Elimination Match
ROH Women\’s World Championship Tournament Final: Rok-C vs. Miranda Alize.
ROH Pure Champion Jonathan Gresham vs. Josh Woods.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Shane Taylor Promotions vs. La Faccion Ingoblernable.
The OGK vs. The Briscoes.
Jake Atlas vs. Taylor Rust.
Violence Unlimited\’s Tony Deppen & Homicide & Chris Dickinson vs. LSG & Lee Moriarty & John Walters.
Dalton Castle vs. Eli Isom.
Free in Hour One: Danhausen, The Beer City Bruiser, PJ Black, Dak Draper, Rey Horus, Brian Johnson, Joe Keys, Brian Milonas, Sledge, Silas Young and five more competitors to be named – Honor Rumble
WWE has seemingly made a change of plans for the top prize on the Raw brand as a commercial aired during SmackDown noting that Bobby Lashley will defend his WWE Championship against Randy Orton on Monday\’s Raw.
It should be noted that WWE had already announced Orton challenging Lashley for the title at Extreme Rules.
RK-Bro (Orton & Matt Riddle) were originally scheduled to defend their Raw Tag Team Titles against Lashley & MVP on Monday\’s Raw, but WWE’s website has taken down their article for that Tag Team match so it looks like that has been nixed.
This past Monday night, Lashley and MVP won a Tag Team Turmoil match on Raw to become the number one contenders to Orton & Riddle\’s titles. Lashley and MVP and AJ Styles & Omos were the final two teams in the match. After the bout, Orton hit Lashley with an RKO, which was the second straight week that had happened as Orton previously did it following RK-Bro retaining their titles against Lashley and MVP in the main event of Raw.
WWE holds this Monday\’s Raw at the TD Garden in Boston. Also announced for the show is Doupdrop likely wrestling Eva Marie after Doupdrop issued the match challenge.
NBA superstar Trae Young made a special appearance on Friday’s episode of WWE SmackDown New York City, NY at the Madison Square Garden on FOX.
It happened in the first hour of the show, which reignited his rivalry with the New York City fans. Sami Zayn was seen wearing a New York Knicks jersey before working a 10-man tag team match. Zayn told the fans that he had a special guest to accompany him and his team at ringside and Young was that person.
Young, the starting point guard of the Atlanta Hawks, got heavily booed when he first walked out. In the match, Young got physical when he choked Rey Mysterio through the bottom rope after a missed 619 attempt. After the referee saw what Young was doing and ejected him from ringside, which got a big pop from the fans.
The finish of this match saw Rey and Dominik Mysterio hit a double 619 on Zayn before Big E gave Zayn the Big Ending to get the win.
Young is a big WWE fan and recently helped the company announce that their Day 1 pay-per-view event will be taking place at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on New Year\’s Day 2022.
Young and the rest of the Hawks roster beat the New York Knicks in the first round of the NBA playoffs this summer. In that series, Young had a great performance and obviously, the Knicks fans were not thrilled about it. So much so that one fan spit on Young.
Monday’s edition of WWE Raw averaged 1.849 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. This is down from last week’s 1.907 million viewers and the 0.54 rating.
Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.958 million, 0.54 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.842 million, 0.52 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.748 million, 0.50 in the 18-49 Demo
This show was expected to drop from last week’s Raw as it went up against a college football game on ESPN that did 3 million viewers.
This episode featured Akira Tozawa vs. 24/7 Champion Reggie in a non-title match, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina vs. Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. in a non-title match, Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus with the winner facing Damian Priest for the United States Title at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event, Charlotte Flair defended her Raw Women’s Title against Nia Jax, a Tag Team Turmoil match to determine the new #1 contenders to Raw Tag Team Champions Riddle and Randy Orton, and more.
SmackDown Viewership
The episode drew an average of 2.147 million viewers in the overnight ratings, down from the previous week that did 2.874 million viewers. In the 18-49 demographic, it did a 0.62 rating, which was up from the 0.59 rating the week before. The final ratings were 2.220 million viewers, down from last week’s 2.250 million viewers.
