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Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week 10/2: AEW Dynamite premieres, The Rock on WWE Smackdown and much more

By Matthew Fowler • Published 3rd October 2019
TJR Wrestling

Did you decide to do the unthinkable this week, and actually leave your house? Chances are if you decided to venture into the outside world, you missed something in the 24/7 news cycle that is, professional wrestling. All is not lost however, as I am back, once again, with the “Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week.”

10. New Announce Team On Monday Night RAW

Corey Graves, Michael Cole, and Renee Young are all leaving the RAW commentary booth for Smackdown, once it debuts on FOX this Friday night. To fill the large hole left in RAW, WWE decided to pair the inexperienced Vic Joseph and Dio Madden, with the almost 70-year-old Jerry “The King” Lawler, as your new announce team. Forty years his junior may be what Lawler looks for in a bride, but I doubt it is his ideal for broadcast partners. This hodgepodge crew set off on their maiden voyage this past Monday. Hopefully, they can steer what was once WWE’s flagship show to success, and not crash it straight into an iceberg. Personally, I’m just hoping Lawler doesn’t try to draw any of the woman’s locker room in the nude before it crashes. I don’t know if my heart could go on. (TJRWrestling)

9. John Morrison in talks to return to the WWE

John Blaze Nitro Mundo Impact Morrison Jingleheimner Smitt is in talks to return to the WWE after eight years away from the company. With many hours of programming to now fill, WWE needs as many talented wrestlers as they can find. Add to that, the need to keep potential stars away from AEW, and it’s easy to see why WWE would be interested in Morrison. Today is actually Morrison’s 40th birthday, who despite getting older is still in phenomenal shape and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down in the ring. The only question is if Morrison will get yet another name change for his birthday from the WWE. Personally I think Johnny Canton has a nice ring to it. (TJRWrestling)

8. Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair to Coach Five-on-Five Teams for Saudi Arabia Show

Even though the crowd was chanting “one more match”, (Brock should have suplexed them all) luckily WWE ignored them for now. Instead, Hogan and Flair will both coach a team of five wrestlers in Saudi Arabia this November. Several wrestlers have already been announced; with Randy Orton and Baron Corbin for Flair’s team, and Seth Rollins and Rusev for Hogan’s. Why the WWE has decided to start booking matches for a show in November, when they don’t have a full card booked for the PPV this weekend, and have a draft to separate the roster next week, is a mystery to me. At least there isn’t another PPV scheduled for a few weeks later that historically has five-on-five matches, right? Right!? (TJRWrestling)

7. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt Attacks Seth Rollins Again on RAW

A very wise man once said, “Win on TV, lose on PPV.” If this ancient proverb proves to be true this Sunday at Hell in the Cell, there is going to be a lot of upset fans. Nobody has looked stronger, and been more dominant, in the last month than Bray Wyatt. This continued as RAW was going off the air this week, with Wyatt once again laying out Seth Rollins. Can Wyatt go against ancient wisdom and come out on top on TV and the PPV? If he doesn’t, please remember what another great man once said, “Enjoy the show… or complain. (The choice is yours!)” (TJRWrestling)

6. Brock Lesnar Attacks Rey Mysterio’s Son Dominick

Rey Mysterio was scheduled to have a match with Seth Rollins for the Universal title this week on RAW. Instead, the ‘Beast’ Brock Lesnar returned, and proceeded to beat the holy hell out of him. Not stopping there, Lesnar then decided to pull Rey’s son, Dominick, out of the crowd, and throw him around like a rag doll. Is this, seemingly out of nowhere, attack going to lead to a feud between Lesnar and the Mysterio family? Possibly, but my theory is that Dominick tried to start a CM Punk chant in the crowd, and WWE sent Brock out to shut him up. (TJRWrestling)

5.CM Punk Tries Out for Commentator Role for New WWE Show on FS1 called “WWE Backstage”

Even though he abruptly walked out of WWE in 2014, the WWE Universe has never forgotten about CM Punk. They still loudly chant his name every time they are even a little displeased with something that is happening inside the ring. However, after fighting and losing twice in the UFC, and successfully winning a million-dollar defamation lawsuit brought against him by a WWE doctor, Punk has seemed to have moved on from wrestling. That is, until he showed up as a guest at Starrcast III this past August and said he would listen to the WWE if they called him. Granted, trying out for a job with FOX to be a commentator for a studio show, about the WWE, is still a long way from an in-ring return. This will not stop wrestling fans, however, from fantasy booking him in all sorts of ridiculous scenarios. Then, of course, chanting Punk’s name loudly when they don’t listen to their ideas. (TJRWrestling)

4. Lana and Bobby Lashley Kiss on RAW

Was just one storyline about a wife bragging about cheating on her husband not enough for you? Well, you are in luck, because WWE decided to bring back both Lana and Bobby Lashley to RAW this week. Why, you ask? So they could make out in front of Lana’s husband, Rusev, of course. Rusev, like Mike Kanellis in previous weeks, just stood in the ring and watched it all happen.Either Kanellis and Rusev are forming a tag team called the “Young Cucks”, or WWE feels that the next step in the Women’s Revolution is, not to have another “Evolution” PPV, but to show that woman can commit adultery, too! (TJRWrestling)

3. The Rock to Appear on Smackdown Tomorrow Night

Finally, The Rock is coming back to the show that was named after him. WWE is trying desperately to get as many eyes as possible to tune into the debut episode of Smackdown on FOX. They are calling the show the “20th anniversary episode,” even though the first episode of Smackdown actually debuted in April. They are having both a career vs. career ladder match with Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens, and Brock Lesnar wrestling for the Heavyweight title. And finally, they have booked every legend they can find to appear, including, now one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, The Rock. The only question is, ‘what are they going to have in store for next week?’ If they Google ‘fantasy booking CM Punk’, the fans can give them lots of ideas. (TJRWrestling)

2. Tommaso Ciampa and Finn Balor both return to NXT

In a jammed pack show that saw three successful title defenses, both Tommaso Ciampa and Finn Balor returned to NXT. Both men came out at different points of the night to stare down NXT Champion Adam Cole, setting up a potential title match between the three. Balor is attempting to speed up to 88mph and go back to before his career started floundering. Hopefully, he won’t end up “cuckolding” his father by making out with his mother in the ring. (TJRWrestling)

1. Jack Swagger appears on the debut episode of AEW: Dynamite

In what I thought was an overall pretty solid debut show, Former WWE Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger debuted at the end of the show, under his real name Jack Hager. Hager seemed to join a new heel faction that included Santana and Ortiz, Sammy Guevara and the AEW Champion Chris Jericho. Or possibly Jericho is just forming a second band called “Kermit.” (TJRWrestling)

That wraps things up for this week. Please come back next week for coverage on Smackdown’s FOX debut, Hell in the Cell, and much more. Remember to follow me on Twitter @BackseatBookers and listen to my podcast the BackseatBookers (content is explicit, due to me swearing like a sailor).