Here's more wrestling news for October 18th 2021
And your headlines for today include
WWE Adds Two Matches To The Next NXT 2.0!
Triple Threat Match Added To This Week’s WWE NXT 2.0!
Released WWE Wrestler’s NJPW Debut Is Officially Announced
CM Punk’s Hilarious Reaction To Beer In Crowd At AEW Dynamite Goes Viral!
Retired WWE &WCW Wrestler Wants to Have A Legit Retirement Match!
Impact Wrestling Set To Pay Tribute To Daffney!
Samoa Joe Is “King Shark” In New Suicide Squad Video Game Trailer!
Roman Reigns Says WWE Goes Through “Extreme Precautions” When He’s Traveling! And More!
We’re kicking off with NXT 2.0, as tomorrow’s show will see the paint-splattered brand continue on the road to Halloween Havoc,
with several matches announced for the card. At Halloween Havoc, NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Io Shirai and Zoey Stark will face
Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta, as well as Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, so tomorrow’s show will have one woman from each team face-off
a triple threat match. There’s no confirmation which member from each team will compete, but we do know that
Odyssey Jones will take on Andre Chase in singles action. Tony D’Angelo will also be in action, while NXT
Champion Tommaso Ciampa and Bronn Breaker will face off against the Grizzled Young Veterans, though we doubt the
champion and his challenger will see eye- to-eye tomorrow night on NXT 2.0.
This year, Buddy Murphy was cut from WWE, despite putting on excellent matches on 205 Live, and we now know where he’ll be going next.
Since his release, Murphy has changed his name to Buddy Matthews, and during the recent New Japan Showdown taping in Philadelphia,
it was announced that the former Cruiserweight Champion is on his way to the promotion.
Matthews will be deputing at the Battle in the Valley event, which will take place in San Jose, California on November 13th,
in what’ll be a huge show, both for him and the company. Matthews has previously hinted that he’ll be
heading to Impact, and it’s been reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that he’s already signed a contract, but we know for
certain that the ex-Superstar is heading to New Japan next month.
Over to AEW now, as CM Punk appeared at last weekend’s Dynamite, and was given a very interesting offering made by a fan.
Slapping hands with fans as he made his way to the ring, one member of the crowd held out a beer close to the Straight Edge former WWE
Champion, who kept a cautious distance away from the alcoholic beverage. It’s hard to say if Punk was trying to avoid the
drink, or just avoid it being spilled, but regardless, it made for a hilarious moment where Punk looked visibly concerned over
the cup of beer in a clip which quickly went viral. This isn’t the first time Punk’s had to fight off
beer in AEW, as a fan offered him a drink during the pre-All Out Rampage, which Punk politely declined.
We’ll have to see if this becomes a running trend for AEW fans, as the Former WWE World Champion is 2-0 when It comes to
avoiding beer in AEW, and is looking to keep that record going in the coming years.
We’re focussing on WWE Hall of Famer Madusa next, as her career both in and out of the company certainly earned her an
induction in 2015. A former WWF Women’s Champion, Madusa also held the WCW Cruiserweight Championship,
but despite her legendary career, the Hall of Famer is yet to have an official retirement match.
Speaking to FITE’s Women’s Wrestling Talk Show, Madusa said she feels like she deserves a retirement match, and added:
“I don’t care if it’s three minutes, or if it’s an hour-long, I deserve one. And every federation knows I have it out there. Hello Impact,
hello AEW, hello WWE, hello NWA, hello ROH, hello Impact, whatever, right? And so, it’s out there and I would definitely have a retirement
match. Madusa went on to say that she’ll need to be in the ring with someone far younger than herself,
who she’d rely on to carry the match, and explained why saying: “What I mean by that, is no disrespect to myself; i
is that if I were to forget something, and I need someone to take care of my body. Because I’m not 20 I mean, you have to be real,
you know, I’m much older than Trish and Lita. You know, I could be both of your mother, you know? Yeah, you’d have to be somebody that
would take care of me in the match. And of course, likewise.” Now aged 57-years-old, Madusa’s last official
match in the ring, except her WWE Evolution Battle Royal appearance, was at WCW Fall Brawl 2000, where she and Billy Kidman lost to
Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson, and the Hall of Famer is looking for one last match before hanging her boots up for good.
