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Here's your wrestling news for December 12th 2020
And your headlines for today include
Vince McMahon Ordered Keith Lee, OTIS and Several WWE Wrestlers Back To NXT Told To Get Additional
Training! Locker Room Reacts!
Reason Why Vince McMahon Sent Otis Back To The Performance Center Revealed!
Current Frontrunners To Face Roman Reigns At WrestleMania 37!
Tony Khan & Arn Anderson Are Towards Perhaps The Biggest Match Of All Time In AEW!
Goldberg Admits That He Is Having A Match Against Roman Reigns; Also Takes A Dig At Wrestling Fans!
Impact Wrestling Already Laying Groundwork For Kenny Omega World Title Match ; Omega’s Next Week’s
Status Revealed!
Miro Clears Talks About What He And Lana Did In The WrestleMania Tank!
Jon Moxley Called Out For Beath Match!
Wrestler UNMASKS HIMSELF During Match And More!
We’re kicking off today with huge WWE News, as Vince McMahon is reportedly furious with the in-ring work of certain
Superstars, sending them back to the Performance Center for further training. As revealed by PW Insider, Omos,
Keith Lee, Dabba-Kato, Otis and Retribution’s Mace have all been sent back to the PC for two classes a week,
that’ll be conducted by Adam Pearce and Drew Gulak. Otis being on the list is quite the surprise,
as he was once on of McMahon’s favourites, and has remained one of the most popular characters on SmackDown,
despite losing money in the Bank. The belief from Gorilla Position is that Otis could be safer in the ring, and though
there’s no real heat on his in-ring work, it seems WWE wants to plug all loopholes and ensure Otis is a more reliable and
more refined performer. It’s worth noting that none of the Superstars have any heat on them,
though it’s interesting that Keith Lee, who has been pushed heavily on RAW, is now being sent back for improvements.
When Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful spoke to several Superstars, both in the main roster and the Performance Center,
they were baffled by the decision to send Lee back, as he’s internally considered one of the better workers,
and it has nothing to do with his size. It’s been speculated that Lee’s 340lb frame may be why he was
lumped in with other heavier Superstars, or else he wouldn’t have been asked to report to the PC.
Dabba-Kato has been without any plans since RAW Underground ended, so it makes sense that the company
wants to refine his in-ring work before bringing him to the main roster, whilst Arturo Ruas, who also worked RAW
Underground recently underwent surgery and is expected to be out for quite some time.
Regarding Omos, those backstage weren’t surprised to see him sent to the Performance Center, as WWE have
always planned to have AJ Styles’ bodyguard on RAW during WrestleMania season, but he hasn’t had
a lot of time to get ready for a spot on TV from an in-ring standpoint. The Fightful report states that the belief
is Omos either requires a lot of work for him to improve, or a lot of smoke and mirrors, and despite being with WWE
since 2018, he hasn’t wrestled too many matches. Mace, aka Dio Maddin, has been away
from in-ring action for most of this year, as he spent a lot of the year behind RAW’s commentary desk, though he has
worked a few live event matches earlier this year. It seems the running theme is to improve
the quality of several big men’s work, but it’s still surprising to see a veteran and former NXT Champion like Keith Lee
in the mix. Do you think WWE made the right call by sending Keith Lee and the other
Superstars for extra training at the WWE PC, and who do you think needs extra sessions to train? Let us know in the
comments below.
One person the boss is clearly pleased with is Universal Champion Roman Reigns and whilst there’s been a lot of talk recently
about who won’t be facing the Tribal Chief at WrestleMania 37, we now know who is in the running.
Earlier this month, we covered how despite rumours, Big E has never been discussed as a potential Mania opponent
for the Tribal Chief, and we recently covered that The Rock is a no-go as well, and that the rumours of Reigns facing
Goldberg in 2021 aren’t accurate. Now, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that the two most likely
names right now to face the Universal Champion is Drew McIntyre and Daniel Bryan, which would make for some
interesting matches. Either Reigns, McIntyre or both would have to lose their respective world
titles between now and March, whilst fans haven’t seen much of Bryan since the birth of his second child earlier this year.
WWE is notoriously far behind schedule when it comes to planning their Pay Per Views, but don’t be too surprised if either
the Scottish Psychopath or the Yes! Man headline next year against the Tribal Chief.
Over to AEW, as the company celebrated another win over NXT this week, earning it’s year-high viewership of 995,000 viewers,
with two segments even breaking 1 million viewers. Following these huge figures, Tony Khan
tweeted out thanks to AEW fans for tuning in, and said that the balance of power has shifted towards the fans.
Khan also promised that this wave of momentum will continue as they head into their next Pay Per View Revolution, and
next week’s Dynamite is already taking shape nicely. It’s been confirmed that Sting will be on
next week’s show, proving that he’ll be used in much greater capacity than WWE used him, and it’s been speculated that he
could be bulding to some matches in the future. It’s been rumoured that both the Stinger
and Arn Anderson are working towards booking a Sting Vs. Chris Jericho match for next year, which’d definitely be a
marquee match. As two huge names of the Attitude Era, we’re sure there’s plenty of fans who have
wanted to see Sting and Y2J face off for years, if not decades, and now they may get their wish.
AEW has a lot of plans for 2021, including three Holiday specials to book between now and Revolution on February 27th, but
do you wanna see Sting and Jericho lock-horns? Sound off in the comments.
Clearly, AEW has big plans for Sting, though he is allowed to take bookings outside the company.
This week, the band Islander dropped a music video for their latest track Crazy Crazy World, where the Stinger appears
going about his daily routine. Decked in full Sting facepaint and garb, the Icon is shown waking up, having
coffee, brushing his teeth, playing a Nintendo 64 and much more.