Zoey Stark & Io Shirai def. Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro
Mei Ying def. Virginia (aka Dreamgirl Ellie).
MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) def. Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Mei Ying’s In-Ring Debut
Mei Ying made her in-ring debut. She took on Virginia Ferry, who is also known as Dream Girl Ellie. It was a quick match with Mei hitting some strikes then locking on a choke for the win.
Karen Q portrays the character. Before signing with WWE, she worked for ROH and Impact Wrestling. Karen made her WWE debut in August 2018 by competing in the second annual Mae Young Classic.
In December 2020, Karen was repackaged as Mei Ying as the mysterious leader of Tian Sha with Xia Li and Big Boa. The group debuted on January 6, 2021.
Kay Lee Ray vs. Ember Moon in a singles match was booked.
The match opened the show and was a grappling heavy bout. Ray hit her finisher for the win.
Ray made her NXT debut at TakeOVer 36 after being on hiatus after dropping the NXT UK Women’s Title. Moon has been trying to find her way after losing Shotzi Blackheart as her tag team partner.
Santos Escobar vs. Carmelo Hayes in a singles match took place.
The match was back and forth. Hayes looked good in his outing, but of course, Santos went over thanks to outside interference before hitting his finisher for the win.
Entering this match, Escobar had been in a feud with Hit Row. On the flip side, On the August 24 episode of NXT, Hayes defeated Odyssey Jones to win the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament.
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark defended against Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro.
This marked the first defense for Io and Stark. Just last week, Catanzaro and Carter defeated Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne.
The match was pretty good with the challengers looking decent yet the champions were kept strong. Post=match, Mandy Rose, Jayne, and Dolin laid out the challengers.
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK defended against Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.
WWE set up the match last week when the champs noted they\’d like to give Lorcan & Burch a shot at the titles.
Lorcan and Burch had to give up the titles this past March when urch suffered a separated shoulder. Fast forward to April, MSK won the vacant titles by defeating The Grizzled Young Veterans and Legado del Fantasma\’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquín Wilde in a triple threat match at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver
Burch made his big return last week as he joined Lorcan, Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland in beating down Tommaso Ciampa only for MSK to make the save.
The match was dominated by the challengers until MSK made their comeback at the end and won with their finisher. A very solid match. Post-match, Holland and Dunne attacked Burch and Lorcan.
The same day that Kevin Owens got fans speculating about him potentially going to AEW, a report came out regarding the contract status of the former WWE Universal Champion.
Owens stated in an interview in May of 2018 with TVA Sports that he\’d signed a new 5-year contract that would carry him into 2023 with WWE. It turns out that’s changed and his deal is up sooner than most people expected.
Fightful Select reported today that his deal is actually now up in January 2022. WWE restructured several contracts ahead of the pandemic and Owens\’ deal was changed to expire in January 2022.
It’s unclear if any additional terms of the deal or specifically why it was shortened. Unlike WWE being unaware of the contract status for Adam Cole and Pete Dunne, WWE is aware of Owens’ deal.
Owens took to Twitter to tweet and later deleted the coordinates to Mt. Rushmore. He just so happened to be in the Mt. Rushmore stable with the Young Bucks and Cole prior to signing with WWE. Thus, rumors about him potentially going to AEW started.
Owens also tweeted out this photo of himself with no caption after he was trending on social media:
Two big matches have been announced for the upcoming Extreme Rules PPV.
In the opening segment of Monday’s episode of Raw from Miami, FL at the American Airlines Arena, Randy Orton issued a challenge to Bobby Lashley for the WWE Title at Extreme Rules. Lashley accepted and also wanted to be in the tag team turmoil match to crown the new contenders for the Raw Tag Team Titles, which just so happens to be held by Orton and Matt Riddle.
WWE booked Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus in a singles match. The stipulation was that the winner would get the next shot at the United States Title.
As a result of Sheamus going over, he will now challenge Damian Priest for the United States Title at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event. Just last week, Priest successfully retained the title over both Sheamus and McIntyre in a triple threat match.
At last month’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event, Priest beat Sheamus for the strap while McIntyre beat Jinder Mahal in a match.
