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There is a ton of news and notes coming from the pro wrestling world over the last week as this journalist spent some time offline.
WWE moved through its first few matches of the King and Queen of the Ring Tournaments, while All Elite Wrestling’s (AEW) Owen Hart Foundation Men’s and Women’s Tournaments rang the bell on some of their first matches.
Meanwhile, Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo held the Battle for the Brave, rapper Fetty Wap made an appearance at Game Changer Wrestling and a new champion was crowned on Major League Wrestling’s (MLW) “MLW Fusion.”
So, let’s get into it.
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Sami Zayn inserts himself into title picture
Sami Zayn was still peeved with undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes and interrupted a segment between Rhodes and Gunther during “Friday Night SmackDown.” Gunther wanted a rematch for the title immediately and Rhodes was about to grant it to him until Zayn came out.
“You said you were the one who was going to beat Gunther and teach me a lesson,” Zayn reminded Rhodes. “Well, you beat Gunther. When do you want to teach me that lesson?”
That’s when Gunther snuck up on Rhodes and attacked him from behind. Rhodes barreled into Zayn, who rolled out of the ring. Zayn got back into the fracas and took out Gunther as he was choking Rhodes. Gunther threw Zayn out of the ring once more before Rhodes went on the offensive and started his beatdown on Gunther.
Zayn dragged Gunther out of the ring to continue the fight. Rhodes went for a suicide dive through the ropes and hit Zayn accidentally as Gunther pushed Zayn into harm’s way. Zayn wouldn’t accept Rhodes’ help to get back on his feet.
It appeared, at the very least, that a rematch for the Undisputed WWE Championship is on the horizon.
Gunther has a condition for the rematch, which SmackDown GM Nick Aldis revealed later in the show. However, Gunther’s “legal team” didn’t want to reveal the condition until next week’s show.
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Chad Gable apology tour
In the aftermath of losing his mask vs. mask match to El Grande Americano at AAA’s Noche de Los Grandes last weekend, Gable appeared on “Friday Night SmackDown” in a suit. He started his night with a meeting with Aldis.
Gable started with AAA world cruiserweight champion Rey Fenix. Gable said the two had a great match at WrestleMania 41 last year but he did it “under false pretenses.” He said going through his journey in Mexico learned that Lucha Libre wasn’t a joke.
Gable said he was asking for forgiveness and he got it from Fenix.
Where Gable goes now is everyone’s question. There’s plenty of people Gable needs to apologize to, including the Alpha Academy.
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King and Queen of the Ring Tournaments
“Friday Night SmackDown” featured a King of the Ring Tournament match and a Queen of the Ring Tournament match with some surprising results.
Raquel Rodriguez, Bayley, Jacy Jayne and Kiana James squared off in the Queen of the Ring Tournament fatal four way. It was Rodriguez who went over and pinned James to advance in the tournament. James got frustrated with Giulia in the match’s aftermath and clearly signaled a split between the duo.
Rodriguez will face Iyo Sky in the semifinals.
Dominik Mysterio picked up a surprising victory over Bron Breakker, Damian Priest and Trick Williams. The AAA mega champion got help from fellow Judgment Day members JD McDonagh and Liv Morgan. The women’s champion hit a low blow on Priest allowing Mysterio to hit a 619 and a frog splash on Priest to pick up the win.
Mysterio will face Oba Femi in the semifinals.
There are still two quarterfinal matches left on both sides of the tournament.
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Owen Hart Foundation Tournaments
Mercedes Moné made her triumphant return to AEW on Wednesday’s “Dynamite” as she was the wildcard that replaced Willow Nightingale in the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament. Moné took on and defeated Alex Windsor to move forward and inch closer to a shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship.
Moné also appeared on “Collision” on Saturday following Hazuki’s win over Persephone. Moné lost her CMLL Women’s Championship belt to Persephone a few months ago and Moné appeared to be out for revenge. She attacked Persephone after Hazuki won the match. Hazuki came back into the ring and chased off Moné. However, when Moné had her back turned, Hazuki dove through the ropes and launched her own attack.
It was a wild end to “Collision” for the second straight week.
On the men’s side, Will Ospreay continued his tear across the men’s roster and advanced to the Owen Hart Tournament Finals with a win over AEW national champion Mark Davis.
Ospreay now has his ticket booked to Forbidden Door at the end of the month and will meet the winner of the Swerve Strickland and Claudio Castagnoli match. The winner of each Owen Hart Tournament will receive a title shot at All In in August.
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MLW title change
Shotzi came out of the gate on fire when she appeared on “MLW Fusion” last week. She defeated Priscilla Kelly and challenged Shoko Nakajima for the MLW Featherweight Championship.
Shotzi’s torrid pace on MLW continued on Saturday when she defeated Nakajima to become the new featherweight champion. It was her first title with the company and the challengers have already lined up.
Lady Frost told pro wrestling fans that she was coming next, signaling that she had Shotzi in her crosshairs.
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Battle for the Brave a rousing success
Steve Maclin and Deonna Purrazzo, for the most part, traded in their gear for a promoter’s hat and hosted the Battle for the Brave to benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
By all accounts from pro wrestling fans on social media, the event in Rahway, New Jersey, was very successful. The card featured Maclin himself, Matt and Jeff Hardy, The Rascalz, Richard Holliday, Shotzi, Priscilla Kelly, Kris Statlander and plenty of others.
Holliday was the winner of the Battle for the Brave 12-man gauntlet match. He received the Battle for the Brave Cup for his win.
Fans appeared to be extremely happy with the event and expressed it as much on social media.
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Fetty Wap’s GCW appearance
You never know who is going to show up in a pro wrestling ring and what they are going to do.
Fetty Wap showed up at Game Changer Wrestling’s (GCW) Tournament of Survival in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Little did anyone know, he was going to get involved in an angle.
Nick Gage handed Fetty some light tubes and the New Jersey-born rapper used the weapon on Tony Deppen. The crowd that packed the house at the Showboat Resort went wild.
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More notes from a week in pro wrestling:
- MJF defeated Rush to retain the AEW World Championship.
- Kevin Knight defeated Mike Bailey to retain the AEW TNT Championship.
- Lana Kross and Megan Bayne defeated Anna Jay and Tay Melo to retain the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship.
- Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong def. Drarlistico, Rush and Sammy Guevara to retain the AEW World Trios Championship.
- Tony D’Angelo defeated Kam Hendrix to retain the NXT Championship.
- Lexis King defeated Romero Moreno to retain the NXT Speed Championship.
- Steve Maclin and Myla Grace departed from TNA Wrestling.
