Author: Andrew Ravens

WWE will crown a new NXT North American Champion at Halloween Havoc as Solo Sikoa is no longer the champion. 

In the opening segment of this week’s NXT episode on the USA Network, Carmelo Hayes, Sikoa, and Shawn Michaels were seen in a room. Sikoa was notified by Michaels that his last week\’s match with Carmelo was not one in which he was authorized to participate. 

Solo Sikoa is No Longer The Champ

Due to a fan vote, Wes Lee was to face Hayes in the championship defense. However, after Hayes and Trick Williams ambushed Lee, Solo stepped in and won the match.

He told Sikoa that his title victory was inadmissible and wished him luck in his main roster career with The Bloodline (Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Tag Team Champions The Usos) on SmackDown. 

When Michaels told Hayes that they would be competing for the title in a ladder match at Halloween Havoc, Hayes thought he would be getting the belt back.

On the SmackDown edition of September 16 versus Madcap Moss, Sikoa successfully defended the title one time.

Former WWE star Velveteen Dream, real name Patrick Clark, is no longer facing a case regarding battery charges and trespassing on a property filed against him. 

After being arrested on August 20th, he was supposed to have a hearing on September 28th. However, court records show the case has been closed, and the scheduled hearing is canceled, according to PWinsider.com. 

The court records indicate that prosecutors believed they did not have enough to go forward with a case against Clark and get a conviction, so it was deemed \”not suitable for prosecution.\”

Velveteen Dream\’s Legal Problems

It was previously reported that Clark and an employee of a fitness gym in Orlando got into an altercation when the former WWE star was asked to exit an area of the gym that was about to be cleaned. It was alleged that Clark became \”irate and argumentative\” towards the employee and was ordered to leave the facility.

Clark threatened to kill the employee, which sparked a physical fight, which saw Clark allegedly bite the man.  Authorities found teeth marks on the men\’s \”left chest near the left armpit.\” Clark pleaded not guilty and was released on a $1,200 bond. 

This arrest led to a violation of an existing Clark probation stemming from a November 2021 arrest when he was charged with possession of cocaine, use or possession of drug paraphernalia, destroying/altering/concealing physical evidence, and having no lamps/illuminating devices in his vehicle. 

Clark was arrested for that violation and was jailed for 25 days in Seminole County, Florida, before being released on September 13th.

WWE is reportedly planning to book Roman Reigns vs. Logan Paul for its Crown Jewel event. 

On Friday, Dave Meltzer of F4Wonlinline.com reported that WWE is holding a press conference in Las Vegas this Saturday to announce the main event for its November 5 event with this planned match. It’s unclear whether Reigns will be defending his Undisputed WWE Universal Title against Paul or if it will be a non-title bout. 

This report comes shortly after Paul was hyping on Twitter that he will make a massive announcement on tonight’s episode of SmackDown. 

Paul\’s appearance on tonight\’s SmackDown was set up by an exchange that happened after Reigns appeared on Paul\’s Impaulsive podcast and noted on Twitter that Paul was talking trash about him as Paul said Reigns is the person in WWE who he wants to face. 

\”You put me against Roman Reigns right now, I think I would win,\” Paul said. \”Me vs. Roman Reigns one-on-one, that\’s my match.\”

Reigns told Paul Heyman to handle it, and then Triple H  invited Paul to appear on SmackDown tonight. This led to speculation about a WWE building towards a potential match between Reigns and Paul, and that is the case. 

This will be Paul\’s first appearance on WWE programming since he defeated The Miz at SummerSlam.

Bray Wyatt (Windham Rotunda) remains one of the top names on pro wrestling\’s free agent market. Wrestling fans have wondered about his return since his shocking release from the company in July 2021.

WWE has brought back several former Superstars over the past several months. Ever since Triple H took over as head of talent relations and creative, we\’ve seen the company re-sign performers including Braun Strowman, Johnny Gargano, Dakota Kai, Iyo Sky, Karrion Kross and Hit Row.

Wyatt is a former World Champion, so it should come as no surprise that WWE has had talks with the Eater of Worlds about coming back into the fold. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, those talks stalled out, but the door is still open for the two sides to work together again.

Bray Wyatt was one of the top earners during his time with WWE. Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns make more money than anybody, but Wyatt was one of the highest paid full-time acts.

Since leaving WWE, he\’s had talks with a few other wrestling promotions. Ultimately, we\’ve heard he\’s got a very high asking price that has prevented people like Tony Khan pulling the trigger on acquiring his services.

Wyatt has hinted on social media that his love for pro wrestling is alive and well. It\’s probably only a matter of time before he\’s back inside the squared circle.

WWE taped the September 20th and September 27th episodes of NXT television on Wednesday night in Orlando, Florida.

At the tapings, it was revealed that Bron Breakker will defend the NXT Title against JD McDonagh and Ilja Dragunov in a triple threat match at the Halloween Havoc premium live event on Saturday, October 22, from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL.

It’s expected WWE will bring back the TakeOver name for these NXT specials starting with this event. 

