Athena has fully reinvented herself since being the mainstay of ROH. She has now reached 365 days as the ROH Women’s World Champion as of Dec. 10. She defeated Mercedes Martinez for the gold at ROH’s Final Battle. Athena has also become the first of two women (Willow Nightingale as her opponent) to main event a ROH pay-per-view. And she is about to do it a second time.
Athena has had many challengers of these 365 and has defeated the likes of Kiera Hogan, Allysin Kay, Skye Blue, Willow Nightingale, Miyu Yamashita, Emi Sakura, and more. She will be facing her former minion in training Billie Starkz this year at Final Battle that will take place on Dec. 15. This will be the main event.
Below you can catch some of Athena’s matches during her historical reign.
IMPACT’s Final Resolution has a lot of meaning to its name as it took place on Saturday evening. It signified the last special event of the year, the IMPACT banner (as the transition back to TNA is happening), and reportedly Deonna Purrazzo’s last match of her current run with the company.
It has been reported that as of the new year, Purrazzo’s contract with IMPACT/TNA ends and she will be exploring her free agent status. She teamed up with Gisele Shaw to take on Jordynne Grace and the TNA Knockouts World Champion Trinity.
Grace and Trinity were successful in the match and came out with the victory. Post match, Shaw and Purrazzo shook hands before Shaw leveled her out in the ring.
The wicked witch of NXT won a shot at the NXT Women’s Title by defeating Fallon Henley, Tiffany Stratton, Kelani Jordan, and Lash Legend. She will be facing the champion Lyra Valkyria at New Year’s Evil on Jan. 2.
The match started off with Davenport and Henley before Stratton entered third. Stratton and Davenport teamed up throughout the majority of the time before Jordan entered. Stratton would be the one to strike first on Davenport proving it is every woman for herself.
Davenport would however score the first fall on Henley, sending Henley to the penalty box for her 90 seconds. After emerging from her penalty, she would get a point of her own after hitting a Shining Wizard on Stratton. During the time that Henley was waiting in the box, Kelani Jordan made her entrance. She came out full steam with the crowd fully behind her. Unfortunately Jordan wasn’t able to get a point with all of that momentum.
Lash Legend would be the last woman to enter and much like Jordan, was super fresh and ready to go! She would score two quick pinfalls at one time as she stacked up both Stratton and Henley. While the two women were in the box and the time was running down to get back in the match, the other three members of Meta Four kept the door shut. This prompted both Henley and Stratton to try and crawl over top of the box and fighting with each other to do so. Henley was pushed off and came crashing through the announce desk below. Stratton would take out the other competitors with a swanton off of the penalty box.
Davenport received her second point of the matchup from stomping on Jordan’s back for a quick fall. With two minutes remaining in the bout, Stratton finally got a point off of the PME, pinning Legend.
Davenport achieved her third and winning point with 15 seconds left on the clock. She hit a knee strike on Henley. As the clock winded down to zero, Legend would get out of the penalty box and chase Davenport around to try and tie her three points. However, time was up and Davenport was declared the winner.
Post match, Davenport took to the mic and sent a warning to the NXT Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria. Valkyria emerged on stage to embrace the sentiment but she was attacked from behind by Cora Jade! Jade is back and has her eyes on the championship also as she raises the belt in the air to end the segment.
In an interview moments later, saying she has made her intentions crystal clear.
The second women’s match of the night was a steel cage match between Roxanne Perez and Kiana James. These two women have been fighting for months and it has all culminated to the cage. They utilized the cage on many occasions and weren’t able to escape the cage for some reason to win – had to be pinfall or submission. At one point, they threw punches on top of the cage.
The final moments of the match, James opened up the cage door to get a steel chair from underneath the ring. Her attempt to use it failed which put the chair in the hands of Perez. As Perez went to shut the steel cage door, Izzi Dame showed up and slammed it into Perez.
Dame proud of what she had done exclaimed “it iz what it iz” as James hit the back of Perez with the steel chair. James pinned her adversary for the win.
There was also a backstage moment between Meta Four and Henley/Briggs/Jensen that turned into a brawl. Most likely will lead to a mixed tag match down the line.
NXT’s final premium live event of the year takes place tonight. Deadline is here for the second year in a row which means we get to witness the Iron Survivor Challenge again. Below are the two women’s matches confirmed for tonight’s show.
