A new match has been announced for the upcoming WWE Hell In A Cell PPV as it will see Bayley vs. Sasha Banks.
Friday’s episode of SmackDown on FOX saw Banks issue a challenge to Bayley with the SmackDown Women’s Title on the line inside of the Hell in a Cell structure at this event.
They actually worked a title match on SmackDown, but Bayley used a steel chair to end it as she was disqualified. Thus, while Banks won the match by DQ, Bayley retained the title. Post-match, the issue was made.
This marks the third Hell in a Cell Match to be added to the card.
WWE presents the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view event on October 25 in Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center that will air on the WWE Network. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE Hell In A Cell Card
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso – Hell in a Cell I Quit Match
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton – Hell in a Cell Match
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Sasha Banks – Hell in a Cell Match
The New Day has been crowned the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
The title change happened during Friday’s episode of SmackDown on FOX as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods capture the titles by defeating Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura from Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center.
This marks the seventh time that The New Day has been champions on the blue brand. Earlier in the night, Kingston and Woods reunited with Big E during a backstage segment.
That reunion didn’t last long as it was revealed after the match that not only had Big E been drafted to SmackDown, but Woods and Kingston had been moved to RAW with the blue branded titles.
Yes, the SmackDown Tag Team Champions have been drafted to the red brand even though RAW already has tag team champions, at least for now.
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura beat Big E and Kingston in a Tables Match at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in Orlando, Florida at the WWE Performance Center back in July.
Woods underwent surgery to repair an Achilles tear last October after suffering the injury while competing inside of the squared circle.
Lars Sullivan has made his return to WWE television after being on the sidelines for the first time in 16 months.
He did so during Friday’s episode of SmackDown on FOX after Matt Riddle and Jeff Hardy defeated John Morrison & The Miz in a tag team match.
After the match, Sullivan walked down to the ring inside of Orlando, Florida at the Amway Center. He attacked Miz, Hardy, and Riddle to stand tall to close out the segment.
Sullivan underwent knee surgery in June 2019. At the time, his return was not expected to happen until this year, which is what happened.
He had been out of the ring after he was dealing with a knee injury. It was believed to be an injury that would cause him to be out for 6-9 months, which meant his original timetable was in December or around WrestleMania 36 season.
Interesting enough there was no word on whether the injury delayed his return or it came down to a creative situation as he was posting videos of him working out since February.
Prior to the injury, he was slated to get a monster push.
It appears that Paige is feeling pretty good these days and perhaps fans can see her back in the ring as a performer again.
She took to her Twitter account on Friday to note that her neck feels wonderful before adding a teaser.
Paige wrote, “Recycled pic. But.. Spent the last 2 years of my in ring career with this neck brace. 6 screws and 2 fusions later.. my neck feels wonderful. Can you let me in yet coach?”
Paige has spinal stenosis, which has kept her from not being medically cleared by WWE doctors to wrestle again. Her in-ring career ended in late December 2017 after she took a bad bump on the back of her neck during a six-woman tag team match.
Just this past March, she stated that she thinks a return to in-ring competition is a possibility one day but knows it won’t be anytime soon.
This interview came just a few months after Edge proved his doubters wrong when he returned to the ring. In the past, a history of major neck injuries resulted in careers being ended.
Maybe that trend is changing. If you look at Daniel Bryan, he was able to rest on the sidelines for a few years after suffering several concussions and got cleared after he was told that he would never wrestle again.
Kevin Owens did an interview with Bleacher Report where he spoke about a wide range of topics including this year’s WWE Draft.
According to the RAW star, he thinks this a chance to have an opportunity to get a fresh start.
“I feel like I give it my all, I deliver every time I’m on the air, but for some reason, I feel like I always end up in a situation where I could always use a fresh start after a little while. I always try my best to do that, so it always helps to get a new platform. Here I am again one year later, and last year, I was so desperate to move to Raw and I got moved to Raw. Now, I’m pretty desperate to move to SmackDown because, for some reason.”
He stated that he doesn’t feel things are working out for him on Raw and it might be better on SmackDown. He admitted to feeling the same thing last year while on SmackDown.
“I’m sure this year will be no different, [but] I feel frustrated [with] how far into the draft I get picked. Last year was a new low. I was picked so late. I was very angry, but you know, I’m probably one of many who feel that way when they’re drafted. The drafts are actually always kind of stressful because you don’t know where you’re going until they announce it on TV or the supplemental draft that they do online after, so you don’t know who you’re going to be with.”
