R.I.P. Gene Okerlund
Legendary interviewer and WWE Hall of Famer “Mean” Gene Okerlund passed away this week at the age of 76. According to Okerlund’s son, Gene had a bad fall at his home in December, and the injuries from this fall led to a rapid decline in his overall health. Starting his career in the AWA, Okerlund eventually made his way to WWE for its super successful 80s era. Mean Gene’s interviews were an integral part of the success of mega stars like Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Okerlund went over to WCW in the early 90s and remained there until the company was purchased by WWE. At this point he returned and made occasional special appearances while also serving as a host or a narrator for many of the company’s side projects. Gene was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. He was THE voice of one of prowrestling’s most iconic eras, and there will never be another like him. Condolences to his family, friends, and fans.
NXT News
NXT has released the nominees for their annual year end awards, and you can help choose the winners. Simply use the Twitter hashtags associated with each category and contender to cast your votes. The voting period is set to end on January 25th just in time for the winners to be announced at the following night’s Takeover event. Here are the nominees:
Female Competitor Of The Year
#NXTAwardFemale
#NikkiCross
#ShaynaBaszler
#KairiSane
#EmberMoon
#BiancaBelair
Male Competitor Of The Year
#NXTAwardMale
#Ciampa – Tommaso Ciampa
#Gargano – Johnny Gargano
#Ricochet
#Aleister – Aleister Black
#Velveteen – Velveteen Dream
#Andrade – Andrade “Cien” Almas
#AdamCole
#PeteDunne
Overall Competitor Of The Year
#NXTAwardOverall
#Ciampa – Tommaso Ciampa
#NikkiCross
#Gargano – Johnny Gargano
#Ricochet
#ShaynaBaszler
#Aleister – Aleister Black
#KairiSane
#Velveteen – Velveteen Dream
#Andrade – Andrade “Cien” Almas
#EmberMoon
#AdamCole
#PeteDunne
#BiancaBelair
NXT Tag Team Of The Year
#NXTAwardTag
#UndisputedERA
#WarRaiders
#StreetProfits
#HeavyMachinery
#LorcanBurch – Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch
#MoustacheMountain
NXT TakeOver Of The Year
#NXTAwardTakeOver
#Philly
#NewOrleans
#ChicagoII
#BrooklynIV
#WarGames
NXT Match Of The Year
#NXTAwardMatch
#WarGames – WarGames Match (TakeOver: WarGames)
#GarganoAlmas – Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas (NXT Championship Match, TakeOver: Philadelphia)
#NXTTags – Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed ERA (NXT Tag Team Championship Match, NXT TV, July 11, 2018)
#GarganoCiampa – Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa (Unsanctioned Match, TakeOver: New Orleans)
#NATitle – NXT North American Championship Ladder Match (TakeOver: New Orleans)
#SaneBaszler – Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT Women’s Championship Match, TakeOver: Brooklyn IV)
#RicochetDream – Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream (TakeOver: Chicago)
#CiampaBlack – Aleister Black vs. Tommaso Ciampa (NXT Championship Match, NXT TV, July 25)
#DunneGibson – Pete Dunne vs. Zack Gibson (WWE U.K. Championship Match, NXT TV, Aug. 22)
#ColeBlack – Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole (Extreme Rules Match, TakeOver: Philadelphia)
#DunneOReilly – Pete Dunne vs. Kyle O’Reilly (WWE U.K. Championship Match, NXT TV, June 13)
#ERABurchLorcan – Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Undisputed ERA (TakeOver: Chicago)
#CrossBelair – Nikki Cross vs. Bianca Belair (NXT TV, Sept. 12)
#ChampvsChamp – Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne (NXT North American Champion vs. WWE U.K. Champion Match, NXT TV, Sept. 19)
#NATitleTripleThreat – Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole (NXT North American Championship Triple Threat Match, NXT TV, Oct. 10)
NXT Rivalry Of The Year
#NXTAwardRivalry
#GarganoCiampa – Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
#SaneBaszler – Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler
#AleisterAttack – Aleister Black/Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa/Nikki Cross
#GarganoAlmas – Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
#ERAMoustache – Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed ERA
#MoonBaszler – Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler
#RicochetDream – Ricochet vs. Velveteen Dream
NXT Breakout Star Of The Year
#NXTAwardBreakout
#BiancaBelair
#LaceyEvans
#RheaRipley
#DakotaKai
#LarsSullivan
#Ricochet
#WarRaiders
#EC3
NXT Future Star Of The Year
#NXTAwardFuture
#MattRiddle
#KeithLee
#MiaYim
#ForgottenSons – Forgotten Sons (Jaxson Ryker, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake)
#DominikDijakovic
#IoShirai
#CandiceLeRae
#DukeShafir – Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir
#KonaReeves
PPV Event Plans
NXT UK: Takeover Blackpool: Jan 12:
The weekly TV is still building towards these announcements, but these are the matches currently being advertised for NXT UK’s first Takeover event. As Takeovers go, this would be a relatively full card already, but I wouldn’t be surprised to possibly see another match added. There are quite a few heavily featured players for the brand that don’t currently have a match on the announced card.
UK Title: Pete Dunne© vs Joe Coffey
UK Womens Title: Rhea Ripley© vs Toni Storm
UK Tag Titles: (crowning of inaugural champions) Mustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) vs Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson)
No DQ Match: Dave Mastiff vs Eddie Dennis
NXT Takeover Pheonix: Jan 26:
This card is still coming together, but here’s what we know so far…
NXT Title: Tommaso Cimpa© vs Aleister Black
NXT Womens Title: Shayna Baszler© vs Bianca Belair
Possible Additions include…
NXT North American Title: Ricochet© vs Johnny Gargano
NXT Tag Titles: Undisputed Era vs ???
Royal Rumble: Jan 27:
AJ Styles won a 5 way match on the New Years Day Smackdown to earn a shot at regaining the WWE Title from Daniel Bryan, Kalisto and Tozawa both won their way into the Cruiserweight Title match, and numerous people declared themselves for the Rumble matches. Check out the updated card below.
What we know so far…
Universal Title: Brock Lesnar© vs Braun Strowman
WWE Title: Daniel Bryan© vs AJ Styles
Men’s Rumble: Drew McIntyre, Big E, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, R-Truth (#30)
Women’s Rumble: Natalya, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Ember Moon, Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan, Liv Morgan, Carmella (#30)
The following Cruiserweight title 4 way match was announced this week. The 3 men who will face champion Buddy Murphy will be decided in qualifying matches on 205 Live the next two weeks.
Cruiserweight Title 4 Way: Buddy Murphy© vs Kalisto vs Akira Tozawa vs (Cedric Alexander or Hideo Itami)
