BY JEFF KNAPP
This past weekend, the WWE & NXT held their respected PLE, Money in the Bank and Heatwave. There were so many things that happened over the weekend but John Cena announcing that he will fully retire in 2025 but will wrestle at least into Wrestlemania. No word yet on how far into 2025 he will go but I’d love to see him make it until Survivor Series.
On Saturday, not only did Solo pin Cody Rhodes but Drew McIntyre won the money in the bank and decided to cash it in later that night but was screwed over once again by his rival, CM Punk. The women’s MITB match was one for the ages and at the end, we saw Tiffany Stratton emerge as Tiffy in the Bank.
On Sunday for NXT Heatwave, almost all the Champions walked out as champions including the newly minted Kelani Jordan, who put on an athletic display not outmatched by Sol Ruca. I just love watching these 2 women compete and if all goes well, for another 15 years. Now, when I said almost all, Trick Williams couldn’t retain the NXT Championship but didn’t get beat either. Newly signed, Ethan Page pinned Je’Von Evans.
There have been internal talks inside the WWE on creating a women’s IC and US titles for their respected brands. I personally hope to see this happen by or at Survivor Series.
This week the WWE announced the signing of Joe Tessitore. Word is that Tessitore will work alongside analysts Wade Barrett and Corey Graves. Joe has worked for ESPN and ABC and for many he was the head play-by-play commentator for ABC’s Holey Moley.
On Raw we saw some new developments, including the fining and suspension of Drew McIntyre, the formation of another trio consisting of Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, and Sonya Deville and the big news coming out of Raw was the return of Rhea Ripley. She was not happy with Dirty Dom to say the least.
On NXT this week, you saw Charlie Dempsey and company look like they were putting a body in the trunk and driving off, well that will be for the explanation of Damon Kemp no longer being with the company.
Speaking of NXT, this was fun from start to finish. Wes Lee was in the ring about to make a huge announcement, which many took as a retirement or him leaving but was interrupted by his for MSK / Rascalz partners from TNA/NXT, Zach Wentz and Trey Miguel.
There was also the addition of 2 other Raw/Smackdown roster members last night with Cedric Alexander and Ashanti Adonis. Cedric has been floating around for a long time and I hope this is the break he needs.
NXT wasn’t done there. Trick Williams was without a partner and needed one to take on Ethan Page and Shawn Spears. Somebody must have said his name because here comes Joe Hendry.
On Wednesday it was announced that Stephanie Vaquer, the current CMLL World Women’s and World Women’s Tag Team Champion has been stripped of her titles because she has abruptly left the promotion and it appears that she is WWE bound. I love the signing but doing it this way isn’t the way things are supposed to happen. Let’s see if any other news of why she left so sudden comes out.
Wednesday on AEW Bryan Danielson won the men’s bracket of the Owen Hart Cup and will now face Swerve Stickland in what will be a banger of a match.
Mariah May defeated Willow Nightingale in the Women’s Owen Hart cup tournament and will face her mentor, Toni Storm. Speaking of that, Mariah turned on Toni and left her a bloody mess at the top of the ramp. It was a great swerve since many people believed Toni would turn on her.
On Thursday’s edition of TNA, we saw multiple NXT wrestlers appear. 1st Izzy Dame competed (and lost to) Jordynne Grace and later Charlie Dempsey defeated Zachary Wentz.
We also found out that next week on TNA when Santino announced that the No Quarter Catch Crew will face the Rascalz in a 6-man Tag Team Match next week.
On Friday, CJ Penny AKA Lana announced that she is no longer with AEW but wants to continue with professional wrestling, possibly as a manager.
Speaking of no longer with AEW is the Nature Boy Ric Flair. The partnership between AEW and Flair’s Wooo! Energy has finished up as well, so I’m sure between that and with Sting retiring, there weren’t any plans for him.
At the NOAH Destination event on Saturday morning, July 13, 2024, at the Budokan Hall in Japan, it was announced that the two WWE NXT Superstars, Josh Briggs and Tavion Heights will be part of the competitor field for the annual N1 Victory Tournament.
It has been reported that longtime WWE veteran Natalya has signed a new contract with the company. No details on length were made public as of this writing.
