Other than watching NXT this evening, you may want to catch the newest episode of Celebrity Family Feud. This will air on ABC at 8PM ET, check your local listings.
The women of WWE will be facing off against the men of WWE. This episode was taped in April and will feature the following teams:
Michin, Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Zelina Vega, and Sonya Deville to take on Angelo Dawkins, Montez Ford, Bobby Lashley, Austin Theory, and LA Knight.
This wouldn’t be the first time WWE took to Celebrity Family Feud. Prior episodes have included The Bella Twins family, and a team of Liv Morgan, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Bayley, and Natalya.
The former multi-WWE Women’s Champion at one point was rumored to have a one-on-one match with Becky Lynch. This was as a result from their first ever women’s main event at WrestleMania that also included Charlotte Flair in 2019.
Rousey was a recent guest on Chris Van Vliet’s Insight podcast. She was asked if she knew why the singles match with Lynch never took place. Her response was rather short but to the point.
“I don’t know, Vince (McMahon) is an 80-year-old asshole.”
When Van Vliet continued to say there is no “love lost” here, Rousey replied,“No. Vince McMahon, John Laurinaitis, Bruce Prichard. They can all suck a dick.”
Rousey did, however, speak highly of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. “They’re fantastic, I love them.” Rousey has gone on record recently in another interview to say she wishes she could have wrestled in the current Triple H regime. She stated that Triple H is the one that believed in her.
Rousey announced that she is currently pregnant with baby number two in July with People Magazine.
The Aug. 20 NXT is going to have huge implications for one NXT talent as we will find out who is taking on Roxanne Perez at No Mercy. Perez, who has been champion since April, has successfully defeated many in the locker room. But now she will get to face someone who has never had a NXT Women’s Title opportunity.
A No Mercy Gauntlet Eliminator match is set to take place. Six women who were picked from a random draw: Sol Ruca, Jaida Parker, Karmen Petrovic, Kendal Grey, Adriana Rizzo, and Wren Sinclair to participate in this match. The winner gets Perez at No Mercy.
Also, after Wendy Choo took out the NXT Women’s North American Champion Kelani Jordan last week, she will be facing Lola Vice. Vice and Tatum Paxley were in a heated match during the time of Choo’s interruption that took out Jordan on commentary. Vice won the match, but her new baby face side won’t stop there as she wants to have the back of Jordan and take out Choo tonight.
Don’t forget to return to Diva Dirt tonight to chat about the NXT Divas together live during the show!
We’re back with another episode of Monday Night Raw! Let’s dive right into the action.
First piece of women’s action has Ivy Nile working out when she was approached by Chad Gable, Julius Creed, and Brutus Creed. Gable welcomed her to the American Made team, acknowledging that Nile had given Maxxine Dupri a chance. Gable assured her that they were not finished with the Wyatt Sicks.
Ivy Nile vs. Maxxine Dupri
Maxxine Dupri made her entrance with Otis and Akira Tozawa but headed to the ring alone. Ivy Nile, accompanied by Chad Gable and the Creed Brothers, also made her entrance and then proceeded to the ring on her own.
The match started with Nile turning her back to Dupri, who took advantage by dropkicking Nile from behind. Dupri followed her to ringside, suplexed her, and even tossed her over the broadcast table. However, once back in the ring, Nile regained control with a kick and some hard-hitting punches.
Suddenly, the Wyatt Sicks’ eerie lighting began to dim, and their entrance theme played. Nile turned around to find Nikki Cross standing in the ring. Michael Cole finally identified Cross, saying she believes herself to be Abby the Witch.
Gable and The Creeds joined Nile to try and help, but all of the Wyatt Sicks entered including Uncle Howdy. Cross took down Nile and the two ended up rolling out of the ring.
Rhea Ripley warned Damian Priest that his upcoming match with Dominik Mysterio was a trap. Priest acknowledged that it was indeed a trap but stated it was worth it to get his hands on Dom. Priest vowed that they wouldn’t stop until they passed judgment on what he called “this lame-ass Judgment Day.”