It’s a pretty funny video that’s come out at the perfect time given Sting’s recent return to prominence, and we expect that
the Islanders will get a lot of new people listening in, thanks to the Stinger.
Back to WWE now, as Goldberg wowed fans during his run in WCW, and later on in his 2003-2004 tenure in WWE, but
things are different these days. Nowadays, Goldberg is often heavily criticised by fans for his in-ring work
and booking, and while speaking to Bleacher Report, Goldberg said how fans can change the entire momentum
of a show with their reaction, instead of enjoying the experience. He said:
“They’re not nearly as respectful as they used to be. I think it’s more about how they can turn the momentum of the show
as opposed to actually being a part of it. They actually want to dictate more so than in the past. They were content just
sitting back and being entertained as opposed to dictating what’s going on.”
It's no secret that fans can be very opinionated online, and often overbearing, and it’s clear Goldberg thinks some
people could tone it down a bit and enjoy the show. The former Universal Champion also
discussed Roman Reigns, saying that it’s clear the Tribal Chief is next, though we should mention that this is not WWE’s
plan for the Big Dog. A match that was meant to happen at WrestleMania 36, Goldberg called the
match a priority, adding:
“If the Roman Reigns match isn’t the match at the top of my priority list, then I wouldn’t be Goldberg. That’s a match that
needs to happen. It’s a match that’s needed to happen for a very long period of time. I wish I would’ve been able to
have that match 10 years ago. People in hell want ice water, too.”
“You can’t have everything the way you want it, but I think I can still be a very formidable opponent for him. Georgia
will always be better than Georgia Tech at the end of the day, anyway.”
The ongoing situation and Reigns’ hiatus meant that Goldberg lost the Universal title to Braun Strowman instead of the
Tribal Chief at this year’s WrestleMania, and time will tell whether we ever get the spear vs. spear encounter Goldberg
clearly wants.
Now, Kenny Omega recently brought his AEW World Championship to Impact Wrestling, and after his appearance
brought AXS TV a ton of viewers, Impact aren’t finished with him yet.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, not only is Omega expected to main event several Impact
Pay Per Views, but a reign as Impact World Champion could be a possibility, for the Cleaner,
who already holds the AAA Mega Championship in addition to the AEW World title.
PW Insider noted that Impact World Champion Rich Swann not being allowed to exit through the parking lot due to
Omega’s bus taking up space was “absolutely step one” towards an Omega vs Swann match.
2021 could certainly be an interesting year for both companies, but fans won’t have to wait that long to see Omega
on Impact, as he’s set to appear next Tuesday with Don Callis by his side
It’ll be interesting to see if this’ll be another promo on a bus, or if he’ll actually appear in the ring, but whatever happens,
expect plenty of people to tune in to see the reigning AEW World Champion.
Over to SmackDown, as it’s been clear for a while that Big E will be next to challenge Intercontinental Champion Sami
Zayn, which’ll mark his biggest feud since separating from the New Day.
On this week’s show, Zayn was once-again complaining, this time about the lack of merch he has, and later
defeated Big E in non-title action in a match with a very unclean finish. It’ll be interesting to see if Big E will win
the title, as a title match is yet to be confirmed for TLC, but so far, Zayn has been an incredible heel champion,
and having him defeat AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy was definitely the right call.
Next week is the go-home show for TLC, and if we see Big E stand tall, it could be an indicator that the two will face off at the
Pay Per View, though the question remains as to who will leave the Thunderdome, as the Intercontinenta
Champion. Speaking of the Blue brand, next week’s show will be on FS1 due to the upcoming
Pac12 Championship game, and now two big matches have been confirmed.
Next Friday, Bayley will face Bianca Belair in singles action, whilst the SmackDown Tag Team Champions the
Street Profits will put their titles on the line against Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler.
This does fall in line with an earlier report we covered, that title matches that could’ve happened at TLC would be
instead shown on TV by WWE instead, and we’ll have to see if the Glorious One and the Show-Off can get the job
done next Friday.
Back to AEW, and Miro is doing big thing’s in the All-Elite promotion, but not everyone is a fan of the former United
States Champion. When Miro tweeted out a warning not to train like a Twitter use by the name of
ImmoralLogic, saying that he was a 22-year veteran in the industry and never competed infront of more than 6
people, one fan fired a shot at Miro, who he claimed quote “has literally spent a Decade in this business and his biggest
claim to success is riding a TANK out to the ring.” The former Superstar saw the funny
side of this, replying that his actual biggest claim is that he had sex with Lana in that tank, and asked the fan
what you got?” This isn’t the first time the former Rusev has spoke about getting intimate with his
ravishing bride inside their WrestleMania 31 tank, and whilst WWE have been watching him closely since his
departure, they weren’t watching that tank as closely as they thought.
Now, if you’re a masked wrestler, you know that your headwear is a sacred part of wrestling, though it can also be a
problem in the ring. That’s why during his Best of the Super Junior tournament match this week
New Japan’s Desperado chose to remove his mask, which’d already been torn by Hiromu Takahashi.
Desperado’s painted-face was exposed, which was certainly a surprise as a masked wrestler will almost never
volutnarily remove their mask, but it wasn’t enough to save Desperado in the match.
Instead, Takahashi got the win, making him the 27th Best of the Super Juniors after defeating Desparado in an exciting
main event which saw the latter’s face be exposed.
Eva Marie news next, as following reports that she’s signed a deal to return to WWE, she could be back very soon.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that Eva has been training for her return, which implies it’ll be sooner
rather than later, and with speculation that she’ll be partnered with Angel Garza, time will tell what plans there are for
her return, 3 years after her release.