Here's more wrestling news for August 28th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
TNT Title Match Added To AEW All Out!
AEW Planning Huge Britt Baker Program For 2022!
Happy Corbin on SmackDown; Is WWE Heading In The Right Direction?
Riddles Shares What Happened After His Awkward Segment With Asuka!
WWE Reportedly Not Interested In Indie Wrestlers Right Now Tony Khan Reacts!
How Did Tony Khan TREAT Gangrel For Cancelled Appearance?
Yet Another GREAT Gesture By CM Punk!
WWE 2K22 Executive Producer Explains Lack Of Updates!
The Former Iiconics Reveal Their New Tag Team Name!
UFC Not Pursuing Gable Steveson Nearly As Much As WWE!
Fox Reportedly Upset WWE Didn’t Make Offer To CM Punk! And More!
We’re starting today with AEW, and at All Out, TNT Champion Miro will put his title on the line.
After his Rampage attack on Fuego Del Sol was cut short by Eddie Kingston, it’s been confirmed that Miro will face Kingston next
Sunday, for the TNT Championship. There’s not much story to this feud, but we’re sure the match will be entertaining, as Kingston
hopes to be the one to dethrone the self- proclaimed ‘God’s favourite Champion.’
All Out will also see AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker defend against Kris Statlander, in a match the dentist is expected
to win. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW is planning for a huge program for
a huge program for Baker in 2022, that’ll see her collide with Thunder Rosa. The pair’s bloody Lights Out match hasn’t been
forgotten by fans, as it helped elevate the careers of both women, and we can expect the sequel to this epic encounter at some
point next year.
Over to SmackDown, and last night, Baron Corbin returned the blue brand a rich man, and more importantly, a very happy man.
Now calling himself Happy Corbin, the former King of the Ring, also has a new theme, and showed his new wealth, offering Big E a
whopping $100,000 for the Money in the Bank Briefcase. Big E was taken aback by the figure, but said
his guaranteed world title shot wasn’t for sale, but this segment was all about Happy Corbin.
Lately, everything Corbin has touched has turned to gold, ironic considering that he was so poor up until recently, and we’re continuing
to enjoy the pursuits of Happy Corbin on the Blue brand.
One man who always seems happy is Matt Riddle, who’s not only a RAW Tag Team Champion, but is working alongside his so-called
best friend Randy Orton. On the March 29th RAW, Riddle was in a segment with then RAW Women’s Champion Asuka,
in which he ess. Speaking to Bleacher Report this week about that incident, Riddle defended him forgetting
Speaking to Bleacher Report this week about that incident, Riddle defended him forgetting his lines, saying there was a lot in his segment
including robot fights and Tokyo Underground battle bots. Riddle also said that he was waved over by
the production crew, which is why he left the scene, and believed it was a rehearsal, not the live thing
Though Riddle felt he’d messed up, Bruce Prichard and the production team thought what happened was better than what
was written for him. Thankfully, there was no heat on Riddle for forgetting his lines on this occasion, but the
RAW Tag Team Champion should probably try and avoid making incidents like these a regular occurrence.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Vince McMahon was reshaping NXT, which he wants to once-again be a developmental
ground for RAW and SmackDown. Part of McMahon’s plans is for WWE to focus on younger, larger performers, rather than
smaller veterans, and now indie wrestlers are reportedly off the table too. In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter,
it’s noted that the word from the very top of WWE is that they’re not interested in scouting indie wrestlers, and that
AEW can have all the indie talent to themselves. It’s also said that WWE officials are back to the idea of scouting talent by their looks and
and character, rather than if they’ve made it elsewhere, and will then teach those with the right look how to be professional wrestlers.
Recently, WWE held try-outs during Summerslam weekend, and it’s said that this will be the company’s recruiting process from now on
but that this attitude can always change on a case-by-case basis. We’re not sure if WWE should be letting AEW
have all the indie talent they want, given that Tony Khan already has quite the impressive roster, but for now, don’t expect to see many
names, if any, make the jump from the independent scene to WWE.
WWE is fine with AEW having all the independent talent they want, and now Tony Khan has made it clear that he’s on board with that plan.
Responding to a tweet about WWE’s new hiring process, Khan shared a still from Ben Affleck’s film The Boiler Room
in which the future Batman is seen saying “we don’t hire brokers here, we train new ones.”