Iron Survivor Challenge
Winner to earn a future NXT Women’s Title Match
Tiffany Stratton vs. Lash Legend vs. Blair Davenport vs. Kelani Jordan vs. Fallon Henley
Steel Cage Match
Roxanne Perez vs. Kiana James
For Diva Dirt’s predictions and to vote on who you think will win each match you may click here.
And hey, while you’re voting, if you haven’t yet voted in this year’s women’s wrestling fan awards – Click here.
On this week’s episode of NXT Level Up which aired on Dec. 8, Gigi Dolin took on newcomer Jaida Parker. This is Parker’s second televised match – her first was against Karmen Petrovic in the NXT Women’s Breakout Tournament which she lost.
Parker has had a handful of house show matches and picked up her first win against Kennedy Cummins (who is yet to debut on TV) last weekend. Unfortunately for Parker, she is still looking for her first televised win as Dolin defeated her on Level Up.
You can watch parts of the match in the WWE clip below –
Michin and Zelina Vega are looking for some revenge and Damage CTRL are in their sights. The duo (along with Bianca Belair and Shotzi’s help) cornered the Women’s Champion IYO SKY and Kairi Sane on the stage last night on SmackDown. They took them out of the equation from helping out Asuka during her match against Charlotte Flair.
But for Michin and Vega it is a bit more personal. Damage CTRL made sure that Michin nor Vega would be Team EST’s partner for WarGames. Something that isn’t sitting right with the pair.
On SmackDown LowDown, Michin and Vega would call this out. And Vega says she has gone toe to toe with Damage CTRL before but never have they had to deal with Vega and Michin together. They also take notice and laugh at Bayley being the odd woman out.
Michin has recently teamed up some with Vega and some with Shotzi in dark matches prior to SmackDown.
And as for Bayley, she was seen as an asset to help Asuka defeat Flair. Damage CTRL seems to have welcomed Bayley back into the fold but the atmosphere is still awkward and cloudy at best.
Megan Bayne has thrown down the challenge and she wants Giulia once again – this time for the NJPW STRONG Women’s Title. The match is set for Dec. 29 at Ryogoku Sumo Hall for the STARDOM Dream Queendom event.
The last time these two women met, their match went to a time limit draw.
December 29 Ryogoku Sumo Hall Stardom Dream Queendom NJPW STRONG Women's Title Match (C) Giulia vs Megan Bayne pic.twitter.com/9OeqbiAtE5
The last premium live event is hear and NXT’s Deadline will take place tonight. There are two women’s matches on the card which includes the second ever Iron Survivor Challenge. Below you will see Diva Dirt’s predictions. And check back in during show time to talk about it live!
The Women's Iron Survivor Challenge goes down THIS SATURDAY at #NXTDeadline!
Who will walk out as the No.1 Contender for the #WWENXT Women's Championship? ?
COLBY: I gotta be honest, I did not think this would be the field competing in this year’s Iron Survivor Challenge. That being said, I’m actually not dissapointed. I assumed they would stack it with the “top” talent, but it’s really nice to see fresh faces like Lash, Kelani, and Fallon getting this opportunity. As for who will emerge the survivor, that answer isn’t super clear to me. Tiffany and Blair stand out as front runners considering they could be heel challengers to the babyface champion in Lyra. Considering Stratton was recently in the title picture, I wouldn’t mind seeing Blair vs. Lyra be the next feud coming out of this bout.
WINNER: Blair Davenport
NICK: I am excited for this match. I was at Deadline last year for the first match and it was really fun. It was a break out for Kiana James so I expect the same for someone like Kelani in this match. I love that they are giving Lash this spotlight also. I feel as though a couple women could win this, but I kind of feel like this is Fallon’s moment. So I am going to go with her.
WINNER: Fallon Henley
Steel Cage Match
COLBY: Part of why I’m so excited we’re getting fresh faces in the Iron Survivor Challenge is because Roxanne and Kiana, two women who competed in it last year, are receiving their own spotlight to settle their feud. I’ve been a big fan of Kiana since last year’s Deadline and I’m glad she’s stayed relevant all year. Roxanne’s had a rocky start to the year with the weird way in which her title reign ended, but perhaps a victory here would allow her to re-enter the picture in the new year. I’m rooting for Kiana, but I’d be wise to bet on Roxanne.
WINNER: Roxanne Perez
NICK: This match is going to be so good, I can feel it! The build up to this has been so well done. Both ladies fighting everywhere and anywhere. Roxanne having more of a angry/vicious side of her come out has been really good to see. This result is conflicting to me. Where I think the obvious answer is Roxanne, I think Kiana needs to win a big one. Plus with the rumors out there of who may or may not also be involved in this match, I can see it going either way also. But I am going to go with who I rather have win.