NXT Television Spoilers

The match will be confirmed on the September 27th episode of NXT. Here are the spoilers, courtesy of PWInsider:

September 20th Episode

Nathan Frazer defeated Axiom to tie their Best of 3 Series.

Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne defeated Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley. Unified NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose was at ringside for the bout. 

Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler, and Jagger Reid come to the ring for a promo. A masked woman with a hoodie is seen watching from the back of the crowd. Edris Enofe and Malik Blade challenged The Dyad to a match.

The Dyad defeated Edris Enofe and Malik Blade.

Cora Jade defeated Wendy Choo. After the match, Lash Legend attacked Choo while Jade laughed from the entranceway.

Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward defeated Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams. After the bout, Chase, and Bodhi joined Thea Hail for a big celebration in the crowd with the Chase University student section.

Oro Mensah (fka Oliver Carter) made his debut with a win over Grayson Waller with an assist from Apollo Crews.

JD McDonagh defeated Tyler Bate. Post-match, NXT Champion Bron Breakker came out for a face-off with JD until Ilja Dragunov interrupted.

September 27th Episode

Joe Gacy (with The Dyad [Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid]) defeated Cameron Grimes. The person in the red hoodie was seen again in the crowd.

Sol Ruca defeated Amari Miller

Nikkita Lyons (with Zoey Stark) defeated Kayden Carter (with Katana Chance)

Ilja Dragunov cut a promo about winning the NXT UK Title and being forced to relinquish it. JD McDonagh exchanged words with him over Ilja taking JD out of NXT UK. Bron Breakker walked out. JD said that due to him being the #1 Contender, Ilja and Bron should fight each other for the right to face him. Bron mentions due to being a Steiner, he\’s good at math and he has 33 1/3 chance of beating both of them at Halloween Havoc in a Triple Threat match.

Damon Kemp vs. Brutus Creed ended in a no contest as Damon used a chair several times to beat down Brutus.

Wes Lee defeated Tony D\’Angelo (with Channing \”Stacks\” Lorenzo) via referee stoppage. Tony got thrown into the middle turnbuckle, and doctors checked on him. The match was called off. Tony needed to be helped backstage by a few people.

Mandy Rose (with Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jane) defeated Fallon Henley in a non-title match. Post-match, Rose cut a promo about Alba Fyre, who came on the screen and mentioned she\’d be coming for the Women\’s Championship.

Ilja Dragunov defeated Xyon Quinn.

Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen defeated Wolfgang and Mark Coffey of Gallus in a Pub Rules Match. Briggs and Jensen hit their finisher on Mark Coffey, a garbage can wrapped around him, to win the match.

Road Dogg has opened up on his issues with CM Punk, which were big enough that he considered throwing down with him.

The former WWE Tag Team Champion spoke about his issues with CM Punk while discussing world championship runs and the perception behind “needing” a world title win.

Road Dogg recalled during the new episode of his Oh… You Didn’t Know? podcast on AdFreeShows.com that Punk had the mentality of needing to be the top champion and being in the main event. 

Road Dogg on his Issues With Punk

Road Dogg discussed wrestlers wanting certain clauses in their contracts and recalled why he still doesn’t have any respect for Punk. It goes back to the 2014 brief run together in WWE between Punk and the New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg & Billy Gunn). 

“Bro, I’ve been burying him for years, and I’m not kidding. He’s not a nice person. He’s not a good — I don’t know. I don’t know. If you’ve been friends with somebody for so long and all the sudden you’re in a lawsuit over stuff and you can’t just talk to it? I just don’t understand it, but that’s not the straw that broke the camel’s back for me,” Road Dogg said. “It was when we actually had to work with him in our 2014 run [in WWE]. Seeing the attitude he had towards me and Billy — granted, we were not Hall Of Famers at the time, but we were on our way to be for sure — and we were the New Age Outlaws, at least we’d been there as long as he had, you know what I mean? He showed us not respect, he showed us disrespect, so that was that. You don’t get a second chance at that. I’m showing you respect, why aren’t you showing me respect? Honky Tonk Man said, ‘I don’t bodyslam you, why are you bodyslamming me?’

“The truth of it is, respect is a two-way street and if you don’t give it, you dang sure ain’t getting it. Not from me, and you got one shot at that, from me and Billy. It was just, he talked to us negatively and if I hadn’t had a job there, if I wouldn’t have been newly hired, I probably would’ve fought him. I feel relatively confident I would’ve come out on top. This was prior to his [MMA training], so maybe I would’ve come out on top, maybe I wouldn’t have,” Road Dogg proclaimed, “but I was willing to find out. That’s enough burying Punk, he’s burying himself good enough right now.”

The New Age Outlaws and CM Punk had a brief run together in January 2014. That same year, Road Dogg returned to working as a producer while Billy Gunn resumed his duties as a trainer in NXT and Punk left the company. 

Quotes via WrestleZone

Roman Reigns has commented on the possibility of facing The Rock at WWE WrestleMania 39 next year. 

It’s a match that fans and the company want to see happen, but it will come down to whether The Rock can break away from his busy schedule with commitments in Hollywood and relaunching the XFL. 

