Wrestling Rundown: June 23, 2021 – Evening Edition
We had a feeling that our content inbox would be overflowing with additional wrestling news, so we’re going to have an Evening Edition as well. The following is news from Friday, June 23, 2021 as coming in from overnight following our morning report:
Eric Young likely to return to wrestling action this fall
Eric Young has been enjoying a new lease on life in IMPACT Wrestling, as the dastardly villain leader of the Violent By Design faction. However, an ACL injury from March has had him sidelined.
While still present at ringside, Young is hopeful for an in-ring return to the IMPACT Zone this fall. That could possibly be in October.
Young gave an update on his rehabbing status during a virtual signing session with High Spots Wrestling Network.
“It’s bittersweet that I don’t get to compete,” said Young. “This three months actually is the longest I’ve gone without wrestling since 1997.”
Young stated that his longest hiatus was the 90-day non-compete following his release from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). However, the current injury now marks his longest.
“So now this is definitely, officially the longest I’ve gone,” Young adds. “And I’ve got three months to go.”
Young is anticipating being cleared for Bound For Glory, which is set for Las Vegas.
Title match set for NXT TakeOver 36 wrestling PPV
WWE made an announcement Friday regarding a title match at its upcoming show NXT TakeOver 36.
It was reported that WALTER will defend the NXT United Kingdom Championship in a bout against Ilja Dragunov.
The match was to occur previously, but WALTER suffered a hand injury and the match was postponed.
The two wrestlers had a match for the title in 2020, considered the most brutal match in NXT and WWE history. The match received a five-star rating from Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.
Dynamite sets the pace with 1.1 million tuning in
In back-to-back weeks, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) had another massive night for viewership.
Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has reported that Fyter Fest Night Two garnered a whopping 1.148 million viewers. This is the third-highest viewership in the show’s history. He also reports that Fyter Fest Night Two posted a 0.44 rating in the key 18-49 demographic.
This marks the highest viewership for Dynamite since the December 9, 2020 episode.
Thurston also notes that this rating is higher than a number of recent episodes of Raw.
The show featured Britt Baker retaining the AEW World Women’s Championship against Nyla Rose, the debuts of Nick Gage, Chavo Guerrero, and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) Hikuleo, and a title change with Lance Archer winning NJPW’s IWGP United States Championship from Jon Moxley in a Texas Deathmatch.
Is Daniel Bryan actually All Elite?
New backstage information is emerging relating to Daniel Bryan, explaining why he has reportedly chosen to sign with AEW.
Following rumors that CM Punk was in talks with the promotion, it was reported that Bryan (real name: Bryan Danielson) was “100%” already signed with AEW. This is according to reports from Bodyslam and WrestleTalk.
Another nail in the coffin for Bryan is WWE’s removal of his character for the upcoming WWE 2K22 game.
WrestleTalk reveals that the game’s creators were given a memo to not include Bryan in the game, based on accounts from Andrew Zarian and Meltzer.
The WWE 2K20 received considerable backlash over its release because it was incomplete, resulting in broken games, and a looming feeling that they had wasted their money.
Wait a damn minute. This sounds familiar…didn’t we just have this happen again in December with Cyberpunk 2077, right after the 2K20 disaster? Both are still barely playable and still crash on a regular basis, even if you own a digital copy.
So, as a result, there was no 2K21 release, with the creators focusing more on mobile and the 2K22 release later this year.
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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
