Here's more wrestling news for October 30th 2021
And your headlines for today include
First finalist in AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament confirmed
“Is he wearing a bra?” Tony Nese reveals Vince McMahon’s reaction to his WWE run
The Sonya Deville-Naomi feud intensifies on SmackDown thanks to Shayna Baszler
Plans in place for NXT 2.0 to return to touring
Hikaru Shida opens up about frustrating AEW Women’s title reign
WWE Superstar graduates with Master’s degree as Valedictorian And more!
We’re starting off with Bryan Danielson, one of AEW’s biggest names, and he could soon be the next AEW World Champion.
On last night’s Rampage, Danielson became the first man to advance to the finals of the AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament, defeating Eddie
Kingston with a triangle chokehold. Danielson will now face the winner of next Wednesday’s Jon Moxley Vs. Orange Cassidy
match, with the tournament finals happening at Full Gear on November 13th, and one of these three men will be the next challenger for the AEW
World Heavyweight Championship.
Bray Wyatt could soon be heading to AEW, as his non-compete clause with WWE expired yesterday, and that’s something Matt Hardy would love to
to see happen. On Instagram, the AEW star shared a photo of himself and Wyatt, back when they were the
Deleter of Worlds team in WWE, and in the caption, Hardy teased a reunion, saying it was time to delete the dastardly no-compete clause.
Wyatt hasn’t revealed much about his post-WWE plans, except telling fans that they’ll be seeing him very soon, and after plans fell through with Impact
Wrestling, it may be just a matter of time before the former RAW Tag Champions reunite on AEW programming
This past April, WWE released a total 14 Superstars from NXT and 205 Live, leaving the purple brand with so few names, that they’ve had to feature
talent well over the 205lbs weight limit. One name cut was former Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese, who has now signed a deal with AEW.
Speaking to Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Nese discussed his WWE tenure, which included him ditching a top because of the opinion of
Vince McMahon. He said: They said ‘You should wear something, but don’t cover up anything.’ For one show I wore a
He-Man type thing, but nobody thought it looked cool. In fact, Vince said ‘Is he wearing a bra out there?’ Straight after I heard that,
I threw it into the trash. But now, I think this is getting old and it doesn’t not represent me, I want to be taken more seriously.
Nese had one year left in his WWE contract before his release, has already made his in-ring debut at the latest AEW Dark tapings, has even hinted
at squaring off with Adam Cole tweeting that he was ‘contemplating his next move’ with a picture of him and Cole.
That match remains to be seen, but whatever the future holds for Nese in AEW, he won’t have to worry himself about what Vince McMahon
Over to SmackDown, as Shayna Bazler has quickly found a role since moving to the blue brand, working as the muscle for Sonya Deville.
This week, Baszler faced Naomi in a singles match, but after Deville said the appointed referee was out of action following Brock
Lesnar’s assault last week, the authority figure appointed herself as the guest referee. With a conveniently placed referee shirt at
ringside, Deville called the match, and a questionable count gave Baszler the win, and continued the conspiracy against Naomi
Deville has made it no secret that she has a problem with Naomi, and after the involvement of Baszler, this story has shown no signs of
slowing down, and we’re curious what favours Baszler will receive for acting as Deville’s muscle.
NXT 2.0 news now, as the show has been a mixed bag since the gold brand relaunched in September.
Despite positive reviews from fans, especially for the youth movement of NXT 2.0, viewerships have been down, and the show isn’t even close
to the demographic WWE was targeting. It’s hard to establish people in the ring with just two hours of TV a week, and that’s why
WWE are looking to take NXT 2.0 back on the road. In a job description for a Senior Production
Assistant for NXT 2.0, it’s mentioned that the successful applicant will be involved with live events, a sign that the show is going to be
touring again soon. It has previously been reported that WWE was hoping to have NXT 2.0 tour again this Summer,
though that obviously didn’t happen, and it’s hoped that touring and live events will give inexperienced stars a better opportunity to
hone their craft. Even WWE-signed talent like Riddle have been critical of what’s called an ‘unsafe environment;
in NXT, as in the past month alone, Jacey Jayne nearly injured herself on a dive, Io Shirai took a heinous ladder bump, and two lumberjacks
at Halloween Havoc failed to catch a diving Superstar. Before the ongoing global situation, NXT would
do a loop of live events in Florida to train a wrestler until they were ready for TV, and that could be the case for NXT 2.0 very soon,
in what WWE hopes will help both the Superstars, and the fans support the paint-splattered show.
