Here's more wrestling news for October 14th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Tony Khan backtracks on Rampage competing with SmackDown
WWE Hall Of Famer And Family Forced To Pay $5 Million Over Fraud!
“Do we have the depth?” CM Punk blasts AEW’s latest big idea
WWE Hall of Famer attacks interrupting fan during interview And more!
We’re kicking off today with SmackDown, which will air on FS1 this Friday as a two-and-a-half -hour long special, meaning the final 30 minutes
will compete directly with AEW Rampage. Both WWE and AEW have announced stacked shows, and on Twitter, Tony Khan called out
WWE, saying he’s looking forward to seeing Rampage beat SmackDown in this Friday Night War.
Now, it appears the AEW President has had a change of heart, as in an interview with Moose and Maggie of WFAN, Khan claimed that
despite his past comments, Rampage isn’t competing with the blue brand this week: “It’s bad timing to be moving off Wednesday
when you’re on such a great recent run, but this weekend’s huge for us, and the shows have been so good. It’s not about competing with
them. It’s about doing our best show.” Given that SmackDown usually beats Rampage by a million-or-so viewers, this could be Khan’s attempts
at damage control after his strong words earlier this week, but we know that the AEW President doesn’t want anyone to think that the two s
shows are at odds this Friday.
In February 2020, Brett DiBiase, the son of WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase Sr, was arrested as part of an embezzlement scheme, the size of which had never
been seen before in the state of Mississippi. Brett was hired as deputy administrator at the Mississippi Department of Human Services in
2017, but State Auditor Shad White found that welfare dollars had been misspent, and this involved the Million Dollar Man.
According to stare records obtained by PW Insider, Ted DiBiase’s non-profit organisation, the Heart of David Ministry, received over $2 million in
welfare money, and the Hall of Famer has now been hit with some serious consequences.
State Auditor Shad White has issued letters, saying that DiBiase Sr must pay back $722,299 from the money his ministry received, and that
Brett must pay back $225,950. These are massive amounts, but nothing compared to Ted DiBiase Jr, who previously
worked for WWE as a Superstar, and must pay back $3.9 million in money paid by the welfare agency for his work as a motivational speaker
With close to $5 million owed by the DiBiases, Ted may have to drop his million-dollar-man moniker soon enough, and we’ll keep following this
story for further updates.
Back to the ring, as Mustafa Ali has been with WWE since 2016, but is yet to hold gold for the company.
It was an unfortunate injury that derailed the plans for Ali as WWE Champion in 2019, as his spot went to Kofi Kingston instead, and the RAW
Superstar knows just how good he is. On The Bump, Ali called himself the most underutilised wrestler in WWE, and said that
despite being screwed over multiple times, first with his injury, and later at Money in the Bank 2019 when Brock Lesnar was a last-minute
addition to the match, fans didn’t have a JusticeForAli movement like other Superstars.
Saying he doesn’t need anyone’s support, Ali added that all he needs is an opportunity, and time will tell if the talented, but underutilised
Superstar gets another title opportunity down the line.
One man who knows all about opportunities is Universal Champion, who’s heel turn over the past year has been nothing short of exceptional.
As a heel, Reigns has distanced himself from everyone other than his cousins the Usos and Paul Heyman, but that’s not the case behind
the scenes. Speaking on That 90’s Wrestling Podcast, former Superstar Mike Bennett praised Reigns, saying that
the Head of the Table would stay after shows to watch 205 Live, and give the cruiserweights feedback on their matches
Bennett added that he was touched that someone so important would stay late to watch his matches, saying that everyone else would have left the
building at that point. Roman Reigns is a very important name in WWE, and has been for several years, and
despite being the ultimate heel on screen these days, it’s acts like this that prove why the Universal Champion is a beloved locker room leader.
Since turning heel, Reigns has been known as the Tribal Chief and the Head of the Table, and as part of his current feud with Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman
has been referring to Reigns as the Suplexorcist. The term means that Reigns is the man who can defeat the Mayor of Suplex City, and it
wasn’t long after this nickname was used, that a new Suplexorcist shirt was revealed on WWEShop.com.
Now, that term is here to stay, as on October 8th, WWE filed a trademark for Suplexorcist, and with reports that more Reigns Vs. Lesnar matches are
planned for after Crown Jewel, with a possible match expected for WrestleMania 38, the term is going to be used a lot more now that WWE owns it.
Earlier this month, AEW revealed their brand-new TBS Title, which will serve as the second-top prize for the company’s women’s division.
With a second title for female wrestlers to compete over, this will give more opportunities for a division which has struggled in recent years, but not everyone
is on board with the TBS title. Speaking on the latest edition of My Mom’s Basement, CM Punk shared his opposition to
the championship, saying: “[I like the simplicity] in wrestling. I think if everybody has a title and everybody’s a champion then nobody’s
champion. I think you gotta be really careful with that and I think TBS Title is even pushing it. There’s already a women’s le. Do we have the depth
in the women’s division? Punk went on to say that fewer titles are needed in wrestling, and added that he’s not sure
If AEW needs the long-awaited trios titles that have been in the works for some time. He concluded by saying that he’d prefer to see
Women’s Tag Team Championship before the Men’s trios belts, and hopes the women’s division proves him wrong when he says that
there isn’t enough depth to justify a second women’s title. A tournament to determine the first TBS champion
will start on January 5th 2022, when AEW Dynamite moves to TBS, and we’ll have to see who is the first to win the title, and whether
Punk’s attitude’s about the women’s division has changed by then.
When WWE NXT rebranded, several Superstars were released from their contracts, including Bobby Fish, bringing his four years with WWE to
an end. Since then, Fish has kept busy, competing for both MLW and AEW, and isn’t too upset about
being let go from Vince McMahon’s promotion. Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, the former Undisputed Era member explained his release, and how there’s
beauty to being let go. He said: “It was a phone call, the same one that everybody gets. It’s just that it is what it is. The beauty of it is
that now there are all of these opportunities, and it’s about figuring out what ones are worth taking and see where it goes.”
Fish will face Bryan Danielson on this Saturday’s Dynamite, a match he wouldn’t have had if he was still in NXT, as there’s plenty more wrestlers
for him to face outside WWE than in the company.
And we’re ending today with the Great Khali, who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year.
At seven-foot-one, Khali is one of the tallest men to ever step foot in WWE, and even after his years away from the ring, the former World Heavyweight
Champion isn’t someone to mess with. That’s a lesson learned the hard way by one man this week, as during an interview, in which
Khali discussed visiting Pune in India, the Hall of Famer was interrupted by a young man sitting beside him.
When the young man bragged about bagging a bunch of movies, telling the interviewer to focus on him instead, a furious Khali got up,
grabbed the man by his hair and delivered a vicious slap to the man’s face. This isn’t the first time the pair have gotten physical,
as in another video on Khali’s Instagram account, the giant Superstar can be seen elbowing the same man for bothering him on a call.
Khali’s Instagram account, which boasts over 2.6 million followers, is a gold mine for clips like this, and even over three years since his last
match in WWE, the former World Heavyweight Champion proves he’s not someone to mess with.