Here's your wrestling news for August 30th 2021
And your headlines for today include
How Becky Lynch’s WWE Return Was Kept A Secret From The Roster?
New NWA World Champion Crowned At NWA 73 Pay-Per-View; Ric Flair Thanks WWE, Vince McMahon, Tony Khan In NWA 73 Promo!
WWE Locker Room’s Reaction To Multiple Big Releases!
Roman Reigns Reaches Massive Milestone In WWE!
Jim Ross & Tony Khan Respond To Reports On Ross Transitioning Out Of Full-Time Announcer!
An Unexpected WWE Battle Royal Winner Fans Are NOT Aware; Original Winner Cries Backstage; How Vince Reacted?
Charlotte Flair: Whoever Wins Queen Of The Ring Should Face Me!
Tessa Blanchard Drops A MAJOR Hint About Her NEXT Move!
AEW’s Current Plan For Ruby Riott’s Debut!
John Cena Isn’t Saying No To Playing ‘The Thing’ In Fantastic 4 Reboot!
AEW Wrestler Tweets & Deletes About Black Wrestlers Not Getting Love! And More!
We’re starting off with Becky Lynch, who shocked fans with her return, and the decision for her to win the SmackDown Women’s
Championship in second has divided fans. Many fans aren’t happy that she won the title in her first match back, but that’s exactly the
reaction WWE want, as this is all part of a heel turn The Man herself requested. Though reports of Lynch’s return had been
circulating for a while, nobody knew that the plan was for her to have her big comeback at Summerslam, and according to Fightful Select
WWE went the extra mile to stop spoilers from leaking to the public: Lynch’s name did not appear on internal run
sheets, and there were segments added to WWE Summerslam to adjust for the time missed in the Sasha Banks vs. Bianca Belair match
that couldn’t end up happening. The report adds that only Belair and Carmella were told ahead of time that Lynch was
returning, and that Lynch and Seth Rollin’s baby-daughter Roux was also backstage. It’s not just the fans who’ve hated how
Lynch has returned, as during a Twitch stream, Paige said she “hated” how Belair’s title loss was a squash, saying it
did nothing” for women’s wrestling. On SmackDown, Lynch continued her heel turn, refusing a rematch to Bianca Belair
who had to earn a title match in fatal four- way action, and it’ll be interesting to see what Lynch does next after her
return was kept a secret last week.
Over to the NWA now, which celebrated it’s 73rd anniversary show last night, and saw Trevor Murdoch become the new NWA World
Heavyweight Champion. Defeating Nick Aldis to do so, Murdoch ends the 1,044 day reign of the British star, who’s
won the gold from Cody Rhodes on October 21st, 2018 at the NWA 70th Anniversary show. This marks Murdoch’s first title reign, and he
celebrated post-match with his family and Ric Flair, in unquestionably the biggest night in the career of the former WWE World
Tag Team Champion.
Ric Flair wasn’t just there to celebrate with the new Champion, as he also had an emotional in-ring promo during the show.
A ten-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Flair’s emotional promo began by thanking his wife Wendy, and praised several stars in WWE,
including Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker and Steve Austin, and told Vince McMahon “I love you,” even if he acknowledge
that the Chairman probably won’t watch the show. The Nature Boy went on to say that he belongs in whichever company he wants to be on any
given night, saying he’s earned that right, and once-more thanked Triple H for helping him in 2002, as Flair infamously felt like he didn’t
belong in the WWF for the first year of his post-WCW return. Flair then thanked Shawn Michaels for
carrying him” to a great retirement match at WrestleMania 24, and said he hopes to see Charlotte Flair and Randy Orton eventually
break his 16-time World Championship record. After thanking NWA Chairman Billy Corgan, Flair also gave a shout out to AEW President
Tony Khan, for improving the landscape of pro-wrestling. With such a legendary career, there’s no
shortage of names Flair could’ve thanked in his promo, and it was great to see Flair so happy to be in the promotion he dominated
for so many years.