WWE announced after Raw that Charlotte Flair would defend the Raw Women’s Title against Alexa Bliss at this show as well.
On Raw, Flair retained her title over Nia Jax after interference from Shayna Baszler. Post-match, Bliss confronted Flair and said she wanted the title.
WWE presents the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event on Sunday, September 26, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Arena that will air on Peacock. WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair was previously confirmed for this show.
Bryan Danielson, also known as Daniel Bryan from his time in WWE, and Adam Cole are now All Elite!
It happened after the AEW All Out pay-per-view event headliner where Kenny Omega beat Christian Cage to retain the World Title. Post-match, Omega and The Elite beat down Cage and Lucha Express.
Cole super kicked Jungle Boy and hugged The Elite. Cole said The Elite is the most dominant faction in the business and there’s no chance in hell that anyone is going to stop them. This led to Danielson coming 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 AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam in New York City on September 23rd. However, there had been a growing concern about the spread of COVID-19. A mask mandate was issued for fans at this upcoming event in addition to fans needing to show proof of vaccination.
Danielson finished up his WWE commitments when he was banished from SmackDown earlier this year. In July, it was reported the former WWE star had indeed signed with All Elite Wrestling.
Cole became a free agent at the end of August after his short-term extension with WWE expired. He was last seen when he lost to Kyle O’Reilly at NXT TakeOver 36. Cole opted not to sign a new deal. All Elite Wrestling appeared to be his likely landing spot. That turned out to be the case.
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega made his latest defense of the title against Christian Cage at Sunday’s All Out pay-per-view event.
The match, which was the main event, had a hard start as the crowd was dead early on. Omega hit a moonsault off the barricade. There was a spot where Cage hit a spear off the apron through the table. There was some outside interference by Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Omega hit the one winged angel from the top rope for the win.
Cage is currently number one in the AEW World Title rankings and was mentioned as a potential contender for Omega’s title in the weeks leading up to the announcement of this match. However, AEW went in an interesting direction to get to this point.
This was actually their second match as Cage beat Omega on the first match in Rampage history to win the Impact Wrestling World Heavyweight Title back on August 14th.
Many fans thought AEW was heading in a very different direction with Adam Page challenging Omega for the AEW World Heavyweight Title at this show. That thought process went away when Page and The Dark Order lost a six-man match on the July 28th edition of Dynamite to Omega and AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks. The stipulations that went along with that match was if the babyfaces won then they would get title matches.
The plan was always for Page to take some family time off in advance of his first child being born.
For the past seven years, fans had waited to see CM Punk back inside of a wrestling ring and that happened so they only had to wait a few more weeks to see him wrestle again, which happened when he took on Darby Allin.
The match was not the main event of the AEW All Out pay-per-view event. Punk wore long tights instead of traditional trunks.
It was a really slow start and then things started to pick up. Punk used a lot of submissions to slow things down and tell spots. Allin was Irish whipped into the ring post. Punk hit the GTS, but Allin went through the ropes. Punk, Sting, and Allin stood to an ovation after the match.
In the past, it was openly talked about by both Punk and AEW executives that there had been interest by AEW President Tony Khan about bringing in Punk a few years ago. However, Punk felt like they never really made him an offer. He had been open about returning to pro wrestling if the right deal was offered to him and it turns out AEW made that offer.
Last year, the former WWE Champion started having conversations with Khan and reached an understanding as far back as late last year. Punk has confirmed that he knew he would be coming into the promotion while filming Starz’s “Heels” program.
Punk made his promotional debut on the August 21st edition of Rampage and issued a challenge to Allin for this bout. His previous match came in January 2014 in the Men’s Royal Rumble Match.
Chris Jericho battled MJF once again in a match, but this time, he put his career on the line at the AEW All Out pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL. If Jericho had lost then his in-ring wrestling career would’ve been over.
However, as expected, that didn’t happen as Jericho won the match. MJF had Jericho’s old countdown titantron. Jericho had a guitar player do his entrance song. The match started slowly. MJF with Judas Effect and pinned Jericho, who had his leg on the bottom rope. The match was restarted. Jericho with the walls to win the match.
