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The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 12/4: Sting Debuts in AEW, New AEW Champion, Pat Patterson Passes Away, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 4th December 2020

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday hiding in your bedroom waiting for your family to leave, thus missing Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday stalking Cyber Monday sales to save twenty bucks on an electric toothbrush, 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. WWE Reportedly Wants Fans at the Royal Rumble

WWE reportedly is hoping to do something that no wrestling company has done in a significant way since last March. According to reports, WWE is trying to have fans attend the Royal Rumble, in person, on January 31st. WWE is scheduled to move their entire production including the Thunderdome to Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay, Florida starting December 11th. Reportedly, the odds are 50/50 right now that WWE will actually be allowed to have fans at Tropicana for the Rumble, which is still way better odds than Tropicana Field has ever had at Tampa Bay Rays game. (TJRWrestling)

9. WWE Bringing Back the Slammy Awards

For the first time in five years, WWE will be holding the Slammy Awards. For those of you unfamiliar with the Slammy Awards, it is a lesser, knockoff version of the popular Johnny Awards that are given out every year. WWE announced the revival of the Slammy’s in a Tweet about upcoming content for the WWE Network in December. So if you are someone who watches the Golden Globes before checking out the Oscars then feel free to watch The Slammy Awards before the more important Johnny Awards at the end of the year. (TJRWrestling)

8. Reckoning Debuts on Raw

Reckoning had her debut match on Raw this week, and frankly, it didn’t go well. Reckoning lost in about three minutes to Dana Brooke by the feared ROLLUP OF DEATH~! To make matters worse for Reckoning, her mask fell off a second into the match to reveal that she was former NXT Star Mia Yim. The announcers made no mention of Yim, completely ignoring that she was unmasked. After the match, Reckoning was berated by Retribution leader Mustafa Ali who yelled “There is no Failure in Retribution.” When Retribution’s current record in the WWE is taken into account it becomes clear that Ali must be using the same standard of success and failure as the NY Jets. (TJRWrestling)

7. Kevin Owens Challenges Roman Reigns

The next challenger for Roman Reigns’ Universal Championship seemingly was revealed this past Friday on Smackdown. The main event of Smackdown saw Jey Uso lose to Kevin Owens when Uso hit Owens with a chair. After the match, Uso attempted to continue the attack on Owens, but Owens was able to quickly get the upper hand. Owens then proceeded to hit Uso with the chair, while yelling into the camera at Roman Reigns. Reigns was then shown in the back watching the attack on a television screen. Owens continued to attack Uso while screaming at Reigns that if Roman had a problem to say it to Owens’s face. Owens then looked directly into the camera and said “Where are you? I’ll be waiting.” It is unknown if that message was also meant for Reigns or for whomever was supposed to pick Owens up from the arena. (TJRWrestling)

6. WWE Tribute to the Troops to Take Place This Sunday on Fox

The 18th annual WWE Tribute to the Troops is scheduled to take place this Sunday on Fox. So far three matches have been announced for the event. Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy and the SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Street Profits will face King Corbin, Elias, Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode in a ten-man tag team match. A women’s tag team match will take place when SmackDown Women’s Champion Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair against Bayley and Natalya. And finally, WWE Heavyweight Champion Drew McIntyre will face The Miz. Along with the matches, there will also be a performance by Country Music singer HARDY, because clearly WWE supports every part of our troops besides their ears. (TJRWrestling)

5. AJ Styles to Face Drew McIntyre at TLC

Drew McIntyre’s opponent for WWE TLC on December 20th, was decided this week on Raw. AJ Styles was able to defeat both Keith Lee and Matt Riddle to earn the opportunity to face McIntyre for the WWE Championship at TLC. Remarkably, this will be the first time that Styles and McIntyre have ever faced each other in singles action. Not remarkably, when the match was announced the internet wrestling community was instantly able to find something else to complain about besides there being no fresh matchups. (TJRWrestling)

4. NXT Takeover: War Games to Take Place This Sunday

NXT’s next Takeover event NXT Takeover: War Games is set to take place this Sunday, December 6th. Five matches have been announced for the event, including Dexter Lumis and Cameron Grimes facing off in a strap match. Timothy Thatcher will face Tommaso Ciampa. Leon Ruff will try to defend NXT North American Title against both Damien Priest and Johnny Gargano. Along with these two matches, there will be two War Games matches. On the women’s side, it will be Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Toni Storm and Raquel Gonzalez going against Shotzi Blackheart, Rhea Ripley, Ember Moon and Io Shirai. Also in the cage, The Undisputed Era team of Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish will go against The Kings made up of Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. This will be the fourth NXT Men’s War Games Match, with The Undisputed Era Competing in every one of them. At this point the only thing more predictable in wrestling than The Undisputed Era in a War Games Match is John Canton writing ROLLUP OF DEATH~! at least once a week. (TJRWrestling)

3. Sting Debuts in AEW

AEW pulled off a huge surprise this week on Dynamite. After Cody and Darby Allen defeated Team Taz members Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks, a brawl broke out between the two teams. Hobbs was about to hit Cody with the FTW Title when the lights went out in the arena and Sting walked out. Sting then pulled out his trademark black bat and chased Team Taz away. It was announced later in the evening that Sting had signed a multi-year contract with AEW. At the age of 61, it is unlikely that Sting will see much in-ring action unless AEW books a tour of Saudi Arabia of course. (TJRWrestling)

2. Pat Patterson Passes Away

The wrestling world lost a true legend this week. WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson lost his battle with cancer and passed away at the age of 79. Patterson was a true pioneer in the wrestling ring, achieving many accolades including becoming the first WWE Intercontinental Champion. Patterson’s achievements didn’t stop inside the ring, as he transitioned to a behind the scenes role for over 25 years. As one of Vince McMahon’s closest confidante, Patterson’s contributions to the wrestling world during this time were many, including creating The Royal Rumble Match. Patterson even returned as an in-ring performer during the Attitude Era alongside Gerald Brisco as one of Vince McMahon’s stooges. Condolences to Patterson’s s family and friends, as Patterson truly lived his life his way. (TJRWrestling)

1. Kenny Omega Wins the AEW Championship With the Help of Don Callis of Impact Wrestling

A new AEW Heavyweight Champion was crowned this week on Dynamite. Impact Wrestling executive Don Callis joined the commentary booth for the big title match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. Callis eventually made his way to ringside after Omega took a suplex to the floor. Callis then grabbed a microphone and told the referee to stop the match, as Omega was hurt. Moxley then punched Callis, allowing the microphone to go into the ring. Omega was able to hit Moxley with a microphone and then the One Winged Angel for the title win. Callis and Omega then celebrated and left together, with Callis stating that we will find out what happened this Tuesday on Impact. This sent shockwaves through the wrestling world, who were all stunned that there still was Impact Wrestling (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 have been dropping F-bombs longer then Sting has been wrestling.)