Impact Wrestling Results – August 26, 2021

Impact Wrestling Date: August 26, 2021 Location: Skyway Studios, Nashville, Tennessee Commentators: D’Lo Brown, Matt Striker Emergence has come and gone and that means it is time to start the path towards either Bound For Glory or whatever other one off show is taking place before then. Christian Cage is still the World Champion, having vanquished the horrible threat of Brian Myers. That means he needs a new challenger and we might be able to find out who that is tonight. Let’s get to it. The opening recap looks at Emergence. Opening sequence. Chris Sabin vs. Sami Callihan Fallout from the Emergence #1 contenders four way. The brawl starts on the floor before the bell and Sami hits a powerbomb inside. The bell rings with Sami winning a slugout but being sent outside for the running flip dive from the apron. That doesn’t last long for Sabin, as Callihan powerbombs him into the post. Sami is having none of these chops from Sabin and pokes him in the eye before heading back inside. Sa..

SmackDown Live Coverage And Results – September 3, 2021

Smackdown Date: September 3, 2021 Location: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Florida Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves It’s a title show this week as Finn Balor gets a shot at Roman Reigns and the Universal Title. That sounds like something that could headline Extreme Rules so we may be in for some shenanigans. Other than that, we need to get some things going for the pay per view, which is in just over three weeks. Let’s get to it. We open with a recap/hype video for Roman Reigns vs. Finn Balor. Here are the Usos for their Championship Contenders match against the Street Profits. Before we get started, the Usos talks about how the Profits disrespected them last week so come get them because they are the ones. Street Profits vs. Usos Non-title. Hold on though as the Street Profits want to know how the Usos are in the ring without their permission slips. Ford admits the Usos are spitting facts and they are the ones. As in the ones about to take a beating. The Uso..

Not So Much? Update On Vince McMahon Running NXT

Just how bad? Vince McMahon wears a lot of hats in WWE and it is rare to find someone without some kind of an opinion on him. In addition to running the entire company, McMahon also has his hands on a lot of the WWE television product, which will be growing even stronger as he and Bruce Prichard will be producing NXT. Now we know a bit more about how that is expected to go. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, there is a possibility that McMahon and Prichard will mainly be focusing on the bigger picture of NXT and not every single aspect. It is not clear if this will include the Takeover specials as well. According to the WrestleVotes Twitter account, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, William Regal and Matt Bloom will continue to handle the day to day operations. However, NXT will have a “Vince & Co” stamp on the product. The changes are expected to begin taking place later this month. After talking to sources regarding NXT: the day to day operation isn’t changing that drastically. Still v..

Karl Anderson Gets In Heated Exchanges With Fans Over WWE’s Mental Health Counseling

I don’t see this going well. WWE is a big company and has more resources than they know what to do with most of the time. The good thing is that they are able to use some of those resources in good ways at the right time. That is something they were trying to do this week, but it seems that one of the company’s former employees is not exactly seeing things the WWE way. Earlier this week, Daffney Unger passed away, sending a bit of a shock throughout the wrestling world. According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, WWE sent out a mass text to its roster, reminding them that they have mental counseling available should their wrestlers need it. Impact Wrestling’s Karl Anderson responded to Ross’ tweet, saying “they suck bro” referring to WWE. This led to several fans responding to Anderson, including bringing up Anderson being accused of cheating on his wife. Anderson insulted several of the fans by calling them marks and telling them to say these things to him in person. Anderson did pin a..

Backstage WWE Reaction To Charlotte vs. Nia Jax On Monday Night Raw

How did you think it would go? One of the biggest wrestling stories of the week has been the pretty much disaster that was Charlotte vs. Nia Jax on this week’s Monday Night Raw. The two did not seem to be on the same page and there were various moments during the match where the two seemed to legitimately attack each other. It was not well received by the fans, but how was it seen backstage? According to WWE producer D-Von Dudley on his Table Talk podcast, Charlotte and Jax finished their match and had no further altercations backstage. Dudley described the match as a misunderstanding and nothing more, while promising that the two would draw attention if they had a rematch. Jax defeated Charlotte, the reigning Raw Women’s Champion, but no rematch has been announced as of yet. He would know about something like this. Check out the full podcast, plus some of the match and some other well known WWE brawls: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to ..

