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Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week 10/1: New AEW TNT Champion, WWE Draft, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 1st October 2021

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all Friday getting trained for your first day on the ring crew, and missed Smackdown? Perhaps you were trying to find out if you can still fly in prison, and missed Raw. Worry not for I have returned with another Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week.

10. Keith Lee Receives a New Nickname

Keith Lee made his much-anticipated return to Raw this week, quickly defeating Akira Tozawa. Before the match, Lee was introduced as Keith “Bearcat” Lee. The “Bearcat” nickname has a lot of historical significance in the wrestling world, with both African American Legends Ed “Bearcat” Wright and Bearcat Brown using the name. For those that are wondering, the Bearcat is an actual animal that is known to urinate and defecate on something that threatens them. Personally with the history of how WWE has treated call-ups from NXT, if I was Vince McMahon I would stay as far away from Lee as possible. (TJRWrestling)

9. Royal Rumble to Take Place in St. Louis, Missouri

WWE has already started making plans for 2022. This week it was announced that the Royal Rumble will take place at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday, January 29th, 2022. The Dome holds over 40,000 people, making it the largest venue to ever hold a Rumble. WWE chose to hold the event on a Saturday to avoid competing with the NFL Playoffs and because Sundays have been a historically bad day for the stadium. (TJRWrestling)

8. Lio Rush and Bobby Fish Join AEW

If you had either Lio Rush or Bobby Fish in the pool for “which former WWE star is joining AEW this week,” congratulations you win. This week on Dynamite, a video promo was shown featuring Rush. In the promo, Rush stated that he had talked to Tony Khan, and will be bringing his talents to AEW. Also, after Sammy Guevara captured the TNT Championship, former NXT star Bobby Fish challenged him to a match on Twitter. Guevara then accepted the challenge in a dark segment after Dynamite, with the two wrestling on this Wednesday’s show. With the addition of these two competitors, AEW now has over 140 wrestlers on its roster. This may seem excessive to some fans, but perhaps the Khan’s are figuring that 53 of them have to be better than the current Jacksonville Jaguars team.

7. Goldberg Returns to Raw to Warn Lashley

It looks like Saudi Arabia will be getting their favorite wrestler at Crown Jewel on October 21st. This past Monday on Raw, Goldberg appeared via satellite. Goldberg went on to promise to hurt and even possibly kill Lashley for attacking his son Gage at SummerSlam. Although not official it is heavily reported that Goldberg will be getting his chance to get his hands on Lashley at the Crown Jewel show. Normally a wrestler saying he was going to hurt or kill someone should be taken with a grain of salt, but if you saw Goldberg’s match with The Undertaker at Super ShowDown 2019 you know Lashley should be very concerned. At least wrestling Goldberg is safer than trying to carjack Arn Anderson!

6. SummerSlam Rumored to be Taking Place in the UK

WWE may be soon planning to bring the biggest event of the summer to the UK. It was reported by talkSport’s Alex McCarthy this week that WWE is in talks to hold SummerSlam 2022 in the United Kingdom. According to McCarthy, the Principality Stadium in Cardiff (Wales) is the front runner to hold the event at the moment. If SummerSlam does take place in the UK, it will be the 30 year anniversary of when SummerSlam 1992 was held in Wembley Stadium in London, England. For UK fans this is long overdue news, as they have been waiting longer for a PPV than a wrestler waits for catering in AEW.

5. Sasha Banks Returns at Extreme Rules

The Boss has returned to the WWE. This past Sunday at Extreme Rules during the Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair Smackdown Women’s Championship Match, Sasha Banks made her return. Banks interfered in the match, attacking Belair and causing the disqualification. Banks then continued her attack, taking out Lynch as well. Banks has not been seen since early August when she was pulled from shows and eventually the Smackdown Women’s Championship Match at SummerSlam for “unforeseen circumstances.” Interestingly, the Extreme Rules match also saw “unforeseen circumstances” as the women actually got to wrestle for more than two minutes.

4. The Hurt Business Reunites on Raw

Bobby Lashley had some backup this past Monday on Raw. Lashley challenged WWE World Champion Big E in the opening match of Raw. During the match, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander suddenly appeared at ringside wearing Hurt Business shirts. This caused fellow New Day members Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods to also come to ringside, leading to a brawl and the match ending in DQ. This was not the end of Lashley and Big E however, as they would meet again to end Raw in a Cage Match. Big E was able to pick up the win in the match, and then was actually challenged by Drew McIntyre to end the show. The Hurt Business returning is both good news for Benjamin and Alexander who have done nothing since the group disbanded, and for Mace, who now doesn’t have to wait as long in catering. (TJRWrestling)

3. Top Rope Malfunction Costs Finn Balor at Extreme Rules

The ring crew is going to have some explaining to do this week. This past Sunday at Extreme Rules, The “Demon” Finn Balor challenged Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship in the main event of the evening. At the conclusion of the match, Balor looked like he was about to win by hitting a second Coup de Grace when the top rope he was standing on suddenly broke. Balor then crashed to the mat and hurt his knee, allowing Reigns to hit the Spear for the pinfall win. We will have to wait and see if WWE has an explanation for the rope breaking, or if it was caused by Shawn Michaels’s tag team partner from Backlash 2006. (TJRWrestling)

2. Sammy Guevara Captures the TNT Championship

The Spanish God is now a champion in AEW. This past Wednesday on Dynamite, Sammy Guevara was able to defeat Miro to capture the TNT Championship. The match was held in Rochester NY, which is also the hometown of the late former TNT champion Brodie Lee. The whole show was dedicated to Lee, with loud Brodie Lee chants occurring throughout the night. One of those people chanting was yours truly, who was fortunate enough to be able to attend the show live. The whole show was an incredible time with over four hours of action that did not finish until after 11:00 pm. Therefore, for this 40-year-old man “it’s Thursday, you know what that means,” meant a nap. (TJRWrestling)

1. WWE Draft Starts Tonight

WWE might finally have fewer rematches after tonight. Starting tonight on Smackdown and then continuing Monday on Raw, WWE will hold its annual draft. Rumors and predictions are abundant of which superstars will be switching brands this year. Also, it has been rumored that NXT 2.0 will also be included in this year’s draft, with some big names possibly being called up to the main roster. Luckily for NXT 2.0 for every superstar they lose, they will introduce ten new ones to replace them. (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. Although I often joke, I have recently started working with NYCW and respect more than ever what wrestlers do every week. If you like what I do, despite my jokes being as bad as 40yr old staying up past midnight, then feel free to listen to my brand new podcast The Smark and the Noob and follow me on Twitter @Fowlerwrestlin1 as well.