Over the past year, WWE has been releasing a ton of talent, with big names like Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt being cut in the past
few months. In 2021 alone, 52 Superstars have been future-endeavoured, and one person who was
cut in June this year was Ariya Daivari. Speaking to Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Ariya discussed his brother Shawn, who was
released as a producer and since rehired, as well as the locker-room’s reaction to big names being cut. He said:
When Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman got released, the whole roster from top to bottom, RAW, SmackDown, NXT was like’oh s**t.
If they are letting guys like Braun and Samoa Joe go, it could be anybody.’ Although Samoa Joe has since been rehired by
WWE, becoming the first three-time NXT Champion, Strowman hasn’t been as lucky, nor has anyone else released this year.
Interestingly, Daivari’s comments are the opposite to WWE Champion Bobby Lashley, who’s claimed that backstage morale is still high despite these
cuts. Whatever the case is, WWE almost certainly isn’t finished with their mass-releases,
meaning the entire roster will have to keep hoping that they survive another day as a Vince McMahon employee.
One person who’s incredibly safe in WWE is Universal Champion Roman Reigns who’s dominated since returning to TV last year,
taking down some of the biggest names in wrestling. Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Rey Mysterio,
Cesaro and John Cena have all had no choice but to acknowledge the Tribal Chief, who is today celebrating a huge milestone.
Today, August 30th, marks day 365 of Reigns’ incredible tenure as Universal Champion, having won the title exactly one year ago at
Payback 2020. Reigns’ next title defence will be this Friday, when he defends against Finn Balor,
and we’ll have to see how the Head of the Table fares against the very first Universal Champion.
Last week, it was reported that Jim Ross will be transitioning out of being a full-time commentator for AEW, and will instead only be
used for big matches and shows, as well as backstage segments. As the greatest commentator ever, many were
surprised to hear about JR’s change of roles, but that’s apparently not the case. When Tony Khan was asked about the reports
that the company is looking to remove JR, he called the reports innacuarate, whilst JR himself replied to a fan’s questioning about
him no longer being a full-time announcer, saying “It’s news to me.” Signing with AEW in 2019, JR has been one of
their biggest non-wrestler signings, and fans will get to keep hearing him each week on AEW programming.
In 2018, former WWE Superstar Kaitlyn returned to WWE for the Mae Young Classic, five years after she left the company.
Kaitlyn’s career in WWE started on season 3 of the original NXT, the only all-female season of the reality show, which Michael Cole infamously
wasn’t a fan of. As part of a heel turn, the veteran commentator constantly trashed what was happening on
the show, and in a recent interview with Total Smark Wrestling, Kaitlyn discussed reuniting with Cole many years later. She said:
When I went back to the Mae Young Classic in 2018, I had the opportunity to sit down with Michael Cole,” Kaitlyn said. “I think he might
ave felt a little bad, because he was the main commentator on NXT, and he was so mean to us. As a commentator you have so much
ability to shift people’s perspectives and mindset, and he just s**t on us like so much. It was funny but it also made us feel like s**t
and other people s**t on us because of it Adding that Cole’s commentary only cemented the idea of women’s matches being
“bathroom breaks,” Kaitlyn said it was cool that he apolgised when they met in 2018, and she understood that he was just doing his job
as a heel and it wasn’t personal. In the interview, Kaitlyn also discussed her battle royal victory on the August 20th 2012
RAW, a win that earned her a Divas title shot, but that wasn’t the result WWE had in mind. According to the former Superstar,
she was meant to be one of the first people to be eliminated, but Producer Fit Finlay changed the finish that was meant to see Kaitlyn
be the last-one eliminated by Eve Torres. What fans got instead was a soft clothesline by Kaitlyn, followed by a much stiffer
clothesline that accidentally eliminated Eve, giving Kaitlyn the win by accident. She added: “After the segment ended I walked in the back
and Vince was laughing hysterically, Eve was crying, Fit was laughing, and they were like ‘ ok let’s go!’. There were so many guys that
were like ‘I’m so happy for you, congratulations.’ Ever since, that match, Eve took me under her
wing and we had some great matches.” Kaitlyn was only in WWE for three years before her 2013 departure, but was able to
accomplish a lot in that short time, and she has plenty of stories from her wild career working for Vince McMahon.
