Features

The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 1/8: Goldberg Challenges McIntyre for WWE Title, AEW Dynamite Surprise Ending, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 8th January 2021

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday celebrating the end of 2020, and miss Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Wednesday in shock over how far our country has fallen, and missed Dynamite. Worry not, for I have returned with another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week to catch you up

10. Ric Flair Costs Charlotte Flair a Match

Any wrestling fans who had a problem with Murphy and Aaliyah Mysterio, may not have been a big fan of this week’s Raw. Ric Flair accompanied Charlotte and Asuka to the ring for their match against Lacey Evans and Peyton Royce. During the match, Evans continuously flirted with Flair, angering Charlotte. Later in the match, Flair “accidentally” tripped Charlotte, costing Charlotte to be pinned by Royce. After the win, Evans went over and kissed Flair on the cheek. This further angered Charlotte, who got in her father’s face and told him “to stay out of her business.” If the 30-year old Evans did decide to hook up with the 71-year old Flair, it would be more like the Tower of Terror than Space Mountain at this point. (TJRWrestling)

9. New TNT Title Revealed

Last week, AEW’s President Tony Khan retired the current TNT Championship Title when he gave it to Brodie Lee’s son at the end of Dynamite. After the show, Tony Schiavone revealed that Brodie Jr. would always have that version of the TNT Title, and that AEW would come up with a newly designed belt. This week’s current TNT Champion Darby Allen revealed that newly designed Championship. The new title is very similar to the previous one, with the only major change being that the strap was changed from red to black. With all the hatred that has gone on this week, it is great to see that AEW can bring down the negativity level by -1. (TJRWrestling)

TNT title

8. Next NXT Takeover to be held on Valentines Day

Valentines Day got just a little more special this week, when NXT announced that their next Takeover event will be held on February 14th. The Valentine’s Day Takeover will take place from the Capitol Wrestling Center at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, and will air live on the WWE Network. No matches have been announced for the show so far, nor has the show been given a name. So this year, instead of the boring traditional flowers and chocolates for Valentine’s Day, get your wife what she really wants, Professional Wrestling! (TJRWrestling)

7. Wrestle Kingdom 15

Japan’s biggest wrestling event of the year took place this week. Wrestle Kingdom 15 took place over two nights on January 4th and 5th, and overall was an incredible event. The shows were highlighted by two Kota Ibushi matches. In the main event of night one, Ibushi defeated Tatsuya Naito to win both the IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight Championships. Ibushi was not done there as he also competed in the main event of night two, defending both championships against Jay White. Both of these matches were great and could earn five stars, or eight if Dave Meltzer is doing the rating. (TJRWrestling)

6. NXT to Hold Women’s Tag Team Dusty Classic Tournament

The legendary Dusty Rhodes will now have two tag team tournaments named after him. This week on NXT it was announced that the Women will hold their own version of the Tag Team Dusty Classic Tournament. The men’s version of the tournament will begin this Wednesday, and already has ten teams announced for it. No date or teams for the women’s tournament has been announced as of this writing. What is known is that if Lana somehow gets herself into the tournament, then every other team is in for Hard Times. (TJRWrestling)

5. Roman Reigns Throws Kevin Owens Off the Thunderdome Set

Smackdown ended in spectacular fashion this week. During the main event of Smackdown, Kevin Owens successfully defeated Jey Uso. After the match, Owens continued to attack Uso, while telling Roman Reigns to come to the ring. Eventually, Reigns did come down, attacking Owens from behind. Uso and Reigns then both proceeded to attack Owens, leading to Reigns throwing Owens off the ThunderDome set and onto a table about 12 feet below them to close out the show. Falling 12 feet is impressive, but not quite as impressive as how far wrestling fans’ hearts dropped at the end of Raw. (TJRWrestling)

4. Sonya Deville Returns to Smackdown

The last Smackdown of 2020 featured a big return. For the first time since losing a No DQ, “Loser Leaves WWE” match to Mandy Rose last August, Sonya Deville returned to Smackdown. Deville was shown walking backstage, with Corey Graves stating that she has been reinstated to the Smackdown roster. It is still unknown why Deville chose now to return, and not in a few weeks at the Royal Rumble. Deville was also drafted to Raw in October, but perhaps she chose not to return to Raw because she was worried about being outshined in the ring by Lana. (TJRWrestling)

3. Tributes to Brodie Lee Continue

Anyone who has been around the wrestling world for a significant amount of time knows that it can be a very cynical and cutthroat business. That makes the response to the death of Brodie Lee on December 26th even more remarkable. For over a week now tributes and memories have flowed in from wrestlers across every major wrestling company. AEW was given permission to use WWE photos during their dedication show, and WWE superstars actually promoted the show on their Twitter. This sort of cooperation between two rival wrestling companies is unheard of and truly shows how beloved Lee was. Fans of the Chris Jericho Podcast should not be concerned, however, as I am sure the wrestling world will soon once again become a cynical and negative place. (TJRWrestling)

Harper Mural

2. Bullet Club Reunites on AEW Dynamite

AEW Dynamite was “Too Sweet” this week. In the main event of Dynamite, AEW Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega successfully defeated Fenix. After the match, Omega continued the attack on Fenix, causing Jon Moxley to come down to try to make the save. Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers then made a surprise appearance, attacking Moxley. This led to a brawl at ringside, with AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks coming to ringside. At first, it seemed like the Bucks came down to confront Omega, but then shockingly turned heel and joined forces with him and the Good Brothers. Dynamite then went off the air with The Bucks, Good Brothers and Omega all putting up the “Too Sweet” hand gesture together. For those who aren’t aware, The Bucks, Good Brothers and Omega were all previously members of the very popular Bullet Club faction. It will be interesting to see if Tony Khan’s father will take away his son’s checkbook before any other Bullet Club members start appearing in AEW. (TJRWrestling)

1. Goldberg Challenges Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre defeated Keith Lee in a great main event to seemingly end Raw on a high note. That was until Goldberg’s music started to play. The 54-year old Goldberg came down to the ring, confronting McIntyre and challenging him to a match at The Royal Rumble. McIntyre then responded by saying, “fighting Goldberg would be like fighting his dad.” Goldberg then faced off with McIntyre, before shoving him to the mat to end Raw. For those of you who have tried to forget, Goldberg was given a Universal Title Match against “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt in Saudi Arabia last February. Goldberg won that match and was Universal Champion all the way to Wrestlemania, before losing it to Braun Strowman. Goldberg has not wrestled a match since then, but inexplicably now seems to be getting another title opportunity at the Royal Rumble. One can only hope that McIntyre will defeat Goldberg at the Rumble, and the answer to “Who’s Next” will finally become Nobody! (TJRWrestling)

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 my dirty mouth gets banned more then Donald Trump’s Twitter account.)