Owens stated that it’s different now because of the pandemic and WWE not traveling at all and that might be for a while. He said that when he’s traveling on the road, you don\’t know if your road partner will be on the same show as you or if friends will be on the same brand.
He said that it’s a big deal before pointing out how wrestlers never know anything going into the draft. Thus, it’s a stressful day.
James Storm shared last month that he was supposed to join WWE earlier this year.
The former TNA World Heavyweight Champion stated in an interview that he was supposed to make his WWE main roster debut with the company after WrestleMania 36.
Storm was first approached by WWE during Royal Rumble weekend. The deal had been done, and he had signed, but then WWE took back the offer.
In a recent interview with Lucha Libre Online, Storm gave his take as to why WWE decided against the deal.
\”Once I seen that they were making all these cuts with all these different guys and stuff like that I just knew it was a matter of time before they retract the contract,\” Storm said.
\”It sucks because I can sit here and say \’me me me\’ but in the whole scheme of things it was a lot of people who lost their jobs. All I can do is keep on keeping on and doing my thing and hopefully there\’s another opportunity to come in the future.\”
Whether WWE will bring him in once they start touring again remains to be seen.
WWE has made a change to the Retribution group by removing one of its members.
Pwinsider.com reports that Mercedes Martinez has been removed from Retribution after she had been assigned the \”Retaliation\” name.
Now, she’ll be headed back to the NXT roster after being pulled from the RAW roster. Earlier this week, there had been speculation that she had been removed from the group.
As of this writing, there’s no word yet as to why she was removed and sent back to NXT. It simply could be that Vince McMahon changed his mind. She has no brand logo assigned to her name on the official WWE roster, but that is expected to change soon.
It should be noted that \”Retaliation\” is still listed as a member of Retribution in the official WWE Draft Pool as the group is eligible to be drafted together during RAW this Monday night. That show will be the final night of the 2020 Draft
Mustafa Ali, T-BAR, Mace, Slapjack, Reckoning, and Retaliation are listed. With that said, this could indicate that WWE has plans in place to put another Superstar behind the Reckoning gimmick.
Ember Moon & Rhea Ripley def. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Finn Balor Update
Just a few hours before this show, NXT Champion Finn Balor announced on Twitter that he suffered a broken jaw in two places during his successful title defense against Kyle O’Reilly at NXT TakeOver 31.
He mentioned in the post that he would address this on NXT, which he did. During the episode, WWE aired a video package looking at the match along with photos of Balor in the hospital.
A WWE trainer noted that Balor wouldn’t be able to fully talk and would miss some time in the ring.
The positive thing here is that Balor won’t have to vacate the title, but we still have no word yet on how long he’ll be out of action.
"A lot of people ask, is this title reign going to be as good as the last one? I think they just got an answer."
Ember Moon was supposed to kick off the show, but WWE saved it for later in the episode with a promo in the ring. This came after she made her return to television after being sidelined with an injury last year. She was revealed as the mystery person behind recent vignettes.
Her reveal was after Io Shirai had successfully retained the NXT Women’s Title over Candice LeRae at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver 31 event. This is where she had a staredown with the champion.
On NXT, Moon stated that it’s been a while since she was in isolation for the last 14 months. She said that she took her bike on a long journey and found clarity. She said that she found herself as no one is going to walk over her anymore.
She said that she wants some gold. This led to Io coming out Io and Rhea Ripley coming out. As Rhea was about to talk, Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai attacked Ripley. William Regal booked a tag team match for the main event.
Kushida vs. Tommaso Ciampa was the only match to be announced in advance of this show, which was Tuesday night on Twitter.
Kushida had scored a big win over The Velveteen Dream in a singles match at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver 31 event. On the flip side, despite WWE booking Ciampa as an unstoppable heel, he didn’t work the show.
Fast forward to this match, the two stars worked hard. While Ciampa did have the majority of the offense in a lengthy match, Kushida had moments to shine. Unfortunately, the match didn’t have a solid finish as Dream ran out and attacked Kushida. As a result, it ended in a DQ.
Thus, it appears that WWE wanted to keep both guys strong yet continue the feud with Kushida and Dream.
