Here is your news for December 9, 2019
We're starting off today with one of the most anticipated fighting
events of the year, as Tito Ortiz finally squared off against Alberto Del Rio.
Meeting inside an MMA Cage on Pay Per View for Combate Americas on
Saturday, the tale of the tape showed that Ortiz has shrunk a little in his
old age, as he's actually 6 foot 3 with a 74-inch reach.
The two fighters were met with much different responses by fans, as
Del Rio entered to rousing cheers by the crowd, whilst Ortiz was met with boos.
Part of the storyline between the two revolved around President
Trump's proposed Border Wall, with Del Rio being against it, and Ortiz,
who trolled fans by coming out to Real American, is all for it.
With the entrances out of the way, it was time for the fight, as Del Rio
got the first takedown, but was overpowered by Tito, who worked for the submission.
Though the former WWE Champion did work his way back to his feet, it
wasn't long until Ortiz took him down again, and after applying a rear-
naked choke, Del Rio tapped with nearly 2 minutes remaining in Round 1.
Though Ortiz acted unsportsmanly by keeping the choke on after the
bell had rung, the two eventually hugged it out in the ring, and whilst
Tito had promised to donate $50,000 to charity if Del Rio survived the
first round, something that obviously didn't happen, he said he'd give
away $10,000 anyway.
That left just one matter to take care of, as the pair had made a
personal wager regarding championship belts, and since Del Rio lost, he
had to give up his replica WWE Championship that he won back at
Summerslam 2011.
Instead of keeping it for himself though, Ortiz gave it to his two sons in
an act that could put him in contendership for Dad of the Year, as the
44-year-old proved he's still got it in the cage.
Over to WWE now, and whilst there's a lot of things that fans can say as
part of a live WWE experience, homophobic language shouldn't, and
won't be tolerated, as one fan found out.
At a Live event on December 8th in Daytona Beach Florida, Shinsuke
Nakamura was wrestling The Fiend, and as Sami Zayn watched his client
from ringside, one fan who was in the front row allegedly hurled
homophobic slurs at the Canadian Superstar.
After the fan repeatedly yelled that Zayn was a six-letter word beginning
with f and ending in t, the Smack Down Superstar was rightly irate,
saying "get him out of my f***ing face, homophobic moron," and could
later be heard telling the person at ringside "say it louder for everyone,
homophobic dick.”
As other fans online shared their disgust at what the person had said,
the fan was ejected from ring side, as no Superstar should be on the
receiving end of this homophobic tirade.
We've got some big WWE release news now, as after a long battle this
year, Luke Harper has finally been released by the company.
After announcing his intentions to leave earlier this year, his request
was denied, and not only did he have more months added to his
contract, the former Inter continental Champion even made a brief return to TV.
Later on yesterday, Sin Cara was also released after not appearing much
on TV at all, and he too also announced his intentions to leave not to long ago.
The Ascencion meanwhile, did not ask for their release, at least not
publicly, but were also let go, as a statement by WWE said:
“WWE has come to terms on the releases of Jonathan Huber (Luke
Harper), Sin Cara and Ryan Parmeter (Konnor) and Eric Thompson
(Viktor) of The Ascension. WWE wishes them all the best in their future endeavors.”
It's no secret that the WWE has signed a ton of talent over the past few
years, but the unfortunate side effect of that is that it's left many
wrestlers being underused, thanks to the bloated roster.
Though these four will now have the chance to prove themselves
outside of WWE, some Super stars who want out didn't get cut,
including Mike Kanellis and The Revival.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer claimed that the WWE
doesn't want to release anyone who is likely to go to AEW, as the
Revival has made several references to wanting to wrestle the Young
Bucks in the past.
Whilst Sin Cara and The Ascension may just find other smaller
promotions to head to, it's very possible that Harper ends up in the new
company, as he has friends in AEW, and could be on TV once again, very soon.
We're looking ahead to this Sunday now, as the WWE has finally started
announcing matches for their final Pay Per View of both the year and
the decade, TLC.
At the show, Bray Wyatt will face The Miz, but not with the Universal
Title on the line, and this match has shocked many who believed that
the Fiend who face Daniel Bryan again, a rematch of their Survivor
Series encounter.
On Observer Radio, Meltzer explained that that was the plan all along,
but it was the Yes! Man himself who had the match delayed, saying:
“Originally it was gonna be Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan — Daniel Bryan
himself was actually pushing to delay it. He thought this pay- per-view
was too soon and he I guess is pretty hands-on with his story which if I
was him I would be too because I wouldn’t want these people messing
with my stories. So it’s gonna be The Miz.”
In an interesting move by WWE, it's not The Fiend that is wrestling the
A-Lister, but Bray Wyatt, and it doesn't seem like the title will be on the line.
Fans will just have to wait and see whether Bryan does show up, as the
last time fans saw him, he was getting a very painful haircut, courtesy of the Fiend.
Now, we all know that Vince McMahon is a big name in the world of
wrestling, but when fans saw the 74-year-old trending on Twitter
recently, fans worried the worst had happened.
