Here's more wrestling news for October 8th 2021
And your headlines for today include
Will Ospreay Set To Debut In MLW; Chris Jericho Talks About Ospreay Signing With AEW!
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Making AEW In-Ring Debut!
Lana Finally Opens Up How MIRO Felt When She Kissed Others On-Screen!
Ex-WWE Magazine Writer Says Shane McMahon Once Poked And Stepped On A Randy Savage Poster!
WWE NXT 2.0 Revamp Already BACKFIRED! Results Are Out!
"When Did The Babyfaces Start Being Such Gutless Cowards?"- Jim Cornette Slams Popular AEW Star After Getting Humiliated On Dynamite!
Bret Hart Honored Alongside Keanu Reeves & More By Canada Walk Of Fame!
Tony Khan, ECW Alumni And CM Punk Make Post-Show Speech At AEW Dynamite Philadelphia
Alberto El Patron Files Lawsuit Against Combate Americas MMA Promotion! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Will O’Spreay, who is coming to MLW.
During yesterday’s Fightland, it was confirmed that O’Spreay will make his MLW debut in the Fall, but no exact date ahs been given.
The self-proclaimed real IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, O’Spreay vacated the title in May due to a neck injury but returned at New Japan’s
Resurgence event, where he refused to go back to Japan to compete in the annual G1 Climax.
Since then, O’Spreay has been competing on NJPW Strong and Revolution Pro Wrestling, and will be bringing his talents to MLW very soon.
One company O’Spreay hasn’t worked with is AEW, but that could happen soon enough, according to Chris Jericho.
Speaking to Reinvented with Jen Eckhart just after the Grand Slam edition of Dynamite, Jericho discussed O’Spreay, one of the few names he’s
never wrestled yet, and hopes that a match between them could happen in Tony Khan’s promotion. He said:
I’d love to see Will in AEW. I actually called him way, way back when we were first starting out to see what kind of interest he had,
and I think there’s a lot of guys that want to work in Japan and spend time there. I know, because I was one of them. Been to Japan over 60 times
now at this point in my career and I think there will come a time where Will decides he wants to work in his own country. I know he’s English but America
that sort of an idea is much more similar to England than Japan is.” Jericho may want O’Spreay in AEW, but it’s ultimatel
Tony Khan’s call as to whether an offer will be made, though we’d be surprised if the company President doesn’t at least want
to chat with the talented ‘real’ IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
Will O’Spreay won’t be on AEW programming, at least not anytime soon, but one person set to make his in-ring debut is former UFC Heavyweight
Champion Junior dos Santos. Dos Santos will make his debut on next Friday’s edition of Rampage, when he and Men of
the Year face the Inner Circle in six-man tag competition. This challenge was made by Dan Lambert on this
this week’s Dynamite, and it’s been confirmed that it’ll be Jake Hager, Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara who represent the Inner Circle.
Next week’s Rampage will also see the Lucha Bros defend their AEW World Tag Team titles against the Acclaimed, in what’ll be a huge Friday
night for the stars of AEW
Now, before her WWE release earlier this year, Lana had spent much of her career in the company managing her real-life husband Miro, but that
that wasn’t the only man she worked with on TV. As well as her husband, Lana had on-screen relationships with both Bobby Lashley and
Dolph Ziggler, and during an appearance for East Coast Autograph Auctions, the Ravishing Russian detailed Miro’s reaction when she told him she’d
have to kiss other people: “It’s not real. The first thing I told my husband [Miro] when we started dating, I was like, ‘
If you think I’m gonna be the person and I’m not gonna be making out with people on screen, then we probably shouldn’t be dating.