Damian Priest made his entrance for his scheduled match with Dominik Mysterio. However, before the match could begin, Carlito, JD McDonagh, and Finn Bálor attempted to ambush Priest. Despite being outnumbered, Priest managed to fend them off, delivering superkicks to Carlito and JD while Bálor fled the scene.
Inside the ring, Rhea Ripley confronted Dominik, blowing him a kiss before headbutting him. Priest followed up with a punch, and the duo began to clear off the commentary table. Ripley teased putting Dominik through the table, but Liv Morgan intervened, attacking Ripley from behind with a steel chair.
The brawl escalated as Priest was beaten down in the ring by the four members of Judgment Day. Carlito delivered a Backstabber to Priest, while Liv sent Ripley crashing into the ring post, commentary table, and steel steps. Liv continued her assault, eventually throwing Ripley into the ring post.
With Priest incapacitated, Bálor hit a Coup de Grace, and Morgan followed up with Oblivion on Ripley. Dominik climbed to the top rope and executed a Frog Splash on Priest. The segment ended with the Judgment Day standing tall over the fallen Priest and Ripley.
Triple Threat for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles
The main event featured a Triple Threat match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles with Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn facing Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane, and the team of Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, who were accompanied by Sonya Deville.
The action kicked off before the bell, with all six women brawling. The match officially began once Sane and Baszler were the only two left in the ring. Early on, Sane and Sky performed dives on their opponents, leading into a commercial break.
Returning from the break, Sane attempted her Insane Elbow on Baszler but was countered with boots to the midsection. Baszler then applied her submission finisher, but Fyre tagged in just in time. Dawn executed a Backstabber on Baszler who kept Sane in the Kirifuda Clutch, setting up Fyre to hit a Swanton Bomb onto the pile of competitors. Fyre then covered Baszler for the victory.
Winners: The Unholy Union (Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn)
Solid storytelling last night, with the tag match in particular being very good and action packed. Maxxine showed great aggression in the match but the major talking point from the segment was it seems like Nikki Cross found her first victim in this new role as Sister Abigail. The Liv/Rhea storyline continues to be a focal point throughout the show, adding more depth to the upcoming mixed tag match at Bash in Berlin.
After consulting with Diva Dirt readers, we’ve come up with at least 43 matches so far in 2024 that we could vote on which one is the best. The matches are from various different promotions and since we are eight months into the year, let’s see which ones stack up.
Below you will find a poll where you can vote up to 10 choices to rank the best matches this year (so far). The results will be posted on Thursday!
It is being reported by Fightful Select that Saraya’s current contract with AEW is wrapping up. The report is saying she could wind up as a free agent in the next few months but could also have an extension.
Per Fightful Select:
Saraya, formerly known as Paige, has held world titles in All Elite Wrestling, WWE and NXT. However, within a few months, she could end up on the free agent market, sources tell Fightful. We’ve learned that the “Fighting With My Family” inspiration’s deal with AEW extends until at least September, where there were option years, but instead something else is likely on the table.
The nature of the option years has been up for debate internally, as sources claimed each side held them. However, we can confirm that the two sides have at least been in talks regarding extending the current deal for a year, whether it be with a new contract, or the option being exercised.
Saraya became AEW World Champion at All In, but lost the championship to Hikaru Shida a few weeks later. She was forced into retirement for nearly five years due to a neck injury. Saraya noted in 2022, that during a conversation with Triple H upon her departure, the door was left open, and it was the previous regime’s decision to not retain her.
While Saraya doesn’t officially have a match at AEW All In, she is planned for the show. She’s scheduled to compete for the AEW World Title on Wednesday as well.
Saraya had been out of action with her career ending neck injury in WWE since 2017. AEW cleared her to compete when she joined them in 2022.
Over the weekend on Aug. 17, Pro Wrestling Revolution along with West Coast Pro Wrestling held its West Coast Pro x PWR Queen Of The Indies event in San Francisco, Cali. Hyan took the win in the finals against TNA Knockout Masha Slamovich.
The tournament had a total of eight women: Hyan, Masha Slamovich, Promise Braxton, Amazona, Maya World, Vert Vixen, Kylie Rae, and Keyra Strong. The winners of the first round match then had to form two tag teams in the semi-finals. This had Hyan & Slamovich taking on Braxton & Amazona. The winning team (Hyan & Slamovich) then battled in the finals.
