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Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week 9/24: AEW Grand Slam, WWE Extreme Rules, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 24th September 2021
aew dynamite bryan danielson kenny omega

Welcome back TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday trying to figure out how to apologize for stupid comments you made on a tv show, and missed Smackdown? Perhaps you spent all day Monday trying to get into a tournament to remember a legend, and missed Raw. Worry not for I have returned with another Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week.

10. Cody Rhodes Gets Booed on Dynamite

Normally a wrestler getting booed in a wrestling match is not news. When that wrestler is supposed to be the babyface however and it is 20,000 fans booing them, it does become a news story. This past Wednesday at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam, Cody Rhodes had his huge return match against Malakai Black, who defeated Rhodes in quick fashion a few weeks prior. Things did not go well for Rhodes in the rematch with Black as well, as the crowd booed everything he did and was clearly behind Black. To add insult to injury, Rhodes lost the match when Black sprayed mist in his eyes before pinning him. Rhodes may want to consider turning heel, as he clearly is having a Hard Time getting over as a face.

9. Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H Win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships

WWE remembered that they have Women’s Tag Titles this week on Raw. For the first time since May, the Women’s Tag Team Championships were defended when champions Natalya and Tamina faced Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. After less than three minutes, Nikki was able to roll up Natalya, and get the pin and the titles. Natalya and Tamina only actually defended the titles twice during their 129-day reign as champions. WWE has quickly turned the Women’s Tag Titles into their own version of AEW’s FTW title, with FTW this time standing for Forget the Women.

8. AEW Dynamite to Officially Move to TBS on January 5th While Rampage Remains on TNT

As earlier reported, we finally know when Dynamite will officially be moving to TBS. It was announced this week that starting on Wednesday, January 5th, Dynamite will be airing on TBS at 8 PM ET. It was also announced that Rampage will not be moving to TBS as first thought, and instead will be remaining on TNT. Also, this week rumors have been circulating that AEW will be introducing a TBS Championship to the women’s division, similar to the TNT Championship for the men’s division. With this new title, AEW will now only have to change stations 126 more times to have a title for every wrestler. (ITRWrestling)

7. Roderick Strong Captures the NXT Cruiserweight Championship

For the second week in a row, a new champion has been crowned on NXT 2.0. This past Tuesday, Roderick Strong was able to defeat Kushida to capture the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. The finish of the match saw Diamond Mine members Ivy Nile and The Creed Brothers attack Kushida while the Ref was distracted, allowing Strong to get the victory. Along with the title change, a plethora of new superstars debuted new gimmicks on NXT 2.0 this week. Along with a professor, a drunken bar fighting tag team, a talk show host, a “safe space” wrestler and a wrestler from Singapore, Triple H also debuted his new gimmick of a distraught wrestler who is depressed because everything he worked for is crumbling around him. (TJRWrestling)

6. CM Punk to Wrestle First Match on Television in Over Seven Years

AEW has planned a huge encore to what has been an already incredible week. Tonight’s episode of AEW Rampage was taped directly after this week’s huge Dynamite episode and will be a special two-hour show. On this special episode of Rampage, CM Punk will be facing Team Taz member Powerhouse Hobbs in Punk’s first match on television in over seven years. Hobbs attacked Punk last week on Dynamite, putting him through the announce table. Punk is clearly excited for this match, as he tweeted out a poll asking fans if he should wear full-length tights or trunks for the match. Honestly, though, as long as he doesn’t wear MMA gloves, I don’t think the wrestling fans really care. (TJRWrestling)

5. Roman Reigns Wins Two Matches on Raw

Roman Reigns made the whole Raw roster acknowledge him this week. Reigns along with The Usos faced off against the New Day in the first match on Raw this week. During the match, Bobby Lashley came down and attacked Big E, Kofi Kingston and the Usos, causing Xavier Woods to be distracted in the ring. Reigns was able to take advantage of this distraction and hit Woods with the Spear for the win. After the match, Lashley continued his destruction by hitting both Reigns and Big E with a Spear. All of this then led to a huge triple threat match between Reigns, Big E and Lashley for the main event of Raw. This ended up being an excellent match that went about twenty minutes before Reigns was able to hit the Spear on Lashley and get the win. Clearly with NFL starting and AEW having huge shows, WWE has finally decided they need to actually do something big for Raw that doesn’t start with “Gold” and end with “berg.” (TJRWrestling)

