The biggest story the last two weeks has been the ongoing investigation as to what exactly happened backstage between The Young Bucks and CM Punk. We know that Young Bucks entered Punk's dressing room, Punk felt attacked and threw the first punch, and Ace Steel bit Kenny Omega. But what will the repercussions be?
AEW has hired an outside firm to conduct a full investigation into the matter. The firm interviews all the parties that were present for the altercation, including bystanders like MJF and AEW head of legal Megha Parekh. Determinations will be made after the investigation is concluded. It looks like the investigation will take a while, because CM Punk, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega have been removed from all advertising, including for the AEW Full Gear PPV in November.
Punk is going to be out eight months with a tricep injury, so him being removed is expected, but removing the Bucks and Kenny, two big draws for the company, suggests this will not be a quick investigation. The investigation is being done to avoid any lawsuits, which Dave Meltzer suggests are on the table from both sides.
In the meantime, rumors have begun to surface that the Young Bucks have sent feelers to WWE to see if they were interested. Wrestling Observer’s Ryan Frederick was the first to bring the rumor up in the password-protected Observer forums. Fightful Select noted that rumor has been swirling since August and said they heard from a WWE source who swore that the Bucks have wanted to speak to somebody in upper management.
Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer shot the rumor down, saying first that he spoke to the Bucks directly who denied the story. Of course, why would they admit to such a thing? But Meltzer also brings up that before AEW was created the Bucks were in deep negotiations with Paul "Triple H" Levesque directly and if they wanted to reach out to management, they had his direct number, should they need it.
I personally just can't imagine AEW without the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Of course, I said the same about Cody Rhodes, and yet he fit perfectly in WWE. In fact, Young Bucks have a ton of ready made feuds in WWE, with Usos, The New Day, and Street Profits just to name a few. But to me, they are such cornerstones of AEW, consistently having some of the best matches in the company. It would be a huge loss to the company if they weren't around.
Ultimately, I think this is just a diversionary rumor. Either way, the Young Bucks contracts don't expire until 2024. Kudos to @KingHood1k for the hilarious Photoshop:
The Big Story from RAW
The biggest news coming out of Raw is that the team of Dakota Kai and Iyo Skye, known collectively as Damage CTRL with Bayley, have won the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship.
Rey Mysterio spent the entire episode trying to convince his son Dominique and Dominque's opponent, Edge, not to wrestle each other. But it didn't work, and Edge got attacked.
Kevin Owens cut a hell of a promo on Austin Theory:
Johnny Gargano won his RAW debut match:
What's on TV this week?
Tonight is the NXT 2.0 one-year anniversary episode on USA Network. The card includes:
- NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes defends his title against a fan-voted opponent. Options are: Von Wagner, Wes Lee, or Joe Gacy
- NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly defend against The Creed Brothers (in a fan-voted steel cage match)
- Tony D'Angelo & Stacks vs. Cameron Grimes and a partner to be determined
- Nikkita Lyons & Zoey Stark vs. Kiana James & Arianna Grace
- Hank Walker vs. Javier Bernal
- Fallon Henley vs. Lash Legend
AEW Dynamite is tomorrow night on TBS and will their momentum from the last few weeks continue? The lineup includes:
- Tournament of Champions second round: Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho
- Tournament of Champions second round: Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara
- Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker & Serena Deeb
Impact on Thursday on AXS TV has announced:
- Good Brothers vs. Motor City Machine Guns
- X-Division Champion Mike Bailey defends against Mascara Dorada
- Steve Maclin & Moose vs. Decay
- Killer Kelly vs. Alisha
WWE Smackdown on Fox has announced:
- Number one contenders match for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship: The New Day vs. The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. Los Lotharios
- Ronda Rousey and Liv Morgan will have a confrontation
AEW Rampage on Friday on TNT announced:
- ROH World Television Championship: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Josh Woods
RAW next Monday has announced:
- WWE United States Championship: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Seth Rollins
- Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory
News and Gossip From Around the Internet
Jerry Lawler will be the subject of an episode of the next season of A&E Biography: WWE Legends. He certainly has a great story to tell with his history in the world of wrestling.
AEW has filed a trademark for "House of Black," amid rumors that Malakai Black had gotten his conditional release from the company. According to Dave Meltzer, Brody King and Buddy Matthews will continue as a tag team.
A friend of Jon Moxley's revealed that Mox was supposed to have six weeks off from being on TV but was asked back in lieu of all the drama.
Custom belt creator Dan Beltzer suggests that WWE may be updating the men's and women's tag team title belts soon.
Sami Zayn had a hilarious interaction with Rikishi, father of the Usos and Solo Sikoa on Twitter:
Sasha Banks and Naomi recently hit the runways of New York Fashion Week.
Don't miss the video version of Knotfest Wrestling tomorrow night right after AEW Dynamite, Wednesday at 10pm eastern time on the Knotfest Youtube page with hosts Alicia Atout, Colin Young, and Jordan Olds.
Read previous editions of this column here. You can always follow me @robinjection on Instagram and Twitter and @Squaredcirclpit.
