Tag: Kofi Kingston

Opening Bell: Hit the trumpets, John Cena returns to Raw

Get set for the week in WWE and AEW with Opening Bell: quick previews of Raw, SmackDown, Dynamite and Rampage.

Welcome to the Opening Bell, where we round up what’s been announced for WWE (Raw and SmackDown) and AEW (Dynamite and Rampage) programming for the week we’ve just begun.

WWE Raw preview – Monday, March 6, TD Garden, Boston

OK, OK, no big writeup needed, right? We all know John Cena is back on Raw in his hometown, which is a big deal. Everyone expects him to begin the groundwork for a WrestleMania match against Austin Theory.

But WWE has actually revealed quite a bit more for this week’s show. Jimmy Uso has been tasked with ending the Sami Zayn problem for the Bloddline, and he’ll get a chance to do that in Boston. Kevin Owens, meanwhile, will collide with the group’s enforcer, Solo Sikoa.

There’s lots more in store as well, including:

AEW Dynamite preview – Wednesday, March 8, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento

Are there any drops of blood left unspilled by the AEW roster? If so, they may need them for the next stop on the California swing, as Dynamite rolls into Sacramento for the fallout from Revolution.

There’s even fallout from prior to the PPV, as Wardlow will get no rest after winning the TNT Championship. That’s because California’s own Powerhouse Hobbs is coming for that belt after winning the Face of the Revolution ladder match, and even Wardlow probably should be wary of that.

There’s bound to be much more announced for Wednesday, so keep an eye on AEW’s social channels, assuming Twitter decides to keep working.

WWE SmackDown preview – Friday, March 10, PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh

It’s the home of Kurt Angle, though we don’t expect the Olympic hero to make an appearance on this visit. What we do know is that Braun Strowman and Ricochet will continue their odd couple pairing as they face off with the Viking Raiders.

And a Fatal Five-Way will have big stakes for WrestleMania. Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Karrion Kross and LA Knight will all try to emerge victorious, with the prize a bit of good news, bad news: a match at Mania … but against dominant Intercontinental Champion Gunther.

Good luck with that!

AEW Rampage preview – Wednesday, March 10, Golden 1 Center, Sacramento (recorded on March 8)

Ha, yeah, with so much uncertainty as the week begins about what’s going to be on Dynamite, we have zero clue what will take place on Rampage. It’s also in Sacramento and will be taped on Wednesday night, so we’ll have a good idea about what to expect by that night.

WWE SmackDown results: Flair, Ripley face off, The Usos still have issues

Full WWE SmackDown results for Feb. 24, 2023, with Charlotte Flair going face-to-face with WrestleMania challenger Rhea Ripley.

Sometimes pointing at the WrestleMania sign isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to get in the ring and actually look your opponent for the biggest show of the WWE year in the eye and show them that you aren’t backing down. Conveniently, that’s what’s happening tonight on WWE SmackDown, in Evansville, Indiana.

Rhea Ripley has the momentum, having battled through the Royal Rumble to earn her shot, and in an overall sense for being an important part of The Judgment Day. Charlotte Flair has the SmackDown Women’s Championship and owns a previous WrestleMania victory over Rhea. Something has to give, though it would be surprising if either woman flinched tonight.

The Firefly Fun House is also making its return this week. Bray Wyatt warned the winner of a certain big, meaty men slapping meat match at Elimination Chamber he’d have his eye on the winner. That means Bobby Lashley will almost certainly be in the crosshairs of Wyatt and his puppet friends.

How about some matches, since this is a wrestling show? One that has weeks of buildup behind it will see Rey Mysterio once again go up against Karrion Kross. The bigger problem for Rey is that his son has promised to accompany Ripley to pay dad a visit, and that never turns out well.

And Imperium will be in six-man tag action against Braun Strowman, Ricochet and Madcap Moss — which sounds like a pretty even matchup except that Moss has apparently been leaning on the edge of going to the dark side.

WWE SmackDown results in 60 seconds:

  • Kayla Braxton wants a word with Jimmy Uso, who says he hasn’t spoken to Jey yet despite many efforts to do so, but he wants his brother to look him in the eye tonight
  • Imperium def. Braun Strowman, Ricochet and Madcap Moss by pinfall
  • Drew McIntyre, who came out on the ramp to watch the previous match, is assaulted by the Viking Raiders, though Sheamus comes to his aid
  • Rey Mysterio vows to put an end to Karrion Kross, but Dominik Mysterio is unimpressed with Santos Escobar‘s show of respect for his dad
  • Jimmy Uso tells Solo Sikoa things feel different in the Bloodline since Montreal, and Paul Heyman suggests maybe Solo should hang back tonight so Jimmy can settle things with his brother alone
  • LA Knight wants to talk about the other L.A., but The New Day don’t think he’s earned it, and Kofi Kingston would love the chance to shut him up
  • Kofi Kingston def. LA Knight by pinfall
  • Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley have a brief showdown after Dominik Mysterio spends a lot of time running his mouth
  • Shayna Baszler def. Natalya by submission
  • Firefly Fun House asks a pressing question: Can you keep a secret?
  • Heyman tells Jimmy Uso he needs to handle things with Jey Uso, or Roman Reigns will next week
  • Karrion Kross def. Rey Mysterio by submission thanks to interference from Dominik
  • Jimmy Uso wants to talk to Jey, but he ends up talking to Sami Zayn instead … and the drama continues

Scroll down for more details on every match and major non-match segment.

Opening Bell: DX reunion on Raw’s season premiere, Dynamite goes North

Get set for the week in WWE and AEW with Opening Bell: quick previews of Raw, SmackDown, Dynamite and Rampage.

Welcome to the Opening Bell, where we round up what’s been announced for WWE (Raw and SmackDown) and AEW (Dynamite and Rampage) programming for the week we’ve just begun.

WWE Raw preview – Monday, October 10, Barclays Center, Brooklyn

Where Brooklyn at? Probably at Barclays Center for the season premiere of Raw. WWE is going hard on the nostalgia front for this one, promoting a DX 25th anniversary reunion that’ll have everyone you know and love except for one blonde guy you may remember who works for another company. But more on Daddy Ass in a bit.

(Also, it’s been 25 years since D-Generation X first hit the scene? Wow.)

Roman Reigns and the Bloodline will also be on hand, because you can’t have a season premiere without your top star. Or you shouldn’t, anyway. With Extreme Rules in the rear view mirror, where Reigns wasn’t booked anyway, he can turn his full attention to Logan Paul, who he’ll face at Crown Jewel in just a few weeks.

Also on the schedule for Raw from Brooklyn:

AEW Dynamite preview – Wednesday, October 12, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto

There are few guarantees in pro wrestling or life in general, but for something that is as close to a sure thing as possible, consider the AEW Dynamite debut in Toronto this week and how hot the crowd will be. While numerous people have suggested AEW has perhaps run some eastern and midwest U.S. markets too often, this should be a very live show considering how fans have clamored for the company to do a Canadian swing.

We know a bit about what is planned for Dynamite too. Chris Jericho will put his status as “The Ocho” on the line by defending his ROH World Championship against Bryan Danielson. Jericho will get home country love, but the American Dragon is over everywhere, so this should be a very fun encounter particularly in Toronto.

Billy Gunn, the one DX member who is not invited to the Raw reunion, will have his hands full anyway as he takes on Swerve Strickland. Considering Swerve won’t stay out of the tag team champs’ business, you can bet The Acclaimed will probably arrive for this one as well.

And a former friendship turned sour will be showcased when “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry faces Luchasaurus. The one-time tag team champions were bound to collide when the dinosaur man sided with Christian Cage, making this match as inevitable as Thanos.

Wait, that’s not all (said in infomercial voice)! Orange Cassidy still hasn’t won AEW gold, but he’ll get another chance when he faces Pac again for the All-Atlantic Championship. So this is definitely a worthy debut show all told.

WWE SmackDown preview – Friday, October 14, Smoothie King Center, New Orleans

As is normal when we’re at the beginning of a week, we only have a small snippet of what will happen this Friday on SmackDown in NOLA. Sami Zayn, the Honorary Uce, will take on Kofi Kingston in a match that spun out of things that went down on last week’s show. Can he prove to Jey Uso that he has things under control when left to his own devices?

Also, LA Knight is back! In the latest example of trying to kill something you’ve created. In this case, he’ll be attempting to put his Max Dupri persona behind him when he battles Mansoor of the Maximum Male Models.