WINNER: Kiana James
If you haven’t voted in this year’s fan awards, click here.
Maxxine Dupri will have the biggest match of her career this Monday on Raw as she takes on the Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. This will be a non-title match.
A major matchup is set to take place as Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley battles Maxxine Dupri of Alpha Academy in non-title action.
Since aligning with Alpha Academy and training with Chad Gable and Otis, Dupri has made a name for herself inside the ring, but now she faces her greatest test in The Eradicator.
Also, after Becky Lynch confirming that she wants to take on Nia Jax, she wants to “call out” Jax.
Becky Lynch is ready to step up to The Irresistable Force and add another chapter to their already historic rivalry.
The Man and Nia Jax go way back in their disdain for one another, but since both Superstars returned to the red brand, their rivalry became renewed, and Lynch wants to call out Jax.
Charlotte Flair had to be helped to the back after her match against Asuka on the Dec. 8 episode. It appears to be her knee and the match seemed to end quicker than it should have.
Charlotte Flair had to be helped to the back after her match with Asuka on #SMACKDOWN
Flair lost the match after a distraction after Bayley got involved and pulled Flair off of making a pin. Then as Flair knocked Bayley off the apron, Asuka rolled her up to get the win.
There has not been any confirmation on her injury at this time.
One thing you can say about @itsBayleyWWE… she's loyal. @WWEAsuka is going to remember that. ?
Before the match, Zelina Vega and Michin attacked Damage CTRL’s Kairi Sane and the Women’s Champion IYO SKY taking them away from ringside. Bianca Belair and Shotzi joined in outnumbering Damage CTRL. Bayley didn’t appear until the end of the match and Dakota Kai went to the back after Sane and SKY were attacked.
If you haven’t voted yet for the DD and RTB Women’s Wrestling Fan Awards, you may click the link here to take you there. Any prior issues with voting have been fixed.
*This article contains potential spoilers for the upcoming NXT Deadline event*
NXT Deadline will air from Bridgeport, Connecticut on Saturday evening on Dec. 9. It was previously rumored and reported that we will see a return of Cora Jade. This seems to continue to be true.
According to PWInsider, Jade was seen in Orlando earlier today with the rest of NXT getting set to travel up north for Deadline. A WWE source confirmed she was scheduled to be at the premium live event earlier this week.
PWInsider.com is also told that Izzi Dame traveled up for the show as well. Dame has had recent run-ins with Roxanne Perez and has been by the side of Kiana James when Perez continuously attached her on this week’s show.
Kiana James and Roxanne Perez are set to meet in a steel cage at Deadline.
It has been announced that the women are set to main event the last major event for ROH of the year. Athena will be defending the ROH Women’s World Title against Billie Starkz.
News has also come out that Athena is injured but will continue with this match. In a now deleted social media post on X, Athena confirmed she has a broken nose. PWInsider has confirmed that it is legit.
This week’s IMPACT featured matches taped at a recent cross-promotional event with AAA in Monterrey, Mexico.
In the opener, Knockouts World Champion Trinity teamed with X-Division Champion Chris Sabin to battle Chik Tormenta and Dinamico. Trinity started the bout before Sabin became the damsel in distress.
Trinity came back in off the hot tag and took Tormenta down with uppercuts and corner bulldog. Sabin assisted Trinity to set up the split legged moonsault, but Dinamico broke the cover. In the end, Trinity hit Torementa with the sit-out bomb and flipped her over for the three.
Later, Jordynne Grace teamed with Sexy Star to battle Deonna Purrazzo and Maravilla. Maravilla had something going on with the referee as she hugged him prior to the bell. The ref then wouldn’t properly count in a timely fashion when Grace tried pinning Purrazzo.
All four women took each other out as Purrazzo booted Star and Grace planted Purrazzo with a Samoan Drop. Ultimately, Grace nailed Maravilla with the Grace Driver and the ref counted to three.
We also heard from Trinity as she expressed her excitement for Hard To Kill. Grace interrupted and reminded her they have a tag match to get through first this Saturday at Final Resolution.
Former three-time IMPACT Knockouts World Champion Deonna Purrazzo is about to become a free agent as of the first of January in 2024. The Virtuosa has made her home in IMPACT/TNA in this second run since 2020.
Deonna Purrazzo plans to explore free agency, and no extension with IMPACT Wrestling has been reached, Fightful Select has learned.
