Here's your wrestling news for September 2nd 2021
And your headlines for today include
WWE NXT Set To Become ‘A Vince McMahon & Bruce Prichard Production’ ; How Much They Really Have ? WWE Fans Are Angry!
Tony Khan Makes Furious Appearance After AEW Dynamite; What Really Happened?
Andrade Vs. PAC Pulled From All Out Due To Travel Issues; Andrade To Face Mystery Opponent!
Britt Baker Signs Multi-Year AEW Contract Extension!
CM Punk Says AEW Wrestler Brought Him To Tears Before AEW Debut ; Explains Why Darby Allin Is The Perfect Opponent For His In-Ring Return!
CM Punk’s NEXT Appearance; Status Of Ice Cream Bars!
WWE Planning Two-Night WrestleMania 38 Event!
WWE’s Plans For The Upcoming Draft 2021!
WWE Pulls John Cena’s ‘Broken Skull Sessions’ Episode!
Sting Does A Scott Hall Impersonation After AEW Tapings, Jon Moxley Speaks! And More!
We’re kicking off with NXT, which has been undergoing some changes recently, all part of Vince McMahon’s new vision for the gold brand.
In addition to a cut to the roster, a new logo has been confirmed, a new theme song by Wale is expected, as well as a new stage,
which explains why the three-weeks of content for the show has been taped in advance.
During Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alverez discussed the changes to the gold brand, and how the reign of Triple H as NXT’s head is
officially over. He said: “I have been told by several people that when they go back to live shows that this will be a
Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard production. I want you all to remember that and I want you to watch the show if that is the case, because I
was told repeatedly by fans that Vince had to be booking NXT for over a year now, and I told you that Vince wasn’t booking NXT and
and you didn’t believe me. Well, it appears that very soon he is going to be in charge of NXT.”
Triple H has been in charge of NXT ever since the show rebranded in 2012, but that isn’t the case anymore, and with Prichard already the
executive Director of both RAW and SmackDown, his influence across WWE only continues to grow with this monumental move
Bruce Prichard and Vince McMahon are now running NXT, in possibly the biggest change to the show since the 2012 rebrand, but they
won’t be overseeing every result on the gold brand. That’s according to Dave Meltzer, who followed up on Alverez’s initial report by saying:
McMahon and Prichard will be behind the big decisions, not the little ones, and will be behind marketing, promotion, and direction
Their role in booking may only be regarding those at the top. The team of Prichard and McMahon will
presumably be the deciders for title changes and other major moments, but it’s unclear who will oversee the more finer details from the show.
It’s possible that these decisions will be delegated to Triple H, but it’s impossible to say what role the Game will have now, and we’ll
just have to wait until September 14th for NXT’s huge relaunch.
More changes to NXT now, as two of the gold brand’s top stars are going to be fully-fledged faces according to reports.
PW Insider notes that NXT Women’s Champion Raquel Gonzalez will be a confirmed babyface going forward, and is set to defend her title
against Kay Lee Ray, and likely Franky Monet at the top face of the women’s division.
Indi Hartwell is also set to be a fully-fledged face going forward, after proposing to Dexter Lumis on NXT, with their wedding confirmed for later
this month. It’s reported that Gonzalez and Hartwell will be the top two female babyfaces going
forward, and for all the changes happening to the gold brand right now, these two Superstars will continue to be a prominent
feature of TV for a long time to come.
We’ve already reported how Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard will be taking control of NXT from now on, but they’re not the only
backstage names coming to NXT from the main-roster. According to Fightful, McMahon and Prichard
weren’t at the last set of NXT TV tapings, but one person who has been around the Performance Center more than usual lately
is Jamie Noble. It’s interesting to see that a main-roster producer is spending more time with NXT than
usual, and time will tell if Noble is joined by even more names from the main-roster, and how this’ll influence NXT when the go live again in
few weeks time.
Prichard and McMahon will be in charge of the gold brand, which they plan on turning back into a developmental ground for the main roster,
much to the anger of fans. On social media, fans spoke out in full force against the reports of Prichard and the
Chairman being on control, and ‘RIP NXT’ was trending for a time on Twitter. Triple H was also trending as fans wondered
how he took the news, and its worth noting that NXT talent haven’t been told about any changes ahead of time.
Fans are now in mourning for the NXT that was once the crown jewel of wrestling, and though fans will be able to relive the show’s 2012-2021
run under the Game on Peacock and the Network, serious changes are already in the works, with more coming later this month
Over to AEW next, as last night’s Dynamite ended in chaos at the hands of Kenny Omega and the Elite, as Christian Cage and a slew of
babyfaces took a beatdown inside a locked cage. This was quite the way to end the 100t
episode of Dynamite, and Tony Khan wasn’t happy about it wither, as he seemed furious after Dynamite went off the air.
Khan probably wasn’t happy about how to broadcast ended while Omega was still cutting his promo, and the AEW President
was still seething as he promised that there’d be no outside interference during the AEW World Tag Title match this Sunday,
between the Young Bucks and the Lucha Bros. A still irate Khan was led to the back by AEW officials, whilst Omega continued to taunt him
in the ring. The segment ended with Omega posing the lifeless Cage with the title belt, mocking his
challenger ahead of their match at All Out. We’ll have to see how Khan plays into this Sunday’s AEW World title match between
Omega and Cage, but the company President was far from his usual cool, calm and collected self after last night’s broadcast.
This Sunday’s All Out event will have plenty of huge matches, but one massive match has now been pulled from the show.
