Here's your wrestling news for October 25th 2021
And your headlines for today include
WWE Edits Out Charlotte Flair Controversy In Smackdown Replays !
Flair Claims Smackdown Was An Accident! What Punishment Will She Face After Going Off-Script?
New Smackdown Superstar Banned From Wrestling Due To ‘Medical Condition’ !
Why Didn’t Bray Wyatt And Braun Strowman Appear At Bound For Glory 2021?
Lance Archer Provides Update After Scary AEW Dynamite Moonsault Botch !
Former TNA/ROH Wrestler Loses Both Legs In Tragic Medical Infection !
WWE Announcer Greg Hamilton Threatens Legal Action Against Rapper ! And More !
We’re starting today with SmackDown which last week ushered in a ‘new era’ for the blue brand, as the 2021 draft results came into effect
but the biggest moment of the night didn’t come during a match. During the title swap between Charlotte Flair and
Becky Lynch, Flair went off-script, dropping the title in front of The Man, instead of the planned spot where Lynch was meant to hold both titles,
calling herself Becky 2 Belts. This led to a heated confrontation backstage, and Flair being escorted out of the arena by security,
and it’s a moment WWE doesn’t want to relive. During Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that WWE has edited the title swap segment,
removing the part where Flair dropped the title. WWE owns the footage of anything that happens on their programming, and don’t want fans to
remember Flair going off script, but it may be too little, too late at this point of time for the Queen of All Eras.
Flair going off script was definitely wrong on her part, but she’s unlikely that she’ll lose her job as a result of this incident.
Despite Flair being wildly unpopular backstage, and refusing to speak to Vince McMahon after what happened, the new SmackDown Women’s
Champion isn’t expected to face too much of a punishment, as Meltzer explained: “It’s a weird situation, because they can fire her
but if they do then she’s going to AEW and they don’t want that — or maybe they do want that, but the impression I got is that they
don’t want that. So, I don’t know how it’s going to be handled they could suspend her or have her apologize
Meltzer added that backstage, Flair claimed her dropping of the title was just an accident, but nobody was buying what she had to say.
Speaking about Flair’s fiancé, who recently tweeted ‘FU WWE’ Meltzer said this tweet was likely in reference to what happened with the
Queen, but this outburst won’t help her chances backstage. As a key part of the Women’s Revolution and the
reigning SmackDown Women’s Champion, Flair can’t be simply fired like someone lower down the card, but the company will have to
think of some way to punish the problematic Superstar
For many Superstars, Charlotte’s actions last week are just the tip of the iceberg, as the Queen has rubbed people the wrong way for years now.
Part of that is WWE’s booking, as they’ve given her opportunity after opportunity whilst ignoring countless talented Superstars, making the
SmackDown Women’s Champion a truly unpopular individual. It’s been previously reported that Flair was wholly
against the idea of the title switch, and that if she had got her way, she would’ve lost the RAW Women’s Championship last week to Bianca Belair.
Fightful Select is now reporting that there is some doubt about just how willing Flair was to actually lose the title to the EST, as their match instead
ended in a DQ. Their report adds that Charlotte has been outspoken about creative regardless in recent months, much
like her father, who left WWE as he didn’t like the creative for himself of her. Flair may not like her creative, but it’s hard to argue
with the success she’s had in WWE as she’s become one of the biggest female wrestlers of all time, at the cost of being unpopular with the
rest of the roster.
More from SmackDown, as Hit Row made their debut this week, with Top Dolla and Isaiah Scott flattening some local talent.
This pairing was interesting, as according to reports, Dolla is set to be the new leader of the group and presented as a singles star, and that
the stable’s premiere tag-team will be Scott and Ashante Thee Adonis. On his show, Dave Meltzer mentioned that Adonis
has a ‘medical condition,’ which explains why he’s not wrestling, but gave no details about what this condition is
What we do know is that Adonis hasn’t wrestled in two months, with his last match being a six-man -tag loss to Legado Del Fantasma on the August
23rd NXT. The fact that WWE is keeping him in Hit Row despite him being unable to wrestle is a good
sign for him, as the company could’ve pulled him from the stable, but we won’t be seeing the 31- year-old Superstar wrestling on SmackDown just yet.
Over to Impact, as last Saturday marked their 2021 Bound for Glory event, which saw plenty of title changes on the show.
Former WWE Superstars The IInspiration made their in-ring debuts for the company, becoming the new Knockouts Tag Team Champion
but two names who didn’t show were Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt. Strowman expected to debut last weekend,
and we now know that the company was hoping on that happening. Fightful Select reports that Impact tried hard to get
both men in, and despite Strowwan meeting with Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore, a deal couldn’t be reached
As for Wyatt, he was also contacted about coming in, although he wouldn’t be allowed to appear until after Bound for Glory, due to his non-compete clause
with WWE. Fightful’s sources added that a deal to bring in the former Fiend was “never close to happening,”
and now the company will have to go back to the drawing board after failing to bring the two former Universal Champion on board.
