Here's your wrestling news for December 16th 2021
And your headlines for today include
Kevin Owens Reportedly Signs Multi- Year Deal With WWE!
Adam Cole And Bobby Fish Drop A Major Hint For A Christmas Surprise.
Hangman Page vs. Bryan Danielson breaks major AEW record at Winter is Coming!
Roman Reigns Crosses Hall Of Famer's WWE Milestone; Targets Randy Orton Next!
Why Roman Reigns Apologized To An AEW Wrestler?
WWE Is Reportedly Very Interested In Signing MJF; MJFREACTS!
Ryback Reacts To MJF Referring To Him On AEW Dynamite!
Brody King Signs AEW Contract!
MJF & Dax Harwood Eject Fan From Backstage At AEW Dynamite!
Does Sonya Deville Has Heat With Ronda Rousey?
The Miz Says Hannibal Stabbing Referee Didn’t Look Like A Mistake!
Gable Steveson’s Brother Damon Kemp Makes WWE NXT Appearance!
Why Tommy Dreamer Urged Austin Theory ? And More!
We’ve kicking off today with Kevin Owens, and after months of speculation, it appears that the Prizefighter is staying in WWE.
Fightful Select reports that Owens has re-signed with the company, in what is said to be a multi- year deal.
WWE officials made Owens an “excellent offer” to stay, and Fightful notes that the company are “over the moon” about retaining the Canadian Superstar.
Owens’ WWE deal was meant to expire much later, but he restructured it in 2019 so that it expired at the end of January 2022.
WWE began renegotiating a new deal with Owens in the fall, and while it’s believed WWE were interested, sources close to the situation said that
company could not match what WWE offered the Prizefighter to stay. Wrestle Votes add that WWE “felt strongly” in keeping
Owens, and it’s believed that the Prize fighter will remain part of the main-event scene going forward.
Owens is set to compete at WWE Day 1 on January 1st, where he’ll face WWE Champion Big E, Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley with the title on the line.
Before he re-signed, it was believed that Owens’ addition to the match was to take the pin, leaving Rollins and Lashley credible future opponents for
Big E, but with KO under contract again, him winning the WWE Championship on January 1st is much more plausible.
Kevin Owens won’t be All Elite, but Kyle O’Reilly could be, after his contract with NXT expired last week.
That’s at least what plenty of fans believe as during the Winter is Coming Dynamite, Adam Cole promised a special Christmas gift for the
Young Bucks next week. Bringing O’Reilly in would make him the third Undisputed Era member in to AEW, and with a
terrific feud between the Bucks and O’Reilly and Cole a very real possibility, expect a face turn for the NXT Champion as part of this programme.
AEW Dynamite Winter is Coming also saw MJF win his third Dynamite Diamond ring, and we feel this was definitely the right call.
Once seen as a silly prop, the Diamond ring represents the MJF character perfectly, as it’s gaudy, obnoxious and in your face.
An excellent match with Dante Martin saw MJF retain the ring, but it looked at times like he was about to lose, and earning his third Diamond ring only adds
to the Salt of the Earth’s impressive resume.
AEW Dynamite opened up with the World title match between Hangman Page and Bryan Danielson, which as you’d expect, was an incredible
match from start to finish. Unfortunately, that finish was a 60-minute time- limit draw, as both men earned the respect of the
crowd for a hard-fought contest, but this ending didn’t satisfy anyone who watched from the stands. By having a 60-minute draw, Page and Danielson
set the record for the longest match in AEW history, but with this poor finish, we expect a rematch in the near future.
SmackDown news now, as Roman Reigns continues to dominate the blue brand as Universal Champion, and the Tribal Chief has
reached another impressive milestone. In addition to being a two-time Universal Champion, Reigns is a three-time WWE Champion,
and today, has reached 651 days overall as a World Champion.
In doing so, Reigns has surpassed the record of Bret Hart, who held the WWF title for 5 days for a total 650 days.