Purrazzo has worked WWE, NXT, AEW, ROH, AAA and Stardom in the past
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) December 7, 2023
According to Fightful Select, Purrazzo will be exploring her free agent status. Fightful mentioned her contact ending soon and while following up, they were told that Purrazzo intends to explore free agency, and no deal with IMPACT Wrestling has been reached.
Furthermore the results state –
“There were some that believed that Purrazzo was set to stay with the company, as she was featured on TNA Wrestling graphics. However, we’re told that the last dates that are set for her deal are the IMPACT Wrestling Final Resolution tapings in Canada this weekend.
Those that we spoke to claim that things have remained amicable between Purrazzo and IMPACT Wrestling, and that the door appears to be open to reach a deal or come back. However, as of now, the four-time world champion is set to explore her options.”
Where would you like to see Purrazzo?
If you haven’t voted in the Year End Awards brought to you by Diva Dirt and Ring the Belle, you can click here.
The new Joshi promotion in the United States, Sukeban, has crowned its first champion during its second event. The first champion is Commander Nakajima (also known as Arisa Nakajima) as she defeated Ichigo Sayaka.
For those unfamiliar with Nakajima, she is a 17 year veteran in the ring and her primary promotion is SEAdLINNNG. The new belt was announced by Bull Nakano who is the Commissioner of the promotion.
Sareee also made her debut for the promotion as it has been reported that she has signed a multi year deal with them. She defeated Atomic Banshee and Babyface and Countess Saori.
OutSports has just finalized their top 200 Queer Wrestling Index (QWI) with numbers 20 to 1. And the top spot goes to “The Non-Binary Nightmare,” Max the Impaler.
Max is currently the NWA’s Women’s TV Champion and according to OutSports is the first out non-binary and transmasculine wrestler to win a championship in NWA’s 75 year history. They have also made pro wrestling history with their partner Heidi Howitzer as they became the first all-LGBTQ team to hold the Princess Tag Team belts for the Tokyo-Joshi Pro Wrestling promotion.
We have listed below the Top 50 names on the list and for the full 200 you can check the Out Sports list by clicking here.
Congratulations to Max and all of the LGTBQ+ individuals on this list! It is great to hear there is so much representation out there that this list is even possible!
Storm took control of their match early on by slamming Blue off the apron and the announce desk before hitting a corner hip attack. Blue eventually turned things around with her own hip attacks before landing Code Blue.
Storm wouldn’t let Blue stay in control for long as she landed a superplex and another hip attack to retain.
After the bout, Riho made her way down to the ring to confront Storm. She made it known that she has her sights set on Storm’s title. This was Riho’s first televised appearance since April.
#RIHO is back and wants the #AEW Women’s World Championship!
Mariah May also appeared for a backstage interview as she continues to prepare for her AEW in-ring debut. She declined to reveal who her opponent will be.
Renee Paquette gets the inside scoop from Mariah May on her #AEW in-ring debut.
Looking ahead, this Friday’s Rampage will include Abadon vs. Trish Adora, while Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Martinez has been announced for Saturday’s Collision.
What did you think of this week’s Dynamite? Sound off in the comments below!
*Please note that this article contains a potential spoiler*
NXT’s Deadline event takes place this Saturday, and we may be getting a return.
According to PWInsider, Cora Jade is expected to be at the show. According to Mike Johnson, “The word at tonight’s WWE NXT taping was that Cora Jade, who has not been seen on TV in some time, is expected to be at the Deadline PPV this weekend.”
The QR Code that was present during the Iron Survivor Challenge Women’s Summit led you to a link with Jade’s voice saying “See You At Deadline.”
WWE has confirmed its fourth NIL “Next in Line” class since December 2021. In it are a total of 14 college athletes, six women and eight men. The women are listed below.
WWE’s “Next In Line” program has signed 60 college athletes since its inception in December 2021. Seven athletes have signed full-time developmental contracts with WWE and train year-round at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando.
The program serves to recruit and develop potential future Superstars and continues to enhance WWE’s talent development process through collaborative partnerships with college athletes from diverse athletic backgrounds. WWE has signed athletes from 15 different sports including 42 members of Power-Five conferences. The program’s members have earned 18 NCAA Championships, 34 Conference Championships and 55 All-American honors.
All athlete partnerships feature access to the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., in addition to resources across the organization including brand building, media training, live event promotion, creative writing and community relations. Upon completion of the NIL program, athletes may earn an exclusive opportunity to be offered a WWE contract.
