Here's more wrestling news for September1st 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Trevor Murdoch On What Ric Flair Told Him After NWA World Heavyweight Championship Win!
Why WWE Banned Ric Flair From Walking Up Steps On TV?
Randy Orton Reportedly In Line For WWE Title Program!
Liv Morgan & Lana Capture Attention With Kissing Bikini Photos!
Possible Name Change For WWE Second Generation Superstar!
AEW Made Multiple Contract Offers To 4 T ime WWE Champion!
Former WWE Wrestler Says The WWE Culture Was “Catty And Disrespectful”
Bobby Lashley Breaks Important Record As WWE Champion!
Former WWE And ECW Star To Debut For MLW!
"A Very Sincere Apology" - Ex-WWE Star On Vince McMahon Apologizing After Release! And more!
We’re starting today with the National Wrestling Alliance, and at the company 73rd anniversary Pay-Per-View, Trevor Murdoch became
the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion, entering the 1043-day reign of Nick Aldis. Murdoch’s win wasn’t the only highlight of last
Sunday’s show, as Ric Flair was also on hand, and gave a passionate speech about his career and the NWA
Speaking to Busted Open Radio, Murdoch discussed his championship win, calling it a dream come true, and the post-match in-ring
celebration with the Nature Boy. He said: “I didn’t even expect for Ric to come out like that. I was already doing my best to try and
not cry, to be absolutely honest with you. And then when I saw Ric there, I was fighting back tears. One of the things
I remember is I was emotional, and Ric said ‘ you are the champion now.’” Murdoch’s victory marks his first reign as
NWA World Heavyweight Champion, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with Flair, a man that many, including Murdoch
himself, call the greatest NWA World Champion of all time
The NWA isn’t the only place Ric Flair’s been lately, as he’s been kept plenty busy since leaving WWE.
At AAA’s TripleMania, Flair appeared alongside his son-in-law to be Andrade El Idolo, who came up short against AAA Mega Champion
Kenny Omega. Flair’s appearance shocked fans, as he’d only left WWE days prior, and during Renee
Paquette’s Oral Sessions, the two-time Hall of Famer explained the differences between the two companies:
“They [AAA] let me get in the ring,” Flair said. “WWE won’t even let me walk up the stairs for liability reasons. I can’t. I can stand in a
ring but, Renee, it’s kind of like I said, I either wanna die in a ring or on top of Wendy [Flair’s wife] A or B. What better way is there to go?
What I did for a living or with the one I love?” Flair’s future is still unclear, as despite reports of him joining AEW as soon as possible, he’s
yet to appear on Dynamite or Rampage, but wherever he goes, the Nature Boy is willing to take the risks WWE didn’t want the
72-year-old to make.
Over to RAW next, and since becoming WWE Champion in March, Bobby Lashley has dominated, dispatching the likes of Drew
McIntyre, Braun Strowman, Kofi Kingston and others. It’s already been reported that WWE plans
on Lashley Vs. Goldberg 2 at Crown Jewel in October, but the Almighty will have to defend his title at Extreme Rules first.
We now know who’s next in line, as during Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer said that Randy Orton will be the next to
challenge for the WWE Championship. That explains why Orton RKO’d Lashley on this week’s RAW, after RK-Bro retained their
RAW Tag Team Titles against Lashley and MVP. With WWE planning for Goldberg to have another title match against Lashley, it’s likely
that the Almighty will retain, but there’s always the chance WWE could swerve the fans and give Orton his 15th World title in just a few
weeks time.
One person fans want to see get a push is Liv Morgan, who despite overwhelming fan support heading into Money in the Bank, has
seemingly been forgotten by WWE. Last week’s appearance by Morgan, where she lost in fatal-four-way action, was her first
match on TV in over a month, and it’s been nearly two months since her last win. Though her presence on-screen may have
been forgotten by WWE, Morgan is still active on social media, and has shared some bikini photos alongside CJ Perry, aka Lana
Calling the former Superstar “my beautiful CJ,” Lana responded saying that she loves Morgan more than she could ever realise, as the pair
are still very close, despite Lana’s release earlier this year. Fans will remember the final RAW of 2019,
where Morgan returned professing her love for Lana, and though that angle was almost immediately dropped, the pair have remained
very close in the years since.
It’s no secret that WWE tries to trademark as many names as they can, and now their most recent filing has hinted at a name change for
Cal Bloom. A second-generation Superstar and the son of Wayne Bloom, aka Beau Beverly, Cal recently
changed his name on social media to Von Wagoner, a name trademarked in WWE’s filings on August 26th.
Bloom does have some main roster experience, having faced Sheamus on the post- WrestleMania 36 SmackDown and competed
on RAW Underground in August 2020, but fans will be calling him Von Wagoner from now on
AEW news now, as the company has signed a ton of former WWE Superstars, including some former World Champions, but one name’s
that alluded them is Kurt Angle. Released from WWE in April 2020, Angle hasn’t appeared for Tony Khan yet
but that’s not for lack of trying, as the Olympian told Wrestling Inc: “Yes, they offered me a couple of different
contracts. I turned it down for personal reasons, but Tony Khan’s been really nice to me, very generous, and I really
appreciate his interest in having me there. But at this particular time, I can’t do it.”
It was previously reported that AEW had offered angle another run as a wrestler, but he turned that down, making his loss to
Baron Corbin at WrestleMania 35 his official retirement match.
