Features

The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week 5/14: Miro Wins AEW TNT Title, WWE WrestleMania Backlash, Jimmy Uso & Jinder Mahal Return, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 14th May 2021

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday trying to figure out which other Disney movies you could be offended by, and miss Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday trying to book a live wrestling show for July 5th, and missed Raw. Worry not, for I have returned with another edition of the Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week.

10. John Cena to Create, Produce, and Narrate a New Show for Peacock

You will soon be able to see John Cena on Peacock. It was announced this week that John Cena will be creating, producing and narrating a new show for the Peacock streaming service called “WWE Evil”. The show will be a documentary series about the greatest villains in WWE history. It is unknown which historical villains will be documented, but the current Raw writing team should definitely be featured. (TJRWrestling)

9. NXT Takeover In Your House to Take Place on June 13th

NXT will once again be In Your House. This week it was announced that NXT’s next Takeover event on June 13th will be In Your House. Just like last year’s event, this year’s rendition will once again be hosted by the legendary Todd Pettengill. Most wrestling fans from the 1990’s, including myself, look back upon In Your House events with happy nostalgia. For most fans, it brings back memories of Hell In a Cell and Buried Alive Matches, or for John Canton, memories of floppy disks and Windows 95. (TJRWrestling)

8. Jinder Mahal Returns to Raw

Just when you thought Raw couldn’t get any more exciting, Jinder Mahal returned this week. Mahal returned to Raw with two new stable members known as Veer and Shanky. Mahal then went on to impressively defeat Jeff Hardy in just a few minutes. Mahal has not been seen on Raw since April of last year due to a knee injury. With now both Mahal and Eva Marie on the Raw brand, the only way that Raw could get more exciting is if they announce Mike Adamle as the GM or Art Donovan for commentary. (Note from John Canton: Art Donovan has been dead for eight years, but how much does he weigh?) (TJRWrestling)

7. NXT to Feature Two Big Title Matches Over the Next Two Weeks

The next two weeks of NXT promises to be big ones. This coming Tuesday, Johnny Gargano will defend the North American Championship against Bronson Reed inside a solid steel cage. The following week, NXT will then try to go even bigger when Finn Bálor tries to capture the NXT World Championship against Karrion Kross. Clearly, even though the Wednesday Night Wars are over, the NXT writers did not get the same memo the Raw writers did to phone it in. (TJRWrestling)

6. Roman Reigns to Face Cesaro at WWE WrestleMania Backlash

Cesaro will finally get his chance at the WWE Universal Championship. This week on Smackdown, visiting GM Teddy Long made the stipulation that if Cesaro could once again beat Seth Rollins, that he would go on to face Roman Reigns at WrestleMania Backlash. During the match, a returning Jimmy Uso got angry at Rollins and proceeded to superkick him. This allowed Cesaro to hit the Neutralizer and pick up the win. Cesaro has been with WWE for ten years now, and this will be his first one-on-one World (or Universal) Championship match. We will have to see if this is finally the big push fans have been waiting for or if Cesaro is just going to Swing right back around to catering. (TJRWrestling)

5. Two Big Matches Scheduled for AEW Double or Nothing

AEW Double or Nothing is scheduled to take place on May 30th at 8PM ET. This week on Dynamite, two huge matches were announced for the event. After Orange Cassidy and Pac’s number one contender match ended in a double count-out, Tony Khan told Tony Schiavone to announce that both men will now face Omega. This means that now, at Double or Nothing, it will be Kenny Omega defending the AEW World Championship against both Orange Cassidy and Pac in a Triple Threat Match. Also, after The Inner Circle gave The Pinnacle a “Bubbly Bath”, The Pinnacle’s leader MJF challenged The Inner Circle to a Stadium Stampede Match at Double or Nothing. MJF also asked that the stipulation be that if The Pinnacle wins this match that The Inner Circle must break up for good. This is both high stakes for The Inner Circle and AEW, who really can’t afford to be down to only 36 factions. (TJRWrestling)

4. Jimmy Uso Returns to Smackdown

The Usos are back together again on Smackdown. Smackdown this week started with Roman Reigns, Jey Uso and Paul Heyman all being in the ring. The three men then eulogized Daniel Bryan’s career, stating that if Bryan had wanted to stay on Smackdown all he had to do was acknowledge Reigns. Reigns then stated that he is replacing Bryan with someone who will acknowledge him, before introducing a returning Jimmy Uso. Jimmy had been off of Smackdown for over a year with a torn ACL (the injury occurred during a ladder match at WrestleMania 36 last year). Jimmy did not quickly fall in line with his brother and cousin however, with Jimmy telling Roman he is “no one’s bitch” and refusing to acknowledge him at the end of the show. We will have to wait and see if Jimmy does finally acknowledge Roman as the head of the table. Luckily with Eva Marie going to the Raw Brand, Roman doesn’t have to worry about Jimmy acknowledging her instead. (TJRWrestling)

3. AEW Dynamite to Begin Touring Live Starting July 7th

AEW Dynamite is going back on tour for the first time since March 2020. AEW announced this week that the July 7th episode of Dynamite will take place in Miami, FL. This will be followed by the July 14th episode in Austin, TX and the July 21st episode in Dallas TX. For the last nine months, Dynamite has been live or taped at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL due to the pandemic. This is great news for wrestling fans as well as Avis Rental Car, who gets to rent 37 minivans for each of AEW’s factions. (TJRWrestling)

2. Miro Wins the AEW TNT Championship

A new AEW TNT Champion was crowned this week on AEW Dynamite. Miro was able to dominate former champion Darby Allin for most of the match before making him pass out to the “Game Over” submission that is Miro’s version of a Camel Clutch. This was Miro’s first title win in AEW, ending Allin’s 187-day reign as champion. This arguably is the second biggest moment in Miro’s career, with his accomplishments in the tank with his wife Lana at WrestleMania 31 clearly being number one. (TJRWrestling)

1. WWE WrestleMania Backlash to Take Place This Sunday

WWE’s next big event titled WWE WrestleMania Backlash is set to take place this Sunday, May 16th at 7PM ET. Six matches have been announced, including a lumberjack match between Damien Priest and The Miz. Rey and Dominic Mysterio will try to become the first father/son Smackdown Tag Team Champions when they face Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. Rhea Ripley will defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Charlotte and Asuka. Bayley will once again try to become Smackdown Women’s Champion when she goes against Bianca Belair. Bobby Lashley will defend the WWE Championship against Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre. And finally, in the Main Event, Cesaro will try to become Universal Champion when he faces Roman Reigns. So tune in this Sunday because this may be the biggest Backlash since the 2016 Presidential Election. (TJRWrestling)

That will conclude another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week. Thank you for taking the time to read this each week. I will be back next week with even more bad jokes! If you like what I do, despite my jokes being as bad as the Raw writing room, then feel free to follow me on Twitter @Fowlerwrestlin1.