Before I came into wrestling, I was usually always that person and I was very self- aware that I was that person. Then it just
happened to be in WWE, a lot of time, I played that role as well. To me, it was normal. It’s acting. What’s always weird to me about pro
wrestling is when people have a hard time doing relationship stuff. None of it is true. It’s literally Tony Khan or Vince McMahon deciding
It’s real in the sense that you can break your bones. Since her release, Lana hasn’t signed anywhere else, but there’s rumours of AEW bringing
her in to manage Miro once more, but it remains to be seen what’s next for the former Superstar now she’s out of WWE
Now, from 2000-2007, Brian Solomon worked for WWE as a writer/editor for their magazines, including working on WWE Magazine,
RAW Magazine and SmackDown Magazine. With such a lengthy tenure in the company, \ Solomon has plenty of stories about his time
working under Vince McMahon, and while speaking to the 6:05 Superpodcast with Brian Last to promote his upcoming Sheik biography,
he documented just some of his career in WWE. Though Solomon is proud of his work for WWE Magazine, he admits that the amount of
money it made was a “drop in the bucket,” and that a lot of times, those in charge weren’t paying any close attention to what they put in
the magazine. He added: “I remember doing some legends stories. People would be like, ‘Oh my God, they’re not
going to let you do that. You better check with somebody before you do that.’ I would just go ahead and do it. I got away with it and I think
got away with it because nobody was noticing. When Randy Savage did his rap CD, ‘Be a Man’, I had the idea of doing a review for
it in the magazine and doing an interview with him. Everybody was like, ‘You can’t talk to Randy Savage. Persona non grata’ Part of it was that
I was very naive. I was in my 20’s. I got his number, called him up, did the interview, and published it. I remember even in the middle
of the interview, he said, ‘Does Vince know you’re talking to me?’ I’m like, ‘No, he has no idea.’ He started laughing his a** off because even he
couldn’t believe that I was doing that.” Solomon went on to say that he also interviewed Bruno Sammartino, after the death
of Arnold Skaaland, as he was tasked with writing a touching obituary to Skaaland, a close friend of the McMahon family:
I said, how can I write this without getting a comment from Bruno. I reached out to Bruno and he was incredulous too. He couldn’t believe
it and said ‘Are you supposed to be talking to me?’ He was worried I was going to get fired for talking to him. But I went ahead, I did it,
and I printed it. In both of those cases, I think for Savage, it was the last time that he ever spoke to anybody in the WWE organization
and for Bruno, it was the first time I believe he had talked to any public facing part of the company in many, many years. I just went
ahead and did it.” This discussion with Sammartino was in 2006, seven years before the former WWF World
Champion would return to the company to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. When asked if he was ever told why Savage
was ‘persona non-grata’ Solomon said no-one ever told him, and he didn’t know of the rumours about Stephanie McMahon until after he left WWE.
Those rumours, are that Savage had a relationship with an underage Stephanie, which is why he was blacklisted from WWE for years, prior to
tragic death in 2011. It’s worth mentioning that these rumours are just rumours, and have never been verified by
Stephanie or Savage when he was alive, but Solomon added that although the lower crew, who he called jobbers, could say anything
amongst themselves, you definitely didn’t want to bring up the Macho Man to certain people in the company. He added
“I was working for Shane McMahon. He was the head of our department for a little while. I remember he came out of his office. He saw the
the Randy Savage poster tacked to the wall. He walked over to it. He literally poked it as hard as he could with his fingers repeatedly until it
fell off the wall, then he stepped on it, and walked back into his office.” It's interesting that Shane McMahon of all
people would be the one to tear down the Savage poster, and it wouldn’t be until 2015, 4 years after his death, that the Macho Man
would become a WWE Hall of Famer. Speaking on the Hall of Fame, Solomon revealed that there had been plans for a physical
Hall of Fame during the 90s, when business wasn’t going so well. WWE’s idea at the time was to use the nostalgia
of fans to generate some much needed revenue, but once the Attitude Era got going and WWE was making serious money, the project was
abandoned. When business went down again, WWE went back to the idea of making money of nostalgia,
an idea that the company still uses to this day. Solomon certainly had an interesting time in WWE, and the Magazines are still remembered
fondly by fans, as he accomplished a lot in WWE in his seven years, even if WWE themselves didn’t care all too much about
the publication
Back to the present, as NXT was revamped last month in an effort to draw in a younger audience, but that’s not been happening as of late.
