Top 10 Wrestling Stories of the Week 9/15: Endeavor-WWE Deal Completed, Becky Lynch Wins NXT Women’s Championship, More
Welcome back. TJR readers! Did you spend all day Friday trying to figure out who to play in the Flex position, and missed WWE Smackdown? Perhaps you broke your television after the fourth play of the Jets game, and missed Raw.
Worry not for I have returned with another edition of the Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week.
10. AEW All In Attendance Questioned
AEW All In may have not broken the all-time attendance record after all even though what they drew was an impressive number. This week it was reported that 72,265 fans actually entered through the turnstiles for All In, which is considerably less than the 81,035 tickets that were reportedly sold for the show. This means that 8,770 fans bought tickets, but did not actually go to the event. It is unknown how many of the 8,770 fans chose not to attend because they feared for their lives. (TJRWrestling)
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9. Jade Cargill Returns to AEW, Expected To Join WWE
Tony Khan wasted no time in replacing the star power on AEW Collision, which was lost from CM Punk getting released. This past Saturday on Collision, Jade Cargill made her surprise return to the company. Cargill appeared to save TBS Champion Kris Statlander from being attacked by the Renegade Sisters, before attacking Statlander as well. Cargill has not been seen since losing the TBS Championship to Statlander over three months ago. Cargill had been undefeated before losing to Statlander, with a record of 60-0. It was also reported this week that Cargill’s return to AEW will be very short lived, as she will be going to the WWE in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see if Cargill can be successful in the WWE, and perhaps even have a match that goes longer than five minutes. (TJRWrestling)
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8. The Great Khali Teases One More Match
The greatest technical wrestler in the history of the sport may be returning for one final match. This week the WWE returned to India for the first time since 2017, holding a live event titled the Superstar Spectacular. Along with John Cena wrestling at the event, the show also featured a surprise appearance by WWE Hall of Famer The Great Khali. Khali proceeded to give a promo to his home country, in which he stated that he “has one more match in him.” Upon hearing that Khali may make his triumphant return to the ring, John Canton immediately revamped his “star system” to possibly include a sixth star. (TJRWrestling)
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7. Bryan Danielson to Face Zack Sabre Jr. At AEW WrestleDream
AEW WrestleDream already has one dream match booked. This past Saturday on AEW Collision, Bryan Danielson challenged Zack Sabre Jr. to a match at WrestleDream on October 1st. Interestingly Danielson also said that this will be his last year in wrestling, with him planning on retiring when his daughter turns 7 years old. This news shocked many people including Sting, who was surprised that Danielson didn’t want to spend many more years squashing younger talent. (TJRWrestling)
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6. Matt Riddle Accuses JFK Airport Police of Sexual Assault
It was a very strange week for Matt Riddle. This past Sunday, Riddle posted on a now-deleted Instagram post that he was harassed and sexually assaulted by an officer at the JFK airport. Reports later came out that Riddle was being disruptive and causing an incident, with officers having to respond. The incident is now being investigated, and Riddle was not a Raw and WWE live events this week reportedly due to illness. It is unclear what actually happened during the incident, but what is clear is that if anyone knows how to handle a sexual assault allegation it is the WWE. (TJRWrestling)
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5. Samoa Joe to Face MJF at AEW Dynamite Grand Slam
This past Wednesday on Dynamite, Samoa Joe and Roderick Strong faced off in the finals of the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament. In the end, Joe was able to defeat Strong via submission, and will now go on to challenge AEW World Champion MJF at AEW Grand Slam this Wednesday. After defeating Strong, Joe went on to brutally attack MJF’s tag team partner Adam Cole to end the show, promising to take everything from MJF. MJF should take Joe’s threat very seriously, as the last guy Joe feuded with lost his job a week later. (TJRWrestling)
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4. Nia Jax Returns on Monday Night Raw
If one of the most technical male wrestlers in history possibly returning wasn’t enough, one of the greatest women’s wrestlers of all time returned this week as well. This past Monday on Raw, Nia Jax made her surprise return to the WWE. Jax returned during the main event match between Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez, attacking both women. Jax was released from the WWE in 2021 but did make a surprise appearance earlier this year at the Royal Rumble. Jax returning will certainly help fill the Hole that was left after Mandy Rose left. (TJRWrestling)
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3. AEW Dynamite Grand Slam to Take Place This Wednesday
AEW is set to return to Arthur Ashe Stadium in NYC for AEW Grand Slam this coming Wednesday. So far six matches have been announced, including Sammy Guevara facing Chris Jericho. Christian Cage and Luchasaurus will face Sting and Darby Allen. Jon Moxley will defend the AEW International Championship against Rey Fenix. ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli will face Strong Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston in a winner takes all match. Saraya will defend the AEW Women’s Championship against Toni Storm. Finally, MJF will defend the AEW World Championship against Samoa Joe. AEW has only sold about half the tickets that they did last year for this event, which means according to current AEW attendance trends that 8 people will actually be in the building. (TJRWrestling)
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2. Becky Lynch Captures the NXT Women’s Championship
Almost 10 years after first debuting in NXT, Becky Lynch has finally captured its Women’s Championship. This past Tuesday on NXT, Lynch defeated Tiffany Stratton to capture the NXT Women’s Championship. With the win Lynch also becomes only the sixth WWE Women’s Grand Slam Champion, having also captured the Raw, Smackdown and Women’s Tag Team Championships. After seeing Lynch capture yet another championship, NY Jets fans incredibly became even more depressed. (TJRWrestling)
1. WWE Takeover by Endeavor Completed
For the first time in 70 years, the majority owner of the WWE is not a McMahon. This past Tuesday, WWE was officially taken over by Endeavor, with Vince McMahon no longer being the majority owner of the company. WWE is now falling under a new umbrella company – TKO Group Holdings – which also oversees the Endeavor-owned UFC. Vince McMahon will be the Executive Chairman of the new TKO group, while Nick Khan will be the new WWE President. Multiple employees are expected to be laid off as early as today due to the merger. The new company is valued at $21 or 150,000,000 hush money payments. (TJRWrestling)
That concludes another edition of The Top Ten Wrestling Stories of the Week. Although I often joke, I have recently started refereeing with GroundZero and training at the Institute of Professional Wrestling, and now respect more than ever what wrestlers do every week. If you like what I do, despite my jokes being as bad as the Jets Super Bowl chances. Then follow me on Twitter @Fowlerwrestlin1 and listen to my Podcast The Smark and the Noob. Thank you to all of those who read this every week