Here's more wrestling news for October 20th 2021
And your headlines for Afternoon include
WWE SmackDown Not Thrilled About Trading Becky Lynch For Charlotte Flair!
AEW Officially Announces Daniel Garcia’s Signing!
AEW Gets MAJOR Heat From Wrestling Fans!
Current AEW Wrestler To Debut In New Tag Team As Masked Luchador!
Why United States Government Tried To Deport WWE Wrestler?
WWE Superstar Says Tony Khan Sounds Like A School Girl During AEW Rant!
Heath Slater Tells All About Surgeries He Went Through After Impact Wrestling Bound For Glory Injury!
T-BAR Teases Returning Back To His Old Gimmick!
"They've Done This Three Times Now" – Former WWE Writer Blasts WWE's Repetitive Booking On RAW!
TWO WWE Wrestler’s Recent Work Gets Huge Props Internally!
Top Dolla Responds To Max Caster’s Dynamite Rap Diss! And More!
We’re kicking off today with the WWE draft, as the results will go into effect this Friday, with several stars jumping between RAW and
SmackDown. Both main-roster women’s Champions, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch, will be
changing brands, as the Queen will be heading to SmackDown, and the Man returning to RAW.
Flair on SmackDown has been the plan for a while, as she heavily featured during FOX promos prior to the blue brand’s debut on the
Network, but a lot has changed since October 2019. According to a tenured member of WWE’s
creative team, the Flair-Lynch swap has been a big discussion point backstage, as RAW is gaining Lynch, who is beloved backstage,
while SmackDown aren’t thrilled to gain Flair, who’s reportedly unpopular behind the scenes. At this time, there’s no word on what WWE has
planned for the women’s titles, but if Lynch retains at Crown Jewel as expected, it’s believed that she and Flair will simply switch championships.
This will mean both women have an extra title reign to their names, but after years of FOX wanting SmackDown, the Queen of All Eras
as popular backstage as she once was.
AEW next, as Daniel Garcia came to the company this year after building a reputation for himself on the indies, and he’s now in the
All-Elite company to stay. On Twitter, Tony Khan announced the signing of Garcia, welcoming him to the AEW team
and time will tell what the future has in store for him now that he’s working for AEW full-time.
Now, October is international Breast Cancer Awareness month, and AEW is doing their bit by raising money with special pieces of
merchandise, but who they’re working with has caused some controversy. It’s been confirmed that AEW will be working
with the Susan G Komen foundation, and after the Twitter account ‘@shopAEW’ made this partnership public, the response was universally
negative. Many fans posted a screenshot from a CM Punk tweet, in which the former World
Champion blasted WWE’s relationship with Susan G. Komen, saying: “If you’re going to give money to a company that
claims to raise money for finding a cure for cancer, please do some research. Komen is a scam.”
Founded in 1982, the foundation has been mired in controversy over the past decade, having sued charities for using terms like ‘cure’ and the
iconic pink ribbon for Breast Cancer awareness. There’s also been serious questions about where the donated money goes, as a 2011-
IRS report from the foundation revealed that their founder Nancy Goodman Brinker received close to $700,000 in one year, a 64% raise.
As fans continued to bash AEW for working with the controversial foundation, Punk posted a cryptic tweet, that containted a gif with the
caption “we’re working on it.” It’s impossible to tell if Punk’s tweet was in relation to AEW’s work with Susan G. Komen
but Punk did disable replies on his tweet, and with AEW deleting their own post about the new line of merchandise, their partnership with Susan
G. Komen is off to a very rocky start
In 2011, Cody Rhodes donned a clear Perspex mask as part of his character, and now, a decade later, the former TNT Champion could be
preparing to cover up once more. According to report, Rhodes will be teaming with Fuego Del Sol, but will competed as a
masked luchador at the Dark: Elevation tapings set to record this Sunday. In the graphics or the match, Fuego is shown
next to a wrestler that looks a lot like Rhodes, complete with the Dream Chest tattoo just visible under the strap of his gear.
Rhodes himself has said he’s not involved with this new team, named Too Fast Too Fuego, but is looking forward to seeing a new tag team join
the fray. This is quite the change for Cody, who’s been having an intense feud with both Malakai Black
and Arn Anderson as of late, and we’ll have to see if Fuego joins his side now that the pair are teaming together on AEW Dark: Elevation.
In 2020, the wrestling world lost Pat Patterson, a legendary, albeit controversial name in wrestling.
The very-first Intercontinental Champion, Patterson also invented the Royal Rumble match, but the long-time right-hand-man to Vince McMahon was
also part of the 1992 Ring Boy scandal, in which he was accused of misconduct with minors, and resigned from his role in the company.
We now know more about Pat’s life, as thanks to investigation reporting by David Bixenspan for Mel Magazine, we now know that the U.S.
federal government had plans to deport Pattersion years before he would join the WWF. A cache of documents relating to the investigation
were obtained via a Freedom of Information act request, and the sad reason why the U.S. wanted him gone. Bixenspan writes:
As it turns out, starting at the end of 1964, the Justice Department’s now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) spent
years investigating Patterson, with the goal being to find evidence of “homosexual activity” that could be used to have him deported back
to Canada. The report adds that the U.S. had surveillance on Patterson during the ‘Lavender Scare’ where
gay government employees, or those who were even believed to be gay, were persecuted.
An April 14th, 1965 memo attached to the report details some of the agency’s spying activity, as it reads:
“This investigation based on information received from the OFFICE OF SPECIAL INVESTIGATION, United States [redacted],
furnishing information that the SUBJECT is a homosexual. Object to locate and interview any persons who may be able to offer
information of the SUBJECT’S possible homosexual activities.” The Government also intercepted some of
Patterson’s personal correspondence, as the cache of document includes mundane things like a letter to promoter Jack Pfefer in
August 1962, which they believed held some proof that Patterson was gay. Patterson’s sexuality was the butt of many jokes
on WWF TV during the Attitude Era, before he publicly came out on the WWE Network’s Legends House, and despite years of persecution
and spying, the U.S. government was never able to deport the future WWE Hall of Famer.
Last week, AEW Rampage and SmackDown went head to head, and the results were somewhat inconclusive.
Ultimately, fans for both shows are saying they won last Friday’s war, but in AEW’s case, Tony Khan is also saying that his show won.
If you only count the fans aged 18-49 who watched the first half-hour of Rampage, then AEW did win, but not everyone is on board
with only caring about that small percentage of the viewing audience. On his podcast, Booker T shared his thoughts
the AEW Vs. WWE war, and took aim at the AEW President, saying: “I’m of the sentiment that Tony Khan is doing
lot of talking about nothing. Go out and produce a good show. At the end of the day, we’ll know who won if that’s what we’re
looking for, if that’s your goal post, if that’s where you’re trying to score in. But all of this talk about what you’re doing, this and that,
back and forth, I swear man, it sounds like a little school girl saying how pretty she is over the other girls on the schoolyard.”
Khan hasn’t exactly done himself any favours when it comes to seeming petty, as he trash talks WWE any chance he gets, as does his roster.
Despite this, Khan was recently named a more lovable billionaire than Vince McMahon, and we’ll have to see if he takes Booker’s advice
on board.
After being released from WWE last year, Heath Slater made his way to Impact Wrestling, but suffered some severe injuries at last year’s
Bound for Glory. Slater only returned last month, saving his old tag-partner Rhino from a beatd
own by Violent By Design, and he’s looking to getting back in the ring. Speaking to WrestleZone this week, Heath said
it’s wonderful to be back, and revealed that in total, he had to have five surgeries to undo the damage from last year
Calling it a “rollercoaster of hell,” the former SmackDown Tag Team Champion thanked the people who have supported him, saying he
would’ve lost his mind had they not been there. The One Man Band is yet to hold gold in Impact, but could be looking at the World Tag Team
Titles now that he’s back with Rhino, and we can only hope that the former Superstar can avoid another injury that keeps him out for close to a year.
