Welcome to the November 1st Inside The Ropes Live blog, bringing you the latest news from WWE, AEW, NJPW, IMPACT Wrestling and more.
Today’s biggest stories:
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Paul Heyman talks exclusively to Inside The Ropes, from one of our live shows back in 2016, about whether Brock Lesnar knew about the Streak was going to end at WrestleMania XXX.
Check it out!
So… it looks like Kairi Sane IS back on WWE’s internal roster listing after all…maybe?
PWInsider had attempted to debunk WrestleVotes claim that Kairi Sane is set for an imminent return after being listed on WWE’s internal roster.
However, WrestleVotes has now denied PWInsider’s claims and provided further information on Sane’s status within the WWE.
Writing on Twitter, WrestleVotes notes:
“I’m told Mike Johnson of PW Insider has refuted this.
Mike has us blocked, so I’ll ask you publicly to double check with your source.
As of this morning Kairi Sane is listed under the MISC section of the internal company roster. For complete transparency, the MISC section currently reads as Stephanie McMahon, HHH, Undertaker, Austin, Tyler Breeze & Titus O’Neil.
There are 18 names total across 3 columns. The 18th name is Kairi Sane.
Mike, if you’d like to dispel your rumor and also unblock us, we can discuss further.”
Inside The Ropes will aim to keep you update as this story develops.
Earlier today we covered the news that Kairi Sane was back on WWE’s internal roster ahead of an “imminent” return.
Well, a new report, this time from PWInsider, reports that WrestleVotes original claims that Kairi Sane is listed as part of WWE’s roster internally are untrue.
The report does not note any further if the claims that Sane is returning to the WWE are also true but simply states that the claims surrounding Sane’s internal roster status are false.
Bret Hart is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be… and now, so is Amazon Prime!?
As part of Amazon’s Giftmania promotion, The Hitman will personally deliver an item up to $300 off of one lucky fan’s wishlist.
The promotional video sees Hart humorously needing multiple attempts to perfect his “Giftman” persona by forgetting his lines and breaking multiple boxes.
Unfortunately, his request to put an item in the Sharpshoter was declined.
You can check out Bret Hart’s bizarre Amazon commercial in full, here.
The latest AEW signing has been made official!
Former AAA Superstar Dralistico is All Elite.
Ahead of last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Dralistico, brother of Rush and Dragon Lee, took to Twitter to reveal he had officially signed with AEW – sharing video footage of the moment he signed the deal.
Dralistico would note:
“Un honor pertenecer ala empresa que soñé llegar ahora soy oficialmente ALL ELITE WRESTRER y simplemente #AEWFightForever #AEWRampage #dralistico #AEWCollision END THEY WILL BURN l Thank you very much @TonyKhan for the opportunity #lafaccioningobernable”
Which roughly translates to:
“An honor to belong to the company that I dreamed of arriving at 🇺🇸💚 now I am officially ALL ELITE WRESTRER and simply 🤐#AEWFightForever #AEWRampage #dralistico #AEWCollision END THEY WILL BURN🔥🔥🔥🔥 l Thank you very much @TonyKhan for the opportunity #lafaccioningobernable”
Are you excited to see Dralistico in AEW? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!
The AEW International Championship will be on the line at AEW Full Gear when former champion Jon Moxley takes on two-time champion Orange Cassidy.
The match was made official during the November 1st edition of AEW Dynamite with Orange Cassidy successfully defending his International Championship against Blackpool Combat Club’s Claudio Castagloni only to be attacked after the bell by the unhinged Jon Moxley.
The match between the two long-time rivals was then made official for AEW Full Gear later this month.
AEW Full Gear is set to air live from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on November 18th.
The following matches are currently confirmed for the show:
Are you looking forward to AEW Full Gear? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!
Xavier Woods sat down with former WWE Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler to count down her five favourite video games of all time.
…and much to this writers disappointment, there is a serious lack of Football Manager, Skyrim or Cubix Robots for Everyone.
Check it out below!
@_upupdwndwn What are #shaynabaszler Top 5 Games? #wwe #wweraw #wwesmackdown #austincreed #xavierwoods #uudd #gaming #gamer #gamergirl #finalfantasy7 #knightsoftheoldrepublic #thelastofus #masseffect #turtlesintime
Kairi Sane’s long awaited WWE return is finally expected to occur after months of online speculation.
For the past three months reports have circulated online that former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Kairi Sane will be retuning to the WWE after finishing up her commitments in Japan.
Since then Sane has gone on to seemingly acknowledge and confirm reports but has remained in Japan as a full time competitor until late October.
At STARDOM’s Nagoya Golden Fight 2023 event, Sane would wrestle in what was set to be her final STARDOM match prior to returning to the WWE but despite an emotional send off, no new information came to like in the weeks following her farewell.
That is until today.
In a report WrestleVotes have revealed that Sane has finally reappeared on WWE’s internal roster list and she can be expected to make her return to the company imminently.
Taking to Twitter, WrestleVotes writes:
“After what feels like months of speculation, I’m told Kairi Sane has reappeared on the internal talent roster. Her return to the company is imminent.”
Are you excited to see Kairi Sane back in WWE? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!
Manchester City and England star Kyle Walker has revealed the truth behind his Triple H inspired pre-match ritual.
Walker, who won the treble last season with Manchester City, is best known for being an incredible defender and rapid on the counter attack.
But he is also known for his incredible, and rather bizarre, pre-match ritual.
Ahead of every game Walker will take a drink of his water before channelling his inner Triple H and spraying it into the air above his head.
Speaking in a new interview with Sky Sports Premier League, Walker would reveal how the iconic ritual came to be:
“I did it once, I think it was in a youth team game, and I did well and it’s just stuck then. So it’s not like I am a big Triple H fan, even though I do like wrestling, it’s just stuck and now I stand at the side of the pitch, and I try and do it as quick as possible now because I’m the captain, get there do it as quick as possible, so nobody can get the picture. I don’t want to be known as spraying water in the air it’s a bit cringe ain’t it.”
Which footballer do you think would make the best wrestler? Let us know by writing in using the ‘get involved’ feature at the top of the page or by clicking here.
Former WWE Superstar and “The Deathmatch Queen” Steph De Lander has hit out at the owners of independent wrestling promotion Capital Championship Wrestling for their treatment of female talent.
CCW is a New Jersey based independent promotion that has been running events semi-regularly since August of 2021.
In late October, CCW Champions Rebecca J. Scott, Christina Marie and Ultra Violette all announced that “in light of recent actions” they would be stepping away permanently from the promotion.
Not much was heard at the time surrounding the actions leading to this decision, however, taking to social media independent wrestling sensation Steph De Lander has shown a light on some of the malpractice she experienced first hand during her time with CCW.
Taking to Twitter, De Lander would write:
“Things I witnessed & experienced first hand:
-Almost every female talent guilted into working for a lower rate than usual
-Posters & trading cards created and sold using talents name & likeness without them knowing & not seeing a cent of the profit
-After my first show there was no hotel room for me so I got dropped at the airport at 3am for my 7am flight
-$100 missing from my pay envelope
-3 women (myself & two impact talent incl. one current champion at the time) booked in a hotel room with 1 bed
-Women working multiple matches on the show & only getting paid for 1”
At this time Capital Championship Wrestling are yet to respond to De Lander’s statement but Inside The Ropes will look to keep you informed as more information becomes available.
AEW Dynamite may have only just wrapped up but people are already looking ahead to the ratings for last night’s show.
Last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite, featuring Tony Khan’s important announcement, went head-to-head with the final game of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Although this years World Series is the lowest viewed in MLB history, down almost three million from 2022, sitting at around 8,000,000 average viewers per game, the event is still expected to heavily impact AEW Dynamite’s ratings for the November 1st 2023 show.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that as it was the deciding game, the ratings are likely to be substantially below average:
“Well, you know, I tell you what man, AEW tonight, they had to go against the second no-hitter in the history of the World Series tonight. And it was the deciding game, the you know, the End of the World Series, you know. So anyway, it’s probably not going to be a good rating tomorrow.”
Now that The World Series has ended, future AEW programming will be unaffected by this. If games 6 and 7 were required, they were pencilled in for November 3rd and 4th, airing alongside the next episodes of Rampage and Collision respectively.
Erik, one half of WWE Tag Team ‘The Viking Raiders’, undergone major surgery following a recent injury.
Erik has not competed in the WWE for over a month now after failing to be cleared by WWE medical staff to compete on the September 18th episode of Monday Night Raw.
It was later revealed that Erik would be out of action for the foreseeable future, leading to an extended singles run for fellow ‘Viking Raider’ Ivar, a run that has reportedly gone down extremely well with WWE management.
Taking to social media, Erik has revealed that he has successfully undergone neck fusion surgery on his C6/C7 vertebrae and has begun his road to recovery.
Writing on Instagram, the former Tag Team Champion would state:
“I cannot express the proper gratitude and thankfulness to the amazing Dr Cordover and his incredible staff at @andrews_sports_medicine and St Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham, AL and to @wwe for always making sure I have the best care possible.
