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Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week 10/15: WWE Crown Jewel, AEW Full Gear Main Event, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 15th October 2021
WWE's Bianca Belair slamming Becky Lynch onto Sasha Banks

It was a busy week as usual in the world of WWE and AEW as both companies get ready for some major shows coming up. In WWE’s case, Crown Jewel is less than a week away while AEW is embracing the idea of going head to head with WWE.

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday practicing kids games, and missed Smackdown. Perhaps you spent all day Monday trying to find a new head coach for your pro football team, and missed Raw. Worry not for I have returned with another edition of the Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week.

10. Two Title Matches Added to NXT Halloween Havoc

NXT Halloween Havoc is suddenly looking a lot better. This past week on NXT 2.0, the Toxic Attraction trio of Mandy Rose, Gigi Dolan and Jacy Jayne were put into not one, but two, title matches at Halloween Havoc on Oct 26th. Jayne and Dolan will be challenging for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships in a triple threat match against champions Io Shari and Zoey Stark as well Persia Pirotta and Indi Hartwell. As for Mandy Rose, she will be getting a chance at the NXT Women’s Championship against Raquel Gonzalez. That match will be a “Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” match, with the match stipulation being decided by the spinning of a giant wheel. Unfortunately for John Canton a “Date a Pro Wrestling Journalist Match” is not expected to be on the wheel. (TJRWrestling)

9. Solo Sokia to Debut on NXT 2.0 Soon

Usually NXT 2.0 debuting a new superstar is just an average Tuesday and by no means news. When the superstar is from the most successful wrestling family in history, however, it is a different story. This past Tuesday NXT 2.0 aired a vignette for Solo Sokia. Sokia stated that: “You won’t find my wins and losses in any record books, those live on the streets. I was left to fight alone when I was 15 years old, and that’s when I became Solo Sikoa. Street Champion, of the Island.” Sokia is a member of the Anoa’i family, as he is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi and the younger brother to the Usos as well as a cousin of Roman Reigns. Being a part of such a famous Bloodline is a lot of pressure on a young superstar, but at least he should be better at driving to the arena than his brothers are.

8. Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and Sons Ordered to Pay $4.8 Million

Ted DiBiase may soon be the thousand-dollar man. This week, DiBiase and his sons Ted Jr. and Brent were ordered to pay the state of Mississippi 4.8 Million in misspent welfare money. The money was given to the DiBiase’s charity to supposedly help underprivileged teens, but allegedly misappropriated the funds instead. So far Brett is the only one of the family to have been charged with a crime, pleading guilty to making fraudulent statements for the purpose of defrauding the government last December. Upon hearing the news, the DiBiase family was seen trying to get people to pay them a hundred dollars to bounce a basketball.

7. King of the Ring and Queen of the Crown Tournaments Begin

The tournaments to crown a new King and Queen of the WWE officially began this week. This past Friday on Smackdown, Finn Bálor and Sami Zayn for the men, as well as Carmella and Zelina Vega on the women’s side all advanced. On Raw, it was Jinder Mahal and Xavier Woods advancing for the men with Doudrop and Shayna Baszler advancing for the women. Tonight’s Smackdown will see semifinal matches between Vega and Carmella and Zayn and Balor. The semifinals will then continue on Raw with Doudrop and Baszler and Mahal and Woods facing off. So far the men’s tournament has been very good, while the women’s has been a huge disappointment with all the matches getting only about two minutes for their matches. Luckily for WWE, the finals of the tournaments will be held on October 21st at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, where women actually being allowed to compete for two minutes is considered progress. (TJRWrestling)

6. Edge to Face Seth Rollins in Hell in a Cell

Crown Jewel on October 21st got another huge match this week. This past Friday on Smackdown, Seth Rollins came down to the ring and challenged Edge to any match at any place he wanted. A truck then suddenly appeared at the building, with Edge getting out of it. Edge then came down to the ring and speared Rollins. Edge then went on to challenge Rollins to a Hell in a Cell Match at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on October 21st. This will be the first Hell in a Cell Match in Saudi Arabia, although they did do a Hell in a Plane at Crown Jewel in 2019. (TJRWrestling)

