Here is your fight size update for Wednesday, August 25, 2021.
- This past Sunday at SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar returned at the very end of the show to confront Roman Reigns. Following that return, he attacked John Cena after the show had gone off the air. At the time of this writing, a video of Brock attacking John Cena, an advertisement for the next episode of SmackDown with Brock's picture in the thumbnail, and a #shorts video of Brock returning, have amassed a total of 4,802,337 views on YouTube.
As of this writing, Brock Lesnar has not officially been announced for any upcoming WWE dates, but it remains evident that people pay attention when Brock Lesnar's on their screen.
- In her Instagram story, former WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee shared a picture of a Micro Brawler of her husband, CM Punk, and one of Britt Baker. She captioned the photo saying that her account was now a “Britt Baker stan account.” Recently, Baker spoke about AJ Lee potentially returning to the ring. Learn more here.
- Speaking with Sportskeeda, Big E once again stood firm in his belief that despite the tradition, he never needs to abandon his friends, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, in order to be successful in WWE.
"You know, the old pro wrestling mantra is you get with a faction, you guys all get elevated, then you turn on all those other guys, you move past them and use them as a stepping stone to get where you need to go," said Big E. "What I hope with what we do is I want to do something different. I really, truly believe in our brotherhood. I believe in the bond between us. And Kofi was able to become the World Champion without turning his back on his brothers. And I feel like I can do some many of the same things."
"I don't want to change who I am fundamentally in order to fit the mold of what people think a top guy or a World Champion is." said Big E. "I have no interest in changing myself to become what people want or expect. So, I have a ton of respect for what he's done and all he's done. And also, this recent run too. But if there's any illusion as to hey, I needed to turn on those others, or forget Kofi and Woods to get where I need to be, that's not happening. That's not anything that's even remotely interesting to me."
- FITE released the following concerning "found" NWA footage:
NWA Releases Newly “Discovered” Film from 1948 & Complete Card for Historic PPV
To celebrate the events at the Chase in St. Louis on August 27th and 28th, the National Wrestling Alliance is showing the ultimate time-travelling tribute, starring Aron Stevens, “Krusher” Kratos and May Valentine; Complete card announced
St. Louis, MO (August 25, 2021): The National Wrestling Alliance has released a newly “discovered’ piece of NWA history, film footage from 1948, the year of the promotion’s founding.
Unearthed receipts from the era indicate the original broadcast was shot and edited by Linda Strawberry, and due to this incredible find this film clip will serve as the cold open of the NWA EMPOWERRR pay-per-view August 28th on FITE; all from the historic Chase Plaza in St. Louis, Missouri; and to be followed the next night by NWA 73 on August 29th. Check out FITE’s special PPV bundle deal for the weekend now.
The surprise film-find stars host May Valentine, alongside National Wrestling Alliance Tag Champions Aron ‘Shooter’ Stevens and ‘Krusher’ Kratos. This amazing news follows a stunning week of announcements including the inclusion of Ric Flair in NWA 73 and NWA President William Patrick Corgan’s purchase of Mildred Burke’s belt and plans to pay homage to her at EmPowerrr.
- The second half of Dwayne Johnson's Behind the Attraction Disney documentary series is now available on the Disney+ streaming service.
“Since 1955, when Disneyland first opened its doors, the rides and attractions have been impacting generations in such a fun and magical way around the world. This first-of-its-kind series will bring you behind the scenes to experience and celebrate how these beloved attractions creatively came to be. Hope to make Walt and the ‘mouse house’ proud with this one,” said Johnson in a statement on the Disney website last year.
- Speaking with Dr. Chris Featherstone on Sportskeeda Wrestling's UnSKripted, Alberto Del Rio reveals that Bret Hart once suggested that he turned babyface early on in his WWE run before he actually did.
"I remember Bret 'The Hitman' Hart coming and saying this to me, and I feel so lucky that someone like him said that to me. He came to, and he said, 'Man, you are such a nice guy, but when I see you on TV and you do that smirk, I just want to punch the TV right away. You're so good as a heel that you should never be a babyface. You're the best one. You're the best one as a heel out there,' and then you know, that was an amazing compliment coming from the best one in the business, one of my idols," revealed Alberto Del Rio.
-BetOnline.AG released the following betting odds concerning the CM Punk/Darby Allin match and Samoa Joe’s latest WWE NXT Championship run:
CM Punk vs Darby Allin
CM Punk -400 (1/4)
Darby Allin +250 (5/2)
Will Samoa Joe be NXT Champion at the End of 2021
Yes -200 (1/2)
No +150 (3/2)
- Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, Paul Wight, the former Big Show, opened up about Vince McMahon not letting him star in "Gladiator" with Russel Crowe:
"There were so many projects I couldn't do because of the WWE schedule. When I first signed with WWE, Nick Cage reached out to me because his son was a big fan of me. Nick Cage was trying to hook me up with this Russel Crowe movie. But it was being shot in Spain. I would have to be in Spain for 6 weeks for it. But I'm thinking Russel Crowe is going to be a star, Nick Cage wants me, I've got it. I go to ask Vince and he says 'I'm paying you to be a wrestler, not an actor.' So that was the end of that. So then it's like yeah you are paying me a lot of money to be a wrestler, I will go back to work sir. There wasn't as much crossover in the wrestling business then. For a while, WWE was very against wrestlers crossing over into movies. Then eventually they got into the program. So I am there watching Gladiator, that would have been good to be a part of. But now with AEW I can be a part of all sorts of projects. Having that freedom to build the Paul Wight brand [is good]. Because it's their intellectual property, so when you leave you have to rebuild yourself."
- Speaking with Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone, MLW star EJ Nduka, who was recently released by WWE, offered the following advice to those who were released after him.
“Keep your head up, keep going, don’t spend too much time about ‘what I coulda, shoulda did.’ Don’t worry about all that. Just worry about you and moving forward, how to provide for you, your family, and people like us, we’re professional athletes. We’re at the highest level. If you do what you’re supposed to do and you worry about what you can control, you will land on your feet. I literally know what you’re going through. I know that it’s tough times right now. COVID messed a lot of things up,” he stated. “COVID came in and got some people in the kidney and she’s still hitting and brought her cousin Delta and now she’s fighting too! They don’t want to let go, they don’t want to let go, but in the end, there’s always sunshine at the end of the trials and tribulations. So just keep going, keep your head up, and don’t stress.”
- When the market closed today, WWE stock was trading at $50.21 per share.
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- Check out the top 10 moments from yesterday's NXT.
- Learn more about the new Chris Jericho NFT:
