Here's more wrestling news for September 29th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
Mall Of America Extends Offer To Host AEW Dynamite!
AEW Planning Big Surprise Match For Rampage This Week!
Former WWE Stars Make Appearances On AEW Dark!
U.K. Venue Frontrunner To Host Next Year’s WWE SummerSlam!
SmackDown Superstar Offers $20 To The New Day To Take Out Shelton Benjamin!
MJF Buries Incoming Talent From WWE; Tony Khan Strongly Reacts!
Jim Cornette Blames Brandi Rhodes For Cody Getting Booed At AEW Grand Slam!
Paul Heyman Came Up With The Idea For WWE’s BIGGEST Mistake!
AEW Wrestler Still Messages WWE Wrestler Before Every Segment! And More!
We’re kicking off today with WCW for a change, as the now-defunct company held their very first Nitro event in the Mall of America, a landmark
of Bloomington, Minnesota and one of the largest shopping malls in the entire world. That show on September 4th 1995 saw the
surprise appearance of WWF Superstar Lex Luger, helping to kick-off the Monday Night Wars, and the Mall may be holding wrestling events
very soon. When the Mall of America Twitter account shared a video of the debut Nitro, one fan
pointed out that AEW Full Gear will he held at the Target Center in Minneapolis, and suggested hosting the following Dynamite at the Mall of e
America at the Mall of America which isn’t too far. Responding, the Mall of America said they were all for the idea, saying hosting wrestling
worked out great the first time, and that AEW would bring a fire to the venue
The mall of America may soon be hosting AEW Dynamite, but fans won’t have to wait until Full Gear for a huge surprise.
That’s according to Dave Meltzer who reported that AEW has taped a big match that’ll be aired during this Friday’s Rampage, which hasn’t been
announced to fans. This Friday’s show will see a hair vs hair match between Orange Cassidy and Jack Evans,
in which the loser will have their head shaved, but now another huge match will air in just a few days time.
More from AEW, as the company has plenty of ex-WWE talent, and now even more former Superstars have made appearances for the
All-Elite company. On this week’s AEW Dark, former NXT Superstar Santana Garrett appeared as part of the
show’s cold open, saying that she wants to make her father proud and show she’s elite. Her promo was interrupted by Diamante,
and a match was made between the two for next week, before a brawl broke out. Garrett, who was released by WWE in June,
hasn’t wrestled since the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble, and this is her first first singles match for her since losing to Mercedes Martinez at the
2020 NXT Great American Bash Adrian Jaoude, aka Arturo Ruas was also on Dark, teaming with fellow NXT alum Cezar
Bononi, and won in dominant fashion. This was Adrian’s first match since Novembr 2020, when he faced KUSHIDA in NXT, and like
Garrett, was also released by WWE in June. Perhaps these appearances will lead to something more for Garrett and Ruas,
but they’ve already made their claim to being All-Elite.
In 1992, WWE took their biggest event of the Summer, Summerslam to the U.K, in what’s still considered the biggest event ever for British
wrestling fans. Since then, WWE have returned for live-shows, televised events, and until 2003, the
occasional UK-exclusive Pay-Per-View, but now Summerslam may once again be heading overseas.
According to Talk Sport, WWE is strongly considering hosting Summerslam 2022 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, and the
venue was the front-runner after meetings within WWE that took place last week. WWE has a passionate fan base in the UK, as seen
with the success of NXT UK and their recent mini-tour over there, and after decades of waiting, UK fans may be
getting another international Pay-Per-View, this time in Cardiff.
Over to RAW, as this past Monday Shelton Benjamin reunited with the Hurt Business, but his tenure back in the group may be
short-lived if Mia Yim gets her way. Yim, who was traded to SmackDown earlier this year, is good friends with Benjamin,
and the pair often poke fun at each other on social media, with Yim calling the former U.S. Champion her big brother.
After the brawl between the New Day and the Hurt Business on RAW, Yim said she loved the idea of a feud, and offered a whopping $20
bounty for whoever takes out Shelton. As of now, no-one has stepped up to claim the bounty, and the Hurt Business’ attention
likely be on Goldberg ahead of the expected Goldberg-Lashley rematch at Crown Jewel, but if any Superstar feels brave enough to
to take out Benjamin, then they could be leaving a TV taping a whole $20 richer.
Back to AEW, as the company has welcomed CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and Ruby Soho in recent memory, all names who
rose to fame as WWE Superstars. The trend of WWE Superstars joining AEW is nothing new, but no matter how many names
join, MJF still believes he’s the best in AEW or any other company. During AEW Dark Elevation, MJF cut a furious
promo about the AEW roster burying some stars who came from the competition. He said:
“I beat Brian Pillman Jr. without breaking a goddamn sweat. Somebody please stop me in this company. For the love of god, beat
me clean, smack dab in the middle of the ring – pin me, tap me out. “No one, and I mean no one has been able t
to stop my momentum in this company. Nobody’s beaten me clean. Do you know why? It’s because I’m better than you, and you know it
And without me, this company ain’t sh*t. You can keep bringing in these guys who came from VKM, but the only three letters that matter in professional
wrestling are M, J, F.” The VKM line is of course referencing Vincent Kennedy McMahon, but its been reported
that this reference to WWE’s Chairman was never part to be part of the segment, and Tony Khan personally called MJF and said he wasn’t
happy with what he saw. We’ll have to see what’s next for MJF as he’s finished with Chris Jericho and Brian Pillman Jr.