Rollcall of Current Champions from Around The Wrestling World
WWE
Undisputed WWE Champion – Cody Rhodes
World Heavyweight Champion – Damian Priest
World Tag Team Champions – The Judgement Day (Finn Balor & JD McDonagh)
WWE Tag Team Champions – DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa
WWE Women’s Champion – Bayley
Women’s World Champion – Liv Morgan
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions – Isla Dawn & Alba Fire
WWE US Champion – Logan Paul
WWE Intercontinental Champion – Sami Zayn
NXT
NXT Championship- Ethan Page
NXT Women’s Champion – Roxanne Perez
NXT North American Champion – Oba Femi
NXT Women’s North American Champion – Kelani Jordan
NXT Tag Team Champions – Nathan Frazer & Axiom
NXT Heritage Cup – “The Don of NXT” Tony D’Angelo
AEW
AEW World Champion – Swerve Strickland
AEW TNT Champion – Jack Perry
AEW Women’s Champion – Toni Storm
AEW TBS Champion – Mercedes Mone
AEW World Tag Team Champions – Young Bucks
AEW & ROH Unified Trios Champions – Bullet Club Gold (Jay White & Austin & Colton Gunn)
AEW International Champion – Will Osprey
AEW Continental Champion – Kazuchika Okada
TNA
TNA World Champion – Moose
TNA X Division – Mustafa Ali
TNA Tag Team Champions – The System (Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers)
TNA Digital Media Champion – AJ Francis
TNA Knockouts Champion – Jordynne Grace
TNA Knockouts Tag Champions – The System (Alisha Edwards and Masha Slamovich)
ROH
ROH World Champion – Mark Briscoe
ROH TV Champion – Atlantis Jr.
ROH Pure Champion – Wheeler Yuta
ROH Tag Champions – The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett)
ROH Women’s Champion – Athena
ROH Women’s TV Champion – Billie Starkz
NWA
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion – EC3
NWA World TV Champion – Max The Impaler (unified men’s and women’s)
NWA World Jr Heavyweight Champion – Alex Taylor
NWA National Champion – Thom Latimer
NWA Mid America Heavyweight Champion – Jeremiah Plunkett
NWA World Tag Team Champions – Blunt Force Trauma – (Carnage & Damage)
NWA US Tag Team Champions – VACANT
NWA World Women’s Champion – Kenzie Paige
NWA World Women’s Tag Team Champions – The King Bees (Charity King & Danni Bee)
NJPW
IWGP World Champion – Tetsuya Naito
IWGP Global Heavyweight – David Finley
IWGP Junior Heavyweight – Douki
Strong Openweight Champion – Gabe Kidd
IWGP Television Champion – Jeff Cobb
IWGP Tag Team Champions – TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions – Bullet Club War Dogs (Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors)
Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions – TMDK (Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls)
NEVER Openweight Champion – Henare
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Champions – Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano and Oleg Boltin
KOPW 2023 – Great O Khan
IWGP Women’s Champion – Mayu Iwatani (Shared with Stardom)
Strong Women’s Champion – Mercedes Mone (Shared with Stardom)
AAA – Triple A Worldwide
AAA Mega Champion – Nic Nemeth
AAA Latin American Champion – Octagon Jr
AAA World Cruiserweight Champion – Komander
AAA World Tag Team Champions – Negro Casas and Psycho Clown
AAA World Trios Champions – Los Vipers (Abismo Negro Jr, Psicosis & Toxin)
AAA Reina de Reinas Champion – Flammer
CMLL – Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
CMLL World Heavyweight Champion – Gran Guerrero
CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion – Averno
CMLL World Middleweight Champion – Templario
CMLL World Welterweight Champion – Titan
CMLL World Lightweight Champion – Stigma
CMLL World Tag Team Champions – Los Nuevos Ingobernables (Ángel de Oro & Niebla Roja)
CMLL World Trios Champions – Los Bárbaros (Dragon Rojo Jr., Bárbaro Cavernario & El Terrible)
CMLL World Women’s Champion – VACANT
CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Champions – VACANT
Stardom
World of Stardom Champion (main title) – Maika
Wonder of Stardom Champion (secondary title ie: IC tite) – Mika Iwata
Goddess of Stardom Champions (tag) – God’s Eye (Syuri and Konami)
Artist of Stardom Champions (trios) – Empress Nexus Venus (Maika, Mina Shirakawa & Xena)
High Speed Champion (lightweight or x type of title) Saya Kamitani
The Sports Insanity Network 