Following the angle earlier in the night, the main event saw Rhea Ripley and Ember Moon team up to face Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez in a tag team match.
An interesting match booking to have in the headliner, but these ladies delivered in a solid match. Moon got some ring time and didn’t appear to be rusty although splitting the workload probably helped.
The finish of the match saw Moon hit her finisher to Kai for the win after Ripley took out Gonzalez over the announce table. Now, it will be interesting to see who gets the first title shot at Io Shirai – Ripley or Moon?
Cody Rhodes is once again the AEW TNT Champion. Just two weeks after he made his return to AEW television, he took on Brodie Lee for the title.
The Dog Collar Match took place in the second hour of Wednesday’s Dynamite episode. AEW brought in Greg “The Hammer” Valentine to sit at ringside as he had a legendary Dog Collar Match with Roddy Piper.
Rhodes won the match with Cross Rhodes. After the match, he was joined by Dustin, Brandi, and Arn Anderson to do a promo with Tony Schiavone.
Cody thanked the fans and said that there is no feeling in the world to compete in front of a live crowd. He said that he has spent the time since he was 15-years-old to this moment to try to reach and feel the love from fans. He said that he’s sticking with the fans until the bitter end.
He said that it’s his life’s worth to be a pro wrestler and wants to defend the title. He was asked who he’d defend the title against and Orange Cassidy walked out to give a thumb’s up. Rhodes responded with the same gesture and the match was official for next week.
It turns out that Finn Balor suffered a jaw injury during his latest match under the WWE NXT banner.
The NXT Champion successfully retained the title this past Sunday at the NXT TakeOver 31 event on the WWE Network over Kyle O\’Reilly. This served as the main event of the show.
Fast forward to Wednesday, Balor took to Twitter hours before the show went live on the USA Network to reveal that he broke his jaw in two places while competing in this contest.
In the match against the Undisputed Era member, Balor was bleeding from his mouth towards the event. Even after the contest, Triple H mentioned Balor was taken to the hospital so he could get x-rays done.
In that post, he noted that it would address this on NXT, which happened. There was a video package with highlights of the match and photos shown of Balor being in the hospital.
A WWE trainer stated that Balor wouldn’t make TV this week, which he didn’t, and Balor would be out of action for a little bit.
While it’s unfortunate that Balor suffered the injury, it appears that he won’t have to vacate the title nor miss a lengthy amount of time in the ring.
Cody Rhodes gave some kind words to Chris Jericho on social media.
It’s been over one year since AEW launched and the biggest signing thus far has been Jericho.
Rhodes took to his Instagram account to comment on the importance of Jericho to AEW. Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite marked a celebration of Jericho’s 30th anniversary in the pro wrestling business. Rhodes wrote the following:
“Chris Jericho celebrates 30 years in our game! Congratulations Chris. He undoubtedly is a crucial piece of the great puzzle that makes up AEW. There’s no denying that. AEW simply doesn’t happen without him. His ability on the microphone, his abilities in the ring, and his attitude have helped countless wrestlers and entertained millions. We may not be the best of friends…or even friends at all…but he’s challenged me to be a better competitor and a better executive. “Thank you for challenging me” is one of the last texts I have from him; let’s continue to challenge eachother and help build this culture and better our wrestling world. Happy 30 Chris! #aew @allelitewrestling @aewontnt @chrisjerichofozzy.”
Jericho took a big chance when he decided to sign with AEW. He did so in early 2019 before AEW had signed a television deal with WarnerMedia that wouldn’t come until the debut episode of Dynamite in October 2019.
Since that time, Jericho has been AEW’s biggest star and inaugural World Heavyweight Champion.
AJ Styles decided to discuss WWE\’s stance on talent having third party accounts such as Camo and Twitch.
The latest reports came out stating that WWE had issued a memo to all talent to inform them that WWE will officially be taking ownership of third party accounts in four weeks.
While wrestlers will still \”receive a portion\” of the revenue, it will count against their downside guarantee in their individual contracts.
Styles talked about this during a recent Twitch live stream. He started out by stating that he doesn’t know what\’s going to happen or what they expect from talent using these platforms.
“I don\’t know if it\’s something that they\’re like, \’We just want you guys under an umbrella like a WWE Twitch and have a set lineup and here is who is on when\’. If that\’s the case – great! Then fans would know where and when to find us.”