A few other matches took place at the event which included:
At the upcoming NJPW show Capital Collision set for Aug. 30, Mercedes Moné will be facing Momo Watanabe while putting the STRONG Women’s Title on the line. It has been confirmed by NJPW that this match will be the main event.
Along with this highly anticipated main event match comes a second women’s match which will be a tag team affair. The team of Trish Adora and Viva Van will be taking on Mina Shirakawa and Hanako. Shirakawa recently returned to the states just in time for this match as she has also reappeared in AEW.
Maxxine Dupri is looking to get some revenge on Monday’s episode of Raw.
On her social media, Dupri states that she spoke with General Manager Adam Pearce and he has given her a match against Ivy Nile. Nile attacked Dupri on the August 12 episode of Raw which lead to American Made (Julius Creed & Brutus Creed) defeating Alpha Academy (Otis & Akira Tozawa). Nile kept with the Creeds and turned her back on Dupri attacking her at ringside.
This is the second women’s match advertised for Monday. The Women’s Tag Team Championships will be on the line in a Triple Threat. Last week, The Pure Fusion Collective (Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark) took on Damage CTRL (IYO SKY & Kairi Sane) had a match to determine the number one contenders, however, the champions Isla Dawn & Alba Fyre cause a no contest when they attacked both teams.
Don’t forget you can chat about the Raw Divas right here every Monday night live.
We are just about to hit nine months into 2024 and believe it or not the best may be yet to come. Women’s wrestling continues to flourish, and by the end of the year sometimes the start of the year gets left out. So how about we do a little poll to see what are the best women’s matches so far in 2024. We can always find out if these choices hold up by the end of the year awards.
Before we vote, Diva Dirt would like you the readers to nominate the options! So take this comment section to name who you think has had the best matches of the year so far. Let’s not shy away from the ones outside of WWE!
We will leave the comments open for the rest of the day and the poll will go up Monday.
On the Aug. 17 episode of AEW Collision, the challenger for the TBS Championship at All In, Britt Baker, took on Harley Cameron. In a near five minute match, Baker won after delivering a curb stomp to get the pin.
The win was short lived however when the TBS Champion Mercedes Moné and her muscle Kamille made their way out. Baker would quickly rummage for a weapon from underneath to ring as she pulls out a kendo stick. This was no match for Kamille though as Moné would send her down to take care of her All In opponent.
Kamille shoved Baker to the floor before the doctor had any real chance. Kamille broke the stick with her knee before hitting Baker with a kick. The Brickhouse continued the attack before getting her into the ring and hitting a Facebuster. Moné and Kamille stood tall over Baker in the center of the ring.
Mariah May was also in action as she took her frustrations for Toni Storm out on Londyn Dior in a 30 second squash match. After the match, May continues the attack on Dior with the high heel.
Kris Statlander vs. Willow Nightingale will be taking place at All Out on Sept. 7. On the Aug. 17 episode of AEW Collision, it was determined that Statlander will get her shot at the CMLL Women’s World Title and a stipulation will be added. Who gets to decide the stipulation will stem from who wins the mixed tag team at All In.
All In takes place on Aug. 25 and at that event Statlander teams up with Stokely Hathaway to face Nightingale and Tomohiro Ishii. The winner gets to decide the stipulation for the title match.
Statlander concludes that the end is near for Nightingale.
Friday Night SmackDown emanated this week from Orlando, Florida’s Kia Center (formerly known as the Amway Center).
Inside the ring to kick everything off was Tiffany Stratton and Pretty Deadly. The Money in the Bank winner introduced WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax for her Championship Celebration. The Irresistible Force made her way out sitting on a throne.
Jax tells Stratton that she didn’t have to throw this celebration, but the Buff Barbie says that this is her moment, and for everything that Jax has done for her, she wanted to give back. The champ admits that the excessive amount of pink – balloons, the microphone, etc. – is not really her style. She says that her style is more destruction, which she proved at SummerSlam when she destroyed Bayley, in turn proving that she was a woman of her word when she took her title from the former champion. Not only is she Queen of the Ring, but she’s now Women’s Champion, and the rest of the women’s division better bow down to her.