Now, Reigns’ next target is Randy Orton, who across his 14 times as a WWE World Champion, has held gold for 806 days.
To beat the Viper, Reigns will need to remain Universal Champion until May 21st 2022, but with the Tribal Chief showing no signs of
losing the title, reaching 806 days is a very real possibility.
Reigns has defeated some of WWE’s biggest names, including Edge, John Cena, Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Daniel Bryan, but fans
wouldn’t expect Ricky Starks to be on that list. On the March 19th, 2018 edition of RAW, Starks played a U.S. Marshall that was tasked
with arresting Roman Reigns, only to receive a beatdown by the future Tribal Chief. In a recent interview, Starks recalled the
segment, saying that Reigns hit him way too hard and felt terrible afterwards, in what was a glowing endorsement of the reigning Universal
Champion. He said: "So I went there, showed up, talked to Roman (Reigns). Everything was cool, he had to
put these cuffs on, and they were really tight, and he goes, 'hey man, I can't do anything when I got my hands cuffed, so sorry ahead
of time.' "And man, I went to grab him (imitates how he grabbed Reigns) like that to come out of the ring, and he woah (imitates how Reigns
hit him very hard), and I said, 'oh okay.' Get in the corner, and he starts stomping the s— out of him. But he was a really great guy
because afterward, he apologized," Reigns has gone on to become one of WWE’s best heels, and will return to
SmackDown this Friday after a vacation last week, as he continues on the path to WWE Day 1, and his next Universal Championship
defence against Brock Lesnar
In 2021, WWE has lost a lot of big names, with Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole, Ruby Soho, Andrade El Idolo and Malakai Black all going to
AEW, but now Vince McMahon is hoping to take somebody from Tony Khan.
Andrew Zarian reports that those at both FOX and the USA Network are interested in AEW’s MJF, and are pushing WWE to try and sign the cocky
young wrestler. It’s said that WWE is very interested in him, and that non-wrestling followers from both networks
have been eyeing him up ever since his promo with CM Punk. One source within WWE said how MJF has
everything we would want,” but questioned whether the rude heel could be the same person on WWE TV as he is now.
MJF has teased signing with WWE if Tony Khan can’t afford his contract, and we know that his current deal with AEW expires in 2024.
At last night’s Winter is Coming special MJF beat Dante Martin to win the Dynamite Diamond Ring yet again, and we imagine this was a match that
those at WWE’s Network partners watched with great interest.
Dynamite saw MJF continue to run his mouth as you’d expect, and made a reference to a name fans haven’t heard on TV in a long time.
Speaking about CM Punk, who is undefeated since coming to WWE, MJF bashed the former WWE Champion, saying that underwhelming
matches against underwhelming opponents doesn’t make Punk Championship material, but instead he’s the new Ryback.
The Big Guy, who left WWE in 2016, immediately pounced onto Twitter to respond, and after thanking MJF for the shoutout, said that the
the Salt of the Earth is an enhancement talent working with an underwhelming opponent. If Ryback considers Punk, a former WWE World
Champion, triple crown champion, two-time Money in the Bank winner and the man who ended his undefeated streak an underwhhelming opponent
we’re curious as to what that says about Ryback himself, but perhaps this will lead to a cameo on AEW TV for the Big Guy, now over three years
since his last wrestling match.
Time will tell if Ryback appears for AEW, but we know that Brody King will, as the Ring of Honor standout has reportedly signed a deal.
.net’s sources said that they were told on Thanksgiving weekend that King’s deal was confirmed, and it’s believed he signed
immediately after ROH announced their hiatus. Malakai Black has teased a new member in the House Of Black which many expect to
be King, because the two recently reunited at a PWG show and became tag team champions, and we’ll have to see what the future holds
for King now he’s All-Elite.