Wrestling World Reacts To The Passing Of Daffney

There’s no good thing to say about this one. This week, the wrestling world lost Daffney Unger, seemingly at her own hands, after she threatened to harm herself during an Instagram live stream. There is no positive way to look at something like this and the best thing to do is to look back at her career and see some of the positive things that others have to say about her. Since news of Unger’s passing was reported, the wrestling world has expressed their condolences and shared thoughts and memories about her career. Several of her colleagues and friends have sent out tweets about Unger, who wrestled in Impact Wrestling, WCW and around the independent scene in a career than lasted from 1999-2011. Here are some of the reactions from the wrestling world: "We are very sad to have to announce the passing of Shannon Spruill aka Daffney Unger @screamqueendaff. We are posting this at the request of her family. Please respect their privacy at this trying time. I will miss you my logical sis..

CM Punk Says He Would Have Died Had He Stayed With WWE

That sounds bad. There have been a lot of important moments in the wrestling world this year but there may have been nothing bigger than CM Punk debuting for AEW last month. It was a heck of a moment and his debut promo made things even better. Without naming names, Punk spoke about his time in WWE and how poorly it went. Now we are learning a bit more about just how bad things were. Punk discussed his time in WWE in more detail during an interview on Busted Open Radio. During the interview, Punk talked about how WWE rarely gave him time to heal up from injuries and how he would continue to push forward, often asking himself what Harley Race would do. He said that had he not left the company, he would have died as he would have kept going no matter what. When Punk left, he was in mental, physical, spiritual and emotional pain and needed to get away. Punk’s final appearance at a WWE event came at the 2014 Royal Rumble. It seems to have done him well. Check out Punk’s time in AEW and o..

WWE Planning To Release Even More Wrestlers

We’re not done yet? There have been all kinds of roster changes on the WWE roster in the last few months with dozens of wrestlers being let go from the company in multiple shifts. Wrestlers from up and down the roster, including former World Champions to lower level NXT stars, have been let go and the releases seem to come out of nowhere. Now WWE might be getting ready to do it again. According to Wrestling Observer Radio, there are more names “on the chopping block” to be released from WWE. These names are said to be wrestlers who have been in NXT for a long time, though no specific names were given. There is also no word on when the releases could be coming. This comes as WWE is planning to relaunch NXT, with the changes coming to television later this month. This could be more than a few people. Check out some of NXT’s glory days from years passed: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] O..

VIDEO: When Ric Flair Meets Orange Cassidy

When worlds gently collide. The rise of AEW has opened a new world to wrestling fans and it has made things that much more interesting in a hurry. Above all else, it has allowed all kind of newer and unproven wrestlers to be showcased in ways they never have been before. AEW also has a large amount of veterans on its roster, and now one of their younger stars has met quite the veteran. AEW’s Orange Cassidy has posed a new video to his Instagram page, showing him meeting Ric Flair. Cassidy gives Flair his own pair of sunglasses, which Flair puts on and gives a WOO. At the same time, Cassidy gives his trademark thumbs up. This comes as Flair has been rumored to be signing with AEW, though neither side has officially announced any kind of deal. This is pretty amazing. Check out the meeting plus the two of them on their own: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: I don’t think it’s much ..

WWE Canceling Plans For International Expansion

Maybe later? There have been a lot of changes taking place over the WWE landscape in the lats few months and there is no reason to believe that they are going to be wrapping up anytime soon. Some of the biggest changes have been taking place in NXT, but now it seems that one of their biggest planned changes will not be taking place anytime in the near future. According to Gamebiz (Japanese publication), WWE has dissolved it’s Japan GK division, effective immediately. This comes after several years of rumors and canceled plans for WWE to make a foray into the country, including the possibility of an NXT Japan at some point in the future. The WWE Japan social media accounts are still active and there is nothing to suggest that WWE is completely done with the country. WWE has some experience in Japan. Check out what they have done there in the past: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinio..

NXT UK Results – September 3, 2021

NXT UK Date: September 2, 2021 Location: BT Studios, London, England Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Andy Shepherd With the reaction to the UK Title change out of the way, it’s time to move forward around here. Now in this case, that makes me interested in where they’re going, as NXT UK has been quite the fun show for a rather long while now. That being said, there is always the chance that WWE pulls the plug around here and none of this matters again. Let’s get to it. Opening sequence. Blair Davenport vs. Nina Samuels Hold on actually as Davenport jumps Samuels before the bell and hits her with a Falcon Arrow. Officials, including Sid Scala, come out, with Davenport laying out Scala as well. No match. We look back at Aoife Valkyrie beating Jinny last week in a heck of a fight. Valkyrie has injured her knee though and will be out of action for a “significant period of time”. Jinny takes credit for injuring Valkyrie. Symbiosis is ready for Saxon Huxley and whoever he can get to te..

WATCH: AEW President Tony Khan Erupts After Dynamite

You don’t make the boss mad. AEW has come a very long way in not that long of a time and it has been quite the sight to behold. The company was not even in business three years ago and are now one of the highest profile wrestling companies in the world. The company has been able to come this far at least partially due to President Tony Khan, but he was not happy this week. This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite ended with the Elite attacking several of the company’s most popular wrestlers. A cage was lowered to make sure no one could stop them, with Kenny Omega shouting about Khan. After the show ended, Khan came down the ramp and shouted at Omega before ultimately going backstage again. Omega taunted Khan from the ring but the two did not reach each other. It was kind of messy. Check out what happened, plus the two of them in better situations: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: Kh..

Several Changes Made To AEW All Out Card

Get your scorecards ready. We are less than a week away from AEW’s All Out and that means the card is all but ready to go. The company can still come up with a few changes though, and it can be made even worse if the changes are not something AEW exactly wants to do. That seems to be the case again, as three matches have been changed in the span of a day. AEW President Tony Khan announced that the scheduled All Out match between Pac and Andrade El Idolo has been postponed due to travel issues. While not confirmed by AEW, El Idolo is teasing a match against a mystery opponent at the pay per view. In addition, the Casino Battle Royal has been moved to the main card. Finally, a new Buy-In Show match has been added to the card, with Chuck Taylor/Wheeler Yuta/Orange Cassidy/Jurassic Express vs. the Hardy Family Office. Thank you to you fans supporting #AEWDynamite LIVE next on TNT! The Women’s Casino Battle Royale, which was booked on the Buy In, will now be featured on the ALL OUT ppv ca..

VIDEO: Sami Zayn’s Bizarre Explanation For His TV Absence

That’s not something you often hear. There are many different ways to present a wrestling story and some of them are a lot more logical than others. Sometimes you will see something that has not been presented in a long time and that can often make for some interesting results. That is the case again, and now we have more of an explanation of where a SmackDown star has been. SmackDown’s Sami Zayn appeared on this week’s edition of the Bump and explained his recent absence from WWE television. Zayn said that he should not have been talking about the reason, but said that they were “legal issues”. Zayn hinted that the issues were related to his conspiracy theories. This is likely a storyline, as Zayn appeared on last week’s edition of SmackDown, defeating Dominick Mysterio. Maybe he needs a good lawyer. Check out the full show (with Zayn’s debut at about 52:30), plus what Zayn can do when he is around: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to pla..

Special Show Returning To NXT Later This Year

One more time? There are a lot of regular wrestling shows throughout the week, but there are very few which really seem to stand out from the rest. As a result, it makes a difference when you see them take place, as you get to see something you do not usually see. There are a few on the WWE calendar, and now they are going to be bringing back a fan favorite. According to PWInsider.com, NXT will be bringing back the Halloween Havoc special this October. There is no word on when the show would air, though the final episode of the month would air on October 26. The special debuted in October 2020 with Shotzi Blackheart as host, bringing back the concept after a twenty year absence. WWE has yet to announce the event. It’s a pretty cool idea. Check out Halloween Havoc from years past: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] Opinion: Now this is the kind of thing that I can get behind, as Halloween..

