Here's your wrestling news for September 25th 2021
And your headlines for today include
Was It A Good Decision To Have Montez Ford Take On Roman Reigns On WWE SmackDown?
Edge Confirmed For First Night Of WWE Draft On SmackDown Next Week!
Former WWE Wrestler Resurfaces For Rare Appearance!
WWE’s The Bizarre Decision To Have Liv Morgan Lose On Smackdown Before Extreme Rules!
An Important Name Was Not Contacted For Kanyon’s Dark Side Of The Ring Episode!
Bianca Belair Stands Tall On Smackdown, But It May Not Be Enough For Extreme Rules!
FOX Is Reportedly ‘Disappointed’ With WWE!
Tony Khan references Triple H While Sending A Message To AEW Fans!
AEW Blocked From Using Original Name Intended For Owen Hart Tournament!
WWE’s Current Plan For Future Of Brand Split!
We’re starting today with SmackDown’s Montez Ford, who had a chance to shine as a singles star last night.
It’s often been said that should the Street Profits ever split, then Ford will be the team’s breakout star, and with Angelo Dawkins unavailable this
week, WWE booked Ford phenomenally, having him insult the Bloodline in a promo to hype his team’s match with the Usos this Sunday.
Infuriating Roman Reigns, the Tribal Chief ordered Paul Heyman to arrange a match between him and Ford, and though Heyman
advised against it, the match was booked. The match itself was good, getting nearly a quarter of SmackDown’s run-time, in what
could be Ford’s longest match to date. Sure, Montez was never going to defeat the Universal Champion on SmackDown, mere days
before Reigns’ title match with the Demon Finn Balor, but even in defeat, which saw him tap to the guillotine, Ford looked great
This was WWE's opportunity and they teased Montez Ford as a singles star, similar to what they did with Big Cass in 2016 when Enzo Amore
was out with a concussion, but the circumstances are obviously different. Even after the match, the appearance by the Demon
Balor was great as well, albeit a tad ill-timed since Ford had already gone through a table, but it all made for an excellent main-event to last night’s
SmackDown.
The last time we saw Edge, he was being stretchered away thanks to a curb-stomp during the Supershow at Madison Square
Garden, but his hiatus won’t be a lengthy one. On last night’s show, Seth Rollins showed up and laid down a challenge to Edge, saying he
wants the Rated-R Superstar to show up next week, on the first night of the 2021 draft. On Twitter, Edge didn’t take long to respond
accepting the challenge saying “I’ll see you at SmackDown next week.” It’s believed by some that the Edge-Rollins match
will happen at Crown Jewel, but on commentary last night, the announcers questioned just how ready Edge will be to get back
in the ring, following the beating he took a few weeks ago on TV. This line seemingly kills the rumour that Edge will
wrestling sooner rather than later, but we’ll know more when he appears on next Friday’s show.
Next week’s SmackDown won’t just be the draft and mark Edge’s return, but it’ll also be the first SmackDown after Extreme Rules, in what’ll no
doubt be a stacked episode of the blue brand.
If you were a wrestling fan of the 1990s, you may remember Brian Lee, who competed in WCW, ECW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling and
the WWF in that decade alone. Lee is perhaps best known for being the fake Undertaker, who lost to the real-deal at the
1994 Summerslam, and as Chainz in the Disciples of Apocalypse. Lee hasn’t wrestled since 2014, and hasn’t done
convention appearance in 10 years, but now the former Superstar is making a rare appearance, as he’ll be at the Big Event
convention in New York City on November 13th and 14th. AJ Lee will also be making a rare appearance
there, as well as AEW stars like Kenny Omega, Malakai Black and Jade Cargill, and legends such as Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and JBL,
so wrestling fans at the con will have plenty of people to meet and greet this September
More from SmackDown, as Liv Morgan will have a match at Sunday’s Extreme Rules show against \Carmella, but had her hands full last night with
Zelina Vega. This match, we assumed, was to make Vega look good in only her second singles pay-per-view bout,
instead it was Vega, who has been a consistent loser since returning to WWE, who got the win, thanks to a distraction by Carmella
This result makes no sense, and if WWE is trying to surprise fans by having Morgan win this Sunday, it doesn’t explain the hokey booking on
SmackDown. Having Morgan lose to someone who isn’t seen as on her level, just to win on Pay-Per-View in
a match that won’t elevate her standing, sums up WWE’s struggle creating babyface stars, and it’s a problem that isn’t just reserved to the
the SmackDown Women’s Division.
