Jack Perry successfully defended the AEW TNT Championship against Minoru Suzuki on the “Grand Slam” edition of “AEW Collision.” After the match, Perry looked to take liberties with Suzuki, but in the same way that he came to his rescue after losing to Chris Jericho earlier this year, Katsuyori Shibata ran down to fend off the TNT Champion.

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Speaking on “Wrestling Observer Radio,” Dave Meltzer speculated that Shibata and Suzuki could perform as a tag team in AEW, before claiming that the former will have an immediate plan set up for him at WrestleDream. “I think they are doing Shibata and Jack Perry at the pay-per-view.” 

Shibata recently shared the ring with Suzuki at the special TAKAYAMANIA EMPIRE 3 event in Tokyo, a charity show to raise money for the legendary Yoshihiro Takayama, who was paralyzed in 2017. However, Shibata has not competed in AEW since the Zero-Hour portion of All In 2024, where teamed up with the Von Erichs, Dustin Rhodes, and Sammy Guevara to defeat The Cage of Agony and The Undisputed Kingdom. 

If Shibata challenges Perry for the TNT Championship, it would mark his first time fighting for the title since signing with AEW. He previously challenged for the AEW International Championship twice before officially joining the company. Elsewhere, he unsuccessfully competed for the FTW Championship, which is unrecognised, and the ROH World Championship, the latter of which he fought for at last year’s WrestleDream event. Shibata won the ROH Pure Championship at Supercard of Honor 2023, though it remains to be seen if he can win one of AEW’s main roster titles.

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Please credit “Wrestling Observer Radio” when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Tuesday marks the debut of “WWE NXT” on broadcast television, as the show will be moving to The CW from its previous home on the USA Network. The move will come with plenty of tradeoffs, as The CW is in more homes than USA Network, but the latter is a higher-profile channel compared to the former UPN.

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According to Wrestlenomics, The CW will bring “NXT” to 18 million more homes, as that is the number of households currently using over-the-air antennae. That said, the extra 18 million homes is not as significant an increase, as USA Network was already in 70 million homes. The CW has also reportedly struggled to deliver comparable ratings to high-performing cable networks like USA.

“NXT” will, however, likely be the most-viewed program on The CW, should the program be able to deliver the entirety of its USA Network audience to The CW on Tuesday. The show is expected to have an outsized viewership for the premiere on its new broadcaster, similar to how “SmackDown” premiering on Fox drew impressive viewership numbers. Unlike the Fox deal though, once the “NXT” ratings normalize after the highly-promoted show, even numbers comparable to the USA Network audience will still be a significant boost to CW’s viewership.

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The move comes amid WWE’s media rights shuffling around the proverbial game board. While USA is losing “NXT,” it recently gained “SmackDown,” which ended its run on Fox in September. This means USA Network plays home to both of WWE’s flagship weekly shows until “Raw” premieres on Netflix on January 6.

CM Punk is also expected to have a major role on The CW “NXT” premiere, which should bring more eyes to the product. Meanwhile, other upcoming episodes will feature main roster stars like Randy Orton, indicating that WWE wants to get the new era of the development brand’s weekly show off to a strong start.

This past August, former WWE star Sid Vicious sadly passed away at the age of 63 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Vicious wrestled in both WCW and WWE throughout the 1990s and captured both their respective World Championships on numerous occasions. He also competed in the main event of WWE WrestleMania VIII with Hulk Hogan, who opened up about Vicious’ passing during an interview with “Barstool Rasslin’.”

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“I got along great with Sid. I mean in the ring the one thing I can say about Sid is he took care of you. He never hurt me in the ring,” Hogan said. That said, their relationship wasn’t entirely positive toward the end.

“One thing that kind of catches me off-guard is all these guys — and there’s several of them, not just pointing out Sid — all these guys that I’ve worked with, and all these guys that I’ve done business with, all of a sudden in the twilight of their career, when they’re done they do these shoot interviews. ‘Hulk didn’t know anything about the wrestling business or Hulk was an a**hole,’ and I’m like man, I had no idea that we felt like this … Sid did some of that towards the end, but I would never hold it against him because I love Sid.” 

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Hogan noted that there are several wrestlers who have passed away that spoke negatively about him during interviews in their lifetimes. He also stated that he finds it strange that many former stars harbor animosity toward him. One of those wrestlers is Jesse Ventura, who claimed that he’ll never make amends with Hogan due to “The Real American” opposing his attempts to create a union for performers.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “Barstool Rasslin;” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

In a surprising move, Bron Breakker’s WWE Intercontinental Championship reign came to an end last week after 51 days of the second-generation star holding the title. Jey Uso defeated Breakker in the main event of “WWE Raw,” leading many to wonder what the immediate future holds for the former champion. Appearing on 99.5 WKQD, Breakker was asked if he planned to seek revenge on Uso, and the wrestler shared that he wasn’t quite sure.

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“I don’t back down from anybody, but certainly, right now, [my] future’s a little bit unknown,” Breakker said. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Though Breakker would be perfectly happy with a rematch against Uso, it sounds as though the performer is waiting to hear what the company has planned for him, or at the very least is being tight-lipped about what’s next. As for future opponents beyond Uso, there are several fellow WWE stars that Breakker indicated he’d like to get in the ring with.

“GUNTHER’s been exceptional in everything he’s done,” Breakker said. “I think GUNTHER versus myself would be an absolute showdown. That’s a pay-per-view-worthy match, I think. And then, I think, obviously one day, me and Roman Reigns has got to be [on] the agenda.”

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He called Reigns “the greatest of all time” and pointed out the fact that both men use the spear as their finishing move, which would only add to the drama in their match. Breakker has long had his eyes on Reigns, teasing a match between the two as far back as 2022.

In addition to those two, Breakker is looking ahead to next year’s WWE Royal Rumble as a significant opportunity to prove himself. Still, the young wrestler isn’t giving up on the idea that he could already capture a title by the time that event rolls around.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 99.5 WKDQ with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.