5. Carmelo Hayes Captures the NXT North American Championship

When Hit Row debuts on Smackdown, they will do it without the NXT North American Championship. This past Tuesday on NXT 2.0, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott defended the NXT North American Championship against Santos Escobar. The finish of the match saw Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams come down to help Scott get the win, by preventing Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde from interfering. Hayes and Williams then went into the ring to celebrate with Scott, before Hayes suddenly turned on Scott and attacked him. Hayes then proceeded to cash in his Breakout Tournament contract for a title match right then and there. Hayes then went on to defeat Scott to capture the title belt. The news isn’t all bad for Scott, however, as he will probably get to wear a weird mask and just be called “Swerve” when he debuts on Smackdown next week. (TJRWrestling)

4. AEW and WWE Go Head to Head

For at least one week AEW and WWE will be going head to head. This week it was announced that tonight’s episode of Smackdown will be a “Supersized”, going an extra half an hour long. Smackdown will also be on FS1 instead of Fox tonight due to the MLB playoffs. The extra half an hour means that Smackdown will be airing at the same time as the start of AEW Rampage. Upon hearing the news Tony Khan tweeted out that he can not wait to beat WWE’s main show head-to-head. Rampage going against Smackdown when it is on the wrong station for 30 minutes is not exactly the equivalent of the Monday Night Wars. Therefore the internet wrestling community should only analyze the rating for about three days instead of the usual five. (TJRWrestling)

3. Bryan Danielson to Face Minoru Suzuki on YouTube

AEW is giving away a dream match for free tonight. This past Tuesday, Tony Khan announced that they would be doing an hour-long “Buy In” special on YouTube starting at 9PM ET. This special will air right before Dynamite and at the same time as the last hour of Smackdown. If this announcement was not enough, Khan then announced that the first match on the “Buy In” is going to be Minoru Suzuki vs. Bryan Danielson. Khan clearly is trying to make good on his promise to beat Smackdown in the ratings by stealing viewers before Rampage and Smackdown go head to head at 10PM ET. Khan is also trying to do the impossible by getting people to watch something on YouTube that isn’t kids opening toys and Among Us videos.

2. ‘Hangman’ Adam Page to Face Kenny Omega at Full Gear

‘Hangman’ Adam Page will finally be getting his shot at the AEW World Championship. This past Wednesday, Tony Khan announced that Page will be challenging Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship at Full Gear on November 13th. Page earned the title match by winning the Casino Ladder Match last week. Page was originally rumored to be facing Omega for the title at All Out last month, but ended up taking a break from AEW due to the birth of his first child. Page’s wife could have been the one to enter the ladder match and challenge Omega, but she lost the coin toss and has to stay home with the baby instead.

1. WWE Crown Jewel to Take Place This Thursday

WWE will once again return to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel this Thursday at 12 PM ET. Nine matches have been announced including the finals for both the King of the Ring and Queen’s Crown Tournaments. Saudi Arabia’s favorite wrestler Mansoor will face Mustafa Ali. Randy Orton and Riddle will defend the Raw Tag Team Championships against Omos and AJ Styles. Bobby Lashley will face Goldberg in a No Holds Barred Match. Edge will face Seth Rollins inside Hell in a Cell. Becky Lynch will defend the Smackdown Women’s Championship against both Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks. Drew McIntyre will try to once again become WWE World Champion when he faces Big E. And finally, Roman Reigns will defend the Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar. WWE will reportedly make around $50 million for this event, which should mean they can pay for at least two more Brock Lesnar matches. (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 worse than a game of “Red Light, Green Light” in Korea, then feel free to listen to my brand new podcast The Smark and the Noob and follow me on Twitter @Fowlerwrestlin1 as well.