On the August 25th edition of Dynamite, Jericho cut a promo about how he couldn’t end the feud between him and MJF without getting a win. He pitched the All Out match with the stipulation that if he could not beat MJF, he would no longer wrestle for AEW. MJF came out and accepted the match.
The week before, MJF submitted Jericho with an armbar in what was billed as the fifth labour of Jericho. Leading up to their previous match, they had been the leaders of two different stables with MJF leading The Pinnacle and Jericho leading The Inner Circle.
In May, both teams worked a Blood and Guts match that saw The Pinnacle win as The Inner Circle surrendered after MJF threatened to throw Jericho off the cage. After the match, MJF threw Jericho off the cage anyway.
Ruby Soho, formerly known as Ruby Riott from her time in WWE, has arrived in AEW. AEW decided to book a women’s battle royal at the All Out pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL at the NOW Arena. Soho was revealed as the joker in the match to decide who would get the next title shot in the women’s division.
The other competitors in the match included Big Swole, The Bunny, Thunder Rosa, Red Velvet, Tay Conti, Penelope Ford, Diamante, Nyla Rose, Hikaru Shida, Emi Sakura, Jade Cargill, Kiera Hogan, Abadon, Kilynn King, Lelya Hirsch, Rebel, Jami Hayter, Anna Jay, Riho, and Skye Blue. Soho made it to the final two with Rosa and ended up winning the match in her first night.
Ruby was released by WWE a few months ago alongside other talent due to budget cuts. She became a free agent on Tuesday, August 31 when her 90-day non-compete clause with WWE expired.
After she was let go by WWE, she had kept a low profile and hadn’t done a ton of interviews. At the time, it was reported that one promoter reached out and was told Ruby wasn’t taking bookings, which was an indication she had plans to sign with a bigger promotion.
The move to AEW was expected as back on August 4th it was reported by Fightful that Ruby was expected to make her way to All Elite Wrestling and that’s what ended up happening.
AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks made their latest title defense against the Lucha Bros at the AEW All Out pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL at the NOW Arena.
The steel cage match saw a chaotic pace. Various spots into the fence were done. Nick hit a cutter to Fenix then Matt hit a stunner off the top rope to Penta. Moments later, Fenix hit a double cutter to Matt. Moments later, Matt put on a shoe that had thumbtacks on the bottom of it so he could superkick Penta. Fenix with a crossbody off the top of the cage. Luchas hit a tag team move for the win.
This was a rematch from All Out 2019 where Penta and Fenix won by beating the Young Bucks in an Escalera De La Muerte ladder match for the AAA Tag Team Titles.
The Lucha Bros won the AEW World Tag title eliminator tournament on the August 27th edition of Rampage by beating Jurassic Express. Before that, Penta and Fenix beat Private Party in the opening round to advance to the finals.
The Young Bucks previously defended the titles on pay-per-view against Chris Jericho and MJF at the AEW Revolution event this past March and Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston at Double or Nothing.
Last November, the Bucks won the tag team titles from FTR at the AEW Full Gear pay-per-view event last November.
Time will tell whether AEW continues this feud or goes in a different direction heading into Wednesday’s Dynamite.
Kris Statlander was the latest wrestler in the women’s division to step up to challenge Britt Baker for the AEW Women’s Title.
It happened at the AEW All Out pay-per-view event in Chicago, IL at the NOW Arena. The match saw both ladies get an equal amount of offense in and seemed to go through quick spots early. They nearly botched a suplex off the top rope.
Baker hit the Pittsburgh Sunrise then the stomp for a near fall. Baker won with the locked jaw.
Statlander had been out of action for nearly 10 months thanks to a knee injury, but returned this past April. To get this title shot, she racked up a sixteen-match winning streak in AEW in singles matches.
Baker won the title at the Double or Nothing PPV on May 30, where she ended Hikaru Shida\’s title reign of over a year.
Many fans were hoping to see Baker wrestle Thunder Rosa at this show, but they will have to wait until 2022 to see the much-anticipated rematch.
It was recently reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the plan is to build up for a major match in early 2022 although it was not said if this will be on pay-per-view or on a special episode of Dynamite.
Their first match took place a few months ago during the bloody unsanctioned main event match on an episode of Dynamite.
Vicious Fisherman's Neckbreaker from the top by @RealBrittBaker.
Eddie Kingston was the latest challenger to step up to TNT Champion Miro.
As seen at Sunday’s AEW All Out pay-per-view event, Miro went over to retain the title. The match saw Kingston bring the fight to him early with chops. However, things turned around for Miro when he caught Kingston off the apron and hit a slam to the floor. Kingston fought back until Miro went for his submission finisher and Kingston got to the ropes. Miro got the win with a superkick.
All Elite Wrestling made this match official on the August 28th edition of Rampage as Miro was attacking Fuego Del Sol when Kingston ran out to make the save. They had a brief pull-apart to set up the bout for All Out.
Miro became the TNT Champion when he beat Darby Allin on AEW Dynamite on May 28th. Since that time, he has beat Dante Martin, Lance Archer, Evil Uno, Brian Pillman Jr., Lee Johnson and Fuego Del Sol in successful title defenses.
The previous time that Kingston had been in a title match was when he and Jon Moxley fell short to The Young Bucks with the Tag Team Titles on the line during the July 7th edition of Dynamite.
What are your thoughts on Miro retaining the AEW TNT Title? Was this the right call by AEW officials? Sound off in the comment section
The card for tonight\’s (Sunday, September 5, 2021) AEW All Out pay-per-view event has been finalized.
The company hasn’t officially announced the main event of this event that takes place in Chicago, Illinois at Now Arena that will air on Bleacher Report but it will most likely be CM Punk vs. Darby Allin as this marks Punk’s first match in seven years.
As a reminder, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of this special on Sunday evening starting at 7 PM EST. Here is the final card for the show:
Final AEW All Out Card
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin
Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall
Chris Jericho vs. MJF (If Jericho loses, he can never wrestle in AEW again)
Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima
AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander
AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros – Steel Cage Match
TNT Champion Miro vs. Eddie Kingston
Women’s Battle Royal: Big Swole, The Bunny, Thunder Rosa, Red Velvet, Tay Conti, Penelope Ford, Diamante, Nyla Rose, Hikaru Shida, Emi Sakura, Jade Cargill, Kiera Hogan, Abadon, Kilynn King, Lelya Hirsch, Rebel, Jami Hayter, Anna Jay, Riho, a surprise entrant, Skye Blue
Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, Wheeler Yuta, and Jurassic Express vs. Matt Hardy, Private Party, and TH2 – Pre-Show
Roman Reigns put the WWE Universal Title on the line against Finn Balor in the main event of Friday’s episode of SmackDown.
Both guys were laying in their strikes and the fans were behind Balor towards the end. Balor avoided the spear with the roll then hit a drop kick in the corner and his finisher, yet Reigns kicked out. Reigns with the guillotine choke for the win.
The match was made official after a challenge that was issued by Balor last week when Reigns and The Usos hosted a family celebration. Balor interrupted them and Balor said he planned on challenging Reigns to a title match at next month\’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, but he doesn\’t trust anyone around here. Thus, the match was made official. A brawl broke out with The Street Profits coming out to settle the score. The babyfaces stood tall in the ring to close the show.
WWE had originally teased Reigns defending the title against Balor at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event, but John Cena signed the contract instead despite it having Balor’s name on it.
After Reigns beat Cena to retain the title at SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar made his return to confront Reigns. The belief is WWE could be saving Lesnar vs. Reigns for either Crown Jewel this October in Saudi Arabia or WrestleMania 38 next month.
The first match has been announced for the upcoming Extreme Rules PPV.
Becky Lynch will defend her SmackDown Women\’s Championship against Bianca Belair at the show, which will be a rematch. Lynch made her big return at last month’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event where she beat Belair in under 30 seconds to win the SmackDown Women\’s Championship.
Belair was originally slated to defend the title against Sasha Banks at SummerSlam, but it was announced right before the match started that Banks wouldn\’t be able to compete.
