Major Update On Randy Orton’s Imminent WWE Return; November 14th Live Wrestling News Round-Up

AEW World Champion MJF has seemingly hit out at wrestling veterans who’ve talked down to him.

In a new post to X, MJF posted a cryptic tweet hitting out at veterans talking down to him despite competing at a low level for the majority of their careers.

“If you’ve been at a job for a small number of years but at a high level for a majority of it.

You don’t have to listen to dumb motherfuckers that talk down to you and say they know better because they’ve been at the job for a large number of years but at a low level for a majority of it.

Respect everyone.

But don’t let anyone son you, ever.”

Friedman later went on to defend AEW coach Jerry Lynn when a fan claimed that he would fit that criteria.

The ratings are in for the November 11th, 2023 edition of AEW Collision and the show has seen a slight viewership increase from last week.

Wrestlenomics reports that this past Saturday’s Collision drew 396,000 viewers with a 0.11 rating in the 18-49 key demographic. This is an 8% increase in total viewership from the November 4th episode which drew 366,000 viewers.

Despite the increase, this was the fifth-lowest viewed episode of Collision in the show’s history. This is partly due to the competition from various sporting events, most notably NBA and college football, which aired at the same time.

What would you do to turn around AEW Collision’s ratings? Let us know your thoughts here!

Insane Championship Wrestling has announced that its flagship weekly show ICW Fight Club is coming to an end after almost nine years.

The Glasgow-based promotion announced the news in a press release this morning, adding that the show’s final episode will take place on December 17th, 2023. The reason for the move was noted to be a “response to the ever-evolving landscape of sports and entertainment content.”

Since its inception in February 2015, Fight Club has featured many of Scotland’s most notable wrestling stars including Drew McIntyre, Grado, Joe Hendry, Piper Niven, Joe Coffey, Alba Fyre, and Isla Dawn.

Triple H himself has even appeared on the show, having made a surprise appearance alongside then-WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne (now known as Butch) during a November 2017 taping in Cardiff, Wales.

The Undertaker has shared his belief that either The Rock or Steve Austin would have ended The Streak had it not been for one factor.

Speaking on his podcast Six Feet Under With Mark Calloway, the WWE Hall of Famer claimed that The Streak would have been broken many years earlier had it not been for the introduction of his American Badass gimmick.

Undertaker went on to share his belief that either The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin would have been the one to end The Streak due to both being rising stars in the company at the time.

“I would have to think the percentages would be pretty high that the streak would have gotten broken sooner. I don’t know that for certain, but the percentages, and my understanding of our business, tells me that would have been a nice checkmark on somebody that was coming up.

Little did we know that Steve’s career would be cut short. Little did we know that Rock was going to come off and become a big movie star. I would have gotten fed to one of them, and it would have been the right thing to do.”

h/t to Fightful

Was Brock Lesnar the right person to eventually end The Streak? Who would you have had defeat Undertaker at WrestleMania? Let us know here!

The Rock has discussed how his recent return to WWE came about, revealing that it was decided on just 24 hours before!

The WWE legend gave a small glimpse behind the scenes of his SmackDown return during an interview on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon last night.

The night before the show, Johnson was already set to appear on College Gameday in Boulder, Colorado when he discovered that SmackDown was taking place less than an hour away in Denver. He then quickly called Nick Khan, confirmed the show was in Denver, and proclaimed that he would be there.

“It was incredible. So here’s the crazy thing about that is we were in Boulder. I was there for College GameDay. And I found out the night before that WWE SmackDown was going to be in Denver, which is right up the road. So I call my buddies at WWE, Nick Khan, and I said, ‘Hey man, I heard SmackDown is here. Can you confirm that?’ He said, ‘It is.’ I said, ‘Well good, The Rock is coming to SmackDown.’”

During the same interview, The Rock also claimed he was still open to running for US president someday but revealed that a major part of his life has taken priority for now.

h/t to F4WOnline

Tony Schiavone has revealed his hope that Sting will bring back his ‘Surfer Sting’ persona for the final match of his career.

Schiavone recently reflected on the AEW debut of Ric Flair during the latest episode of his What Happened When podcast. The AEW announcer went on to express how thankful he was to be tied to both Flair and Sting and claimed he’d love to see the return of The Icon’s classic Surfer gimmick one last time.

“It was surreal, it really was, and I was really thrilled about doing it. I was talking to Sting on Saturday when we were in Oakland, and we were giving each other a hard time, as you do. There were a bunch of guys standing around and I said, ‘Yeah, I remember the first time I stuck the microphone in front of Sting at TBS Studios.

Sting rolled down, he was so blown up he couldn’t get words out. He was [breathing heavy].’ Sting says, ‘I don’t remember that.’ I said, ‘It’s on video if you’d like me to pull it up.’ Both have been such phenomenal performers, and I’ve said this many times, I’m honored to be tied to them in some way.”

“You look online and see a lot of photos of Ric Flair, it’s me holding a microphone. That’s very special to me. I really would like for Sting, for his last match, to come out at Surfer Sting. Blonde hair, spike it up. It would be great. A lot of people would love to see it. Maybe we can convince him to do it.”

h/t to Fightful

Would you like to see Surfer Sting one last time for the legend’s retirement next year? Let us know your thoughts using the thumbs down below!

