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The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 1/22: WrestleMania 37 Will Have Fans, Owens Replaces Pearce, Sting Wrestling for AEW, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 22nd January 2021

Welcome Back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday trying to get an appointment for a vaccine and missed Smackdown. Perhaps you spent all day Monday waiting for a Presidential Pardon and missed Raw. Worry not, for I have returned with another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week to catch you up.

10. Jason Jordan Planning Return to the Ring

Kurt Angle’s illegitimate son may be returning to a WWE ring. Chad Gable appeared on WWE’s The Bump this week, and announced that his old American Alpha partner Jason Jordan is training for an in-ring return. Jordan has not competed in a WWE ring, since suffering a serious neck injury in 2018. We will have to wait and see if Jordan can return to a ring, but when your storyline father won a gold medal with a broken neck there is a chance. (WrestlingInc)

9. Gillberg Returns on Monday Night Raw

If you are a fan of 1990’s wrestling novelty acts, then do I have good news for you! During Raw this week, Miz and Morrison hosted an episode of The Dirt Sheet. During this segment, Miz and Morrison both brought out a bad parody of Drew McIntyre and Gillberg to parody Goldberg. Gillberg and the fake McIntyre faced off, before Miz asked Morrison if he thinks both Goldberg and McIntyre will lose at the Royal Rumble. Morrison said that was correct, as The Miz is going to cash in Money in the Bank. The Miz then ended the segment by saying that he will be the next WWE Champion because he’s…next. WWE will continue the theme of old washed up wrestling acts next week, with Goldberg returning to Raw. (TJRWrestling)

8. Timothy Thatcher Defeated Tommaso Ciampa in The Fight Pit

The second-ever Fight Pit match took place this week on NXT. In the main event of the show, Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa faced off in the cage. Thatcher ended up victorious in the match, making Ciampa tap out to get the win. Thatcher is actually the only person to ever win inside the Fight Pit, as he also defeated Matt Riddle last May in the match. If Thatcher can continue this impressive streak, he will become the most successful WWE superstar to compete in a small cage since Sunny. (TJRWrestling)

7. Private Party Becomes Number One Contenders for Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship

AEW invaded Impact Wrestling this week. Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers, came to the ring to brag about their victory at Hard to Kill. They were interrupted however by Chris Sabin and a returning James Storm. Storm and Sabin demanded a title shot, before they were interrupted by AEW Tag team Private Party and Matt Hardy. This eventually led to Private Party facing Storm and Sabin in a number one contender match. Shortly after this match began, AEW CEO Tony Khan and AEW Producer Jerry Lynn came down to ringside. The finish of the match then saw Lynn interfere in the match, leading to Private Party getting the win. Private Practice will face The Good Brothers at No Surrender on the IMPACTPlusApp. This truly is a shocking turn of events, as who knew that Impact had an App. (WrestlingInc)

6. Alexa Bliss Squashes Asuka

Alexa Bliss and Asuka competed in a non-title match this week on Raw. A few minutes into their match, the lights suddenly went out in the arena and creepy music played as they went to commercial. When they returned from commercial, Bliss had suddenly put on black lipstick and a black shirt under her overalls. After making this change, Bliss dominated the match and pinned Asuka after hitting Sister Abigail. With this transformation, Bliss did the second-best change in the United States this week. (TJRWrestling)

5. Impact Wrestling’s Hard to Kill Takes Place

Impact Wrestling’s biggest PPV in years titled Hard to Kill, took place this past Saturday night. The show was highlighted by AEW Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers facing off against Impact Heavyweight Champion Rich Swann, Chris Sabin and Moose. In the end, Omega was able to pin Swann after hitting The One-Winged Angel. Omega actually wore an NJPW Bullet Club shirt for this match, possibly because all the cool TJRWrestling shirts he bought from prowrestlingtees.com were dirty. (WrestlingInc)

4. Sting to Wrestle at AEW Revolution

The question if Sting will be wrestling for AEW was answered this week. AEW announced that Sting will be wrestling his first match in six years, at AEW Revolution on Sunday, February 27th. Sting will be teaming up with TNT Champion Darby Allen to face Brian Cage and Ricky Starks in a Street Fight. The 61-year-old Sting last wrestled way back in 2015, losing a WWE Heavyweight Championship Match to Seth Rollins. Sting was forced to “retire” after that match, after taking a Buckle Bomb that caused a number of issues for his neck/spine area. With first Goldberg and now Sting both having matches this year, clearly 2021 is going to be Saudi Arabia’s year. (TJRWrestling)

3. WrestleMania Dates and Locations Announced for the Next Three Years

WWE’s plans for WrestleMania are now set for the next three years. This year’s WrestleMania will take place on April 10th and 11th, inside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Next Year on April 3rd, WWE will be returning to AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Finally on April 2nd, 2023, WWE will be having WrestleMania in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles CA. SoFi Stadium was supposed to host WrestleMania this year. The stadium hosted the Chargers and Rams, however, so they are used to disappointment. (TJRWrestling)

2. Kevin Owens Replaces Adam Pearce in Royal Rumble Match

Adam Pearce won’t have to dust off his wrestling boots after all. This week on Smackdown, Pearce and Roman Reigns were supposed to sign the contract for their Last Man Standing Universal Championship Match at the Royal Rumble. Both Pearce and Reigns signed the contract, but then Pearce pulled a swerve on Reigns. Pearce declared after the contract was signed, that he was suffering from a knee injury. Pearce then said he couldn’t compete in the match and brought out Reigns’ new opponent, Kevin Owens. Owens then signed the contract, making Owens vs. Reigns official for the Royal Rumble. We can only hope that Pearce will also be in charge of the Goldberg and Drew McIntyre contract signing. (TJRWrestling)

1. WrestleMania 37 to Have Fans Present

WWE is looking to do something they haven’t done since March. Stephanie McMahon appeared on TMZ Sports this week and announced that WWE is planning on having live fans at WrestleMania 37. McMahon stated that they are still working out the logistics, and no tickets have gone on sale yet. McMahon also would not say how many fans will be in attendance, just stating that they did have a number planned. This, of course, is exciting news for wrestling fans, who will now get to watch a Goldberg botch in person! (WrestlingInc)

That will conclude another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week. As always, if you like what I do, please follow me on Facebook and Twitter @BackseatBookers and listen to my podcast The BackseatBookers. (Please be aware that it is explicit, as even Trump wouldn’t pardon my potty mouth.)