Back to WWE, and it’s always interesting to see a Superstar’s gimmick change, and now one name on the main-roster may be going back to the
person they once were. On Twitter, T-Bar shared a picture of a black and gold eye, which many thought was a reference
to his time as Dominik Dijakovic, and a tease that he’s going back to his old name and gimmick. After all, NXT was the black and gold brand when
Dijakovic was a member of the roster, and his theme under his pre-T-Bar name was known as ‘Feast your Eyes.’
After an underwhelming run, Retribution split in March, but T-Bar has continued teaming with Mace since then and it may be just a matter of
time before T-Bar is Dominik Dijakovic once more.
If there’s one complaint about WWE that stands above all others, is that the company is too repetitive, and fans grow tired of the same
old stories. Even Drew McIntyre took aim at WWE, after it was revealed that his match on RAW this week
would be a repeat of what fans saw two weeks ago, as he teamed with WWE Champion Big E to face the Dirty Dawgs once more
This week’s RAW’s saw a Goldberg segment with Bobby Lashley, promoting their Crown Jewel match, and on the latest Legion of RAW
episode, Vince Russo bashed WWE, noting that this is the third week in a row we’ve seen this segment.
Russo went on to say that repeating the same matches and segments is what’s hurting the ratings, and said that for as bad as making David
Aquette WCW Champion was, it was at least something different. Russo, a fellow former WCW World Champion,
has never shied away from making his opinions heard, and if nothing else, at least this Thursday should mark the end of the
Goldberg-Lashley feud, and the one segment that have plagued RAW for weeks.
Over to SmackDown, as last Friday was the go- home show for Crown Jewel and saw the contract signing for the Universal title match
between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. The signing, which competed with the first 30 minutes of AEW Rampage, saw both men
make the match official, with Lesnar saying he’d looked over the paperwork earlier that day, with his advocate Paul Heyman
This got audible gasps from the crowd, and it wasn’t just the audiences who were pleased with what transpired.
According to Ringside News, one major topic of discussion backstage has been just how great the angle from last Friday was, with a source
from creative calling it “awesome.” The segment was reportedly so well-received, that the source added that afterwards, no-one
was talking about the ratings war with AEW Rampage, a claim that Hurricane Helms confirmed in a tweet, saying not a single word
about the ratings were spoken. Reigns and Lesnar are two of WWE’s highest- paid Superstars, but they earned their money
last Friday, and will do the same this Thursday when they compete at Crown Jewel
Another huge match scheduled for tomorrow will see Bill Goldberg face Bobby Lashley, this time under No Holds Barred rules.
For Goldberg, this match is about getting payback for his son, Gage, who was attacked by Lashley after jumping the barricade at Summerslam.
It’s therefore only fitting that Gage Goldberg will be on hand to watch his father live at Crown Jewel, as Lashley told Busted Open Radio:
Man I’m going to win. There’s no strategies. I have friends, he has friends. He has his son that’s going to be there. Everybody knows
there’s a possibility that anything can happen. But ultimately I’m going to win.” Lashley recently realigned with Cedric Alexander
and Shelton Benjamin, so they could be a factor in tomorrow’s match, but Goldberg will have some back-up of his own in this highly-anticipated
rematch from Summerslam.
And we’re ending today with the war of words which started this week between Hit Row’s Top Dolla and The Acclaimed’s Max Caster, and this
feud is far from over. This all started when Dollar was warring with the Young Bucks over sneakers, and the Hit
Row Superstar created a diss-track titled ‘sneaker Diss,’ which sampled music from rapper Young Buck.
Caster got involved by dissing Top Dolla during a post-Dynamite rap dissing Dolla’s rap game, but the fans are seemingly behind the NXT 2.0
Superstar. When The Bump’s Evan T.Mack asked fans who they’ve got in the war between Dolla and Caster,
the majority sided with the Hit Row star, who’ll be moving to SmackDown later this week. Top Dolla himself responded, saying it depends if
one likes Filet mignon or Fish fillet, as this war of words shows no signs of slowing down.