Here's more wrestling news for September 15th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Gable Steveson Not Joining WWE Until His Time At University Of Minnesota Ends! Is WWE Planning A Brock Lesnar Vs Gable Steveson’s Match?
WWE Makes Slight Change To Parker Boudreaux’s New Ring Name!
Reason Behind Mandy Rose's NEW Her Look; Who Is Responsible For It?
How WWE Creative Team Handled Big E’s Title Win?
Big Tag Match Planned For AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam!
Is Bobby Lashley Really Injured; Will He Be Present For NEXT Week’s RAW?
Is Vince McMahon Changing WWE’s Policy On Chris Benoit?
Recently Released WWE Wrestler Quits Pro Wrestling!
Pete Dunne Signs Multi-Year WWE Contract!
Paul Heyman Says He Arranged For Brock Lesnar To Train With Current WWE Superstar! And More!
We’re kicking off today with Gable Steveson, who was one of the most sought-after athletes until WWE signed him, but he won’t
be on WWE TV for a long-time. During an appearance on the MMA Hour, the Olympic Gold Medalist confirmed that he has
a three-year deal with WWE, but the catch is that he can’t start at WWE until he’s done at college.
This makes a lot of sense, as despite being a natural talent, he’ll still need substantial training to be a professional wrestler, and in the
interview, Steveson called finishing school his number one priority. He added: Vince, Nick Khan, and Triple H all said,
Go win the National Title. Everything will still be in place for you. Get your degree and we’ll see you after that.’
Steveson added that there’s a very good chance he could skip NXT and go straight to the main -roster, but he’s ready to put on a show no
matter which brand he’s on. WWE’s second-ever Olympic Gold Medalist, Steveson is a huge score for the company,
but he’s wisely focussing on his studies first, before he enters the squared circle.
Steveson will train to be a WWE Superstar at a remote facility while he finishes his studies at the University of Minnesota, which is also the
Alma Mata of Brock Lesnar. Previously, a report came out that WWE is already building towards a Lesnar-Steveson
match, in what many are considering a passing- of-the-torch moment. This match has excited a lot of fans, and although
it may one day happen, it’s not something WWE is planning right now. When Ringside News asked about the match
an anonymous source in the company said how WWE can’t plan two straight weeks of RAW, nevermind a Brock Vs. Gable match years down
the line. Steveson and Lesnar are perhaps the two most gifted amateur wrestlers to ever make it to
WWE, and although this may be a dream match for some, no creative plans are being made for the Olympian just yet.
Steveson isn’t the only new name to be tied to the Beast Incarnate, as this year has also seen the signing of Parker Boudreaux, who many have
already called the next Brock Lesnar. Last week, Parker revealed his new NXT ring name as Gunnar Harland, but that name has
now been shortened. On Twitter, he confirmed the slight name change, and that he’ll now be just Harland from here on.
We’ll have to see how Harland does as a Superstar, as he’s already been on TV as a member of security, but fans can expect to
to see plenty more from him in the era of NXT 2.0.
Over to RAW now, and mere days before this Monday’s show, Big E announced that he planned to cash-in his Money in the Bank contract,
but it seems that those in creative didn’t get the memo. When Ringside News asked around about how
long plans for Big E’s title win have been in motion, they were told that whilst the plan was always for Big E to dethrone Lashley the writing
team weren’t given much notice at all prior to RAW. Not only were the writers kept in the dark about Big E’s planned title win, but it’s said that
they also weren’t told about the original plans which would’ve seen the ex-New Day star cash-in on Lashley during next month’s draft.
We previously reported that many people, include the Superstars, are kept in the dark about their creative direction, unless they
get the green light from Bruce Prichard, but on this occasion, it was the writers themselves who didn’t know what creative had planned
shortly before RAW went on the air.
Big E’s cash-in of his Money in the Bank contract saw him become the WWE Champion for the first time in his career, in a moment that meant
a lot to a lot of people. PW Insider reports that Monday’s title change was a huge boost in morale to the RAW roster
as Big E is very-much beloved by the entire WWE locker-room. In fact, there was talk among some SmackDown
talents, who wished they could’ve been at RAW in Boston just for the experience of seeing him win in person
WrestleVotes adds that Big E’s title win has been in the works for months, and that he was always meant to dethrone Lashley, even if his
win came a month earlier than first planned. 12 years after signing, Big E is WWE Champion, and has completed the WWE triple-crown,
and time will tell how his reign will fare.
Over to AEW next, as this month will see a special Grand Slam edition of Dynamite, that’ll air from the Arthur Ashe Stadium in
Flushing, New York. This show will no-doubt be a stacked episode of Dynamite, and will feature a huge tag-team
match according to Dave Meltzer. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, it was noted that the plan is for Jon Moxley and Eddie
Kingston to team once more, this time facing Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer. After Moxley defeated Suzuki last week
this Wednesday’s Dynamite will feature Suzuki calling out Moxley, and fans won’t have to wait long for this huge tag match to be made official.
Back to RAW, as Big E’s win this week comes at the expense of Bobby Lashley, who’s impressive first reign with the WWE
Championship ended at 196 days. Prior to his impromptu title match, Lashley injured his knee, which played a major role in Big E’s win.
PW Insider reports that Lashley’s tweaked knee was completely for the storyline, and that he’s 100% fine and did an excellent job of selling
the injury. Not only that, Lashley also received a significant amount of praise backstage for his
performance on RAW, after carrying the red brand out of the Thunderdome and back to normalcy.