Now, in the wake of Seth Rollins being attacked by a fan during a recent RAW, there’s been a lot of talk about the safety of wrestlers, and that’s certainly
the case at AEW. Recently, Dynamite and Rampage were taped at the UBS Arena in Long Island, New York, where a
breach of security allowed a fan to simply walk into the backstage area.
Fightful select reports that the fan walked straight into the locker-room, and got as far as sitting in Dax Harwood’s seat.
When asked to move, the fan said he was an extra for the show, and promptly switched seats, this time to one belonging to The Blade.
When questioned by the wrestlers, the intruder said he was trained by Jeff Hardy, which immediately raised red flags, as Jeff isn’t a trainer
It became evident to people in the locker room that something was off, so they began questioning the person, who was applying his Jeff Hardy-style
armbands. When asked who trained him, he stated “Jeff Hardy,” who does not train wrestlers. Also, the person couldn’t correctly identify who would
have booked him for extra work, citing a name that doesn’t do that job. We’re told that MJF and Dax Harwood quickly ejected him from the locker room,
him to a person who indicated the same fan had been kicked out of an AEW Boston show in October. The person also claimed to be a friend
Taz’s, which was “clearly not true,” said one talent backstage. The intruder was no friend of Taz, and didn’t make
any more pals with his action, but it’s reported that the wrestlers didn’t get mad at AEW’s security, as they saw the incident as a fault of the arena
security who didn’t do their jobs. Regardless of who was meant to be in charge, this was a major lapse in standards, and with the
Rollins incident still fresh in everyone’s thoughts, AEW was lucky the situation ended without anyone getting hurt.
At the 2018 Royal Rumble, Ronda Rousey debuted for WWE, after establishing herself as the biggest female name in MMA.
At a recent indie event, Devon ‘Hannibal’ Nicholson stabbed referee Lando Deltoro in the head several times with a spike, causing the ref to bleed
intensely and require staples to close the wounds. There’s been calls for Hannibal to be blacklisted from the industry, despite his defence that he didn’t
realise he was hurting the ref, which is a strange defence given that in the videos taken, it can be clearly seen that Deltoro is bleeding profusely
Several wrestlers have spoke out against Hannibal’s actions, and now so has The Miz, who spoke to TMZ Sports about the incident, saying:
Accidents happen, but I don’t get stabbed with like a knife or whatever the hell the guy had.
The Miz clearly doesn’t believe Hannibal’s claim that he had no idea he was hurting Deltoro, and added that the attack “didn’t look like a mistake,”
and we expect World Class Pro Wrestling, the promotion that hosted the event, to be the first of many to ban Hannibal from future events.
When WWE signed Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson earlier this year, the news made headlines around the world, but he’s not the
only Steveson to work with WWE. On this week’s NXT 2.0, Gable’s brother, Bobby Steveson, made a brief appearance, sitting
alongside Bron Breakker who told Grayson Waller that he isn’t welcome in the NXT locker room.
Bobby Steveson will be known as Damon Kamp when he’s wrestling full-time, while his brother who appeared on RAW is expected to compete
under his real name, in what’ll be one of the most anticipated in-ring debuts for the Olympic Gold Medalist
And we’re ending today with Austin Theory, and the man many consider a future WWE World Champion has had an incredible year.
In just a few months, Theory has gone from a follower of Johnny Gargano’s The Way to sharing screen time with Mr. McMahon, in a huge opportunity for the
24-year-old Superstar. This is an opportunity very few wrestlers have been afforded, and on Busted Open Radio, Tommy
Dreamer gave some solid advice to Theory, saying: “You’re getting an opportunity, don’t blow that opportunity. Literally, do everything the best that
you can, and like I said, go above and beyond because they’re interested in you right now. That can change but run with it. It will only
change if you mess it up. With Theory blindsiding Finn Balor on this week’s RAW, It appears that a feud between
the two is in the works, presumably culminating at Day 1, in what’ll be the next big opportunity for Theory to
prove why he deserves all this attention from WWE’s CEO