While appearing on Logan Paul\’s IMPAULSIVE podcast, Reigns was asked about the possibility of this bout. 

Roman Reigns is Open to The Match

\”They keep trying. Everybody keeps trying on this one,\” said Reigns. \”I don\’t book the show, bro. I\’m up for anybody. If it works out, then I\’m ready.\”

Reigns noted that he seizes whatever opportunities are put in front of him. 

 \”It seems like it\’s been that way. All the big names, all the big stars, whether they\’re from our business, the movies, to the internet now, I\’ve been in a really cool groove where these things have kinda just come to me, so I hope they\’ll just continue to do that. 

Reigns also commented on his social media use by stating he doesn’t fire back at trolls but just uses it to advance his WWE character. 

The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion also discussed working with John Cena, his family life, his battles with leukemia, and more. Click below for the entire interview: 

Transcription courtesy of F4Wonline.com

Johnny Gargano stepped back inside the squared circle for the first time in several months on Monday night. 

Gargano ended his tenure in WWE NXT in December of last year as he decided not to re-sign with the company. Ahead of the birth of his first child, Quill, Gargano took time off to be with his wife, Candice LeRae. 

Gargano made his return to WWE last month. Between the two stints, Gargano didn’t work a single match and got out of shape a bit to let his body recover. On Raw, Gargano beat Chad Gable in a singles match. 

Johnny Gargano Opens up on the Body Transformation

In a post on Instagram, Gargano shared photos and discussed his body transformation.

Here is an excerpt from the lengthy post that you can see below: 

“When I left wrestling in December I decided I wanted a complete mental and physical break from everything that I correlated with wrestling. Diet and training goes hand in hand with that to me. It\’s unfortunately a cosmetic business and a part of the job. I\’ve been \”dieting and training\” (probably horribly wrong my first 10 years) for my entire wrestling career. That\’s almost 18 years. I grew incredibly tired of it and didn\’t enjoy it. My inner fat kid missed being able to eat whatever I wanted without counting macros or \”planning a cheat day\” and then feeling guilty and feeling gross half naked on TV. It was a vicious cycle that gave me a horrible relationship with food. The thing I looked forward to the most being off.. was being able to eat and not being judged.

In the same way I wanted to miss wrestling.. I wanted to miss diet and exercise. In hopes that my passion would reignite and when I was ready to come back I could be completely re-energized and attack this thing with everything I got. To be the best version of myself possible. From December to April.. I ate anything I wanted daily! Me and Candice (pregnant for a few of those months) tore up Uber Eats! It was great! I wanted to go full \”Dad Bod\” and I did! I trained here and there but with no rhyme or reason. As the months went on though.. it turned out like I hoped.. Food wasn\’t special anymore. I missed being dialed in.. and having abs.

So in April I decided I wanted to get to work. I didn\’t know where or when I was coming back but I wanted to get ready and I knew it would take time given the damage I did. How my career ended up was out of my control but the thing I could control is the work I put in and how I looked when the time came..”

After WWE announced that NXT UK would be going away ahead of the launch of NXT Europe, the company sent several top stars to NXT and released everyone else. 

When Jinny appeared in the alumni section of WWE.com, it had many fans worried after the huge layoffs at NXT UK.

Fightful Select reported today that they asked a WWE official if Jinny had departed the company, and who they spoke to said they hadn\’t been informed of such a move.

Jinny\’s Injury

This source did note that Jinny had been dealing with an injury and hadn\’t been in the United States the last few weeks. This lines up as she has mentioned on social media this is the case because she\’s waiting for her supporting documents and old passport, which also contains her US visa.

However, she is set to travel to the United States for medical treatment for an injury this week. It was added that there wasn’t any major consideration for Jinny to fill the Maxxine Dupri role because she has been dealing with an undisclosed injury.

Although Jinny hasn\’t wrestled at all since November 2021, she has been doing work with BT Sport during her time off.

Many fans have noticed the changes to the product now that Vince McMahon is gone from the company and Triple H is in charge of creative. There have also been changes made behind the scenes in the company. 

PWInsider reports that the management (Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan serving as co-CEOs) change has energized the locker room and the production team. The energy at WWE Headquarters in Stamford is said to be much better for a very different reason.

Working Under Vince McMahon

When Vince was in charge, people had to walk on eggshells and there was always a fear that if you put your personal life before the company then you may be expendable because Vince lived and breathed WWE every day and his work hours were insane. As a result, Vince expected employees to work those same hours. 

With the new management team, the level of stress has decreased, and people no longer feel guilty about leaving work at a normal hour. The work/life balance is said to be much better these days.

Also, the feeling of keeping your head down that people had when Vince was around is no longer there. They also feel they can converse with management if they run into them, unlike when Vince was in charge. 

One staffer noted that people \”knew running into Vince was like running into the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. You didn\’t want to call attention to yourself.\”

Regarding the creative team, there is no longer the feeling that everyone must \”hurry up to wait\” for hours so Vince can finish his meetings. 

Meetings in the company are said to be more streamlined and regimented and the feeling is by not wasting so much time, there is less worry about being \”worn out by the grind.”