He stated that he found out about the news on the internet and he thinks that it would be better than that as he thinks communication should be more open. He pointed out how you’d think that the wrestlers would know more than someone outside of the company.
Styles noted that no one is making millions on Twitch and fans use the platform to interact with their favorite wrestlers while the wrestlers use it to interact with fans as they can no longer do so due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
\”I don\’t know what they\’re hoping to get out of this. The communication has not been as great as we\’d like. There\’s a lot of us who are all on the same page – we\’ve talked to each other. We\’re facing the same thing. It\’s all doom and gloom or, \’Oh, that\’s all they want.\’ I feel like this is an opportunity for me and my channel to say, \’This is what\’s really going on\’ and debunk some stupid rumors that are going on.\”
He said that WWE is a great place to work despite what fans think or what\’s going on with this new edict.
“There just needs to be better communication and direction – lines in the sand, I guess you could say. Like, \’You don\’t cross this; You can\’t do this\’ because there is that crazy thing about us being an independent contractor.”
He pointed out that they’re independent contractors and there are a bunch of rules, but he would rather keep it that way because he knows what is to be expected of him.
Several prospects have signed with WWE that includes some notable names that fans will know.
On Wednesday, WWE announced that these signees have reported for training this week at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
Among the listed WWE athletes include former EVOLVE stars Brandi Lauren, Curt Stallion, Anthony Green, Leon Ruff, Joe Gacy, and Josh Briggs.
Here are some details on the other prospects that are included in the class:
Brandi Pawelek, known on the independents as Brandi Lauren, is an exciting competitor who has stepped in the ring for promotions like EVOLVE and SHINE.
Camron Rogers is a 6-foot-1 Texan who competes under the name Curt Stallion. Rogers broke out in 2019 in EVOLVE Wrestling, where he battled the likes of SmackDown Superstar Matt Riddle and NXT Superstars Cameron Grimes, Dexter Lumis and Mansoor.
Anthony Greene is a flamboyant Massachusetts native and standout grappler from EVOLVE Wrestling. The 26-year-old stood toe-to-toe with NXT Tag Team Champion Tyler Breeze in EVOLVE, as well as many of his fellow recruits from this class.
Dartanyon Ruffin, better known as Leon Ruff, is a former EVOLVE Tag Team Champion. The energetic 24-year-old has competed on Raw, SmackDown, NXT and 205 Live in recent months, going up against the likes of Sheamus, Aleister Black, Tommaso Ciampa and Legado del Fantasma.
Joseph Ruby is a 6-foot, 249-pound powerhouse from New Jersey. Competing as Joe Gacy, he’s a former three-time Combat Zone Wrestling Heavyweight Champion and EVOLVE Tag Team Champion.
Joshua Bruns is an imposing figure, standing 6-foot-8 and weighing 268 pounds. As Josh Briggs, he’s been the EVOLVE Champion and battled the likes of NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER, Matt Riddle, John Morrison and Raw Tag Team Champion Angelo Dawkins.
Jacob Kasper is a 25-year-old amateur wrestling standout from Lexington, Ohio. Kasper wrestled at Duke University, where he was a two-time NCAA All-American and won the 2018 ACC heavyweight championship. He also placed in the 2016 Olympic trials.
Jake Clemons of Ohio is a referee who has officiated matches on Monday Night Raw, as well as for promotions like EVOLVE and AIW.
Monday’s edition of WWE RAW averaged 1.686 million viewers with a 0.52 rating in the key 18-49 demographic. This was down from last week, which did 1.822 million viewers and 0.54 demo rating.
WWE had to deal with not just one NFL game that aired on ESPN, which was between the 49ers and Packers that had 8.652 million viewers, but also an earlier game on CBS between Patriots and Chiefs that averaged 13 million viewers.
Unlike last week, which was the post-Clash of Champions episode of RAW, there was no special theme, but rather the final RAW before this year’s Draft.
To compare, just one year ago, RAW averaged 2.334 million viewers. Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown for Raw, courtesy of Showbuzzdaily.com:
Hour 1: 1.791 million, 0.56 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 2: 1.666 million, 0.55 in the 18-49 Demo
Hour 3: 1.601 million, 0.49 in the 18-49 Demo
SmackDown Viewership
Friday’s SmackDown averaged 2.155 million viewers on FOX. This is up from the 2.110 million viewers that the show did for the previous week.