Oh yeah, and maybe that Bray Wyatt fellow everyone seems to be talking about will make an appearance on SmackDown …

AEW Rampage preview – Friday, October 14, Coca-Cola Coliseum, Toronto (taped on October 13)

This week’s Rampage is an unusual one: It’s not live, but it’s also not being recorded after Dynamite on Wednesday night. Instead, it will be taped during a separate show in Toronto on Thursday evening.

We’re not sure of any matches definitively set for Rampage, but as is typically the case, we should know at least two by the end of Dynamite.

10 WWE stars you probably forgot were in their 40s

A number of WWE stars continue to shine even though they’re in their 40s. Here are 10 you may have forgotten are in that age range.

When Finn Balor interrupted Dolph Ziggler during his backstage interview on the Aug. 22, 2022 episode of Raw, it touched off an interaction that included Balor calling Ziggler “Kid.” That was funny for two reasons; the first, as Ziggler pointed out immediately after, is that both wrestlers are almost the same age.

The other reason Balor’s wording was humorous is that neither man is a kid at this point. When they faced off in the ring a while later, you might be surprised to know that they did it at a combined age of 83.

Ziggler and Balor are still amazing in-ring performers, of course, but they’re only part of a large contingent of WWE stars who are getting it done in their 40s. It’s actually so common for veterans to be around longer than you think that we’ve rounded up 10 wrestlers who you may not have realized are 40+.

Note that this list doesn’t even include some of the more obvious superstars in that age range who are still active, including Edge, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and John Cena. In alphabetical order, here are our 10 WWE wrestlers who are aging gracefully in the ring right in front of our eyes.

WWE SmackDown results: An unexpected return shakes things up in Greenville

Get full WWE SmackDown results for the August 5, 2022 episode from Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC.

Sometimes we just don’t have time to do the full-on, detailed breakdown of WWE SmackDown. We’re a small team at Wrestling Junkie, after all.

But that’s OK, because we’re still invested in finding out what went down from Bon Secours Wellness Arena (that’s a long name for a venue) in Greenville, SC and passing it along to you. So an abbreviated results post it is, with just the summaries of each match and segment.

Here’s what we know to expect: Roman Reigns will address the man he knows is now his No. 1 contender for Clash at the Castle, Drew McIntyre. Seven women will run the gauntlet (meaning a Gauntlet Match) to determine who will challenge Liv Morgan for her belt (we’re allowed to call it that now, probably). Shinsuke Nakamura will face Ludwig Kaiser, again, for a potential shot at Gunther.

Let’s roll, Greenville!

WWE SmackDown results in 60 seconds:

  • Ricochet def. Happy Corbin by pinfall, partly because Corbin can’t let go of his issues with Pat McAfee
  • Sami Zayn tries keeping it 100 with the Bloodline but wants to know why the Tribal Chief kept him on read
  • Shinsuke Nakamura def. Ludwig Kaiser by pinfall, earning a shot at Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship next week (and possibly earning Kaiser another butt-whupping)
  • Kofi Kingston says Xavier Woods is in good spirits as he recuperates from the attack by the Viking Raiders, but it’s almost time for him to make the Raiders pay
  • The Usos ask Zayn for a favor, telling him it would mean a lot to Roman to head to the production truck to ensure his pyro, music and entire entrance is just right tonight
  • Liv Morgan, sporting a brace on her left arm, gets some boos and “you tapped out” chants as she explains her victory over Ronda Rousey,; Sonya Deville comes out to belittle Liv and vow to win the Gauntlet Match
  • Shayna Baszler wins a Gauntlet Match that included Aliyah, Sonya Deville, Shotzi, Xia Li, Natalya and Raquel Rodriguez to become No. 1 contender for Morgan’s SmackDown Women’s Championship
  • Annoyed by Zayn’s nagging, the Usos tell him he needs to pull his weight or they’re going to take his Bloodline shirt off him real quick
  • Viking Raiders def. Local Talent by pinfall, then get attacked by a kendo stick-wielding Kingston
  • Kofi Kingston def. Erik by pinfall
  • The tournament for the Women’s Tag Team Championship is back on, for real, for real
  • Drew McIntyre comes out to confront the typically confident Bloodline, but he’s attacked by a returning Karrion Kross (now with hair!), and Scarlett leaves the hourglass in the ring in front of Roman Reigns

Who has won the most WWE championships of all time? Here’s the top 10

See who has won the most WWE championships of all time as we run down the top 10 list of most decorated superstars.

