MJF Makes AEW Championship History; November 1st Live Wrestling News Round-Up

John Cena has argued that Brock Lesnar is underrated by fans in terms of his performances and even believes he should be considered one of the greatest of all-time!

In a new video on WWE’s YouTube channel, Cena gave his thoughts on many of his classic matches whilst rewatching them. One of the first he relives is his WWE Extreme Rules match with Lesnar back in 2012.

Cena admitted that Brock’s strikes during the match were, at times, legitimate and went on to praise Lesnar as an “extremely underrated” performer. He also praised Brock for being unabashedly himself and always being open about where people stand with him.

“Every one of those [strikes] are pretty decent hits (laughs). Man, Brock is one-of-a-kind, he truly is. I love watching him and I always tell you that I watch the people, it’s really difficult to ignore Brock. You’re in a fight for your life but he’s also the most giving, gracious performer.

He gives it all and there’s no way for you to question his legitimacy. There’s a ringside sign that says ‘legitimacy has returned’ and that says it all when it comes to him. I love Brock. As a performer I think he’s extremely underrated, even though he’s in that conversation for the greatest of all-time, and I love him as a human being.

He is wholeheartedly himself and shoots you straight, let’s you know where you stand with him at all times and I really admire that about him. He’s been wonderful to me over the years, we matriculated together and we both have our different paths to success and we’re both rooting for each other. Constantly.”

If you use any of the quotes featured above, please credit Inside The Ropes for the transcription.

Matt Riddle‘s first professional wrestling match since his WWE release has been confirmed.

Big Time Wrestling promoter Bobby Fulton announced on X that the former WWE United States Champion will compete at the promotion’s ‘The Reunion 3’ event at the Ohio University Chillicothe Shoemaker Center on March 9th, 2024.

Riddle is set to face WWE Hall of Famer and current AEW star Rob Van Dam at the event in a first-time-ever match between the two men. This is Riddle’s first announced match since his WWE release in September earlier this year.

Breaking News!
Saturday March 9th Double D’s Auction House & Big Time Wrestling presents The Reunion 3 in Chillicothe OH at the OU-Shoemaker Center! For the FIRST TIME EVER, Matt Riddle vs Rob Van Dam! Tickets will be available Noon Today at https://t.co/l20M4oypW4! pic.twitter.com/Yw6jtXIs8n

— Bobby Fulton (@TheBobbyFulton) November 1, 2023

Sting has revealed that he originally planned to end his legendary career earlier than Revolution 2024, specifically mentioning December 2023 as a rough timeframe.

Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, the 64-year-old revealed that Ric Flair joining him for his final professional wrestling run extended his career as The Icon originally planned to retire a few months earlier.

Specifically, Sting outlined that he was considering retirement for December 2023 which would have been three years to the month of his debut in AEW.

“I wanted to finish earlier, maybe in December,” said Sting. “But now that Ric is here with me, I want to go longer, all the way to Revolution.”

Big E has reflected on many having doubts about The New Day and their belief that the group would fail.

During a recent interview with UnDrafted AllStarz, the former WWE Champion recalled how many doubted that the group would be successful with some even telling him that the group’s concept was “stupid!”

He went on to recall Paul Wight, then in WWE as The Big Show, personally telling Kofi Kingston that he should focus on his singles career instead of the group. A few years later when The New Day became a success, Wight apologised.

“We had so many people tell us, ‘No, this idea is stupid. You’ll never get off the ground. We really had this ‘We against the world’ feeling and, often times in those situations, they can either break you apart or bring you together. We had the mentality of like ‘We’re gonna make this work. I don’t care how many people are telling us this will never work.’”

“Sometimes people don’t see the vision. They don’t see what you see. We can see, we have the vision, it doesn’t matter if no one else sees it.”

h/t to WrestlingInc

Sting has admitted that his recent reunion with Ric Flair in AEW was one of only two times in his legendary career that brought him to tears.

In a new interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, The Icon opened up about getting emotional over reuniting with Flair on AEW Dynamite last week.

He admitted that he was “full of tears” during the moment and shared that the only other time he got emotional during his career was after his final WCW Nitro match with The Nature Boy back in March 2001.

“I’ve never mentioned this to the press, or even in the dressing room, but real men cry. I’ve been emotional, full of tears, twice in my career. The first was Panama City when Ric and I had the last WCW match on Nitro. The second was last week on Dynamite.”

