Released WWE Star Still Talks To Triple H; October 20th Live Wrestling News Round-Up

It’s official: LA Knight will be next to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship!

The LA Times and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported the news earlier today before WWE themselves confirmed the match-up on social media for WWE Crown Jewel. This marks Knight’s very first championship match on the main roster.

The Undisputed Universal title clash is the second world champion match to be announced for Crown Jewel, joining Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins versus Drew McIntyre for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Also announced for the Saudi Arabia event is a Fatal Five-Way for the Women’s World Championship. Rhea Ripley defends her title against Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, and Raquel Rodriguez in her fourth PLE title defence.

BREAKING: As first reported by @latimes, @WWERomanReigns will defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against @RealLAKnight at #WWECrownJewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia! 🔥

🎟️ TICKETS ON SALE: https://t.co/Yd1O74BnyQ pic.twitter.com/pNy4i9URRM

— WWE (@WWE) October 20, 2023

USA Network is the latest figure to drop a huge tease of CM Punk’s rumored return to WWE.

Earlier today, WWE posted a viral screenshot from a recent episode of SmackDown to Instagram where Roman Reigns can be seen in the reflection of LA Knight’s glasses as the camera records him in a close-up shot.

The USA Network Instagram account decided to have a little fun in responding to the post. The account replied with a comment reading, “look in his eyes, what do you see?”

The comment is clearly in reference to the opening lyric from Cult of Personality by Living Colour, Punk’s most iconic entrance theme that he’s used in WWE, ROH, UFC, and AEW.

After almost a year and a half away from the ring, Randy Orton looks to be returning to WWE at Survivor Series next month.

Insider X account WrestleVotes reported the news earlier today, noting that Orton’s return is “indeed happening” and is “likely” to occur during Survivor Series weekend.

WWE is said to have already approved new merchandise and branding ahead of The Viper’s comeback. Additionally, it was noted that has plans for a large promotion on social media as well as digital content generally in anticipation of the return.

Orton last competed on the May 20th 2022 edition of SmackDown where he and Matt Riddle lost the SmackDown Tag Team Championship to The Usos. Since then, he has been reportedly out of action due to a major back injury.

Joe Hendry and Simon Miller are officially set to settle their rivalry at IMPACT Turning Point later this month, in what will be the latter’s IMPACT Wrestling debut.

The two have been feuding on social media over the last few weeks, stemming from Miller giving the breakup of JoYa (Joe Hendry and Yuya Uemura’s short-lived tag team) the only Down in his Ups & Downs review of IMPACT’s 1000th episode.

Tensions boiled over when Hendry and Miller came face-to-face on Joe Hendry’s Food Fight where things got physical. The two began fighting over the defunct Defiant Internet Championship which Hendry became the final champion of when the promotion, formerly known as WhatCulture Pro Wrestling, closed in August 2019.

In a new post to X, IMPACT Wrestling has announced that their feud will be settled in the ring at IMPACT Turning Point which will take place in Newcastle, England later this month. The current match card for Turning Point can be seen below:

• Alex Windsor vs. Gisele Shaw
• Joe Hendry vs. Simon Miller
• Jordynne Grace vs. Dani Luna
• Frankie Kazarian vs. Rich Swann vs. Trey Miguel
• Motor City Machine Guns vs. Brian Myers & Moose
• Subculture vs. Eric Young & Josh Alexander
• Eddie Edwards vs. Will Ospreay

Declan McMahon, the son of Shane McMahon, has made his thoughts on wrestling promotions outside of WWE crystal clear.

During a recent interview with WU Online, the topic of AEW and IMPACT Wrestling was brought up. The McMahon family heir was quick to make his thoughts known about both promotions clear and they weren’t positive.

“I don’t watch that crap.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Declan also discussed the possibility of following in his father and grandfather’s footsteps in joining WWE someday.

h/t to Fightful

WWE could be set to update the belt design of the Undisputed Tag Team Championships in the near future!

According to a new report from Cultaholic, a WWE source claimed the company had photo and video-tested new designs of the belts prior to this week’s episode of Raw as part of a rehearsal for a 30-minute title belt reveal.

The report goes on to claim that two designs of the titles were revealed with one set being “all gold with black straps” whilst the other set had a gold and silver design with one red and one blue strap. The designs are said to be in the final stages of approval within the company.

It is currently unclear if one of the designs will replace the current belts or if the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship will be split once more for both design concepts to be used.

Do you think the tag titles need updated or are they fine as is? Let us know your thoughts with the thumbs below!

Roman Reigns’ next challenger for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship has been revealed in a new report.

Reigns hasn’t competed since retaining his title over Jey Uso in the main event of SummerSlam in August. Whilst it isn’t official, he is expected to defend the belt at Crown Jewel next month and a new report has revealed his challenger.

In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that LA Knight will challenge Reigns in the main event of Crown Jewel and that the match will likely be made official at some point this week.

While it is not announced at press time, it has been confirmed and will likely be announced this week that Roman Reigns vs. LA Knight will be he (sic) main event for the Universal title at the 11/4 Crown Jewel show. They already shot the angle on the 10/13 Smackdown show in Tulsa and it’s just a question of when the match will be announced.

