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The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 12/11: Kenny Omega on Impact, WWE NXT War Games, Becky Lynch Gives Birth, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 11th December 2020

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday trying to catch-up on the last five years of Impact Wrestling and missed Smackdown? Perhaps you are an N.Y. Jets fan and spent all day Monday celebrating their perfect record, 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. Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler Return to Smackdown

King Corbin got some new henchmen this week on Smackdown. Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler accompanied Corbin to the ring for his match with Murphy this week. Corbin ended up winning the match after Murphy was distracted by Blake and Cutler’s attack on Rey Mysterio and Dominik, who were at ringside. Blake and Cutler’s former Forgotten Son partner, Jaxson Ryker, also returned this week alongside Elias on WWE’s forgotten program Main Event. (TJRWrestling)

9. WWE Remembers Pat Patterson

It was a very emotional episode of Smackdown this week. Smackdown kicked off with the entire Smackdown roster, along with friends of Patterson such as Sgt. Slaughter, Gerald Brisco and Vince McMahon, all on the stage. A ten-bell salute was then given for Patterson, while “Thank you Pat” chants were piped into the arena. Later in the evening, a video tribute played for Patterson, before a Patterson Tribute Match was held. The match saw six former Intercontinental Champions face off in a Six-Man Tag Match, with Daniel Bryan, Big E and Rey Mysterio defeating Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler. The tributes continued on Raw with another ten-bell salute and more video tributes. All of this just shows how important Patterson was to the WWE, and on a personal note, I hope John Canton was taking notes for my tribute when I pass away. (TJRWrestling)

8. Karrion Kross Returns to NXT

Karrion Kross returned to NXT this past Wednesday. Kross has been out of NXT since August when he separated his shoulder during his NXT Championship win at Takeover XXX. Kross’s return was first teased during the opening segment of the show with Finn Bálor. During the segment, Bálor cut a promo about being back, before being interrupted by Damian Priest, Pete Dunne, Kyle O’Riley and finally by Kross’s valet, Scarlett. Bálor told Scarlett that whenever Kross is ready to return, Bálor is ready to face him. Damian Priest then proceeded to insult Scarlett and Kross from the ring while she looked at him and smiled. Later on in the evening when Priest was headed to the ring again, this time to face Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory, Kross viciously attacked him. After leaving Priest laying, Kross then went to the parking lot and left in his car with Scarlett. Kross may get the opportunity to win the title he never lost back on January 6th at NXT’s next big show titled New Year’s Evil. Personally, I think it would have been nice if NXT had held this show last January and given everyone a heads up. (TJRWrestling)

7. Two TLC Matches Booked for WWE TLC

WWE’s next PPV TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs is scheduled to take place on Sunday, December 20th at 7 PM ET. This year both the WWE Heavyweight and Universal Championships will be defended in a TLC match. On Smackdown this week, Kevin Owens told Universal Champion Roman Reigns that since he is the Head of the Table they should get some tables, ladders and chairs so they can settle this like men. This of course leads to Reigns and Owens in a TLC match at the PPV. WWE then decided that one TLC match at the PPV wasn’t enough, as they added the stipulation to the WWE Heavyweight Championship Match between Drew McIntyre and AJ Styles the next day. Both of these matches should be tremendous and could be late candidates for the prestigious Match of the Year Johnny Award. The nominees for the Slammy Award’s Match of the Year have already been announced, but it’s not like anyone cares about those awards anyway. (TJRWrestling)

6. Shaquille O’Neal Appears on AEW: Dynamite

Tony Schiavone and Brandi Rhodes sat down with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal on AEW: Dynamite this week. Rhodes, whose arm was in a sling due to the attack from Shaq’s friend Jade, stated that she hoped they could work things out so nobody else got hurt. Shaq then stated that he didn’t appreciate what Jade did, and has a lot of love for the Rhodes family. Shaq and Brandi then shook hands, with Shaq saying he will be happy to see Brandi and Jade go at it. Rhodes then went to leave with things seemingly worked out, until Shaq told Brandi that while her arm was in a sling she should watch Jade to get some pointers. Brandi took that comment to be disrespectful and proceeded to throw a drink in Shaq’s face and call him an overgrown assh*le. We will all now have to wait and see if Brandi’s actions will cause her husband Cody to find out how that overgrown ass tastes. (TJRWrestling)

5. Goldberg Says that Roman Reigns is Next

WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg appeared on WWE’s The Bump this week to promote his new documentary on the WWE Network. During the interview, Goldberg stated that Roman Reigns backed out of their Wrestlemania match as well as stole the spear from him. Goldberg then stated that he may be old and grey but he is coming for Reigns. Finally, Goldberg stated that “Roman is Next”, causing 100 million Saudi Arabians to start to drool. (TJRWrestling)

4. Johnny Gargano Wins the NXT North American Championship

Johnny Gargano is once again the NXT North American Champion. Gargano won the title for a record third time by defeating both Damian Priest and champion Leon Ruff at NXT: War Games. Gargano had assistance from several men dressed in Scream masks during the match. Priest was able to take out six of these men before one of them hit him with a lead pipe and knocked him out. After Gargano won the match, Austin Theory revealed himself to be the man who knocked Priest out. It is unknown at this time who was under all the other Scream masks or if anyone under the age of 30 even knows what Scream even is. (TJRWrestling)

3. Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins Welcome a Baby Girl

There is a brand new and very small member of the WWE Universe. Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins welcomed their new baby girl into the world this past Friday. The happy couple named their new little girl Roux, who will now instantly begin her wrestling training so she will be ready to job out to one of Stephanie and Hunter’s daughters at WrestleMania LX. (TJRWrestling)

2. NXT Takeover: WarGames

NXT put on another outstanding Takeover event this past Sunday with NXT Takeover: War Games. The show featured two fantastic WarGames matches. On the women’s side Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel Gonzalez and Toni Storm defeated Shotzi Blackheart, Io Shirai, Rhea Ripley and Ember Moon in a brutal, amazing match that went over 35 minutes. On the men’s side, the WarGames match went even longer at over 45 minutes. After another incredible match, The Undisputed Era was able to defeat Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan. Going 45 minutes in such a strenuous environment truly is impressive, especially without going to bluechew.com and putting in the code Bookers to get your first order for free. (TJRWrestling)

1.Kenny Omega Appears on Impact Wrestling

AEW Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega and his manager, Executive Vice President of Impact Wrestling Don Callis, appeared in a pre-taped interview on Impact Wrestling this past Tuesday. Omega stated that he wants to start collecting world championships from around the world, including Impacts. Omega and Callis also talked about their long history together, stating that the plan for an alliance has been in the works for 27 years. The Omega interview ended up being easily the most-watched segment of Impact on Twitch ever, with over 52,000 viewers. Breaking the previous record by 51,992 viewers.

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 should win a Johnny Award for my bad language.)