The actual reason the boss was trending is thanks to French soccer star
Allan Saint-Maximin, who plays for the Premier League's Newcastle United.
After recently scoring a goal, the Frenchman had a very special
celebration, and fans briefly saw Allan imitate McMahon's famous
struth, which caused him to trend.
Whilst its clear that The soccer star is a big fan of the Chairman, not
everybody is so keen on him, and last week, former Superstar Ryback
made his feelings clear on the boss.
During his 'Conversations with the Big Guy' podcast, Ryback even
referred to McMahon as like a pimp, after claiming Seth Rollins' recent
comments about CM Punk may cause the boss to lose interest in him, as
he doesn't want to tease a Rollins-Punk match, Ryback said:
“This could be a way for WWE and Vince McMahon to downgrade Seth
Rollins a little bit here. I think you may see him taking some L’s a little
more often because once Vince McMahon sours on you, and I saw the
thing with the Humberto [Carrillo] guy. It’s like a pimp who is done with
his whore. Vince McMahon is done with him.”
“He had his way with him for a few weeks and it’s like, oh, he’s done.
The saying is that Vince is done with Humberto, of course, he is, he does
it all the time. He gets a little toy, plays with it for a few weeks and then
he comes up with a crazy reason about Humberto not getting over.
There is always a reason for it, so yeah, Vince can be done with Seth as
far as keeping him protected in the golden circle.”
The former Intercontinental Champion doesn't seem interested in
making a return to WWE, but he does seem hellbent on informing fans
of his opinion of WWE, after being backstage to see how things are being run.
Not only that, but the Big Guy still has plenty of friends backstage who
can keep him in the loop of things, and though fans may never see the
Rollins-Punk WrestleMania match, there are still plenty of options for
the Beast Slayer.
One person who knows all about wrestling CM Punk is Jeff Hardy, who
has had his court hearing date changed once again, after a brush in with the law.
In October, Hardy was arrested for the second time this year for Driving
whilst Under the influence, and though he had a court date, this was
changed to December 5th, thanks to what was described as a "personal matter."
When December 5th rolled around though, the court date was again
changed, and now Jeff is supposed to appear ar Moore County Court on
January 13th next year, according to a report by Heel By Nature.
When Hardy was found by police after driving erratically, he was holding
some recently purchased liquor, and this isn't the first time the
Charismatic Enigma has found himself in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
In June this year, Hardy was arrested for public intoxication at Myrtle
Beach, but that charge wasn't nearly as serious as this DUI.
Between these arrests and being out with a leg injury, the WWE have
"strongly implored" Jeff to focus on his health, as his contract with the
company is currently frozen, whilst his brother Matt's expires in
February next year.
Speaking of Matt, the former ECW World Champion is celebrating the
birth of his third son, so hopefully Jeff will be able to get his life back on
track and be the uncle his new nephew deserves.
Time for some news outside of WWE now, as Jon Moxley has laid out
the challenge to Lance Archer, for a match at the World Tag League
finals at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
After a match that featured the IWGP United States Champion Archer
and Minoru Suzuki, Moxley emerged from the crowd, laying both men
out with his paradigm shift DDT.
Moxley then took the microphone, and demanded a title match against
Archer, claiming he wanted his US championship back and said he
would get it at Wrestle Kingdom next month, in a Texas Death Match.
Setting up a table at ringside, the former Ambrose tried to put Archer
through it, but after a scuffle between the two, both men brawled to the back.
Archer won the title in an impromptu no-DQ match against Juice
Robinson back on October 14th, and though this match was originally
supposed to be Moxley defending the title against Juice, he was unable
to make it to Japan due to a typhoon that struck the country that weekend.
It'll be interesting to see how both Moxley and Archer do in the Texas
death match, but one thing we know for sure is that neither man would
have been able to have one back when they were in WWE.
Some AEW news now, as after Emi Sakura ranked #3 on the most recent
company rankings, a match has been made between Sakura and Big Swole.
Swole has stormed onto the scene at AEW and, with a win, she could
climb the rankings, whilst a win for Sakura would cause her to climb the
ratings, after Hikaru Shida's loss last week.
With a win/loss rate of 3 and 3, a win for Sakura could definitely set her
apart from the rest of the AEW Women's divison, and its interesting to
see how Swole will do, after debuting on the November 5th edition of AEW Dark.
And finally today we're looking at tonight's Monday Night RAW, as Rey
Mysterio will defend his newly-won United States Championship against AJ Styles.
The Ultimate Underdog won the gold from Styles a few weeks back,
thanks to an assist by Randy Orton, and the Phenomenal One will be
keeping an eye out in case the Viper decides to strike once again.
Though Mysterio may or may not have Orton on his side, we know that
Styles will have Gallows and Anderson with him, and having the Best
Tag Team in the World in his corner may help Styles reclaim the title.
Also on tonight's show, love won't be in the air, as Rusev and Lana
finalize their divorce, live on the show.
It's very unlikely that this will be the end of this recent storyline,
as every fan knows that these sort of things never go as planned.
All we know is that it'll be a hectic night on RAW tonight, as the
company nears its end on the road to WWE: TLC.