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The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 2/12: Nia Jax Shouts “My Hole!”, WWE NXT Takeover, Guevara Quits AEW Inner Circle, More

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday trying to figure out if you should bet heads or tails, and miss Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday picking up cardboard cutouts 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. Bad Bunny Makes Big Money for WWE

Latin sensation Bad Bunny has been making a huge impact for WWE. The Grammy award-winning artist WWE shop merch has been the number one seller for several weeks; reportedly making over $500,000. Bunny once again appeared on Raw this week, getting his own entrance with pyro. Bunny accompanied Damien Priest to the ring, and assisted him in defeating Angel Garza. Garza was accompanied to the ring by The Miz and Morrison, who reportedly will face Priest and Bunny at WrestleMania 37. Personally, I am old and have never heard of Bunny before he appeared in WWE, as the only Bad Bunny I know plays tricks on Elmer Fudd. (TJRWrestling)

9. WWE Signs Parker Boudreaux

WWE may have just found their next big thing. This week WWE signed 6’4” former Central Florida football player Parker Boudreaux. Boudreaux’s size and look has caused wrestling fans to make the instant comparison to Brock Lesnar. Former WWE diva Eva Maria recently posted a photo of herself with Boudreaux from the Royal Rumble watch-along party. We will have to wait and see if Boudreaux has the in-ring ability to match the look, but if he is already associating with ring generals like Eva Marie he is off to a great start. (TJRWrestling)

https://twitter.com/parkerboudreaux/status/1356077615971328003?s=21

8. Cesaro Re-signs With WWE

Tony Khan can put his father’s checkbook away. After rumors surfaced last week that Cesaro’s contract was expiring, it came out this week that he had signed a new contract with WWE. Cesaro has been working for WWE since 2011, and has been considered to be underutilized by wrestling fans for many years. Cesaro seems to been getting a push recently, as he has defeated Daniel Bryan twice over the last few weeks. Perhaps WWE is finally listening to the fans, or perhaps now that Cesaro is 40 years old he has reached the age that WWE starts pushing wrestlers. (TJRWrestling)

7. ‘The Natural’ Butch Reed Passes Away

The wrestling world lost another legend this week. ‘The Natural’ Butch Reed passed away at the age of 66 due to heart complications. Reed competed in many promotions throughout the 80’s and 90’s including WWE, WCW/NWA and Mid-South Wrestling. Reed will probably best be remembered for his role in Doom with his partner Ron Simmons. With Simmons, Reed defeated The Steiner Brothers to win the WCW Tag Team Championships. After 2020, everyone hoped that 2021 would be a much better year, but unfortunately so far it has been filled with nothing but Doom and gloom. (TJRWrestling)

6. Shane McMahon Returns on Raw

You know it must be WrestleMania season when McMahon’s start showing up on your TV screen. This week during the opening segment of Raw, Adam Pierce was in the ring to introduce a returning Shane McMahon. Shane came down to the ring and announced the main event match for the Elimination Chamber PPV on February 21st. Shane left in his limo right after the segment, making fans wonder what was the purpose for him being on the show. Perhaps Shane was originally scheduled to do more, but they just didn’t have anything high enough for him to jump off of. (TJRWrestling)

5. Steve Cutler Released by WWE

The Forgotten Sons are no more in the WWE. It was announced this week that they had come to terms on the release of Forgotten Sons member Steve Cutler. Cutler was last seen on Smackdown as one of Baron Corbin’s Knights, but had not been on TV in several weeks. It has been widely reported that the reason Cutler was released is that he contracted Covid-19 at a New Year’s Eve Party. This reportedly infuriated Vince McMahon, who had promised Roman Reigns and other superstars a safe work environment. McMahon clearly felt that by attending the New Year’s Eve party, Cutler had really dropped the ball. (TJRWrestling)

4. Sammy Guevara Quits The Inner Circle

The Inner Circle now has one less member. This week on AEW Dynamite, Sammy Guevara confronted MJF in a backstage segment. During the segment, Guevara accused MJF of trying to take over The Inner Circle. MJF then responded by saying that Guevara didn’t want to play second fiddle to him anymore and was also angry with Jericho. Guevara then discovered that MJF was secretly recording the conversation and proceeded to throw MJF’s phone against the wall and punch him in the stomach. Later in the evening, MJF had his ribs taped up for his tag match with Chris Jericho against the Acclaimed. MJF and Jericho won the match, and were joined in the ring by Guevara. Guevara told Jericho that he told him back in December that if one more thing happened with MJF he was done. Guevara then told Jericho that he was quitting The Inner Circle, before walking to the back. We will have to wait and see if Guevara now becomes a lone wolf or decides to join one of the 85 other factions in AEW. (TJRWrestling)

3. Title Matches Announced for WWE Elimination Chamber

WWE’s next PPV Elimination Chamber is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 21st at 7PMET. This week on Raw, three title matches were announced for the event. Bobby Lashley will attempt to defend his United States Championship in a triple threat match against Matt Riddle and Keith Lee. Lacey Evans will have Ric Flair in her corner when she tries to defeat Asuka for the Raw Women’s Title. And finally, an Elimination Chamber Match will be held with Champion Drew McIntyre defending the WWE Heavyweight Championship against Randy Orton, Sheamus, AJ Styles, The Miz, and Jeff Hardy. It is unclear what any of these men have done to earn a title shot, but it could just be a case of WWE not having anymore washed up part-timers to compete in the match. (TJRWrestling)

2. Nia Jax Goes Viral After Shouting “My Hole” on WWE Raw

From “Austin 316” to “Little bit of the Bubbly”, sometimes you cannot predict what will get over with wrestling fans. This week that was never more apparent than when “My Hole” went viral. During a table match between Lana and Nia Jax, Jax had Lana laid out on the apron of the ring. Jax then missed a leg drop on Lana, causing Jax to land “on the hardest part of the ring.” After taking the bump, Jax screamed out loudly “my hole”, which soon began trending worldwide. It lasted for a day too. Coincidentally my wife yelled the exact same thing while having my child, but that video did not go viral. (TJRWrestling)

1. NXT Takeover to Take Place This Sunday

NXT’s next Takeover event titled Vengeance Day is scheduled to take place this Sunday, February 14th at 7PMET. Five matches have been announced for the event, including Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez facing Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon in the Finals of the Women’s Dusty Rhodes Classic Tag Tournament. The Men’s Dusty Rhodes Classic will also be decided when MSK (Wes Lee, Nash Carter) faces The Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake, Zack Gibson) in the finals. A triple threat for the NXT Women’s Championship will be held with champion Io Shari defending against Mercedes Martinez and Toni Storm. Kushida will try to capture the NXT North American Championship from Johnny Gargano. And finally, in the main event, Finn Bálor will defend the NXT Heavyweight Championship against Pete Dunne. Personally, I am really excited about this event; it’s not like there is anything else going on this Sunday. (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 you won’t believe what comes out of “my hole”.)