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The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 10/29: Title Changes, The Miz is Mr. Money in the Bank, Survivor Series, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 30th October 2020

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday shopping for a Halloween mask that your kid could wear with a mask and miss Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday trying to carve a pumpkin to look like Elsa from Frozen, 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. Shorty G Changes his Name Back to Chad Gable

For those of you that have been waiting patiently for some good news to happen in 2020, your wait is finally over! Shorty G, which may be the worst wrestling name in history, ended this week on Smackdown. Shorty quit this week, after quickly losing to Lars Sullivan on Smackdown. Don’t fret though as Shorty did not quit WWE, but just quit the ridiculous name Shorty G. Shorty will now wrestle under his former moniker Chad Gable. So sayonara Shorty G, hopefully you are gone for good and Chad Gable can get back to jobbing as the serious Olympic athlete that he is. (TJRWrestling)

9. Pete Dunne Turns Heel

Pat McAfee’s new faction got a new member this week. McAfee came to the ring with NXT Tag Champions Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch and taunted the Undisputed Era, admitting that he hired Ridge Holland to attack Adam Cole at NXT Takeover 31. This brought Kyle O’Reilly and a returning Pete Dunne out to the ring to confront McAfee, Lorcan and Burch. However, Dunne suddenly turned on O’Reilly, hitting him in the back with a chair. McAfee then watched as Dunne, Lorcan and Burch beat down O’Reilly before claiming they were the kings of NXT. McAfee will never get to be the King of Kings of course, as he can’t sleep with the boss’s daughter. (TJRWrestling)

8. MJF To Wrestle Chris Jericho for a Spot in The Inner Circle

A town hall was held this week on AEW Dynamite to decide if MJF should be allowed to join the Inner Circle. After several AEW superstars and Eric Bischoff asked both MJF and Chris Jericho questions, it was decided that Jericho and MJF will face each other at Full Gear. If MJF can defeat Jericho at Full Gear, he will then be allowed to join The Inner Circle. Perhaps after last weeks singing performance MJF can join Jericho’s band Fozzy as well. That is, if MJF doesn’t end up turning on Jericho and becoming a Judas. (TJRWrestling)

7. Thunderdome Moving From the Amway Center

The Thunderdome is going to have to find a new home in the near future. With the NBA planning to start their season in late December (that’s not official yet), the Orlando Magic are going to want their arena back. This will force WWE into trying to find a new arena that can both fit the Thunderdome and host RAW and Smackdown every week. It is unknown at this time where or even if this new arena exists. WWE will have until November 24th to find it, however, as that is when their contract with Amway Center is up. Finding somewhere big enough, new enough, and willing to host the Thunderdome twice a week may end up being more difficult than finding someone to talk positive about the WWE on Chris Jericho’s Podcast. (TJRWrestling)

6. Tracy Smothers Passes Away

The south lost one of its boys this week. The “Wild Eyed Southern Boy” Tracy Smothers passed away this past Wednesday after a long fight with cancer. Smothers was a true journeyman of the ring competing all over the world including in WCW, ECW and WWE, and even wrestling a bear for the CWF. After his television career was complete, Smothers continued to compete on the indy wrestling scene until 2019. As soon as news of his death hit an outpouring of tributes from the wrestling world including such names as CM Punk and Edge started to appear on Twitter, all with fond memories of how Smothers helped them in their careers. The bear may have also tried to thank Smothers, but he couldn’t work the phone with his paws. (TJRWrestling)

5. Johnny Gargano Wins North American Championship

Johnny Gargano became the first two-time NXT North American Champion this week. Gargano defeated Damien Priest in a Devil’s Playground Match at NXT Halloween Havoc this past Wednesday night. The finish of the Devil’s Playground Match, which was basically a Falls Count Anywhere Match, saw a mystery man in a Scream mask and black robe, help Gargano. The mystery man gave Gargano a pipe to use on Priest, then brought him a tombstone that was part of the set. Gargano then smashed the tombstone over Priest to pick up the win. It is unknown when the call was made to have a mystery man in a Scream mask cause the title change, but it could have been all the way back at In Your House. (TJRWrestling)

4. Matches Announced for WWE Survivor Series

It is that time of the year again when wrestlers compete for that most important prize, brand supremacy! So far, six matches between RAW and Smackdown superstars have been made. Four champion vs. champion matches have been announced, headlined with the WWE Champion facing the Universal Champion. Also, the RAW and Smackdown Tag Team Champions and Women’s Champions will face off, as well as the United States and Intercontinental champions competing against each other. Besides the champion vs. champion matches, there will be two traditional five on five matches. On the women’s side it will be Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Dana Brooke, Mandy Rose and Lana the RAW side against five yet-to-be-named Smackdown women. On the men’s side, two undetermined RAW wrestlers will join AJ Styles, Keith Lee and Sheamus to go against whichever five wrestlers Smackdown chooses to put forward. No championships will be on the line in any of these matches. That doesn’t matter, of course, because which show is better between RAW and Smackdown is by far the most important thing that will be decided this November. (TJRWrestling)

3. Otis Loses the Money in the Bank Briefcase to The Miz

It has been a tough week for poor Otis. Friday on Smackdown there was a court proceeding to decide the fate of the Money in the Bank Briefcase. It was decided at that proceeding that Otis would have to defend his Money in the Bank Briefcase against The Miz at Hell in a Cell, after The Miz bribed JBL who was acting as the judge. At Hell in a Cell, Otis lost the briefcase to The Miz, after his tag team partner Tucker turned on him and hit him with the briefcase. Tucker explained that he was the workhorse of the team, and was tuckered out of being in Otis’s shadow. (TJRWrestling)

2. Sasha Banks Wins the Smackdown Women’s Championship

Bayley’s over-a-year reign as Smackdown Women’s Champion came to an end this past Sunday at Hell in a Cell. Sasha Banks was able to beat Bayley for the title, in a brutal Hell in a Cell match that went almost 30 minutes. With that win, Banks joins Bayley and Asuka to become the third woman to ever be a Grand Slam Champion in the WWE, as she has now won all four of the women’s championships in WWE and NXT. Sunny was slammed four times, but it wasn’t grand and she won no championships for it. (TJRWrestling)

1. Randy Orton Wins the WWE Heavyweight Championship

Randy Orton is once again the WWE Heavyweight Champion. Orton defeated Drew McIntyre at Hell in a Cell, in a brutal cell match that went over 30 minutes. Orton already has several challengers lined up for his championship, with Orton and McIntyre brawling to end RAW, while The Fiend looked down from the entrance ramp. With the win, Orton has now tied Triple H with an incredible 14 World Title Reigns. What may be even more incredible is Orton has done this without having to sleep with the boss’s daughter. (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 I can still swear with a mouth full of Halloween candy.)