Back to the present, and in October, WWE will reportedly start their first-ever Queen of the Ring tournament, with the finals rumoured
to be at Crown Jewel. While nothing has been confirmed, RAW Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair has
weighed in on the tournament, believing she shouldn’t have to even be in it to be called a Queen.
Speaking to Inside The Ropes, Flair discussed the possible tournament, and speculated on what the prize could be for the winner:
"It's great because of the opportunities that it brings and it allows multiple women to be highlighted, maybe even from NXT,
and for everyone to get involved. Being that I'm already The Queen, if it was to happen, I believe whoever wins should have to face me.
Since I am The Queen of Queens. I don't think I have to be in it. I already have the title (of The Queen). They should have the opportunity
to face me if they win.” A title match against the RAW Women’s Champion would be a fitting prize for the
first-ever Queen of the Ring, but despite not wanting to be in the tournament, Charlotte already believes that she’s the one-true
queen of WWE.
Last year, Tessa Blanchard made history by becoming the first female Impact World Champion, but she later left the company
without ever losing the title. Since her departure in June last year, there’s been plenty of attention by fans on what her
next move will be, and Blanchard has now teased that she’ll be heading to NXT. On social media, Blanchard shared a photo
of her holding a stack of cash, which upon closer inspection, are $1,000,000 bills with Ted DiBiase’s face on it.
Given that DiBiase just left NXT, it’s believed that this was a sign of Blanchard coming to the gold brand, even if she didn’t post any
caption with the photo. Of course, this could be a way to throw fans off the scent of her arriving in AEW, another
possible destination for her, especially as the company is looking to boost it’s women’s division with big names.
Wherever Blanchard goes next, she’ll be a huge deal, but right now, it appears she’s closer to the gold brand than being All-Elite.
AEW may not be getting Blanchard, but Ruby Soho, aka Ruby Riott is expected to join, after dropping a video where she rides the subway
from WWE’s Performance Center to New York city. New York will be where AEW will host their
Grand Slam special Dynamite on September 22nd, but fans can expect the former WWE Superstar weeks before that show.
Ringside News reports that unless plans change, Ruby Soho will be debuting for AEW this Sunday at All Out, and a second source
added that the current plans calls for Soho to debut in the Casino Battle Royale. All Out will certainly be a busy night for the
company, as in addition to a huge card and Ruby Soho, Daniel Bryan is also expected To debut this weekend.
As a veteran of the ring, Soho will be an excellent addition to AEW’s women’s roster, and we’ll have to see what she does this
Sunday on Pay-Per-View.
As a growing star in Hollywood, John Cena is no stranger to huge franchises, having performed in Fast and Furious 9 and The
The Suicide Squad, but now the 16-tiime WWE World Champion is eyeing up another comic-book role.
Speaking to Esquire, Cena said he’d consider anything, and that includes playing The Thing in the upcoming Fantastic Four film that’s set
to release in the coming years. If he did take the role, Cena would have to undergo a lot of time in the make-up chair,
transforming his recognisable look into the rock-based muscle of the iconic Marvel family. Cena’s role as Peacemaker in The Suicide Squad
has garnered quite a response, and he’s also got a HBO Max spin-off set to release next year, but the next time John plays a
comic-book role, it may be for Marvel instead of DC.
And we’re ending with Brandi Rhodes, who this week fired off a tweet that didn’t go down well at all.
On Twitter, Brandi started her tweet by admitting it may start something, and said that she sees a lot of people complaining
about not enough black talent being featured in wrestling, but argued that those same fans don’t show any love when black talent are in
the main-event. It wasn’t long before AEW’s Chief Brand Officer received a wave of responses, many of
which noting how AEW has never had a Black World Champion or Black TNT Champion. Others pointed out that on the official All Out
Poster, the only black person featured is Mark Henry, who doesn’t have a match on the card.
After thinking twice about what she’d said, Brandi quickly deleted her tweet, but not before plenty of people screenshotted and saved
it, proving that nothing ever truly disappears from the internet.