4. Ric Flair and Tommy Dreamer Face Backlash After Dark Side of the Ring’s ‘Plane Ride From Hell’ Episode

After almost twenty years, the “Plane Ride From Hell” is still causing repercussions. On September 16, Vice TV aired a episode of “Dark Side of the Ring” on the famous ‘Plane Ride From Hell’ from May 5th, 2002. During the episode, flight attendant Heidi Doyle was interviewed about her experiences on the flight. Doyle claimed that Ric Flair stripped down to nothing but his wrestling robe and forced Doyle to touch his genitalia. This revelation caused an uproar in the wrestling world, leading to CarShield to “pause” their commercial that features Flair, and WWE to remove him from their opening video package.

Flair was not the only one who saw repercussions, however, as Tommy Dreamer got in some trouble as well. During the episode, Dreamer was interviewed and continuously defended Flair’s actions. Dreamer said things like: “Flair is not going to impose, by force, any sexual stuff onto anybody. He’s just flaunting…stylin’ and profilin’…like the Ric Flair stuff where everybody’s going to laugh about it. Obviously, somebody took offense to it.” That comment and several others also caused anger from the wrestling world, leading to Impact Wrestling to suspend Dreamer indefinitely. Dreamer also apologized for his insensitive remarks. Flair was rumored to soon be working with AEW, but that may not happen now. It means that “Dark Side of the Ring” also has led to the first time that Tony Khan ever gave his father back his checkbook. (TJRWrestling)

3. AEW to Hold “Owen Hart Cup Tournament”

Tony Khan continued to show that “you can never say never” this week. This past Monday it was announced that AEW had entered into a partnership with The Owen Hart Foundation. This partnership will not only lead to merchandise, video game involvement, and action figures of the legendary Owen Hart, but a tournament as well. AEW will soon be holding the first annual Owen Hart Cup Tournament, where the winner will win a trophy known as “The Owen.” Owen’s tragic death in May 1999 is one of the darkest days in wrestling history. Since that horrible day, Owen’s widow Martha Hart has continued to say that she wants nothing to do with the WWE ever again. Thanks to AEW and Tony Khan, wrestling fans will have a way to celebrate the memory of Owen Hart. Although the winner of the tournament may not get two Slammy’s, they are unquestionably getting a pretty amazing honor nevertheless. (TJRWrestling)

2. WWE Extreme Rules to Take Place This Sunday

WWE Extreme Rules is scheduled to take place this Sunday at 8PM ET from Columbus, Ohio. So far six matches have been announced for the show, including five title matches. Damian Priest will defend the WWE United States Championship in a triple threat match against Jeff Hardy and Sheamus. The Uso’s will defend the Smackdown Tag Team Championships against The Street Profits. Alexa Bliss will try to capture the Raw Women’s Championship when she faces Charlotte. Bianca Belair will once again try to become Smackdown Women’s Champion when she goes one on one with Becky Lynch. And finally, “The Demon” Finn Balor will challenge for the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in an Extreme Rules Match. Interestingly, last year’s Extreme Rules was headlined by Bray Wyatt facing Braun Strowman in a Swamp Match. WWE superstars competing at this event will hope to have a better outcome, so they do not get swept up when WWE decides to drain the swamp again.

1. Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega Wrestle to a Time Limit Draw

The first meeting between Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega ended up as a draw. Danielson and Omega opened up Dynamite this week in front of 20,000 screaming fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium in NYC. Danielson and Bryan then went on to have an incredible match for 30 minutes, before the time limit expired and it was ruled a draw. After the match, Kenny Omega gave his best Apollo Creed impression and Tweeted: “Ain’t gonna be no rematch.” Unfortunately for Omega, right now wrestling fans are screaming to Tony Khan that: “If you stop this fight, I’ll kill you.” (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 training to get in the ring at The Institute of Professional Wrestling and respect more than ever what wrestlers do every week. If you like what I do, despite my jokes being as bad as a “Dark Side of the Ring” episodes backlash, then feel free to listen to my brand new podcast The Smark and the Noob and follow me on Twitter @Fowlerwrestlin1 as well.