Tonight’s WWE NXT will emanate from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The next major NXT event is NXT Deadline in three weeks.

Matches and segments announced for the show include:

• The Supernova Sessions with Alpha Academy
• Warrior’s Tea Ceremony with Xia Li and Lyra Valkyrie
• Wes Lee vs Baron Corbin
• Joe Coffey vs Trick Williams – Iron Survivor Qualifying Match
• Roxane Perez vs Lash Legend – Iron Survivor Qualifying Match
• Chase U (c) vs Tony D’Angelo & Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo – NXT Tag Team Championship Match

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

Cody Rhodes has advocated for his brother and current AEW star Dustin Rhodes to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

In a new interview with Busted Open Radio, Rhodes was taken aback when host Mark Henry described him as a Hall of Famer and went on to say that his brother deserves the honour first.

“I have never ever heard Hall of Famer before. That would blow my mind. We have to get old chicken in that Hall of Fame first though. My brother. We have to get chicken in there.

He’s just out there still hitting the ropes where you can here the ‘ding,’ he’s hitting them so hard. We have to get him in there.”

In an interview with Sports Illustrated earlier this year, Cody Rhodes expressed his desire to induct Dustin into the Hall of Fame personally.

Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks has responded to criticism of the build to their match at AEW Full Gear.

In a recent post to Instagram, the former AEW World Tag Team Champion promoted his match at AEW Full Gear this upcoming weekend where he and his brother Matt Jackson will take on Kenny Omega & Chris Jericho.

In response to the post, one fan was critical of the match’s build and claimed it did not drive fans to buy the pay-per-view. Jackson seemingly agreed, replying that the only other option was for the duo to not appear on the pay-per-view whatsoever.

Fan: “Nick um, a friendly contest doesn’t normally drive someone to spend 50$ on a PPV.”

Nick Jackson: “not being on the show was the other option.”

Nick Jackson responded to a fan on Instagram who thinks The Bucks vs. Jericho & Omega doesn’t drive someone to buy a pay-per-view: pic.twitter.com/7ugfMuCQwu

— Andrew Ravens l WrestlingNews.co (@Andrew_Ravens) November 14, 2023

The Rock has admitted he is still open to the idea of running for US President someday, though he has another huge priority right now.

Whilst appearing on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Johnson discussed the “wild” recent talks of him potentially running for President of The United States of America. However, he noted that he wants to focus on being a dad to his seven and five-year-old daughters first.

“I think down the road for sure. I’ve said this before: I’m a proud girl dad. I have a 22-year-old, I have a seven, and I have a five. So they’re all age ranges. And my 22-year-old, I like to say we grew up together, and at that time, I was wrestling full time, 230 dates, 200 wrestling matches a year. So, I was always gone.

And I know what that’s like to have an occupation that takes me away from being a daddy. And this time around, with my seven and my five-year-old, I want to be a daddy. And that’s the most important thing to me. So be around, be there, be there. I want to be around.”

h/t to WrestlingNews

New Japan Pro-Wrestling has announced that long-time lead English commentator Kevin Kelly has departed the promotion.

In a statement posted to its website this morning, the company announced that Kelly had officially left as of November 14th and will not be part of the English announce team for Wrestle Kingdom 18 as originally planned due to family commitments.

“Kevin Kelly, who has been the English voice of New Japan broadcasts since King of Pro-Wrestling 2015, has departed NJPW to pursue outside opportunities.

Kevin was originally planning to join the English broadcast of Wrestle Kingdom 18 on January 4, but will be unable to attend due to family commitments.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling joins fans in their gratitude for the work Kevin has done to grow the English-speaking audience for NJPW, and for countless memorable calls over the years. We wish Kevin the very best in his future.”

After months of uncertainty, JD McDonagh has finally become an official member of The Judgement Day.

Early in the show, a brawl broke out between the two Men’s WarGames teams and at one point, McDonagh pushed Priest out of the way and took a spear from Jey Uso in his place. The move seemingly caused McDonagh to finally win Priest’s respect as he extended the Irish star with an official invitation to the group by gifting him a Judgement Day jacket.

McDonagh has attempted to join the group’s ranks since first being courted by his real-life trainer and mentor Finn Balor over the summer. However, Priest remained uncertain about the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion, especially after McDonagh accidentally played a key role in the group’s loss of the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship in Fastlane.

What do you think of JD McDonagh in The Judgement Day? Let us know using the thumbs down below!

A major update has seemingly confirmed when Randy Orton will be making his long-awaited return to WWE!

During the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer claims it has been confirmed to him that Randy Orton will be making his WWE return at Survivor Series. Specifically, he will compete in the Men’s WarGames match – where he’ll team up with Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, and Seth Rollins.

Meltzer also reported Drew McIntyre will also be added to the match, allying with The Judgement Day.

It’s five on five. It is going to be Drew McIntyre and it is going to be Randy Orton. Yeah, yeah, it’s actually been reported elsewhere, but I actually got that confirmed. Randy Orton is going to be in WarGames yes.

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:

• Major Update On Randy Orton’s Imminent WWE Return
• The Judgement Day Has A Brand New Member
• Kevin Kelly Departs New Japan Pro-Wrestling