Former World Champion Undergoes Surgery, Missing Rest Of 2021

That’s never good. There are always going to be injuries in wrestling but what matters most is how bad things really are. Some of them are going to be much worse than others, and that is going to determine how long it takes to get them back in the ring. Unfortunately one of the latest injuries seems to be worse than others, as a star is going to be on the shelf for a good while. Ring of Honor has announced that former World Champion Rush will miss the remainder of the year due to knee surgery. This comes after Rush reportedly underwent emergency surgery earlier in the week, though the specific issue was not mentioned. Rush was injured during a tag match at Glory By Honor in August and has been pulled from Death Before Dishonor as a result. There is no word on when he will be back in the ring. Rush is a force. Check out what will be returning to Ring of Honor: [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to play] [This post contains video, click to p..

WATCH: Turn And Return Take Place During AEW Dynamite

The more things change. There are all kinds of talented wrestlers on the AEW roster and you never know when one of them is going to be given their big chance. The roster is a great mixture of veterans, current stars and up and comers, all of whom are often given a shot by AEW. That seems to be the case again, as two big moments took place this week on television. A turn and a return took place during this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite. First up, Billy Gunn, and possible the rest of the Gunn Club, turned heel by attacking Paul Wight. The Gunn Club had run to the ring to help Wight fight off the Factory, only to have Billy attack Wight with a chair. This included shots to the head and hip, while QT Marshall looked on, seemingly not knowing the attack was coming. Later in the show, Anna Jay made her return to the company following a five month layoff due to shoulder surgery. Following Tay Conti’s victory over Penelope Ford, the Bunny and Ford attacked Conti in the ring. Jay ran in for ..

AEW Dynamite Live Coverage And Results – September 1, 2021

Dynamite Date: September 1, 2021 Location: Now Arena, Chicago, Illinois Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur It’s the go home show for All Out and that means it’s time for the big push to the show. As you might have guessed, CM Punk is back in the house and the ovation should crazy all over again. It’s also the 100th edition of Dynamite and that means we might be seeing something of a look back. AEW has always done those well so let’s get to it. Opening sequence. Santana/Ortiz vs. FTR Tully Blanchard is here with FTR, who have Bobby Eaton themed trunks for a very nice moment. Harwood headlocks Santana down to start and then shoulders him down for a bonus. They chop it out and Santana gets knocked into the ropes. Everything breaks down in a hurry with FTR being sent outside, where Wheeler holds his bad arm. The big flip dives take FTR down and the springboard flip dives do it again. Back in and Harwood tags his way out of a belly to back suplex so Wheeler can send Ortiz..

KB’s Review: The NXT Dilemma

I have loved NXT for a very long time now, and that is not likely to change at any time in the future. For years now, it has felt like my wrestling show, as it has been the show I have looked forward to seeing more than any other in a given week. That is still true from time to time, but it is clear that the show is going to be shaken up in a pretty big way in the near future. The more I think about that, the more of a good idea it seems, though only if certain issues are addressed. NXT became special to me on January 2, 2013. In that particular show’s main event, NXT Champion Seth Rollins was defending the title against Corey Graves (dang that makes it seem even longer) when the rest of the newly formed Shield ran in for the DQ. A huge beatdown followed and General Manager Dusty Rhodes sent out the rest of the locker room to deal with the Shield. That didn’t work either, and all hope seemed to be lost. As I was watching at home, I said out loud “in a good promotion, this is where th..

REVIEW: AEW Double Or Nothing 2020: Get Your Bets In

Welcome to KB’s Old School (and New School) Reviews. I’ve been reviewing wrestling shows for over twelve years now and have reviewed over 6,000 shows. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I’ll be posting a new review here on Wrestlingrumors.net. It could be anything from modern WWE to old school to indies to anything in between. Note that I rate using letters instead of stars and I don’t rate matches under three minutes as really, how good or bad can something that short be? Double Or Nothing Date: May 23, 2020 Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur It’s back to the pay per view calendar, which isn’t somewhere AEW goes all that often. It’s a triple main event with the Stadium Stampede, Jon Moxley defending the World Title against Brodie Lee and Cody vs. Lance Archer for the inaugural TNT Title. They’ve done well on pay per view before so let’s get to it. Pre-Show: Best Friends vs. Private Party For the #1 contendership. Chuck..