SmackDown averaged 2.042 million viewers in the fast nationals, which was up from the 2.032 million viewers a week ago. This number measured the top metered markets.
The first hour drew 2.105 million viewers while the second hour did 1.980 million viewers. For comparison, the first show of last week’s show did 2.050 million viewers while the second hour did 2.014 million viewers.
SmackDown pulled in a 0.60 rating in the 18-49 demos, the same from 0.50 rating as last week’s show.
With his tag team partner on the sidelines, Erik of The Viking Raiders is also out of action after undergoing surgery.
The WWE RAW star took to Twitter on Tuesday to note that he had surgery done by Dr. Jeffrey Dugas at Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The reason for the surgery was to have some surgical hardware removed from his arm.
There’s no word yet on how long he’ll be out of action. He wrote the following:
\”Today I had hardware removed from my cyborg arm. I\’ve been putting off this surgery for a long time and just worked thru the pain and limitations caused by a surgical screw protruding into my triceps. Thanks to the wonderful Dr Dugas, I\’m excited to come back at full strength.”
He just wrestled on last week’s episode of Main Event where he ended up dropping a loss to Riddick Moss. In fact, he lost to Moss on RAW Underground the week before that and three weeks ago to WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley.
Ivar underwent neck surgery last month after suffering an injury while working a match on Monday Night RAW.
This was the last time that the Viking Raiders were seen in action together as The Hurt Business with Cedric Alexander battled Ivar, Erik, Ricochet, and Apollo Crews 8-man tag team match
Today I had hardware removed from my cyborg arm. I’ve been putting off this surgery for a long time and just worked thru the pain and limitations caused by a surgical screw protruding into my triceps.
Ring of Honor is slated to hold television tapings this month. It had been reported by PWinsider.com that EC3 would be working the tapings. It was noted that he’ll make his first appearance on ROH programming when this content airs and now that appears to be confirmed.
The promotion has already publicly announced that they will go by a strict COVID-19 protocol set in place by the Maryland State Athletic Commission when holding tapings.
They’ll also be doing necessary testing and safety measures in a continued effort to prevent the spread of the virus. There will be no fans nor non-essential staff at the tapings.
EC3 was released from WWE in April when the company decided to make mass firing of staff and talent. He made his return to Impact Wrestling following the main event of the Slammiversary pay-per-view event from Skyway Studios in Nashville, Tennessee back in July.
Even though he\’ll be working for ROH, he remains with Impact as well.
Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre has been announced for the upcoming WWE Hell In A Cell PPV.
WWE did so during Monday’s episode of RAW. Just last week, Orton attacked Big Show, Ric Flair, Christian, and Shawn Michaels to close the show.
This week’s show saw Orton open with a promo in the backstage area where he talked about the attack and issued a match challenge to the WWE champion.
This led to McIntyre attacking him to get some revenge. In the second hour of the show, McIntyre cut a promo and accepted the challenge issued by Orton. WWE also confirmed that this will, in fact, be a Hell in a Cell Match.
So far, this is the second Hell in a Cell Match to be confirmed on the card. McIntyre retained the WWE Title over Orton at SummerSlam and Clash of Champions.
"I'm not locked inside the cell with you. YOU'RE locked inside the cell with @DMcIntyreWWE."
Roode Roode opened up on his WWE hiatus in a new interview. The Glorious one returned to TV last week after being away for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He lives in Canada and the borders between Canada and the United States have been closed, preventing him from entering the country.
Roode discussed this while speaking with TV Insider.com.
“I had a lot of free time on my hands. The travel ban made it difficult for me to get to work every week, [so] I’ve been a fan.”
He watched the product during the hiatus. “It was a long layoff, around seven months.. a lot of downtime to heal up physically and mentally and just wanting to get back to work. Thankfully, last week was my opportunity.”
As a veteran of the squared circle, Roode said it was a big adjustment being away from professional wrestling.
“I’ve been in this business for more than 20 years. This is the longest period of time I’ve been off and at home. When your lifestyle is like this for 15, 20 years, it’s a hard adjustment. In a way, it was enjoyable to not live out of a suitcase and get to spend time with family.”
Roode missed WWE after a couple months away. The business is in his blood and his passion. He recalled missing the camaraderie, the schedule, and life on the road so he’s happy to be back.
