CM Punk Returns To WWE Raw After Almost A Decade; November 28th Live Wrestling News Round-Up

A new AEW trademark filing has suggested that an independent star could be on their way to the promotion in the near future.

Yesterday, AEW filed a trademark for the term “East West Express”, the tag team name of Nick Wayne and Jordan Oliver on the independents. Wayne signed with AEW back in 2022 and is currently a member of The Patriarchy alongside Christian Cage and Killswitch (the former Luchasaurus).

Oliver, meanwhile, has never appeared in AEW. As such, the trademark suggests that his debut for the promotion could be imminent. The two last teamed up in early October and were most recently GCW Tag Team Champions, only losing the titles this past August.

WWE’s longest-running podcast, WWE After The Bell, has reportedly come to an end after four years in production.

The podcast seemingly went on an unannounced hiatus earlier this month as a new episode has not been released since its 201st edition with Bobby Lashley on November 10th.

Sadly, it seems as though the hiatus will, in fact, be permanent. Fightful Select reports that the show is ending and no new episodes are planned to be created.

While the outlet could not confirm the reason behind the show wrapping up, they speculated that a personal change in circumstances could be responsible as the podcast’s long-time host Corey Graves recently had his first child with Carmella.

CM Punk is said to have no interest in bringing up the drama that surrounded him during his time at AEW in WWE.

Punk spun up controversy at the end of his promo on Raw last night when it appeared he did a victory lap around the ring as the show went off the air. Many took this to be a shot at The Young Bucks who did their own victory lap on AEW Collision just hours after Punk was terminated by the company.

However, Nick Hausman of Haus of Wrestling has since reported that Punk’s actions were in no way meant to be a shot at The Bucks and that he was simply celebrating his “I’m home” line with the crowd. Sources close to Punk added that if he had planned to recreate what The Bucks did, he would have been much more direct about it.

Hausman also adds that Punk has no plans to address any of the drama surrounding his time in AEW within WWE as he is trying to move on from it all entirely.

Logan Paul is set to return to WWE on SmackDown this Friday, the company has announced.

Yesterday, WWE released a sneak preview for this Friday’s episode of SmackDown on their YouTube channel. One of the segments teased for the show was the return of Paul who will be looking for his first title challenger.

This marks Paul’s first WWE appearance since winning the United States Championship from Rey Mysterio at WWE Crown Jewel earlier this month.

Also advertised for SmackDown is the fallout from the Women’s WarGames match where Damage CTRL suffered a loss inside the structure for the second year in a row.

Tonight’s WWE NXT will emanate from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The next major NXT event is NXT Deadline which takes place next week.

Matches and segments announced for the show include:

• Wes Lee vs Cameron Grimes vs Bronson Reed vs Johnny Gargano – If Wes Lee wins, he challenges Dominik Mysterio for the NXT North American Champion at NXT Deadline
• Kelani Jordan vs Kiana James – Women’s Iron Survivor Qualifying Match
• Eddy Thorpe vs Bron Breakker – Men’s Iron Survivor Qualifying Match
• Tony D’Angelo & Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo (c) vs Angel Garza & Humberto Carillo – NXT Tag Team Championship Match

What are you most excited to see on tonight’s episode of NXT? Let us know your thoughts here!

The first NXT Premium Live Event taking place next year has been officially announced.

In a press release issued after last night’s episode of Raw, WWE announced that NXT Vengeance Day will be the black and gold brand’s first Premium Live Event of 2024. The show is set to emanate from the F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tennessee on February 4th, 2024.

The press release also revealed that Ilja Dragunov, Lyra Valkyrie, Tony D’Angelo, Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo, Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams, Roxanne Perez, and Tiffany Stratton will all appear at the event. The press release can be read in its entirety below:

“STAMFORD, Conn., November 27, 2023 – WWE®, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), today announced that NXT Vengeance Day will take place live at F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville, Tenn. on Sunday, February 4. This marks the first-ever NXT premium live event to take place in Tennessee.

Tickets for NXT Vengeance Day go on sale Friday, December 8 at 10 a.m. CT via www.ticketmaster.com. Exclusive pre-sale opportunities are available now by visiting   https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B005F699A262129.

NXT Vengeance Day will feature the biggest Superstars from NXT in action, including NXT Champion llja Dragunov, NXT Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria, NXT Tag Team Champions Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, Carmelo Hayes, Trick Williams, Roxanne Perez, Tiffany Stratton and more.

NXT Vengeance Day will stream live exclusively on Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.”

QT Marshall is reported to have expressed frustration behind the scenes at AEW prior to announcing his resignation.

Yesterday, long-time AEW star and backstage figure QT Marshall announced that he has resigned from the promotion and will complete all his AEW obligations by the end of this year. Marshall joined AEW as an associate producer back in 2019.

In a backstage update, Dave Meltzer revealed on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio that Marshall has been frustrated for a while – specifically with his position as an on-screen talent within the company.

“People have talked to him. He’s expressed his frustrations. There have been things that have happened.”

“One thing with QT, and it’s a big one – QT wants to be a wrestling star. And it wasn’t gonna happen in AEW. I know he expressed frustration to a lot of people about that – feeling he’s had good matches but he’s not been positioned to be a wrestling star there.“

h/t to SEScoops

Cody Rhodes is the first man to declare himself for the 2024 Royal Rumble match.

Prior to last night’s episode of Raw, Rhodes teased that he had a big announcement to make. Fans didn’t have to wait long for the news though as The American Nightmare became the first person to announce their entry in the 2024 Men’s Royal Rumble.

Rhodes, who won the Men’s Royal Rumble this past January, also addressed the WWE returns of Randy Orton and CM Punk at Survivor Series: WarGames. However, the segment didn’t end well for the former AEW TNT Champion as he was attacked from behind by Shinsuke Nakamura, who sprayed red mist into his face.

For the first time in almost 10 years, CM Punk appeared on WWE Raw last night.

In a heartfelt speech that closed out the show, Punk uttered his first words on WWE programming in nearly a decade: “I’m home.” He went on to make reference to Paul Heyman, saying that “a wise man” once told him he had to leave in order to come back while discussing his 2014 departure, as well as his wife AJ Lee.

Punk went on to reiterate that he is the Best In The World and ended by revealing that, “I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to make money.” Interestingly, he did not reference AEW nor hit out at anyone within his former workplace as many speculated he would.

What did you think of CM Punk’s first promo back in WWE? Let us know using the thumbs down below!

Welcome back to the ITRWrestling live blog! I’ll be with you from 12pm to 6pm BST (7am – 1pm ET) covering all the biggest stories from WWE, AEW, NJPW, IMPACT, and more.

Today’s top stories are:

• CM Punk Returns To WWE Raw After Almost A Decade
• The First 2024 Royal Rumble Entrant Is Official
• QT Marshall Expressed Frustrations Before AEW Resignation