During AEW Saturday Night Dynamite, former WWE Superstar Tony Nese was spotted in the crowd, with fans speculating that he’d be the next name
to be All-Elite. Nese didn’t wait long to go from the crowd to the ring, as the next day, Nese competed at the AEW
Dark tapings at Universal Studios, where he faced Fuego Del Sol. We won’t spoil who won the match, so you’ll have
to watch AEW Dark to find out, but the fact that Nese is wrestling so soon after appearing in the crowd during Dynamite certainly bodes well for
his career.
AEW now, as last Saturday’s Dynamite saw Eddie Kingston face Lance Archer in a first- round match of the World title tournament,
and the match was forced to end prematurely. A botched moonsault saw Archer land on top of his head, and after speaking to Doc
Samson, the Murderhawk Monster rolled back in to the ring to take the pinfall loss. Archer was at least able to stand after the match,
which pleased the fans who were worried about him, but the AEW star wasn’t happy one-bit about what happened, as Dave Meltzer explained on
Wrestling Observer Radio: “He did want to keep wrestling, but Doc Samson and everybody pretty much said ‘go right to the finish.
He was telling them he wanted to continue, so that’s probably why he was upset backstage.” Meltzer explained that during the talk between
Archer and Samson, AEW’s physician checked for a concussion, and had there been one, the match would’ve stopped immediately without going to the finish.
It’s understandable that Archer was upset, as he had more of his match against Kingston to go, and while Kingston may have not even been slated to
to win in the first place, he’ll now be going through to the next round of AEW’s Eliminator Tournament.
Archer’s fall this week definitely wasn’t part of AEW’s plan, and we’ll probably never know what other spots were planned before the match was cut short.
In his first statement since the incident, the Murderhawk Monster tweeted an update, jokingly stating “I’ll live.”
In a much more series follow-up, Archer followed up by saying that wrestlers choose to take their health into their own hands every night, and that
moonsault was something he’d done hundreds of time before. Adding that it could’ve been much worse, Archer
concluded by thanking AEW for protecting him, and promised to be back. There’s currently no word on when Archer will be back, but
he thankfully appears to have avoided what could’ve been a life-altering injury last Saturday night
From 2012-2018, Enzo Amore worked for WWE, but didn’t make too many friends in the company.
Known for annoying even the calmest of Superstars, even Roman Reigns wasn’t immune to just how irritating the former Cruiserweight Champion could be,
and this all boiled over in 2017. Speaking on ‘Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw,’ former WWE referee Mike Chioda spoke
about a time when Enzo was kicked out of the WWE’s locker-room, a decision made by the future Tribal Chief:
“Enzo had dress out there for a while. Roman Reigns was responsible for that. Roman Reigns is old school as are so many generations of wrestling there.
He made Enzo dress out in the back because of some of the stupid stuff he was doing. I mean, when you disrespect the business, the boys in the
locker room or anything else, you are going to get heat.” Released from WWE in 2018 after failing to inform
the company about allegations against him, Amore continued to rile up the company, infamously making a scene at that year’s Survivor Series.
The Certified-G will almost likely never return to WWE, as the company has shown no interest in rehiring him in the near four years since his release
but at least the self-professed ‘Realest Guy in the Room,’ doesn’t have to worry about being kicked out of the locker-room by the Head of the Table.
We’ve got some awful news from Jimmy Rave next, who’s wrestling career ended last year, after his left arm was amputated.
Rave, who wrestled for Ring of Honor and TNA before retiring, lost his arm due to a medical infection, and now things have got even worse for the former
wrestler. Last week, Rave revealed that he owes over $100,000 in medical bills, and mere days later,
announced that he has now lost both his legs following an MRSA infection from this past June.
For those wanting to assist, Rave’s Paypal- associated email is jamesmguffey @gmail.com, and the original GoFundMe set-up in 2020 for
him to purchase a prosthetic arm remains open. After battling through drug addiction and rehab, it’s terrible to see the former NWA World
Junior Heavyweight Champion’s life take this turn, and we’re sending our best wishes to Jimmy at this sad time.
And we’re ending today with WWE announcer Greg Hamilton, who makes his money off of his voice, announcing countless shows over the years,
so it should come as no surprise that he’s very protective of it. Recently, rapper Westside Gunn sampled Hamilton’s
voice for his latest track, and now the announcer has threatened legal action. In a tweet, Hamilton called Gunn’s raps “incoherent
kindergarten fables,” and said he’ll be paying Hamilton for years if he doesn’t apologise.
Hamilton also threatened to bring in WWE’s lawyers, and warned the rapper “don’t ever use my voice again.”
With tracks like ‘WrestleMania 20,’ ‘Shawn Vs. Flair’ and ‘Undertaker Vs. Goldberg’ Gunn is obviously a big pro-wrestling fan, but Greg
Hamilton is no fan of his, and made that very clear with this threat of legal action.