The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of The Week 7/10: Keith Lee Double WWE NXT Champion, New US Title, Slater Returns, More

Welcome back TJR readers, did you spend your day off doing something besides watching television, and miss Smackdown? Perhaps you blew off a finger, 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 2K Battlegrounds to be Released on September 18th

WWE’s next video game officially has a release date. WWE 2K Battlegrounds will be released on September 18th for PlayStation 4 system, the Xbox One family of devices, including the Xbox One X and Windows PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch and Stadia. Battlegrounds will be more of an arcade-style game then the super realistic games that WWE has produced recently. For example in the trailer that was released this week, Daniel Bryan was shown jumping out of a helicopter and into the ring. Also in the trailer is a Ram in a Lucha Libra mask, which will probably win more championships then the Rams in LA have. (TJRWrestling)

9. Kairi Sane Leaving WWE Soon…Maybe

Asuka is going to have to find a new tag team partner soon. Former WWE Women’s Tag Champion Kairi Sane is reportedly leaving WWE, to return to her home country Japan. The 31 year old Sane recently got married, and wants to return to Japan to raise a family. Sane did appear on Raw this past Monday for the first time since being legitimately injured by Nia Jax on June 1st. WWE is reportedly still attempting to get Sane to sign a new contract. Personally I hope for Sane’s health that she can get as far away from the WWE and Nia Jax as possible. (TJRWrestling)

8. WWE Purchases Evolve

The independent wrestling federation known as Evolve is no more. WWE purchased Evolve this week, ending the company’s 10-year run. Evolve has been in financial trouble since their deal with Flo Sports ended in 2016. Being forced to cancel their WrestleMania shows due to COVID-19 exacerbated the situation. WWE now will have access to all of Evolve and Dragon Gate USA’s video libraries, which includes matches from many WWE Superstars including Austin Theory, Matt Riddle and Drew McIntyre. Vince signed the contract personally to buy Evolve, after making sure he took all the pens out of his son Shane’s house. (TJRWrestling)

7. Rey Mysterio’s Contract Reportedly Expires with WWE

Rey Mysterio may have his Sights set on somewhere else besides WWE. It was reported this week that Mysterio is presently working without a contract, as his current contract with WWE has expired. WWE is reportedly still trying to re-sign Mysterio as they still See big things for him. Mysterio of course wants to make more money, but also may be enVisioning working with his son Dominick in WWE as well. Mysterio Eyeing the opportunity to finish his career with his son will most likely mean Mysterio will stay with WWE. To conclude, I would like to apologize for all the Cornea jokes in this topic. (TJRWrestling)

6. WWE SummerSlam to be held in the Performance Center

Another one of WWE’s Big Four PPV’s will reportedly have to be held in the Performance Center. SummerSlam was originally supposed to be held in Boston this year on August 23rd, but those plans had to be canceled due to the current health crisis. As has been the case for every WWE show since mid-March, SummerSlam will now take place from the Performance Center. Hopefully, Boston will get another chance to host a major PPV once these crazy times are behind us. As I am sure that just like their footballs, they are feeling pretty deflated right now. (TJRWrestling)

5. Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins to Face Off in an “Eye for an Eye” Match

“The Horror Show” at Extreme Rules got a little more horrifying this week. This week on Raw Rey Mysterio and Kevin Owens faced off against Seth Rollins and Murphy, with the winner getting to pick the stipulation for the Mysterio and Rollins match at Extreme Rules. Mysterio and Owens were victorious in the match, with Mysterio then choosing to have the first-ever “Eye for an Eye” match with Rollins. The rules for the match are exactly as they sound, with the winner being the first person to extract their opponent’s eye. It is unknown at this time if an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time, will be allowed in the match. (TJRWrestling)

4. Heath Slater Appears on Raw

A partial 3MB reunion took place this past Monday on Raw. Heath Slater returned to Raw, after being let go with a number of other wrestlers on April 15th. Slater was brought out by Dolph Ziggler, to confront WWE Heavyweight Champion Drew McIntyre. Slater called out McIntyre for not being there for him when he was released, then demanded a match. Slater then proceeded to get squashed by McIntyre in eight seconds after one Claymore Kick. Ziggler then proceeded to attack Slater, before McIntyre came in and made the save. McIntyre then helped Slater up, and the two embraced in a hug. Hopefully Slater wasn’t paid by the minute for his match, because he has kids. (TJRWrestling)

3. Taz Awards Brian Cage FTW Championship

Next week’s big match between Brian Cage and Jon Moxley will now feature two champions…sort of. This week on AEW: Dynamite, TAZ re-introduced the title he invented over 20 years ago, the FTW Championship. TAZ then awarded the title to Brian Cage, stating that the championship makes him the “baddest S.O.B in wrestling.” The FTW title was originally introduced by TAZ in ECW way back in 1998, when TAZ was banned from competing for the ECW Heavyweight Championship. By the time Taz went to WWE in early 2000, the FTW title went away. It may seem odd to decide now to bring back a dead title from a dead federation, but I would argue that 2020 is the perfect year to say FTW. (TJRWrestling)

2. WWE Introduces a New United States Championship

WWE gave another of their title belts a makeover this week. During Raw, MVP and Bobby Lashley introduced a new United States Championship. Current champion Apollo Crews was not on Raw this week, as he was selling a Full Nelson attack from Lashley from the week before. After the belt was introduced, it was announced that Crews will defend the new title against MVP at “The Horror Show” at Extreme Rules. The comments on social media about the new title ran the gambit from “It looks pretty good” to “That is the most horrible thing in the world.” Interestingly, these same comments can be seen on Sunny’s Only Fans account. (TJRWrestling)

1. Keith Lee Becomes First Duel Champion in NXT History

History was made this week at NXT: Great American Bash. Keith Lee defeated Adam Cole in the main event, to capture the NXT Heavyweight Championship. Lee is already the NXT North American Champion, making him the first double champion in NXT history. Karrion Kross came out and starred down Lee after the victory, indicating that he will be the first challenger for the titles. As for Cole, who was the longest-reigning NXT Heavyweight Champion in history, he could finally be moving up to the main roster. If Cole does move up of course, he is going to have to work really hard to surpass the other famous wrestler with his namesake. (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 my language is a horror show.)