On Twitter, Tony Khan informed fans that Pac Vs. Andrade has been postponed due to “travel issues,” and that the two will eventually
collide on a future episode of Rampage. In response, Andrade fired off a tweet of his own, teasing an open challenge for All Out
and it’ll be interesting to see who answers the call. With reports of Daniel Bryan joining AEW this
Sunday, perhaps it’ll be the former WWE World Champion who responds to Andrade’s open challenge, in what’d be another huge debut for
the company. Time will tell who steps up to Andrade this Sunday, but for now, the battle of the former
NXT Champions between Pac and Andrade isn’t happening.
Britt Baker will be in action this Sunday, when she defends her Women’s World title against Kris Statlander, and she’s now confirmed she’s
not going anywhere else. Baker, who was the first female talent other than Brandi Rhodes, has signed a new
multi-year contract extension, that she announced during Dynamite.
That will ensure that AEW has the dentist around for years to come, and though it remains to be seen where her boyfriend
Adam Cole goes next, Baker isn’t leaving AEW.
Baker has proven to be a wise signing for AEW, but she’s not the only big name in their women’s division, as they recently signed
Thunder Rosa to a contract. Rosa was backstage for CM Punk’s AEW debut at Rampage the First Dance, and
made the moment extra special according to the former WWE Champion himself. Speaking on the Angi Taylor Show, Punk
admitted that he was incredibly nervous before his debut, and it was the former NWA Women’s Champion who calmed him down.
He said: “I’m going to call out Thunder Rosa. I was a nervous wreck the whole time and I’m pacing
the hallways. I can’t sit still, I can’t watch a monitor, can’t talk to people. I’m running around and then I’m waiting to go out, waiting for my
music to hit and she just looks at me and goes, ‘Hey, welcome back’ and I almost just burst into tears. I was just like, ‘you son-of-a-bitch
I just want to punch you right in the chest. She got me pretty good with that one. I don’t think that was her intention, but man, she got me.”
Punk has said that there’s many wrestlers in AEW he wants to help, and will have time to do just that with his multi-year contract,
but it was Thunder Rosa who helped Punk in his return to the world of wrestling.
Punk’s debut at Rampage The First Dance was a monumental success, and it was shortly after his promo that Punk Vs. Darby Allin was
confirmed for All Out. This is without a doubt the most anticipated match on the card, and arguably of the entire
year, and there’s a reason why Punk chose the former TNT Champion. Speaking to the New York Post, Punk called
Allin the perfect opponent for his in-ring return, and explained why saying: “I think he’s the perfect opponent. … I’m kind
of approaching it like I’m quasi-new guy, but old head coming back into this thing. From an artistic storyline perspective, I can’t go after
Kenny [Omega] right way. He’s the (world) champion. It wouldn’t make any sense. I never wrestled in this organization. Darby
is a lot of things. He’s a fantastic talent, he’s a great personality. Within the AEW storytelling, he’s a very compelling character
that the fans like. I just think he’s like the perfect foil right now. Perhaps Punk will one-day challenge for the
the AEW World Champion, something plenty of fans would love to see, but for now, the Best in the World is ecstatic to challenge the popular
Darby Allin this Sunday.
Punk will be wrestling this Sunday, but fans won’t have to wait until then to catch the Best in the World.
For this Friday’s Rampage, it’s been confirmed that Punk will be on the show, and we’re sure he’ll have a lot to say just 48 hours removed
from arguably the biggest match of his career.
When Punk debuted on Rampage: The First Dance, fans in attendance got a CM Punk Ice-Cream bar on their way out, and this
trend is going to continue. On Twitter, AEW confirmed that Ice-Crem bars will be on sale at concessions stands this week
including at Friday’s Rampage and All Out, giving the red-hot crowd a chance to cool-off with a delicious frozen treat
Back to WWE, and for the past two-years, WrestleMania has been a two-day show, and fans can expect this again next year.
Fightful reports that the current plan is for WrestleMania 38 to be a two-day event, starting on Saturday April 2nd, due to the
unaminously positive response that these shorter shows have had from both fans, and the Superstars themselves
This is a change in plans for WWE, as in January, Stephanie McMahon told TV Insider that two-night events were over
after WrestleMania 37, and though plans are always subject to change, the current direction is for a two-night spectacular next April.
Long before WrestleMania 38, the WWE will hold a draft, which is set to happen next month, but it’s too early to know what exactly
is the plan. It’s already been rumoured that Drew McIntyre will be moving to SmackDown, given that
he’s wrapping things up on RAW and taking losses, but the Scotsman’s move hasn’t been confirmed
When Ringside News asked a member of WWE’s creative team about the McIntyre rumours, they were given the vague answer that
it’s “neither accurate nor inaccurate,” because no draft picks have been decided just yet.
WWE may indeed move Drew to SmackDown, but as for now, no moves have been confirmed backstage in WWE, nor has the
draft even been formally announced to the public. Drew on SmackDown makes a lot of sense,
especially as he’s been exclusively on RAW since returning to the main-roster in 2018, but for now, nothing is set for next month’s draft
As a 16-time WWE World Champion, John Cena has a ton of stories from the industry, but fans will be waiting longer for him to sit
down with ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. PW Insider reports that Seth Rollins will replace Cena on the next Broken Skull Sessions, which
is set to air on September 26th after Extreme Rules, and no reason has been given as to why John isn’t on the show.
WWE apparently has a couple of Broken Skull Sessions in the can, as they already have an episode with Rollins ready to air, and we’ll just
have to keep waiting for Cena and the Rattlesnake to meet face-to-face.
And we’re ending today with Sting, and long before he was raising hell in AEW, he was the face of WCW, feuding with the NWO.
This week, Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston and Darby Allin competed in the final match of the AEW Dark: Elevation tapings, and post-match
the Stinger spoke to the crowd, even doing an impression of Scott Hall. This was a cool nod to Sting’s days in WCW
and his wars with the likes of Hall, Nash and Hogan, and it goes to show that the Icon can still entertain the crowd, even when he’s not
competing in the ring.