Jon Alba reports that the long-term plan for NXT 2.0 is to appeal to younger fans, but the median age of viewers for this week’s episode was
62-years-old, according to Wrestlenomics. Andrew Zarian of Mat Men adds that despite disappointing demographic numbers so far, but
but sources from the colourful brand are hopeful that this is just a temporary bump in the road, and that things will improve going
forward. This week’s NXT 2.0 drew 632,000 viewers to the USA Network, the lowest viewership since the
brand relaunched last month, and had a 0.13 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the fourth- lowest rating since NXT moved to USA.
WWE is hopeful that NXT 2.0 will turn around, and has incorporated everything from a new design to more profanity to appeal to younger fans
but for now, it’s the older generations who are making up the bulk of NXT 2.0’s fanbase. As a multi-time World Champion and arguably the
greatest technical wrestler of his day, Bret Hart is a true legend of the wrestling ring, and is one of Canada’s favourite sons.
Now, the Hitman is receiving a huge honour, as he’s getting a portion on the Canadian Walk of Fame, the first pro-wrestler to be inducted.
Bret’s name will be alongside actor Keanu Reeves, Olympic Gold Medalist Damian Warner, the team of scientists who discovered
insulin and other impressive people from the Great White North. The induction ceremony has already been filmed,
but Canadian fans will have to wait until December 4th before it airs on CTV, and there’s no word on how fans outside of Canada will be able to watch.
One can expect the ceremony to find its way onto social media eventually, as there’s plenty of people, Canadians and non-Canadians alike,
who will be wanting to watch Bret’s incredible career be celebrated.
Legal news now, as Alberto Del Rio has filed a lawsuit against an MMA promotion, for what he believes is a breach of contract.
The lawsuit was filed in July, according to PW Insider, and in it, Del Rio claims that he’s owed $250,000 from the Combate Americas MMA
promotion, due to a fight he had in December 2019 against Tito Ortiz. Del Rio also claims that the promotion maintained
control over his social media accounts, even after their relationship ended, and goes to say that the company is yet to pay him for
the Ortiz fight. He also alleges that the promotion is refusing to answer questions about his social media
accounts, now that there’s no working relationship. In total, the former WWE Champion is seeking $250,000 for the fight, plus at least $26,250 in
interest, the cost of his attorney’s fees, as well as the return of control of all his social media accounts.
Combates Americas hasn’t responded publicly, but they have filed paperwork regarding their legal representation, which has been accepted
by the court. There’s no word on when this case will begin, but we’ll keep following this story as we
approach their inevitable day in court
We’ve got some sad news to report next, as wrestling championship creator Reggie Parks has died aged 87.
A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Parks got his break in wrestling thanks to Stu Hart, and it was Parks’ creation, the Winged Eagle title
that Stu’s son Bret would wear on five occasions in the WWF. In addition to the Winged Eagle, Parks also
designed the classic Intercontinental title, WWF Tag Team titles, the WCW United States title, and the IWGP Heavyweight title, as well as
countless other championship belts. A true unsung hero of wrestling, Parks helped shape the wrestling world for decades
and we’d like to offer our condolences to the family of the legendary belt maker.
And we’re ending today with AEW, who were in Philadelphia this week, and Tony Khan has a special place in his heart for the heartland of Extreme.
After the Dynamite and Rampage tapings, Khan called out ECW alum Tazz and Chris Jericho, as well as welcoming out Dean Malenko and
Jerry Lynn, who both work behind the scenes for AEW Each man shared their gratitude for the fans,
and the night was capped off by a surprise appearance from CM Punk, who joked that he felt left out, since he is a former ECW World
Champion, albeit in WWE’s version of the show. This was an incredible moment for the Philly crowd, and even 20 years after the original
ECW closed it’s doors, there’s still a lot of fondness for the Extreme Championship Wrestling in the city of Brotherly Love.