The program’s athletes boast impressive social media followings with more than 12 million combined followers on TikTok and nearly five million combined followers on Instagram. WWE currently has one of the largest fanbases on TikTok with more than 25 million followers and more than 30 million Instagram followers.
It’s that time! As the year comes to an end, it is time to vote in the 2023 Year End Women’s Wrestling Fan Awards.
Last week, the nomination process took place as many of you nominated who you wanted in each category to be an option to vote on and we thank you for participating. Below is each category that you can vote on one time each and the winners will be presented by the end of the year.
Diva Dirt has partnered with Ring the Belle again this year and they will have the nomination video on their YouTube pagenext week. It will go over all of the categories and the nominees for this year that you see below!
NXT’s Deadline event has heated up and will take place this Saturday.
We now know that Fallon Henley will round out the five women who will participate in this year’s Iron Survivor Challenge. She won the last spot after a fantastic Fatal 4-way that started off this week’s show. The match also included Thea Hail, Roxanne Perez, and Kiana James.
The final moments of the match had reached a boiling point for the rivals James and Perez, and they ended up taking each other out as they went through the announce desk.
This left just Hail and Henley in the ring. Hail with support on the outside by Jacy Jayne tried to snag the win with a roll up on Henley. Henley escaped and thanks to Hail getting caught on the ropes, Henley ended the match with a kick to get the three count.
Henley becoming the fifth and final member allowed for a Iron Survivor Challenge Summit. All five women, Henley, Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, Kelani Jordan, and Blair Davenport sat in the ring with Byron Saxton as mediator.
There were A LOT of words exchanged between the five women that all culminated to Henley punching Stratton with a “yeehaw bitch.” This had the women brawl to end the segmenf. However, the brawl continued from out of the back and into the ring while Axiom vs. Nathan Frazer match was taking place. This ended up as a no contest for the men. Also in the midst of this brawl, Nikkita Lyons made her return as she took out Blair Davenport. Not forgetting that Davenport, who was the secret attacker, took out Lyons in the parking lot earlier this year.
Elsewhere on this week’s NXT, Meta Four took on Alpha Academy as a six person tag match. Biggest highlight of the match was when Lash Legend body slammed Otis! The final moments of the match saw Noam Darr tap out to Chad Gable. This had Alpha Academy take away the win.
The NXT Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria was being interviewed backstage. She was approached by the NXT Breakout Star Lola Vice and Elektra Lopez. Vice taunted the idea of cashing in her contract whenever she feels necessary. Lopez mentioned that Vice may not even use it against Valkyria but instead the duo use it for the tag team titles. Tatum Paxley, who has been stalking Valkyria, appeared and challenged Vice to a match. Vice would pick up that win.
The fighting between James and Perez never stopped as Izzi Dame went to check on James in medical. James and Perez continued to have to be separated until Ava showed up.
Ava spoke with HBK and it was decided that James and Perez will settle their rivalry at Deadline in a Steel Cage!!
Tonight’s NXT is the final show before Deadline which takes place this Saturday. For Deadline, we have the Iron Survivor Challenge match that needs one more woman. Tonight will be the last chance Fatal Four-way to decide that woman. It will be Roxanne Perez vs. Fallon Henley vs. Thea Hail vs. Kiana James. The winner will join Tiffany Stratton, Lash Legend, Blair Davenport, and Kelani Jordan this Saturday.
Other matches confirmed for tonight are Meta Four taking on Alpha Academy, six person tag match. And according to Fightful, Tatum Paxley will take on Lola Vice.
The brand new Joshi promotion in the United States, Sukeban will be having its second show on Dec. 6 in Miami, FL.
Sukeban, which means “delinquent girl” or “girl boss” in Japanese, had its first show in September that took place in New York. The promotion is owned by Dream Slam Productions and the Commissioner is former WWF Women’s Champion – Bull Nakano.
They are set to crown their first champion at tomorrow’s show and the match is between Ichigo Sayaka vs. Commander Nakajima (Arisa Nakajima).
Sareee (NXT’s Sarray) will also be making her debut. It was reported in early November that she had signed a multi year deal with the promotion.
The full card is as follows –
Sukeban World Championship Match: Ichigo Sayaka vs. Commander Nakajima
Sareee vs. Countess Saori (Saori Anou) vs. Atomic Banshee (Ram Kaicho) vs. Babyface (Ancham)
Maya Mamushi (Maya Yukihi) & Saki Bimi (Saki Watanabe) vs. Queen of Hearts (Miyuki Takase) & KONAMI