The first woman to do that? Tiffany. Jax’s order falls on deaf ears as Stratton reveals that Pretty Deadly is present in order to sing Jax a song titled “Ode to the Queen”. The Queen is not impressed with the duo’s musical antics, and an uninvited guest shows up in the form of Michin, swinging with a kendo stick and attacking all four of them.
We now switch over to the backstage area where Naomi, Jade Cargill, and Bianca Belair are reacting to what just happened. Their conversation switches to the topic of a potential celebration, but the trio get interrupted by Carmelo Hayes, who seemingly tries to make a move by inviting them to his “after party”, but Jade reminds him that Andrade has beaten him twice before the three walk away. Hoo boy… does he know they all got that ring on their finger? You better keep him in check, Kelani!
Orlando’s own Naomi eventually entered the squared circle for her match with Blair Davenport. NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez was featured watching the match from the crowd.
The battle began with Blair initially hitting some strikes, but Naomi gained the upper hand before the first commercial break. Davenport had turned the tides after the break, but the two would trade attacks on each other before Davenport hit a knee to Naomi for the victory.
Michin was seen exiting the office of Nick Aldis but was quickly met up by Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, who took much delight in her actions against Tiffany and Nia. As it turns out, Michin got herself a future title match, shocking the duo and prompting them to walk into Aldis’s office. Jax pops up out of nowhere to throw Michin into the door of the office, but would get yelled at by the blue brand’s general manager for doing so.
Here’s what will be taking place on next week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown, set to air from Washington, D.C.:
Naomi, Jade Cargill, and Bianca Belair vs. The Unholy Union (Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn) and Blair Davenport in a six-woman tag team match.
Share your thoughts on this week’s episode in the comments below!
Saraya is going to have one last chance to make her way onto the All In card and that will be if she can become a two-time AEW Women’s Wold Champion on the next Dynamite.
For weeks, Saraya has been attempting to find her way to Wembley Stadium but hasn’t been able to find the path. On the Aug. 16 episode of Rampage, Saraya took to the ring with Harley Cameron to address the crowd. She goes over her past year as she became champion last year at All In. Since then, she lost the title, lost friends, and seemingly has been left out of many matches.
The AEW Women’s World Champion (and former The Outcasts member) Toni Storm made her way to the ring. She says she will be having the fight of her life against Mariah May one week from Saturday. However, since she has been such good friends with Saraya all these years, she will give Saraya a chance to take it all.
On Wednesday, Storm will defend the championship on Dynamite against Saraya. If Saraya wins then she becomes champion and makes it to Wembley.
Elsewhere on Rampage, Erica Leigh had her debut match for AEW. The match was in short order as her opponent Nyla Rose made the squash look easy. Leigh has been working as a valet for The Outrunners in ROH.
Tam Nakano will be trying to become a two-time World of Stardom Champion. She has challenged the newly crowned champion Natsuko Tora and they will go head to head on Aug. 31. This date is also the finals for the 5Stat Grand Prix tournament.
Mayu Iwatani: 6 AZM: 6 Tomoka Inaba: 6 Mei Seira: 4 Saya Iida: 2 Momo Watanabe: 0 Tam Nakano: 0
Momo Watanabe hasn’t earned any points in this tournament but she will be challenging Mercedes Moné for the NJPW STRONG Women’s Title at NJPW’s Capital Collision on Aug. 31.
Gail Kim was planning on an in-ring return and with Mickie James by her side no less!
Kim, who had been out of action since a match against Tessa Blanchard in 2019, returned to the ring for one match in 2023. It was a 10 Knockouts Tag Team match for TNA’s 1,000 episode where she was on the winning team with Mickie James, Trinity, Jordynne Grace, and Awesome Kong.
In a new interview, Kim admitted that her return to the ring wasn’t going to end there. To start 2024, herself and James were going to become a tag team to boost the Knockouts tag division. She even thought, if not James due to timing issues, why not WWE’s Natalya?
