RAW was once again very eventful, and I'm here to recap all the important bits, and keep you updated with news from around the wrestling world. Welcome to another edition of Knotfest Wrestling.
Edge Teases He Wants To Retire In Toronto
After competing in and winning an incredible main event on last night's RAW, Edge teased that he would retire the next time WWE would be in Toronto, which according to him would be around next August.
In a speech after cameras stopped rolling, Edge addressed his hometown crowd saying "On July 1st, 1992, I had my first wrestling match here as Adam Copeland. I just knew I'd be standing in front of you guys one day, I just knew it. What I didn't dream of is that I'd have to retire for nine years, and fight with every fiber of my being to get this back. And all of you are the reason for that!"
"This is a reciprocal relationship I just went toe-to-toe with one of the best talents and future of this industry in Damian Priest. I hope to come back one last time here in Toronto. Looking at the calendar, we usually come here
"Hey, it's OK, man. This is the place for me to do it
Edge wrapped up his speech by rallying the hockey fans in the audience by saying "Go Leafs!," a reference to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who play in the same arena. Here is a fan-recorded video of the speech:
Also, how crazy was Edge doing a Canadian destroyer?
Also, this was insane:
Johnny Gargano Returns to WWE
In the shocker of the night, the latest return to WWE was Johnny Wrestling himself, Johnny Gargano. Gargano surprised everybody, even some people backstage, by showing up in the 10pm hour of the show. It had been nine months since Gargano had been in WWE, and it looks like he's setting up a match with his former protege, Theory.
PWInsider reported that Gargano was hidden from the entire crew all day, until moments before he was to make his appearance. He was not even listed on the run sheet for the show. Most didn't know he was even there until he appeared in the gorilla position before entering the arena. PWInsider says sources backstage speculate that Gargano traveled to Canada for the show in the WWE corporate jet to prevent any airport leaks of his return. Candace LaRae, Gargano's wife and former NXT performer, was not with him. The two had a baby shortly after their contracts expired.
According to Fightful, WWE was actively pursuing Gargano all throughout the nine months he was inactive. Gargano previously noted he had turned down a WWE contract in recent months to focus on raising his newborn child.
Fightful noted that Gargano never had any "advanced" negotiations with AEW or Impact. While several people pushed for Gargano to join AEW in the last year, sources told Fightful that they never believed Gargano would join the promotion despite his praise of the company, and his desire to wrestle Kenny Omega.
In a backstage interview after his debut, Gargano said "I'm still at a loss for words. I was away for 9 months," he said in an exclusive backstage WWE video. Gargano said he was "changing diapers and watching 'Bluey' and doing the dad thing" for such a long time, that he worried no one would remember who he was. "Yeah, I was here for a long time in NXT, and I did a lot of cool things, but there's still that part of me that was a nervous wreck all day like 'hopefully one person remembers who I am,' and to stand there and watch my name come up on the tron and people go nuts. It's really a relief though." Gargano was practically vibrating from excitement, "I feel like a weight has lifted off my shoulders because people remember who I am and now it's time to get to work."
Gargano reiterated his goals of looking to win the Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship, WWE Championship, and wrestling at WrestleMania.
"There's only one place you can do that, here in WWE. That's why I came back, that's why I'm beyond proud to be here.
I am such a ball of energy right now because I just went out there for the first time. I've literally been sitting at home doing nothing for months! Just diapers! There's no good diapers. I'm so over the moon. I'm so excited!"
Gargano also noted he thinks his son will eventually appreciate the "Baby Wrestling" chant he got. "I think he was watching, he might be sleeping. He got a chant tonight! There was a 'Baby Wrestling' chant in a WWE ring. Yeah! Score one for him! He's gonna appreciate it when he gets older. I'm going to be like 'here watch this tape. Watch this VHS.'"
Here is footage of his return:
Did you catch last night's video version of Knotfest Wrestling? Alicia Atout, Colin Young, and Jordan Olds talked about the recent drama between CM Punk and Adam Page and other topics from around the wrestling world. Take a look:
This Week on TV
Here's what's on deck for NXT tonight on USA Network at 8pm:
- Lights Out match: Wendy Choo vs. Tiffany Stratton
- NXT United Kingdom Tag Team Champions Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen defend against Gallus
- NXT United Kingdom Champion Tyler Bate vs. Von Wagner
- Apollo Crews appears on The Grayson Waller Effect
AEW has a huge Dynamite scheduled for tomorrow at 8pm eastern on TBS:
- CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley for the Undisputed AEW World Championship
- Billy Gunn vs. Colten Gunn
- Dax Harwood vs. Jay Lethal
- Britt Baker vs. KiLynn King
- Trios Title Tournament: Death Triangle (PAC, Penta El Zero M, and Rey Fenix) vs. Will Ospreay & Aussie Open
- Ricky Starks speaks
Announced for WWE Smackdown this Friday at 8pm on Fox:
- A “second chance fatal four-way match” between all the teams who lost in the Women's Tag Title Tournament to determine who faces Aliyah & Raquel Gonzalez. (Tamina and Dana Brooke vs. Nikki ASH and Doudrop vs. Natalaya and Sonya Deville vs. Xia Li and Shotzi)
- Ricochet vs. Happy Corbin
So far announced for AEW Rampage on Friday at 10pm on TNT:
- ROH World Championship: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Dustin Rhodes
- AEW Trios Tag Team title tournament: The Dark Order vs. The House of Black
More wrestling news
Jeff Jarrett, who took on the position of senior vice president of live events in WWE earlier this year, has left that position. No reason is known as to why. Interestingly, he is replaced in the position by his former onscreen protege turned nemesis Brian "Road Dogg" James.
WWE senior vice president Bruce Pritchard recently commented on the changes in WWE leadership on his Something to Wrestle podcast, saying “Let’s call it exciting. It’s exciting times. People take life for granted sometimes and take things happening around you for granted and it’s all how you look at life. You can either love life, live life or you can hate life and just exist. There were times in my life where I chose the latter, but I choose the former. I would rather live life and enjoy it because life is a journey, not a destination. Remember, the light at the end of the tunnel may be you.” He also noted he has never written anything for NXT and only helped with the marketing, promotion, and direction of the show. Shawn Michales has been writing the show in the last year.
With baseball playoffs happening next month, AEW Dynamite will are on Tuesday 10/18 instead of their usual Wednesday 10/19 slot. Also if the American League series goes to seven games, they would be pre-empted the following Wednesday as well and likely air the next day, on Thursday 10/27. They could also possibly air the show the same night on TruTV. Smackdown will be moved on 10/28 to FS1 due to game one of the World Series, and if a sixth game is necessary on 11/4, they would be moved as well. Smackdown will be pre-empted on 12/2 for a championship football game.
New Japan has announced details for their IWGP Women’s Championship. Tournament matches will take place at their British shows, and at the STARDOM October 22 and 23 events. The finals will take place at the New Japan x STARDOM Historic X-over joint show. The title will also be defended at Wrestle Kingdom in January. You can see the initial card for that show here.
Here's a really sweet story from independent wrestler Lady Frost on what a mensh AEW TNT champion Wardlow is:
Here is an interesting chart from Reddit about how much women's wrestling appeared on TV in the last year:
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