And your headlines for Afternoon include
WWE Canceled Plans For Vince McMahon To Shave His Head During Feud With Hulk Hogan!
AEW Using Zelina Vega To Link Andrade With Malakai Black!
Natalya Explains Why WWE Didn't Hire Her For Over Five Years!
Becky Lynch Dragged For Her New Elton John Look!
Zoey Stark Out Of Action With Legitimate Injury!
ROH Parent Company (Sinclair Broadcasting) Has Over $12 Billion Worth Of Debt!
Nikki And Brie Bella Give Update On Their Pro Wrestling Future!
Kyle O’Reilly’s WWE Contract Expires In December!
AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament Finals Set For Full Gear! And more!
We’re starting today with two titans of the industry, Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon, who had an on-screen feud in 2003 that
fans had waited for years to see. This feud saw Hogan beat the Chairman at WrestleMania 19, but the irate Chairma
didn’t stop there. After being storyline fired by McMahon, Hogan returned as Mr. America, a petriotic masked
Superstar, but left the company for real months later over a dispute about pay. Speaking on his something to wrestle with
podcast, Bruce Prichard discussed the angle this week, and said that a rematch was planned, with much higher stakes.
This rematch would’ve been a mask vs. hair match, and would’ve ended with Mr. America getting the win, before shaving the Chairman bald.
Although McMahon would eventually lose his iconic ‘do, that was in 2007 at WrestleMania 23, but had Hogan not left over money,
McMahon’s head would’ve been shaved years prior to the Battle of the Billionaires.
AEW now, as the company has never been afraid to work with other promotions like Impact and New Japan, but WWE remains off limits to
Tony Khan. Two ex-WWE names now in AEW and Andrade El Idolo and Malakai Black, both of whom have a
connection to WWE’s Queen Zelina Vega. On Wrestling Observer Live, Tony Khan discussed Zelina Vega, and how the connection
she has to both wrestlers has been used to advance AEW storylines, without ever saying the RAW Superstar’s name:
It got personal when Cody stuck his nose in when Andrade’s old friend from Florida, of course they’re both close with the same lady,
Malakai Black’s wife has managed Andrade, that’s no secret and you know they’re good friends. Malakai Black came to do Andrade a solid
and Cody was there to stop Malakai and it was the third match in their trilogy and there’s a lot of meat on the bone there, too. There’s
unresolved issues and it’s a pretty exciting situation right now.” AEW isn’t the only company to have this subtle
approach of acknowledging other companies, as on RAW this week, Kevin Owens teased leaving when his contract expires in 3 months time.
WWE Champion Big E also gave a reference to Mount Rushmore, the pre-WWE stable Owens was in prior to coming to WWE.
Though there was a time where some believed Vega would come to AEW, she re-signed with WWE earlier this year, ironically to be close to
her husband before he was cut, but that hasn’t stopped AEW making use of her, without saying her name
As a 13-year-veteran of WWE’s main-roster, Natalya is one of the longest tenured active Superstars, and the longest-tenured in the
women’s division. Not only a former champion, Natalya is a constant ambassador for the company, doing
public appearances and press tours as an advocate for WWE. Speaking to WWE Deutschland this week however,
Natalya said how her relationship with WWE wasn’t always so pleasant, and there was a time when the company was reluctant to
sign the talented technician. She said: “When I was trying to get hired by WWE, my family was estranged from WWE, meaning
when you go back to the Montreal Screwjob, even though that happened in 1997, there was a lot of tension between WWE and the
Hart family… it was challenging for the Hart family members, especially the younger ones, to get hired.”
It would take over five years of sending in tapes, promo pictures and proving herself in other companies before WWE gave Natalya a chance
at a try out, but with the Queen of Harts having over 1,000 matches as a Superstar, all her hard work eventually paid off
Since returning to WWE TV at Summerslam, Becky Lynch has done everything she can to get heat, including a flashy wardrobe complete
with new glasses. The Man’s new look is certainly different than the Superstar from before she took over a
year out, and on the latest Legion of RAW, Vince Russo made it clear he wasn’t a fan, saying: Bro, look at Becky when she was cutting the
bloody promo when Nia Jax busted her open, look at that Becky, and look at Elton John Becky tonight. How did we go from A to Z bro?
Now she’s wearing Elton John glasses and all these bright clothes and she’s half comedian, half wrestler, no bro, you are the tough chick
from Ireland who got her face busted. How did you become Elton John? It’s all forced bro.
Lynch has worked hard to get fans to dislike her, and it appears to have worked for Russo, as The Man’s new getup has stirred the pot yet again.
On the latest episode of NXT 2.0, Zoey Stark was involved in an angle backstage, which saw the new Women’s Tag Team Champions
Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne attack the 27-year- old Superstar. This led to Stark’s tag-team partner Io Shirai
confronting Mandy Rose, along with Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter, but Stark’s injury isn’t just for TV.
POST Wrestling has noted that Stark is legitimately injured, and that it’s well known within WWE that she’s hurt.
The nature of Stark’s injury isn’t public knowledge at this time, meaning we can’t report when exactly fans can expect her
back in the ring. Stark and Shirai lost the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles at Halloween Havoc’s Scareway to Hell
Ladder match, and we’re wishing the young Superstar the vest best on her road to recovery.
Now, Ring of Honor shocked the wrestling community when they announced a hiatus from production, as the company hopes to return by
next April. Releasing countless members of their roster, the company’s future in certainly in doubt, and the
situation with their parent company has only made things look all the more bleak. This week, Sinclair Broadcasting announced it’s 2021
third-quarter earnings, in which they announced they have are 12.5 million dollars in debt
Most of that is due to their streaming service, Diamond Sports Group LLC, which they have been working on launching.
The company has also been reeling from a ransomware attack that disrupted it’s local programming across the U.S., and this attack has
been linked to a Russian crime group. With Sinclair in serious financial straits, this doesn’t bode well for ROH, who have promised
to return next year, but may have to look for a new broadcaster first.
Back to WWE, as the Bella Twins haven’t competed in the ring in quite some time, and have kept themselves busy with other projects outside of
wrestling. At the start of 2021, their reality show Total Bellas saw its final season end, but the Hall of Fame
sisters won’t be filling their time by getting back in the ring. Speaking on their podcast, which returned this
week after a six-month hiatus, the twins discussed their future plans, as Nikki announced:
There are no plans for Brie and I to return to the ring. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to return to the ring, as I am officially retired per our doctors
Brie took a softer approach, saying they do miss the ring, but if they ever do go back, it won’t be anytime soon.
It was in June this year that Nikki confirmed rumours that she was preparing for an in-ring return, and that she and Brie had plans to win the WWE Women’s
Tag Team Titles, but those plans are now on the backburner, seemingly for good.
In the past few months, several big names from WWE have found their way to AEW, with Adam Cole and Bobby Fish now competeng for the
And we’re ending today with AEW, and with Jon Moxley taking the incredibly brave decision to enter rehab for alcoholism, this week’s Dynamite
was changed dramatically. With Moxley unable to compete in the AEW World Title Eliminator Semi-finals, it was Miro who
replaced him, facing off against Orange Cassidy. A match that fans originally expected Moxley to win, it seems the result wasn’t changed, as after
kick to the face and locking him in a submission, Miro got the win, advancing to the finals at Full Gear. Post-match, Bryan Danielson, the other finalist
approached the Bulgarian for a handshake, but Miro backed away from his challenger for next week.
The winner of their match at Full Gear will earn a guaranteed AEW World Championship opportunity, as either Miro or Bryan Danielson will face either
reigning champion Kenny Omega, or Hangman Page after next week’s Pay-Per-View.