The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 11/26: The Undertaker’s Final Farewell, Raw Wins WWE Survivor Series, Woods Joins G4, More
Welcome Back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday deciding if you wanted to wear a blue or a red shirt this weekend, and missed Smackdown? Perhaps you decided to walk really slowly to your television on Monday, 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. Impact Parodies AJ Styles
Karl Anderson promised a “phenomenal opponent” for Ethan Page on Impact Wrestling this week. Impact then played AJ Styles’s old Impact theme and Titantron, before revealing Hornswoggle dressed up as Styles. Hornswoggle, who was called the “Phenomenal Wee-one”, would go on to defeat Page in the match. This parody seemingly had every Impact fan talking, with three people saying they loved it and two saying they hated it.
Get ready to fly! #IMPACTonAXSTVpic.twitter.com/eqjp4oUOo1
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) November 25, 2020
9. AJ Styles’ Bodyguard Gets a Name
AJ Styles’ 7-foot 3-inch bodyguard finally has a name. During Survivor Series this past Sunday, WWE commentators casually referred to the giant bodyguard as Omos. Omos, whose real name is Jordan Omogbehin, will now join a long list of single-name bodyguards that include Diesel, Chyna, Batista and Virgil. Hopefully Omos will go on to have a Hall-of-Fame career like the first three names on that list and enjoy as much Olive Garden meat sauce as the last. (TJRWrestling)
8. Toni Storm Turns Heel
During NXT this week Candice LeRae was able to defeat Ember Moon with the help of Raquel Gonzalez, Dakota Kai and Indi Hartwell. After the match, Moon was able to escape to the ramp and avoid a further beat down by LeRae, Gonzalez, Kai and Hartwell. A returning Toni Storm then joined Moon on the ramp, as the two then marched back towards the ring together. Storm then attacked Moon however, before throwing her into the ring for the other women to beat her down even more. Storm will now join LeRae, Kai and Gonzalez on their War Games Team on December 6th. It is unknown what brought on this sudden personality change, but with everything that has happened in 2020 it may have just been the perfect Storm. (TJRWrestling)
7. Lana Does NOT go Through a Table
It was an incredible week for Lana. This past Sunday she was the sole survivor for her Raw Women Survivor Series Team, without actually seeing any in-ring action. If that wasn’t enough, Lana then went the entire episode of Raw without getting put through a table. For those of you who haven’t been keeping track, this was the first time in ten Raw episodes that this has happened. Getting put through a table for nine straight Raws is impressive and almost as enduring as watching nine straight Lana matches. (TJRWrestling)
6. Will Hobbs Gets a New Name
Last week on AEW Dynamite, Will Hobbs turned heel and joined Team Taz. This week Hobbs got a brand new name to go with his new heelish persona. Hobbs, now wearing similar wrestling gear as Taz did in his wrestling days, is now going by Powerhouse Hobbs. Hobbs quickly won a squash match this week on Dynamite, before Taz gave a promo in the ring. Taz then proceeded to demand more respect for the FTW title, saying he wouldn’t leave the ring until he got it. This prompted Cody to come to the ring to try to get Taz to leave, telling him he would “run his request up the flag pole.” Things got heated between Taz and Cody, with Cody mentioning that Taz’s son Hook trains with him and not Taz. This caused Taz to put the Tazmission on Cody, before the Nightmare Family came down to run Taz off. We will have to see if the FTW title gets “run up the flagpole,” and then hopefully left up there forever. (TJRWrestling)
5. Xavier Woods Signs With G4
The video game television channel G4 has a new host and broadcast personality. It was announced this week that Xavier Woods will be joining the Network starting in 2021. Woods started the campaign #Creed4G4 last summer, which gained a lot of attention and led to his hire. Woods is also the creator of the very popular UpUpDownDown YouTube Channel which has an impressive 1/10th the number of subscribers as the little kid who opens toys. (TJRWrestling)
CAMPAIGN COMPLETE! #CREED4G4
Welcome @WWE Superstar Xavier Woods, @AustinCreedWins, Future King of the Ring AND absurdly long title collector to the G4 Family! pic.twitter.com/0PrjwTUpwV
— G4 (@G4TV) November 25, 2020
4. New Matches Announced for NXT Takeover: War Games 2020
Two more big matches were announced for NXT Takeover: War Games 2020 on December 6th, 2020. Cameron Grimes and Dexter Lumis are going to try to settle their feud at War Games in a strap match. Kevin Owens returned to NXT this week to do commentary and also host an episode of the KO Show with Ruff as the guest. This led to a triple threat match being announced for the NXT North American Championship with champion Ruff defending against Johnny Gargano and Damian Priest. Gargano will attempt to win the North American Championship for a record third time in this match. Gargano’s previous two reigns lasted only a total of 39 days combined, which is less time than it takes to finalize a US election. (TJRWrestling)
3. WWE Announces TLC for December 20th
WWE TLC is scheduled to take place on Sunday, December 20th from Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay Florida. WWE has not announced a single match for the event at this time, but did have several number one contender qualifying matches on Raw this week. Keith Lee, Riddle and AJ Styles all won their qualifying matches, and will now face each other in a triple threat this week on Raw. The winner of that match will go on to face WWE Heavyweight Champion Drew McIntyre at TLC. Braun Strowman would have had an opportunity to qualify for the match, but headbutted Producer Adam Pearce in anger instead causing Strowman to be both ejected from the arena and suspended indefinitely. We will have to wait and see if the suspension holds up or if the union can overtur…. oh wait never mind. (TJRWrestling)
2. Raw Wins at Survivor Series
After months and months of anticipation, it was finally decided which brand reigns supreme. This past Sunday at Survivor Series, Raw was able to claim brand supremacy after they defeated Smackdown in four out of the seven head to head matches. If that wasn’t enough, Raw won both the Men’s and Women’s five-on-five matches. On the Women’s side, it was Lana who was the sole survivor for her team, when both Nia Jax and Bianca Belair got counted out. On the Men’s side, it was even more impressive, with the entire Raw Team surviving. Hopefully, Smackdown will be able to come to terms with this devastating loss, and not be poor losers and say Raw cheated and demand a recount. (TJRWrestling)
1. The Undertaker says Farewell
A truly legendary career came to an end this week. The Undertaker said his final farewell exactly 30 years from when it first began at Survivor Series this past Sunday. The Undertaker took his final slow walk to the ring, after being introduced by Vince McMahon himself. Taker then claimed it was time for The Undertaker to Rest In Peace, before kneeling one more time in front of a hologram of Paul Bearer. Many people from The Undertaker’s past came out to celebrate the occasion including such names as Shawn Michales, Ric Flair, Triple H and Kane. WWE may have tried and failed to get The Undertaker’s ex-wife Sara for the event, but if they did they covered up the failure well. (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 drop an F-Bomb with a mouth full of turkey.)