Here's your wrestling news for December 9th 2021
And your headlines for today include
WWE Signs Fifteen College Athletes To New Contracts !
What Happened After NXT 2.0 Went Off The Air?
Current Champion Teases Leaving WWE In Deleted Tweet !
RAW Commentator Hits Back At Accusations Of Sexist Commentary !
Former World Champion Promises To Change The History Of His Career With Upcoming Announcement !
Braun Strowman Announces History-Making Plans Since Being Released WWE !
WWE Hall Of Famer And Former Tag Champion Dies Aged 86 !
WWE Selling Merchandise For Popular Superstar Despite Firing Them Earlier This Year ! And More !
We’re kicking off today with WWE, who last week announced the Next in Line program, which will seek to sign collegiate athletes to WWE contracts.
The NIL program came around following the signing of NCAA Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist, and the new system has already reaped impressive results.
This week, 15 signings have been announced, spanning thirteen universities from seven NCAA conferences and four sports.
All 15 have impressive backgrounds, but some are already sticking out, such as John Krahn of Portland State University, who at 7 foot tall and 400 pound,
this football star is the largest signing to date. Two more interesting signings are Hayley and Hanna Cavinder, who play basketball for the
Fresno State Bulldogs, and the identical twins were popular before signing. With over 3.8 million followers on their joint TikTok
and over 330,000 followers each on Instagram, the pair have been a success both in athletics and social media, and with the Bella Twins retired
Hana and Hayley could be primed to take their place. Athletes who join will receive access to WWE’s
Performance Center in Orlando, as well as support in building themselves as a brand, and communications training for speaking to the press.
Athletes who successfully complete the program aren’t guaranteed a long-term role with WWE, as only those who standout will receive that,
but WWE may have already signed the next big thing in pro wrestling as part of this first crop of signings.
NXT news now, as Johnny Gargano and Kyle O’ Reilly’s contracts are both coming to an end, and there’s no word yet on if either man has re-signed
to stay with WWE. Both men lost at NXT WarGames, and on this week’s NXT 2.0, O’Reilly lost to Von Wagner,
in what many see as a changing of the guard, while Gargano was attacked by Grayson Waller.
This could be the last image fans see of the pair on TV, but the live crowd at this week’s show got something extra special for their money.
After the show went off the air, Gargano and O’Reilly came out to salute the fans and had an emotional embrace, as Candice LeRae and
Shawn Michaels looked on, visibly moved by the moment. The pair also had a moment with reigning NXT
Champion Tommaso Ciampa, as it certainly appears that both men are going to leave this week. This is a worst case scenario for WWE, who could
be on the cusp of losing two of their most impressive most established stars on NXT, and we imagine Tony Khan is already ready to make an offer.
Many people believe that both men are finished in NXT, and so does Shinsuke Nakamura, as the Intercontinental Champion tweeted “see you my
friends” on Tuesday morning. We can’t say for certain that the King of Strong Style meant Gargano and O’Reilly, but it’s telling
that Nakamura quickly deleted the tweet, but not before it was screenshotted. It’s possible that Nakamura could be speaking
about himself, but there’s no word on his contract and when it’s set to expire, but as the reigning Intercontinental Champion, we imagine it wouldn’t
be anytime soon. Nakamura may be the champ, but like his other main-roster title runs, his time with the IC title has
been underwhelming, and time will tell what the future holds for him, Gargano and O’Reilly in the coming weeks.
For the past few years, Corey Graves has been a lead announcer on WWE’s main roster, but his commentary isn’t to everyone’s taste.
Recently, Graves was in hot water for constantly throwing shade at Dana Brooke, and saying she should give up wrestling, and now a former NXT
interviewer is speaking up about his work. On Twitter, Alyssa Marino discussed commentators who only focus on the physical appearance on
female competitors, and said that when that happens, companies should look for professional broadcasters who can tell a story without being ‘distracted.’
Marino didn’t mention Graves, but he felt attacked, as he responded saying that Marino should look for a different industry to work in, if she can’t see
that his commentary is a TV character, and not a journalist. When a fan said that telling a female to look for a
different job because of her opinion doesn’t exactly help his claims of not being sexist, Graves hit back, saying he was going after Marino for what
he called “her lack of understanding between fiction/reality.” In a follow-up tweet, Marino said her initial comment
was about a bunch of indie promotions she’d seen on YouTube, and it’s telling that Graves believed her comment about sexist commentary was about him.
Graves’ commentary of the women’s wrestlers over the years has been interesting, as he’s drooled over the likes of Carmella and Mandy Rose
while saying Dana Brooke should leave the business, but the ‘Saviour of Misbehaviour’ wasn’t happy at all about this tweet, even when it wasn’t aimed at him.
Now, Rey Mysterio has had a legendary career, and is considered by many to be the biggest name in the history of masked wrestlers, but the three-time
former World Champion has something special planned.
On Twitter, Mysterio has promised some exciting news, that will be announced today and will “ change the history of Rey Mysterio.”
Rey offered no further hints over what the news would be, but it was reported last year that an animated series was being developed for Cartoon
Network Latin America, but no details have been revealed since.
We don’t expect it to be about his contact, as Rey signed a multi-year deal with WWE in the summer of 2020, coinciding with his son Dominik’s in-ring debut.
We’ll have to wait for later today for Mysterio’s \groundbreaking announcement to be made, but after such a lengthy, legendary career, it must be
something truly he for Rey to claim it’ll change the history of his entire career.
In June, WWE released Braun Strowman, a surprising move considering his last match was a WWE Championship opportunity at WrestleMania-Backlash.
Now, fans will be able to see the former Universal Champion again, albeit in a much different way, as Strowman will soon be offering hologram greetings.
Partnering with ImagineAR, the service is similar to Cameo, except with holograms instead of video, and in a press release, the former Superstar spoke
about joining several MLB and NFL players, as well as TV personalities who are included in the project: I never imagined that I would be the first professional
wrestler to enter the metaverse as a hologram. Fans around the world can now enter the virtual ring with me and man-up in their own
videos celebrating their birthday and holidays with the baddest These holograms haven’t been launched yet,
but will range between $4.99 and $14.99, and will make a unique gift for any fan of the former Universal Champion.
We’ve got some sad news to report now, as WWE Hall of Famer Blackjack Lanza has died aged 86.
News of Lanza’s death was announced via Jim Ross, who praised the Hall of Famer as the WWF’s lead agent during the Attitude Era.
Before becoming an agent, Lanza had an impressive 24 year in-ring career that begun in 1961, and saw him work in the WWF, AWA, Mid Atlantic Championship
Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling and other promotions. Alongside his partner Blackjack Mulligan, Lanza is a
former WWWF World Tag Champion and NWA Tag-Team Champion , and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006
In his reaction, Vince McMahon said Lanza’s loyalty and dedication to WWE will never be forgotten, while Mick Foley, Vince Russo and the NWA offered
their own condolences, and we’d like to extend our deepest sympathies to Jack’s family at this time.
And we’re ending today with Bray Wyatt, who may be gone from WWE but not forgotten.
This week, WWE released a new Funko Pop figure, depicting The Fiend in a Christmas themed apparel.
Given that the Pop Vinyl was of a wrestler no longer with the company, we imagine many saw it as a collector’s item, as it very quickly sold out
on WWEShop.com. WWE still owns the trademark for the Fiend, meaning they can use his image and name
however they see fit, but given the backlash fans have maintained ever since Bray’s late- July release, we doubt this Pop will ease any
tensions between the fans and Vince McMahon