C6 / C7 fusion surgery was successful and recovery begins now.
I’m excited for all the possibilities once my cybernetic upgrades come fully online.”
During last week’s tapings of Friday Night SmackDown John Cena name dropped AEW star Taz during a confrontation with Solo Sikoa ahead of WWE Crown Jewel.
But Cena’s AEW adventure didn’t end there… During last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite Cena was name dropped by AEW commentator Excalibur after the WWE icon appeared on screen during the live broadcast of AEW Dynamite in the form of an advert for Wipeout USA.
As part of TBS’ promotion for the season premier, Cena has been appearing, by form of an on screen banner, during other key TBS programmes including AEW Dynamite – much to the amusement of the AEW commentary booth.
Check out the moment Excalibur and Taz name drop the Doctor of Thuganomics below.
Taz: "I know that guy"
Excalibur: "That's John Cena"#AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/xZlkkuPafc— P.eps. #MaikaStyle🍧 (@Peps_Wrestling) November 2, 2023
Former WWE Superstar Adam Copeland is set to make his AEW in-ring PPV debut at Full Gear later this month.
As announced during last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite, Copeland will be competing in his first AEW PPV match at Full Gear when he teams with, fellow WWE Hall of Famer, Sting and Darby Allin to take on the trio of Nick Wayne, Luchasaurus and Copeland’s best friend turned rival Christian Cage.
This will be just Copeland’s second match in AEW since signing with Tony Khan’s promotion back in October – he is currently 1-0 in all competition after defeating Luchasarus at AEW Title Tuesday on October 10th 2023.
AEW Full Gear is set to air live from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on November 18th.
The following matches are currently confirmed for the show:
Are you looking forward to AEW Full Gear? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below!
AJ Styles has not been seen in the WWE in over a month after suffering a minor injury back in September, however, according to a new report, ‘The Phenomenal One’ looks set to return to our screens imminently.
According to a new report from PWInsider, AJ Styles is currently slated to return on the November 10th episode of Friday Night SmackDown.
This is set to be the next live episode of SmackDown as tomorrow night’s episode is a pre-recorded show due to WWE talent travelling to Saudi Arabia for this weekend’s Crown Jewel PPV.
The report notes that hat the former World Champion is expected to be featured regularly following the return, exciting news for fans as prior to his injury Styles had wrestled just nine televised matches since the end of May.
You can read full details of this report, here and you can also read spoilers from tomorrow night’s taped episode of SmackDown, here.
Who would you like to see AJ Styles take on when he return to SmackDown next week? Let us know by writing in using the ‘get involved’ feature at the top of the page or by clicking here.
Tony Khan has found himself in hot water online after the November 1st episode of AEW Dynamite.
Ahead of the show Tony Khan promised fans an “important announcement” leading to fan speculation once again going wild on social media with possibilities including a new streaming service circulating online.
But in the end the actual announcement was much less “important” and met with disappointment from fans online.
During last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite Tony Khan would announce that tickets for AEW All In will go on sale next month on December 1st.
Nigel McGuiness, who joined Khan for the announcement, would then reveal that fans are able to sign up for an exclusive pre-sale via Ticketmaster, giving them access to tickets before everyone else.
This announcement, the latest in a long line of Tony Khan “major announcements” has been met with sizeable backlash on social media with fans referring to Khan as “the boy who cried wolf” overpromising announcements on multiple occasions.
“Tony Khan is the boy who cried wolf. All those announcements, all of those game changers, and dream matches… Only to find that they’ve lost their appeal and value. It’s a running joke at this point, and it’s losing it’s humorous factor.” – @butwhyalyssa
One fan would even go so far to compare Tony Khan to Dixie Carter, noting that although his impact on the business cannot be discredited, his recent “nonsense” has become “embarrassing” at this point.
“Tony Khan has quickly become the modern-day Dixie Carter with this announcement nonsense. What he’s done for the business can’t be overstated, but this sort of stuff is embarrassing as this point.” – @WrestleRant
The consensus online has generally been that Khan has over used to “major announcement” trope and now it is time to hold off on any further teased announcements in order to allow fans to regain interest in them after feeling let down/disappointed in the last few.
“TK really needs to take a break from the “announcement” stuff.” – @MrDeanP
What did you make of Tony Khan’s surprise announcement? Let us know by hitting the thumbs down below!
Good Afternoon!
I hope everyone is doing well and has had an amazing week so far!
I will be with you from 12pm to 6pm BST (7am – 1pm ET) covering all the biggest stories from WWE, AEW, NJPW, IMPACT and more.
We will be kicking things off today with the biggest stories from the last 24 hours including:
