Here's more wrestling news for December 3rd 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
The Rock Is A Huge Fan Of CURRENT WWE Wrestler!
WWE Launches Pipeline Program For Recruiting College Athletes To The Company ; Triple H reacts!
D-Von Dudley Gives Update On Impending Back Surgery!
Backstage News On WWE Possibly Dropping The Cruiserweight Championship!
Alexa Bliss Wishes She Could Have Wrestled Released WWE Star More!
The Young Bucks Top PWI Tag Team 50 Rankings For 2021!
FITE TV Feed Cuts Out During AEW Dynamite Main Event! And More!
We’re kicking off today with The Rock, who despite his ever expanding reach in Hollywood, still keeps up to date with modern-day wrestling.
This week, Twitter user @WriterForLifeJC said he loves The Rock, but he considers Shayna Baszler the best wrestler.
This got an unexpected response from the Brahma Bull, who said he loves the Queen of Spades too, calling her a “wrestling bad ass” who was trained
Billy Robinson, a man who used to wrestle with The Rock’s grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia.
Getting praised by The Rock is a huge deal for Baszler, who is continuing to make waves ever since she was drafted to SmackDown in October.
Despite over two-years on the main-roster, Baszler is yet to hold singles gold since her NXT call-up, but with The Rock’s seal of approval, it may be just a
matter of time before she gets a shot at the SmackDown Women’s title.
Baszler is just one of many crossover stars, as she competed in MMA before becoming a WWE Superstar, and fans can expect many more
crossover athletes thanks to the company’s new Next In Line program. The NIL program was announced this week, and in
statement on WWE.com “will provide a clear pathway from collegiate athletics to WWE.” This new program stems from the signing of collegiate
wrestler and Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson, who has been signed under a unique deal that’ll allow NCAA Athletes use their name
image and likeness to make money for the first time ever. Speaking to Fast Company, Triple H praised the NIL
program, and is optimistic about the future of WWE recruitment. He said: We immediately saw it as an amazing recruiting tool
for us because it allows us to show athletes a path to WWE, and engage with them in a way where they can learn more about it, we can learn
more about them, all while working together, and finding out if it’s a good fit before they’re even finished college, and before they need to make any
decisions about what they’re going to do in that next stage of their life. In my generation, and even more recently, you sort
of had to know someone. We’ve put a lot of effort into recruiting athletes and finding athletes to let them know WWE is a potentially
lucrative opportunity for them if they’re interested and passionate about it.” Steveson was the first NIL athlete signed to WWE,
as he’s been allowed to continue wrestling at the University of Minnesota despite being on a WWE contract, and it’s expected that he’ll be
the first of many college athletes to make the jump to WWE fans to this new program.
In 2016, D-Von Dudley would have his last professional match, competing at a House of Glory event that December alongside Bully Ray.
It’s now been five years since D-Von wrestler, and that’s partly because of the series of injuries his career as a wrestler has left him with.
On Table Talk, D-Von updated fans on his back, which has four bulging discs, and said that WWE is taking care of it, thanks to the great insurance
plan provided by the company. D-Von, who now works as a producer, went on to explain that he saw three different surgeons,
and it was the third one that WWE was comfortable with. The Hall of Famer will have a minor procedure on
December 8th, in which a thin needle with help fuse the disc, and move it back to where it needs to be before screwing and bolting it in place.
As far as a recovery time, D-Von said it should only be a matter of weeks, and said that he’s been dealing with pain in his back since about 2010.
After lengthy runs in ECW, WWE, TNA and elsewhere, D-Von has earned some relief, and he’ll get that very soon when he goes under the knife.
Since the September rebrand, NXT 2.0 has undergone a ton of changes, and now the paint splattered brand could be losing one of its titles.
On the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that the future of the Cruiserweight Championship is unclear, and that
he’s heard of plans within WWE to ditch the title. For what it’s worth, this week’s NXT 2.0 saw Joe Gacy tease an all-inclusive title, which will
presumably be eligible for both male and female competitors.
By comparison, the Cruiserweight title is only for those weighing 205lbs or under, but those restrictions could be changed down the line.
Right now, Gacy is feuding with current Champion Roderick Strong, despite the all-inclusive Superstar being over the traditional 205lb weight limit.
With a title match set for this Sunday, we’ll have to wait and see whether Gacy wins the title, but should he do, then it seems this will mark the b
beginning of the end for the NXT Cruiserweight title.
Now, Alexa Bliss hasn’t been seen on WWE TV since Extreme Rules, where she lost to then RAW Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair.
Bliss was distraught after her doll Lilly was destroyed, and while she’s only been away for a couple of months, a lot has changed in WWE since then.
Speaking about the recent WWE releases, Bliss tweeted that it was a shame she and Ember Moon didn’t get to wrestle more, as they had so
much fun in the ring. Bliss went on to call the former NXT Women’s Champion one of her best friends and bridesmaids
when she gets married to her fiancé Ryan Cabrera in the future. Bliss and Moon shared the ring 29 times, but only
had two singles matches on TV, in which Moon won both.
Released from WWE on November 4th, Moon will have to wait until February 2nd before she can compete elsewhere, but the Shenom definitely
left an impression on the former SmackDown Women’s Champion.
AEW news now, as the Young Bucks have earned plenty of accolades both in and out the All-Elite promotion, and now the brothers have
another claim to their name. This week, Pro Wrestling Illustrated announced their top 50 tag-teams of the year, and the Bucks
took home the number one spot. The Bucks beat reigning AEW World Tag Team Champions the Lucha Brothers into second place
while IWGP Tag Team Champions Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr won third. WWE’s SmackDown Tag Team Champions The
Usos earned fourth place, while Goddess of Stadom Champions Syuri and Giulia of ALK took fifth.
This year’s awards were the second ever PWI Tag Team listing, which saw FTR win in 2020 and the Bucks take eleventh, but who do you
think have been the best tag team of 2021?
And we’re ending with this week’s AEW Dynamite which saw a huge main event between Cody Rhodes and Andrade El Idolo.
Competing in an Atlanta Street Fight, this match was worthy of the main event spot, which makes it a shame that fans on FITE TV missed
half the bout. During the stream, the feed cut, leaving fans starting at nothing but a green screen, and after
series of angry tweets on social media and the live chat, FITE were able to get things working in time for the end of the show.
The feed returning during the table spots for the finish of the match, and while Cody certainly earned his victory over Andrade in this violent
street fight, many fans didn’t get to see the entire contest.