There’s no word on when Lashley will get a shot at the new WWE Champion, but it seems the Crown Jewel match with Goldberg is still
in the cards, but that rematch will go ahead without the WWE title on the line.
Back to AEW, as All Out 2021 was a huge success for the company, featuring the debuts of Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and Ruby Soho.
Many have already called the show one of the best wrestling Pay-Per-Views of the past decade, and that’s an opinion Jim Ross certainly
agrees with. Speaking on his Grillin JR Podcast, the AEW commentator praised the event, and said it
might have been the best wrestling Pay-Per- View ever. He said: If your opinion says that All Out was the best
-per-view you ever saw, then that’s your opinion and you have the right to it. The only pay- per-view that I had more fun, exhilarating, just
really full of emotion and the feels were there — I’ve done a lot of great shows, but I think WrestleMania 17 was the closest thing that
came to me for the emotional investment of that broadcast WrestleMania 17, which saw The Rock vs.
Steve Austin in the main-event, a Street-fight between Shane and Vince McMahon, and TLC 2 has often been considered the greatest
wrestling show of all time, but many believe that this legendary event was matched earlier this month by All Out.
In June 2007, the wrestling world was rocked when then-WWE Superstar Chris Benoit was found dead alongside his wife Nancy and son
Daniel, in what was later revealed to have been a double-murder-suicide by the former World Champion.
Since then, WWE have kept their distance from the Benoit name, but it seems the company has changed their policies about logging his matches
in the WWE Network archives. Speaking to the Perched On the Top Rope podcast, former Network employee Marie Shadows
who was let go last October, spoke about how WWE would often go back-and-forth on whether Benoit’s name could be searched, saying:
I understood where they were coming from. I was even frustrated with some of the rules they put in place. The first week I was there, you know
how Chris Benoit is a very touchy subject. We have to go through lots and lots of footage. Depending on what they assign you, you
have to be careful about what you put for the SEO [Search Engine Optimization.] One week, ‘ Chris Benoit’ is okay so make sure to tag it.
Week two, the bosses come in and are like, ‘ oh no, Vince doesn’t want that. Vince wants you to change it up.'
The workers didn’t have to do it, the supervisors had to do it, but we as the workers had to know that we couldn’t do it in the second week.
The third week came and they were like, ‘Eh, it’s okay now.’ The fourth week they were like, ‘never mind, don’t worry about it, we’ll take
care of everything.’ I understood fans when they were complaining about the WWE Network and ‘this didn’t work’ and ‘that didn’t work.’ I had
those frustrations over there working with them.” WWE will never put Chris Benoit in the Hall of Fame, as the last moments of his life
overshadow his wrestling career, but tagged or not, the former World Champion remains viewable on the WWE Network.
Earlier this year, Jake Atlas was released from WWE, but unlike many other releasees who have found homes in other companies,
Atlas is taking a different path. In a series of tweets, the former Superstar said he’s taking a break from the wrestling business
and that he’ll not accept any interviews, dates, or any pro-wresling engagements. Atlas added that he’s not injured, but is completely
done for now, and is exploring opportunities out of the ring. Atlas also encouraged people to look after their
their mental health, for themselves and for their friends, and thanked everyone who supported him over the past 5 years
The former Superstar followed up those tweets by saying he has a lot of anxiety after announcing his departure from the industry,
and asked fans to be respectful of his decision At just 26-years-old, Jake Atlas has his entire future ahead of him, and we’re wishing him
the very best in whatever he does next.
Now, Pete Dunne came up short in last night’s huge NXT title match, but fans can expect the Bruiserweight to get another shot at the title
down the line. For weeks, its been reported that Dunne’s contract was up sooner than WWE first
believed, in what was being compared to the Adam Cole situation, and there’d been no word on him re-signing.
According to Fightful Select, Dunne has now signed a new three year deal with WWE, and this contract was personally offered by
Triple H himself before his recent health scare. Dunne’s original deal with WWE ended in July, meaning he’s been working on a short-term
contract since then, but unlike Adam Cole, the former United Kingdom Champion will be staying in WWE and NXT for many years to come.
At WCW Slamboree 2000, the show’s main- event saw a Ready-to-Rumble cage match between Jeff Jarrett, DDP and then World
Champion/actor David Arquette. The match lives on in infamy for obvious reasons, but what fans may not know
is that this match would shape DDP’s future outside of the ring. Speaking on the My World podcast, Jeff Jarrett
said one spot in the match did serious damage to DDP’s hips and back, and that it was a major wake-up call for how Page wanted to deal
with his body. Since then, DDP Yoga has helped countless lives, and Page’s positive outlook has helped
save names like Jake Roberts and Scott Hall, and it all started with a fall from a three-story cage over two decades ago.
And we’re ending with NXT 2.0, which was a fresh start for the show, which included Mandy Rose debut a new brunette look.
This is a welcome change for Rose, who is drifting away from her main-roster identity, and teamed with Gigi Dolin and Jacey Jane to defeat Kacy
Catanzaro, Kayden Carter and Sarray. It’s reported that the new look for Rose is a Kevin Dunn creation, and that she had
previously pitched ideas for a change in her character and booking. When pitched with ideas, Dunn and Bruce Prichard
disagreed, which only angered Rose, who was eventually advised to change her look by Dunn himself.
Showing some extra aggression in the process its been a solid start for the new Mandy Rose, who continues to reshape her career with
a new look and attitude in NXT