Jr. but odds are MJF won’t have to look far to find someone who’d love to punch him in the face, no matter what company they work for.
MJF has been one of the most hated heels in AEW, but Cody Rhodes has always been a babyface for the company, even if the reaction
for the American Nightmare isn’t often clean-cut. During the Grand Slam event last week, Rhodes returned for his first match back in over
month, but both he and Brandi Rodes got a lot of boos from the New York crowd, who didn’t want anything to do with him
Speaking on his show the Jim Cornette Experience, the controversial wrestling personality spoke about Rhodes getting booed
in New York City, and blamed the former TNT Champion’s wife for the reaction: “A lot of the heat comes from, everybody can
see Brandi is just being shoehorned into the picture wherever because she has to be on television whether there is any applicable
reason for her to be there or not and she’s not a good wrestler. The only good promo she gave in her life was against Jade Cargill and people
can tell she’s there because she’s his wife. For a heel it would work, for a face it hasn’t.” Cornette added that Rhodes was the biggest
heel in Arthur Ashe Stadium last week, and although the former Superstar has said he’ll never turn heel in AEW, the company may
be wise to listen to the negative reaction Cody and his wife are already receiving.
When Scott Hall and Kevin Nash left the WWF for WCW in 1996, Vince McMahon lost two of his top stars, and responded in an infamously
bad way. Instead of writing the Razor Ramon and Diesel characters off TV, WWE brought in ECW star Rick
Bognar and Glenn Jacobs, the future Kane, to play imitations of Razor and Diesel, as the company still owned the characters even with
Nash and Hall gone. These imitation Superstars thankfully didn’t last long, but on his Something to Wrestle
Podcast, Bruce Prichard said that the original idea came from outside the WWF, saying: “This was actually a Paul Heyman idea,
Paul Heyman says, ‘I’ve got a guy sitting in the ECW locker room who does a better Razor Ramon than Scott Hall could ever do!’
That’s a quote, I said ‘Really? Well sh**.’ We were just talking one day and he told me about this guy Rick Bognar, and how he would
always come in and do a Razor imitation. We were talking and I’m like, well, by God, that’s a coincidence. Paul told me about it before we
were going to do the Razor – Diesel gimmick, and I recalled that and it was very recent in those conversations. And said, son of a b—h,
we may have a guy. I said ‘Hey, get me Rick Bognar.’ I think Rick was in Calgary at the time.” The fake-Diesel and fake-Razor characters
didn’t last long, as their last televised appearances came at the 1997 Royal Rumble, but we now know that this short-lived
gimmick came about thanks to Paul Heyman
Back to the present and for years in WWE, Ruby Soho and Liv Morgan were inseparable, and that didn’t change when Ruby was r
released earlier this year. Appearing on the My Mom’s Basement show, Morgan said that she and her former tag
partner remain in constant communication, and that the AEW star texts her support before all her segments and matches.
Ruby Soho was likely very proud of Morgan’s victory over Carmella on the Extreme Rules kick-off show, and time will tell what the two
the two close friends achieve now they work in different companies.
Back to RAW, as Keith Lee returned to TV this week, crushing Akira Tozawa in an impromptu match.
Now known as the Bearcat, Lee showed a brand-new attitude, and his speculated heel turn was confirmed after the show.
When Kevin Patrick asked Lee about his actions on RAW, Lee responded with a simple ‘No,’ as he didn’t feel bad about
destroying Tozawa in just over 30 seconds. When asked if he had any remorse, Lee once again answered with a ‘no,’ confirming
his new meaner attitude. Before his return, it was speculated that Lee would be turning heel, and would’ve had Adam
Cole as his manager on the main-roster. Cole’s call-up obviously didn’t happen, but Lee is back on TV, and the Bearcat doesn’t
feel sorry at all about squashing Tozawa during his return.
And we’re ending today with Batista, who’s done great in Hollywood, including having a role alongside Daniel Craig in the 2015 James
Bond film ‘Spectre.’ In the film, the former WWE World Champion plays Mr Hinx, a villainous assassin, but even
though the fighting wasn’t real, that Animal didn’t leave unscathed. Appearing on the Graham Norton show, Craig
spoke about a fight scene with Batista, which didn’t go as plan, as he recalled:
“I heard this crack. And I went ‘Oh God no!’ and ran away, because I thought he was going to come after me.”
On Twitter, Batista responded to Craig’s comments, saying that the 53-year-old Bond star ran around screaming “F**k I broke his nose.”
Batista added that his nose was broken, but after a hug, an apology, a change of clothes and a lot of toilet paper shoved up his nose,
they filmed a fight scene the Animal is especially proud of. Craig’s last Bond film, ‘No Time to Die’ will release
tomorrow in the UK, and October 8th in the U.S. and although it’ll mark the end of Craig’s time as James Bond, Batista and his nose
are probably thankful for that.