The Bloodline knows a thing or two about having a lot of gold.

Roman Reigns and The Usos have made a lot of noise as of late in WWE by uniting the promotions top singles and tag team titles for men, effectively holding two championships at once. It’s an impressive feat, and adds two more titles to the tallies of both the Tribal Chief and the Uso brothers.

In the case of Reigns, it also adds to his overall haul of WWE championships. Since his main roster debut in late 2012, Reigns has held every major WWE title at least once, including the WWE Tag Championship (with Seth Rollins, back when there was only one) and both the Intercontinental and United States Championships (one time each).

But are Reigns’ nine total titles enough to make the top 10 list of wrestlers who have held the most WWE championships? We dove in to find out.

Before we get to the list, some ground rules. For the sake of these rankings, we’re counting only what we consider major WWE championships, singles and tag team, for both men and women. We’re not counting titles won in WCW (sorry, Sting and others) but are including those same belts when won in WWE, like the current United States Championship.

We’re also not counting anything the wrestlers themselves invented, like Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Championship, nor are we considering the 24/7 Championship, which changes so often as a condition of its gimmick that it makes the number of title reigns essentially meaningless. Much respect to everyone who continues to chase that strap, however, because mid-card championships are fun too.

Also not included are the Hardcore Championship, for similar reasons to the 24/7 title, or the Light Heavyweight/Cruiserweight titles.

With those specifics out of the way, let’s jump into the list of who’s won the most WWE championships of all time, starting with No. 10 and working our way to the top.

Opening Bell: AEW hits Vegas, Cody Rhodes in the spotlight on Raw

Get ready for the week of May 23 in WWE and AEW with previews for Raw, SmackDown, Dynamite and Rampage.

Welcome to the Opening Bell, where we round up what’s been announced for WWE (Raw and SmackDown) and AEW (Dynamite and Rampage) programming for the week ahead.

WWE Raw preview – Ford Center, Evansville, IN

There’s a big confrontation being advertised for this week’s Raw, and by that we mean large in terms of how it’s being positioned and the physical size of the men involved. Bobby Lashley, who managed to beat Omos in a Steel Cage match even though he was thrown through the cage, has another challenge for the Nigerian Giant that he’ll apparently lay out Monday night.

And Cody Rhodes, who is increasingly being shown off as one of WWE’s biggest fan favorites, will be in action as well, taking on The Miz. But the real question is whether there will be another “Countdown to Cody” timer.

Also on tap for this week:

AEW Dynamite preview – Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas

There could be worse things than being in Las Vegas all week for a full week of AEW leading up to Double or Nothing on Sunday night. The slate begins with Dynamite on Wednesday, and even with the pay-per-view just days away, the card is pretty loaded. It’s headlined by a Steel Cage match between Wardlow and Shawn Spears, which the big man must win if he wants to get his hands on MJF (spoiler: he does want that, very much).

From a pure in-ring action standpoint, the bout of the night could (should be?) the Jungle Boy vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Ricky Starks three-way dance. Hard to imagine that one won’t be a lot of fun.

Also announce by AEW for this week’s Dynamite:

AEW Rampage preview – Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas

When will AEW Rampage air this week? It’s an open question as of the time of this post, due to the uncertainty of the NBA and NHL playoff schedules and what time games might air on TNT. It’s possible it could be headed for the 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT time slot that got the show its lowest ratings ever a few weeks ago.

Be that as it may, Rampage is set to be live this week as part of the full Las Vegas AEW experience, and we’ll update with more on the matches as they are announced.

WWE SmackDown preview – Simmons Bank Arena, North Little Rock, AR

Though it feels like the New Day has been feuding forever with the group now officially know as the Brawling Brutes, it was only this past week that Xavier Woods said out loud what we all knew: his side is outnumbered.

That being the case, he and Kofi Kingston are recruiting a mystery partner to their cause for a six-man tag team match this Friday. Who will it be, and can Woods pull off the Backwoods in a bout with so many people in it? We’ll find out on SmackDown.