Solo Sikoa could be a huge draw at the NXT 2.0 live events, after an impressive debut at Halloween Havoc this past Tuesday.
Interrupting a segment between Grayson Waller and LA Night, Sikoa has only had one TV appearance to date, but there’s already rumours
of a main-roster call-up. That’s because Sikoa Is the younger brother of the Usos, and cousin of the Tribal Chief
Roman Reigns, but that won’t be happening, at least just yet. On Twitter, Sikoa made it clear that he “rocks alone,
and doesn’t need anyone’s help, claiming that he never did. The Usos had a tweet of their own, where they
acknowledged their sibling’s word, and teased Sikoa joining the Bloodline, and while that may happen eventually, Solo Sikoa has made it clear
that he’s going it alone.
AEW news now, as Hikaru Shida is a former Women’s World Champion, and is now in line to be the first TBS Champion.
Shida’s record setting 372-day reign saw her hold the title from Double or Nothing 2020 to Double or Nothing 2021, but it didn’t live up to
the expectations of the 33-year-old wrestler. Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Shida opener up about what she feels was a disappointing run
as Women’s World Champion. She said: "After losing the title, I was very frustrated. I thought I could have done more and been
better as champion. So this tournament for the TBS title means a lot to me. It is a great opportunity to get back to the top.”
Shida’s record-breaking reign, the longest reign of any champion in AEW, saw her defeat the likes of Ryo Mizunami, Tay Conti and Nyla Rose
before losing the title to current Champion Britt Baker, but Shida feels her reign could’ve been so much more, something she’s hoping to
achieve with the TBS Title.
During the 2021 WWE draft, Monday Night RAW saved their last pick for Gable Steveson, the Tokyo Olympics Gold Medalist who’s yet to have
a match in the company. Right now, the NCAA Champion is finishing his studies with the University of Minneosta, but
there’s already high expectations for Steveson in WWE. When Corey Graves spoke to Steveson on After
the Bell, the wrestling prodigy called himself a “title seeker,” and made it clear that he’s coming for Big E’s WWE Championship
Big E has certainly been a fighting champion, as he retained the title against Drew McIntyre at Crown Jewel, and will already has a title
defence against Seth Rollins booked. It’s unlikely that Big E will still be champion when Steveson eventually lands on RAW, as his
focus right now is on being at University and defending the NCAA title, but this week’s message is a clear warning to any men who
may hold RAW’s richest prize in the coming years.
For the past year, Rey Mysterio has teamed with his son Dominik, who he asked John Cena to coach, and the father-son duo have been very
successful so far. Holding the SmackDown Tag Team titles from May to July, this marked Dominik’s first taste of gold,
since 2005, but it may never had happened according to the masked Superstar, who told TV Insider:
Before my son even stepped in the ring I thought maybe it was time to hang up the mask. Having my son kick off his career gave me a moment of
renewal. It was a rebirth. I see my son wrestle now and see myself from the early days. It definitely inspired me to stay in this industry
Rey added that he felt he was losing his passion for wrestling at the end of 2019, and despite having to work without a crowd for much of 2020,
Dominik saved him from retiring. With surgeries and injuries plaguing Rey over the year, there’s no telling just how long left
Rey has in his career, but fans of the three- time former WWE World Champion have Dominik to thank for keeping him around longer.
And we’re ending today with Chad Gable, whose talents in the ring have gone criminally underused, but the former Tag Champion has found another
way to occupy his time. On Twitter, Gable recently shared that he graduated as Valedictorian in his Master of
Fine Arts program at Full Sail University, where he studied Media Design in the former home of NXT.
Gable explained in a lengthy statement that he decided to return to academics in early 2020, when he had a lot more free time on his hands,
and was able to study thanks to a corporate sponsorship between WWE and Full Sail, as well as a scholarship from the Comanche Nation,
of which he’s a member of. Graduating as Valedictorian, with a 4.0 GPA and the recipient of Full Sail’s ‘Advanced
Achievement’ award, Gable earned his Masters degree while balancing the busy life of a wrestler, and has the brains to match his braun.