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The King of Strong Style has arrived. WWE has posted a new video to its YouTube channel in which they show the full match between Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn at NXT Takeover: Dallas in 2016. This was Nakamura’s debut match under the WWE banner.
You can see the match in its entirety below:
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From WWE.com:
Quickly, Nakamura’s Strong Style pedigree shone through as he battered Zayn with hard knees to the midsection and boots to the face. Zayn fought back, diving over the ropes onto Nakamura on the floor, then drilling him with a brutal Michinoku Driver back inside the ring. Once both Superstars were back on their feet, they began trading forearm strikes, one of which drew blood from the nose of Nakamura. Zayn downed his foe with a hard clothesline, but was soon caught in a cross armbreaker, which Nakamura transitioned into a Shining Triangle hold.
The leader of the Zayniacs withstood the punishment, escaped and even managed to lock Nakamur..

A true friend? WWE has posted a new video to their YouTube channel in which they show the full match between Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship from Roadblock: End of the Line 2016.
You can see the video in its entirety below:
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From WWE.com:
Whether he was torn up about his strained relations with Chris Jericho or just looking to play mind games with Reigns, Owens started the contest by evading The Big Dog. That plan worked for a bit — until Reigns’ fist swiftly met the WWE Universal Champion’s face with a firm punch to the kisser.
From there, The Guy and KO went back and forth in front of the WWE Universe in Pittsburgh, with momentum shifting several times over. KO seemed to have victory in hand when he dished out three vicious Frog Splashes (one onto the announce table, the second crashing him through it and the third in the ring for a near fall), but Reigns would not be derailed.
Instead, The Big Dog rallied ba..

It comes with the title. Being the WWE Champion is one of the top honors in all of the wrestling world. A good chunk of past champions are all time great names and some of the biggest stars in the history of wrestling. It means a lot to be champion but it also brings a lot of new opportunities. That was on display this week, as the reigning champion was allowed to do something pretty cool.
WWE Champion Big E. appeared before the Big 10 Championship game, appearing in a flag battle against University of Michigan legend Charles Woodson. Both men held up flags for their respective schools and dueled with the flag poles. Big E. is a former defensive back for the University of Iowa, who sent on to lose the game 42-3. Over the season, Big E. has appeared as a hype man for Iowa.
It was a pretty cool moment. Check out the duel, Big E.’s comments and Big E. at his day job:
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Since it’s NXT 2.0, this is pretty much a Takeover without being a Takeover. We still have the double WarGames matches, which have been set up about as well as can be expected. I’m not sure how the whole thing is going to go, but we could be in for a heck of a fight. That being said, NXT’s expectations have more or less plummeted in recent months so I wouldn’t quite get my hopes up as much. Let’s get to it.
Cameron Grimes vs. Duke Hudson I like Grimes a lot and Hudson is slowly growing on me, but what is working for this match is Grimes’ talking over the last few weeks. Grimes has been cutting some old fashioned wrestling promos about Hudson taking away his hair and beard, which apparently meant a lot to him. That’s the kind of thing that has worked in wrestling for the better part of ever and it worked again to set up this hair vs. hair match.
He got serious quick:
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I’m not sure on this one, but I think I’ll take Grimes. If nothing else, we..

That’s a lot. While it might not be as big as it once was, there is no wrestling promotion in the world that compares to WWE. The company makes more money and has more influence than anyone else and a lot of its top names are among the best in the world. Those wrestlers deserve and receive some high compensation, and now we know a bit more about what they earn.
According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the top stars in WWE earn over five million dollars a year on their guaranteed contracts. This includes names such as Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. There is at least one other unnamed wrestler making at least $4 million a year, while the rest of the top of the roster makes anywhere from $2-$3 million a year. There were no names includes aside from Lesnar and Reigns.
The two of them are worth some money. Check out how they have earned it:
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Opinion: I..

That’s something. Every now and then, you will see a spot in wrestling that gets your attention in a big way. It might be anything from a big dive to a huge stunt, but it is something that gets people watching and then keeps them talking. That was the case this week and it seems to have been done for one of the more specific reasons you will ever hear.
The main event of this week’s edition of AEW Dynamite featured Cody Rhodes vs. Andrade El Idolo in a street fight. The end of the match saw Rhodes superplex El Idolo through a flaming table. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the idea of the finish was for Rhodes to be able to give his hometown a special moment. The previous time AEW was in Atlanta, Rhodes moonsaults off of the top of a cage to defeat Wardlow.
It was a crazy match. Check out some of Rhodes’ bigger moments:
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Opinion: It was cer..