“When Ric came out and I heard his music play, it hit me. I had this flashback, and it made me emotional. Ric is the guy who put me on the map. We’ve traveled around the world together, and Ric helped make me. Now he’s going to finish with me.”

“After all the travel, all the matches, all the press slams, all the chops, and all the woos–woooo!–I experienced the same feeling on Dynamite this past week with Ric that I did on that final Nitro. Except this time, it was so much more positive.”

Lola Vice has shared a photo celebrating with her family after becoming the second-ever winner of the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament.

During NXT Halloween Havoc Week Two last night, Vice won the 2023 NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament by defeating Kelani Jordan in the finals. Vice had some assistance from Elektra Lopez, who stopped Jordan from hitting her Split-Legged Moonsault.

The former Valerie Loureda, who made her name on the MMA scene in Bellator before joining WWE, follows in the footsteps of Roxanne Perez, who won the first NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament back in June 2022 by defeating Tiffany Stratton in the finals.

Vice’s sister, Natalie Loureda, posted a photo to her X account this morning of Vice celebrating the win with her family, who were in attendance last night.

And NEWWW #wweNXT women’s breakout champion…..LOLA VICE🥇📝

So freaking proud of you!!! No one deserves this more than you! Let’s fight for that belt now! pic.twitter.com/UjOQzO5I6l

— Natalie Loureda (@Natalieloureda) November 1, 2023

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite will emanate from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The next major AEW event is AEW Full Gear in two weeks.

Matches and segments announced for the show include:

• Tony Khan has an announcement
• Bullet Club Gold vs MJF, ???, ???, & ???
• Hikaru Shida (c) vs Willow Nightingale – AEW Women’s World Championship match
• Orange Cassidy (c) vs Claudio Castagnoli – AEW International Championship match

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

NXT star Gigi Dolin has announced her engagement to IMPACT Wrestling’s Zachary Wentz.

In a post to her Instagram yesterday, Dolin shared a compilation of clips from her recent experience on a Disney Cruise and revealed she is now engaged after her boyfriend Wentz, formerly NXT’s Nash Carter, proposed to her during the trip.

All of us here at Inside The Ropes send our congratulations to the couple on their engagement!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Priscilla Kelly (@gigidolin_wwe)

Logan Paul has admitted that he finds professional wrestling “much more natural” than boxing!

During the latest episode of his Impaulsive podcast, Paul discussed his upcoming WWE Crown Jewel match with Rey Mysterio and praised Mysterio as the greatest luchador of all-time.

“I’m going for you bro, you’re looking at the future US Champ right here. Unfortunately, I have to take it from Rey Mysterio, the legend, I have to punch him in the face a few times,”

“It sucks. I love Rey Mysterio as a wrestler, and this is what I’ve been saying, I respect Rey, how can you not? He is one of the greatest, surely the greatest luchador of all time, he just has something I need.”

Paul went on to speak about how quickly he’s taken to professional wrestling and admitted that he finds it more natural than his other combat sports career in boxing!

“I got the bug. I’m doing these things and this comes so much more natural to me than boxing. People tell me I belong here, I actually feel like I belong. I have the opportunity to go after these champions and win these belts, I don’t know how many humans get this opportunity, I might have to take this.”

Chelsea Green has ended a nearly four-month WWE streak!

During Week Two of NXT Halloween Havoc last night, Green and Piper Niven successfully defended the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against Jacy Jayne and Thea Hail. In doing so, Green ended a streak she had held for 106 days.

The match marked the very first time Green has defended the Women’s Tag Team titles since winning the belts alongside Sonya Deville back on the July 17th episode of Raw.

Whilst she has wrestled in six different tag matches with both Deville and Niven since becoming champion, the titles were not on the line for any of those bouts until last night.

MJF has officially become the longest-reigning AEW World Champion in history.

As of today, Friedman has been AEW World Champion for 347 days and in the process, surpassed Kenny Omega‘s 346-day reign with the title to become the longest-reigning AEW World Champion in the promotion’s history.

MJF secured the record following his successful defence over Omega on the October 28th edition of AEW Collision. This marked his 9th title defence since winning the title from Jon Moxley at AEW Full Gear 2022 almost a year ago.

Have you enjoyed MJF as AEW World Champion? Let us know using the thumbs down below!

Good morning everyone!

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:

• MJF Makes AEW Championship History
• Chelsea Green Ends Three-Month WWE Streak
• Logan Paul: “Wrestling Is Much More Natural To Me Than Boxing”