Apollo Crews isn’t faring much better on SmackDown, as his feud with King Nakamura, who won the Intercontinental title from Crews a few
weeks ago, appears to be officially done. The Intercontinental Title hasn’t been defended on Pay-Per-View since WrestleMania 37, where
Crews won the gold, and has been a SmackDown -exclusive title since. Two nights before Extreme Rules, a rematch was
booked between Nakamura and Crews, and this short-lived match saw Rick Boogz once-again help by taking out commander Azeez
This latest loss for Crews is indicative of how WWE sees him, as ever since crowds returned, his role on SmackDown has been greatly
reduced. For some reason, WWE got bored of his Intercontinental Championship reign and
decided to make the change, which favored King Nakamura. There's no doubt that King Nakamura and Rick
Boogs have more momentum, but last night’s Intercontinental title match on SmackDown wasn't a good one, as it ended before it
could even get started, and Nakamura swiftly beat Apollo Crews to end their feud. It was a bit underwhelming and while we
understand that WWE wants to make the Intercontinental title SmackDown-exclusive, there isn't much being done to justify that decision.
This week, Dark Side of the Ring focussed on the life of Chris Kanyon, who tragically took his own life in 2010.
One large part of Kanyon’s WCW tenure was in Raven’s flock, and the former Hardcore Champion could’ve contributed a lot to the show,
but didn’t appear at all during the broadcast. When fans asked why Raven was absent from the Kanyon episode, he explained that he was
never asked to participate by Vice, and like the fans, is puzzled why he wasn’t called. Raven noted that he their friendship had a long
of depth, and had he been contacted, he would’ve had a lot to contribute to the Kanyon discussion.
Instead of Raven, Vice spoke to the Young Bucks, Brian Cage, the Sinister Minster and others, and we’ll have to see if the former WWF, WCW
and ECW name gets to tell his stories on a future episode.
Back to SmackDown, as the show opened with SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair, and for once, it was the EST
who got the upperhand. This week was a war of words between champion and challenge, as Belair reminded
Lynch why she shouldn’t be underestimated, and it says a lot that Belair was able to hold her own, and get a big pop against the consistently popular
champion. The segment ended with Belair hitting the KOD on Lynch and standing tall, which was a big
moment for Belair, even if it essentially revealed that Lynch will be retaining when the title’s on the line this Sunday
Even if Lynch’s win at Extreme Rules is a foregone conclusion, its still good that the segment played out how it did, as if Belair hadn’t stood tall on
SmackDown, it would’ve made her look even worse this Sunday when she falls to The Man.
In 2019, FOX invested a lot of money to purchase the rights to SmackDown, and since then, WWE and Vince McMahon have done all they can to
keep FOX happy. Right now, more work needs to be done, as Fightful Select reports that the relationship
between WWE and FOX is currently strained. A source from FOX reportedly said that the viewership figures for the blue brand have been
disappointed in comparison to their expectations, and FOX isn’t thrilled with WWE promoting Peacock, which is owned by NBC-Universal
either. Speaking about an upcoming Vince McMahon biographical series, a source said that the
show won’t paint FOX founder Rupert Murdoch in the best light, and a source for FOX branded the show a “childish move,” adding that it won’t
help their relationship at all. FOX and WWE aren’t even half-way through a five-year deal which began in October 2019,
and clearly there’s a lot of give and take in this strained relationship
Over to AEW, as the company has never shied away from referencing WWE and taking shots at Vince McMahon’s company, and that’s also
the case off air. Before last night’s Rampage, Tony Khan sent out a tweet in which he referenced a Triple H
comment from two years ago, where he said the battle for ratings is a marathon, not a sprint.
Khan went on to say that this is true, and the WWE, who he avoided referencing by name, had had a 40-year head start, but AEW had
made up plenty of ground in the past two years alone. The tweet ended with Khan asking fans to tune
into Rampage, to make the show #1 on cable for the night, and we’re curious if that did indeed happen after Khan’s tweets against the competition.
Since the tragic death of Owen Hart in 1999, his widow Dr. Martha Hart has kept far away from WWE, who she holds responsible for Owen’s
passing. Recently, Martha’s foundation announced a partnership with AEW, which’ll see a special
tournament named in honour of the Rocket, but the Owen Hart Cup wasn’t the original name chosen.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the original name was ‘Cup the King of Harts,’ but that name was blocked.
It isn’t said why the name was blocked, or if WWE were involved, but we do know that AEW filed a trademark for ‘King of Harts’ in early August.
Even with the name change, the Owen Hart cup will be just part of the collab between AEW and the Owen Hart foundation, in what will be a fitting
tribute to the legendary wrestler.