That’s a different way to go. While he might not be the most popular star in the world at times, there is something about Brock Lesnar that just feels different. You do not get someone like him very often and it makes sense for WWE to want to push him as one of the top stars in the company. Lesnar is back again at the moment, but he almost returned in a rather different way.
Lesnar returned from a suspension during this week’s SmackDown and by the end of the night, he was set for a Universal Title match against Roman Reigns at next month’s Day 1 pay per view. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original plans for Lesnar’s return would have seen him appear on next Friday’s December 10 show in Los Angeles, having bought a ticket to sit in the front row. There is no word on when or why the plans were changed.
Lesnar does have a good record for returns. Check out some of his comebacks:
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One more round? WWE has been around for a very long time now and the company has done a lot of things over its history. Some of these things have been more popular than others, but a few of them have been very memorable. That is not necessarily a good thing, but now it seems that WWE might be bringing back one of its older concepts for another try after a good many years.
According to Fightful, on November 30, WWE filed a trademark application for Tough Enough. This could mean a return of the competition series, though WWE has not yet made any announcement. Tough Enough originally aired in 2001 and six seasons have been held, with the most recent taking place in 2015. Neither of the most recent winners, Sara Lee and Josh Bredl, ever wrestled a match on the main roster.
There have been some moments on Tough Enough. Check out what has happened there before:
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It can happen to anyone. Injuries are one of the few constants in the world of wrestling and unfortunately that means anyone can be hurt at any time. It happens more often than anyone would like and the question instantly becomes just how long someone is going to be out of action. It seems that we saw another injury take place this week, but it might not be as bad as one might think.
AEW’s Alan Angels has announced that he suffered a strained MCL during his match against Bryan Danielson on this week’s Dynamite. As a result, Angels was unable to wrestle at this week’s AEW Dark. It is not clear when Angels will be able to return to the ring. Danielson defeated Angels with a kneebar and referenced the injury as soon as the match was over, taking credit for it in the process.
I was supposed to compete at the AEW Dark tapings today but unfortunately I suffered from a strained MCL at the hands of Bryan Danielson Wednesday. Hope to be back soon!
— Alan Angels (@Alan_V_Angels) December 3, 2..

It’s the end of an era. Wrestling is a sport that works a lot better when you can see what is going on. You can only get so far without being able to watch everything and luckily that has gotten a lot easier over time. The rise of streaming video has been a game changer for wrestling fans in a very positive way. Now though, it seems to have led to the demise of something else.
According to Wrestling DVD Network, WWE will be discontinuing DVDs and Blu-Rays in the United States, Australia and Canada starting in 2022. The final release will be Survivor Series 2021, which will be released on December 28. The United Kingdom will continue to receive viewers through March. There is no word on why WWE has decided to discontinue the sales.
I do get the change. Check out some of the matches that were featured on more than one DVD:
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Opinion: I’m not surprised that ..

So much for that? Romantic relationships are some of the most complicated things to pull off in wrestling, as so much of a wrestler’s time is spent on the road. That does not exactly make it easy for the people involved to see each other and that can make things more complicated. Several wrestlers wind up in relationships with other wrestlers, but that no longer seems to be the case with two of them.
According to Bodyslam.net, Charlotte and Andrade El Idolo have ended their romantic relationship. This comes after El Idolo has stopped following Charlotte on social media and has deleted all photos of Charlotte from his own social media accounts. While it is not known why, Charlotte is said to have been the one to end the relationship, which was not mutual. The two have been dating since February 2019 and became engaged on January 1, 2020.
The two are both great elsewhere. Check out what they have done in the ring:
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That could be a different way to go. The right character can be everything for a wrestler, but the wrong one can be much worse. If something doesn’t click, it can drag a talented wrestler down in a hurry. It can take a lot of tries to make it work right and sometimes you don’t see everything that a wrestler tries. That is the case again, but what might have been sounds fascinating.
According to the WrestleVotes Twitter account, WWE had no long term plans for Elias’ segments in a graveyard and merely wanted to find a way to get rid of his previous character. WWE’s next idea for him would see him with colorful trunks but Vince McMahon felt that it was too similar to Randy Savage and dropped it. There is no word on what WWE plans to do with Elias or when he will be returning to television.
Interesting note on Elias, source states they had no end plan for graveyard vignettes. Just shot them to kill off the “music” gimmick. His initial rebranding weeks back looked to similar to Randy Sava..