Kurt can’t join AEW “at this particular time, ” but he hasn’t shut the door on an AEW run entirely, and we’ll have to see if there’s
window in Angle’s busy schedule to allow for him to join the All-Elite promotion.
In 2007, Lacey Von Erich, of the legendary Von Erich wrestling family, signed with WWE, but her tenure was short-lived with the company.
Assigned to FCW, Von Erich debuted on FCW TV in September, but was released by the end of the year, with her sole televised
WWE appearance being sat in the crowd of WrestleMania 25, whilst her uncle Kevin appeared during a segment celebrating the
Von Erich and others from that year’s Hall of Fame. Now, the former TNA Knockouts Tag-Team
Champion is opening up about her experience in WWE, and in an interview with the Wrestling Inc Daily, compared her time to her run in TNA
She said: “I was friends with Dixie Carter at TNA. TNA was very much a family and friend atmosphere,
unlike WWE, where it was very catty and disrespectful to each other. It wasn’t a good environment. They lied all the time. Honestly
after the 20th lie about me, when I got to practice, I was like, I’m done. I just left. They were like, ‘You’re about to be on TV,’
and I was like, ‘I’m good. I don’t want to work around this environment,’ and honestly, I don’t think it was the people. I think it was the
the environment.” After leaving WWE, Von Erich made a name for herself in TNA, and more recently has
has served as the President for SWE Fury. Von Erich’s time in the ring as a wrestler may be done, but she’s happy to be working with
SWE, especially as she doesn’t have to deal with the “catty and disrespectful” behaviour she faced in WWE’s developmental ground
On this week’s RAW, WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and MVP failed to capture the RAW Tag Team Titles from RK-Bro, but the Almigthy
this week broke a major record in the company. Winning the title on the March 1st RAW, Lashley became the third black man to become
WWE Champion, after Kofi Kingston in 2019, and The Rock, who’s half-black half-Samoan. Now, Lashley holds the record for the longest
single reign for a black WWE Champion, as Kofi’s reign ended after 180 days, and the Brahma Bull’s longest of his eight title reigns was just
119 days. It’ll take Lashley a while yet before he’s the longest reigning Black WWE Champion ever,
as the Rock’s 8 days totalled 367 days with the gold, but this week marks yet another impressive accolade for our Almighty Champion.
Over to MLW next, as the company has signed a huge star to its roster.
In a video released Monday, it was confirmed that former ECW and WWE star Yoshihiro Tajiri is coming to MLW, and will make his debut
at the October 2nd Fightland tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, the home of ECW’s first Pay-Per-View, Barely Legal 1997.
Tajiri, who turns 51 next month, most recently worked for All-Japan and had a brief return to WWE in 2016’s Cruiserweight Classic,
but left the company in April 2017. Tajiri has since said that his departure was because WWE didn’t want to use him given
his age, but now the Japanese Buzzsaw will be bringing his decades of skills to MLW.
Earlier this year, Mickie James was released from WWE, and what happened after caused a major controversy in the wrestling world.
On social media, James noted how her personal items had been sent in a trash- bag, sparking a discussion on how WWE
treats their talent, which ultimately led to the departure of Mark Carrano.
Speaking to Inside The Ropes this week, the five-time WWE Women’s Champion opened up about the controversy, and how Vince McMahon
himself dealt with the matter. She said: “Vince McMahon called me to apologise when I got my stuff in the trash bag it was a very
sincere apology. My issue was never with Vince, because Vince has always been kind to me, he’s always treated me with respect… our
beginnings are not all that different. We’re not very different people. I think I connected with Vince on a real level, on a human level, which
is probably uncommon.” Vince wasn’t the only McMahon to apologise to James, as Stephanie McMahon also issued a
public apology over how her personal items were treated saying she was embarrassed that WWE had acted this way.
Since her release, James has worked closely with both Impact Wrestling and the NWA, and produced the latter’s recent all-women’s
Empowerrr event, and though it doesn’t look like she’ll be back in WWE anytime soon, there’s no bad-blood between James and
Vince McMahon.
More from AEW, as Full Gear is scheduled for November 6th, but despite being over two months away, the show is facing some stiff
competition. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted how that same night, UFC is running
loaded show in Madison Square Garden, and there’s also a big-time Boxing Pay- per-View the same night
These two massive events could cause major problems for All Out, but it unlikely that AEW will change the date for Full Gear at this point.
Its expected that Pay-Per-View providers will make AEW a much less prioritised show, as their focus will be on promoting UFC and boxing,
and whilst most buys for AEW come through BR Live and FiteTV, All Out is already facing stiff competition from outside the wrestling world.
And we’re ending today with Adam Cole, who’s contract with WWE expired last Friday, and he’s officially done with NXT.
As arguably the hottest free agent at the moment, it’s expected that Cole will be feilding offers from a ton of promotions, and that
includes AEW. This week, AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker, who is also Cole’s girlfriend gave
some ‘exclusive’ news about the former NXT Champion, and we can now confirm that Cole has no cavaties
Poking fun at the speculation of his future in wresting, Baker tagged several news sources, including Fightful, Wrestling Inc,
PW Insider and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, and called Cole her favourite patient in the video
Adam Cole’s future remains unknown right now, and there’s been plenty of speculation, and that’s something both Cole and Baker
are ready to have fun with whilst spending some quality time together.