Last month, wrestling legend Daffney tragically died after a disturbing live stream, in which she openly discussed taking her own life.
Her death was a stark reminder about the seriousness of mental health, and several people in the wrestling world paid tribute to
her after her passing. Impact Wrestling have announced that next week’s Impact in 60 will be themed around
Daffney, as she worked there for years, and the episode will air on October 28th on AXS TV. Impact previously honoured Daffney at the
Knockouts Knockdown event earlier tis month, as the show opened with a tribute, and a Monsters Ball match happened in her honour,
and now fans will be able to rewatch some of Daffney’s best moments in Impact next week.
Gaming news, as there won’t be a WWE 2K game until next year, but 2k22 won’t be the only game next year featuring Samoa Joe.
At last weekend’s DC Fandome, a new trailer was released for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, in which the three-time former NXT Champion
will be voicing King Shark. The game will see DC veteran villain Braniac, who has brainwashed the justice league,
and it’s up to the Suicide Squad, featuring the likes of King Shark, Harley Quinn, Deadshot and others to save the world.
DC Fandome also saw a sneak preview of Black Adam, the new film starring The Rock, as well as a trailer for the Peacemaker series
on HBO Max, which will see John Cena return to the role. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will release
next year for Windows, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and time will tell if King Shark can lock any Justice League member in the Coquina
Clutch, in his efforts to save the world from Braniac.
As a multi-time WWE World Champion and with decades in WWE alone, The Undertaker has a clout of clout in the company, and rightly so.
Even in 2000, just one decade into his run, the Phenom had a lot of sway backstage, and was even able to talk Vince McMahon into title changes.
That’s according to The Godfather at least, who appeared on an episode of ‘It’s My Wrestling’ Podcast, and said how he was
unhappy in 2000, and would’ve quit the industry had his Bone Street Krew brother not spoke with Vince McMahon. He said
I was like, ‘Dude, I’m out of here.’ I think ‘Taker went to Vince and said I’m getting ready to leave, and all of a sudden they drop the belts
on me. And I had loyalty, I’m not going to run out with the belts. As soon as they got those belts off of us then I finished that because I
I really wasn’t having fun.
The belts in question were the WWF Tag Team Titles, with the Godfather and Bull Buchanan, then members of the Right to Censor
won from the Hardys in November that year. The Godfather doesn’t have many positives to say about his time in the RTC, and hasn’t
returned to being the Goodfather in the 20 years since the group’s split, but he would’ve left WWE much sooner had the Undertaker not
got him a tag-title run after just one conversation with the boss.
Now, in early 2020, Roman Reigns took an extended hiatus from WWE, as he didn’t want to put his health, or the health of his
family at risk at a time when positive cases were on the rise. After his luekemia diagnosis less than two years
prior, no-one could blame the father of five, and fans wouldn’t see him again until Summerslam 2020, WWE’s first night in the
Thunderdome. Now, Reigns is the unquestionable top star of WWE, and in an interview with Bleacher Report
the Tribal Chief explained how serious everyone takes things now that the company is back on tour. He said:
“I do not miss travel. Saudi Arabia is the only place I’ve left the country for, and that’s just because it’s such an isolated one-off, in and out on a private
jet, 16 hours, knock out the show, back on the jet, 16 hours, all by myself. We go through extreme precautions to make it all
safe for me and to make me feel comfortable.” Reigns didn’t go to the recent tour of the UK, and is still taking things seriously, as he
masked-up while brawling in the crowd at last month’s Extreme Rules. After a year away from fans, it’s great to see
WWE back on the road again, but the Tribal Chief is keeping cautious now the Thunderdome is gone
Back to WWE, and there’s a lot of people working in WWE, and this weekend saw a major anniversary.
On social media, Kayla Braxton announced last night that it’s been five years since Michael Cole hired her to the company, and advised fans
to flood the commentator’s page, telling him he made the right decision. NXT UK is also celebrating it’s three-year
anniversary, and in a tweet, thanked the Superstars, and those who work behind the scenes for putting the show together, and
we’ll have to see what the UK brand does next as things slowly get back to normal.