While speaking with Gabby AF, she spoke about the follow:
“A lot of people don’t know this, but at the end of last year….now it’s not going to happen, so I can talk about it. We were talking about having me and Mickie (James) tag. Get into the tag division to help boost the Knockouts tag division. The timing wasn’t right. It was supposed to be for the beginning of this year. Nick (Aldis) was going into WWE as Mickie was taking a step back. It wasn’t working timing-wise. Then, I suggested maybe me and Nattie.
I was trying to work with that cross-promotion. Once all the management changes happened at the beginning of this year, I honestly took on so much that I can’t see it happening with the roles that I have backstage. The longer you don’t wrestle for, it just becomes more difficult. To be honest, I care about my body of work so much, if I was going to get in the ring as talent, I have to give it my all. I would literally, probably, have to drop almost everything I do backstage. It’s so much that I don’t know who would fill those roles. I don’t see it logistically happening. It would be a dream to do it with the right scenario. The whole Mickie tag team was a dream scenario. I accepted at that point, so it was going to happen, but now it just can’t. I truly believe everything is meant to be. ‘Okay, Gail, you left it at the 1000th episode. Everything is hunky dory.’ I’m happy with my body of work. Maybe I’m just meant to help lead backstage. I’m okay with that,” she said. (Fightful)
Kim recently spoke about looking to bring in more Knockouts to join the company and increase the division.
It is being reported that the NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez along with NXT Champion Ethan Page will be at SmackDown tonight. There is no word on what capacity they will be used, but being in NXT’s home of Orlando for SmackDown makes sense.
Also set for a dark match is Chelsea Green vs. Indi Hartwell.
For Diva Dirt’s preview of the Aug. 16 episode of SmackDown you can click here.
WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix has officially confirmed in a new interview with Chris Van Vliet on Insight that her time with WWE has come to an end. This was rumored at the end of last month by PWInsider. Now is the question will she join her husband, Adam Copeland/Edge, in AEW?
Van Vliet asked Phoenix if she would have at least one last match. Phoenix had a few matches in WWE over the past few years either by the side of her husband on in Royal Rumbles.
Her response was as follows:
“It’s really hard to say you’re retired. When I left in 2012, that was the word I threw around a lot. ‘I’m retired. I’m retired,’ because I wanted to have a family. I knew, for myself, that wasn’t going to be in congruence to perform and to have kids. I needed to devote myself to the kids at that time. I give the age ol’ cliche that everybody hates, ‘Never say never.’ It really just depends on the opportunities and what suits our family. That’s really it. We weigh out everything. Adam’s opportunities, too. I remember when Percy Jackson came on the table and he was full-time in WWE. It was really hard to take that on, but we weighed out everything. We sat as a family and made that decision. ‘This is huge. This is the biggest acting opportunity that has come our way. You need to go do this. This is massive.’ We talked about saying no to that. We talked about everything that comes our way as a family and does that serve us now? How does it affect our kids? How does it affect our marriage? That matters too.” (Fightful)
On no longer being with WWE:
“I’m not,” she said when asked if she was under contract with WWE. “I am currently a free agent. I have a great relationship with WWE. I treasured my time there. I feel like there is more and other opportunities that have presented themselves and I feel the motivation now to explore and explore what else is out there and explore myself. My relationship with WWE hasn’t changed. I have so many friends there and I appreciate and enjoy the product as I always have. I love NXT. I have a special place in my heart for NXT and the system. Seeing people come up and go through that excitement of developing themselves for the big time. I love WWE. I always will.”
Tonight’s SmackDown is set to air from the Kia Center in Orlando, Florida. So far we have one segment and one match advertised for the women.
First, we are finally getting a championship celebration for the WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax who won the title from Bayley at SummerSlam earlier this month.
Jax’s bestie Tiffany Stratton has been planning the celebration since last week.
Also, from last week, the feud is continuing between Naomi and Blair Davenport as Naomi has returned. Naomi had been missing in action the past couple of weeks, but she returned with a vengeance to side with Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill as the Big 3 against Davenport and the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions – The Unholy Union.
Naomi will battle Davenport tonight.
Don’t forget to join Diva Dirt tonight to talk about the SmackDown Divas!
