Here is your news for December 26, 2019.
We're starting off this Boxing Day video with news from NXT, as the Gold brand had a
very special taped episode that featured a lot of debuts.
During the two-hour show on the USA Network, Austin Theory made his TV debut for
the company, answering the open challenge from NXT North American Champion
Roderick Strong.
Though Austin didn't capture the title on this occasion, some fans will recognize the
22-year-old star from his time in Evolve, where he is a former World Champion of the promotion.
Signing with the WWE in August this year, Theory was the Evolve Champion at the
time, and only dropped the title this past November, losing the gold to Josh Briggs.
The Christmas Day special of NXT also saw the TV debut of Shotzi Blackhart, who
signed with the WWE in November.
As part of the same WWE Performance Center Class as Scarlett Bordeaux, Indi
Hartwell, and referee Stephon Smith, the 26-year-old Blackhart had been working live
events so far and made her in-ring debut at the all-women's show on December 5th in
Jacksonville, Florida.
In her NXT TV debut this week, the former SHINE Nova Champion came up short
against Bianca Belair, though her and Theory both made big statements, despite their losses.
From two new faces in the WWE, to one of the most instantly recognizable stars of all
time, as Brock Lesnar remains absent from WWE programming.
Despite being the reigning WWE Champion, Lesnar hasn't been seen since Survivor
Series, but with the 2020 Royal Rumble just one month away, fans are speculating on
whom the Beast will face.
According to Cageside Seats, the likely opponent for Lesnar will be Cain Velasquez,
whom the Beast defeated at Crown Jewel, nine years after Velasquez toppled Lesnar
at UFC 121.
Since joining the WWE on the premiere episode of SmackDown on FOX, Velasquez has
wrestled just one match on TV, but has had a handful of appearances at Live events to
hone his skills.
If the plans with Velasquez fall through, the same report says that the company could
go with Kevin Owens or Randy Orton as Brock's Royal Rumble opponent, which fans
would presumably much rather have than Cain, who some fans see as another
part-time star taking the spot of a full-time Superstar.
Whilst Orton and Lesnar have faced off in the past, competing at the 2016
SummerSlam Pay Per View, the match was stopped prematurely when Orton was left
in a pool of his own blood, with many fans hoping for a rematch with a healthy Viper.
On the other hand, Kevin Owens and the Beast have never faced one-on-one, and
after an incredible 2019, could be the perfect fit to face the heel Lesnar.
Only time will tell what the company has planned for all four men mentioned, but it's
clear that the road to Wrestle Mania is about to get underway.
Though the 2020 Royal Rumble will take place exactly a month from now on January
26th, some Superstars may not be in top condition for the show, as the World's Collide
event will take place on the previous day.
The cross-brand show has led to some interesting matchups in the past, and this week,
the main event of the show was confirmed which will see NXT's Undisputed Era take
on NXT UK's Imperium.
As the holders of every male title in NXT, the team of Adam Cole, Strong, Fish and
O'Reilly are already being considered favorites by fans, though people should
disregard United Kingdom Champion Walter, who will be joined by Alexander Wolfe,
Marcel Barthel, and Fabian Aichner.
Next year's show will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston Texas, and though no
other matches have been announced for the show, expect this news to be made
public in the coming weeks.
We're looking back to this week's edition of RAW now, as the 24/7 Championship once
again changed hands in hilarious fashion.
After R-Truth got pinned by Akira Tozawa, the Japanese Superstar didn't get far before
losing the title to Santa Claus, who was later pinned himself by R-Truth.
Of course, this wasn't the real Santa Claus, who is kept pretty busy on Christmas Eve,
but it was instead indie wrestler Bear Bronson.
Bronson has trained at the Create A Pro Wrestling school, which is owned and
operated by Pat Buck and Curt Hawkins, and whilst the school already had several
successful graduates, they can now add a WWE 24/7 Champion to their list of
accomplishments.
Though Bronson may have had a fantastic Christmas, which including him being a part
of WWE history, one star who had a terrible festive season is Zelina Vega.
We all know just how difficult life on the road can be for the Superstars and crew of
the WWE, and Vega was looking forward to seeing her family during the festive time.
Unfortunately, this didn't happen, and the Superstar/Valet took to Twitter to call out
airline company Jet Blus.
Claiming that this had been the worst Christmas ever, Vega revealed that she had
spent a lot of money for the quote "useless flight” and had not been able to see her family.
Though details of what happened are still a mystery, but what we do know is that this
is one Christmas that she will be hoping to forget very soon.