Belair became the number one contender to the title last week by scoring a win over Liv Morgan, Carmella, and Zelina Vega in a four-way elimination match This came after Lynch refused to give Belair a title shot on SmackDown. On Friday’s show, Lynch again declined to give Belair a title match, but WWE authority figures Sonya Deville and Adam Pearce came out to announce that Lynch will be defending the SmackDown Women\’s Championship against Belair at Extreme Rules.
It was also confirmed that a contract signing for the bout will take place on next Friday\’s SmackDown at Madison Square Garden, which will feature an appearance by Brock Lesnar.
WWE presents the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event on Sunday, September 26, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio at the Nationwide Arena that will air on Peacock.
CM Punk made his AEW debut back on the August 20th edition of Rampage from Chicago, Illinois, which marked the first time in seven years that he has worked for a pro wrestling company since he left WWE.
ESPN has an article looking at the signing and included some interesting details. It was noted that Punk actually signed his contract “about 30 minutes” before showtime.
Punk arrived early at the United Center and got a text from his lawyer while there to tell him that he should probably sign his AEW contract before appearing on television.
Punk didn’t sleep for two nights before the big moment. He was nervous and anxious backstage to the point where he was questioning things such as his choice of sneakers.
In February, CM Punk responded to a fan on Twitter who asked him which AEW stars he’d want to face. He listed names such as Powerhouse Hobbs, Darby Allin, Brian Pillman Jr, Ricky Starks, and Jungle Boy.
AEW President Tony Khan texted Punk that he liked his list. Within a few weeks, they started talking about money and how he would debut.
Punk will make his AEW in-ring debut against Darby Allin at Sunday’s All Out pay-per-view event from Chicago, IL at the NOW Arena. It will be his first match since the Men’s Royal Rumble bout in January 2014.
Adam Cole is now on the free-agent market after he let his WWE contract expire and is still exploring his options.
Cole’s original deal expired back in July but agreed to a short-term extension that would last through August 31st as a way for him to finish up his storyline with Kyle O’Reilly.
Fightful Select reported today that Cole had made it clear well ahead of his contract even coming up in July that he was not willing to give up his Twitch account.
This is something that WWE has asked several wrestlers to do and some of them did just that. However, for Cole, it was said to be \”non-negotiable.” The report stated that higher-ups weren\’t excited to talk to him about it in general, because they didn\’t have much leverage on the situation.
When Cole’s deal expired, it was reported that WWE was trying to re-sign him. Not only is All Elite Wrestling an option for him, but it appears to be the most likely place that he’ll end up as he has friends working for the promotion, and his girlfriend, Britt Baker, is currently the Women’s Champion.
It’s also possible for him to join other promotions such as NJPW, ROH, and Impact Wrestling, although AEW does have working relationships with NJPW and Impact so if he wanted to work some matches for those promotions, it could be arranged.
The August 31, 2021 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Sarray def. Mandy Rose via countout.
Kyle O\’Reilly def. Duke Hudson.
Imperium def Drake Maverick & Grayson Waller
LA Knight def. Johnny Gargano.
Raquel Gonzalez def. Jessi Kamea
Roderick Strong def. Ikemen Jiro.
Tommaso Ciampa def. Ridge Holland.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Sarray vs. Mandy Rose
Sarray vs. Mandy Rose opened this episode of NXT. The match was controlled by Rose for the majority of the time. Rose got hit with a double drop kick and she walked to the backstage area while having a towel over her face. Sarray won via double count out.
Last week, Rose aligned with Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne as she offered to take them under her wing after they lost a tag team match against Kayden Carter & Kacy Catanzaro.
Rose made her return to NXT this past Jily where she scouted a match between Sarray and Dolin. Before the return, Rose had been part of a tag team with Dana Brooke on Raw. On the flip side, Sarray was last in action on NXT three weeks ago where she lost to Dakota Kai.
Good to see @WWE_MandyRose back in a ring. #WWENXT
Wade Barrett hosted a sit-down interview with NXT Champion Samoa Joe. This came just a few weeks after Joe beat Karrion Kross at NXT TakeOver 36 to win the title.