On Aug. 15 a big announcement was made for next year’s AEW All In. This year’s event is rapidly approaching as it will be held in Wembley Stadium in London at the end of this month. But next year is already confirmed and will be in the big state of Texas.
The venue for the 2025 All In event is Globe Life Field which is the home of Major League Baseball Team and the 2023 World Series winners, the Texas Rangers. The venue can hold over 40K people.
Many AEW talent joined CEO Tony Khan to make this announcement at a press conference. Of those were Thunder Rosa, Renee Paquette, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, and AEW TBS Champion Mercedes Moné. Athena was born and raised in Garland, Texas.
Rosa has also made a home for herself in Texas where she runs her own women’s wrestling promotion in San Antonio: Mission Pro Wrestling.
A Six Knockouts Tag Team Match has been added to TNA Emergence on Aug. 30.
It will be the TNA Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace along with Spitfire to take on Ash by Elegance and the TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champions Malisha.
The build up to this match will continue within the next two weeks as all six women will be on a collision course with one another.
As we make our way towards Emergence at the end of the month, tonight’s TNA Impact! looks to continue the tension between The Knockouts that has been brewing for weeks and even months now.
Tonight we attempt to settle a lingering grudge, as Tasha Steelz and Gisele Shaw go head-to-head. Steelz has been getting the best of Shaw for couple past few weeks, albeit in a dirty fashion. But, Shaw looks to prove herself this week this time with more referees to keep the law in order.
Shaw starts the match off strongly but gets caught on the outside. Steelz wants to put a wrench in Shaw’s plans but the referees put that to a stop. “The Quintessential Diva” fires up a comeback and hits a Shock and Awe to take out Steelz.
Steelz gets out of the way of Shaw’s finishing knee strike. “The Boricua Badass” continues to play dirty by raking the eyes of Shaw and trying to gain leverage from the ropes for the pin. The extra law enforcement again puts a stop to it and Shaw manages to hit THe Denouement for the win.
Next, we hear from Spitfire after their failed attempt at the Knockouts World Tag Team Championships. The team calls out Malisha and dares them to try and cheat their way to victory again.
After Ash By Elegance interrupted the Knockouts World Championship last week, we hear from the champion herself Jordynne Grace in response to the debauchery. Grace says that Ash is ruining what she’s built up for herself and sends her an immediate warning.
What did you think about tonight’s TNA Impact? Can Spitfire find the will and the way to get the tag titles back? Will Grace be rid of Ash once and for all? Let us know what you thought below.
It looks like Abadon has stepped up as Athena’s next challenger. They emerged during Athena conducting a MIT (Minion in Training) live in front of the crowd.
As Starkz was doing sit-ups, Athena boasted about mentoring both Lexy Nair & Starkz. Starkz then asked Athena why Nair was not here, to which Athena responded by saying Nair did not lose her title to Red Velvet at Death Before Dishonor. Therefore this seemed punishment for Starkz.
Athena said she was looking to become the longest-reigning champion in ROH History as she is about a month away from Samoa Joe’s record. She called everyone a hussie backstage and said they were afraid of her. Abadon’s music hit but they came up from behind Athena who didn’t realize it at first. They confronted Athena and shouted in her face before Athena fell out of the ring. Abadon has set their sights on the ROH Women’s World Title.
Athena took offense to Melissa Santos who implied she was afraid of Abadon. Abadon’s last title opportunity was for the TBS Title back in December against then-champion Julia Hart.
Elsewhere on this week’s episode, Harley Cameron defeated Viva Van, and Leyla Hirsch sent her own message to the women’s locker room.
The current NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné will be putting her championship on the line at the upcoming NJPW Capital Collision event on Aug. 30. After the Aug. 15 STARDOM show, Watanabe made the challenge and NJPW posted it on its social media. This would be a first time match between the two.
Moné won the STRONG Women’s Title when she defeated Stephanie Vaquer at Forbidden Door in the end of June.
Outside of currently participating in the 5Star GP in STARDOM, Watanabe was at Forbidden Door as well as she teamed up with Kris Statlander in a loss against Willow Nightingale and Tam Nakano. She is a former leader of Queen’s Quest and once held the Wonder of STARDOM Title for 358 days.
Check back in with Diva Dirt for more on this event.