Even though Netflix had previously announced that GLOW had been renewed for its fourth and final season, the show is canceled.
Deadline reported today that Netflix has changed its decision to renew the show due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Back in August 2019, the streaming service had committed to the fourth season of the show.
“COVID has killed actual humans. It’s a national tragedy and should be our focus. COVID also apparently took down our show. Netflix has decided not to finish filming the final season of GLOW,” series creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch said in a statement. “We were handed the creative freedom to make a complicated comedy about women and tell their stories. And wrestle. And now that’s gone. There’s a lot of sh*tty things happening in the world that are much bigger than this right now. But it still sucks that we don’t get to see these 15 women in a frame together again.”
“We’ve made the difficult decision not to do a fourth season of GLOW due to COVID, which makes shooting this physically intimate show with its large ensemble cast especially challenging,” A Netflix spokesperson told Deadline. “We are so grateful to creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, Jenji Kohan and all the writers, cast and crew for sharing this story about the incredible women of GLOW with us and the world.”
Per the report, Netflix had been trying to find ways to get the show back into production over the last several months, but the problem was that the season wouldn’t have premiered until early 2022.
Also, there is still uncertainty of COVID-19 in addition to the physical aspect of the show were the reasons for cancellation.
GLOW star Marc Maron had this to say about the cancelation:
The series, which made its debut in 2017, was inspired by the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion that was started in 1986.
Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Marc Maron, Sydelle Noel, Britney Young, Britt Baron, Kate Nash, Jackie Tohn, Gayle Rankin, Kia Stevens starred in the series.
All good things must come to a GLOWing end. We're coming back for a fourth and final season! pic.twitter.com/FPLiAzLdZ5
As expected, Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly ended up serving as the main event.
Balor put the NXT Title on the line against The Undisputed Era member at the WWE NXT TakeOver 31 event.
While the contest didn’t have the star power that other TakeOver events have had, fans had hoped the work rate would exceed expectations. Based on feedback from fans on social media, it did just that.
The match was hard-hitting with a mix of various strikes and submission holds. Both guys were bleeding from the mouth. In the end, Balor hit the double foot stomp off the top rope for the win.
Because Balor had won the NXT Title over top contenders such as Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, and Tommaso Ciampa, he didn’t have a clear cut contender. Thus, WWE came up with a unique match to fill that role.
WWE held a Gauntlet Eliminator Match on the September 23rd episode of NXT. Bronson Reed, Timothy Thatcher, O’Reilly, Kushida, and Cameron Grimes worked the bout.
The basic rules of the match was every 4 minutes, another competitor will enter, an elimination was via pinfall or submission, and the last person, which was O’Reilly, won the contest.
What are your thoughts Finn Balor on retaining the NXT Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Io Shirai was successful in her latest title defense of the NXT Women’s Title.
She did so at Sunday’s WWE NXT TakeOver 31 event when she pinned Candice LeRae.
The match was dominated by LeRae in the early going. Shirai managed to fight back and then they went right into the near fall spots. Shirai hit a moonsault off the top rope that saw LeRae put her knees up sending Shirai into the referee.
Johnny Gargano ran out to the ring with a referee t-shirt but the referee told him to get lost. LeRae hit Shirai with the title, but Shirai kicked out at 2. The finish saw Shirai hit a moonsault off the top rope.
After the match, Toni Storm appeared on the big screen to tell her that it\’s Toni\’s Time.
Then, the mystery person that had been featured in various video packages was revealed to be Ember Moon. She had a staredown with Shirai to end the segment.
There was a belief that the videos have been building towards the return of someone who was part of NXT several years ago such as a former NXT Champion.
Moon has been out of action since November 2019 with an achilles injury.
WWE set up this contest back on the September 23rd episode of NXT when they held a match that would determine who is next in line for a title shot.
A Battle Royal took place Shotzi Blackheart, Kacy Catanzaro, Indi Hartwell, Aliyah, Dakota Kai, LeRae, Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, Raquel Gonzalez, Kayden Carter, and Xia Li were the competitors. Obviously, LeRae won the match and earned this title opportunity.
To the surprise and joy of fans, WWE has decided to bring back Halloween Havoc. They’ll do so on an upcoming episode of NXT TV.