Last week, Joe welcomed all challengers as the likes of Pete Dunne, LA Knight, and Kyle O’Reilly made their cases as to why they should get the next title shot.
In this interview, Joe stated he plans to dominate his opponents and wants to establish what it means to be NXT Champion. This started before he became champion, but rather coming back. He said he was at the talent tryouts in Las Vegas then straight back to Florida on a red eye and tired while challenging for the title.
He said he needed to win the title because the precedent needed to be set. He said the legacy of the title and those who have held it before him is important. The path that he goes is the way that all future champions will follow him. He wants to know who will step up.
Ilja Dragunov made his first appearance as NXT United Kingdom Champion on this show.
Ilja cut a promo in the ring about how he’s looking for someone with passion, soul and struggle to take away the title from him. He said the ring general has fallen and long live the Czar.
Dragunov defeated WALTER to win the NXT United Kingdom Championship at TakeOver 36. Dragunov is the fourth-ever NXT United Kingdom Champion as Tyler Bate, Pete Dunne, and WALTER previously held the title.
WALTER held the title for 870 days. Dragunov had two matches on NXT leading up to the title match where he lost to Pete Dunne and beat Roderick Strong.
WWE booked Duke Hudson vs. Kyle O’Reilly in a singles match.
This was a short hard-hitting match that saw Hudson get some offense and looked impressive even if it was against O’Reilly, who can make anyone look good. Hudson got a near fall spot with a belly-to-belly suplex.
Ridge Holland and Tommaso Ciampa ended up working a singles match on this show.
Just last week, Holland beat Ciampa’s tag team partner, Timothy Thatcher, in a singles match. After the match, a brawl broke out with Ciampa and Thatcher being left lying thanks to Danny Burch and Pete Dunne. Thatcher is out of action indefinitely following Holland\’s attack.
The match was saved for last and it didn’t disappoint. Holland continued to show off and had a good performance as he dominated the majority of it with Ciampa fighting back. Ciampa went over. Post-match, the heels beat down Ciampa until MSK came out to make the save.
Strong was supposed to challenge for Kushida\’s NXT Cruiserweight Championship two weeks ago. However, it was announced that Kushida wasn\’t cleared to compete and there’s still no word yet on when it will happen. On that episode, Strong instead issued an open challenge and lost to NXT UK Champ Ilja Dragunov.
On the flip side, Jiro has been a regular on 205 Live since signing with WWE last December. He also worked the NXT Breakout Tournament.
Johnny Gargano vs. LA Knight
Johnny Gargano vs. LA Knight did not end up being the main event of this show. Instead, it kicked off the second hour.
The match was back and forth. It ended with Knight hitting the BFT thanks to an accidental distraction by Lumis.
Knight had just finished up a program with Cameron Grimes and Ted DiBiase at NXT TakeOver 36 where he dropped the Million Dollar Title. Gargano had been in a feud with Dexter Lumis and even though he won the Love Her or Leave Her Match, Lumis is slated to have a storyline wedding with Indie Heartwell.
The betting odds for most of the matches that will air during the AEW All Out pay-per-view event have been released.
The card for the show that takes place on Sunday, September 5, 2021 is still taking shape. So far, nine matches have been announced for the show with four of them having a title on the line.
However, there are no titles favored to change hands. CM Punk and Paul Wight are favored to win their AEW in-ring debuts. Punk hasn\’t worked a match in seven years as his previous bout came in January 2014 at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. Chris Jericho is also favored to beat his arch-rival MJF.
The favorites to win are listed as – while the underdogs are listed with +. Here are the betting odds, courtesy of Bet Online:
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega -600 vs. Christian Cage +350
CM Punk -500 vs. Darby Allin +300
Andrade El Idolo -300 vs. PAC +200
Paul Wight -600 vs. QT Marshall +350
Chris Jericho -250 vs. MJF +175 (If Jericho loses, he can never wrestle in AEW again)
Jon Moxley -500 vs. Satoshi Kojima +300
AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker -200 vs. Kris Statlander +150
AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks -225 vs. Lucha Bros +165 – Steel Cage Match
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