Back to the ring now, and with Christmas out of the way, the Superstars will be
returning to action, starting with a huge show inside Madison Square Garden tonight.
Over the past few weeks, the company has pushed the show and its main event hard,
as Becky Lynch will defend her RAW Women's title against both Charlotte Flair and
WWE Women's Tag Champion Asuka, in a Steel Cage Triple Threat match.
Also, on tonight's show, WWE United States Champion Rey Mysterio will defend the
Star-Spangled Strap against Andrade, with Zelina Vega no doubt hoping that tonight is
better than yesterday.
Also, on the show, Seth Rollins will take on Kevin Owens, AJ Styles and Randy Orton
will continue their feud, and Rusev will face Bobby Lashley, this time in a No Holds
Barred match.
It's interesting that WWE are giving both Flair and Asuka a chance to win the RAW
Women's Title, as on Christmas Eve, the company issued a poll regarding the Man's
Championship reign.
Asking the fans whether Lynch would end the year still with the RAW Women's
Championship, an astonishing 77% of fans polled said that she would, whilst 23%
expect a title change in the next few days.
In an ominous tweet after this, Lynch thanked the fans who have supported her since
her transition into The Man last year, and said that she'll always be grateful, "No
matter what happens next year."
With no title match announced for next week's final RAW of the decade, it's likely that
The Man will end the year as RAW Women's Champion, as rumors continue to grow
that she will defend against Asuka in Single's action at the Royal Rumble Pay Per View.
More women's division news now, as though many fans expect Becky Lynch to end the
decade with the RAW Women's Championship, the same can't be said for the Queen
of Spades, Shayna Baszler.
On last week's edition of NXT, the former MMA fighter had her 415- day reign ended
by Rhea Ripley, who spoke with Sporting News about her huge title win.
When asked what WWE COO and head of the gold brand Triple H said to her
backstage, the new NXT Women's Champion was quick to give the Game's reaction to
her win, saying:
He was pretty much just saying how proud he is of me and that means a lot coming
from him, someone that I've looked up to for the longest time," Ripley said. He's the
reason that I started wrestling and why I'm here where I'm at today."
Time will tell just how far the Australian star goes from here, but with the support of
the King of Kings, the skies the limit for the new NXT Women's Champion.
Speaking of NXT, one Superstar who fans are expecting to see in the Gold brand soon
is Killer Kross, but that may not be the case according to the latest rumors.
After being unhappy with his time in Impact Wrestling, Kross was let go from his
contract earlier this year, and according to WrestleVotes, the WWE has a "significantly
high" interest in signing him.
Despite being scheduled to appear in MLW on February 1st, most fans are expecting
Kross to end up in either WWE or AEW, and according to an anonymous source in
WWE who spoke to Wrestling News, there are plans to get the Killer over to WWE.
The source stated that Kross should be receiving a better offer than most other new
signings have received, and that the company are willing to have him start on RAW or
SmackDown, and fast track him into the upper card picture.
Interestingly, Kross has drawn interest from WWE in the past, as he was brought into
the company's Performance Center for tryouts, before he signed with IMPACT
On the February 16th, 2015 edition of Monday Night RAW, Kross even appeared on
the red brand as Darren Young's Tag Team partner, but was quickly flattened by the
Ascension, though it's clear a lot has changed for Kross, and the WWE as a whole, in
the near-five years since then.
With Kross' girlfriend Scarlett Bordeaux signing with the WWE recently, it's possible
that Kross will join the smokeshow, and if so, expect the Killer to receive a big push
upon his arrive into the company.
And finally, today we're ending with news from all the way back in 2001, when one of
the most iconic brawls in WWE history happened.
On the December 13th edition of SmackDown 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin and Booker T
brawled in a supermarket of all place, and this week, more details have emerged
about the iconic blue brand moment.
On the latest episode of his 'Something to Wrestling With' podcast, Bruce Prichard
spoke about the segment and revealed that the two didn't battle on some kind of set, adding:
"It was a real grocery store. They were kind enough to open their doors to us. Let us
shoot that segment with Booker and Stone Cold. But it probably cost a few thousand dollars.”
Though it was expensive to shoot, the segment has stood the test of time as one of
the greatest moments in the history of SmackDown and helped re-establish the Texas
Rattlesnake as one of the biggest babyfaces in wrestling, after turning heel at
WrestleMania 17.
Well that's all the news we have for you today. If you liked this video, don't forget to
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you can follow us on Twitter, and as always, thanks for watching.