The Wrestling Roundup is here to bring you all the news and rumors you need to know in one place.
AEW Dynamite Results & Takeaways
After a show with two massive debuts last week, expectations were maybe unreasonably high for this week’s Dynamite given the current circumstances. This week’s show was originally going to be Blood & Guts, but that was cancelled due to current pandemic concerns. Instead, this week had the in-ring debut of The Exalted One Brodie Lee and a face-to-face confrontation between Matt Hardy & Chris Jericho. The full results are here:
- Cody Rhodes def. Jimmy Havoc
- Darby Allin def. Kip Sabian
- Jake Hager def. Chico Adams
- Brodie Lee def. QT Marshall
- Kenny Omega (c) def. Sammy Guevara to retain the AAA Mega Championship
The face-to-face between Hardy & Jericho brought all the weirdness of Broken Matt back to the forefront. He talked about the new spirit in his vessel (named Damascus) and teleported himself to the ring. The Inner Circle of course attacked him, but it was Hardy, Kenny Omega & Cody Rhodes who stood tall to end the night.
Is @MATTHARDYBRAND …TELEPORTING?! #AEWDynamite on @tntdrama pic.twitter.com/C1R9TKv3a1
— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 26, 2020
Lee had his debut AEW match against QT Marshall. The dominating win was expected and great, but even better was the vignette of Lee eating dinner with his Dark Order underlings. He berated them for eating before he was done and for sneezing (in a thinly-veiled shot at Vince McMahon’s hatred of sneezing). Lee looked like a truly malicious leader, one who demands full obedience from his followers. There is a new aura around Lee that separates him immediately from his time as Luke Harper.
What would you give to have dinner with The Exalted One @ThisBrodieLee..?
EVERYTHING. #JoinDarkOrder #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/T7QcNCsZtU
— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) March 26, 2020
NXT Results & Takeaways
WWE announced on Tuesday that Triple H would appear on this week’s NXT. They also announced that NXT would be airing the matches planned for TakeOver starting… next week. This week still had some building to do for those bigger main event level matches. Here are the results from this week:
- Tyler Breeze def. Austin Theory
- Killian Dain def. Tehuti Miles
- Cameron Grimes def. Tony Nese
- Io Shirai def. Aaliyah, earning a spot in the #1 Contenders Ladder Match for the NXT Women’s Championship
- Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch def. Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink
- Candice LeRae def. Kayden Carter
- Matt Riddle def. Roderick Strong
The biggest takeaway of NXT this week came in the main event slot. Triple H announced that two weeks from now Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa will resolve their differences once and for all in one more match. Once the match was made, the strange vignettes that have aired on NXT in weeks past finally showed who they’re about: Killer Kross. The show went off the air after the video, leaving the debut open-ended. Who is Kross’ target? We’ll have to keep tuned in to find out.
Malcolm Bivens also debuted on NXT officially this week. He sent out two huge new wrestlers to attack Matt Riddle after his match. Bivens (formerly Stokely Hathaway on the independents) said that with Pete Dunne back in England it was the perfect time to attack Matt Riddle. WWE is steadily increasing their number of quality managers, and Bivens has the mic skills to be the best of the new crop.
The TakeOver quality matches begin next week. Velveteen Dream takes on Adam Cole’s Undisputed stablemate Bobby Fish. Keith Lee will defend the NXT North American Championship in a triple threat match against Dominik Dijakovic and Damian Priest. Finally, a six-woman gauntlet match will determine the last competitor in the Ladder match in two week’s time. Io Shirai returned this week and earned a spot in that match by attacking Xia Li and taking her place.
ALSO, @DakotaKai_WWE @Shotziblack @wwekayden @WWE_Aliyah @XiaWWE & @DeonnaPurrazzo compete in a Second Chance #GauntletMatch to determine the FINAL entrant in the No. 1 Contender’s #LadderMatch! https://t.co/PycCa7SEZ7
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 26, 2020
Wrestlemania Tapings Ending Just In Time?
A local order in response to COVID-19 could mean WWE just finished recording Wrestlemania just in time. Orange County (where the WWE Performance Center is located) has a stay-at-home order put in place starting Thursday at 11 pm (h/t CagesideSeats). According to reports WWE has been filming for the past few days at the PC, and will be filming more for Wrestlemania on Thursday. What that means for WWE programming past Wrestlemania is yet to be seen.
One for the Road:
Brandi Rhodes has blessed us with a new reaction image. Use it wisely, friends.
https://twitter.com/FightfulWrestle/status/1242986450204975105