During Sunday’s NXT TakeOver 31, WWE announced by airing a video package that the October 28th episode of NXT on the USA Network will have this theme.
It will be interesting to see how they design the set for the special as when WCW held the pay-per-view events, there were various fan-favorite sets.
WWE just remodeled the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and turned it into the Capitol Wrestling Center. It was also announced in the package that aired after KUSHIDA picking up a win over Velveteen Dream that Shotzi Blackheart will host the special.
NXT’s last themed event took place during the week of the 4th of July as it was titled ‘Great American Bash’ that took place over the course of two weeks. This will likely be just for one week but WWE is once again using a WCW pay-per-view theme.
The theme was created in 1989 and last used in 2000 under the WCW banner.
Santos Escobar is still on top of the cruiserweight division as he wasn’t dethroned by Isaiah Scott.
Escobar did so at Sunday’s (October 4, 2020) WWE NXT TakeOver 31 event in Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center when he pinned Scott
The match featured both guys working a high paced style with various dives. Escobar hit the Phantom Driver for 2 while Scott hit three suplexes then a 450 splash off the top rope. The finish saw Escobar connect with a facebuster after Scott hit his head on the ring post for the win.
It turns out that before this match, Scott was the only person to pin Escobar in WWE as he scored a win in a group match during NXT\’s Cruiserweight Championship tournament. He also pinned him during a six-man tag street fight on NXT earlier this month.
WWE did give Scott a previous title match as he challenged for the title on the August 26 episode of NXT. However, the finish of that contest saw Escobar use a mask that was loaded with a weapon to headbutt Scott.
Two weeks ago, WWE had Scott say in a video on NXt that he wasn’t content with just having two wins over Escobar. Thus, he wanted another crack at him but this time with no Legado del Fantasma or manipulated lucha masks as he believes he’s a better competitor.
Damian Priest put his newly won NXT North American Title on the line in one of the matches featured on the WWE NXT TakeOver 31 card.
He did so when he squared off with Johnny Gargano in Orlando, Florida. The contest was a typical big guy vs. small wrestler dynamic to kick off the card.
Some highlights included Priest doing an outside dive to accidentally take out some extras before Gargano connected with a superkick after hitting him with a low blow. Priest retained the title with his finisher.
Priest won the title by winning the then-vacant title in a five-way ladder match at TakeOver XXX last month. In fact, Gargano also took part in the contest and it came down him and Priest. The finish of that match saw Priest kick Gargano down and then retrieved the title.
Priest then made his first defense of the North American Title when he retained against Timothy Thatcher. It happened in the main event of a recent episode of NXT.
Shortly thereafter, Gargano and Candice LeRae declared their intentions to come after they\’re both coming after championship gold.
Jack Gallagher has broken his silence regarding an allegation that was made publicly against him during the #SpeakingOut Movement back in June.
A woman named Becky alleged Gallagher got her drunk on New Years’ Eve in 2014 and he allegedly made unwanted advances and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
She claimed to have resisted his advances. However, when she tried to push him off, he grabbed onto her. He hanged onto her skirt that caused it to rip and she left the party after that.
This resulted in his WWE release. Gallagher took to Twitter to issue the following statement:
\”Following an allegation made in June 2020 as part of the #SpeakingOut movement I was released from my contract with the WWE.
I didn\’t release a statement then because it didn\’t feel the right thing to do at the time. I have now taken the time to process what has happened and would like to respond.
In 2014, at a New Year\’s Eve party, I met a young woman and my behaviour towards her was inappropriate. As this party was nearly six years ago and I had drunk quite a large amount of alcohol that night, unfortunately, I do not recollect what happened.
I wish to make it clear that drinking is not an excuse for my behaviour that night. I want to express my deepest regrets, and I am genuinely sorry for the upset that I have caused.
Following these allegations, I proactively contacted the Head of WWE Talent Relations to take responsibility for my actions, as I was aware that the woman who made the allegations and I had both attended the same New Year\’s Eve party. I was then informed that this would be a breach of the company ethics policy, and this is what lead to my release from my contract with the WWE.
This isolated incident is not reflective of my behaviour and attitude towards women. As a man, I know I can do better, and with the support of my wife, I have taken the time over the last few months to understand what I can do. But this is not about me, but about the women that come forward as part of the #SpeakingOut movement. I will continue to support women and this movement to the best of my ability.\”
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