Khan also replied with a gif from Tin Cup, this one reading “I’ll take 18 of them all day,” as Khan would rather have indie wrestlers than
athletes the company needs to train. AEW could certainly benefit from WWE’s new recruitment strategy, as even more
indie wrestlers are now expected to join AEW, bringing their legions of loyal fans to AEW’s weekly product.
This week, former wrestler Gangrel was meant to appear on AEW Dynamite, but that didn’t happen because of WWE.
After Edge recently returned to his Brood routes, Tony Khan made the call to nix their planned segment for Gangrel, who was
supposed to perform the same segment on their weekly show. Gangrel has said he was disappointed that
he didn’t get to appear, but at least it wasn’t a total bust, as the Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Gangrel was still paid
by AEW, even though he didn’t appear on the show. They added that the plan was for Gangrel to
join the ring with his fellow Brood-brother Christian Cage, and there would’ve been a bloodbath involving Kenny Omega.
Those plans were scrapped after last week’s SmackDown, when Edge did a bloodbath to Seth Rollins, but it’s a class act of AEW to still
pay wrestling’s resident vampire, even if he didn’t appear on TV.
Last week, CM Punk set the record for the most shirt sales on PW Tees in 24 hours, following his incredible debut on Rampage.
Now, Punk has sent a thank-you gift to the crew of PW Tees, as on Instagram, the shirt- selling website noted that Punk sent everyone
pizza from Chicago’s Piece Pizzzeria and Brewery yesterday afternoon. Not only did Punk set a new record for the
most shirts sold in 24 hours, but Punk’s new shirt is the best-selling design of all time, a record it set in less than 72 hours, and while
the PW Tees team are being kept busy thanks to the former WWE Champion, they’re not going hungry during the long hours of processing orders.
Video game news now, as WWE 2K22 has been delayed until March next year, as confirmed during Summerslam last week.
This delay is down to the “strained relationship” between WWE and 2K, and the fact that developers have had to change a ton due to
WWE’s mass releases, but the game still should be an excellent experience. That’s at least what Executive Producer Pat
Gilmore is saying, as he reassured fans in a tweet, saying: “I’ve heard some concerns about WWE2K22
going quiet until January. The challenge is that creating updates like the #SummerSlam trailer requires support from development, and
we’re trying to stay completely focused on making you the best game possible. “Just reassuring everyone that we’re going
to continue to support online services for WWE2K20 and WWE2K19 through the WWE2K22 release in March! Road to Glory
MyPlayer PPV Tower in WWE2K20 will sunset September 26. In-game messaging is automated, and may be incorrect…”
News on WWE 2K22 has been slow, and fans will be waiting even longer to play the next installment in the franchise, but the franchise’s
entire future rests solely on the game’s success when it launches next year.
Two names who won’t be in WWE 2K22 are Cassie Lee and Jessie McKay, and after their release in April, and finally able to earn money
again. Since their WWE release, the former IIconics haven’t been able to monetise anything due to
visa issues, but that’s a thing of the past, as confirmed by the former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions
On Twitter, the pair dropped a steamy photo, to confirm their return to pro-wrestling, and announced the IInspiration tour, with
dates and cities to be announced soon. It was in June that the pair trademarked the name ‘The IInspiration’ and there’s no word
currently about what the pair will do on this tour. Whatever they have planned, the IInspiration will be working hard after being unable to
make anything for months, and there’s no shortage of companies who’d benefit from having the former Superstars on their roster
Olympics news next, and even before he won gold in the wrestling at this year’s Tokyo Summer Games, Gable Steveson was on
WWE’s radar. It’s not just WWE who have shown interest in Steveson, as his name has been linked to
Bellator, the NFL and UFC, but Dana White isn’t nearly as interested in the 21-year-old Olympian.
That’s according to the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, who report:
Gable Steveson met with Vince McMahon over the weekend in Las Vegas. He did not meet with Dana White, and UFC has not pursued
him at nearly the level WWE has.” Wherever he goes next, Steveson will be a huge deal for whoeve he signs with, but don’t
expect to see him in the Octagon as part of UFC.
Back to AEW, as the company has been taping their Dark shows prior to Dynamite and Rampage, but that’s all about to change.