Karrion Kross has dropped a big hint that former IMPACT star Sami Callihan could be headed back to WWE!

Callihan became a free agent earlier this month after his contract with IMPACT Wrestling expired after six years with the company. With his options open, a return to WWE – where he competed as Solomon Crowe in NXT a decade ago – could be on the cards.

Karrion Kross recently took to social media to send a message to Callihan about his free agency. Before Kross’ WWE days, he reigned as REVOLVER Champion for Sami Callihan’s promotion The Wrestling Revolver. In return for that, Kross teased he will “open a door” for Callihan.

I held this title proudly Sami.
You always brought out the most vicious side of me- which always took me to my next level.

I heard you’re a free agent now.
Let me return the favor and open a door for you that you once opened for me.

⏳ @TheSamiCallihan pic.twitter.com/JqRr8AA1WY

— Karrion Kross ⏳ (@realKILLERkross) October 20, 2023

WWE has just released a 30-minute compilation of Roman Reigns destroying people on the microphone including John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Logan Paul, and Jey Uso!

Check out the video above and let us know your thoughts using the thumbs down below!

The next generation of the McMahon Family has discussed the possibility of wrestling in WWE!

Declan McMahon, the son of Shane McMahon and grandson of Vince, is currently a freshman running back for Indiana University but didn’t rule out following in his family’s footsteps in an interview with WU Online!

McMahon stated that he would never rule out a move to WWE and believes he would be a great in-ring competitor, but is unsure if the opportunity will arise in the near future.

“When you’ve come up in this business, and you’ve seen it… I’m never ruling it out. I would love to get in the ring, maybe, a couple of times. But obviously, you have to see if the opportunity presents itself. It’s all about the story. But we’ll see.”

“I think a lot of fans would get behind it if we ended up doing it. I think I’d be pretty good at it. But you never know. Never ruling that option out.”

“But as for now, I’m focusing on football and school. We’ll play that [WWE] by ear.”

h/t to F4WOnline

Nia Jax has detailed having to undergo therapy to help her deal with online abuse from fans.

The recently returned star was the latest guest on WWE After The Bell and opened up about receiving hate online. Jax revealed that the comments got so bad that she began second-guessing her every move and believed she did not belong in wrestling following her WWE release.

“Well, I mean, I obviously can’t deny that I get a lot of hatred online. But in the beginning, I was like, Oh, this will be good, you know, this will be good for you know, like, the character will keep going on. But the end of the day, like, when you’re by yourself, and you’re on your phone, and you’re looking at the constant hate, hate, hate, you’re like, okay, then you’re just constantly second-guessing yourself.

I’m second guessing everything I’ve done, like, you know, I need to improve and I need to do this, and I need to impress them, like the internet is really hating what I’m doing right now. And it really, really messed me up. It got me into such a sad place of like, when I got released, I’m like, Yeah, of course, why not? I suck everybody. Like, there’s no need for me to be here anymore.”

During her time away from the company, the former Raw Women’s Champion underwent therapy which gave her a new perspective on the abuse. Jax now believes those making the comments have issues of their own and that the comments are targetted at her wrestling persona rather than her personally.

“But then, you know, when I got into my therapy, and I’ve always said this before, I don’t think anybody who’s a happy person goes online and sh*ts on other people. I had to put it into perspective. Like, okay, this is a character. And in WWE, like Nia Jax is blended with Lina because it’s not like they run credits like Nia Jax is Lina Fanene.

So it’s like, when they see me in the street, people are like, Nia, you suck, or whatever. But Lina over here is actually a good person. And now when I go online, it’s more of like, okay, they are they’re picking on Nia. They’re not picking on Lina. They’re picking on Nia. And that is a character I am very proud of people that have been picking on.”

If you use any quotes above, please credit After The Bell and leave a h/t to Inside The Ropes.

A former WWE star has revealed they still keep in touch with Triple H despite their recent release from the company!

Eric Young, who re-signed with WWE last year and subsequently requested his release this past April following Vince McMahon‘s return to power, recently spoke to Nick Hausman of Haus of Wrestling.

During their conversation, the now-IMPACT Wrestling star reveals he still talks to Triple H – speaking to him as recently as a few days ago – and revealed that being on the WWE main roster was the worst experience of his lengthy career.

“I still have a very good relationship with Hunter; I was just talking to him a couple of days ago,” Young revealed. “I loved it. The truth is, I never wanted to leave NXT. I knew that the main roster was the destination, and that’s where you made money, and that was kind of the end goal for most people.

But the truth was deep in my heart I never wanted to leave in the first place. So yeah, I absolutely loved NXT. The main roster was not the same experience. It was a very poor experience, probably my least favorite out of my 30-plus years in wrestling.”

Good morning everyone and happy Friday!

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:

• Released WWE Star Reveals They Still Talk To Triple H
• Nia Jax Recalls Getting Therapy To Tackle Online Abuse
• Shane McMahon’s Son Is Open To Competing In WWE