A short revival of the Wednesday night wars goes down this week – the one-night Tuesday Night Battle is on and both banners are stacking their decks to make sure fans choose their respective show to catch the wrestling action.
Don't forget, at 10pm eastern, right after both shows end, Knotfest Wrestling will go live at the below stream with hosts Alicia Atout, Colin Young, and Jordan Olds. So make sure to tune in!
AEW is stacking the deck for their show with an evening they call "Title Tuesday" with four big title matches on the show, headlined by Jon Moxley defending the AEW title against "Hangman" Adam Page. The show is happening in Mox's hometown of Cinncinati, so I can't imagine Hangman winning, but I can imagine an incredible match. It will be interesting to see how the crowd reacts, will Hangman be booed? What will this big loss mean for the Hangman character? Also, MJF has been very guarded with his chip. I expect he will cash in tonight and announce he's challenging Mox at AEW Full Gear.
Chris Jericho defends the ROH title against Dalton Castle, in what I expect to be a really fun match. Death Triangle of PAC, Penta and Fenix defend their trios title against the newly crowned All-Atlantic champ Orange Cassidy and Best Friends (Trent Baretta, Chuck Taylor). That should rule, as should the Interim AEW Women's Champion match with Toni Storm defending against Hikaru Shida.
Elsewhere on the show, Renee Paquette will interview with Bryan Danielson & Wheeler Yuta, Tony Schiavone will interview William Regal and we'll hear from MJF? It's a loaded show.
In response, NXT is loading their show as well. NXT has a premium live event this Saturday on Peacock, Halloween Havoc, and tonight's show is the go-home show for that event. There are going to be a few visitors from Raw and Smackdown on the show.
Kevin Owens will return to NXT for a special edition of the KO show to moderate a segment with NXT Champion Bron Breakker, Ilja Dragunov, and JD McDonagh ahead of their main event this Saturday.
Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade will wrestle this Saturday, and tonight they are both in "pick your poison matches, which means the other person picks their opponent. Roxanne Perez will face Rhea Ripley and
Cora Jade will face Raquel Rodriguez.
Sonya Deville will return to face Alba Fyre and The Schism (Joe Gacy, Rip Fowler & Jagger Reid) take on. Cameron Grimes & The OC (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson). Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo takes on an opponent of Tony D'Angelo's choosing and in the match I am most looking forward to Wes Lee & Oro Mensah vs. Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams. I haven't watched NXT in a few months but I will check back in tonight and with their big show on Saturday.
What else is going on in the wrestling world?
Bobby Lashley is making headlines for revealing a storyline he pitched last year to Vince McMahon. Speaking to Sam Roberts, he said "I told Vince a year ago, I think a year or two ago, I told him, 'I want to do this character.' He said, 'What is it?' I said, 'If I get beat one time, I want to go into this severe depression and put on like 40, 50, 60, or 70 pounds and just be fat and be a completely different character and then have like somebody like an MVP, or somebody that's on my side, kind of like, pull me back and then have the crowd watch this transition back to me.’ And he said, ‘There's no way you can do that.’ I said, ‘Man, I think I can do it.'"
AEW will be shooting a new 'behind-the-scenes' documentary series backstage at their upcoming tapings. Fightful Select reports the show will film for six weeks, from November 2nd to December 14th at the company's Winter is Coming event. A survey sent out previously in the year revealed the show would "track our core cast on the road at AEW events as they try to hold onto the titles they have or win back the ones they’ve lost, with everything culminating at the biggest Pay-Per-View event of the year." They likely adjusted the timeline to not end at the biggest PPV of the year, which would've been All Out or Double or Nothing.
Former WWE Smackdown women's champion Liv Morgan will appear on a future episode of USA Network's Chucky series. She tweeted the creators last year that it was her dream to have a bit part and be killed by Chucky. She will appear on Wednesday, October 26 episode, the fourth in the show's second season.
Katsuya Kitamura, a former young lion in New Japan Pro Wrestling, has sadly passed away at the age of 36, last Friday, October 12th.
AEW owner Tony Khan said there would be one more ROH PPV this year and fans can expect a weekly show in 2023. “We’ll have great news soon about Ring of Honor weekly shows,” Khan told Sports Illustrated. “The success of Death Before Dishonor on pay-per-view has ensured there will be more Ring of Honor pay-per-views.
Chris Jericho signed a three-year contract extension with AEW through 2025, expanding his role to have more creative input and to be a mentor for young wrestlers.
Fightful reports Becky will still be out for a few more weeks, according to doctors.
Code Orange posted the lyrics to the new Bray Wyatt theme song. Any new clues?
Did you check out my list of the 13 spookiest wrestling matches of all time? Check it out.
Do you enjoy pro wrestling? Knotfest Wrestling has a bi-weekly column filled with wrestling news. Read previous editions of this column here. You can always follow me @robinjection on Instagram and Twitter and @Squaredcirclpit.
